Aussie in Denver

Things I miss from Australia

2008-05-09T10:15:00.002-06:00

I've lived in Colorado for two and a half years now. Whenever it comes up in conversation that I grew up in Australia, the question inevitably comes up about what I miss.

Here are a five things off the top of my head:

The Beach
I've lived no more than a 10 minute drive from a beach for all my life. Moving to the middle of a very large country was quite a change. The nearest beach is a 2 hour flight, or a 17 hour drive from here, and that took a little time to get used to.

One strange thing is that at times I miss the option to go to the beach even more than actually going.

While everyone knows how fun the beach can be in summer, many people don't realize the beauty of winter storm. Walking along a breakwater while massive waves pound the rocks and turn to spray that shoots higher than the lighthouse give a sense of awe at the power of nature.

Kebabs
Hot dogs are good. Bratwurst is better, but one thing I can't get in Denver is good Kebab from a street vendor.

For those of you from the US - a Donner Kebab is not meat on a stick, it's similar to a Gyro, only much, much better. Especially at 2:00am ;)

I swear if someone would open a late night Kebab van on or near a college campus, they would make a fortune.

Alfresco Dining
Eating outside, or in a cafe where the entire shopfront opens is just not at common here. Boulder is better than Denver is this regard, but sometimes it seem that everything is a chain restaurant. We have 300 sunny days a year in Colorado, it's perfect for outdoor eating.

I also miss cafe food. Lighter and smaller than chain food. Excellent coffee with a small afternoon meal. Talking with friends rather than eating as quickly as possible. Mediterranean influences, European influences and Asian influences all next door to each other. It's less rushed, less stressed and certainly more enjoyable.

Bundaberg Rum
It's common knowledge that Australians like beer. Not so well known is we also have a national liquor - Bundaberg Rum. "Bundy" as it is known to the locals is a fantastic gold rum distilled in Australia from Australian sugarcane. It's VERY different from both the white rums such as baccardi, and spiced rums like Captain Morgan's...

Great mixed with Coke, Ginger Beer or Ginger Ale, or add a little kick to a cake!

Sydney
I love Sydney. There's so much to say about it that I think I'll save it for another post :) But I love the CBD, the harbour, the nightlife and the markets. I'm just glad I don't have to buy a house there, the prices are ridiculous!

There are many other things that I miss, but I won't explain them all. A short list would include:

A sensible drinking age (18)
Sales taxes are included in advertised prices (and are consistent no matter where you go)
Good Bread!
Meat Pies and Sausage rolls
A Health system that may not be perfect, but it works better than the US
Sensible insurance that is also understandible
The metric system - Seriously, I don't get the change resistance

But the biggest thing I miss is my Family and Friends - Another thing I need to devote a whole post to.

If anyone actually does read this post, let me know what you like about Aus compared to the US!

Don't think it's all one way though - next week I'll talk about some things I think the US does a lot better that Australia.

Chicken Fight!

2008-05-05T11:53:00.001-06:00

The title says it all

If you can't see the embedded video, click through to the post...

Documentation is Tough

2008-04-24T15:37:00.003-06:00

Time management is becoming almost as big a part of my job as actually writing documentation and training. The biggest problem I'm finding is the lack of linear planning and prioritization.

It starts out looking great - Someone comes to me with a big, important project with plenty of time to complete it - let's say 2 weeks. I get started, and am happily working away. The next day, someone comes to me with a request for documentation that a customer needs "right now". Of course it's a fairly quick little thing, and won't take long, plus it is urgent, so it takes top priority.

The next day I get a medium sized project, maybe 4 days worth, that is also needed "Right Now", so that takes priority... Everyone can see where this is going. By the time the big important job is due, I've spent about a day on it because everything else gets prioritized first. And of course the first requester says "But I gave you plenty of time to do it".

The sad thing is that eventually people realize that stuff that needs to be done "Right now" gets worked on before things that are considered important, but have more flexibility in the delivery date, so requests start coming later and later in an effort to have them prioritized.

For a lot of people this isn't news, and doesn't seem like a big deal because they deal with it all day. For me, though, it's a pretty big change from my 12 years of doing either break/fix support, or planned linear roll-outs. I'm warming up to it, so I'm sure i'll find a comfortable middle ground shortly.

Rise of the D.I.Y.er

2008-04-21T10:13:00.002-06:00

Taking on New Projects
There are many signs that Spring has finally arrived, but one I saw in full glory over the weekend was the frenzy at Home Depot. Plants, paint and lumber were flying off the shelves like some sort of fire sale, fueled by the strength of the sun on a weekend in April.

I was there picking up a few things to continue with my Deck. Fortunately, I have most of what I need. grabbing a few pieces of lumber and some more screws wasn't all that difficult in comparison to the poor fools just starting out their projects.

