Now, coming up six years later – I’m planning to do something like it again.
This time I’ll be travelling with one of my Uncles (Mitch).

When and Where are we going? Not sure yet – we’re just throwing around some ideas.
How long for? Also not sure, but at this stage thinking something like four weeks. We spent about three weeks in NZ in 2010.
What do we want to do? Well, neither of us are really drinkers or party goers – but we both like food, and music, and things like that.

Not sure if how we’ll divide up the time either – I’m not keen on spending all our time in one country – I’d like to travel around a bit. Car or Bus or something is possible.

Current destination countries/ideas being tossed up:
* Vietnam
* Spain (apparently this is where the slow food movement started?)
* Canada (The great lakes, and forests look like particularly nice places)
* Italy (Tuscany I’d really love to go back to)
* Norway
* Denmark
* Iceland (Volcanoes and Fjords together – But this is probably an impossibility given cost of flights/etc)

If you had four weeks off work next year (say Mid-spring to Mid-Autumn) and a modest budget – where would you go, what would you see, and why?

You can read the rest of story, or just go straight to my photos from the wedding. (They’re higher quality than the versions shown here too)

The flight was reasonably okay – although the flight out of Sydney was delayed by about 30 minutes, due to Sydney Airport having only one operational runway. As it turns out, I had allowed enough time so that I ended up arriving at Melbourne’s Southern Cross (formerly Spencer Street) Station on time.  From there I slept on the train out to Drouin, waking up about a minute before we pulled in to Drouin station.

Paul met me at the station and we wandered back to Nat’s parents place - a literal hive of last minute planning activity. Parents and relatives running around organising things, and Nat and Paul visibly stressed out from the weeks of preparation.

Ryan (Paul’s best man)  and Paul dropped me off at The Royal Drouin Hotel. Where the entertainment was certainly laid on. I’m not talking raffle night here folks – they had “proper gentlemans entertainment”! Yep, that’s code for strippers!  

Now, before you get too excited… I didn’t stick around for the show, the one stripper I did see who came down from the rooms up-stairs was, well… lets just say she wasn’t  exactly Parisian Cabaret Show material.

I’ll spare you all the details about how small and icky the room was and how the strippers spent ages practicing moves or something up the hallway from my room…

I got a lift with Andrew & Amanda out to Glenfyne, where the service and reception was being held. There’s not a whole lot I can say except that the day went really well. I took a heap of photos, everyone looked great and had a good time. They really lucked out on the weather too.

Nat and Paul really do make a great couple, and they both seemed to have a good day. The slushee machine was a hit, especially with those of us that stuck around to help pack up at the end. Several of us were getting stuck into the remains of the slushee mix.

So, Congratulations to Natalie & Paul – Best wishes for the future.

I’ve attended a bunch of interesting sessions – but there’s a heap of information on offer, so it’s easy to overload.

Next year I think MSFT needs to organise a few more social-networking things around the events. For example, get attendees to put ‘teched07au’ tags on photos on Flickr, and blog posts, etc. Use SMS-broadcasts (possibly through twitter) to inform people of session changes and things like that (link it back to their commnet subcription).
I’ll probably think of a bunch of other small improvements as time goes on.

Overall, it’s been good fun the last few days, and I have learnt things which are relevant to my job, and which will help a little further on too.

I’ve also successfully avoided the vendors who want to steal my information so they can sell me stuff.

Updates – LOLCode.NET, Movieworld, Bye-Bye Developer Guy

Nick gave his LOLCode presentation, to much incredulity by some people who attended.

Yes, LOLCode is a proper Turing complete language. And LOLCode.NET compiles into MSIL as well.

 Movie world was… interesting. About 3,000 people were packed into busses and trundled up to movie world for dinner and some rides.   There was the BatWing, Superman and a few others – we didn’t have access to the full park, but there was a large area open.

  Homeward Bound

Frank’s “Catch Up with Frank” talk was interrupted so he could be serenaded to a version of Don McLean’s “American Pie” called “Developer Guy”.

