Tag: insomnia

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Weekly Wrap 240: Technology, little sleep, a belated possum

"Come at me, bro!": click to embiggenMy week of Monday 4 to Sunday 11 January 2015 was very, very, very annoying. Not only did the server migration take up far too much of my time and ruined my sleep patterns, I ended up with a nasty intestinal problem for a few days. Not happy, Jan.

As I mentioned last week, I may or may not write up the server migration problems. I’m not sure that any real lessons were learned. I’m just thankful that it’s something that only has to be done every few years, because it took about 47 hours all up.

But it did screw up my productivity. No articles written. No podcasts produced. Sigh.

5at5

There was only one 5at5 this week, on Tuesday. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all in the future. Subscribe. Just subscribe.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

It’s going to be a busy one. Monday through Wednesday I’ll be sorting out my work for the new year — including getting the subscription for The 9pm Edict podcast back on track, reviewing some interview recordings, preparing an ebook, and sending story pitches to editors.

On Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia, and then at 1615 AEDT doing a spot on ABC News24. On Friday, there’s a “webinar” [ugh!] at 0600 AEDT, and then I’ll be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.

I daresay I’ll have a social life in there somewhere too, perhaps on the weekend, which is as yet unplanned.

[Photo: “Come at me, bro!”. A brush-tailed possum invades the Chirgwin residence at Lilyfield on 3 January 2015. Rather than being persuaded to leave, he decided to take me on. Technically this image belongs to last week’s Weekly Wrap, but I’m not too worried about consistency.]

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Weekly Wrap 237: The week before Christmas, kinda

Wires: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 December 2014 was more stressful than I thought it might be, for reasons which may be alluded to in a future edition. However I will say that Mistress Insomnia was a persistent guest in my life. I hate her.

But on with the show…

Articles

5at5

Another full week for 5at5, with emails going out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

This is barely even a tentative plan, because it’s based on the assumption that a certain large media organisation will pay their goddam bills. If that doesn’t happen on Monday, then a lot of this will have to change. Nevertheless, we have to start somewhere, right?

Monday sees the Solstice, which happens at 1003 AEDT, followed by the New Moon at 1236. I’ll conduct a small ritual centred around those times. Before that, though, certain urgent organisational tasks need to be dealt with. And after that, I’ll start work on the next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, which has the working title “The 9pm Christmas Nazis”.

On Tuesday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia in the morning, I think, before heading to Sydney for some errands and the ABC at Ultimo to do the 720 Perth spot. I may stay in Sydney overnight, or I may not.

On Wednesday, I’ll be completing The 9pm Edict, as well as tying up several billion loose ends before the holidays descend.

Thursday is Christmas Day, which will be spent quietly because family is small and distant. I’m not sure whether I’ll be in Wentworth Falls or Sydney or somewhere else at this stage.

While Friday is a public holiday, I’d originally scheduled a server migration to start that day. However that’s now looking like that’ll have to change too. The weekend is unplanned, at least at this stage.

Update 1750 AEDT: Edited to add the New Moon time and to clarify some of the exposition.

[Photo: Wires, a view from Katoomba railway station in the Blue Mountains, photographed on 15 December 2014.]

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Weekly Wrap 232: Malware, mobiles and misery

Darling Harbour at duskMy week of Monday 10 to Sunday 16 November 2014 was very, very busy. I had very little sleep, and I’m exhausted.

Apart from all the events and media activity you see listed here, I ended up doing the long commute, almost two hours from Wentworth Falls to Sydney and two hours back, every day from Tuesday to Friday.

Normally I’d have stayed in Sydney, but hotels were largely booked out. Apart from the usual November conference season, there was also the massive World Parks Congress and many refugees escaping the G20 lockdown in Brisbane.

There was literally nothing available in my price range — well, apart from backpacker accommodation, but that’s not a good fit with having to get up early and concentrate on media work. There’s only so much enjoyment one can wring out of listening to drunken unkempt foreigners porking each other all night.

