Alzheimers research study

After carefully reading the 22 page information document about the Alzheimers research study, I decided I would not agree to participate in the 5 year study and have those years tied down to dates throughout each year.   There were a couple of other considerations as well.  One medical condition I have which may be affected by the drug (assuming that I would get the drug and not a placebo).   

 At 75, there is a good chance that the next 5 years might be my last and I want to be able to travel etc whenever I want. 

Oesophageal Cancer update

My friend Dennis has, it seems, dodged the bullet.   Yesterday he underwent the endoscopic ultrasound to determine whether the cancer had penetrated the wall of his oesophagus.  The surgeon told Dennis that if it had not penetrated the wall he would go ahead and remove it.   Fortunately for Den it had not and the surgeon went ahead and removed the nodule and  stopped the bleeding with an application of diluted adrenaline and the application of two clips.  There is to be a follow-up at the same hospital in about a week.

Unbeknown to Dennis he had a complaint named Barrett's Syndrome which is a scarring of the oesophagus due to acid from gastric reflux.  It seems that the body tries to repair the affected area by covering it with tissue from the lower gastrointestinal tract.  Problem there is that that tissue is prone to carcinoma.  So if you have had persistent gastric reflux over some period, ask your GP if an endoscopy is a good idea. It certainly was a good idea for Dennis.

The procedure was done at the newly commissioned  Fiona Stanley hospital.  

Fiona Stanley Hospital in Western Australia....here.

Oesophageal Cancer

A good friend, Dennis, has just been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer.  We have know each other for around 60 years.

He had a persistent and uncomfortable pain for some weeks before getting the bad news.   Dennis had a CT scan a few days ago and is about to have an endoscopic ultrasound which more accurately determines how far the cancer has grown into the oesophagus.  This test can also show if the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.

With these results the oncologist/surgeon can decide on the treatment.

He is facing this threat with good humour and all his friends are hoping for a good outcome.

Bastard disease!

The Bali 9

Following the execution of two Australian citizens in Indonesia, there has been an outpouring of grief and anger by many Australians.  Our Prime Minister has recalled our ambassador to Indonesia and made some veiled threats about aid and cooperation between Australia and Indonesia.  

Through the online forums, calls have been made for Australians to boycott Bali as a holiday destination.  Understandably, Indonesians have called for a boycott of Australia.

One of my friends has just booked a flight to Bali in July.  She may well be rattled going through immigration and customs at Denpassar airport.  

Australia’s beef cattle exports may well be terminated and cooperation on people smuggling through Indonesia to Australia may be over.  

The two Australians executed were drug traffickers, not into Indonesia, but out of Indonesia to Australia. The Australian Federal Police tipped off Indonesian customs officials in Bali and 9 Australians including the two ring leaders, were caught with 8.3kg of heroin strapped to their bodies.  An investigation is currently looking into how the AFP caused the Bali 9 to be arrested in a country which has the death penalty for drug smuggling.  Had they been arrested upon arrival in Australia they would have been jailed, but not executed.  The rest of the traffickers are still in prison after 10 years of life sentences.

Executions are carried out in many countries still.  Click here for info on other countries still practising capital punishment.

Cheap printer inks

Yesterday I ordered a pack of 5 ink cartridges for a HP deskjet all-in-one printer.  They are now on their way from Sydney to me in Western Australia, freight free, costing only $15.90 AUD.  In  an Australia-wide company, OfficeWorks, the price is $112.00.  The OfficeWorks package is a genuine HP product in a nice cardboard box.  Mine will come in a plastic bag wrapped in bubblewrap, delivered to my door.

The printer manufacturers caution printer owners not to buy cheap inks as that is where their profits really come from.  Most genuine inks cost more than a new printer.  Another bit of trickery is the fact that most new printers have half filled cartridges in them.

A language problem?

I, at 75 years of age, can get by in four languages.  English of course, is my own language, but my time in Papua New Guinea taught me the basics of conversation of the two Lingua Franca of PNG, Hiri Motu and Tok Pisin.

I learnt the basic 50 words of German when I was an apprentice at a large government engineering works in the 1950s.  I was befriended by a German workmate who was a Luftwaffe pilot during WW2.  Somehow I felt that a pilot was not part of the atrocities that were part of  the German war machine and I became friends with a German group who had settled in Western Australia and were ‘fitting in’.  They built houses for each other in a group project and I followed along listening to their conversations and learning their 50 words of German.

Later I read more about the atrocities and the propaganda that sucked in the population of Germany to despise Jews and the acceptance of the Final Solution.

