Plasma [vs LCD] Propaganda

Today, I received several pieces of propaganda with this morning's newspaper. Naturally I was outraged by perhaps the least significant: Panasonic's 'discussion' on LCD vs. Plasma. You can check out their balanced approach to the subject at: www.whychooseplasma.com.au

First up, the conclusion is that if you want a 'small' [81cm or less] TV for 'personal' viewing, then LCD is cool. Bigger than that, Panasonic recommends plasma. Did you already guess that from their URL?

I've been following the LCD vs. Plasma debate since they were both on the scene. The last TV I bought was 10 years ago... and 3 PCs later [including a change of monitor], I've been waiting, waiting, waiting for the cost of an LCD or plasma represent a bang for buck upgrade over a 51cm CRT screen [We actually watch Jodie's [yes I know - our] 68cm TV of a similar vintage now].

So back to Panasonic. Here are the problems I have with the propaganda, in BEr.g's guide to [somewhat] credible argument.

Don't debunk myths about your view while propagating myths about others. I think they have over stated the advantage plasma has in 'reproducing fast moving images' and 'producing blacker blacks'.

Don't defend a fault with a definition of the fault. Burn in 'will only happen under the highly rare condition that a high contrast image is continuously displayed for a very long time'. Indeed. That's exactly the problem.

You won't win over your audience by assuming they are idiots. 'Remember, you watch TV at home not in a store'.

Don't use surveys when it can't possibly contribute to your argument. I don't care at all what 70% of Australians think about the colour reproduction of the two technologies. I don't watch TV with their eyes, brain and nervous system!

My main issue with plasma is that screens have always been much lower resolution. Finally however, there is a 1080p model. It's HUGE though [165cm] and priced to kill.

So rather than rant about LCD, I'd like to hear from all of you [well, those of you prepared to write a well reasoned argument]. I would like to get a 1080p capable TV, but keep in mind...

• most video I currently watch is in the order of 512x384, 624x352 or 720x480 and somewhat compressed
• Swansea doesn't have standard let alone high definition digital TV
  
• I have regular DVDs too

However

• Swansea should get SD and HD TV later this year!
• We have the capability of watching movies on blu-ray discs [if we had any]
• I would like to hook a PC up to it as well [so many applications]

What should I be looking and waiting for?

City of Adelaide Lorient Trip on YouTube

As many a loyal reader will know - blogging took off for me on a trip to France with City of Adelaide for the Festival Interceltique.

Well, the video above made it onto YouTube, and I found it today at the City of Adelaide Pipe Band website. The band's site is worth checking out. There are photo galleries, a couple of tunes and merchandise.

You might even recognise someone in the video... I might be even game to tell the story about how lucky I was to make it in to this video at some point... but it still might be a little too soon...

Epiphany

I had another big day. I had two rooms of guests, which turned out to be 5 breakfasts, since someone changed their minds about the pancakes... They weren't so nice by the time I got to [try and] eat them 2 hours later. After a 10ish checkout I was ready to do the rooms. I didn't put my lunch in the microwave until 1300... so there is definitely something about the way Jodie and I do the rooms together that makes it much more efficent. It doesn't feel like twice as much work while Jodie is away... it's more like three times as much!

My afternoon was spent ironing table cloths, reseting the dining room, trimming 5kg of bacon [I portioned the 4kg of sausages yesterday], washing, drying, dishes, diswasher, greeting guests, lighting [and piling wood on] the fire. By the time I had that under control that it was about 1800 - and time to nuke the curry!

It was during this, that I realised why running a B&B is so much fun! It's because I get to do it all with Jodie. We spend most of the time talking, laughing and providing much needed comic relief to one another. When things go awry in the kitchen and I'm by myself - I don't even swear - since there is no one to hear it [I know you'll apreciate that, honey]. When there's a 'mess' in the bathrooms, at least I can make Jodie laugh [and / or squirm] by describing it in great detail. Nothing much is too linear when we work as a team - if one of us is behind in our usual list of tasks, the other pitches in, so I get constantly surprised when things are just done. When it's time for a break, I'm either brought a coffee [luxury], or I get to make one for Jodie [a little present]. Making a coffee for myself just seems mundane.

Now it's off to bed. I've already made the fruit salad this afternoon, and pancake batter is at the ready, so I'm prepared for hopefully four breakfasts tomorrow.

Jodie, where for art thou?

If you guessed Adelaide, you'd be right. After a rigorous training and assessment program, I have been assessed as competent in every aspect of running Schouten House. So Jodie is able to have a couple of weeks in Adelaide while I run the show here.

Tonight I've got two rooms of guests, so tomorrow will be a full test of how I'll cope. Not that I haven't done it before. While Jodie was unwell, I looked after one room of guests single handed... So my assessment included thing like making beds, doing washing [both washing machine and dryer]. Most other things we tend to share anyway.

The biggest challenge will be breakfast service. We usually take turns in 1) taking orders, making and serving drinks, and serving breakfast and 2) cooking breakfasts. We have it on good authority that one person should be able to cope with 3 rooms by themselves - so 2 shouldn't be a problem.

Today was a busy day of preparation for me. It's getting cold, so chopping firewood was a must. Vacuuming is still rewarding, although the novelty has worn off. I baked shortbread, and had it out of the oven just in time for coffee for one set of guests. Yesterday I cooked mung bean soup, and today was a new Rogan Josh curry. With 3 cups of beans and 2kg of lamb respectively and an open 2.95kg tin of baked beans, I'm set for food for the next little bit. We also froze a bunch of meals recently so the freezer is stocked too. I managed to have the Rogan Josh simmering early so it had about 6 hours of slow burn. Delicious.

