blads blog

Wow, its been a while since I posted anything... my bad.  So a brief summary what's been happening since... BDA National Conference 2012 Held in april at the national maritime museum, darling harbour, nsw whilst numbers were a bit down, it was great to catch up with "old" friends from around the country. this year the conference featured pecha kucha styled presentations, that is a format that is based on 20 images x 20 seconds per image - its a format that makes presentations concise and keeps things moving... there was even one from yours truly on all things - bladams wine cellar :) Revit Technology Conference, aka RTC AUS 2012 Held in May at the Novotel Resort, Wollongong. What a great conference, this time participating as a Sponsor. I had the privilege to go and represent IMAGINiT Technologies on their trade booth and as principle sponsor of the gala dinner on Saturday evening.   Some interesting snippets of information learnt during the ...

I'm just putting in some last minutes changes to documents in readiness for tomorrow's start to the 2011 BDA / James Hardie National Conference .  This year's conference features presentations from Lynn Allen , Autodesk Technical Evangelist (sponsored by IMAGINiT Technologies), Mark Kiker , AUGI Executive Director and UK Sustainable Architect and AUGI member, Elrond Burrell  and a plethora of other great presenters… See you in the Barossa Valley!!!

Well the BDA National Conference has been and gone and for most part it was an outstanding success, although the lack of images displayed on the night of the NDA was very disappointing - next time if given the opportunity, I'll run it as a PDF presentation... The only other bad thing about Canberra, is that I returned sicker than I went there with... :( Otherwise, golf day was great... a tad cool err cold and wet but a good afternoon was had by all... Friday morning saw us all up bright n' early for the BDA "Sight Visit" aka ballooning across the Canberra skyline, followed by Champagne before breakie - wow what a way to start the day... This years' conference sessions were of a "charrette" style, were we are placed into teams and work together to develop a presentation based on information given at the conference - an interesting concept, Friday was a little slow but Saturday improved immensely with an unique summation given by Tone Wheeler on the model...

Oh the shame of it all... I hadn't realized well I had but its been too long between ramblings... I can't believe how little spare time I've had this year... So what's happened between now and then, you ask Christmas o7, pretty uneventful lots of partying with friends, drinkies, etc January saw me still in Oz working February - woo hoo, back into the states again for AUGI; had a fabulous time at Lynne's "Super Bowl" party then back home for the Festival Fringe & the Clipsal 500... March - more work, BDA Golf Day and my team completing its 5th successful back-2-back NAGA's now its at the end of April, with me getting ready to attend the National BDA Conference & Design Awards in Canberra, our Nationa's capital. Before signing off this time round, looks like Winter is fast approaching downunder - it actually hailed last Sunday afternoon...

WOW! I'm hoping I'll eventually get to finish this saga... anyway the story continues We arrive @ Kooralbyn to be greeted by a signs all over the place "No BYO Alcohol" What are they joking!?!?! The 20+ year old Rammed Earth building was exceptionally nice although showing its age and wear n' tear in a few spots but it was nice to have a couple days rest and not have to pack up & go in the morning... So what to do in a place with little or no shops, hardly any phone reception let alone net reception... there was at least a 8-ball table, lots of reptilian friends and birdlife, a black bottomed swimming pool and a golf course with electric buggies - time to go terrorising with fellow SA comrade, Mark P. When we did finally leave on Wednesday morning, its was off to a very enjoyable rubbarb pie morning tea, followed by Cedar Creek Winery for lunch complete with glow-worm cave tour and finally arriving at the Royal Pines Resort Hotel in readiness for the Golf Day ...

Where does the time go... The BDA Study Tour continues... ...continuing on from where I left off after a sumptuous meal we were entertained by lawyer, Paul Brennan. Evening drinks & frivolities once again ended up in my apartment with some great photos taken... An early start, saw us packed n' ready to go heading our way pack into Brissy for a Port of Brisbane Tour, Austral Bricks tour and later Coke Cola tour... Look out Kooralbyn, you don't know what's about to hit ya

WoW! What a week this past one has been... the only downside is not getting access to the internet. As a prequel to the 2007 BDA National Conference , I attended the Study Tour which commenced in Brisbane, Queensland last Saturday, March 24 where we gathered to have a few drinks with the participants before walking off the discover Brisbane's "Southbank" nightlife and the days ahead touring the Sunshine coast, Queensland Hinterland and eventually arriving at the conference venue, Crowne Plaza Royal Pines Resort in the Gold Coast. A moderately early start, after late-ish night wandering the streets of Brisbane with another SA participant, Mark P, before heading our way to the Sunshine Coast and Aussie World, on Sunday. Upon arrival at Aussie World (home of the famous Ettamogah Pub) saw the largest scone I've ever seen laden with jam n' cream - a great morning tea and a great start to the Study Tour. After a design session with Noosa building designer, Stephen Kidd...