General

So I went away for Xmas and got no call back from the real estate. After returning back to Rocky, I waited approximately a week and rang the Real Estate again.
I was informed that the bond claim form had been submitted with an amount taken out for “cleaning and rent”. I questioned them about this, specifically regarding the fact that I was told they would talk to the owner and come to some arrangement then contact me about it. I never received any call after the initial meeting at the office.

I spoke again to lady at Pat O’Driscoll after this and asked her if they still had copies of the original entry condition report as I believed the state I left the flat in was far better then when I entered it. She could not find them on file and said they could possibly be ‘archived’. She asked if I could supply them with a copy form my records. I dropped the entry condition report in and was advised by the front desk people that it would be passed on to the relevant person. Since then I have heard nothing else from them.

A few days later I received the “Notice of Claim” from the RTA in the mail that said a total of $225.70 had been taken out to be paid to Pat O’Driscoll for “cleaning, Rent”. I knew I owed approximately $85 for rent which was fine (I was told verbally that I owed $85, I still have not received any kind of written confirmation on this), but I feel the $140+ for “cleaning” is simply not justified considering the original condition of the flat when I started leasing and the condition that I left it in after cleaning.

I went ahead and filled out the “Dispute resolution” section of the form, attached all the relevant info and sent it back to the RTA.

Fast forward to today and I received a letter from the RTA stating that my dispute form had been received and action was being taken to resolve the matter.

In the same bunch of mail was a letter from Pat O’Driscoll which contained a bond refund form. The weird thing is this form (which I assume was meant to be my copy of the form they submitted) only mentioned $85 for cleaning. The rest of the bond was meant to be refunded to me. This is weird because the notice I received from the RTA had a much higher value.

The only thing I can think of is that Pat O’Driscoll have taken a look at the copy of the entrance condition report I dropped in and decided I was right. Even though they had already submitted a claim to the RTA they were now sending me another updated claim form.

I have no idea how that works so I’ll be ringing both Pat O’Driscoll and the RTA tomorrow to ask what the heck is going on.

Looks like I’ll get my bond back (minus the remainder of rent I owe) but sheesh it’s been an ordeal.

My favourite smell would have to be the crust of fresh bread followed closely by the smell of books.

I spent 3 days recently cleaning the flat for the vacancy inspection to get the bond back. I took special note to tick off the real estates checklist as I did so and was pretty happy with it at the end.

So I was a bit surprised when the real estate called and said there were a few “problems with the cleaning”. The lady specifically mentioned dust on the:
- skirting boards in the bedrooms
- tiles in the laundry
- AC vent
- laundry light

She made a point of mentioning that it wasn’t thick dust, just light dust.
I was a biff miffed about this because I knew I had cleaned everything with sugar soap and it was more than acceptable.

So anyway, she said I needed to go in and get the keys and fix the problems. I went in and refused to take the keys. I told her I thought the ‘light dust’ issues were petty considering:
- I’d been in the flat for 6 years
- I’d lodged multiple maintenance forms, some of which were ‘lost’, most just ignored
- The Bathroom drain has dropped about 1/2 an inch, tiles around the drain were all cracked. It had been patched by some handyman who simply slogged it all up with silicon but has since been worn off
- The bedroom adjacent to bathroom STILL has water damage after the shower leaked some 2 years ago. There was a hole in the wardrobe wall from it rotting and the carpets in the wardrobe were mouldy. Nothing was ever done about it.
- The bathroom / laundry wall tiles are loose with grout falling out.

All of this and she was telling me my cleaning was unacceptable because of some dust?

I told her I was not happy and I think she got the message because she told me she would contact the owner to see if there was some ‘arrangement’ we could come to. As yet, I’ve got no call back.

I really don’t like real estate agents. All my dealings with them after renting for 10+ years and recently having bought a house has led me to believe that it takes a special kind off ass to be a real estate agent.

I’ll hold out and see what happens next, I’d kinda like my bond back.

I handed the keys in today for the flat Melanie and I used to live in. I spent a few days cleaning it up and after living in the new house for a while now I wondered how I lived in such a small flat for so long.

I never really kept track, but apparently I had lived there since 2002. A good 6 years…. wow.

It’s good to be done with it though. The new house is way better.

Dang I’ve been slack. I’m not even really sure where the past 4 months have gone.

hrmmm

Greetings fellow lunch eaters,

Many rumours have been circulating around about the hungry jacks ‘Quad
Stacker’. A mysterious burger capable of ceasing the arteries of any man
willing to risk his life in the pursuit of burger heaven.

I am here today to debunk these rumours and reveal that the quad stacker
is nothing more then a mutated bacon deluxe not even capable of
approaching the Ultimate double whopper in terms of artery ceasing
goodness, let alone the legendary XXX burger
(http://www.triplexrootbeer.com).

I had originally thought that the ‘double/triple/quad’ stacker promotion
allowed you to increase the meat patties on ANY burger. This is
incorrect as the stacker burgers are in fact separate burgers in their
own right.

The burgers are on the same bun as the bacon deluxe and are made up of
the number of meat patties of your choosing, separated by slices of
cheese. On top of the ’stack’ is bacon and bbq sauce.

As expected, the burger tastes meaty and actually overpowers the bacon
taste quite considerably. I find this a major downfall in the stacker
burger as one of the major features of the Ultimate double whopper and
the XXX Burger are the added ingredients which provide a much more well
rounded taste sensation.

