Hero

It's not often I use the word hero, but Adam, you are a bloody hero!

I'm with Stupid

If Darwinism does have any basis in truth, these 409 people probably don't even recognise the wake-up call :)

A Thousand Miles...

I read in The Register that IBM have just announced a Power6 based system running at 4.7 GHz. While I think there are much more interesting trends in modern computing than CPU speed (sooo 80's!), I do think it's worth noting this clock speed is approximately 1000x faster than the original 8088 based PC's released in 1981 (running at 4.77 MHz).

Not that a p570 is a typical desktop...

Composure

I went to a friend's place to watch the Super 14 Final on Saturday night - Durban Sharks vs Pretoria Bulls. Outside of our occasional chats on rugby, for years Nick has talked up his ability to cook ribs. Now was the time to put him to the test. Nick was obviously feeling the heat -- he pulled out every excuse in the book on why the ribs might not turn out perfect, from issues with his oven, down to why supporting side dishes might fail the grade (very creative).

Nick has always boasted about the quality of his "dry rub"; for those who think I'm getting a little dirty at this point, if you look at the east coast of the US, rib cookers are divided into two distinct religions -- those who marinate/baste the ribs in sauces, and the other who marinate with mixed salts, powders and other seasonings.

After removing the ribs from the oven I started to understand the gravity of pressure around this situation -- peeling back the foil, I immediately exclaimed "sauce?!" Nick replied "both!" (Heathen!) I am assuming this highly unorthodox approach was taken due to a shortened time for marinating, and while I wouldn't generally recommend it, had good results. Nick was off the hook -- his ribs (as well as side dishes, dessert and wine) were excellent.

As for the game, I think the Kiwi ref Steve Walsh made some awful mistakes in terms of not giving Habana a yellow in the first minute for assaulting Percy dangerously in the air (any test match, and he would have been off immediately), and the supporting Kiwi ref crew missed several knock ons and forward passes. But that really summarises how inconsistent the ref'ing has been this season. Otherwise, a very good game with some terrific crowd support in ABSA stadium (Durban). (The best crowd I've seen at a Super final in years I think).

The Sharks were very much the better team throughout the match, but in injury time they started to look disorganised. Unlike Nick, the Sharks completely lost their composure towards the end, with a soft try by Habana in the 83rd minute. The Bulls admitted the Sharks looking better for most of the game, with their captain Victor Matfield saying "You outplayed us for 79 minutes", as he received the trophy.

I think it was a great final, but with the current controversy over Springbok selections at the moment (basically politicians and the union clearly overriding the coach's choices) it will probably only be a temporary distraction to the usual chaos in South African rugby.

Geeky Pet Peeves

One of my favourite apps on the Mac is NetNewsWire, which is an offline news aggregator. In short, it goes through the list of blogs and web sites that I read which support RSS or ATOM, and downloads whatever is in the feeds.

The offline aspect means that, apart from the odd image, I don't have to connect to the network to read any of the articles that have been downloaded, once my client has gone through it's list to check what's new. The net effect of offline is that I can very quickly scan through a much larger range of articles (eg. 500 in the time it would normally take to scan through 50 with a browser) to see what grabs my eye for further reading. The app is designed for bulk news reading.

Most people include the entire article in the RSS feed, but there are the odd sites that just publish the first paragraph, and then hope you will click to read the rest of the article in a web browser. This is quite irritating -- that first paragraph better capture my interest really well for me to click on through to the other side. Most of the time, even with semi-interesting first paragraphs, I still won't bother to click through if I feel I've got a good gist of what the article is about; it's too disruptive to my workflow.

Counting page hits is sooo 90's!

Big Robots

When I was younger, I was partial to any cartoons (Japanese or otherwise) featuring big robots such as Robotech/Macross, GUNDAM, Voltron, Appleseed, Patlabor etc. This also extended to complex vehicles and ships as well (eg. Star Blazers and Battle of the Planets). While I always loved the epic storylines in those series, the characters were always secondary to the featured mecha and vessels.

