October 2005 - Posts
Whew, I'm back from a bit of a whirlwind around the Gauteng region. I was "officially" up there for Tech Ed, but I took the opportunity to see the family a bit as well, and run around on a quick tour of some JHB hotspots. It's definitely an interesting city, and I could see myself doing a stint there one day. A major daunting factor is the fortresses everywhere though - it really freaks me out coming from Cape Town! Not only are they imposing, but they are necessary. I don't think there are that many big cities in the world where every 3 house has there own security guard posted outside!
Anyway, on the TechEd note, I got to meet some really awesome people. I finally got to meet in person the other community leads (like Pieter, Ernst, Willy-Peter, Mark, 2x Kevin, and Andre (sorry if I forgot anyone)). It was great finally putting a face to the emails / IM'ing. Also, I got to meet some of the MS legends that I hear / read about all over, especially Julie Lerman, Kate Gregory, Jesper Johansson, and Steve Riley (Steve has an appaling username on the blog engine!). I even got a mention on Julie's blog!
A huge thank you to all of the MS guys who organised everything! It was a superb event, and I am already looking forward to next year's one.
Armand managed to finally get the dotnet.org.za engine upgraded (he's been planning it for a while, I think), so a big Thank You to him on behalf of all of us! I'm sure it took a lot of time and effort, and it seems to have ended up quite well.
Unfortunately, it has spelled the end for my hand-crafted .Text skin :-(. I wonder if anyone found the easter egg I had hidden in it before it bit the digital dust?
Ah, well - back to the drawing board, I guess...
[btw, I'm seriously looking forward to me first Tech Ed, even though I can only stay for a very short time]
Wow, it's been a very long time since I've posted. There are a whole bunch of reasons for this, but hopefully things are now under control again, and I can start voicing my wonderful opinions to the wierd wide world again (;->).
Anyway, for those of us who are tired of cheap software / viagra / etc. /etc. / etc. / etc. spam (and who isn't), this wired magazine article discusses an Israeli company that uses everyone who volunteers the ability to launch what sounds like a legal DDoS attack. Ouch!