Adrian Hind in 2011

Dinner at Hawksmoor, London

2011-11-15T23:30:00.001Z

Dinner at Hawksmoor
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Awesome dinner at the Hawksmoor Guildhall

Brussels, 2011

2011-11-10T06:57:00.001Z

Brussels, 2011, a set on Flickr.

Quick 3 day weekend trip to Brussels.

My first day off work since Glastonbury in June.
Lots of photos of architecture and parks but what I'll remember most was the mussels, the beer, and the people I met.

Dinner at Sitaaray, London

2011-10-31T22:00:00.001Z

Unlimited Indian kebabs and curries in a Bollywood themed restaurant.
Starve yourself beforehand. It's well worth it.

Dinner at Fishworks, Richmond

2011-10-20T22:00:00.001+01:00

Whole seabream with garlic, thyme and white wine, cooked in paper.
Yum!!

La traviata @ Royal Opera House, London

2011-10-03T23:30:00.001+01:00

Dinner at Wright Bros Soho Oyster House, London

2011-08-27T22:30:00.000+01:00

9.5 / 10
Will definitely go again ... and again.

Dinner at Dinner by Heston, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

2011-08-23T23:30:00.000+01:00

A modern take on age-old English recipes, Heston is a genius.
I recommend the "Meat Fruit", "Powdered Duck", "Cod in Cider", and the "Tipsy Cake"
10/10

Dinner at Bacco, Richmond

2011-08-20T23:30:00.000+01:00

A fun Italian restaurant in Richmond, with great food, good service, and a nice deck out front for a pre-dinner drink.

Glastonbury, 2011

2011-07-10T18:26:00.001+01:00

Glastonbury, 2011, a set on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts
22nd to 26th June 2011
Worthy Farm, Somerset, UK

My highlights this year: Two Door Cinema Club, U2, Elbow, Coldplay, Fujiya & Miyagi, Brother, and Plan B.

Cirque du Soleil: TOTEM @ Royal Albert Hall, London

2011-01-05T12:30:00.001Z

2010 - Cities and Towns

2010-12-31T11:00:00.000Z

Here's the list of cities and towns I've stayed in during the past year.

London, England*
Salisbury, England
Graz, Austria*
Florence, Italy
Sienna, Italy
Cambridge, England
Penrith, Cumbria, England
Munich, Germany
Shanklin, Isle of Wight, England
Istanbul, Turkey
Worthy Farm, Pilton, England (Glastonbury Festival)
Silverstone, England (British Formula 1 Grand Prix)
Leeds, England
Irdning, Austria
Werfen, Austria
Zell am See, Austria
Vienna, Austria
Budapest, Hungary
Guiting Power, England
Paris, France
Sao Martinho do Porto, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Berlin, Germany

* Multiple entries, non-consecutive days.

Dinner at Brasa, Fulham

2010-12-21T23:30:00.002Z

Amazing steaks and a really nice atmosphere at this new restaurant above the Broadway Bar & Grill in Fulham.

Dinner at Barbecoa, London

2010-12-13T22:30:00.002Z

Jamie Olilver's new restaurant at New Change, St Pauls, London.

- Selection of Breads
- "Big Green Olives on Ice"
- Short Rib with Worcestershire Glaze, Irish Champ & Watercress
- Baked Cheesecake, with Chocolate & Gingersnap Crust, and Swiss Lime Meringue

Check out the food and dessert menus. Yum!!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

2010-12-02T23:12:00.002Z

[Seen at BFI IMAX, London Waterloo]

8 / 10

The American

2010-11-28T14:09:00.001Z

7.5 / 10

George Clooney as an ageing hit man hiding out in a small Italian town. A dreamy storyline, not as much action as one might expect based on the marketing. Beautiful cinematography.

Sebastian Vettel wins historic Formula 1 World Championship

2010-11-15T07:35:00.000Z

@AussieGrit Mark Webber finishes in third place for the year.

I had to go on media blackout yesterday afternoon, having foolishly booked my Berlin to London flight in the middle of the Formula 1 finale in Abu Dhabi.

BBC iPlayer to the rescue. The entire 3hr 15min BBC broadcast was available as a stream when I got home. The BBC coverage of the Formula 1 World Championship has been absolutely awesome this year. Big congrats to the team that put it together.

I was fortunate enough to be at Silverstone in July when Mark Webber won the British grand prix. He raced very well this year, taking home 4 wins, and he led the championship for a fair portion of the year. All the leading drivers made a few errors and had some technical troubles this year. As a result, there wasn't a single stand out driver. Going into the final race - there were still four drivers mathematically in with a chance of winning the championship, so different to the early 2000s when Michael Schumacher absolutely dominated the sport.

Mark Webber was in second place in the championship leading up to Abu Dhabi, but didn't have the pace on the final weekend. To win the championship Fernando Alonso had to keep the pace with Mark Webber, and finish in at least fourth place if pole-sitter Sebastian Vettel came through with the win on the day. Sebastian Vettel drove a perfect race in Abu Dhabi, Mark Webber made a pit-stop at the wrong time which cost him several places, Fernando Alonso followed Mark Webber's pit-stop strategy and they both ended up way back in the field, effectively handing the championship to Vettel! At 23 y.o. Vettel is now the youngest world champion in Formula 1 history.

Disappointing for Aussie Mark Webber, but a fantastic season nonetheless. Bring on 2011 !!

A few thoughts and observations from Microsoft TechEd Europe 2010

2010-11-12T17:07:00.008Z

I've just taken a week out of my current contract with an investment bank for a bit of a technology refresh at the Microsoft TechEd Europe conference.

