by ·Comments Off on 6 of 6… Finally!

Day 5/6

Tired, Grumpy, struggle city this morning. Rain makes me unhappy as it meant I couldn’t get out and go for a run, had to stay in and use the treadmill but that meant one good thing to lighten my morning. MACGYVER! Watched an ep of Macgyver while I was on the treadmill and did my 5km’s in roughly 42 mins which aint a bad time really (i can usually run it in 30). Scurry to work as quickly as possible, 1 bucket of coffee at home and a pot of coffee at work to make life tolerable. Another day full of the same questions over and over again. Some good bookings but not enough to make it all worth it really. As the day pushed on my lack of energy grew larger and larger.

Made it home to just want to collapse. Rain rain and more rain about just totally over it. Finished the day off with some Pan Am & Flying Wild #avgeek heaven tonight.

Day 6/6.

Up to bright blue sky and sunshine. Get to the gym and its not as packed as it has been on the weights but the cardio machines are heaving full of people. Busted my ass for an hour and came home and relaxed (well relaxed compared to rushing about). God I can’t wait for tommorrow where I can just take my time. Oats, Banana, Coffee. 3 favourite things some mornings and this morning it was good. Checked my emails found out I had sold one of my ebay items over night… theres $60 in the bank… SCORE! Time to organise some postage on that tomorrow. Off to work, busy as hell as usual. 69 calls overall for the day. Not much in the way of substantial bookings but enough to keep the day going! Finished my book on the way to work so expect a review tomorrow.

Come home to find out another shirt sold, my order from the USA has shipped and my new camera lens is on its way and I have a day off tomorrow. Some Hawaii 5-0 tonight, some more flying wild and I will be a happy chappy I think. Bit of a social weekend ahead now to, with Lunch with some friends on Sunday for Sushi (Brendan, Ross, Suz & little Isabella) and some hiking at Mt Cootha on Sat Arvo with Alisha (she will hate me after the day is finished i know it! *evil laugh*)

by ·Comments Off on 4/6… past halfway!

Day 3/6 started off good, got my ride in, weather was looking a tad dodgy but it was holding out, i was all geared up for a ride to the station and a nice relaxing train ride to work to catch up on the reading… NOPE! The world intervened again, down came the rain, but it stopped pretty quickly and the time looked ok for me to ride to the station still, if i pulled my finger out. So I rode to the station, got there, onto the platform, realise train doesn’t come till a time that will make me late to work… NOOOOOO not good. Ring home, tell dad to bring my car down quickly so I can drive him home and get my butt to work before I am late. Keep the bike with me so that just in case I have to park at the Parklands i can ride to work and get there quicker. Thankfully got a parking spot right outside work!

Work itself was fine, usual problems on the day of a campaign release (“what do you mean its a from price?” or “o is that per person? Never mind!”) but nothing I can’t really handle. No real time to eat or breathe though as it was pretty constant. End of shift, come home, realise forgot to set the downloads properly (doh) but have enough stuff to keep me from wanting to do anything else other than watch some tv, and relax (which I did).

Day 4… today… Gym was pretty busy, looks like the workers are all coming back now, doh! Means more fighting for the equipment in the morning I guess. Weighed in, lost 3.4kg over the last week.. yay.. almost got all of the post Xmas weight off, just in time to put it all back on again in a few weeks! Finding it harder to function this morning without coffee and was not one to be trifled with till I got it. In saying that, got to work, plenty to do and plenty of things to keep me busy, so much so the whole day was a blur, fell short of 70 calls by 1 call 🙁 Saw the result to the football score that the Patriots will take on Baltimore but the Giants made it through which means a possible repeat of that infamous game (hope not!) Barely had time to eat or think though so body crying out for sustinence by the time my shift finishes.

Day improved imensley on the way home when I ran into Renee a friend so that improved my spirits after being so tired and grumpy the last few days, and then got home to find my new tshirt that i impulse bought 2 months ago finally showed up so that made it even better, so I decided Why the hell not! I just made a bid on a camera lens worth a grand as long as i can get it before monday… (more on that on monday!)

2 days to go… lord help me

by ·Comments Off on 2 of 6…

So heres how the last 2 days have gone so far!

Day 1/6

Up early, gym session, smash out the weights, do pretty well, quick perve on the usual girl who comes in, try not to look like an idiot. Train full of younger people it seems, very empty parking lot means can park right next to the station exit! w00t

Lots of book reading, in a good mood, email comes through telling me package delivered yesterday… AWESOME! Life quickly turns to CRAP when I get to work. My good mood when down hill fast! The package that was delivered had a massive hole in the side, directly into the very badly packed area where 6 x Glasses was meant to come. Very Very unhappy and it was just all down hill from there really.

Busy as hell, not many bookings, more time spent fixing other peoples stuff ups than anything else. Crappy crappy day. Spirits lift a bit when I get home and find out that Amazon have decided rather than replace all 6 glasses I can keep what isnt damaged, have a full refund and if I decide to replace, they will covered International Expedited shipping. Makes me a little bit happier in the end.

