Head in the sand customer service … thanks HP

My HP DV6000 laptop is driving me nuts, it is now a small desktop given that it refuses to charge…

- The power cord and charger are good, they keep it running all the time they are plugged in

- Thought it was the battery, bought a new one but the problem remains

- Search Google, OK looks like everyone that ever bought the machine has the same issue

- Various acts of witch craft and wizardly, removing the battery, reloading, plugging, unplugging, turning off and on – quickly or slowly – an occassional person gets it to go for a while then back to the problem.

- If you have AMD there is a bio’s upgrade that is said to fix it, no such luck with Intel

So you’d think when 1000’s of people log the problem on HP sites and all over the internet of the exact same problem with the exact same machine someone would have an answer, or at least HP would be able to tell you they are looking into it …. nope.

Guess what my next laptop won’t be!  Love the clear graphics screen but hate the company and (lack of) customer support.

 

Baby white faced herons

…. and this one by the other half in the work carpark.

 

Fig Birds

These photo’s were taken of a male and female fig bird in the palm tree.  It was taken from the balcony of an apartment we rented in Noosa recently.  The birds are quite striking on their own but I loved the combination of the lime green palm leaves and red berries.

 

Movember 2009

Movember is about changing the face of mens health.

Close to 3000 men die of prostrate cancer in Australia every year and one in eight will suffer from depression in their lifetime. Drew is putting down the razor and growing a “Mo” for the month to raise funds for this cause.

If you can help, your sponsorship through this link would be appreciated. Thank you.

P.S.  Weekly update photos to follow!

 

Argh! There are snakes under my front path

A couple of weeks ago I found a snake skin in the garden …

now its the whole darn snake …

.. and yes I do know that it is tiny … but it is living outside my lounge room window …. ARGHHHHH!

 

Festive Fruit Mince

Well the shops seem to think it is Christmas with all the decorations up already so felt inspired on the weekend to put down the fruitmince to marinade in all those good boozy flavours. I was given this recipe last year and it is quick and easy, it makes a chunky mix as you chop not mince the fruit but is really good.

 

Brisbane Botanic Gardens (Mt Coot-tha)

Brisbane has two Botanic Gardens, one in the city on the river which is the older one and Mt Coot-tha gardens which were established in the 70’s after the city ones had been flooded 8 times and it was decided that to preserve the valuable collections a less disaster prone site needed to be found. The city ones are still beautifully kept and a great retreat from the city in the middle of the day or taking a river ferry in on the weekend but this was my first visit to the Mt Coot-tha ones.

Insects collect pollen from a Jockey Cap

These water monitors are everywhere through the park but this demanding one came into the cafe

Like floating shamrocks ... lucky for some

This is so my complementary colour ...

This is a tropical palm but reminds me of the NZ Koru (oh and that the All Blacks won in Japan!)

 

I’ve become a Facebook Junkie … and neglected the blog

Well actually in truth I’ve been having so much fun with taking photos now I have my new Canon 450d and I joined a ‘photo of the day’ group on Facebook so that’s been taking up my online time. Here is todays photo, we think these two are are quite young but they turned up in our back yard this morning with what appeared to be a fully mature and more shy Kookabura to join in the feeding with the Magpies and Butcher birds.

 

Brisbane Photo Walk

My photography has been sadly neglected lately and in need of some inspiration so I am really excited about joining the [Brisbane] Worldwide photo walk on Saturday 18th July. This is the second year it’s been run so I guess you can now officially call it an annual event and with 17,000 photographers expected to take part it is definitely well attended on an international scale. The visionary behind the idea is Scott Kelby and you can check out more on the website here and find your nearest group if you are interested in being a part of it.

Our leader is Jan Ramsey of Eye on Photography, you can check out some of her work here. I am really looking forward to meeting the other photographers from the area and although I expect to be one of the least experienced I am still hoping for a miracle and one decent shot!

We are starting out at 8.30am from the Eagle Farm Racecourse Gates and plan to end up at New Farm for lunch and to compare our photos from the morning.

.. and finally, if you are going to join one of these walks, or organise your own there are some great tip in this article by Terry Reinert.

 

It’s here … Movie Trailer for Harry Potter and Half Blood Prince

It has been a long time coming but the next Harry Potter movie is due out 15th July 2009.

With the books finished I don’t think the lead up to this one has been quite as hyped as the earlier releases but from the looks of the trailer the movie will be every bit as good as the ones that have gone before and there is no questions I’ll be queuing up to see it pretty quick.  You can watch the full trailer version here.  The effects like amazing.

