I don't know what the deal is here with all the kiddie cutsie tootsie words that people use but they are getting out of hand. It seems as though an "ie" or an "o" are added on to shortened words to make them just extra special cute and it's annoying.
For instance, brekkie (breakfast), arvo (afternoon), barbie (barbeque), garbo (garbage), footy (football), uni (university), Aussie (Australian), esky (a cooler)...the list goes on.
Or maybe it's more about just shortening the word because there also is Oz (Australia), ute (utility vehicle i.e. pick up truck), veg (vegetables), g-day and on and on.
It's not as if it takes any more time or effort to say the whole word and it seems so childish to say this like "After brekkie, can you take out the garbo?" Ughh!! Never! Here I am trying to teach Abby how to speak properly and this is what we have to contend with.
Friday, November 12, 2010
4.97096954 miles per hour
Some things never change...Jason had his first run-in with the Australian Law. Or rather, his first electronically-detected-and-ticket-issued-through-the-mail run-in with the Australian Law. Apparently, about a month ago, on a trip south to Jervis Bay Jason was travelling 8 km/hr over the speed limit. Mind you, that is only 4.97096954 mi/hr over the speed limit which, for the record, even if you round up to 5 mi/hr, doesn't even count as speeding in the US.
We were notified of the violation, not by a police officer pulling him over, nor a citation received in the mail. Rather, we were told by the rental car company that we were being charged $50 as an administration fee for the citation we were going to be receiving in the mail within the next few weeks. And when I say charged, I don't mean sent a bill, I mean they charged our credit card that we used to hold the rental car reservation!
When do you get to cry to the cop and say that you're a tourist and you didn't know that driving 4.97096954 mi/hr over the speed limit was speeding? And do you ever get to feel good about "making good time" on a trip when you can calculate exactly the maximum time it will take you because you have to maintain the speed limit?
The whole system is just un-American! I suppose everyone here believes that the government (and their stupid cameras) is keeping strickly to the straight and narrow with no funny business such as, setting their speed detectors 5 km/hr high to make a quick 90 bucks! Or that there is NEVER (ever) a reason that you should exceed the speed limit...like the fact that we were trying to get to the beach with the whitest sand in the world to watch my white skin glow.
One positive to this whole thing is that they give you a month and half to pay it, unlike Philly that wants you to send in your payment within 24 hours of receiving the ticket. Maybe Philly should just charge your credit card without asking, then they would get their money.
We were notified of the violation, not by a police officer pulling him over, nor a citation received in the mail. Rather, we were told by the rental car company that we were being charged $50 as an administration fee for the citation we were going to be receiving in the mail within the next few weeks. And when I say charged, I don't mean sent a bill, I mean they charged our credit card that we used to hold the rental car reservation!
When do you get to cry to the cop and say that you're a tourist and you didn't know that driving 4.97096954 mi/hr over the speed limit was speeding? And do you ever get to feel good about "making good time" on a trip when you can calculate exactly the maximum time it will take you because you have to maintain the speed limit?
The whole system is just un-American! I suppose everyone here believes that the government (and their stupid cameras) is keeping strickly to the straight and narrow with no funny business such as, setting their speed detectors 5 km/hr high to make a quick 90 bucks! Or that there is NEVER (ever) a reason that you should exceed the speed limit...like the fact that we were trying to get to the beach with the whitest sand in the world to watch my white skin glow.
One positive to this whole thing is that they give you a month and half to pay it, unlike Philly that wants you to send in your payment within 24 hours of receiving the ticket. Maybe Philly should just charge your credit card without asking, then they would get their money.
Monday, November 8, 2010
How Much for Pizza?!
We went out on Friday night for dinner with two other couples and their children sort of last minute. We picked a place in Darling Harbour, right on the water. It was an Italian place that had a menu that was twice as large as any diner menu I have ever seen. It was extremely overwhelming; especially when you throw 4 kids into the mix and then look at the price of the food. We all had sticker shock when we noticed that you could actually purchase a pizza for $90. We were slightly relieved when we heard that said pizza was 1 meter long by about 1 foot wide and would be able to feed all 6 adults. So, when you do the math it's actually not that expensive but, you have to do the math. Prices here never cease to amaze me.It wound up being a great evening and I am happy that we have found some friends to hang out with. Abby had a blast with her new friends (Mia, Victor and Senan) and didn't go to bed until 10:15pm.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
USD vs. AUD
Well doesn't our luck just stink. Just as a note, Jason is being paid in U.S. Dollars (USD) and then we transfer it into three different bank accounts and after about 2 weeks of our money being somewhre in bank cyberspace it arrives in our Australian bank account in Australian Dollars (AUD). With today's technology I don't understand why the transfers and the conversions can not occur instantaneously but anyway, it is what it is.
When we first got to Sydney the exchange rate was such that $1 USD bought us about $1.15 AUD which was okay. Not quite as good as it had been in the past but it was still helping to give us a little bit of an edge as we were buying everything in AUD. Now, for the first time in 15 years or something, the AUD is now at parody with the USD. In fact, last week it even was above the USD. This basically means that as we watch the USD drop in value we watch our money evaporate into the thin air. Or maybe it goes into that same cyberspace that our transferred money gets stuck in.
If anyone thought this might happen they could have made a bunch of money by buying AUD, waiting a couple months and than exchanging it to USD. I guess there are people that play that game but not me. I don't like this international exchange stuff. It's our money and I don't like just giving it up to the exchange rate gods.
When we first got to Sydney the exchange rate was such that $1 USD bought us about $1.15 AUD which was okay. Not quite as good as it had been in the past but it was still helping to give us a little bit of an edge as we were buying everything in AUD. Now, for the first time in 15 years or something, the AUD is now at parody with the USD. In fact, last week it even was above the USD. This basically means that as we watch the USD drop in value we watch our money evaporate into the thin air. Or maybe it goes into that same cyberspace that our transferred money gets stuck in.
If anyone thought this might happen they could have made a bunch of money by buying AUD, waiting a couple months and than exchanging it to USD. I guess there are people that play that game but not me. I don't like this international exchange stuff. It's our money and I don't like just giving it up to the exchange rate gods.
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