How To Deal With Computerised Telephone Operators
I rang Centrelink last night to inform them that I was going to make more money this year than I initially thought and that they should be taking away my family allowance payment. Well, I'd give them the figures anyway and let them decide if I was still entitled to it.
I was greeted by a computer operator which seemed surprisingly intelligent and was very polite. These things don't react well to sarcasm however. I updated my income and Miky's income. It had the two figures but when they were added up it came up with "underscore lasdghelkvnlskdfw". When informed that it was incorrect I heard, "I'm sorry. My mistake." So, I had to go through the process again and it came up with the same figure. Wrong again. "My mistake again. I must have misheard that (or similar)."
"No shit, Sherlock" was my response. At this point the computer realised that I should be put through to an operator.
Hey presto. If you don't want to speak to a computer just swear and you get put through to a real person. Well, a person who works for Centrelink. Ha ha. James sounded very young and did his job well for which I was grateful. He confirmed that there probably was some recognition of swear words built into the system.
Don't try this with Telstra though. No matter how much you swear and get frustrated it doesn't help. Their computer is just not #$%&ing smart enough.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Novel Way To Remove Teeth
Just when you thought you'd seen it all Yu-Jin came up with another method of teeth removal. I don't even know if the tooth was wobbly but he went to take a drink from a container where you have to pull the top up by holding it with your teeth. As he pulled his tooth almost popped out. I heard it go "crack!" Later on we were wrestling on the trampoline and his mouth started bleeding, and no, I didn't hit him, so I told him to wash his mouth. He did so and touched his tooth and out it came.
The funny thing is it must be close to two months since the girl at taekwondo did a high back kick and struck him in the mouth making one of his teeth wobbly. And that tooth hasn't fallen out yet.
Just when you thought you'd seen it all Yu-Jin came up with another method of teeth removal. I don't even know if the tooth was wobbly but he went to take a drink from a container where you have to pull the top up by holding it with your teeth. As he pulled his tooth almost popped out. I heard it go "crack!" Later on we were wrestling on the trampoline and his mouth started bleeding, and no, I didn't hit him, so I told him to wash his mouth. He did so and touched his tooth and out it came.
The funny thing is it must be close to two months since the girl at taekwondo did a high back kick and struck him in the mouth making one of his teeth wobbly. And that tooth hasn't fallen out yet.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Spider-man 3
Had some cheap tickets to the movies that we picked up after having a meal at a restaurant a while ago. Seeing as we've seen both of the previous Spiderman movies at the cinema the third instalment had to be viewed there as well. Can't believe we attended the opening weekend of a movie. I think the last time I did that was for Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet.
Miky had tea all ready when I arrived home on Friday night and she and Yu-Jin had already eaten. We raced off to catch the 7:15 showing and we even took our own pre-prepared popcorn. She's a woman after my own heart.
Gee, we were lucky to get a seat. In fact, to sit together we had to share two seats between the three of us and push the arm rest up. Luckily those two aren't large people so we had enough room.
Action scenes are good but some are too fast and it all appears to be a blur. The movie does drag on a bit and is too long but the action is good. Oh, I already mentioned that. There are some moments where you feel quite awkward for the characters which portrays quite good acting. I was surprised that the viewers didn't get restless. We had a baby in the same row as us and if it was awake it would have been quite frightening for it. There were a few unexpected twists and it was a bit schmaltzy but not a bad movie overall. I'd give it 6.5-7/10.
I did spot one error where a cord moved and a Korean flag popped up at one stage.
Had some cheap tickets to the movies that we picked up after having a meal at a restaurant a while ago. Seeing as we've seen both of the previous Spiderman movies at the cinema the third instalment had to be viewed there as well. Can't believe we attended the opening weekend of a movie. I think the last time I did that was for Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet.
Miky had tea all ready when I arrived home on Friday night and she and Yu-Jin had already eaten. We raced off to catch the 7:15 showing and we even took our own pre-prepared popcorn. She's a woman after my own heart.
Gee, we were lucky to get a seat. In fact, to sit together we had to share two seats between the three of us and push the arm rest up. Luckily those two aren't large people so we had enough room.
Action scenes are good but some are too fast and it all appears to be a blur. The movie does drag on a bit and is too long but the action is good. Oh, I already mentioned that. There are some moments where you feel quite awkward for the characters which portrays quite good acting. I was surprised that the viewers didn't get restless. We had a baby in the same row as us and if it was awake it would have been quite frightening for it. There were a few unexpected twists and it was a bit schmaltzy but not a bad movie overall. I'd give it 6.5-7/10.
