Australian Open 2010

I was a guest of ANZ at the Australian Open this year. :) One of the brokers said they had the Superbox for Day 4 (Round 2) of the Australian Open and invited me to join them. ANZ is one of the main sponsors of the tennis this year.

The timing has been pretty awesome. The event was yesterday, 21/1/2010 and I had today off (it is my rostered day off) and I am flying to Canberra this evening, for the Australia Day "long" weekend. I've arranged to take Monday off as annual leave and Tuesday is Australia Day. So, if I had been privileged to be invited to the later days, in theory better players at quarter/semi finals, I might not have been in the state to attend!

Anyway, my cousin was also a guest of the Herald Sun and they had almost courtside seats. I think maybe the 2nd or 3rd row. It was at the end of the day session and they had spare places so I got in to watch the end of the match between Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) and Donald Young (USA). Hewitt won. Courtside is really cool!!! Hung out with my cousin a bit - then I made my way to the lifts that take people up to the corporate boxes.


The Corporate Box is not that big... apparently it caters for about 18 people and there were about 30 of them in total. Met a couple of people that I talk to on the phone a bit so it was nice to put a face to the name and the voice. Most of them are really friendly and nice. They served dinner - which included prawns and fresh oysters, lamb, fish (I think it was barramundi - it was yummy!) and chicken. For dessert there was pavlova and trifle and some really rich looking cakes. I had just the pav and that was pretty sweet and quite good.

So, for the evening session on Day 4, Round 2 - we saw Roger Federer play an unseeded player, Victor Henescu of Romania. The match wasn't very exciting. 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 and it was over in 99 minutes. The highlight though, was when Prince William made an entrance! He is visiting Australia and he dropped in to watch. Everybody got up to try and get a look of the Prince. He went away shortly after the men's match ... and I thought he had left... but apparently, he had gone to meet Federer. Jim Courier who is a commentator for the Open, asked Federer to 'welcome to the australian open' ... and I thought he was a bit taken aback at first, but he managed to say... "Your Royal Highness, Welcome to the Tennis". :) Everybody cheered at that...

After that, it was the women's match, between Casey Dellacqua (AUS) and Karolina Sprem (CRO). I would say that they are "evenly matched" ... scores were 7-6, 7-6. They went into tiebreakers for both sets. However, I thought overall - they weren't that good ... each of them made so many errors, giving away points and games ... you sort of think that the only way someone is going to win, is if they make less mistakes than the other person. Here's another bit of interesting information ... Dellacqua is going to face Venus Williams, next. For her sake, I hope she doesn't keep making so many mistakes or she is going to crash out and really badly at Round 3.


Disclaimer: Prince William / Roger Federer pic is copyright of Australian Open

Birthday 2010

"Celebrated" my birthday two weekends ago. Was in Canberra because I thought it would be "appropriate" as the last time I was up there was in November. However, Daniel's brother stole my thunder! ;) He got engaged - about 2-3 months ago ... and he got married on the same weekend as my "birthday weekend". ;) So, Josh and Wendy were the main stars for the weekend. I'm not going to blog much about the wedding - as I don't know if they're going to appreciate their photos being put up on the internet for the world to see. So, if you really do want to know more about it (or see some photos), message me (friends/family only please), and I will send you a link.

As a present to myself (sort of) I bought a new mobile phone. A Nokia E71-3 (or E71, version 3). I bought it off eBay and it was a very "exciting" auction. ;) There were quite a number of E71s up for auction ... but this one in particular, was originally from Telstra and works on their Next G network (UMTS 850). Previously, I had a Nokia N73 that was a 3G phone - but because it doesn't work on the same band, I have been using EDGE for the last 3 years... very, very frustrating! Anyway, the auction ended at 2.36am - and I woke up at 2.30am to watch it and bid on it. I was concerned that the price would be much too high, but it ended up being $355, which is appropriate. My N73 was $600 - eBay price, 3 years ago and Telstra sells the E71 for $589 outright.

