From michael at auzzie.net Tue Jan 22 22:07:56 2013 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:07:56 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] Assorted News 47 - Nursing Homes, More Cheap Phones. In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <50FE730C.40000@auzzie.net> *In this edition: ** *This edition comes to you from the Palliative Care ward of Armidale Public Hospital. *Latest News: What's going on with Val & Mike. $30 a month unlimited calls, texts and 6GB internet, prepaid, on Telstra! New Exetel wireless broadband plans and changes. * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *What's going on with Val & Mike.* ** Up until last Tuesday I was caring full time for Val at home, but on 15th January she had lost the ability to stand in addition to being riddled with bedsores, rashes, and a case of Cellulitis that refused to go away. We arranged to transfer up to Armidale Public Hospital to get these conditions treated. Her medication, Tarceva, which helps with slowing or killing her cancer unfortunately was proving to be too ravaging to her skin as well; so for now at least we have stopped that medication. Now I am living in the Armidale Hospital while we await an Aged Care Assessment Team visit. Beyond that, we will likely be moving to one of Armidale's Nursing / Aged Care homes. Exactly which one I am not sure, and if you have any suggestions or stories - good or bad - I'd be happy to hear them. We have tried standing up a few times since, but she no longer has the strength in her lower legs; probably due to muscle wasting care of the steroid she's on to protect her brain. I could in theory continue to care for her at home as we do now have a hoist etc; but she feels safer at the hospital now. I really thought she'd be unhappy about not going home, but that doesn't seem to be the case. On the other hand she gets many visitors here, and a steady diet and routine; and no need to worry about if I'm getting enough sleep. I guess also, now that she can't stand means she can't get into the car at all - and I'm pretty sure the RTA would not take kindly to me buying a single cab ute, making it a convertible, taking out the front passenger seat, attaching a crane to it and using it to lift Val, chair and all into the car! Perhaps a motorbike with a wheelchair-compatible side car is the only vehicle that would be practical while living in Armidale. Or I could just be sane and use a Maxi Taxi. Being a full time carer is rather mentally and physically draining so I have done very little other work over the last few months. Before we left home, it was typical for a single toilet trip to take over half an hour, showering and getting organised in the morning over an hour, getting into the car alone was a 15 minute exercise by the time you put the mat down (bare foot), wheel her to the car, run back and close the house door, fire up the oxygen concentrator, hook up her oxygen, got her fully dressed (yes, outside - the less you stand up the better, skirt and pads. Might've mooned the neighbours but they're a kilometre away!), get the two silk pillowcases on the chair, slide the chair all the way back, put the handy bar on the door jamb, help her stand, turn and fall into the car, grab her ankles and tuck them into the car, pull the seat as far forward as it would go while simultaneously lifting her legs, throw the seatbelt over, collapse the wheelchair and shove it on the back seat, followed by the mat, close the doors, turn off the concentrator, start the car, turn the concentrator back on, check it's still connected. You soon get the hang of all the new routines. The washing machine would be running two times a day to keep up with clothing, bedding, towels, etc since part of Val's condition caused her to leak 300ml of fluid from her legs daily along with other problems I won't go in to. Anyway, now that we're in the hospital; much of the load is off me. Now it's more about helping her eat, moving her limbs around to prevent more sores, helping with bed pans and the like; and of course keeping her well stocked with movies and TV shows. (I've bought many creature comforts such as 3TB of movies and TV shows and a remote she can use to choose what to watch.) The room here has a fold-out bed so I have a home-away-from-home. It's also a great relief being able to just circle items on a menu each day and they magically appear; rather than having to cook everything at home. It's still no walk in the park; but it's much easier to look after someone when all those little things are taken care of for you. I'm still not currently doing any other computer work I'm afraid. I wonder if those "Three Green Frogs" are any good - what a bizarre name! I return to the house every now and then; have several valued friends who also go out now and then; have the cameras so I can watch it from here; and have this Record Player that feeds the dog. *$30 a month unlimited calls, texts and 6GB internet, prepaid, on Telstra! *OK here's something I never thought I'd see. Kogan Mobile is offering a prepaid mobile phone plan that uses Telstra instead of Optus; with the amazing price of just $30 for unlimited phone calls and