I did spot one error where a cord moved and a Korean flag popped up at one stage.
Keira Knightley To Quit Acting Due To Anorexia Pressure
So Keira Knightley is sick of being a celebrity and being a poster girl for anorexia. Incidentally, I love her comment regarding anorexia "I know it's not something to be taken lightly..." Apparently she is just naturally thin and a doctor told her if she wanted to put on weight she would need to eat fatty food and stop exercising. Doesn't sound like a crash hot idea to me.
It would be sad to see her, the star of Pirates of the Caribbean and Pride and Prejudice, give up acting for wrong reasons. She shouldn't give up because people post her picture on anorexia Websites or because of her celebrity. That would be a tragedy. No, she should give up acting due to her lack of acting skills. She was so annoying in the aforementioned movies it detracted from the overall enjoyment of them. Give up the acting Keira but make sure it is for the right reason.
So Keira Knightley is sick of being a celebrity and being a poster girl for anorexia. Incidentally, I love her comment regarding anorexia "I know it's not something to be taken lightly..." Apparently she is just naturally thin and a doctor told her if she wanted to put on weight she would need to eat fatty food and stop exercising. Doesn't sound like a crash hot idea to me.
It would be sad to see her, the star of Pirates of the Caribbean and Pride and Prejudice, give up acting for wrong reasons. She shouldn't give up because people post her picture on anorexia Websites or because of her celebrity. That would be a tragedy. No, she should give up acting due to her lack of acting skills. She was so annoying in the aforementioned movies it detracted from the overall enjoyment of them. Give up the acting Keira but make sure it is for the right reason.
Friday, May 04, 2007
SMS Premium Services - Update
Back in February I told the world about how much I despised SMS Premium Services for ripping money from my wife's pre-paid mobile account by sending her text messages and charging her for the privilege.
Well, lo and behold. A few days ago I received an envelope from HSBC. This was rather surprising as I have no account with this banking institution so I thought that it might be some junk mail. Got a bit of a shock to see that it was a cheque which covered the value of my claim against SMS Premium Services.
Well how about that? Didn't have to take it to the Ombudsman after all. They didn't take quite that long to get back to me with the refund as it took me a couple of weeks to get around to typing up the fax.
Back in February I told the world about how much I despised SMS Premium Services for ripping money from my wife's pre-paid mobile account by sending her text messages and charging her for the privilege.
Well, lo and behold. A few days ago I received an envelope from HSBC. This was rather surprising as I have no account with this banking institution so I thought that it might be some junk mail. Got a bit of a shock to see that it was a cheque which covered the value of my claim against SMS Premium Services.
Well how about that? Didn't have to take it to the Ombudsman after all. They didn't take quite that long to get back to me with the refund as it took me a couple of weeks to get around to typing up the fax.
The Funniest Thing I've Ever Heard?
Miky said something really funny the other day. Not related to English not being her first language, like saying "disbenefit" instead of disadvantage, no. More along the lines of "I want to be a morning person."
I cracked up. She's not a morning person and never will be. Not in a million years. I laughed and explained why I laughed. Still, I woke her up early the next morning. Guess who didn't get out of bed? And the next morning too. By the third morning the desired change in behaviour was no longer desired.
Morning person indeed.
Miky said something really funny the other day. Not related to English not being her first language, like saying "disbenefit" instead of disadvantage, no. More along the lines of "I want to be a morning person."
I cracked up. She's not a morning person and never will be. Not in a million years. I laughed and explained why I laughed. Still, I woke her up early the next morning. Guess who didn't get out of bed? And the next morning too. By the third morning the desired change in behaviour was no longer desired.
Morning person indeed.
Exercise In The Office
We have a few printers in the office and they are situated away from people's workstations. There is a good reason for this and that is so that you get some exercise during the day instead of sitting down all day. I have to file what I do in electronic format and printed format therefore I visit the printer quite often. Plus, it's also a scanner so I can turn printed format into electronic.
Yesterday I decided to do a little experiment. I counted how many steps to the printer that I regularly use and how many time I visited it. The distance is 29-30 steps, let's say 25m, and I went to the printer a total of 29 times. That was like a fairly typical day so I'm looking at doing about a kilometre and a half of walking each day during my time in the office. And that's only to that printer. It's much further to visit the other printers and there are other people that I have to see.
And let's not forget that when I hear biscuits being emptied into the biscuit barrels I shouldn't feel guilty about the fattening effect of eating said biscuits because I have to walk there, and back, to get them to eat. Twice a day mind you.
