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dotnet.org.za

South African .NET Developer Portal

Karen Young

January 2006 - Posts

  • Trip No. 5 New Zealand

    http://www.snowplanet.co.nz/ going there Tomorrow night. Celebrated Auckland Heritage day massive fireworks on Princess docks. Had an amazing night at the Viaduct on Friday. Been Go karting so I am now covered in bruises and  I now have the joys of Black water rafting http://www.blackwaterrafting.co.nz/ and Wine tasting. http://www.nz.com/new-zealand/tourism/waitakere/  For future tons of great places to visit on here http://www.activities.nz.com/ 

  • trip No. 4 still Go Seahawks Go

    A quick shout to Dustin aka ROB Hare ( i will cover this in a different  post ) and Denise B. Who got tickets for the Seahawks game introduced me to a tailgate party and gave me an amazing NFL Experience. I was part of the 12th Man ( the crowd ) who cheer, scream and in general make some noise when the opposition is playing and is as quiet as a mouse when the Seahawks get to play. It was amazing. I had my boss Sean and a man from New York who kept giving me his hip flask of scotch every 5 minutes. What a game what a win and what a day! Washington redskins but it was a good game.

  • trip No. 4 Seattle Woman's conference and Work

    Seattle - the home of Starbuck, Boeing and Bill G. ( or as my grandmothers says my boss )

    So the woman's Conference 4000 woman decend on Remond. Amazing in fact unbloomin' believeable it felt strange. Any the conference was the best thing i have been to in years so well done to the presenters.

    I would recommend if you ever get to see them Jason Zions on Improvisation – Thinking on your feet quickly was truly amazing inspirational and I was so proud that he works for us.

    Here are some links from the guest speakers I attended during the 3 days.

     http://www.barbarastanny.com/ - It was about Money and females. ( Very American but really good, whilst I am not a wallflower to Finance I know that I needed to step up on my personal finance and this is now a big thing for me this year. Thanks to this session I am on a mission to find a great Financial Advisor )  

    http://www.skillstosuccess.com/about.html - Discussion on Predator or Prey aka Body language and what does it tell you about you and others - very good points and I need to still write up my notes

    http://www.questforbalance.net/    - Forget Balance embrace comfortable chaos  ( didn’t go to it but others did and liked it )

    http://www.rwn.org/tips.htm - Tips for working a room /table etc etc

    http://www.fripp.com/articleslist.html  - I really liked this lady ( originally from the UK - a good Dorset girl ) and I connected with her a day later after her presentation. Very smart lady, very confident and very direct.  

    Burce Leamon – Leadership Development ( again I have notes solid points made by him but he was not a great speaker – however 400 woman in a room can be intimidating. Again I will write them up and post them later his website is not great on advice for you all hence I didn’t give it ) 

    Really sad I missed Dana Manciagli on Networking another lovely lady at microsoft unfortunately I had to go to the Managers Table at the Opportunities fair but she started really well.

     

     

     

  • Trip No. 3 England and Wales

    The UK what a mad dash this was going to be :

    This trip had an amzing spin on it for me as soon as I landed I was greeted with devasting news about my friends in South Africa. ( now I don't normally talk about my social life in this manner but if I am honest is still effecting me ).

    My friends in SA are beautiful people who are smart, funny, they have great values and they normally have an amazing out look on life they just are not having a great time at the moment. Some day we will get a group of us together and drink and be merry and reflect on the hard times that they endured and celebrate their new lives. Until myself and others will support them because that is what friends do. They support and love their friends in the worse possible times when all hope is lost and they do it unconditionally.

    Anyway the upside of the trip was I got to see grandmother the greatest woman on the planet ( yes I am biased ) The amazing Mrs. Joan Edwards, I got to see my Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, Best Friends Andrea & Kate , lovely new Friends Salim ( brilliant chap I met in Istanbul  - remember that oh yes the best day of my life ), Gerwyn, Scott and Michael Heppell ( yes the author of How to be Brilliant in 90 days my favourite book in 2004).

