Apple 17" LCD Studio Display

Just scored a working and complete Apple 17" LCD/ADC Studio Display for the princely sum of $2.25. Currently paired with my Mac Cube and working very nicely. The Cube has the RAM maxed out at 1.5GB, making this quite a nice little setup.

Another rambling update...

Here's an insight into what I have been up to recently:

• Started basketball training again (with the intention to play a season on a team). I really need the exercise...
• Still tinkering with model trains. I'm in the process of re-doing a whole heap of track work I did earlier in the year (or late last year) that I'm not entirely happy with. Contemplated (briefly) a new, much larger N gauge layout but decided to continue with the one I have been working on. Still acquiring random trains/rolling stock/buildings and other miscellanea. Lots of fun.
• Not bird-watching/photographing anywhere near as much as I would like. Don't like my chances of reaching 250 species by the end of the year (currently sitting on 215).
• I have finally delved back into Mac programming. Just working on a simple project to start with but hopefully things will ramp up once I get familiar with it again. Seriously liking the new version of Xcode.
• Still working (probably too much). Got to pay the bills somehow. While the downturn means less project work it does mean we are putting together a lot more quotations and proposals.

Road Trip

A recent drive from Perth to Karratha yielded four new birds for my lifelist:

• White-eared Honeyeater (Lichenostomus leucotis);
• Little Crow (Corvus bennetti);
• Torresian Crow (Corvus orru);
• Mangrove Grey Fantail (Rhipidua phasiana).

Separating the two crows required a fair amount of preparation (as far as I can see they look identical). I had located some mp3s of the calls of both of these birds (and also the Australian Raven for good measure) and loaded them onto my iPod touch. This enabled me to compare the live call to a few typical calls on the iPod. Thankfully the crows cooperated and treated me to textbook renditions of their voices.

I did the drive to help my brother-in-law Wes get his car back up to Karratha (he works up there at the moment).


View Larger Map

Google Maps reports this trip as 1,547 kilometres. These four birds take the life list to 215.