Jonathan Oxer
[Blog]
>> Outcome of The Shearing
Mon, Aug 3rd 10:29pm 2009 >> Misc
A little while ago I blogged about a friend who has contracted cancer and my decision to shave my head to raise funds for cancer research. Well, brace yourself. Last Friday afternoon at IVT we ended the regular Tech Talk with a shearing session out in the rec room. The result:
A big thankyou to everyone who pitched in with pledges of donations to cancer research including Chris Burgess, Greg Black, Melissa Draper, Neil Evenden, Paul Schena, Paul Wayper, Peter Serwylo, and Stephen Davis, among others. I really appreciate it, and I hope it was worth it to see my ugly mug exposed to the world!
A little while ago I blogged about a friend who has contracted cancer and my decision to shave my head to raise funds for cancer research. Well, brace yourself. Last Friday afternoon at IVT we ended the regular Tech Talk with a shearing session out in the rec room. The result:
A big thankyou to everyone who pitched in with pledges of donations to cancer research including Chris Burgess, Greg Black, Melissa Draper, Neil Evenden, Paul Schena, Paul Wayper, Peter Serwylo, and Stephen Davis, among others. I really appreciate it, and I hope it was worth it to see my ugly mug exposed to the world!>> Memories of a previous life
Mon, Feb 23rd 11:18pm 2009 >> Misc
Cleaning up tonight I came across some crusty old documents hiding in a drawer, including a few expired driving licences and this relic:
So I cut them up and chucked them in the bin, then a few seconds later fished the security licence back out. It represents such a weird (and formative) piece of my life that I thought it was worth taking a photo.
Not many people who know me from the software world are aware that I spent some time around '94 and '95 working as a bouncer. I worked for New Breed Security for a while and got to meet the who's who of the entertainment world at the time, as well as a bunch of famous sportsmen and women. It was a bizarre lifestyle of getting up at lunchtime, having a few hours of free time and heading off to work in the late afternoon or mid evening, then working all through the night at a job that was 95% pure boredom, 4% pure entertainment, and 1% pure terror. A couple of my old school mates ended up working with me for a while and a couple of weeks ago when I was in Sydney for Brad's wedding I was reminiscing with him and Phil about some of the crazy stuff that happened, like the night Phil and I were working at the Conti in Sorrento with just one other security guy and expecting a quiet night with some of the locals when a football team from up the peninsula came in to spend a night boozing up after losing a big game. It didn't take long before the locals and the players clashed, and it ended up in an all-in brawl involving dozens of people and just the three of us security guys helplessly trying to restore order. I have a lasting memory of seeing Phil's back as he headed toward the exit with one footy player in a head lock on each side - which would have been fine except that his feet weren't touching the floor!
Things got rough for a while and a minor amount of blood was spilled, but with the assistance of some of the locals and other random staff it all got sorted out and the players headed off to their hotel rooms to sleep off their drinks. Hotel rooms that, unluckily for them, happened to be in the Conti itself! The police attended and spent a while taking statements from us, then went with the hotel manager to drag the players back out of bed. Bad luck for them, they should have left while they had the chance.
A couple of hours later I was heading for home when I was pulled over by a police car. I got out and walked back to the cop car with my wallet out and was in the process of removing my licence when I realised that the policewoman who had pulled me over was the same one that had taken my statement earlier in the evening about the brawl. As soon as she saw it was me she just said "Oh, it's you, never mind" and waved me back to my car.
Strange, strange times. In a way it's what directed me to where I am now though, because it was through doing event registrations and security that I ended up starting Mission Internet, which is what became IVT. In 1994 I created an online registration system for the Bicycle Industry Trade Show, using a FileMaker Pro database and some really schlonky Applescript and either the WebStar or Quid Pro Quo webserver (I can't recall which I was using at the time). The system generated registration passes with barcodes, and I also wrote some logging software to run on an Apple Newton so trade show delegates could be scanned on entry and the entry time logged. It seems commonplace now, but doing online event registrations in 1994 was pretty much living in Jetsonville. And now, 15 years later, I'm still doing pretty much the same thing.
And you know what one of our development projects is right now at IVT?
Another event registration / management system. Luckily this time I don't have to write a single line of code though!
Cleaning up tonight I came across some crusty old documents hiding in a drawer, including a few expired driving licences and this relic:
So I cut them up and chucked them in the bin, then a few seconds later fished the security licence back out. It represents such a weird (and formative) piece of my life that I thought it was worth taking a photo.
Not many people who know me from the software world are aware that I spent some time around '94 and '95 working as a bouncer. I worked for New Breed Security for a while and got to meet the who's who of the entertainment world at the time, as well as a bunch of famous sportsmen and women. It was a bizarre lifestyle of getting up at lunchtime, having a few hours of free time and heading off to work in the late afternoon or mid evening, then working all through the night at a job that was 95% pure boredom, 4% pure entertainment, and 1% pure terror. A couple of my old school mates ended up working with me for a while and a couple of weeks ago when I was in Sydney for Brad's wedding I was reminiscing with him and Phil about some of the crazy stuff that happened, like the night Phil and I were working at the Conti in Sorrento with just one other security guy and expecting a quiet night with some of the locals when a football team from up the peninsula came in to spend a night boozing up after losing a big game. It didn't take long before the locals and the players clashed, and it ended up in an all-in brawl involving dozens of people and just the three of us security guys helplessly trying to restore order. I have a lasting memory of seeing Phil's back as he headed toward the exit with one footy player in a head lock on each side - which would have been fine except that his feet weren't touching the floor!
