One weekend of serious looking, and we're already thinking about putting in an offer. Our clear favourite is a 4x2 in Bassendean on a 780sqm block. Built in 1988, key features include study, two lounge areas, nice kitchen, open dining/kitchen/lounge area, huge workshop, and bore reticulation. We are considering making an offer this week. The property has been on the market for 8 weeks, and they've already had two offers, but both fell through due to finance.

Tomorrow afternoon we're looking at another house nearby in Bayswater. This one is slightly cheaper. It's also a 4x2, on a smaller block (522 sqm). Key features are the double garage, security alarm, and outdoor spa. It should at least provide us with a good comparison.

Worst house of the weekend was also in Bayswater, and selling for not much less than that second one. Good points: it was on a good size block and was more centrally located than others. Bad points: It was only a 2x1 fibro place with asbestos roof, very old and in desparate need of help. The house itself has no redeeming features - it's a nasty piece of work. I hope it doesn't sell for the price that they're asking.

Tax

I finally got around to seeing a tax agent this week. Normally I wouldn't bother, but interest on my savings account pushed me about $400 over a HECS threshold. The HECS repayment rate is applied to your entire income (ie it's not marginal) so this turned a $200 refund into a $93 bill. We came up with about $450 worth of work-related deductions, so after taking out their fee I should end up with about $150 back. Not too shabby.

Books

On Friday I bought O'Reilly's STL Pocket Reference (STL is the C++ Standard Template Library). I've been trying to get into the STL both at work and at home recently, so it should be a good little reference. My limited STL exposure so far has left a positive impression. I like priority_queue. It certainly beats writing my own implementation.

On Saturday I picked up Masterclass in Photography, by Michael and Julien Busselle. It seems to be exactly what I was after. It isn't so much trying to teach me how to use my camera (I already know what effect changing the aperture and shutter speed will have) but more what makes a good photo. There's plenty of examples by the authors, and they frequently critique each others work.

Wedding rings

We bought our rings on Thursday. Mine is similar to this ring. My fiancée got her diamonds, it's a gold band with channel set diamonds totalling 0.2 carets. I am a big fan of Michael Hill Jewellers, every time I go there I've left with a good impression. They're not the cheapest jewellery chain around, but they're not the most expensive either.