Death of a car... and revival

Ok, so this is something that I just got to blog about...

It started (well, probably) about Tueday this week. The weather was kinda crappy, raining now and then, and I ran through a big water puddle on the road. Needless to say, it made a HUGE splash. Anyways, that didn't do much, except the engine heat + water = steam, and I had steam coming out of the engine compartment for about 5 minutes.

Anyways, got to work fine. Work's always a lot of work.

After work, I drove to a petrol station just about 1km away from my home. Added petrol, paid, went back to my car, and tried to start the engine.

It didn't start.

It wouldn't start.

All it did was make a 'click-click-click' noise.

So I sat there contemplating what to do. I had NRMA roadside assistance. I could walk home, but that means leaving the car there. I didn't have much credit left on my mobile, and when I tried to call home, it wouldn't work. What the hell was all that, I wouldn't know. I was getting pissed off at the whole situation.

Thankfully, a few things happened. First, this guy was just adding petrol to his car, he noticed my futile efforts of starting the car, after he paid for his petrol, he came over and tried to help me start, by jumpstarting. Well, he tried, but it did not work, unfortunately. I'm grateful for his help. During that time, my brother called me on my mobile asking if he can have a lift home from a train station some 2km away from where I was at the time. I said to him, sorry dude, my car died. Can he walk home (1km away) and tell them to ring NRMA and tell them where I am? He said ok, and did so. I was then called by NRMA to determine what the problem was, and I should be serviced within 45 mins.

The helpful guy left after he couldn't do much, I think I thanked him over 10 times, and shook hands with him at least 3 times. Then comes the waiting. Waited about 15 mins, and the NRMA guy came. He checked the condition of the battery first, it was flat. Now, the guy didn't check anything else, he just put a set of leads from a battery, and told me to start the engine.

It started. He checked the condition of the battery, and said it was fine for the moment.

Now, he didn't check anything else at this stage either. I assumed that it was the battery being flat, but silly me, not being a car enthusiast, did not realise there's other components at work here. He just says, after you get home, if you cannot start the engine after letting the car sit there for about 5 mins or 10, then call NRMA for a battery. I thanked him, and went home.

I had dinner first, that took about 30 mins. Went outside, and started the engine.

It was fine.

So, I thought nothing of it, and went back in the house.


The next day, yesterday, I didn't know if the battery is going to die or not. So I crossed my fingers and started it. It started! Feeling good, I got to work and thought nothing of it at work. After work, I was approached by 3 colleagues to see if they can grab a lift with me. I thought, ok, no worries...

I was wrong, wrong wrong. The engine half started. Then went click-click-click... *sigh*

So I went into the office and called NRMA for a battery. I then waited outside. It was spitting, not full falling rain, but it was intermittant. Alot of people were going home, and about 80% of them offered me a lift. I said thanks, but I was waiting for the battery guy.

Anyways, the battery guy came. Checked the battery condition, it was flat, replaced it, charged my card, and I was thinking, it's all over! Done and done!

How wrong I was... >:(


Today, was when it all went... to hell.

I started out, it was a great day, great drive, not a care in the world. 10km away from work, my battery light is lit up in the display. My CD player was on the fritz, cutting in and out. I thought it was skipping or something, but no, it was an power issue. Then about 5km away from work, the 'system' light lit up. I was then in the precarious situation of climbing uphill, then stopping at a red light. When the light turned green, I put my feet to the accelerator pedal down. I was hooning along at a massive 20km/h! 20! The people behind me was honking their horns... I was trying hard to go faster, but it wouldn't... I then saw a right hand turn lane, and I turned into it... and the engine crapped out, completely.

The guy who turned in behind me went WTF, and honked, but he had to turn left, then turn right... and my emergency lights don't even work...

So... I called NRMA again, and they'll tow me and get it checked.

I got towed in about an hour's time, then the guy came about 40 mins after that, I told him about the battery, and he immediately knew it was the alternator. Needless to say, he organised to get an alternator guy up ASAP. At that time it was 10am. So I waited and the guy showed up at around 11:15... not bad at all. Anyways, after fitting in the alternator, and charging me, I decided that it was too late to turn up to work. A quick jumpstart, checking the battery was getting the 14 volts required (instead of 6volts with the dead alternator), and I was allowed to drive off in the midday sun.

