Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Wet weekend

In Melbourne lately it's been humid.

We Victorians can handle the heat. We get heat down from the deserts and it is bloody HOT!

But the humidity kills us. I know it knocks me around a bit. As I've said previously, my brother lives in Townsville and I've never been there due to the humidity. Couldn't handle it.

It seems that the humidity has come to Melbourne. On the weekends I work behind the bar at the Bowls Club I am a member of. Two weekends ago, I thought the blokes were going to fall over due to the heat, which saw the games called off just after 3, due to excessive heat. On Saturday, it was the opposite.

The game was called off because of too much rain. The picture to the right shows the synthetic green under water. It rained for about 2 hours, and they called the game off at just after 3 PM. (I only got there just after 1, and they had boled two ends before the rain came and called it off.) 3 PM is the traditional time for afternoon tea. This is a nice salad roll, and a cup of coffee. In previous years, I used to get a plate of mixed sandwiches, which was my preference, but it was too time consuming for the ladies to make, so it's now a roll.

Anyway, in the photo, you can see Lake Auburn. This is the name given to the synthetic green at ABC. The islands you see are when the air gets under the mat and lifts it, because it is on a sand base. The game ended pretty quickly, once the rain started, as the bowls are still on the green as is a mat. It was wet.

Since the game was called off, most of the members stayed in the bar for a few, but most went home to do other things. As I was behind the bar, I just poured beers and enjoyed the merriment.

Before the game I did have a lovely Korean feed from the great Kimchi Lunch Box in Glenferrie Road. I love Kimchi I need it about once a month. When I was in Seoul, I used to get it from the supermarkets for nix, and some of it was hot! The hottest food I've ever had has been Korean. Some I had once almost stopped time. I was like Homer Simpson on the Spine Melder 2000.

I was going to get a photo of the lunch box with BBQ Pork (spicy), but my partner called and I got a bit muddled up.

I will be be a bit better of photos now. That photo above was taken with the N70, so they are not too bad for photo work. I would have preferred the G6, but it was at home, and as you can see, it was wet, so I wasn't going to go home and get it.

More as it comes it, dude.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Food time

As indicated previously, I have a new phone.

This phone has a 2 mg pixel camera attached. I will attempt to take photos of meals I've eaten. I travel a bit around Victoria, and eat in a lot of pubs, as they provide decent (maybe) food for little cost. Even less if you eat in the public bar.

One of my finest was a parma I had in Portland at the Gordon hotel. I have shown this photo to many people, and they were impressed. It was lovely. Others have been a bit more hit and miss. But that's what you get.

I will also attempt to put a few other photos up as well, as I tend to see a few strange things when I am out and about.

My partner and I and another couple of friends have booked our flights to Sydney to see St Kilda (here's thier Wikipedia bit) beat the Sydney Swans. Accomadation is underway, and I beleive it will be 5 star. Best suited to a man of my stature in life.

We are staying at the Sheraton on the Park so that will be nice. Hopefully they will see this and give me a free bottle of plonk on arrival. I am into freebies.

Here is an exchange I had with Redback boots, as I wanted some new inner soles for my old favourites. It went on for some time, until I got a phone call from a guy there, the one I sent it to, saying that he sent them out to me and they must have been lost in the mail. Right.

Here are the emails I sent redback, before getting the inner soles in, I think, November. Customer service isn't thier real strong point.

From: 'Grant'
Sent: Tuesday, 23 August 2005 4:56 PM
To:
Kadir Stittampalam [mailto:kadir@redback.net.au]
Subject: RE: Inner sole

This is getting beyond a joke. What kind of operation are you people running up there? I have sent three emails now across four months. The address for sending the inner soles too is below. I doubt I will see them going by the amount of non customer service I have received so far.


From: Grant
Sent: Sunday, 26 June 2005 12:03 PM
To: 'kadir@redback.net.au'
Subject: FW: Inner sole

As I have indicated previously, I am happy to purchase these. But since I sent the last email (see below) on 19 May and it is now the 26 June, I think you need to do something about answering enquiries. This is pretty poor service. My address is replicated below.

Regards,

Grant


From: Grant
Sent: Thursday, 19 May 2005 3:50 PM
To: 'Kadir Stittampalam'
Subject: RE: Inner sole


The ones I have had since 1998 come out of a size 9 pair of black boots.

Thanks for getting back to me.

Grant.


From: Kadir Stittampalam [mailto:kadir@redback.net.au]
Sent: Friday, 20 May 2005 3:25 PM
To: 'Grant'
Subject: RE: Inner sole


LET ME KNOW WHAT SIZE INNERS YOU LOOKING FOR

I WILL SEND BY MAIL TO YOU

SORRY FOR LATE REPLY


From: Grant
Sent: Thursday, 19 May 2005 3:15 PM
To: enquiries@redback.net.au
Subject: FW: Inner sole


This is the second email I have sent about the issue below. As you can see, my original email was sent over a month ago. There’s not really much point in putting an enquiries email, if you don’t do anything about the enquiry.

