Dear Christine

Dear Christine,

I have a problem with my relationship. There is a person that I like a bit but I'm not sure they even know my name. Please help.

On her website Christine gives free advice on dating, marriage, and having coffee with people of the opposite sex that may not be married but you don't want to call it a date.

Myer Liverpool St.

Elison Harker is still there but damaged and will probably be demolished. People went inside today to recover stock.

Two men went up in a basket and were knocking the brick walls down by hand. Everyone wore face masks.

You can see KFC here which was still open and in operation except for no efpos. The shops next to KFC were not open.

A crane was parked in the rubble. Firemen pumped water, maybe out of the flooded basement?

The sprinklers probably went off in Harris Scarf. They open tomorrow with some sales, water damage I suspect. Myre will have a "street party" in a few weeks.

Traveler IQ addiction

On Facebook... Everyone check your Traveler IQ Challenge scores, because Jerome may have almost beat you. Look, the windows are black, which means it's night time. But it wasn't when he started!

9-22

Anyone that was in Hobart city this evening took a picture the same as this on their mobile phone. While walking towards ground zero, I was half thinking I should be walking in the other direction. Or at least judging just how close I would get, but the Police had the road blocked off a block away from the fire. The fire was still getting bigger while I watched, even with a few fire trucks there. The old Myre building in the center of the city would be totaly distroyed without a doubt. Without getting close enough to see, I think it's safe to say my local KFC needs to be rebuilt from ground up.

A Police lady said the original Myre building may have been 200 years old.

Kerry overheard a guy talking on his mobile: "I just called to say I'm ok and that you are No.1 on my speed dial".

Checking stuff yourself

It's easy: Anything that opens and shuts, check it. Headlights, brake lights (may need 2 people), horn, washer bottle, wipers. You need to be strict and fix the smallest of things when they come up, otherwise they get worse or forgotten. You need to wash the car also. Not so much to keep it clean, but as part of an inspection to make sure you notice stuff.

Fuel: All petrol is unleaded, no leaded petrol is available anymore. These are the cars that may require fuel addative due to leaded petrol not being available: Kingswood, 70's Falcon, 70's Corona, late 70's Celica, early Commodore. That's about it. So it's not something you have to think about.

Fuel octane level: Normal unleaded petrol is about 91. Premium is about 95. Good premium is about 98. Race fuel is about 100 or more octane level. The higher the better.

Premium fuel is needed for these cars: Corolla Sportivo, newish Celica, EVO, WRX. So only sporty cars need it from new. You can decide yourself if it makes a difference. Fill the car up and take down the km. Record the km next time you fill up and the litres of fuel and work out the ecconomy yourself.

Tyre Pressures: Check the tyre pressures sometimes when you get petrol. You want them to be about 32psi or 220kpa. The gauge only gives a reading when you are not blowing air. Have a look at the tyre tread also. If you are reasonably attractive, the guys at any tyre shop or workshop will do this free of charge. Check the spare also. It is possible to get a ticket from Transport inspectors for not having a good spare.

Engine oil: There is a dip stick. Take it out, wipe it clean with a hypercolor t-shirt, put it back in. Take the stick out again and see where the oil level is. There are 2 marks, high and low. The oil needs to be within the 2 marks, or at the top. There is also a oil light on the dash, which is for oil pressure. When you turn the key on it lights up (no oil pressure). Once the motor is started the light goes out. If the light comes on when the engine is running, you have no oil pressure and the engine will be dead in about 3 min. The most common cause of no oil pressure is low oil level, caused by leaks and the owner not checking it.

Washer and coolant bottles: There are 2 plastic bottles under the bonnet with water in them. One is for the windscreen washer, and the other is radiator overflow. Follow the hoses to see which is which. The radiator one should be half full. Maybe you can put some glass cleaner in the windscreen washer one for a professional touch.

Coolant: Don't take the radiator cap off if the engine is warm. (Hot coolant could come out and scar you for life). If the motor and radiator has no water/coolant in it, it will not last very long. So whatever you do, take that into consideration. There is a river beside parts of the Southern Outlet where you can get water, if you can find a container... Just call RACT.

Rego and service stickers: Remove the rego sticker with a new razor blade. Clean the residue off with a tissue and a bit of nail polish remover. Do NOT put a new rego sticker on and leave the old one. It looks realy bad and makes you unpopular.