 

Sea World: Polar Bear Shores

We got year long tickets to Sea World to celebrate our first year in Australia, it has turned out to be a great purchase and we got good use from it both by ourselves and with various visitors to Queensland.  The polar bears are one of my favourites even though they don’t do so much any more now they are much bigger and tend to only be out in the enclosure one at a time.  Here are some photos I took when we visited a few weeks ago:

and this montage done with photos from a couple of years ago when Hudson and Nelson were just cubs … and a whole lot more active.

 

Buddha Birth Day Festival 2009

The Buddha Birth Day Festival runs annually in the Southbank Parklands to commemorate the birth of the Buddha, Siddhartha, it is a multi-cultural festival incorporating food, dancing, stalls, Buddhist meditation, ceremonies, talks and fireworks.

Although a celebration of a Buddhist holiday and principally organised by the Chung Tien Temple in Priestdale it has wide appeal and attracts around 150,000 people each year to the 3 day event.

We took the ferry from Bulimba and enjoyed the shows and a day in the sunshine.

 

Thai Lily

It has been ages since we’ve been out for Thai so when my inlaws recommended this local Thai place they’d been to with friends I was pretty quick to agree I’d had enough of cooking this week.

I do have to admit though that with a very hectic week both this weeks layouts were quick pages, this one by Maelia Designs – Mon Jardin Enchante.

And because some time I have to catch up on most of 2007 and 2008 scrapping here is one from October 2008 taken at Sea World.

OK so this wasn’t really inspired by any pure intentions of catching up on scrapping but by this fabulous quickpage freebie released by Irene Alexeeva on her blog today.  I always love her new kits and this page is a teaser for next weeks release so given I LOVE the colours I can’t wait to see the whole thing.

 

Brisbane Jazz Club: 52 Layouts

We love the Brisbane Jazz Club and wanted to take Carol and Laurie for an evening there while they were in Brisbane.  Shannan Marshall and his band ‘the 20 Buck Dessert’ played there on Saturday so we enjoyed an evening of soul jazz.  It was the first time I’d heard them play live and totally recommend it but then I am a huge fan of the trumpet and soul style.  You can see their myspace page and hear some of there music here.

And if you do want to check them out live they will appear in several venues during the (Fortitude) Valley Jazz Festival in Brisbane in mid May.  A full listing of their gigs is also shown on Myspace (link above).

 

52 Layouts: Indigiscapes

More sunshine, took a coffee stop and a walk around Indigiscapes, sadly no Koala sightings this time but I am sure I heard him  – just teasing me again, I’m sure they sit up there laughing at me not spotting them.

Terrible photos but I wanted to do a page of our visit there with the in-laws so used what I had.

 

52 Layouts: 16 and 17

Well I have to post on my 52 layouts challenge this week – despite having no plan or discipline what so ever – I have somehow managed to make it to week 17 and have just uploaded layout 16 and 17 to the web page.  In honesty it is a total fluke but it makes me sound like I have everything under control and as nothing else is going much to plan at the moment I’m going to pat myself on the back and celebrate this very small success.

 

The Point: Little Stanley Street

My in-laws are over from New Zealand and staying for a few weeks so last weekend with the sun shining again after a week of rain we took the ferry along the Brisbane River to Southbank for lunch.

The Point is one of my favourite cafes along little Stanley Street, it has a great menu and is positioned on a corner to perfectly catch whatever breeze is around.

For those not from the area little Stanley Street runs adjacent to the Southbank Parklands directly behind the Streets Beach area and is one long line of cafes and restaurants so there is no shortage of choice and plenty of space for a stroll along the river afterwards.

P.S. – This super cute kit and quick pages are by Amy Cheeseman.

 

By candlelight for Earth Hour

I completely forgot to post this photo – I took it during Earth Hour on the 28th March, an event organised by WWF to raise awareness of the impacts of global warming.  Families, businesses and governments are asked to turn off lights and electrical appliances where safe and practical for one hour.

This year it is thought that over 1 billion people participated and did their bit to send the message to the governments of the world that we are taking global warming seriously and would like them to as well.

You can read more about Earth Hour here.

 

The Big Banana

And the same weekend here is the second ‘Big Thing’ to be added to our album.  It was pouring with rain and there were loads of people waiting to get their photo taken with the banana – theres me up the back.

 

The BIG Prawn

The BIG stuff has become a bit iconic as you travel around Australia, they are a loosely connected group of statues and constructions that represent something of the area they are in.  I believe it all started with the BIG Banana in New South Wales in 1964 although I’m sure someone will challenge me on the real state of origin.

For many travellers it has become a bit of a laugh to jump out of the car – get in the photo if you feasibly can and add it to the happy snap album of your latest trip.

So here is the first blogged addition to our BIG Stuff collection.