Six thousand techies (about 98% male!) descended on the Messe Berlin for a full week of presentations, hands-on-labs, a vendor showcase, and lots and lots of coffee.

Microsoft divide their "technical" audience into "IT Professionals" (i.e. people that manage infrastructure and keeps systems running) and "Developers" (i.e. people that build new applications). Lots of presentations at TechEd start with a few questions for the audience - "Which of you out there are the IT Pros? Ok, and how about the Devs?" I don't put my hand up for either. So why would I go to TechEd?

I haven't really written much on my blog in recent years about what I actually do for a living, other than the tagline "crossing the chasm between business and IT". I've spent the best part of the last three years doing "solution architecture" within financial services organisations. This essentially means recommending which technology combinations to use to help solve business problems. This requires good business analysis skills and a broad understanding of the capabilities of particular technologies and the skills that are available within the organisational context to leverage those technologies. It also involves a bit of politics, but we'll save that commentary for a separate blog post some other time.

My current contract has been heavily focused on the business analysis end of the spectrum. With significant changes afoot in the technology industry, and with my legacy as a Microsoft consultant earlier this decade, I thought it wise to spend some time getting a better understanding of what's going on in the IT industry today and what's coming up in the next few years on the Microsoft technology front.

The big theme for the conference (and indeed for most technology conferences at the moment) was "the cloud" - Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This is all about replacing as much of the technology (and the roles to support technology) as possible in corporate servers rooms and data centres with commodity services delivered via massive data centres managed by the big technology companies. In essence, the future is about renting your software, platforms, and servers on an as-needed basis.

While this is all good news from an economics point of view, it will have a significant impact on the people that work in the technology industry. If you are an infrastructure person (and this includes the application server admins out there), and you want to remain an infrastructure person, you'll eventually be working for one of a dozen or so big infrastructure companies, most probably in a (relatively) low cost employment location. I think almost all the corporate IT Pro jobs and small business "IT guy" jobs will disappear very quickly over the next ten years.

These IT Pro jobs will be replaced, to some extent, by data analysis and financial analysis jobs - monitoring the performance and cost effectiveness of infrastructure, platforms, and apps in the cloud, and making financially justified decisions on whether to ramp up or ramp down the service offerings that your organisation subscribes to. Get out your spreadsheets ladies and gentlemen - we're all about to become Excel experts!

Note: Mostly for personal reference, I've created basic back-dated blog posts for some of the key break-out sessions that I attended at TechEd Europe, but if you want to ask me about specific topics or sessions that I attending please email me or contact me on twitter @adrianhind. Despite the hype around the cloud, I predominantly attended sessions related to methodologies (agile, scrum, etc), application platforms (SharePoint, Azure), and business intelligence.

TEE10 Highlights: Giorgio Sardo - "HTML5 and Internet Explorer 9 Demo Fest"

2010-11-12T13:30:00.001Z

Giorgio Sardo (Microsoft), Senior Technical Evangelist. Blog.

Go to http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive, download the latest Internet Explorer 9 Preview, and then check out some of the HTML5 samples linked from Giorgio's blog. Awesome!

I particularly like Never Mind the Bullets.

TEE10 Highlights: Chris Mayo - "How to Customize SharePoint Online for Your Environment Using SharePoint Designer 2010"

2010-11-11T15:30:00.000Z

Chris Mayo (Microsoft), Technical Specialist, SharePoint Online. Blog.

A very good overview of Office365 and SharePoint Online - Microsoft's emerging Office/SharePoint software-as-a-service product offerings for the cloud.

I'll seriously consider using Office365 for my Microsoft Office licensing for my limited company as soon as it goes into general release. Check it out and sign up for the Beta!

TEE10 Highlights: Rafal Lukawiecki - "Analysis with Microsoft PowerPivot"

2010-11-11T11:30:00.001Z

An enthusiastic overview from Rafal Lukawiecki and some great demos of the new PowerPivot functionality for Microsoft Office Excel 2010. This is incredible technology, allowing end users to store millions of rows of data in memory in Excel and perform extremely fast data analysis tasks. Definitely worth skilling up on this one.

Welcome to "the twitter" @rafaldotnet.

TEE10 Highlights: Aaron Bjork and Peter Provost - "An Agile Talk on Agility"

2010-11-10T15:30:00.002Z

Aaron Bjork (Microsoft), Program Manager on Team Foundation Server. Blog.

Peter Provost (Microsoft), Program Manager on Visual Studio. Blog.

Agenda for a one hour presentation:

Introduction

4 x 10-minute Sprints (2 mins planning, 8 mins work)

1 x 10-minute Retrospective

Topics: Well ... we'll see what's on the requirements backlog and prioritise at the start of each sprint ;-)

TEE10 Highlights: Sander Hoogendoorn - "How Frameworks Can Kill Your Projects, And Patterns to help you avoid getting Killed

2010-11-10T14:05:00.002Z

Slide deck available on Sander's blog post.

Twitter: @aahoogendoorn

Dinner at Vapiano, Berlin

2010-11-09T19:30:00.001Z

[ ... and again on Thursday 11th November ;-) ]

TEE10 Highlights: Tim Huckaby - "Using Natural User Interface (NUI) Technologies to Improve User Experience"

2010-11-09T19:00:00.015Z

Tim Huckaby, Founder, Interknowlogy. Blog.

A great overview of some of the very cool apps that have been built for the medical and gaming industries using the Microsoft Surface in the past couple of years, and some insights into neural- and gesture- interfaces for apps in the near future.

TEE10 Highlights: Stephen Forte and Joel Semeniuk - "Scrum, but"

2010-11-09T15:30:00.001Z

A very entertaining, insightful, and interactive presentation from Stephen Forte (@worksonmypc) and Joel Semeniuk (@Joel_Semeniuk) from Telerik on how the Scrum development methodology is adapted for different organisational environments.

On board the Stena Line

2010-11-06T14:00:00.001Z

On board the Stena Line
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Stuff flying! This is the way to travel to Europe.
7:16pm train from London to Harwich, walk straight onto the massive Stena Line for a comfortable overnight journey to Hook of Holland, then get a connecting train to anywhere in Holland, all for only £65.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

2010-10-08T23:59:00.002+01:00

[Seen at the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill]

7.5 / 10

Dinner at Pearl Restaurant, London

2010-10-07T23:15:00.000+01:00

Henry IV Part 1 at Shakespeare's Globe

2010-09-19T17:42:00.000+01:00

Inception

2010-09-18T23:30:00.001+01:00

8 / 10.

Attending the 2010 British Formula 1 Grand Prix

2010-07-13T23:41:00.002+01:00

Mark Webber in the lead, despite using his team's 2nd best front wing design
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

How's this for a unique 'Aussie in the UK' experience?

I was fortunate enough to attend the 2010 British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend and witness Australian Mark Webber take down the chequered flag with a dominating performance. Prior to Mark's win, the last Australian to win the British Formula 1 Grand Prix was Alan Jones in 1980.

Full set of photos are on flickr.

Britain exits longest recession on record – just

2010-01-26T21:45:00.001Z

Dinner at Hi Sushi, Soho, London

2010-01-26T21:26:00.001Z

Snow hiking at Afflenz Buergeralm, Styria, Austria

2010-01-23T20:00:00.000Z

Dinner at Haeuserl im Wald, Graz, Austria

2010-01-22T23:30:00.001Z

Kir Royal, Melon & Prosciutto, and a massive meat & vegetable platter, at a lovely Austrian restaurant in a snowy forest.

Up in the Air

2010-01-17T21:00:00.000Z

At the turn of the millennium I was flying around 40 - 50 times a year, had Gold status in the Qantas Frequent Flyer program, and had a six month period in my life where the longest stay in my home city was 8 days. I was young and got a buzz out of being flexible and in demand, the consultant that was willing to drop everything and spend a few days in another city, week in week out.

Ryan Bingham, the corporate downsizing expert played by George Clooney in Up in the Air, takes it to the next level, spending his life in hotels and on planes, drinking in hotel bars and eating in hotel restaurants every night, visiting three to five cities a week, and he absolutely loves it. Never tied down. Always aiming for frequent flyer mile targets and chasing status privileges that mean you can bypass the queues at check-in, get a seat at the front of the plane, get a double upgrade at the car rental desk, etc.

Like Thank You for Smoking before it, I really enjoyed Jason Reitman's new film Up in the Air.

The casting was most impressive. Relative newcomer Anna Kendrick did a fantastic job portraying the go-getter well-educated 23-year-old colleague that thinks they can change the world (been there ;-). Clooney is Clooney - brilliant and fun to watch. And in a respectful acknowledgement of the subject matter in the film, most of the characters that get fired in the film were actually played by non-actors, re-enacting their experiences of getting fired in real life middle America in the months prior to filming.

This is a clever film, with a well-written script, fun, funny, yet respectful.

8 / 10

The Road

2010-01-09T19:00:00.001Z

Viggo Mortensen and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee shine as a man and his son travelling across the wasteland and struggling to survive in a post apocalyptic world. Based on a Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (author of No Country for Old Men), this is a thoroughly depressing movie, offering a slight glimmer of hope in an otherwise grey and inhumane world where the default option is to trust no one. Robert Duvall is brilliant in a brief, but welcome, cameo appearance as an old man they encounter along their travels.

7 / 10

La bohème - The Royal Opera, London

2010-01-04T23:00:00.003Z

Classic Puccini, fantastic sets. My first visit to the Royal Opera House in London.

8.5 / 10

2009 - Cities and Towns

2009-12-31T10:00:00.001Z

Here's the list of cities and towns I've stayed in during the past year.

Sydney, Australia*

Melbourne, Australia*

Canberra, Australia*

San Francisco, CA, USA*

Stateline, NV, USA

Evergreen Lodge, CA, USA

Santa Barbara, CA, USA

San Simeon, CA, USA

Monterey, CA, USA

San Jose, CA, USA

London, England*

Fort William, Scotland

Portnalong, Scotland

Worthy Farm, Pilton, England (Glastonbury Festival)

Alkham, England

Brighton, England

Southwold, England (Latitude Festival)

Barcelona, Spain

Birmingham, England

Wasserburg am Inn, Germany

Zagreb, Croatia

Smoljanac, Croatia

Supetar, Croatia

Trogir, Croatia

Edinburgh, Scotland

Oxford, England

Alfriston, England

Graz, Austria*

* Multiple entries, non-consecutive days.

Sherlock Holmes

2009-12-30T23:30:00.001Z

Guy Ritchie's first mainstream movie, set in London's seedy heyday. Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law are brilliantly cast. Heaps of fun, amazing sets, and in true Guy Ritchie style, awesomely shot fight scenes.

8 / 10.

Stephen Fry in America

2009-12-22T10:35:00.002Z

I've been reading king of twitter Stephen Fry's travelogue, Stephen Fry in America, during my brief holiday moments over the past couple of months. The ever eccentric Mr Fry rushes through every state in the USA in a London Black Cab, for the most part avoiding the big cities, and taking in unique local experiences along the way - visiting Morgan Freeman's blues club in Mississippi, ice fishing in Minnesota, and an interview with the madam at a legalised brothel in Nevada, to name just a few. An enjoyable read, conveniently broken down into bite-sized (state-by-state) chunks. Definitely inspiration for more American travel for yours truly in the coming years.

