Sunny Days

The temperature is going up this last two days. It's been quite cold in Melbournian terms. Temperatures around 4 degrees are quite cold here. Especially without heating in homes.
That's why it's quite noticeable when the temperature goes up. I have two more days to go before holidays. They will be spent at work, packing stuff, Friday-night drinks with the crew from work where this coming Friday will be the last day for a few people, and getting to the airport on Saturday morning. Have a few things to finish and arrange and I'm done for this Winter. When I come back it should be quite warmer, Spring coming.
Now I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces in August...

Ljubav preko zice

This describes my current situation. :) It is not easy. But it's sweet.

Photos: East Melbourne

2008-07-22 East Melbourne

A nice walk down East Melbourne. Some interesting architecture. Nice, quiet area. So close to the city yet with a distinct relaxed atmosphere.

What's up in Oz?

Heh, not much is going on these days for me. Well, not in terms of this blog. Obviously my offline activities are reduced to minimum. It rained almost the whole day on and off today. It is quite cold - about 10 degrees.
My online activities, on the other hand, are getting refreshing amount of effort from me for the same reason.
You might check my other blogs - Notes, Finance, or see what's new on my other web sites. I'm into learning Python and setting up a web development environment so that I could play with Google App Engine. I'm quite enthusiastic about it but still don't know what useful to create and I don't want to waste sites (only three available) for some stupid ideas. Maybe I'll go and see what other people are doing with it.
I still want to create a nice game and put it on Facebook.
Funny thing is that I can do all these kind of activities outside Australia, too. :D

Real Rain

Finally a real rain in Melbourne. These events are so rare that they deserve being recorded in a blog. :)
I reckon it's been only a few times since I came in January that the real rain fell. All the rest was either too soft or lasted short enough. There was only one time that I remember until now that the rain was falling throughout the night.
Of course, the practical result of this situation is that the water reserves in the reservoirs are at record lows. I think the reserves are at 29% capacity at the moment.
This reinforces the idea to build a water pipe from Tasmania to Victoria and to trade water in a way not used before. I reckon that the oil pipes might soon give way to water pipes. Especially if the move from oil to hydrogen gains momentum.
Anyway... It's raining and the water reserves are filling. Oil price is falling so none of the above might be necessary in the near term.

Photos: 2008-07-14 Botanical Gardens

A beautiful, sunny and warm, day. First thing in the morning I get a call to let me know there is a position where I fit perfectly and an interview should follow soon.
It was unusually warm so I spent the day outside, enjoying the Sun. First walked through the Botanical Gardens, admiring the views as always. Then through the park to the Albert Park Lake. Just sitting in the Sun, watching the swans and ducks at the lake...

Album is here.

EmailCash, Mobux, Reward Points

I added links to a couple of sites that have some useful features. EmailCash, an Australian site, that offers different promotions and has an option to redeem the points into cash once a certain amount is accumulated.

They are affiliated to Mobux, which has the similar concept but is limited to mobile phone stuff. A useful thing is that the mobile phone can be recharged through Mobux, earning bonus points at both Mobux and EmailCash. These can be exchanged for call credit (lower price for the next recharge slip), SMS messages, etc. The recharge number comes in an sms, which is practical to store directly on the phone.

Since PennyTel is going to start to charge for SMS messages on the 1st of August, Mobux SMS could be a better option. They give 300 points for clicking on Flash ads on their site and I believe 1 SMS would cost 10 points.

Links on the online business page and Australian mobile providers on the web site.

Trip Arranged

Just arranged the transport from Budapest airport. Things start to fall into place. As mentioned earlier, Gea agency has a mini van driving on the route every day. The starting time adjusts to the travelers. And the driver waits at the airport for each passenger. That sounds nice.

Melbourne - Budapest

I've already got the plane ticket. Now I need to organize the transport from Budapest.

According to the posts in a forum, there are two agencies - Gea and Fudex that drive vans. These should be faster than bus and train lines.

Bike Paths

I added another ride to my bicycle paths map. Yesterday I went North-West along Maribyrnong river. Already now the map looks impressive. The last-week ride went quite far into Eastern suburbs. Now that I know where tha paths are (well, mostly) I can find my way around easily and enjoy longer rides.

E-Tax 2008 Is Out

Download 2008 tax return program page

As usual, last financial year tax return program is available from the Australian Taxation Office site. The link to the software is at the bottom of the linked page.

To test your Operating System and browser and continue with the download process you can also click here.

Service Suitability Check

Talked to my case manager from the ADF Recruitment. The Service Suitability Check may take 6-8 weeks. This is needed to confirm I'm suitable to continue with the process. Now, this may coincide with my annual leave in August, so things will be prolonged more than I expected. The soonest date I could start is now well off in September. This means I might not need to do the physical training preparations after all. :))
Anyway, that's the news about the recruitment process. Not really encouraging. Since it's been mid-June that I faxed the last requested document, it looks that the end of the 6-weeks period happens to be at the end of July. Until it happens earlier than that, I'll continue with the process after the holidays.