Anyway, I don't know how detailed it will be, but I was reading in Gizmodo this morning that Fujikyu Highland in Japan announced an attraction opening in July which features a "life size" (18 metre!) mobile suit GUNDAM.


I'd love an opportunity to go back to Japan again!

Heroes

I wonder how long we will have to wait down under to see the broadcast of the final episodes of the Sopranos...

In the meantime, the respective networks for a few of shows I enjoy watching (Heroes, My Name is Earl, and Boston Legal) have announced those shows have each been renewed for another season. While these shows are all quite different, they all have strong production values with great casting, writing and acting. I am particularly buoyed by more Heroes episodes -- my current favourite -- which is able to sustain Dr Who-like cliff hangers at the end of every episode.

In addition, NBC are funding a short spin-off series called Heroes: Origins. I hope the producers are able to maintain the high level of quality as they cash in on the popularity of the franchise.

Flash Memory

The advances in flash memory capacities is obscene. Back in January I bought an 8GB SDHC (Class 2) card for my Treo 680. I got this card for US$113. What a bargain!

The capacity allows my phone to act as an iPod substitute (currently about 5GB worth of songs - mOcean is quite a cool Palm app), as well as a digital photo album. The "Class 2" categorisation means it's not very fast, but this is completely sufficient for my uses. Assuming an ongoing trend of low speed, high capacity cards, I will upgrade as higher capacity cards are released. (The SDHC spec supports theoretical capacities of up to 32GB).

There is quite a premium for performance though. I read today that Microdia released a Class 6 (160x) 16GB SDHC card. For the mere price of US$3500. :)

I'll have to wait a little longer as supply and demand sort out the economics...

Orphans

I've always enjoyed Tom Waits' challenging style. And I'm loving the variety in his latest offering - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards. I had no idea he had released this album until I heard a beatnik cabbie playing it on a drive home late one night (Can you believe that? He was in similar disbelief when I recognised it as Waits!)



His bonus "Missing My Son" joke on Bastards is hilarious - the content is nothing special, but I can't help myself laughing out loud with the brilliant delivery :)

A great collection of influences across those discs!

Soul Calibur on Wii

A Japanese gaming mag has suggested a potentially brutal combination of technologies forthcoming: Soul Calibur on the Wii. Soul Edge is probably the last video game I played in an arcade with any regularity, and some friends of mine can attest, involved a lot of physical and spiritual catharsis with just the standard joystick and buttons :)

Unfortunately the follow up sequels have simplified the game play significantly (eg. removing jumping etc.) which destroyed my enjoyment, but I live in wonder on what this would be like on the Wii-mote! Nun-chuck style controls would be an interesting combo with Li-long!



I better get a protective cage for my plasma!

Milestones

I've worked as a Pre-sales Systems Engineer for the better part of a decade. It's not easy explaining to random strangers (or my mother, for that matter) what this job actually entails. At a very high level, I consult with both high end enterprise customers (typically Banks) as well as the sales reps that I work with, on how to solve complex business problems with large IT systems. I have performed this role with innovative companies such as Sun Microsystems, and for the last three years under the employ of Network Appliance.

As the role is pre-sales, it is technical consulting up until the point of sale, so to be clear, it has nothing to do with installation, or ongoing implementation/operation. That said, I often like to stay involved throughout the life cycle of a given project; despite this being beyond the job description, it's quite essential for ongoing credibility. What separates the wheat from the chaff in my field is consistent execution. What becomes more obvious over time is that communication skills are just as important (if not more so) as the pre-requisite technical skills and attention to detail.

Previously, my finest year had been in FY2003, where against all odds and a tricky outsourcing contract, I had established Sun's capabilities as the defacto standard for midrange platforms in a major Australian bank, later culminating in the implementation of some impressive mission critical systems.