What is strange is that when I now read something on-line which demands a comment I immediately think of adding my comment in my 50 word Deutsche. What is happening?

In the 1990s my wife Joan and I spent a pleasant 4 weeks in the south of France.  Joan had been a French teacher and spoke the language well.  When we were about to return home to Australia we had to drive to Frankfurt to fly out.  Joan told me it was my turn to book a hotel in Frankfurt.  I rang a hotel and started to bumble my way through my simple German and the receptionist interrupted me saying...'excuse me sir, do you speak English?'   Whew!

Australia's National Broadband Network

Yesterday I helped my brother Graham set up his National Broadband Network connection.  The internal box had been installed about a week ago and what should have been a simple connection stumped me, so I called the Telstra support people and with quite a bit of fiddling around was guided through the resetting of the modem and a change of password and everything is running well.   

NBN requires its own phone and Graham’s nice phones would not work with the new setup.   He was pleasantly surprised at the download speed of 24mbps (Megabits per second).    My download from my wireless provider just a few minutes ago was 9.24mbps which I feel is a reasonable speed.  However my speed may vary depending on the time of the day  and how many people are using the service at that time.  Around 4pm when kids are home from school, mine will slow down considerably.

South Korea boasts the fastest connection speed @ 21.9mbps.

Alzheimer's Research

About a month ago I had a phone call from the McCusker Alzheimer’s Research Foundation of Western Australia.  The caller asked if I was interested in joining a clinical trial of a drug which is used to delay the clinical symptoms of Alzheimers Disease.  The study will run for a minimum of 4 years. I agreed to talking about the trial at a later date and had a follow-up phone call from  the McClusker Foundation yesterday.

After a detailed explanation, I agreed to participate.    The trial goes something like this... an initial interview with a blood test and a couple of memory tests.  Sign the documents and start.    The name of the trial is long.

A Double Blind, Randomized, Placebo Controlled, Parallel Group Study to Simultaneously Qualify a Biomarker Algorithm for Prognosis of Risk of Developing Mild Cognative Impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease (MCE due to AD) and to Test the Safety and Efficacy of Pioglitazone to Delay the Onset of MCI due to AD in Cognitively Normal Subjects

Or as I read it, there are two groups, one taking a placebo and the other taking Pioglitazone. We are testing the safety and efficacy of the drug.   I already have symptoms of MCI (mild cognative impairment) I am losing names and my car keys.

I’ll let everyone know how things work out, if I remember.

Papua New Guinea expatriates gathering

last Friday I attended a gathering of Papua New Guinea expatriates.  There were about 50 of us and there was lots of reminiscing of our times there.  We had a nice lunch and a listened to a visiting speaker named Eric McCrum.  Eric features regularly on ABC radio as The Bird Man and is very knowledgeable about Australian birds.   

He was invited to do a presentation about his time in Papua New Guinea.  His presentation was an old fashioned slide show with his commentary.  I thought that it was a well practised package he had used many times before, probably at senior citizens’ gatherings or schools.    It was like preaching to the converted as all of us had spent time in PNG.  I noticed a few people turning off and a couple of oldies having a bit of shuteye.  Never-the-less, it was worthwhile as there were some familiar scenes in the 100+ slides that just about everyone would have remembered.  All in all, a good day where I met and talked with a few people I had not met before. 

Goodbye Pencil Pine

All gone

Some time ago I mentioned a pencil pine in my front garden which had to go.   It has gone.   It was felled in no time by a Samoan couple whilst I went to an ATM to withdraw some cash. When I returned, they were doing a poor cleanup and then moved next door to remove 4 small branches of my neighbours’ tree hanging over the fence of their next door neighbours.  

They conned my neighbour suggesting that her neighbours were unhappy with the branches hanging over their fence.  Her neighbours weren’t home, and their displeasure was supposedly told to the tree people by their neighbour, in the next house along.  Sounds like BS to me.

I was a bit offside with their price and the fact that they left a stump protruding about 6” above ground level.  They offered to return with a stump grinder to remove the stump at an extra fee, but I told them to be off with their tax-free cash.

I spent an hour digging a little deeper around the stump and cut it below ground level with my blunt chain saw.   Must buy a new chain.

Domestic solar power

I have solar panels on my roof, feeding electricity into the power grid @ 40 cents a unit.  I buy power from the grid @ 7.135 cents a unit to do my night time washing etc and most power bills either give me a credit or a very small bill.  I like it!    For the last 6 weeks my solar system has been down and I have not sold any power to the power company.  

