I was worried because I was a virgin

I have to confess that I was a virgin up until today. Well, not that kind of virgin --- I have never flown on a budget airline before.

Imagine my shock at the travel agent when she told me only budget airlines fly to the Gold Coast. What choice did I have? The horror stories I have heard of have come rushing like a near-death experience.

But so far, it has been great and here are the surprises for me:

1. Flight was right on schedule

As advised by friends and travel agents, Virgin Blue have the least likelihood of delays or cancellations compared to JetStar.

On our flight, boarding gates were opened 20mins prior to departure. Take off was about 4mins after advertised time which I think is pretty spot on.

2. Virgin flight attendants were very pleasant

They reminded me of the old Qantas crew and the key was they came across as liking their job.

Being a budget airline, I was concerned about being treated like cattle as you are prodded into your seat. This was certainly not the case here.

3. Baggage allowance was included in our fare

We had 23kg allowed each! That's almost 100kg between us. If you are expecting to take a fair amount with you, sometimes the discounted fares end up costing more.

4. We got upgraded

Not sure how or why but while waiting to board, we were paged by Virgin staff and when I turned up at the counter, I was told that we were being issued a new boarding pass as we got upgraded --- awesome!

5. Virgin's in-flight menu was reasonably priced

I wasn't expecting to be fed for what we paid and the prices on the menu were pleasantly surprising --- water $2.50, chicken noodle meal $6.50, ham-cheese-tomato sandwich $7.50.

All in all, I am a satisfied customer and will fly Virgin Blue airline again to see if they are consistent. Let me know what your experience has been.

DISCLOSURE: My comments are unsolicited. I am not sponsored or associated with either JetStar, Virgin Blue or Qantas airlines.

swarm for melbourne's first foursquare day

Join the swarm on Friday 16/04 for Melbourne's first Foursquare day.

It will be held at @st_ali (http://stali.com.au/) from 8am. St ALi will be shouting coffee if a swarm (50+) is achieved.

Regular Friday tweetup #socialmelb will be held there as well for this special occasion.

I am looking forward to meeting Melbourne tweeps!


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Council takes on little kids on the block

There are so many rules for all facets of life in Australia. For the most part, it is a good thing to ensure we can all live peacefully with each other. Sometimes the rules are just lacking in common sense. But who is to blame?

Today, the Brisbane City Council is in the news for making the decision to pull down a treehouse built by kids on council property. They claim that the platform is 4 metres above ground and is overlooking a neighbouring property.

But the real issue here is that being on public land, this is a huge liability for the Council. We can all blame over-regulation, however we are all partly to blame.

We have become such a litiguous society, always looking for someone to blame, that insurance has become a major line item for annual budgets. All entities from multinationals, hospitals, councils and even neighbours with a shared driveway, now have to pay excessive premiums just to mitigate the risk of being sued.

As touching as it sounds that families on this particular street were brought together by the treehouse, the reality is that this risk is a potential headache for years to come (up to 20 years based on current statute of limitation).

It is sad that our world has changed in a single generation. Read the article on http://www.bit.ly/9MI7US

hit me with a one-liner

I came across this pic on a recent bender and thought it was a good candidate for a one-line caption comp.

Hit me with your best line!

Your deepest secrets revealed

Imagine some of your darkest and deepest secrets you thought were buried somewhere in cyberspace never to be seen again. Until now.

@newscientist reveals shape-shifting web crawler that indexes the dark corners of the web that Google and others can not reach.

It's all good if it finds Osama bin Laden and his mates. Not so good if it finds those compromising photos of you on a bender in college.

A reminder to all of us that the internet is always watching.

Read the article on http://bit.ly/d6mu7r

Tweeps @tweastie #nettuesday

Lots of great conversation with interesting people doing amazing things.

This week's tweastie* #NetTuesday** was sponsored by Cold Flow Melbourne - many thanks.

@marigo
@richendag
@wonderwebby
@marcusbetschel
@day2dayPA
@patriciadodd
@keithdon
@kirsty_wilson
@dwinter
@jaymcc
@stickylearning
@cherylgaskin
@hierohero
and mike mcdemott (pending handle)

If I have mistyped/misread, please let me know so I can correct it.

* @tweastie is a tweetup in Melbourne's eastern suburbs organised by Patricia Dodd & co held every Tuesday at Station Street Cafe (Nunawading Station).

** #NetTuesday is a gathering of tweeps using social media for good hosted by Jasmin Tragas (@wonderwebby). More info http://bit.ly/cvJhkl

EDIT: @wonderwebby has published a follow list - http://twitter.com/wonderwebby/nettuesday-melbourne

God forbid I should go out to dinner

I am neither a supporter nor a critic of Christine Nixon, but enough already! And now Jeff Kennett is getting in on the action.

I think people's reaction are over the top. Let us get some perspective here.

Sure, there was a bushfire raging. Yes, probably not a good idea in hindsight. But as someone has commented recently, not even the bushfire command centre knew the extent of the bushfire. I hardly think that qualifies as "abandoning her post".

Christine Nixon has publicly admitted herself that it was an error in judgement. In my books, case is closed and let us all move on.

Kennett calling for her resignation is absurd and unqualified. We need to focus on the task at hand and get on with rebuilding Marysville and surrounds.

Sacking Nixon will serve no purpose and will only delay works in progress by the bushfire authority.

iPhone OS4 fails with wifi issues

Have you upgraded to iPhone's OS4 yet?

Reports are coming through from users who have upgraded and found that wifi is no longer working, in particular those who do not use Airport wireless routers.

Some users are not able to associate with the wireless network at all. For those who are lucky enough to see their network, the password is being rejected.

I am beginning to wonder whether this is related to iPad's wifi issues and whether Apple has incorporated iPad's [newer] networking code into the OS4 release. This is going to be a deal breaker for a lot of users, particularly those who regularly hook-up to hotspots around town.

A lot of users who have upgraded over the weekend (and have Airport at home) are going to have a huge shock this morning when they head out on the road --- no internet access.

What is your experience?

Baring it

I have been around the IT traps for a while but have always kept my online presence to a minimum. That has since changed and I am stripping some of the layers off.

I am Erick from Melbourne, Australia. I'm a dad with a young family, my raison d'être. I hope to contribute to making the world a better place, one small step at a time.

I am an IT professional with a decade of experience in working for several blue-chip companies. I've managed large environments with 4,000+ servers in data centres spread across the globe including New York, London and Paris. This is all very exciting but 2 years ago I decided to take a backstep so I can see my kids grow.

I love music, used to play the piano and been learning to play the guitar so I could teach my kids. They seem to have caught the bug and look forward to my next song purchase so we can sing-along in the car, the lounge room and everywhere else.

I have an interest in languages. I believe learning a language gives you a better understanding of the people. I studied Japanese in high-school and university. I can understand Spanish which helped me pickup French when I lived in Paris during the dot.com boom. I have also started learning German which my kids are learning at school.

Recently, I caught the social media bug which is the motivation for starting up this blog. I like the way it brings together people from across the globe and I love communicating with people who I would not normally meet.

I look forward to getting connected. Catch me on Twitter!