Another step, another day closer
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Its the end of the month now...another day, another step closer to the end of this year..this year has been pretty eventful for us, mainly the moving to our apartment.
February saw us leaving our rented place in Fairfield and moving on to our fully owned apartment in Glen Huntly. A 2 bedroom apartment, close to uni and amenities and a comfortable living for 2 people. We also went back to Singapore for a week to celebrate Chinese New Year with our families and friends though we wished we could take a longer break but since we only just started in our jobs, we did not have sufficient leave hours for a longer period.
April saw the a new change in the development of the apartment estate..needless to say it wasn't good. Things were not progressing and it left some people with a bitter taste in the mouth. For us, the nightmare was more of the moving of accounts (internet, phone etc) to the new place...one thing we have learnt is that if it wastoo good to be true, it probably was. Never go for a company that does not have a base locally...that was what it was for us when we went to a lesser known internet provider (the speed was good actually but the service OMG!!) and the things they made us go through, it was worth cancelling the subscription and good riddance to this company.
June gave me a full time work opportunity which was too good to miss. I wasn't happy in the previous job anyway so it was a good change. No doubt things in the new place has somewhat improved a bit but still the feeling of alienation can be strong at times. Wonder how long it will last or whether I can be happy in the long run. Will wait and see.
August made us decided to look for a bigger house for our future. Our current place was only suitable for just 2 people and we began to research for safer suburbs, relatively good schools and properties which fell within our budget. After we ahve shortlisted the areas we liked, we then went to home inspections and looked at the amenities around. We missed out on a good opportunity on a property we liked but guess God has a better plan for us later which came true. Then it was time to look for bank loans and to compare which bank was better. We went clueless to a home expo but came out more knowledgeable and ready to talk to more people. After the incident with the internet provider, we knew that the loan provider we were to go with must have a base here in Melbourne. We were lucky to meet our mobile banker and she was a lovely person to work with. She made sure she updated us on the status of our loan applications and any queries we had she managed to get back to us within a short time.
September saw us made an offer for the place that we liked. Initially the offer was rejected as the sellers wanted more ($8K more) from the offer. We refused and the sellers withdrew the property from the market which left us perplexed. It left the agent pretty upset we would say as she has put in time and effort in selling the place as well. Have we missed out on a good opportunity due to our refusal? We were not sure but after discussing with our families and friends, we relented but only increased the offer by another $3k. Again the sellers were in 2 minds and told the agent if we increased the offer by another $1k, the house would be ours. This time we put our feet down and said "No", and we were successful in our stance coz we got the place! We also decided to put our current place for sale too and still pending for offers.
October was a month that went in a blur of activities. Emails and calls were constant exchanges between us, our mobile banker, our conveyancer, housing agent to name a few and the weeks that went back were pretty tiring for us. We had to arrange for sufficient funds in our loan account so that when the settlement day came, we would not be penalised for funds shortfall. However we underestimated the amount and it was a mad scramble to bank in more monies to the account and guess I would say thank God for extended bank hours and for choosing a local bank for the loan. Anyway we managed to get the funds in on time and when settlement day came, it was a sense of excitement and anticipation. When our conveyancer called and told us we got the house now, we were very very happy :)
Now as we step into November, its another month of activities as well...new paintwork at the new place, moving of stuff, arranging of accounts changeover...its like reliving February all over again..hopefully the transition will be much smoother and easier for us..wish us luck!
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ThE DonGSteRs at |9:54 AM|
Daylight savings starts (or ends?)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Melbourne is now 3 hours ahead of Singapore. At first we thought that the changeover of hours was suppose to start on
Sunday night, in transition to Monday morning. However we thought
wrong..in fact it was supposed to start from Saturday night in transition to Sunday morning...alamak! thought we had an extra hour of sleep but no no...we have to reset our clocks, watches to make sure we are on the same time frame. Thankfully its not a workday, can't imagine being an hour late for work..LOL :P
The weekends were pretty warm as compared to other weeks, however we were pretty busy getting stuff for our new place. Went to every guy's tools heaven..BUNNINGS! Its a gigantic place where everything and I mean everything you need for DIY or materials/tools for homes can be found...spent an hour there on Saturday getting our paints, paint tools and caulking (gap fillers, a new term we have learn recently) stuff and thats only just 2 aisles! Imagine going to ALL the aisles over at Bunnings (I think I saw 60+ aisles), we'll probably be there for at least 3 hours!..Anyhoo, after our "spending spree" (poor wallets) but heng still within our budget, we spent some time on Saturday caulking the gaps in the bedrooms, living room and bathrooms. Today was spent touching up some areas and making sure we have fill in the gaps (might have miss some but oh well, thats another day to worry about).
Next week, its painting time! Hopefully can get the paintwork done within 2 weeks...thereafter its the logistics to settle (headache!)...hope work will not be too mind boggling and many to do, I need a break too -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |10:50 PM|
10,000 steps
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Monash recently launched a
10,000 steps Walktober to promote wellbeing and healthy lifestyle among staff. So we have to wear a pedometer and take note the number of steps we do daily and in addition, any trips to the gym or even doing light exercises at home can add on to the total steps.
