So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

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rustypup
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by rustypup »

ryanrich wrote: 28 Mar 2020, 12:33 Work as a Senior Technical Consultant for an IT firm, specialise in Office 365 / Azure migrations, amongst other things.
Azure has some new recommendations for you. Would you like to review them? :lol:

Moved on from dev into management for my sins. Running PaaS deployments and maintenance now, incorporating what little hardware we have left in Teraco and some insane Azure stuff, (managed instance, data lake, yada-yada).

Still not taking life seriously either. :D

Good to see the old gang around....
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Knuckles »

Hi everyone,

Its so good to read up and see what everyone is up to now.
Some mixed fortunes, I am lucky to say I have had more ups than downs.

I was an avid poster here until late 2005 when I moved to the UK to follow my girlfriend at the time. Once in the UK I did not post as much and slowly lost tocuh with many of you, I was lucky to keep up relations with some on Facebook, but even there I have lost touch with many.

So, I am still living in the UK, outskirts of SW London. I am happy to say that I made good of my girlfriend and we got married in Cape Town in 2011. We have a cheeky 4 year old girl and we have a baby on the way, due mid/late May.

Work wise, I struggled with my career in IT for many years doing low end tecnical roles I didnt really enjoy, until I had a panny drop moment and changed what I was doing, I havent looked abck and now really happy with what I am doing. I currently work for a smallish fin-tech company in the city and its been amazing. I am lucky to have worked and work with amazing people, sitting here in isolation makes me realise this.

Moving to the UK was meant to be the start of a life filled with travel and adventure, it didnt really work that way, the annual commutes to SA were pricey to say the least, especially as we had to travel during school holidays due to Mrs' job, we always payed top whack. By the time our first child came we had managed to travel to Ireland, Thailand and Turkey, not too bad. In recent years as I have built up my income we have been able to do more, a few trips to Italy and Spain have been added. We try and visit SA every 18 months or so, we still have a lot of family there and its important to us that we see them.

My hobbies have changed, I was a huge photography fan, I had all the gear but only half an idea. I was out of my depth most of the time and I was frustrated at my results being so up and down. I had fun with it but ultimately by ability couldnt keep up with my ambition.
Lego is a huge part of my life, I have a huge collection and love having a build.

Thats about it really. Life is strange at the moment, the thought of having a baby in these times is scary, there is a real possibility I wont be allowed to be at the birth, just got to take it 1 day at a time.

If any of you want to connect on LinkedIn or Facebook, feel free to look me up: Bevan Hitchell
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by KatrynKat »

Stuart wrote: 28 Mar 2020, 20:26 I guess my dad died, too, since we were last active here. And my father-in-law.
To add to the morbid discussion... Mother-in-law passed away 2 years ago last October and father-in-law last year November so we have an orphan in the house...
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Ron2K »

The other bit of news that I didn't add earlier: courtesy of my younger sister (who some of you have met), I'm now an uncle to three... well, the only word to describe them is "monsters".

Monster #1 came along in 2014, and is a total brat. Monster #2 came along in 2015 and is the sweetest, kindest, most well behaved child one will come across. (Those of you that were at our wedding may remember those two -- and no, not the little kid that stole the dance floor; that one is Amy's second cousin.)

Then, we get to Monster #3. She popped out 3 months early, in November 2017. At that early stage, it's pretty much 50/50 whether the child lives or dies, so that was really stressful for everyone involved. Happily, the little monster made it and now puts her two elder sisters into their places. The cheekiness has to be seen to be believed: just yesterday, she swiped the gate remote and went toddling down the road to her friend's house, only to be returned shortly afterwards, kicking and screaming, by a patrolling ADT officer who knew exactly where to return her. (Otherwise, the news headlines would be reading "Unrepentant 2 year old is the third person in the Western Cape caught defying the lockdown"!) That child's misadventures almost deserve a thread of its own...
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Tribble »

SykomantiS wrote: 29 Mar 2020, 13:08 I stopped playing games. Started making beer. Got married 5th of March. Everything else is still pretty much the same.

Welcome back everyone and thanks Ron for your effort. :D
Congratulations. Hope it will be a long and happy one.
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by ryanrich »

rustypup wrote: 29 Mar 2020, 14:08
Azure has some new recommendations for you. Would you like to review them? :lol:
:lol:

At my previous company when I was still in Cape Town I was busy with an IaaS migration from on-prem hypervisor to Azure and we were using a product called Turbonomic for costing estimates, automatic resource provisioning, that sort of thing, that we later discovered was very similar to Azure Advisor. Money well spent then. :lol:
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Tribble »

Knuckles wrote: 29 Mar 2020, 14:16 Hi everyone,

Its so good to read up and see what everyone is up to now.
Some mixed fortunes, I am lucky to say I have had more ups than downs.