Got home in half an hour to charge the battery. Now, if it turns out to be bad tomorrow, then I will probably kick the car or something, because seriously, this is worse than I bargained for...

I'm out of pocket $500... damn it...

What a day >:(

Happy New Year!

Went with the opposite door's neighbours to a Chinese New Year celebratory dinner at Harris Park's Buddhist Temple. Lots of people there, even some dignitries from the local councils. Even got a red packet too... no money of course, but it's for luck! :D

Good luck to all for the Piggy year :D

Post

Long time no posting, seems about a month, which is good I guess.

Christmas went, nothing happening there.
New Years came and went, went to the city with my friend Sam, and his friends. got screwed over in a way, they agreed to meet us at Darling Harbour for the 9pm fireworks, but then told us they were at Opera House. So, we headed over against a huge swarm of people, only to be turned away at 6pm, because 'the area was filled to capacity'. When it wasn't, at all.

Fireworks was great, took some videos of it on the camera I won from the Christmas party.

youtube, search for the username 'kenman2k', because I don't have other videos on there.

also posted some pics on my Wretch, Sam even bought silver membership... 1gb of space for his pics, compared to 60mb, along with no advertising. All for $20 US a year. Not bad I guess. But free beats paid for in my book :P

Work has 'quietened' down a bit, getting a bit more stable since I came here, there was literally one person leaving a fortnight, compared with my old company, where one person was leaving every few days. Went back to my old company, and found that they got around 30 staff left, from a previously massive 80. Not counting the casuals, of course. But at least here it was not as bad, they replenished the people from the 'not-so-bright' genepool.

This year, wonder what will fortune will bring me... hopefully a gf... :P But heard that it's not likely for my fortune for this year, which sadly means I'll still be single... poor me :P

It's that time of the year

Ho ho ho... wow it's been 2.xx months since I've blogged. That says quite a bit... Work is the same, I can not describe the sameness because there's no difference of the day to day activities.

Here's a rundown of stuff that I did...

Bought a Wii. Base system = $399, Wii Remote + Nunchuck = $109, Call of Duty 3 = $90.
Nearly 600 bucks. It's fun and interesting... Will try to play it more, but seems to be more chance to be during the weekend... since work takes up a lot.

Now, Xmas party.

Yesterday. we had our company's xmas party.

4pm, at the company's reception/entrance area.

I thought it was gonna be crap, and for the first 1-2 hours it was.

It was raining, and windy. All the people who didn't wear enough was cold, so cold that they went back inside and got their labcoats. So half of the crowd was in white, which was quite funny... :P The event started with a couple of speeches, by the bosses, and the managers (production, and sales). Then there was the ceremonies of people who worked there since the 'beginning'. I think they got a bonus of like $50 each. Then there was the ceremony of people who 'contributed' to the company. That was dodgy as well... and I guess they got $50 as well.

Then we had food. That was nice, semi-buffet style. They had a pig. On the spit, so it was nice and crispy. Salads, hams, and fruit salad. Even had mochi. Not a bad meal for sure.

I had 3 plates worth, even though I had a big lunch before... >:D

Then came the fun and games.

The fun - They hired a belly dancer. Not sure of her nationality, they said she was a Lebanese, but she seemed aussie to me. She did 3 dances, trying to drag the crowd to dance, and there was a period during the second dance where she had about 5-7 guys dancing around her, but when she tried to drag the girls to dance, not many wanted to... only about 2-3 dared to dance. The third dance was even funnier, they pushed a guy and tried to take his shirt off, and then a guy jumped in and they took his shirt off... then the song ended, but yeah, it was fun alright... :D

Games, they had 5 games, which everybody can play for free, and get prizes.
1) Coin toss on a glass table. Sounds easy, but it's not. I just got too much arm muscles... :P
2) Toss a dart into numbers. 2 big prizes of 2.1 speakers. Some minor prizes, but everybody gets a prize of spray. Useless, but fun.
3) Toss 3 novelty sized tennisballs into the basket. Again, my aim was off, even though I had no beer. Just not my day for sports.
4) Guess the number of jellybeans in a canister. Obviously it's not my forte, by I had a hint from the guy who counted the beans, he couldn't play. I was about 20 out. The winner was 5 out. The prize was a 5.1 system.
5) The grand raffle draw.