Winter Wonderland, Hyde Park, London

2009-12-20T21:00:00.000Z

Winter Wonderland - 01
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Soaking up the northern hemisphere Christmas experience - Ice skating in Hyde Park, German Christmas Markets, Glühwein with bonus rum shots, and crazy fun fair entertainments.

Dim Sum at Lotus Floating Chinese Restaurant, Inner Millwall Dock, London

2009-11-21T15:45:00.000Z

Dinner at The Kiwi Kitchen, Fulham, London

2009-11-20T23:00:00.000Z

Breakfast "Double" at Aiola City, Graz, Austria

2009-11-15T13:00:00.000Z

Outliers: The Story of Success

2009-10-20T11:32:00.001+01:00

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success is a thoroughly enjoyable read. It is rare that I read a book from cover to cover in less than a week, but in this case I was totally engrossed, putting off any of my other reading in order to finish it. In a nutshell, through ten different stories, Malcolm presents a theory that extreme examples of success are almost always the results of both hard work and sheer luck at being in the right place at the right time.

Well worth the read. 9/10.

Hiking the South Downs Way

2009-10-20T09:35:00.002+01:00

South Downs Way - 54
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Over the weekend, I hiked a 38km segment of the South Downs Way, one of the classic UK National Trails.

Day 1: train from London Victoria to Lewes Station; walk from Lewes to Alfriston across farming fields, through cute little country towns, and a grueling 10km segment across the top of the downs, 20km walking in total

Overnight in a hostel on the outskirts of Alfriston, amusing full of 18 and 19 year olds on a University of Brighton freshman orientation group hug weekend of some form

Day 2: walk through more farming fields, Westdean Forest, then along the gorgeous rolling chalk cliffs from Cuckmere Haven, Birling Gap (pictured), Beachy Head, and into the coastal town of Eastbourne for dinner, before train/bus/train back to London, 18km walking in total

The Invention of Lying

2009-10-13T21:00:00.002+01:00

Amusing, but forgettable, movie set in a rather drab alternative reality where there is no concept of lying. Great cameo by Phillip Seymour Hoffman. Ricky Gervais' motion picture directing debut.

7/10

The Consumerization of Corporate IT

2009-10-13T13:18:00.006+01:00

Great article on The Consumerization of Corporate IT on strategy+business. The world of Enterprise and Solution Architecture is changing as we speak.

"The only way that organizations can get out of this vicious circle — of more bespoke IT driving higher costs with little productivity return and employees driving the technology agenda under the radar of IT departments — is to forge a completely new way of looking at how technology is delivered within organizations. Such a change would mean elevating the chief information officer to the role of company technology strategist and leveraging the innovation, pace, and scale of the consumer market. Many blueprints for turning flaccid IT departments into models of efficiency have been created — and then shelved. They failed primarily because they were driven from the top with little consideration for the preferences of employees using the machines. Consumerization of technology offers another chance to finally wrestle down a problem that began, it could be said, decades ago in a Silicon Valley garage."

Posted using ShareThis

Royal Mail national strike looms for Christmas

2009-10-08T10:03:00.004+01:00

[The Times] "Royal Mail was on last night reported to have lost a £25 million contract with Amazon, its second largest customer, as a national strike looms over the crucial Christmas period."

I've been experiencing mail delays of around 1 - 2 weeks over the past month. The unions have been putting a stranglehold on the company, with workers repeatedly going to strike all over the UK, and now Royal Mail is starting to lose some of its big commercial contracts. Sort it out, get over it, you should all consider yourselves lucky to have a job in this tough economic environment.

Glastonbury Festival 2010 sells out in less than a day

2009-10-05T08:04:00.002+01:00

The Glastonbury Festival turns 40 next year, and the line-up is predicted to be absolutely awesome. Tickets went on sale at 9:00am on Sunday and were sold out before the end of the day.

Anthony & Lisa: many thanks for booking my ticket while I was on the phone back to Australia.

Watching the World Series of Poker Europe

2009-10-02T13:50:00.012+01:00

The high-stakes poker world is centered on London at the moment, with most of the top name players in town for some big buy-in multi-day tournaments. I've been down to the Casino at the Empire Leicester Square a few times this week to watch the World Series of Poker Europe (WSOPE) Main Event, a £10000 buy-in no-limit holdem tournament with a star-studded field of 334 players.

The Casino at the Empire normally has a small poker room of half a dozen tables in a side room to the main casino, hosting £1/£2 cash games and £25 crapshoot afternoon tourneys, but for two weeks in Sept/Oct the entire casino is transformed into a high-stakes tourney poker venue, complete with ESPN TV crews and media a plenty.

Main Event tournaments are structured to allow the skill factor to really shine through. Deep stacks (30,000 starting chips). Long levels (90 minutes) with small increments in blinds. Determined players can play small pot poker and gradually chip up over the five days without having to take big gambles for their entire stack.

I went along for a few hours on Day 1b, Day 4, and to see the final four play down to a winner on Day 5. On the days where I wasn't able to get to Leicester Square I followed the progress of the tournament on the live blog at pokernews.com and by checking the regularly updated twitter posts of some of the big name players like 2007 WSOPE winner Annette Obrestad, Kid Poker Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Joe Sebok, and Brandon Cantu.

Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan busted early on Day 1. They both have a habit of taking gambles early in tournaments in an attempt to build up a big stack or bust and return to the nose-bleed cash games online. Daniel Negreanu and Annette Obrestad played solid small-pot poker on the TV feature table, building up their stacks to 82450 and 51950 respectively by the end of the day.