Now I'm rather glad that I don't go for my morning walk to the post office. I've got too much walking to do at work.
We have a few printers in the office and they are situated away from people's workstations. There is a good reason for this and that is so that you get some exercise during the day instead of sitting down all day. I have to file what I do in electronic format and printed format therefore I visit the printer quite often. Plus, it's also a scanner so I can turn printed format into electronic.
Yesterday I decided to do a little experiment. I counted how many steps to the printer that I regularly use and how many time I visited it. The distance is 29-30 steps, let's say 25m, and I went to the printer a total of 29 times. That was like a fairly typical day so I'm looking at doing about a kilometre and a half of walking each day during my time in the office. And that's only to that printer. It's much further to visit the other printers and there are other people that I have to see.
And let's not forget that when I hear biscuits being emptied into the biscuit barrels I shouldn't feel guilty about the fattening effect of eating said biscuits because I have to walk there, and back, to get them to eat. Twice a day mind you.
Now I'm rather glad that I don't go for my morning walk to the post office. I've got too much walking to do at work.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
No 457 Visas For Korean Bus Drivers
Australia has a shortage of skilled tradespeople. In response to this problem we have introduced the 457 visa. It allows tradies to work in Australia for four years. There are thousands of workers, and their families, who have come to Australia for this reason. Builiding sites employ great numbers of Filipino labourers, there are quite a few Korean welders and I know of many Chinese electricians in Perth.
I don't think that we should be issuing 457 visas to Korean bus drivers. They are noted for their recklessness. Last night on the bus it felt like we had a Korean bus driver. It was raining, the road was inevitably quite wet and the driver was throwing the bus around like I would be hard pressed to do in the dry. I was a bit shocked and not comfortable as I was standing up too. We approached stopping points, bus stops, corners and traffic lights, far too quickly and I was really surprised that the back of the bus didn't swing out or fishtail. And after one stop the driver called out for everyone to move backwards and get into a seat as he was unable to see. I don't know if it was being at the back of the bus or because of his driving but reading my book made me feel a bit sick and I had to stop.
It turns out that the driver was an Aussie but I have horrible thoughts that if he was a Korean on a 457 visa we would be in trouble.
P.S. Perhaps I should mention some of his antics. I thought that he was going to remove a wing mirror from a car that was driving on the diving lines between the bus lane and the car lanes. Deservedly so, I might add. Then he approached a 15 km/h speed bump closer to 50 km/h. At the bus stop he came to a screaming, although not screeching, halt. Then at a right hand turn he came to such a sudden stop that I thought the back would fishtail out. Strangest behaviour of all was that he actually stopped at a stop sign. Unfathomable. He continued to scream on through small suburban streets at dry-weather speeds. The bus route was 174, if you wish to avoid him. Won't be getting a vote from me for bus driver of the year.
Australia has a shortage of skilled tradespeople. In response to this problem we have introduced the 457 visa. It allows tradies to work in Australia for four years. There are thousands of workers, and their families, who have come to Australia for this reason. Builiding sites employ great numbers of Filipino labourers, there are quite a few Korean welders and I know of many Chinese electricians in Perth.
I don't think that we should be issuing 457 visas to Korean bus drivers. They are noted for their recklessness. Last night on the bus it felt like we had a Korean bus driver. It was raining, the road was inevitably quite wet and the driver was throwing the bus around like I would be hard pressed to do in the dry. I was a bit shocked and not comfortable as I was standing up too. We approached stopping points, bus stops, corners and traffic lights, far too quickly and I was really surprised that the back of the bus didn't swing out or fishtail. And after one stop the driver called out for everyone to move backwards and get into a seat as he was unable to see. I don't know if it was being at the back of the bus or because of his driving but reading my book made me feel a bit sick and I had to stop.
It turns out that the driver was an Aussie but I have horrible thoughts that if he was a Korean on a 457 visa we would be in trouble.
P.S. Perhaps I should mention some of his antics. I thought that he was going to remove a wing mirror from a car that was driving on the diving lines between the bus lane and the car lanes. Deservedly so, I might add. Then he approached a 15 km/h speed bump closer to 50 km/h. At the bus stop he came to a screaming, although not screeching, halt. Then at a right hand turn he came to such a sudden stop that I thought the back would fishtail out. Strangest behaviour of all was that he actually stopped at a stop sign. Unfathomable. He continued to scream on through small suburban streets at dry-weather speeds. The bus route was 174, if you wish to avoid him. Won't be getting a vote from me for bus driver of the year.
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