I am working as a Software Developer, of course, I used computers a lot. But I still need to take a notes at work and my proferssional studies. For note taking, using paper and pens is still the best option. (Well, eInk Tablet is still costing too much for me). Thus, I need to fill a good in price and ball pen. At the end, I did shopping around in Officeworks, eBay and Amazon. I bought some pens from there. I even bought some pens from China via eBay and some fountain pen.

Finally, I found a pack of 8 oil ink pens in Daiso. The handling is very comfortable and writing is very smooth too!

Moreover, I found there are some refills in eBay which is shipped from China. A pack of 20 refills are only costed around $4 included the shipping fee. I think that is the best value ball pen in Brisbane.

I love the diversity of Australia, we can eat different cuisines from different countries, and even Chinese food can be from other parts of the country. They are from north, south, and even fusion. I tried another thing last week. I tried northern china cuisine. I went to the little red dumplings in Springwood. I went to eat dumplings. I do not want to eat at a Hong Kong-style restaurant every day!

First of all, we ordered Pan Fried Pork Dumplings. These dumplings smell very good because of the frying. And the meat inside is fresh and juicy, which is more attractive.

Besides, I ordered Xiao Long Bao, which is also good. That is full of soup and meat inside tasted good!

These two “appetizers” are not enough for the three of us to eat. So I ordered fried chicken rice, which looks good and tastes good. The chicken is so tender.

The wife ordered a bowl of chicken noodle soup. This bowl of noodles is quite large, and the noodles are almost elastic, and the soup base has a heavy pepper flavor, which is quite remarkable. I love it.

As for the beverages, there are general soft drinks and beers, but I saw a bubble tea item on their menu, so I want to try it, which is very attractive. Finally, I would like to praise the environment! It’s comfortable, with plenty of lighting, and the seats are wide and comfortable, and the decoration there is also very new. Overall, this shop can be one of my best choices.
(Note: I know the owner.)

Little Red Dumpling- Spring Wood

Shop 119, Chatswood Central Shopping Centre,
2-16 Magellan Rd,
Springwood,
Qld 4127
Tel:07 3290 0729

Opening Hours
Mon- Thu 11:00am To 9:00pm
Fri-Siun: 11:00am To 9:00pm

For small rubbish, we can put them in the red bin. Council will collect the bin every week. For large garbage, such as furniture and white goods, you need to deliver them to the recovery center or wait for the Kerbside Collection, which happens every two years. (Kerbside Collections is the residents put the large rubbish in their kerbside, the local council will collect them.)
But because of COVID, our Brisbane city Council has stopped this service. So this year, they are resumed that. It will start tomorrow. Thus, please check the council website for a date for Kerbside Collection in your local suburb.

Brisbane Festival will start tomorrow, but due with COVID-19. This year festival has downed scale a lot, even there won’t be firework display at all. Acutally, that is very reasonable, that is good to keep everyone safe.

But please do not be disappointed, from tomorrow night to 24/9, every Friday and Saturday night 7-9pm,Sunsuper Night Sky, there will be a lazer display at the roof-top of buildings in City.

Besides of this activity, there are a number of art performances in the suburbs across Brisbane, please check their website.

Our Queensland is easing the restrictions as the number of confirmed cases is dropping. We started to go out as well. Recently, we went out to Harbour town for shopping. Before we went there, I was worried that not many stores are opened. Now, our borders are closed; there should be no international visitors. That is not good for the outlet mall.
When I arrived at the mall, I found I am worried too much. Almost all shops are opened. Many stores even have the queue in front of shops, because of considering the safety of customers and government regulations. The mall is quite busy! However, I have not found many good things. Most of the shops did not have a huge discount. Finally, I bought some clothes Addais 40% off and a $30 sport pant from New Balance. That is not too bad. Originally, I thought the shops would not have many customers, so they may give a lot of discounts to attract customers. But the fact is there is already a lot of customers. They won’t need to do that.

Source:Open Clip ArtUsing Under Public Domain Attribution

ClickFrenzy is an online sale event in Australia, very similar to Cyber Monday is in the US. Today, at 7 pm, there will be last for 56 hours. Although this year, the major supermarkets and department stores are not joining in this event, there are still DELL, Target, and Catch.com. Moreover, many stores are not official ClickFrenzy Members, and they are on sales, I got the emails from UMart and Kogan. So, I think that it is good to look around, there may be some good deals around.