Both George Henry and Irving Norman have been keeping me company, and I think they miss Jodie almost as much as I do. It has just occurred to me that I think talking to cats maybe weirder than talking to myself. At least they seem to agree with me more often than I do. Just to put your mind at rest Jodie, I've given them their treat, checked their water, food and ensured that their air-look security system has not been breached.

Andrew's Visit

At the end of April, Andrew came to visit! He brought his new DSLR, which can be seen above. What fun, when 2/3 of your party are holding digital cameras. Not all of the photos need be posted here.


We found a bridge across 'Old Man Creek' at Mayfield beach, after it was mentioned at our afternoon tea for heritage week [more about that later]. The colonial brick work was fascinating.


Mayfield beach is usually teaming with campers and surfers in warmer months but we don't know if the blue bottles are usually so prevalant. I can't wait to go back on a sunny day when the surf's up.


Andrew was a fantastic help with our afternoon tea preparations, and even helped out with cleaning rooms! Jodie was very impressed with his ability to follow instructions, and wanted to keep him on. The orange zest on the chocolate truffle tarts was just to die for, and meticulously placed.

We are both looking forward to Andrew, Mel and Hayden visiting later in the year, and catching some serious waves!

To finish off, a quick shout out to Chris, Teressa and Isaac who came for a quick visit on the same weekend. We'll be sending you some photos soon!

Pancakes

Pancakes! Pancakes are becoming something of an attraction for our guests at breakfast.

Ordering Pancakes

Since the pancakes are a work of art, and prefer to sit, in batter form for 20 minutes before being cooked, we ask guests to order them the night before.... leading to some disapointed guests in the morning, who suffer from a common human trait - failing to read all the information available... and it's not fine print. We make sure people know they can have pancakes... but they'll have to wait. I've even started mentioning the pancakes at check in, just in case.

Size of Pancakes

I prefer my pancakes big! Over time, I've come to realise that many of our guests perfer a much smaller serving of pancakes. The difference in size is demonstrated in the photo above. My serving is on the right! For scale, note that these are 12" dinner plates!

Variations

By far the most popular pancake creation is pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, which I also fell in love with when Jodie introduced me to it. We serve real maple syrup with our pancakes, and were lucky enough to find somewhere where we could get it in a 4L bottle. We also offer it with maple syrup and cream, and even fresh berries when we have them available. On one of the many mornings I have spent making breakfast in bed for Jodie, I was struck with inspiration. Nigella [who's pancake recipe we use] suggested that you can bombard [my word] the uncooked side of the pancake with blueberries before flipping it over. Since I knew about Jodie's love of blueberries [another thing she introduced me too] I thought it would be an extra special breakfast... if only the suggestion hadn't come from another woman! Blueberry pancakes are now one of our favourite sleepy morning breakfasts.

Accolades

Our pancakes have been mentioned quite a few times in our guest book. The other breakfasts don't usually get a mention over and above ' breakfast', however we do get a kick out of the gasps, laughter and smiles when we bring out a breafast that we've had trouble fitting onto the plate [which can happen when you order eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, tomatoes and baked beans].

Surf Lesson

Today, I had part one of my birthday present from Jodie - a one on one surf lesson at Clifton Beach with coach Pat! As you can see, the use of a wetsuit was included with the lesson. It fit like a glove and was nice and warm. Essential, since the water was about 14 degrees.


Coach Pat gave me a thorough grounding in 'Surf Theory' before heading into the water, and explained that lots of experience is the key to 'reading' a beach.

This one isn't exactly a monster wave, but it was a great first step in getting on the board, and a exhausting work out to boot.

I was ecstatic to get up on the board, for however brief a time.


Wiping out was also awesome fun.

We had a perfect day for it, and finished off with a wonderful lunch at Barilla Bay before returning home to greet guests [who are from Queensland and enjoying port beside an open fire]. All in a day's work!

Sunset

Well, I haven't posted since about this time last month. So there's an even bigger backlog of things I'd like to post, like really old, but exciting news everyone should already know. Heritage week went really well, and we had Andrew come and visit... and then had a little busier end to the peak season than we expected.... and...

I thought I should get our BAS done before I began posting it all... For those of you that don't know - BAS stands for Business Activity Statement. Which requires us to be up to date with our paperwork for the quarter [... so to the end of March], so we can report on GST [Goods and Services Tax]. Since the January - March quarter is in our peak season, we made a profit, so had to hand over some cash. It's OK... I believe in paying my taxes.

Now, some of you that know all about BASs might be thinking, 'aren't you late to be doing that in May?' Well yes... but we did it online, so got a two week extension to lodge and pay. To which you might say, 'I didn't know about that'. Well, apparently neither do the people on the ATO helpdesk! One guy knew about but didn't think that the ATO advertised it. So I sent them the letter we got from the ATO advertising it, which you can read here. Seriously... check it out.

The problem is that there is no indication during this extended lodging process that actually tells you that you've got the extension. I was even told that we couldn't lodge online, because we weren't registered to lodge online in our 'file'. However, once we lodged online our 'file' would be updated to say that we could lodge online. I'm paraphrasing... but it's almost word for word... two sentences, one after the other.

So we got that out the way. We've just had a few quiet days, so we've had some sleep ins, some gourmet breakfasts we've cooked for each other, and burned through that rest XP [see WoW posts].

The photo is of a sunset from our front door yesterday that Jodie and I caught at 1722. Yes, it's getting darker and colder, so I'd better get chopping some firewood too.