Podcasts

Articles

5at5

There were editions of the 5at5 email newsletter on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Why not subscribe so you receive them all?

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday, I went to a briefing on govCMS by Acquia and the Australian government’s chief technical officer, John Sheridan, at Prime Restaurant in Sydney, where of course they paid for the food and drink. It was this briefing that led to the ZDNet story.
  • Also on Tuesday, I went to the launch of the Huawei Ascend Mate7 smartphone at The Star casino. Food, drink etc. That led to the Crikey story. I now have a Mate7 evaluation unit which, we were told, doesn’t need to be returned, on a Vodafone SIM, as well as a t-shirt.
  • Also on Tuesday, I went to the launch of Audible’s “#ListenUp, Australia” campaign, a promotion which allows you to get three free audio books by Australian authors, at Luxe Studios in Darlinghurst. Food, drink etc, and also a card telling me how I can get a free Audible service membership.
  • On Wednesday, I had coffee with the good people from Recognition PR. They paid for the coffee.
  • From Wednesday evening through to Friday, I was covering the aforementioned AVAR conference at the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney. Food, drink etc. Media objects have yet to be extruded.

The Week Ahead

It’s another busy one…

On Monday I’m heading to Sydney to cover the International Association of Privacy Professionals ANZ (iappANZ) annual summit, and on Tuesday I’ll be writing about same.

The rest of the week includes a TV spot on ABC News24 at 1615 AEDT on Thursday, as well as my usual ZDNet Australia column, plus initial work on a ZDNet feature, a Crikey story and some other bits and pieces.

The weekend is once again unplanned.

[Photo: Darling Harbour at dusk, with the rapidly-rising Barangaroo development on the right, photographed on 11 November 2014.]

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Weekly Wrap 231: A purple flower, and the events pile up

Purple flag, a flower of some Patersonia species: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 November 2014 was remarkably productive, despite the temptations of then grains and the gentle ministrations of Mistress Insomnia.

Articles

5at5

My 5at5 daily email newsletter reappeared, and I managed to produce all five editions on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Why not subscribe so you receive them all?

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday, I went to the launch of the Microsoft Nokia Lumia 830 smartphone at Paramount House in Surry Hills, where I was of course given good canapés and wine. I also got a Lumia-branded tote bag containing a packet of Microsoft-branded jelly babies; a 2GB USB stick containing media information; and a loaner unit of the Lumia 830 itself. I’ll be using it over the next two weeks, and will report back at the end of that time.
  • Also on Thursday, I went to the Indies Party, the annual not-quite-Christmas party held jointly by the PR agencies Bass PR, Shuna Boyd PR, Einsteinz Communications, and Espresso Communications. There was food and drink aplenty.

The Week Ahead

The coming week is both busy and more structure than usual. That said, my schedule is always subject to last-minute changes — whether that’s down to the news cycle, cashflow glitches, or simply not caring any more. As usual, the daily plan tweets my be found on my voluminous Twitter feed.

Monday should see the completion of an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.

Tuesday is a Sydney day. I plan to attend the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Martin Place, though that will depend on me getting a decent sleep the night before. Then there’s a lunch briefing with the Australian government’s CTO, John Sheridan, then coffee with a PR agency, then two events in the evening. Audible is launching something or other with the hashtag #ListenUp, and Chinese tech giant Huawei is launching their new smart device. That looks like rather a long day, so I plan to stay overnight in Sydney.

Wednesday should see a morning of writing, then a meeting with executives from Slovakian information security company ESET, and some time at AVAR, the 17th annual conference of the Association of Anti-Virus Asia Researchers, which ESET is organising this year.

That conference runs through to Friday, but I’m not sure how much of it I’ll be able to catch. I still have my usual column for ZDNet Australia to write on Thursday, and some administrivia to deal with on Friday, and I hope to get some other bits and pieces of writing done too.