Spring always sets up a big season of home improvements - spring cleaning, preparing for sales, and personalizing newly purchased homes. As loans are harder to get, and the housing market slumps, the types of projects may be a little different this year. Renovating instead of moving, functional instead of facelift. It'll be interesting to see if professional contractors end up getting more work out of botched DIY attempts than in previous years.

Strategic Postponement - Seasonal Strategy
Unfortunately, I haven't yet finished my previous project - renovating my basement. But there is a reason, Abby REALLY wanted the deck to be useable for that majority of the sunny months. In Colorado, this is Spring, Summer and Fall (Autumn for those not in the US), so I had to get started early. We can use the basement all year round, and work on it in the rain. Not so for the deck.

By starting my project 2 weeks ago, I actually missed the really big rush at Home Depot. I managed to have a fairly leisurely time picking out what I needed, and have plenty of time to both enjoy the deck, and put the finishing touches on it without working in 100 degree weather.

Leave Nothing Undone
The ever present danger is to become one of those people who start a lot of projects, but never finish any of them... I'm determined not to join the ranks. After the deck, It'll be back to the basement. While I hope that it would be the next thing finished, a basement can be quite pricey. I have a many other projects in mind (Painting bedrooms, tiling bathrooms) so one of those may end up sliding in there before the basement is complete, but I'm going to do my best to never have more than 2 projects started at once.

We'll see how that goes... ;)

Hiatus is over

2008-04-10T09:50:00.003-06:00

It's been over a year since my last post, and a number of people have been on my case to start writing again. I have no reason NOT to post, it's just laziness...

So rather than a huge post about what I've been up to, here are some highlights:

On Valentine's day, Abby and I extended our family - We adopted a beautiful boxer puppy named Sydney. She's so much fun!
Over the Christmas and New Year's holidays, we had 3 couples visiting our house at once. Tim and Kristen from Sydney, Aus; Heath and JJ from London, Eng; and Scott and Jane from Philly. Full House!
2/3 finished completing my basement
My Parents visited the US for the first time in September, and we went on a Cruise
Participated in my first Triathlon!
Had many Australian visitors including: Jackie and Andrew; Paul, Fernando and Joe; and Ross
And finally - I changed Job roles! I am now no longer in technical support, I'm a Documentation and Training Specialist.

Since my job revolves around writing, I guess I'll have to contribute a little more here. ;)

Five things people don't know about me

2006-12-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

There's a challenge meme floating around the tech-blogosphere at the moment, and I have the dubious honor of being tagged twice. Thanks Karen and Jeff - you may see support for your departments slow down a little... Nick Bradbury introduced it into the NewsGator realm, and it has done the rounds. Basically the challenge is to state 5 things that most people wouldn't know about you...

I NEVER pass on chain letters. In fact, even if I totally agree with an email and the last line says "pass this on to every one you know" or "everyone in your contact list", the forward button is off limits to me. In the rare exception that I pass one on to a few select people (I remember it happening twice) that offending line was removed. Email chains are the social viruses of the tech world.

Now my rant is over, I think this is a little different. People can choose to go to my blog, or they can choose to stay away. Anything posted here is not forced upon them, so I don't consider this a chain. And along the meme I've learned some very interesting things about people I admire, so here goes:

Unlike Greg, though I'm a little white boy from Wollongong, Australia (just south of Sydney), if you look at my iPod you'll find an inordinate amount of HipHop, Rap and RnB. How on earth I got into the likes of the YinYang twins and Ludacris while growing up in a culture of Grunge and married to a woman who listens to Country, I'll never know.
I play guitar. Though I'm a long way out of practice right now, I used to be the band director at a fairly large Church, and was in a number of Rock bands. I even performed in concerts with crowds of several thousand. But to this day, I get REALLY nervous talking in front of more than about 10 people.
By the time I was a Senior in High-School, I had been in 9 separate car accidents. I was only driving for one of them (some guy ran into the back of me at a traffic light), and NONE of them were the fault of the person in whose car I was in... Damages ranged from 2 deaths to a busted headlight. The worst thing that happened to me personally was 2nd degree burns to my foot that put me in hospital for just over a week when I was 7. (Fortunately I don't carry any scars - physically or emotionally ;>)
The high school I went to was kind of small. My sophomore class had 10 students total. Though with 4 teachers we had a pretty good student-teacher ratio
Broad Australian accents grate on my ears... I know I'm from Australia, and trust me when I say I LOVE it. But when I heard a really strong, country bumpkin, Australian accent (particularly female - sorry ladies) I can't stand it!

So I'm going to try and move this conversation out of the company. I'm going to take 3 former NewsGator Employees: Jack, Mark and James. And let's see if we can get some of our most loyal customers in on this: Critter32 and Spyder, do you feel like playing?? Tag, you're IT!

The time nears

2006-10-18T10:44:00.001-06:00

We close on our house tomorrow! The nerves are setting in as we are on the eve of signing many, many, many documents, which will result in us owing many, many dollars.

The house is packed.

