Too early for new years resolutions, I think not.

I’m a selfish bastard but you knew that…

So today my wife and children went to Randwick to Libby’s Aunt and Uncles for Christmas Lunch tomorrow. I am at home because for the Second time in a little over a month doctors are using language like “if this course of action doesn’t work by Sunday will admit you for a few days”

With out going into details both issues I have had is because I treat my body like a tip, and even though it has concerned my wife for a decade I figured nothings going to happen, you worry too much, yada yada yada.

Well if I am to be admitted to hospital I would rather it happen in Canberra instead of an unplanned stay in a random Sydney Hospital, BTW we were coming home tomorrow night anyway.

Tomorrow I’ll be home and it is largely my fault so I guess I best start taking my health seriously and stop being such a selfish bastard.

Mind you having a fever for 24 Hours and then having another after it breaks in the same day does help to catch up on sleep. Not to mention a 48 hour computer free time.

So once I am well again I need to:

• NOT be 150+ Kgs (might help with the Sleep Apnoea)
• Take care to prevent more Kidney Stones
• Look at making the ugly lower leg horrificness diminish (yep stuck with the look) but not the damage I hope
• Generally pay attention to my health.

So I wonder how I’ll go now that I’ve had too scares so close together lets not wait for the Heart Attack trifecta before I clue up.

Lunar Eclipse to Milk for the SeaCat

Sometimes I wonder at what pace my brain makes connections. Here are the links created from a Twitpic by someone I follow on twitter.

When I asked where it was taken they told me. Naturally I jumped on Nearmap.com for a quick squiz of the area because the foreshore was sweet. By the way it is somewhere on the left of that picture Balmain in case you care.

Scrolling out what do I notice? Cockatoo Island (Co Dock) I spent a little time there during refits of the last Submarine and first Warship (which happened to hunt Submarines) I served on.

This was a time of transition for me and the beginning of a great few years. A generally really good time traveling the world with great mates.

Funny I have two photos taken on HMAS Parramatta when I was on her (1988-1991) hanging in my study since we moved in, in 1999 but I hardly notice them anymore.

Tonight I took them down scanned them for this post. I will clean up the frames and put them back up on boxing day.

Point is I am wired to leap from connection to connection at a rate of knots and I’d like to thank Catherine for reminding me of a time long ago, even though she might shake her head at how I got here.

Prepared to defend my views on #OffSpring

So I was talking about my Girly Programming Selections with @MolksTVTalk on Twitter tonight.

"@DavidLMackie I have no problem with people liking things like #Offspring - they just need to be prepared to defend their views. ;)"

Sad that I felt the need for a whole new blog for this but I know that folk would not cope well with just a new category.

So why do I like Offspring?

• Not the Nina / Dr Chris saga so maybe I missed the point but I watch in spite of that.


• Billy and Mick Super funny. Really like Eddie Perfect - (loved Howard 2.0 from 2007)


• Jimmy such a funny funny loser, endearing and pathetic too


• I like Cherie but Deborah Mailman has not been the same for me since she wiped off in the opening scene of "The Secret Life of us". Not that girl from play school anymore. Still a character that ties together many others so nice.


• Dr Chris has a Crazy Runaway Bride who I quite like in #Rake

I really like no LOVE Zara. Funny and Hot too, which reminds me must watch the Nurses Webisodes

So there you have it MolkTVTalk the defence rests.

Small Agency Mentoring Program #AGIMO

I recently began following John Sheridan from AGIMO and since I’ve not followed much of what he has been doing since I was in Defence, I took a peek back through his Twitter Feed in as non stalkerish way as possible (BTW Days NOT Years) came across a link to the Small Agency Mentoring Program (SAM).

Mentoring programs like SAM are important because they help to build the capability of the APS by strengthening cross-agency relationships and developing future ICT leaders. For more information on mentoring programs supported by the Department of Finance and Deregulation please take a look at the website:

I’m an IT Contractor and have been for many years and the thing I find all over is Infrastructure People in Agencies both big and small have very little clue who their peers are, let alone what they can share with each other.

