Blog Updates via RSSThey are back
Or they were here the whole time? Who knows. I am talking about cockroaches. I think they are nasty, while Nathan seems to have accepted them as normal Australian “pets”. He cannot get bothered. I still freak out when I again spot one in our house, because they are just yuck! Nathan thinks that mice are way more dirty than cockroaches. I would not agree. Cockroaches are a normal incidence in Australia’s hot climate, but since we are in winter season now, and the temperature dropped quite a bit, I thought the cockroaches would die or at least leave us alone. Of course that was a bit of naive Cola thinking, because they would survive everything. I read from someone who has spotted them in a freezer!!! Holy bastards! But now that we sealed almost every crack, got a new back back flyscreen door, sealed the under the sink cupboards thoroughly, got a almost new non-leaking fridge, I thought that the problem was under control. I must say, the traps (lure ‘n kill baits) from Bunnings need to be replaced, because they are probably not working anymore. I also think, that they could come in through the new sealing fan in our bathroom that has been installed a few weeks ago. They can easy come from the roof through the fan slits. That would explain why I found the cockie on the bathroom floor…on its back! Doing the last movements…it looked like it was dying.
Why are cockroaches always on its back when they are going to die?
I caught it with a plastic container and ran out, only in my underwear (it was late evening, and there was no free hand to put clothes on), throwing it…accidentally only into our front yard flower bed. Oops.
Category: Australia(Perth) & Diary & English posts (EN) | Comments (4) June 25, 2009Funniest thing happening today
In facebook I have a request from a person (male) wanting to become friends, which means to actually be able to see my full profile on facebook and generally be able to exchange messages.
Normally I get quite a few requests from random people I don’t know or from people who know some of my friends but I don’t know the person.
This one is different, because the guy has no photo in his profile and no friends so far, which is a little bit weird. First I thought, ah, I would know a guy with that first name, but the surname didn’t fit.
Well, I think it is weird that I am the only person in his friend’s list then and why hasn’t he got at least a photo? Suscpicious….just spam?
I was too curious and wrote that person a message:
“hey, you added me as friend. who are you? do i know you?”
Today came the answer:
“Hello my dear Anja,
I´m a little bit insulted.I used to be your boyfriend. How are you doing?
G**v*n”
Laptop update
I will make it short. Wordpress didn’t save my long post that I wrote on almost all day. Well, it was not meant to be published I guess.
In a nutshell: My laptop’s ac power adapter is not the broken part of my laptop. I went to a store to test my laptop with a brand new power unit. Still didn’t work. Then I went to the HP service dealer in Perth. They wanted to have $110 for the first quote and also $110 for saving my data from my hard-drive. Even up to $800 for replacing the motherboard (if it really is the reason for not turning on). Too much; I decided to do it better on my own. 
That said, I bought an external case for my laptop’s hard drive. Why? To get it out of the laptop, inside the external case, plug in the USB into another laptop, e.g. Nathan’s, trying to access and save my laptop’s data before it takes the last breath.
The external case was only $15! Aluminium, USB powered. Great deal!
What can I say? Doc Nate (who normally puts his hands on Mac’s only) opened up my laptop and took the hard drive out, put it into the external case, plugged the USB in the drive and also in his Macbook Pro. Running! Within seconds I could see my files. All there. Yay! 
This means that my hard drive was and is not damaged. It really seems to be the motherboard, which unfortunately is too expensive to replace for my old laptop. Not worth it. Therefore: looking for a new cheap but good replacement….maybe a netbook? 10inch? 13inch? Dell, Toshiba, Asus, HP or MSI?
Well, I didn’t really plan to spend money for a new laptop right now…therefore it needs to be a bargain baby. Of course, I want the best for the least. :P DRAMA! 
My laptop is dead
This morning my dear HP laptop decided to not start after I pressed the power button. 
A few lights flashed (wireless, hard-drive, power), but only for 2 seconds. Then dead. The fan didn’t even turn on, the hard/drive didn’t make a sound…yes, you can guess that I am typing this post not from my computer. Luckily Nathan lets me use his. Well, after I searched for a few hours for help online, I decided to try out the HP online support help. Awesome! I was guided through a troubleshooting process.
Removed my battery, removed power supply, presed power button for 1 minute, put battery back in, connected with AC power adapter and tried to restart it. My fan started running, yeah! 
Full of excitement I wrote him he were a genious…but after a 4 seconds my laptop turned off again, even before I could get anything onto the screen…and I added the words “almost”. His conclusion was that it sounds like it is my system board. He gave me 2 addresses for HP service shops in Perth. I also asked him if he could give me the board model number so that I can buy the system board and replace it myself. He was so friendly to send me a link how to remove a main board and put a new one in. Unfortunately, I don’t have the right screwdriver to open up my laptop (who invented these tiny special screws??? damn! ).
After the chat with the support I thought about another idea: maybe it is my ac power adapter?! Maybe my laptop didn’t charge anymore and ran out of battery power? That could be a reason why it is not turning on. Simple as that. The ac adapter is running since 6 years…and mostly every day. I will try to find a store tomorrow who has the right ac adapter so that I can try it with my laptop right in the store. The ac adapter would be one of the cheaper items to replace. The main board costs around $200 (plus shipping) if I install it myself. I don’t want to know how much they charge for labour if I bring it to a service shop. The only thing I am worried about are my PHOTOS and some other data (my thunderbird email program for instance)!!! I do backup data, but there is so much I haven’t backuped yet! So many photos that are not copied to my external hard drive…I hope they are not lost. 
