[OPEN] The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

[Cassiopeia]

Just wanted to wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season

 

[Swart]

By way of announcement, I will most likely be going to Brainshare in March next year which is held in SLC. I will also probably extend the trip by a couple of weeks and make a holiday of it.

I may even see if I can extend it to attend General Conference.

 

[A New Dawn]

Sounds like fun. You gonna come and visit any of us while you're here?

 

[Swart]

Sounds like fun. You gonna come and visit any of us while you're here?

I wouldn't mind organising a day in the mix to get together with some CF personalities. Probably the easiest thing to do would be to book lunch at a restaurant somewhere. I could probably do a "church crawl" as well (if my wife will let me!)

I'll be spending nearly a couple of weeks at Brainshare and my wife wants to visit Arizona for a week. I also would like to get to GC, so we'll probably fly out on the 9th April. That leaves the week before GC "for fun". I also plan on spending a couple of days in LA on the way in.

There are lots of places I'd like to visit, however this will officially be a business trip, so my options are very limited. Of course, if anyone is in dire need of a Network Engineer, I'm sure something could be arranged.

 

[Apex]

cost $1595???? I hope your getting a lot of free stuff there.

 

[A New Dawn]

Yeah, maybe it covers airfare.

 

[Swart]

cost $1595???? I hope your getting a lot of free stuff there.

The usual trinkets: a backpack, t-shirt, conference food , geek stuff and some form of ridiculous clothing that makes it obvious you are at a conference. Ten people at random will get a free notebook computer.

Last time I went to Brainshare they made the mistake of giving out laser pointers before the keynote speech. The chick that was giving it tried to use her laser pointer on the PP presentation (Death by PP) and half-a-dozen laser pointers conveged on the screen. Of course, her mistake was to get uptight about it. That encouraged a few more laser people to join in, with some using the LPers to highlight popular parts of her anatomy.

The advantage of Brainshare is that you get to speak directly to the developers and backline engineers. You get to see what will be available over the next 12 months and attend breakout sessions to cover the nitty-gritty. It's quite intense and guaranteed to leave you with a mushy brain after five days. With the Novell-Microsoft announcement, I've decided can't afford to miss this one.

 

[Swart]

Since this is my first trip to SLC, I'm thinking it would be cool to organise a get together for interested UT participants. What I'm proposing is a picnic on the Saturday of GC "somewhere" (I don't know the place so I'm open to suggestions for picnic or if someone knows a great lunch spot that caters for groups).

Due to group dynamics, I propose the following:

1. Must be a participant of UT for at least one year
2. No discussion of religion or politics at the picnic/lunch
3. No outrageous clothing or clothing with slogans that may offend
4. We all attend as friends

My hope is that we will tend to be nicer to people online when we have met them in real life.

If you are interested in attending, PM me. I will provide a list of all attendees to those attending.

 

[Swart]

Well, I finally got time to encode the pictures.

The following is my youngest son swimming in the resort pool:

The following photos were taken near here.

Crossing the Tea Tree creek en route to the Caloola coast. The creek is almost black due to the saturation of tea tree oil in the water:

My eldest son playing cricket on the beach along the Caloola coast:

My wife and MIL:

My other two sons swimming in the surf:

For those interested, I wrote the following script to resize the uploaded pictures into various sizes:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Linux Shell Scrip to convert JPEG images
#
# Written by Swart
#

if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
echo "Error - Filename missing from command line argument"
echo "Syntax : $0 filename"
exit 1
fi
echo "Converting $# files: "

mkdir web
mkdir sml
mkdir med

while [ "$1" != "" ]
do
  echo converting $1. Remaining files: `expr $# - 1`
  convert $1 -resize 320x240 web/web-$1
  convert $1 -resize 480x320 sml/sml-$1
  convert $1 -resize 640x480 med/med-$1
  shift
done

 

[Swart]

Continued...

The kids and their GPs near the Ginger Factory:

Picking up our new dog, a Bichon Frise:

My wife and eldest son at the Ginger Factory:

Going out to dinner on the last day of our holiday:

 

[A New Dawn]

Nice pictures, Swart! Looks like you had a good time. Is your family coming with you to the states?

 

[Swart]

Nice pictures, Swart! Looks like you had a good time.

It was except for a bit of drama when I left the handbrake of the 4WD on whilst driving the last section of beach. I was distracted by the fact I had mistimed the timed tides and I was forced to park on the soft sand and wait for the tide to turn, plus I was worried I would miss the ferry. Fortunately I made it onto the sealed road before the brakes seized up (tow trucks won't venture onto the sand).

A passing good Samaritan took my family back to the resort whilst I cooled my heels and contemplated my stupidity whilst waiting for the tow truck to arrive.

Is your family coming with you to the states?

My wife will accompany me but the kids will be staying with their GPs. I would love to have taken them but this is officially a business trip and the cost would have been prohibitive. Besides, this will only be the fourth time since we've had kids that we've gone anywhere without them. Also, I couldn't imagine 2 ADHD kids sitting still on a plane for 20 hours or so.

We will be flying via Japan on the 15th and stopping over for one night. Next day we fly into Minneapolis/St Paul, twiddle our thumbs for a couple of hours and then fly to SLC in the afternoon.

The conference starts on the 18th and goes through to the 23rd, after that it's our play time for a week followed by General Conference. After that we'll make our way down to Arizona to visit some more friends and pop over the border into Mexico for a day. Then it's back to SLC where we fly out on the 9th April.

