Further On Up The Road

After many years of pub-crawl inactivity and domain renewals, I’m shutting down this .com.au domain.

Turns out I had dozens of domains that I once registered and used, but have now just become an annoying recurring bill from GoDaddy. They made the mistake of cranking up .au costs by almost 100% which got my attention and forced me to decide if I still wanted them or not. Mostly not. And certainly not with them.

I’ll be moving the content from this site to batboyspubcrawl.wordpress.com and then eventually redirect this domain until it expires in June 23. If anyone wants to take it over before then – drop me a line and let me know.

Hope you’re all well and fighting the good fight, and then enjoying a delicious beverage or three on the weekend with someone to keep you warm.

Let’s never give up on the idea of another weekend together in Bathurst sometime further on up the road. See you then.

Mick.

So long and thanks for all the fish…

After 13 years I have decided to close down the AusClicks website and move on. This is a last post for anyone who follows us on RSS or whatever so you can read it before the site is closed.

For the last few years I have been way more focused on my Teacher Education studies and a few other projects on the side – and life in general. Initially I thought I would keep AusClicks going as a side thing but it quickly dropped off my radar and I have mostly just been looking after existing customers, nothing new.

I thought the AusClicks City program would be something to keep it going but revenue from Google AdSense just kept dwindling despite good traffic and they stopped paying for themselves. Covid more or less killed tourism revenue from places like Hotels Combined so that was more or less the end of that. I could have chased more web advertising but I don’t really like the internet advertising industry so… Those sites were closed last year as the domains ran out. Bit sad about that but the work just wasn’t worth it.

Every year the AusClicks domain comes up for renewal I am tempted to just let it expire, but then it’s “just one more year”. I think letting go of MilduraInternet.com.au last year was cathartic so it’s time to say goodnight to this one too.

I have moved all relevant content from the main AusClicks website to a wordpress account – AusClicks.wordpress.com – turns out I set that up in 2010, had fun recovering that on an old email… Once I post this I will redirect this domain to that one.

As for exisiting customers I will continue to service their domains and websites as per usual. I’ve been doing it under my own name mostly the last few years anyway. There will be a few changes rolled out this year but I will email them as needed. I am about to tidy and rejig a bunch of my own domains so I will post about that once it’s sorted – but michaelq.au is probably a good place to go soonish.

THANK YOU to all customers from AusClicks, Mildura Internet, and Double Pepperoni. I’ve been doing websites and stuff for others since around 1998 which is a pretty decent run. Most of it was fun. Servers crashing in the middle of family holidays was not fun. Email was not fun. But most the rest of it was awesome.

I have seen businesses come and go, some did so well they got bought out, some just continue to roll along, others didn’t make it and had to close. I’ve had several bitter sweet moments when a business got so big or embraced the internet so much they ended up having to have someone full-time looking after things for them. The internet and what it means for a business has completely changed the world since I started in 1998 (and personally well before that).

It was a fun ride. Time to get off. Thanks.

Michael.

Quick Review: Jaycar Digital Vernier Calipers

When I was making my original Drill Bit Block video, I forgot I also made this little quick tip video about the Vernier Calipers I used to measure my assorted mixed-up drill bits. Fantastic for going through them quickly.

I’ve had these calipers for a few years now and get used every so often. Still on the same battery that came with so not too concerned about it going flat in a woodworking emergency. It’s just a standard CR232 battery which I usually have a couple of in the battery box.

Continue reading Quick Review: Jaycar Digital Vernier Calipers

Updated 2.0 Workshop Tour 2020 #aussieworkshops2020

Decided it was time to post an update to my workshop tour. Inspired by all the other Aussie makers who posted theirs for #aussieworkshops2020​

Firstly – thank you to those that supported me in #movember​ over at http://bit.ly/MQ-Mo​ I raised $1000 which personally was pretty amazing really. Hopefully next year with lessons learned, better prep, we can hit our goal of $999,999.

The workshop / shed is a bit of a complete mess at the moment with so much tidying to be done after several projects and tools just left stacked on the center table. Plus keep buying new stuff and not putting things away. I know…

Has been an insanely busy 12-18 months. The video stuff was taking up Uni time so needed to readjust there. Plus my work as a teacher’s aid went from 1 day to 3 to 5 days full-time so pretty much everything else got put on hold. Good for $$ and buying new toys though…

Continue reading Updated 2.0 Workshop Tour 2020 #aussieworkshops2020

Movember 2020 – Doing it for ALL the Woodworkers. Let me be your sacrificial beard!!

Let my Mo be your sacrificial beard. Share as if it was your Movember.

Donate and find out more at http://bit.ly/MQ-Mo​

Movember is about raising money and awareness of men’s health issues. And an excuse to finally see if you can grow a mo in a few weeks. (spoilers: Yes).

1/ Please help me towards my $999,999 goal.
2/ Share this video and let my missing beard be your missing beard.
3/ Let’s meet back here in 2021 and do it together!

Quick Weekend Project: Drill Bit Block

A quick project for the workshop: Making a couple of drill bit blocks from some pine timber and using some olive oil to stain it.

I wanted a better solution for my drill bits – the plastic “home DIY” kit thing we bought 15+ years ago has actually done a decent job but it can be a bit fiddly and my olde eyes find it harder to read the numbers on it. Not to mention reading the numbers on the drill bits themselves. Plus it only caters to one of each sized drill bit – not always ideal.

For the video I used some basic pine timber offcuts I picked up at Bunnings for $2. I also used some olive oil to stain the drill blocks. As a “shop project” they probably don’t need finishing – but it was also a good experiment to use some of that timber and see how it came up using the oil as a stain / finish – I thought it looked great!

I’ve been using this now for a few months and it’s been a great addition to the workshop. Certainly helped organising my drill bits and being able to find the right size and special drill bits as needed. Good workshop storage solution.

Continue reading Quick Weekend Project: Drill Bit Block

Cleaning up leaky batteries / corroded battery terminal with household items. Battery disposal tips.

Cleaning up some old clocks that have been sitting out in the “Fix It Pile” in the shed for a while and came across some batteries that had leaked and corroded the terminals. So I wanted to show how easy it is to clean up and recover items if you have had a leaky battery in them.

(also – as far as I know, vinegar is just vinegar. No need to pay for “brand” on the label. I even found out my IGA is about 1/2 the price of the Coles brand)

The second clock didn’t quite work out – but it’s been pretty dodgy since it was given to us so I was pretty happy to get rid of it finally. So it was edited out and as such made the end a bit odd.

Hang around for the end to get my tips on disposing of old batteries.

Despite what I do / say in the video. When working with leaky batteries and battery acid corrosion – it’s probably not great to get it on your skin etc. Wear gloves / eye protection with this stuff.

Continue reading Cleaning up leaky batteries / corroded battery terminal with household items. Battery disposal tips.