When I left work today I got on the elevator as normal to leave the building. I work on floor 7 and have go to down to floor 5 to the exit. I got in and pushed 5, nothing. The doors closed, I pushed 5, nothing. The elevator starting moving up. I pushed 5 nothing. The doors opened at floor 9.
Two guys got on the elevator and pushed button 5. Nothing. We pushed lots of buttons. We got out of the elevator let it close and then pushed the down button. The same elevator opened, buttons still not working.
We pushed the up button, the same elevator doors opened. We kept the door open and pushed the down button. Another elevator arrived and we took that one instead. I wonder if someone got trapped on the top floor and couldn’t get down.

I went to the cinemas today and saw ‘Nights in Rodanthe’. The movie, while enjoyable, was somewhat predictable and soppy. More eventful was the group of about eight teenagers who were in the theatre and decided to not watch the movie but rather annoy the rest of us that did want to watch it. Constant talking, jumping over seats, and running down the aisles were all part of their performance. After a few minutes of this I went outside and complained to an attendant who came in and warned them. As soon as the staff member left they played up again. Another woman in the theatre told them to be quiet but they ignored her after a few minutes. Soon after the woman went outside and got the same attendant. He and another staff member came in and asked the entire group to leave. Strangely they seemed shocked at the request but he was adamant and soon had them exited out the door. Probably the first third of the movie was ruined by these youthful gits. If children truely are the salvation of tomorrow… we’re screwed.

Last night was the Xmas Palladium at the Factory Theatre in Enmore. ‘Xmas’ just because of the timing, they really was nothing Christmasy about it. As far as salsa parties go, the Palladium parties never fail to satisfy. Kicking off at 8pm, we arrived fashionably late at 8.30pm, had the latin beats playing courtesy of a DJ. At 9.30pm they stopped to have a few dance displays. I never like displays but at least it gave me a chance to cool off. After that the live 16 piece band kicked off the tunes and by now the dance floor was starting to get busy. We dance until about 12.30am and while could’ve danced longer decided to call it a night so we didn’t get home at too ungodly an hour.

The venue is great. They have a big dance floor, two actually separated by a step. Large stage for the band and bar for refreshments. I took a few photos and then stitched them together. Unfortunately due to the low light its kinda hard to see. The band is on the left, dance floor centre, bar far right.

Looking forward to the next one, most likely in March.

Last night I went to a concert by Andre Rieu. Before I got an email from Ticketek about some discount tickets on sale I really didn’t know who he was. But I overheard some girls talking about him and thought it might be an ok show for Jo and I to see. It was at the ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park which has an open roof so we kept an eye on the sky. Luckily though the heavens held off and we didn’t get rained on. It was a fun evening of classical music and Rieu was a fun entertainer. He joked around with the audience and his orchestra. The stage was extravagant! A mock castle with centre stage for the orchestra; and above them a huge dance floor for a cast of dancers. On either side of the stage was an ice skating rink for more dancers. And further out on either side of the stage were water fountains.

It was a really enjoyable evening with the concert going for a little over three hours. I see that he is returning to Australia in October 2009 but will be performing in much smaller venues so I don’t expect the stages to be as lavish.

My local Woolworths grocery shop installed their first lot of self checkout machines. So yesterday after doing a grocery run, with a full shopping trolly, I decided to give them a go.

The system is driven by a touch screen menu. You press a button to start. Then scan an item through the barcode scanner, then place it into the bag. Underneath the bag is a scale which detects that you’ve added an item to the bag.

To be honest I didn’t think it worked very well for a trolley full of groceries. Once you filled a shopping bag after scanning items, there is no place to put the bag, so you end up putting it on the ground until you’ve removed all the groceries from your trolley. And one really annoying thing was that you can only scan one item at a time. You MUST put the scanned item into the bag, so the weight detector picks up on it, before you can scan the next item. Otherwise it generates an error and a staff member has to play with the machine (put something on and off the scales) to get it going again. This means you can’t pick up two or three items at once out of your trolley, scan them all, then place them all into the bag. The process of scanning one item at a time and putting it into a bag is what slows it down.

