Being late to leave for work in the morning has its perks. This morning I was able to catch the Wiggles on the Today Show. Exciting stuff. They’ve had a song every day for the last week. It’s a nice Christmassy way to start the day. But. I’d hate to be a parent today having to explain to my child what “Santa’s randy reindeer” means. Everyone in our house this morning thought that’s what they said.
Things I’ve Read
- WhichBook Will Help Fill Your Reading List [Books]
- ColorPad Helps You Grab Color Values [Featured Windows Download]
- LiveDrive Offers Unlimited Online Storage [Online Storage]
- Send Anonymous Email with Dead Fake
– Find your next airport thriller with WhichBook.
– Useful tool for web design – or anytime you need to impress someone with the RGB colour value of their skin.
– Another cloud computing storage option – and some comparisons – from lifehacker.
– There are so many applications for this service that would get me in trouble that it’s almost worth ignoring. Still, someone else may be able to use it for good not evil.
Things I’ve Read
- Gadgets: This is what you should buy
- Gadgets: This is what you should buy
- Most Popular DIY Projects of 2008 (and All Time!) [Best Of 2008]
– Boing Boing’s guide to gadgetry.
– Some summer projects courtesy of Lifehacker.
Garage Sailing: Liveblog
The Map
We’re about to hit the road for our garage sailing techstravaganza. So that any of you following with interest know just where we’re going, here’s a map:
If you click through to the map page you’ll see a list of the sales and their advertised descriptions (if you scroll down).
First Stop - just around the corner
A Compact Bow - with no arrows - just $15. Robyn said no.
She sells sea shells
The pieces fall into place
Our first stop met with success – a brand new, old chess set complete with glass pieces. They offered $5, we offered 3 and the deal was closed at $4.00 – downward negotiations faltered on the basis of a complete set with new box.
Pictures here
Garage sailing came to a close today at about 11:50am. You can check out geotags on the images in Craig’s album linked above.
I’m calculating my total spend from today – and will get figures from Robyn, Craig, Teagen and The total so far is $84.90 – but I still need to get a figure from Chris, here’s the purchase summary:
1. Glass chess set – Nathan – $4 (asking price $5).
2. Table – Chris – $4.50 (asking price $5).
3. 3 tealight candle holders – Chris – $2 (asking price 2 for $2).
4. Set of magazines/recipes/craft books – Craig and Teagen – 4 for $1 (asking price 3 for $1).
5. Four playstation one games (to be used on a playstation bought at a previous garage sail) – Nathan – $5 (asking price – part of a $35 bundle).
5a. Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego PC game – Robyn (for educational purposes) – $0.20 (by negotiation)
6. Round plate/platter/dish – Chris – $3 (I’m a bit shady on that price) (asking price around $5).
7. Set of dominos – Craig – $0.20 (asking price unspecified but original recommended retail price $1).
8. Round the Twist complete episodes DVD bundle and A-Team DVDs – Nathan -$15 (asking price $20).
9. Craig got a $0.20 platter thrown in free with my purchase.
10. The guys selling the DVDs (and the platter) had a tub full of unopened Star Wars figurines from about three years ago for sale for $5 each. 13 in total. The gentleman in question used to collect Star Wars merchandise with a friend. His partner was clearly not as enthusiastic about Star Wars as he and his friend – so we took the collection of figurines off his hands to sell on eBay. We will list them after our Summer Holiday – but if anyone wants to make an offer in the meantime leave a comment on this post. We bought the lot for $35.
At this point we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and were on the home stretch. We made one last stop. En route to our home base. Where we found the best garage sale ever. Everything was for sale. Even the house. The neighbour was piggybacking on the sale – selling books on the street.
11. Two books – Corcisan (some sort of gangster thriller) and The Douglas Adams Dirk Gently Omnibus (a book I leant somebody years ago and haven’t seen since. You know who you are. Ben.) – Nathan – $2 (asking price $2. I offered $1.50 and was refused).
We probably spent an hour at this next house. Which had been lovingly renovated in a really classy way by a former surgeon who due to a horse riding accident no longer works. It was a really nicely furnished Queenslander – and she’s selling it herself hoping to move to Mexico. Craig became a real estate photographer – and I’ll add a link to the listing when I find it.
There was some great stuff for sale from her collection of jewellry, kitchen appliances, clothings, shoes, antiques, furniture, glassware – you name it. It was for sale. Under the house there was this wooden box with two massive grindstones in it – it was an old grinder used by farmers to grind wheat and barley for their beer. She used it for bread. I almost bought it. But instead settled for my next purchase:
12. A hand turned chrome coffee grinder – Nathan – $10 (asking price unknown – price agreed on by negotiation).
13. A bracelet – Robyn – $3 (again price agreed on by negotiation).
14. A funky tealight candle tree thing – Chris – price unknown.
15. A set of coffee cups – Nathan – free on the basis of Craig’s photographic services.
Craig’s had so many freebies off my back that I thought it only fair to get in on the action.
Here’s the photo of our swag…