Things got rough for a while and a minor amount of blood was spilled, but with the assistance of some of the locals and other random staff it all got sorted out and the players headed off to their hotel rooms to sleep off their drinks. Hotel rooms that, unluckily for them, happened to be in the Conti itself! The police attended and spent a while taking statements from us, then went with the hotel manager to drag the players back out of bed. Bad luck for them, they should have left while they had the chance.
A couple of hours later I was heading for home when I was pulled over by a police car. I got out and walked back to the cop car with my wallet out and was in the process of removing my licence when I realised that the policewoman who had pulled me over was the same one that had taken my statement earlier in the evening about the brawl. As soon as she saw it was me she just said "Oh, it's you, never mind" and waved me back to my car.
Strange, strange times. In a way it's what directed me to where I am now though, because it was through doing event registrations and security that I ended up starting Mission Internet, which is what became IVT. In 1994 I created an online registration system for the Bicycle Industry Trade Show, using a FileMaker Pro database and some really schlonky Applescript and either the WebStar or Quid Pro Quo webserver (I can't recall which I was using at the time). The system generated registration passes with barcodes, and I also wrote some logging software to run on an Apple Newton so trade show delegates could be scanned on entry and the entry time logged. It seems commonplace now, but doing online event registrations in 1994 was pretty much living in Jetsonville. And now, 15 years later, I'm still doing pretty much the same thing.
And you know what one of our development projects is right now at IVT?
Another event registration / management system. Luckily this time I don't have to write a single line of code though!>> This is serious, mum
Sun, Feb 8th 12:28pm 2009 >> Misc
Overnight one of my staff lost two of his family members in the fires at Kinglake. Marysville now only exists on maps. A friend of my step-father-in-law is in hospital with serious burns, and lost her house. At least another 20+ people are dead and the number is climbing.
Overnight one of my staff lost two of his family members in the fires at Kinglake. Marysville now only exists on maps. A friend of my step-father-in-law is in hospital with serious burns, and lost her house. At least another 20+ people are dead and the number is climbing.
>> Reunited with my clothes
Fri, Oct 3rd 7:31am 2008 >> Misc
By the time we wrapped at the final location in Tasmania on the weekend there was barely time for me to get to the airport to make my flight home, so I went straight there and didn't go via the hotel to grab my suitcase.
The end result was that I arrived home without suit pants, black shoes, razor, and various other things I needed for Monday morning so I turned up at work looking rather casual. Luckily one of the Directors happens to be a Melbourne boy and was coming back the next day, so my clothes and I are now in the same state again.
By the time we wrapped at the final location in Tasmania on the weekend there was barely time for me to get to the airport to make my flight home, so I went straight there and didn't go via the hotel to grab my suitcase.
The end result was that I arrived home without suit pants, black shoes, razor, and various other things I needed for Monday morning so I turned up at work looking rather casual. Luckily one of the Directors happens to be a Melbourne boy and was coming back the next day, so my clothes and I are now in the same state again.
>> Disconnected from the intertubes
Fri, Sep 5th 8:49am 2008 >> Misc
For the first time in a long time my house is offline, and it's weird. I'd almost prefer to have the water disconnected, or the gas. Having webtone available 24x7 has become so natural to me it's like breathing, and having it taken away is totally disconcerting. A couple of weeks ago I was in Sydney working with Beyond Productions putting together a new TV show, and I had a similar experience: they gave me a bunch of Mac laptops to configure for the show, and I took them back to my hotel room one evening to set up but I kept coming across things that needed net access, like software packages that I didn't have locally, and the hotel I was at didn't have net access for guests - at all, for any price! Unbelievable. I'm so used to thinking of the internet as being part of my local storage that I often don't even bother having files on machines I work on. When every file I need anywhere in the world is a click or two away, why bother having it on your local disk?
Frustration.
Anyway, the actual reason for the discon-net-ion is that we're switching from a combination of Telstra for phone and iiNet for ADSL2+ to just a naked ADSL2+ connection with VoIP and Annex-M to improve upload speeds, and to make that happen we have to lose all services for about 2 weeks.
Suckage.
End result is a backlog of things I should have blogged about, but haven't been able to from home.
For the first time in a long time my house is offline, and it's weird. I'd almost prefer to have the water disconnected, or the gas. Having webtone available 24x7 has become so natural to me it's like breathing, and having it taken away is totally disconcerting. A couple of weeks ago I was in Sydney working with Beyond Productions putting together a new TV show, and I had a similar experience: they gave me a bunch of Mac laptops to configure for the show, and I took them back to my hotel room one evening to set up but I kept coming across things that needed net access, like software packages that I didn't have locally, and the hotel I was at didn't have net access for guests - at all, for any price! Unbelievable. I'm so used to thinking of the internet as being part of my local storage that I often don't even bother having files on machines I work on. When every file I need anywhere in the world is a click or two away, why bother having it on your local disk?
