Australian Computer Society

I completed all my documentation and I mailed it to the ACS. So within the next 12 weeks I will know if they like me or not.

Another tick on the list.

IELTS done.

I finished the IELTS tests. My overall score is 8.0 and I only needed to score a 7.0, so I qualify for the 25 bonus points on the Visa.

The next application I need to do is the ACS certification of my degree and work experience.

I also need to start the process of acquiring my South African documents, like my marriage certificate etc. That will have to happen in the next two months.

Cell phone carry bag part 2.

So I bought this carry bag last year. It lasted all of six months. Totally forgot about it. Really not a good product at all.

IELTS Part 1, done

So the past weekend I did my first part of the IELTS test. I need to do the IELTS test because South Africa's official language is not English. South Africa has 11 official languages but listening to the politicians I would have sworn the official language is talking poop.

Back to the test. No one really knows what language we speak in South Africa, so in order to go to Australia I had to take the IELTS test. It is a lot like Grade 7 English, maybe even easier, so all in all a waste of time and money.

Part 1 of the test was reading, writing and listening. Part 2 will be the speaking test which I will be doing this coming weekend.

So one more tick on the checklist. I picked up our passports yesterday, so the next stop will be the ACS assessment of my degree.

New Skilled Occupations List

The Australian government created a new skilled occupations list (SOL) that will come into effect on 1 July 2010. Luckily for me I am still on the list. They reduced the occupations from something like 400 to just 181, or something in that line. So basically a more than 50% reduction in occupations.

I am only concerned with the IT related occupations. On the old SOL the following occupations were catered for:

• Computing Professionals (Catch all)
• Applications and Analyst Programmer
• Computer Systems Auditor
• Software Designer
• Systems Manager
• Systems Programmer

The new list only lists the following IT related occupations:

• Systems Analyst
• Analyst Programmer
• Developer Programmer
• Software Engineer

So they basically removed the Computing Professionals option. Many IT occupations came through on that catch all description, anything from a database administrator to a network administrator could be seen as a Computing Professional. It would seem the Australian government plugged that hole now. Basically if you want to go to Australia as an IT specialist your occupation must be closely related to actual programming or building of systems from scratch it seems.

Australia

I haven't blogged in a long while. I had some nice Trinchado at different places the last few months but I will blog about that later.

My family and I decided that it will not be suitable for our little girl of 14 months to grow up in South Africa anymore. A few weeks ago a small baby of 12 months was assaulted by criminals and she is still in I.C.U., so we decided that if the criminals do not even spare a baby, then we need to leave.

I started the whole process but it will take some time. Currently we are trying to get a state sponsorship from Victoria in Australia. We want to settle in Melbourne. We have a few reasons for this but just the fact that 1/3 of all IT people are employed in Melbourne makes the choice easier.

So I guess I will be blogging about the whole Visa application for the time being instead of nice food.

Trinchado @ Mesa Portuguesa

It was Trinchado time again Saterday, the 29th of August 2009. This time I went to Mesa Portuguesa in Pretoria to try their take on the Trinchado.

Just the photo alone shows that the Mesa Trinchado is different than the O'Galito Trinchado and the Braza Trinchado.

The Mesa Portuguesa Trinchado was not hot spicey but it was full a flavour spicey, if that makes sense. This time the sauce was a red wine sauce and not a white wine sauce. Mesa also gives a nice Portuguese roll with the Trinchado.

So I would rate the Trinchado 7/10, I prefer the creamy white sauce. So it has the same rating than the Braza Trinchado but the Mesa Trinchado just looks tastier when it gets to the table than the Braza Trinchado.

Dead Space

I played Dead Space almost a year after it was released. The game is really brilliant. I was captivated right up to the end and the ending was quite scary, my heart skipped a beat.

I would definitely play Dead Space 2, the follow up story will be great. I have a lot of unanswered questions around The Marker.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

So after a very long time of having this game I eventually finished it. The game was fun but it wasn't anything like KOTOR 2. My favourite is still KOTOR 2.

I chose the light side, so the ending was a bit of a let down, but it couldn't be anything else since the game is between episode 3 and episode 4 of Star Wars.

Trinchado @ O'Galito

It was Trinchado time again Sunday, the 2nd of August 2009. This time I went to O'Galito in Centurion to try their take on the Trinchado.

Just the photo alone shows that the O'Galito Trinchado and the Braza Trinchado are different. The O'Galito Trinchado has a nice creamy white wine sauce where the Braza Trinchado did not have the creamy part, only white wine part.

The O'Galito Trinchado was also not spicy, so again a nice chilled out Trinchado. I prefer the Portuguese roll that came with the Braza Trinchado. The O'Galito bread was fresh but the Portuguese roll just enhances the experience.

So I would rate the Trinchado 8/10, the sauce was better than Braza but the bread not.

Cellphone carry bag

I always have a problem when it comes to carrying my cellphone around. I really do not like the cellphone wrappers like the Body Glove products and I also do not want to carry my cellphone in my pocket the whole time. Carrying it around in my pocket is not always comfortable and it limits what pants I can wear.

