Ends and beginnings

The last week has been a week of ends and beginnings.  

The first and more significant end was that my grandfather passed away.  His passing was sad, but he lived a good life for nearly 90 years, loved people and was much loved in return.  Travelled up to Sydney with Andreana for 26 hours to farewell him at his funeral on Thursday.  It amazes me how good funerals can be, so good for getting grief out and getting to a place of acceptance that someone isn’t around anymore.  Mum spoke well, and the minister did a great job.

The second end was to my work at TEAR, it was also good.  I had a lovely farewell lunch with lots of people saying lovely things about me and my time at TEAR.  I feel like I am leaving a good team there to continue on the work I’ve done on IT Systems there.  

And I also started my new job with Blackbaud Pacfic. I’m working as a technical consultant there helping clients get the most out of Blackbaud’s Fundraising software in support of their missions.  The professional services team I’m working with seams really good and  I’m really excited about the oportunity to work with so many different not-for-profits.  

DBA Position At TEAR

TEAR Australia has a new Database Administrator position open.  If you know anyone who might be interested encourage them to apply.  

Position details here:

http://www.tear.org.au/getinvolved/positions-vacant/staff-vacancies/it-officer-dba

So I quit my job last week

Last week I announced my resignation from TEAR but I am not moving on until as late as the end of January.  Whilst there is no one reason why I am leaving a major factor is having got done what I wanted to do and having no major vision for what needs to happen next.   I always approached my role as more of a transformational role updating thier IT systems, and it certainly helped to transform me as well.  

2008 when I started and moved to Melbourne from Sydney seems like a long time ago.  The move to Melbourne was kind to me, what with meeting Andreana and marrying her.  The food here is also pretty good.

I’ve been thinking about what is next, and I think I still want to help not-for-profits have great IT systems that work for people.  I have a few exciting opportunities I am investigating for next year and will keep you posted on what I decide.

Also if anyone knows a good DBA (particularly with Rasier’s Edge experience) TEAR might have a position opening up soon.

Introverted

As I get older I am noticing that at times I feel a real need for introversion.  

At the moment I am on an MBA Residential, and whilst it’s only 7 hours in I am exhusted with meeting new people.  It’s funny I knew I would be out of my comfort zone working with people from all different kinds of workplaces and cultures.  It really is going to an interesting challenge getting over my sterotypes and pre-judgements.

One man works in the coal mines in QLD and used to work with Red Cross.  It takes all types.

Also interesting to note there really is a reasonable gender balance at this course, and some racial diversity but still larger, older white men do seem to dominate a little.

Off now to 3 course dinner, the things I do in the name of education.

MBA @ Deakin

I've enrolled in an MBA which starts next week. I'm pretty excited about going back to University and starting to learn in this context again.

The more technology I implement, the more I am convinced that human factors reign. I am hopping to get some new insights that will hopefully take me interesting places.

Also it will be interesting to get out of my social justice Christian bubble for a while. I am fascinated to see how I will go studying with corporate types.

Also I am typing this on my iPad I got to help me study.

Professional Googler

Sometimes it feels like I spend my days translating staff problems into Google searches, finding the technical answers online, and then translating those answers back to English. 

Indigenous Stamp Duty?

Been wondering if a small stamp duty on every property sold could be one way of recognising the traditional owners of the land in a practical sustainable way.   Thoughts?

New Home

So if you’re reading this you’ve found my new blogging home.  

Now that I am a married man and getting closer to 30 I have decided to go a little more professional.    I am still working out exactly what I want this blog to be going forward, but to start with I have split my blog in two.  Personal and Tech.

On the home front, I am really enjoying living with and doing life with my wonderful wife Andreana.  A bit more then a month in now and still feeling excited by the possibilities for our future. 

Work is still rather full on but that’s OK because it means my time there is being useful.  There also been a bit of time now between the restructure of doom last year, which led to a few of my friends losing their jobs. This time has enabled some healing and new staff have brought some of the energy we sorely needed to get back to the work of fighting poverty.   This week the director of EHA in India came to visit the TEAR’s office.  A bit of a blast from the past, remembering my time working there.  Also really affirming because some of the work I did back 5 and 7 years ago is still bearing fruit. 