The cupboard is bare.

The moving van is booked.

It's an exciting time!

The Internet is a scary place for homebuyers...

2006-10-12T10:45:00.000-06:00

Through the process of buying a home, Realtors stress that they do NOT do any research on sexual offenders in the area. If they know of one, they will tell you about it, but it is something you have to take up with the police if you are concerned.

Megan's Law (or state equivalents) have made it so that the record of many sexual offenders are available online. This is certainly the case in Colorado, and since curiosity almost always gets the better of me, I decided to take a look.

Man, there are some scary people out there!! Looking ap the location of our new house, we are blessed with a very clean slate - there is no-one near us. So I had a look around where I live currently, and I got chills.

So here is the low-down: they publish the picture, name and last known address of all sex offenders in the area. If the person is a multiple offender, or failed to register, they also publish the crimes with which they were charged. Though they don't directly link to maps, taking the address and pasting it into Google maps is a 5 second task that did nothing but scare me. I walk past a number of registered offenders every day!

A little more research showed that none of them were violent, repeat or predatory offenders - one 20 year old got on the list because he had sex with his 17 year old girlfriend, which I'm not saying is right morally or legally, but he posed little threat to anyone else. I'm sure the end result is that not too many people look as far into it as I did, and get completely freaked out in the process.

Take my advice, unless you have a pressing and relevant need to check out your area - STAY AWAY.

Patriotic to be mad

2006-09-29T14:15:00.000-06:00

Normally I don't get particularly passionate about politics, especially in the country that I have only recently adopted as my own, but it's because I love America that I'm angry.

Glenn Berry, a workmate of mine who served in the marine corp said it beautifully:

When I was growing up and when I served in the Marine Corps during the Reagan Administration, there was never any doubt in my mind that we Americans were the "good guys", and that the United States was a force for good in the world.

But last night the senate passed a bill that suspends Habeas Corpus. No, this isn't the President's bill, but one that has been a more reasonable alternative. The Daily Kos has a very insightful article.

What is Habeas Corpus? Basically it is the right to a fair trial. It gives detainees the right to appeal to a court about the validity of their incarceration. Without it, any "enemy combatant" (who, by the way is anyone the government decide to call one - no evidence needs to be presented) can be detained indefinitely.

Furthermore, though this bill doesn't try to redefine what constitutes torture (like the bush bill) is denies the right of anyone who IS tortured to appeal to a court about their treatment. [Section 6, Page 55 - PDF]

America has long prided itself on it's morals and it's fierce defence of individual human rights. This has been the lynch pin of the judicial system since the Founding Fathers declared independence. In fact they though it to be so important that in Article 1 of the constitution they wrote:

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

If we win a war by playing by the same dirty rules as others, does that make us better? or just a bigger bully?

Time for a first house

2006-09-26T09:40:00.000-06:00

Wow, the posts have been few and far between recently... So the biggest news for the moment is that Abby and I are getting towards the end of the process of purchasing our first home. This has been crazy, exciting, nerve-racking and a huge adventure, but through it all we have really had a lot of fun.

Starting with an idea
After talking to many people with a lot more experience than ourselves (my parents, Abby's parents, and friends who have recently moved), when we began the process of looking for a home. The first thing we looked for was not the house, but the area...

My parents like to remind me of the three most import rules of property investment - location, location, location - and point out that it is equally import in a home, not just an investment property. Learning from their mistakes, their best advice was that even though they have loved all the houses they have lived in, they have missed a little on the locations. To echo this, Abby's sister, Molly, has a friend who recently moved into the general area we had decided we wanted to live. My father-in-law was talking to her only a month after they had moved in and asked how they were liking it. Her answer was sad. She said they love the house, but really don't like the subdivision they are in.

So we decided to keep this in mind when looking for our first home: houses can be fixed, carpet can be replaced, walls can be painted and yards can be landscaped - but you can't change your neighbours, their houses, the cars parked out front, the traffic flow or where an access road flows.

Starting the Process
Keeping the above in mind, we started a little differently to some people. Not on the Internet, not with a realtor, but on bikes and on foot. We knew we wanted to live fairly close to where we currently rent in the Westminster/Broomfield area, so we walked around the communities that were close to us.

While walking we took note of the feel or ambiance of the community. We looked at whether they had community facilities (pools, gyms, tennis courts etc) and how high the HOA fees were. We picked up fliers for any houses for sale in the area and got a general idea of the age/size/cost of the area.

