[smh] New east-west line may cut congestion

NSW Govt unveils plans for a metro-style rail line connecting Malabar to West Ryde. Great idea!

CIO Tenure

Continuing the theme of 18 months, it would seem that the average CIO tenure is almost 6 years - significantly more than the industry urband legend that the average CIO lasts just 18 months.

18 Achievements in 18 Months

It's been eighteen months since my last post, so I thought I'd put together a summary of 18 of my most significant / memorable achievements in the past 18 months. Trust me - all of these are true.

1. Avoided spilling the beans about an exciting phase in the growth of the business that I work for (hmmm... what's the point of having a blog?)
2. Implemented an Imaging and Workflow solution for the core business of a prominant Australian health fund
3. Hired several people much smarter and more experienced than myself
4. Got re-certified as a Microsoft Certified Professional (yes - I'm part of the global army convincing you to buy more licenses for Microsoft Office)
5. Cleared all of the debts associated with taking two years out of one's career to do a full-time MBA and dabble in early-stage start-ups
6. Survived 17 months in Sydney without owning a car or clocking up thousands of dollars in taxi fares
7. Borrowed a friend's car for the final month (don't worry Kate - I'll take good care of it while you're in the UK)
8. Got classified as a smoker by an insurance company because I enjoy the occassional cigar (no more than 6 per year)
9. Got through the subsequent 12 months without a cigar so that I could save 30% on my income protection insurance
10. Travelled 7000 kilometres by 4WD around the Kimberley region in Outback Australia
11. 'Tramped' the Routeburn Track and visited Milford Sound in New Zealand
12. Went to the Adelaide Festival of Arts and the Adelaide Fringe Festival in an old ute that broke down in the streets of the Adelaide CBD at one o'clock in the morning
13. 'Couriered' 1000 pairs of surgical rubber gloves into Indonesia
14. Met all thirty-five living descendants of my grandfather at a special 90th birthday celebration weekend that we held for him at Barrington Tops
15. Went to Perth for a surprise weekend for my mother, sampled some of Perth's finest restaurants, and spent the best part of a day at a travel agent organising the family holiday to Dubai, Wales, England, France, and Italy at the end of the year.
16. Avoided reading The Da Vinci Code or seeing the movie
17. Watched all of Seasons One to Five of The West Wing ... more than once.
18. Made a conscious decision that it might be time to purchase my first property at some stage in the next 12 months.

Discs jockey for position in battle of standards

Yet another standards war.

Pay rises tipped as hi-tech heats up

"...IT salaries rose by 10 to 15 per cent in 2004, with movement at middle levels in particular ..."

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.