The problem was a faulty inverter which converts DC power from the panels into AC 240v.  The company which installed the system no longer services my system and the warranty etc has been taken over by a German company.  It has been over a month without a replacement inverter and only yesterday did I receive a phone call telling me that a replacement inverter would be installed today.   A young man installed it in about 10 minutes and even with heavy cloud cover I can see power being produced.

The entire system is a Chinese-made setup and many customers have had up to 4 replacement inverters within the 5 year warranty period.   I asked the installer whether other brands were any better and he told me that it seems like the German brand also has problems.  A new inverter cost around $400 installed, so if this one fails again, I will buy a new inverter with a new 5 year warranty.

The state government is the owner of the power grid and power stations and is hinting that owners of solar setups will be charged a higher fee over regular users to maintain the power lines and infrastructure.  I guess that's reasonable.

Esperance, Western Australia

Our road trip to Esperance was somewhat tiring; over 7 hours of driving with little of interest en route.  I was great catching up with sister Shirl and her kids  and Esperance town is a beautiful place with fine beaches and scenery.

I renamed Esperance 4Wheel Drive City as it seems obligatory to have at least 3, 4WD vehicles parked in the driveway.  There are a few car yards selling new and SH cars, but they don’t have the sales of the 4W drives.

In the business area of the town the pedestrian crosswalks are the opposite of crosswalks in Perth or Fremantle city.  People crossing have to give way to vehicles.  At first I thought that was a bit silly, but there is a lot of  traffic and also lots of people (especially during Easter) and the constant pedestrian crossings would certainly cause traffic chaos.

downtown Esperance

the town foreshore is grassed, with a nice white beach and lots of meeting places and facilities like these toilets/showers

Driving back to Fremantle took a little longer as the main roads were feeding cars, caravans and 4WDrives from various Easter holiday sites around the coast.  We left at 7.30am and arrived at my house around 4.30pm.

I have an air compressor which has been unserviceable for some time.  It is invaluable for blowing out dust in the many computers I restore for needy people.  The regulator died and air leaked out all around it and none went into the air tank.  The price for a replacement regulator in Australia was almost as much as I paid for the whole thing; so I went on eBay, found one in China for A$11.70 post free and delivered to my door today.  It was exactly the same as the original and the compressor is back on deck, working well.

old bits

new regulator fitted

Road trip to Esperance

My sister Shirley turns 70 on Sunday.  Brother Graham and I are driving down south to Esperance for the celebration.  Leaving early Friday; returning Monday.  It is over 700 kilometres and we will be sharing the driving.  Not a lot to see en route...just farms and a few small towns.

Esperance is a nice seaside town but I would rather it a bit closer to the city. 

  Easter  is the time when people from Kalgoorlie head down to take a look at the ocean and even take a dip in the cool waters.   Sister Shirl has lived down there for many years to be near her daughter Karen.   When she needs to head up to Perth for something important the return airfare is around $800.  That’s about three return trips to Bali.

1942 Ford GPW Jeep

I have owned three Jeeps; two were wartime Jeeps and another was a postwar CJ3B remodelled from the wartime Jeep.

The three Jeeps were found in Papua New Guinea where I taught for almost 10 years in a split service starting in 1961 and finishing in 1975.   I shipped home to Western Australia the  last Jeep I owned in Popondetta a town in the Northern District of PNG.  I rebuilt it over  couple of years and eventually sold it to a colleague who still uses it on his farm.

The Jeep story is quite amazing.  The U.S. government’s military needed a small, light 4 wheel drive do-all vehicle.  In 1941, one vehicle manufacturer submitted a design which didn’t quite fit the bill.  The design was given to Willys and a series of modifications created the MB.  The vehicle was called a GP (general purpose) vehicle which became Jeep. 

Two companies built the Jeep, Ford and Willys and a total of 640,000+ rolled off the production lines; 30 per hour.  I believe that most of the Jeeps used overseas never returned to the U.S..  There were many in PNG post war and my hometown, Fremantle in Western Australia, saw plenty of Jeeps during WW2.  I can remember them buzzing around the streets regularly.

I am sorry that I sold my jeep.  Great basic machine.

It is a Ford Jeep and the Ford company marked almost every part with the Ford logo.  The true Jeep enthusiast will notice the right-hand drive.  No RH drive Jeeps were made in WW2.  I converted it to RH drive to licence it.

Losing it

Today I decided to drive to Perth city to sell some old gold jewellery bits to the Perth Mint.   The total amount was less than an ounce, but I thought I should sell it before I lose my mind completely.  

  

I googled the Perth Mint site and found that I need a few  bits of ID.....passport/drivers licence, a recent utilities bill; gas/water/power showing my address and name. 