Our purchases
wonders how my twitter updates…
wonders how my twitter updates will ever compare with Malcolm Turnbull’s “is addressing the nation”
refuses to be defined by the s…
refuses to be defined by the slogan on a novelty t-shirt
Garage Sailing: Liveblog
The plan at this stage is to go garage sailing tomorrow morning. But
it gets better. The plan at this stage is to liveblog the garage
sailing experience with Craig. Hopefully providing valuable insight
into just how awesome garage sailing can be.
I think I should buy something to sell on ebay. And live blog that
too. That way all 6 of my loyal readers can enjoy the spoils.
is counting down the minutes u…
is counting down the minutes until the weekend. And looking forward to liveblogging a garage sailing expedition tomorrow morning.
knit picking
I have never wanted to learn to knit as much as I do now. Thanks to this collection of macabre toys.

Bad case of carroted artery
Remember: Electricity can kill
I know. Electricity can be fun. And creating a massive Tesla coil in the backyard sounds like heaps of fun. But electricity is dangerous people. And this guy, Bre Pettis, wants to warn you through this Flickr set.

Be on the lookout for powerlines

Be careful where you stick those scissors
The year in photos

Buildings and debris are seen floating in the Cedar River against a railroad bridge Saturday, June 14, 2008, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes, emergency officials said. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Electrifyingly cool
Anyone who has played Red Alert knows that Tesla Coils are the ultimate home base defence system. And anyone who hasn’t, but knows what a Tesla coil is knows that they’re totally awesome.
That’s why this guitar amp is cool:
And, why this photographic re-enactment of Red Alert is also cool.
If you’re not convinced that Tesla coils are the coolest thing since electricity then check out this gallery from the Red Alert Tesla Guy (an Australian) on the SMH.
Things I’ve Read
- Find the Instruction Manual to Anything, for Free!
- Foodista Takes A Wiki Approach To Recipes
- 45 Beautiful Free Fonts for Modern Design Trends
- The power of smart copywriting
– If you’re like me, and enjoy a spot of garage sailing, you may have picked up a cheap piece of electronic gadgetry – affectionately known as “garbage”. Well garbage no more – now you can find the manual and figure out just how that gizmo should work.
– foodista = the wikipedia of recipes
– Some great free fonts from Six Revisions – a design focused web design site that keeps putting out excellent lists of where to find fonts, code, pictures and background images from all over the web.
– Seth Godin on copywriting and coffee – two subjects dear to my heart.
CAPTCHA their attention
Moderating comments could be a real pain. I’m thinking about fighting off spam bots with this baby . It’s just a shame I can’t answer the verification question myself.
Plastic workers make for positive office culture
Last week was BYFMTWW. Or “Bring your favourite minifig to work week”. I’m sorry I missed it. For those still not clear on what a minifig is: