TeeVee

The creepy-yet-brilliant Woolworths app tells me this week that Tee Vee Snacks are again just a mere $2.  I believe these confections are sent to torment me, though they are yummy.

Wash

Had a long Skype to Brenda the other day to pass along the washing machine's behaviour.  So far it has been a good experience. Today I finally gave in to temptation and washed all the sheets on my bed.  I've decided that with the heavily fragranced Omo, I need to add in more rinses, so this time I set the machine to do two extra rinses and a prewash, plus a warm final rinse.  The sheets are not that perfumed after the wash.

Marketing assignment

My marketing assignment came back with 86%.  Great result.  Given that I was jetlagged, this is very good.  I rang Warren immediately to say thanks to him, as he read the final product before I submitted it, to make sure it wasn't completely garbled because of the jet lag.

Marketing

Sunday was a big day of study.  I did a little plan to make sure I was going to get through all the material by Friday at noon.  Made my way through four chapters by Sunday afternoon.  In the evening I went to Sydney Park Village for Andrew's Eurovision party.  I'd been listening to SBS Eurovision radio all week so some of the songs were familiar.  Didn't stay right until the end ... left as soon as the scores started, since I knew the outcome (from radio news).

Washing machine

I re-measured my laundry yesterday and panicked because the dimensions of the washing machine would not fit between the corner of the laundry tub and the edge of the door.  I did contemplate ripping out the laundry tub at one point, and hacked away a bit at the silicone sealant around the edges of the tub.  The guys turned up late in the afternoon on Saturday and I asked them to take a look at the room and they said they would simply lift it up and over the corner of the laundry tub.  But, they arrived with a Samsung machine and I told them that was not what I had ordered.

It turned out that they had taken my machine to a customer in Rose Bay.  The customer did not even notice it was the wrong machine (the guys later told me that they had a sick child, so maybe they were distracted by that).  Anyway, the delivery guys had to go back to Rose Bay, swap the machines, and come back to me.  They also delivered 12 kg of Omo.  They removed the old washing machine and then installed the new one, very quickly.

After they left, I took at look at it and tried to remove all the stickers festooning the cabinet.  Most came of well, except for the energy sticker, which left a residue along the front of the cabinet.  I set up the first wash, without clothes, to clean the machine out.  That seemed to go quite nicely.

And then I washed a load of whites.  I used the 60 deg C setting and a 1400 rpm spin.  The machine is quite stable when spinning but it does vibrate a little and all the items on top of the machine do a slow glide from one end to the other.  As such, my laundry powder and fabric softener migrated about 50 cm from their starting point to the other side of the machine.  I noticed the machine spins a lot more between rinses than my old machine.  I guess they have designed it to remove as much water as possible in order to get the best cleaning results and minimal detergent left on the clothes.  The spin takes a long time and it is a stepwise increase.  So it starts out quite slowly and then after about 60 sec it increases to the next increment and so forth.  To get to 1400 rpm takes about 6 or 8 minutes.  My old machine only had 800 rpm, so I was quite shocked to see how dry the clothes came out after that first wash!

I put them in the tumble dryer for 30 minutes and they were all dry!  Now that would never have happened with the old machine -- it would have taken about 90 minutes for drying.

I also noticed that the whites were much cleaner than before.  I suspect that is a combination of using Omo rather then Ecostore detergent, and also the machine has several variations of drum motion during the wash cycle, and it manages to really slap the clothes and towels against each other during the wash cycle (i.e. mechanical agitation), which in turn enhances soil removal.

My next wash was a load of coloured clothing, mainly business shirts, t-shirts, socks and underwear.  That seemed to go off quite nicely and the fast spin is something to behold.  Now I feel like I wish I had more washing to do, but that is it for the week.  Will amass a new round of laundry for next weekend.

Degree

Well I looked back at my first units and I started my degree on 18 January 2010 and finished it on 25 May 2012.  So that's 2 years, 4 months and 8 days for a Masters degree, done part time while working full time.  The full degree title is: Master of Organisational Development and Strategic Human Resource Management.

Exam

I finished my take home exam today, so that's it for my HR Masters.  Need to wait now until 23 June for the final result, but there you go:  12 subjects completed, degree completed, hoping to graduate in September.  I feel that champagne is deserved, at this time.

Wash

Ok I ordered the washing machine this afternoon.  Hoping for it to arrive tomorrow morning.

