PINK for Cancer

Chrissy Geldard had a money raising night for breast cancer.
She mentioned that we should wear something pink.

Storms

Had a little storm damage earlier this week at work. No major building damage - but it did suck the extractor fans out of the roof!

In print again...

Cover story in the national magazine of the Lutheran Church! YAY! Unfortunately you can't read the article online... And you can't buy this magazine in your average newsagent... but the cover shot is nice!

The October Lutheran
(After this month this link will change to the latest Lutheran magazine)

BGG Update

For those of you holding out for a Badly update - HERE IT IS!

Lots has been happening in the world of Gardening at the Schultz's. Along with Brad's birthday came many gardening gifts - seeds, gnomes, lights, hoses, fertilizer, mulch... etc I thank all those that contributed.

I've decided to label these photos in the interest of historical scientific recording.

The Original Badly Grown Garden:


Badly Number 2:


Benly Grown Garden:

Mad Hot Brewery

As part of a special combined birthday celebration for 2005, Ben/Sarah/Di/Brad have embarked on a journey. A beer-brewing journey. These photos document those first tentative steps...

Working out what to do...
Super-Beer-Ben, complete with eye protection for exploding bottles, rubber hammer for putting caps on and foam bottle draniers.


On our second brew already - sterilising bottles for Ginger Beer

Breezo's Getting Married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes! You read right! Ben Briese, last bastion of Aussie 20-something single masculinity is engaged! To Charlene, who's surname eludes me for the moment (feel free to post a comment Ben!). Di and I had the pleasure of 'hanging out' via Skype with Ben and Charlene on Saturday and I can only say that we're incredibly excited and happy to hear the news!

CONGRATULATIONS BEN AND CHARLENE!!!!!!!!!!!

BOOK REVIEW!!! "Code Name: Ginger"

By Steve Kemper

This is a book about Dean Kamen and the development of the Segway “human transporter”. My boss gave it to me to read, because in many ways it’s a parallel (albeit on a larger scale) to the life of Vigil Systems (the company I work for). It’s about developing a great idea, about dealing with technical problems, egos, money hungry venture capitalists and trying to do something that is going to have a positive impact on the world.

As an engineer, I can see that many of issues and quotes are VERY relevant to my work at Vigil:

“I don’t have to invent anything. It’s out there somewhere if I can just find it and integrate it. Inventing is frustrating, it’s dangerous, it’s expensive, and inventors should avoid it whenever possible. Be a systems integrator” – Dean Kamen

Dean Kamen is an extremely interesting individual. A classic eccentric, self-made American billionaire. A REALLY smart guy, with a real desire to do great things for the world.

"I don't work on a project unless I believe that it will dramatically improve life for a bunch of people." – Dean Kamen

This desire to do good is matched by a massive ego and indulgent spending on items such as a expensive cars, huge estate with whacky technical house, private jet, helicopters (that he flies himself). He once thought of some improvements that could be made to his helicopter, so bought the helicopter company... He also holds on to power and ownership of his company with an iron fist, paying his staff little and working them hard… (that’s not as paralleled at Vigil)

He, and many other billionaires such as Steve Jobs in the book, seem to be so naïve in many ways. They believed, without ANY historical precedent, that the Segway was going to radically change the world within a year of their launch, that it would be the fastest growing startup in history and that they were all going to make billions and billions of dollars. None of that has happened and it’s been out for about 3 years now.

It should be compulsory reading for all engineers. A great case study on how to (and how not to) bring ideas into reality.

Night of Nights

It's over... or maybe not...

We had our last Sur Taj supper - and it was a biggie. We even had entrees. A rarety, since the size of Sur Taj meals makes entrees an over-indulgence.

The damage done:

Us with our heroes:
This sign won't actually be changing we don't think. But thought it was worth taking the photo on such an occasion:

Jo and Mikey (from Canberra) were there too - taking the above photos. I'm sure there'll be more pictures of them over the weekend...

I'll be sure to report back with our experiences once the handover of Sur Taj to Benny has taken place. Benny and his wife and 2 kids are from Kerala, South India. Nazeem and family were from North India. Benny's keeping the same menu initially, but it may develop over time.

I sort of feel like when Adam and Wil finished at the Js.