At last, the Prague photos are up. It's funny, at the time I wasn't that swept away by Prague. I think i was suffering from a severe case of Old Town overdose. However, looking back now at the photos, it was probably one of the highlights of the trip. Well, it is where i took the most photos anyway. All 94 of them. Enjoy!
Yaha Praha
At last, the Prague photos are up. It's funny, at the time I wasn't that swept away by Prague. I think i was suffering from a severe case of Old Town overdose. However, looking back now at the photos, it was probably one of the highlights of the trip. Well, it is where i took the most photos anyway. All 94 of them. Enjoy!
Home Sweet Home (Maybe)
After spending a few weekends looking at flats north of the river (Islington, Sheperds Bush etc) and realising that we were going to be spending $$$ for a tiny flat, we decided to check out south of the river. The places south of the river were a lot more affordable (although affordable rent in London is a bit of an oxymoron) and a lot bigger for the money.
Last weekend we got dropped off in Chelsea and walked down through Battersea Park, down to Clapham and Lavender Hill. Seemed like a pretty decent area. Last Thursday night we met a couple of Real Estate agents and they showed us around a few places. One of which was actually a house (!) rather than a flat - complete with a little garden. We put in an application (at a rather cheeky discount) on the place on Friday. Later that day the real estate agent got back to us to say our offer had been rejected as the landlord wanted more money. We were at our limit and decided to stick to it. However we did say that if our first offer was accepted we could move in pretty much immediately. Fortunately for us, the agent rang back later Friday and said that the landlord would accept our offer this time. Sweet!
Friday evening we headed down to the real estate agent and signed the rental agreement. Now it is all down to references. If all goes well the keys are ours on Monday.
Google Maps is once again our friend. The place is on Afghan Road near Clapham Junction. i.e. here. The area isn't exactly Mayfair, but it's not too bad. About 5 mins walk to Clapham Junction train station which has British rail trains every 5 minutes or so to Victoria and Waterloo stations. My commute should be down to about 30-40 minutes. Can get into the centre of town in about 20 minutes. Can't wait to move in.
Friday evening we headed down to the real estate agent and signed the rental agreement. Now it is all down to references. If all goes well the keys are ours on Monday.
Google Maps is once again our friend. The place is on Afghan Road near Clapham Junction. i.e. here. The area isn't exactly Mayfair, but it's not too bad. About 5 mins walk to Clapham Junction train station which has British rail trains every 5 minutes or so to Victoria and Waterloo stations. My commute should be down to about 30-40 minutes. Can get into the centre of town in about 20 minutes. Can't wait to move in.
Where Does Time Go ?
You arrive in London, late July. It is warm and sunny and you start looking for work.
Eventually you get a job. Not far from the Thames as it happens. Cool. Quite close to Tower Bridge even. 
Each evening you pass Tower Bridge 
as you head for the tube station (London Bridge) on the way home. 
. Before you know it, the leaves are turning yellow 
and falling off the trees 
. It is starting to get cold in the mornings. Nearly three months has passed. Time flies huh ?
It is just over 6 months since I left my job in Australia. Scary thought. Am slowly settling in to life and work over here. Both of which are very different to Perth. I have nearly been at work a month already. (Thank God because I joined two days before the last pay day, which means I have had to wait a whole month to get paid. Ouch).
Anyway, just a quick entry to let you know I am alive. Hope all is well with you all. Email me and fill me in how you are all doing.
Eventually you get a job. Not far from the Thames as it happens. Cool. Quite close to Tower Bridge even. Each evening you pass Tower Bridge as you head for the tube station (London Bridge) on the way home. . Before you know it, the leaves are turning yellow and falling off the trees . It is starting to get cold in the mornings. Nearly three months has passed. Time flies huh ?It is just over 6 months since I left my job in Australia. Scary thought. Am slowly settling in to life and work over here. Both of which are very different to Perth. I have nearly been at work a month already. (Thank God because I joined two days before the last pay day, which means I have had to wait a whole month to get paid. Ouch).
Anyway, just a quick entry to let you know I am alive. Hope all is well with you all. Email me and fill me in how you are all doing.
