The last few months have been crazy as far as learning new technologies. First it was the SOAP interface to our ERP at work. Enter XML, XSLT and the associated tools to process the stuff. I Googled till I was blue in the face and found enough online to figure it out.

The problem with Google is a lot of people ask the questions you want answers for, and the answer to your question can be buried amongst many many posts, if it's answered at all.

I like to be able to flick through a book and then refer back to it as needed. My Browser Internet bookmarks seem to last as long as my Operating System upgrade Cycle which is 6 months.

So my favourite informative medium is good old dead tree format. You can read it without holding your head in one position for hours.

As I mentioned at the outset as each new technical challenge comes along at work I need gain a deaper understanding of what may have only been an understanding of an Acronym.

For example I had to write a browser based user interface. To get the functionality I needed required Javascript (AJAX). So I purchased a copy of "Javascript The Definitive Guide" for about $105AUD.

Then I got sick and tired of not really knowing what all those options in postfix really mean. So "Postfix The Definitive Guide" got added to the bookshelf for $75.00AUD.

Although online you can pretty much discover anything you need to know about Joomla. I find it good to be able to lug a book around and get a good overview cah-ching $49.95AUD.

At the moment I'm trying to come to grips with Cisco Router/Firewalls. So a copy of "Cisco Router Firewall Security" for $94.95AUD has just come home from Kotara Borders.

So what can it cost to be an IT Professional? Let's see $105+$75+$49.95+$94.95 = $324.90 ouch!