How long is long enough?

Normally I'd love a five day weekend, but this time it is also my pay week. I'd rather get paid. My pay usually goes in on a Wednesday and my savings go out on the Thursday. This week the pay run is late owing to the extra days public holiday.

My main problem is my direct debits all seem to fall at the end of the month, which just happens to be over the next few days. I only have enough money to cover either the direct debits or the savings, but not both. If I'd realised earlier I would have stopped the money going to my savings account this week, but I only realised my predicament this morning, and banks need days to change things like this. Here's hoping I get paid tomorrow.

Perhaps I lack some basic financial skills? This has never happened before though...

Oh and the garbos are backed up because of the extra long break. I hope they get around here soon to take away the rubbish.

In case of emergency

On a recent flight I was lucky enough to get an exit row seat. The comfort of the extra leg room far out weighs the small possibility of having to open the door in case of an emergency.

It's now much easier to get an exit row with Qantas' new seat selection policy. It was covered in the media, but they only focused on the fee being levied for seat selection on international flights, it is however free for domestic flights.

From now on non premium frequent flyers (ie bronze and non frequent flyer members) are able to select seats from time of booking right up until check in. As a bronze myself the initial seats available were rather ordinary, row 19 and back on the 737 I was booked on. In the lead up to the flight gradually more and more of the plane opens up and any seats not taken by higher status FF's (silver, gold and platinum) or chairman's lounge members (almost no mention on the Qantas website, it's common knowledge it is a tool used to suck up to Canberra and mainstream media) are up for grabs, this includes such desirable seats such as the two exit rows. I think the time frame is 72 hours prior that these better become free for all.

Anyway, I found this amusing diagram on the instruction sheet for the emergency exit.

Does the fact this guy is able to shoot laser beams out of his eyes have anything to do with the fire and damage to the wing?

Another month gone...

...Another year older.

And it was a big one, starting with 3 ending with 0! I can't be thirty already, that's old! I don't feel old. I've had a few weeks to get used to it and I think I am coping.

I am not one for making a fuss so I was happy enough with a family dinner at a local Vietnamese restaurant. The restaurant turned out to be not so good, shaped like a shoebox with hard furnishings, it was also packed meaning no one could hear what anyone else was saying over the noise of everyone else. The food was pretty good though.



What you see here is the speciality this particular restaurant has created to celbrate diners birthdays. An XL banana fritter flanked by two scoops of fried ice cream covered in caramel sauce. It is set alight with candles and sparklers, and is brought out to the table while "happy birthday" is pumped through the restaurant's sound system to make sure every one in the restaurant turns around and looks. All in good fun, but perhaps not really to everyones taste.

Present wise I think I did rather well. I got a new bedside table off mum and an electric toothbrush from my older brother and family.