this blog is girtby.net

I Fought The Gorm

There’s a kind of internally-generated tension that builds up when you haven’t blogged for a while. It’s not as bad as that other kind of tension which builds up over time, but it’s still there in the back of your mind. And after a while you need to do something, anything, to release the tension.

So [...]

Becoming a Bronzed Aussie

This weekend I passed my proficiency test and will soon be awarded a surf lifesaving Bronze Medallion.

This means I am not only qualified to wear a red and yellow fashion statement, but also to go on patrol and rescue you when you get stung by bluebottles or caught in the rip or any of the [...]

The Next Plane Out Of Sydney

Over to the right — unless you are using one o’ them fancypants RSS aggree-gators — are the monthly archives for girtby.net, with a count of the number of articles posted for each month. Last month there was just the one and this month isn’t looking too promising either. That’s as good a measure as [...]

Server Shelf

One of the main joys of home ownership is the ability to run Ethernet cable throughout the house without asking anyone’s permission. For ages I have wanted to do this, and now I have. Behold.

In lieu of a server room, I have a server shelf. It’s in the laundry/garage area under the house. The gang [...]

Take My Notes. Please.

Oh yes, I’m writing a blog article about the importance of note taking. That’s right, note taking.

Why? It’s a skill that I have been working hard on recently, and so at meetings I often find myself the only person who is doing it. This article is an attempt to evangelise note taking, a possibly [...]

Giving In To The Social Networking Craze

So with the change of job, I’m eager to keep in touch with all (well, some) of my former colleagues. In the past this has taken the form of sporadic individual emails of decreasing frequency. So, I’m experimenting with the latest craze, social networking sites. Some very early impressions follow.

Where’s Alastair?

Fortunately the reason for my extended absence from this blog is not a tragic one. I’ve just been busy, is all.

Firstly, I got a new job. As with the last job I’m not going to say too much about it, or identify the company. Suffice it to say that I’m doing stuff with compressed video [...]

Personal Wikis

Do you have a todo.txt file? Are you like most alpha geeks?

I used to have one. In fact I had lots of them. One for each machine I used regularly.

Welcome To My Cave

If you’re anything like me, you have a voyeuristic fascination with other people’s work spaces. And since you’re probably at least a little bit like me, you might enjoy seeing my work space. Or at least my work space when I’m at home. And not always working.

As an added bonus, this post doubles as a [...]

I want a .pony domain

I read that the ICANN has yet again had to fend off an attempt to set up a .xxx gTLD.

As a parent I am keenly interested in protecting my children’s actions online and often discuss with my SO how to manage their access when they start to reach the age when they spend more time [...]