On 19 Feb we suddenly found ourselves without any hot water (we have an electric 265L hot water tank that is heated "off peak" in the early hours each morning), so we had to call in a plumber to make repairs. I still thought of the tank as being fairly "new", as when we bought our house in 2003 it was only just out of the 5 year warranty period. The plumber replaced the heating element and thermostat ($85 each) and the repair bill was $300. At the time we decided not to buy a new water heater as the new tank would have been larger and would have cost extra for relocation, and I hadn't had a chance to compare models and costs. With a bit of luck the old tank might have lasted several more years.
Of course a week after the tank had been repaired the cover lifted off the base and expanded insulation started to poke out of the bottom - not a good sign as it often means that a leak has developed. Sure enough, this morning DW phoned me to say that the old tank had ruptured as was spraying out hot water. We decided on getting a slightly smaller tank (250L) that was able to fit in the same position as the old tank. The plumber also recommended replacing the old pressure relief and 'Dua' valve at the same time, so the total cost for the new water heater was $1363.50
The tank has a 5 year warranty, which means it will probably last 7-10 years before it has to be replaced. By that time off-peak electricity will probably have been phased out, so we'll be looking at either a heat pump or solar hot water system next time.
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Showing posts with label expenses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label expenses. Show all posts
Saturday, 19 February 2011
Saturday, 15 January 2011
I hate paying for my toys when I can't even use them
The annual registration renewal notice for my Scat Hovercraft ($56.50) just arrived, along with a reminder notice for the registration of my boat ($92.50). I wouldn't mind paying these annual registration fees if I was able to actually use the boat and hovercraft, but for the past five years they've both been sitting up at my parent's lakeside farmlet gathering dust (and probably need a major overall by now). Hopefully this year my parents will finally renovate the farmhouse and I'll be able to take DS1 and DS2 up there during the school holidays to play with my "toys".
(my boat is a slightly older model than this one)
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Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Extra expenses due to the new car
The week before I collected our new car I decided I'd better tidy up the garage and install an automatic opener on our roll-a-door. I'd been parking the old car outside in the carport, but didn't think that would be such a good idea with the new car - someone had stuck screws into two of our tyres a couple of weeks ago, and on Halloween night some eggs had been thrown at our house (but luckily didn't hit the car or make too much mess).
I bought the cheaper 'HomeEntry' brand door opener kit ($275) at the local hardware as it was almost identical to the version made by B&D (the local 'name' brand roll-a-door manufacturer) - but the B&D version cost over $400. After cleaning up the garage and grinding the padlocks off the roll-a-door I found that it was very difficult to open the door manually, and that it had a lot more wear and tear than I remembered. So I arranged for a couple of quotes for the old door to be replaced with a new one, and for the automatic opener kit to be installed. The cheapest quote was $1,190 but the door couldn't be delivered before Christmas, so I ordered the slightly more expensive B&D door ($1,280) as it 'might' be ready for installing the week before Christmas.
Hopefully there won't be any other unexpected expenses due to owning the new car.
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I bought the cheaper 'HomeEntry' brand door opener kit ($275) at the local hardware as it was almost identical to the version made by B&D (the local 'name' brand roll-a-door manufacturer) - but the B&D version cost over $400. After cleaning up the garage and grinding the padlocks off the roll-a-door I found that it was very difficult to open the door manually, and that it had a lot more wear and tear than I remembered. So I arranged for a couple of quotes for the old door to be replaced with a new one, and for the automatic opener kit to be installed. The cheapest quote was $1,190 but the door couldn't be delivered before Christmas, so I ordered the slightly more expensive B&D door ($1,280) as it 'might' be ready for installing the week before Christmas.
Hopefully there won't be any other unexpected expenses due to owning the new car.
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Saturday, 20 November 2010
Bought a new car
We finally decided to go ahead and trade in our 10-year-old Ford Festiva for a new 4WD/AWD SUV (A Ford Escape ZD). With the kids now 4 and 10 the Festiva was getting a bit cramped, and I was getting tired of driving a manual car for an hour and a half in peak hour traffic every day. This model is usually priced around $34,000 but at the moment is on 'sale' for $27,990 "drive away" so it's about the same price as the base model Hyundai ix35 (which we were also considering), and a fair bit cheaper than a Subaru Forester (which is what I'd buy if money was no object).
We got a $1,500 trade in valuation on the Festiva (which has only done 123,000 km but is ten years old), and after asking for their "best price" arrived at a final price of $26,300 with some car mats and a bike rack thrown in as sweeteners. Some other Ford dealers were advertising a slightly lower sticker price, but we may not have got as much for the trade in or the "free" accessories, so I decided not to spend the whole weekend visiting multiple dealers to try and knock down the price a bit further.
DW wanted a light colour (for visibility/safety) so black and 'royal ego' (metallic black/dark grey) were ruled out, and I was sick of red cars after driving a red Ford Capri and then a red Ford Festiva for the past twenty or so years. We both aren't keen on white cars, so that left a choice of either 'moonlight' silver or 'metallic sand' (a light-tan shade of silver). I decided on the 'metallic sand' as it may not look as dirty after every Sydney rain storm (I don't often wash my car, and begrudge spending money on a car wash - although that may change for the first couple of years with this new car).
I paid the $500 deposit using my credit card and will drop off a personal cheque for the balance tomorrow. The registration and other paperwork and 'preparation' will be done during the week (while my cheque clears) so we should be able to drop off the trade-in and drive away the new car next weekend. Meanwhile I need to reorganise the 'stuff' stored in our garage, and install the roller-door motor kit I bought last week ($275). I'll probably take out comprehensive car insurance on the new car (at least for the first few years), before reverting to theft and fire insurance, and eventually only keeping third party property damage (and the compulsory third party insurance) when the car has depreciated to under $10,000 valuation.
I expect to keep this car for at least ten years, so the annual cost is about $2,630 depreciation plus ~$500 for registration/CTP insurance, ~$1,000 or so for regular servicing, ~$200 each year accrued for new tyres, and $500 for comprehensive car insurance (not too expensive since DW and myself are both over 40). All up around $5,000 pa. Petrol costs should be similar to our current, smaller car (at around $35 each week), as although the Escape is larger and heavier than the Festiva, the newer engine technology means the Escape has similar fuel consumption figures (around 10L per 100km). Aside from the daily commute to and from work and the normal weekend family activities, we will be using this car for trips to my parents farm at Wallis Lake (about 350 km north of Sydney) every couple of months during the school holidays. There are lots of scenic 4WD tracks there, so we may even lock the car in '4WD mode' occasionally ;)
I'm not sure how often we will use the bike rack, but the roof racks should be used quite often to transport my wind-surfer and kayak when we visit the Lake. The large boot and rear 12V power point will also be useful if I take my 10" Meade SCT on field trips ;)
ps. I'd previously blogged about second-hand cars being much better value than buying new vehicles, but at the current sale price the new Escape is only a few thousand more than a 2-3 year old second-hand Escape.
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We got a $1,500 trade in valuation on the Festiva (which has only done 123,000 km but is ten years old), and after asking for their "best price" arrived at a final price of $26,300 with some car mats and a bike rack thrown in as sweeteners. Some other Ford dealers were advertising a slightly lower sticker price, but we may not have got as much for the trade in or the "free" accessories, so I decided not to spend the whole weekend visiting multiple dealers to try and knock down the price a bit further.
DW wanted a light colour (for visibility/safety) so black and 'royal ego' (metallic black/dark grey) were ruled out, and I was sick of red cars after driving a red Ford Capri and then a red Ford Festiva for the past twenty or so years. We both aren't keen on white cars, so that left a choice of either 'moonlight' silver or 'metallic sand' (a light-tan shade of silver). I decided on the 'metallic sand' as it may not look as dirty after every Sydney rain storm (I don't often wash my car, and begrudge spending money on a car wash - although that may change for the first couple of years with this new car).
I paid the $500 deposit using my credit card and will drop off a personal cheque for the balance tomorrow. The registration and other paperwork and 'preparation' will be done during the week (while my cheque clears) so we should be able to drop off the trade-in and drive away the new car next weekend. Meanwhile I need to reorganise the 'stuff' stored in our garage, and install the roller-door motor kit I bought last week ($275). I'll probably take out comprehensive car insurance on the new car (at least for the first few years), before reverting to theft and fire insurance, and eventually only keeping third party property damage (and the compulsory third party insurance) when the car has depreciated to under $10,000 valuation.