One thing we took notice of, was how the community member took care of their cars, and funnily enough this was one of the BEST indicators of what a community was like! I'm not talking about whether they were expensive or cheap, but whether they were in good condition and well cared for. What we found was that a community with older cars that were in excellent condition ended up being nicer than a community with new/expensive cars that had been neglected a little. Expensive cars that had been cared for only seemed to be in communities way outside our price range - go figure ;)

One of the areas that we looked through was where Molly's friend lived, though we didn't know it at the time. Just going through it I turned to Abby and said that I felt it had a transitional or transient feeling to it. Later when we inspected a house or two there, the Realtor was telling us about the area and said it was almost completely first home buyers, and after a few years they moved out. Now this isn't necessarily a bad thing! There is always a market for that area, and houses sell quite often which means it will be good when it is time to move on, but it isn't what Abby and I were looking for. It was also nice to get confirmation that our "get a feel for the neighbourhood" plan was working.

We finally found a subdivision that we really loved. It's called College Hills/Stratford lakes (they are interchangeable). It's an older subdivision which presents it's own set of challenges, but it has wide quiet streets, no through-traffic, well established landscaping and it back's onto the Big Dry Creek trail and open space. On top of that it is almost halfway between Abby's workplace and mine, and has easy access to some arterial roads.

We'd found where we wanted to live - next came the challenge of finding a house.

OK, That'll do for this post - more to come later...

FeedDemon 2.0.0.25

2006-08-29T12:04:00.000-06:00

Nick Bradbury released FeedDemon 2.0.0.25 yesterday. This update includes both security and performance improvements, and is a free upgrade for existing users. Check the release notes for more details.

FeedDemon in the premier stand-alone RSS aggregator for the Windows platform. If you visit a number of webpages regularly, you can save time by having all the new and updated information delivered right to you desktop. Go ahead, check it out...

Colorado Camping

2006-07-28T16:51:00.000-06:00

I’ve never been camping with dogs before. Believe me, it’s an experience! I’m thinking that when you take two house-raised, definitely spoiled boxers who at the same time think they are puppies, humans, rulers of the world, guardians of the campground and hunters of anything that moves, it MUST be good training for eventually having kids… You can’t take your eyes off them.

Bailey is the younger of the two. She is 6 and has only been camping once. I’m told, however, that she believes that every time the back of an SUV opens up she’s heading back to the camping trip that is so fond in her memory. Sometimes she’ll spend hours laying down in the back of the truck with the tailgate up, waiting to go on a road-trip. For once she wasn’t disappointed.

The funny thing about Bailey is that she also thinks that she weighs about the same as a miniature poodle.

We decided to stay at a fun little campground called the Sweetwater River Ranch. It is nestled on the lovely Texas river, exactly halfway between Canon city and Salida.

Once there we had to cart our gear across a rickety little suspension bridge. NOT super fun with 2 cowardly dogs, but once there is was wonderful.

There’s not too much to say except there was peace and quiet. Plenty of beer, bugs and burgers. Hot dogs and hyper-active dog (at 5:00am no less) but it was a great time.

More photo’s here.

3:30am on a Sunday

2006-07-19T14:55:00.000-06:00

3:30am is an ungodly time for an alarm to go off on a Sunday morning, but the day had finally arrived: Abby’s first triathlon.

Fortunately the clothes were set out, the bike was already in the car, the coffee was brewed (strong and plentiful), the supplies for the day were packed, and so all we had to do was quickly dress and run out the door.

Driving at 4:30am in the middle of summer is strangely reminiscent of driving to the snow fields in the middle of winter – only 3 hours earlier. It was dark and quite, and although I wished I was still in bed there was caffeine buzzing through my veins and an air of nervous expectation in the car. The energy was contagious.

Abby, myself, Molly and Matt drove out to Aurora Reservoir – the site of the race – arriving at 5:45, just in time so see a beautiful sunrise:

Bikes and gear were lined up with care. Fortunately the transition area only opened at 5:30, so the girls were able to get a great position.

Molly, Abby and their friend Jen (who managed to get lost on the way – but that’s another story) pose while waiting for the race to start. One of the problem with being in a race with 2500 other women is that they can’t just let everyone go at once. It would be absolute chaos, especially in the swimming leg, so there were 25 waves of women a few minutes apart. Unfortunately the girls were in the 24th wave which means they had to wait until 8:20 to actually start the race.

It’s not often that my wife asks me to draw on her with a big fat marker – So I had fun with the opportunity.

Though there were smiles all around, Abby was wearing a full length wet suit and pink rubber hat in 102F (that 39C for all you at home) heat. She had sweat pouring out from her wrists and ankles. I’m not entirely sure how she did it. We were hot enough as it was just sitting under a marquee drinking. 2 iced coffees, a Starbucks doubleshot, a Fresca and a beer later (sure it was 9am, but I’d been up for over 5 hours) and I was still boiling hot.

Though Abby was worried about the 750m (.46 mile) swim, she did great! She and Molly started right at the back of the pack and had to fight their way through. They did the swim in just over 18 minutes and were in the top 40% – Next year I think she will do it without a full wet suit, and try to start at the front of the pack. I imagine she would easily come in the top 30%

The bike leg was where she had her biggest disadvantage. The course is 20km (12 miles) long, and Abby had a mountain bike with slick tires, while most of the competitors had road bikes. She put in a HUGE effort and completed the bike leg in under 45 mins, and in fact came in the top 35% of the field. But best of all, she was still smiling as she jumped off her bike and went into transition.

