JamieJakov Blog

Lockdown

May 11th, 2020

It is now May 2020 and the whole world has been in shutdown for 2 months now. Who would’ve imagined that our normal lives would come to such an abrupt stop in March 2020.

COVID-19 is wreaking havoc to countries and their health systems, and without a clear solution form anyone, we are all just stuck in our homes – in lockdown.

Some governments acted faster and better than others, and have managed to protect and save more of their people from this deadly virus, but everyone had to implement drastic measures to achieve even the smallest of results.

Australia has surprisingly come out on top in terms of its response and how well we managed to contain the spread and flatten the curve. Other advanced 1st world countries (looking at you USA and UK), were not so fortunate to have leaders who care about their people and their livelihoods.

We are all doing our part – staying home, social distancing, isolating ourselves from the world. Thats what each and every one of us can do, and should do, until there is a clear end in sight. Whether it be a vaccine or total eradication of the virus, either way we all need to just accept that our lives will not be returning to normal anytime soon.

This situation has brought a lot of uncertainty into our lives – with events canceled, travel banned, and any kind of future plans postponed. I had some big things planned for 2020 and 2021, but unfortunately they will have to take a step back until life gets back to normal (a new normal).

Stay home, stay safe, stop the spread.

Perfection

May 25th, 2017

Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away

2006 vs 2016

December 21st, 2016

So this year there is this thing going around: me in 2006 vs me in 2016. So I decided to get on this bandwagon and combine it with my yearly retrospective post.

In 2006 my family had our annual trip to a new country – Australia. We visited Sydney, Uluru, Alice Springs, and Cairns during the 2 weeks that we were here. I was a small boy, exploring the world, one country at a time, trying to not get eaten alive by flies (as you can see by the photo).

Now, 10 years later, I am once again in Australia, more specifically Sydney, living my life here as a uni graduate and a software developer. Could I have imagined that I would be here right now 10 years ago? Probably not, but I am sure glad as to what I have achieved and how much I have grown.

So what actually happened this year? (And last year kinda, cause I never did a 2015 retrospective, and 2014 was still in Japan )

I got a proper job in IT in 2015, working as a software developer at WiseTech Global and I am really loving it! Still there, going strong, working on some really cool stuff.
I gave little Ringo-chan an uplift in February by redesigning this whole site.
Alex and I moved to a new apartment in Mascot, now 10 minutes away from work in Alexandria.
Went to Singapore and Malaysia with my parents in March.
At around this time as well, I started doing sunrise and milky way photography with my coworker Anton. Even though I have been taking photos since 2006 (what a coincidence!), but now I believe I can truly explore this hobby more without having to travel somewhere far. Check out my photos on Flickr.
You know what a NAS is? what PLEX is? Well neither did I until I got a NAS and installed PLEX on it and now I have my whole media collection available to me anywhere.
June = Pokemon GO! came out allowing us to catch Pokemon everywhere! “A new region to explore, a whole new bunch of Pokemon to catch!” – Vadim 2014
Then pretty much since July I didn’t blog as much and didnt do as much, was just focusing on work and getting my visa situation sorted out. Now I have a 4 year temporary working visa (457), so then in about 2, I can apply for permanent residency!)
In October, my parents came to visit me for my graduation! Thats right I am done with uni, no more classes, no more lectures…. no more fun times with my friends from the anime club… No not really, I am forever their we(e)bmaster.
Oh and of course we went to Middle Earth and visited Hobbiton. That was amazing. Wish the weather was a bit better, but hey, what can you do.
And now I find myself spending Christmas and New Years with my friends, and looking forward to a great 2017.

Hope you all had a good year, and see you all in the future!

I ‘member UTS

December 5th, 2016

I ‘member the good old time, you ‘member? – South Park

It’s been almost 6 months since I completed my almost 6 year degree in UTS. And now thinking back, I kinda miss being a student. Of course doing what a love at an amazing job that I got is great, however that feeling of going to university to learn, and socialise is something that I started to miss over the past few months. Of course I can say that I’ve had the best time of my life while at university and that I owe this to the amazing people that made that time so… well… amazing! However I am still involved in anime@UTS and to some extent JASS, so I can’t say that I’ve left campus life for good.

The reason for this reminiscing post is because I stumbled upon an article written by UTS International Office – about me! I did an interview with them and got them to take my photo, but never actually saw it used anywhere, but then today I did a Google search for my name (Vadims Brodskis) I came across this article. Isn’t it cool! Hopefully this stays on the site for ever, or at least a long long time, then I can say that I have made history! And with such a quote:

With the knowledge UTS has given me, I’m confident I can enter the job market, show them that I’m amazing and make then hire me.

Now, how many of you have your own university page?

Happy Birthday Muzaffar!