texts in Australia plus 6GB of Internet. There is a caveat that it apparently doesn't work everywhere, but I know it works at Black Mountain. It is also speed limited to 7Mbps instead of Telstra's maximum of about 40Mbps, but most people are happy with 1Mbps so it's not a big deal. Trial SIMs cost $5. Very high demand and a few teething problems; but I sorted one out just before we went to hospital and it hasn't missed a beat. http://www.koganmobile.com.au/ So, if you're paying more than $30 a month for your mobile phone bill, you're probably paying too much. Tip: If you decide to port from Telstra, you need to include the spaces in your account number when activating the service. Also, use this with a half decent Android smartphone or iPhone, and you probably no longer need your home broadband connection or your landline unless you download a lot. If you've got bad reception in parts of your house, combine it with a set of Bluetooth cordless phones. *New Exetel wireless broadband plans and changes. * Those buggers at Exetel have released a few new mobile broadband plans that are better value than their existing high usage ones, but the casual one is about to go up by $2 a month. The new plans: Plan Name Monthly Access Included Data** Total Minimum Cost S2 $15.90 2 GB $15.90 S5A $23.90 5 GB $23.90 S10 $33.90 10 GB $33.90 S15 $49.90 15 GB $49.90 S20 $69.90 20 GB $69.90 *Mobile Broadband Excess Usage Charges* Cost of 1MB Excess Data** $0.02 ** Data (both up and down) is charged per kilobyte and the monthly bill is rounded to the nearest megabyte. If you have an existing service, you can probably change to one of these services. If not, I can help you order one, but it will be delivered by mail. More info at http://www.exetel.com.au/residential-hspa-pricing.php *Old Editions *You can find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://auzzie.net/cccblog/ You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Fax: 02 8212 9582 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Thu Mar 14 10:24:49 2013 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Thu, 14 Mar 2013 10:24:49 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] Val has passed away. Message-ID: <51410AC1.1000205@auzzie.net> Hi all. Just a quick note that my partner, Val, passed away yesterday morning around 7:10am. She was last communicative about 23 hours before, so it was a mercifully quick and relatively pain-free passing. The relief at the end with the final breaths was beautiful and peaceful, and happened at the same time that the credits were rolling for her favourite movie, Jack Frost. (It was on repeat quietly overnight.) Val has asked for a cremation, and we are having a funeral service at Piddingtons Armidale on Monday morning @ 10am. It's right near the roundabout closest to the airport. Anyone is welcome to attend. The pre-planned content of the service itself will be relatively short on content as Val was not overly religious, so it would be great time for any of you who have fond memories of Val's impacts on your lives to be able to get up and say a few words :) If you're worried about public speaking or being emotionally overwhelmed, the celebrant is happy to read them for you. Funerals are of course a sad event, but are also there for us to celebrate the wonderful person we knew; and depending on your beliefs may still be with us in other ways. Please pass this message on to others who might not be on this list and who you think might have known Val and might want to attend :) Thank you all for your support over this time. Kind Regards, Michael Kean. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Fax: 02 8212 9582 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: aehabbhf.png Type: image/png Size: 566280 bytes Desc: not available URL: From michael at auzzie.net Sun Apr 14 12:45:52 2013 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:45:52 +1000 Subject: [CCC News] Assorted News 48.5. More Cheap Phone & Internet Stuff, Buy and Sell, and Geocaching. In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <516A1860.4040301@auzzie.net> *In this edition: ** *This edition comes to you from Black Mountain. *Latest News: Val's Memorial PowerPoint. What's Mike Doing? More Cheap Phone options. The Amazing Buy Swap Sell Facebook Page. Geocaching - An Excuse To Go Exploring :) Bitcoin Rollercoaster. ** * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Val's Memorial PowerPoint. *If you'd like to see Val's 5 Minute Memorial PowerPoint Presentation, you can get it here. http://web.auzzie.net/files/Remembering%20Val%20v3.zip If anyone wants a copy of the video of the service, her garden, artwork and life photos and videos, let me know. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *What's Mike Doing? *I'm slowly getting through all the stuff that happens after your partner passes away. Once this is all finalised, I'll write another newsletter detailing a few tips on how to survive an event like this. I'm still going through the rebuilding process. Soon I will do a bit of traveling. Not much work happening yet as I need to get my home, office and myself back in order first. Feel free to ask anyway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *More Cheap Phone Options.