I will still look forward to your reply. If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me on either of the phone number listed below.

Grant.



From: Grant
Sent: Tuesday, 12 April 2005 1:46 PM
To: 'enquiries@redback.net.au'
Subject: Inner sole

Hello,

I have a set of black Redbacks, which I have had since 1998. I have been wearing them almost daily for the past 2 years. The inner soles are wearing out. Can you please put me in touch with someone who can help me out to purchase a new set.

Thanks

Grant.

When the emails above didn't do anything, I wrote them this letter and I included the emails above:

The Managing Director

Redback Boot Company Pty Ltd

PO Box 55

ALEXANDRA 2015



14 November 2005

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am alerting you to the fact that your internet request system is not working. From the enclosed emails, you will see my growing frustration with the system I have been dealing with. Hence my letter to you.

I asked a simple question, yet am still waiting some seven months later for the action I initially requested to take place.

I work as the TITLE for the COMPANY NAME. In this position, I visit butchers across Victoria in their stores. I need a pair of boots that are both comfortable and durable, as I am often on my feet for a long time discussing issues pertinent to their business. Thankfully, in 1998 I purchased a pair of your UBBK boots. These black size nines have done a lot of miles. They have been to South Korea, New Zealand, Paris, England, and to every state in Australia.

I wear your boots when visiting members, for both safety and comfort. I don’t really want to buy another pair of boots as my black ones are still in working order (although the sole is starting to wear down a bit – not bad for six + years of wear). I look after the leather each month, and they have rewarded me with long life, as these boots have been worn on average for four days in each week. But the inner soles are starting to show their age.

Members have often commented on the boots, and I tell them that the soft sole is great for standing for long periods of time. I used to wear another Australian brand boots, but found the soles too hard to be in for long times. They went into the bin soon after I purchased the Redbacks. Many other members have said the same thing.

I hope you find this letter to be of value in re-evaluating the customer service received by this one customer, who put a request in via your website.

I will look forward to your reply.

Regards,

Grant



And as I said above, I finally got them some time in November. Long time to wait. At least it came through. Complaining does work.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

It's been a while

I know I've been slack, but that's how it goes. Besides it was Xmas and I am slack. Done.

Anyway, last week I was in Mildura. Now it was hot. The offical temp recorded was 42 degrees. No way. A reliable source told me that the temp gauge in the main drag said 45 at 3 PM, and that the Council had to get the water trucks out to water some roads as the asphalt was startign to run off them. Nice. They record the temps out of town and in the shade so as to not scare the tourists. Fuck it was hot, it scared me, and I was up there on work.

WhenI booked into my room, I stretched out on the bed. It was warm, I actually said out loud 'they've left the electric blanket on'. No they didn't. The heat was so much in the room that the beds were warm all the way through. I left the a/c on when I went across the road to the Working Man's Club for a feed. Nice scotch fillet for $21 thank you. When I came back the room was only just starting to cool down. That was after 3 and a bit hours of the a/c being on. Don't think I was at the club for 3 hours, as I was not.

Anyway, it ended up that I did a three day run in two days. I did just under 1300 kms in the two days. That was a pretty fair effort, let me tell you, and I was a little tired for some time after that. And I had to drive from Birchip to Sea Lake without a/c because I thought I was going to run out of fuel, now that was one hot drive.

Work have given us new phones. We also got updated car kits. I have an N70. I was meant to get a Motorola A1000, but the car kit was going to be months away, so I worded up the dude and got a N70. Interestingly, I am the only one in the whole place with a N70, everyone else got dudded and got the previous model. When they signed up to the deal, they were told that everyone woudl get the N70, turns out that they must have had a lot of stock sitting around, and they all got the previous model. Except me. The car kit is noisy! Bumps and thumps when it connects up. My old phone was like this too, so it must have something to do with something.

The new phones are on the 3 network. Now, I've only been on Telstra and Optus, and they were fine. This network seems to have some issues. Coverage is patchy in the city, and the extra enhancements such as video calling only work in the metro areas. Most of my use is in the bush, so it roams onto Telstra. Makes you think whey they didn't jsut stick with Telstra or Optus, but I am not as smart as some.

Anyway, I found this site. How great is that?!!! I would love to see performing cats! That's great. When are they coming here?

Also, I found this site too. I don't mind this site, but I think B3TA offers the slacker a bit more. I particularly like this. As it appeals to my immature sense of humour. There is a lot there to amuse anyone.

I've also purchased some items from ebay. some undies and a jacket. Pretty flash. Best get back into it. Check out mu Flikr site on the links at the side, as I have uploaded all the photos from my European jaunt. Cheers.