It's 2006 here in Australia and I want to wish you all a safe and happy year. I'm looking forward to a new role and doing something about my passion for music - not sure what that'll be but I'm determined to figure it out this year.

 

I've setup a mixer at home and bought an acoustic pickup for my guitar so that I can record a few tracks at home. I played around with that idea here in Australia a while back but have only recently setup the Seattle pad with the equipment.

 

Best wishes to you all.

Back in Oz for Christmas and a break before heading back for a new role with the Marketing org in January.

 

It's been about a week now that I've been here in Australia and I've loved every sun drenched moment of it. This trip has left no doubt that returning to live here is a certainty, figuring out when that'll be is still to be determined. I'm looking forward to the marketing role next year, looking after the marketing of all our programming languages. Quite a challenge and I think a role that will help me shine.

 

I've popped a few photos on the site that I've taken whilst I've been here. There's Geoff and Lou's house and kids (Beth and Josh), Dad and I taking the most stupid dog you'll ever meet for a walk around Black Rock, Christmas at Dads, Cam and Kirk at home and then Christmas at Mums. More cathcing up with friends to follow!

I wrote most of the previous blog entries on the way back from San Diego where I was doing event duty for a conference my group sponsored. The venue was very tired (and that’s being polite) so I was very glad to be back home and spreading myself out all over the unit alone. It’d been a while since I’d had my place all to myself so for a couple of weeks there I washed liberally in my solitude.

 

November had been an important deadline for the marketing group I work in – most of the year had been gearing up for the launch of the product which was scheduled for November 7^th. Right before the launch I caught a flu which was pretty inconvenient as I was introducing an executive on Monday the 7^th at work, then boarding a plane for Las Vegas to present the next morning (Tuesday) and then flying back to Seattle via San Francisco to take in another u2 concert! I was doing the keynote demonstration which required me to carry around a smallish shuttle PC which was inconvenient but it meant having a very small amount of setup time and a guarantee of the demo running exactly the same way each time I presented it. The demo went fine – thanks for asking – and the U2 concert was amazing. They released a DVD of their Chicago concert just a week later which is worth getting to experience the show. The flu stuck with me for another week or so.

 

I had to travel again the following week to San Juan and Santo Domingo, main cities in Puerto Rico and The Dominican Republic respectively. Again the shuttle PC came in handy and the demos went very smoothly. I had some feedback saying it was even better than the real thing!

 

San Juan was amazing. It’s essentially a province of the USA so mobile phones worked, US dollars were the currency and there was a certain level of civility. It seemed to me to be a very popular holiday spot for East Coasters, particularly people from New York. I went on a tour of Old San Juan and was amazed to come across this fortress that guarded the entrance to San Juan Bay. They used to fire cannon balls out of sea level cannons at invading ships and use the sea surface to bounce the canon balls along the water and into the hull of the ship. Cool stuff – like the Dambusters of WW2. Check out the shots of old San Juan.

 

Santo Domingo was quite third world to say the least. I was only there for one night and thought I’d be safe staying in the Hotel for dinner and then onto the adjoining casino for post-dinner fun. I’d only just sat down at one of the casino tables before being surrounded by hopeful hookers arranging me drinks and betting with my chips. After a questioning look from the 50+ year old mistress, presumably enquiring as to which of the two delectable beauties I wanted to keep on gaming with (or both), I decided email and IM was going to be the most fun I could have without getting raped, robbed and roughed up!

 

I shot straight to the airport and headed back to the safety of Seattle. It only took the entire day to get back – midday flight out of Santo Domingo to New York, two hour lay-over then another 4.5 hour flight to Seattle.

The following week was getting ready for the developer lab that is wrapping up today. During that time – Seattle was snowed on. It was incredible for me as I’d never walked, driven or touched falling snow flakes before. It was like being in a poppy storm. Very pretty but it only lasted one afternoon. That was enough to close the schools and have most people stay at home though for fear of traffic chaos. Bloody Seattle drivers. Christmas party tonight and one last Saturday too - it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I’m heading back to Melbourne to celebrate the silly season and catch up with everyone – and I can’t wait. See y’all soon.