Bluebottle jellyfish

If a tentacle attaches itself to a human, it releases a poison (through the use of nematocysts), and if you continue to rub the skin after the tentacle has been removed more poison or venom will be released. If you are stung, it is best to wash the area without touching. A cold pack should be used to relieve the pain.




bluebottle at Maroubra beach

Big Screen Cinemas

 

MOONLIGHT CINEMA (moonlight.com.au)

Belvedere Amphitheatre, Centennial Park, entry via Woollahra Gate, off Oxford St, Paddington;

December 9-March 20

Gates open 7pm

Mmovie starts about 8.30pm

$14-$36

 

 

 

STARLIGHT CINEMA  (starlightcinema.com.au)

North Sydney Oval, Miller St, North Sydney

January 19-March 5

Gates open 7pm

Movie starts about 8.30pm

$8-$20

Contact:  9949 3137

 

 

 

DIVE IN MOVIES (willoughbylesiure.com.au)

Willoughby Leisure Centre, Small St, Willoughby

December 17, January 14 and 28, February 18 and March 18, 7.30pm

$6.50

Bookings essential

Contact:  9958 5799

 

 

 

ST.GEORGE OPENAIR CINEMA (stgeorge.com.au/openair)

St.George OpenAir Cinema, Mrs Macquaries Point, adjacent to Royal Botanic Gardens; January 12-February 19 (excludes January 15, 22 and 29)

Gates, bar and restaurant open from 6.15pm, films at 8.30pm

Tickets on sale from December 16, $26-$30

 

 

 

MOVIES BY THE BOULEVARD (sydneyolympicpark.com.au) FREE

Movies By The Boulevard, Cathy Freeman Park, Sydney Olympic Park

January 8-9, 12-16, 19-23

Free kids' activities and food and beverages from 6pm, films at 8.30pm

Contact: 9714 7888

 

 

Free outdoor cinema (January 8,9, 12-16, 19-23 2011) - Sydney OlympicPark

Free outdoor cinema.

Time: Movies start 8:30pm

Venue : Cathy Freeman Park (formerly The Overflow)

The Princess and The Frog Saturday 08 January G
Robin Hood Sunday 09 January M
Boy Wednesday 12 January M
Knight and Day Thursday 13 January M
Alice in Wonderland Friday 14 January PG
Toy Story 3 Saturday 15 January G
Sherlock Holmes Sunday 16 January M
Bran Nue Dae Wednesday 19 January PG
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Thursday 20 JanuaryM
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Fri 21 January M

Despicable Me Sat 22 January PG
Short Soup Sunday 23 January Various

Balimbing = Carambola ($1.28 ea)

Balimbing = Carambola  ($1.28 ea = about Php 50.00 ea)

First time I see balimbing fruit in Sydney and it is being sold at Coles Supermarket.

St Andrew's Cross Spider in our window

St Andrew's Cross Spider

I search google and found out that this spider is harmless compareto the previous spider I found in our hall way (Redback spider).

Refernce:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argiope_%28spider%29

Redback spider in the building

I took this photo along the hallway where we live.
Not sure if it was poisonous or not but it looks scary, huge and very much different from the spiders I used to play with when I was still in the Philippines. I took a photo of the spider then I spray insecticide in the hallway before it cause any harm.

I look at the internet of its description and found out that it is one of Australia's poisonous spider (The Redback spider).

Rereference: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider)
--------------------------
The Redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) is a potentially dangerous spider native to Australia that resembles a Black widow spider. It is a member of the genus Latrodectus or the widow family of spiders, which are found throughout the world. The female is easily recognisable by its black body with prominent red stripe on its abdomen. Females have a body length of about a centimetre while the male is smaller, being only 3 to 4 millimetres long. The Redback spider is one of few animals which display sexual cannibalism while mating.

Redbacks are considered one of the most dangerous spiders in Australia.[1] The Redback spider has a neurotoxic venom which is toxic to humans with bites causing severe pain. There is an antivenom for Redback bites which is commercially available.
--------------------------

Train and Bus fare increase by 3.5% starting January 3 2010

Distanceup to (km)	Single (adult)		Off-peak return		7 Day RailPass
	Normal return is double the single fare		Available after 9.00am		14 Day RaillPass is double the 7 Day fare
	Current fare	New fare	Current fare	New fare	Current fare	New fare
5	$3.20	$3.20	$4.40	$4.40	$24.00	$25.00
10	$3.40	$3.60	$4.80	$5.00	$27.00	$29.00
15	$3.80	$4.00	$5.20	$5.40	$30.00	$31.00
20	$4.00	$4.20	$5.60	$6.00	$32.00	$34.00
25	$4.40	$4.60	$6.20	$6.40	$36.00	$38.00
30	$4.80	$5.00	$6.60	$7.00	$38.00	$40.00
35	$5.00	$5.40	$7.00	$7.40	$40.00	$43.00
45	$5.60	$6.00	$7.80	$8.20	$44.00	$47.00
55	$6.60	$6.80	$9.20	$9.40	$47.00	$49.00

30M Lotto Jackpot - Jan02

Bought Lotto ticket for Jan-2  30M draw.