* How does $45 a month for a landline + unlimited calls mobile + 5GB of Internet sound? I haven't yet been able to personally try some of these services, but they're out there. Here's the details. /*1 - Turn your Landline into a Cordless Landline for $10 a month wi*//*th a Dead Bird.*/ See https://connectto.dodo.com/BuddyBox2/ Most people don't like to get rid of their landline because their friends all know their number. Now you can keep that number and do away with the Telstra landline completely - provided you can get Optus reception somewhere in your house. You still use your existing landline phones. Note that I'm not necessarily recommending you make calls on this service. Use it to receive, but use the unlimited mobile mentioned next to make calls and for Internet access. Note: This won't work when the power's off, but you probably still have a mobile phone. If you're of poor health you might prefer the security of keeping the landline instead for around $26 a month minimum - it might make 000 calls finding you slightly faster but I don't know for sure. /*2 - Grab an Unlimited Calls mobile*/. If you're paying more than $35-$45 a month on your phone bills - landline & mobile combined - but don't make overseas calls, then you're paying too much. You can instead grab an Aldi Unlimited service https://www.aldimobile.com.au/plans or a Boost Unlimited service http://www.boost.com.au/frontend/rates.aspx Both use the Telstra mobile network, although Boost is a little faster with a little more coverage, but with less data. Both are prepaid services, so there's no risk of overspend, and no contract. Last newsletter I mentioned Kogan. There have been too many conditions added since their plan was released, making it unsuitable for use as an Internet service. (They added a limit of 400MB a day for two days or you get the boot. Unconscionable.) /*3 - Internet through the mobile phone. */Most modern mobile phones will share their internet connection wirelessly to multiple computers. Since the above plans include a fair bit of data, you can use this on your computer or tablet. You probably have no need to pay for ADSL or a Wireless Stick unless you need more than 5GB a month. And as a bonus, there's no risk of excess fees./* *//*Summary: */So, if you think you can get used to making all your calls through a mobile phone - even one of those basic ones with the big buttons - you can probably save a significant sum of money. I'm not fully up on NBN plans yet, that'll be next newsletter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *The Amazing Buy Swap Sell Facebook Page. *You've all heard of Ebay. Most of you have heard of Gumtree. I suspect most of you have not heard of "Armidale Buy, Swap, Sell." (I hadn't, but then I've been living in my own world for a while now. Thanks Campbell Wolfenden for the tip.) I'm not a great fan of Facebook as you probably know, but was amazed at how many people are in this group, and how much stuff is being bought and sold on an hourly basis there. (Cars, Ducks, Couches, Fridges, Clothing, Lamps, BBQs, Baby Stuff, Phones, Speakers, Goats...) If you're not on Facebook, it's worth it just to access this site. At present, there are 6,800 members. Not bad for a small town the size of Armidale! There are a number of simple rules to use the site, and it is loosely moderated. I think part of the success of this site comes down to being able to see who the buyers and sellers are care of their Facebook profiles. It's not open to the general public so you mostly won't get the scams that Gumtree and Paypal attract, but you might still get time wasters. I think the address for the page is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/buyswapsell/ but I'm not a Facebook expert so I could be wrong. Use the search function if this address is wrong. I believe some other towns, including Guyra, have them as well. It's free to use :) If you're worried about Facebook being able to track you, you might be able to avoid this somewhat by using Facebook in a different browser to your normal browser. (Common choices are Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Internet Explorer) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Geocaching - An Excuse To Go Exploring :) *Do you have a smartphone, tablet or GPS? Do you like to go walking? Do you like Hide & Seek? You might enjoy Geocaching. Geocaching is where somebody places an item, usually in an unusual or hidden location, and records the GPS coordinates of where that item is so others can go find it. I was surprised to find that there are several in the Armidale town area. There's one at Dumaresq Dam too which is a great one to get started with. (Try not to step on the resident Red Bellied Black Snakes - they're usually harmless according to Wikipedia, but you never know.) Another is at Thunderbolt's Cave. I hope to place one at Malpas Dam soon, /still /waiting for permission from Armidale Council. You'd need to register a https://www.geocaching.com/ (or there are probably other sites that do it too.) If you're on Android, search for c:geo in the Play Store. iPhone, perhaps Looking 4 Cache