Slicker in the city? It ain't necessarily so

A study conducted by the University of Canberra's National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling (Natsem) using census data from 1996 and 2001 reveals that the high cost of accommodation in Sydney and Melbourne in comparison to other cities and country areas pretty much levels out the disposible incomes of all us in Australia.

This is a dangerous conclusion. I don't think it's reasonable to take the 'average' income and 'average' housing cost for Sydney and compare it to other cities and towns in Australia, especially consider the vast number of people that commute from the Central Coast and Wollongong area to Sydney on a daily basis, thereby earning "Sydney" incomes while experiencing "major urban area" housing costs.

Three more years under the Coalition...

...with the balance of power in the Senate possibly held by Church affiliated Family First party.

I'd better hurry up and start a family to take advantage of baby bonuses, first home-owners grants, and all the other family-orientated policies that the government will be churning out.

Three days in the Central West

Taking advantage of the Labour Day public holiday on last weekend, some friends and I ventured over the hills and far away to
Central West NSW, staying in a lovely B&B in Parkes, and visiting the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope (star of The Dish), the Peak Hill Open-cut Gold Mine, an alpaca farm, and the oasis-like Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo. With digital camera in tow, I thought I'd let the pictures do the talking for what was, overall, an enjoyable weekend and a chance to soak up some sunshine in preparation for the Sydney summer.

Branson to turn space travel into a six-figure adventure

Richard Branson's Virgin transport, entertainment and communications group has signed an agreement with pioneering aviation designer Burt Rutan to build an aircraft based on Rutan's SpaceShipOne vessel. SpaceShipOne cracked the barrier to manned commercial space flight in June by flying 328,491 feet, or about 62 miles, above Earth -- about 400 feet above the distance scientists widely consider to be the boundary of space. The flight lasted 90 minutes. The new service will be called Virgin Galactic and expects to fly 3,000 new astronauts in its first five years. Fares will start at US$208,000 for a suborbital flight, including three days' training.

New item for the personal To Do list: become an astronaut by 2015. I missed out on flying the concorde, but this one might be within reach.

Qantas plots course with Jetstar Asia

Yet another Qantas subsidiary. Although technically, with a 49% stake, Qantas will only be a minor shareholder in Jetstar Asia.

SMH Hunter Uncorked

Great solution for an emerging wine enthusiast without a car. The Sydney Morning Herald "Hunter Uncorked" event at The Rocks on Oct 16th / 17th will be a wonderful opportunity to try out a few wines, and stock up the cellar.

MBA or MIS?

The AFR BOSS Magazine published its annual survey of Australian MBA courses last week. As expected Melbourne Business School was identified as one of the top two; the other being none other than AGSM. Of course, MBS and AGSM are the only Australian b-schools that require a GMAT, the only Australian b-schools that have an active and well-funded alumni community, and the only Australian b-schools that regularly make it into the top 100 in global MBA surveys.

AFR BOSS have identified a second-tier of MBA programs with a fairly exclusive membership of just three - Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM), Monash University, and University of Western Australia. I've always thought of MGSM as the number three, and a good option if your a Sydneysider closer to 40 than 30. Monash and UWA will be interesting to watch over the next few years. Other than a former accountant of mine in Melbourne, I'm yet to meet an alumnus of the MBA programs at Monash and UWA.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a launch event for the Master of Information Systems degree from another alma mater of mine, the School of Information Systems, Technology, and Management (SISTM) at UNSW. As an alumnus of the Bachelor of Science in Business Information Technology degree (commonly referred to as BIT) at SISTM, and with my recent experiences as a member of the active MBS alumni community, I've started getting involved in some SISTM-related alumni opportunities in recent months; including acting as a guest lecturer, and laying some of the groundwork for a major upgrade in functionality and processes surrounding the BIT student/alumni website.

While it's definitely not suited for me (I still have aspirations of being a generalist business person, despite my current role back in the IT industry), the Master of Information Systems degree at SISTM definitely has its merits. The content has a slight overlap with the MBA, especially when it comes to HR management, and team leadership, but it's all structured around the reasonably unique challenges that face senior IT/IS managers and CIOs. It's been accredited by the ACS, and should be starting with a cohort of about 20 - 30 students in 2005. If you're three to five years into your IT/IS career and looking for a bit of an academic sabbatical before you make you next move into management, this could would be ideal for you.

Kids Cancer Corporate Quiz

I meant to blog about this on the weekend, but I left my laptop (and my mobile phone charger ;-) at work...

On Friday night, I had the honour of attending the Kids Cancer Corporate Quiz at the Darling Harbour Convention Centre here in Sydney. This was a huge fundraising event the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children, emceed by none other than Enough Rope star Andrew Denton.

71 teams of 10, paying, I believe, $2000 per table, plus auctions for scores of donated prizes (I put in a bid for some Polo sunglasses, but was soon outbid by someone with more spare cash in their pocket). All up, the event would have easily raised over $200,000 for charity.

Our team, Hind Sight, finished a respectable 8th. The winners: a bunch of lawyers from Clayton Utz.

The Sopranos picks up Best Drama at the Emmys

The Emmys were announced today. Apologies to mad keen Aussies planning to watch the delayed broadcast on Channel 10 tonight, but as a keen Sopranos and West Wing fan, I'm pleased to annouce that The Sopranos has finally picked up Best Drama Series for Season Five, Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg in The West Wing) pipped Edie Falco (Carmela Soprano) at the post for Best Actress in a Drama Series, and surprisingly, Drea de Matteo picked up Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as ill-fated Adriana La Cerva in The Sopranos. James Gandolfini (none other than Tony Soprano) has finally been beaten for Best Actor in a Drama Series; the trophy now goes to James Spader for his role as sleazebag lawyer Alan Shore in the new season of The Practice (currently showing on Channel 7).

Abolish the states

I didn't expect this one to become a campaign issue, but the idea definitely has some merit... One result would be that our hospitals would get the federal attention they deserve, and the Greens definitely have a point about the multiple governments involved in managing the Murray-Darling catchment.