]]> http://will.hughesfamily.net.au/20070809/hello-from-teched-on-the-gold-coast/feed/ 0 http://will.hughesfamily.net.au/20070722/attention-european-museums-please-read/ http://will.hughesfamily.net.au/20070722/attention-european-museums-please-read/#comments Sun, 22 Jul 2007 05:37:42 +0000 Will http://will.hughesfamily.net.au/20070722/attention-european-museums-please-read/ Cognitive Daily has a great piece about why Museums, Galleries, and Sites of Historical Significance (in particular those in Europe) need to change some of their practices.

It’s a good read, and expresses some of the things that, well, frustrated me about Europe.

Emphasis on the ‘allow photographs’ thing. Really. Please?

If anyone else is going and wants to meet up for a chat – drop me a line

Tuesday, August 7, 2007
09:10AM – 10:20AM
     DJ903 – Newcastle to Brisbane.

11:30AM (est) – Check In @ Crowne Plaza

6:30PM
    Welcome Party     

Wednesday, August 8, 2007
8:15AM
    Opening Keynote     

(9:00AM to 9:30AM is the tentative timeslot for Nick’s LOLCODE ‘ChalkTalk’. The Keynote runs until 9:45AM though.)

9:45AM
    CON204 – Introduction to Microsoft Windows CardSpace; OR     
    DEV231 A Lap around Microsoft Visual Studio 2008     

11:00AM Morning Tea     

11:30AM
    CON205 Programming Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation: A Developer’s Primer; OR
    DAT302 – Database Schema Versioning: How to Use Microsoft Visual Studio Team System for Database Professionals and Team Foundation Server to Version and Deploy Your Databases

12:45PM
    Lunch          

1:45PM
    ARC303 Principles and Patterns of Security; OR
    DEV301 “IronPython” and Dynamic Languages on .NET; OR
    WEB305 IIS7 for Developers     

3:00PM Afternoon Tea

3:30PM
    DEV305 Building Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation and Windows Workflow Foundation Applications with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008; OR
    WEB314 – Web 2.0 Programming

5:00PM
    ARC305 Architecting for Web Scale; OR
    DAT306 – Things You Need to Know for a Painless Upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server 2005     

6:15PM
    Ask the Experts     

Thursday, August 9, 2007
8:15AM
    DAT307 – Database Maintenance in Microsoft SQL Server 2005; OR     
    DEV308 A Lap around Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation     

9:45AM
    DAT308 Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Security Best Practices; OR
    DEV317 – Microsoft Visual Basic: Tips and Tricks for the Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 IDE

11:00 AM Morning Tea

11:30AM
    DEV311 NET Framework 3.0 End-to-End: Putting the Pieces Together     

12:45PM
    Lunch     

1:45PM
    DEV312 Building a Complete Web Application Using ASP.NET Microsoft Visual Studio Codename 2008 (Part 1 of 2)     

3:00PMAfternoon Tea

3:30PM
    ARC311 – Windows Client .NET: Introducing the “Acropolis” Client Application Framework; OR     
    DEV347 Unit Testing and Test Driven Development     

5:00PM
    ARC310 Learning to live with the Static-typing Fascist and the Dynamic-typing Fanboy in your Enterprise… ; OR
    SEC304 – The fortified data center in your future: build it and they will come.     

6:15PM
    Final Party     

Friday, August 10, 2007
8:15AM
    DEV319 LINQ and XML for the Microsoft Visual Basic Developer; OR
    CON312 – Rules Engine Use and Extensibility in Microsoft Windows Workflow Foundation     

9:45AM
    DAT309 Implementing Scale-Out Solutions with Microsoft SQL Server 2005; OR:     
    DEV309 Best Practices for Team-Based Software Development     

11:00AM Morning Tea

11:30AM
    DEV315 Building a Complete Web Application Using ASP.NET “Orcas” and Microsoft Visual Studio Codename 2008 (Part 2 of 2); OR
    SEC313 – How Did They Find THAT?: Implementing the New Microsoft Fundamental Computer Investigation Guide for Windows     

12:45PM
    Lunch     

1:45PM
    SEC303 Securing Your Friends and Family; OR
    WEB301 – MS DLR for OSS developers     

3:10PM
    Closing Locknote     

Saturday, August 11, 2007

11:00AM
     Check out of Hotel

4:30PM-5:45PM
     DJ903 Brisbane to Newcastle

It’s err.. pretty cold here.

