STI & STD Tests in Melbourne

Melbourne Sexual Health Centre is Victoria’s largest clinic for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Sexually Transmissible Infections (STI). Their services are free and confidential.

Melbourne International Airport – Flight Schedule

Here is the link to the Flight Schedule page for the Melbourne International Airport – link. Useful for last-minute check of the flight schedule and any changes. Touch wood, that has not happened yet in my travels.

Borobudur

Here’s a tourist site for Yogja and, more precisely, Borobudur – link. It has some amazing photographs of the place. Definitely something worth seeing while in Indonesia.

World Standards – Electricity

Looking for the information about electrical plugs in Indonesia, I came across an awesome page that describes electrical standards throughout the world. Voltage, frequency, plugs and sockets are all shown here together with world maps that display the distribution of each standard. Excellent resource to check before any international travel.

As it turns out, Indonesia has the same plugs (C and F) that are used in continental Europe so I can use my existing plug adapters for Australian plugs.

Electricity around the world

Iceland - Renewable Energy

Years back, in 2004 I think, I studied an Environmental Science course as a part of my curriculum. It counted as both science and social science credit. My main paper in this class was about Iceland's 30-year plan on becoming a renewable energy country, transferring it's whole use of energy to renewable sources.
How weird it is today, in the company I work for, that I actually met a guy who sat in the committee that recommended this plan to the Government for approval. Things like this don't happen too often. Or maybe they do? The theme of moving the whole economy to use renewable sources was a grand one. I used the Iceland story to illustrate the point, citing conclusions and achievements made during that project in it's early stages, in various discussions on the topic.
Now the things became more realistic, talking to a person who was closely involved in the process. Just like with many other things, once discovered they become much more real and loose a sense of magic and romance to them. However, I appreciate the experience earned in the process. Guess that's life.

iPod

For the merging with another company, we received a small gift by the new owners. iPod Nano 8GB with a video camera and microphone. This is a small token of appreciation but, nevertheless, leaves a nice feeling. Especially considering we never got anything from the previous company owners. Not even a simple thanks for all the efforts and Saturdays and Sundays spent at work.
Now I'm adding Balasevic songs onto the player so I can listen to them when I'm outside. All these people looked funny to me when I saw everyone carrying the earphones while walking or running. Now I'm joining them, I guess.

Citizenship Update

Today I called to book the citizenship test as I heard that there are long waiting queues for these. So I wanted to book earlier. However, in Melbourne, the schedule was full until the 9th of November. The further schedule has not been released yet as there are changes going forward on 19th of October.
The changes include no mandatory questions in the citizenship test, questions written in plain English, a new preparation book, and a passmark raised from 60% to 75% correct answers.
The test will now be taken AFTER the citizenship application has been submitted and as a part of that process. It is not required to do a test before the application. I did the online sample test and had 19 out of 20 questions correct. (wohoo)

Another positive fact is that holidays abroad are not taken into considerations (are not considered as being absent from Australia for residence requirements purposes) if they are shorter than 3 months. This effectively cuts my expected residence time down for 2 months. Instead of March 2010, I should now be eligible for citizenship in January.
The counter has just gone to 150 yesterday and now, taking into consideration the above provision, it goes instantly to 92! Only three months left. Now I'm positively surprised and puzzled to a point as this was unexpected.

Irish Vote Could Cause the Move in EU

Irish vote last Friday was overwhelmingly positive, supporting the Lisbon treaty. This would move the EU in the direction of federalization. It is expected that the foreign-ministry for the whole of EU would be formed now. This would greatly help the Balkans and especially Bosnia and Herzegovina where the EU administration is as chaotic as the local Bosnian one.
This vote would also disperse Germany and France's reasons for vetoing the further EU enlargement. Hopefully things move from the dead end now...

T-Shirt Time

Tomorrow is the 1st of October. I think it is fair to say that it is the start of the T-Shirt time. Today was already warm enough that a wind jacket was not needed over a t-shirt, even in the wind. Right now it is 22:30 and the temperature is 19 degrees Celsius. If September was the Spring, is October the Summer already? :)

Mobile Phone Shops in Melbourne

Here are a few links to mobile phone shops that I use to compare prices of the latest phones in Australia. When I find an interesting PDA/smartphone at gsmarena, these are the shops where I can see the actual price on the market.
It is amazing that these usually have better prices (and warranty) than ebay sellers!

www.shopbot.com.au
www.ow.com.au
www.dse.com.au
www.allphones.com.au