    So I went every where had Christmas at Andrea's, watch Newcastle loose to LFC then I saw live Everton verses the mightyLFC at Goodison ( yes we won but we were in the Blues end  - mess up by the ticket office so don't use the following company http://ticketuk.com/site/html/ because a) I have never felt so intimated in my life and I have been in some very dodgy places in my time b) I learnt a new bunch of swear words and how to construct them in a sentence and c) I have never seen a woman so verbally abused in my life and she was a person 2 rows in front of us it meant we have to sit on our hands and not say a word. Yes we were welcomed at the door with Kopites are Gobshites.

    New Years at Andrea and thank goodness for trivia pursuit ( Andrea is a godess at it ) and the mighty Jools Holland http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/show/index_20051231.shtml Kaiser Chiefs were awesome so was James Blunt but Goldfrapp stole the show for me. Watching the whale swim ( mentally insane people swimming in the wales sea in Llanelli is a little odd ) Then off to bolton to watch the Liverpool game at the Reebok and meet up with Salim and the istanbul crowd. What an awesome day amazing company, great fans singing there heart out and then Diouf ruins a good game by falling over like a pansy the entire time. As the great Alan Green from five live said in 606 Radio 5 http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/ Bolton get the results ( in this case a 2-2 draw ) but it is a terrible display of football I wouldn't pay for a season ticket.

     

    Next is Bolton v Liverpool yes another game  -

  • No.2 Japan

    Japan  - Very different a kind of mixture of many things. Millions of Skyscrapers, millions of people very nice asian food and an underground which is more effective than London's yet not as beautiful as Moscow. Whilst Moscow was freezing Japan was cold -5. I went to Seattle avenue the eddie Bauer and the starbucks is across the pavement from Microsoft. It was lovely to have sushi in Japan again the best Tofu I have ever tasted. Whilst most places did not have an English menu the point and pray method was very effective.

    I naturally thought the Japanese customs were very lovely. I really liked the bowing concept at the lift. The customer walks in and you as the company bow until the lift door shuts. So almost every time you entered a lift someone was bowing at it. Brilliant!!!

    I, naturally have to say a big shout out to the MS KK ( Japanese office ) most of all to Mayumi Suzuki aka a fellow Football support who got me tickets to the Liverpool games and drag her boss Numa with her and me. Unfortunately Liverpool lost in the Final. Very disappointing penalites not given in our favour, 3 goals disallowed,  shots hitting the wood work, 21 shots at goal and 17 corners! ( it is official - they were all over them and they were robbed and whilst I love brazilian football SP did not play their best ). But hey Football is a wonderful game but a terrible business. However I have to say I was delighted when the referees came up to grab their momento's and the Japanese crowd booed. Very interesting as a English person.

    Next stop dear old Blighty !

  • Microsoft South Africa is launching IT’s Showtime! - FREE

     IT’s Showtime brings Industry Experts to the IT Professionals’ desktop

    IT’s Showtime, is a new addition to the Microsoft TechNet Programme that keeps IT Professionals in touch with the latest Microsoft product and technology news.  IT’s Showtime allows IT Professionals to view video streaming content of presentations and demonstrations delivered by industry experts and Microsoft engineers at events around Europe, making this high-quality content immediately available, regardless of the distance or time constraints of the viewer.

     The IT’s Showtime content, which is recorded in broadcast quality, is selected to address the most critical business and technology issues facing IT Professionals at the time.  IT-Showtime service includes titles such as ‘What’s New in WS2003R2?’; ‘SQL Pass, What’s Next for the Database?’; ‘Cross Platform Identity Management, Authentication and Security’; ‘Cryptography’ and other cutting edge topics presented by renown industry authorities such as John Craddock, Rafal Lukawiecki, Kimberley Tripp and prominent Microsoft experts such as Jim Gray, Steve Riley and Jesper M. Johansson etc.

    Please go to: http://www.microsoft.com/emea/itsshowtime/southafrica/ 

    IT’s Showtime will be communicated to our IT Pro audience via all the existing TechNet mediums (Flash, web, events etc.) but please feel free to communicate this to your partners and customers.

    Q&A

    Q: What is IT’s-Showtime?

