Off to South America tomorrow

Tomorrow I set off for South America, sightseeing and attending the wedding of two good friends. I fly to Brisbane tomorrow, then on Thursday from Brisbane to Auckland to Santiago de Chile. After one night there, I go on to Caracas (Venezuela) for 10 days, during which I'll visit various nearby places. Then to Peru for 11 days, visting Lima, Cuzco, Sacred Valley, Macchu Piccu, Arequipa, and Colca Canyon. Then the killer flight home: Lima to Santiago to Auckland to Brisbane to Townsville. Would love to have extended the trip a bit and visit some Chilean vineyards, but I suspect that I'll be exhausted by that point.

I'm going to try to post some blog entries by email as I go, but based on past experience I probably won't get around to it.

Cool Ubuntu shirt

I love chocolate and Ubuntu, so I couldn't resist buying this shirt.

Carlyle Gardens from the air

The flight path of incoming planes from the south goes just east of us, with the planes low enough for passengers on the left side to get an excellent view of Carlyle Gardens. Coming in from Sydney on Monday around noon, we didn't have the best seat for photography (our row didn't have a window), but Eric managed to get some shots. Here's one. Carlyle Gardens is the large rectangular area surrounded by a tree-lined fence, plus the large cleared area with a cluster of houses just above it in the photo. I've circled our house. To the right you can just see the bridge linking the "far side" with the older section of the community.

"Self-publishing using OOo3" now online

You can now read and comment on the complete first draft of "Self-publishing using OOo 3 Writer" online. The book starts here. Comments are moderated (to eliminate spam). I will be travelling during the next week, with limited internet access (perhaps only once a day), so do not be alarmed if your comments do not appear quickly. If you prefer not to comment in public, please feel free to send me an email instead. You can still request a PDF version of this draft.

Draft PDF of Self-Publishing using OOo available for review

A complete first draft of my book Self-Publishing using OpenOffice.org 3 Writer is now available in PDF (3.5MB). If you want a review copy, please contact me directly and ask for one. I hope to get the website copy of the book updated and ready for online comments within the next few days. You can help by telling me about anything that

• doesn't make sense
• is out of logical order
• is covered in not enough detail
• is covered in too much detail for the audience of the book
• needs more or better illustrations
• is missing from the book but you think should be covered
• is covered in two places but should be combined into one place
• or anything else that you think would make the book more useful for the audience

At this point, please confine your comments to the content, not the inconsistencies of formatting or screen captures or bad page breaks or similar, most of which I am well aware of but unwilling to spend time fixing until I'm confident that I won't be rewriting or deleting whole sections.

Garden landscaping research

Today's research project for Eric and me was to visit the local landscaping places to look at garden edging (decorative concrete blocks) and paving bricks.... and to collect business cards for people to do the heavy work. A relatively small area in front of the house is our responsibility. We have several idea for this area, some more practical than others. The easiest, and most practical for us, is pebbles and concrete animals, along with Eric's weather station and some little windmills. This type of garden is fairly popular among the residents of Carlyle Gardens. We also like the idea of a raised bed with a garden railway and rocks piled into mountains, but I'm getting away from that idea because it's too likely to be vandalised by someone from outside... despite the security force. We'll see.

Driver's license

Went to the Dept of Transport today to change the address on my driver's license and car registration. Their website had refused to accept my new address; apparently it's not in some database. The Dept Transport woman had to override the system to get it accepted; apparently she has to do this a lot.