air new zealand – 791

air NZ is offering return from lax to melbourne or sydney for $791. let me remind you that it’s spring here soon to be summer!!! and no matter what time of year, that’s a great rate (the cheapest ive ever seen).

check here for details but i did notice u have to book by oct 30th.

day 2 of freedom

monday night was my finance test. i have no idea if i passed or failed or did well. i can never tell when i walk out of those things. but that was my last thing for the semester so i’m done!!!! woooo hooooo!!!

on tuesday i planned on sleeping late but instead i was up at 4am n watched katie and matt. went back asleep at 7a or so. once i finally got up i did a lot of laundry and cleaned the flat. yes, my big relaxing day. that was followed by buying a doormat and plant food at bunnings and lipstick at priceline (got this cool orangey one called rockmelon. rockmelon is au for cantalope). then i had to go to work. waitress work. they begged me to come in for 2 hours and then i ended up being there til 11p. wonderful day off.

day 2 of freedom, i worked (juice bar) this afternoon, did some networking over coffee, tolerated some pain (ie waxing) and bought groceries. it’s a bit after midnite and i’m going to bed in a few minutes. not very exciting but i do find it amazing that i can go to bed now or i could read or i could sit here and i have NOTHING due.

of course i do have things i need to do. like does anyone out there know of a software (low cost or open source prefered) that’s a combination btwn ryze/ecademy and phpBB type stuff?

warmth!! finance!

light another cigarette and maybe by the end of it, you’ll have changed – ben lee ‘chills”.

mite have quoted that before but i think its such a great line. the video is on rage right now.

today was a beautiful day. must have been about 80. sunny & no clouds in the sky. when i walked home from work at 1230am, i still didn’t need a coat. was wearing a tshirt! this is what i’ve been waiting for! according to the weather thing i have on my site at midnite it was 73/23 though felt warmer.

ive been massively stressing over my finance test (which is mon nite). had a mtg w my team members friday morning and after 2 1/2 hours i realized i know even less than the tiny bit i thought i did. great. u have to pass this test in order to pass the class. they don’t care what grade you have on other things if u don’t get at least 50% in this test. i spent about 4 hours on it today and feel slightly better. at least ive picked some of the areas to concentrate on. i have sunday nite and monday afternoon to study.

lots to update

where do i start?? i’ve been so busy of late i haven’t had time to update. or sleep much for that matter. so randomly…

a friend of mine has been traveling the past couple months and returned to melb this afternoon. he left me a message at 1pm and at 3pm when i was walking down the street i ran into him on the street. no, melbourne isn’t small.

the exchange rate sucks!! freaking 69cents today! argh!

i was just watching this comedy show that’s 2 morning radio guys sitting chatting and taking questions from the audience. these folks from austria asked what they could do to become more australian. the answers were… get on the dole (ie unemployment) and get a stubby holder. i thought it was quite funny.

for my ebiz class, we’re working on a project on CRM in the banking industry and i said something about having mini branches in retail spots like grocery stores. i noticed they had these in cali when i was there a few months ago. i also said something about drive-in @ the branches. that’s when i suddenly felt like i was in a time zone. my team mates informed me that drive-in windows at banks doent exist here. they thought i was joking. joked about fast food drive-ins. wow. a place like this that has such a car culture DOESNT have a drive thru window at the bank? that seems really odd. later we were talking about contacting customer service and i mentioned having a phone next to the ATM. again, time zone. ‘what if the machine eats my card at 3am?” well then you’d just have to go home and call the bank on monday am. somehow i doubt it’s that bad but this was the attitude. surprising.

in the morning i have my ebiz paper & presentation due. team dynamics in the evening. and a meeting at 230am my time with folks in london re e-mint’s future. that should go thru probably 6am. 8am friday i’m having a finance meeting. working 12-3 and then again at 6p. monday is my finance test (which i’m intensely worried about. must get 50% to pass class).

bush is coming to australia. seems he’s said he’s heard au is like texas. great.

while i’m procrastinating

i’ll toss out my schedule for the past 2 days.

tuesday
11a class til 2p brief meeting with team members for another class. check email and write up bits of a paper i needed to email out. try to track down the student union folks who are supposed to help us with our taxes and the intl student union folks who i need to talk to about my visa. sit in the library for 3 hours and write paper. take laptop across road to cafe and have risotto while working on paper. 6pm class til 9p and meet with team members. come home and watch special 2 hour episode of temptation island. do emails and work on paper. at some point (probalby early on… i’m guessing 11p) decide i have to lie down for a few minutes.

wake up wed am at 945, tv and all lights are on. check mail, get ready and take watch out to get new band. go to farmers market only to find they’re closed today. work 12-3. try on pants at myer (bought 2 pairs. needed them for work), pick up watch. go to pilates at 530. get home 730 and make rice with this korma sauce. wonder why i still can’t figure out how to cook rice properly (there was one point in time when i could do it but now i’ve lost the secret). finish bit for presentation tomorrow and email it out. drink more tea. check email. and now time to finish that paper for tomorrow and then work on a paper due next week.

fyi, next week i have 2 final papers and 2 presentations. one of which our team hasn’t even started working on. the following week i have my finance test and that’s it. 4 months off. so someone freaking hire me before i go nuts.

quick update

as i procrastinate on finishing a paper due tomorrow and worth 80% of my grade.

i just found this cool search engine called vivsimo. did a search for km and human factors (which is something i had a presentation on last week so i know what’s available out there) and it hit all the stuff. then i tried ’social networking software’ and discovered a few things google missed. the clustering is a nice touch.

so quickly… swamped with school right now. feeling better since i finally went to the doc and got some drugs. they think i have strep throat so now i’m on penicillen and feeling better but still dramatically tired. like it’s 1030 now and i could so fall asleep with my head on my wrist rest (don’t laugh, i’ve done that a few times of late). started a new job that seems cool but is only 1 day a week. think the web design firm i interviewed with the other week is screwing me around (actually i’m betting they offered the gig to someone else and are just waiting to hear back so they’re keeping me on as 2nd choice). still hating waitressing.

back to work.

very early in the am

and i’m trying to finish a ebiz presentation i have to give at 11am. in the meantime i have the today show on mute. al just went out into the courtyard and was chatting with people. there’s a sign in the background that sez ‘lancaster, PA’. funny … to be sitting in melbourne, watching a tv show from nyc, seeing a sign noting a place very close to where i grew up. times like that when this all seems very surreal.

and then al went to the weather map. showed the midwest and all i see are these ‘32′, ‘39′, ‘36′ numbers. and i think, wow! where is it that warm!!! and then i realize at the btm of the screen it sez ‘freeze advisories’. i’m thinking in the wrong temperature system.