It’s been a good few weeks since my last post – and unfortunately I thought I would be prepping my bags and *leeeeeeaving…. on a jeeeet planeeeee* in the next week or so, however I still haven’t got our Visa info back from PNG, so still haven’t submitted to the High Commission here.  Frustrated?  Yup – just a little.

As yet, I still have a house full of stuff, two cars, and all the normal everyday stuff you need – whilst living in Dunedin during the winter.  If it was summer – wouldn’t be too much of a problem, but winter….  You never know when you need the 4×4..!

In my last post I had a list of things I would miss – here’s the list again, but this time – I am going to scratch out a few things – cause we are still here!

1. I’m going to miss my wife and kids – who will be coming up maybe 6-8 weeks later   OK – the kids are driving us all around the bend!
2. I’m going to miss friends and family  Nigel No Mates, and the family have only visted once in 6 months, miss them?
3. I’m going to miss my uncles 60th birthday – sorry Kev!  Kev’s Birthday is soon!  Pity he is too slack to organise a party…
4. Rugby World Cup! Bugger  OK Super 15 almost gone, NPC to go 🙂
5. The opening of the Forsyth Barr Stadium  Might get there after all
6. All Blacks v Fiji – the official and definite last test match at Carisbrook  Might get to this too
7. Election 2011 and the banter with my National Member Boss. Can’t wait to rub in NZ First back in parliament   Boss is on holiday, but now not too early
8. My job, yes – I shouldn’t miss it, but I know I will…  ahh yes – I want to get stuck into my new role!!
9. Winter – I do enjoy the cold  stuff this – give me some heat!
10. Kids sport . Soccer/Hockey  Yup damn cold on the soccer field
11. My dog – even though he is already gone   Yup – still miss Jack 😦
12. My truck – going to have to sell it soon  OK – so this might turn into an issue – if I can’t sell it
13. Internet   Still have it!
14. Yeah – I could go on and on and on…..  Yeah – I could go on and on and on…..

We all use them, they are a part of lives and as important as the knife and fork, and yet we don’t understand them, nor know how to use them properly. Here in lies a problem. We… Don’t know how to use them properly.collectively.

As the head of an IT department, it amazes me the things that I can achieve with technology, and yet – I could do so much more… However I am concerned that technologists nowadays – aren’t really technologists. When I started in IT, I was taught hardware level repairs, not replacing a hard drive – but board and component. If I could get my eyes to focus, I might still be able to do it today.. But I think I have lost the knowledge… Now, the focus is on software, we truly aren’t IT Departments any more, we aren’t ICT either, we are definitively IS Departments, where systems are enhanced and managed on top of IT. And technologists develop applications that people may or may not want, but most likely are not concerned about the hardware to an extent that it will run on. It amuses me when a company that develops software, but has never worked or been a part of that industry, tries to sell you a product that they have developed, for an industry they have never been in.

So an IT Department, is really a handholder, we are like the drawer that holds the knife and fork. And the dishwasher that cleans them. And sometimes, we either buy new knives and forks, replace them, scrape the rust off them, modify them to do things they shouldn’t be doing, sharpen them, and even show new people how to use them. Quite often we get bigger ones, smaller ones, and even different coloured ones. And at the end of the day, if you lose your knife and fork – you either eat with your hands, or get a new set.