I'm watching the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy with my boys. I really love the Babel Fish. I then thought about the book I just finished and I'm sure that Michael Crichton must be a Douglas Adams fan!

The Babel Fish is small, yellow and leech-like, and probably the oddest thing in the Universe. It feeds on brainwave energy not from its carrier, but from those around it. It absorbs all unconscious mental frequencies from this brainwave energy to nourish itself with. It then excretes into the mind of its carrier a telepathic matrix formed by combining the conscious thought frequencies with nerve signals picked up from the speech centres of the brain which has supplied them. The practical upshot of all this is that if you stick a Babel fish in your ear you can instantly understand anything said to you in any form of language. The speech patterns you actually hear decode the brainwave matrix which has been fed into your mind by your Babel fish.

The Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation.

4:09:21 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • Random • TV

I took my big boys - Antony and Billy - shopping today. A few more DVDs added to the collection.

Now, to introduce them to the joys of  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on DVD.

[listening to: Come On Eileen - Save Ferris ]
3:18:27 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Yesterday we went to a Christmas Concert at Emma Arrigo's school. It was a tremendous production.  Emma was a camel.

Following the show, presentations were made. Emma got an award. An award in Kindergarden! Amazing. The award was a book with a certificate recognizing her achievement.

Well Done Emma

[listening to: Orange Crush - REM ]
3:11:07 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

Krispy Kreme is turning on the Hot Light in Liverpool!  They are opening the second factory store in Australia at sunrise on Tuesday, 2nd December, at the Liverpool Megacenta, 2-20 Orange Grove Road (Cumberland Highway), Liverpool NSW.

Come and join in the store opening celebrations and be one of the first in line to receive a limited edition Liverpool Opening T-shirt. The opening day celebrations will include an appearance from the Western Sydney Razorbacks and their cheerleaders and performances by local community groups.

When the store open in Penrith, we embarked on a 60KM round trip to buy 2 dozen delights. I'm sure we will repeat the journey to Liverpool.

[listening to: Hernando's Hideaway - Billy May ]
10:55:55 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Random

Interesting post, considering my recent chat with the metagroup analysts.

Several print magazines (ComputingWorld and PC Pro) recently said that .NET and Web Services are being pushed aside in Microsofts mass drive for Longhorn. They warn potential users of .NET to hold back and wait for the dust to settle before committing..[more]

[listening to: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - 80 Drums Around the World ]
11:08:05 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization

I've been reading Timeline by Michael Crichton.  It's a fantastic read.

The teaser goes like this:

In an Arizona desert a man wanders in a daze, speaking words that make no sense. Within twenty-four hours he is dead, his body swiftly cremated by his only known associates. Halfway around the world archaeologists make a shocking discovery at a medieval site. Suddenly they are swept off to the headquarters of a secretive multinational corporation that has developed an astounding technology. Now this group is about to get a chance not to study the past but to enter it. And with history opened to the present, the dead awakened to the living, these men and women will soon find themselves fighting for their very survival--six hundred years ago. . .

THE movie opens February 2004 in Australia. The official site has some good info. The trailer looks pretty good too. I can't wait for the movie.

[listening to: You're Not the Boss of Me Now - They Might Be Giants ]
11:01:53 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Interests • Random

Cam posts some info that I sent him.

I forgot one important one -- Empower.

Microsoft Empower Program The Empower program is designed to assist ISVs, over a 12-month period, in developing a commercially-viable software product based on Microsoft technologies. It is intended to assist ISVs to become Microsoft Certified Partners.

Did you know that we have 140 companies signed up on Empower already

[listening to: What's New Pussycat? - Tom Jones ]
10:36:06 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization • My Profession

Wow - look what appeared in my INBOX today!  -- UK LOTTO

Should I Apply???

[listening to: Nu Flow - Big Brovaz ]
1:15:44 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Random

"Six Feet" Star Delivers! (E! Online). E! Online - Six Feet Under star Rachel Griffiths was on cloud nine after giving birth this weekend. [Yahoo! News - Most Viewed]

Congratulations to Rachel and Andrew!! Welcome to parenthood!

