The Goo Goo Dolls

The Goo Goo Dolls have been around for a long time now, yet I have never seen them in concert - for me, this is a real shame. They are a fantastic indie band with a loyal following, they have plenty of recognisable songs on the radio - yet the average listener usually can't identify the band. I viewed their Live in Buffalo outdoor concert on the 4th of July in near torrential rain, they performed well in the conditions - they were highly impressive in their home town.

I tend to enjoy their anonymity, I am not employed to market the band so it matters little to me if they are popular or not. While my attitude may be somewhat disproportionate to my level of support for the band; I would love to see them live, that is something that has alluded me. I know they tour in the United States, I am unaware if they have ever toured Australia and even if they have, Western Australia is routinely left off many touring artist's itinerary.

They have released a number of albums, my favourite was Dizzy up the Girl, a real breakthrough album gaining critical acclaim. The song Iris featured on the album becoming the lead song as soundtrack for the City of Angels motion picture staring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan, this catapulted the band into the mainstream. I think plenty of people know the band's name, they know the tunes without knowing the name of the song and they usually can't connect the song to the band on most instances. As for me, I will continue as a loyal supporter someday hoping to catch them play live.

The 2012 - 2014 TAG Heuer Aquaracer

I was in the market for a new wrist watch and I looked at a number of options from Omega, Rado, Longines and Brietling as well as TAG Heuer. I finally decided on a 2015 TAG Heuer Aquaracer 41mm automatic movement with the ceramic bezel for a number of reasons. Firstly, I like the TAG Heuer branding, secondly I like their style and finally I wanted an automatic instead of a quartz watch.

I really think the Aquaracer is a pretty good looking timepiece and the Breitling watches I looked at just were not what I wanted. I was looking at the Omega Seamaster Diver 300 but retailers were not willing to budge on price so they lost a sale.

High on my list was price, I happened to be in the market during a 20% sale at Mazzuccuhelli's, a local Perth jeweller. Notwithstanding, as I was traveling overseas during the specified purchase period, I was also eligible for a further 10% tax exemption - winner. I had been scoping out the older Aquaracer model that a number of retailers still carried and I was hoping they were willing to dump an old model for a discount so they only carried the latest models.

I understand retailers generally purchase inventory on credit from suppliers, sure they want high profit margins but sometimes it is better to accept a lower offer to generate cash flow as inventory sitting in a showcase isn't earning them income instead actually incurring costs.

I like this brand but I won't make the purchase at any price, I spend months chatting to retailers trying to determine their best price and how much they are willing to discount a product. I had spoken to staff at a Changi Airport watch retailer and he told me off-the-record that the outdated 2012 - 2014 series had been sitting around for months as everyone was snapping up the new series.

I told him I was going to be coming through the airport again in six weeks time, my plan was to make a lower offer than what they were asking to give them the opportunity to clear old inventory. He was under the impression that the timepiece would still be there and the extra shelf time would work to my advantage. So much to my annoyance on my next trip through Changi Airport, I found the watch had already been purchased and I had just lost my bargaining leverage - so time to start again.

Price fixing in Boracay

There are plenty of great dive locations in the Philippines, the favourite beach destination of Boracay Island is unfortunately not one of them. With the exception of the Yapek walls, some pretty ordinary dive sites are found on Boracay Island.

But as Boracay is the Philippines premier holiday destination, scuba diving is going to make up one of the numerous beach activities available for holidaymakers. The majority of divers are new and inexperienced and aren't looking for a challenging and exciting dive destination, they are there for sun, sand and the excellent nightlife the beach has to offer revelers and party-goers. 

Try to negotiate diving in Boracay and not one shop will discuss price, they openly tell you they engage in price fixing and are not allowed to drop the price - the price is fixed. Now, this rule goes against every rule of competition and anti-competitive behaviour. This illegal behaviour is enforced through the Boracay Association of Scuba Diving Schools, an association that all the dive centres have joined to restrict competition, gouge customers and profiteer from restricting competition through cartel like behaviour. 

A dive centre of arrogance

What type of bullshit is this? What is going on here? I went down to see the dive crew at the dive centre the evening before to organise my diving, they were nowhere to be seen in the afternoon when I arrived.

I was told the boat was leaving at 7:30am and was told the dive crew would come and see me, they didn't. I had accommodation at the centre; they use the term resort, this is a little liberal, it is budget accommodation. So I was up in my room reading a book and came down for dinner and spoke with the dive crew to organise.

