Running Shoes

When I decide to get off my backside and get fit with running I want to be using the best footwear out there. Arguably, Asics Gel are one of the best for this, and here I put down some handy links:

http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/43583

http://startfitness.co.uk/page.asp?id=asics&

It's way cheaper to buy online than in stores, so here's to online shopping

Dream of Frustration

This was a dream where I was pursuing this particular girl for marriage, only to find out that she was recently married, that I missed out by a short time. I woke up thinking what the heck was that about since the reality is not so but it just made me think that maybe I'm just frustrated by the situation that I'm in. I mean a lot of people my age now are married, quite a few have kids and more often than not I kept getting asked the question when is it my turn. All these things puts more pressure on me to make a choice that I may regret. I know it is beneficial to get married, that it completes half your deen and so on, but till this point in time the ingredients for a successful marriage have not come my way. To me I feel as if perhaps this is Allah telling me that there's still more work to do. When you are ready, that's when you'll find your match. This is what keeps me going, the fact that I know that someone is out there for me; but is just out of view for now. Although time is ticking, I don't think I'm reacting fast enough to make a change happen. Perhaps its because I'm comfortable where I am. On one hand you see the beauty of the relationship between husband and wife and the unique family experience. On the other hand you see the pressures of life and juggling finances and so on. I guess I have doubt as to whether I'm capable of leading a family since I don't have much leadership experience. InsyaAllah the more I get involved in the community and build my self confidence, the more I can become a great husband and father. I leave this entry with an ayat from surat Al-Baqarah: "Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear..." (Qur'an 2:286). Allah will test us, and this is surely one of those tests, but He also knows our limits and things come in line with each other when He wills. P.S the person in the dream I've never met before, never spoken to and never knew existed. However, she does remind me of someone who I was really infatuated with some time ago so perhaps that's why my thoughts came this far. It's amazing what our minds can think of....

Thrifty Care Hire

I've been using Thrifty for my care hire since hiring myself and have found their service to be good, and with coupons, easily the best value.

The best coupon I've used is this one.

More can be found at retailmenot and sidepon (what a great idea)!

Enery Smart

A couple of days ago our solar system came online when the electrician came to install the new 'smart meter' and solar meter. From that point on our electricity is charged at the PowerSmart rates: peak 40.26c, shoulder 14.9c and offpeak 8.8c and an increased daily connection fee of 52.8c. This new scheme is bad if we continue to use the power the same way we'll be charged through the roof (as mentioned in many new stories), although it is good if we can alter our usage to be done in more offpeak and shoulder periods.

Sometime ago I remember some guy making a website which shows his electricity usage via a smart meter and putitng it online for all to see. The website escapes me, but it's sometihng that I want to do as well in the future (privately).

At first I thought I could easily get data out of our inverter, an SMA1700 but without a sunnywebbox or some other way to interface with the serial port + a computer, it wouldn't work.

Searching further online I found there to be a few meters out in the market that can monitor your usage from the meter box and even see solar output.

The following links are my current research sources:

Wattson
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum/?action=google_search&q=wattson&f=83


Envi / R
http://steplight.com.au/education/monitor-energy/wireless-real-time-home-electricity-display/
http://www.currentcost.com/product-envir.html
http://www.smartnow.com.au/support.php#faq23
http://www.smartnow.com.au/current_cost_ENVIR.html
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1413064&p=4

Jet Lun
http://www.smarthomefamily.com.au/keeping-an-eye-on-electricity-use
http://www.jetlun.com/75613.html

Efergy
http://www.efergy.com/
http://www.multipoweredproducts.com.au/products/Efergy-Elite-Wireless-Electricity-Monitor.html

TED 5000
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1298573

Overview of meters
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1527637
http://www.zigbee.org
http://smartnow.com.au/advancesolutions.html

Solar Stuff:
http://www.pvoutput.org/help.html#live-list
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1558447

Japanese Quake/Tsunami and Ebay

On Monday I was still in the mood for jets and wanted to decorate my desk with more JWings. Searching on Ebay I came across a few sellers, and when I clicked on a listing for an F-2 I found the seller coming from Sendai, Japan; one of the worst hit areas of the tsunami.

I bidded on one of their itmes but subsequently lost. It just came to my mind about the wellbeing of this seller; are they ok, can they still sell their items or are they no longer with us. It was just eerie even though I never dealt with this seller before.

I hope the seller is safe and can keep selling Jwings, but if they did happen to fall victim to this disaster, then I hope Ebay doesn't take fees for transactions they cannot fulfil.

DIY Lightboxes

One day I'll venture into making a lightbox and see what it's really like to take pictures of objects within this frame.

Links from Ozbarigan to get started:

DIY Photography
Origami Lightbox
Mini macro lightbox
and WIX (cos I saw the link about photo storage)

Clickatell sms throguh email

Not sure if this will work, but I need a simpler way of sending smses as the Clickatell gateway is slow and not built for quick sms sending.

Link to python script