I notice Mentoring Programs for SES and Women in IT both of which I’m very supportive.

I wonder if Agencies are to do more with less how do Technical Leaders (Contractors too) get to network and share with each other.

I use Facebook, LinkedIn and even Twitter to extend my contacts in my field and locally try to connect widely with my peers. I am aware that there is some nervousness from Agency Security Advisors about public social networks and I understand why they think they should be nervous however are we not talking about professionals.

I guess I’m proposing Public Social Networking for an Essentially Closed Population. Not seeking to provide an answer but wonder how to discuss this sensibly.

What I’m saying is good job going as far as you do. How do we grow that???

Comments OPEN

Small Agency Mentoring Program | AGIMO Blog

Document Holder – How to do it yourself #movember

 

One of the Tech Writers where I am currently doing a gig is doing Movember and has been “Selling” things for donations. This one got my attention today so if you use it donate. Instructions at the bottom of the “Task Card”

Keep up the good work Bob

This doco holder is quick and easy to make.

It is a lot stronger than most other types and you can confidently put a full 2-ring binder on it.

All you need is a paper box with lid, a craft knife (box cutter) and tape. 

The Executive model needs a large fold-back clip.

Take off the lid and use it as template to mark where to cut on the first side.
Use the cut-off scrap as a guide to cut the second side.
Make two cuts on the lid, and fold it back, as shown.
Fit lid over the base and tape it on.
Tape on the lid. Some people prefer staples as they are environmentally friendlier.
Executive model Put a sheet of A4 paper on the holder. Mark the top of the paper.   Cut away a chunk of cardboard above the A4 sheet
Attach clip.   Sit back and smile   J

Remember to donate (pay for this taskcard) to Bob T’s Movember effort.

Pay online on-line with credit card or PayPal account at 
       http://au.movember.com/mospace/1139044/ 

 

Games Meh but XBox Kinect in every Board Room #messaging

I’m no big gamer I just don’t have the time so when I do set aside enough time it tends to be something like a retro game of Age of Empires or Diablo so XBOX has not been a big focus for me.Well except for the version 1.0 I have with XBMC loaded.
I have been focusing on how my customers might get value from messaging systems that extend what they already do and the Tandberg Systems they have been putting in are kind of sweet. Well not really the Tandberg kit more the 60” plasmas (3D, SD & USB plus divx)
Imagine my surprise when I saw …

In a move that surprised practically everyone, though, Microsoft also said that users of Lync (and Office 365) will be able to videoconference with home users of XBox game machines through Kinect, a new camera peripheral that tracks users' movements in a room using infrared (IR) wireless.

Now I wonder if we need to gateway this through XBox Live or if we can directly integrate with an in house Lync 2010 System?

Microsoft will also add the shared videoconferencing capabilities for Kinect through a software update.
Corporate Lync customers can ditch their old PBX and phone systems to run Lync entirely on one or more servers. Alternatively, they can hold on to these legacy systems and interface them to Lync through gateways

Here’s to hoping that the firmware updates allow us to point to our own system if they do I can see big potential.
Plus so interesting XMAS parties in future.

Source Betanews.com

This plan is lunarcy - Security - Technology

When I moved some of the content from a previous blog I move the stuff I wanted to keep and archived the rest to some PDFs.

The other day I got the idea to revisit and update some of them so on days when I’m light on for thoughts I might put some of these together.

Ooooops not a good start so far.

Found the guys who were running this program over at http://lifeboat.com/ex/programs and although I was worried that Moon based DR might not be going forward as a priority there are lots of other Programs current and planned that could provide blog fodder for quite some time.

