Refresh 2011 is aimed at developers and designers who are wanting to increase their knowledge and extend their reach to the growing range of connected devices. This year Refresh will be in Brisbane, Sydney & Melbourne and has a great lineup of content & speakers.

Subjects Covered

• Multi-device Multi-screen
• Flash Professional Future
• HTML5 and Open Web
• Adobe Town Hall
• Adobe Digital Publishing Solution
• Flash Builder (Burrito and Hero) Future
• Sneak Peeks and Prizes

Keynote Speakers

Experience the best of Adobe MAX (recently held in LA) and hear from these leading industry experts in multi-screen delivery:

• Richard Galvan – Product Manager, Flash Professional
• Serge Jespers – Platform Evangelist, EMEA
• Paul Burnett – APAC Evangelist
• Michael Stoddart – APAC Evangelist

Who Should Attend

Developers and designers or anyone else with an interest in multi-screen delivery

More details here: http://www.adobe.com/au/special/adoberefresh2011/

This year Adobe Australia is supporting the Cancer Council and the local office divided into teams in a fun competition to see who could raise the most money for charity. My charity team decided to sing for your amusement. We also put together some great giveaways to encourage people to donate, including a Fair Dinkum Aussie Value Pack that we’re shipping to the winner, plus we had some Adobe software up for auction on eBay.

Check out this quick video;

Included in the Fair Dinkum value pack that was given away at random to a lucky donator was

Boomerang, Aussie fly swatter, Eucalyptus soap, Aboriginal culture cd-rom, Aboriginal music cd, Dangerous Australian animal tea towel, Stubbie holder, Soft toy koala, Soft toy kookaburra, The True Blue Guide to Australian Slang, “Does a Kangaroo have a mother too?” – childrens book, Chesty Bond’s men’s singlet, Zinc cream, Children’s classic Aussie book pack, Minties, Caramello Koala, Chocolate Freddo Frogs, Wizz Fizz, Tim Tam’s, Aeroplane Jelly, Twisties, Rosella Soup, Jar of Vegemite, Jaffas, Fantales, Box of Roses Chocolates, Can of Solo, Crunchie Bar, Picnic Bar, Cherry Ripe

Adobe employees from around the world donated more than $3000 within 24hours. Congratulations to Jenn Hathaway of the Adobe Newton office in the USA who was the winner of the hamper! Add the other donations + eBay auctions of software and my team raised a total of $9300 on the day. We won the competition between the teams but the even more rewarding is the good feeling of being able to help a great cause.

Five teams at Adobe raised a total of $24,000 for the Cancer Council in less than 24 hours! Thanks to everyone who donated!

BTW – You can still donate here if you wish! http://www.everydayhero.com.au/TFD

2007 is now history and it’s time to begin a new year. Before I share my personal goals for this 2008 I thought i’d share some interesting facts from last year;

• Ruth & I celebrated our 15 year anniversary
• Average reading one paperback per month
• 554 Tweets on Twitter
• 31,000 emails in 2007 (25,000 in 2006)
• 78 Flights (Domestic and International)
• 93 nights away from home (although 31 were for non work)
• 37 blog posts
• New countries discovered: Hong Kong & Dubai

Personal Goals for 2008 (in no particular order)

Weigh less this time next year.
I managed to lose some weight in 2007 but put most of it back on. This year i need to not slack off during winter!

Become a better husband & family member.
I need to spend more quality time with Ruth. I also need to be there more for my family, both immediate and extended.

Discover a new country
This is an annual goal that i want to maintain. This year i’m thinking either India or China.

Become a better manager
This crosses over into a work goal, but personally I want to serve the people that report to me better.

Join a new band
I’ve been playing Bass & Guitar for over  15 years and not being  in a band is starting to depress me. Time to fix this.

Keep up with technology
Not just Adobe related technology, I love geeking out with the latest innovations and that has to continue.

Be more adventurous and have fun
Most importantly, I want to get  to the end of 2008 and look back at the fun I had. Life’s too short.

Wow.. another lifetime acheivement marked off the list. Last night i saw one of my all time favourite bands, Rush, live in Sheffield in the UK

Those who have read my blog in the past would know of my disappointment with the lack of interest in this band in Australia, but fans were out in full force last night in England’s north as the band tours the country. You should have seen all the Rush Tshirts! By coincidence when we booked our trip to the UK the timing worked out and without too much confusion we were able to be in the right area in order to see the concert.

The band played extremely well and the gig was above and beyond my expectations. Ruth & I had great seats looking straight onto the stage (although the arena’s definition of ample leg room leave a lot to be desired). There were too many good things about the performance to go through each one, but to see Neil Peart’s drum solo live and watch Geddy Lee play bass will go down as two of the highlights of my musical career. Wow!

Apart from the tickets, the credit card wasnt hurt too much, I managed to get away with just a t-shirt, programme and bandana. Oh yeah, and Ruth had a good time too!

