Weekly Wrap 211: Cold, briefly, with secret television

[This post was actually written on 3 July 2014, but I’ve dated it 22 June 2014 so it appears in the archives in the correct sequence. This post is part of an attempt to clear the backlog of routine posts, hence the lack of photo, detail and finesse. — Stilgherrian.]

My week of Monday 16 to Sunday 22 June 2014 was both unproductive, thanks to what was probably a cold, and over quite some days ago — so let’s keep this brief.

I also spent an entire day being a consultant on a new television series, a political thriller which has hacking and surveillance as key plot elements. I can’t talk about that any further, but it’s fun, and I daresay you’ll find out more soon enough.

Articles

Media Appearances

None.

5at5

Why don’t you subscribe to 5at5?

Corporate Largesse

None.

Weekly Wrap 207: Much productivity before a delayed winter

Sydney skyline from Camperdown: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 May 2014 was a busy one, despite having effectively lost a day flying back from the US. Excellent.

I suspect that in part this is down to the weather. Normally, things start getting gloomy in April, and the seasonal aspects of my depression kick in. For that not to have happened by now, nearly the end of May, is almost unheard of. I’m not complaining, you understand. I think it’s excellent. Yeah, fuck those polar bears!

Podcasts

I’m very pleased to say that I’ve resurrected my other podcast, Corrupted Nerds, with an episode entitled Conversations 10: Michelle Dennedy, privacy engineering. She’s chief privacy officer at McAfee.

Articles

Media Appearances

5at5

A full week this week. But why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

Geekery

It’s been three years since I included this section in my Weekly Wrap, mostly because the geekery that I do is usually for clients, and therefore none of your business, or just routine stuff for myself, which is boring. However I’m bringing it back this week because I did a few little things of note.

  • I refurbished the website for my tech business Prussia.Net. As well as giving it a totally new appearance, as easy task thanks to Anders Noren and his WordPress theme Hemingway, I set things so that it uses HTTPS/SSL everywhere. I’ll have more to say about that soon. I also gave it an image of Sydney taken from the same location as the photo in this post.
  • I set up the Tip Stilgherrian page, as already described. I confirmed that such things are decidedly easy these days, and I’ll have more to say about that soon.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday I had coffee with some people from ManageEngine. They paid for the coffee.
  • Also on Wednesday, I had coffee with some people from Actifio. They, too, paid for the coffee. This is basic hospitality rather than largesse, I know, but once I started down the path of full disclosure, I decided to do so completely.

The Week Ahead

Today, Monday, consists of a morning of production planning, followed by the production of a new episode of The 9pm Edict. Tuesday and Wednesday are days full of writing, in theory.

On Thursday I’m heading into Sydney to record this week’s Download This Show with Marc Fennell, perhaps a meeting or two, and then the launch of Kaspersky Lab’s new security for virtualisation products — with, as the invitation says, “your choice of drinks”. That’s Kaspersky code for “liver damage is inevitable”.

Needless to say, I’ve booked accommodation for the night.

I’ve got a meeting or two in Sydney on Friday, and then the weekend is currently unplanned.

[Photo: Sydney skyline from Camperdown, photographed on 20 May 2014 from Rydges Camperdown Hotel.]

Weekly Wrap 205: Productivity reigns again, bringing joy

Touchdown San Francisco: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 May 2014 was another productive one again, which is a pleasant happenstance.

Articles

Podcasts

The resurrection of The 9pm Edict has continued to be delayed by the continuing self-satire of the Australian government and my own busy schedule. Once it had overflowed its original allocated slot in my work plan, it’s had to wait until everything more time-critical is out of the way. We’ve nearly reached that point.

Media Appearances

5at5

Only two this week. But why don’t you subscribe to 5at5, and then I don’t need to keep telling you about it.

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

As I write this, it’s already Monday in Australia, but it’s still Sunday morning here in San Francisco. This afternoon NetSuite is taking us on a tour of the Sonoma Valley, visiting the Cline and Gloria Ferrer wineries, then returning to San Francisco for pre-dinner drinks and “a special surprise guest” at Cafe Tosca in North Beach and dinner at the Americano Restaurant.

On Monday we make the journey to San Jose, with a meet-and-and-greet cocktail party in the evening. SuiteWorld proper then runs Tuesday to Thursday, with the evening events including dinner at the Thomas Fogarty Winery on Tuesday and the conference party on Wednesday.

On Friday I plan to catch the Caltrain back to San Francisco, recording part of the next episode of The 9pm Edict en route. My schedule is then open through to Sunday night, when I catch a late evening flight back to Sydney.