Did not win :-( Better luck next time.

41 degrees in Sydney. Flood in Melbourne

HP laptop hardware issues - Not a Ha-Py customer

Everyone, please check the model of your HP laptop if it is included in the list of models HP sold that has defective hardware/ bad design that is waiting to fail.

Refer to this website -> HP limited warranty

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01087277#

GOOD news: HP will repair it for FREE

BAD news: They only repair it for FREE if it is within the first 2 years after you bought the laptop.

In my case, the issue appear just right after the 2 year period and they refuse to repair the laptop.  I only knew about the known hardware issue when I search why my HP laptop failed to boot and to my surprise that it was a known published on HP website. I wouldn't know there was a known issue on my HP laptop until I did a search on the internet.

Bought for about  1k+ USD about 27 months ago. Now, the laptop is just an over price paper weight.

If they sold a defective hardware, they should recall the product or fix it for free even if the warranty has ended as they sold a "defective" product.

Frustration with HP support:

Called HP support - not helpfull at all. Passed fom one support personel to another. Ask for their team leader or manager to escalate the issue and the person I spoke to REFUSED as he said that there is no one there to tlak to escept for him. I can't believe HP has this kind of support.

They ask me to go to a third party HP repair center in Prospect NSW as it is the only HP repair center for non-warranty product for laptop in Sydney. I called them up and they said that they will assess the problem and they will charge me about $150 AUD. What? assess the issue? it is on their website that the issue is a defectie product, a KNOWN issue and they would liek to assess the problem and charge me $150? If there are parts the needs to be replace, I have to pay extra.

Hundreds of people around the world is complaining about this known hardware issue of certain models of HP laptop as I read from the HP forum.

Frustration one after another from the HP support.

With this experience, I do not recommend HP laptops or any HP products if they continue with such service to their customers.

I experience buying a defective digital camera from Canon. They recall all the products and replace it without any hassle. In my case, they were not able to repair the camera on time and what they did is they lend me a digital camera that I can use until they fixed my camera. They were not able to repair my camera for whatever reason. They as kme to return the camera they lend me and they replace my defective camera with a newwer model.

Oz second best place to live on Earth

Reference:

http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/

Annual United Nations human development latest index released.
This year's index was based on data from 2007 and does not take into account the impact of the global economic crisis.

Very high Human Development

1. Norway


2. Australia


3. Iceland


4. Canada


5. Ireland


6. Netherlands


7. Sweden


8. France


9. Switzerland


10. Japan

Medium Human Development

84. Armenia
85. Ukraine
86. Azerbaijan
87. Thailand
88. Iran (Islamic Republic of)
89. Georgia
90. Dominican Republic
91. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
92. China
93. Belize
94. Samoa
95. Maldives
96. Jordan
97. Suriname
98. Tunisia
99. Tonga
100. Jamaica
101. Paraguay
102. Sri Lanka
103. Gabon
104. Algeria
105. Philippines

Sydney sky turns RED

I woke up this morning and notice that it was bright red outside and it is only 6am. It feels like I was in Mars like in the movie Total Recall.

I was coughing all the way to the station. Seats on the train was also covered with red dust. View is almost zero visibility when the train cross the Harbour Bridge on the way to work at around 7:15am. Reminds me of Mt Pinatubo eruption.

Photo taken around 6:30am on my way to the train station.

Photo taken around 7:15am on the way to work while train crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

BEER price comparison

Lager in Australia is $5.9 AUD (Average)

Popular brands
Carlton Draught,VB,tooheys

-------------

Lager in Philippines is $1.65 AUD (average)

Popular brands
San Miguel,San Mig,San Miguel Light

-------------

Source:  http://www.pintprice.com

Exchange rate:  $1.00 AUD = PhP41.00

FOUR Season

March to April and October to November is the most suitable time to visit Sydney. The temperature is around 25° C.

FOUR Season

Spring: September to November
Temperature from 13° C(night)  to 22° C (day).

Summer: December to February
The hottest period. Temperature from  21° C to as high as 35-40° C.

Autumn: March to May
Average temperature of 25° C.

Winter: June to August
Temperature from 5° C to 20° C.

September 8 - Birthday of Virgin Mary

The Angelus (Latin for Angel) is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation.

------------------------

V. The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary.
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it unto me according to your Word.

Hail Mary...

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary...

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection. Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.

------------------------

Man-ly

Man standing appreciating the greatness of nature.

Photo was taken at Manly beach.

Thank you...

Thanks to Gee and John Family

... and Lola and Brian

... and Flynn