I'm now the proud owner of a new Apple MacBook Pro. It's actually the first computer I've bought in about 8 years as I usually just use the laptop provided by work. But now that I'm doing web development work, both at home and at work, I needed something that I could rely on and a machine that … read more

Who would be a football manager? It seems that coming second in the Premier League and making the final of the Champions League (something Mourinho didn't manage for Chelsea) isn't good enough if you're a manager for a club that's owned by a billionaire. Sadly, it looks like the top clubs in the EPL … read more

Yesterday was the 1st anniversary of our arrival in Australia. I was going to do a big blog post to mark the occasion but I can't be arsed - too busy working on my website. Suffice to say it's been a fantastic first year - everything we hoped for and more. There are lots of positives and very few … read more

As the Champions League Final was on in the middle of the night our time I recorded it on Foxtel IQ (same as Sky+ in the UK) to watch when I got home from work tonight. What a game. The first 20 minutes were cagey but the rest of the game was gripping. When it entered extra time I new this game was … read more

On Wednesday I attended AusCERT 2008. AusCERT is an annual conference for the IT Security industry organised by the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team. Held at the plush surroundings of the Crown Plaza Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast, the event is a chance for vendors such as Check … read more

I've just finished reading 'The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation' by New York Times reporter Philip Shenon. This fascinating book gives a behind the scenes insight into the 9/11 commission's investigation, and provides a context for the well-documented omissions and … read more

My parents are on their way home and so ends a fabulous 4 weeks. The time flew by but they definitely made the most of their first visit to Australia. With the exception of Sydney most of their time was spent with us - I certainly haven't got much leave left to take from work for the rest of this … read more

Last Sunday we returned from a fantastic week's holiday in Palm Cove. Palm Cove is a small resort just north of Cairns in Far Northern Queensland, and an ideal base for exploring the World Heritage Sites of the Great Barrier Reef and Rainforests. [googlemaps … read more

I want to work for this company... [www.vimeo.com/173714](http://www.vimeo.com/173714) read more

It was chaos on Monday here in Sydney. For the very first time, the New South Wales State Government had decided to extend daylight savings a week. Unfortunately I don't think they publicised it very well or thought through the impact, as a lot of computer software that was set to automatically … read more

A landing time of 6:50am meant it was an early start on Sunday to ensure we were there to meet my parents at Brisbane airport. It was great to see them emerge through the arrivals tunnel after not seeing them for 10 months. My mum burst into tears, bless her, and Lauren was very excited to see her … read more

The last few weeks have been work, work, work unfortunately, hence the lack of blog posts. However, there's light at the end of the tunnel - this weekend sees the arrival of my parents for their first visit to Oz, and I've made sure to arrange plenty of leave so I can get back into holiday mode … read more

We moved into new offices today at work. The company I'm working for as outgrown our previous office so had to look for new premises. The problem is, because of a rise in rental prices the company could no longer afford the lovely CBD (Central Business District) location for the office capacity that … read more

After two years of battle between Sony's Blueray and Toshiba's HD-DVD technology, the High Definition format war is finally over. Now that all 6 major movie studios have backed Blueray, Toshiba has been left with no choice but to discontinue production of the HD-DVD disks. As with the previous … read more

I've just returned from watching Rambo at our local flicks. Growing up with the Rambo films I was looking forward to seeing this final revisit, particularly after seeing, and enjoying, Rocky Balboa, Sly's other throw back to the eighties. Whereas Rocky Balboa worked well as mainly a character drama; … read more

I never thought that getting my hair cut could be such a wonderful experience. Being previously used to a 5 minute cut and quick brush down (which always seemed to leave more hair down the back of my shirt than what went on the floor), the first time I got my hair cut in Australia I was pleasantly … read more

All is quiet in the Haines Brisbane residence at the moment. We haven't been doing much lately as we're saving our money for when my parents come over at the end of March for 4 weeks, in which time we're planning on a week up on the Great Barrier Reef. Besides that, the weather here is still crap. … read more

Why not have a nice cup of tea and a sit down :-) read more

Back in Sydney again. I decided to stay in a serviced apartment again this time (as I did the week before xmas), however it’s a pleasure to discover that these Meriton apartments are much nicer, more conveniently located, yet roughly the same price as the Medina Executive Apartments I stayed in last … read more

On Saturday it was Australia Day which meant yesterday (Monday) was a public holiday. The net result was a fantastic 4-day weekend for me! We decided to partake in Australia Day celebrations by visiting South Bank. Before that however, we took a train into the city and had a walk up Queen St Mall. … read more