Day 2/6

Go for a ride this morning 10km, planning to ride to the station this morning since my bike was now fixed and felt like it was brand new. Log into Twitter first thing to do the usual (check news & police feeds for accidents etc), Translink has first tweet, no trains between Roma Street & Bowen Hills. There goes the plan of riding to the station, stuff the 45 minute delays! Why is it any time I try to ride to the station something happens! O well, will try again tomorrow. Driving into work, old contiki day song comes on and improves mood exponentially, managed to also score a car park right next to work as well! Day looking up! Work again, more problem fixing, no real bookings, not worth the trouble, barely had time to eat it was so busy. 27c inside the office most of the day, work had made a big deal about no air con today due to maintenance issues, but there is never any aircon at work on weekends so whats the difference?

Now its home, rest and relaxation before Wash Hands, Rinse & Repeat tomorrow… lets hope I can ride to the station tomorrow.

by ·Comments Off on 6 Days….

Well I havent blogged about work in a while, but this time, I am not going to lock the post (work be damned). Its our busiest time of the year right now, lots and lots of bookings for school holidays, public holidays, people on breaks, people just wanting to get away. This means awesome sales opportunities.

What it also means is hold times, lots and lots of it and long tiring days. To make matters worse I am about to do 6 days straight at work. I haven’t done that in quite some time. It is going to suck but I will just have to suck it up and move on. But I thought, since its been a while, why don’t I post a bit about it. Since this month is pretty much just all work for me and not much else going on I mean seriously why not!.

So I will keep things updated every couple of days, looking at the goings on at work. Looking at how busy, whats been selling and better yet… how many silly calls i get (nah i better not say that just in case 😉 )

All in all, January is a pretty boring month for me really, while things are busy at work, I know that i can’t really do all that much travelling or anything. Here’s to ending January and starting Feb off with a bang!

by ·Comments Off on Worlds Largest Game of Chicken

So it seems that since I am a bit of an avgeek its time for me to weigh in on this lovely Qantas drama. After getting home from work yesterday I was bumming around on the net when all of a sudden my twitter feed started going crazy. Thanks to @winglets747 and his coverage of the drama as it all unfolded in Sydney I was able to keep up to date on everything. But thankfully I was not at work! God damn I was lucky with that i swear.

For those who don’t know or have been living under a rock the last 12-18 hours, Qantas has grounded its entire fleet in preparation of a lock out that goes into effect Tommorrow morning. So in essence, Qantas has shutdown all mainline and international services. The only ones still operating are Qantaslink, Trans tasman Jetconnect and Jetstar services (in other words stuff not run by Qantas themselves). This is the world’s biggest game of chicken with the Unions on one side and Alan Joyce (ceo of Qantas) on the other.

While we wait to see who flinches first, this is going to be a rough week I think. I hope it won’t last that long but seriously, anything more than that and we are going to have mass problems here. I think it is a ballsy move to do what Qantas management are doing but I just don’t know if it’s going to work. The pilots union have caused problems in the past and the Transport workers union I am sure won’t flinch easily, but who knows what is going to happen.

I see this getting majorly messy if it lasts more than a week with total and utter choas and confusion. Work is going to be a crazy mix of hell this week I can guarantee that. Thankfully I have tuesday off! So who will know what is going to happen. I hope it just dissapears off the radar within a few days, but i doubt it. I really do!

by ·Comments Off on De Ja Vu

Well this scene looks familiar to me. It’s cause i was here less than 7 days ago. I write this to you from the Alaska Airlines Board Room at LAX. After a stellar flight down from Seattle with Virgin America where I managed to snipe (an ebay term) my way to a First Class upgrade. It was such a good flight, watching college football the whole way down while chilling out and enjoying the big white comfy leather seats.

Now I just have another 12-14 hours onboard ahead of me and I am home.. to spend the rest of the day awake (I will so not be driving as I will probably be living on caffeine, adrenalin and absolute stupidity) to resync my body ready for work tuesday morning. I know that I am going to get slammed with jetlag but not much I can do about it. Time to suck it up!!!

I had the most amazing time in Seattle. I am sure my waist line took a solid beating over the last week with restaurant week in full effect (went to 3 restaurants that were serving it) and then had some amazingly good sushi and last night a fantastic evening of fresh pasta and some warm Marionberry Pie with Snickerdoodle (lols) Ice Cream. And then today filled with even more goodness after having the wierdest of breakfasts that was just amazingly good (although I had plate envy of everything else that went out).

My time working in Seattle was awesome and the people I was working with were fantastic. I wish I did not have to leave them but sadly time does come to an end. They were so generous to me that I wish I could do more for them. I know that i will stay in touch with them as I am sure I left a great impression.

Anyway i have to start the caffeine drip direct into my arm soon. I dunno if I will get any sleep on this flight at all, but i tell you what, I will be running on empty either way by the time i make it to the other end. I will probably skip the inflight breakfast on the other end though as I wasn’t a fan of the one given us on the way over, so at least i know what to expect when i get home… a yummy warm bowl of oatmeal … i mean porridge 😀

Catch you all on the flip!

by ·Comments Off on No Sleep Lost here…

Well being back in Seattle is awesome (although technically right now I am not in Seattle i am in Kirkland). I am loving being back in this city. The scenery is stunning, the coffee good and the food even better than I remember it last time.