November 6th, 2016

Some people go to dinner, others just chill at home, what does Muza do? He organises a place at Jervis Bay for the night and gets together a gang of Russians (Uzbek, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian and Kazak Russians) and takes us all to the beautiful beaches. Early wakeup on Saturday followed by a 2.5h drive out to Jervis Bay resulted in us getting some good sun, a few dips in the cold water and a hike through the national park. In the evening, as per tradition, we have shashlik (skewered meat) on the grill and some drinks, while chatting into the night.

All I wanna say is a big thank you to Muza, for organising, cooking and well being such a great guy! Happy Birthday my friend, wish you health and happiness, and of course all the best with work and your personal life.

Photos from our outing are right here:

I’ve Graduated

October 23rd, 2016

What a long, strange trip its been… I came to Australia in 2010, when I was only 17 years of age. I stayed with a homestay family and studied a foundation course in UTS:Insearch. Then after a year of that, I was accepted into UTS to start my 5 year double degree of IT and International Studies (Japan Major). Then just 5 years later I find myself graduated with distinction, with a full time job, living in a great apartment with an amazing housemate and surrounded by people who are made me who I am today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r88PGpRxoig

Of course I would like to thank everyone for helping me with this long journey. First and foremost – my parents. Without them, I wouldn’t be here; without them, I wouldn’t have had the knowledge or the skills to get me where I am now; without their support I would not have been able to 6 years of studies, work and life. So thank you mom, thank you dad. I hope I did good, I hope I made you proud, and that your investment in me will not be in vain.

Then my friends. Starting with the first even friend in UTS – Ruben, my weebmate – Tac, my housemate – Alex, my potato – Seb, my Eastern-European friend – Mad, my artsy-friend Amy, everyone else and ending with the new anime@UTS exec team for 2017. Thank you everyone for your support, for telling me off when I was acting stupid, for giving me a pat on the back when I did something good, and overall making my campus life as rose coloured as it could have ever been.

So after 6 long years I have finally graduated from UTS! *throws hat into the sky*

However, now it is time to embark on a new journey – I must change the world, one line of code at a time. And I hope that all these great people I have met in university will still be there by my side throughout my adult life.

Photos are right here, on my:

Why I Make

June 21st, 2016

Adam Savage, one of the hosts of Mythbusters is in Sydney at the moment, so I looked through his tweets and found this video he stared in. Adam starts off by saying that making, is creating something that didn’t exist in this world. That is right, we as humans have an incredible ability to, literally, make anything possible. We can be all artsy and draw a painting, shoot a movie, compose a music piece, or we could be scientific and discover an element, calculate a physical value, compute code, etc…

I would like to say why I make. I make because I want to change the world. As corny as it sounds, I want to leave the world a better place then I found it. I want to use my skills to make peoples lives better. My skills are primarily focused around technology, but I believe that I have the ability to improve on things that most people would not care about, mainly UI and UX. There are designers out there that create great user experiences, but a lot of our interactions with technology are clunky, rough and just annoying at times. So I think it is important for people, that stop and think about the little things to exist, so that the people that don’t, have a much smoother experience and continue doing what they are best at.

As Apple said in their 2013 WWDC video:

If everyone is busy making everything, how can anyone perfect anything? We start to confuse convenience with joy, abundance with choice…

I think is where I started to feel like I can make a difference if only I slowed down and looked around at what is around me.

I wish that everyone would continue making, would continue creating, would continue doing what they can to make this world better for everyone.

Sydney Brick Expo

April 18th, 2016

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved LEGO. This simple, yet complex game of building anything that your imagination can think of, has entertained me for numerous years. Alas due to the move to Sydney, I could not bring my trusty LEGO blocks with me and continue building (though I started building with the power of software).

Well, even though I might not have any blocks with me, that doesn’t mean I stopped liking LEGO! So Amy invited me to go to the Sydney Brick Show. At this exhibition, various artists (yes they are artists, they produce art with their creativity) show off their creations. Some were large, others were motorised or light up, some were references to pop culture, then others look plain cool. There was a lot to see, and a lot of people that came to see, parents and children all around. It was great to see so many lego enthusiasts loving their hobby and showing it off to the new generation.

Oh how I miss my LEGO. Also photos:

Australia Day 2016

January 27th, 2016

Every year families all around the country gather together to celebrate Australia Day. Its the day that the whole nation celebrates the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British Ships at Port Jackson, NSW. Australia has become a very multicultural society, but nevertheless everyone gathers together for festive barbecues and beach outings. All of this is usually followed by a display of fireworks in the CBD of the major cities.

Also, there is a antique car show! So Amy and I went to explore it. Old cars are so majestic, and the photos turned out great:

The Goal

January 16th, 2016

I don’t really read many books, but when I do, they affect me in a big way. This book made me question the processes we follow and actions we take in our everyday lives, and evaluate their value in terms of achieving “The Goal”. It was published in 1984, but the concepts that it covers are still relevant to this day. Personally, I strive for perfection and getting the most value out of everything I do and that happens around me. Trying to minimise wasted time and effort, and achieving most results with minimal expenses (financial and other).