WD14030D6

Well, I think I have settled upon an LG washing machine.  It's the WD14030D6.  Check it out here.

http://www.lg.com/au/laundry-floorcare-appliances/washing-machines/LG-front-loader-washing-machine-WD14030D6.jsp

Ethics

Spent most of Sunday studying ethics.  I caught up on all my readings except the last chapter and I reviewed the exam sample questions.  So I just need to read the last chapter, which doesn't look too hard, and then head into trying to answer some of the sample questions.  They are more along the lines of applying the theories of ethics, so they are a bit tricky (rather than simply 'describe the theory' type questions).

Mint

Saw Kyley at Mint for brunch on Saturday.  It was good to catch up and we talked a lot about Fusion and relationships.  After that I headed to massage with Georgy and had a quick look at all the washing machines in Bondi Junction.  The European brands only come with cold water input and then use electricity to heat the water; the Asian brands tend to come with hot and cold water input.  I have gas hot water so I am keen to try and use that, since gas is much cheaper than electricity here in Sydney.

Ethical 2

Okay I just worked out that I have 62.5 points for Ethics already, and the exam is 30% of the final score.  I do need to pass the exam (minimum 50%) but so far so good, hey.  Or to put it another way, I can get 75% in the exam and still manage an HD for the subject.

Gym

I've been good about the gym this week.  I seem to have one good week followed by one bad week.  I am trying to do slightly heavier weights, without making myself look foolish in the gym, hehe.

Ethical

I received my Ethics assignment: 85%.  Sometimes I read what I wrote and it seems as if another person was writing it!  Anyway I am pleased by that.  Now just waiting for the Marketing assignment to come back.

Barbra

Well I picked up Barbra from Audi on Monday evening and she is running well.  Her steering is aligned again and the brakes are new and bitey, which is always good.

S-line

Took Barbra to Audi Centre Sydney this morning.  I had arranged a replacement car and so they gave me a brand new A3, TFSI with S-line trim.  It's beautiful.  Driving feels pretty much the same but the S-line trim means leather seats, more brushed aluminium in the cabin, and a double sunroof.  Barbra's having her major 60,000 km service (which is not cheap) so I do hope she'll return rejuvenated and refreshed.

Dropped

Man, I dropped my iPod this morning in the garage.  I didn't really take a look at it until later when I was at the gym and then realised that the glass screen is fully cracked, esp. around the edges.  I hate broken things.  I'll have to get a replacement (they're not repairable, are they?).

Marriage

Snaps for President Obama for making his mind up to support gay marriage.  I predict that history will look back on this moment as a tipping point in the long journey to equality.  I'm not sure if I can predict what the outcome of the US election will be though.  Obama has chosen to take a view which his opponents will no doubt make much of.   The moral high ground is hard to capture in America.

Crane

Had a slow morning on Sunday.  I did something that I hardly ever do:  returned to bed after making tea.  I turned up the electric blanket and listened to Australia All Over, until I was fully ready to get out of bed.  Later I tried to read a bit of my Ethics textbook but ended up snoozing instead.  I did make it to the gym, which was good.

Off

I decided to have a weekend off.  Have been needing the break, to be honest.  Spent Saturday doing laundry and then walked to massage and the supermarket and walked back.  Feeling relaxed all over.

Wake

Well, I am still waking up early.  It can't be jet lag any more.  I'll search for other reasons now.

Woolworths app

I checked out my personal weekly specials on the Woolworths app on my phone this evening.  It's creepy that they've tracked every single thing I've ever bought, and they can tell me any of those items have a special price on, at Bondi Junction.  Still, it is helpful information.  Arnotts TV Snacks Malt Sticks are on special, again, $2 for a box.  My nemesis.  I heard or read somewhere that Woolworths has six pricing levels depending on the competition and the customer profile within that supermarket, so maybe I should look around for a cheaper store ...

Belt

Brain malfunction causes wardrobe mishap:  I went to work without a belt this morning.  What can it mean?

Fitness

Managed to make it back to the gym on Tuesday for the first time in a long time.  The lat pulldown machine was out of order -- the cord had frayed so it was marked as 'Dangerous'.  Went back this afternoon and it's been fixed, so I caught up on those exercises.

I think I'm still jet lagged by the way.  Woke up at 4-ish and then tried to doze but had songs from MDNA rolling around in my head.  I am astonished that I can remember the songs having only listened to them say 10 or 15 times.  They wake me up and roll around in my mind.

Assignment 5

I uploaded my assignment on Monday evening.  Warren had a read of it and gave some opinions, I just wanted him to check that I wasn't writing absolute rubbish.  It's done now.  I need a break!

