Many rumours have been circulating around about the hungry jacks ‘Quad
Stacker’. A mysterious burger capable of ceasing the arteries of any man
willing to risk his life in the pursuit of burger heaven.

I am here today to debunk these rumours and reveal that the quad stacker
is nothing more then a mutated bacon deluxe not even capable of
approaching the Ultimate double whopper in terms of artery ceasing
goodness, let alone the legendary XXX burger
(http://www.triplexrootbeer.com).

I had originally thought that the ‘double/triple/quad’ stacker promotion
allowed you to increase the meat patties on ANY burger. This is
incorrect as the stacker burgers are in fact separate burgers in their
own right.

The burgers are on the same bun as the bacon deluxe and are made up of
the number of meat patties of your choosing, separated by slices of
cheese. On top of the ’stack’ is bacon and bbq sauce.

As expected, the burger tastes meaty and actually overpowers the bacon
taste quite considerably. I find this a major downfall in the stacker
burger as one of the major features of the Ultimate double whopper and
the XXX Burger are the added ingredients which provide a much more well
rounded taste sensation.

All in all I was quite disappointed with the Quad Stacker. No stomach
ache, no increase in my heart rate, no sensation of passing out. I would
compare the ‘fullness’ value to that of a bacon deluxe, without the
taste.

I consider the legendary stacker burger rumours to now be debunked and
would recommend staying clear of them.

Everything I read on the web said that both the 60mm and 100mm Canon macro lenses are incredible. Most people recommended buying both, but I wasn’t that keen. The big difference between the 60mm and 100mm is the distance you can be from the subject. In the case of macro shots of bugs and insects, the 100mm is more suitable because you can be further away. Something else I learnt was that the macro lenses take great portrait shots. Another feature of the Canon macros is they are internal focusing, so the length of them doesn’t change. I thought that was pretty neat as well.

I took a look at a few of the macro lenses at a local shop including a few cheaper Tamron lenses. I really didn’t like the feel of them at all, and the sounds they made when focusing didn’t make me feel very confidant. In comparison the Canon lenses where much quieter and the focusing was a lot smoother. I guess it’s a case of ‘you get what you pay for’ so I decided to bite the bullet and go with the Canon 100mm. I’m really happy with the quality of the shots.

The second lens that was in my twin lens kits also arrived after a shortage of stock. So I now have a 55-250mm IS lens. The image stabilizer (IS) makes a huge difference. Zoomed in shots that usually blur without a tripod come out crystal clear. I will probably have a bit more of a play with it on the weekend.

Overall so far I have found that I get maybe 1 or 2 “great” shots from a group of photos. My ratio of “great” vs “ok / bad” is pretty bad at the moment, so that’s something I need to work on.

I’ve also been using Aperture for cataloging and editing my photos. It’s a great piece of software. I also found the video tutorials on the Apple site really helpful as well.

So I took it for a slow drive around the front yard area without the top on, thinking it would be ok since I wasn’t going that fast. Unfortunately the plastic aerial cover came off and the aerial got wrapped around the front right wheel shaft and broke. Luckily it broke outside the receiver, so I should be able to solder / tape another aerial lead on to it.

Surprised me how difficult it is to replace the aerial lead. I guess people don’t really break them that often
So the good news is the truck still runs, but the receiver coverage is short so I haven’t tried my luck.

The past few months I’ve been using Things, a task management application currently in development by CulturedCode. I’m finding it really good and it serves as a reminder list and also a task management app all in one. I’ve found it really simple to use and keep using, which was always part of the battle with other task management applications I’ve tried.

I’m pretty sure I’ll buy a license for it when it finally goes 1.0, until then I am hanging out for .mac syncing support so I can have my task list on my imac and powerbook with little fuss.

Found this bargain while I was there.

There was actually 3 of these ’special’ tags and I was kind of wondering what the point of them is.

Having a saving of 0c is strange in itself, but I really gotta wonder what the person who put it up was thinking.

With the recent release of the Canon 450D, I decided to bite the bullet and buy myself a “proper” digital SLR camera. I’ve read a bit about canon cameras, and a few people I know recommend them so I’m pretty happy with the decision.

A workmate pointed me to the Teds website and I got in contact with a great salesperson there. He was extremely patient with my numerous emails, many of which I am sure where beginner questions by his standards. He gave me some great advice and I ended up ordering the following:

• Canon 450D Twin Lens Kit
• 2 x UV Filter (1 for each lens, mainly for protection)
• 4 gig SD memory card

$1700 all up, including postage from Brisbane to Rockhampton.

I was told when ordering that it would be around 2 weeks, but it seems there is a bit more of a delay. The cameras seem to be selling like hot cakes and there is very limited stock in Australia, with most camera shops having no stock at all.

According to forums, the main delay seems to be with the EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens, which is bundled in the twin lens kit.

UPDATE: Well it arrived today and it’s awesome. The 55-250 lens is still on backorder but I got the rest of the order. Will be good to go out tomorrow and take some snaps.

It took around 30mins to pull the shock apart, replace the shaft, replace the oil, put it back together and re-install it on the truck. Since it was the first time I had done it, I am guessing that the whole process could be done a lot faster if not referring to the instructions
I gave the truck a good de-grease, blew it out with the air compressor and charged the batteries. I didn’t actually get a chance to try to drive it though, so that will have to happen sometime this week.

Took me a while to get it fixed, but it’s good that it is done now. I will have to go and see if the housing estate area is still vacant or whether it’s been built over.

http://theminiblog.co.uk/archives/2006/11/16/how-to-cleaning-the-apple-keyboard/

It worked really well and was actually really simple. Whole process took maybe 30mins.

Now my clear iMac keyboard is all clean and new again!