One of the items I recently bought off Ebay was an oil canvass set from China. I have visions of block-mounting the items and hanging them in the lounge, to match the new decor.

So, I bought the set. The postage cost out of China is a huge $43 and the so-called 'postage and handling costs' is just a ruse by the vendors to rip you off on top of your nominal purchase price. (It was approximately $50).

I knew all of this prior to finalising the purchase but decided to go ahead anyway, as the pic was just what I wanted and it saves me rummaging through overpriced Australian art shops where you pay 4 times the price but all you get is a bloody print.. 

So I get the goods - fair enough, and also get prompted to comment on the Ebay seller's account service.

Well, diddling you on the administrative costs is a bit cheeky even if you accept that you are being diddled. I thought that the right thing to do was to rate the postage costs on the low end of the scale and to comment that the costs were too high. I didn't slag them in any other way. You get what you pay for after all. The following however, is their rating of me as a purchaser...



I am a 'buyer of craftiness' - a 'dishonest buyer' apparently. How I can be dishonest when I am on the paying end of the transaction, I do not know, but I guess I shall take the criticism on board. 

In fact, I'm feeling remorseful to the point where I may hang myself from the wall instead of the pictures.

That's it for me, I can't visit the Olympics now. I'll be shot on site or worse still, incarcerated and forced to watch endless Kung Fu movies...

As mentioned last week, I bought a new camera in readiness for a European trip later this year.

Whilst having always been a devout Canon fan, this camera is an Olympus FE 310. It cost about $178 (I added a 2GB memory card to it for another $30-$40). I would have posted a picture of it, but......

The camera is 8 megapixels and rather unusually in this price range, has 5 optical zoom, not the usual 3 (for the not-so-geeky, that's pretty damn good).

My previous digital camera - a Canon 4.1 megapixel  - is about 4 times the size of this camera. I bought it about 5 years ago and paid the wholesale price for it, having bought it through the wholesaler for my hobby computer business. it cost me about $1,200.

Oh well. I don't mind (too much) having shelled out that much money because it provided an opportunity to capture so many happy memories that otherwise would have been consigned to fading memory.

Amazing isn't it? Change happens so quickly.

Back to work tomorrow after an enjoyable four day break. I fear that getting up at 5:45 tomorrow may be the death of me.

I've achieved a few things.

1. I ironed my shirts.
2. Bought a new camera for the holidays later this year.
3. Tidied my desk (twice).
4. Bought some CDs.
5. Bought a new 4GB thumb drive. Cost about $27. (Oz Post)
6. Had some tests done for my quack to look at.
7. Cooked dinner one night.
8. Washed my car. (Auto wash).
9. Went to the footy (oh dear!).
10. Blogged.

Though this is indeed what I've done, I only wrote this dribble as I'm testing Microsoft's 'Windows Live Writer' programme. I found reference to it while browsing through Lisa's blog and I've used it to compose a few blog entries so far. I like it. You should give it a go (if you don't use it already). 

The only thing is though, that you need to enter the LJ site after posting, so that you can record your mood and 'listening to' bumf. The upside though is that you can spell check as you go and you do your work offline, and them simply click to post it. I shall continue to use it.

I finish at midnight tonight and then i can enjoy a couple of days off. Life is its usual state of chaos at the moment. Half of the rooms in the house are emptied and timber has at long last been laid on the floor. It will be another week at least before the varnishing and sanding is complete. Then it will be time to slowly pick through the carnage of dusty possessions and furniture and piece it all back together. Nothing every goes back quite the same and I think that includes me. 

The more you turn your life on its head, the more you get used to it I think. 

I want to be a Dalek.

I'm getting a kind of weird feeling here. 

I finished work at midnight last night and had noticed something wrong with the hearing in my left ear. Something is going amiss. I'm losing it.  In addition, my floors are covered with solvent, as the timber layers arrived this morning to start turning my life upside down once again. 

I'm breathing in some heavy fumes and it is making me feel somewhat light-headed and out there. 

This could be some trip.