will suit. (I don't have an i-device so don't know for sure, but I know a website where they are always for sale...) In practise, your phone will tell you what's nearby, how many km and in what direction. You can either use the compass mode or the map mode. Part of the challenge is that your phone can generally only take you accurately within 10 metres of the cache, so there's still some searching to be done. Many caches have 'hints' to help you find them. Many caches have a logbook so you can write in them, and the website also has a logbook so you can see who else has found the cache, write your own story, share photos, etc. *Bitcoin Rollercoaster. *A couple of years ago I mentioned Bitcoin in a newsletter - an online cryptocurrency. At that time, one Bitcoin was worth about $1. A few days ago it peaked at $250 before dropping back to $95 at present. Some early adopters did very well. The sudden rise was largely attributed to the dramas in Cyprus as people may have been looking for a 'safe haven' for their money. There was also some coverage in the mainstream media, and it was added as a currency on http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/MTGOXUSD There are many theories as to why it fell again so fast. An over-reliance on the most popular exchange, MtGox, which suffered from DDOS and overwhelming demand has probably dropped the price again. It's also such a small market relative to traditional currencies that it's probably quite easy for people to game the system. More info at http://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/ http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1663664&p=70 If you're an economist, you might find Bitcoin fascinating since it is a forced deflationary currency whereas we are all used to inflationary currencies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Old Editions *You can used to be able to find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://auzzie.net/cccblog/ You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Fri Aug 9 22:38:35 2013 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 22:38:35 +1000 Subject: [CCC News] Assorted News 49: Rebooting... In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <5204E2CB.5060201@auzzie.net> *In this edition: ** *This edition comes to you from the United Kingdom. (Heathrow Airport.) *Latest News: What's Mike Been Doing? Rebooting... Turn Windows 8 into 'Windows 7' for $5 US Free File Sync (and backup) tool - BitTorrent Sync. (Can replace DropBox, works with Android phones too!) Giving Thanks. ** * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *What's Mike Been Doing? *Well, since Val's recent passing my life has of course been turned somewhat upside down; so I guess it only fitting that for the last two months I have been at the other side of the world, visiting family and friends in Wales, UK and Ireland. Prior to that I've just been mostly kicking back at home, trying to get over the loss, and occasionally doing unusual stuff such as attending Roller Derby events, geocaching, learning how to skate, bush walks, etc. Some other plans haven't come to fruition yet - my plan to do the Goulburn rail trail for example has been scuppered for now when the charger for the new bike battery turned out to be DOA. That can wait. This current adventure started exactly three months to the day that Val passed - and although it has been at times incredibly stressful to have taken myself so far out of my comfort zone, I have had the love and support of family and friends to help me through. As I write, however, I'm less than a day away from getting onto the plane back to Oz via Dubai; and while I now feel stronger and less 'brain damaged' than I did; I have to admit that leaving all my family and some new close friends behind, both here in the UK and in Ireland, is going to be hard; and I'm not looking forward to the 18 hours on the plane. Once I'm back behind the wheel of the Commodore, and later making myself useful to the world again by doing what I do best, I am hoping that the melancholy will continue to wear off and I'll be back to my cheery self. The ol' water works still strikes me at random times, but the severity is lessening. About 500 photos from the trip are available at https://plus.google.com/photos/116830952460629218664/albums/5891544975569462593 *Rebooting... *So, what now then? I've been somewhat out of the game now for almost a year. Windows 8 has come along and irritated a lot of you. (And me!) I've lost a number of customers by necessity - It's been hard to have to leave many of you to the unknown mercy of Armidale Computers, Amac Digital Products, Lorraine's Computer Services, RMIT, Mac One, Computer Support Team, Dave McKay and who knows who else! Hopefully those of you who have had to try these other sources of support have been met with a reasonable level of service. I wouldn't mind hearing of your experiences actually as I am considering possibly approaching one or more of these companies so that if I ever have to take a similar leave of absence in future, it won't be such a traumatic event. Sadly I have also let a few customers down while Val was ill, and since her