Geocaching

Well it is a little after the event, last week, after I purchased my tin whistle, I did some geocaching. I visited some nice places in the Blue Mountains.

Bushwackers on iTunes

Well, I have not been an iTunes convert. Every time a music store opens up, I go and look for music by the Bushwackers. I used to go their dances at the Melbourne Show Grounds, before they were forced to close down. Always, I never find their albums. They only every released a few compilations on CD, which I have. I no longer have the LPs. So I was pleasantly surprised and concerned when I found all the albums on iTunes. It is good that they are there. The down side is that this might turn out to be expensive. Though, I checked the cost of a CD by another band. iTunes is only half the price of a CD. I have not purchased the music; yet.

Update: Just had a closer look, only their later albums are there. The early ones like Murrumbidgee are not. I wonder why?

jpeg magazine

I just submitted a photo to the Jpeg magazine for their next edition. So pop over and vote. I think this will work until the 31st of January. There are two photos now. Click on the photo image to vote for my photo.

D and C whistle

At the Peat's Ridge Festival, I wanted to purchase two tin whistles (though only one was made of tin). However, I could not use my credit card, and I did not have enough cash to buy both. There was a long queue at the ATM. So today I headed off to Leura to purchase the more expensive whistle. So now I have both.

At the festival, I was surprised by how well I can still play the whistle as in recent times I have been very bad at playing the high notes. So maybe I should get some lessons and see if I can learn to be a better player.

bigotry and bias

I am sad to say that the attitude of some people is still very sad. Having had a sever allergic reaction the first reaction of more than a few people has been one of: (1) it must be because you were in Korea and China and what you ate there; or (2) it must have something from traveling in Korea or China; or (3) it must be some sushi you ate. I am disgusted by this behavior and it will cloud the rest of this post.

My doctor said that the reaction had to have been caused by something in the 48 hours prior to the first reactions. The doctor at the hospital was also of the same view. They thought it was likely it was something like a new detergent or insect spray, and if not this something I had eaten. As I have not been using any new detergents, insect sprays or other such chemicals, it was probably caused by food. At fist I suspected the American Food I had on the day I was ill (KFC) as there was something a little unusual about the chicken. Though I did not stop eating it. The next obvious possible cause was the Italian food I had had the day before (Spaghetti bolognese). I had not finished the meal as I felt full. But maybe there was more to it.

So I have been gradually adding things back into what I eat. I emptied the half full bottle of wine, on the grounds to be better safe than sorry. However, in the end it looks like it was the tub of Cadbury peppermint icecream. I had eaten this for weeks before the illness (it is a 2 litre tub) so originally I had not considered this a possible cause. However, Tony says that Sandra will get ill from Oranges only after eating them for a week, so maybe this is the case. I had the iceream on the day I got ill, on the day I got worse and only a few days ago when I tried some more and had a small and instant reaction for 48 hours. However, I am not 100% sure this is the cause, or perhaps the only cause. I did have peppermint tea the day before I was sick for the first time in a long time.

So my current analysis of the cause is:

85% - Peppermint icecream
5% - KFC
5% - spaghetti bolognese
5% - some other cause

Lot's 'o things

Well this illness progresses. For some reason, it seems that every part of my body has to go through the allergic reaction. So I have been through the arms and head. My torso is coming out of it, and my legs are in full reaction. This makes walking and standing up painful. The locals here in Westmead think I look like I have leprosy.

On the subject of locals, I loved the song. It was great.

I have been listening to lots of podcasts while at home. There were interesting tidbits:

1. Gorbachev thinks Putin is a good leader and that Yeltsin was a bad leader.
2. The fellow at the center of the Fiji coup would have ended up in jail if he did not take over the country. Why did I not read that in the print news?
   

getting worse

This allergic reaction I am having is getting worse, not better. I was OK yesterday until I came home and had some ice cream. I then went down quite quickly. I can guess that the ice cream is the cause, but I had been eating it for a week. So maybe it was just my morning's drugs wearing off. I had a very restless night. Today I have improved somewhat with the new dose of drugs, but still my right eye is half closed and typing hurts. I will take some pain killers. I hope this does not go on as I used my last dose of cortisone today.

Taiwan Earthquake

I quipped before about the lack of coverage of the impact on Telecommunications of the Taiwan earth quake. All that was available was a poor report by Reuters. Then there was a better report in wikipedia. Now there is a good report in Bloomberg. This one is actually informative (like the wikipedia one) and provides good coverage of the effects and outcomes. I am impressed. I have just looked at the wikipedia one again, and it is also much improved.

Other cables affected include C2C Group Ltd.'s C2C cable which connects Korea through to Singapore, Reliance Communication Ltd.'s Flag North Asia Loop connecting Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China, as well as Reach's North Asian Loop connecting Japan through to Hong Kong, according to the operators.

Alergic Reaction

Well yesterday I came out in a rash, all over my body and swelling of the hands and ears. I went down to the hospital as I was very sore and it was after when I could see the doctor. It turned to be an allergic reaction. I am still sore even with the cortisone an histamines. But all is OK. I do not know the cause. Today I saw my normal GP no special action is required. On the up side my blood pressure is now back down almost to where it should be. Still a little high, but better.