To my amazement today, the iTunes Store has added TV shows, after what seems an eternity since the rest of the world got them.... now if there was only some content I wanted to watch.
I’m off to Adelaide this morning, not a new thing I know, but today I’m flying in one of the new E190 aircraft. Over all it’s a pretty nice way to commute, the seats are significantly bigger than the ones on the Boeing flights, there are only 4 seats per row (2 per side) and there is even a bit more leg room. There are a few down sides though, not in flight entertainment... at all, I wouldn’t normally be too worried but I’m only got 45mins left on my laptop battery and I’m not sure how charged my DS is. As in flight entertainment goes though, the sunrise is pretty spectacular from 24,000 feet this morning.
I’ve had quite a few blog worthy things this week but I’ve been a bit flat out with the End of Financial year to get around to it. First off all, I had a bit of a taste of how the other side lives on Sunday when I dropped Ness at the airport for her flight to Canberra. She was flying with Qantas and I must say I’m very glad that it’s not my regular carrier. They have also opted for the “Self Check In” option but seem to have no idea what to do once people need to drop off their bags. We arrive with a little over an hour before the flight was due to depart and only made it to security check in with 5-10 minutes before boarding. The only way that people actually get to their gate on time is by “breaking from the queue and lining up at a desk” which then defeats the purpose of the queuing system as all the desks end up dealing with those flights that are about to board. The most frustrating thing about the whole system was the obvious dedication of resources to Qantas Club travellers who have as many staff on dedicated desks as the rest of the passengers desks.
Next on my list for this week was lining up at a Bank. I had to do some no transaction based banking at NAB there other day and again it was a disastrous queuing scenario. Everyone knows the bank at lunch time is never going to be fun but when I found myself only 4 people from the front of the line I thought I was in for smooth sailing. Sadly though, it took me an hour to get to the front of the queue. Again it was the staff dedicated to other areas not taking up any overflow that was causing the issue. It certainly didn’t make me think about changing any of my accounts over to them.
Onto more pleasant things though, I managed to fit in a bit of gaming this week. I had the house to myself for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, so I was planning on cramming in as much gaming as I could. Unfortunately a fair bit of work got in the way but I did manage to cruise through a few achievements on Assassin’s Creed. The game is pretty enjoyable and if you haven’t played it, I would definitely check it out especially while it’s on sale. It’s worth playing just for some of the scenery.
I also found THE BEST gluten free bread for making toast ever! I found it at my local IGA store (which is the one on Brunswick St in the Valley if you’re interested, which had a huge range of other gluten free stuff as well), it’s a Potato based bread and it makes the most fantastic toast. It’s almost like “normal” bread (although it’s been so long since I’ve had normal bread that my view’s probably tainted by now). It comes unsliced and was in the frozen section of the Deli. I only started the loaf yesterday and I’ve already eaten more than half of it...
Speaking of Gluten Free, I also have a had a couple of good GF dining experiences at Southbank in the last couple of days. Timmy’s which is a little restaurant at the end of Gray St (well actually it’s not on Gray st at all but it’s up the end where the Griffith Buildings are). They have a great range of GF options on their menu all the way through to desert (and I’m not just talking about the standard Jaffa Cake that everyone has). Their service was quite good, but the food was excellent and not particularly pricey, I would definitely recommend a dinner there. The other place we stumbled on was “Viet de Lite(s)” which is almost at the piazza end of Gray St. We found it last night on our way to the Kransky Sisters which was hilarious (although not the best thing to be going to before a 6am flight to Adelaide). They have the whole menu marked for Gluten Free with almost more GF than not. The food was very tasty and it was a pretty cheap and cheerful dinner (fantastic chicken rolls for entree!).
That’s probably about it for this flight as my battery warning light is starting to do the “I’m going to shut down soon” dance, so much for 45mins of time. At least that will give me a far bit of time in my rediscovery of Geometry Wars on the DS for the rest of the flight.
