visa process (2)

As (maybe) I already mentioned I have scheduled the IELTS test at the beginning of December. While documenting, the major themes at IELTS writing exam will be:
- a complain
- a cover letter
- a personal letter to a friend
- to discuss a subject from an article

More information here http://www.ielts-blog.com/category/recent-ielts-exams/

visa process (1)

This topic is called visa process (1.... of many to come)

This will be just a short introduction on this process, and I'll come with additional information later on the way.

So.. in order to apply for the Visa, since I'm the applier (I work in IT) we started to ask for recommendations from the companies where I've worked and where I'm working now. The only important thing here is that the last one obtained should be from the last/current place of work. I'm still on the process, I'm missing 1 recommendation and then I'll ask for one at my current employer (yes, I have my manager's support on this).
Once we have these, we will send the documents to ACS (Australian Computer Society). They will study our documents and will tell us if we're on the most requested job position list or not. This means if we have to wait 1 year or 3 years until we have our Visa.

Then... one other important thing that will be needed after the ACS validation is the IELTS exam. We are scheduled for the 05th of December 2009. Hope we'll get the minimum required grade.

Photography & Politics

I don't call myself a photographer, but I proudly own a Canon DSLR camera (an old model but good for the photos I take) and when I have time I like to study some forums on this topic. I lived in Italy for almost 2 years and I was a member on such forums even write some posts and published some photos. Some time ago I searched on the internet to find photography forums in Australia. I found one which seams that has a lot of activity and I started to fill in the registration form.
It had the usual information like name, username etc... and then a question "Who is the Boss when Kevin Rudd is away?". I said to myself that this should be something like a secret question (stupid me) you have to answer in case you forgot your password or something... and I provided a silly answer. Then.... surprize... my request was not processed because I didn't answered correctly to this question.
Thanks to Google I found the answer and I realized that this is something related to politics.
In case you don't know the answer is Julia Gillard.
Well for me, now, this type of question seems wrong on a forum like this, but maybe I'll understand in the future how an australian sees the politicians & politics.

Time zones in Australia

As I just started this blog I wanted to add some cool staff on it and I found a clock. When I wanted to add it I realized that I have no clue about the time zones in Australia. It's true that this information can be found at anytime on the internet, and also that the website from where I get it offers the possibility to select by country/town :) but after this experience I said to myself that I have to study more on this and find out some information.
There are three times zones in Australia -Eastern, Central, Western:
- Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) - GMT +10 is followed in the following regions: New South Wales (except Broken Hill, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Australian Capital Territor;
- Australian Central Standard Time (ACST) - GMT +9 ½ is followed in South Australia, Northern Territory and Broken Hill, NSW;
- Australian Western Standard Time (AWST) - GMT +8 is followed in the Western Australia;

Daylight Saving Time is observed in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory.
So, I'm interested in going to Melbourne (Victoria) or Sydney (New South Wales) and the time zone is GMT +10 (EST) / GMT + 11 (EDT).
You can find more info on : http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/time