Assignment 4

Well, I am pleased to say that most of the assignment is done.  I woke up at 3.30 am this morning (not good) and thought to myself that I'd better get up as laying in bed was counterproductive.  So I've spent most of the morning writing (doing lots of research along the way) and now it is done.  I am going to let it just sit for a while.  I'll upload it later today.

Assignment 3

On Sunday I woke up at 4 am which was an improvement over Saturday.  I did the ironing first and then headed into the study for more assignment work.  It went quite well until about 9.30 am when I had a massive slump and had to lie down on the couch for a while.  I did continue for a while after that and headed out to massage in the afternoon.  Georgy did amazing work, loosening up my lower back and shoulders.  They hurt a little when I stood up, not because of the work but I think more because of my body adjusting to being upright and to my posture.  Again in the evening I tried to watch a little television but did not last beyond 7.30 pm.

Assignment 2

I spent most of Saturday working on my assignment.  With my jet lag I woke up at 3 am and took advantage of that, making some tea, and then heading into the study to start tapping away.  I made some good progress until about 9 am then I stopped and had a shower.

I scooted to the Sydney Exhibition Centre to the Mind Body Spirit Festival.  I met a co-worker and had a healing from Lama Tendar (a friend of my co-worker).  I wandered around some of the stalls but my assignment was on my mind so I jumped back on the scoot to home.

In the afternoon I spoke to Brenda and Gavin on Skype and then made some lamb for dinner.  I didn't make it to the end of the ABC News at 7.30 pm!  I collapsed and had to shut everything down and head straight to bed.

Assignment 1

Arrived in Sydney with not too much fuss, though immigration was complete chaos at Sydney airport.  Even the  smartgate was completely overrun.  Never mind I made it home okay.

In the afternoon I headed to the Kings Cross Library to return some books about sustainability (I used them for last week's assignment) and borrow some more books for marketing.  They had quite a collection -- I do love City of Sydney Library for that.  They have a lot of material.

I also saw ♣ briefly to hand over DVDs and his camera.  

Redwood 3

My last day in California -- what a quick trip!  Did business meetings in the morning and the afternoon and then headed out.  I had my large suitcase in the boot of my rental car and I did briefly contemplate walking all the way back to the office from the garage but then decided I was far too lazy for that.  So I changed slowly in the chilly garage and took off my suit, changed into jeans, repacked my luggage, repacked my backpack and didn't fall over throughout the whole thing. 

Thereafter I went to the petrol station and filled up and then up to the airport to drop off the rental car and then into the queue for check in.  Here there was a serious snarl. There were only a few passengers in the queue but it seemed that every single passenger ahead of me had some serious drama with their reservation, their seating or their luggage, so it took half an hour to process four people ahead of me. 

After that Mario turned up and we headed to Il Fornaio in Burlingame for dinner.  It was nice to see Mario and to catch up on recent events and developments.  We're both 40 next year so we were talking about appropriate ways to celebrate such a milestone.  We seemed to agree that a substantial holiday in a luxury destination would be the best way of doing it ... answers on a postcard please ...

Now I'm just waiting to board here in San Francisco and then back in Sydney in 15 hours!

Redwood 2

Spent the day in meetings and had a really productive meeting with my (new) manager in the evening back at the hotel.  Then I headed out to the nearby supermarket to get a quick dinner, but returning to the hotel I realised I had no microwave (and neither did the supermarket) and also had no cutlery.  So I ended up eating the meal, cold, with my fingers.  This is the real glamour of business travel.  I watched some tv and then tried to sleep but jet lag being jet lag, I ended up tossing and turning until gone midnight before eventually sleeping. 

Redwood

At San Francisco I made it through border control fairly easily although the officer really wanted me NOT to touch the counter and wanted me to step back from the counter.  It was really odd.  I'm not sure how it makes his job easier if I don't touch the counter. 

Picked up my baggage and one of my co-workers and we headed to the rental car centre and then south towards the hotel.  We stopped at the supermarket to get some supplies then headed on to campus to have a brief lunch then to the hotel.  I did one or two emails and then had a jet lag collapse.  Had to lie down immediately and dozed then woke up two and half hours later!  Actually I woke up and then had a quick shower then went downstairs to meet Mark and Randy.  We had a light meal round the corner and then headed back to the hotel.  There I found more of my co-workers in the bar and joined them for a quick drink before retiring. 

I must say I was hoping my jet lag wasn't going to be that bad, but I really felt it on Monday afternoon. 

UA870

Woke up at 2 am on Monday morning and lay in bed listening to the radio.  Then got out of bed at 3 am and made some tea and then had a look at a few things on the internet -- anything to keep me awake.  Had a nice morning -- went to see Kerry and he made some adjustments to my teeth.  He said I could have the braces off in 2 or 3 visits!  Almost finished my payment plan, only one more payment to go!

