Dr. Dog’s Neighborhood

I had a slight grin and a little twinkle in my eye when I read this story a moment ago. 

Mary & Joseph

I have 67 kg (148lbs) of photos to get back to DC which somewhat exceeds my United baggage allowance even if I leave all my clothes behind.   I've had these stored in my son's garage but now that he has a wife she will be moving in with her own "stuff".  It's time for me to get these so that I can scan/preserve them.

So ...  research was required.  First I tried Australia Post which is how I got my worldly possessions to America nearly 10 years ago. The lady told me in 3 minutes that it would cost an exorbitant.1,228.30.$$$$   - though she didn't actually use the word "exorbitant" - she had a tone that suggested I was getting such a bargain that I should race home pack them up and get back in time to catch the last post of the day.

I had actually saved up and budgeted an amount of $1,000 for this exercise but I was not really expecting to have to use it all.

I had seen an advertisement for Fed Ex International Economy so I rang Lawrence in India and had a nice conversation where he used my name a lot as well as "that's a good question Emjay, I can tell you the answer"... After 10 or 15 minutes Lawrence decided that Economy service was not going to work for me and that actually the 25kg flat rate boxes sent at Priority service would be cheaper (apparently the economy service just means it takes longer to get there!). 
 

So ...  today they will start their journey to the manservant's office and the cost of getting them there in about 3 days will be less than $800..    (FYI: Oz Post could send them by sea for about $650 but I've seen those statistics on how many containers go overboard every year...).   

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The landscape got a little greener as we headed towards the Hunter Valley...

This little church was in the middle of nowhere ( I love the "outhouse"):

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A few of the very small towns have these fancy big signs:

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This place thinks it is in the Mediterranean - these are all olive trees:

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My Christmas spirit is crashing fast. At this point I can't wait for the end of January...

Customer Service for a mail order company at Christmas sucks! ......The little voice is getting harder and harder to keep under control. If I don't let it speak here, It might get loose and cost me my job.

I am sick of getting yelled at!  Below are examples of the calls I take and how I wish I could deal with them.

I have been yelled at because we ran out of ______. Fill in the blank with any item that was promised to little Janey or Johnny for their gift..........What the hell were you thinking waiting 2 weeks before Christmas before calling to order, and how about letting Jr get a dose of reality....you don't always get what you want!

I have been told at least once a day that I am ruining some kids Christmas,because I won't let the dead beat place an order on an account that is already 6 months past due........You should have worn a rubber....we wouldn't be having this conversation.

For every idiot that complained about having to be on hold forever just to pay their damn bill........Go to hell!
You could have mailed it, you could have pushed a few buttons on your phone and had it done already yourself, but you decided to just stand there and listen to our festive holiday music instead of having your check/debit card ready!

 To all the customers that call to complain about an issue that happened this past summer....Seriously? You waited this long to call and complain, couldn't you wait another month and not call at our busiest time of the year?

Customers that order/call on their lunch break......If I want to listen to cows, I will visit the farm. Please refrain from eating during our call.

Management.......If you send me one more email telling me how far ahead projected sales are one more time......well, the little voice just might tell you were to go.......

Company keeps making more money, but I'm paid the same wage I was paid to do this crap last year.....When raise time comes around, it better be a good one. A big enough one to make me forget how much this jobs sucks this time of year.

To all the customers that are yet to call. Give me a break. I didn't loose your package, I didn't screw up your order. I didn't cause the problem........all I did was answer the phone.

Merry F***ing Christmas!

For the few days I was here before the manservant I had a cute little Getz rental car but after a 3 hr trip north to see my parents I decided we needed something bigger for our road trip west.   I like to feel a bit more metal around me and more power under the bonnet.  

So back to Budget we went where we were given a brand new shiny white Toyota Camry with only 6km on it - which it probably got driving from manufacturer to truck and then off and into it's parking spot.    

In a week we have put 2,063 kms on it  (10 km = approx. 6 miles)  and made it very dirty.  I drive faster than the manservant and, as I sailed blithely past a speed camera yesterday, I commented to him that as the car was in his name he was probably going to be receiving a lot of speeding tickets in the mail.  At least there won't be any from school zones -  I am always very careful to stick to the 40kph outside schools - of course this is helped by the huge array of warnings and flashing lights and "check speed" neons around schools.   Speed cameras are cunningly hidden around bends and at hill bottoms and just at the exact spot where I have to speed to get past someone driving "weirdly".  Yes, I know there are signs posted saying speed cameras are used in NSW, just before the camera, but sometimes they are not very obvious.  

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I was slow to warm up to this series, but became a fan over time. The last episode was a great closer! See on HULU

Well, I've had the old banner for seven years, its been part of my blog for such a long time I can't even think what the place would look like if I changed it. So being the rather adventurous individual that I am who likes to live life on the edge, I decided it's finally time for a change.

Ever since our local supermarket changed hands from Somerfields to Morrisons, I've been reaping the benefits of a better run store.  I used to work for Somerfields way back when so I understood why it was such a useless retailer. Luckily they went out of business and my favourite food shop of all took over.

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~

It's hard to blog on the road and when one is racing around like a maniac trying to fit in visits with all one's relatives and friends - so apologies to my virtual friends for not being a very good neighbour at the moment.

The morning after the wedding, and 4 hours sleep, we hit the road to Coonabarabran and the Anglo-Australian Telescope because the manservant was going to play astro-dweeb at Siding Spring Observatory.

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I was standing on a tree stump taking photos of the lodge room we were staying in with the telescope in the background - this was our little room -  that's my coffee cup on the ground:

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when I heard a sort of rustling sound and then a series of weird grunts.  I turned to see a large kangaroo very close to me.

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It was intently staring at me with almost evil looking eyes. It did not budge as I lifted the camera to take a shot.  It was starting to freak me out.  I sneaked a look towards our room and wondered if I could outrun it .... ha ha ha.

I thought about calling for the manservant but then realised that my image as a tough Aussie farm girl would be seriously tarnished if I had to call an American for help with one of our native creatures.

I slowly backed  off the stump and skulked backwards to the room never taking my eye off it -  and it never took its eye off me.

That night, sleeping in that room alone, I'm sure I could hear it using those little hands to tap on the window.

I like many others have downloaded the brand spanking new Google Chrome for Mac beta that has just been released. I'm not unhappy with Safari, I find it very adequate for surfing the net although I would like to add a few useful third party plug-ins like you can in Firefox. I hear a lot of you ask, 'why don't you just use Firefox then?' I say it's not that good and the overall user experience is shoddy on a Mac as the whole program smells of PC to me.