5-6 minor prizes of bottles of wine. Obviously from $15 to $50... 3rd prize was a DVD player. I think it would be easier to walk into a shop and buy one for $50. 2nd Prize was a Digital camera, which I won. AHAHAHA! In your face suckers! nahh... It's a nice simple digicam, an Olympus FE-150. Simple point and click 5 megapixel camera. 2.5" screen. What else... It's probably around $300 new. But its probably not new. 1st prize, a DVD+ home theatre set. Probably $500 new. The funny thing was that the girl who hands out the prizes was holding the big carton of the dvd home theatre box. It was as big as she was, and then her name was drawn out of the carton, and people were going 'Vivian! where's Vivian?' and she's there holding the box... everybody claps because it was so coincidental... >:D So, by the time the whole event finished, it was around 8pm. 4 hours of half boredom, and fun.

It took us about half an hour to clean up the mess, and still a lot of drinks (beer, wine etc) left. Bosses took the wine home, but there's plenty of beer left.

I got home about 9, which was fast.

Then I slept at my normal time, because I had booked a service for the car at 7:30am.

I got up at 6 feeling crap, even though I didn't drink.

Went to the service centre, and only waited about 2 hours, got home about 10am. I was tired so I went to nap and got up at 2pm... :P None of my downloads finished, so I went and played a bit of Wii Play. It's quite hard I guess for me because I'm not good at holding still... But with training I'll get better, I'm sure :P

I'm back, baby...

Um... so what have I been up to these past 2 months... first of all I would have to say that nothing has really happened, apart from the usual... Work has finally gone around to past 3 months, and I'm supposed to be off probation and be permenant, but only next week will I be signing the contract... fingers crossed they don't screw me over, cos if they do, I'll be outta there and bumming till I find another job...

So what has been happening... there was a company bbq for Labour day (sydney) but I didn't go because I didn't want to, I woke up about 11am and thought... they would be there for 2 hours just chatting, because they started at 9am... and I would've gotten up at 7am to get there at 9am... not worth it.

Spending my days like this, day in day out, knowing what I have to do, and what to achieve, but with no purpose and sense of accomplishment, it really kinda drags the day out. I can be busting my ass lifting boxes, or entering data into the system, and it's all the same. No result really, since it balances out. I'm just there to fill a position, to punch the card clock in, and to punch the card clock out. A machine.

Granted, I do try to vary the job a bit now and then, but then there's not much variety to be had. If I had further juristication, I could do another job to fill in the day so it won't seem as long, but then I'm not getting paid enough as it is, and if I were to do the other job, then they'll come to see me as somebody who they can depend on to do that other job, and it'll probably fall under my job description, and well we don't want that to happen now, do we...

So it leaves me no other option really. I can start looking for another job, and then apply for jobs, and go to interview at best. True, I want to get into a field which I have no experience in, but with the experience I have, I can't move anywhere, except to a Manager's position, and it's not very fulfilling. So what to do...

Anyways, enough rubbish of the work and all that, what's for entertainment nowdays... I saw the web advertisement for a movie called Crank, and boy am I waiting to see that one. It's gonna be a hit I think... but with a name like that, some people might not like it. Who cares!

My net's been a bit stuffed lately... sometimes slow, sometimes fast, and sometimes disconnects by itself. Apparently a big ISP, Veridas collapsed, leaving many customers stranded with no service, and the ISP I'm with, they want to get new customers left in the lurch, so they are forced to make changes to stay afloat. Needless to say, we'll be careful in what we download now, since we got a limit... 100gb / month, which is probably the max we've ever hit (99 gb), so it's around 3gb a day... but the problem with that is, my connections are fast now... *sigh* I think I'll easily pass 3gb a day, so have to limit the downloads... that means only anime I watch, I get... and xxxHOLic is pretty good... I watched the movie, it's a bit out there, but not too bad. School Rumble Semester 2 is finished, and 3 is coming. And while the Office (NBC) isn't anime, it's one I get because they are on season 3, and well it gets funnier and funnier... so much so I just love the antics Jim pulls it's not funny. I wonder if the calculator he put in jello would work after he takes it out...

