I went into the Defence Recruiting Centre in Toowoomba yesterday to have a practice interview with one of the Sergeants there. They took me through all the stuff I had to know and asked me a series of questions to gauge where I am at with my knowledge of the position for which I am applying.
It only took about an hour or so, but I also had the ability to ask a few questions I had been wondering about for a while. I did pretty well, going by what the guy said at the end. I asked him whether he thought I new my stuff well enough for the Assessment Day, his response…….”Sh*t yeah!”
So yeah, I’m pretty confident. I want to brush up on everything still for the 8th of July when Assessment Day comes, just so I have everything memorised. Already I can tell you everything involved in the job I am going for, the name and location of every RAAF base in Australia, everything involved with my training and so on and so forth. The only thing that is giving me a headache is all the tabulated data to do with the different aircraft. I should be right by assessment day though. None of it is making me that nervous, which is good. The only thing that is on my mind is the Officer Selection Board coming up in September. I’m trying to focus on the hear and now though for the moment. I’ve gotta get through the assessment day before I can even go to the OSB, so first things first.
I’m on a bit of a buzz now that things are really starting to get moving. Perhaps it’s because I’m starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Heaven knows I can’t wait to get out of my current job. It’s all very exciting times!
Last Friday evening I went to a popular Christian bookstore. I purchased a couple of CD’s that had been reduced. Everything went quite well. The purchase was smooth and trouble free, the interface was easy to use and I came away from the experience somewhat satisfied.
That was until my credit card was charged more than what the online invoice had quoted. Rather unhappy, but still willing to put it down to human error, I emailed them through their customer contact form and informed them, nicely, that I had been overcharged.
Seeing as I had ordered the CD’s on a Friday afternoon, I didn’t expect a response from them until at least monday. When close of business rolled around on Monday afternoon I still hadn’t heard from them. I did however receive the CD’s in the mail, and along with the CD’s came a printed invoice, which differed somewhat from the one given to me online. On this printed invoice they had added an extra fee called a “Sale Handling Fee”, over and above the normal postage and handling fee. This was a fee that I was neither informed of or agreed to pay in any way, shape, or form. Seeing as though they hadn’t gotten in touch with me, I gave them a long distance call to Melbourne. I told them again what had happened, and that I’d like to be refunded for this extra fee which had been mistakenly added to my invoice. They told me that the fee was not a mistake, and that it was a fee they add to every online purchase that takes place during a sale.
Once upon a time in a land far away there was a block of chocolate, and it’s name was Caramilk. Caramilk lived a somewhat short life, but it’s beauty spanned through the ages as a glorious example of what caramel chocolate should be.
You know what they say, “Can’t beat the real thing.” but if you can’t beat it, you may as well do your darned best to get close to it. That’s what Cadbury have done with their new chocolate block “Triple Decker – now with caramel!” Oh the memories of what once were. This new sensation is a delicate mix of milk chocolate, white chocolate and the once was “Caramilk” chocolate, all stacked together into this new tantalising chocolate indulgence.
It’s not quiet as good as it’s ancestor, but then you can’t beat perfection. I’m sure the budding “Caramilk” connoisseur will nevertheless appreciate the gentle hint of caramel in this delightful new breed.
For those of you who know what I’m talking about, and even for you who don’t, Josh recommends, “Cadbury Triple Decker – now with caramel!”
P.S. The “Caramilk” mentioned above is NOT the same as the “Caramilk” that Cadbury markets in America. The former was a solid milk chocolate in caramel flavour, while the American version is milk chocolate filled with a caramel centre. Cadbury in Australia calls this American version “Caramello”, while the “Caramilk” that we had here was discontinued by Cadbury in the mid to late 90′s.
I went back down to Brisbane Yesterday for more Airforce testing. This time I had to sit some specialised Aircrew testing to see if I was suited for the officer position I am going for.
Once again I surprised myself by doing well in the tests. I came out at the end of the day being classified as “suitable” for the position. Obstical number 2 out of the way. Now I only have my Assessment Day which should happen in the next couple of weeks, and then my Officer Selection Board in September.
I’m starting to get really excited, things are really starting to move with this, and it’s making me buzz with enthusiasm! I’m really looking forwards to the courses I’ll have to do and the things I’ll get to learn … Not to mention the possibilities it will open up for me career-wise, the least of which being able to get out of my current job.
In other news I did a new PB in my running today of 10m:32sec (2.4km).
Another dollar. Boy oh boy it’s good to have finished work for the week. I’m absolutely stuffed from all the early mornings I’ve had to work, but alas, it’s poets day. I finished at 3 this afternoon, and came home to find my lovely sister had come over for a visit. She’s the equal bestest sister in the world, you wanna know why? She bought be a snoopy pendant! Anyone who knows me at least moderatley well knows that I love snoopy, so when people get me snoopy gifts I go nuts! Snoopy always makes me smile. And that’s what this little present did. It wasn’t big but the thought and the gift did wonders to improve a somewhat tiring and frustrating day. Sisters are cool…..most of the time.
In other news, my running is still going well. I just got back from todays run, which I didn’t really feel like doing but made myself do anyway. I’m glad I did it now, as I beat my personal best to come in at 10:49 (for 2.4km). Somehow I managed to scrap a minute or more off my previous pb. Woohoo! Progress is encouraging.
For those of you who are wondering where Dan’s site has gone, never fear. He wont be out of the game for long. His host decided not to offer free hosting anymore and have since expired his account. Dan’s going to chip-in with me when I get my new hosting package and I’m gonna host him again. Seeing as my next host wont be so hopeless – hopefully – Dan will be able to blog to his heart’s content without me worrying about running out of mysql space.
From what I’ve heard from Dan, his site will be getting a makeover and will perhaps have a different theme. I should be getting the money to switch hosts in the next week or so, and it shouldn’t take long to transfer the domain. eSinner.com will be getting a whole new look too! I am quite sick of my current layout, it’s boring and hard to read on my new 19 INCH MONITOR! I’ve almost got the new layout sorted and I currently have a copy up and running on my local apache server. This should make the downtime a whole lot shorter when it comes time to transfer things over, as I wont have to edit as I go.
Anyway, enough geek talk, stay tuned for eSinner.com’s next exciting installments. Oh, I almost forgot ….. I like M&Ms.
As I’ve said previously, I’m applying for a position in the RAAF. Part of the requirements for any RAAF position is the completion of a 2.4km run in under 12 minutes. You might remember a couple of months ago when I tried to start running in the attempt to get fit (see here for details). You might also remember how I almost died on my first attempt.
Partly because I hurt so bad due to unfitness, and partly because I knew I still had a lot of time to go before I got in, I decided to delay my preparations. Now that things are starting to look interesting with the progress of my application I thought last week that it was high time that I go back into training. Andrew’s also been writing a bit lately on his runs and this has helped inspire me to get started. The first time I went on my run I wanted to see if I actually could do it in under 12 minutes, so I went my hardest (against the advice of my good wife, who suggested gradual progression).
I almost died …. again. I did however finish the run in 11 minutes and 20 seconds. It took me about half an hour for my lungs to recover though. The next day I tried the whole thing walking briskly and finished it in 19 and half minutes. This gave me a good idea what the two extremes were and some different times to aim for in my training progression. Since then I’ve been running every afternoon with Gypsie. Gypsie must think I’m boring, because when I’m going at it full pelt she’s just trotting along beside me as if she’s hardly raising a sweat. I wish I were a husky sometimes….