On Day 2 and 3, internet MTT sensation Yevgeniy Timoshenko and PLO tournament star Jason Mercier built up massive stacks playing super aggressive poker. Yevgeniy Timoshenko had won over $1.5 million in the World Championship of Online Poker Main Event barely a week ago, and $2.1 million in the $25000 WPT Championship Event in April. Amazing results for a 21 year old!

Day 3 concluded with the burst of the money bubble, the honour going to 2007 runner-up John Tabatabai holding pocket Aces against Peter Goulds pocket sevens. All-in before the flop. Seven on the flop. Ouch!

36 players came back on Day 4 to play down to the final nine, amongst them California long-time pro Men Nguyen, CardPlayer magazine owner Barry Shulman, November Niners James Akenhead and Antoine Saout, Daniel Negreanu, UK poker identities Dave 'DevilFish' Ulliott and Ram Vaswani, online $2000/$4000 limit holdem phenom Matt Hawrilenko, Jason Mercier, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, and the legendary Doyle Brunson.

Nursing a short stack overnight, DevilFish was out in the first few minutes of the day. Yevgeniy Timoshenko floundered on a very very aggressive table (I saw one player re-raise all-in with Q6cc on a rag board only to get called by trip threes). Jason Mercier continued to build a massive massive stack. Daniel Negreanu slowly but surely chipped up, boosted at one point when he got Men Nguyen to commit all his chips with two pair against Daniel's trips. Doyle busted in 17th place. Eric Liu was the final table bubble boy. Just after midnight, the final nine had been decided. Twelve hour rest and they would be back at noon to play it out for the title.

In 2008 John Juanda won the title in an epic final table that ran for 22 hours. 2009's final table table was looking to match that with no player busting for the first five hours. The difference between 9th place prize money and 1st place prize money was £735,000, so the play was initially very cautious. Then in Level 27 as three short stacks were approaching ten to fifteen big blinds, the all-ins started to get called, and five players were knocked out in quick succession, four of them at the hands of Daniel Negreanu.

I arrived at the Casino at the Empire at about 9:00pm on Day Five, just after the dinner break. The remaining players Daniel Negreanu, Jason Mercier, Praz Bansi, and Barry Shulman were all deep stacked, with Praz Bansi holding a very slight chip lead over Daniel Negreanu.

Jason Mercier made a big re-raise pre-flop and Daniel called for more than 50% of his stack with 99. Jason's 77 didn't hold up, and we were down to three.

Daniel and Praz were chipping away at Barry Shulman, and he eventually pushed with JT on the button for about 14 big blinds, only to get called by Daniel Negreanu with AQ. Ten on the flop. Ten on the turn. Jack on the river. Jeez.

Praz Bansi then made a big re-raise on a Kigh high flop with K8. Barry Shulman called with KJ, which held up, leaving Bansi crippled. He was knocked by Daniel a few hands later when he pushed with Q2 and was called by AQ which held up.

12:30am and we're down to heads up with Daniel Negreanu hold a 60/40 chip lead against Barry Shulman. Negreanu's guaranteed second place put him on the top of the all-time poker tournament earnings list, a position that while well earned, is very likely to be superseded by Phil Ivey next month at the final table of the WSOP Main Event.

An hour and a half into heads up play, Negreanu raised on the button, Shulman called. On a King high flop with two hearts, Shulman bet out, and Negreanu announced All-in. Shulman called instantly with an Ace high flush draw. Negreanu had pocket Aces and was a 65% favourite to win the tournament. Alas a heart came on the turn and Barry took a commanding chip lead.

Daniel clawed back over a couple of hours, re-raising all-in numerous times, forcing Barry to fold, and eventually regaining the chip lead.

Then, 17 hours into the final table, on a flop of 58J with two diamonds, Shulman bet out, Daniel raised, the Barry announced all-in. Daniel was amused and chatted with the rail, trying to figure out whether to call. He eventually called with QJ suspecting Barry might be on a flush draw again. Alas, Barry had pocket Aces this time. Daniel had five outs, plus a back-door flush draw. Turn .... Jack!! The crowd roared. Daniel was now 95% to take down the tournament. River .... Ace!! Wow! Barry spikes a two-outer and takes a monster chip lead.

A few hands later, all the money goes in pre-flop. Daniel's pocket Fours is no much for Barry's pocket Tens. Barry Shulman wins the World Series of Poker Europe Main Event, and a dejected Daniel Negreanu almost cries during the post tournament interview.

It's 5:30am, and time to go home.

Blogging and Tweeting

2009-09-23T18:31:00.003+01:00

Without trying too hard, 2009 has just become my biggest blogging year since the peak of my MBA-themed blog of 2002.

Oh, and by the way, I've recently given in and joined the world of Twitter. You can find me at twitter.com/adrianhind

Arsenal v Wigan @ Emirates Stadium

2009-09-19T20:45:00.001+01:00

Arsenal v Wigan - 06
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Jason took to me see Arsenal v Wigan at Emirates Stadium in North London, hoping to turn me into an Arsenal supporter "before you start supporting Chelsea or Fulham". Amazing stadium. 59000 Arsenal supporters and about 200 Wigan supporters.

Arsenal smashed Wigan 4-0. Great day!

Full set of photos up on Flickr

Dinner at Brasserie Blanc, Oxford

2009-09-18T23:15:00.000+01:00

Visit to Blenheim Palace

2009-09-18T23:00:00.000+01:00

Blenheim Palace - 19
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Day out at Blenheim Palace with Margaret, Ian & Kath.