Naples
Just after I found out I had got one of the jobs I applied for, my recruiter rang me back and informed me that the company I was joining was having a company weekend away at Naples the week after I joined. A brief summary .... Photos hereGetting up way too early Friday morning I took a minicab to Liverpool St station, Stansted Express to Stansted and then the 0725 EasyJet flight to Naples, arriving Naples just after 11. The fun started with getting a taxi to the hotel. Bargaining was required and a price of 20 Euro was settled on (Fares over the weekend to/from the airport of other members of our group ranged from 18 Euros to 40). Driving in Naples is really something you have to experience to truly appreciate the level of chaos involved. Random lane changes, shortcuts, congestion, incessant honking. If evolution applied to cars in Naples, their indicators would have disappeared long ago.
The hotel was pretty sweet, but unfortunately we were too early to check into our rooms so we dumped our bags in the luggage room and made plans.
The others on my flight wanted to go to Capri, but I was keen to go to Pompeii, so we headed our separate ways. The streets of Naples seem to be laid out especially to confuse. After a couple of attempts at shortcuts through the backstreets I gave up and headed to the main street (Corso Umberto) and followed it up to the train station. Bought my train ticket (about 2 Euro) to Pompeii Scavi on the Sorrento Line and headed for the platform. Fortunately didnt have long to wait for the next train. The train ride to Pompeii isn't exactly what I would call scenic, but there are some nice views over the bay. Train journey took about 40 mins from downtown Naples.Getting off the train at Pompeii, it started raining. I think Mother Nature had probably struck a deal with the poncho/umbrella touts. As the rain began they seemed to appear from nowhere, selling whatever rain protection they had on offer. I was safe in the knowledge that I had been clever enough to bring my umbrella. After a minute of searching for it, I realised I wasnt quite so clever after all, it was back at the hotel. 4 Euros later I was armed with a new umbrella, bringing my total number of umbrella purchases for the year to three (Beijing, St Petersburg and Naples!). Bet you're glad you waste time reading this.
Ticket to get in was about 10 Euro. Had foregone the free maps on offer, on the left as you walk up to the ticket office, as I had a Naples guidebook with one in. Unfortunately, this meant I also missed out on the rather substantial info guide, with information on each numbered location, that they were also handing out. Too bad I only noticed this on the way back out.
Pompeii was amazing. I wasn't expecting it to be so large. The rain was a bit of a dampener (I crack myself up) but it probably did mean it was less crowded that it could have been. Spent about three hours there wandering about at random. Was kind of cool not to have a decent map, exploring at random instead. It is quite strange wandering around the ruined town, looking up at Vesuvius in the distance, thinking, "This will probably happen again some day .....".
Caught the train back to Central Naples and walked back to hotel (which went quite well until I left the main road and got completely lost after about 2 turns !). In the early evening we all met up in the Hotel Lobby, had a few drinks and headed out for dinner (Pizza of course!). The rest of the night involved, well, drinking. Lots and lots of drinking.Saturday we had a meeting at two. There were a few sorry looking people. What did I do Saturday morning, you ask. Ummm. I slept. It had been a late one. Saturday evening was Company dinner and then, hmmm, more drinking. Fade out.
Fade in Sunday morning 9am. Waking up. Hungover. Again. Packed and headed down to the hotel lobby. Checked out and caught a taxi to the airport with some other folks from work. Arrived at the airport to find out plane delayed 2 hours. Aaaargh. What better place to spend 2 hours - not. Finally we caught our plane and got back in to Stansted around 4 in the afternoon.It had been a long weekend. Didn't really get to see that much of Naples, but did get to know most of the people I will be working with at my new work. Wouldn't mind going back to Naples some day and having a proper look around. One day ..... Photos here
I Promise
I promise I will update this properly soon. The commute/work is taking a bit of getting of used to, so very tired by the time I get home again. Currently the trip in takes about 1.5 hours, but hopefully that will change soon when we move somewhere a little more central.
Caught up with a friend I met in Toronto 5 years ago tonight. Haven't seen each other for about 4 years. Was great to catch up, reminiscing about old times.
Anyway, gotta go sleep. Hope you are all well.
Caught up with a friend I met in Toronto 5 years ago tonight. Haven't seen each other for about 4 years. Was great to catch up, reminiscing about old times.