It may be ok if you only have a few items, but it really doesn’t work for a trolley full of groceries.

This morning Jo and I went to the local RTA to get our licences and the car registration changed over to NSW from Qld. After all the drama that’s happened so far I expected this step to not go easy. But I was wrong. We drove to the RTA office and then with trusty screwdriver I took off the old plates. Inside when it was our turn to be served a very helpful lady named Kathy took our information, and the forms we’d already completed, and finished the process. We had our photos taken and new licences issued. And I got new registration plates for the car which afterwards fitted on the vehicle with no real problems. The registration cost $275 for a year.

When we finished all the paperwork Kathy said ‘you’re now officially a New South Welshman. Welcome to the bankrupt state.’ Ahh it’s nice to be welcomed.

I’ve felt really busy the last week or so. So much so (is that too many so’s?) that I’ve not had time to update the blog. For shame.

Last Saturday morning the car was booked in for its 9.00am mechanical inspection (blue slip) so I could get it registered in NSW. The mechanic advised it would take ‘a few hours’ to complete the inspection. Luckily it was close to home so we could walk everywhere after dropping it off. I decided that it would be best to get the compulsory third party insurance sorted while we were waiting. A trip to NRMA would do. I was expecting the bill to be about $100. Ha! It cost $623.49! That’s just for the compulsory third party insurance, not the regular insurance. Keep in mind it cost me about $527 to register and get compulsory insurance in Qld earlier this year. I’m dreading how much the registration will cost on top of that.

On the Sunday we caught the train into the city (see, never drive) and then a tram over to the suburb of Glebe. They have an annual street fair on that just happened to be this weekend. They close a main section of the street and setup stalls of food, arts and crafts, and other bits and pieces.

I don’t know who the woman is who does the voice over for Channel Ten when they advertise the ‘upcoming’ television shows… but I want to punch her in the head. What someone must think is sexy, or sultry or exciting, it just damn annoying. Shut up!

Picked the car up from the repair shop on Friday. It looked very shiny and clean. Although probably cheaper ways to clean the car then the $500 insurance excess that had to be paid.

Sunday morning Jo and I were bored so we jumped in the car and drove north. No destination planned although a lunch of fish and chips was preferred. Was wandered through some back, small towns. I had to fill up with fuel which cost about 19c more per litre then back on the main road. Great to have a car again.

When we got hungry we pulled over at a pub and had a nice lunch of beer battered fish and chips (and a beer). I’m not sure where the pub was, or where we went. I thought the pub was called the Tall Timbers Hotel hotel and that they had a website of that name. But that comes up as a hotel in Tasmania and I’m fairly sure we were driving north, not south. But I could be mistaken.

Since moving to NSW from Queensland I thought I should change my car registration and drivers licence over to NSW.

The body who handles this in Queensland is Qld Transport. In NSW its RTA (Roads and Traffic Authority).

Check with RTA on what I need to do to change my drivers licence.
• I need to complete one of their forms. Ok.
• Do an eyesight check at their office. Ok.
• Provide proof of a NSW residential address. I guess my rental agreement will do.
• Provide proof of when I first got a drivers licence. Umm no.

I contact Qld Transport about getting proof of when I first got a licence.
• I need to complete one of their forms. Ok.
• I need to pay a fee of $17.55. Damn.
• I need to get a certified copy of my drivers licence, or multiple other forms of ID. Hmm I don’t know anyone who is JP (other than myself) who can certify ID.

For the time being give up the drivers licence. How about the registration.

I check with the RTA what is required to get the registration transfered.
• I need to complete their form. Ok
• I need to pay a fee. Oh well.
• I need a green slip for compulsory third party insurance. Will have to go arrange this. In Qld its combined with the registration. Damn backwards NSW.
• I need a blue slip which is a vehicle inspection. Ummm what?

Rang a few mechanics and they don’t do the blue slip inspections. That is for ‘unregistered cars’. Contact RTA who provide a list of mechanics who do the blue slip inspections. A quarter don’t answer their telephone (out of business?), half are fully booked until after Christmas. Finally get someone who can do it.