I expect to keep this car for at least ten years, so the annual cost is about $2,630 depreciation plus ~$500 for registration/CTP insurance, ~$1,000 or so for regular servicing, ~$200 each year accrued for new tyres, and $500 for comprehensive car insurance (not too expensive since DW and myself are both over 40). All up around $5,000 pa. Petrol costs should be similar to our current, smaller car (at around $35 each week), as although the Escape is larger and heavier than the Festiva, the newer engine technology means the Escape has similar fuel consumption figures (around 10L per 100km). Aside from the daily commute to and from work and the normal weekend family activities, we will be using this car for trips to my parents farm at Wallis Lake (about 350 km north of Sydney) every couple of months during the school holidays. There are lots of scenic 4WD tracks there, so we may even lock the car in '4WD mode' occasionally ;)
I'm not sure how often we will use the bike rack, but the roof racks should be used quite often to transport my wind-surfer and kayak when we visit the Lake. The large boot and rear 12V power point will also be useful if I take my 10" Meade SCT on field trips ;)
ps. I'd previously blogged about second-hand cars being much better value than buying new vehicles, but at the current sale price the new Escape is only a few thousand more than a 2-3 year old second-hand Escape.
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Sunday, 12 September 2010
Free international phone calls
When I was a lad, international phone calls cost a small fortune and the line was often so bad you could hardly understand what the person on the other end was saying. Over the years the cost of international telephone calls slowly dropepd and quality improved, and for the past few years DW has been able to call her overseas relatives using a pre-paid 'calling card' which only cost a few cents per minute for calls from Australia to the US and Malaysia.
Now calls to the US (landline numbers) can be made at practically no cost, with the advent of free internet calls to US numbers via GMail for Australian users (if they have their GMail account setup to use US English). DW has made a couple of half-hour VOIP calls to her sister in the US using GMail, and was delighted with the quality (and no cost). Apparently the service is free until the end of 2010, so I'm not sure if there will be charges for using it in future (for example, calls to mobile phones cost a few cents). Any charge would have to be negligible or else DW will go back to using her 'calling card', especially since she can't use the GMail VOIP to make free calls to Malaysia.
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Now calls to the US (landline numbers) can be made at practically no cost, with the advent of free internet calls to US numbers via GMail for Australian users (if they have their GMail account setup to use US English). DW has made a couple of half-hour VOIP calls to her sister in the US using GMail, and was delighted with the quality (and no cost). Apparently the service is free until the end of 2010, so I'm not sure if there will be charges for using it in future (for example, calls to mobile phones cost a few cents). Any charge would have to be negligible or else DW will go back to using her 'calling card', especially since she can't use the GMail VOIP to make free calls to Malaysia.
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Friday, 6 August 2010
A comparison of Income and Spending
2millionblog.com recently posted a monthly income and expenses 'snapshot', so I thought I'd compare it with our current budget. I've adjusted the budget figures I recently posted to add back in the superannuation contributions to our net pay, and exclude business, rental and investment items to be comparable to 2millionBlog's figures:
One thing that is very noticeable is that our expense for food, utilities and transportation is almost identical. On the other extreme, we spend twice as much on house payments -- explained by the relative average house prices in Australia compared to the US, and mortgage interest rates. I'm also socking away more into retirement savings - which makes sense given my age and income level. I'm spending considerably more each month on healthcare (due to prescription medicines for DS1, DS2 and myself) and have some university expenses (the Masters course I'm studying part-time) which 2millionBlog doesn't have. In contrast, he had a sizeable vacation payment for a cruise compared to our having no monthly expense or savings for a holiday (as we plan on having a virtually free 'staycation' at my parents' farm).
The other big difference is that $1,350 of the 'saved' amount is actually interest I'm paing each month on my St George Bank investment loan (home equity loan). The payments have to be funded out of my salary income as all the investment income is already earmarked to cover the margin loan interest costs. The theory is that this effectively 'converts' taxable salary income (reduced by the tax deductible investment loan interest) into long-term capital gains (on the investment) that are tax-deferred, and, under current rules, concessionally tax (at half my marginal income tax rate). In practice this is only a *good idea* if the total ROI of my investment (dividends and capital gains) exceeds the interest cost - unfortunately this hasn't been the case over the past decade due to the bear markets of 2000/1 and 2008/9.
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_______________________________2millionBlog__________Enoughwealth Net pay........................4,916.................6,750 Wife's Net pay...................751.................1,667 Total Income...................5,667.................8,417 - Total Expenses...............4,853.................6,917 = Saved..........................814.................1,500 Expenses: House payments.................1,494.................2,817 Food.............................861...................850 Vacation.........................661.....................0 Utilities........................251...................250 Gifts............................112....................30 Charity............................0.....................0 Petcare............................0.....................0 Miscellaneous....................188...................185 Healthcare.......................185...................400 Retirement plans.................850.................2,000 Transportation...................251...................235 Uni fees and texts.................0...................150
One thing that is very noticeable is that our expense for food, utilities and transportation is almost identical. On the other extreme, we spend twice as much on house payments -- explained by the relative average house prices in Australia compared to the US, and mortgage interest rates. I'm also socking away more into retirement savings - which makes sense given my age and income level. I'm spending considerably more each month on healthcare (due to prescription medicines for DS1, DS2 and myself) and have some university expenses (the Masters course I'm studying part-time) which 2millionBlog doesn't have. In contrast, he had a sizeable vacation payment for a cruise compared to our having no monthly expense or savings for a holiday (as we plan on having a virtually free 'staycation' at my parents' farm).
The other big difference is that $1,350 of the 'saved' amount is actually interest I'm paing each month on my St George Bank investment loan (home equity loan). The payments have to be funded out of my salary income as all the investment income is already earmarked to cover the margin loan interest costs. The theory is that this effectively 'converts' taxable salary income (reduced by the tax deductible investment loan interest) into long-term capital gains (on the investment) that are tax-deferred, and, under current rules, concessionally tax (at half my marginal income tax rate). In practice this is only a *good idea* if the total ROI of my investment (dividends and capital gains) exceeds the interest cost - unfortunately this hasn't been the case over the past decade due to the bear markets of 2000/1 and 2008/9.
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Sunday, 25 July 2010
The frugal joy of 'lagging edge' computer software and hardware
It's a well known fact that keeping up with the techno-Joneses by buying the latest cool techo-toys can be a wee bit expensive (do you want an iPad with your iPhone?), not to mention the 'joys' of living on the "bleeding edge" of technology and being one of the first to uncover that exciting new 'undocumented feature' (no, no, you're just holding your iPhone 4 the wrong way you klutz - there's nothing wrong with it!).
So it's a lot cheaper to take a few steps back from those money black-holes and cultivating a mind-set of 'discovering' that latest and best games and hardware a few years after everyone else. I do this by a) hanging on to my old games (Kings Quest 4 anyone?) and old hardware as long a possible, and then b) only looking on the discount table of EB Games to find out 'what's the 'latest', cool new game). Provided I don't go near the current gaming mags or try impressing anyone else, I'm perfectly happy with living on the 'lagging edge'. I still get to buy shiny new toys, but don't pay much more than I would for a used copy of the latest releases.
Hence, last week I bought a copy of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 for $14, and proceeded to replace my old serial port joystick with a brand-new Logitech Attack 3 USB joystick for $25 (on clearance sale, used to be around $35). I'm amazed by how great the graphics look when playing on my Dell Inspiron Laptop, and although the software first came out in 2002 it runs perfectly well under Vista.
Another benefit of buying games well after they were first released is that any bugs have probably been fixed - from what I read on the 'net, when CFS3 first came out you had to manually hack the config file to get the Logitech joystick to work under Vista. I had no problems at all, so it seems that Microsoft eventually got around to fixing that bug.
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So it's a lot cheaper to take a few steps back from those money black-holes and cultivating a mind-set of 'discovering' that latest and best games and hardware a few years after everyone else. I do this by a) hanging on to my old games (Kings Quest 4 anyone?) and old hardware as long a possible, and then b) only looking on the discount table of EB Games to find out 'what's the 'latest', cool new game). Provided I don't go near the current gaming mags or try impressing anyone else, I'm perfectly happy with living on the 'lagging edge'. I still get to buy shiny new toys, but don't pay much more than I would for a used copy of the latest releases.
Hence, last week I bought a copy of Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 for $14, and proceeded to replace my old serial port joystick with a brand-new Logitech Attack 3 USB joystick for $25 (on clearance sale, used to be around $35). I'm amazed by how great the graphics look when playing on my Dell Inspiron Laptop, and although the software first came out in 2002 it runs perfectly well under Vista.
