You know there’s been a virgance in the force, when it takes a person half your age to teach you how to do a ‘Windsor Knot’…. o.O

Yep it is now officially 1 year since I moved to New Zealand!! In that time whilst I remain in a bedsit due to the less than favourable housing market in the UK, I have made so many new friends :), I have joined a brass band which are at the top of their game, I’ve started having brass lessons again (because they are at the top of their game o.O), I’ve settled into work; got to play with some cool smexiful and rather expensive bits of kit, been to parties, goofed around, walked, lost weight, explored a little in my car. Written more poetry. Dated. oh and Speed-Dated.

I know I’ve probably missed stuff off too, but there’s a whole lot MORE for me to do too…so here’s to the next event packed year.

So, I guess you could say this was a good move for me. I am at the stage where I am looking at applying for my EOI to become a resident now.

I’ve just got back from the Fowler Centre, this evening where I was delighted to watch Christian Lindberg playing with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, and hopefully the Principle Trombone player (Dave Bremner) was pleasantly surprised to see me there too! Since he conducts our Brass Band!! An emotional evening and a musically rich one too!

The first half consisted of Rachmaninov’s The Rock (Opus 7) and certainly set the scene for an awesome program; this was followed by Lindberg playing and conducting the Wagenseil Trombone Conerto a very barocian flavoured interlude indeed! This is topped off with Linbergs own composition “Helikon Wasp” which is classical and contemporary and modern at the same time, and certainly an extremly fun piece to listen too, with a certain poetry in a league of it’s own! Not as good as his Motorcycle Odessy some might say; but I liked it - so that’s all that matters

Then there was the interval, where ‘Rachael’ saunters down the aisle (she’s a fellow brass bandy) and I’m like ‘arn’t you supposed to be at work??’ some people want their cake AND eat it I guess; so as not to be the hippocrit I make nothing of it ;p and enjoy the rest of the program in her company

The second half is Tchaikovsky beginning with Le Voyevoda Symphonic Ballad (Opus 78) which has all the Tchaikovsky hallmarks, and stirred my emotional centre nicely. Then the program finished with the Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture which some may find corny; but for me it is a very personal and emotion piece - and it almost brought me to tears. Whether or not it was the accoustic in the hall; which is fantastic by the way, or the memory attached to the music which is buried deep down inside, I cannot decide. Or maybe I can and I just can’t share it here; since it is so personal to me?

Anyway, when Christian Lindberg wasn’t conducting, Hannu Lintu WAS!! and boy can he conduct! Or should I say dance with the way he wielded the baton; I was mesmerised by his style, it was almost like he was Harry Potter and the baton his wand! simply magical!

I’m off now to chill and remember a few old memories over a glass of wine. I can’t promise I won’t cry tonight - but then it’s a healthy thing so I won’t supress this emotion I am feeling right now. Tonight I remember my first kiss, as if it were yesterday. Nuff said.

I’ll be brief, though I could ramble on for hours and bore the t%ts off you. Basically in this largely connected world, and arena of ‘collaboration’ at an enterprise and a corporate level. The perception and the role of the “Mainstream” hacker has changed a huge amount.

This is topical for me at the moment as I am currently attending Kiwicon II, New Zealand’s own hacker/security convention; not as a hacker - or someone who is interested in becoming a hacker, but as an IT professional who is cognicent enough to recognise that not ALL hacking is bad, and in fact can be a good way of moving the IT development community forwards. Especially in this increasingly ‘Open Source’ world.

I’m not going to whistle on about any of the specifics covered this year, but the bent is predominantly on security or the lack there-of in enterprises potentially high up the food-chain, and the rather short sighted reliance on cheap, off-the-shelf, open source solutions to their security requirements. Making it insanely easy for the people they are most likley trying to avoid to get in.

Unfortunatly either ‘budget’ or ‘it has to work’ mentality creates an environment where many corners appear to be cut. So we don’t even get a chance to be complaicent since the models being rolled out and deployed are broken to start with - simply trawl the forums on RFID if you need a hint!

I’m at least in a unique enough position to be able to learn from peers and educate in order to evolve not just the infrastructure but also the perceptions of the people surrounding it as well. To use an analogy, a carpenter can build a school in a third world country, but unless it is populated with the teachers who know how to use it, that school may amount to nothing more than a shed!

Although I haven’t seen all the talks at this year’s Kiwicon (which saddens me) since I am trying to do too many things at once this weekend, I want my cake AND I want to eat it ok!! I’m going to make an effort to get up early in the morning, since this is a weekender.

If you mozy on over the the Kiwicon website feel free to check it out, but as with any website that thinks outside the box; I’d advise you to use your best judgement when clicking links you are not sure about, and certainly think twice if you are at work!

In other news, at approximatley this time last year, I was on a plane heading for New Zealand!!