My trusty Nokia 6288 died on Friday for no apparent reason. After spending the day trying to resurrect the thing I concluded that I would have to replace it. So yesterday I went to Big W and bought the cheapest ‘3′ phone I could find which turned out to be the Skype phone. I am actually pretty impressed with the Skype phone, although it is harder to use than my Nokia. The phone cost me just under $130 which I thought was pretty good, especially since its RRP is $149.

Other than my new phone nothing overly exciting has happened at all over the weekend, not that I have had much of a weekend with work and all. Although on Friday I did get to supervise the GAT at Haileybury which was alright, though I must say the only thing more boring than doing the GAT is watching people do the GAT.

Also Happy Birthday to Luke who turns 19 today.

Well on Saturday I turned 19, which means this is my last year of being a teenager. So anyway on Saturday I had to work which is no big problem as things only get going at around Midnight. So after work I headed to Crown Casino and had a pretty good time, although I walked out slightly poorer than when I walked in. Pat managed to win money which is no surprise and money simply seems to fly toward him like he’s some sort of money magnet. So that was my birthday, also thanks to all those people that sent me messages on facebook, on my mobile etc. I will certainly try and remember to return the favour.

Well you may have realised with the thread title that I have been working a lot lately. Pretty much I now am home two nights a week which means I have been surviving off take away (I have a pattern now, it goes McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Hungry Jacks, Subway, Fish and Chips), microwavable meals and whatever can be found in the freezer at 1am in the morning. I must admit I am enjoying work (especially the whole money thing), one of the reasons is because I work with some pretty cool people which is always a bonus.

Now about a month ago I posted on the new Pre Mixed Drink Tax Increase, well I’m here to say that I was wrong, I said that kids would simply move to bottles of spirits. Well they haven’t!!! Our sales of Pre Mixed drinks are almost exactly the same (in our store at least), with there being an increase in bottled spirits as well (ie. More alcohol is being sold). So congratulations Mr. Rudd, you did a fantastic job in this one.

As some of you already know, my current bank the ANZ has increasingly frustrated me through poor service, high fees and lack of ATM’s in the places I go most often. So after looking at all the ‘Big 4′ banks (NAB, Commonwealth, ANZ and Westpac) I decided to go with Citibank (which is one of the largest banks in the world). Pretty much it came down to Bendigo Bank and Citibank, but since I couldn’t make sense of Bendigo Banks fees I opted for Citibank which offers me unlimited withdrawals from any ATM in Australia for $5 per month which means I wont be hit with those stupid fees for using non-ANZ ATM’s anymore I also get all the usual stuff like Visa Debit Card etc (something the ANZ requires a separate account for which costs an extra $6 a month).

In other news I have been having car troubles yet again today, which meant I didn’t go to uni or work hence I actually get a night off.

Well its that time of semester where all my subjects have their assignments due. I have completed half of my essays which is good, with the next one being due on Friday (and I have Thursday off, how convenient). After this essay on Friday I don’t have another one for another 3 weeks which will give me a chance to relax for a little bit.

There hasn’t been a whole lot happening apart from Uni and work. I did however go out for the monthly dinner last Thursday with Luke Hawley, Al Bryant, James Lescohier etc. We went to Nacho’s Mexican Cantina in Oakleigh which was rather nice (’Mexican’ would have to be one of my favourite foods). It was also the first time my trusty TomTom let me down, it drove me straight past the place and was trying to get me to go god knows where.

Hopefully I have more to report at the end of this week, but unfortunately I do doubt it since I am usually not allowed to mention anything work related (apart from vague details) on this blog and the things I can mention are boring and trivial.

Some of you will have heard that as of today the tax on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks has risen substantially. Since I work in the Liquor industry I thought I should come on here and voice my opinion.

Frankly this reeks of short sighted politics to me, now instead of buying those drinks kids will simply buy larger bottles of straight spirits, which no doubt pose more danger to kids.

If binge drinking is such a problem, then where are the parents, why are they not held accountable for their children. I see parents everyday come in and buy alcohol for their children, and everyday I must refuse them service which then leads to a big argument over the fact that they [the parents] think they have a right to buy their kids alcohol (which they don’t, its actually illegal in Victoria and strictly enforced).

The government turns around and tries to blame everyone for this problem, well I ask you this Mr Rudd, where are the police when kids are running in the streets, drunk and without supervision (happened Friday night in Dingley Village), why do the police simply give these kids a warning and let them continue their dangerous behaviour? Why weren’t parents called? and more importantly why wasn’t alcohol confiscated?

The reason is Mr Rudd your and Mr Brumby’s government fail to provide enough money for the effective enforcement of the law, you fail to provide suitable working conditions for your current police force and you aren’t increasing the size of the police force enough to be able to fix some of these problems.

And to Consumer Affairs Victoria (aka. Liquor Licensing), your also responsible, the signs you have warning parents about secondary purchase are pathetic, they are not very clear and far too small to have any impact. Why don’t you spend those nice taxes the federal government is now raising as of today on getting larger and more understandable signage, a public awareness campaign making parents aware that if they purchase alcohol for their children they are breaking the law and after that is done we will be able to spend the left over money on increasing the capacity of the Police force to respond to alcohol related incidents.

Finally we need legislation changed to create a blanket rule on underage drinking. At the present time it is perfectly legal for parents to order their children an alcoholic beverage if they are in a licensed establishment partaking in a meal, so why can they do this? Why this rule for restaurants and a different rule for liquor stores?

Frankly Mr Rudd I’m paying taxes on my income, on every thing I buy (GST) except fresh food, on alcohol, on petrol and with all this money you get from every working Australian, the best you can come up with raising taxes. I cannot wait to vote you out at the next election.

Well it’s just past midnight and I just got home from work. I am rather enjoying my new job, it is certainly much better than my last job in nearly all aspects except pay, which there is a slight difference (not huge). Today I actually went to work expecting to work from 3:00pm until 7:00pm, however a coworker called in sick so I ended up being their until after 11:00pm which meant I had to close (which just requires locking everything).

One thing that is also good is the fact that I now have money to spend again meaning I can go out like normal people. It also means that I can drive whenever I want without having to worry about how much gas I’m going to use in my car. Anyway that was my day and I thought you would like to know about (if not then why the hell are you reading my blog?).

Today was surprisingly busy with the whole moving and all. I also had to head down to work to sort out shifts etc, but at least it’s all sorted. After running back and forwards and driving all over the place I went out for the monthly dinner with, well the people that turn up every month (I have no control over these things). So anyway that was relatively exciting. Apart from that not much has been happening, except of course the fact that the Year 12 magazine is finally printed and ready to be posted (about time!!!).

Well I officially got the jobs at Safeway Liquor, which will provide a much needed boost in income. So pretty much I have induction tomorrow and then some more training next week. I was suprised when they said “so can you can come to induction tomorrow at 8:00am” at about 4:30 this afternoon, luckily I am free meaning I will paid as early as Wednesday.

Well my holiday down at Sorrento has finally ended and it marks pretty much the end of my ‘transitional’ break. I will over the next few weeks begin to get back into work mode and I will find myself down at Haileybury over the next couple of weeks finishing of the Year 12 magazine as well as some other little things. Well that’s all for now since my non air conditioned room will soon be approaching the 40 degree mark if my computer remains on, so I think I’ll go sit in front of the air conditioner for a while.