Archive for April, 2006

Cons, Expos and Shiny Stuff

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

Been busy….very busy.
Conflux is taking up pretty much all of my spare time – spare time being defined as time not spent sleeping, working, or talking to Ceywren ;)
By the way, for those who were wondering, my “I don’t want to talk about it post” was in reference to my server (and therefore this site, the Cumulo-Nimbus site, my parents’ site, my brothers site, the CSFG site, and the Conflux site, not to mention my email) going off line for a week – not any personal dramas.
I still don’t want to talk about it though….bah

Conjure
I’ve just spent a week up in Queensland, went to Conjure – this year’s National Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention – and the Brisbane Supanova pop-culture Expo.
Conjure was lots of fun – my first full-Con experience. Highlights for me were the Kaffekatsch with Kim Wilkins, and talking to Jennifer Fallon till after midnight in the bar. Kim and Jenny are both wonderful people and everyone should buy their books ;)
I’m not going to do a full report, ’cause I actually didn’t go to many of the panels – I mostly spent time meeting people, going out to lunch, drinking in the bar and consuming too much vodka and lime cordial out of tiny little cups at Nicole’s Outcast room party ;) Besides, I never end up doing reports anyway, so I’m not going to get anyone’s hopes up.
All in all it was an excellent Con. There were a few minor things that I think we could learn from and try to avoid for Conflux, but also a few things that I think we’ll be pretty hard pressed to top too.

Supanova
Supanova was pretty good too. I actually spent most of the time sitting in our booth, and didn’t attend any sessions, or even do any shopping (Though I would’ve if I’d been able to figure out how to get Weta’s Gandalf on Shadowfax statue home without paying a fortune in excess baggage…hehe)
I met Bruce and Chris from Cool Shite on the Tube again, though unfortunately didn’t get a chance to catch up since I had to leave early both days (the first to go to dinner with my sister, and the second to get to the airport), but anyway – Hi guys, it was good to see you again!

Shiny Stuff
Bought a whole heap of Kim Wilkins’s books at Conjure.
And today I accidentally went to JB HiFi and ended up spending over $100 on music…
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” and “Calling All Stations”
David Gilmour’s new one – “On an Island”
Lacuna Coil’s “Karmacode”
and “The Dark Saga” by Iced Earth.
I also picked up Kate Forsyth’s second Rhiannon’s Ride book to give myself something to read over lunch.
I was only supposed to be getting groceries ;)

Well that sucked….

Wednesday, April 12th, 2006

Ok, I’m back.

No, I don’t want to talk about it.

Want to feel 30 years younger?

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006

…..um, no thank you mr spammer. ’cause then I wouldn’t be born yet for another seven weeks…

Ping…

Monday, April 3rd, 2006

hmmm, it ocurrs to me that I haven’t posted anything in nearly a month. That’s not because I have nothing to post, but just because I don’t have time to do it. I keep thinking of things I’m going to mention or talk about – but never actually manage to find the time to do it. So here’s some quick Stuart’s life dot points since coming back from the trip.
* Helped Emma and Caitlin move again – they’re on their own again now, and in a cozy, but functional little house.
* Not getting much music done.
* Not getting much of anything else done outside of work either
* Attended Sun Developer Days conference in Sydney – was quite interesting, and I am experimenting with JSF using Sun’s Java Studio Creator now. Also want to fiddle with the Netbeans mobility pack.
* Going to Conjure in a couple of weeks, and staying with my parents for the week and then attending Supanova to promote Conflux.
* Haven’t bought an XBox 360 and Oblivion yet, but really, really want to.
* Getting a visitor in a few weeks… – the same person I recorded the cover of Lay Lady, Lay for, and that’s been messing with my sleeping patterns, and that listened to me play when I was experimenting with the streaming. Life is good ;)