Anyway, up to about 3am - I was emailing and texting the seller - sad, I know! I was hoping to get it on Friday before I left for Canberra, after work ... and the guy was hoping that I could pick it up from Chadstone, at 7pm. My flight left at 7pm! After some SMS table tennis, including him asking if I could meet his sister at Crown Towers (on the other side of the CBD from where I was) - he said - "I'll just leave work early and drop it off at your office?" I'm like - sure, that would be awesome!!! Usually, when a pick-up option is offered (i.e. save on postage), the buyer has to go pick it up at the sellers agreed location ... but this guy dropped it off, very cool! So, I got it - just in time, for "birthday weekend" hehehe.

I'm still working out how to use GPS... but other than that, I like the QWERTY keyboard (still getting used to it) but yay!!! New phone!!!! :) I blame (formerly) working in a telco for my obsession with nice phones ... but having lasted 3 years before changing phones - I think that is pretty reasonable, isn't it?

Belatedly... Christmas 09 / New Year's '10

Took a few days off over Christmas... Cheng was in town, courtesy of Air Asia specials... so we arranged for Daniel and me to stay in Melbourne - so I could catch up with her. Saw Wai Hoong too ... but he left after brekkie ... he really wasn't in to going "window shopping" at the artsy fartsy shops around Brunswick St. It was a bit rushed as we were trying to cover a lot of areas in less than a day - including Smith St and Lygon St. and we did a quick lap around the CBD. Took Cheng to Koko Black, which I think completely chocolated her out - and she gave up on the Lindt Cafe altogether. :( I've always been meaning to try Lindt Cafe ... but I guess, that will be on another occasion.

Went to Paul and Kylie's place for Christmas Eve. Kris Kringle (sort of like random gift exchange) was fun... I picked up a serving dish thing with two little dishes for sauce. Am slowly starting to accumulate household stuff... :) Unfortunately though, before arriving at the party - I got some really, really, really bad news. :( My aunt passed away of cancer. :( :( :( She was only diagnosed less than 3 weeks earlier ... and it was really, really, sudden. :( :( :( She will be terribly missed during Chinese New Year this year as well as in the future. :( :( :( I thought some of my other cousins (one in London, and the other in Adelaide) that sent flowers did a good job of making people laugh and feel better. In their message, they asked... "Do you know where auntie kept the recipe for Curry Prawns?" :) And my brother was even better - he asked my cousin if she knew how to make "Tamingung". It's a Foo Chow dish ... that my aunt made every year during Chinese New Year when the family got together... my cousin told him to google it ... but I don't think no one really knows how to spell "Tamingung". :P I miss my aunt. And I really missed my family during the period.

Daniel and I had made bookings to go to Mornington Peninsula for a few days after Christmas, so we went ahead with our plans - just to get away and try to relax - and recharge the batteries. Still, felt really, really bummed out about my aunt. We went back to the Peninsula Hot Springs... (I've written about them before a few years ago). They have renovated and the bathrooms are really nice and new and somewhat hi-tech - magnetized lockers! It was really nice to soak in the hot pools... and thanks to the Entertainment Book - it was buy one get one free.

Hmm... what else did we do? Nothing much for New Year's. Oh - I got a lot of Chocolate for Christmas. This Santa Bear dark chocolate teddy is from my cousin - and it is a Koko Black chocolate teddy. It was yummy... and very decadent! The little hamper on the right - is from Heritage Chocolates. I rang a radio station (old habits die hard!) and won it. The downside was - I had to drive about half an hour to Rowville to collect it! I'm still not sure if it was worth the long drive ... but anyway - it was free! :)

New Office

No... I didn't get a new job... :P

The lease on my company's old premises at St Kilda Road was up and it was not going to be renewed as the owners were planning to have the building demolished to build a new apartment block. So, the company went around looking for a new office and we've settled on a building in the CBD near Flagstaff Gardens / Railway Station.

It was a bit overwhelming when I first stepped in ... there were bright lights (they are new!) :) and everything was everywhere and everyone was no longer where they used to be, i.e. they changed floors and were hard to locate!