Had a great visit to Cardiff. Ruth & I are huge fans of the new Dr Who series as well as the spin off show Torchwood. For this reason we decided to include Cardiff in our travels so we could visit some of the filming sites. The No 1 place on our list was Roald Dahl Plass, at Cardiff Bay where a lot of the exterior shots of Torchwood and a fair few episodes of Dr Who are filmed.

It was pretty cool just walking around that area, since we’ve now seen in many times. We then happened to find a nearby Dr Who exhibition which included animated Daleks and all! Cool!

Can’t wait to rewatch the series when we return home now…

I had grand plans of writing extensive blog posts about my trip to Europe but considering i’m now half way through, i’ll summarise here and expand later..

Poland

Spent a few days in Lodz, Poland with my fathers side of the family. The picture below is of me and my cousin. I can honestly say that I know more Polish than before and can ask for a beer, train, bus etc and can call out dog, cat & cow   It was really great to meet up with them again and i really fewel a special connection with Poland as a result.

Apart from spending time with family Ruth & I managed to visit Częstochowa, Krakow & Auschwitz.

]]> http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/10/01/somewhere-in-europe/feed/ 2 http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/17/hong-kong-day-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hong-kong-day-2 http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/17/hong-kong-day-2/#comments Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:19:04 +0000 Mark Szulc http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/17/hong-kong-day-2/

On Sunday I crammed in approx 2-3 days worth of Hong Kong site seeing into 12 hours. It was thoroughly enjoyable but boy was I tired afterwards. So much so that its taken until now (Wednesday night) to be able to blog about it.

Lantua Island

Up and out of the hotel by 9am, I caught the MTR subway from the nearby Causeway Bay station. At this particular station there is a Hong Kong visitors center that was particularly helpful. Armed with my MTR 1 day hopper ticket, I set off for “Central” station.

Changing at Central was easy, and reminiscent of either Tokyo or the London tube.. walk walk walk underground with no clue what is above. Stopped at a bakery for a yummy Custard & Coconut bread roll! On to the next train and out to Lantua Island I go, destination Tung Chung.

20 -30 minutes later while sharing a train with many families headed for Hong Kong Disneyland, I make it to my first stop and begin my quest for a bus. Simple enough thanks to the visitor center I head for Bus 23. Problem #1.. no change.. easily fixed by the local 7-Eleven. Problem #2.. miss second bus due to the lineup, only seated passengers allowed. So after 30 minutes of wasted time I finally get on the bus to the Giant Buddha.

Giant Buddha

Advised to be a 15 minute journey turned into more than 30 as we ducked and weaved our way over the top of the island, stopping for construction workers and other things. Eventually we arrive at the Giant Buddha minutes after passing the previous bus that i missed broken down on the side of a steep hill (I know it was the previous bus because I was narcy at the people who were allowed on instead of me)

The Giant Buddha rocks.. sitting on top of a big hill, after a small donation (about $5 Aus) I began the climb up the staircase to the top. Easy journey but awesome site at the top. You can go inside the base and get close to the top. This Buddha sits proud and is something worth seeing. I was impressed. I was also lucky with the weather, as the clouds where just skimmy the top of the Buddha’s head. Another meter lower and it would have ruined the visit. If I had more time there is also a vegetarian restaurant served by the monks and many other things to explore / experience.. something for next time.

Boat #1

After seeing the Buddha I hopped on Bus #2 down to the ferry terminal. Met a great Canadian guy on the bus who’d been living and working as a lawyer in HK for many years and had to give instructions to both me and other western passengers as the other Chinese people were tourists and didn’t know better than us. After the short bus ride I arrived at the ferry terminal just in time to purchase a ticket and hop on board.

Central

After a pleasant 45 minute ferry ride from the island into the harbour we pulled into Central, and after looking around for a bus to my next destination I realized that I was food deprived and began looking for ANYTHING suitable. What options did I have? Well, needless to say I found a McDonald’s and managed to Hoover down a Big Mac just in time before my next bus took off without me. Not entirely nourishing but it stopped a headache that was starting, i had to shovel the food down and throw the rest in the bin next to me otherwise wait another 30 minutes for the next ride.

Stanley Markets

Beautiful bus ride to Stanley markets.. well worth the trip even if you come straight back. Great beaches, boats, hotels, etc etc. Arriving at Stanley I had a good look around the markets, managed to grab another bite to eat (this time a decent Chinese Beef Curry) and bought a couple of really small things. Hopped back on the bus to Central again and headed back underground to the subway

Mong Kok / Prince Edward

This place has to be seen.. GoldFish markets and Ladies Markets.. literary blocks of aquarium type shops selling fish prepackaged in plastic bags by the dozens, plants, tanks etc etc. You name it, they had it in this street. In Ladies Markets they had the usual market stuff, and of course many MANY requests for me to look at fake watches and hand bags. Getting back on the train, I hopped down one stop and made my way to the harbour shore on the Kowloon side, just as it began to get dark.