The run leg was where the heat was felt the most. By this time the girls had been racing for over an hour, and the sun was beating down. The air was thick and hot, but both Molly and Abby put in another tremendous effort and pulled the 5km (3 Mile) leg in 29 mins. That’s crazy fast, and in fact they came in the top 17% of all competitors.

Overall, they girls came in the top 24% of the race which personally I think is awesome for a first effort. With the right equipment and race experience, I know my wonderful wife will not only be able to enjoy more triathlons, but also be in the top section.

Just one side note – there were 449 people in her class, and she came 39th!

2 Weeks of Festivals, shows and Fairs

2006-06-09T15:26:00.000-06:00

Wow, the last few weekends have been CRAZY! I have been to fairs, festivals, shows and more! In order:

Territory Days in old Colorado Springs
The Old Gaylord Festival in Denver
Colorado Medieval Festival in Ft Collins
Denver Exotic Sports Car show in Littleton.

Now three out of four of these were fantastic.

It was my second trip to Territory Days. Last time I had my best friend Tim with me, and he was really missed on this trip. Eating a Turkey leg by yourself just isn’t the same.

So even though I was bummed that Tim wasn’t with us, we really had a fun time. There was food on a stick, turkey legs, ribbon fries, ice cream and many fun things. There were stalls, dancing, music and face-painting – just about everything you could want in a street fair! The only down side was that there was a tiny little fenced off area, and any alcoholic beverages had to be consumed within the fence. We were panning to have margaritas, but we wanted to keep walking around (there was so much to see) that we decided to go sober.

We actually had a big group of people that day. There was Myself and Abby, Molly and Matt (brother and sister-in-law), Abby’s parents (Gary and Karen), her Aunt and her Aunts boyfriend (Kathy and Greg) as well as Abby’s cousin Victoria and her two beautiful kids.

Here’s Ella and Brenson – Great kids!:

The day after Territory days, we went to The Old Gaylord festival. Now I have to tell you, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I didn’t care one bit! As soon as I found out about a street fair with that name, I had to go and check it out.

I was more than pleasantly surprised. Right from when we first got there, it was so much fun; we parked at a nearby school, and several taxi drivers had volunteered their time to shuttle people back and forth to the festival so that parking wouldn’t be a problem. We arrived to the sounds of live music pumping from the closed off streets, and immediately fell in with the crowd. The first thing I noticed that was different from Territory Days was that almost everyone was walking around with a beer in hand. My face lit up as I thought about how freaking hot it was, and that I would be able to have a nice cool one while we wandered.

Soon I realised that the festival was partly sponsored by Dos Equis a popular Mexican been (that I had never tried before). Then, foaming Lager in hand, we walked through all the fun stall, the rides and games, sat and listened to the local jazz band Dotsero before finally ending up in the food area.

How could I turn down a chance to eat Monkey Balls at the Gaylord Festival?? Not only is it food on a stick, but it sounds dirty!

I have NOTHING good to say about the Colorado Medieval Festival. We drove 50 miles in blistering heat into the middle of nowhere. We then had to drive along a dirt road, pay $12 per person to enter, and finally found there were about 12 tents inside – each was either selling something or was a place to rest for the so called “actors”. There was a tiny area in the middle where occasionally a “show” took place.

We had 2 pulled pork sandwiches, I had a beer and Abby had a lemonade, then we tasted some mead (for which they charged us $1 for the privilege) and sat down to watch the show. It was the crappest thing I have ever seen – and I absolutely love the medieval period! There were 2 girls play-fighting with small swords and slapping each other. I’ve seen four year olds have a more convincing fight with plastic tubes! We really couldn’t take it any longer, so we left

All in all we spend $40 for about 45 of boredom out in the middle of a dust-bowl. I really, really hope that someone from the festival is reading this because I would recommend that no one ever go close to the place again!

And to make matter worse, they had the gall to sell 3–day passes!!! Who in their right mind would want to be tortured for that long?? Take a hint people: make it 1 day, spend some money and get a big crowd for a single day and you’ll find that people will return every year.

Fortunately, I have been informed by Abby that the Renaissance Festival later in the year is about 16 times as big, and a whole lot more fun, so I’m holding out for that.

– Yep that’s right! 750HP and 700fp it’ll push the eyeballs out through the back of your head!

My faith in Festivals was restored by this beauty the very next day! This gorgeous $600,000 (US) Saleen S7 was standing at the doorway of the Exotic car show in Littleton. The $10 entry fee was more than worth it with several hundred classic and new sports cars. If I thought that I missed Tim at Territory days, it was nothing compared to this – He would have been in HEAVEN!

