James O'Brien

I’m not a huge fan of shopping.

I don’t especially like walking around shops for hours on end hoping to find a bargain.

I like to do my research, make the phone call to confirm opening hours and availability, and then go in and seal the deal.

And that’s exactly what I did today.

My friend Colin has been in need of a new home hi-fi system, ever since the CD player in his long-lasting Sony micro-hi died a few months ago.

He asked me for some advice, as he wanted to replace it with something new, and with a system with a digital radio.

I’ve been hunting around for a few months and finally found one within his preferred price range.

And today we went and got it, a Yamaha MCR-040 Micro Component System.

As well as the CD, the digital radio, it’s also got an iPod Dock and you can connect USB players/devices via the port on the front of the unit to play MP3 and WMA tracks, although it’s unlikely Colin will use the other components.

The CD and the radio, however, are excellent.

Were it not for the fact that I’m heading overseas soon and am trying NOT to spend money, I would have bought one myself.

So in an effort NOT to spend money, I spent the remainder of the day at home listening to music, reading, and for a while chatted with Damien over Skype.

He’s currently in South East Asia on an extended trip.

I also did a little of my own travel planning, securing a couple of train tickets between Stockholm and Malmo.

Although I tried several times to purchase the tickets online, I was unable to. Sometimes the apostrophe in my name causes confusion for websites. I think in this case, there must be an issue with trying to purchase the tickets with an Australian credit card, as it was processed easily via a telephone call to SJ, the Swedish train system.