Garden edging closer to reality

On Wednesday the handyman came by to lay the bricks for the garden edge. What an improvement in the appearance! The garden itself still needs a lot of work, but we're getting there... slowly.

Ubuntu on new laptop

Installed Ubuntu 9.04 on my new laptop. Vista promptly stopped working. Repair didn't work. Advanced repair did. Back in business, dual boot. Downloading updates to Ubuntu.

New book: Self-publishing with OpenOffice.org 3 Writer

My new book Self-publishing with OpenOffice.org 3 Writer is now available in paperback from Lulu.com. Downloadable PDF is coming soon.

The online draft version of the book starts here. I will update the online version when I have time.

My new laptop computer just arrived! It's a mid-range Dell Studio XPS 13 with great specs.

Oh, cool! My spare mouse has red lights that match the red case of the new laptop.

I must say Vista looks very nice, with its swoopy blue/green background. Had a quick look at Word 2007; didn't take too long to find where most of the bits I use (on the rare occasions that I use Word) are hidden.

Dust storm

Dust from big storms in NSW and southern Qld was very noticeable as we took our 5PM walk, but it's not nearly as bad as we've seen in photos from southern areas.

Here's a satellite photo.

New laptop on order

Gave in to the urge to buy a new laptop. Dell XPS 13 in Merlot Red case is on order. (Purple is not available for that model in Australia, alas.)

Pisco sour

Finally tried making a pisco sour from the pisco I brought back from Peru, using the recipe that came with the bottle. Very nice! I suspect the ones in the hotels were a bit weaker, though. Now to do more testing, with recipes from other sources (but not tonight). I used a type of lemon that's kind of halfway between a lemon and a lime. Real limes are too expensive right now.

Sound for the Wii

We have the technology! Eric found an old radio/iPod player and an adapter cable in his "I might want this someday" box, so I now have sound with the Wii. I just tested it with the 10-pin bowling game, and yes it's much better with the sound. I like the THUNKs of the pins being hit with the ball. ;-)

Gadgets! Wii Fit

Bought a Wii console and Wii Fit today (Father's Day bundle on sale at Big W, under my price point for impulse purchases), and set it up with my monitor (I have no TV). There's no sound, but I hate sound, so I'm in no hurry to connect some speakers even though I'm sure it would be better with sound.

No end of writing

Revised second draft of 4 more chapters of my book on self-publishing with OpenOffice.org and sent them off to my editor, who is going to get a surprise when he checks his mail in the morning. Getting there... slowly.

Screen door locks - at last!

Today the builders finally installed locks with keys on the screen doors, replacing the original locks which had no keys that ever got into our hands. Another item checked off the defect list as done. Still a few to go.

Writing, walking, sewing - a balanced life

Alternating between rewriting my book and editing Lyn's has its strange moments. If the sheep become examples in the computer book, that's why...

This afternoon I managed a slightly longer walk than usual. At one point an older woman overtook us. Eric said, "Walk faster, Jean!" and the other woman said, "Ignore him." :-) I'm going for distance, not speed.

You know it's time to quit when, while sewing a long straight seam in the side of a garment, you sew the armhole closed as well.

Life's tedious moments

Lodged my income tax return online. It wasn't very complicated once I got started, but I'm glad to get it over with. Now hanging on the phone waiting to get my internet banking password reset so I can pick up my credit card statements.

Publishing and life

Internet connection out for awhile this morning. Amazing how much thinking & writing gets done without the distraction of, uh, research.

Back to the self-publishing book. Finished revising another difficult chapter, in between writing a short article for an editors' group, formatting Lyn's book, painting bookshelves, and (yesterday evening) moving sprinklers and hoses to water the vast expanse of lawn and garden beds near us that the management's watering system isn't doing. (We've reported the latter problem, so some day it may get fixed.)

First cut at front cover design for Lyn McConchie's Rural Daze, using artwork by Judith Giddens, who also did the interior illos.

Publishing

Taking a break from writing my own book to edit and format Lyn McConchie's next book of farming tales, Rural Daze and (K)nights.

Wii research & book revision

Today we asked a salesperson in one store about connecting a Wii to a computer monitor, not a TV. She gave completely wrong info (claiming audio inputs weren't necessary), and was most emphatic about it. Eventually conceded she knew nothing about games consoles, only computers. Later, in Harvey Norman, we inspected the Wii gadgetry section and found the necessary cables. Not that we've decided to buy a Wii; just curious.

Later, did first-pass revision of Chapter 3 of my self-publishing with OOo book. More slash-and-burn. Can't believe I'd included so many irrelevant topics.

Gas barbecue & wine bargains

Eric and I bought a small Weber gas barbecue this morning. It's part of our collection of supplies for cyclone season, in case of electricity outages (the regular stove is electric, as is—of course—the microwave). We could not consider any other brand than Weber. ;-)

One of the bottles of cleanskin Western Australian wine we bought last week tasted very much like a nice Evans & Tate we used to get occasionally, so we went back to the grog shop to get a dozen. While there, we checked the bottles labelled Evans & Tate and found a remarkable similarity in the colour of the screw cap and the name of the wine ("Classic").

Lyn McConchie's next book

Cover art and interior illustrations for Lyn McConchie's next book in the Farming Daze series just arrived. I really like the work of Judith Giddens, the artist.

Facebook and Firefox

Just got this message from Facebook: "You're using an old web browser to browse Facebook. ... please upgrade your browser. Switch to Firefox." Actually I'm using a beta version of a forthcoming version of Firefox. Not everything is working yet, of course.

Internet news

Our internet connection's been upgraded to a higher speed, the best we can get in this area. Alas, ADSL2 is not available where we live. Google Maps has a new satellite photo of our area, so our house is now visible (if you know where to look). We're not on StreetView, as Carlyle Gardens is private property and AFAIK hasn't given permission for the Google car to come through.