Inverted Reality

apple, tech, coffee, vespa, gadgets, family

I don’t like job interviews

Does anyone honestly like to sit in a job interview?

It’s stressful, confronting, almost violating.

I’ve actually lost my voice in a job interview once!

This week I have a job interview. I shouldn’t stress about it, I don’t really have much riding on it, although I’ll be able to work with a team I’ve always wanted to work in, and leave behind my current, somewhat-boring job. I’m not leaving this organisation, I’m just trying to get in to another team.

I actually know two of the other candidates that are also being interviewed. One of these people already works in said team (just at a lower level) and is looking to step up. The other, highly qualified for the position, and a really nice guy.

I’m qualified. At least, I think I am. I’ve dealt with and worked with the team on many occasions in the past.

Wish me luck for Wednesday. Just gotta say the right things I spose!

2 Comments by James on March 15, 2010
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New Apple iPad Blog

I’ve set up a new site. http://www.ipadicle.com/ (it rhymes with Radical, but is spelt completely different)

I plan to add all iPad tips, tricks and news on the site, as well as hopefully gain some discussion. The idea is to make it a one-stop-shop for everything iPad. From Developers to regular users, hopefully it will become a useful resource!

No Comments by James on March 6, 2010
filed in Apple, Gadgets, Internet, iPad
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Chocolate

During our recent trip to Albany we stopped in at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory in Metricup W.A.

Do you like Chocolate? I do.

This has got to be one of the most awesome places on earth! No, really. isles and isles, walls and walls, stacks and stacks, ALL CHOCOLATE. Any kind, any type, everywhere.

Some  information on the Margaret River Chocolate Factory:

With factories in both the Margaret River and Swan Valley wine regions of Western Australia, we have been making award-winning chocolate products since 1999.

Both chocolate factories provide a fascinating insight into the world of chocolate, with free chocolate tastings, interactive displays, viewing windows to watch the chocolate products being made and a family friendly atmosphere.

Information and merchandise are available on all aspects of chocolate, plus both factories sell a mouth-watering range of chocolate bars, chocolate coated delights, hand made truffles, novelty chocolates, icecreams, chocolate milk and a variety of chocolate cakes and deserts.

Entry is free and both factories are open from 9am-5pm every day of the year except Christmas Day.

1 Comment by James on March 5, 2010
filed in Travel
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Buy me a Coffee Machine

Here at Inverted Reality, we are fueled by coffee! No Coffee? No fun!

Help fund our new espresso machine by donating your hard earned cash. Just click on the donate button on the right col of this page!

If you are a business and are interested in sponsoring the site. Feel free to contact me. Make a killer donation and I’ll throw your logo, product, whatever all over this web page. Got a product you want reviewed? No problemo. Want me to come to your special event and blog it, or splash it all over the social media networks? No problemo!

The things we do for a good cup of joe eh?

No Comments by James on March 4, 2010
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iPad Hands on in Australia

This is an absolute exclusive!

Here at Inverted Reality, courtesy of leopardtricks.com, we’re very lucky to have the opportunity to get an exclusive hands-on with the new Apple iPad prior to release world-wide.

First impressions are, this thing is just a pleasure to look at and hold, it’s sleek styling and sharp display are most certainly top notch. It scrolls like butter, it’s just fast at everything.

We tested a few of the built in apps, but focused on mobile Safari, we fired up the New York Times web site to see how it could handle a great deal of content on it’s display. As Steve demonstrated in the official keynote, it loads fast, and navigates well.

We absolutely believe that this device will be very popular. Using an iPhone’esque operating system instead of a full blown OS is without a doubt the way to go here. Multi-tasking (or lack of) just isn’t an issue as apps open and close blindingly fast (just as fast as you could switch apps pretty much)

You sure are in for a treat!

On to the most important part, the photos!

1 Comment by James on March 3, 2010
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Albany

Last weekend, Melissa and I packed the kids in to the car and took a trip down south. The great south-west of Australia.

We drove directly to Margaret River along the new extended Kwinana Freeway (Perth -> Bunbury freeway). It was fast. In fact it probably knocked 45mins or so off the trip time. Impressive.

We stopped at my favourite winery, Woody Nook. Had lunch, picked up a pile of wine, and continued on to Albany, via Manjimup.

The trip to Margaret River seemed a quick one, no stops along the way, it was great. After lunch, we stopped at the famous Margaret River Chocolate Factory

Pushing on to Albany, through the Karri Valley (insanely old and tall tree’s) we stopped outside Manjimup so Melissa could feed Spencer who’d decided it was tucker time. We arrived in Albany around 5:30pm, after leaving home that morning at 8:20AM, lots of driving! We stayed in a cozy little chalet at Emu Beach Chalets. Close to the beach but just set back enough to be protected from the incredible wind!

The weather was a lovely 25′ish C in Albany, a light drizzle on Saturday, otherwise very nice. A huge cruise ship was in town (Queen Victoria) with something like 2000 passengers walking around the Albany town centre.

Tonnage: 90,000 gross tons
Length: 964.5 ft (294 m)
Beam: 106 ft (32.3 m) waterline, 120 ft (36.6 m) extreme (bridge wings)
Height: 205 ft (62.5 m) keel to funnel
Draft: 26.2 ft (8.0 m)
Decks: 16 total, 12 passenger
Installed power: 63.4 MW Sulzer ZA40 diesel plant
Propulsion: Two 16.7 MW Azipods
Speed: 23.7 kn (43.9 km/h; 27.3 mph) maximum,
service at 18 kn (33.3 km/h; 20.7 mph)[2]
Capacity: 2,014 passengers
Crew: 900 officers and crew

On Saturday, we all jumped in the car and headed to town to grab some coffee. I found a place on York Street called “York Street Cafe” and ordered a latte, it was enjoyable. We jumped back in the car and headed to Denmark for lunch, a 55 min trip back west.