Well, I walk every day for about 15-20 mins from our apartment to the Caulfield campus, take the school shuttle bus to the Clayton, walk another 20-25 minutes (of coz stop at the cafe to grab my mocha) to the business park where the office is and at lunch time, I walk again after finishing my lunch..hows that for 10,000 steps? I reckon I'm doing okay but every bit of motivation is a step to a healthy lifestyle, whether there is a competition or not; try to live a little, and enjoy what life brings -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |10:37 PM|
The real work begins
Monday, October 22, 2007
Now that we have gotten the keys to our Ringwood house, its time for the real work to begin. We popped by our home yesterday to see and measure how much paint we needed to get to repaint some of the walls in the house...well the previous owner has pretty much left it in the original colour when it was tenanted out but we thought since its our home, we would like to spice up the place and add some colours to the house. There were some areas that need patching up but thankfully these were tiny areas so we sorted them out yesterday. Been watching Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) and the tips and ideas the show has its truly fantastic! Bought a couple of the BHG magazines as well, you never know when you need to refer to them for more tips :) Coming weekend, we are going to start painting and hopefully get the paint work done by mid November..its going to be busy busy weekends for us now...no time to rest for the weary...lots of packing (again!) and arranging of logistics etc..think the real break will be when we go back to Sg for our 2 weeks vacation :) - DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |9:40 AM|
Finally!
Friday, October 19, 2007
we got our home in Ringwood! yayyyyyy!!
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ThE DonGSteRs at |12:25 PM|
15 mins more to "D" time - pray everything goes well!
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ThE DonGSteRs at |11:16 AM|
2 1/2 hrs more to "D" day!...counting down now
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ThE DonGSteRs at |9:08 AM|
My ex working place
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Yep, guess what, my ex-boss called me up a few weeks back asking if I was interested in coming back to CFA on a
full time basis...well I didn't confirm with her there and then but I know my answer anyway...I chose not to go back because simply:
- My ah ga liao colleagues have left as well (one come to Monash College, the other to the "sister" company of CFA
- I could have a full time job earlier from CFA so why wait until now then ask?
All I can say is good luck to her and hopefully she can find people soon - DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |10:41 PM|
3 more days to our home in Ringwood! Can't wait :) Hope everything goes on smoothly *pray hard*
For the uninitiated, yes we have decided that a puny apartment is not for us for the long term and its time for an "upgrade" - more room for other things (hehe!) -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |10:32 PM|
There are so many things that we have learn during our time here...where to look out for good and safe(r) properties, good schools, home loan terms, engaging property agent, home inspections, things to look out for during inspections and the list goes on and on....
I only hope that we have done and learn things the correct way but at least we have come out slightly knowledgeable when it comes to buying/selling property...haha next aim property magnate? -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |10:27 PM|
Stuck at home
Thursday, October 11, 2007
What I thought was a common cold turned out to be my worse nightmare. I went to work on Tues as it was the payroll week and by the time noon came I had to tell my boss I seriously needed to go and see the doc for antibiotics. One thing we have observed here is that the docs do not like to prescribe antibiotics unless it is absolutely necessary. They would rather prescribe MCs than medication so that the body can rest.
But in my case, I wasn't getting any better and had to get medications as it has been going on for a week. So here I am, still at home nursing my flu and praying that I get better. Hope tomorrow will be a better day for me, and also with a better weather forecast, too many days of grey skies already -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |2:16 PM|
Healthcare system
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Australia has this magic word - "bulk bill". What it means that most general practitioners get their fundings from the government healthcare system which is MediCare, so if I go and see a doctor who bulk bills then basically I don' have to pay a single cent for consultation.
For those who don't bulk bill, I can still get back a subsidy from the consultation fees that I have paid through Medicare. That was what happened yesterday when I went to Medicare to make a claim for a consultation fee of $55 and I get back $32 (no choice, wanted to see a doctor who bulk bill but was too sick to go anywhere else).
The doctors here won't prescribe medication unless absolutely necessary, more often they will give you MC to rest at home. Mike was once prescribed 4 days MC to rest at home as he has gotten a nasty flu virus. I took 1 day MC as it was a Friday and we had no plans to go out over the weekend which was fine so that I can rest. The wonders of resting at home, beats taking medication anytime! -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |1:10 PM|
Liked this new blog skin a lot while surfing for a "new look" on the internet and decided to play around with the formatting. It took me a while to finally figure out(yes even during work hours I was fiddling around with the new layout >_<) but tada! the new look! For a formatting-idiot like myself, I'm very happy with the layout, hope you like it too :) -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |2:03 AM|
Tax!
Monday, October 01, 2007
Did our tax returns yesterday, oh man the endless list of questions the tax office lists is really mind boggling...more often I felt like clicking "No" to almost all the questions so that I can speed up the process and lodge the tax return..in all we spent more than an hour answering the questions and do the lodgement...unfortunately Mike experienced technical difficulties and the whole tax return went wrong when he lodged it! arrghh, we will have to call the tax office to reset his lodgement or something so that he can fill it in (again!)..dateline is till 31st October so we still have some time. Our tax returns for our work done in Singapore was such a breeze, everything was all filled in on our IR8S forms...oh well there weren't much questions to deal with so that explained why.
Good news are, we both have tax refunds, woohoo! I will get back about 2K and Mike will have $700+ returned to him as well...well I didn't work much throughout the financial year so my salary was too low but darn still have to pay the taxes every fortnight...so happy we both get money back, will have more spending money for Christmas :) -
DSA
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ThE DonGSteRs at |2:53 PM|