Please let it be my ac power unit. Pleeeaaaaase!
Wish me luck!
OYO
What can that mean? OYO is the new slang for One Year Older. It is my Birthday today, yeah!
Happy Birthday to me!
Here are some photos from the surprise birthday party, which Nathan organised for me last Sunday!
He worked until 1pm and we planned to do something in the afternoon together. He called at 2pm that he is helping a friend from work with something and he will be home a bit later. So I waited. Then he called and said he wanted to come home now, but his car won’t start (again, a usual problem since weeks). I went down to the beach, where he was, to pick him up.
When I arrived Nathan wanted to say bye to his colleague and asked me to come with him. At this point Nathan acted a bit weird. Then I smelled his beer breath and said: well, you said you are helping a friend, but you smell like you just had a beer together at the beach…Suspicious…I started getting a tiny bit angry, because it was so important to him, that we spend time together after his work, but he just went to have a beer with his work colleague/friend. 
The following photo story will tell the rest.
SURPRISE SURPRISE! 
The first time (in my life, I think) that I had no clue what is going on. No one ever had a surprise party for me.
Click on the PLAY button and start the slideshow OR stop it with PAUSE and go forward with the left and right buttons.
Category: Australia(Perth) & English posts (EN) & Family & Friends & Natey&Cola | Comments (2) June 1, 2009Photo Inserter Plugin
Please don’t be confused, yes you are right here. This is planetcola, still, just a different design, actually the default Wordpress theme with a pinkish touch. I’m just trying to find a mistake with my easy picasa plugin, because it stopped working all of a sudden. I thought it might has to do with my own theme. Hmm, maybe not. Well, I can’t find the mistake at the moment and it is late and time for bed. How annoying…if I am in my blog, it is grumpy. It does not like me. Sniff. How to get my photos from picasa into my blog now?
Oh it is Autumn already
And yes, the Easter photos are on the way…just very slowly, typically western Australian laid back style. 
This is us canoeing on the Blackwood River in the area around Nannup, which is a few hours south of Perth.
And the following two pictures are taken especially for my dad.
We are in the middle (or almost at the end) of Autumn. Back home (no.1) in Germany I used to have an African Oak in my front yard, which I pictured in an older post here. Every fall season my dad and I used to rake and rake and fill garden bags of leaves. Week after week, until every leaf has left the large tree.
Same here in Perth. The tree is a sweet gum, but the leaves are very similar in thickness and size to Oak leaves. I am raking and raking, but not filling bags, because everything goes straight to the garbage bin. After two hours of raking, it looks like I didn’t do any work. Birds are playing in the tree, making leaves loosen and fall, and the wind is doing the rest.
Well, another funny thing is that we are the only house in the beginning of our street that has such a large leaf tree….same as back in Germany, where “our” leaves were blown to the neighbour properties, and everyone knew from where all the leaves are coming.
Somehow I took this piece of “massive tree with a lot of raking and cleaning up work during Autumn” from Germany with me.
Beware of poking in real life
I love mascara and use it every day since I am a teen. I always read the fine print on the packages or on the pen itself, but I’ve never read something like this:
Never apply this product in a moving vehicle.
LOL, very funny! 
What is about a wet and slippery bathroom floor in front of the mirror?
[source: "Great Lash waterproof very black, Maybelline New York"]
Category: Diary & English posts (EN) & Well-informed | Comments (0)Free range eggs
I can’t think back how many years I am buying free range eggs for. I think I started with it when I moved out of my parents’ house, which made me more aware of the food that I then bought for myself. I remember that I had to use a cage egg, when I borrowed it from my flat mate. That was 2002. Brrr…I could tell the difference in the taste…and in the colour. The egg yolk was very artifical bright yellow, I’ve never seen it like that before. I grew up with my grandparents having chickens and our own eggs. Ok, I was very little, but I can still remember it.
When I met Nathan, I was glad (and surprised) that he also values the free range eggs. He would rather not eat eggs, if he can’t get them as free range.
When we lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we had chickens on the property and the landlords let us eat fresh eggs whenever we wanted. That was so great! Have you ever had a warm egg in your hands?? Have you ever seen the hen lay the egg, before you gabbed it to carry it over to your kitchen, to crack it into your frying pan five minutes later? That’s what we did in Santa Fe when we had the great opportunity. Of course we also had the early morning wake-ups by the cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster. 
We like to buy local products, and luckily here in Perth there is lots of local food to choose. Today I bought another free range egg 12 pack from Bickley (suburb), the Kalamunda Free Range. On the package it says: “These eggs are genuine free range.” In small print it says: “All customers are welcome to visit our farm and see how happy and healthy our hens are.” That’s a statement – wow! Now I feel better.
Do you care about where the eggs come from that you eat? How do you choose your eggs? Do you trust the labels?
[For my family: this 12pack of free range eggs (each egg 50g) costs $5 at our current favourite fresh fruit&veg market close to our home. But you can also easy pay around $7 if you pick another brand/farm. I think, cage eggs start at $3.50; I don't even know exactly, because I just overlook them.]
Category: Australia(Perth) & English posts (EN) | Comments (1) April 20, 2009The perfect job
From the current local newspaper:
Would you like to wear a bikini and work Monday to Friday. Non-sexual. Full training. Start immed. 0416xxxxxx
I wonder what the full training might be…how to wear a bikini in a non-sexual way?
Category: Australia(Perth) & English posts (EN) | Comments (2)