And Hello Baby Banjo

[listening to: Special Ones - george ]
11:33:37 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Friends

Hey Jim from OZBizWeb & Shopsafe - check out this article:

Making Your App Spider Friendly. In this article we will cover using HTTPHandlers to intercept a request and change a directory path to query string parameters. Then we'll create a spider friendly link page so indexes can spider dynamically generated content pages. [ASP.NET Daily Articles]

[listening to: Chiquitita - ABBA ]
11:12:28 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Profession

"BlogPulse mines for bursty phrases and person names instead of for the most popular ones. The most popular phrases and names change very slowly over time. The burstiest phrases and names are those whose frequency of occurrence has increased significantly over the past two weeks, often dramatically."

COOL!

[listening to: Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes ]
10:38:52 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Interests • Random

Irked by the difficulty and expense of replacing the dead batteries in their iPod, two filmmakers have embarked on an 'antiadvertising' Net campaign. [more]

[listening to: Julia - Chocolate Genius ]
10:29:04 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Interests

I turned the TV on this morning and saw a segment on the "Today Show".  They ran a segment originally produced by CBS about the Star Wars Kid:

A kid alone with a video camera waving a golfball retriever, like a Jedi warrior. A private moment of clumsy 10th grade innocence until four classmates put the tape on the Internet.

Today, as CBS News Correspondent Bob McNamara reports, this 15-year-old small town Canadian is known to tens of millions planet-wide as the "Star Wars Kid."  [more]

[listening to: (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear - Elvis Presley ]
10:17:46 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Friends • My Hobbies • My Interests • My Organization • My Profession • Random • TV

I've been going through my inbox and I have noticed that there isn't as much noise as normal.

I was wondering why - and then it dawned on me -- Thanksgiving

We need some dancing turkeys to celebrate!

[listening to: Holiday - Madonna ]
10:05:22 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization • Random

Sify.com: "the .NET Evangelist."

I worked for Sanjay back in 1994 & 1995 during the heady pre-dotcom, interactive tv days. He was a great boss and a good friend to me. After all these years, he is still a very approachable dude who returns my emails.

[listening to: What Kind of Fool Am I? - Anthony Newley ]
9:53:20 PM    comment []  trackback []     • My Friends • My Organization

Australia's richest man Kerry Packer has won the latest legal stoush with rival media mogul Kerry Stokes over television's night of nights, the Logies. more

What a surprise.

[listening to: Without Me - eminem ]
9:38:35 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • TV

I'm delighted to read that Cam Reilly liked my session at the partner conference!

Thx mate. I hope you are inspired and can spread the word that Microsoft really wants to help make ISVs be successful.

[listening to: New Technology - Waikiki ]
8:53:30 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Friends • My Organization

I've been dealing with a incident that has happened to my family this week. It relates to a serious problem that is rife within our schools - bullying.

My son Antony has Asperger's Syndrome. As a result, he is a constant target for the bullys at his school. The scenario is always the same - these boys taunt him to the point that he cracks and retaliates. The retaliation is always exaggerated, which causes the overall situation to escalate and the outcome is pretty predicatable - parents are called, boys are chastised, teachers shrug their sholders , principals turn a blind eye and the bullys live to taunt another day. Not good.

This week it got ugly. I am not able to go into details, as I suspect there may be legal implications - but bottom line the bullys continue to get away with their behaviour and their victims continue to suffer. And the school pretends as if it isn't happening. And to top it all off, the parents of the bullys are blissfully ignorant of the fact that their little precious are actually ugly bullys.  This is the real shame of it all.

Maybe websites like these can help:

• Bullying, No Way!
• anti-bullying
• Bully Busters
• Dealing with Bullying
• Addressing Bullying Behaviour
• Beyond Bullying
• Bully Sandpit

But what I see in these websites is that this is a REAL Problem. It's been around for a long time and there doesnt seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel.

I would much prefer writing stuff like this that's my boy!, than speaking out about bullys, but it's gotta stop.

[listening to: rave goodbye - Paul Mac ]
8:42:05 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

The final leg of my journey - I'm heading down to Melbourne to catch up with my team and spread some more love.