I've given up my view of the city for the view of the atrium roof (yippee - not!) ... but there is a lot more storage space, so I guess that's more practical. I often draw the blinds at the old place anyway, as the sun used to get in my eyes. Parking is dearer ... $13 per day (casual) but I'm not sure how much monthly parking costs. The old place was $7 (all day street parking) or $10 (covered). However, the train station is practically next door - and I am home in about 20 minutes after leaving work. Only downside to that is that I have to change trains at Richmond. Still, no big dramas.

There are LOTS of shops in the area - both retail and food ... so there is quite a lot of variety in comparison to the old premises. I am meeting Doris for lunch tomorrow and we will have to sort out where to go. So many interesting places to go to and many offer lunch at about $10, which is ok - for city dining. The customers were a lot more dressed up though, suits etc. Maybe it's time to change the wardrobe?

Flagstaff Gardens is very busy at lunch time... I saw a lot of people just sitting on the grass enjoying the sun. I'm not sure if they'll still be doing that on Wednesday as it's forecasted to be a 39 degree day. Bleah! There was also a group of people doing bootcamp this morning ... uh, not too keen at this point... I remember all the pain and barely being able to move after a week of bootcamp!

Coffee was pretty good too... though dearer. I guess that is what I will have to expect, now that we are in the city and no longer outside the city. I like the variety though. It is good.

It is finished!

Sat for my final subject exam today ... after two years and six semesters ... I have finally completed the Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance. There has been a lot of pain, blood (well, not really...) sweat and tears (mostly it's stress) ... but it's finally finished!

I got exempted for two subjects and had to complete 6 subjects.

• Securities Industry Law and Ethics - good introduction to the regulation that applies in Australia
  
• Interest Rate Markets and Risk Management - very interesting, enjoyed doing this subject
  
• Risk Management for Finance Sector Enterprises - very poorly written. There were a lot of errors in the notes and they stopped doing face-to-face lectures. They also scheduled the exam before the assignment, but because it was so poorly prepared, the exam ended up being cancelled.
  
• Technical Analysis - this one did my head in, looking at charts and looking for patterns. The language was funny too ... like - powerfully broke through resistance levels... etc etc. Wish the technical analysts could use more down-to-earth language. Also, the online lectures were not very good - as they were referring to something but the animatedly doing something else. Felt completely lost!
  
• Futures and Options Markets and Trading - this went pretty well. The forum facilitator was very helpful in explaining all the different little things about options...
• Foreign Exchange Markets - The forum facilitator started an exam bootcamp and put up various questions that we could encounter ... and everybody tried to answer them and helped each other out, explaining the approaches and the answers. By far, the most "fun" I've had doing a subject, but with the same amount of stress!

So yes, after 2 years ... it is done ... I'm very likely to pass this one ... so I think it's done. :) On to the next project ... and that is wedding plans!! Maybe a holiday would be nice... oh and Christmas is coming!! :) And Cheng is coming for Christmas... :) Yay! Fun times ahead.

In memory of ... a childhood friend.

A few days ago... I found out that a friend I had in school had died last year ... we went to the same primary school together, were in the same class for about 4-5 years, she was fairly competitve (as was I), and we were friends... playing basketball, being "Brownies" and going to campfires, talking about boys - the usual stuff 12-year-old girls talk about. She and another friend had huge crushes on the boyband of the early 90's - New Kids on the Block. :P

Then we went to secondary school - and though it was the same school, we were in different classes - and our circle of friends changed and we drifted apart. She went on to do Advertising and I went towards Finance. One time, quite randomly, I bumped into her, at a resort where I was attending a conference or something like that interstate in Malaysia. We didn't say much - just "Hi" (as it was at the lift) and that was it. That was probably 6-7 years ago.

Then, about two years ago, when I finally joined Facebook - I thought I'd look her up. Added her to my list of friends but didn't quite make any other contact. A while later though - I thought she sort of disappeared from facebook. I tried searching for her again but I couldn't find her profile. I figured she'd had enough of it (as it does suck up a lot of time) and that was all there was to it.