I'm having a hard time narrowing down the conference sessions I'm going to attend. There are 24 sessions and my shortlist is currently 68 sessions that I can't afford to miss. Fortunately I've managed to persuade one of my colleagues to go. That way we can swap notes during the brief breaks we get.

On the downside, the company I contract through has been the subject of a reverse takeover - that's where Company A buys Company B but in the process of integration, Company B's managers take complete control over the organisation. It's a really weird situation and the upshot is that Company A was an Engineering company whilst Company B was a services company (they project manage and partner).

I used to report to the Engineering Manager, now I report to the Operations Manager. I met with him for the first time last Friday and got the distinct impression he was less than happy he had some lone gun like me wandering around his client sites totally uncontrolled by him. He seemed even less happy when I told him that most of my work was self generated. I'm sure he feels that Account Managers are the one's who do the selling and they sell only approved "service packages". Typically these packages will be very expensive and include a generic inhouse system heavy on commercial software products and loaded with their IP. A team of professionals will deploy the solution over a period of weeks to months.

In contrast, my solutions are site-specific, usually built around open source software and are usually developed in a few days. Much to the disgust of other engineers, most of my solutions utilise self-modifying code somewhere in there.

What this means is that I can't see where I fit in the new organisation. Even in the old one I was always at the fringe. When I return I may find 60% of my income has dried up and I'll have to look for a new source.

 

[A New Dawn]

Ouch! They are paying for the trip (conference-wise), or is it all out of your pocket?

 

[Swart]

Ouch! They are paying for the trip (conference-wise), or is it all out of your pocket?

As a contractor, I pay for everything myself. So far I've spent about $8,000 in travel, accommodation, conference fees and taxes.

 

[gort]

I used to report to the Engineering Manager, now I report to the Operations Manager. I met with him for the first time last Friday and got the distinct impression he was less than happy he had some lone gun like me wandering around his client sites totally uncontrolled by him. He seemed even less happy when I told him that most of my work was self generated.

I forsee a meeting and a report with the beancounter shortly....


Alas poor Swart....they knew him well...

 

[Moriah_Conquering_Wind]

It not only LOOKS like it say that...he IS 25. I am 46.

BAD CASI BAD!!!

Dang, that would be like marrying one of my kids.

 

[Swart]

I forsee a meeting and a report with the beancounter shortly.....

Bean counters I don't mind. I can always justify my costs and I represent a revenue centre not a cost centre. I always bill for less than what they charge the client - even if that means ringing the client and asking how much they were charged by the company. They have never lost money out of me - if I go over time due to unforseen factors or scope creep, then I don't bill for that extra time.

 

[skylark1]

Since this is my first trip to SLC, I'm thinking it would be cool to organise a get together for interested UT participants. What I'm proposing is a picnic on the Saturday of GC "somewhere" (I don't know the place so I'm open to suggestions for picnic or if someone knows a great lunch spot that caters for groups).

Due to group dynamics, I propose the following:

1. Must be a participant of UT for at least one year
2. No discussion of religion or politics at the picnic/lunch
3. No outrageous clothing or clothing with slogans that may offend
4. We all attend as friends

My hope is that we will tend to be nicer to people online when we have met them in real life.

If you are interested in attending, PM me. I will provide a list of all attendees to those attending.

This is the same weekend as Easter. I've already made plans for that weekend, but I hope that you all have fun.

It wouldn't have ever occurred to me to request that people refrain from wearing clothing that is outrageous or offensive. If I respect someone enough to take the time to meet with them, I would hope that I hold enough respect for them to trust however they choose to dress.

Swart, if you are driving to Arizona from SLC, I hope that you have time to stop at Zion National Park.

 

[Swart]

This is the same weekend as Easter. I've already made plans for that weekend, but I hope that you all have fun.

No. GC is on the week before Easter - March 31st - April 1st. It is usually the first full weekend of April, but that would have conflicted with Easter, hence the change. When I planned the trip, I thought it was the following weekend which is why I'm flying out on the 9th April.

It wouldn't have ever occurred to me to request that people refrain from wearing clothing that is outrageous or offensive. If I respect someone enough to take the time to meet with them, I would hope that I hold enough respect for them to trust however they choose to dress.

Unfortunately, I'm working from experience on this one. I'm mainly referring to slogans on T-shirts rather than any dress standard.

Swart, if you are driving to Arizona from SLC, I hope that you have time to stop at Zion National Park.

I hope to do so.

Thanks for the tip!

 

[skylark1]

No. GC is on the week before Easter - March 31st - April 1st. It is usually the first full weekend of April, but that would have conflicted with Easter, hence the change. When I planned the trip, I thought it was the following weekend which is why I'm flying out on the 9th April.

I had forgotten that LDS Conference weekend sometimes starts in September or March. Maybe it is planned around the first Sunday that falls in October or April. Since April 1 is a Sunday this year, that would fit. I am certain that Conference weekend has fallen on Easter before. I recall noticing the empty parking lots on my way to church, and some comments made by others about LDS not holding church services on Easter if it coincides with conference weekend.

Unfortunately, I'm working from experience on this one. I'm mainly referring to slogans on T-shirts rather than any dress standard.

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience in the past. I think that since we all claim to be Christians, that we should just trust each other to not wear offenisve slogans on t-shirts. I don't. I doubt that others who post here would do so either.

I hope to do so.

Thanks for the tip!

It is so beautiful there!