I have also been busy on my EBay account. Man I have missed buying cheap things for my camera on my account while I am away. This is where I buy all my SD cards, spare batteries, card holders, extra or lost cords-all found on EBay. I had to call PayPal to reinstate my account as it hadn’t been used for so long, but after 20 minutes on hold to them and a few clicks of a button it was all back in working order. So I shopped my little heart out buying 20 micro SD cards (expensive in Ethiopia and at only 4 bucks for an 8GB) they were a cracker price. I bought a new card holder that will house all the cards which is the size and thickness of a business card (I had one on my trip) and the piece de resistance was a new Blackberry mobile phone. There is a story behind this purchase. I have always been a Blackberry fan as I love the QWERTY keyboard. Everyone keeps saying get the iPhone, get the iPhone, but I have an iPod and for the cost of 699AUD to buy the cheapest iPhone it really doesn’t make sense when I already have the iPod and an iPad as well. I lost my Blackberry in Chicago over 3 weeks ago and bought a cheap US phone with AT&T to get me through till I got home as the Blackberry’s over on the US were around the 500+ mark. So when I got home the cheap phone no longer worked and I needed ASAP to get a new one. My first full day back I went to Chermside in search of a new Blackberry and after visiting over 6 phone stores they seem quite hard to get your hands on, of any model, and the one that I could find was the new Torch and it was 700AUD to buy out right. Even for me this was a little excessive. So I ended up buying a ‘look-a-like’ Blackberry (which is just not the same) and though nothing of it. Well while I was on EBay I thought I would just check out the Blackberry phones and I found the new touchscreen slider (best of both worlds) for 268AUD from Hong Kong and I bought it. It is unlocked, comes with all the Aussie adapters, is brand new and I bought from a seller with over 15,000 feedbacks and 99% ratings. I think I am in good hands. I have bought electronic stuff from Hong Kong before and had no worries. So I will be back to being a Blackberry owner in a few weeks’ time and I can’t wait.
While I was online I also checked what Olympic tickets were left to purchase as I get there the middle of the last week. I was surprised to see that there were still some tickets floating around for events while I was there, a few, not many, but I just wasn’t sure paying 400AUD for boxing was worth it. There were a few more options the week before I was there, beach volleyball, weight lifting and of course the closing ceremony still had tickets for 1700AUD, which as much as it would be cool to be there for that, 1700AUD would feed a small Ethiopian family for nearly 2 years and I was finding it hard to justify that for a single ticket. So I will be there during the Olympics but have decoded to save the cash and just soak up the atmosphere of London during this massive event.
I have been busy with any spare chance I get to boot up the notebook to compose and load my ‘photo-movies’. I have been living on my iPad (I have missed thee) and also my iPod, so unless I am doing a blog entries, updating iTunes or my photo-movies I don’t get on here much at the moment. I don’t think I could live with just my iPad; I would still need a good old fashioned computer as well. Besides my notebook, I have my mum’s laptop, my iPad and my Playbook, plus my Blackberry and also my iPod. I think I have enough gadgets to last me a long time and all bought back in the ‘old’ Bernie days. Well except my new Blackberry, but I do need a phone right……. So I have processed 11 sections of my trip and I still have 11 to go. It is a time consuming process as I have to flick through all the albums of that trip and pick around 80 of the best pictures and then synch them to my iPod and then make the movie, select the sing and then upload it to YouTube. It is so worth it though to see the playback of the finished product and each and every one brings a tear to the eye and my God-daughters are interested in watching them all, especially the Africa one, which is nice to be able to share the places I have been with them and they are interested as well.
I saw Drew on the week-end as we had some final paperwork to be signed before our court date on the 24th July. He came to the Elks, as we had to have our signatures witnessed and Shelly and Shane could both do that for us. I asked if he could bring over Scooby for me to say hello. He is still cute as a button (Scooby that is) but I am sad to say, even though I think he may have remembered me deep down in his doggy memory, Drew was certainly the ‘single’ parent now. That makes me a little sad as he was my engagement present, but I guess in doggy years it has been over 3 years to him since he last saw me, but it was good to see him again. It was a little weird to see Drew after all this time as well, but it was all amicable (to an extent) and after the paperwork was signed he was on his way home. That will probably be the last time I will see him. We aren’t required to show up at court, so if all the paperwork has been done correctly then the divorce should be granted in a few weeks’ time.
I am getting some travel business cards printed up. There was a girl on my Africa trip that had travel cards printed up with her address and email printed on them and personal travel photos on the other side. I really should have gotten something like that done before I left for my trip last year but I have decided to get it done for my second trip, but with all my Ethiopian details on the card. I have a picture of Zeme and on the back with a travel proverb “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” which I think sums up the whole adventure that I have been on. From the first step of booking, to making the first payment, the final payment, the first trip, the last trip and then my move to Africa. It all started with a single step and I think to put that on my card was a great idea to remind me of what I have achieved the last 16 months. The other side has my and Zeme’s Ethiopian numbers, our PO Box no, both of my blog addresses and my email. Hopefully the cards will be ready by Zoe’s party this weekend and I can start to give them out.
I have been trying to see as many people as I can on my return. We went out and had dinner on Monday night for Jas’s birthday with Bob and Jen and the kidlets. Tuesday was dinner with the Tolly’s, Smyth, Jerome and David at Munro which is like a Brazilian all you can eat meat restaurant and then Wednesdays have now become lunch with my work colleagues at The Gap. I am hoping to see a lot of people at Zoe’s party this weekend as the Elk parties are always bigger than Ben Hur and then I start to need to make dates with people next week as my time is passing way too quickly for my liking. Just imagine if I was only home for the 3.5 weeks as originally planned…. I would be a basket case I think if I was only here for that short of time!!!! I’m off to Darwin next week-end, then Melbourne for 3 nights and back to Brisbane on the 20th July for my final 2 weeks ….ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
One thing I HAVE to get on to is my travel plans to get from London to Edinburgh and back again and to book in my ticket to Addis Ababa. I really should get onto that in the coming days as the longer I leave it the more expensive it is going to get. I told my clients this all the time and here I am leaving it till the last minute, well nbit quite that bad, I have 4 weeks but I HAVE to get my A into G and make some bookings.
So my second week is running away from me as I head into week THREE.
Are you serious???????
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