D'BLOG: What A Busy DAY!!!!

Woke up this morning, and before I even got to have breakfast, a shower or anything else, my mother told me I was driving her around to get some flooring for the family room / dining room. It was an amazing decision on my mothers behalf, as she normally procrastinates and puts these things off forever. She has owned and lived in this house for twenty two years, and it's NEVER EVER had proper flooring. We have some second hand vinyl and carpet thrown in a few rooms. They're badly ripped and really bad. As I now have some money (ie my managed fund money), I offered to place soem flooring down while my mother was in hospital. So we went to look at some floor boards for me to put down. It came to AUD$700+ for the area I hoped to do. So I paid for it, which made my mother very happy. We have to wait for the flooring to come in though. It will arrive on the fifteenth of this month. Then I have to pick it up and bring it home. We drove halfway across Perth to get it at a godo price. So in two weeks time I'm heading back there to pick it up. I decided that we might as well go and see a whitegoods seconds store I pass every now and then. I wanted to check out microwaves for mum. On the way, we stopped off at a Discount Warehouse type store, and I bought a TV / Computer Projector for $800 (which was normally about $1500). It was an older model, which is why i got it cheaper. My brother Jeff also decided to pay for my mother's microwave oven. We have to go back in a week to pick it up. So my mother was very happy. We'd bought her flooring AND a Microwave. Plus, I had the projector (which was bought for my business to use for presentations). On the way home, we decided to drop off to get my brother a Joystick for his computer. When we dropped into the store, I decided to buy some software for my business. I bought these things:

MYOB (Mind You Own Business Accounting Software)
Norton Ghost (Backup Untility)
An Internet Security Suite (I won't say the brand .. keep that secret a little!) :-)

We then headed down the road and bought Subway. Even though I'd had a foot long Vegie Delite, I was still hungry and bought some chips later. (I am such a PIGGGGG!) After we dropped all that stuff off at home, my brother and I went out to do some food shopping for my mother (and the dogs, as they'd run out of food!) It gave me the opportunity to do what I was planning to do today - buy some new clothes!!! So, first stop, CLOTHES STORE. On top of the $700+ (flooring) and $800 (Projector) and $400 (software), I then bought $500 worth of clothes. (I'm feeling poorer already!!!) I was a bit upset I didn't get a discount on my clothes though. [I think the clothing store should be more generous). Well, I needed the clothes badly. Other than a pair of shos and a suit I'd bought, it's the only stuff I've bought in three years!!! My mother acted as though it was her idea, as she's nagged me over the last two years to buy new clothes, but as I kept telling her, I didn't have the money before. It's only as I've exited my managed funds that I have anything to spend. While we were there, I also decided to buy a Digital converter for our Television. All TV's in Aussie have to be Digital (or have a digital to analogue converter) by 2008. So I went to buy one. I was VERY P***ed off with what happened next. I was waiting to be server at the counter, when the three sales clerks ignored me all together and servered another guy who'd arrived at the counter after me. At the time I gave them the benifit of the doubt, as the guy had been more pushy and had pushed in front of me. THEN HOWEVER, they completly ignored me AGAIN and asked two guys who were further to the back if they required help. That time it was a COMPLETE OBVIOUS SNUB!!!!! If you were therem you'd understand. I was AT THE COUNTER!!! I'D BEEN THERE FOR OVER TEN MINTUES WAITING!!! These other two guys had walked in and were standing BEHIND ME!!!! I was p***ed off right royally!!! That was the sort of treatment I used to get when I was a kid! It's not like I could have been missed or anything. Anyway, when I was the ONLY person left at the counter, they decided to serve me. (Like I was some sort of rif raf or soemthing). I asked the guy about the TV Digital to Analogue converters. The guy started playing dumb and pretending he didn't know what they were. I then explained to him what they did! Nope! He still didn't know what they were. So I went into painful graphic detail about the need for them and what the do. 'OH!' The guy said, 'You want a SETOBOX!!!' He said the last word in a weird accent and really fast. I thought he was German for a second! 'Um, sorry, what did you say.' 'A SETOBOX!!' Really fast and in a weird accent again! Where was he getting that accent and WHAT THE FRIG was a SETOBOX!!!! 'Sorry, I didn't get what you said!' The guy rolled his eyes like I was an idiot and said he'd show me to what he ment. So we went to where they were and he pointed to one. 'Yes, that's what I want.' 'Okay', he just stood there. 'Yes', I repeated. 'That's what I want. I want to buy one.' 'Oh!' The guy looked totally stunned. As if he expected me to say I didn't have the money or something! What a PR*CK!!! He went into the back room and came out with one. We went to the counter and I paid for it. I wasn't happy. Do they ALWAYS treat customers like complete idiots? I've vowed never to go back into that store again. NEVER EVER!!!! The only reason I stayed was because I needed the digital converter to use with my Projector. The projector doesn't run off analogue TV's, it needs either a digital one, or the converter. I noticed that the only time that PR*CK had an accent was when he was saying 'Set Top Box'. Though I must admit, there were a few times he said things in a weird way by rushing through certain words and joining them all together. Even without him pretending I was some sort of moron, I was still p***ed off with having been ignored while they dealt with other customers who'd arrived after me!!!! We came home, and I set up the digital converter and the projector. We got out an old movie projector screen we still have. It didn't quite fit on it, but we managed to get it all working. We had trouble getting the sound to work. I'd turned it up full on both the Projector and Digital Converter. It didn't work. I kept fiddling with it and my mother suggested I try the digial converter. I pointed out I'd already tried it. My brother and I went through trying different cables and other things. I'd turned both the devices down to half volume by this stage (so as not to blow ear drums when it did eventually work). Eventually, Jeff (my brother) noticed he could hear a faint sound of the TV station. I listened closely. I could too. So I turned up the volume on both devices and we foudn we had sound. My mother then told me that it was because of her suggestion, saying that I hadn't turned the sound up on the Digital Converter! I bit my tongue, as I'd previously shown her BOTH devices with the volume on full and no sound!!! Well, we got to watch some digital TV on the BIG screen. Then I set it up on the Television as well. I'm not too impressed with Digital TV. Though there are three channels for every normal free to air TV station, I noticed they all play the exact same things. So we have three chanel seven stations playing chanel seven. Three chanel nine, three chanel ten. We do have four digital radio stations, and thre are stations for every station whcih list the programs. SBS also had an extra station which was playing some foreign language, but it didn't come with subtitles. I know at one stage they were talking in French on the station! Most of the TV stations do actually come with subtitles for the hearing impaired! It's a pity the foreign one didn't come with any at all ... not in English, not in French etc. I then loaded my Internet Security and Norton Ghost onto my PC and spent most the night trying to get on the Internet. (Yeah, lots of things to tweak ... as I now have four firewalls, and half a dozen virus scanners etc ... and all wanted to block each other!) :-) My brother Jeff and I then set up the projector with his laptop computer. We had a great time playing some of our games and proving that his joystick works. I probably should have got some photographs of the projector working. Anyway, we projected it onto the blue wall we have here, (after taking the clock down). He also tried playing The Sims on it, but as it needed the mouse, he was playing it more using his laptop screen, while I could see what was happening on the big screen. I then returned to making my computer work on the internet, and visited a few blogs (but not all of the usual ones I get through ... so if there are no comments on yoursite, I might not have got there yet!) List of clothes I bought: