02 May 09 - 23:02Twitter

I have jumped on the twitter bandwagon, and finally gotten around to setting up a twitter account. It's a bit of a challenge, writing updates in a 140 characters or less, but even I should be able to manage 140 characters at least a few times a week.

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17 March 09 - 22:38Travel

I'd really like to travel (for fun, not for work) more over the next couple of years, so I was interested to read this article in The Age about how to have relatively cheap holiday in New York. I have never been overseas (Bass Straight doesn't count ), and I would love to go to the U.S., and in particular, visit New York and Boston. I also want to go to San Fransisco, but that's probably something that needs to be done on a second trip.

I would also like to visit all the capital cities in the states and territories of Australia. So far, I have been to Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Hobart, but I have never traveled further west of Melbourne than Apollo Bay. There's always a possibility that I could end up going somewhere for work (and I'll be in Brisbane for a day or two for work some time in the next month), but traveling for work doesn't really count. There is very little scope for checking city out properly on a work trip - I find I work longer hours, and then crash in a hotel. The last time I went to Canberra it was a bit better, because I got to catch up with a good friend who is studying there at the moment (and who I miss heaps). Even so, I've never done the tourist thing in Canberra (I have never even visited either parliament house), so I should go up for a few days when I don't have work or a conference to go to. Of course, there will be even more incentive to spend a bit of quality time in Canberra, as I will soon have a second good friend who I will miss heaps living there.

One thing that does give me a bit of a pause about travel, and especially travel overseas, is that as I'm a bit of an extrovert, the idea of traveling to see places (even fascinating ones I really want to see) doesn't quite have the same appeal as traveling to see people (or with people). There are plenty of options, though, I just need to think them through.

I'm thinking that I might try and get myself to Adelaide, and possibly Perth this year, and then plan to go overseas next year.

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05 March 09 - 00:26Blogging for 2009

My sub-heading for this blog is "writing about IT, aus politics, music and genre fiction". I haven't written much about any of these topics (or anything else, for that matter) in the last year. I go through stages of writing a lot, and then I run out of energy and enthusiasm.

What I think I will do, is try to write some more detailed posts about a few events and issues that have affected or interested me over the last year, which I haven't already written about in much detail. I have been posting links to facebook, so I should actually make more of an effort and write about them here).

A few topics (by putting them down here, hopefully I'll feel inspired at some point to write about them in more detail) I think I will start with are:

aus politics: The recent introduction into Victoria of a Relationships register, as well changes to IVF access, and why equal marriage is still as important as ever.

Victorian Bushfires: There are a couple of different perspectives I could write about this from. I know people who live in areas affected by the fires (including Mum in Boolarra -who was incredibly lucky and lost nothing in the fires that hit Boolara the week before Black Saturday), but there are also a lot of issues around how communities are established and protected in the semi-rural fringes of Melbourne.

IT: Troubleshooting strategies for technical problems (it's an area where a lot of people struggle, and where it's easy to lose track of what you do when you work through a problem), GPU programming, parallel filesystems

The Australian Democrats: What future is there for the party? Does it actually matter that much in the grand scheme of things? How does the party compare to other minor parties, and a bit more about some of my own experiences both through having been a candidate for state and federal parliament, and active at an organisational level in a political party. It's a somewhat unusual thing to do, and I wish more people would get involved in political parties, as as it stands, parties have declining memberships and lose touch with the community. It's a bit disturbing to think that a few hundred people can set policy agendas and preselect candidates for office, given the impact these decisions can have on the community as a whole.

Electoral Reform: Particularly with regard to local government and postal vs attendance elections, running mates vs dummy candidates etc.

Music: I live In Melbourne, so I should get more organised and go and see more live music.

Fiction: Where do I start? I really want to take time to read and watch more, and to actually get around to writing. I plan to catch up on Battlestar Galactica (I'm part way through season one), watch The Wire. catch up on 30 Rock and SVU, and finish reading John Birmingham's Axis of TIme trilogy for starters. I have a long list of films I want to see at the moment, as well.

Public transport. I'm very close to work at the moment, but I'm still very interested in PT issues, and in particular, improved services in the City of Monash (where I currently live).

I'm also going to play around with the layout of this site, and have a re-think about what I do about external links and whether or not I should have a blog roll.

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16 January 09 - 13:30Guess which song

A friend did the following meme, where you translate some verses of a song into German, then into French and then into English.

Here's my attempt, so try and guess the song:

It n' time did not leave regrets held thick wet with its same old woman sure thing myself and my head high its and my tears dry to receive you without my individual suited you above from return too what you knew jusqu' now far from all which we underwent and you let us take a step of me a rail worrying my advantages become piled up I' ; L we let us not suit you to blacken return took leave qu' with dead words me naps hundred to go to him and me let us go from return of return .....

--
Yes, I know I need to get out more

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15 January 09 - 11:54A house costs less than a car in Detroit

There has been a lot of publicity in this country about the US housing crisis, but it really hasn't gone into detail about how bad it is in some cities. Here's an example of how bad it has gotten: a house costs less than a car in Detroit.

I read this on a mostly US forum at lunch yesterday, and didn't believe it at first. I had no idea there were major cities (Detroit has population of about 900,000) in the US where cars are more expensive than houses. FFS, houses cost more in Moe. I don't know how much rates are in Michigan (or if stamp duties are ridiculously high), but even so, it's scary that many people can't even afford a house in Detroit.
Here is a house for sale for $1000.

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28 November 08 - 16:39Generation B.S.

A popular topic for opinion columns is to pick a generation, whether it be the baby boomers, gen x or gen y, and then sprout off a whole heap of crap about how everyone in said generation has negative characteristic A, or terrible social flaw B, or whatever. (I'm a Gen X, btw - which is allegedly "the bitter generation"). Sure, it's fun to jokingly bitch about other generations after a few drinks at the pub - but obviously some people take this whole issue far too seriously. The latest column I have read is a classic example of this. The headline "Don't ask Gen Ys for compassion" really sums this ridiculous type of opinion piece up. For every example the media cites of a callous, reckless or lazy Gen Y, I can personally think of half a dozen counter examples of compassionate, hardworking, and overall outstanding Gen Ys who I have the privilege of either been friends with, or have worked with in a professional or voluntary capacity. What about the Gen Ys who I have seen work till midnight finishing up a project, or the Gen Ys who have dedicated huge amounts of their time to volunteer work, whether it be helping local kids at risk, or volunteering in overseas orphanages, or cleaning up the local park, or campaigning for better public transport, or supporting people with disabilities, or running English language classes for refugees? Do they lack compassion?

Obviously there are demographic trends within generations, but it would be nice to see the focus specifically on these trends (along with some quantitative data rather than just glib assertions), as well as analysis of possible causes for these trends. For instance, it is often cited that older people (in the 60+) demographic volunteer more than younger people. Maybe this is because more older people are retired, or are working reduced hours, so they have more time to volunteer, rather than younger generations being selfish. Gen Ys are also more likely to stay at home longer than older generations - but there has also been a massive increase in housing costs (both for rental and purchased properties). Apparently Gen Ys are more likely to change jobs - but unemployment has been below 5% for the last several years, and in many industries (such as IT), it's more common to advance your career by taking a better job in a different company, rather than waiting for eventual promotion while working for the same company for decades. I guess that sort of thing just doesn't make for interesting opinion pieces, though.

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27 November 08 - 13:25Where the bloody hell am I?

Life has been so busy, that I either haven't had the time, or, more importantly, been in the right frame of mind for blogging. There are many things I'd like to blog about - and although events have moved on, I'll probably go ahead and blog about them anyway over the next few weeks. I'm now full-time at a different CSIRO site, instead of still being 1 day a week at Docklands. The new job should become very interesting over the next few months, and I had the opportunity to attend some workshops at eResearch Australia 2008.

I was going to try to write a novel for Nanowrimo, but only got as far as the outline before I came down with a really bad virus.

I have been letterboxing for some friends running for local government elections (Alex Makin in Maroondah and Amanda Leeper in Knox) here in Melbourne, and will be standing on a polling booth this Saturday in Knox where the election is by attendance, rather than postal ballot (go Amanda!). I'm also hoping that Paul Kavanagh gets elected to Moreland Council, and that Gurm Sekhon gets reelected to Yarra Council - and I voted for Matthew Billman, the local Greens candidate in Oakleigh Ward in Monash Council, as I think he has the best policies of the candidates running.

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08 September 08 - 22:21Rowville Rail Petition

pt4me2 has an online petition calling for the State Government to fund the Rowville rail line.

Public transport in suburbs such as Wheelers Hill, Mulgrave and Rowville is a pathetic joke. I used to live in Mulgrave until we moved a couple of years ago, and taking public transport into the CBD took a minimum of 90 minutes, which is ridiculous for a middle suburb less than 30km out from the city centre. It is ludicrous for the State Government to continue to fail to significantly improve public transport services while wasting billions of dollars on tolled roads when they claim to care about cutting the state's carbon emissions. People end up being forced to pay nearly $5 a trip to be stuck in traffic in peak hour because they have no reasonable alternative. Why shouldn't most people in Melbourne, who live in the middle and outer suburbs have access to frequent and reliable train services? It would certainly cost less than more toll roads.

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