Category: domestic life

I looked at my Telstra bill during the week, and I’m seriously considering dumping my Telstra landline…nearly half the bill is made up of Telstra charges: I pay extra to have my number not listed, I pay extra to have call number display…it’s stupid and given I’ve got a 2mb Cable connection I don’t need a landline for DSL.

Wondering if anyone out there has any experience or can recommend a decent Australian VOIP carrier?

I’ve taken a look at Engin, as much as I’d have to get a new number, at least I can get a Bunbury Area (0897) number and the rates look ok, I make a fair few calls to mobiles and 27 cents a minute isn’t bad..although annoyingly they aren’t included in the “free” calls you get as part of the monthly service fee.

For people outside of Australia, Skype really is not an option: I can’t get a local number and to be honest the call quality isn’t always that flash when you call landlines on it.

The fun part for me: all the phone points in the house a wired using Cat 5, so to change a phone point to a data point is as difficult as me changing plugs/ points in the service box, and chuck the VOIP adapter in there as well 🙂

It’s census time again…has it really been 5 years, and god bless the ABS, I can do it online using Firefox.

Some interesting questions:

I thought about adding Mongolian…but you know. Interesting short list though. Spanish doesn’t get a look in here.

OK, I didn’t actually submit this exact response….. 🙂

I need help getting out of bed sometimes, does this count?

They don’t want to know where my son works…hmmm…

Tags: census

Exciting…sort of, but not for the people who were worst affected, bloody strong winds though….there’s a bizarre buckle in my brushwood fence, and sand everywhere…but nothing else is damaged. The Tornado struck just over the river from where I am….too close for comfort.

Tags: Australind Tornado

I won’t go into the personal side of this, but I’m tossing up moving back to Sydney in the next couple of months. It’s the town I grew up in, but a town I left at the age of 21. For those of you outside of Australia, Sydney is as close as we get in Australia to New York, it’s a big city, indeed massive in size, it’s area is bigger (so I one heard) than great London, and from other reports its in the biggest cities on the planet, can’t remember whether it’s top 10 of top 20, but I often see it in the top 10. Population is something like 4.5 million people, and if you go out a little further still, add at least 1 million to that..but being an Australian city a lot of it is suburban sprawl, kilometers upon kms of houses as far as the eye can see really, as a now outsider I still find it amazing that Sydneysiders live in places like Camden and Richmond, when I was a kid these were country towns! but having said that I can remember when I worked in the CBD at Bankers Trust (or wankers trust as many employees use to call it) and I can remember being shocked (as were others) that some of my work colleagues commuted from places such as Wollongong and the Central Coast! And some people thought my Shire trip was long!

The interesting thing for me, is that I was raised a Shire boy. Spent 18 of my 21 years growing up in the Sutherland Shire. I can still remember it well, it was a wonderful place to grow up… but do I want to live there again? when I was still in Sydney, I spent a little time staying with friends in places such as Lane Cove, which was cool, and other places on the North Shore, as well as some inner West places. Question is, where to move to if I move back to Sydney? I’m thinking CBD/ Redfern/ Newtown and that sort of area, just so I’m close to everything (and of course so I can finally set up a blog meetup in Sydney!). Any Sydneysiders care to share their thoughts?

7am: a stumble outside in my pyjamas, my overcoat and my slippon Colorado shoes to wash ice of she who must be obeyed’s car…thank god no one had a camera handy….and yes, it’s that cold again…global warming my you know what, in the 8 years I’ve lived in Western Australia I’ve only seen ice on a car maybe 1 or 2 times prior to this year, this year I’ve seen it maybe a dozen times. Global Ice Age commeth.

I’ve decided I need one of those Homeland security style alert boxes for my inbox….I’m so far behind on email at the moment Im responding to stuff from weeks ago, and still got a pile of stuff I should have read back then and missed…so the code alert would be red: high risk of inbox meltdown 🙂

5 minutes to sale time….grrrr, going to keeping having to hit refresh until I get on….

Tags: Wiggles

This from the official Bunbury weather station yesterday (Saturday), which is actually closer to the sea than I am!

the first column after the time is the official temp (in celcius) the next is the dewpoint temp. A record apparently for the coldest ever day!

If the day should come, that I’d needed to live elsewhere, I’ve been wondering where I should go. Aside from living in WA, this is my short list. Overseas really isn’t a consideration, besides the fact I still don’t hold a current passport, I still can’t see my self living in another country, unless some one pays me a sh*t load of money. So the picks:

1. Byron Bay
2. Gold Coast
3. Sydney

Byron is at the top because despite the fact that it’s been 10 years since I’ve been there, it’s still the only time in my entire life that I found harmony. Harmony in terms of relaxation, if only for a short time. Byron is amazing, but it would be an expensive town to buy into. Maybe Nimbin or somewhere close by? who knows.

I was never a big fan of the Gold Coast until I went there on my recent holdiay. Sure, I love the fact that the shops are open till 9pm…but it had a nice vibe, and I know people there.

Sydney, my home town, and I know a pile of people there. The question of course with Sydney is where to live in Sydney, a city of some 4 million + (maybe more) people. I’m a Shire boy, and would I return to the Shire, who knows. I spent some time many years ago with a friend who was living on the North Shore, Lane Cove to be precise, and the proximety to town was very, very nice. Maybe….

Tags: Byton Bay, Gold Coast, Sydney, The Shire, Lane Cove

At the forecast top: 12.