My career has lead me to an interesting place, and I can finally define what I want out of my accomplishments working for a company.  It’s easy..and it’s my new ‘resume objective‘:  “To apply my systems and software knowledge and experience, to work on a product that is powerful, reliable, robust, and intuitive, while helping people and profiting for a company.” You like?   Having worked with defense companies for 7 years now with 3 different companies, I’m starting to understand what these companies are looking for, and I believe my resume sums it up well.

I really enjoy putting experiences into words and now this post and my resume describe that.  I always had a software engineering title and knew that was wrong, but was afraid to put systems engineer on my resume.  Now, I know it’s right and everything I’ve been doing falls under systems engineering, but more specifically integration and test.  I’ve really enjoyed the work I do, because it’s so dynamic.  The biggest benefit is training people, and customer support related tasks.  It’s such a multi-functional role, and being relied on for so many different things feels good.

Keeping my resume up to date lately has been great, aside from being easy.  However it’s been more important to finally keep my resume and experiences written down and up to date.

In all, I still hate when a company wants someone ‘experienced’ and I understand why, but I would hope they give those with powerful degrees and a great attitude an opportunity, because in the end you always have to get spun up, adjust to the environment, do in-formal training and learn the system.  It just takes people with experience less time and people without a little more.  Also going from job to job is less frightening.  Hang in there, buy your time, but don’t limit yourself to just one thing or one job, anything you do can be considered experience…

9.  Driving on the opposite side of the road doesn’t take long to get used to about a week.  It takes 2 weeks to get used to the area and drive on the opposite side of the road.  Everyone drives slow and relaxed just like…

8. ….No Worries, really means something to Australians.  They care about spending lots of time with their friends and families.

7.  People are extremely friendly, but they’re usually thrown off by American accents, so add a little twang to your vernacular.

6.  Internet here is expensive and slow.  There are no unlimited services.

5.  The food is very good when you find the right place.  Bookings aka Reservations are essential…I say essential because if you show up randomly they look at you funny. My favorite meal is kangaroo steak.

4.  People love the outdoors, bush walks, and camping are huge activities!

3.  Drinking local wine is extremely popular and their wine selection is incredible!

2.  Movies don’t come out here like in the States, they’re anywhere from a week behind to 3 months behind (obviously depends on the movie, ie. The Dark Knight…Heath Ledger…)

1.  The El Camino is coming back!  You watch!

Let’s see what I have on the list:

Go hiking, back packing, camping..Go camping with Mandy and the Dogs
Go horseback riding
Go indoor rock climbing
Go watch and bet on Jai Alai
Go to the circus
Go to the fair
Go indoor sky diving.
Go on an Airboat ride.
Get Salsa Dance Lessons with Mandy (The Mandy part will hopefully happen when I’m home, but my lessons start Wednesday!)
Went on a diet to eat less and loose fat
Went Snowboarding (Never planned but still counting it)
Have a Garage Sale  (We’ll do this when we get back, we need to get rid of unused items)
Learn CPR  (Having more and more kids in the family, this is just a good thing to learn and know, maybe I’ll do this while I’m out here).
Date Night, Helicopter ride over Orlando  (When I get back)
Date Night, Actually fly a small plane over Orlando  (This might not get done this year, but maybe)
Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity  (I’ve enjoyed doing this previously and now I’m gonna do it again…when I get back!)

There’s still quite a bit to do, but I’ll get it done!!

For example, one of the acts was this Hispanic man doing the bouncing juggling balls, started with 3 and ended with a total 6.  In between adding a new ball he would yell something, and it sounded like “CUBA!” come to think of it I’m gonna pretend he yelled Cuba, just for the hell of it.

Also one act had this girl that was caught by these caveman type people and then some fake dinosaur came and saved her.  The story was she raised this dinosaur from a baby and now it saved her for her to be a princess.  Then she started swinging on these red curtains, the story really didn’t make sense.

There was a magic act in between each act, and of course I’d try to figure out how he was doing it.  One of the acts I figured out;  He basically did the cut a person in half and I figured the person hid to one side, she came out ok, then another person came out (and I then said, oh she was on the other side of the box), THEN another person came out and I was like aight now I want to know how he did it!  Also each time the magician would cover something I would say to myself a big cat is gonna come out, with no such luck.

The last act was hulla-hoop Eva Longoria, or at least that’s what she looked like from a far.  The end of her set had 2 people throwing hoops over her, as she added over 50 hulla-hoops as she was hooping.  It was pretty impressive, but in all the show was mediocre.  I think the show would have been better if I could have made fun of it with some friends, so if you do decide to go to the circus get drunk before hand.

One last thing about the show was all the ladies were wearing thong like bottoms.  I didn’t understand it since the show is a majority of kids!  I’ve realized that Australia doesn’t censor much like in Europe, even in public.

The circus also made me realize once we’re a parent, the shows you go to for your kids!  I remember when my parents took me to the zoo, there were all these animals and it seemed like a huge production!  This was like a cheap Cirque Du Soleil Show.  It at least killed my Saturday afternoon, and one of my new year’s resolutions.

