Wednesday February 8, 2006 5:20 am Ballina NSW

A. Morning Musings

5:20 am This is a clean-up day. I hope to clean-up two items from the ToDos list - one for History and one for Philosophy. Perhaps a haircut as well. Yesterday was quite windy - they had to rescue a catamaran just off the coast at Ballina. Depending on the weather we will either visit Thursday's Plantation or I will get a haircut. Possibly both.

Now to begin with my Philosophy notes. 5:30 am

B. Plan

Chores: Haircut, refill propane tank, visit to Thursday's Plantation near here.

Exercise: Exercise & Beach walk.

Mathematics: Continue reading "Everything and More".

Philosophy: Make notes for the magazine "Philosophy Now".

History: Complete electronic mind maps for last April.

C. Actual

5:30 am I want to capture a few important points from the Philosophy Now magazine. Done. 6:50 am

8:30 am Now to create 2 more History mind maps. Done. This went much more smoothly this morning. I have these files stored in the History web site, but have yet to create a page to display them. 9:05 am

1:35 PM We are back from the CBD. Two cappuccino's at the Pelican, a haircut (much needed), refill of the propane tank for the BBQ, wine & beer, and a couple of magazines (one on digital photography). A good trip. The day is dark with low clouds but no real rain. 1:45 PM

8:05 PM I have been reading from "Wordplay". This is a very enjoyable and relaxing book. I am now at the half-way point.

While downtown I stopped in at a newsagent and spotted a small book on digital photograph. This is part of the PC World Books series and includes a CD. The book itself is only 128 pages.

This will be my primary reading for the next few days. There is more here than just point and shoot. I am just beginning to realize the variety of new products on the market for SD (Secure Digital) memory cards. Some now hold 2 GB of data and have speeds that are reported as high as 150X or 22.5 MB/s - Read and 15 MB/s - Write. The size is familiar to me, but speed is a new concept.

We went for a walk along the shore of Shaw's Bay, taking our binoculars and bird identification book. We had previously seen some shore birds along the edge while taking our evening walks along the Richmond river. Almost immediately we spotted a small heron/bittern. A bit later we spotted another one and were able to get an image to help identify it as a juvenile Striated Heron. This is 105 on our lifer list. We will definitely return to this area again after I have my new camera.

We also some some Little Corellas in the trees near the shore.

This was one of our first walks where we were consciously looking for birds. 8:50 PM

D. Reflection

8:50 PM Another good day. I clear off a couple of To Dos items and bought a small book on digital photography that looks like interesting reading. Top priority now. The bird watching trip was also very enjoyable. I am looking forward to getting into this again shortly, particularly with the new camera. 9:00 PM