Wow I might have to create a category as some of this seems off the wall but nice to think about…

BTW the original Article was written by

Nate Cochrane

@natecochrane Sydney, NSW, Australia

Editor in chief @CRN_au, @iTnews_au, @SCMagazineAU; AU's 1st online journo; Deal or no Deal's biggest prize winner; AU's biggest cash prize game show winner

http://haymarketmedia.com.au

This plan is lunarcy - Security - Technology

Now I thought my customers had big expectations for their offsite requirements. Check this out.

IF YOU think your organisation is savvy because it has an offsite data warehouse, spare a thought for William Burrows' plan to store life's blueprints - on the moon.

The journalism professor and former New York Times' space reporter's dream to back up the world's DNA to a site on the lunar surface would read like science fiction if it wasn't for the fact that the general idea is supported by the likes of Stephen Hawking, five Scandinavian prime ministers and a British group compiling a genetic
database of endangered species.

Mr Burrows devised the disaster plan with Robert Shapiro, professor emeritus and senior research scientist in biochemistry at New York University, in the 1999 book A Lunar Sanctuary. From there, they formed the Alliance to Rescue Civilisation (http://arc-space.org), which has attracted scientists and thinkers.

So that would be quite some DR project, how do we keep the DR Site up to date? What are our RPO and RTO? I'm thinking the replication across the wide area might be a little behind during
high rate of change situations.

Source: This plan is lunarcy - Security - Technology – http://smh.com.au

Posted: Sep 15 2006, 10:48 PM by David Mackie

Privacy Options that don’t protect my privacy

I was signing up for a Microsoft Regional Business Building Event and part of the sign up form included…

Privacy:    Please tick this box if you do not wish Microsoft to use the details you have provided above to contact you regarding important security, product, and event information    Trusted Microsoft Partners may use the details I have provided above to contact me regarding important security, product, and event information.   A response for this question is required.

I do want Microsoft to contact me because we are a partner so I can’t tick that button.

I do not want Microsoft Partners to contact me because I am that trusted partner and won’t want SPAM from my competitors.

I am not concerned about the mail because I have a delete key, but I also don’t want to give explicit permission to these other companies to send me offers. I guess creating an Outlook rule for “Competitive Intelligence” is my only option.

Just saying

It's slowly becoming an Android world, Gartner says

Earlier today I wondered why no Android Pallbearers when talking about the Windows Phone 7 RTM Launch.

Gartner seems to think Android will be number two in phones by 2014.

Despite the imminent launch of Windows Phone 7, Gartner expects Microsoft's share in the mobile phone market to continue to shrink, from 8.7 percent last year to 4.7 percent this year to 3.9 percent by 2014. By 2014, it will range sixth behind MeeGo on a global basis, according to Gartner.

The predicted market share in 2014 is …

1. Symbian – 30.2%
2. Android – 29.6%
3. Apple iOS – 14.9%
4. Blackberry – 11.7%
5. Others including MeeGo and Windows Phone 9.6%
6. Windows Phone alone 3.9%

These numbers make me think Android more likely to have the credible iPhone and Crackberry killer

So I wonder who funds Common Criteria Evaluations??

I think the horse to back may well be Android but using it with Government clients will need someone to back an evaluation.

It's slowly becoming an Android world, Gartner says - Software - Technology - News - CRN Australia

The only reason for time is…..

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Albert Einstein

This quote was used in a TV show I was watching this morning because I wanted to know the exact quote I Binged it and found it on Quote DB. Those who know me will understand that I often have difficulty remaining on task, so I looked wider and found:

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.”

Of course everyone can tell I needed to rewind the programme because I spectacularly moved off task.

So what freakishly ridiculous long bow am I trying to pull?

I’ve just come back from AUTechED trying to resist the the marketing after glow….

I am increasingly a fan of Role Based Administration and Workflow Enabled Provisioning.