Note: Pictures were taken with an iPhone.

As I head to Margaret River on my 3 1/2 hour voyage, the beautiful country side was like any other with the exception of the Harvey District, known as ‘The Heart of Diary Country’, which I would only assume also it’s steak.  The number of cattle around was incredible, and it wasn’t the plain black and brown cows, it was the black and white spotty ones.  About mid way on my trip is where I stopped at Harvey Moo Shoppe / Visitor Centre, built in the 1800’s.  A quaint little store with a stable for a restroom in the back, and Stirling’s Restaurant Cottaqge situated on the picturesque banks of the Harvey River.  After my rest stop, I continued to my first destination in Margaret River, Cape Lavender for Breakfast.

First, let me describe the Margaret River area.  It has 2 major roads that run north to south on either side of the city.  Each road is surrounded with farm land for cattle, sheep, or grapes.  There are hundreds of wineries around.  It’s like you’re in the middle of no where but in reality you’re in very populated farm country.  The wineries, lodging, and restaurants are anywhere between 7-30 minutes apart.  The roads at night are dark and desolate, you might see a car every 15 minutes, (everyone drives around with their brights on).  There is only one area that’s heavily populated with stores and that’s the shopping centre.  The rest is mildly lit signs on the side of the road for lodging, wineries, and restaurants.

I wanted to arrive for breakfast at Cape Lavender, which is known for making consumables (soap, shampoo, fudge, wine, etc) out of Lavender trees and their breakfast. I had Green Eggs and Bacon with home made Vienna on top of Basil, which was absolutely delicious.  The 17 dollar meal was worth every penny and the lake side view was very peaceful.  After breakfast I went to their gift shoppe where they make EVERYTHING out of Lavender.  While shopping I found out they have 3 Labradors, 2 yellow and 1 chocolate lab and even make their own lavender dog shampoo and well of course…I can’t wait to use it on Hannah and Marle (Big Girl and Bubba)!

From Cape Lavender, I headed south on Caves Rd. to my first cave, Calgardup Cave.  This cave was a self-guided tour which was very exciting!  I walked to the counter to pay the 12 dollar entry fee.  The nice lady instructed that I would be entering the middle of the cave and could navigate left or right, each side was around 100 meters in length.  Then she said I’d be getting a helmet…(great!  I love helmets.. ) and she followed that I’d be getting a torch!  A TORCH!  I WAS PUMPED, I WAS GONNA BE A GOOFY INDIAN JONES WITH A HELMET AND A HUGE FLAMING TORCH!  Well I quickly realized that a torch was just a big flash light (such a disappointment!).  I strapped on and headed onto the boardwalk into the cave (your not allowed to leave the boardwalk and touch the rock because of the acids in your skin).   Quickly I realized that there was ABSOLUTELY no lighting in the cave (that’s why we needed our ‘torch’)!  So the darkness started to freak me out a little, especially since there were only 2 other people in the cave.  I walked the cave completely alone clutching my torch like a baby clutching their teddy bear when the boogy monster is waiting in the closet.  As I entered the cave I asked an older couple leaving, “left or right?”, and they said “to the left was more challenging,” and well honestly I wanted to get that part over with since it was pitch black and all I had was my torch and pocket knife.  As I head east the cave gets darker and darker and I continually wait for some snake type lockness monster to come out of the very shallow stream and choke me to death while I yell for no one to hear me.  Seriously, the cave was incredible with millions of stalactites and stalagmites from the ceiling and the ground respectively.  The different formations were astounding, there were even parts I had to crawl under.  After crawling under some rocks, I get to the end of the boardwalk and read one of two signs mentioning, “This is the end…follow the trail back to go to the other side or to the exit”.  The other sign said,  “A World of Darkness.  Sit down, turn off your lights and experience cave darkness.  This is a world without light and the only sound is the splash of water droplets.” –FUCK THAT!  I was already more than a little freaked out when I would look back at the pitch black following me. I thought twice about turning the light off but was too freaked out, so I just started to speed walk back to the opening of the cave.  After getting back to the middle, I decided to go explore the other side.  It was just as beautiful, the cave was truly peaceful and the different colors, formations and straw like stalactites really spurred your imagination.

From Calgardup Cave I drove half hour to Jewel Cave where it was a guided tour that started at 2:30pm.  Here I purchased my 3 cave pass for $45…….

Side Track:  After buying my 3 day pass, I waited in the car to figure out where my hotel was.   A car pulled up and parked very close and this Asian Bitch, ‘accidentally’ slammed her car door into my car!  I said something to her boyfriend, but that asshole didn’t speak any English!  He’s lucky he didn’t speak any English, that it’s not really ‘my’ car and it’s a company rental.  I tried to take a picture of the bitch, but wasn’t able to get a good picture for everyone to see.

