Tag: wentworth falls

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Weekly Wrap 287: Satisfactory start to summer, with flowers

Railway Parade near Wentworth Falls: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 30 November to Sunday 6 December 2015 went reasonably well. Although I didn’t do things exactly as predicted last week, there was enough progress to make me happy.

In the interests of getting this posted on schedule, I’ll go straight to the list…

Podcasts

Articles

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday, I spoke about the VTech hack on ABC 612 Brisbane.
  • On Wednesday, I spoke about the VTech hack on Kinderling Radio.
  • On Wednesday evening, I took part in a panel discussion at the launch of the Sydney chapter of Electronic Frontiers Australia. The only recording is a very rough one for my own reference, so sorry, you won’t be hearing it.

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday, I went to VMware’s end-of-year drinks at O Bar and Dining, Australia Square. Apart from canapés and champagne, I pocketed a pen. They so pwn me now.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will be making some sort of announcement regarding innovation, so I suspect I’ll be writing something for ZDNet. If not, well, there’s a thousand tasks of administrivia I need to deal with.

On Tuesday, I’m heading to Sydney for a medical appointment, an interview, and NetSuite’s end-of-year drinks. I’m then heading to the ABC’s Sydney studios to do a spot on ABC 774 Melbourne at 1900 AEDT.

On Wednesday, I’ll be dealing with a number of geek-for-hire tasks, and planning certain things for the next couple of weeks.

On Wednesdayetime=”2015-12-09T03:11:37+00:00″>Thursday, I’ll finally be producing that episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, tentatively titled “The 9pm Garden of Hate”, in which I’ll finish off all of the sponsored content that I owe my supporters. I plan to stream that recording session live at 2100 AEDT.

On Thursday, I’m heading to Sydney again for a medical appointment, amongst other things, and probably writing for ZDNet en route.

Friday will see me doing whatever remains to be done, which will include writing for ZDNet.

Further Ahead

I’ll record a “2015 Wrap” episode of the Corrupted Nerds podcast some time in the week beginning Monday 14 December.

The next episode of The 9pm Public House Forum, similar to the first one, will be recorded on the afternoon of Saturday 19 December. The venue will be confirmed in a few days, but it’s now looking like it’ll be somewhere in Sydney’s inner west.

I’ll also produce “2015 Wrap” episode of the Edict some time between Christmas and New Year.

[Update 9 December 2015: Edited to reflect schedule changes.]

[Photo: Railway Parade near Wentworth Falls. On the last day of spring, the yellow flowers of the Coreopsis lanceolata are everywhere. They’re a weed, but pretty nonetheless.]

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Talking the Wentworth Falls bushfire on ABC 702 Sydney

Firefighters tackle the Wentworth Falls bushfire, 2 August 2015

ABC logoAs Monday morning kicked off, the Wentworth Falls bushfire that I mentioned in yesterday’s Weekly Wrap was of course a major news story.

ABC 702 Sydney breakfast presenter Robbie Buck asked for locals to talk about their experiences, so I gave him a call. Here’s the three-minute conversation that resulted.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.8MB)

The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[Photo: Firefighters tackle the Wentworth Falls bushfire, 2 August 2015, via the NSW Rural Fire Service.]

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Weekly Wrap 262: From a birthday to a wake

Surveillance: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 June 2015 has been another productive one, despite Monday allegedly being a holiday. Thank you, Your Majesty. I’m exhausted.

I also think I’m coming down with a cold, which is hardly surprising. We’ll see.

There’s much I want to talk about, but this very moment I’m at the regularly monthly Poetry in the Pub in Katoomba. I have Sunday Lunch here many weeks. But this month it’s essentially a wake, because one of their number has passed. I’ll admit that I shed a tear as one chap read Henry Lawson’s “The Glass on the Bar”. My whinges can wait for another time.

Articles

There’s also two more ZDNet pieces in the pipeline. They’ll appear in the first half of the coming week, I imagine.

Podcasts

None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict is now scheduled for Wednesday 17 Saturday 20 June.

5at5

There were five editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That’s more than 25 things for you to read! To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

On Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be finishing off those two ZDNet stories. In theory, I’m also heading in to Sydney on Tuesday for the Optus Business Lunch, to hear the company’s chief executive officer Allen Lew deliver a keynote speech on “how customer behaviours are driving digital transformation” — but with deadlines, that may have to be cancelled. That Sydney trip will definitely be cancelled.

On Wednesday, I’ll be completing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast. On Thursday, I’ll be writing a column for ZDNet. Wednesday and Thursday are writing days, completing those two ZDNet items, plus a piece for Crikey, plus starting on an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.

On Friday, I’m definitely doing the long commute to Sydney, to go to a lunchtime briefing by the Wynyard Group on corporate and cyber criminals.

On Saturday I’ll be completing the podcast, and perhaps helping with some, um, engineering work at Bunjaree Cottages. While the rest of the weekend has not yet been planned, the Solstice is on Sunday night — well, for me it’s at 0238 AEST on Monday morning — so I’ll be marking the occasion in some way. How? I’m not sure yet. The same applies to the rest of the weekend, I suppose.

Update 15 June 2015: Edited to reflect the schedule change. Second update, 1620 AEST: Edited to add link to ABC Riverina recording. Update 17 June 2015: Edited to reflect further schedule changes.

[Photo: Surveillance, photographed at Wentworth Falls railway station on 13 June 2015.]

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Weekly Wrap 255: A new dawn occluded by storms

The storm approaches: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 20 to Sunday 26 April 2015 was rather dismal, and not just because of the severe storms that hit New South Wales.

The storms were big. A month’s worth of rain fell on the first day, and then there was more rain. Ausgrid had to deal with more than 6000 power line failures, most of them because of trees. The State Emergency Service had more than 11,000 jobs to deal with, and again most of them were because of trees. People were killed. Houses were washed away.