Check out the full set of photos on Flickr

Inglourious Basterds

2009-09-08T23:45:00.000+01:00

8.5 / 10

3 days in Edinburgh

2009-08-29T14:55:00.000+01:00

Edinburgh - 01
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

For my final adventure of the European summer, Margaret and I went to Edinburgh for three days to take in some of the Fringe Festival atmosphere.

We went to twelve shows in three days, including a couple of shows in other festivals:

Lola: The Life of Lola Montez
Robin Ince versus the Moral Majority
Steven K Amos - The Feelgood Factor
Scottish Ensemble / Tenebrae
The Oxford Imps
Kataklo Athletic Dance Theatre's Love Machines
Adam Hills - Inflatable
Minority Report w/ Ava Vidal
Words of Honour: The Mafia Exposed
Charley Boorman (Edinburgh International Book Festival)
Axis of Awesome - Infinity Rock Explosion
Blues Brothers - Live!

[smh] 'Putpockets' to secretly slip cash into bags and pockets

2009-08-24T13:11:00.002+01:00

Ok, this is a bit weird. But I wouldn't say no to an extra 'fiver'.

SMH blows the whistle on 30 years of inaction on Sydney public transport planning

2009-08-22T10:58:00.001+01:00

9 Days in Croatia

2009-08-20T21:00:00.001+01:00

Drvenik Veli - 01
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

3 days in Zagreb

1 day at Plitvice Lakes National Park

2 days in Supetar (Brac Island)

3 days in Trogir

Day trip to the island of Drvenik Veli

Full set of photos up on Flickr.

Australian sharemarket up 34.9% since March

2009-07-31T08:53:00.003+01:00

[the australian] The S&P/ASX200 "has now risen for five consecutive months and has soared 34.9 per cent since closing at five-and-a-half-year low of 3145.5 on March 6, a date that now appears to mark the bottom of the bruising global bear market."

Tour of Lord's - The Home of Cricket

2009-07-29T21:56:00.000+01:00

Tour of Lord's
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

As a follow up to our day at the Ashes at Lord's, Andrew and I went on the MCC Tour of Lord's today, an opportunity to see inside the Long Room, the Players' Dressing Rooms, and to visit the Investec Media Centre.

Full set of photos in the Tour of Lord's set on Flickr.

Lunch at wahaca, Covent Garden, London, UK

2009-07-27T14:30:00.001+01:00

Late Night Dinner at Les Quinze Nits, Barcelona, Spain

2009-07-24T01:00:00.001+01:00

Barcelona: Les Quinze Nits
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Ashes at Lord's

2009-07-20T20:00:00.000+01:00

Ashes at Lord's
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the first day of the second Ashes test at Lord's.

England won the toss and elected to bat, getting off to a good start with a fantastic opening partnership between Strauss and Cook. Australia fought back after lunch, with England ending the day at 6 for 364.

England went on to win the test, their first against Australia at Lord's since 1934.

Full set of photos in the Ashes at Lord's set on Flickr.

Phil Ivey in the November Nine

2009-07-17T07:15:00.002+01:00

Phil Ivey is in amazing form.

After winning two bracelets already at the 2009 WSOP, he is now a member of the November Nine, having survived a field of 6494 to make the final table of the $10,000 entry fee 2009 WSOP Main Event.

The tournament resumes on November 7th. The ESPN coverage should be awesome.

Dinner at The Marquis at Alkham, UK

2009-07-13T23:45:00.000+01:00

ENO's Madam Butterfly at the London Coliseum

2009-07-10T23:59:00.000+01:00

Drinks and dinner at The Cut Bar, London, UK

2009-07-09T23:00:00.000+01:00

Late night dinner at The Wolseley, London, UK

2009-07-08T23:59:00.001+01:00

Gin and tonic, at the bar

Deep fried Whitebait with tartare sauce

Medium rare Rib Eye Steak Frites

Gem heart salad

Minted peas

and a glass of The Wolseley Médoc 2004 Château Loudenne

Glastonbury 2009 - Recovery Day

2009-07-03T09:46:00.003+01:00

Glastonbury Highlights - 14
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Sunday was very much recovery day at Glastonbury. Lots of exhausted festival go-ers sprawled out on the few remaining patches of grass. The smell from the toilets, the trash, and all the people who had gone five days without a shower, permeated throughout the campsite.

We slept in, then packed up our campsite in preparation for a middle of the night departure to avoid the massive queues on the Monday.

We finished the festival with an inspired performance by Nick Cave and Bad Seeds on the Pyramid stage, then raved to The Prodigy for a short, but incredibly energetic performance on the Other Stage, before making our way back to London.

I arrived home at 5:55am on Monday morning, had a long shower, and then pretty much slept for the entire day.

Full set of photos are in the Glastonbury 2009 set on Flickr.

Glastonbury 2009 - Bruce Springsteen

2009-07-03T09:34:00.002+01:00

Bruce Springsteen - 02
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band was the headline act on the Saturday night, performing a two and a half hour set, including a six song encore.

So much energy, barely a rest between songs, and lots of involvement with the crowd.

It was great to see Steven van Zandt (a.k.a. Silvio Dante from The Sopranos) back in his original role lead guitar role for the E Street Band.

Glastonbury 2009 - Kasabian

2009-07-03T09:19:00.002+01:00

Kasabian
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

To be honest, I didn't know much about Kasabian prior to going to Glastonbury. From what I understand, they're much bigger in the UK than they are in Australia.

Their set on the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday evening was awesome. Great live sound, and a very involved and passionate crowd. Definitely worth seeing again.