Another benefit of buying games well after they were first released is that any bugs have probably been fixed - from what I read on the 'net, when CFS3 first came out you had to manually hack the config file to get the Logitech joystick to work under Vista. I had no problems at all, so it seems that Microsoft eventually got around to fixing that bug.
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Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Mini Budget for 2010
I completed my online enrolment for the MAstron course yesterday, so I now know exactly what the course fees will be ($850 per semester, due in Mar and Aug) for 2010. I won't do a full budget for 2010 as I expect my overall income and expenses will be similar to the past couple of years, and most of my income and expenses are ticking over nicely on 'autopilot'. However, there is some room to make savings in some areas (such as grocery shopping) and I need to reign in my impulse/discretionary spending and also budget for my uni expenses. I spent an hour checking through my monthly credit card statements for the past 12 months and came up with the following 'mini budget' (credit card charges only) for next year:
This year the 'other' category included irregular household expenses such as car servicing and registration etc. as well as miscellaneous 'big ticket' items such as the new pool fencing, a garden play set, and 200 sq metres of stone cladding (bought because it was on clearance sale, and destined for the holiday house I intend to building on my parent's lakeside farm in the next couple of years). For 2010 I'm only budgeting for an 'other' amount that covers the essentials (car rego & insurance etc) and assuming I won't make any unplanned purchases.
Although this budget doesn't include any of my regular expenses that are not charged to my credit card - such as home loan repayments, investment loan interest charges, retirement savings etc. - those items don't vary much, are out of my control, and are covered by the balance of my salary income, rent and dividend income. The variable (and mostly discretionary) items all get charged to my credit card (and paid off in full each month), so, provided I stick to my CC mini budget, my overall finances should remain on track.
(all amounts are monthly)
Item ............ budget '10... prev 12 mo avg .. comments
Petrol: ......... __$140.00 ... __$115.40 ....... The last 6 months have averaged closer to $140
Shopping:........ $1,400.00 ... $1,366.78 ....... I intent to trim this expenditure as much as possible
Medical:......... __$400.00 ... __$406.76 ....... If there are only routine expenses this may be 50% lower
Rates/Utilities:. __$220.00 ... __$219.18 ....... I intend to offset any price rises with reduced water/elec use
Books:........... ___$30.00 ... ___$28.07 ....... A small item that we seem to end up spending on each month
Uni study:....... __$200.00 ... ____$5.42 ....... Only had application expenses this year. Budget for fees and textbooks
Computer:........ ___$65.00 ... ___$65.76 ....... Tends to be large, irregular expenses. Need to watch this doesn't blow out.
Gifts:........... ___$25.00 ... ___$25.30 .......
Income insurance: ___$75.00 ... ___$70.46 ....... Monthly charge is currently $75.71
Hobbies:......... __$150.00 ... __$169.68 ....... Should come in under budget if I avoid impulse purchases
Other:........... __$150.00 ... $1,319.39 ....... See below
Annual total:.... $34260.00 ... $45506.26
This year the 'other' category included irregular household expenses such as car servicing and registration etc. as well as miscellaneous 'big ticket' items such as the new pool fencing, a garden play set, and 200 sq metres of stone cladding (bought because it was on clearance sale, and destined for the holiday house I intend to building on my parent's lakeside farm in the next couple of years). For 2010 I'm only budgeting for an 'other' amount that covers the essentials (car rego & insurance etc) and assuming I won't make any unplanned purchases.
Although this budget doesn't include any of my regular expenses that are not charged to my credit card - such as home loan repayments, investment loan interest charges, retirement savings etc. - those items don't vary much, are out of my control, and are covered by the balance of my salary income, rent and dividend income. The variable (and mostly discretionary) items all get charged to my credit card (and paid off in full each month), so, provided I stick to my CC mini budget, my overall finances should remain on track.
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Saturday, 28 November 2009
Avoiding 'bank' fees
Although I have many (too many?) different bank accounts, and our biggest 'relationship' with St George bank (our home mortgages, a margin loan account and a portfolio loan account), I've always considered my 'main' bank account to the credit union savings account I opened thirty years ago while at uni. It's always been economical to have my wages paid directly into the credit union account as there is no monthly account keeping fee, and, until recently, there were no fees for writing cheques or making on-line bill payments or transfers. There was a limit to the number of "free" transactions each month, but I had never exceeded the limit.
A few months ago the credit union announced a new, variable monthly transaction fee 'allowance' that is based on the total size of the 'relationship' you have with the credit union each month. As my savings account balance tends to fluctuate between $0 and several thousands of dollars during the month, some months I only have the minimum $25 fee "allowance" and other months I'm allocated a $50 "allowance". As my usual monthly activity (bill payments, transfers, cheques and ATM cash withdrawals) usually adds up to around $25 dollars in notional "fees" some months I've ended up having to pay out $2 or $5 in fees. It was especially annoying when I thought I was just under the monthly limit, only to have a couple of cheques presented on the last business day of the month!
To avoid having to pay any fees I now transfer some money from my personal credit union account to the "joint" account DW and I opened after getting married and pay some of my bills out of that account. A transfer between accounts within the credit union has no fee, and while the joint account generally has almost no cash in it, it is still allocated the minimum $25 "fee allowance" each month. By paying some of my bills using the joint account I can effectively double my monthly fee "allowance" to $50, which means I can make around 25 transactions each month without being charged a fee.
A few months ago the credit union announced a new, variable monthly transaction fee 'allowance' that is based on the total size of the 'relationship' you have with the credit union each month. As my savings account balance tends to fluctuate between $0 and several thousands of dollars during the month, some months I only have the minimum $25 fee "allowance" and other months I'm allocated a $50 "allowance". As my usual monthly activity (bill payments, transfers, cheques and ATM cash withdrawals) usually adds up to around $25 dollars in notional "fees" some months I've ended up having to pay out $2 or $5 in fees. It was especially annoying when I thought I was just under the monthly limit, only to have a couple of cheques presented on the last business day of the month!
To avoid having to pay any fees I now transfer some money from my personal credit union account to the "joint" account DW and I opened after getting married and pay some of my bills out of that account. A transfer between accounts within the credit union has no fee, and while the joint account generally has almost no cash in it, it is still allocated the minimum $25 "fee allowance" each month. By paying some of my bills using the joint account I can effectively double my monthly fee "allowance" to $50, which means I can make around 25 transactions each month without being charged a fee.
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Wednesday, 23 September 2009
Cub Scouting and Vacation Costs
DS1 enjoyed his second and third Cub Scout's meetings as a "new chum" and was keen to join up and start working towards some of the achievement badges during the upcoming school vacation. So I decided to go ahead and buy the required cub scout uniform (peaked cap, buttoned shirt and belt) from our local Snowgum store (the Scout product distributor in NSW). The clothing cost $64.85 from Snowgum, which is the same price as listed by the Scout shop. In addition, for new customers buying Scouts equipment Snowgum waives the usual $11 fee to join their loyalty scheme - so each May we will be sent a refund voucher worth 10% of the amount spent at Snowgum stores. I'm sure the refund will come in handy to buy some badges or camping gear. The Snowgum store didn't have any of the "official" Scout uniform trousers in the right size for DS1, so instead of paying $39.95 for a pair of tan-coloured cargo pants with zip-off legs we visited Target and bought a suitable pair of tan-coloured shorts for just $10. The "official" Scout uniform shirt and belt is made in China (the cap label doesn't mention where that came from), and the cheaper Target shorts come from Bangladesh. The label says to wash to shorts before wear, which I assume is to remove dyes and chemical residues (and possibly pins etc). As DS1 has eczema we will definitely wash the clothing twice before use. After the 10% discount the total cost of the basic Cub Scouts uniform came to $68.37. If the uniform doesn't get worn out too quickly, DS1 will use it until he moves on to Scouts in 18 months time, and we'll then keep it until DS2 is old enough the start Cubs three years later.
I handed in the membership application paperwork at the second meeting, along with the "[I'm not a] prohibited person" declaration that is required from any parent that wants to help out at Cub meetings. As a pro-rata fee amount due is calculated from the number of quarters remaining before the 31 March "year end", I listed 1 October as the joining date and post-dated the cheque.
For the school vacation period I have booked DS1 into a 4-day sailing course (cost $320) the first week of the holidays, and a 2-day art class the following week ($120). Hopefully DS1 enjoys the classes enough to make them worthwhile. We have a small catamaran sail-boat stored at my parent's lake-side farm, so sailing would be an affordable activity for DS1 if he enjoys it.