Recently, due to the Coronavirus “Outbreak,” we are in a kind of lockdown. Our government encourages us to stay home if that is possible. Moreover, even a lot of people started to work from home. “Work from home” is not a new thing for me. I am a programmer. In our industry in Brisbane, “Work from home” is a common practice. Some companies offer an option to the employee, and some companies went a bit further, most of the staff are working from home. In our industry, “Work from home” is benefits both parties. For employers, the company can save rent. If some of the staff will work from home some days every week, then the company won’t arrange dedicated workstations for their team. They can switch to use hot desks. Then they can reduce the office space. I know some companies went much further, they went utterly virtual, every staff work from home most of the days. They may hire some co-working spaces if they have some meetings or some staff required to work together for some days. For employees, we can have the time traveling from home to ey may hire some co-working spaces, if they have some meeting or some staff required to work together some days. For employees, we can have time traveling from home to office.
Moreover, if you have any young kids, that is much better to care for them. For myself, due to these mutual benefits and some family reasons, I am working from home for a year and a half. Thus, I believe I had some experiences to share.
Firstly, if you are living in a city which is a low-density city, similar to Brisbane, I highly recommend having a room as your home office. Working from home is very important to separate the distractions from home. Even we work from home, and we still need to highly concentrated on our work!
Secondly, that is the working hours. Working from home does not mean flexible working hours. That is too two different things although a lot of companies offers both options for the employee. If you have fixed working hours, even you are working from home, and we need to work during our standard working hours. I hope other family members can understand this point.
Moreover, I particularly like a morning quick stand up meeting. This kind of meeting will be carry out every morning at the first task at the day, in the work from home environment, we will go that via video calls. During the meeting, we will give a brief report about what we have done the day before and what we are going to today, also, any help required. This kind of meeting will have the whole team understand the work progress for each member, even we are in various locations. Also, I encourage each team member will say a thing not related to work, such as an exciting thing that happened in your family the day before. This will help to maintain the bonding between your team. Besides our routine communications, when any problems occur, please do not hesitate to ask help from other teammates, the organization is decentralized, you still are in the team.
Lastly, that is a unique problem in Australia. Working from home required a stable internet from home to our office network, and we need to do video calls that required a good internet connection. However, our NBN is not doing an excellent job in some areas. Thus, you need to check your internet service provider, whether they can provide enough speed for you. If not, you need to buy a better speed package or switch to a new provider. Also, you need to make your internet provider can provide supports if your Internet got some problems. If not, you also need to consider switching to a new provider. The Internet is an essential tool for working from home.
I wish these tips can help you to work from home

We are running out of fruits. So I need to go out to a supermarket. When I went out, the fuel price is around 97 cents per liter! I have not seen that price around 17 years ( if I remember correctly). That is not surprising. I have not to fuel up for a month, and there is still half tank of fuel. We only went out about once and twice per week for getting groceries. A lot of people like us, work and study from home now.
Moreover, under the current situation, no one will travel oversea at all. A lot of planes are grounded now. We do not need that much fuel now! Finally, the price is dropped.

During this week, our life in Brisbane is changing due to Coronavirus. This week, our government announced a lot of new policies to reduce the chances of people gathering. All restaurants only can offer takeaway, and all pubs and clubs have to be closed too. Even the Gym needs to be closed. All libraries and pools of Brisbane City council are closed. Our city is half shut down now!
Don’t worry. We are ok. All essential services are still opening. Supermarkets and food shops are opened, the doctors are opened too!
I believe we work hard, staying home if you can. That stops spreading the virus and getting the virus.

In Brisbane, there are so many new bubbles tea shops during recent months. Another one I tried recently is in Sunnybank plaza. That is Ying Cha no.9.
That is exactly located in the heart of Sunnybank Plaza, their food court. That is so convenient. I can have a bubble tea after I have yum cha. That will be a kind of funny match. Or after you did a grocery shopping, then you have a bubble tea.
A few weeks ago, after I did shopping in Sunnybank Plaza, then I had a one in Yha Cha No.9. I ordered a brown sugar bubble milk tea. I do not know why there is a trend of brown sugar tea. I saw most bubble tea shops are promoting this kind of brown sugar tea. I like the drink I ordered. Firstly, it looks very nice.
Moreover, the tea tastes not bad. Furthermore, it is not too expensive, that is around $6. I also like the pearl in this tea, that is not too “rubber.”
I like it, and I added that shop in my list of choices!

Shop 11B,
Sunnybank Plaza,
Cnr Mains Rd & McCullough St,
Sunnybank QLD 4109