I officially exist to the Uni. Finally. Now to get the Internet download quota removed...
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Monday, February 13, 2006
oz update
Okay, so I got settled in finally last night, and things aren't so bad. This morning, after a hot shower and some sleep, I started feeling better about my situation. Granted, my place of residence threw a party last night for the residents -- nice and loud -- so sleeping was a bit hard (hard, like my bed).
Internet access is completely different in Australia, and I've taken for granted how we do stuff in the US. For one thing, you buy megabytes not bandwidth. In fact, the university puts a cap on how much downloading you can do per semester. This is enforced by crazy web proxy servers and logging gateways, and other things I don't understand because they're blocked. I've found that a machine with full internet access is like gold. I'm currently lucky, staged in a temp office where the IPs are given out manually, and access is not heavily restricted or authenticated. I've become more self-conscious about my web traffic though, and have installed a traffic monitor to make sure I don't eat bandwidth and draw unwanted attention. Not as much can be said about the network in my sleeping quarters (I will call them that, as that is all they are good for). I need a university network account to even USE the network. I tried tons of ports, and they are blocked by the next hop. There is a small subset of IPs not blocked, and they are all UOW.edu.au. I can't even SSH!
Ok, now with the rant done, I will blather about my trip.
I don't know if there's a beach, but I assume so since the plane spent fourteen hours over some sort of big body of water. I must set out to find it on Friday, or maybe tonight. Rumor says it is five minutes from my room.
The long-ass plane ride wasn't too bad, but due to delays my layovers were cut to zero. Sleeping is hard in econo-chairs, but doable. Noise-canceling headphones are key. I met a geologist on the plane; he monitors coastline beaches in WA. Neat guy.
Got to Sydney airport, waited for my ride, who made me wait another hour and a half for another flight (and another customer). Met a mining-equipment company executive who gave me some sights to see in Wollongong. He was from Pittsburgh.
Got to my new accomodations, and someone else was living there. Left my luggage at the office, walked to campus (35 minutes) and found people. I was in a haze all day, and kind of angry.
This morning things are better, or at least my mood is. I have a place to sleep (although a bit too far to walk to campus -- I have to buy bus tickets), I have food paid for, I have a temporary office, a tolerable financial situation, and the university is working on giving me a network account so I can have Internet in my room.
Internet access is completely different in Australia, and I've taken for granted how we do stuff in the US. For one thing, you buy megabytes not bandwidth. In fact, the university puts a cap on how much downloading you can do per semester. This is enforced by crazy web proxy servers and logging gateways, and other things I don't understand because they're blocked. I've found that a machine with full internet access is like gold. I'm currently lucky, staged in a temp office where the IPs are given out manually, and access is not heavily restricted or authenticated. I've become more self-conscious about my web traffic though, and have installed a traffic monitor to make sure I don't eat bandwidth and draw unwanted attention. Not as much can be said about the network in my sleeping quarters (I will call them that, as that is all they are good for). I need a university network account to even USE the network. I tried tons of ports, and they are blocked by the next hop. There is a small subset of IPs not blocked, and they are all UOW.edu.au. I can't even SSH!
Ok, now with the rant done, I will blather about my trip.
I don't know if there's a beach, but I assume so since the plane spent fourteen hours over some sort of big body of water. I must set out to find it on Friday, or maybe tonight. Rumor says it is five minutes from my room.
The long-ass plane ride wasn't too bad, but due to delays my layovers were cut to zero. Sleeping is hard in econo-chairs, but doable. Noise-canceling headphones are key. I met a geologist on the plane; he monitors coastline beaches in WA. Neat guy.
Got to Sydney airport, waited for my ride, who made me wait another hour and a half for another flight (and another customer). Met a mining-equipment company executive who gave me some sights to see in Wollongong. He was from Pittsburgh.
Got to my new accomodations, and someone else was living there. Left my luggage at the office, walked to campus (35 minutes) and found people. I was in a haze all day, and kind of angry.
This morning things are better, or at least my mood is. I have a place to sleep (although a bit too far to walk to campus -- I have to buy bus tickets), I have food paid for, I have a temporary office, a tolerable financial situation, and the university is working on giving me a network account so I can have Internet in my room.
Sunday, February 12, 2006
geekboy down under
I made it to Australia. I'm in rather poor spirits due to some serious mix-ups that happened with my lodging, but hopefully once I have a bed and get sleep I will feel better.
I'll post more later.
I'll post more later.
Monday, February 06, 2006
push
Nothing too terribly exciting has been happening lately. Mostly the last couple of weeks have been a big push to finish stuff before I go away. I've been editing book chapters for this phishing book, getting papers ready for submission, wrapping up projects, getting my tax info ready ... the list goes on. Nothing spectacular.
On Saturday I leave for the land down-under, and it's finally starting to sink in. I am not really sure what to think except, "here comes another adventure."
On a side note, Cingular sucks, so I will be canceling my phone before I leave. I'll probably have a new number shortly after I get back, but for the meantime, Skype me, AIM me, or email me.
I will post pictures.
On Saturday I leave for the land down-under, and it's finally starting to sink in. I am not really sure what to think except, "here comes another adventure."
On a side note, Cingular sucks, so I will be canceling my phone before I leave. I'll probably have a new number shortly after I get back, but for the meantime, Skype me, AIM me, or email me.
I will post pictures.
Monday, January 23, 2006
prince paul obinwa
I take great pleasure in my 419 scam emails, and I recently got a very funny one. Prince Paul Obinwa writes about his dead father, jealous uncle, and US$8.6 Million he wants to invest in US real-estate. His uncle is not happy, he says:"He is not happy with me because I am going to be the next king in village and he's not just happy about it."
Good excuse. Now why would a guy want to invest the royal treasury in US real estate? That would be like the prince of Jordan wanting to buy Germany (related Link).
Anyway, click the image in this post to see the whole image -- it's necessary to get the full effect of Prince Paul Obinwa.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
www06
My paper, "Invasive Browser Sniffing and Countermeasures" got into the 15th annual World Wide Web conference.
I'm excited. Only 81 papers were accepted (of 700 submissions), and our paper was submitted to a very competitive track; rumor has it that the security & privacy track had a 4% acceptance rate.
The only down side to this is that the conference is in Edinburgh, Scotland. And it's at one of the world's swankyist conference centers / castles. Entry fees are steep, and I'll be in Oz at that point, so I won't get to attend the soiree.
Oh well, I'll just spend the time on the beach instead of in that conference.
I'm excited. Only 81 papers were accepted (of 700 submissions), and our paper was submitted to a very competitive track; rumor has it that the security & privacy track had a 4% acceptance rate.
The only down side to this is that the conference is in Edinburgh, Scotland. And it's at one of the world's swankyist conference centers / castles. Entry fees are steep, and I'll be in Oz at that point, so I won't get to attend the soiree.
Oh well, I'll just spend the time on the beach instead of in that conference.
Thursday, January 19, 2006
passed
I took my oral examination today... and passed! Now I can fill out the paperwork and become a full-fledged PhD candidate. Woohoo. If only it meant a pay raise... or pay... or food, anything.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
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