I was an avid poster here until late 2005 when I moved to the UK to follow my girlfriend at the time. Once in the UK I did not post as much and slowly lost tocuh with many of you, I was lucky to keep up relations with some on Facebook, but even there I have lost touch with many.

So, I am still living in the UK, outskirts of SW London. I am happy to say that I made good of my girlfriend and we got married in Cape Town in 2011. We have a cheeky 4 year old girl and we have a baby on the way, due mid/late May.

Work wise, I struggled with my career in IT for many years doing low end tecnical roles I didnt really enjoy, until I had a panny drop moment and changed what I was doing, I havent looked abck and now really happy with what I am doing. I currently work for a smallish fin-tech company in the city and its been amazing. I am lucky to have worked and work with amazing people, sitting here in isolation makes me realise this.

Moving to the UK was meant to be the start of a life filled with travel and adventure, it didnt really work that way, the annual commutes to SA were pricey to say the least, especially as we had to travel during school holidays due to Mrs' job, we always payed top whack. By the time our first child came we had managed to travel to Ireland, Thailand and Turkey, not too bad. In recent years as I have built up my income we have been able to do more, a few trips to Italy and Spain have been added. We try and visit SA every 18 months or so, we still have a lot of family there and its important to us that we see them.

My hobbies have changed, I was a huge photography fan, I had all the gear but only half an idea. I was out of my depth most of the time and I was frustrated at my results being so up and down. I had fun with it but ultimately by ability couldnt keep up with my ambition.
Lego is a huge part of my life, I have a huge collection and love having a build.

Thats about it really. Life is strange at the moment, the thought of having a baby in these times is scary, there is a real possibility I wont be allowed to be at the birth, just got to take it 1 day at a time.

If any of you want to connect on LinkedIn or Facebook, feel free to look me up: Bevan Hitchell
Sometimes it takes a while to find your space in life - that place where you are happy. Glad you found yours. Congrats on the baby on the way - that is scary - I won't lie. Good luck - hope it all goes well.
Ron2K wrote: 29 Mar 2020, 21:13 The other bit of news that I didn't add earlier: courtesy of my younger sister (who some of you have met), I'm now an uncle to three... well, the only word to describe them is "monsters".

Monster #1 came along in 2014, and is a total brat. Monster #2 came along in 2015 and is the sweetest, kindest, most well behaved child one will come across. (Those of you that were at our wedding may remember those two -- and no, not the little kid that stole the dance floor; that one is Amy's second cousin.)

Then, we get to Monster #3. She popped out 3 months early, in November 2017. At that early stage, it's pretty much 50/50 whether the child lives or dies, so that was really stressful for everyone involved. Happily, the little monster made it and now puts her two elder sisters into their places. The cheekiness has to be seen to be believed: just yesterday, she swiped the gate remote and went toddling down the road to her friend's house, only to be returned shortly afterwards, kicking and screaming, by a patrolling ADT officer who knew exactly where to return her. (Otherwise, the news headlines would be reading "Unrepentant 2 year old is the third person in the Western Cape caught defying the lockdown"!) That child's misadventures almost deserve a thread of its own...
This third one really sounds like she will be keeping everyone on their toes. Do start a thread - would be funny to read everyone's stories from their replicants.
rustypup wrote: 29 Mar 2020, 14:08
ryanrich wrote: 28 Mar 2020, 12:33 Work as a Senior Technical Consultant for an IT firm, specialise in Office 365 / Azure migrations, amongst other things.
Azure has some new recommendations for you. Would you like to review them? :lol:

Moved on from dev into management for my sins. Running PaaS deployments and maintenance now, incorporating what little hardware we have left in Teraco and some insane Azure stuff, (managed instance, data lake, yada-yada).

Still not taking life seriously either. :D

Good to see the old gang around....
You not taking life seriously ? I remember when I first started posting here - thought you were one of the most serious people - until I understood your posts that is :lol: Glad you haven't drowned in those lakes :wink: This Azure terminology is weird - but nothing weirder than blobs.