Book it in to do the inspection. They advise that a ‘Certificate of Registration’ needs to be brought along for the blue slip check. Except I don’t have such a certificate, just the registration sicker on the car. I don’t even know why it should be required as the ‘blue slip’ inspection is for UNREGISTERED cars!

I contact Qld Transport about getting a Certificate of Registration. That can be done online, and its free! Yay. Submit the form. They will post it out in the next 10 days. Damn. Have to cancel the blue slip inspection with the mechanic because I won’t have the form in time.

And I’m willing to bet when the form does arrive the mechanic will then be fully booked until after Christmas.

This is just ridiculous. I think I’ll just stay a Queensland living in NSW.

So America will have a new President. Well that much was certain.
I feel like I should comment on it. And yet I barely care about my countries government, so a foreign government… nah.

I hate living in units. I loathe and despise it.
I got a phone call today from the property manager of the unit building I live in. He asked if I had been hanging clothes outside on my balcony, which I said I was. Well apparently that’s against the building rules. Not just having a clothes line outside. But by drying any towel, sheets, or clothes item outside where it can be seen, that’s against the rules. And if you break that rule you may receive a fine of $500. He seemed like an ok guy who was just informing me of the rules (which I didn’t know). But what a stupid bloody rule. I can only think that such a rule is to control the ‘look’ of the building and thereby supposedly increase the value of the property.

But in this day of ‘being green’; what a load of crap. In my building there are twelve tenants. Most of which are families. So for each of those twelve units they must use an electric dryer to dry their clothes, sheets and towels. And the good old dryer is not an energy efficient beast.

I found a newspaper article from February 2007 that stated that 2 million NSW residents live in units. A Queensland Government website states that using a dryer to dry your clothes creates nearly half a tonne of greenhouse gas per year. So if all those people are using dryers, thats 1 million tonnes of greenhouse gas. Yes I know not everyone is using their dryers. But a lot bloody more of us wouldn’t be using them if it wasn’t for these stupid rules.

How about the government make a simple, and yet high impact move, to reduce greenhouse gas. Make a ruling that unit buildings can not stop people from drying their clothes outside.
Just a thought.

After the accident with the car last weekend its been a car involved week.

Saturday afternoon I thought I’d do the right thing and ring the insurance company to get things going. I am insured with a fairly new company, and only had the insurance policy for less than a month so wasn’t sure how smoothly this was going to go. I found the policy information that they sent me. First step, ring the 13-telephone number thats marked as being available 7 days a week. I get the automated prompts and eventually press the button for claims. Only to get a recording that the office is closed and only open Monday - Friday. Hmmmm. Dial again, and this time notice that after the message you can press a button for ‘emergency’ claims. I didn’t think this was really an emergency but wasn’t exactly sure what they call an emergency so pushed the button. The phone was answered by another automated system at ANOTHER company that handled claims, and the recording indicated that their office was closed too. The recording said that I could press a button to be forwarded to the after hours contact of their out of hours assessor. I didn’t think it was necessary to do that. But the whole phone run around was not a good start. Decided to leave it until Monday.

On Monday at 9am I phoned and after a few minutes on hold someone picked up the call. When I explained that I needed to lodge a new claim they told me that that department was busy and could they take my details and they would call me back. No problem. At 11.30am and no call back I rang again. Same thing, department is busy can I leave my details and they’d call me back. Ok. At 3.00pm and no call I ring again, this time a bit more annoyed. I was advised the same thing. I said I’d left a message at 9am and nobody had rung me back yet, when could I expect a call. The lady explained that there was only ONE PERSON who handled claims, and they were busy but would definitely call me back today. One person? This was not a good sign either.

Shortly after that I did get a phone call. The lady was polite and took all the particulars of the accident. She gave me the names of several repair business’ in the area that I could use (as I didn’t have my own repairer). I rang one of the repairers and booked it in for an inspection on Tuesday, the next day. Tuesday morning I dropped it off (after spending 10mins circling the block looking for a car park) and caught the train to work. I got a phone call that afternoon that I could collect my car. Caught the train back there and drove the car home, then trained it back to work again.

On Thursday I got a call from the insurer that the repairs had all been approved and I just needed to book it in. I did that, so next Monday morning I’ll drop it off to be fixed, hopefully to be collected on Friday.