So far I have had 2 restaurant week dinners (Steelhead Diner & I Love Sushi) and they have both been great (big props to Steelhead for the dessert mix up that netted me 2 desserts) and then lots of coffee consumed.

After a nice safe flight across the Pacific I managed to scam my way into the Alaskan Airlines boardroom at LAX and just to my luck the first thing I see on the runway… A Retro Jet… damn it! I searched for 2 months for this damn thing and it just randomly shows up. Bugger!

The scenery here is just stunning. The first couple of nights I had a room at the Marriott Waterfront overlooking Puget Sound and the sunsets were just amazing with the sky turning a beatiful orangey red both nights. Now I am staying at the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland with views over Lake Washington and again it has been amazing. The sunset last night was great with again a slight red hue lighting up the sky.

Although it is coming into winter it is a little bit cold (low double digits) I can cope. A good jacket definately comes in handy!! But to be honest , I have been in worse and it is winterish… so i shouldnt complain cause im in a city I love!

Anyway i should get ready for work… time to earn some $$$

by ·Comments Off on Off again

I have kept this one pretty quiet but I am off again!.  This time I am flying out to Seattle to do some work with a company we work with.  Flying for the first time with V Australia, so that Velocity Gold is already coming in handy.  Only thing is, since it is work, I am flying economy.  This will be my first flight in almost 4 years in long vial economy.  Not looking forward to that point all that much but to be honest I am not complaining.

To be back in the air is totally exciting to me and I am really looking forward to trying out new airline products and new hotels.  The other thing is it is restaurant week in Seattle.  That means uber cheap dinners st the best restaurants in the city.  The choices!

No trip report this time as it is a work trip but look out for plenty of photos, plus some spotting at SEATAC next Saturday.  Temps in Seattle don’t look good though. 13c max yesterday Ouch!  If the jacket I have (my trusty Vancouver Saloman) isn’t up to the task ill just have to do a bit of shopping, horrible thought that.

Anyway my ride to the airport is turning out to be shorter than expected… Catch you on the flip side

by ·Comments Off on Return to the sky!

Well tomorrow is a good day for me.  A 3 day weekend essentially but not an ordinary one.  It’s the annual reward weekend for the top staff and since I came out at #1 I get to go.

Unfortunately it clashed with an event that I was booked into (sorry Trent & Bianca) and it pained me to have to cancel but I worked super hard for the last 12 months and the trip is to my favourite place in Australia.

Tomorrow, around OMG o’clock, I am off to Sydney and continuing on to Ayers Rock!  I love the fact I get to add another 4 pages to the log book along with a flight into an airport with a carrier I haven’t had a chance of using to that destination before (last time flew Qantas who had the monopoly till last year).  Add that to the fact I’m a newly minted Gold Velocity with Virgin and we have the makings of some fun!

I am looking forward to getting out into the desert and getting some photos taken to both panos and some HDRs which I haven’t shot in a while.  Get to travel with a few friends as well who made the top sellers so that is always more fun.

Can’t wait.. expect lots of tweeting if I have data range and plenty of photos on my return (although might have to wait till I’ve finished the current list of touch ups)

Now to get home, pack and sleep before getting up super super early

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*UPDATE* – Yep I won 😀 http://bigmal365.posterous.com/and-the-winner-is

I don’t normally leave unlocked work posts but this will be one. Mainly because this is about what has been a long 12 months of my life. Today is the 1st July, which means the financial year is over. My year of stress, sales & what could be classed as fanatacism has come to an end. Thankfully I only have a few days left till a break because to be honest, I freaking need one.

Last year I started off the financial year by writing my bucket list. On that list was one major goal for work and lots of little ones for my life. Well that work goal was to be the #1 consultant. I told my team leader at work (who has changed 3 times in that period mind you) that I was going to make this goal happen and I would need every little tip, trick and bit of help I was going to get. I had been #2, god damn i was going to be #1.

I set the goal with the mindset that I will do everything I could do to make it happen. I would have to dedicate the next 12 months to this goal. I started to work more and more, towards christmas though, I was lagging way behind. I wasn’t sure if I was going to even come close. But, I knuckled down, I didn’t give up. Things changed, I started to regain some ground. For months I was sitting in the #2 spot, this was a bit disheartening but I knew that if i stuck with it, I could do it. I was coming into work like an hour early or more, working longer, skipping breaks (which lead to skipping snacks), taking every single call I could get to make every sale count.

Then I could see the light, Things changed I went from 10k down to being possibly in the lead, I got worse, working harder and harder to get that lead. Now with the month over, I feel totally and utterly drained. My body feels like it could do with a bit of a break. Thankfully the financial year is over, I can start to wind down a bit, i can unwind. I can start to take my breaks, I can be that little bit longer inbetween calls, I can do those extra little things that may not get me a sale but make people feel better.

So hear is to good news today (hopefully i dunno if the sales will be released, knowing my luck it will be monday) and expect another update soon about it.