Goth Goes to live in Silicon Valley

So if you haven't heard the news I got offered a job at our headquarters in Silicon Valley and have moved to the US of A.

I've moved to Engineering Program Management, a bit more aligned with what I was doing outside Google and a great chance to work on some unique challenges. I'm loving the role and the team and couldn't be happier with the choice.

Unfortunately this wasn't quite the timeline we were intended and my beloved boy Chops couldn't move out at the same time due to work commitments. So there's a lot of video calls and international travelling going on until he can move over. What is nice though is knowing that your relationship is strong enough to stand the distance without worrying, now that is a nice feeling.

If you've never done it let me tell you that moving countries is hard. Even with the full support of a Google relocation team there's still waiting for months on Visas, packing up the house and then arriving to no credit history, no bank account, no tax number and a lot of paperwork.

When I arrived they put me in a lovely but isolated corporate apartment in Santa Clara which is at the arse end of Silicon Valley and pure pain without a car.

The San Francisco rental market is also somehow worse than Sydney with all the same desperate shivving of other applicants and ludicrous prices. I have however got a great house in Twin Peaks, less than 5 minutes bus ride from Noe Valley and The Castro. Upstairs there's a couple of other nerds and there's everything I need within a 3 min walk - including transport to the work shuttles. For SFO the place is a steal too - my own separate apartment including kitchen and bathroom for about $100 a month more than what I was paying in Newtown. Once I've finished decorating and my furniture has actually arrived from Sydney I'll post photos.

For a while there I was really struggling, but now that I'm living in the city, Chops has come to visit and I have a functioning bank account and social security things are looking much better. I found some local black wearing Whiskey drinkers at work and I even got to march in SF Pride, and there's nothing like a pride parade to make me feel at home!

More pieces of my art collection

As I've noted recently I've collected artwork over the years from places I've travelled and loved. An original piece of art attached to a beautiful memory has always appealed as a piece for the home.

Recently I found a fantastic local framer and have been having regular trips to the framers to preserve my collection and prepare gifts alike. Lets review some of the work so far!



Black and white photographs of the Chrysler Building and the city skyline bought on 5th Avenue in New York, USA



Handcoloured lithographs of the Maison Jacquet and the St Louis Gate from Quebec, Canada.



This print of the Google Doodle celebrating the birthday of mathematician Gaston Julia I received at the Googleplex in Mountain View, USA while interviewing for a new position. I had this framed to present to my father as a gift, he's a mathematician and instilled a great love of number sets in me. I can't think of a better gift to mark changes in my current life.







Custom archival prints of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and an Allosaurus from the American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA.



Romance, gothic style... this is a print of the Charles Addams "Unhappy Darling?" cartoon from the Addams Foundation Collection that I bought as a gift for my partner Chops while I was away on business without him.



I simply cannot get a picture of this artwork that does it justice. This is a watercolour of the skyline in Firenze, Italy dominated by Il Duomo.

Vale James O'rance

Today was the memorial for James O'Rance, a good friend who died suddenly and young from complications of a life long struggle with Diabetes.



James was a man of great nobility, he judged people by their actions and their heart, but loved his friends for who they were warts and all. If a measure of a man is those who choose to come to his wake then today was evidence of what we all know - that James was loved by many and touched us all.

Never have I seen so many people attend a funeral, so many openly weep without fear of judgement and more than that so many people console each other through a difficult time. It speaks volumes of not only the kind of man he was, but the kind of people he attracted.

James lived life to the full, he was himself at all times and to the full. He loved, he laughed, he was thoughtful and silly and wonderful. He will never be forgotten.

James would want us to remember him the way we shared his friendship, fondly, deeply and with laughter. The stories we shared today would have made him proud but not the sombre mood. A more celebratory memorial will be organised in the near future.

Capturing a little piece of computing history

As you should know I play WarCraft with my friends, and I love unique things, so when Blizzard announced they were going to sell off their old server blades for charity I simply had to get in on the action. The servers were all deprecated during the pre Cataclysm cluster upgrades but were in use between 2004/2005 and 2010 making the nerdy dreams of many a gamer come true.

Chops and Nat my two dearest boys both play, Nat religiously so I set out on a mission to secure them their own pieces of Azeroth.

From Feathermoon Server Blade

Nat is a long time somewhat obsessive Feathermoon player, I couldn't pass up the chance to present him with a physical piece of his own online life. This great portrait piece also shows the scale of the blade servers perfectly, while making Nat look a little bit rock'n'roll ;o)



I managed to keep the purchase of this Proudmoore blade super secret, leaving my partner Scott completely confused until he opened the box, I call that gift success. The size makes mounting a bit of a puzzle, we're pondering turning it into a coffee table. Either way I'm so happy to know that those I love have their own little piece of internet history secured and in their possession.

Drinking with Dinosaurs

When you're a nerd like me museums are like the best thing ever. There's dinosaurs and robots and buttons you can push, it's heaven.



In a stroke of genius the Australian Museum has started Jurassic Lounge, a combined nightclub and performance space during the winter months. Ciders, documentaries about robots, burlesque and Dinosaurs... Jurassic lounge has it all.



I've never seen the museum so packed, it's a marvellous idea and unsurprisingly filled with nerds and social media folk that I know pottering around in small groups laughing and drinking.



One of the great sections they have is one of those "show and tell" areas that were always a hit when I was a kid. They have lizards and insects and stuffed animals to play with and plenty of museum staff to talk to you about it. I am a little surprised they let people near live animals after drinking though :P



Of course there's all the fun of the normal exhibits and the joy of the heritage building and beautiful surrounds. A++ would buy again.



Of course featured heavily in these pictures is my friend Nat who deserves a mention. You know those people you meet in your life that you just click with? This happened when I met Dustan, Curley and Vicki... Instant bonds that are strong and deep. The fact that I'm a narcissist and Nat and I share a personality, a hair style (and way too many allergies and skin conditions) my overbearing nature and his submissive squeefulness makes it the perfect nerd friendship.



<3 you little one, here's to many years of friendship.

2011: Half over but packed full!

So I feel like I've been on the run all of 2011, but it's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just time to pause. The year is half over but I feel like I've gotten many things done.

So far this year I've ...

Been instrumental in Google Sydney sponsoring Mardi Gras

Helped host a Girl Geek Dinner



Graduated from my Masters



Toured Grendel and Nachtmahr



Gone to Canada for 2 weeks



Gone to New York for a week



Went to Tasmania to visit Jen



Seen about 30 Industrial bands at the Kinetik festival



Eaten about 15 brunches with The Breakfast Club and Chops' best friends



Enjoyed having a car again



Been in love and actually happy for entire months at a time
Life could definitely be worse!