Jumped in the car and drove the  23 kilometres, parked the car and found I had brought all my ID, but not the jewellery.   Doh! 

The Perth Mint is a lovely old building opened in 1899.   It mints coins and medals and sells gold bars to people who think WW3 is imminent.

Midnight in Paris

I have just re-watched a wonderful movie for about the fifth time and I am convinced it is the best movie I have ever seen.  Looking through a few glasses of almost two bottles of of Seaview Brut, I may, however, be influenced by alcohol.

Midnight in Paris is one of Woody Allen’s best movies.      Get it (anyway you can) and enjoy it.

I am influenced, of course, by the month we spent in France and experienced first-hand the people and country-side of that wonderful place.

Food from China

Australia has been experiencing an outbreak of Hepatitis A brought into the country in frozen berries imported from China.   The berries were processed and packed in Shandong Province which has a high level of pollution from a number of sources.  

  

Yesterday I bought a packet of Salt and Pepper Squid to have as a snack.  It was bought from one of the two big players in the grocery market.  Tasted good, but as I read the info on the side of the pack I found that the squid were from New Zealand, sent to China and processed and packed there. 

I am unsure as how much extra they would have cost if they were processed and packaged in NZ or even Australia?   I would pay the extra.

Recently I have been buying bananas grown at Carnarvon, 909 kilometres North of Perth, Western Australia.  They are about half the size of Queensland bananas and often don’t look as good as Qld bananas, but they are sweeter and have softer flesh which I have come to prefer.  A few days ago Cyclone Olwyn destroyed all the Carnarvon banana crops and it is going to be up to 24 months before more Carnarvon bananas are available.  Damn! 

Pic from Farm Weekly

To die alone

A couple of days ago our son Martin rang to tell me that the unit above his was leaking a considerable amount of water over a balcony into woodwork in his/my unit.  I suggested he go upstairs and mention it to the tenant above and see if they could work out what the problem was.   He didn’t respond to Martin's knocking and so Martin decided to leave it a day to put a note on his door.

Early this morning police arrived and Martin talked to a policeman who told of the death of the tenant estimated to be several days before.  The police told Martin that it did not appear to be foul play and until the coroner does an autopsy it will be called a non-suspicious death.  Sad to die alone.

Update:  Martin just phoned me to tell me that a police Forensic Squad has cordoned off the unit and is conducting investigations.   Our man might not have died alone.

10th Light Horse Brigade sculpture

Over the last few weeks I have noticed a wonderful roadside metal sculpture near a business a short drive from my place.   I decided to take a couple of photos of it and hopefully find out where it is destined to live.  My photos were somewhat spoiled by a busy commercial background from nearby businesses. 

                              click photos to enlarge

I noticed some signage on the nearest building which suggested that it was of their making and went in and asked a few questions for this blog.  The owner, Albert de Boer, invited me into the inner sanctum of his business ‘Forever Shining’ and gave me a thirty minute rundown of their products and manufacture of memorials of all sorts in a wide variety of materials; glass, granite steel, stainless steel and a few other mediums my 75 year old brain has forgotten.  I mentioned that none of my friends would probably commission a headstone as we were probably going to be cooked.  Albert, in sales mode, suggested an urn for our ashes. 

 The sculpture is a life-size horse and mounted soldier of Australia’s AIF Light Horse Regiment and is to be installed at the Western Australian wheatbelt town of Kondinin.  It is to be installed so that at the dawn service commemorating The Light Horse Regiment the dawn sun shining through the sculpture will create a silhouette.

           This is how it will look at the Dawn Service

            The plaque to be attached to the sculpture

On their site, found here, one can even create a headstone, urn etc, choosing materials, size and artwork and can at any time get an estimate of the cost by pressing a button.  There is a demo for you to check the process out.  Great stuff from a business I and my friends knew nothing about.   The office is very techo with a staff of graphic artists and artisans. Drop by their site and make your own headstone……http://www.forevershining.com.au

Brendan from Texas y'all

Over a few weeks I have had  visits from a friend and teaching colleague, Brendan.  Brendan is living in Houston, Texas with his wife Tracy who works for Chevron as a Health and Safety consultant.  Tracy was transferred to Houston and Brendan of course, went with her.   They have been there for around 2.5 years and look like spending another three years there.

Brendan gets part time work with Chevron as a Cultural Consultant, advising Americans who are being transferred to Australia about the differences they will encounter in the land down under; and from what Brendan has told me, there are plenty.

For the the last few weeks Tracy has been in Japan on company business and is heading back ‘home’ to Texas and Brendon flies out of Perth on Friday.  Great catching up with both of them.