Bugger!

I mean bugger as in "oops", not the other meaning.

I was getting rid of some of those banners I had on the blog. People were clicking on some of them, and I thank you for that, but after checking some of them out I can see why no-one was following up with them.

Anyway, while getting rid of the code from the template I accidentally deleted most of the template. I've just been rebuilding the whole thing. Unfortunately I didn't have a recent backup of the template so I had to go searching for URLs etc. I think it needs a total revamp anyway.

Everyone's been busy

I go away for a couple of weeks and everyone decides to get busy on their blogs. It's taken me ages to catch up with what everyone has been doing, and I don't actually read a lot of blogs, just the one's in my sidebar.

Anyway, we had a great time, even when I was trudging around sweating in dry creek beds at Lake Keepit. We did heaps of walking after the residential was over too. The cabin we stayed in at Arrawarra for three nights was right next to the creek and had ocean views, and I'm not talking Gold Coast type views either. I mean miles of beach with hardly anyone on them.

There's 470 more pictures on the computer now as a result of the trip. There would have been more but I inadvertently deleted over a hundred before transferring them from the laptop. I don't think there was anything really special in the ones I lost, but it means we'll have to check out the waterfalls and the rainforest at Dorrigo again.

Donna got some good pics at the trout hatchery at Ebor, so I don't think we'll visit there again. I've already been there twice. Incidentally, if you're ever driving from Armidale to Coffs Harbour the hatchery is well worth a visit, $3.30 per adult and $1.10 for a bag of feed for the fish. If you go at the right time you get to see the fish right from eggs up to three year old monsters. The fish are used to stock rivers all over New South Wales for recreational fishermen (fisherpeople).

So now we're back home. I've got a maths assignment to do this week and I'm gradually working my way through the pictures I took, tweaking them a bit and adding keywords and deciding which ones I'll upload.

I go back to work on Friday, not looking forward to that.

Another Res

We're off to Armidale tomorrow morning, I've got another university residential. This one is eight days of mapping and sedimentology, with four days at Lake Keepit (or Puddle Keepit with this drought), clambering over rocks and mapping the area.

As I've dropped chemistry for this semester we have some free time, so we're planning a slow drive back to Brisbane. We'll probably come back via Dorrigo, which is a very nice town, with a stop at Coffs Harbour to buy some seafood at the fisherman's co-op. I visited the co-op a couple of years ago on another residential and saw deep sea bugs (like Moreton Bay bugs or Balmain bugs, but smaller and sweeter) and I'm determined to see what they taste like.

We're thinking maybe a night or two at Arawarra and then travel slowly up the coast. I don't have to be at work until the first Friday in May and Donna starts her new job the beginning of that week.

The batteries are charged, the memory cards are empty, get ready for some nice pics.

Speaking of pics, Sarah's (youngest step-daughter) best friend Jen is off to England for an indefinite period next week, so we loaned her a Nikon compact camera to make sure she takes plenty of photos. Maybe I can talk her into creating her own blog, although it may be to late, as the this evening was the last chance we got to see her before she goes away.

If someone gets on your bus with an Aussie accent and doesn't know where she's going, be nice to her and get her to take your picture. Make sure her name is Jen first though.

More animals

We had lunch over Jess and Brett's the other day. As you can see from the picture below, they have another animal to look after (I mean the little one, not the one with the beard).



That's a blue-tounged lizard I'm holding, a very fat one. It was originally taken from the wild illegally and kept as a pet, by someone who overfed it. The RSPCA seized it, and now it's in Jess and Brett's capable hands. As it's been a pet for so long it can't be returned to the wild, so it's a permanent addition to the family.

As well as the lizard, the snake and the brush tail possum that you've already seen photos of, they also have two tawny frog mouths, three ring tail possums, two rainbow lorikeets and a scaly breasted lorikeet, and a partridge in a pair tree.

Brett's working on a website for BARN, the Brisbane Area Rescue Network, at the moment. They're the organisation that helps to look after orphaned and injured wildlife and to which Jess and Brett belong. Once the site is up and running I'll post a link to it here.

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

You may remember a couple of months ago, that I posted about the Young Divas. Well someone left me a note the other day to tell me there is a new Divas forum with my blog posting in its articles section.

So, I thought I'd give you all an update on our Divas. They are laying so well that we can't keep up with all the eggs. They're still doing a great job of keeping the weeds down, and the poor compost bin is missing out because the eat all the kitchen scraps.

Just for the Divas fans, here's a picture of Kate DeAraugo, the chook one not the real one.




By the way, I was joking about the partridge in the pair tree.

How to become rich beyond your wildest dreams

One of my workmates has been looking for a way to make a bit of money on the side and has recently been looking into e-commerce. A couple of weeks ago he heard about The Rich Pom and asked me if I'd heard of him. I hadn't, so I looked into it to find out what he was all about. Apparently this guy could help you become incredibly wealthy just sitting on your bum at home using the internet.

It didn't take me long to find out that he's a scam artist, a rip-off of another guy in the US called The Rich Jerk. When I say rip-off, The Rich Jerk sells you a book on how to make money from affiliate marketing. That book will set you back $7.95. The Rich Pom copied the book, made a few minor changes, and sells it to you for $79.

But what's affiliate marketing, I hear you say.

If you've heard of Amway, that's a form of affiliate marketing. Regular visitors here will have probably noticed some extra banners on the page, that's also affiliate marketing. It's basically a way of advertising. You definitely won't make a fortune from it, that Adsense banner that's been on my blog for months has made me about ninety cents so far. But I was curious so I thought I'd try a few banners for a couple of months and see if I can at least make enough money for a beer in that time.

The photos I have on Fotolia have made me enough for about two beers so far.