We currently use with a major client tools like:

• SCCM 2007 R2 (ConfigMGR) to Deploy Servers and Desktops, Deploy Applications, Printers and Secure Shares;
• FIM 2010 for Directory Synchronisation and some stuff we perhaps should not be.

maybe we should be looking at Service Manager, SSP 2.0 for SCVMM  which of course implies SCVMM and what looks like a very good option for stringing it all together Opalis.

So where is the genius in this post?

We do some things in my view the hard way and perhaps because we didn't know what we didn’t know, and I am so tempted to implement everything in the System Center Enterprise Suite and leverage the whole ecosystem BUT today I’m leaning toward a big long roadmap for this client.

BUT …

Once we get a chance to train and define an offering, I think a whole business unit can be built around building complexity in what we offer to drive simplicity for our clients.

In other words I love the Microsoft Ecosystems and see promise in System Center and Forefront for completely abstracting the use of native tools into fully automated, work flow driven, user self service. The glue in this seems to be solid scripting in PowerShell well we need something complex to make things seem easy.

The only reason for time is…..

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.” Albert Einstein

This quote was used in a TV show I was watching this morning because I wanted to know the exact quote I Binged it and found it on Quote DB. Those who know me will understand that I often have difficulty remaining on task, so I looked wider and found:

“Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.”

Of course everyone can tell I needed to rewind the programme because I spectacularly moved off task.

So what freakishly ridiculous long bow am I trying to pull?

I’ve just come back from AUTechED trying to resist the the marketing after glow….

I am increasingly a fan of Role Based Administration and Workflow Enabled Provisioning.

We currently use with a major client tools like:

• SCCM 2007 R2 (ConfigMGR) to Deploy Servers and Desktops, Deploy Applications, Printers and Secure Shares;
• FIM 2010 for Directory Synchronisation and some stuff we perhaps should not be.

maybe we should be looking at Service Manager, SSP 2.0 for SCVMM  which of course implies SCVMM and what looks like a very good option for stringing it all together Opalis.

So where is the genius in this post?

We do some things in my view the hard way and perhaps because we didn't know what we didn’t know, and I am so tempted to implement everything in the System Center Enterprise Suite and leverage the whole ecosystem BUT today I’m leaning toward a big long roadmap for this client.

BUT …

Once we get a chance to train and define an offering, I think a whole business unit can be built around building complexity in what we offer to drive simplicity for our clients.

In other words I love the Microsoft Ecosystems and see promise in System Center and Forefront for completely abstracting the use of native tools into fully automated, work flow driven, user self service. The glue in this seems to be solid scripting in PowerShell well we need something complex to make things seem easy.

Look just follow me on Twitter

I have moved this blog around so much that I will be very surprised if I have anyone left following me but unlike Kate I am very happy that you are and of course I might even be happy to be your friend on Facebook

Disclosure Policy

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This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact  David@Mackie.dropbear.id.au.

This blog does not accept any form of sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, I will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organisations.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If I claim or appear to be an expert on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I believe, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

The owner of this blog would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog.

• I am employed by Synergistic Network Solutions Pty Limited.
• I am part was part of the leadership team of the Canberra Windows User Group - Sponsored by Microsoft and Culminis *** This Group no longer meets ***
• I am was the Principle Speaker at the CBRWINUG and speak passionately about Microsoft and other Interesting Technologies that run on Windows Infrastructure

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid until revoked

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact  David@Mackie.dropbear.id.au.

This blog does not accept any form of sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. However, I will and do accept and keep free products, services, travel, event tickets, and other forms of compensation from companies and organisations.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If I claim or appear to be an expert on a certain topic or product or service area, I will only endorse products or services that I believe, based on my expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider.

The owner of this blog would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog.

• I am employed by Synergistic Network Solutions Pty Limited.
• I am part was part of the leadership team of the Canberra Windows User Group - Sponsored by Microsoft and Culminis *** This Group no longer meets ***
• I am was the Principle Speaker at the CBRWINUG and speak passionately about Microsoft and other Interesting Technologies that run on Windows Infrastructure

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org