Tag: alcohol

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Weekly Wrap 198: Secrets, security, Sydney and more wine

Sydney skyline, with frigate: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 17 to Sunday 23 March 2014 was a busy one, and moderately productive. I am happy with it.

Apart from the media objects listed here, I did quite a bit of background work on a SEKRIT project that I’ll announce on Tuesday. The only hint for now is that it’s something that quite a few people have been wanting for a while now.

Articles

Media Appearances

5at5

We’re back up to four out of five days being published. Excellent.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Monday I went to an event with a delightful name: Dell Australia’s Steak, Storage & Solutions Media & Analyst Lunch at Kingsley’s Steak & Crabhouse in Woolloomooloo. Obviously they paid for the food and wine.
  • On Tuesday I went to a media briefing by Imperva at Wolfies Restaurant, Circular Quay, where of course they paid for the food and wine. Imperva also gave us: A rather nice branded notebook; a branded pen; and a well-made carry bag to put them in. M.Tech, one of Imperva’s channel partners, gave us: A branded water bottle, carry bag, and business card holder.
  • On Tuesday I finally got around to checking my postbox, where I discovered that Sourcefire had sent me a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a branded bottle opened / key ring to open them with. Thanks for that.

The Week Ahead

It’ll be a busy week. Indeed, it’s the first week of a challenging three months ahead. I’ll tell you more about that later, but one key issue is that I need to decide how I’ll ramp up my revenue in the coming quarter. I have plenty of ideas, I just have to choose — and choose wisely.

On Monday I’ll be doing the final planning for the SEKRIT thing to be announced on Tuesday, as well as speaking with my editors about their needs for the next month or so.

On Wednesday I’m heading into Sydney for a few things, including the SANS Australia Community Night presentation Why Do Organisations Get Compromised? I’ll then stay in Sydney overnight, and on Thursday I’ll write my ZDNet Australia column before heading back up the hill.

Friday has been kept clear for work on my legacy business Prussia.Net, although that may change. The weekend is currently unplanned.

[Photo: Sydney skyline, with frigate, 17 March 2014, being a photograph taken from the steps leading from Potts Point down to Woolloomoloo. In the background is the Sydney CBD. In the foreground, mostly hidden behind trees, is a Royal Australian Navy frigate docked at Fleet Base East.]

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Weekly Wrap 195: Melbourne and many expenses

Melbourne skyline: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 24 February to Sunday 2 March 2014 was largely spent in Melbourne and Sydney. Both cities proved more or less enjoyable. And then I spent the weekend in a rainy Wentworth Falls.

While the Melbourne trip was primarily for the Intel event detailed below, I also caught up with various geekfolk and managed to combine work-related conversations with excellent food and drink. May I draw your attention to the Cookie Beer Hall, Whiskey & Alement, the Shark Fin Inn in Chinatown, and the Red Emperor Chinese Restaurant at Southbank.

I paid for all those things. It was more expensive than I’d planned. I don’t know how the lesser people can afford it, but there seemed to be so many of them in these venues.

Articles

I’ve also been working on a 1500-word piece for the Walkley Foundation magazine that’ll be published in May.

Media Appearances

5at5

Uhoh. The whole thing collapsed. Sorry. I’ll revive the poor little thing in the coming week. Promise.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday I went to Intel’s mixed-bag event in Melbourne, which combined briefings on their new Xeon E7 v2 Server processors, their vision for the future of workplace collaboration and how they’re implementing it themselves — I’ll be writing about that at some point — a look at a new project at NAB, and a rather fine three-hour lunch at Bistro Vue. Intel paid for my flights to Melbourne, airport transfers, and one night’s accommodation at the Crowne Plaza Melbourne — that last item being their sensible alternative to me having to catch the 0513 train into Sydney to catch a 0830 flight.

The Week Ahead

Monday is mostly about planning my media work, writing something for ZDNet Australia, and finishing off the article for the Walkley Foundation.

Through the rest of the week week I’ll be writing another piece for ZDNet Australia, one for Technology Spectator, making sure 5at5 returns to schedule, and figuring out what to do about the loose ends from my Pozible project.

The last is particularly embarrassing, because I’ve simply failed to deliver some of the products. I’ll have to figure out some alternative plan to make good.