passing, by simply not being able to do a quality job. I'm still terribly disorganised stock-wise, house-wise and back then I just didn't have the brainpower or the passion for the job any more. I'm hoping that all of those traits will return for me. One such customer was left with a somewhat dysfunctional phone system, another ended up losing the name for his website, etc. The worst affected weren't billed. Exetel's broadband plans have changed around a few times, still not quite the value they used to be but keeping an eye on them. NBN is still happening. Mobiles and Tablets continue to be popular. And while I was here I acquired the new skill of replacing the broken glass on an iPad after a *four year old* iPad owner's parents managed to drop theirs. A painstaking multi-hour operation for sure, but a new skill I can probably put to use given how many people seem to break theirs on Armidale Buy Swap Sell! (And yes it was a freebie job for them since I am not allowed to work in the UK!) But what am I going to do workwise now? I'm thinking for the time being I will continue with what I know - that is the usual on-site computer repairs, installs, upgrades; and if my brain will handle it perhaps a little database / programming work again too - although before Val died I was starting to get a bit saturated with programming work so I will have to watch that I don't get overloaded with it. I'm also going to have to review what happens regarding website hosting and design. My skills there are getting quite out of date as the Internet technology moves on. Again I am hoping to re-find the inspiration to catch up on those particular skills, but I'm not sure that web development will remain a key part. Mobile Broadband is something I'll have to give some more serious thought to as well. When I started selling it years ago it was a wonderful, liberating product to get into people's homes and businesses; but over the years some of those (Optus) modems have proven to be woefully unreliable as they age; and worse still sometimes people's services just seem to get worse over time and it's often completely out of my control. The worst are for example when I travel out to someone's place 30km out, put up a lovely new antenna for them, get a nice fast speed on Telstra (typically) only to get a call some weeks or months later saying it's all gone bad - and when I get out there I can't make it better because the problem is not in the equipment but rather because someone at Telstra or Optus changed something, or a tree grew in between the line of sight. Hopefully the NBN Satellite stuff is coming on line now to resolve those kinds of issues, but it's another thing I need to get back into the groove and research a bit :) On the other hand, most mobile phone plans include wireless broadband now, doing away with those pesky modems. Anyway, with all that in mind, I plan to resume working to a small degree at least from about the 15th, and have, as you'd expect, a bit of a backlog to deal with. Future newsletters will hopefully get you all informed as to where I'm up to! *Turn Windows 8 into 'Windows 7' for $5 US *A common question I get is 'how can I get Windows 7 back' when someone buys a new computer. I've had that a few times even while I've been overseas as my sister opted to buy a new lappie while I was here. If you too can't stand, or simply don't want to learn, the new tabletty interface on Windows 8, you can install "Start8" which will bring back most of the Windows 7 behaviour you're used to. (Also useful if you're used to Windows XP etc.) With Start8, your computer starts up just like you're used to with Windows 7 and before - to the desktop.There are still a few issues such as choosing what email and internet programs to use (which of course I recommend Firefox, Outlook or Thunderbird, etc.) if you don't want to use the ones Windows 8 foists upon you, or you can also buy "ModernMix" for $5 which puts those pesky full screen WIndows 8 apps back into a resizable window. You can get Start8 free from http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/ - with a free 30 day trial. ModernMix is also available at http://www.stardock.com/products/modernmix/ - with a free 30 day trial. *Free File Sync (and backup) tool - BitTorrent Sync. ***(Can replace DropBox, works with Android phones too!)** Some of you have heard of DropBox? A program that lets you keep folders in sync between multiple computers? Well, now some clever buggers have come up with "BitTorrent Sync" Basically you can choose any folder on your computer, opt to share it, and the computer will give you a secret code. Then, on any other computer (or some phones too!) you can select where you want to store that copy of the folder, give the computer the secret code, and you're done :) I haven't used it a lot yet, so can't guarantee how well it works, but I do know it seems to work well; and is designed to work even with very large files. Files deleted from one computer are put into a "SyncArchive" folder for safety rather than being deleted from the other computers. Versions are also saved for up to 30 days, so if you make the mistake of overwriting a good file with an old one, you have a good chance of getting it back again. BitTorrent Sync is free from http://labs.bittorrent.com/experiments/sync.html You can also use it to sync files, photos, etc between your phone(s) and computer(s). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Giving Thanks! *I with to publicly thank the following people: Val's close friends: Bronwyn Baker, Adrienne & Jack Rapley, Loretta FitzGerald, Lesley Colley, Ian and Di Bibb for all their support. Val's extended family: Ed, Pete x2, Kay, Barry, Rosemary for their support. Ian and Di Bibb, Campbell Wolfenden for checking on the house and animals while I've been away. Val's GP, Dr Brian Glover for his considerate treatment of Val during her illness. BUPA Staff, particularly Janelle, Divya, Mandeep, Liz for their gentle considerate care of Val and Myself. Armidale Hospital staff. Many others - anybody who helped and provided support during the difficult times. Oops - my gate's opening! Better get moving, don't want to miss the plane! Cheers, Mike. PS: This newsletter's distribution was delayed by two days because I didn't dare log in to the mailing list system while using public WiFi in Dubai, I'm actually back in the Blue Mountains now, enjoying a few days of rest here to get over the jetlag. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Old Editions *You can used to be able to find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://auzzie.net/cccblog/ (I will fix it one day!) You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Chat contacts: WLM: michael at auzzie.net Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From michael at auzzie.net Sat Dec 14 21:12:54 2013 From: michael at auzzie.net (Michael Kean) Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2013 21:12:54 +1100 Subject: [CCC News] Assorted News 50: The Slow Recovery... In-Reply-To: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> References: <4F3F3C14.9000205@auzzie.net> Message-ID: <52AC2F26.3040201@auzzie.net> *In this edition: ** *This edition comes to you from Black Mountain. *Latest News: Holiday Hours, etc. ** Make your old computer / laptop four times faster? The cheapest call rates around? Make your new touch screen phone easy to use? Get your start button back for free! NBN Plans Revisited. Possible Cheap ADSL plan for new customers. Other Stuff * ** Cheap Video Surveillance! * A Fun Way to 'broadcast' your music :) The Slow Recovery... Cold Urticaria My Visitor from Ireland :) * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Holiday Hours, etc.* I'm going to be traveling around again a fair bit from 22nd December until early January, with some possible short, fun trips away in Feb as well. Read on to find out why :) So, get in quick if you need something before Christmas! **Make your computer about four times faster? **Did you know that in almost all computers and laptops, the slowest part by far is the Hard Drive? Much faster alternatives called "Solid State Drives" have been available for a while, but have begun to become affordable. They are many times faster than traditional hard disks. So, if you have a laptop or desktop that is less than about eight years old and want to give it a serious speed boost, replacing the hard drive with an SSD could be just what you need!I can honestly say you may find your computer performs four times faster. Drive prices start from about $100 and increase depending on the size you need. (Click Start - Computer - Hard Disk to see how much space you have used.) Installation and copying is usually done as an overnight operation for $50, provided I have a suitable drive in stock. Order time takes about a week. If you don't find an improvement, I'll happily refund the installation cost. *The cheapest call rates around? *As the world continues to change, mobiles are increasingly becoming cheaper than landlines. For prices starting at about $35 a month you may find you can cover all your needs. Here's a quick summary of who's offering what. Note that these are just a small selection, and may be subject to change. Each has its pros and cons. If you know a better plan let me know please :) Name Network Price per Month Calls (Australian Landline and Mobile) SMS (Australian) Internet Notes How to get it? Aldi Telstra 3G $35 40 hours per month, limit 5 hours per day 2000 per month, limit 500 per day 2500MB per month, limit 400MB per day. Prepaid. Rules loosely enforced. Cheap international call rates available but no international SMS, no roaming. Order online or buy SIM at Aldi Shop. Boost Telstra $40 Unlimited Unlimited 3000MB per month Prepaid. Very expensive international rates. Pick up a SIM at post office, electronics shops, supermarkets. Amaysim Optus $40 Unlimited Unlimited 4000MB per month Prepaid or post-paid available. Pick up a SIM at post office, electronics shops, supermarkets. Exetel Optus $40 Approx. 10 hours a month. Unlimited 2000MB per month Approx. 5,000 international SMS per month in exchange for call credit. Order online or ask me to order it for you. (I may get a tiny commission.) TPG Optus $30 Approx. 