So after an initial poor start to the insurance claim it all seems to be working out well. So far, so good.

My poor car has been in an incident. I wasn’t driving, or even in the car. All parties involved are ok. Except my car has a rather large dent right in the front middle where it met someone else’s towbar.

Sigh. Next week I’ll have to do all the running around with the insurance company and repairers.

We’ve had a problem with water pooling in the floor of the bathroom at work for more months than I can remember. After constant complaints they have finally done something about it.

They put a sign in the middle of the puddle.

At least the water has stopped leaking down through the ceiling. When we asked about that the building managers told us that they were doing some ‘deep cleaning’ on the floors above us. Man that sure is deep cleaning when the water runs down to the next floor.

A fortnight ago we discovered by accident a garden nearby to home. But when we go there it was closed for the day. So today we decided to visit it again. Its only a few blocks from home so is easy walking distance. The park is called the Lisgar Gardens. The park is really nice with a pergola, an artificial waterfall, fish ponds, lots of flower gardens, lawns and rainforrest areas.

A pergola in the park. Nice place to have an event. The local council rent out the gardens for events.

There are a range of ponds with different sized fish. The smallest are tiny and the largest, well I didn’t put my hand too close to the water.

There are lots of flower gardens and even the plants around place were in flower.

After we had finished seeing the garden we started walking home.
We were about a block from home when Jo noticed smoke coming out of the engine block of a parked car at some nearby units. And then we noticed fire coming out of the car. Oh oh. Neither of us had a mobile phone on us. Damn. I bolted across the road to the unit building and just started punching all the buzzers. Someone finally answered and I told them a car was on fire in front of their building, they said they would call the fire brigade. By the time I’d walked back to where the car was it was fully on fire. A girl walking along the street had a mobile phone so let us borrow it to call the fire brigade. There were four cars parked next to the one on fire and I was a bit worried that the car might explode, or the fire spread to the other cars. In about two minutes a fire engine arrived on the scene, to a raging car fire. They had the fire out pretty quickly and no damage to any other cars. We had a chat to one of the firemen and they said this happens pretty frequently with faulty fuel lines on cars. Hope whomever owned the car had it insured.

It was one exciting afternoon!

I went to an Ikea for the first time today. Have been thinking about getting a cheap dining table for home and decided to check out what Ikea had. The store is huge. Really huge. And when you first go in, it makes no sense. You enter the store and walk through their ’show room’. Lots of scenes setup to showcase their stock; bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, etc. But you don’t just wander though the store. You follow a set path that takes you all through the show rooms. And when you see something you like you write down the name, product code and pickup location. Tired, hungry? Then stop by the cafeteria and get a cheap meal. When you are done looking at furniture then you have to pass through the market place. That’s where they sell everything. Well maybe not everything but it seems to be a bloody lot. Then you get to the warehouse. This is where you pick up your furniture that you wanted, the items that you wrote down their location. You go to the aisle and the right shelf. Put the box on your trolley and roll over to the checkouts. After you’ve handed over you cash, hand over another $2 for a hotdog on the way out. The store was HUGE (once more) and it was really really well organised. A cheap dining table, and four chairs, was purchased for the low price of $169. Yes it had to be assembled at home. But that was pretty painless. A little bit of swearing but that’s because I didn’t read the instructions correctly. It was by far the easiest ‘put it together yourself’ piece of furniture I’ve put together.
And the best part. The $2 hotdog. It was no sausage on bread. But it was close.

I’m in a photo kinda mood lately.

Its lucky the local train station ticket window has a bright closed sign above it, otherwise people would have stood in front of the closed shutter for ages.

On the weekend while we were walking around the CBD we caught a glimpse of something hanging in the air in one of the alleys. We went to investigate and not only found a dingey alley that reaked of urine, but some ‘art’ hanging from the building.
No signage. So have no idea what it was for.

I just won $25 on a scratchie! Yay!

Last week I bought a $5 scrachie. I won a ‘free ticket’.
On the second ticket I won $5. So I bought another ticket.

Now I just won $25. Now wondering if I should buy five more tickets or pocket the cash…