I’ll be in Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday, staying overnight. In Wednesday there’s a lunchtime briefing by WatchGuard Technologies, and on Thursday I’m meeting with people from the Slovak infosec firm ESET.

I’m supposed to be in Sydney again on Saturday for an important social event. I’m not quite sure how I’ll plan my movements around that.

[Photo: Melbourne skyline, 26 February 2014.]

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Weekly Wrap 191: Loving the bomb and Bitcoin, with trees

Eucalypt Bark 4: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 27 January to Sunday 2 February 2014 was, as I’d suspected it would be, the clear beginning of the start of the working year.

OK, the week hasn’t quite finished yet. It’s still relatively early on Sunday. But the day will be spent pottering around various work-related things, so I feel confident about that opening paragraph.

It’s pretty much an Australian tradition that the media silly season ends on Australia Day — although I did see someone suggest that in Sydney the summer holiday season runs from the Queen’s Birthday long weekend in early October through to the Mardi Gras parade at the cusp of February-March. We are a proud nation.

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday I spoke about Bitcoin, in the light of the arrests of a Bitcoin evangelist and a currency trader on money laundering charges, on ABC Radio’s The World Today.

Corporate Largesse

None. I’m clearly doing this wrong.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be in the Blue Mountains until Friday, in all likelihood. It’s the first week of a new month, so I daresay I’ll be keeping a low profile because none of those bastard clients have paid their invoices yet.

My writing slate includes two columns for ZDNet Australia, one for Corrupted Nerds — that’s one of the two pieces I still owe my Pozible supporters — and probably one for CSO Online.

I’m also doing the research and scripting for a panel discussion I’m moderating the week after — that’s due to be announced on Monday.

[Photo: Eucalypt Bark , photographed on 27 January 2014 at Bunjaree Cottages near Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains.]

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Weekly Wrap 187: A slow start to 2014, thankfully

My week of Monday 30 December 2013 to Sunday 5 January 2014 was, like last week, devoid of productivity and reportable interestingness thanks to the slow week between Christmas and New Year and the slow days thereafter.

I have been thinking about 2014, however, and I may pour some of those thoughts into a blog post some time in the next few days. The brief version is roughly “Thank fuck 2013 is over and done with, and here’s to a much better 2014.”

Certainly yesterday, Saturday, contained a significantly odd and yet strangely wonderful event.

No, there shall be no details.

The Week Ahead

Well, the working year kicks off properly tomorrow, Monday, so I guess I’ll be starting to focus on planning out January. I have very little mapped out just now — the only firm appointments are a couple of social events — but with the PR folks back at their desks tomorrow, the next few days will see the invitations and other communications kick off.

And I need to placate my editors after a rather unproductive November and December.

I’m in Sydney currently, and will stay in Sydney through to Tuesday before returning to Wentworth Falls — though there’s a chance that plan might change at relatively short notice. As always.

I know I have some writing to do, namely my usual column for ZDNet Australia and the remaining loose ends for the Corrupted Nerds hacker conference thingy.

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Weekly Wrap 184: TV and radio, but no writing, alas

Here’s the key stuff that happened in my week of Monday 9 to Sunday 15 December 2013.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I’ll do some sort of more detailed post explaining the state of the world — or at least my little bit of it — once I’ve caught up on these posts.

Articles

None. This was the terribly unproductive week that I haven’t told you about yet.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

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Weekly Wrap 183: Predictions, food and wine

Here’s the key stuff that happened in my week of Monday 2 to Sunday 8 December 2013.

As I mentioned last time, I’ll do some sort of more detailed post explaining the state of the world — or at least my little bit of it — once I’ve caught up on these posts.

Articles

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday I went to Verizon’s lunchtime briefing on their predicted trends for 2014 at Rockpool Bar and Grill in Sydney. There was food and wine.
  • On Wednesday I went to Symantec’s end-of-year media lunch at Gowings Bar and Grill at Sydney’s QT Hotel. There was food and wine.
  • On Wednesday afternoon I continued on to McAfee in the Park, held in the Rose Garden at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. There was food and wine. Are you detecting a pattern here? There was also a lion.
  • On Thursday I went to Websense’s lunchtime briefing on their security predictions for 2014 at Wolfies, Circular Quay. There was food and wine.