I had a great holiday last week, getting away from my home for the first time in months. It's been an extra strange time for me as I usually have a number of personal and business trips I've taken by this time, but with the pandemic, I've been at home, like most of you. However, we managed to find a campground open, and we packed up the family, dogs, and horses for a week in the South Dakota hills.

I'm back, and while I won't be getting on an airplane, I am going to travel virtually to Australia this week for quite an action packed Redgate Streamed APAC Edition. I'm slightly disappointed that I won't be able to shake hands with Troy Hunt, but neither will Damian Brady, Greg Low, or Hamish Watson. I was on stage last summer with those three, and I immensely enjoyed the experience.

This year we're holding the event virtually in the Australia time zone, so I'll be working late afternoon and evening my time for the event on Thursday, July 2. Time zones certainly get strange when I do things in Australia, and it's the one place I've traveled where I feel really out of place when contacting this side of the world. The last time I was there, I watched my daughter's evening volleyball game as I was eating breakfast.

I get to deliver a talk, and then I'll settle in to watch everyone else and enjoy the other talks. All of these are expert software developers and data professionals, and I learn quite a bit from them on a regular basis. If you want to spend time later this week, register for the event and join me, wherever you are in the world. The one good thing with these virtual events is that we can attend them if they fit our schedule.

I'm excited to talk DevOps, software development, and, of course, security with the incredible Troy Hunt. This is an exciting week back for me, but also a busy one as I prep for a look at the software challenges down under.