I’ll post a couple of pictures, but they don’t really show the scope and the magnitude of what was there. I believe there were about 20 Porsches in the Parking lot – let alone in the show (there must have been more than 50 on display)!

There are some more pictures on my Flickr Site.

Lovely Lotus Exige

The Elise

Yes! That’s an original 1965 Shelby Cobra signed by Carroll Shelby

Mmm Ferrari Enzo

2 of the 157 50th anniversary Corvettes converted to have the 1953 body by former Corvette lead engineer.

OK, That’s all for now!!

Please comment and write to me if you haven’t for a while!

NewsGator is a baby factory

2006-05-24T08:53:00.000-06:00

More big news is in the works. Anita, one of the original three people to start with NewsGator just posted an exciting announcement on her blog. Congratulations babe!!!

Picture of Conner

2006-05-24T08:38:00.000-06:00

Jack has finally broken the silence and posted! including a picture of Conner Zack Brewster.

New NewsGator Baby

2006-05-23T11:12:00.000-06:00

A huge congratulations to my comrade-in-arms Jack here at NewsGator Support on the birth of his first child.

Yesterday, Jack and Keley Brewster announced that Conner Brewster arrived on this earth at 11:00am

Best wishes Jack! Make sure you take some time off to enjoy being with your family, because you won't be getting much sleep for quite some time...

Yard Of Ale

2006-05-22T14:35:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

The other exciting thing that we did this weekend was go to an Old English pub...

Now don't mistake me here, it's not a bar that LOOKS like an Old English pub, it was actually packed into crates and shipped to the US in the early 1800's. The Golden Bee was GREAT fun, and since I was at a place with such an inviting name, I decided to get a Yard of honey-wheat beer from a local Colorado Springs brewery. Damn it was good. All 48 ounces of it!

Ruby at Garden of the Gods - Landscape

2006-05-22T14:27:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Last picture of Ruby for now

Ruby at Garden of the Gods

2006-05-22T14:26:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

After we gave Ruby a bath; Abby, Karen, Gary and myself went for a picnic to Garden of the Gods.

Between going for a walk and eating our picnic lunch, we decided to take a few portraits of the newest member of my family

Ruby Front

2006-05-22T14:18:00.001-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

From the front

Ruby is Dry

2006-05-22T14:18:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Ruby the Honda VTX all clean and dry after her first Road trip

Ruby's Tank

2006-05-22T14:16:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Ruby is a deep red color called "Candy-Apply Red"

The paint also has a metalic fleck running through it that makes it just POP in the sunlight.

Ruby Gets Washed

2006-05-22T10:58:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

New Bike, Gorgeous weather, Life is Good!!!

2006-05-22T10:52:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Well what a weekend!! After agonizing over price, color, year and dealer for the last few weeks, I finally purchased and brand new motor cycle! This beautiful read beast has been dubbed "Ruby" by me (Abby still has to be convinced) and she rides like a dream.

After riding crotch-rockets my entire life, this is a huge change for me. My last bike was a CBR600 affectionally named Anabel that I owned for 7 years. It was a 21st birthday gift to myself, and it was a tearful fairwell for both Abby and myself when we had to give her up to move to the US. Ruby is a cruiser. Though the lovely mountain passes would be fun on something that has the ability to go 200mph, I think the torquey grunt of a more relaxed ride will be great for longer trips.

Here are Ruby's stats:
Make - Honda
Model - VTX1300C
Displacement - 1312cc
Color - "Candy-apple" red

After purchasing her on Saturday, we HAD to take her for a road trip. Abby and I jumped on the back and flew down to Colorado Springs via highway 83 - It was a lovely ride. We were running against some afternoon showers, and fortunately managed to miss them. There was, however, some water on the road from earlier in the day, so she did get pretty dirty in downtown Denver. Here we are giving her a bath for the first time.

Kabob anyone??

2006-05-15T15:30:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

This photo is a little incriminating... From left to right: Joe, Tim and Me were a little drunk (Tim more than a little), I have a plate full of kabobs, and we had each just finished 2 very large cigars.

Funnily enough Tim didn't last too long after this picture - He was in the shower recovering for most of the evening.

Sundown

2006-05-15T15:26:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

The beach at sundown is so romantic!

The full cake

2006-05-15T15:25:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Here is a full cake for those who are interested. I'm told the layers were chocolate mudcake and marble cake.

Given enough incentive I may just post a couple of incriminating pictures of Abby consuming some of it ;)

Creepily similar

2006-05-15T15:22:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

It's very weird how much the cake toppers looked like the wedded couple!

The Bride and Groom

2006-05-15T15:20:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Here are the Bride and Groom (Mike and Mandy) from the wedding that took us across the world.

Mike and I go back quite a way - We worked together for a number of years, then we lived together for a while (about 3 years all up). So it was great to see him get married and have someone else to cook for him now that I live in the US!

Harbour take 2

2006-05-15T15:16:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

Here's another shot of the harbour.