However, last Wednesday marked the culmination of the finest effort in my career so far, doing the equivalent for NetApp offerings within a similar customer under even trickier and more competitive circumstances. This year will be even more challenging, ensuring that the delivery fulfills the promise, but these are the challenges I live for - to see the various parts of the system interacting as they were designed, delivering results.

While I'm enjoying a re-adjustment in terms of work/life balance after a long and difficult slog, I can't wait to get started!

World Cup Domination

I love the quote from Clinton Schifcofske's manager (Steve Gillis) upon learning that Schif was not selected for the extended 59 man Wallaby training squad: "We should win the World Cup by 50 points. If he can't make the top 59 players, I am looking forward to seeing the exceptional team we will have."

I completely agree with his sarcastic sentiment. With an injury cloud still floating over Chris Latham, how in heck can the selectors ignore Schifcofske AND Peter Hewat?! Hewat's 150 points a season for the last 3 Super rugby seasons is surely enough for practice squad selection for a Wallabies team highly criticised over their lack of innovation and execution. And if not Hewat, why not Schifcofske, who was a tackling, kicking, line breaking machine this year...

I'll be rooting for Australia in September, but the sooner John Connolly finishes up his tenure as Australian coach, the better.

(At least Bernie is back to form...)

Viva Las Vegas

I have been in the US since the 28th April, returning this morning. Unlike my typical visits to Silicon Valley, this time I went to Philadelphia, New York and Las Vegas. Even more unusual, I brought V along as well.

Highlights of the trip include:

• Seeing my cousins (and other extended members of the Irish side of my family) in Philly
• Visiting Fogo de Chao for lunch in Centre City
  
• Wandering around and shopping for bits and pieces in Manayunk
  
• Going to see Spamalot on Broadway (based on a friend of a friend's recommendations)
  
• Taking in the views from the Empire State Building at night, after a very satisfying meal from a Korean restaurant
• Some very relaxing drinks and lunch by the pool of the Bellagio
  
• Numerous brutal drinking sessions with Australian and overseas work colleagues while in Las Vegas (a variety of abuse, singing, tackling and dancing. To the chagrin of onlookers and unwilling participants, some minor yelling and scrummaging as well.)
• Taking a helicopter ride over to/landing in the Grand Canyon

It's too bad it was a work trip for me (outside of the Philly leg) -- otherwise I could have joined V on numerous other adventures over the fortnight. Based on her raving, I think her top highlights were going on a Sex and the City tour in New York (let's not talk about shopping!), seeing a Cirque de Soleil: Ka show in Vegas, and bumping into Jack Thompson at LAX.



It's good to be back :)

I'm Your Man

I have gone through various "phases" of interest in music over the years. I can actually pin-point the time when the shift to my current phase began. I was at a piss-up in my early university days when - to groans of other people around me - Leonard Cohen's golden voice filled the room. I only knew Leonard Cohen's name as the butt of many jokes on The Goodies, but I was instantly captivated.

I recalled this memory when, on a recent flight, I watched Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man. This documentary contains some wonderful footage of a tribute show conducted by Hal Wilner from last year's Sydney Festival. Those paying tribute included Nick Cave, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Jarvis Cocker, and the documentary also includes a tribute by Bono and the Edge (not from the show).



Although I am a much bigger fan of Martha Wainwright, the highlight for me was her brother Rufus's delicate delivery of Chelsea Hotel #2. In fact, every song Rufus did was a standout, which is notably impressive considering such strong cast.

Needless to say: recommended viewing!

A Book's Cover

I shouldn't be surprised, but it's pretty challenging to pick a URL for this blog. As in, they are all taken. A simple phrase without spaces, such as tower of song (a Leonard Cohen favourite), or rarely used ancient words such as antistrophe (Greek) are all taken. How about a silly in-joke from work/acronym like "WWPBD?" Taken!