Operation New Stove Complete

Two more weeks to vacation !! Wendy arrives on 7 July and we are off on our big adventure on 9 July.

The Stove (Continued)

I was in the middle of a meeting when I get a call from the discount electronics store from which  I bought my tenant's new stove.  The gist of the conversation was that they were about to deliver the stove.  This would be good if I had arranged that with the tenant and the electrician.  (Note:  here in Australia stove are not plugged in but rather wired directly into the electrical system of the house).  I said that was not convenient and I would call them back.  A minute later I get another call saying that the stove needs to be delivered because it was scheduled to be delivered.  I said that was crazy as I never spoke to them about delivery.  Needless to say after the meeting I got on the phone and organised with the tenant and the electrician for delivery the next day after work.  When I called the store they were unable to say whether or not they could deliver.  I was glad to see that the stove was there when I got home the next day.  The electrician disconnected the old stove, we moved it and unpacked the new stove.   Unfortunately there was a big dent and scratch on the side of the stove.  I called the store.  There advice was for me to bring back the stove.  That was not really possible on my bike and they didn't have another stove except for the floor model anyway.  We negociated a discount on the stove.  We installed it and then the really bad thing happened.  The oven racks wouldn't fit in the stove.  After a trip to the electronics store we determined this was due to the dent.  The stove would need to be disconnected and returned.  

Long story short - the stove was returned (picked up by the store) and I organised for the stove my friend offered me a few weeks ago to be installed.  It turns out that it is a better stove and my tenant is happier.  It as a lot of hassle and I don't think I will buy anything from that shop again.

Travel back to the USA

Well apparently due to flight changes due to fuel costs my flight back to the US has been cancelled.  I am currently working with the travel agent to reschedule.  It looks as though I will be arriving earlier on Christmas eve.  When I have more definite plans, I will let you all know.

The Wood Duck

I have previously mentioned about the wood duck.  It is the award for doing the dumbest/ funniest thing at work.  Last week Dave from my department played a game of soccer at lunch.  Three of us were all in the office afterwards with all three doors open.  He says "Kris I hope you don't mind if I change my shirt".  Then as we are talking about various work related things and he says "Don't look I am changing my shorts".  Needless to say I was a tad bit surprised.  After he got the wood duck he said "at least I kept my boxers on".  It was a good laugh for us all.

Winter is Here?

June 1 signals the official start of winter here in Australia. However, it is winter at its absolute mildest. This morning I had to wear a long sleeve shirt at 9am - very chilly (ha, ha). Every day I walk or ride down the bike path. Last week they built a cute little gazebo by the bike path near my house. Here are a couple of pictures of the gazebo and bike path.

Events of the Week
New Stove
My tenant brought of the remains of the rounded things that go under the heating elements in an electric stove. Hers had rusted out. I thought "No problem" just order an replacement. It is not quite that easy. I called Westinghouse (the manufacturer) but they said without the model number it is impossible to send replacements and if it is an old stove it is unlikely that they make them anymore anyway. Well the model number was unreadable on the stove. I went to a stove repair place and got the same story. After thinking of having them made and thinking of trying to get out to the tip (the Aussie term for the dump), I decided that buying a new stove was the way to go. I found one on sale but then decided to buy an extended warranty and have it delivered so I ended up paying more than the ticket price anyway. I don't have it yet as they had to order one in unless I wanted to take the floor model.

Then in Australia all the stoves are wired into the electrical system (verses using a plug) so I need to get an electrician to disconnect the old and reconnect the new. I lucked out there as one of the people who are taking my foster dog is an electrician and he has said he will do it for me. Now I have to pay to have the old stove taken away. Is there no end to this I ask myself?

A bit of belated good luck on Sunday - a friend offered to give me a stove.  I guess I will replace both stoves (the one in my rental unit and the one in my unit).


Theft vs Prank
Many of you have heard stories of people I work with and will know immediately who I am talking about in this story. Last week we had a raffle at work to support Beyond Blue. One guy won a six pack of Corona. A couple of pranksters swapped out two of the Corona for Hahn Light (comparable to Bud Light). The guy flew into a rage and went off about the theft of his beer. The next work day (this was after the weekend and holiday monday) he complained to the principal about a thief at work. Needless to say that several people thought this was quite funny. He then got the Wood Duck award (given out weekly to teachers doing a stupid thing) which, of course, set him off again.

Harriers
Sunday was a great morning for a bit of a walk.  I did 7km with Harriers.  I took a few pictures along the way with my phone.  It was a dual purpose activity.  I wanted a few photos for here but I also wanted to be sure that I know how to use the bluetooth functions on the phone and on my macbook.  Here are a few photos of the beach and the iconic Geraldton lighthouse.

Won the Footy Tipping

Footy Tipping

I set up the work online football betting competition (called tipping here).  Since I set it up, I decided that I should enter despite the fact that I have little interest or knowledge of Aussie Rules football.  There are sixteen participants and throughout the comp I have been at the bottom (14, 15, or 16).  Last week I won the weekly picks.  I moved up to 8th position.  I would love to chalk this up to skill but it is more like one guy at work said "only someone with no knowledge of football would have done well this week".  I believe that I have moved up again this week.  I got six out of eight correct.  However, the site is currently closed while they update the comp.

Greenough Walk

I did an 8.5 km walk with the Geraldton Harriers club.  The walk was in Greenough south of Geraldton.  It was very green due to a decent amount of rain this year.  However, this morning it was dry which was good for walking.  The walk started at the Pioneer Museum and went along a road into the sand dunes.  You can check out some photos here.  I took them with my broken camera.  I had to go into school and use a card reader to get the photos off the camera.  It was a good thing I walked in the am because it poured in the late afternoon.

Foundation Day

Monday is Foundation Day and a holiday here.  I would to say that I don't have to go to work but being a bit of a workaholic I am going in.  I went in yesterday to do the computer stock take.  Tomorrow I need to review my staff's reports  (I started this yesterday but found numerous typos, spelling and grammar errors) and clean up the server.  I hope it won't take too long.

Wood Duck

Each week the person who does the stupidest or funniest thing at work gets an award called the Wood Duck.  I was the lucky recipient last week.  I was trying to show this new Hungarian teacher how the school internet filters work.  Figuring that if I typed "porn" into a Google search I would get the filter message, I demonstrated this.  Unfortunately, it didn't work.  Luckily, I only got a list of results and no images.  It still somewhat astounds me that putting in myspace will bring an immediate filter block but porn will not.  One of my coworkers volunteered to check out the porn links.  What a guy! (ha, ha).  It did come up as blocked once you clicked on the porn links.  I am glad to hear that we are protecting our young charges at school.

Reading

I am currently reading The Prisoner of Guantanamo (Fesperman) and listening to London Bridges (Patterson).  

Movies

I haven't seen much of interest lately.  I saw Elizabeth which was okay.  I just saw a quick overview of Blindness and that looks interesting.  However, I doubt it will make it to Australia before I leave.