[CCC News] Assorted News 50: The Slow Recovery...

Sat Dec 14 21:12:54 AEDT 2013

*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 :)

*
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*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 
<http://www.techbuy.com.au/search.asp?what=BeginSearch&page=1&srchQuery=&min=%240.00&max=%240.00&srchManuf=ALL&fromSearch=1&srchCat=HDD_SOLID_STATE_DRIVES_-_IDE&srchNumRecs=20&srchSortBy=0&rbSrchType=ALL> 
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 <https://www.aldimobile.com.au/plans>
	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 <http://boost.com.au/rates.aspx#bnch01>
	Telstra
	$40
	Unlimited
	Unlimited 	3000MB per month
	Prepaid. Very expensive international rates.
	Pick up a SIM at post office, electronics shops, supermarkets.
Amaysim <http://www.amaysim.com.au/mobile-plans/amaysim-unlimited.html>
	Optus
	$40
	Unlimited
	Unlimited
	4000MB per month
	Prepaid or post-paid available.
	Pick up a SIM at post office, electronics shops, supermarkets.
Exetel <http://www.exetel.com.au/residential-mobile-plans_4G.php>
	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 <http://www.tpg.com.au/mobile/plans.php>
	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. <http://biglauncher.com/>

I have successfully used this program on large screen touch-phones such 
as the $100 Huawei Ascend 
<http://www.dicksmith.com.au/prepaid-mobile-phones/telstra-huawei-ascend-y300-prepaid-dsau-em5202> 
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. 
<http://www.classicshell.net/> 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. 
<http://www.nbnco.com.au/iframe/map/rollout-map.html>*
*
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 
<http://www.exetel.com.au/residential-fibre-overview.php> 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. 
<http://www.exetel.com.au/broadband.php>

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*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 
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pas.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 <http://www.ispyconnect.com/> 
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" 
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alarmsystemlite.focus&hl=en>  
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" 
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kattwinkel.android.soundseeder.player&hl=en> 
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.

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*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
*
*
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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

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