DS1 may also spend some time in the vacation learning JAVA programming - he worked his way through a couple of kid's programming tutorials last year using QBasic, so I bought a colourful introductory book on programming in Java that will help introduce him to object-oriented programming concepts and revise his previous work on variables, arrays, loops, i/o and so forth. Last week I registered him with the online training site http://orac.amt.edu.au/aioc/) used by students preparing for the Australian Informatics Olympiad programme. The site is really meant for high-school students (years 7-12) that are participating in the Australian Informatics Competition (AIC) or the Australian Informatics Olympiad (AIO), but the online exercises will provide many programing exercises for me to work through with him. When he submits his solution code to the site it will be automatically run using a suite a test data files and given an overall score based on program output correctness and run time. Cool. DS1 is only in year 4, so he can't enter the informatics competitions yet, which is a pity since he got a high distinction in the ICAS computer skills test this year (top 2%) and is interesting in programming and robotics. But if starts programming now for fun, he may do well in the competitions when he is in Year 7.
I handed in the membership application paperwork at the second meeting, along with the "[I'm not a] prohibited person" declaration that is required from any parent that wants to help out at Cub meetings. As a pro-rata fee amount due is calculated from the number of quarters remaining before the 31 March "year end", I listed 1 October as the joining date and post-dated the cheque.
For the school vacation period I have booked DS1 into a 4-day sailing course (cost $320) the first week of the holidays, and a 2-day art class the following week ($120). Hopefully DS1 enjoys the classes enough to make them worthwhile. We have a small catamaran sail-boat stored at my parent's lake-side farm, so sailing would be an affordable activity for DS1 if he enjoys it.
DS1 may also spend some time in the vacation learning JAVA programming - he worked his way through a couple of kid's programming tutorials last year using QBasic, so I bought a colourful introductory book on programming in Java that will help introduce him to object-oriented programming concepts and revise his previous work on variables, arrays, loops, i/o and so forth. Last week I registered him with the online training site http://orac.amt.edu.au/aioc/) used by students preparing for the Australian Informatics Olympiad programme. The site is really meant for high-school students (years 7-12) that are participating in the Australian Informatics Competition (AIC) or the Australian Informatics Olympiad (AIO), but the online exercises will provide many programing exercises for me to work through with him. When he submits his solution code to the site it will be automatically run using a suite a test data files and given an overall score based on program output correctness and run time. Cool. DS1 is only in year 4, so he can't enter the informatics competitions yet, which is a pity since he got a high distinction in the ICAS computer skills test this year (top 2%) and is interesting in programming and robotics. But if starts programming now for fun, he may do well in the competitions when he is in Year 7.
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Sunday, 16 August 2009
More Home Improvements
Years ago, when I was single (and had more spare time and money), I subscribed to various editions of leather bound 'heirloom' books from Easton Press. Altogether I bought approximately 200 books, which cost around A$100 each.
Since buying our current home seven years ago I've intended to convert our lounge room into a 'library' by building some book cases into one half of the room, but haven't got around to it yet. The books are currently scattered around the lounge room in various locations.
Last week I did manage to get one step closer to starting work on this project by buying six flat packs of DIY 'six cube bookcase' kits from Aldi for A$100 each.
These bookcases will provide more than enough storage space for my leather bound books, and for display of some of my collection of coins and other 'collectibles'. I plan to stack two of the bookcases on top of each other to make a 4x3 cube unit 1.6m high on each side of an alcove in the lounge room. I'll then cut the remaining two kits in half to install 1x4 cube units either side the large teak wood carving I bought in Singapore twenty years ago. The wood carving isn't as deep as the bookcases, so I'll be able to mount a flat screen HD TV above the carving and run the data and power cables behind the carving. I'm not sure if I'll leave the cube bookcases 'open' or enclose each cube with tracks and sliding glass doors or hinged glass doors. I can probably leave the glazing for 'phase two' of this project ;) In any case, I won't be starting on this work until after I've finished installing the new pool fencing and done this year's tax returns...
Since buying our current home seven years ago I've intended to convert our lounge room into a 'library' by building some book cases into one half of the room, but haven't got around to it yet. The books are currently scattered around the lounge room in various locations.
Last week I did manage to get one step closer to starting work on this project by buying six flat packs of DIY 'six cube bookcase' kits from Aldi for A$100 each.
These bookcases will provide more than enough storage space for my leather bound books, and for display of some of my collection of coins and other 'collectibles'. I plan to stack two of the bookcases on top of each other to make a 4x3 cube unit 1.6m high on each side of an alcove in the lounge room. I'll then cut the remaining two kits in half to install 1x4 cube units either side the large teak wood carving I bought in Singapore twenty years ago. The wood carving isn't as deep as the bookcases, so I'll be able to mount a flat screen HD TV above the carving and run the data and power cables behind the carving. I'm not sure if I'll leave the cube bookcases 'open' or enclose each cube with tracks and sliding glass doors or hinged glass doors. I can probably leave the glazing for 'phase two' of this project ;) In any case, I won't be starting on this work until after I've finished installing the new pool fencing and done this year's tax returns...
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Thursday, 6 August 2009
Panasonic NV-DS15 mini-DV camcorder 'reboot'
After the aborted attempt to "upgrade" to a new (but cheap) HD camcorder, I'm concentrating on making better use of the video equipment I already have. The two new batteries I ordered from estore.com.au arrived within a couple of days of my ordering them online. Charging them up only took a couple of hours and they each provide around 90 minutes of intermittent recording time when fully charged.
To download my miniDV tapes to PC I decided to use the camcorder's firewire connection, as using the serial connector and the video editing software that came with the camera when I bought it in 2000 would be v-e-r-y slow (I think it's really just meant for downloading the 6-second "photo shot" still images that can be recorded with the camcorder). It was a bit off-putting to see that Panasonic had a special document entitled "Cautions for Connecting a Video Camera to a PC" that stressed that the PC should be turned OFF before using a firewire cable to connect the PC to the camera - otherwise there "may" be potential for static electricity damage to the camcorder! Not exactly "plug and play" ;) In practice I've had no problems when unplugging the firewire cable from the camcorder the normal way - using the Windows "disconnect USB device" tool and then turning off the camcorder before unplugging the cable.
The recommended IEEE 1394-1995 i.Link cable from Panasonic (VW-CD1E) is apparently discontinued, and in any case was simply an overpriced 4-pin firewire cable (apparently it cost around $100!). I purchased a generic 4-pin to 6-pin Belkin firewire cable from the local JB Hi-Fi store for $16.95 and it works perfectly. It was a relief to find that Windows Vista detected the camcorder device as soon as it was connected, and installed a working device driver without any problems.
I'm using Windows Movie Maker to download the mini-DV tape contents to my Dell PC. In AVI format a standard 60-min (SP) miniDV tape will occupy approx. 13 GB of harddisk space. Unfortunately the 1TB drive is formatted with Fat-32 file structure, so the maximum size for a single file is apparently 4GB (~19 min of recording time). I found this out when trying to download the first miniDV tape. So I'm splitting each tape into 4x15 minute segments, with a 1-min overlap to make editing easier. As I have around 26 used miniDV tapes this will result in approx. 100 raw video segments in total! As the play-back/download process occurs in "real time" I'm only transferring one or two of my 1-hr miniDV tapes each evening. If I saved the downloaded video files in WMV format I could store each complete 1-hr tape in a 1GB file, but I'm not sure how much the image quality would be degraded using WMV rather than AVI format. I've already had one of the miniDV tapes get damaged (tangled during tape ejection) and was lucky to be able to still rewind the tape and download it without further problems (the data in the damaged section of tape was unusable), so I think its best to make a "master" copy of each tape in AVI format. As I'm storing all my video and digital photo raw files onto my external 1TB harddisk file size isn't an issue yet. For data backups I'll eventually need to buy a second cheap 1TB HDD when ALDI has one on special, and store the second drive off-site (in case of a house fire). But I may put this purchase off for a while as storage media keeps getting cheaper each year. I still remember paying hundreds of dollars for a tape drive and tapes to back up my old 3.5" FDD last century, and the technology was continually being superseded by larger capacity media that were much faster and cheaper (per MB) than what had been available the previous year.
I found manuals for the various Panasonic NV-DS15 camcorder models online, although I eventually also located my original hard copy manuals.