    A: IT-Showtime is the latest addition to TechNet, Microsoft’s resource programme for IT Professionals that keeps them updated about the latest product and technology information.  IT-Showtime is a series of broad-cast quality video stream recordings of Microsoft technology experts discussing relevant topics that gives IT Professionals a high-quality professional update.

    Q: How is IT-Showtime different from the existing TechNet Webcasts?

    A: IT-Showtime broadcasts high-quality, custom-recorded content which will give the viewer a similar experience to what they have come to expect from attending Microsoft events in person.  It allows them to watch the presenter as if they were personally at the event, while offering the benefit of saved time and travel budget.  Users of the IT’s-Showtime service will be able to download videos for high resolution off line viewing.

    Q: How much does it cost?

    A: The IT-Showtime by Microsoft TechNet service is free.

    Q: How will the content be localised/translated for the EMEA region?

    A: At launch IT’s-Showtime will be released via localised pages on each country’s web sites, although much of the initial content will all be delivered in English, many sessions are subtitled in German, French, Italian and Spanish. There are plan to continue to add great content in many European languages.

    Q: What are the technical requirements for viewing IT’s-Showtime in the format it is intended?

    A:The main requirement for a high quality video streaming experience is a Windows Media Player enabled PC with a broadband Internet connection (preferably greater than 1Mbps).  Lower bandwidth users of IT’s-Showtime will be able to view the videos at a reduced resolution or download videos for high resolution off line viewing.

     

  • Still Trip No.1 Russia uncovered

    Before I start the rest of my journeys. EPlatforma was very big, very good and had tons of MVP's and an RD at it.Olga, Alex, Renat and myself had a brilliant meeting with the MVP's and RD - it was so good we had a chat for 60 minutes and then came back later and had food and beer and carried on.

    Now most of you who know me know I love my job and I love communities. I love interacting with people of all cultures because I think it makes me a better person and I think the concept of people sharing information, idea's, concepts etc is key to our evolvution and I have to say I love interacting with MVP's and in every country. They are super smart and so so very passionate. I always learn something and not something technology wise but about people and what makes them passionate, what inspires them and what they want to give back to the communities.

    Anyway, I had a great russian meal and some giggles with the MVP's and they naturally loved my white furry hat and we nearly lost our Laptops in the Science museum :-) The Next day was full of Russian Tours and seeing the MS office. Saturday was a user group meeting in the new Russian Microsoft offices and then flying to the UK.

    Farewell Russia I will come back and I recommend it to any fellow travellers. It has good food, amazing sites to see and great vodka. ( also they have Sushi with Cream cheese )

     

  • trip No.1 Russia - Moscow - E Platforma - the Flight

    The trip from Russia was relaxing on Virgin. Very Very nice. Richard Branson hats off to you. Consider this a very strong recommendation for Upper Class.

    Then BA to Russia - What a nightmare. The plane went up and then down. We crash landed back in Heathrow after being up in the air for about an hour. I have never landed before in the brace position. Very scary. It does make you evaluate a few things in your life.

    So let me take a few minutes to encourage you to reflect on your life, what is important to you, what you want to change in it and if you love people or care for them remember to tell them. Whilst I won't get all gushy with you all I want to remind you that life is short and you often don't get second chances.

    However just so you know I was okay and we did land and poor Brian from the FT who sat next to me and was worried about seeing his family and doing his speech in the Kremlin did get home and hug his boys too death :-)

    So after a number of beers paid for by BA. We got on another plane and arrived in Moscow my Taxi was not there so a very nice man call Nigel from Purdeys shared his cab and I arrived at the Hyatt.

    Yes it was snowing . Yes we passed all the famous sites and I was stunned. Seeing the Kremlin and the Catherdrals in the snow for the first time was breath-taking.

     

  • Okay so where is Karen now ????

    So where am I.

    December 6th South Africa to London to Russia for E Platforma in Moscow

    December 10th -11th UK visiting Mad Kate and Alan

    December 12th - 19th Japan meeting the MVP team in Japan and watching Liverpool

    December 19th - January 5th UK Friends, Family and Liverpool Football Club matches

    January 5th - 20th - Seattle MYR & Woman's Conference.

    January 20th - 6th February - New Zealand - Work with Fun.

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