Fortunately, I was at the periphery of all that. It was more the weather’s side effect, the fact that I was trapped indoors for the latter part of the week, which led to further introspection along the lines that I explained last week.

That new dawn was occluded by a stormy week, which culminated in the Anzac Day weekend and the personal reflections that brings. It’s all a lot to deal with, really.

Podcasts

Articles

5at5

There were only two editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday and Tuesday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

None. A planned spot on Tuesday to talk about tech news on ABC 702 Sydney was cancelled because they needed to focus on their storm coverage.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Well it’s almost over now. Today, or was we call it, Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia, doing some blog posts including this one, running errands, and returning to Wentworth Falls after a couple days in Sydney. On Friday, I’ll be focusing on my legacy IT business, Prussia.Net, which now bears little relationship to how the website describes it, and which much change. The weekend will include whatever things I feel like at the time, because it’s the weekend.

[Photo: The storm approaches. The first of several days of heavy rainstorms hit New South Wales on Monday 20 April 2015. This shot was taken from a taxi driving down the Great Western Highway, somewhere between Leura and Wentworth Falls.]

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Weekly Wrap 249: A snake, a seal and some aeroplanes

The Sydney Harbour Seal: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 9 to Sunday 15 March 2015 wasn’t quite as hectic as last week, but that was deliberate.

I even managed to fit in my planned visit to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) on Saturday — a journey that necessitated four hours of train travel there, and another four hours back. I’ve uploaded a rough cut of the photos I took. The full-resolution images will be uploaded in due course.

I also encountered animals. On Wednesday, I met the Sydney Harbour Seal. That’s it pictured above. And last weekend — on Sunday, but after I’d already posted the Weekly Wrap — I met a young Eastern Brown Snake (Pseudonaja textilis) on the pathway near Wentworth Falls railway station. Here’s a picture.

Articles

There’s also a feature story still working its way through the production pipeline at ZDNet Australia.

Podcasts

None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict will be on Tuesday 24 March.

5at5

There were five editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You should subscribe, you know.

Media Appearances

None. They seem to come in bursts.

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

It’s going to be a busy one, and Monday will be the calm before the storm — a day of communication, planning, and doing the laundry, with a break at 1130 to interview someone via the telephone.

On Tuesday, I’ll be taking the train to Sydney and then flying to Melbourne for the Cisco LIVE event. Tuesday’s agenda includes a tour of Etihad Stadium, which presumably uses plenty of Cisco technology in its operations, followed by cocktails, followed by dinner. Wednesday is a day full of press conferences and keynote presentations and panel discussions, followed by cocktails, followed by dinner. Thursday sees more keynote presentations and panel discussions, plus interviews, but mercifully no more cocktails. I’m not sure what I’m doing on Thursday night, so feel free to offer suggestions. I’ll be flying back on Thursday evening.

I’m staying on in Melbourne for the rest of the week.

On Friday, I’ll be having a few work-related meetings, and will be “available for drinks” in the late afternoon and evening. Details TBA. On Saturday, I’m having lunch and drinks with some old friends. From Saturday evening through to late Sunday afternoon, well, I’m open to suggestions. I’ll be flying back to Sydney on Sunday night, and presumably then returning to Wentworth Falls to collapse.

Update 17 March 2015: It turns out that staying on in Melbourne is beyond this month’s budget. Friday through Sunday is currently unplanned.

[Photo: The Sydney Harbour Seal, photographed on 11 March 2015. I don’t know why this one seal, which has taken to sunning itself on the steps near the Sydney Opera House, has captured so much attention.]

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Weekly Wrap 245: Technology old and new, plus fatigue

The Future is Coal: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 9 to Sunday 15 February 2015 was hectic. I must learn that the long commute to Sydney, two hours each way, doesn’t mix with doing so to be there before 0900 and starting to return after 1700. Not two days in a row, anyway.

Still, I did get quite a bit done, even if all of the outputs haven’t appeared yet.

Podcasts

  • “The 9pm Sleepless Necessary Remedial Action”, being The 9pm Edict episode 36. This one was quicker to produce, at eight and a half hours. It’s also the longest episode of the Edict ever.

Articles

5at5

There were three editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, Thursday and Friday. The two missing days where when I had very early starts and very late finishes and, probably more importantly, a conference to pay attention to during the day. Hmmm. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all as they’re released. Subscribe. Just subscribe.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday and Wednesday I went to the APIdays Sydney at Australian Technology Park, where I was amply fed and watered.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ve been catching up on all manner of loose ends, including blog posts. Tuesday through Wednesday are writing and production days, though I’ll work out the exact sequence of events as I go along.

On Tuesday, I’ll be re-planning the rest of February, as well as doing shopping and other errands, as well as doing some research and organising some story pitches for those people we call “editors”.

On Wednesday I’m doing a day trip to Sydney to run some errands in Parramatta and the CBD, meet some people, and finally see the sleep physician to get this treatment program started. I may blog about that last point, because some people have expressed interest.

On Thursday I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia, and perhaps someone else.

On Friday, I’m heading into Sydney on another day trip — for errands and a meeting and then, in the afternoon, NICTA’s Techfest at Australian Technology Park, and then an appointment to rearrange my back and neck.

Saturday is unplanned. Place your bids now.

Sunday is the start of the Tech Leaders Forum, formerly known as Kickstart. This year it isn’t being held on the Gold Coast, but in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, at the Fairmont Resort. The event continues on Monday.

Update 17 February 2015: Edited to include changes to the schedule.

[Photo: The Future is Coal, a standard 45-car coal train passing through Wentworth Falls, photographed on 15 February 2015.]