Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Telstra Phonecard

Miky bought a phonecard a few weeks ago from a delicatessen. Our phone rang after she dialed but we were disconnected immediately. She took the phonecard back to the deli to complain and they didn't believe her. The owner even sent her son over to the phone to check it out. Finally, the owner gave Miky a Reply Paid envelope and form to fill out and send to Telstra for a refund.

Miky duly filled out the form and posted it. Some weeks later it was returned to us as the Phonecard Returns Department didn't reside at the address on the envelope. There was a phone number on the form and so I rang them only to receive the message that the phone number was incorrect and that I should check it and please try again. What sort of game are these bastards playing at?

I rang directory assistance and was promptly cut off when no phone number appeared on their system. After telephoning again to directory assistance I was given a 13 number - I rang it and followed all of the prompts to be transferred to said department. Rather bad luck that they only work 8:30 am to 6:00 pm on weekdays and I was calling on a weekend.

Finally, I remembered today to call them during business hours. I discovered that the Phonecard Returns Department has moved from Victoria, where the first envelope was addressed, to Adelaide and is now in Sydney. The envelope must have been at least four years old I was told. So, I am finally to the bottom of this problem.

Let's hope there is no more funny business.
Petrol Station

Last night I went to the petrol station to fill my car up. Fuelwatch told me that there was going to be a price hike the following day - well, I am a frugal bastard, and I wanted to save my money. Price hikes mean an increase of 10-12 cents per litre and seeing as I put 60 litres in normally, it is quite a saving. My local servo (service station) is a Woolworths + Plus Petrol.

I noticed the guy next to me wearing a BP (British Petroleum) workshirt. I put the nozzle in my car and turned around, letting go of the nozzle so that I could change hands. My plan was to say something smart like "Must be cheap if the opposition is buying their petrol here." That's when the nozzle fell out of the car and onto the ground. I bit my tongue and didn't say anything.

After I paid I mentioned to the petrol station attendant that the opposition was buying fuel from here. She said that they get their petrol from BP. Doh!

Makes you glad sometimes that you don't open your big mouth.

Frugal Bastard over and out.
Some News

I received a letter from Curtin University a few days ago. It seems that the project our group did for Information Systems Project 392, the most difficult subject I have ever done, was judged to be the most outstanding project. This means that the uni wants us to roll up at the Sheraton Hotel in the Grand Ballroom and receive a certificate along with a prize. Ok, I helped out as best I could but I'm afraid that I really need to thank my teammates for supplying the brains of the operation.

The interesting thing is that our lecturer wanted to enter us in a State-wide competition and a National competition. We were given only a few hours notice of this, well we knew about it but the preparation time was limited, and our entry was REJECTED. That left a slightly bad taste in the mouth but I think that it is ironic.

Until next time.

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Welcome to my new Blog

Hello Friends. I will use this as a forum to share my thoughts, have a whinge, spread the news or just create some controversy. Let's start off with a bit of what has been going on in the Hammy household.

A few weeks ago they had Clean Up Australia Day. Yu-Jin and I joined a wildlife conservation group and went to the Swan River. For about 30 minutes or so we collected tea bags, lolly wrappers, cigarette butts, tissues, money (10 cents only dammit) and anything else that was laying about. Yu-Jin was very enthusiastic about helping and when he saw some more rubbish he raced me to get to it first.

I think that it was the next weekend we went to AQWA - Aquarium of Western Australia. Luckily my student card is valid until the end of March, I am a frugal bastard, and so I gained a little bit cheaper entry. We took Yu-Jin's best friend, Jesse, along with us. They were fascinated by the fish, turtles, sharks, sting rays, crocodile, sea lions and coral. There was even a touching pool which had some fish and stingarees - small sting rays. I was able to convince Yu-Jin to touch the stingaree. He didn't want to leave he was having such fun. Jesse was too scared to touch the stingaree which was surprising. He had told Yu-Jin when we arrived that he would protect him. These kids are funny.

We borrowed the Sinbad DVD from Jesse and Yu-Jin has been watching it, and Finding Nemo, constantly. They are great movies for kids. Anyway, one of the lead characters is Proteus. Obviously this movie has pricked some imagination in Yu-Jin and he wants to build Sinbad's ship out of Duplo blocks. So I built two ships and Yu-Jin said, "What's your name?"
"Proteus" I replied.
"Mine's Protoceratops" came the reply.
Protoceratops? I know that he loves dinosaurs but didn't think that he would be able to remember a name like that.

A couple of nights ago Miky was slicing a zucchini for tea. Yu-Jin asked her if she was going to put it on her face. Obviously thought that it was a cucumber.

You have probably watched Australian Idol or at least heard about it. We loved Shannon Noll and Cosima Devito and we devastated when that poofy, soppy, overgrown wig of a South Australian, Guy Sebastian, won. I even voted for Shannon in the final week. Cost me 55 cents!! Ok, enough ranting. Shannon has just released a song entitled "Drive". It sounds very Bryan Adams-yish. We love it. Listened to it in the car on the way home the other night. Later on that night I heard it on the radio at home. I called Miky over and said that this was the Bryan Adams version of the song. She listened and said, "I prefer Shannon's version." Sucker - it was the same song and so there was no difference.

Ok, that's about it for today. Now I have to update this regularly. There will be a fair amount of drivel. Bookmark the site and come back whenever you like.

Over and out.
Hammy