…..Well Jewel cave tour finally started and luckily we didn’t have to wear hard hats or need torches!  The tour was great and the cave was lit up beautifully!  Lots of the formations resembled different things, a budda statue, bacon, trees of a forest, a camel laying down, all sorts of things.  This cave also had a 500 year old fossil of a possum that was starting to form calcium carbonate or calcite.  This cave was much bigger than the first and the reflection from the water was pure mirror.

After Jewel Cave I went to my third cave of the day called Mammoth Cave known for all the animal artifacts that were discovered in this cave.  This cave was another self-guided tour, but luckily it was also lighted and had a very nice audio tour that accompanied the 45 minute walk.  Again just incredible the size, colors and shapes of the rocks.

From here I headed to the All Seasons Margaret River Resort, where I checked in to my simple cozy room.  I showered and got dolled up and ready for my meal at Cape Lodge where I went straight to the bar to do some wine tasting then have my $95, 3 course a la carte meal which ended up being a 6 course meal for $160 (again worth every penny)!

After getting back to the hotel, I finished watching all 2 channels of tv (literally) and passed out.  I woke up and checked out to find a small breakfast meal in the city centre.  I was only 5 minutes away and got some gas and went to get some breaky at Sails.  I ordered a delicious simple croissant sandwich with ham and cheese, I needed nothing elaborate because I knew my lunch was going to be fancy.  After breaky, I went and did some souvenir shopping before quickly heading to Lake Cave and CaveWorks (a place where they talk about the caves without having to go in one).

Lake Cave was my favorite, partly because of the tour guide and the other part because it had a floating island that it’s known for.  It was beautiful and aside from the floating island we saw; Homer, Marge, and Maggie Simpson silhouettes, a turtle’s head, the back of a crocodile, a dragon’s head, and some other neat figures in the stalactites and stalagmites.  Mac was our guide and apart from being entertaining, he was very knowledgeable, really made for an enjoyable tour.  Lake Cave was the deepest Cave in the WA (Western Australia), and it’s entrance was the size of a football field.  We were 97 meters below the surface at one point.

Afterward, I drove to the beach to go in the Indian Ocean.  I got my right hand and big toe wet (accidentally, since my shoe got soaked), I count this as now being in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean (check)!  The beach side reminded me of Hawaii with all the mountains along the side.  This was a very popular surf area and I could see why, there were beautiful waves although with some deadly reefs below.  The sea is an incredible blue color, just like the pictures.

I decided to go back to the city centre to do some more exploring and I’m glad I did, I got some more great Australia only items for friends and family back home.  Earlier, I rescheduled my lunch so I could hit up a winery when suddenly;  I drove by a cheese factory!!  I had to stop for only one reason, the love of my life!  She would have made us stop, along with the fact I would have stopped for us to enjoy this cute little store.  The store was set out all on it’s own (again in the middle of farm country off the side of the road).  I tried 5 different cheeses and bought Smokey Cheddar Cheese and Marinaded Feta!  They just melt in your mouth, and if I don’t open them they’ll last till I get home, but if I do I have to eat it all cause it will spoil on the plane…let’s hope that I’m a good boy….

I never did end up going to any wineries as time didn’t permit.  I barely made it to my lunch booking at Flutes, a beautiful winery on a rushing stream with excellent food.  I had a light meal since last night’s dinner was sooo heavy.  The food here continued to be fantastic and the wine as well.

All in all, it was very fun and full weekend, there is so much to do in Margaret River, you could easily spend over two weeks enjoying everything!

Well, that’s my mentality.  I’m living here in Perth, Australia till September on a TDY (temporary duty) for work.  I’ve moved into an apartment close to the base and near enough other things.  I’m still settling in and working on buying some groceries and other basic necessities.  I hope to explore some this weekend on things to do and keep me busy (maybe some horse back riding, or fishing charters).  Mandy is coming out here at the end of July for a few weeks to ‘live’ here too.  It’s a real sacrifice to be away from the family, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.  I hope to convince anyone else that wants to visit out here to come.  I’m staying in a spacious 3 bed 2 bath apartment in a gated community on a golf course with a community pool and jacuzzi (tempting?!?!  anyone? anyone?!?!).

Before I left Mandy and I threw a party so that I could see some people before I left, it was fun and I really appreciate the people that could make it so last minute!  I’ll try to keep you posted with what’s going on here and what not.  I let Mandy keep the camera to take pictures of things back home for me, so you may not see so many pictures from me, but I have the webcam on the laptop that I might use.

Now driving around has been a bitch for me! I’m forced to use my left hand and the right side of my brain , something I’m not used to and definitely want to work on. I’m waiting to accidentally drive on the wrong side of the road, it hasn’t happened yet. My shift at work starts at 4am and I have to pay extra attention when there are no cars on the road for which side to drive on.  I have lost a hub cap though, I accidently hit the curb one morning while looking at the map….no worries!

It’s been good being here, work has been super busy and I haven’t had a chance to explore much, here are some of the photos so far.   I’m already working on a short less entertaining video, of walking up the SwanBells.

Perth, Australia