So far we've just been enjoying viewing the unedited tape segments as I download them. Once I've finished all the data transfers from tape to HDD I'll start playing around with editing some footage (meterage? byteage?) using Windows Movie Maker (DS1 is already an expert). My first project will be editing last year's European vacation tapes and burn it the result onto a DVD. I'll insert some relevant still digital photos that DW, DS1 and I took, and maybe make up some graphics showing our journey (I recorded daily way points using my GPS and kept the road maps) and some title frames. Dubbing in some background music and commentary might make the end result look more like a travel documentary and less like the old-fashioned "home movie". The DVD burner software apparently lets you create a DVD "index" to make the finished product look more like a "professional" (rental movie) DVD, but I suspect that the more "professional" I package the finished product, the more obviously amateur the actual camera work will appear! I've been reading up on basic camera techniques (pans, tilts, etc) and will make sure I use a tripod on our next holiday. I'd gotten used to making do with hand-held recording while on previous back-packing holidays, but nowadays we travel by car (or camper van) so there's no reason to leave the tripod at home. Another benefit of using a tripod and remote control for the camcorder (if I can find it!) is that I'll appear more frequently in our holiday movies.
Depending on how the finished DVD turns out, I may just send a copy to our relatives, or maybe we'll even make some of our friends suffer through watching a "home movie" ;)
To download my miniDV tapes to PC I decided to use the camcorder's firewire connection, as using the serial connector and the video editing software that came with the camera when I bought it in 2000 would be v-e-r-y slow (I think it's really just meant for downloading the 6-second "photo shot" still images that can be recorded with the camcorder). It was a bit off-putting to see that Panasonic had a special document entitled "Cautions for Connecting a Video Camera to a PC" that stressed that the PC should be turned OFF before using a firewire cable to connect the PC to the camera - otherwise there "may" be potential for static electricity damage to the camcorder! Not exactly "plug and play" ;) In practice I've had no problems when unplugging the firewire cable from the camcorder the normal way - using the Windows "disconnect USB device" tool and then turning off the camcorder before unplugging the cable.
The recommended IEEE 1394-1995 i.Link cable from Panasonic (VW-CD1E) is apparently discontinued, and in any case was simply an overpriced 4-pin firewire cable (apparently it cost around $100!). I purchased a generic 4-pin to 6-pin Belkin firewire cable from the local JB Hi-Fi store for $16.95 and it works perfectly. It was a relief to find that Windows Vista detected the camcorder device as soon as it was connected, and installed a working device driver without any problems.
I'm using Windows Movie Maker to download the mini-DV tape contents to my Dell PC. In AVI format a standard 60-min (SP) miniDV tape will occupy approx. 13 GB of harddisk space. Unfortunately the 1TB drive is formatted with Fat-32 file structure, so the maximum size for a single file is apparently 4GB (~19 min of recording time). I found this out when trying to download the first miniDV tape. So I'm splitting each tape into 4x15 minute segments, with a 1-min overlap to make editing easier. As I have around 26 used miniDV tapes this will result in approx. 100 raw video segments in total! As the play-back/download process occurs in "real time" I'm only transferring one or two of my 1-hr miniDV tapes each evening. If I saved the downloaded video files in WMV format I could store each complete 1-hr tape in a 1GB file, but I'm not sure how much the image quality would be degraded using WMV rather than AVI format. I've already had one of the miniDV tapes get damaged (tangled during tape ejection) and was lucky to be able to still rewind the tape and download it without further problems (the data in the damaged section of tape was unusable), so I think its best to make a "master" copy of each tape in AVI format. As I'm storing all my video and digital photo raw files onto my external 1TB harddisk file size isn't an issue yet. For data backups I'll eventually need to buy a second cheap 1TB HDD when ALDI has one on special, and store the second drive off-site (in case of a house fire). But I may put this purchase off for a while as storage media keeps getting cheaper each year. I still remember paying hundreds of dollars for a tape drive and tapes to back up my old 3.5" FDD last century, and the technology was continually being superseded by larger capacity media that were much faster and cheaper (per MB) than what had been available the previous year.
I found manuals for the various Panasonic NV-DS15 camcorder models online, although I eventually also located my original hard copy manuals.
So far we've just been enjoying viewing the unedited tape segments as I download them. Once I've finished all the data transfers from tape to HDD I'll start playing around with editing some footage (meterage? byteage?) using Windows Movie Maker (DS1 is already an expert). My first project will be editing last year's European vacation tapes and burn it the result onto a DVD. I'll insert some relevant still digital photos that DW, DS1 and I took, and maybe make up some graphics showing our journey (I recorded daily way points using my GPS and kept the road maps) and some title frames. Dubbing in some background music and commentary might make the end result look more like a travel documentary and less like the old-fashioned "home movie". The DVD burner software apparently lets you create a DVD "index" to make the finished product look more like a "professional" (rental movie) DVD, but I suspect that the more "professional" I package the finished product, the more obviously amateur the actual camera work will appear! I've been reading up on basic camera techniques (pans, tilts, etc) and will make sure I use a tripod on our next holiday. I'd gotten used to making do with hand-held recording while on previous back-packing holidays, but nowadays we travel by car (or camper van) so there's no reason to leave the tripod at home. Another benefit of using a tripod and remote control for the camcorder (if I can find it!) is that I'll appear more frequently in our holiday movies.
Depending on how the finished DVD turns out, I may just send a copy to our relatives, or maybe we'll even make some of our friends suffer through watching a "home movie" ;)
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Cancelled my Kogan Full HD 1080p camcorder order
I was suffering a bit of buyer's remorse even as I wrote my post about ordering a Kogan Full HD 1080p camcorder two days ago! The thought that KMart may be selling an identical product for around half price made me wonder about the value for money of this product, despite the "low" price for a HD system. Later that evening I viewed some YouTube footage that had been recorded using a Kogan HD 1080P, and it looked pretty poor compared to what I'd previously obtained from my old Panasonic miniDV camcorder. In fact, it looked a lot like the results I can already get the 'pocket' camcorder I bought from Aldi last year! Higher resolution (2.14 mp) doesn't count for much if colour, focus and brightness are poor. My old Panasonic SD camcorder is SD PAL, so it's resolution is around 0.8 mp, but the DV recording is almost loss-less, whereas the HD Kogan recordings showed significant jpeg compression effects. Also, the Panasonic camera has superior optical zoom, colour balance and low light performance compared to the Kogan.
The final straw was when Kogan emailed me to advise that the unit was going to be shipped out two weeks later than had been advertised when I placed my order! Their website has now been updated with the new delivery date, but I think it's really poor customer service to only update the advertised shipping date the day AFTER you've sold out the current shipment. I emailed a request to cancel my order and they sent back a confirmation of my order cancellation and credit card refund within a couple of hours.
Instead of getting a new camcorder I've now ordered two "PANASONIC CGR-D16" (compatible) camcorder replacement batteries (Li-ion, 7.20 V, 3000.00 mAh) for $48 (+$10 postage) from e-Store.net.au. My old battery was only 1700 mAh, and lasted around 1 hour recording time when it was brand new, so these new batteries should each be able to record a full 90 minute mini-DV tape on a full charge. Hopefully using new batteries (and making use of my head cleaning tape) will be enough to get my Panasonic camcorder back in business for a few more years. So, instead of playing with a new Kogan camcorder, I'll spend some time trying to download my existing mini-DV tapes onto my PC via firewire, editing the videos and buring some DVDs. I've seen reports that the DV-out on the Panasonic NV-DS15 isn't sufficient for transferring files to a PC, as DV-in is also required, but I find that hard to believe, given that my camcorder came bundled with a bonus video editing application (that I've never used). Once the new batteries have arrived (and I find the firewire cable for my Panasonic NV-DS15) and have a go at downloading some recordings using Vista Movie Maker. 9-yo DS1 has done some video editing experience (including some "green screen" special effects!) on footage he recorded using his digital camera, so I'll probably have to get some lessons from him ;)
The final straw was when Kogan emailed me to advise that the unit was going to be shipped out two weeks later than had been advertised when I placed my order! Their website has now been updated with the new delivery date, but I think it's really poor customer service to only update the advertised shipping date the day AFTER you've sold out the current shipment. I emailed a request to cancel my order and they sent back a confirmation of my order cancellation and credit card refund within a couple of hours.