Servicing cars: 4 girls

When I say "girls", I'm talking about 80% of the population. You know who you are.

Servicing is very easy. Take it to a mechanic every 6 months or 10,000km. But how do you know when it's time? When was the last time the oil was changed? The little sticker on the top corner of the windscreen in very important, because without it you don't know when it was serviced last.

A service is actually just getting the oil and oil filter changed and everything checked. But a mechanic will almost always find something else that needs to be fixed and changed. Often the things a mechanic finds the customer didn't know much about and would have been a bigger issue if it was left.

Other big things need doing in a service, but not every service. The coolant, brake fluid, transmission oil etc all need changing about every 2 years or so. So every second service you may do one of these things also.

Cars 4 Girls

This is a quick draft because I don't have much time...

A short list of ones I would look at, I havn't looked into prices yet. Try redbook.com or blue book, can't remember.




Toyota Echo, NCP10
2 door hatch is cool, sedan is ugly.
Sportivo has the sedan motor plus different trim, but will cost more.
A very nippy light weight car, and very easy to park. But normal car noises will be more noticeable. A loud whine from the gearbox when reversing, which I am not worried about.
Was about $16,000 new.







Toyota Corolla, AE102 / AE112
The AE112 was made in Japan and is one of the best quality cars ever made. I look under the bonnet of these alot, and often not even a drop of oil leaking. This is a proper car, where the Echo is a bit light weight. Many different options, look for power windows, remote locking, A/C, CD player etc. All of the AE112 are 1.8 liter with power steering. The older AE102/101 came as either a 1.6 litre or 1.8 litre. Was about $22,000 new.




Subaru Impreza, MY95/96
The Impreza is made famous from the high end WRX model, which is 4WD and turbo. You will most likely be looking at a lower end non-turbo model, but many of them are 4WD. The 4WD has nothing to do with ground clearance, it drives like a normal car.


Mazda 323
Made in Japan, generally a good tight car.

Nissan Pulsar N14-N15
The Pulsar is good I guess. In my opinion the quality and feel is just a bit off the mark compared to a Corolla (with similar low km). The Pulsar SSS has the big sporty SR20 2 litre motor.




Mistubishi Lancer
The Evo is the famous turbo 4WD model but you won't afford one of these. A normal Lancer, coupe or sedan should do fine.



Other cars:
Toyota Starlet was a ok small car, fairly basic. Diahatsu Sirion has a few too many vibrations and problems, unless you just want a very cheap runabout. Honda is good. Hyundia Excel is sort of ok, but expect to pay less than a Japanese car. Mitsubishi Mirage is good, like a mini Lancer. European cars may cost a bit more to service as a general rule, and are not any better in my opinion. I do NOT like Kia or Daewoo (but maybe you want something very cheap and don't care).

Widwest Challenge

My favorite game right now is Traveler IQ Challenge. Get on Facebook, somehow load or get to the Traveler IQ Challenge game/application. You will see on the original world challenge, my score is right up there. Only beaten by Luke Isham and Des Smith amoung my friends. I have the top score on all the others also except for Luke Isham on a few. New is the option to create your own community challenge. Of course within a day there are lots up now. I have done the Midwest one. Feel free to go to that, and see I am at the top. The highest "IQ" in the world!

But I'm not realy that smart. Anyone know my secret?
http://apps.facebook.com/travelpod-challenge/community/790722626/0522

History of time

I am going to start a museum, just of all my things. I got my first watch (far left) in 1982. Mum said I would get a watch only if I got 100% in a spelling test. I usually got about 1 or 2 words right out of 20. I got 20/20 the very next week. (I think mum had to phone the teacher to confirm this). It was a thursday so I got Mum to take me to Coles New World in Kingston as it was late night shopping. Not many could afford a digital watch. The plain one was just fine.

In 1982 a basic digital watch cost about $130. Then prices went way down after they were given away in competitions too often. By 1985 you paid about $19 for the same watch. I had one of these, but it probably broke. Calculator watches were the good ones.

I got my Casio (second from left) in 1987 or 1988. It was a common and proven design. Stopwatch and alarm and light. Not just the cheap one. It is the same one Napoleon Dynamite had. You could set it to beep on the hour just so kids knew you had it.

In 1994 I got another Casio. The other watch was bought in 2001. And before long people didn't bother having both a watch and a phone.