Now previously I bought myself a digital camera carry bag which could fit both my cellphone and my wallet. I would wear it like a normal carry bag over the shoulder but it looked a bit like a purse. I called it my 'Man Bag' but my wife called it my 'Man Purse'!

When it came to getting a new cellphone I decided to look around for something different this time to carry the cellphone in. I discovered this nice little digital camera carry bag from Golla. Thank goodness the digital cameras became smaller over the last few years, now my cellphone fits snugly inside the carry bag and it has a little space for my credit card and driver's license.

So now I do not need to carry my wallet with me the whole time and the carry bag is small enough not to look like a 'Man Purse' any more. Now it just looks like a Leatherman hanging from my belt.

The Goonies

A childhood favourite movie of mine, The Goonies. At long last my favourite online shop Take2 had stock and I ordered it. So now I only need to make time to watch it again. Will need some popcorn and a soda for this classic.

PS2 to PS3 converter

Since I am a PlayStation fanboy, I obviously had two PS2 game controllers, so when I bought the PS3 I decided not to spent more money on another PS3 controller. Instead I bought this PS2 to PS3 converter.

You plug the PS2 controller into the one side and the converter's USB plug into the PS3's USB port and that is it. Works like a charm, no setup procedure necessary.

So now I can play 2 player Bionic Commando ReArmed and soon Street Fighter IV or Soul Calibre IV.

Now all I need is a nice Fightstick, but it seems everybody is still out of stock.

PS3 Remote Control

After using the PS3 controller for a long while to watch movies, I decided to buy the PS3 remote control. The PS3 remote control is also more intuitive to people like my wife who is used to something like a DVD remote control.

The remote was not too expensive and it works via Bluetooth so there is no need to point the remote in the direction of the PS3 like with normal IR remote controls.

The form factor also helps a great deal. Game controllers aren't designed to be used as DVD remote controls.

Trinchado @ Braza

I am a big Trinchado fan, so I order it almost always as a starter when and if the restaurant has it. What I did find is that every restaurant makes Trinchado different.

I decided that I will take a photo of the different Trinchado that I come across and blog something about it. First up is the Trinchado @ Braza in Menlyn Park.

First off the bread that comes with the Trinchado was a standard Portuguese roll, so nothing fancy but it was fresh and very soft. So a very nice Portuguese roll.

The Trinchado itself was also very nice. It was not hot at all. The Trinchado is made from little squares of beef in a nice white wine sauce, so nothing hot. If you are in the mood for a nice chilled out Trinchado I would say the Braza Trinchado is the way to go, if you want something more spicy this is not the Trinchado for that specific day then.

So I would rate the Trinchado 7/10, very enjoyable.

Killzone 2

I rented Killzone 2 the other day but I just realised again that I am not a pure FPS fan at all. I loved Bioshock which was from a first person angle but it had a compelling story. Killzone 2 on the other hand has no story to it other than the normal thin FPS back story.

So I played it a few hours but I am now so bored with it that I am going to swop it out as soon as I go past the store again. Hopefully they have the new Wolverine game available.

Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles

I hate watching a TV series and there are two reasons for this. The one is that the series might suck and if it is based on a movie then it just ruins the movie. The other is the series might be great but they run out of budget and you are left in limbo.

Thankfully TSCC is in the second category. I just finished watching the 2nd season and it was brilliant. The last five episodes or so with the new added twist really makes the whole Terminator universe grow.

The story was so good that I am scared to go and watch T4 in a few months time because that movie might miss the whole universe and what it is about and just focus on the action turning it into just one big dumb action movie which would be sad.

I really hope they continue with TSCC because I hate being left in limbo and if they do not make season 3 then I will have the same feeling that I had with some other shows that were just stopped.

BSG was great in the sense that they decided end of season 4 will be the end, so they gave a good ending that brought closure and that is what I hope TSCC will do as well. I am a big Smallville fan but I am really thinking they are pushing the limits, 8 seasons and no ending in sight, I would hate it if Smallville had no ending and is just canned.

So on the whole TSCC season 2 was very good and I feel it really made the Terminator universe grow a bit more from the the standard Terminator wants to kill John, they run and run and run, kill Terminator, the end.

Wolverine

I had no idea Gavin Hood was directing Wolverine. Now this is one of those rare South Africans that really made something for himself out of nothing. Much like Charlize, not a big fan of her, but I have respect for what she accomplished.

So hopefully Wolverine does very well, I will be one of the people going to watch it on opening weekend.

Toshiba Portege G710

I recently decided that Vodacom is over charging me, so I downgraded my contract and opted not to take a cell phone at all. I'd rather use my current Palm 750 until it dies, if that happens I have my eye on this little smartphone from Toshiba. It is not full of features as the Treo 750 but I found that I rarely use those features, so for the price this smartphone is on the money.

Tekken 5

I am a big Tekken fan. I lost out on the Tekken 5 for PS2 but luckily they made a Tekken 5 for PS3 with online play.

I even downloaded it with South Africa's crippled broadband.

I am really impressed with this game. The Online play is brilliant, even with my slow internet connection.

All I need now is a FightStick but they are all out of stock because SFIV was released the other day and the whole US wanted to buy FightSticks.