So It's Been A While

I haven't blogged properly in a very long time.  Not since the start of the year really.  

It hasn't been because there has been any lack of things going on, but more because there have been too many.  

There have been two major areas were things have been going on for me this year:

• Work
  • New database implementation
  • Restructure/Friends made redundant
  • General insanity of working in an under-resourced organisation
• Getting engaged to Andreana
  • Preparing for weddings
  • Having my own place/sharing a place with Andreana
  • Learning about myself
  • Learning about Andreana
  • Preparing to live full time with someone I care about

I'm going to try and write about these things in more detail soon.  

Mostly I am tired, and very much looking forward to relaxing on my honeymoon in a few months.

New Blog Platform

Well I just switched to squarespace not sure if that will mean more blogging or not hopefully it will.

Engaged

So me and Andreana are engaged. She has a nice blog post about it. As for me, I am in love, and rather excited to have a woman as wonderful as Andreana agree to marry me.

Onto Delhi Via Chennai

As much as I have enjoyed the beauty of being in "God's on country", and I really have. I am looking forward to getting to both Delhi, and Nepal.

I am looking forward to being somewhere I really know in Delhi and catching up with some friends. Asides from eating lots of good dosa (which I have) this is what this trip has been about for me. So I look forward to coming back to my old home, and seeing Kara, Victor and his family and Benjy. It will be nice too to show Andreana where I once lived, and how I once lived.

Then there is Nepal, and seeing Ben and his family. Ben along with Steve Bevis has been one of the key people in my ending up working for TEAR Australia. Ben seems like he is doing really exciting things with UMN in Nepal, and I am looking forward to hearing about them in more detail. It will also be great just to hang out again.

I am also excited to be introducing Andreana to the India train system this afternoon. With some of the availability issues we have ended up flying more then we had initial planned, but today we have a one remaining train leg. It will take us 14hours to reach Chennai, you can see the route here. Then we have about 12 hours to kill in Chennai before our flight onto Delhi. Any ideas on fun things to do for a few hours in Chennai?

Kerala

So here I am in Alleppey with Andreana, and I am enjoying myself. Just got off one of the famous beautiful Kerala houseboats, so am feeling fairly relaxed. The sights winding through the backwaters are most pleasant.

Things are going well, and I will blog in more detail soon. The keyboard and conditions in this Internet Cafe are not conducive to writing good blog posts.

However take a look at Andreana's blog for more detailed insights.

KL

In KL this morning, fly out to Kochi in a few hours. Looking forward to getting back there.

Airasia were no worse then most of the airlines I've flown with. However having to buy bottled water makes you think twice about hydration which isn't great.

KL feels quite familiar, it helps to be staying in a hotel I've stayed in before. Had a nice buffet breakfast this morning.

Now to try and get my global roaming working. Ah just looked at Optus' website, apparently I had to call a number before I left. Hmmm.

Waiting for planes

Sitting at Melbourne Airport waiting with the lovely Andreana for our flight to KL.

It's been a long time since I was last in India, and I am looking forward to my return. Will be nice to see some prettier places this time. It will be also nice to revisit Delhi, and some old friends.

I wonder also what India has for me this time. Will I be challenged to come back and live, will I get sick and hate it, or will it just be a wonderful trip.

The other thing I am wondering is how my partner Andreana will find the experience. I am hoping it will be good, and we will travel well together.

Anyway, going to go get some bottled water (more on that soon).

Next stop KL.

Love

The TEAR Family

Had a TEAR event at work tonight, and the quality of the interactions I had with some of the people reminded me about how some people referred to it as a TEAR family.

In other news, I am finding Afghanistan the subject of tonight fascinating at the moment. I have had the privilege this week of provide both technical support, and be part of some strategic conversations with someone visiting from one our partners over there. It is a shame one can't just jump on and plane and visit Kabul.

World gone wrong

TEAR's partners are working in a whole bunch of areas hit by the recent set of disasters. For more read here.

War still going..

Leonard Cohen

After years of resisting getting into Leonard Cohen, today I finally cracked after listening to him with someone, I decided to buy an album tonight. I got Live in London, which is sounding pretty damn good.