kjp

Some more things that I forgot from my earlier post:

When I'm back in Australia and looking for a place - I need to remember that the acoustics of the place are important, and not necessarily obvious when walking though it. Places that are too loud are not conducive for conversation. Also - higher up = more breezy, less mosquitos.

In terms of phones (for next time), a volume button on the side is a must. (both previous and current have it, but not all do. Crazy?).

Previously, G at work had said something about me not reading, so he loaned me Hover Car Racer, very easy (simple) to read. Also have read recently The Shack (Christmas? Present). OK, but fairly overdone?

Well, I have a new phone. My old one died. Well, to be precise, it would turn on, except the screen - which was always off. Maybe some phones of that if/when I take it apart. I had a fair bit of trouble getting the new phone to work correctly with the network. I'm with one of the two big telcos, and some of the customer technical support wasn't particularily supportive. There seemed to be quite a fair bit of stuffing around getting: txt msgs sent; txt msgs received; data / web configuration. Anyhow, it is working now. Irony being that the landline I used to call up (several times) is with the other of the two big telcos.

The gig earlier this morning seemed to go ok. I trained it in, and took a longer walk than I had to - nice day outside. I'm still practicing away for our major gig coming up in August. Trying to get Festive Overture smoother.

Yesterday was cruisy. I seem to have got into a bit of a routine on Saturday afternoons of jogging with R - starting in Spring Hill, over Story Bridge, then either back along Goodwill Bridge or Victoria Bridge; followed up by a beer. Nice.

South America preparations are going along ok.

At work, this link went around. I've read something similar somewhere else, and these kind of look interesting. Hmmmm.

Sorry, this post was written over several days, so tenses and structure aren’t the best! It also mostly just writing my notes for myself from the visit to the doctor.

Well, my arm is slightly sore at the moment (getting better as I’ve written this post - that was Monday, fine now) – I had two injections this morning for the trip. Typhoid and Yellow Fever. But, I need to consider several other medical issues. Doctor basically said the following were borderline, and up to me (flu and altitude were recommended).

Flu
The doctor advised getting a flu shot ($25 by his place). I’ve never had it before, I’ve never been really sick with flu. I’ll probably get it? I could technically get it as a freebie at work, but I wouldn’t if I wasn’t going on the trip, so I won’t.

Rabies
Apparently they recommend if you’re travelling overseas for 3 months, then get a rabies shot. It’s fairly expensive though – 3 x $115 = $355. But, from what the doctor described, there is no cure, and it’s a fairly nasty way to go. Hmmm, given that (at this stage at least) I’m likely to go back to Central/South America (in planning for this trip there were several countries that I cut from the list because of time constraints); it’s probably going to be worth it (the injection is lifetime). But, rabies is mostly in India and Africa, apparently. Of two people who’ve recently been, S didn’t get it, P did. Hmmm.

Altitude
Given that I had a bit of sickness due to the altitude in western Sichuan, I’ve got some pills for that. Supposed to start taking it 1 day before ascent. Supposed to drink lots water, etc to help.

Malaria
There is*** (I’ll get back to this in a later post here) going to be a couple of days in the Amazon. I need to get some more insect repellent (can’t find my old stuff). But should I be taking a preventative pill? Doxyclicin (to start taking two days before Amazon, up to 1 week after). Dunno if I should get it?

Diarrhoea
Should I take Loperamide (a stopper)?

I don’t want to get sick, but taking pills half the time doesn’t really excite me. So, probably I’ll ditch the anti malaria (preventative), but take the anti diarrhoea (resolving – can’t think of the correct word here.)

First Aid Kit – to get / organise:
Insect repellent.
Cold and flu
Paracetamol
Gastrolyte?
Loperamide?
Sore Throat stuff
Doxycline (Malaria)???
Dimox (altitude)

Injections – to get:
Flu shot
Rabies shot?

I’ve gone through and chucked out old medicines from China that are now all out of date…

Other stuff happening today* (well, Monday when I started writing this post). Well, it was my RDO today. Other than injections, I got myself a phrase book. For language, I’ll be taking that, a dictionary, and maybe two A4 sheets of Spanish notes from the course. I also found a Spanish easy reader. The first part of it is pretty good revision. Towards the end (if I get up to there before I leave (well the first part of it is) seems to be reasonably difficult, I can make out a little of it, but there’s plenty I don’t know now. I was wearing my relatively new shoes today with “thin” socks. No problems. Need to do a demanding pack walk with thick socks.

Mp3 player
My new mp3 player is going well. A bit different to my previous one. In my previous one, you organised the music according to the folder structure. In my new one, it’s based on the artist / name information embedded in the wma/mp3 files. I need to do a bit of sorting out. Eg: Art of Fighting vs Art Of Fighting.

Other than a camera (to be bought in August), and sorting out money, the major things are done. (I think?!). But today, I from work lent me a camera to get a feel for. IXUS 850. Was mentioned that I could borrow it for the trip, but I’m not so thrilled on that idea - what if I loose / gets stolen / breaks, etc.

Oh, in the mail I got my certificate from the IML for the Spanish course – I’ve got a “Good Proficiency”. Arriba arriba!! (lol).

My ex flatmate has moved back in, which is tops. I went for a 6 lap (5.4km) jog this afternoon, felt good, despite the cold weather. By the way, cold = 17 deg C :)