Glastonbury 2009 - Spinal Tap perform "Stonehenge"

2009-07-03T09:09:00.002+01:00

Spinal Tap - 03
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Spinal Tap reformed for their 25th anniversary, complete with new drummer, for a set on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday afternoon.

The highlight was undoubtedly Stonehenge.

Glastonbury 2009 - Lady GaGa

2009-07-03T09:04:00.002+01:00

Lady GaGa
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Lady GaGa put on a fantastic performance on the Other Stage on the Friday night, including an acoustic version of Poker Face. In her 75 minute set, she did three outfit changes, including a Madonna-esque boob flamethrower!

Glastonbury 2009 - Muddy Friday

2009-07-03T08:53:00.002+01:00

Muddy Festival Site on Friday
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

On the Thursday night we had a downpour. As the rain cleared on the Friday morning, the masses descended onto the festival site, creating a sea of mud. Good thing we brought along our Wellington boots.

Glastonbury 2009 - Setting up Camp

2009-07-03T08:46:00.002+01:00

Setting up Camp - 03
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

177,500 festival go-ers, 10000+ staff, 14000 toilets, 5 days of camping and music.

This is the calm before the storm. The grass is green. The tent site is clean, and I'm still feeling fresh.

Five days in the Scottish Highlands

2009-06-23T00:26:00.004+01:00

Urquhart Castle
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

To kick off my time in the UK, I went up to the Scottish Highlands for a few days of hiking and sightseeing.

The Man in Seat Sixty-One had given me the tip-off on the Caledonian Sleeper, a very comfortable overnight train from London's Euston station to Fort William, complete with single sleeper cabins, and a classy lounge carriage with a good range of whiskies on the menu.

I did the hosteling thing again, for the first time in about nine years; lamented the fact that it rained pretty heavily almost non-stop for the first three days, preventing my attempt at the summit of Ben Nevis; hired a dodgy rental car and drove to the Isle of Skye; visited the Talisker distillery (yum!); did some hiking in the Cuillins; and saw Urquhart Castle (pictured) and Loch Ness.

Full set of photos in the Scottish Highlands 2009 set on Flickr.

Phil Ivey wins seventh WSOP Bracelet

2009-06-15T10:33:00.000+01:00

Phil Ivey has won another bracelet, his second of the 2009 WSOP, in Event 25 - $2,500 Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo 8-or-better, besting a field of 376 with a final table that included Chad Brown, Blair Rodman, Dutch Boyd, Jon (PearlJammer) Turner and Carlos Mortensen. First place prize money was $220,538 (plus, no doubt, a few more million in bracelet bets).

There are some particular pros that are really shining in this year's WSOP. Phil Ivey has won two bracelets. Brock Parker (a.k.a. t_soprano online) has won two bracelets, including a thrilling heads up victory against Daniel Negreanu in Event 14 - $2,500 Six-handed Limit Hold'em. Ville Wahlbeck, winner of the much coveted Event 12 - $10,000 World Championship Mixed Event (HORSE + Deuce to Seven Triple Draw + PLO + NLHE) also finished in the money in the first four $10,000 World Championship events 2nd place in the No Limit Deuce to Seven Draw and 3rd place in Seven Card Stud.

In the UK, selected final tables are being broadcast live on PKR.com

Lunch at Petersham Nurseries, Richmond, UK

2009-06-14T07:15:00.000+01:00

Lunch at Petersham Nurseries
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Prosciutto with Smashed Peas & Mint on Bruschetta

Beef Skirt with Camone tomatoes, Chard & Anchovy Butter

Raspberry Sorbet

All in a gorgeous garden nursery setting.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Dinner and beers at The Boaters Inn, Kingston Upon Thames, UK

2009-06-13T06:45:00.000+01:00

Dinner at Espetus Churrascaria, San Francisco

2009-06-09T07:30:00.000+01:00

(Unlimited) "meat cooked on skewers over an open fire, and brought straight to the table where it is carved directly onto your plate." Oh, and there's also a salad bar. Brilliant!

Monterey Bay Aquarium, California

2009-06-06T23:00:00.000+01:00

Monterey Bay Aquarium - Kelp Forest
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

While I'm not exactly a marine biology aficionado, I must say that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is by far the best aquarium that I've ever been to. Sea otters, seahorses, jelly fish, and some brilliant rocky shore and kelp forest exhibits.

Follow the photo link for selected highlights on Flickr.

9 / 10.

Driving Big Sur

2009-06-05T16:45:00.000+01:00

Big Sur
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

The drive along Big Sur from San Simeon to Monterey is absolutely fantastic. Absolutely incredible coastline. Very little development. And a thoroughly enjoyable winding road to drive along.

Phil Ivey wins sixth Bracelet ... and millions of dollars in side bets

2009-06-05T07:30:00.000+01:00

Now here's a poker game one doesn't get to play very often: No-Limit Deuce to Seven Single Draw ... "considered by many to be the most skillful game of the various poker disciplines."

In Event 8 of the 2009 WSOP Phil Ivey bested a field of 147 to win a mere $96,361 in prize money, plus several million dollars in Bracelet bets. The heads up match lasted about three and a half hours, with the lead going back and forth several times. Phil Ivey would consistently chip away at his opponent John Monnette, making well-timed raises and some very very good marginal calls. As the blinds increased, there were some big swings towards the end. John Monnette doubled up, then doubled up again to take the chip. Phil Ivey quickly doubled up to regain the chip lead. Then all the money went into the pot in a raise, re-raise, all-in pre-draw hand. "Ivey had 7-6-4-2, while Monnette held 9-7-5-2. John Monnette showed his card first, revealing another seven, meaning that he was drawing dead. Phil Ivey turned over the five for the winning hand and his sixth WSOP gold bracelet, his first since 2005."