Anyway, gotta go sleep. Hope you are all well.
Naples Recovery Mode
The trip to Naples was awesome, but I am now paying the price of a couple of late & drunken evenings. Didn't have that much time to explore Naples but I did make it out to Pompeii which was incredible. Most of my photos are from Pompeii and I will post them soon.The other major news is that I got a phone call from my folks while I was in the Naples airport (waiting for my 2 hour delayed easyjet departure) to say that my sister had a baby girl this morning. Very exciting news. Congrats Sis !
Anyway thats it for now. I need some sleep. Probably more than I am going to get!
Some satellite maps to check out.
Pompeii Vesuvius & Pompeii (Pompeii is bottom right corner)
Work
Well I have survived my first three days at work. The first day was tough. A huge shock to the system after nearly 5 months off ! It is getting better though as I get to know the people and the product. Seem like a great bunch of people to work with. Will get to know my fellow work mates even better this weekend during the 3 DAY COMPANY TRIP TO NAPLES. How sweet is that! Talk about joining just at the right time.
Anyway, enough for now as I am tired as and need to get up a little earlier tomorrow coz I was a little late today. (Who ? Me !)
Anyway, enough for now as I am tired as and need to get up a little earlier tomorrow coz I was a little late today. (Who ? Me !)
It's Been A While
I couldn't very well update this blog too regularly considering the name. A brief update. Spent four great days up in Edinburgh over last weekend. Caught the train up there and back. Amazing seafood birthday dinner down in Leith. Managed to survive turning 30. Signed my job contract on Thursday and dropped it off at the office. My work is a stones throw (ok .... a large stones throw!) from Tower Bridge which is an awesome location. Start work on Monday. Scaaaary.
Spent yesterday arvo and this morning checking out places to Live. I think we've decided on Islington. Seems like a nice area. Reasonanly central. Now we just need to find a place to rent!
Will post some more Edinburgh photos soon.
Man of Leisure No More
Just got a phone call from my recruiter, and after a 5 minute chat about England winning the ashes, he informed me that the company I interviewed with yesterday want to make me an offer. Thank God! The company is pretty small (not quite 20 developers) and writes real-time electronic trading software. Is going to be a huge challenge but should be fun. Start Monday week. Looks like I will have a happy birthday after all!
Krakow
Only two more cities left to post, Krakow and Prague. Krakow has a beautiful old town square and castle. (It was one of the few major cities to escape severe damage during World War II). My photos don't really show off much of the Old Town or Castle though. Maybe I was suffering a bit from photo fatigue! That said, I am very happy with some of the more abstract ones which could've been taken anywhere! More photos here.Krakow satellite map, courtesy of google maps yet again, showing Wawel Castle (bottom) and Town Square (top). Wikipedia entry for the interested.
Interviews continued
Brief update about the work situation. Had another interview this afternoon which, I think, went ok. Called my recruiter to see if i had had any feedback from mu interview on Monday. Apparently they were "sitting on the fence", whatever that means. They said I was ok technically but they werent sure wether I would fit in personality wise. Well, I guess their recruiting was working well in one respect, because I felt the same way. I told my recruiter to tell them I wasnt interested. Maybe a bad move, but hey. Will know sometime tomorrow wether I got the job I interviewed for today. Hopefully ..... wish me luck.
Am heading up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. Nice change of scenery for my birthday. What! Don't tell me you had forgotten. Shame on you. Will be in touch tomorrow to let you know wether I have joined the land of the gainfully employed.
Am heading up to Edinburgh, Scotland for the weekend. Nice change of scenery for my birthday. What! Don't tell me you had forgotten. Shame on you. Will be in touch tomorrow to let you know wether I have joined the land of the gainfully employed.
Warsaw cont
We didn't get off to a good start in Warsaw. After getting off the overnight bus trip in a rather frazzled state, we jumped straight into a Mafia taxi (a dodgy taxi which rips you off - apparently, according to all the tourist literature we read AFTERWARDS, they are rife!). After arriving at the hotel with our lightened wallets we crashed for a bit before heading in to town. The Old Town in Warsaw was quite scenic. Amazing considering it was pretty much flattened during the war, and then rebuilt in the old style. Apart from the Old Town I don't really have much good to say about our time in Warsaw. A handy hint for Warsaw Train Station, buy your tickets in the underpass if you can. It saves you time, especially after you waited in line for half an hour only to have the person behind the counter to shut up shop for no apparent reason!