[Photo: Touchdown San Francisco, the view from United Airlines flight UA870 as it was about to touch down at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) on Saturday 10 May 2014.]

Weekly Wrap 200: Banksia, rain and a little work

Banksia in the Mist: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 31 March to Sunday 6 April 2014 has definitely seen the beginnings of some sort of return to normality, despite the almost continuous dreary weather.

I won’t go on about that, however because I don’t want to jinx it. I’ll just list the stuff.

Articles

Media Appearances

5at5

I managed to pump one out every weekday this week, which hasn’t happened in a while. I think it’s about time for you to subscribe, if you haven’t already done so.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday I went to a briefing session by HP Enterprise Security Services at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, where a lovely afternoon tea was served — although I’d had a big lunch, so didn’t really taste much of it.

The Week Ahead

On Monday I’m presenting an updated version of my guest lecture at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) at 1000, and that means it’s an early start. I’m catching an 0636 train from Wentworth Falls, arriving at Sydney Central at 0817. I could catch a later train, but I want to grab a bite to eat before meeting the course coordinator for coffee at 0900. Plus I want to allow for the possibility of delays. My Twitter stream should be fun that morning, for some value of fun.

If you want to take me to lunch on Monday, or otherwise catch up, now is the time to stake your claim.

I have another morning gig in Sydney on Tuesday, a meeting at 1045, so it looks like I’ll be spending plenty of time on trains over the next couple of days.

Then on Wednesday it’s an 0845 start in Sydney for the Amazon Web Services Sydney Summit. Ideally I’d stay in Sydney overnight from Tuesday, but the early-month cashflows look like they won’t permit that. Stay tunes for updates, however.

[Update 12 April 2014: Those two trips to Sydney didn’t happen — and it’s a good thing they got cancelled, because once the Heartbleed security bug was announced on Wednesday my time, I was flat out on work related to that, Expect plenty of updates over the next 72 hours.]

The rest of the week and the weekend, including what will be written when, has yet to be mapped out. That will depend very much on what I manage to get done in the next 48 hours.

[Photo: Banksia in the Mist, photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 4 April 2014.]

Weekly Wrap 199: Lost in the mist and the rain

Bunjaree Cottages track in the mist: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 25 to Sunday 30 March 2014 has been and gone. It wasn’t very productive, but I’m going to zoom forward quickly for reasons that may become obvious in the next day or two.

I should mention that pretty much everything that last week I said I’d do this week didn’t actually happen. Shoosh.

Articles

None.

Media Appearances

None

5at5

Two days, plus a correction. There’s nothing more that needs be said in this section but, because I think it looks ugly when I have so many short paragraphs in a row, I’m going to waffle on here for a few more words so that the right-hand margin is once more established visually. Because I care.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday has already happened, and was moderately productive. I did a thing for ZDNet Australia, Plibersek loses our privacy in a haystack of envelopes, amongst other things.

Tuesday is a day of writing and planning here in the misty, rainy Blue Mountains. The near-continual gloom, coming somewhat early this year it seems, hasn’t exactly helped my mood.

On Wednesday I’m heading into Sydney for a media briefing about HP Enterprise Services and their security work — and probably staying overnight. And the rest of the week is only tentatively planned.

I will say that tomorrow, 1 April, sees the start of a new quarter, and I’ve got a few things in mind. Stay tuned. There may be charts. There may even be announcements.

[Photo: Bunjaree Cottages track in the mist, 24 March 2014. Even though the rain screws with my mood, it does look beautiful here at Bunjaree Cottages.]

Weekly Wrap 192: Calm, too calm, too quiet

My week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 February 2014 was, as I predicted last week, a quiet one, thanks to what now appears to be a distinct monthly cycle. We shall have to do something about that.

I shan’t list all the empty sections to this post, revealing that there weren’t any final media outputs — except of course for the daily 5at5 email letter, as I’m calling it. Why I started doing a new thing that generates no revenue is beyond my understanding. I mean, I explained it last week, but the explanation doesn’t make any sense.

However I did do quite a bit of preparation for the coming week…

The Week Ahead

I’m likely to be in the Blue Mountains through until Friday or Saturday, but as always that might change at very short notice.

There’s two key structuring events this week. On Wednesday I’m moderating a panel discussion on Australia’s new privacy laws for Hitachi Data Systems. That’s at 1200 AEDT, and it’s a Google Hangout so you can watch from wherever you are. And on Sunday I’m heading to the Gold Coast for the annual Kickstart Forum, where my tech press co-conspirators and I will be propagandised for three days.

Somewhere in there I may construct some paragraphs for money.