I was fortunate enough to watch some of the heads up match live on bluffmagazine.com. Deuce to Seven is one of the few poker games that makes sense when you watch it live (i.e. without hole card cameras) as there is no flop, and you can focus on the players, their betting patterns, and their tells, without having to worry too much about their hole cards.

Update (07 June): Some great photos of the final table are up on PokerRoad.

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California

2009-06-05T00:45:00.000+01:00

Hearst Castle - Neptune Pool
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Of course, a road trip up the California Central Coast is not complete without a visit to Hearst Castle.

Follow the photo link for selected highlights on Flickr.

Australia avoids recession

2009-06-03T03:22:00.000+01:00

[the australian] "Australia has avoided a recession after a surprise burst in the nation's trade surplus saved the economy from negative growth... the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed today that the economy for the March quarter grew by 0.4 per cent."

Update: ... and the S&P/ASX 200 closed above 4000 for the first time in 7 months.

Yosemite National Park, California

2009-06-02T06:01:00.001+01:00

Half Dome
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Three days in Yosemite National Park. Awesome.

Full set of photos here.

Bodie State Historic Park, California

2009-06-02T04:28:00.001+01:00

Bodie State Historic Park
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

On the drive from Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park, I took a side trip to Bodie State Historic Park. Bodie is "a genuine California gold mining ghost town" that thrived in the late 1800s, declined in the early 1900s, was eventually abandoned, and was designated a state historic park in 1962.

Full set of photos here.

Hiking to Eagle Lake and beyond

2009-05-27T23:31:00.001+01:00

Hiking to Eagle Lake and beyond
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

This morning I went hiking to the fantastic Eagle Lake (seen here) just off Lake Tahoe in California, and then attempted to get up to Velma Lake and Dicks Lake, but was beaten by nature as the trail was covered in snow beyond 7600 feet.

Farewell Dinner at Bathers' Pavilion, Balmoral Beach

2009-05-23T14:59:00.000+01:00

Quail for entree, Barramundi for main, Strawberry and Rhuburb for dessert, all washed down with a 10yr old Pepper Tree Grand Reserve Cab Sav. Nice!

James Gardner writes a letter to the Architects

2009-05-21T22:54:00.004+01:00

"Dear Architect,

...we don't think we should have to pay for a "business process management" platform or implement "service orientation" so that future propositions that might come along have lower costs. If you want to build out "cool" architecture, you must find your own way to fund the bits and pieces that you need, rather than loading us up with costs."

The full letter can be found on James' blog.

Such is the dilemma of the way computer systems are designed and built in the corporate environment. An effective architect in a corporate environment needs to be forward thinking, yet practical and aware of cost and time pressures that their "customer" faces.

In my experience, effective architecture involves laying out a roadmap for technology choices, integration platforms, services orientation, etc, etc, and then spending a significant amount of time lobbying business users, other IT stakeholders, project and program boards, and C-level management for endorsement of that architectural roadmap.

It's a game of two steps forward, one step backwards, two steps forward. Some business systems projects will still need to go tactical, but as long as they go tactical with the support and understanding of the architects, then plans can be put in place to bring those systems back onto the architectural roadmap when the funding and/or time allows.

Dinner at kelly's Bar and Grill, Bondi Junction

2009-05-19T13:45:00.000+01:00

Bitter harvest for agri schemes

2009-05-17T22:02:00.003+01:00

[the australian] "AUSTRALIA'S managed investment scheme industry was dealt a crushing blow yesterday with the collapse of the biggest agribusiness investment company, Great Southern.
...

"One of the big red flags for agricultural managed investment schemes was the amount of money they had to pay advisers in order to promote their products," Australian Shareholders Association chief executive Stuart Wilson said last night. "There has always been some concern about the tax breaks provided for investors in these schemes and it brought into question whether they were really sustainable over the long term ... and now that two substantial schemes of managers have gone under, it leads us to believe that those who were the pessimists may actually have been right."

My accountant kept trying to push this tax break scheme onto me for years, but I kept saying no and eventually switched to another accountant who actually focused on getting the tax return right rather than trying to cross-sell this high-commission / low-return investment product.

The ultimate 2009 UK music festival map

2009-05-17T01:51:00.000+01:00

[TimesOnline] "From the big-name festivals like Glastonbury and Isle of Wight, to the more intimate affairs of Wychwood and The Green Man, right through to the summer's opera must-sees at Glyndebourne, we've researched more than 60 festivals and brought them together on one handy map."

Dawn at Coogee pools

2009-05-17T01:47:00.003+01:00

Ross Jones Memorial Pool, Coogee
Originally uploaded by adrianhind

Up at 4:45am today for some early morning photography at Coogee pools

Betting on the house

2009-05-13T22:25:00.003+01:00

[smh] "Think house prices here are going to fall? Soon you'll be able to short-sell Sydney housing, by taking out a derivative contract based on indices compiled by Rismark/RPData and quoted daily on the sharemarket."

Now this is an interesting concept, a way to get some exposure to the property market (either on the long or the short side), without have to take on a massive mortgage.

Star Trek (2009)

2009-05-12T13:45:00.002+01:00

J.J. Abrams reboots the Star Trek franchise. Impressive cinematography. Great new (young) cast playing the roles of Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Scotty, Uhura, and Chekov in a alternate Star Trek universe this is fun, well-conceived, and action paced.

9 / 10

Dinner at Scenic Hotel, Norton Summit (South Australia)

2009-05-09T13:30:00.000+01:00