All in all I was quite disappointed with the Quad Stacker. No stomach
ache, no increase in my heart rate, no sensation of passing out. I would
compare the ‘fullness’ value to that of a bacon deluxe, without the
taste.

I consider the legendary stacker burger rumours to now be debunked and
would recommend staying clear of them.

Just back from food shopping at the local IGA.

Found this bargain while I was there.

There was actually 3 of these ’special’ tags and I was kind of wondering what the point of them is.

Having a saving of 0c is strange in itself, but I really gotta wonder what the person who put it up was thinking.

Emu Park, QLD

So my New Scientist subscription is up for renewal. I’m still way behind on my reading, something like 6 months or so but it’s not from lack of reading. The topics are just so interesting that I find myself re-reading certain articles which really slows me down. Then there is also the website access as well with extra stuff to read.

Anyway, an ‘incentive’ to re-register is a chance to win a trip to Borneo and also a free Orang-utan adoption from the Australian Orang-utan Project. It had never crossed my mind before that you could adopt an Orang-utan, but I think it is really cool. You get sent a photo of it and can get regular updates and also feel good that you have helped these little creatures. Very nifty!

So, even thought I’m behind, I think I will end up renewing again. I really enjoy the magazine and find it really interesting plus I can adopt an Orang-utan!

or not to blog. That, is the question.

Lest We Forget

During the Easter long weekend, Melanie and I went to Surfers Paradise to meet up with Melanies Aunty Tammie who was over visiting from America. We were lucky because we got to stay with her at the Marriot which was really nice.

We spent the weekend walking around looking at various things. I was hoping to check out Ripley’s Believe it or Not, but it was closed while the shops where being renovated.

I did get to go to the wax museum though. The same one I remember going to when I was a kid and went to surfers with my mum, dad and sisters. As expected, it wasn’t quite as good as I remembered when I was younger, but still interesting.

Some of the wax models where really lifelike, while others were actually really laughable. The Whitney Houston one looked like some generic dummy they are put clothes on and labelled “Whitney Houston”

Sunday we got to spend with Tammie and we went to Tropical Fruit World which was about 30mins drive from Surfers. It was pretty cool and we got to do a fruit tasting which was interesting.

The drive was pretty long, but not too bad. The traffic on the drive back was the busiest I’ve seen while driving that road, but we never got held up in any traffic jams or anything like that which was good.

It was a most enjoyable weekend, and was good to see Tammie again.

I find myself taking a lot of random landscape photos. Tonight when I transferred pictures off my camera I found these two. I can’t actually remember where they were taken, but it seems to be on the side of the road somewhere.

The sunsets this time of year in Rocky are always so vibrant and colorful. My camera really doesn’t do it justice but I try.

I guess the afternoon showers we get helps. Either way I love it.

Speaking of stinking hot days in the last post, the stench hanging around Rocky lately is overwhelming. The flood waters in the river have dropped, and we are left with stinking mud and other stuff which seems to hang over Rocky.

The closest thing I can compare it to is the smell from a pig stye, the wet mud with pig poop and rotten food all mushed together. It’s crazy.

So that’s another reason I am liking the rain at the moment. When it’s raining that smell goes away.

So it’s the wet season at the moment, and it sure has been wet. There’s been mild flooding due to heavy rainfall up north, which of course has to flow somewhere but Rocky managed to get out of it pretty well.

The general pattern seems to be a patch of rainy days, followed by days of showers in the afternoon, followed by stinking hot and humid days.

As an example, the weather last Thursday was as follows:

Rockhampton, Queensland Current Conditions – 7:00 AM EST Feb. 7: “Temperature: 75°F / 24°C | Humidity: 94% | Pressure: 29.59in / 1002hPa | Conditions: Partly Cloudy | Wind Direction: NNW | Wind Speed: 5mph / 7km/h | Updated: 7:00 AM EST”

(Via Weather Underground – Rockhampton, Queensland.)

So at 7:00am, we were 24°C with a sweating hot 94% humidity. It doesn’t get that hot in Rocky, but the humidity is a killer. It literally gets hard to breath.

At this time of the year, I think I much prefer it to be raining then sunny and humid.

The new Redhill homemaker centre in rocky has this huge sign on one of the shop walls.

Perhaps someone needs to enhance their spellchecker?

When it comes to beef, I was a “well done” person for a long time. I think this was mainly because “well done” is the easiest way to cook beef because all you have to do is throw it in the pan and take it out when it is smoking / burnt.

Strangely enough though, whenever I go out I always order medium / medium well because well done in restaurants tends to be charcoal.

This past week I’ve been fiddling with cooking my own beef to medium / medium well grade and I’m actually quite impressed with my efforts.

The beef definitely tastes better as well when it has some juices left in it. Not “sitting in a pool of blood” juices, but just enough to keep it moist and chewable.

Also, as I posted in a previous entry, marinating the beef in lemon and pepper before cooking is really nice. It seems like the beef doesn’t need to be marinating in the lemon for a long time, even popping it in and turning it around a few times before putting it in the pan gives it a nice taste.

I’ve had a strange craving for lemon since I got back to Rocky.

I marinated steak with lemon (which was really really nice), had squeezed lemon juice in water numerous times and just ate a lemon straight.

I’ve got no idea why.

Another year over, and a new one just beginning.

Will be a very busy year. I have much planned.

Resolutions to come later, I have a fair few things that I want to narrow down.