Later I caught a taxi to the airport and then flew to San Francisco.  Flight was ok.  I still don't like the entertainment on United but other than that it was fine.  The two olds next to me were on their first ever overseas trip -- they were from Perth, heading to SF and to Vancouver.

Assignment 3

Uploaded my assignment on Sunday afternoon and that was that.  Good to get it out of my hair.  Interesting topic though.  I learnt a lot about things I did not know about.  Cross fingers and toes for a good or at least average result.

Assignment 2

Woke up early this morning.  I am trying to set my body clock forward a bit. I had set my mobile phone with a 4 am alarm but I turned off the phone too quickly before retiring last night that it got confused and did not save the setting.  So instead I woke up at 5 am and turned on all the lights.  Decided to iron first, so my brain could slowly get going, then tackled my assignment.  I made good progress and the final draft is now finished.  I haven't uploaded it for marking yet -- might wait a little while for that.

Now I've moved over to my next assignment, Marketing, due on 7 May.  I'll need to sketch out the structure of the essay and work out rough word counts per section, then try and put some words to paper.

Assignment

I worked on my Ethics assignment most of the day on Saturday.  I'd spent a lot of time reading about sustainability and found plenty of work references on our web site, so I felt confident that I had sufficient material.  Writing went quite smoothly for the first part and I was able to go to the gym at lunch, as a way of having a break.  Over at the gym, Pete's been training new personal trainers, so when I arrived they were all doing their videos for the Cert III or IV and the place was bursting (too many people).  I tried to do some of my workout but it was too crowded and too distracting, so eventually I left and came home.  Made some lunch and then read some more sustainability books on the balcony.  More assignment writing on Sunday ...

Friday

Didn't manage to get to the gym on Friday, sadly, as I had a long day of conference calls and webcasts.  But I did manage to race to the supermarket and back to get some supplies.  I went around 5.30 pm which was a bit of a mistake, as the place was overrun with Friday evening shoppers.  It's better to go at 7.30 pm or later, when it is much quieter.

Sultan

For dinner on Thursday, I drove to Enmore via Erskineville, picking up Andrew along the way.  We went round the back streets and found parking, then walked over to Sultan's Table.  We did not have a reservation and managed to snag the only remaining unreserved table, outside the restaurant, on the footpath on London Street.  Of course there was a parade of inner west people all night long, to keep us amused.

With the restaurant being so busy, the staff were rushed, but managed to maintain some decorum while serving us.  We had some nice Turkish food and then waddled over to Moon & Cow (I think that is what it is called) on the other side of the road, for gelato.  A lovely evening.

ANZAC Day

It's so nice to have a public holiday in the middle of the week!  I spent the morning the supplier ethics chapter in my Ethics textbook, then headed into looking at my assignment.  I have to write about sustainability at my employer.  So I spent the rest of the morning looking at our various web sites and found a rich stream of material that I can use for my assignment.  The assignment instructions contain a checklist of items that I need to review, so as for writing, I feel confident that I can do the checklist and give examples for much if not all of the items, which should make writing the thing pretty easy.  Just need to knuckle down and do it now.

I did set up the document, which is always the first step and put in my headings.

Warren was in Wellington yesterday but decided to come home early, so he was at Sydney by 5.40 pm.  I drove to International to pick him up and then we headed to Domestic for his flight to Brisbane.  And then I ordered pizza, drove there via Kemeny's for a bottle of red wine, and then finally home.

For ANZAC Day celebrations, I thought I'd spend the morning studying, and then I watched the Gallipoli service and the Villers-Bretonneux service on the ABC.  Both very moving.  I always end up in tears.  Villers-Bretonneux had an innovation this year:  they started their ceremony with a short bugle call, which I thought was a nice touch and set the whole thing up perfectly.  After all that (while simultaneously doing my ironing), I headed to the gym for a quick workout and then back for a shower before heading to the airport for Warren.

Crane

Took my Ethics textbook to work on Tuesday and then raced out of the office at high speed in the afternoon, leaving the textbook behind!  So I had to make another trip to the office in the evening (I waited until 7.30 pm for the traffic to die down) and then did a quick round trip.  I normally don't use the Eastern Distributor northbound but thought that I didn't want to faff around getting to the office and back.  It was surprisingly quick, however it is also expensive (over $5) so it's not feasible to use on a daily basis.

I was going to chat to Andrew in Glasgow too but he unfortunately couldn't make it, so we'll search for a new time now.