Theresa and Elysia tried one of these puzzles a few nights ago. The next day, I was wondering around The Glen shopping centre when I saw this little stall with electronic Sudoku handheld consoles. That was after I had seen a Sudoku puzzle book in Angus and Robertson’s. I guess there is a mini craze for this new Rubik’s Cube successor called Sudoku. I might try this out when I have my lonely break of a Christmas holiday starting in a week’s time. I wonder if this craze has started long ago enough for it to be googled successfully. Australia used to catch the tail-ends of crazes or trends but perhaps this is no longer true. When I asked Theresa’s brother in Malaysia if he has heard of Sudoku, he was as clued in as Errol Flynn would be about PS2 or Xbox. He did manage to find a picture of the electronic game version however although he has never actually seen one. So I guess if indeed it has caught craze proportions it hasn’t reached Malaysia either. I’d take a bet that it would as it is not half bad. Maybe it would be available in the cyber world to be downloaded as a Palm OS game or some equivalent mode. Maybe I’ll get this as a Christmas present for someone…

This morning Theresa and I chatted briefly about me trying to find a cheap flight to KL to be with her and Elysia for Christmas. Last night, just before leaving office, we received an email from a friend with a link to a site supposedly providing cheap flights so I thought I could take a look and try to get lucky. As it turned out, it was a Singapore based sight for Singaporeans travelling out of Singapore to destinations including Malaysia and Australia. In short – it wasn’t what we were looking for. I surfed a bit anyway, hoping to land something good. My target – get to KL or Singapore for under $1,000.00 return. For this time of the year that sounded well impossible and it was. Malaysian Airlines offers the lowest fare and that was close to $1,400.00. Plus taxes. Singapore Airlines had been cheaper about 1 – 2 weeks ago but even then it was almost $1,300.00 plus taxes. Supposed cheap airlines like Emirates was no where to be seen in my list of ascending prices. A fraction of my mind still thinks in terms of ringgit, especially when it is linked to things Malaysian, as this trip obviously is. With taxes, this comes up to $4,500 (in ringgit) easily and this is just too astronomical for a 2 week trip. $91.00 gives me a few days in the MCG watching the Proteas taking on Ricky Ponting’s men and that sounds like a lot more value for my dollar.

After deciding yet again that Melbourne is where I would be spending Christmas this year – alone – Theresa sent me, some 2 hours later, an article saying Malaysian Airlines was going to increase its fares yet again. When someone like Qantas or Singapore Airlines says it is upping its fares you know some genuine cause was the reason. Fuel hike, or other factors leading to either escalating costs or falling revenue or some other good economic and business reasons. But when Malaysian Airline decides on a fare hike, the immediate reaction would be “They would, wouldn’t they? They need to pay off some inflated contracts or consultants or recoup some heavy duty losses from either appalling management or corrupt practices.” Hundred of millions of losses mean they have no choice if they wish to stay afloat. One hopes however that this would not backfire and result in even bigger losses.