jeremy.id.au

Which bank? It’s the bank I’ve been with since primary school, prep to be exact, if you don’t count the fact that I transferred my funds to a different branch in Grade 4. It’s the bank that has just started charging Netbank fees, claiming that it wouldn’t effect most of their customers but forgetting about the inflexibility that such lameness creates. It’s also the bank that once had me waiting on the phone for nearly an hour before I could speak to a human yet when I finally spoke to someone, he was juggling between other customers when the computer was taking time to load.

While the customer service may have improved a tiny bit since then as the banks realise their mistakes of the 90s, there’s also the fact that when I’m no longer a student there will be a $5 per a month account keeping charge and other fees. Not to mention that while I am a student I have to go into the branch and declare this fact, once a year, an inconvenience I’d rather do without. So I’ve ditched the bank after 15 years.

Having decided to go with a credit union, I walked into a branch and someone was available right away to open my account. No waiting, no queues. If I recall, waiting to see someone at my local bank branch was another thing that involved atrocious waiting times. I’m sure anyone contemplating opening an account with the bank would be turned away with a wait like that. The downside is that I have a lot further to travel if I want to get to a branch though I can deposit at any Westpac branch and withdraw from any ATM without fees, as well as with EFTPOS/Visa.

So bye bye to the Commonwealth Bank and bye bye to fees and charges. Though there probably aren’t many credit unions with so few fees as this, I won’t mention which one it is for now since you really need to know someone who can refer you (who has been a member for 12 months) or work in the right area.

Well what do you know. Was playing fetch with Lily today, when she ran down the steps then a few metres on turned around quite fast and started yelping like you wouldn’t believe. It turns out she’s broken her leg, so she’s still at the vet where she’ll remain until Monday, then she needs to be taken to a specialist and will need to have surgery. In the mean time she’s biten three people, including mum, my sister and the vet.

Update: Lily is home now (as of Tuesday), hoping around on three legs until the other leg gets better. The vet bill was phenomenal.

We’ve had a good few days of decent weather, about 20°C each day. It doesn’t end here either, it’ll be 21° tomorrow and warming up to 23° during the week. None the less, this afternoon instead of letting the day waste away into nothing I decided to go for another bike ride. It’s the first ride I’ve done for a while since having the sniffles put me off for a while. I clocked up almost 34km riding alongside the railway line to Hawthorn then ducking down Kooyongkoot Road, along the Yarra up to Dights Falls, before taking the Outer Circle back down to Whitehorse Road which I finally road along to return home.

Other stuff that’s been going on lately include Barnaby Joyce crossing the floor in the Senate during the week to vote with the ALP and minor parties this week (the first time it’s happened in 19 years). It is always reassuring to know that despite the Libs/Nats having control over both house of parliament that some form of democracy remains. Hopefully he’ll block some of the crazy upcoming legislation from getting through.

Another interesting thing that I saw on the 7.30 Report the other night was that they almost have propagation of the Wollemi Pine to a level where they’ll be able to sell it to people around the world. I remember seeing something about the Wollemi Pine on TV almost ten years ago, though the amazing thing is that it was believed to be extinct for 200 million years until an adventurer/rock climber came across a grove growing in a secluded canyon in the Wollemi National Park, just out of Sydney. Another freaky thing is that out of all groves found in the wild, the tree showed absolutely no genetic diversity.