Well its official I am moving to Brisbane. Work has approved the move, and we researched schools and suburbs, and looked at distances to my companies various offices and finally decided on a suburb and have signed the lease on a place and put down a deposit. We have also started packing (mostly Fiona's work) and gotten several quotes for methods of getting our possesions up there, and settled on one.
To those who want to drop in you already have my mobile and email, drop me a line.
I feel nervous but another chapter of my family and my life is about to start.
If you want to catch up before I go, give me a call/email/im/carrier pidgeon.
Peace out all

Labels: Brisbane, family, moving

Taken from another friends blog here

RULES:

1. Put your iTunes / media player on shuffle.
2. With each given question, press next and that is your answer.
3. Write down the song name no matter HOW silly it sounds.
4. If you have any comments, write them in brackets below your answer.
5. Don't cycle through until you find a funny one (added this rule cause it sounds fair, and removed rule 5 as chain anything sucks)

a) If someone asks you out, you say:
Way to Go! - Rogue Traders
(heheh)

b) You see your crush. You think:
Clint Eastwood - Gorrillaz
(A bit harsh, Clint is an ugly man)

c) You stub your foot and yell:
Bicycle Race - Queen
(Not likely that I would stub it in a Bicycle race, no bike, and I don't race)

d) Your pants are full of:
Stand Up - Flobots
(That they are...)

e) Your favorite video game is:
Coin-Operated Boy - The Dresden Dolls
(I think this game would not be pg-13)

f) Your t-shirt says:
I'll Kill Her - SoKo
(hahah, awesome song though)

g) Your favorite video consists of:
Toy Soldiers - Martika
(I actually like the movie toy soldiers)

h) This is what's crawling up your pant leg:
We are the Champions - Queen
(Champions, oh oh)

i) You like him / her because of:
Do you hear the people sing - Les Misérables

j) Your friend has:
One Four Five - The Cat Empire

k) What you'll be when you grow up:
This Is How You Remind Me - Nickelback

l) The song that'll be played at your child's birth:
Sweet Lullaby - Deep Forest
(hehe what a coinkidink)

m) Your "summer song":
Black Bugs - Regurgitator

n) Your friends' pants are full of:
Grace Kelly - Mika
(I bet they wish)

o) You like to:
I Go Off - Diana ah Naid
(Another funny, I am pretty placid)

p) Your mom changed her name to:
Walking on the sun - Smashmouth

q) You changed your name to:
Killer Queen - Queen
(well it is my favourite queen song)

r) Your battle cry:
House of the Rising Sun - The Animals

s) Your porn movie will be titled:
Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell

t) Your wedding song:
Good Time - Leroy
(ah how true)

u) Your new last name is:
Castle On a Cloud - Les Misérables

v) Your genitals are called:
No Aphrodisiac - The Whitlams
(A bit harsh)

w) Your pet cat is named:
Doctorin' the Tardis - Timelords

x) Your pet dog is named:
Red and Black - Les Misérables
(A red and black dog would be interesting, I think I wouldn't name it so obvious though; Kerberos)

y) Your new nickname will be:
Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

z) When posted, you will title this:
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
(Oh god that is a classic ending)

Well that was mildly amusing.
Peace out all, I will post more normal stuff promise.

Labels: blog, games, music

Another post in only a few days very surprising, well I have a bit to say and forgot to say it the other day.
I had a wonderful Christmas, and lots of fun with the kids. I thought I posted about it but obviously not.
Fiona got me a Doctor Who sonic screw driver and an incredible present of a portrait of Geoffrey, painted by our favourite painter (Fred Marsh), it was a picture of possibly my favourite picture of Geoffrey to date.
We ate lots of seafood over Christmas but managed to put on little weight which was good.
We also managed to get a really good Family Photo with Santa Claus, and I think Geoffrey gets Santa and Christmas are good things now, especially with the inundation of presents he received, don’t worry Anne got her fair share as well.
Then after the initial Christmas orgy of presents, Fiona got me another present, I don't know why I deserved it but she got it anyway, a Flickr Pro account, so go to morganstorey.com and click on MobileBlog to be redirected there. I upload photos from my phone all the time so it is sure to be updated, more often than my blog has been :P
In other news and on to the topic of this post, public humiliation. I read an interesting blog post the other day here.
To surmise though it quotes Paul Graham, programmer, entrepreneur and venture capitalist who says:
One of the most interesting things we’ve discovered… is that [people] are more motivated by the fear of looking bad than by the hope of getting millions of dollars. So if you want to get millions of dollars, put yourself in a position where failure will be public and humiliating.
So on that note, I am going to let the world know of my intentions in a plan to humiliate myself into succeeding.
By the end of next year I hope to have my CISSP; an extremely high certification in IT Security. Not only that but before then I hope to have the following certifications; CCNA, CCNA:Security, CCSA, CCSE, LPIC 1, LPIC2 and LPIC 3:Security, OSPC, Security+, CEH, and finally Upgrade My MCSE to MCITP:Enterprise.
I have told people this off hand, but never written it in public, and let the world know. I am doing these only really for self satisfaction, and to get my knowledge recognized. It does however take time to fill in the gaps. So after 6 months of being to tired, busy, or interested in what my rack is doing or what is on TV, I started back on my boring CCNA the other night.
Wish me luck.
Peace out all.