6 hours a month Unlimited 1500MB per month Massive excess data fees. Unlimited International SMS. Order online. *Make your new touch screen phone easy to use? *Following on from the above story - many people like the comfort and security of an old fashioned phone with buttons. And that's fine. However, many people end up with a new touch screen phone and end up finding them confusing or suffer from 'sausage fingers' :-) The good news is that for many of them they can be reprogrammed to be really easy to use, with just six big buttons on the screen. Phone. Message. Camera, etc. You can even make them be a 'dial this person' button with a picture of the person's face on it. (Quite useful when Val was losing her cognitive and motor skills - just push the face of the person you want to call.) Click Here to find out more about Big Launcher. I have successfully used this program on large screen touch-phones such as the $100 Huawei Ascend so that even non tech-savvy customers can move away from expensive landline and internet bills. Note however that setting up a new phone like this takes a surprisingly long time - up to two hours in some cases by the time all is said and done. So, please be aware that it may cost you up to $100 (a special rate!) in labour for me to set you up with a new mobile service, a new phone, connection to your computer and table from the phone, and the Big Launcher program. *Get your Start Button back for Free :) *Windows 8 sure gets a mixed response from people. It's generally pretty quick, and if you know how to use the new interface, you can live with it. But many of us don't particularly like the change - especially full screen programs that get in the way with no obvious way to get out of them. Last newsletter, I mentioned a $5 program to get your start menu back. Turns out there's a free program too that works just as well as the paid one. It's called "Classic Shell". You can get it for free from here. Within a couple of minutes, you'll have your familiar start menu back again. *NBN Plans Revisited. *Armidale and other residents can check NBN availabity here. * * I have installed and worked on a few NBN connections now, mostly without incident A full list of Fibre and Wireless providers is at http://www.nbnco.com.au/get-an-nbn-connection/certified-service-providers.html A full list of Satelllite NBN Providers is at http://www.nbnco.com.au/get-an-nbn-connection/certified-service-providers/satellite-service-providers.html Exetel Plans start at about $50 a month and have the option to include your existing landline number for only $5 a month, meaning no more separate line rental. Startup costs are about $50 to $200 depending on your needs. 12 month contract and $100 early termination applies. If you include my agent code N040 I think I get 3% but not sure. I have heard rumours and sightings that Guyra's NBN or Wireless NBN work is still progressing, but have no ETAs. Feel free to call or email me with questions on how the NBN works. *Cheap ADSL Plans for New Customers. *Just a quick note that one of Exetel's suppliers is currently giving them a discount for new customer connections, so you may be able to get 100GB of Internet a month for only $30 a month (Armidale) or $40 month (Guyra, rural exchanges) via ADSL*. *Unfortunately this only applies to new customers because of the way the incentive is offered to Exetel, although it might be possible to cheat by disconnecting then reconnecting. Click here to check what you can get. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Cheap Video Surveillance! *Would you like to be able to look out your window at home while you're away? Perhaps to look into a paddock and see what's happening? Or even be alerted when someone enters your property? These days with cheap smart phones and the Internet, it's becoming surprisingly easy! For example: A cheap Android phone will set you back about $70 these days, new; or you might have one kicking around unused. Throw IP Webcam on it, and with a little configuration you will have yourself a camera that you can look through via another phone or the Internet at your leisure. Use the paid version if you want it to record video when there's movement etc; or you can use the free I-Spy program on any spare computer to connect as many cameras as you like and pretend you own a supermarket! (Well, a few of my customers actually do!) If you want to have some more fun, you can use something like "Mobile Alarm System" to notify you when someone picks up your phone, moves past it, or even talks too loud. In more serious cases, you could use it to call or text you when any of those things happen. Mind you, this is probably all just a solution looking for a problem! Car or Bicycle alarm? Too lazy to walk to your mailbox? Train the dog to keep away from the rubbish bin? Horse Float Camera to make sure Phar Lap's travelling OK? *A Fun way to 'Broadcast' your music?