April, 2008

Today is ANZAC Day.

ANZAC Day, 25 April, is the day Australians (and New Zealanders) remember the original landing on Gallipoli in 1915.

• ANZAC Day at the Australian War Memorial
• The ANZAC Day tradition
• Dawn of the Legend
• Mapping Gallipoli
• Rare film: ANZAC troops at Gallipoli, 1915

It's weird thinking about a national holiday when you aren't in the nation to celebrate it with everyone else.

We decided to bake some ANZAC bikkies (or as they are called here - cookies) and the kids took them to school. They were going to tell the ANZAC story to their fellow classmates. The biscuits are made out of rolled oats, sugar, plain flour, coconut, butter, golden syrup , bi-carbonate of soda and boiling water.

We also found a really handy site that had lots of information

So, let's close this post with a minute's silent and the Ode

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them. Lest we Forget

In honor of my 3 year anniversary, I am wearing a special tshirt, the GI Metro

I love the quote from the site

This shirt tells the world: "My internal organs may not be pretty, but at least they make the trains run on time."

Let’s look closely at the design

I got the following email a while back from Alister Cameron and it's been sitting in my inbox waiting for a response.

-----Original Message-----

From: alister @ alistercameron.com
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 4:12 AM
To: Frank Arrigo
Subject: (frankarr - an aussie microsoft blogger) : A swipe at your boss

Importance: High

Hi from Melbourne, Frank :)

http://www.alistercameron.com/2008/02/29/ray-ozzie-blogging-groove-disappointed/

I'm grumpy with Ray Ozzie, for whom I have the utmost respect... I think he's a total genius, but I wanted to rant a bit.

Appreciate any linkages for this post if you think it has merit.

I wanna see Groove back in the spotlight :)

Cheers,

-Alister

Alister Cameron

www.alistercameron.com

----------------------------------

This message was generated from a contact form at: http://blogs.msdn.com/frankarr/default.aspx

It was submitted by Alister Cameron

Your contact information was not shared with the user.

I had wanted to respond as soon as I got the email, but I knew about some upcoming announcements and thought I would hold on.

Until now.

The news broke last night, and it's all over TechMeme, and it's all about Live Mesh

From the Live Mesh team blog

• Welcome To Live Mesh
• Live Mesh as a Platform
• What's a platform experience (and why do I care?)

Now Alister, I know this doesn't directly address your issues regarding Ray's blogging frequency, or your question on Groove, but now you know what's been keep Ray busy.

And he is most definitely back in the spotlight! Here is Ray Ozzie Introducing Live Mesh, in his first Channel9 interview where he sits down with Jon Udell to talk about Live Mesh.

3 years ago this week, I had major surgery.

You know, It's really hard to believe it was 3 years ago, the scar on my belly is a constant reminder of the 64 staples.

Here's a recap - @ home again, facing the inevitable, Incredible Shrinking Frank, It's official - I have a date with my surgeon, Post From DIARIST on my XDA II, surgery over, Unexpected benefit of MSN Spaces, big news day

I want to give thanks to the medical staff and my special surgeon.

A few years back I found a song dedicated to this group of unsung heroes.

Working Where The Sun Don't Shine (The Colorectal Surgeon's Song)

We praise the colorectal surgeon
Misunderstood and much maligned
Slaving away in the heart of darkness
Working where the sun don't shine

Respect the colorectal surgeon
It's a calling few would crave
Lift up your hands and join us
Let's all do the finger wave

When it comes to spreading joy
There are many techniques
Some spread joy to the world
And others just spread cheeks
Some may think the cardiologist
Is their best friend
But the colorectal surgeon knows...
He'll get you in the end!

Why be a colorectal surgeon?
It's one of those mysterious things.
Is it because in that profession
There are always openings?

When I first met a colorectal surgeon
He did not quite understand;
I said, "Hey nice to meet you
But do you mind? We don't shake hands."

He sailed right through medical school
Because he was a whiz
Oh but he never thought of psychology
Though he read passages.
A doctor he wanted to be
For golf he loved to play,
But this is not quite what he meant...
By eighteen holes a day!

Praise the colorectal surgeon
Misunderstood and much maligned
Slaving away in the heart of darkness
Working where the sun don't shine!

www.bowserandblue.com /   MP3 audio of quote/song (3.4 Mb)

So, how am I doing these days? 

I’m feeling pretty good.

I try to get regular exercise, I go to the gym. I watch my diet.

My weight fluctuates between 100 kgs (220 lbs) and 110 kgs (242 lbs) but it needs to be lower by another 15% or so.

Honestly, 3 years back, while I was lying in hospital, I had no idea what lay ahead.

Looking back, a lot has happened and I am thankful to be able to look ahead still not knowing what lies ahead, but I know that whatever happens, I’ll be there.

I like what tweetstats does, which is a set of graphs from of your twitter stats.

I also like the little message at the bottom of the page

Made with love and lots of help by
Damon aka (dacort)

Here’s my Tweetstats

Zooming in a bit…..

This shows I tweet a lot, but not as much as I used to

This shows that I am pretty consistent but tweet more during the week than during the weekend

This shows I tweet more in the afternoon. For some reason I tweet a lot between 4 and 5 pm.

What does your tweetstat tell you about you?

Marc Mercuri, my neighbour from across the hallway, has been working away on a very cool project, which involves Silverlight 2.0, ASP.NET 3.5, WCF 3.5, REST, S+S, LiveID, Linq, SQL, IIS, .NET Framework 3.5, and..... robots. How cool is that!

Mark, aka RoboChamps League Commissioner, explains it all in his post Robots for everyone!

Plus, there are interviews, demos and inside info at RoboChamps: My robot is bigger than your robot & Marc Mercuri and Kyle Johns: Inside RoboChamps

Now, I've been known to be partial to robots. I do have a Pleo after all, so of course, I signed up.

Here's my robocard.

Klaatu Barada Nicto

Carbon Grove highlights what each of us can do to help improve our Earth’s ecosystem.

My tree at Carbon grove

I planted a Coconut tree. Now all I need is a bit of lime.... (and if that doesn't make any sense, watch this)