Instead of getting a new camcorder I've now ordered two "PANASONIC CGR-D16" (compatible) camcorder replacement batteries (Li-ion, 7.20 V, 3000.00 mAh) for $48 (+$10 postage) from e-Store.net.au. My old battery was only 1700 mAh, and lasted around 1 hour recording time when it was brand new, so these new batteries should each be able to record a full 90 minute mini-DV tape on a full charge. Hopefully using new batteries (and making use of my head cleaning tape) will be enough to get my Panasonic camcorder back in business for a few more years. So, instead of playing with a new Kogan camcorder, I'll spend some time trying to download my existing mini-DV tapes onto my PC via firewire, editing the videos and buring some DVDs. I've seen reports that the DV-out on the Panasonic NV-DS15 isn't sufficient for transferring files to a PC, as DV-in is also required, but I find that hard to believe, given that my camcorder came bundled with a bonus video editing application (that I've never used). Once the new batteries have arrived (and I find the firewire cable for my Panasonic NV-DS15) and have a go at downloading some recordings using Vista Movie Maker. 9-yo DS1 has done some video editing experience (including some "green screen" special effects!) on footage he recorded using his digital camera, so I'll probably have to get some lessons from him ;)
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2009
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
A new HD camcorder
About eight years ago I bought a Panasonic NV-DS15 mini-DV camcorder (just after DS1 was born), and was very happy with the quality of the recordings. However, problems developed while we travelling in Europe last year - the camera battery would only last 10-15 minutes between overnight charges, and the tapes got stuck during reloading a couple of times. I had been thinking of just buying a new battery (a "compatible" battery would probably cost around $50), but if that hadn't fixed the tape loading problems a service would end up costing as much as buying a new camera!
I'd also considered buying a new mini-DV format camcorder, to maintain compatibility with the existing tape collecting (and to use up my stock of blank tapes), but the cheapest models still cost around $200, and mini-DV isn't cutting-edge technology by any stretch of the imagination.
In the end I decided to order a Kogan "Full HD" digital camcorder online for around $380 (after a 5% discount coupon code, plus shipping). New stock (which has HDMI output) is due to ship on 24 July, so I expect to have the camera to play with by the end of this month. Aside from the relatively low price for getting 1920x1080 resolution, this camcorder hasn't got a great feature-set, and reviews have highlighted it's budget-level build quality. There are also some limitations that would be intolerable on a higher-priced product, such as no external mic facility, the internal mic being side-mounted, a slow, modest 5x optical zoom, and the fact that the automatic image stabilization only works in standard definition mode, not when operating in HD resolution mode. However, I honestly don't expect to be bothered by many of these missing or limited features. After all, I never used an external mic with my previous SD digital camcorder, hardly ever used a tripod mount, and only used the IR remote control unit once or twice!
One big plus is that the Kogan provides USB connectivity to download the MOV files to my PC, or I can just swap out the SD card in the same way as my digital SLR camera. I never got around to downloading my mini-DV recordings to my PC using the firewire connector (even though I paid a few dollars extra to get a firewire port on my Dell desktop PC), so the new camcorder will make it more likely I'll actually edit some of my home movies in future.
I'll be interested to see what the battery life is like under 'real' conditions. One review was critical, but according to the specs it should be reasonable: Li-ion 3.7V 1700mAh Rechargeable Battery (with 2-3 hours recording time). I'll be happy to get one hour one a full charge, which is similar to my old camera when the battery was brand new. I've no idea how long a full recharge will take.
The Kogan camcorder has a seven day money back guarantee, so I'll give it a work out the first weekend after it arrives and decide whether or not to keep it.
ps. Just after I'd ordered the Kogan camcorder online, I came across a link that showed the same camcorder (? apparently - but re badged as Audiosonic) had been on sale for $199 (normally $279) from KMart back in June! I'm not sure if KMart still sells this camcorder, but it may be worth looking for it in KMart before my order gets shipped on the 24th.
Once I've had a play with the camcorder I'll post a review.
I'd also considered buying a new mini-DV format camcorder, to maintain compatibility with the existing tape collecting (and to use up my stock of blank tapes), but the cheapest models still cost around $200, and mini-DV isn't cutting-edge technology by any stretch of the imagination.
In the end I decided to order a Kogan "Full HD" digital camcorder online for around $380 (after a 5% discount coupon code, plus shipping). New stock (which has HDMI output) is due to ship on 24 July, so I expect to have the camera to play with by the end of this month. Aside from the relatively low price for getting 1920x1080 resolution, this camcorder hasn't got a great feature-set, and reviews have highlighted it's budget-level build quality. There are also some limitations that would be intolerable on a higher-priced product, such as no external mic facility, the internal mic being side-mounted, a slow, modest 5x optical zoom, and the fact that the automatic image stabilization only works in standard definition mode, not when operating in HD resolution mode. However, I honestly don't expect to be bothered by many of these missing or limited features. After all, I never used an external mic with my previous SD digital camcorder, hardly ever used a tripod mount, and only used the IR remote control unit once or twice!
One big plus is that the Kogan provides USB connectivity to download the MOV files to my PC, or I can just swap out the SD card in the same way as my digital SLR camera. I never got around to downloading my mini-DV recordings to my PC using the firewire connector (even though I paid a few dollars extra to get a firewire port on my Dell desktop PC), so the new camcorder will make it more likely I'll actually edit some of my home movies in future.
I'll be interested to see what the battery life is like under 'real' conditions. One review was critical, but according to the specs it should be reasonable: Li-ion 3.7V 1700mAh Rechargeable Battery (with 2-3 hours recording time). I'll be happy to get one hour one a full charge, which is similar to my old camera when the battery was brand new. I've no idea how long a full recharge will take.
The Kogan camcorder has a seven day money back guarantee, so I'll give it a work out the first weekend after it arrives and decide whether or not to keep it.
ps. Just after I'd ordered the Kogan camcorder online, I came across a link that showed the same camcorder (? apparently - but re badged as Audiosonic) had been on sale for $199 (normally $279) from KMart back in June! I'm not sure if KMart still sells this camcorder, but it may be worth looking for it in KMart before my order gets shipped on the 24th.
Once I've had a play with the camcorder I'll post a review.
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Bought some new mobile phones
We've been using two Sony Erikson K608i handsets with our $28 shared plan for just over three years now. Aside from the recent problems with being charged for unwanted 'premium SMS' messages being sent to DWs phone, we've been pretty happy with the plan and the handsets - enough to get rid of our land line last year.
However DWs handset has been dropped a few times too often while looking after DS1 and DS2, and had started having problems. The charger plug was a very loose fit, which sometimes caused the phone to stop charging if it was nudged during a charge. And today the mouse-stick controller suddenly stopped working. So we dropped into the nearest retail outlet of our phone service and I signed a new two year contract. The service plan remains the same ($28 a month for the two phones) and we got two new Sony Erikson G502 handsets for $14 a month with a $10 per month credit. So, in theory, my monthly bill for the next two years should now be $32 rather than $28. However, I'll have to check this on the next phone bill - the $5 'credit' might turn out to be additional included call credits rather than actually reducing the monthly handset payment to $2.
If the credit is applied in the way it was explained in the shop, the total cost of the new phones should be $48 each. If we decide to cancel our phone service within two years we would have to pay out the balance of the full cost of each handset ($168).
However DWs handset has been dropped a few times too often while looking after DS1 and DS2, and had started having problems. The charger plug was a very loose fit, which sometimes caused the phone to stop charging if it was nudged during a charge. And today the mouse-stick controller suddenly stopped working. So we dropped into the nearest retail outlet of our phone service and I signed a new two year contract. The service plan remains the same ($28 a month for the two phones) and we got two new Sony Erikson G502 handsets for $14 a month with a $10 per month credit. So, in theory, my monthly bill for the next two years should now be $32 rather than $28. However, I'll have to check this on the next phone bill - the $5 'credit' might turn out to be additional included call credits rather than actually reducing the monthly handset payment to $2.
If the credit is applied in the way it was explained in the shop, the total cost of the new phones should be $48 each. If we decide to cancel our phone service within two years we would have to pay out the balance of the full cost of each handset ($168).
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Monday, 13 April 2009
Rowany Festival
Yesterday we threw together some 'medieval' looking garb, packed the kids into the car, and headed off to Rowany Festival for a day trip. The Festival is an annual five day event held over the Easter long weekend, and many SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) members travel from all around Australia to camp at the event. I've never been keen enough to camp at Rowany Festival, and we hsdn't visited the Festival for several years after it had been relocated to a site near Canberra, about three hours drive South of Sydney. However, last year the Festival had been moved closer to Sydney again - to a new site at Glenworth Valley, which is only about 45 minutes drive from where we live, so this year we decided to go for a visit.
When we arrived we spent most of the morning watching the SCA fighters making 'war', which is always quite spectacular:
After a leisurely picnic lunch we attended a class on easy medieval dances, and in another class the kids learned how to make a period windmill toys, which they enjoyed. Unfortunately, although the weather was fine it was extremely humid and warm, so we left early in the afternoon rather than stay to watch the afternoon battles and attend the royal court.