Wollongong Harbour

2006-05-15T15:13:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by jonathonmcdougall.

A picture from my home town! This is the beach, harbour, and twin lighthouses from where I grew up.

2 Weeks off work and STILL not one post

2006-05-15T09:26:00.000-06:00

I have no excuse!! It's been almost 2 months since I last posted to this blog. I could say that I was busy, but I've been in Autralia for the last 2 weeks and should have put some thoughts down.

So to get back into the swing of things, I think I'll start will a couple of shorter posts. Look out for some pictures of my vacation!

Virus makes people fat?

2006-03-23T11:55:00.000-07:00

While trying to keep in touch with my Australian roots by reading the Sydney Morning Herald, I came across a very interesting article that claims there is a possibility that our modern lethargic lifestyle may not be completely to blame for the growing obesity problem in most western nations:

Virus blamed for obesity epidemic

Maybe I’m a little cuddly because I’m unknowingly sick, not because I eat American sized portions and watch too much TV

Some players should not be on the same team

2006-03-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

Life at NewsGator is hectic at the moment. Next week I'll blog about some of the great things that have been released, and are soon to be released.

In the meantime, a friend of mine sent me this picture to lighten up my day:

Arkansas Razorback players Clarke Moore, Brett Goode and Casey Dick need to stop hanging out on the sidelines

According to him this was actually on TV... The commentators paused and didn't say a word.

Rupert Murdoch Gets "IT"

2006-03-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

An insightful article from colleague John Carmichael:

Rupert Murdoch Gets "IT": "

Can't teach an old dog new tricks huh?' Well there's an 'Old Dog' out there teaching an industry 'New Tricks.'

As is often the case, Rupert Murdoch gets it!' In a presentation he recently made to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers, he stated,
'Adapt to new technology or die!'

This was not directed at individuals in the room other than a Warning of the impending relegation to the modern day 'Buggy Whip Factory' for the 4th estate, their industry!' Specifically the printed daily news.' Come on kids... you remember a Newspaper! It even outlasted:

Vinyl Records

Ticker Tape

Reel to Reel

8 Tracks

Don Johnson's Aftershave!

William Shatner's Musical Career!

Jessica and Nick!

Sorry, I digress!

What's important to realize now is that Rupert is on the right track once again.' In our instant gratification society we want our information YESTERDAY!' Not tomorrow morning.' It's not uncommon to hear conversations that start like:

'Hey did you catch this story in the paper this morning about.... something international'

'Yeah I caught it on CNN last night after my son heads up'd me about the story he read on a Blog on his cell phone! The Internet had a great story first hand from someone who was there and actually uploaded digital pictures of it.'

The newspaper is outdated 6 hours after an event!' Editors will argue that a newspaper performs the service of researching and being more deliberate in ascertaining the facts of the story, thus delivering a higher quality product to the consumer!

BS!' It is not the Newspaper that does this.' It is the staff, the reporters, the photographers, the columnists!' The 'Newspaper' is the wrapper!' These entities can still perform the same quality service of in-depth research and reporting, just get over the idea that the delivery has to be via ink and paper!' And the day is coming, if not upon us, where this delivery is certainly secondary to all other forms of media delivery.

Mr Murdoch goes on to state, 'A new generation of media consumers has risen demanding content delivered when they want it, how they want it, and very much as they want it.'

Hmm... Sounds like our old Tag Line... 'Content, When you want it, where you want it, how you want it!

5280 - What a blast

2006-03-07T16:40:00.000-07:00

Last week was Denver Restaurant week, affectionately known as 5280 Week.

Denver has been named the "Mile High" city for many years, mainly due to the fact that it situated a mile above sea-level. For those of you who use the metric system: there are 5280 feet in a mile, so it is a number close to the heart of the city.

Denver Restaurant Week is:

"a seven-day celebration of the culinary scene in Denver. For the entire week of
Feb. 25 - March 3, participating restaurants will offer a multi-course dinner
for the fixed price of $52.80 for two, or $26.40 for one

Oh geez was it good! On Friday, Abby, myself and another couple went to Randolphs to test out the delights of the 5280 menu. The food was amazing, the waiters knowledgeable, the wine list was excellent, and to top it all off they had a pianist playing a baby grand piano for ambiance.

I had:

Smoked Trout Pate - Poblano Marmalade & Crostini
Certified Angus Beef Sirloin - Chili Rubbed & Served with Broccoli Fennel Compote, Saffron Mashed Potatoes & Savory Raspberry Sauce
Chocolate Pot de Creme

All the other selections made at our table were equally as tasty, and if their regular a la carte menu is as good, I would recommend Randolphs in a heartbeat.

Photo's from the weekend

2006-02-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

Skiers in the Snow

Abby and Jonathon pretend they are at Torino

The Well-Fed group

Abby decides to show a little leg

Weekend in Colorado

2006-02-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

This has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Saturday saw a group of 11 people head to the wonderful Breckenridge mountain for some pristine skiing. 20 degrees F, a brilliant blue sky, not one cloud, warm sun, and speedy snow - Life is good!