Back to work issues... I get to be a driver for 4 people because of my position as a supervisor. How lovely. Waste my fuel, and get up early to get to the station. What a bloody company this is, they can't be bothered hiring a driver for the bus? damn I really should be getting a new job and not complaining about this job. Oh well.

The Nintendo Wii (pronounced We) is coming out in Dec! I know I'll be getting it, not on the first day I guess, but maybe after the prices drop for the first time. You know, that's the first console we'd ever have in this family? Not counting the Sony PSP my bro got, and my Nintendo DS, because they aren't really consoles, more handhelds, like my PDA I don't use nowdays, and a camera I don't really use, and a mobile fone which is dying (Plus the company I used to work for managed to lose 6 billion dollars (or something like that) to plug a failing mobile company in 9 months... how's that for impressive...) so I'm looking for a new mobile fone, not that I call anybody, but it's for people to call me, like somebody who called tonight and asked me to join them tomorrow to a meeting to see if I wanted to make extra money on the side selling stuff. Yes, I will go join them to see what it's about, because frankly I am always suspicious, but I trust the bloke who called me, maybe he's been brainwashed, I have to find out :P

Anyways, probably another couple of weeks before I blog again since nothing really happens, and I mean really happens. It's always the little details that I record, and well, now it's the big picture...

Nice day out

Yesterday I went out, today I went out. It was a nice day, in the end I even got a "Brazillian" goodbye, a hug from a guy, and a handshake.

After getting home, I got a call from a guy I haven't met in as many years as I have met yuppy. This time, he's in syd for a holiday, same as yuppy, 2 days, same amount of 'free' time as yuppy, used to hail from brissie, same as yuppy, QUT friend, same as yuppy, but he's been spending around 3 years in Brazil, San Paulo to be exact - different to yuppy. So I asked where to meet and stuff, and he said Opera Bar. It was already around 7:30pm that time, I don't usually go out at night just to go to bars... so I said sorry, can't do it... lucky, ends up he went to another bar in Mosman anyways.

So this morning he calls up at about 10am, I was awake since 9:20, since I did set the alarm on, but was just lying in bed... enjoying the luxury... and I sounded I was still asleep, as you do on a lazy sunday. But he was gonna be going to Manly, and I don't remember when I was in Manly last, probably 2000 when I was doing work experience or something. So I said yep, what time, and he said 12:30. Well, I got there at 12:30, then he got "delayed" till 1:30, then 2pm. I was already hungry at 12:30, so when I found out 2pm, I went and grabbed a Chicko roll. It's fried and nice, but not filling.

While waiting, there was a busker at Circular Quay, juggling swords and fire sticks on top of a pole, which is strapped with a bike. Lets just say that buskers like that can earn a bit if everybody gave $5. Probably earns $1000 a day if he's good. He did many sessions, when I was waiting (1 hour), and we spent about 4 hours out at Manly, and by the time we came back he was still doing the shows... so yeah... it's a showmanship kinda job :P

Manly is nice, and lots of people there. We had a lunch of fish and chips on the beach, and then Royal Coppenhagen ice cream afterwards. Nice.

By the time we got back to Circular Quay it was close to 6pm. And getting dark. Since they are the tourists, they went to Bondi beach. I said my byes to them there, since I already been to Bondi before (with people... not by myself). The girl gave me a Brazillian bye, which was a *muah* kinda kiss on the cheek... I was a little surprised, but to them it's normal... then my friend gave me a hug... then his cousin, the tour guide shook hands with me. All very normal and weird at the same time. But then, I probably wouldn't see them again for a few years... so it's alright :P

By the time I got home it was 7:30, and dinner was almost finished. I actually saw my bro's car on the road just before he turned into our street, he just beat me home by a minute. So it was a nice Sunday night dinner.

I'm tired, but happy. All good for a new week. Bring it on! :P

Not so same day

I went to see a movie today, everybody said that Pirates 2 was good, but they didn't say how long it was. about 2.5 hours, to be exact. Now that's 2 long movies I've watched on the big screen. Superman Returns was long, a little unexpected, but Pirates was great. Good plot development, good CGI, sometimes it felt a little drawn out, but the pace was fast and planned. However the cliffhanger wasn't a point that I liked, for a movie of 2.5 hours, I expect closure. Not unlike "Back to the Future I" where they hadn't really planned it from the beginning to be a trilogy, since it's now a franchise of Pirates... but it's good.

