Not a happy bunny

Well, the Vibez has so far been disappointing. It's crashed many times and it also has problems just displaying the pre-installed background images. It was having the background problem before I had even put any songs on it. I have seen from some customer reviews online that the crashing problem is not uncommon, I'm just really sad it happened to the player I got. I will be trading it for a new one at the shop I bought it at, but if the new one has the same problems, I'm afraid I'm going to have to go with a different player.

If it worked fine, I would be rather happy with it. It's a good size and it was easy to put music onto it. A downside is that the scrollwheel can be a bit annoying to use; you are meant to press in the middle to select something from a menu, but it is hard to hit it the right way, so you often end up in the previous menu level instead. I do like the features it has though and the files it can support, but the bugginess has made me feel wary of the whole product. I hope the replacement works better.

In happier news, I recently sent in my initial application for the Australia program and the organization emailed back the same day to say that I had a spot reserved on the program and they sent me all the info on what needs to be done now to get the actual visa. I have until mid-June to send it in, so there's no rush, which is good because I have to gather a few more things this time. The application itself is rather simple and they give you clear instructions on how to fill it out, so no worries there. I unfortunately have to get another check in US dollars though to pay for the required travel insurance. I don't think I mentioned what had happened with the last one... After waiting more than a week for the call from the bank telling me the check was ready to be picked up, I finally called them to ask what was up with it. I'd seen that they'd taken the money for it already, so I asked how long it would be before it was ready. I had this feeling that they'd sent it to the US even though I'd asked them not to (and even though I was assured over and over that they wouldn't mail it for me), but they couldn't (or didn't want to) tell me if they had mailed it, the guy I talked to just repeated that I would hear from the bank when it was ready to be picked up. So I emailed the work abroad organization (which I should have done earlier) and sure enough, they had the check already. I was happy they had it, but I was just so pissed at the bank for not being able to tell me what they done with the check and insisting I just needed to wait to hear from them.

In the meantime, I can go ahead and book my plane tickets. In fact, I have to have the tickets booked before I send in the visa application because I have to show that I have a return ticket out of Australia. I plan to book the tickets this weekend actually, which will be freaky, to have the dates that I'm gone set. I asked for advice from some co-workers on what airline is best to travel with, and Malaysia was very recommended, so I'll go with them. O and I will also plan a stopover of 3 days or so on the way home so we can see a bit of Kuala Lumpur. So it's all finally moving forward. It's funny how in the past week I've had just about every one of my co-workers ask me how my plans are going; I joked that I should start sending around a weekly newsletter so I don't have to keep repeating myself.