Funny Name of the Week

This week's funny city/town name of the week is:

 Moorabool

Filing an income tax return in Australia

Or as they say it here, lodging a tax return.

Australian Tax Office (ATO) provides a free program (called e-tax) that you can use to calculate and e-file your tax return.  How good is that!  No more paying $39.95 for QuickTax or an equivalent.

As Australian tax year ends on June 30th, personal taxes must be filed by October 31st.  If you have an accountant prepare your tax return, you can wait until the end of April to file your taxes.  Talk about procrastinating!

Unlike in Canada, in Australia you only pay income tax to the federal government.  It does not matter which (Australian) state you live in, you pay the same personal tax rate everywhere.

Current Australian personal income tax rates for 2010 are:

Taxable income	Tax on this income
0 – $6,000	Nil
$6,001 – $35,000	15c for each $1 over $6,000
$35,001 – $80,000	$4,350 plus 30c for each $1 over $35,000
$80,001 – $180,000	$17,850 plus 38c for each $1 over $80,000
$180,001 and over	$55,850 plus 45c for each $1 over $180,000

Everyone who makes over $20,000 is charged a medical levy of 1.5% in addition to the above personal tax rates. On top of that, you will be charged additional 1% if you don't have private health coverage AND you make over $73,000 (if you are single) or $146,000 (combined family income).  As you can see, health care is free, but you pay for it up front.

As this was my first year to file taxes here, I could not e-file my taxes but had to do them the old fashioned way.  Luckily, the e-tax software was able to print out the completed return using the information that I had already entered.  All done!

Lawyers

How do you know that the lawyer you hired is useless?

Because he sends you an email like this:

"Your tax bill is for taxes only from March 31st based upon and confirms land taxes previously assessed and due on the land portion for the year having been paid in full and the vendor/builder has adjusted therefor for that portion that relates to your period of ownership pursuant to and in accordance with the provisuions of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale."

What the heck does that mean? !#@ 

Good habits - Early to bed, early to rise

I've had the most productive day in weeks!  I thought I better write it up on my blog so that I can remember it later.

For a quite a few years, I have enjoyed staying up late, either because I would study, watch TV or play computer games.  The trouble with staying up late was that the following day I would feel and behave like an ogre.  I would be tired, cranky, and generally unpleasant to be around.

The cure for that is simple, go to bed early!  That is easier said than done.  I love accomplishing things, so staying up later allows me to accomplish more.  At least that's what my brain thinks at the time.

The truth is that I am trading in a short gain, for long term pain.  I get to accomplish a little bit more today by staying up, but I kill my productivity (and happiness of me and those around me) for the next few days.

These past few weeks, I have been making a conscious effort to go to bed around 9-10pm and get up around 6 am.  Today, I woke up at 5 am (on a Saturday, nonetheless!), and did more chores by 8 am than most people do in a week.  And it was only 8 am by the time I was done.  The best thing about this is that not only did I get up early, but I also felt great that morning, and for the rest of the day.

So, what is the secret to getting up early/going to bed early:

1. No computer activities after 8pm.
2. Start getting ready for bed half an hour before bed time (brushing teeth, etc.).
3. Read a book right before falling asleep (nothing too stimulating).

Other things to do throughout the day to help you go to bed early:

1. Get up early, even if you are tired that morning.
2. Do some physical exercise every day, even if it is just going for a walk.
3. Avoid drinking coffee and anything with caffeine, or if you cannot kick the habit, at least don't drink coffee from afternoon on.

REMEMBER: Small things make a big difference!

Funny Name of the Week

This week's funny city/town name of the week is:

Wingello

My kind of car - the one that drives itself!

I just finished reading an article about Google's self-driven Prius (http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/cartech/google-tests-car-that-can-drive-itself-20101011-16eew.html).  I want one!  Make that two!!!

I really do not like to drive.  What's there to like?  The back pain, the tension in the shoulders, the eye strain, or the utter waste of human time.  I would prefer to spend my time in a car on more productive and enjoyable tasks like:

• talking to friends and family
• reading
• sleeping
• watching movies
• surfing the web
• etc.....

I truly hope that this type of option becomes available in the next 10-15 years.  Partially, to free me up for more enjoyable tasks during the commute, and partially, to protect me from crazy drivers and their talking-on-the-phone-while-drinking-coffee-and-driving-a-stick-shift behaviour.

Black belt - 7

I was promoted to a higher level in my ninjutsu class yesterday.  I now get to wear a green belt with two black stripes.  This means that I have only seven more promotions to go until I can wear a black belt.  :-(

The funny thing is that I will have to use black electrical tape to mark the new stripe on my belt.  I think that will be the easiest way to add a stripe.  Definitely easier than sowing it on.

Daylight saving time

I was taken by surprise when I heard that daylight saving time (DST) came into effect in Australia on October 3rd.  I am used to DST events usually occurring in April and November, so an October date was a surprise.  Having December, January and February as summer months is sufficiently confusing.

Luckily, DST date occurred on a long weekend, so I had an extra day to adjust to losing an hour of sleep.  It is actually a really good idea to transition to daylight saving time on a long weekend.  It really reduces the effect of losing an hour of sleep.

In the fall, when you gain an hour as you come of DST, it does not take long to get used to the change.  Just sleep in for an hour, or stay up an hour later, which is a more likely scenario.

Getting back to the concept of DST, I do see the benefit to instituting this type of time shift.  However, one thing that I particularly liked about living in Saskatchewan, was that it did not have daylight saving time.  It was dark and cold all the time, not just in winter.  :-)  Just joking on the 'dark all the time' part (but not on 'cold all the time').

Pictures of Brisbane

Pictures of Brisbane from our September visit.

http://picasaweb.google.com.au/ivanonthemove/2010Brisbane?authkey=Gv1sRgCK6dvtuCuJ2yBg&feat=directlink