After that I had a personal pizza combo. Nice.

Coming home, there were strangers at our place. They were hooking up the security system we wanted, because somebody's getting paranoid. So it's a bit more secure. More hassle than what it's worth, but still, it's all good.

My friend from bris, who I haven't seen or talked to for a long time (4 years) called up. I forgot that he was in syd for a day or two, but since he called up late, I couldn't just head to the city for drinks. But if he calls up early tomorrow morning, I can head to the city early. I guess I'll go sleep early.

I am finally on Insane mode on Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan. It's just a little more intense, but not Insane. The icons become smaller, and you can't really point anywhere wrong, since a little mistake will mean you don't finish that section... So it's either perfection or try again... which is fine when I got time to kill :D But when I come home from work, I'm tired, so it's really hard :P

Peace out.

Losing It...

I think my bro has lost it in the last week...

Dinner time, he came home from uni, and we were eating... he suddenly looks at me and goes "hey, when did you get your new glasses?". I just gave him a look of "wtf" and he just went... "oh yeah, you got them ages ago, when you wanted a new look". That was back in December... half a year ago.

I've recently been addicted to "Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!" for the Nintendo DS. Don't ask me why, but the rythmic gameplay and trying to finish the final level for "Hard" is addictive. I managed to cruise through "Hard" after having a hard time with "Normal". I didn't even play the "Easy" mode. It gets easier because the beats match the song more, but still, theres a final mode called "Insane". So that's something to try to achieve first... No doubt many people out there have finished Insane. They are truly masters of the tapping genre. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just YouTube search for "ouendan" and check out Insane levels from people playing it. Then you'll know what I'm on about.

Work is... work, as usual. I wouldn't say I hate it, but I definately ain't loving it. One of my 'subordinates', a stubborn guy, was trying to finish off stocktake late on Monday night. He managed to get himself locked in, and tripped off the alarm. Needless to say, the boss ain't happy and it comes back down to me because I am his 'supervisor'. I ain't really his boss, since he doesn't care. So, this all boils down to my direct supervisor, and since they are looking into it, I can only report on what I think he's done. And they don't trust him or the other one, but we still need workers, even though they might be a bit on the shifty side.

Now, I actually look forward to the weekends where I can sleep in. Previously I didn't have to look forward to the weekends because I wasn't so tired after work, but now I am.

Big Brother 06 is finishing in a week's time. I guess David should win, but Camilla and Jamie could win easily. Max, I think he'll be out, unless he's got a lot of powerful and rich friends.

Ok, back to Ouendan, I've gotta scratch that itch...

Life, as I know it...

So, my last post was about me starting the new job, and 2 weeks into it, I'm beginning to grasp the idea of what I'm supposed to do. Basically, I'm the warehouse supervisor, or coordinator, or just the warehouse guy who's accountable for everything that's good and bad in the warehouse. I have 5 people under me, I don't really consider that I'm the boss, because I tend to let them do what they need, and help out. I used to do that back at the old job, with 2 people that I 'look' after. But I was still an assistant. Now I am getting paid for the same with more responsibility. Such is life. I drive 64 kms a day, which takes about 2 hours. Traffic can be good and bad, and I dunno if the car has a problem or not, because the oil light came on for a second then disappeared.. So... I might have to get it checked out... What else... actually went to watch Superman Returns at the cinemas... costs quite a bit, $15 for the movie, then I paid a bit more... and yeah, it was an alright day I guess... but I probably won't go out for a while. :P

Getting used to it

So now I wake up early, work hard, and go home "early". There's got to be more to this job, but right now, it's a very very boring and bland job. Needless to say, everything is slow in the start, and if I want to see results, it'll be ages before it happens. Oh, I sleep earlier too. Ain't that sad... :P

oops

I was supposed to go get the car transferred into my name, but I woke up and drove there and managed to find a park after an hour. By which time it was already closed. So, till next week. However, I did get an insurance thingy set up, so I should be able to pay that off within the week. Ahhh... need to buy other stuff, but there's always more important things at hand. And it's cold in the morning, need to get that checked out as well. To many things to think off at once, but I'll get there eventually :P

