Month: March 2004

Down in Canberra for a few days to introduce some extra people to the project I am working on. After their first day today I am sure the smiles on their faces was bordering on insanity.

During the last 6 months on and off down in Canberra it has been an interesting roller coaster or success and frustration. The last few months however have been difficult due to the shear amount of work and the complexity of the dependencies.

To assist me and help replace the other software Architect that is leaving the project, we have started two extra people from Brisbane in Canberra on this project. After their first day today I am sure the smiles on their faces was bordering on insanity.

We have 5 streams of (relatively) independent work that needs to be performed to complete this particular job. This includes hardware purchases, software installs, configuration, testing and the co-ordination of approximately 6 different groups. Well to stop me from having a break-down we got the other guys involved.

Now I have worked with these guys on and off for about 5 years and feel a little sorry for them, this work will consume all they have and more.

Well I will keep you informed.

Well I am back in Canberra for work again. This time however my camera is at home so you won’t be getting pretty pictures of this fair city

The camera is being put to good use taking photos of my kids, my youngest starts grade one this week.

I will also be “Playing” with the site over the next week or so. I am hoping to improve the feedback, links and style sheets as well as creating a blog entry screen. You see I love playing with the code behind the scenes. This is if I can stop playing Hit the Pengiun

Rain, rain… rain some more. Last night around 7:30pm thunderstorms rolled through Canberra.

Last night a bank of thunderstorms rolled through Canberra, bringing some welcome rain to this parched region.

It was very nice to hear the rain falling on the roof and splashing against the window pane. The gentle white noise broken by the occasional roll of thunder in the distance. The clouds were lit by flashes of lightning, distorted through the water trapped on the window and screen. It reminded me so much of the summer thunderstorms that came every year to my home town Roma (western Queensland, not Italy).

My day dreaming was interrupted by a rhythmic, Plop, Plop, Plop….
Well looks like the drain in the patio on the apartment above has a problem! Water was dripping out of the light fitting and onto the magazines on the coffee table. At least they were not my magazines but some Vogue ones provided by the Hotel.
By the time I had got a plastic container and shoved a tea towel in it (to stop the Plunk, Plunk into the plastic), the storms had passed.

I love the air after a thunderstorm, it is fresh, clean and cool.

Now all Canberra needs is another 10 of these over the next month and the drought might be broken.

On Saturday I wandered around the Kingston area of Canberra, where I am staying. Taking photos of the park, lake, trees and a very nice Greek Orthodox church. You have seen some of the shots in my Sky photos, and more will appear soon.

I was dragged against my better judgement into a computer swap meet. So I parted with my $2.50 and entered the old bus depot (apparently that is where this thing is held every second week), I was thrust into a crowd of people all looking for a bargain and bargains were to be had, webcams from $28, cases from $40, hard-drives from $60 and much more. With all this in front of me the only thing I could do was buy, buy BUY! Fortunately for me (my wife would have killed me) and my bank balance, they only take cash and I did not have more than $5 on me. I will return however and may god have mercy on my bank balance.