KatrynKat wrote: 29 Mar 2020, 20:38
Stuart wrote: 28 Mar 2020, 20:26 I guess my dad died, too, since we were last active here. And my father-in-law.
To add to the morbid discussion... Mother-in-law passed away 2 years ago last October and father-in-law last year November so we have an orphan in the house...
Wow - heavy losses. I know your mom has been through quite a few scares too. Really glad she is still here - please get her to come back - even just to say hi.
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by hamin_aus »

DAE_JA_VOO wrote: I remember being a f*cking annoying religious zealot when I was still a member here, and that's all a thing of the past too, thank goodness. Still a christian, but not such an a**hole of a christian.
You were never an a**hole xtian - not to me anyway.

I too have followed your photog career with awe - I think we all knew you were the type of person who would excel at whatever you put your mind to and I'm happy you found your passion. Keep living the dream!
Prime wrote: Applied for an Australian permanent residency visa which I got. Quit my job of 5 years to join another startup and stayed there for 2 years while I basically packed up my life.

Finally emigrated end of July last year. Found a job in 3 weeks which was a relief. Now living in Melbourne building avionics for helicopters.
Another awesome success story!
You were an interesting one Prime, you definitly started out as - to borrow a phrase from DJV - an a**hole xtian
You then became an a**hole athiest, which was amusing at first but got tiresome.
We all knew you were smart, but I'm glad to hear how you grew over the years and turned that raw intelelct into success.
Spicy-McHaggis wrote: I work in technical logistics for a yacht transporter 😎 in Amsterdam The Netherlands
Spicy/Stumps/RubberDildo - my brother from another mother!
I have followed you contribution to Nederdraad for a while :D
KatrynKat wrote: Left the Agricultural Research Council (actually got kicked out, was getting very racially political) in June 2017. Obtained M.Sc. Agrometeorology in June 2018. Started working as a Senior Data Quality Controller in November 2018. Working with climate returns/data from 1860 onwards.
1860, impressive, did you read jee's diary to get information from that year :D
KatrynKat wrote:no kids yet (need specialist help)
Dr Hamin is in, I am aspecialist in this field and can tell you what to do:

You put the pee-pee in the nu-nu until it makes a snu-snu

Now go on, get to it ;)

KALSTER wrote:But in Nov 2017 I finally found a proper job as an Admin officer and now representative for a group funeral policy Administrator and have been here ever since. I don't earn that much, but I am comfortable. I do work my bottom off though and regularly work hours into the next day and even work through the night sometimes, but I am thankful that I have employment at least. I have reached a good level of indispensability at least and I save them a lot of money in IT costs lol.
I'm glad you found a job that fulfils you, bro!
Condolenses on your dad as well.
KALSTER wrote:Still an atheist, but much less of an anti-religious zealot.
KALSTER wrote:Was still working as manager of a DVD rental franchise
How can you not believe in hell when you managed it for years????
Ron2K wrote:the Lurker found a Lurkette.
I was absolutely amazed at how well you did there Ron! Not joking in the slightest my dude - congrats.
Ron2K wrote:the Lurker still lurks
Lurkers gonna lurk!
rustypup wrote:Moved on from dev into management for my sins. Running PaaS deployments and maintenance now, incorporating what little hardware we have left in Teraco and some insane Azure stuff, (managed instance, data lake, yada-yada).
Managed instance isnt insane unless you are talking about the cost.

Glad to hear they gave you more responsibility than gluing the strings onto the tampons!
Knuckles wrote:I was an avid poster here until late 2005 when I moved to the UK to follow my girlfriend at the time.
Did she know you were following her at the time? DID she know she was your girlfriend at the time???
Doesnt matter since it all worked out in the end ;)




For my part nothing much has changed career wise. I moved from Mining to Insurance and now onto chemicals & gas. I'm still primarily a SQL Server DBA - I get to put Senior in my title now tho which is super rad.
Like Rusty and Ryan I have had a lot of Azure experience over the past 4 years - all somehow related to databases, but still quite varied.

Personal-life has been uneventlful - my marriage and kids all happened while the forum was still around back in the day and in the intervening years things have progressed mostly positively.

I tried contacting Zana a few times over the years for more naked elf pics but other than that I have just kept quiet tabs on most of you regulars on facebook and enjoyed watching you progress thru life
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by KatrynKat »

hamin_aus wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 07:19
KatrynKat wrote: Left the Agricultural Research Council (actually got kicked out, was getting very racially political) in June 2017. Obtained M.Sc. Agrometeorology in June 2018. Started working as a Senior Data Quality Controller in November 2018. Working with climate returns/data from 1860 onwards.
1860, impressive, did you read jee's diary to get information from that year :D
ha ha ha... soooo hilarious...