The journey didn't start so well -- we sat on the runway at Coolangatta airport for over 30 minutes, as the Qantas staff frantically searched for a passenger that had not boarded. They did a head count, went through all the luggage and then finally realized that their list was wrong! There was no missing passenger! So we finally left, late.

Time now to catch up on email

[listening to: Albuquerque - Weird Al Yankovic ]
8:21:49 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization

The last day of the partner conference has come & gone.

It was a busy for me - this time I was working on one of the exhibition booths, as well as my regular 'swanning' around. I got to chat with another bunch of partners, such as managed business outcomes, expert is, ozbizweb, excom & oxon data systems. I spoke to many, many more people, but I didnt grab their cards and cant remember them at the moment..

I also had a series of "chats" with some journos - James Pearce from ZDNET and Fleur Doidge from CRN. I also had a session with 2 great guys from Meta Group. Each of these chats were fun and I'm sure I said stuff I shouldnt - oh well c'est la vie.

The evening then wrapped up with the Gala Dinner, which included a number of partner awards. Two ISVs did really well - Brookstone, won 2 awards and Wireless IP won 3. Good to see these guys doing well!

Then we danced. The band was The Gotham City Horns. And they played their standard repertoire  You can hear some of their music on their download page. The lead singer thought he was Ricky Martin!

After the dancing and the singing and the awards, the party moved to the bar. A late night was had by all

[listening to: I Will Survive - Gotham City Horns ]
8:15:40 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization

Australia is killing its koalas, scientists warn government (AFP). AFP - Australia is killing off its koalas at the rate of 20,000 a year through land-clearing, more than 400 scientists warned in an appeal to its political leaders. [Yahoo! News - Reader Ratings]

That is a lot of Koalas

[listening to: Polka Power! - Weird Al Yankovic ]
8:21:29 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Random

Back after a busy day at the Microsoft Australia & New Zealand Partner Conference.

My job was to 'swan around' and talk to the partners and sponsors in the exhibition area. Yes, I can do that!

I spoke to lots of people from companies, such as computercorp, eword development, informex, ems, ipex, competesolutions, thinprint, infotronics, open systems technology, pay global, dexterra, wirelessip, avanade, data3, volante systems and Magic Macros - and these are just the guys who I grab business cards from.

A funny story -- I met a guy who had saved an SMS that I had sent him over 12 months ago. He was saving it for the day he would meet me, just to show me that he had received the message. My wife tells me that this is weird. I think it's kinda sweet. I wonder how many other people have saved an SMS that I have sent them. I've got other stories, but now's not the time.

I then presented a session (PRTCM02) on the Microsoft ISV partner program. It appeared to be well attended and I got a bunch of challenging questions from the floor. I think I managed to duck them all :)

Prior to dinner, we hosted the ISVs who are attending the conference to a pre dinner (obviously) cocktail party. we even had a 4 string quartet! As one of the folks at the event said, it was quite appropriate for the evangelist to be having an event at the chapel!

We finished the night with dinner and a terrific comedy set by Vince Sorrenti.

Vince is a very funny guy with a slick routine.

I'm not going to post a transcript, as I'm sure that will contravene heaps of copyright laws!  but take me word for it - he was funny.

[listening to: Mambo Italiano - Rosemary Clooney ]
1:35:25 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization

The Xbox Celebrity PlayOff event at Westfield Miranda, Sydney on Thursday November 27th 2003

The spectacular Xbox Experience has been touring Westfield centres in QLD &  VIC and is kicking off the NSW leg of the tour at Westfield Miranda this week. Get down to Westfield and kick back playing one of the hot new games like Project Gotham Racing 2, Amped 2 and Top Spin; try out your karaoke style on the new Xbox Music Mixer; show the rest of the world that Aussies do still have that winning edge on Xbox Live; or play against celebrities at the launch event on Thursday November 27th from 5.00pm – 6.30pm.   MTV will be there all day filming the action for various MTV shows.

The hi-tech set up is an Australian first, featuring Xbox consoles and chill-out areas, Xbox challenges, playoffs, giveaways, prizes, and a state of the art Dynascan 360° screen.   The Dynascan is the only one in the country and is a massive 15ft high circular TV.

