We spent 2 days in Sydney, mostly walking around the city in the surprisingly humid heat of the Australian summer. On the second day Claire and I did the “bridge climb,” an admittedly uber-touristy activity that was definitely worth it for the view from the top. The next morning we left Sydney for Airlie Beach, where we would catch our ship (the Solway Lass).

The boat trip was amazing. We visit lots of different bays and beaches, taking a smaller raft to do some bush walks or snorkling. There was also a rope swing attached to one of the masts. No shark sightings, fortunately! The crew was really great, as were the meals they made for us while underway. One more night in Airlie Beach, checking out the local bar scene, before our flight the next day.

We returned to Sydney for two more overcast days of exploring, including the Police & Justice Museum that was featuring a really interesting exhibit on female Australian criminals. We were sad to have to leave Australia after such a short visit, but it was a really welcome break from the San Francisco winter!

Some videos from the trip after the jump…

I will not be a Harvard man, having received a “no” from their JD admissions office. Alas. More good options yet!

I received a really nice award from Google this week for working on these. We also launched the big internal project I’ve been leading, and I was nicely rewarded for that as well. They like me over there.

Mr. Ansley will be paying me a visit in SF next week, which will be epic.

I’m pumped about my trip to Australia with Claire, beginning at the end of the month.

That’s it!

From the BCS Championship Game in Pasadena (Roll Tide!):

From my parents’ visit to SF (happy birthday Mom!):

Well, humor me, but I so called this one.

At the end of October, I wrote a post called “In Science, FAIL = WIN.” I preached that the awesome thing about science is that even if your experiment implodes, you can still learn a lot (and maybe more than you would have if your experiment succeeded).  A failed experiment is not a useless experiment, and a crushed hypothesis is not one that was formed in vain.

Lo and behold, Wired magazine chose “FAIL!” as the theme of their December issue.  The tagline?  ”Why Losing Big Can Be A Winning Strategy.”  This piece takes the same basic tone as mine: embrace the FAIL, because it can lead to new (and perhaps better) opportunities.

One thing that both the magazine and I leave out: in the moment of the FAIL, it is tough to embrace it or see the opportunity.  Sometimes the benefit of the FAIL does not manifest until much later.  Certainly in both a failed relationship and failed employment over the past two or three years, I was not able to see that both would lead to much better and healthier possibilities.  Trying to keep a long-term perspective will make accepting and embracing the FAIL much easier.  But that’s easier said than done.

Lots of buzz in the the air about all sorts of stuff in the tech world the past several weeks and months.  What a privilege it is to be in the middle of it all.