Labels: Anne, Certification, Christmas, Fiona, Geoffrey, Kids

So damn hot at the moment. My Google weather toolbar says it is only 30 degrees, but I think that is taken from the city so it isn't comparable to anywhere that isn't directly on the water, least that's my excuse for my whinging and I am sticking to it.
We have made some radical changes to Geoffrey and Annes diet's, and seen dramatic changes. It all started because my new boss while I was down in Melbourne told me that his son is Gluten intolerant, and most of the symptoms bar the height matched Geoffrey.
So Fiona looked into it. Glue ear is one of the big symptoms, so we are rather annoyed that no one in the process of him getting his grommets in his ears suggested maybe changing his diet or even getting him checked? We can get him checked but it requires putting him back on the gluten, with the radical change in his personality, his rash clearing up and him seeming happier than he ever has since cutting it out, I think we will wait to do the test.
Geoffrey has gone back to a kindy that we found and is really enjoying it, his teachers are wonderful, and he really enjoys it there I think, so much so is that he gets upset on days when he isn't going, of course he doesn't want us to leave when we drop him off either.
Anne is also really coming along, yesterday on the way home for work she said Geoffrey, I turned to Fiona and said did she just say Geoffrey, she replied that she did, and then she said it again, confirmation. Geoffrey wasn't as impressed as he will be in years to come when he realises he is her first two-syllable word, with Mummy and Daddy being close firsts.
Anne has also started to assert herself and really show off her personality. She is very tough and not afraid to stand up for herself if Geoffrey is in her way. That being said Geoffrey has showed his softer side a lot. If she cries he hugs her, or cries to, if Geoffrey and Fiona are going to play he will hold the gate/door open and hold his hand out to Anne.
I had an interesting moment the other night, while trying to get to sleep in 30+ degree heat, I was thinking about the age old riddle. If you where in a boat with your young child, it capsized and you where the only one of your family not incapacitated, who would you save?
Pre children to the above quandary I would have answered; my Partner. I think even when Fiona and I were considering children I would have answered the same thing. Well my answer the other night was opposite, a very interesting change I would think. It comes back to that saying only a parent knows.
I am going to start posting this on livejournal as well as here, as people are too lazy to get a blogger account to comment here.
Peace out all.

Labels: Anne, family, Geoffrey, Kids, quandries, scrupples

So if I haven't already ranted at you in some way shape or form, you may not know of the Australian government's short-sighted plan to add us to the ranks of oppressive regimes such as Iran and China. In fact that is unfair as Iran's proxy is considered to be looser than the one Senator Conroy wants to implement.
The long and short of it is that Conroy wants to restrict what pages are available to Australian internet users. Sure it is for the kids (won't someone think of the children)… But as I have said to people I would rather my children see the entirety of the disgusting underbelly of the internet than have one single thought provoking site blocked. Not to mention the degradation to performance in a country that is already considered one of the worst in the world for connectivity. In Sweden groups appealed to the government saying 100mbps is welfare. Here most people are still on 1/200th that speed, and with Conroys plan that 1/200th would lose anywhere from 2-80% of its speed, welcome back to dial-up days.
There are a plethora of sites that are likely to be blocked because they aren't "kid" friendly. June next year you will probably see the below when going to user content generated sites such as Youtube and Facebook:

Here is a news flash senator; kids get hold of porn even if you restrict it, even in the pre-internet days. So what your doing will only have negative effects. Parents with no IT knowledge will have a false sense of security and not monitor their kids browsing habits, these same kids will find ways round your precious filter, and these methods that will become popular may even make it harder for parents and educators to monitor their usage.
The filter will slow down internet access and again the people with little IT knowledge will have no idea how to get around it for legitimate sites that are blocked. Then there is the cost which you are expecting ISP's to mostly cover off their own bat, which will increase internet costs in a country that already pays too much for too little.
Way to go Senator you deserve your award:

I feel lost; I don't know what to do. I feel as though someone has decided freedom of information is a bad idea, so let's mandate it. Then what do you do. Once the book burning starts it is hard to stop.
I have emailed the Senator and his opponents, and the letters are in the mail.
I urge everyone to look at the following sites and take action: http://nocleanfeed.com your silence is all they need to pass this and then you are no better than them.
Peace out all, except Conroy and his supporters who can just unplug their computers, televisions, and burn their books for the same effect they are trying to mandate.


PS: I am starting up a dedicated security Blog as I want to separate the two, this of course crosses both blogs so expect to see it on both. My new Security blog is linked on the left or here: http://security.morganstorey.com

Labels: Australia, Conroy, Kids, Politics, Security