On Sunday we made the transition from exercise to eating and the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs. We had a brunch that included everything from cheese platters to salmon, trout, a full fruit and salad bar, made to order Omelets (such as the Prime Rib Omelet that my Brother-in-law Matt ordered), a range of hot breakfast and lunch foods as well as a desert bar.

Check this tour of the Dining Room

Newsgator Has Moved

2006-02-22T09:14:00.000-07:00

NewsGator has moved to a sexy new location in downtown Denver. We now occupy the 25th floor of the US Bank building and have a SPECTACULAR view. I'm fortunate enough to be sitting behind a half-wall right next to a common area. Mmmm gotta love floor to ceiling windows.

Take a look at the view I have! (Thanks to John Carmichael for the pic...)

Food of South America

2006-02-15T15:49:00.000-07:00

For Valentine's Day, Abby and I went to Rodizio Grill a fantastic Brazilian steakhouse. Rodizio is not like any regular steakhouse, the dining experience is unique in the fact that there is a constant flow of waiters (and waitresses) circulating the tables with meat skewered on swords. When you would like some they cut off a small piece for you and continue on their merry way.

I had so many different things I'm sure I wouldn't be able to remember them all, but here is a selection that I do remember: Rattlesnake sausage, buffalo, elk, Brazilian sausage, chicken wrapped in bacon, turkey wrapped in bacon, chicken thigh, sirloin, garlic sirloin, prime rib, bbq'd ham and pineapple; and of course others...

Whew, I think I'm still digesting it all. To top it all off they had probably the BEST salad bar that I have been to in years. Each option was very fresh and constantly filled.

I love any reason to eat out - and last night was just great.

What do I do in my Job??

2006-02-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

Unless people already know what RSS is, I have a difficult time not only telling them what I do, but also why anyone would want to use the products that NewsGator sells.

For some reason, when I mention that I work for a company that creates "RSS Aggregator" software, most people get a wonderful glazed-over expression on their face. Occasionally I get a "Huh?" but I think that particular combination of words has some magical property that creates a small explosion in the human brain, shutting part of it down.

Fortunately, a popular Blogger called Halley Suitt who writes Halley's Comment has written an excellent explanation entitled What's RSS Anyway? I'm hoping that this will cause a small dawning of comprehension on SOME faces...

Let me know what you think, and I'll expand on some practical uses of this technology.

Gotta love the NFL!

2006-02-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

Sitting with a Kahlua & coke, watching the Pro-bowl I just have wonder if things could get any better. Of course it wasn't long until I decided that one day I would love to see an American Football (Gridiron) game played at a competitive international level.

Thinking about it a little more I tried to think of ANY team sport with an international competition in which the USA is actively involved, and I struggled to come up with anything.

Coming from Australia, we love to challenge other countries. We have teams who are in the top Echelon internationally in: Rugby League, Rugby Union, Cricket, Netball, men's and woman's field hockey and soccer. Well maybe not soccer (we aren't that good) but at least we regularly play other countries.

When I think about the big sports in the USA, I think of Football, Basketball, Baseball and Ice Hockey. Now as far as I know, outside of the Olympics, there are no games played against other countries. I'm not counting the so-call "world series" or the NHL because in most respects Canada is little more than the 51st state. Honestly, who has a world series without inviting other nations??

So why would the USA either not participate in world-wide competition, or, not encourage it's national games to be taken up overseas?

Postal System blues

2006-02-09T11:23:00.000-07:00

Recently I have had a less-than-wonderful experience with the global postal system. Having spend a number of years sending packages, cards, letters and such from Australia to the USA and back, I know that the average time for a package the size of a shoe box to make the trip is 10-14 days.

Thinking that we had plenty on time, Abby sent a Christmas package to my parents 3 weeks before the hallowed day. The packaged finally arrive TWO MONTHS later! That's right, it took 9 weeks with no reasoning given at either end. After harassing USPS and Australia Post and getting no answer other than "it can sometime take a while, even up to ten weeks" we had all but given up on the package ever arriving.

On arrival the box had no indication of ever being delivered to the wrong address. There were airmail stickers on it so it should not have been sent via sea mail. There was a customs sticker on it that had been completed correctly (BTW the customs reference number is pretty much useless! According to the postal service, they don't track the number - unless you buy insurance of course). Ah well I guess I should just be grateful that it did arrive in the end.

All things new

2006-02-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

So for the last 3 months I've been working for NewsGator Technologies, the leader in the RSS aggregation field. One of the major uses of RSS in today's online society is blogging - I guess this is the beginning of my foray into that exciting world!

I'm thinking about posting thoughts, quotes, exciting news, pictures and requests to this diary of my life. If any one has some added (or possibly better) suggestions, i'd love to see them in the comments