If you can’t make it to Miranda for the launch event you can still catch the tour at other Sydney locations on the dates below.  Feel free to bring your family or friends – great opportunity for them to see Xbox Live in action!

NSW

Miranda Parramatta Burwood Chatswood Eastgardens

Mon 24 Nov - Sat 6 Dec Tue 9 Dec - Tue 23 Dec Sat 27 Dec - Sat 3 Jan Tue 6 Jan - Sat 17 Jan Tue 20 Jan - 31 Jan

[listening to: Love My Way - The Psychedelic Furs ]
12:34:59 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Interests

Too Funny - I read this on the weekend

A Silicon Valley computer programmer has been arrested for threatening to torture and kill employees of the company he blames for bombarding his computer with web advertisements promising to enlarge his penis.

[listening to: I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen - Robbie Williams ]
9:12:17 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Random

Got back from the opening event of the Microsoft Australia & New Zealand Partner Conference.

The location of the event was a secret

Since we are on the Gold Coast, we went to one of the famous theme parks - Warner Brothers Movie World!

And, guess what - it rained & rained & rained & rained & rained! Guess we should check the weather next time.

Despite that, it was a good night. I got to catch up with some old friends, and met some new ones. I even to got to ride the SCOOBY-DOO SPOOKY COASTER.

The next 2 days should be fun!

[listening to: Scooby Doo, Where Are You! - Third Eye Blind ]
12:55:56 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization

Here's a recent photo of Emma. Isn't she gorgeous!

She's quite the little lady - she is in kindergarden at PLC, and we know that she came second in the recent swimming carnival - have a read of Emma comes second! for more info and photos.  Emma loves going to school. Apparently she is running a business with all her friends - they trade gumnuts for the special power that they make from the riverbed at the school. Commerce starts early when you go to PLC!   ROTFL

Emma like's barbie, disney princesses, music, movies, and playing minesweeper flags with her dad.

[listening to: Strawberry Kisses - Nicki Webster ]
12:08:30 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

A recent photo of my wild boy Bricey.

He turns 4 on January 20, 2004. Yes he was a millenium baby. I call him my own y2k bug.  The kids call him the tornado - because he whirls in, makes a mess and then disappears just as quickly.

He loves Batman, Bob the Builder, trucks and cones. He really likes cones

[listening to: Wiggly Safari - The Wiggles ]
11:45:06 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family

I'm on the Gold Coast, attending the Australia & New Zealand Partner Conference.

I'm quite proud of the fact I caught the train in Brisbane to get to the event, here at Royal Pines,

Departure Times		Arrival Times	Total Travel Time	Fare Information (Click for Details)	Trip Information (Click for Details)	Trip Name
Central (Platform1) at 11:56am		Nerang (Station) at 1:03pm	1 hr 07 min			UG24

I can't remember the last time I caught a train!

[listening to: Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds - The Black Crowes ]
5:56:27 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Random

ALL of the PDC sessions are on line for public viewing.   Very Cool

[listening to: (They Long to Be) Close to You - Carpenters ]
7:35:12 AM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Organization • My Profession

Enter the Mobile Web Services Developer Contest
Microsoft and Vodafone are seeking innovative developer applications that showcase the use of mobile Web services and span across PCs and mobile devices. Top prizes include a $5,000 award and round trip travel to the Microsoft Mobile Developer Conference in Spring 2004. The finalists will also have their applications featured in several Vodafone and Microsoft industry events, and as an added incentive Vodafone may deploy the winning applications into their markets. Registration is limited to the first 250 eligible entries received. If you've got what it takes, register for the Mobile Web Services Developer Contest now!

[listening to: Murder on the Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor ]
9:43:38 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • My Interests • My Organization

Took all four kids (Antony,Billy,Emma,Brice) to a sneak preview of Elf this morning. It's a cute movie, with some pretty funny moments.

The reviews are ok:

• Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
• Guardian/Observer
• James Berardinelli's ReelViews
• Rotten Tomatoes - Reviews from the Nation's Top Critics

[listening to: Winter Wonderland - Peggy Lee ]
12:34:39 PM    comment []  trackback []  G!   • Family • My Interests

Hey this is cool