March 14, 2009

Pretty Busy...

I haven't written anything here for quite a while, well I know it's not been that long really, but in my usual schedule of posting every few days, I guess it has!

I've just been up to the usual, flying my butt off, hanging out at home on reserve days and meeting up with the friends and family when I can.

Workwise, things have been pretty good. I've had some great flights, I've done some trips to Darwin, Melbourne & Brisbane (yes SHB, I hate our hotel as much as you do!!) and I had a really good performance review from one of the onboard managers. I've actually done a few flights with her lately, so she compiled those into the one review, and gave me really good marks.

Unfortunately, as with most businesses at the moment, the suffering economy is taking its toll. While the flights seem as full to me as ever, we are getting a bit of a doom-and-gloom speech from our managers. Nothing too bad, just that we have to be sure to work extra-hard to keep our passengers coming back to fly with us and to make sure they enjoy their flights. (Can be difficult when you feel your job is threatened, but oh well.) The other downer was that planned promotions are not going ahead, which means I'm stuck in employment limbo as to my status (at the moment on an open-ended contract, but that could change suddenly)

Other things happening? I've been taking advantage of the nice weather to sit by the pool on days off, or after early flights, and catching up with a good book. Today I went for a ride on my bike (yes it finally got assembled after much head-scratching due to the odd instructions which had nowhere near enough diagrams in them) and now I have a sore butt. (Must buy that padded seat cover). I'm nowhere in Kimmy's league, I just plan to ride as somehow it seems easier than walking for exercise.

And hallelujah, I managed to get my tax papers found from the abyss that is my storage room and get organised to finally file the damn thing, nearly a year after it was due. (Apparently I have til end of June to do it if I want the $900 government bonus- yes I do!) Add that to the estimated $1900 tax refund, and well, that's a good $2800 for the travel fund. Woo hoo! (I did dip into the savings a bit, but only to pay essential things like rent and car loan from the month I wasn't working)

Aside from that, I've been trying to be better at looking after myself. I kind of got slack during my leave, I stopped taking my vitamins etc and really noticed it. So I've been doing things like using a body scrub once a week, having a nice face mask at night before bed, taking a half hour in between housework to read a nice magazine (free from the plane of course) and just do things like that, 'me time'. I really got into it last year and I suppose wintertime is more conducive to it as there's more reason to stay indoors.

Lastly, the computer issues have been sorted, luckily I had taken out extra warranty and the company which provides the after-manufacturer warranty agreed to repair it. So off it went with the Toll man to get its checkup, they would only have got it today so I think maybe Monday or Tuesday they will look at it and maybe Wednesday I might get a call to tell me exactly what's wrong. Hopefully I'll have it Monday after next at the latest. In the meantime am getting photos printed out, just in case. Think I will stick to DVDs as backup from now on, as the portable hard drive saved everything in a weird archive format so I have no idea where a particular file is, and it's all compressed! Next time I will just copy and paste everything I think!!

8 comments:

  1. Way to go, keep up the great work, TT! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. finally an up-date!

    Here's hoping you get your computer back soon so you can start blogging regularly again.

    quote: "having a nice face mask at night before bed" ahem... how old are you? you don't need a mask (good you don't have a guy there to see it.... )... unless it's because of the dry airplane air. I'm going on 60 (yes I am!) and have NEVER used a mask or even moisturizers! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Get a USB stick they come in sizes up to 64 GB now and i find them great for saving data and it is easy to get back as well. You can carry everything in your purse/bag, like all your own pictures and never have a fear of your laptop being stolen and losing everything.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Don't forget to keep up with the cool shoe ideas.

    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good work on the traavel fund TT. & congrats on your performance appraisal.

    I second Kona's sentiments re shoes!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Doanli =)

    Dorrie, yes I do extra only because of the aircraft cabin air... it can feel quite drying on the skin even after only a few hours. Drinking water helps but because I wear makeup so long each flight it feels like my skin doesn't breathe, so a mask helps unclog all that yucky cosmetics from my face! :P

    Stu, I love the USBs as well. Going to try pickup a few SD cards for my camera as well, always seem to run out of space when there's something good to photograph!

    Kona, I'll post some more shoes when I get my laptop back... too hard to figure out this hard disk system at the moment!

    Thanks L! It's nice to hear some good feedback when the company is being a bit harsh about other stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good on you with the bike, I've just taken it up again too, slooowly easing my way into a routine....

    ReplyDelete
  8. Uh oh. We use a portable hard-drive to back up our computer. Erk.

    Oh and well done re the cycling! I'm proud! It's great for firming the butt and toning the legs. And it doesn't take long to see the results either.

    ReplyDelete

Pick up the interphone, make your announcement!