The weekend is yet again unplanned, as seems to be the usual way lately. At least at this stage.

Update 10 November 2014: Edited to add a section for 5at5, which I’d forgotten.

[Photo: Purple, being a flower of some Patersonia species, photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 5 November 2014. It’s a Patersonia serica, according to Flower Checker.]

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Weekly Wrap 230: Kangaroos and pre-summer thoughts

breakfastkangaroo-20141102-350My week of Monday 27 October to Sunday 2 November 2014 was really quite productive, but thanks to the ever-affectionate attentions of Mistress Insomnia I’m exhausted.

That said, the generally warm and sunny weather has improved my mood dramatically, and on Sunday I even cleared out a bunch of administrivia that I’ve been putting off for ages.

But enough of that. Let’s get on with the show…

Articles

I’ve also written a 2500-word feature on a security-related topic for ZDNet Australia that will be published some time in the coming week.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday, I went to a lunch hosted by NetSuite at Sydney’s Aria Restaurant, Circular Quay. As always, the food and wine was stunning. I had the oysters and the barramundi and the cheese. NetSuite also handed out a goodie bag, as is their tradition: another RuMe carry bag containing a Jawbone Mini Jambox wireless Bluetooth speaker; a bottle of Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, which I shall save for later; and a NetSuite-branded notebook and pen.

The Week Ahead

There’s two broad themes for this week: clearing out more loose ends, and preparing to make some decisions about what I’ll be doing over the summer holiday season and into 2015.

Much as I love them, I’ve spent a bit too much time working on the podcasts The 9pm Edict and Corrupted Nerds — or rather, I haven’t got them generating enough revenue yet — which in turn has meant that I’ve been doing less paid writing, which in turn has led to less income. That’s caused problems. As usual, I’ve got too many different things happening, and I need to simplify the mix and get that revenue up.

So I’ll be addressing that this week — as well as some personal things that I won’t go into them here — or at least not in this post.

So with that in mind, and with the early part of the week a bit slow thanks to a certain horse race and its impact upon the national psyche, here’s how things will unfold.

Monday is mostly devoted to administrivia and clearing the communications backlog, but there’s a chance I might pop down from the Mountains to do a TV spot. I also plan to resurrect 5at5 — although you’ve heard that before, so take it with a grain of salt.

During the rest of the week, I’ll be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict, writing my regular ZDNet Australia column, and perhaps some other bits and pieces.

This week also sees the start of the Christmas party season — yes, I know it’s very early, but that’s how things work now — and there’s one I might go to in Sydney on Thursday night.

The weekend is unplanned, as seems to be the usual way lately.

[Photo: Breakfast Kangaroo, being chunks of kangaroo fillet marinated in lime juice, chilli and garlic, with steamed greens in oyster sauce on a bed of jasmine rice, photographed on 2 November 2014.]

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Weekly Wrap 143: Rain, more rain and a few irritations

Dawn, with spitting rain: click to embiggenThe week of Monday 25 February to Sunday 3 March 2013 was full of rain and dark moods.

At the front end of the week, the rain provided a lovely backdrop to some writing. But Mistress Insomnia joined forces with some annoying personal news and an upset stomach to cause the end of the week to be a write-off. Oh well.

Articles

Podcasts

This podcast that I’m meant to be doing for TechRepublic is well and truly jinxed, it seems. Having obtained a replacement recorder, I was all set to record it on Friday morning. But my digestive tract decided otherwise.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday I went to the media launch of Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business, held over lunch at Rockpool Bar & Grill in Sydney. Kaspersky Lab paid, of course. A magnificent sirloin was accompanied by a rather nice pinot noir, and followed by a cheese plate.

The Week Ahead

Nothing is locked into the schedule yet, though of course I have things to write as usual. I guess I’ll just make it up as I go along.

[Photo: Dawn, with spitting rain, a photograph taken at dawn on 26 February during light rain at Bunjaree Cottages.]