Gnarls Barkley - Crazy

It's a favourite of mine recently. I think I like the melody more than the words, but the words are still good. The MTV of it is like ink spot tests. Not bad. Anyways, it's my second day of work, and two things happened before work started. 1, I had ice on the front and rear windshields. Water diluted it, but it wasn't before work that it had defrosted. 2, some bird decided to relive itself on my car. GRRRR! So the first thing I did after coming home was to wash the big brown stains off my car. And thus it looks presentable again. I also bought comprehensive car insurance. That's just a little over $1000. But I don't plan to get into any accidents if I can help it. Then I will go get the rego transferred, and that'll probably cost $400. Then other bills here and there, and I got to pay everything. But the front up cost of this car was the good part. I think I'll get some mp3 reader/FM transmitter fitted to the car and then I can play mp3s... something to keep me awake every morning at 7am.

Work is work, it's not good, it's not bad, I can find many things to complain, but then I'm sure that there's people worse off with casual arrangements and all. But still, taking an hour to get to work and from work is kinda boring.

Tired. Will go sleep around 10:30, 11 at the latest. Why? Because I stand up at work almost 95% of the time. The 5% of the time is when I can rest on some pallet, because I've got sore legs and feet. It's a harder warehouse than my old one, that's for sure. So I stand probably 6.5 hours a day. That's quite a feat. :P

Am I impulsive or crazy?

Why, do you ask? Well, I am going to start my new job next wednesday, and well, I need to have a good car. And well... I looked on the 4 major car websites. www.drive.com.au www.carsguide.com.au www.carpoint.com.au and www.carsales.com.au and found a Toyota Camry 2001, under 100,000kms, and it was below $10000. I saw others , and put them down on my list, but when I went to the first place, I had a test drive, and I decided to buy it. Well, I went with my dad, and he tried to bargain it down to $9000, but no dice... but it was a still good bargain. So we bought it, and well, I have to pay it all on tueday. So I can drive the 'new' car on wednesday. And I'm excited and scared at the same time. It's totally different way of driving... And I didn't even go to the other car yards and check out the other cars on the list because they are more expensive, and to cut it down to the price I got this one, it'll be hard. Also it was quite funny because the dealer deals with 4WD. So to sell this particular model, they must be quite desperate... But, I still need to maintain it, thats for sure.

A close call

This is probably the first time in a long time that I didn't go to work. Except that it wasn't my idea. Basically, at 8:25am today, we had a couple of high school kids ring our doorbell. Wondering what did they want, since a lot of high school kids go by our place from the train station to the high school, they said that my mum was sitting on the footpath and bleeding. I just went "wtf" and then ran down the road, and my dad thanked the guys and came after me. The rain was stopped for a while, but the ground was a bit wet. She was looking for a pair of gloves in her handbag, but tripped over the uneven road, fell and scraped her knees (bleeding) and also managed to hit her head on the concrete. So, she was dazed, and was in shock. I tried to help her up but I was more shocked about her being shocked. She couldn't stand, so my dad held her up, and I ran back and drove the car. We then decided to go to the GP (general practitioner, the local doc). They weren't open till 9am, and well, the doc didn't come in till 9:30. Gave her a quick going over, and well, told her to go get an x-ray. So we went to Bankstown hospital's emergency department. It basically took around 3 hours to get a checkup and x-ray, and she's discharged. So yeah... got home after 1pm, and I had lunch, but was too stressed and so I called in work and said I can't go in. That was my day really. I took a 2 hour nap afterwards and woke up around 5. It's good that my mum is ok now, but the leg is still sore.

So, I met the friend from NZ on sunday. We had lunch at the fishmarkets, and then basically wandered around the city, and I got lost because... I don't walk around certain parts of the city... but she kinda got us back on George st and then I knew which way we were going. We then had coffee, then I walked her back to the place where she was staying with... no dinner. So it was a meeting, not a date. We didn't even take a pic together... that's kinda strange... and I don't know when she'll be back, because she doesn't know herself.

