Weekly Wrap 157: Too many spiders and dogs

Spider in my water glass: click to embiggenMy week Monday 3 to Sunday 9 June 2013 was laid low by an excess of the black dog. Most unproductive. Most annoying.

I’d intended things to be fairly quiet, to counterbalance the previous week’s hectic pace. Well, quiet it was, because it was the beginning of a new month and nobody had paid me yet. Most inconvenient before a long weekend.

Still, I did nearly drink a spider (pictured), and did quite a bit of pre-production for my new SEKRIT podcast project. The first episode will appear very soon.

Articles

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday I interviewed Sean Richmond at Sophos in North Sydney, and he bought me a coffee.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, in theory, but I’m planning to continue my planning for the weeks ahead.

The only fixed appointment is on Wednesday afternoon and early evening, when Intel launch their 4th Generation Core processor chips in Sydney. So that means I’ll probably stay overnight in Sydney that night and cluster some appointments around it.

My writing schedule says that I’m doing pieces for Technology Spectator and CSO Online, as well as my usual column for ZDNet Australia.

[Photo: Spider in my water glass, which I nearly drank, but managed to spot it at the very last moment — and there was water everywhere.]

Weekly Wrap 149: Multiple dominations, with spiders

Spider guest, Nicodamus species: click to embiggenDuring the week Monday 8 to Sunday 14 April 2013, I submitted to the cloud and was dominated by broadband. I did some dominating myself, in relation to two SEKRIT matters that I won’t be telling you about.

Reactions to the Coalition’s broadband policy, launched by Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday, made it clear that the National Broadband Network (NBN) will be a key issue for Australia’s federal election on 14 September. I’ll be writing up my reflections on reactions and media coverage, including reactions to my own work, tomorrow. We’ll be seeing plenty more about the NBN in the coming weeks.

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday I spoke about the NBN with Dom Knight and his guests on ABC 702 Sydney, but I didn’t record it.
  • On Saturday I spoke about the NBN on FBi Radio’s politics show Backchat.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday I had a few beers at Alcatel-Lucent’s expense. Three Peronis, if I recall correctly.
  • On Wednesday I attended a press briefing about trends in unified communications by Dimension Data, held at the wonderful Flying Fish Restaurant in Pyrmont, Sydney. Check out the full menu and the pre-lunch canapes. There was also wine, but I forgot to grab the wine list.

The Week Ahead

It turns out that I won’t be in Sydney continuously for the next two weeks after all. In the two years that I’ve been mostly based at Bunjaree Cottages near Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains, I’ve usually migrated to the proprietors’ family home in Lilyfield during school holidays. The holidays are a busy time for Bunjaree, so it was handy for them to be on-site. But this time they’ve made other arrangements, so Wentworth Falls will continue to be my base.

That said…

It’s already Monday. I had an 0600 conference call — whose idea was that again oh yes that’s right it was mine shut up — and right now I’m on a train headed to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing, an afternoon meeting and dinner with a friend. I’ll be staying overnight for more meetings on Tuesday.

The shape of the rest of the week is unclear, but there’s a bunch of writing in the pipeline, and a bunch of planning. Stay tuned.

[Photo: Spider guest, Nicodamus species, a change from my usual bird photos from Bunjaree Cottages.]