The cost for one day family entry to the Rowany Festival was $73, which was quite expensive relative to the amount of time we ended up staying on site. But the kids had a fun time so I'll be sending in our $50 SCA family membership renewal on 1 May. Hopefully there will be some weekend tournaments and classes held during the year which we can attend.
I may even attend some of the weekly fighter training sessions this year, now that they are being held on Monday nights rather than on the weekend. But first I'd have to finish making/buying the pieces of armour I'm still missing. Over the years I've accumulated a great helm, elbow and knee white armour and a gambeson, but I still need to get some body armour - either by finishing off the coat of plates I started many years ago, or else start 'kniting' a mail hauberk.
When we arrived we spent most of the morning watching the SCA fighters making 'war', which is always quite spectacular:
After a leisurely picnic lunch we attended a class on easy medieval dances, and in another class the kids learned how to make a period windmill toys, which they enjoyed. Unfortunately, although the weather was fine it was extremely humid and warm, so we left early in the afternoon rather than stay to watch the afternoon battles and attend the royal court.
The cost for one day family entry to the Rowany Festival was $73, which was quite expensive relative to the amount of time we ended up staying on site. But the kids had a fun time so I'll be sending in our $50 SCA family membership renewal on 1 May. Hopefully there will be some weekend tournaments and classes held during the year which we can attend.
I may even attend some of the weekly fighter training sessions this year, now that they are being held on Monday nights rather than on the weekend. But first I'd have to finish making/buying the pieces of armour I'm still missing. Over the years I've accumulated a great helm, elbow and knee white armour and a gambeson, but I still need to get some body armour - either by finishing off the coat of plates I started many years ago, or else start 'kniting' a mail hauberk.
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Computer Game: DEFCON
The last computer game I bought, 'Vanguard', was a dud. It cost around $80, took many hours to download the update patches the first time I tried playing the game (even with a broadband connection), and was incredibly boring to play when first starting out - just wandering around the countryside aimlessly slashing monsters to death to progress to the next skill level, with the occasional insoluble puzzle thrown in (no doubt the solutions are something like "jump onto the rock in the SE corner of the temple while holding the orc mace, and the magic thingamy will be revealed"). It probably is a good game for those who want to spend huge amounts of time online in a MUD environment joining guilds, playing co-operatively and memorising reams of arcane "lore", but I found the whole experience a bore. Having to pay a monthly subscription to use the game servers meant I abandoned the game after a couple of months, and I haven't touched it since as there is no offline, single-user play mode available.
In complete contrast, the game I bought last Sunday was much better value. 'DEFCON' cost a little under $20, loaded in a few minutes from the CD-ROM and authenticated the CD-Key without any issues. The interface is visually appealing, making excellent use of simple wireframe graphics to represent the global thermonuclear war arena in a style inspired by the classic WWIII/nuclear missile attack movies such as Wargames, Dr Strangelove and the various James Bond movies. The game tutorial provided a basic introduction to the game controls in a series of easy steps, and there is an automated demo play mode available for you to watch AI players slug it out. Once I'd worked through the tutorials in half an hour or so, I played a couple of games offline against one or two AI opponents. Those games were enjoyable enough, and help work out the strategies required to do well in the game. Wikipedia has a good description of the game, and the the game maker's website has links to an interesting university student's Masters Project Report that provides more details about the game environment and a description of an improved AI 'bot' developed using an API that is available for anyone to have a go writing their own AI bots. The game also supports Mods, so if you get bored playing Global Thermonuclear War based on real countries and cities, you can create you own maps - anyone fancy nuking Narnia or Middle Earth?
I haven't played against human opponents online yet, as I'd accidentally used up my monthly Optus 2GB broadband allowance before the end of the month (I was watching an ABC iView episode of Time Team and left it on pause during dinner - apparently iView continues to stream the same video frame while on pause, continuing to consume my Optus monthly download quota!). I tried joining one two-player game online, but the download was taking forever at the speed-limited "dial-up" rate Optus allows once the broadband quota has been exceeded for the month. I'll try playing a game online on Wednesday when I have high-speed internet access again. Meanwhile I've been playing against the AI bots to practice controlling my submarine fleets, switching my missile silos from air defence to ICBM launch mode, and so forth. The game is played in 'real time' with various fast forward buttons available to speed up progression from Defcon 5 to Defcon 1 if you have all your pieces in position and are just waiting for the next events to occur. A game played entirely in real time would take around 6 hours to complete, while using maximum fast forward for the entire game it would only take 15 minutes to get a result.
The aim of the game in 'normal' mode is to minimise your own civilian casualties (measured in the millions, or 'Megadeaths') while inflicting maximum casualties on your opponent's cities. Two other modes are available - 'survivor' when only you own casualties are tallied up, and 'Genocide' where only enemy casualties are used to calculate the winner.
One feature I missed in the game play was any effect of fallout. Each missile strike simply vapourises part of an enemy city, installation or fleet. It would have been nice to have data of wind streams and to use fallout from earlier strikes as an ongoing weapon against the enemy population. However, that would probably have detracted from the elegant simplicity of the interface and game-play. Although the theme of the game is death on a massive scale, it's focus is mainly on strategy and seems more akin to Chess than a blood-thirsty shoot-em-up like 'Doom'.
In complete contrast, the game I bought last Sunday was much better value. 'DEFCON' cost a little under $20, loaded in a few minutes from the CD-ROM and authenticated the CD-Key without any issues. The interface is visually appealing, making excellent use of simple wireframe graphics to represent the global thermonuclear war arena in a style inspired by the classic WWIII/nuclear missile attack movies such as Wargames, Dr Strangelove and the various James Bond movies. The game tutorial provided a basic introduction to the game controls in a series of easy steps, and there is an automated demo play mode available for you to watch AI players slug it out. Once I'd worked through the tutorials in half an hour or so, I played a couple of games offline against one or two AI opponents. Those games were enjoyable enough, and help work out the strategies required to do well in the game. Wikipedia has a good description of the game, and the the game maker's website has links to an interesting university student's Masters Project Report that provides more details about the game environment and a description of an improved AI 'bot' developed using an API that is available for anyone to have a go writing their own AI bots. The game also supports Mods, so if you get bored playing Global Thermonuclear War based on real countries and cities, you can create you own maps - anyone fancy nuking Narnia or Middle Earth?
I haven't played against human opponents online yet, as I'd accidentally used up my monthly Optus 2GB broadband allowance before the end of the month (I was watching an ABC iView episode of Time Team and left it on pause during dinner - apparently iView continues to stream the same video frame while on pause, continuing to consume my Optus monthly download quota!). I tried joining one two-player game online, but the download was taking forever at the speed-limited "dial-up" rate Optus allows once the broadband quota has been exceeded for the month. I'll try playing a game online on Wednesday when I have high-speed internet access again. Meanwhile I've been playing against the AI bots to practice controlling my submarine fleets, switching my missile silos from air defence to ICBM launch mode, and so forth. The game is played in 'real time' with various fast forward buttons available to speed up progression from Defcon 5 to Defcon 1 if you have all your pieces in position and are just waiting for the next events to occur. A game played entirely in real time would take around 6 hours to complete, while using maximum fast forward for the entire game it would only take 15 minutes to get a result.
The aim of the game in 'normal' mode is to minimise your own civilian casualties (measured in the millions, or 'Megadeaths') while inflicting maximum casualties on your opponent's cities. Two other modes are available - 'survivor' when only you own casualties are tallied up, and 'Genocide' where only enemy casualties are used to calculate the winner.
One feature I missed in the game play was any effect of fallout. Each missile strike simply vapourises part of an enemy city, installation or fleet. It would have been nice to have data of wind streams and to use fallout from earlier strikes as an ongoing weapon against the enemy population. However, that would probably have detracted from the elegant simplicity of the interface and game-play. Although the theme of the game is death on a massive scale, it's focus is mainly on strategy and seems more akin to Chess than a blood-thirsty shoot-em-up like 'Doom'.
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Friday, 20 March 2009
The Story of Story and Clark Pianos
Having just bought a second-hand 1970 Story and Clark piano, I was interest in learning a bit more about the company that had made my piano. It turns out that Story and Clark has a long and interesting history in piano manufacturing, and is still being used as a piano brand name after the company changed ownership several times towards the end of the twentieth century.
Story and Clark was founded in 1884 by Hampton L. Story, his son Edward H. Story and Melville Clark, an expert reed-organ builder. Story senior had started out working in a music store for $50 a month and saved enough to buy out the principal in 1859. He joined with various piano makers to start manufacturing Story and Powers pianos in 1862, then Story and Camp pianos and organs in 1868, before finally establishing Story and Clark pianos in 1884. The Story and Clark business thrived and opened a factory in England in 1892 and another in Germany in 1893.