It's actually cool when you check the returns, especially the ones from the Cape region as it is a part of cultural history... they were all handwritten and the penmanship is amazing sometimes... unfortunately due to this we have to manually capture the data, but I am still on the lookout for a piece of software that will read the handwritten data in and convert it ( I know there are some countries that are already doing this but I just have to convince my superiors on this)... I'm on the digital preservation committee so it is my job to get all paper resources (and we have a ton of them, not all stored properly) into a digital format. We are also busy upgrading the data management system so that we don't have to manually convert the data before capturing it.
hamin_aus wrote:
KatrynKat wrote:no kids yet (need specialist help)
Dr Hamin is in, I am aspecialist in this field and can tell you what to do:

You put the pee-pee in the nu-nu until it makes a snu-snu

Now go on, get to it ;)
If only it was that simple and cheap...
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Stuart »

KatrynKat wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:32 I am still on the lookout for a piece of software that will read the handwritten data in and convert it
wasn't there an episode of buffy where they did that? back in the 1990s? shoot giles and email. i'm sure he can help.
KatrynKat wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:32
hamin_aus wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 07:19
Dr Hamin is in, I am aspecialist in this field and can tell you what to do:

You put the pee-pee in the nu-nu until it makes a snu-snu

Now go on, get to it ;)
If only it was that simple and cheap...
worked for me ...
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by wizardofid »

Stuart wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:40
KatrynKat wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:32 I am still on the lookout for a piece of software that will read the handwritten data in and convert it
wasn't there an episode of buffy where they did that? back in the 1990s? shoot giles and email. i'm sure he can help.
KatrynKat wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:32
hamin_aus wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 07:19
Dr Hamin is in, I am aspecialist in this field and can tell you what to do:

You put the pee-pee in the nu-nu until it makes a snu-snu

Now go on, get to it ;)
If only it was that simple and cheap...
worked for me ...
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Prime »

hamin_aus wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 07:19
Prime wrote: Applied for an Australian permanent residency visa which I got. Quit my job of 5 years to join another startup and stayed there for 2 years while I basically packed up my life.

Finally emigrated end of July last year. Found a job in 3 weeks which was a relief. Now living in Melbourne building avionics for helicopters.
Another awesome success story!
You were an interesting one Prime, you definitly started out as - to borrow a phrase from DJV - an a**hole xtian
You then became an a**hole athiest, which was amusing at first but got tiresome.
We all knew you were smart, but I'm glad to hear how you grew over the years and turned that raw intelelct into success.


I tried contacting Zana a few times over the years for more naked elf pics but other than that I have just kept quiet tabs on most of you regulars on facebook and enjoyed watching you progress thru life
Still an ******* atheist when I feel the need to be. ;) :lol:


Hahaha, thanks.

Well you don't need Zana, Cornhub and Bad Dragon will oblige you ;)
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Tribble »

Prime wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 13:16
Well you don't need Zana, Cornhub and Bad Dragon will oblige you ;)
I have a feeling that something bad became of Zana. We were friends on DeviantArt and one day she just disappeared. She had tried to commit suicide several times. I hope she didn't come right. I liked her. Her art was amazing !!!!
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by wizardofid »

Tribble wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 13:20
Prime wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 13:16
Well you don't need Zana, Cornhub and Bad Dragon will oblige you ;)
I have a feeling that something bad became of Zana. We were friends on DeviantArt and one day she just disappeared. She had tried to commit suicide several times. I hope she didn't come right. I liked her. Her art was amazing !!!!
Zana eish ! Now there is a name I never expected to be uttered again. I miss my buddy psyco critter :(
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Re: So it's been a LONG time. How have your lives changed?

Post by Stuart »

wizardofid wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 10:38
Stuart wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:40
KatrynKat wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:32 I am still on the lookout for a piece of software that will read the handwritten data in and convert it
wasn't there an episode of buffy where they did that? back in the 1990s? shoot giles and email. i'm sure he can help.
KatrynKat wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 08:32
hamin_aus wrote: 31 Mar 2020, 07:19
Dr Hamin is in, I am aspecialist in this field and can tell you what to do:

You put the pee-pee in the nu-nu until it makes a snu-snu

Now go on, get to it ;)
If only it was that simple and cheap...
worked for me ...
Bar rabbits, rats reproduce unimpeded........:run4hills:
This is true.
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