An uneventful flight (always good) and touched down ~10mins early.

I missed lunch, and I’m now really regretting it – going out to take a few photos before the light goes completely.

Updated: Monday, 11PM

First day at ReMIX 07 was good, presentations were great, for the most part (more on that later – and I’m sure Paul will have a good writeup & photos)

Two things of note.

#1 – Delivered Frank’s T-Shirt.

Read all about the background behind the shirt’s text here. Frank seemed pleased with the shirt, and it drew a few comments – so, score 1 for me.

#2 – Wifi at Crown Promenad
I think I have to let the Lolcat say it:

I’m going to ReMIX, catching up with work people who I havn’t met, doing a server migration… oh, and going to Paul & Chix0rs engagement party.

I’m taking the camera, and depending upon airport security, the tripod too – so I hope to take some photos whilst I’m down there.

Here’s a rough itinerary:

Sunday 24th June:
- 12:35PM: Williamtown to Melbourne, Virgin Blue Flight DJ692, Arriving 2:05pm
- Check in @ The Albany.

Monday 25th:
- 8:30 AM – 5:30 PM: ReMIX Melbourne, Day 1
- 5:30 pm – 10:00 pm WebJam & Galactic Circus festivities

Tuesday 26th:
- 8AM-5:30PM: ReMIX Melbourne, Day 2
- Dinner w/ Paul, somewhere interesting.

Wednesday 27th:
- 8AM-5PM: Work, Exhibition St.
- 5PM-7PM: Grab dinner somewhere
- 7PM-10PM: Work, Server migration & App Upgrade.

Thursday 28th:
- 8AM-5PM: Work – Exhibition St.

Friday 29th:
- 8AM-5PM: Work – Exhibition St.

Saturday 30th:
- Paul & Chickz0r’s Engagement Party

Sunday 1st July:
- 1:30pm: Melbourne to Williamtown, Qantaslink Flight QF2796, Arriving 3:55

SMS or Call me: +61 400 486 399 or 0400 486 399.

So, I’ve gone ahead and booked flights and accomodation for then.

Looks like I’m going to be busy in the next few months – Google Developer Day in Sydney on May 31st (free), ReMIX in Melbourne on June 25-26th ($140), and finally TechEd on August 7-11.

I’ll be in Melbourne from Sunday 24th June to Sunday 1st July.

Rough Itinerary:
Sunday 24th June:
- 12:35PM: Williamtown to Melbourne, Virgin Blue Flight DJ692, Arriving 2:05pm
- Check in @ The Albany.

Monday:
- 8AM-6:15PM: ReMIX Melbourne, Day 1

Tuesday:
- 8AM-6:15PM: ReMIX Melbourne, Day 2
- ? ‘ReMIX After Party’ @ Galactic Circus.

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:
- 8AM-5PM: Work – Exhibition St. Melbourne
(One of the benefits of working for a large company – we’ve got offices everywhere)

Saturday
- Paul & Chickz0r’s Engagement Party

Sunday 1st July:
- 1:30pm: Melbourne to Williamtown, Qantaslink Flight QF2796, Arriving 3:55

I was looking at a Working Holiday Maker visa, and the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme – the problem is, the working holidaymaker visa only allows you to work for 12 months. Which, if I was going to the trouble of actually moving any of my stuff over there – probably isn’t long enough for it to pay off.  The HSMP is also out – since I’d need a degree as a minimum, before I would have enough points.

That’s really annoying, since I was looking forward to the Banana and Nutella Crepes in France.  (Add some chopped peanuts, and a drizzle of raspberry sauce… mmmm – chocolate banana split sundae crepe).

So, instead I’m going to see if I can complete my HSC (finally) and then finish all those half-completed TAFE courses. Then, I’ll look at Comp Sci or something like that at University.