Clark left the firm in 1901 to form his own company, and Story and Clark pianos moved to a new factory in Grand Haven, Michigan. Despite surviving the Great Depression and increasing sales during the post war years, the factory was eventually closed in 1984 and has since been redeveloped into over 60 condominiums priced from $159,00 to $795,00. The Story and Clark piano business had been sold to the Lowrey Organ Company in 1962, and sales slowly declined during the 1970s. When the factory closed in 1984, Lowrey split the piano and electronic keyboard businesses and sold them to different investors. In 1992 S&C pianos became a division of the Classic Player Pianos Corporation in 1990. In 1993 it was taken over by QRS Music Technologies, the descendant of the company founded by Clark in 1900! Pianos with the brand Story and Clark are still being produced, but are no longer manufactured in the US.
Story and Clark pianos can be dated by the serial number ranges listed below, with the numbers indicating the last piano made each year:
1895 1900
1900 5335
1901 7100
1902 9100
1903 11400
1904 14000
1905 15600
1906 18400
1907 21400
1908 24100
1909 28900
1910 30700
1911 40000
1912 43600
1913 47000
1914 50200
1915 53200
1916 58000
1917 62300
1918 67000
1919 72300
1920 78800
1921 84000
1922 89400
1923 95000
1924 101200
1931 129100
1932 130000
1933 131100
1934 132400
1935 134000
1936 138000
1937 142000
1938 147000
1939 152800
1940 160000
1941 168000
1942 172000
1943 173000
1944 war
1945 war
1946 177000
1947 180000
1948 190000
1949 200000
1956 265000
1957 272000
1958 282000
1959 294000
1960 307000
1961 321000
1962 335000
1963 349000
1964 364000
1965 379000
1966 393000
1967 407000
1968 421000
1969 435000
1970 449000
1971 463000
1972 477000
1973 491000
1974 505000
1981 582627
1982 591528
1983 609023
1984 closed
1985 closed
1986 closed
1987 closed
1988 closed
1989 closed
1990 700001
1991 700420
1992 701280
1993 701970
1994 702324
1995 703128
1996 703629
1997 705400
1998 707000
References:
'The Piano: An Encyclopedia' By Robert Palmieri, Margaret W. Palmieri. Routledge; 2 edition (2003). Page 382
'Pianos and Their Makers' By Alfred Dolge. Dover Publications (1972). Page 376
http://www.qrsmusic.com/storyclark.html
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
We bought a 'new' piano
Having completed his fourth year of group piano lessons with Yamaha music last year, DS1 is now getting private piano lessons (0.5 hrs for $33 each week) and studying for his AMEB 1st Grade 'Music for Leisure' Pianoforte exam in August. I decided it was about time we bought a real piano for him to practice on. I already own a small Palings (rebranded Kawai) 'Grand' piano my mother bought for me twenty years ago, but it was too large for the house we moved into six years ago and is currently stored at my parent's farm house about three hours drive from Sydney! Although the electronic keyboard DS1 has been practicing on has a 'touch' mode, it isn't really anything like the feel of an acoustic piano (or good quality electric piano), and he has a bit of trouble adjusting when playing his pieces on his teacher's Yamaha Grand piano during his lessons. DS1 is pretty keen on the piano, and enjoys doing his 30 minutes practice each day, so I'm happy to spend some extra money on a decent instrument.
I was planning to spend around $1000-$2000 or less on a second hand piano, and asked my father to keep a look out for any bargains. There are lots of Yamaha U3's around for $2,500 or more, but I was hoping to find something a bit cheaper that is in good enough condition for DS1 (and later on DS2) to practice on. I found an advert in the Trading Post online for a 1970 Story & Clark piano this afternoon, and sent my father to have a look if it was any good. It looked nice enough in the online photos and was for private sale asking $800 or so. My father thought that it was in quite good condition, so I took DW and the kids to have a look this evening after DS1's Judo lesson and bought it for $650.
It will cost about $180 to have piano movers take it to our house next Monday, and although it seems reasonably in tune it will need a tune up and some minor maintenance work fairly soon, but I expect the total cost will still come in under $1,000.
Since DS1 and DS2 will probably spend around 6,000 hours practicing on this piano over the next 15 years or more, it seems a good investment. Especially compared to the cost of lessons over that time, which will probably add up to more than $40,000! Also, I'll have a chance to brush up on my piano technique.
I was planning to spend around $1000-$2000 or less on a second hand piano, and asked my father to keep a look out for any bargains. There are lots of Yamaha U3's around for $2,500 or more, but I was hoping to find something a bit cheaper that is in good enough condition for DS1 (and later on DS2) to practice on. I found an advert in the Trading Post online for a 1970 Story & Clark piano this afternoon, and sent my father to have a look if it was any good. It looked nice enough in the online photos and was for private sale asking $800 or so. My father thought that it was in quite good condition, so I took DW and the kids to have a look this evening after DS1's Judo lesson and bought it for $650.
It will cost about $180 to have piano movers take it to our house next Monday, and although it seems reasonably in tune it will need a tune up and some minor maintenance work fairly soon, but I expect the total cost will still come in under $1,000.
Since DS1 and DS2 will probably spend around 6,000 hours practicing on this piano over the next 15 years or more, it seems a good investment. Especially compared to the cost of lessons over that time, which will probably add up to more than $40,000! Also, I'll have a chance to brush up on my piano technique.
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Bills, bills, bills
For some reason I've always liked getting mail, even though it's 99% financial statements and bills. Today was a 100% bill day - $289.30 due for the quarterly council rates on our home, another rate notice for $293.50 due on our investment property, and the dreaded annual state government land tax assessment on the two properties. Even though our home is exempt from land tax, the rental property value had leapt up from $436,000 in 2007 to $540,000 in 2008, and it was given the same valuation for 2009. The percentage rise in land valuation seems excessive - properties sold in our area only increased by around 10% in 2007, declined by about 5% in 2008 and are still heading downwards in 2009. It will be interesting to see if the valuation is lowered in 2010 - if not, the supposed land value will soon be more than we could sell the house and land for!
The increased valuation has an even bigger impact on our land tax liability, due to the $368,000 land tax threshold. Only the value above the threshold is taxed (at 1.6%), plus $100. Our land tax bill has doubled since last year to now be $2,262.80
I'm having a bit of a cash flow crisis at the moment - I only have a couple of thousand cash sitting in my credit union savings account, having poured all my spare cash into my margin loan accounts in the past few months as the stock market crash threatened to generate margin calls. This month my CC bill is higher than normal due to the recent purchase of the swing set for the kids, and next month it will be bigger again due to the purchase of the DIY pool fencing to replace the existing safety fence that is on it's last legs. I also have to pay $806 uni fee for this semester that's due next week...
I can't complain too much, as the cash shortage is largely a result of my decision to salary sacrifice around half my salary into retirement savings. But it sure would be nice to have an extra $10,000 sitting around in a savings account right now.
The only bright note is that the land tax bill only gets a small ($35) discount for paying the entire amount "up front". If I elect to pay the bill in three monthly installments I may just have enough dividend income coming in during March and April to get by. I just hope we don't have any unexpected expenses this year (like when the tree fell on our rental property and we had to cut the rent by half for six months).
The increased valuation has an even bigger impact on our land tax liability, due to the $368,000 land tax threshold. Only the value above the threshold is taxed (at 1.6%), plus $100. Our land tax bill has doubled since last year to now be $2,262.80
I'm having a bit of a cash flow crisis at the moment - I only have a couple of thousand cash sitting in my credit union savings account, having poured all my spare cash into my margin loan accounts in the past few months as the stock market crash threatened to generate margin calls. This month my CC bill is higher than normal due to the recent purchase of the swing set for the kids, and next month it will be bigger again due to the purchase of the DIY pool fencing to replace the existing safety fence that is on it's last legs. I also have to pay $806 uni fee for this semester that's due next week...
I can't complain too much, as the cash shortage is largely a result of my decision to salary sacrifice around half my salary into retirement savings. But it sure would be nice to have an extra $10,000 sitting around in a savings account right now.
The only bright note is that the land tax bill only gets a small ($35) discount for paying the entire amount "up front". If I elect to pay the bill in three monthly installments I may just have enough dividend income coming in during March and April to get by. I just hope we don't have any unexpected expenses this year (like when the tree fell on our rental property and we had to cut the rent by half for six months).
Subscribe to Enough Wealth. Copyright 2006-2008
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