Hong Kong Harbour.

The harbor is probably one of HK’s biggest attractions, and the skyline view from Kowloon is fantastic, the only thing closely reminiscent to me is when I first saw Manhattan Island when driving in from JFK airport. This place is just packed with large buildings.

As the sun went down I looked up and down for familiar names on the “Avenue of the Stars” and eventually gave up and found somewhere to sit and wait for the 8pm light show. the city lights reflected on the water look truly spectacular, especially with the small boats zipping past. After waiting over 30 minutes I was let down by a semi baked presentation of the city building lights being animated to music. The intent was great, the lights themselves were good, but the sound was too low for it to be engaging and I don’t feel it was quite dark enough for the right effect. A shame.. I’ll have to give it another go next time I’m here.

Headed home & Boat #2

Last step was to head back to the hotel. I hopped on the Star Ferry from Kowloon back across to Central, switched to a train back to Causeway Bay, and stumbled back to the hotel.

It was a long day, over 12 hours in today constantly moving, but well worth it.
I love Hong Kong and want to experience a whole lot more before I leave.

]]> http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/17/hong-kong-day-2/feed/ 2 http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/14/first-visit-to-hong-kong/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=first-visit-to-hong-kong http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/14/first-visit-to-hong-kong/#comments Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:34:57 +0000 Mark Szulc http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/14/first-visit-to-hong-kong/

Tonight I’m experiencing something new, Hong Kong. I flew in this afternoon for the very first time and i’ll be here till Thursday.

Flying up from Sydney today was surprisingly good. I’m not sure if I’ve just set my expectations too low or not, but the Qantas staff were great, i was given the seat i requested, the service was good, the food was ok and even the on-demand video service stayed working the entire flight. (btw – Zodiac is worth watching)

Arriving in Hong Kong while the sun was still up, i breezed through the efficient airport straight onto the Airport Express train, which promptly deposited me smack bang in the middle of Hong Kong city. From there what should have been a quick cab ride was lengthened due to the traffic, however I didn’t mind while i had a good gawk out the window. My hotel is in the Causeway Bay area.

Probably worth mentioning now.. IT’s BLOODY HOT HERE! 34 degrees today. Cop that everyone freezing back home in Sydney!

After dumping bags in the hotel, I hit the streets for my first look and was greeted with many sites and smells. Highlights included a makeshift “food alley” which offered fresh fruit, live fish (some still moving) and curb side butcher cutting meat to order. From there I found my way to Time Square, which compared to New York is a bit of a let down, but none the less I found the best part.. air conditioning!

First stop was a CD shop I walked past, straight up to the rock session and horray, they had the latest Rush CD. Why is it that i can buy Rush CDs anywhere else in the world, in the tiniest of CD shops, but not in Australia???

After a quick bite at a food court (yummy beef curry) i found a supermarket to stock up the hotel fridge (which was empty!) and found Australian “Pura Light” Milk, and my latest breaky cereal favourite, Sanitarium Granola, also imported from Australia. Bizarre.

Back out into the heat, managed to get back to the hotel before the milk went off. Quick phone call to Ruth to say goodnight and here i am writing this.

Tonight was just a quick taste and I’ve enjoyed it already. Time for me to go to bed too.. big day of sight seeing tomorrow!

]]> http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/07/14/first-visit-to-hong-kong/feed/ 0 http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/04/19/wellington-nz-visit-4/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=wellington-nz-visit-4 http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/04/19/wellington-nz-visit-4/#comments Thu, 19 Apr 2007 06:08:38 +0000 Mark Szulc http://www.markszulc.com/blog/2007/04/19/wellington-nz-visit-4/

Night two in Wellington, NZ. Slightly colder than i’d expect but much warmer than i’ve experienced here in the past. Flying in was about average, not sure if you’ve seen this video on youtube showing the fun you can have when landing here, but there was even more excitement when we were about a metre from the gate…

Recorded announcement: “This is an emergency announcement, please return to your seat, extinguish cigarettes (what the?) and pull down the oxygen masks from above. We are dropping in altitude rapidly…”   umm hello?  we were on the ground… which is lucky coz i think i would have made a mess if it happened 5 minutes earlier. Anyway, the captain announced that there was a system failure but he had overridden it to stop the alarm… let me off!

Anyway, Wellington is a great place and its good to visit once again. Oh, and for those of you who have heard me recommend “Great India” as the best Indian restaurant in both Wellington and the world, next time you’re here give  “The Balti House” a try. Fantastic food!

What a fantastic night, i just arrived home from watching Roger Waters before the entire “Dark Side of the Moon” album plus many other Floyd hits and 2 solo tracks.
I need to get my thoughts together to write a full review and i’m way too tired right now, but it was truly a great experience.