We drove around town, parked, and decided to try the Denmark bakery for lunch. WOW. Awesome pies! Whilst eating our pies we noticed the signage in the window, boasting 11 win’s at last year’s Perth Royal Show, not only for pies but for freshly baked breads. Awesome!

Returning to Albany after lunch, we treked around town for a while with the kiddums in the pram, and eventually headed back to the Chalet for the evening, packed up, and headed home on Sunday morning.

The goal was to put some kilometres on the car, but ultimately we had a nice trip out, and even have plans to travel more often. Perhaps a camper will be in our future? Maybe when the kids are a bit older!

1 Comment by James on March 3, 2010
filed in Travel
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Lawn Progress

Last week I posted about my new lawn. A lot of prep went in to getting the soil and levels right, irrigation, and of course the rolling and compacting of the lawn.

Ten days later and things are going very well. The lawn is looking great, growing fast, and happy in it’s new environment. It’s doing so well that it’s pretty much ready for its first mow. I’ll be giving it a buzz sometime this week. Not too short!

I applied for exemption from the Water Corporation, for watering in and establishing new lawn. They posted me a watering schedule, which I’ve programmed in to my irrigation controller. The lawn is happy with the watering which in it’s current 2nd week is 2x waterings of 5mm per day, every day.

I had to program some of the zones differently, as one zone is on regular pop-up style sprinkler nozzles, and other zones are on MP Rotator nozzles (which deliver 1/3rd the water of a regular nozzle)

Here’s some information on the type of lawn I’ve installed:

Palmetto Buffalo Grass is a tough, soft leaf Buffalo, that is available Australia wide. This turf provides a lawn grass that has excellent winter colour, and can generally out compete weeds when established. Palmetto Buffalo Grass generally requires less watering and less mowing than most other turf varieties available in Instant Turf rolls or slabs, and in Viro-Cell Lawn for patch up.

Stenotaphrum secundatum ‘SS100′ is the genus, species and cultivar name of this turf. Thus ‘SS100′ is the cultivar or variety name of the turf. Palmetto is the trade name, or brand name.

more on the Palmetto web page

No Comments by James on February 23, 2010
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BarCamp Perth

Is fast approaching. April 10th to be exact. While I’ve not been in the past (I was busy last year), I’d like to attend this year, and perhaps even contribute something.

I’m just trying to think of some topic’s that I could maybe discuss at BarCamp.

Here’s a list of things I’ve thought of so far… (I’ll pick one):

Webmin – A web systems administration package for servers (mainly Linux)
Virtualmin – A web hosting administration package for servers
Sysadmin on the road – Consultancy and systems administration whilst mobile.
Apple iPad demonstration and practical uses in industry (health / medical uses)
Social Networking as a business tool

Or maybe I will just go and suck down all the Five Senses Coffee?

Taken from their site:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc unconference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment

If you’ve never been to a BarCamp before, the idea is simple. BarCamp Perth is a free, single day event held at Central Institute of Technology. It’s kind of like a conference in that most of the day is filled with talks (both formal and informal) but anyone and everyone is welcome to speak (hence, an unconference).

If you have a topic you’re passionate about or you just want to help spread the knowledge, you’re invited to submit your talk topic (once that part of the site is up) and people attending on the day will get to choose which talks go when.

In past years, we’ve had talks on everything from Ruby on Rails to Hardware Hacking to Second Life. If you have something to contribute or just want to learn, BarCamp Perth is for you.

The motto of BarCamp is simple: No spectators, only participants.

No Comments by James on February 22, 2010
filed in Gadgets, Internet, Linux, coffee
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Trip to Albany

So we’re heading down to Albany this weekend for yet another family get away. This could be the start of a fair bit of travelling! Last weekend’s trip to Tammin was great. This time we’re going three times further and staying for longer.

I’ll update this post with more photo’s, maybe some video, we’ll see!

Here’s a little info on Albany, Western Australia. As taken from wiki:

Albany (pronounced /ˈælbəni/) is a port city located in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, some 390 kilometres south-east of Perth, the state capital. As of 2009, Albany’s population is estimated at approximate 33,600 making it the sixth-largest city in the state[2].

The city centre is located at the northern edge of Princess Royal Harbour, which is a part of King George Sound. The Central Business District is bounded by Mount Clarence to the east and Mount Melville to the west. The city is situated in the Local Government Area of the City of Albany.

The city was founded in January 1827 as a military outpost of New South Wales as part of a plan to forestall French ambition in the region. The area was initially named Frederickstown in honour of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. In 1831 the settlement was transferred to the control of the Swan River Colony and renamed Albany by Governor James Stirling.[3]

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s the town served as a gateway to the Eastern Goldfields and for many years was the colony’s only deep water port, having a place of eminence on shipping services between Britain and its Australian colonies. The construction of Fremantle Harbour in 1893[4], however, saw its importance as a port decline after which the towns industries turned primarily to agriculture and timber and, later, whaling. Unlike Perth and Fremantle, Albany was a strong supporter of Federation in 1901.

Today the town has a place of significance as a tourist destination and base from which to explore the south west of the state and is well regarded for its natural beauty and preservation of heritage. The town has an important though somewhat controversial role in the Anzac legend, being the last port of call for troopships departing Australia in the First World War.

Albany is the oldest permanently settled town in Western Australia, predating Perth and Fremantle by some two years.

2 Comments by James on February 22, 2010
filed in Travel
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Life as a Coffee

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university Professor.

Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the Prof. went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the Prof. said “If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. That all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other’s cups.”

“Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn’t change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it.”

So friend, don’t let the cups drive you…enjoy the coffee instead.

No Comments by James on February 20, 2010
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