The Knitting Needle and the Damage Done: Knitscene Fall 2013 – I don’t know if my knitting friends are aware of Orange Swan’s blog, but her reviews of knitting magazines are brilliant. I think I need to get this Knitscene.

Cation Designs: Superman Cutout Back Dress: Completed! – SO FRIGGIN’ COOL.

Congrats to the Sitback team on the successful launch of the redesigned Luna Park website! This was one of the last big projects I worked on there, and it’s very cool to see that the spec I wrote has finally come to life. Great job, team!

Goodbye CBA
As some of you may have heard, Kris’s Adventure in Corporate Land ends today. It’s been a challenging three months! I’ve made a lot of friends at CBA, and they’re the one reason I’m sorry to go. But the truth of the matter is that I just don’t think I’m cut out to work in financial infrastructure. It’s not that it was too hard; the learning curve was steep but after a month or so I found my feet. I just find it hard to get excited about backend systems. I prefer to work on things that you can see and interact with. And yeah, the working culture is very different to what I’m used to. While I’ve made friends in my department, I haven’t really felt at home in the bank. Part of it was that I’m a contractor, and part of it was the fact that I was shuttling between two offices. I felt a little like a square peg in a round hole. So when the opportunity came up to do explore doing something else, I grabbed it.

On Monday I start my new role as Iteration Manager at Mi9 (the digital media company that runs NineMSN* and many other media sites). My friend Jody is the Network Development Manager there, and she’s the one that convinced me to go for the role. It’s a new direction for me! Rather than being a traditional BA, I’m going to be heading up an Agile app development team. (If you want to see what I’m going to be working on, Jump-in!) I’m pretty excited. It’s back into the world of digital and media and apps, which is where I feel most at home. The offices are at Australia Square right in the middle of the CBD, so it’s a very easy commute from Chippo. I’m going to be learning new skills and finally taking on some people management responsibility. The dress code is much more “IT Nerd Casual”. And the role is a permanent one (rather than the contract I was on), so I’ve got a bit more security too. Like, I said, very excited!

So that’s that. I don’t regret my time at CBA; I’d never worked in this type of company or environment before and I think I gave it a good try. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from taking a job here. If you want to work in the finance industry or similar big corporates, I think it’s a great place to be. It just wasn’t a good fit for me.

* For the non-Australians, NineMSN is a joint venture between Microsoft and one of our local TV networks. So yeah, I’m now working for Microsoft! And Snook works for Google! BING VS GOOGLE SHOWDOWN, AMIRITE?

Paraplegic mum goes duct-taped surfing on South Australia’s West Coast | The Advertiser – This is pretty much the sweetest thing ever. I’m so impressed he’s able to get up and stay on the board with her on his back!

Who’s Behind the Sad, Anonymous Truth of ‘My Startup Has 30 Days to Live’? – Connor Simpson – The Atlantic Wire – All the guys I know in IT who are too young to have been involved in the dot-com boom keep talking about start-ups. They think it’s the path to riches. I hope they read this.

Australia’s most economical cars revealed – Wow. The cheapest is still $113 a week. I am going to remember that whenever I get car envy. And considering we rent out our car space, the actual cost for us would be even higher! That’s a LOT of GoGet trips…

Time Team’s Mick Aston dies – I hope they bury him in that lovely stripey jumper.

When Gadgets Should Be Repaired, Not Replaced | Lifehacker Australia – I’ve been trying to adopt a “Fixer” attitude myself. It’s hard with electronics though – most of us think it’s easier to replace than deal with circuit boards.

MAKE | New in Knitting: Stitch Maps – Interesting! This is basically how the Japanese write their knitting patterns though, right?