Frustration.
Anyway, the actual reason for the discon-net-ion is that we're switching from a combination of Telstra for phone and iiNet for ADSL2+ to just a naked ADSL2+ connection with VoIP and Annex-M to improve upload speeds, and to make that happen we have to lose all services for about 2 weeks.
Suckage.
End result is a backlog of things I should have blogged about, but haven't been able to from home.
>> Old ticker still ticking slowly
Thu, Aug 28th 11:01am 2008 >> Misc
I just got back from a quick visit to the doctor to figure out what's going on with a swollen lymph node in my neck, and during the visit he took my blood pressure. Which meant the machine measured my heart rate. Which was 52bpm. Which is pretty damn good for someone who hasn't done any serious exercise in years.
Typical resting heart rate for an adult male is about 70bpm, with lower rates indicating a higher level of "efficiency" (for want of a better term). A high level of aerobic fitness generally results in a lower resting rate because the heart can work less to achieve sufficient blood flow.
Way back when I was riding and running every day, going to the gym several times per week and swimming fairly regularly my resting rate was down around 38bpm. I'm old and decrepit now but at least I still seem to be enjoying the residual benefits of previous exercise!
I just got back from a quick visit to the doctor to figure out what's going on with a swollen lymph node in my neck, and during the visit he took my blood pressure. Which meant the machine measured my heart rate. Which was 52bpm. Which is pretty damn good for someone who hasn't done any serious exercise in years.
Typical resting heart rate for an adult male is about 70bpm, with lower rates indicating a higher level of "efficiency" (for want of a better term). A high level of aerobic fitness generally results in a lower resting rate because the heart can work less to achieve sufficient blood flow.
Way back when I was riding and running every day, going to the gym several times per week and swimming fairly regularly my resting rate was down around 38bpm. I'm old and decrepit now but at least I still seem to be enjoying the residual benefits of previous exercise!
>> FOSS GeoSpatial conference coming to Sydney
Mon, Feb 18th 11:05am 2008 >> Misc
One of my last official actions at Linux Australia was to write a letter of support for the team bidding to bring the Free & Open Source Software for GeoSpatial (FOSS4G) conference to Sydney, and a few minutes ago I got an email letting me know that their bid had been successful. So in November 2009 we're going to have one of the best geospatial conferences in the world right on our doorstep: wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/FOSS4G_2009_Press_Release_1 Cool!
One of my last official actions at Linux Australia was to write a letter of support for the team bidding to bring the Free & Open Source Software for GeoSpatial (FOSS4G) conference to Sydney, and a few minutes ago I got an email letting me know that their bid had been successful. So in November 2009 we're going to have one of the best geospatial conferences in the world right on our doorstep: wiki.osgeo.org/index.php/FOSS4G_2009_Press_Release_1 Cool!
>> 1,818,631
Thu, Aug 23rd 1:18pm 2007 >> Misc
While we were in the US a few weeks ago Luke and I were idly talking about market penetration and how we could come up with a metric for how successful we've been. A major problem we have as a company is that we're largely invisible: we build systems for our clients, who in turn have customers who are end users of the systems we build, but those end users would mostly have no idea who it is that actually created the software. As far as they are concerned they're using a system provided by our client, not by us. We therefore get almost no branding benefit from all the work we do while some of our clients are household names. So Luke started pondering how many end users we have. Not in the sense of random web visitors: I mean actual, registered users in web-based systems we've built for our clients. That includes intranets, extranets, public-facing websites, and a huge variety of custom business systems. After a bit of SQL and some mucking about with a spreadsheet I can now put a real figure on it: 1,818,631 That's 1.8 million people who are currently registered users on a system we built. Given that we have almost zero international penetration it can safely be assumed they're nearly all Australian, so looking at it another way, 8.6% of the entire population of Australia is a registered user on a system built by IVT. And they almost certainly don't know it. That sucks.
While we were in the US a few weeks ago Luke and I were idly talking about market penetration and how we could come up with a metric for how successful we've been. A major problem we have as a company is that we're largely invisible: we build systems for our clients, who in turn have customers who are end users of the systems we build, but those end users would mostly have no idea who it is that actually created the software. As far as they are concerned they're using a system provided by our client, not by us. We therefore get almost no branding benefit from all the work we do while some of our clients are household names. So Luke started pondering how many end users we have. Not in the sense of random web visitors: I mean actual, registered users in web-based systems we've built for our clients. That includes intranets, extranets, public-facing websites, and a huge variety of custom business systems. After a bit of SQL and some mucking about with a spreadsheet I can now put a real figure on it: 1,818,631 That's 1.8 million people who are currently registered users on a system we built. Given that we have almost zero international penetration it can safely be assumed they're nearly all Australian, so looking at it another way, 8.6% of the entire population of Australia is a registered user on a system built by IVT. And they almost certainly don't know it. That sucks.
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