Interviews
Well my "face to face" interview on Thursday turned out to be a written test which took about an hour. Some curly questions again, but a few were repeated from the telephone interview which was handy. There was no other interaction apart from here is a test, call me when you're done. Call, hand over the test and then leave. I thought I did ok. There was a whole section on database stuff for which I had no clue. Rang my recruiter and it turns out that they were happy with my results, so I have another interview tomorrow morning (Monday) 9am. I have no idea what to expect from this one.
My Friday arvo interview was pretty interesting. Once again I arrived, only to be handed a "test" to be done and 30 mins to do it in. Wasn't too difficult. Find a couple of bugs in some C code and reverse a string. After 30 mins the cavalry arrived and we went through my answers. They seemed happy enough. The next hour or so was pretty much a standard interview. The finale was a bit of an open ended question where you are expected to ask questions etc to get the full scope of the problem before continuing. Didnt do so well on that. Turns out it wasnt a complete failure as I got a second interview with them too. Not sure about the second interview with these guys either. The recruiter hinted that the questions in the second interview would be more kind of logic/thought process stuff. Should be interesting.
It is actually turning out to be a little bit stressful all this job hunting. I can't wait until its' all over. I will either be a very happy or sad boy by the end of next week. We shall see.
My Friday arvo interview was pretty interesting. Once again I arrived, only to be handed a "test" to be done and 30 mins to do it in. Wasn't too difficult. Find a couple of bugs in some C code and reverse a string. After 30 mins the cavalry arrived and we went through my answers. They seemed happy enough. The next hour or so was pretty much a standard interview. The finale was a bit of an open ended question where you are expected to ask questions etc to get the full scope of the problem before continuing. Didnt do so well on that. Turns out it wasnt a complete failure as I got a second interview with them too. Not sure about the second interview with these guys either. The recruiter hinted that the questions in the second interview would be more kind of logic/thought process stuff. Should be interesting.
It is actually turning out to be a little bit stressful all this job hunting. I can't wait until its' all over. I will either be a very happy or sad boy by the end of next week. We shall see.
Interview Fallout
My phone interview this morning was succesful so I have a "face to face" interview tomorrow at 9am. This is in addition to the one on Friday at 2pm. All of a sudden I am looking forward to relaxing on the weekends again !! Hopefully my days as an unemployed bum could be drawing to a close.
Warning, the rest of the post will probably be of interest to about 20% of you. Read at own risk of severe confusion and or boredom.
-- TECH RANT BEGIN ---Warning, the rest of the post will probably be of interest to about 20% of you. Read at own risk of severe confusion and or boredom.
(*) Invested in a subscription to Safari Bookshelf yesterday. It has come in very handy already. Basically it gives you online access to a huge array of computer/technical books for US$20 a month. No it isnt overly cheap, but to put it in perspective, its only about a pint a week (hmmm ... on second thoughts ....)! The only catch with it is that you can only have 10 books on your virtual bookshelf at a time, and any one book has to stay on the shelf for at least a month. That doesnt seem too bad though. The selection is excellent. First two weeks are free so if you are vaguely interested you should sign up. (You will need a credit card though.)
While I am on a tech reference rant, currently the C/C++ Users Journal has a limited offer of 12 month access for U$20. This gives you access to 12 months issues, plus all the back issues. FWIW.
--- TECH RANT END ---
Warsaw Part 1
Yes taking the overnight bus from Vilnius to Warsaw does save you a nights accomodation. No its not worth doing. Look at those shot eyes. Ouch.
Reality Check
Just a brief update on what I am up to. Still looking for work. Had a phone interview today which was successful, so I have a followup face to face interview on Friday arvo. The company looks pretty good so fingers crossed. The phone interview was very technical, luckily the recruiter had clued me up a little bit as to what to expect. It actually seems like a pretty good idea to do a quick 15 minute phone interview first before calling people in. I also have another phone interview tomorrow morning, with a ridiculously large American organization. We'll see. Should be interesting if nothing else.
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