I was now told the dive would leave at 9:00am instead, I asked are they sure and they told me a resounding yes. So I told them my room number, actually showed them my key and asked them to knock on my door at 7:00am if there is a change of plans. Yes yes I was told, they knew I was in room 23, a distance of less than 20 metres distance, not that difficult.

So in the morning, before 8:30am; I headed down early to be ready and was told the boat left at 8:00am and I had missed it. An afternoon dive at 1:00pm maybe, I asked them "why the fuck did I come here then?" They were just not interested and they walked off. Is it 1:00pm, or 2:00pm or do I head down at 12:30pm only to be told they have already left at 12:00?

This place has descended into total confusion, is not customer service orientated and they really don't care - they are arrogant and it shows. You go on a dive holiday and you have limited time and these fools just waste your time. Fortunately, we live in the technology age, if you are treated poorly by a business, no longer do you have to take this, you are well within your rights to tell as many people as you can.

The Omega Speedmaster

I was looking to add an Omega watch to my collection and my first choice was the Diver 300, I was also looking at the Planet Ocean then the Speedmaster came to my attention - so many choices.

Omega offers a number of variants of the classical 1957 version of the Speedmaster range with the Speedmaster Professional known as the Moonwatch, the Grey Side of the Moon. the Dark Side of the Moon, the Skywalker X-33 and the Speedmaster '57.

So I have to think about this, the SpeedMaster Professional was a mechanical watch that needed to be hand wound every day originally fitted with a 321 movement up until 1968 with later versions fitted with an 861 movement.

Currently the Moonwatch series is fitted with the Omega 1861 movement which I believe is very similar to the 861 movements in the 1957 release watch.

The contemporary marketing versions are now fitted with a Omega Co-Axial 9300 self-winding movement with a sixty hour power reserve. The tachymetre apparently isn't ceramic and scratches easily.

I have found some older vintage watches online that looked pretty ratty from wear and abrasion around the tachymetre. The updated versions are now fitted with scratch resistant sapphire crystal but the Moonwatch Professional still has the Hesalite crystal that unfortunately isn't scratch resistant.

The Speedmaster wasn't originally an aviator's timepiece but after being the only timepiece to meet NASA's arduous specifications, this watch is super collectible for not only it's flight qualified space heritage.

This watch has brilliant aesthetic abilities, I look back at vintage watches and I'm really not that interested despite owning an Omega Chronostop myself.

This timepiece however looks the goods and I certainly wouldn't mind winding a Speedmaster every morning. Omega knew what they were doing back in 1957; this iconic sixty year old design hold's all the attributes of an aviator's timepiece and may indeed be timeless.

Leaders don't have all the answers

We were sitting around the lunch table and one of my colleagues was pretty annoyed about a decision that affects us that involved absolutely no consultation from the senior management. While he had a point, he structured his argument poorly and was roundly shot down by all involved.

The guy who acted as manager for a year also sat at the table and his attitude was managers must manage with no input of the plebs - his attitude was worrisome. The best decisions are made in consultation with the very people that that decision affects, they generally have better insight to the managers and should tap into their knowledge. His arrogant attitude regarding management decisions and the old style command and control management styles are still widely used in the government management circles - it shows.

The top international business schools are teaching organisational behaviour in their post graduate programs, yet the current crop of managers have no idea of collaborative decision making. Such processes aren't followed in the workplaces of government institutions who prefer to hire managers based on old style hiring techniques of friendships and favours.

Maintaining a dive log book

When I sat my open water course back 20 odd years ago, it was drummed into me the need for keeping a dive log - I thought it was the dumbest thing I had heard. Why bother? I had been skin diving for years and never kept a log and now I was being told by some dive instructor that I needed to keep a log of my dives.

Nevertheless, I complied and filled out the logbook I was supplied on my course even though I thought it was pointless. After that, I maintained a logbook right up through diver courses until divemaster and assistant instructor level.

I was considering becoming a dive instructor and needed 100 logged dives to qualify. As I had just over 250 dives before I began my divemaster internship and 750 dives after my assistant instructor qualification and second working season, I didn't require a stamped logbook after that.

Ironically, as a dive instructor I spent countless hours helping people fill out and stamp their log books even though I was keeping a basic log of dives such as location and depth. For me, even more ironically, I had my own instructor stamp to complement the shop stamp.

What I found was people loved this stuff, they love collecting stamps in their logbooks in much the same way people love getting stamps in their passport - it looks like I have come full circle.