Long time no see / blog!

Have started a personal project called Humans of Otago (inspired by Humans of New York) last year.  Hopefully you’ll like the stories / photos there 🙂

Website / blog: https://humansofotago.wordpress.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehumansofotago

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Article of Interest – The Cost of Safety

Interesting article from work:

Safety first is the name of the game for many investors right now. And with wild day-to-day swings in the markets and hugely divergent performances by securities within the same asset class, who can blame them?

Tolerance for risk is at extremely low ebb, a development reflected in the fact that yields on risk-free assets are at historic lows?in the case of US Treasury bills at levels not seen since World War II.

Yet this risk-averse behaviour masks one of the paradoxes of investment.

In good economic times, when comfort levels are high, the expected return from risk assets is less favourable. In those times, the cost of our willingness to take a risk is a lower expected return.

Click here to read more.

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University of Otago | FREE lunch + Presentation (by Adam Cogan): What Microsoft offer you and your career!

Dear University of Otago *Computer Science* & *Information Science* Students,

You are invited to a FREE lunch + Presentation: *What Microsoft offer you and your career!*

Sponsor: www.ssw.com.au <http://www.ssw.com.au>

Presenter: *Adam Cogan* Chief Architect, B.Bus, MCP, MVP

Adam is one of only three Microsoft Regional Directors in Australia. In this role, he regularly presents in conferences such as TechEd (USA, Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia) and .NET user group around the world. He has been the Microsoft MVP (Visual Studio Team System) since 2005. In addition, He has received Bronze medal of Microsoft Regional Director Program Global Impact Award in 2007.

When:             *Friday 10th October 2008*.
Time:               *12 pm*
Where:              *Commerce 2.07*
Lunch:             Some pizza & drinks provided

*Presentation Topics*
1.    What Microsoft Technology can offer you in your future career
2.    Java VS .NET
3.    Sharpen your sword with C# and .NET 3.5
4.    Why is Windows Server 2008 important
5.    Powerful tools – Visual Studio 2008
6.    Powerful teams – Team Foundation Server
7.    Powerful collaboration – SharePoint
8.    Light up the Web – SilverLight
9.    Whats next – getting a job

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The Script – The Man Who Can’t Be Moved

I’ve been listening to this song (non-stop) over and over again in the last few days……just LOVE it 😀

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Twitter is over capacity……

I don’t use twitter very often……so I seldom have the chance to see the picture below:

This is what you will see when Twitter is down!  But……I really like picture 😀

Twitter is down (at the time of this writting) when I really needed it!!!  On a side note……maybe I should twitte more often!

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Dot Net User Group Code Camp 2008 – Saturday 1st November, Christchurch

Theme: Keeping It Real

The sessions are designed to showcase .NET related tools and techniques that will be useful to you as a developer, focusing on real-world topics that will be of immediate use.

Date: Saturday 1st November, Christchurch.  9am – 6pm
Location: Trimble Navigation, 11 Birmingham Drive (map)
Cost: Free! (Lunch provided)

To register and for more info, please go to: http://dot.net.nz/Default.aspx?tabid=119

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Dunedin .Net User Group Event – 13th of Oct by Adam Cogan

1) Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Reporting Services – Architecture Overview
SQL Server 2008, the report server has been re-architected to remove the dependency on Internet Information Services and provide better control over memory usage. Get an overview of the Reporting Services 2008 architecture and the impact on installation, upgrade, and reporting services management tools.

2) SharePoint – follow the Yellow Brick Road to Public Web Sites
Come join us for the second session’s topic as we learn how the largest public SharePoint site in Australia got up and running.
Adam Cogan of SSW will share his experience and lessons learnt on this project. Adam will also show you how to “sexify” the look and feel of your site (or “de-SharePointing with style”)

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Two lectures from Randy Pausch

Recently I’ve watched two very inspiring videos from Randy Pausch.  I’ve certainly learnt a lot from his two lectures……and I’ve decided to put it up here to share them with everyone.  Hope he will inspire you too 🙂

Q. Who is Randy Pausch

A. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch

Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Randy Pausch Lecture: Time Management

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The newly redesigned MacBook Pro?

Just got this post from cnBeta: http://www.cnbeta.com/articles/63023.htm

Will have to wait till next month to see how accurate its……

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Norah Jones – Seven years

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Miłość od pierwszego wejrzenia by Wisława Szymborska

Oboje są przekonani,
że połączyło ich uczucie nagłe.
Piękna jest taka pewność,
ale niepewność piękniejsza.

Sądzą, że skoro nie znali się wcześniej,
nic między nimi nigdy się nie działo,
A co na to ulice, schody, korytarze,
na których mogli się od dawna mijać?

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Geeky YouTube video on Kaspersky…

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OneRepublic – Say (All I Need)

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Keyboard Shortcut for “Look Up in Dictionary” service in Leopard

If you are like me who uses Leopard’s built-in dictionary very often, you probably wish / want to assign a keyboard shortcut to the “Look Up in Dictionary” service; by pressing key combination, you will be able to look up a word in dictionary instantly…instead of having to copy the word and paste it in the dictionary yourself.

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Protected: Getting Started with Silverlight 2 beta 2 – Part 2

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Microsoft XNA Game Studio Contest

Interested in game design and want to show the world what you’ve got?

Check out the game design contest from Microsoft:

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57 Habits of Highly Effective Gmail Users

Gmail is full of features…only recently I’ve started using Gmail‘s keyboard shortcuts -_- The article below contains quite a lot of interesting tips and tricks on Gmail. If you are using Gmail as your primary email provider…you might want to checkout the article below 🙂

Gmail has been praised by many as the best webmail option out there, and it is filled with loads of tools and options that make it easy to use, fast and accessible for just about anyone. Of course, with so many features, many people often fail to look beyond the surface of what Gmail can do even though they could be making their lives easier and their emails more versatile. Those who know how to use Gmail well have tapped into all the productivity it has to offer, and you can learn from their discoveries to make your Gmailing experience ever better. Here are some of the habits that Gmail users have employed to make sending, receiving and organizing their emails better and faster than before.

<click here to read more>

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Dev Jam Dundin – May 16th Roadshow – 3 Demos in 30 mins

From the Microsoft NZ Student Blog

On May 16th, Ryan from Microsoft will be coming down to Dunedin and give us a short demo on some of the latest technologies from Microsoft…and Silverlight 2.0 will be the main focus! Please check out the links below if you want to know more about Silverlight:

Microsoft websites: http://silverlight.net/ && http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/

First Look at Silverlight 2 – ScottGu’s Blog

Microsoft Silverlight – Wikipedia

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How to Impress at Your Next Interview by Andrew Tokeley

Chaks showed me a really good article on job interview yesterday…if you are looking for a job right now / in the near future, you might want to checkout the article below 🙂

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ThinkPad X300 VS. MacBook Air

Just saw this really funny video from YouTube…thought I might share it with everyone else 😉

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