* Another thing you can do with your spare Android mobile phones or tablets is turn them into a 'speaker' for your main phone. In other words, you can be playing music on your phone in your pocket and it will also come out of the other phone(s) at the same time. Not especially useful by itself, but if you connect the spare phone to a stereo or a nice set of speakers or even an FM transmitter, you can now control the music from your phone. It's a 'no wires' way of having your music all through the house and garden. See "SoundSeeder" for example. There are also bluetooth gadgets you can buy for your stereo that do a similar thing. *The Slow Recovery... *Well, Val's passing certainly takes its toll on me in ways I hadn't anticipated, and the effects were quite delayed. Some days are quite manageable. Other days can be complete write-offs. I've had times of complete depression. I've had intermittent anxiety with undetermined sources.I've had sleepless nights where even one small thing could make it seem like I'd never be on top of things again. I've had the occasional day where I just wouldn't get out of bed. I've had unexpected anger and frustration. I've had pretty much all the things that you can get I think :) During this time, occasionally customers have called and received the 'this is a bad day' answering machine message; and as a result many of you have shared similar stories. People who seem fully functional in society yet still they too can find they have a 'can't get out of bed' day. It's a hard slog that I don't wish upon any of you, and it changes you and your values. The good news is that I believe I am improving, and I have a support network online and IRL to help me through. It takes time. My mental powers are still somewhat diminished, making me a bit 'absent minded' from time to time so I occasionally find I am still quite inefficient but I'm getting better. My job asks a lot of me in that I need to think of multiple things at once being self employed; so it can be quite frustrating when I find I've missed stuff. However I know I'm still a bit damaged so I can largely laugh it off and just accept that I'm inefficient at the moment. Hopefully some of you also get a laugh from it! *Cold Urticaria. *In recent months (or possibly years looking back at past possible occurrences) I seem to have developed a mildly annoying skin condition called Cold Urticaria. Basically, if an area of my skin gets cold, it goes red, itchy and lumpy. Not the best thing to have in Guyra / Armidale! Oh well, will see what winter brings. Some sites say it can be a transient condition. I've only asked one GP about it so far but he was not concerned about it and never got back to me re possible tests. It's probably related to stress. It is comically annoying at times 'tho! Can't hold a cold drink in my hand for long. Belly gets sore riding a bicycle if it's windy and I start sweating so I have to wear a jacket. I can't clean the fish tank without my hand threatening to seize up. Aah well, if that's the only health complaint I get after all this, it's not too bad. Maybe in time as my anxiety levels slowly diminish, so with the condition. *My Visitor from Ireland :) *Not long after Val's departure I befriended a lady and fellow widow from Ireland, who I stayed with for a few weeks while also visiting my family in Wales and the UK. We had a great time touring around Ireland when time allowed, whilst also sharing the sad experiences from our losses. In January the tables will be turned, and it will be my turn to show her around Australia :) She's never been here before, and we are both looking forward to the adventure. Her interests - apart from spending time with a cooky IT guy - are mainly in checking out nature and new experiences. Unfortunately I will still need to work now and then throughout Jan / Feb, but she is interested in tagging along sometimes in order to meet new people and experience life in Australia, and just to relax away from her almost daily in-home care jobs and the chilly Irish winter. I'm hoping she might be able to get a little work experience with a nursing home too, just to see how it compares to the Irish ones she's worked in; although chances are OH&S or whatever they call it these days might get in the way! Anyway, so if you have any suggestions on places to go besides the usual waterfalls and dams, let me know :) I may also take her to stay for a week in my relatives' holiday home in Brunswick, and / or on a road trip to Mildura via Coonabarrabran, Dubbo, Parkes, etc. And Coffs of course; although she isn't too keen on being eaten by sharks! --- Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry it's been so long between newsletters; and thank you all for your kind words of encouragement through this time. It's nice to think I might at last be coming out the other side of the cloud and healing process. I wish you all an enjoyable Christmas break, and a happy and pleasant 2014! I will be spending Christmas with family and friends. Cheers, Mike. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Old Editions *You can used to be able to find old editions of this newsletter on the CCC Blog. http://auzzie.net/cccblog/ (I will fix it one day!) You can also subscribe or unsubscribe at http://auzzie.net/mailman/listinfo/ccc-news_auzzie.net * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Kean *Proprietor, Cool Country Consulting.* Trading Hours: 10am to 8pm weekdays. http://coolhelp.com.au/ Tel: 02 6775 0239 Mob: 0427 644 825 Skype: cccons -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: