Well, the end-of-financial-year sale season has drawn to a close, so it’s time to re-count the bargain buys of the last couple of weeks, and start dreading next month’s credit card bill. A new suit from my favourite expressive expensive but nice businessy-wear shop (I’ve had nice trousers and jackets before, but this is my ... [More]
I went to that bastion of good fashion, Big W after work tonight, to look at some eveningwear. Not the night on the town with my special lady kind of eveningwear, more the sitting at home alone in front of the telly on a cold winter evening kind of eveningwear. Trackie dacks, to be precise. ... [More]
Those of you who make the extra effort to seek out ethical or organic products might be interested to know that Cadbury is taking over Green & Black’s chocolates. As one blogger commented — hey, at least it’s not Nestle. (via Andy) From time to time I’ve sampled G&B’s. Yummy stuff, and I for one ... [More]
I might be losing weight since the weather got cold, what with freezing my arse off every morning. Welcome to winter. Since my evil scheme to get us out of this cold house by the onset of winter hasn’t come off, yesterday I went and bought an extra heater, to prevent the family freezing to ... [More]
I didn’t buy a house on Saturday. Despite assistance, I was outmanoevred. It does strike me that the auction process is not dissimilar to professional poker. Anyway in preparation for the auction, I needed to be ready to pay a 10% deposit of (argh) tens of thousands of dollars by cheque. So last week I ... [More]
Dear Origin energy, I’m not interested in switching electricity companies. Not that it would really be a switch, since the power coming down the lines to my house wouldn’t change at all. No, all I’d be switching is who sends me power bills. And unless you’re about to tell me that your bills are so ... [More]
I filled up with petrol on Sunday night. $1.05 per litre, and that was with the 4 cpl supermarket discount. Don’t count on prices dropping any time soon. OPEC admit they have no control over oil prices, with demand continuing to outstrip supply. And of course world demand continues to climb as developing countries embrace ... [More]
My new iPod is having troubles. (And an update.) Sigh. But hey, look on the bright side. With Labour Day last Monday, next week Good Friday, the week after that Easter Monday… there’s three weeks in a row of short working weeks, and accompanied by copious amounts of chocolate. (Or religion, if you feel so ... [More]
I got a letter yesterday from AGL asking me to join their “green power” programme for electricity and gas. That is, whatever amount you use they’ll guaranteed to generate the same amount from renewable sources. (Which makes sense for electricity, though I don’t know how they reckon they could do that for gas). Now, call ... [More]
Still got computer problems, so expect updates here to be patchy. In the supermarket the other night… old folks in front of me buying “Farm House Milk.” I was buying “Rev.” Theirs has extra cream. Mine has less cream. I wonder if there’s a machine at the dairy that takes the cream out of the ... [More]
Came across this fascinating article from Joel Spolsky on how to price products. No, really, despite the use of graphs, it’s really interesting. He talks about software, but really it applies to anything. He makes some great points about companies getting people to pay what they’re willing to pay for a product, through market segmentation: ... [More]
We’ve got used to seeing advertising everywhere, but I must say the idea of advertising on clothes doesn’t quite sit right with me. Obviously if you’re paying for clothing promoting something because you’re a fan, that’s fair enough. Your favourite band or TV show or footy team. But have clothing companies earned the right to ... [More]
Last week I ran out of garbage bin liners, so I went to buy some more at the supermarket. When I got there I discovered the only ones in the correct size (34 litres) are scented. Mint scented, pine scented, lemon scented, something like that. I decided on the lemon. So now my rubbish bin ... [More]
The theory is that the Melbourne CBD is booming. Retail activity is through the roof, not just on weekdays but also evenings and weekends. Certainly from my point of view as a CBD worker-bee and occasional weekend visitor, it seems like much of the CBD is bustling for most of the time, no doubt helped ... [More]
My latest Ebay listing: LOTR Two Towers collector’s DVD – box and Gollum only Just the box and the Gollum This is the Australian DVD collector’s gift box of Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers… but WITHOUT the discs… eg it’s just the gift box and the Gollum/Smeagol. Just to emphasise: No discs, no ... [More]
I’ve got a couple of days off work… happy dance, happy dance, nyah nyah. Actually it’s not really smugworthy, given I’m going to the dentist this morning. On Sunday I unexpectedly went on a consumer electronics buying spree. First, the VCR started misbehaving. Tape playback fuzzy. Same with a couple of other tapes. Found the ... [More]