About Me
Just thought I’d let you know a bit about me.
I’m currently back being a student, but I come from a pretty diverse background. I worked with the Australian Sugar Industry for many years, with a particular focus on enhancing the efficiency of mechanical cane harvesters. During that time I was really honoured to work with some of the best minds in Australian Agriculture, including people like Chris Norris, Jeff Tullberg, Brian Robotham, Steve Staunton and Mac Hogarth, amongst many others. Some of these guys helped me apply for a scholarship with the Australian Sugar Research and Development Corporation, to study a masters in Computer and Communications Engineering at QUT.
I did quite well at the scholarship, and am now back studying my PhD full time, which is pretty rewarding, if not a bit stressful at times. In my spare time, I spend alot of time on the Google Webmaster’s Help Forum, giving and receiving advice about search engine optimization.
Between my masters and my current PhD, I spent a bit of time travelling around the world, living in Norway for a bit with my good friend Alf Pedersen (marine biologist) for a few months, then moving on to see my mate Karthik Ravi at his home in the South of India, and a bit of time in Asia in general. During that time, I also founded a textiles business, which has been both a nightmare and a blessing. I also developed a love of travelling, of course.
So, here I am back in Brisbane studying. It can be a bit of a task at times, but I keep sane by doing things like orienteering and skydiving at my local club – also I have regular visitors from overseas – as I write now, I have two Norwegian girls crashed out on my comfortable double bed, my Indian friend is sleeping on my fold out couch in the living area, and I have the luxury of sleeping on a ‘camp stretcher’ in my office – hehe… it’s ok – I like the company.
My PhD is all about using technology to make life easier for people on the ground in Agriculture. My university is QUT.
Why the Duck?
So I get asked a bit why my tag is the duckman.. Well, during my undergraduate degree at Gatton, I got a job as a DJ. The owner of the pub I worked at (The Imperial) thought DJ’s had a tendency to take themselves a tad seriously, so he made me wear a hat with a rubber ducky bolted onto it. There the Duckman was born, and ten years later I’ve been approached by people saying “Hey it’s the duckman” in places as far flung as Cairns, Port Douglas, Mumbai, Singapore and Heathrow airport. Funny how things go – Gatton is a little tiny town in rural queensland, but they obviously travel well 🙂
So what’s this blog all about?
I have a hopeless memory, so I tend to find myself having to google for answers to technical problems I’m already quite sure I know the answer to :D. I recently started writing these answers down, and it struck me one day that if I was asking these sorts of questions, perhaps others would be interested in them too – so, now I write them down on my Blog.
I do have some long term goals for this blog (you can probably guess what, considering the URL), but in the intervening period, I’m just trying to build my links and traffic up a bit. If you want to link to me, always appreciated. I also have a ‘anything goes’ ethos, and I’m happy for anyone and everyone that believes they are a guru on a particular topic to join up and submit their questions or answers on this blog – no worries 🙂
Cheers,
TheDuck