I went for an interview yesterday. It was at another Twese company, and took me 1 hour to get there. In heavy traffic, in pouring rain. The interview took about 1.5 hours, and well, I can give it a go if they decide to hire me. Permenant full time. Maybe advancement after a few years. I went back to work after going home in about 40 mins, and having lunch at home. But I am definately looking at cars because this car cannot handle longer than 1 hour's journey without overheating. So yeah... things need to be done, and done soon.

Change?

Last week was pretty hectic. There was Thursday, where we shipped out 2 containers worth of goods, on two different trucks. Then Friday, my supervisor had to attend a funeral, so he left at lunch. Then calls up about 2:30 and says that we have to ship out this order, which was left from the end of may because they couldn't go. Well... that order turned out to add an extra 8 pallets. I can say that I slept soundly that night. It was probably the coldest day also, since the start of winter. :P Strong wind and rain didn't help... was pretty much frozen. But wrapping the pallets did warm me up. My colleague, he was very skinny and didn't fare as well, he was more frozen because he didn't do much, apart from at his desk. So walking around and doing a bit of manual labour helps in this situation.

I have a friend coming from overseas for a quick holiday, but apart from a few SMS, there wasn't any organisation. Tomorrow will be the last day that we can meet up, but I haven't got any messages. Oh well, I guess she isn't that excited to meet me, so that's probably why. She complained about the weather as well, because she arrived on thurs night and had the bad weather on Friday.

This coming Monday, I'm going to a job interview. Now, I didn't ask for this interview, the last 2 interviews I didn't really ask for, but I went because I wanted to see what they were like. And this one is a bit far from home, so if I was offered a permenant position and have the right pay, I will go... this will mean 2 things. 1, giving my supervisor notice, even though I'm casual and I don't have to give notice. 2, preparation for the new job. The preparation is also two-fold, 1, I need to have a 'new' car, something which can handle the long distance without dying, as is the case with my current car, and 2, well, if I do have to live so far away, find a closer place to live. It's definately cheaper to pay the fuel than to live by myself, plus I am helping paying off the mortgage for my parents, so the car is definately the priority... I'm looking at Toyotas because they are cheaper to run/maintain, and it's gotta be newer than the year 2000, and less than 100,000 kms, but below $15,000. My budget is around $10,000, but I'm willing to go higher, but there's not many cars that fit the description. Most milage around that era (2000) is averaging 150,000 kms, because they drive like 30-40k kms a year... when the average should only be around 100,000 kms. So it's hard to find one... need to search very hard.

I've got a headache, and I might go sleep early tonight.

Da di da...

Wow... it's been more than a month since I last posted... that's to show that not much has happened. Just the last weekend has been a bit 'busier'. On tuesday the TV died. The other LCD tv is fine, just the 'old' CRT tv, which we had for about 6 years, decided to die. So, we weren't basked in the glow of the TV for dinner for 4 days, then Saturday, yesterday, me and mum went to try and get a TV we saw in the ads. 51cm, 20", for $199 at K-Mart. We went to 3 different places to start with, one was closed, then we went to Bing Lee, then Retravision, then finally K-Mart, for Teac's 51cm model, discounted. It's flat screen too. It looks smaller than the other 51cm tv, because of the black bezel, but it's nice and sharp... Anyways, I installed the TV, and then spent some time to muck around, before I left for a friend's birthday party. He turned 30, and I didn't know him that well, but it was his younger sis who set up the party. I did a count at one point, there was around 60 people at the party, and I probably only knew about 10. And it went from 7pm till 12 or something, but I left around 11:30 because most (80%) were already gone by then. Met up with the other camp people (birthday boy was from camp as well) and had a good chat for a while. Then I called up (organised before) my bro, and then he picked me up and we went over to their place. Their parents are overseas, and bro-in-law had 2 friends over and they were playing Fifa 2006 on the Xbox 360. I was too tired to play, so I watched them till they stopped about 3am, and then went to sleep. Woke up about noon today, and bummed around their house, played a couple games of pool, some xbox, and tried to watch TW satellite, but something was wrong with their satellite box, it freezes... should get it fixed. Back to work tomorrow. Another day another dollar.