So, I was really shocked to hear that she had died last year... and even more shocked to hear that she had fallen to her death. I really don't have all the information (if any, at all) ... I just feel so saddened by this. I feel bad for not having made a proper connection. Could I have done anything to help? Why didn't I make a connection? She was only 29 with potentially, so much more ahead of her. I don't understand it. Why???

I also feel really sorry for her parents ... she was an only child. :(

So all I can say now, is "Goodbye, old friend" ... although belatedly... I hope you're with God now and that He has taken away all your hurts and all your pain.

Virgin Blue - Fool's Gold

Last week, I received an email from Velocity Rewards, the loyalty program of Virgin Blue saying that my member status had been upgraded to Gold (for a year). Now given that I'm about 25% of the way to Silver ... I thought, wah... this is a super bonus! The perks are fairly good, the main stand-out benefits being use of the Velocity Lounge as well as free luggage allowance (that's worth $10 each way). Now, as I didn't think I'd earned enough points to warrant a free generous upgrade like that, I thought it was because I recently signed up with V-Insiders, this invite-only forum/discussion room moderated by Virgin Blue, to get people's opinions etc about the airline industry and get feedback on future promotions.

Unfortunately... it was a HUGE mistake!!! They sent that upgrade email to what could be, everyone on their members database. Within 3 hours, they sent an email - saying that the first one was sent out in error and they blamed Friday the 13th. Man, what a let-down. The local newspapers carried this story the following Monday... and people got upset, demanding compensation, etc. As much as I was not pleased or impressed with this whole fiasco, I was really disappointed when I found out it was an error. I don't expect them to honour the first email, (they'd probably lose money and go out of business) but what a letdown! The Velocity website has since taken off their announcement that they made a mistake sending the upgrade email to everyone (within a week) ... like they want to forget about it quickly ... I'm writing about it, so it at least stays on my blog! :P Also, since this happened, the person who was moderating the forums @ V-Insider, seems to be missing-in-action. :P Some further explanation would have been good.


But anyway, as much as I was/am disappointed by this - flying with them is still better than flying with Tiger Airways... so better they stay in business than they go out of business and I have to travel with Tiger...

I Hate Tiger Airways

So many times, the budget airline, Tiger Airways has let us down... I've come to the conclusion that instead of saving about $50 on a flight with them (approximately 50% less than Virgin when sales are on, and 65% less than Qantas), the trade-offs aren't really worth it.

1. Flight times are not the best ... they have at most 2 flights a day... so we got a flight from Canberra to Melbourne for tomorrow night @ 9.55pm. Virgin and Qantas have more flights and they are scheduled at a better time, e.g. between 5pm - 8pm (and throughout the day).

2. We received an email in the last 2 hours (less than 24 hours before the scheduled flight), advising that there will be delays (Perth Airport's runway will be closed between 2am and 6am on Saturday 3^rd October). I suppose I don't have all the information, but as a result of this closure, a flight from the day before is delayed 3 hours???) This is a 1-hour domestic flight, not an international flight where you can sleep for a few hours, overnight!

3. There is no guarantee that the new scheduled departure time of 12.45 am is going to run on time. Who knows - they might be delayed another hour or two.

4. On-line check in is NOT available... and so they make you turn up there at least an hour early (for a rushed, high-pressured check-in experience) as they close the check-in for the flight 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time. If you're the nice rule-abiding person and you turn up say 90 minutes early ... there would be easily 60-100 other nice rule-abiding persons ahead of you. So you end up waiting to be served. Alternatively, you could turn up 2 hours early, but of course you get to WAIT the next 2 hours for your flight to leave, again ASSUMING that it isn't delayed.

So, for the $50 ... you might end up losing more money (e.g. taking a cab from the airport as it's so late at night), losing a lot of time, patience, energy and effort from waiting and waiting and waiting, and worse - having your plans changed on you, with no compensation, refunds, credit, flight change options, nothing - ZIP, NADA, ZILCH.

Tiger Airways - good for competition ... hopefully they'll keep Virgin Blue and Qantas fairly competitive (though Virgin is not making much $$ lately) but I'm going to take my $50 and happily put in the extra $30 - $50 to go to their competition!