It's another season

Of Big Brother, that is. I still would watch re-runs of the simpsons though... on my newly purchased 32" LCD TV. It's got a little bit of scratch on it, plus a red pixel, but no drama, it's still very nice to watch, obviously. The 21" CRT TV goes into the kitchen, and the other 21" gets thrown into the rubbish of time. So far I've watched about 5 hours worth of TV on that, and my mum even more so. I've also bought a SDTV set top box, and it should arrive this or next week, and well, I can't wait. Also on other news, it's like 3 weeks I've lost 3 days of pay... *sigh*. But I will make up for 1.5 or even 2 days on Saturday, cos it's end of month... yay :P Too many holidays means I get bored... but I do some papercraft and it's time consuming.

Both my brothers have left Sydney. For this week at least. The one which got married went to the US for a week, for a conference, leaving his wife behind. The other one's gone down to Melbourne to shoot arrows at targets all week, taking his gf along with him, because she also can shoot arrows into targets. Meanwhile I'm busting my ass shifting and moving and wrapping and driving forklift and whatnots, while my supervisor and other colleage takes a holiay, then tomorrow is Anzac day, then we'll all be back on Wed for a big rush towards EOM. Fun fun fun fun fun. :P

So thats how it is...

Well, after Easter Friday, people tend to go shopping. I went to shop for a pair of shoes, because my current pair has seen better days. So I asked if any other family member wanted to come along, and my dad said sure, why not. My mum didn't wanna go, but asked my dad to buy a list of stuff, and well, my bro had his gf over so he doesn't wanna budge. So, I drove to Bankstown, and then spent a good 30 mins circling the carparks trying to find a spot... eventually finding one. We went to "Payless Shoes", and found that it was pretty expensive, around $50 a pair. Then we went to a "Sportsco" and found out the shoes were around $30 a pair, for the cheapest. So lastly we went to check K-Mart, there wasn't much variety, but for $19, it was cheap. Also having a 15% storewide sale helped, which means it was $17. Yay :P Then we got out of there, there was a lot of people shopping today, we parked in a 1 hour zone, so we left 30 mins later. We then drove across to the other area, and bought some incense, meat, tofu, fruit and rice vermicilli. Then headed home. Pretty uneventful, I will have to add more petrol, but with the price being jacked up to $1.30/L, it's not easy to say "let me add some petrol". I watched a movie called "Hoodwinked", a computer animated story about Little Red Riding Hood. Funny and silly at the same time, it provided a time wasting opportunity for an hour and several minutes. Dinner was the rice vermicilli, and my bro baked a cake. Carrot cake. Anyways, I think there's something wrong with the person I've been chatting for a while... They normally talk to me as a normal person, but today... very rude and then finally told me to piss off... So that's probably it then... I don't think I will talk with them unless I have to, because well, I don't think I've done anything wrong and I certainly don't deserve that kind of rudeness.

contact

so... I was talking about applying for a job that's similiar to mine, and well, I got called in for an interview. Wednesday, and in the morning. I figure it's better to be in the morning since people are still working, and I rather that than to subject my colleagues to stay behind and load up the trucks, like what I do. We did 34 pallets of tvs, 400 tvs... took a big truck (and a trailer, called a "B-Double") to load it up, and well, we did, and we had to scan them all as well. It's always an effort, but it's required. Hopefully I don't need to do that in my new job, but it might be necessary. On other news, the person who crashed their car getting out of the carpark, they have to carpool with somebody else, till they get another car to drive. They are rich, so they should be able to afford it. Me, I have my heap of junk which might actually die without crashing, I feel that it's starting to lose a cylinder... loss of power and all that... rather shite car!! If I do get the new job, then I will definately consider getting another car. Definately.

Weekend

So... it's the weekend again. Nothing much to report, except that work's the same, and somebody crashed their car going out of work's carpark. They were in the wrong too. Easter show's started, and well, getting into work takes a while because of people trying to get to the show, at the same time. So I was late on Friday... also somebody saw a job online, and then asked why I wouldn't go for it. I checked it out, and well, it looks just like my ex-job. Or current job, if my colleague was away. Its also with another tech company, also in Homebush. So yeah... I might apply for it and see if I can get it. If not, then it's back to the daily grind... :P