Who in Australia has a Blackberry anymore?

I own an older style Blackberry 8520 Curve smartphone - I suppose I'm just not cool. I work in the college system with plenty of young guys sporting either a Samsung Galaxy or an Apple iPhone. I know this because I have daily issues with these guys never wanting to leave their phones alone in class.

Before I upgraded to my secondhand Blackberry in 2013, I was still using an older Nokia handset, actually I was happy with that as Nokia products are very reliable. I know the Blackberry is the former phone of London and New York stockbrokers engaged in high finance, now it is merely the secure phone of politicians, yet I am happy with this older technology. I gained my Blackberry in South East Asia where the product is still well represented, I know of no one in Australia who actually owns one.

Penfolds Bin 9

Perth had been experiencing heavier than usual late autumn rains; the temperature was sure to drop with all the moisture around, the only saviour being the the cloudy skies possibly locking some of the little warmth that had developed during the day on the rare occasion the sun poked through the clouds during the day.

I originally thought it's been ages since I have knocked the cap off a Bin 9 cabernet sauvignon because I couldn't remember drinking one in a long long time; I was surprised to find out this is a relatively new addition to their range, the 2012 Bin 9 is their first release. A little research found I had mistaken the Bin 8 Cabernet Shiraz, first released in 2003 with the bottle perched alongside me.

The Bin 9 is an excellent example of South Australian wine making with the majority of fruit sourced from the McLaren Vale region, reviewing the tasting notes, I also see fruit was sourced from the Langhorne Creek, Barossa, Padthaway, Barossa Valley, Coonawarra and Wrattonbully regions. 

The deep ruby colour ensures one needs to be very careful around clothes, vehicle paint or any object likely to become stained. The wine was drinking well now, I couldn't distinguish big tannins or acid holding this wine together, I expect a medium term cellaring potential only, probably 3 -5 years max. Viewing the tasting notes, I stand corrected - the Penfolds team believes this wine may be cellared right up to 2015.

Fine oak flavours shine through with hints of cedar, an overarching blackcurrent note with mixed spice in the aftertaste. Once again viewing the tasting notes, I see the Bin 9 was matured for 12 months in French and American oak hogsheads with 12% new French oak and 15% new American oak. I liked it and will be buying in the future - this time, I will have done my research and will pay the right price at my usual choice of bottle shop.

Walking on the moon

One of the most enduring photographs of the Apollo 11 moon walks was Buzz Aldrin standing on the moon's surface with Neil Armstrong's reflection in his visor along with the leg of the lunar module.

During their two hour lunar surface sojourn; the Apollo 11 moonwalk didn't venture far from the lunar module, the greatest distance ventured was 60 metres from the Eagle, instead setting up science experiments such as retro reflectors and collecting samples. Amazingly, the moon landing lasted a duration of 21 hours encompassing the initial landing, preparing for lift-off, preparing for the moonwalk, repairing damage to the engine arming switch, a sleep and lift-off.
    
Some would argue this program was a waste of money, the moon landings produced no real scientific outcomes and was even faked. I am amazed at the engineering and the fact NASA, some 45 years later is unable to return to the moon's surface anytime soon and no other nation has landed humans on the moon's surface. The Apollo project, despite a number of setbacks was an categorical success - planned Mars exploration is built on the foundations of the Apollo moon landings.

The building of character in the junior league

Having a teenage nephew, I have both the pleasure and responsibility of going down and watching him play junior league football. This is Australian Rules football, played all over the nation and increasingly in other countries as well now - this is a new development.  

He graduated from the shorter half grounds in 2012 to the full length grounds, this opens the play up showing a genuine skills advantage to kids who can move the ball quickly and accurately. In the younger competition, girls are able to play in the same team as the boys - a mixed team gives everyone an opportunity. Once adolescence is reached, the team moves to single sex as the game becomes a little harder and physical although I understand they have women's competitions around the country. 

Some say Australian Rules football is too brutal, too difficult and too injury prone, I disagree wholeheartedly. Juniors, like senior players only wear a mouthguard as protection, an umpire adjudicates with fair play rewarded. You are more likely to suffer soft tissue injuries from muscle tears attributed to running than bone injuries at this level.   

Sure, the players have to get down to ground level to win the hard ball - this is character building. Playing to the best of your ability in a team environment, getting in and winning the hard ball, showing commitment to training and practice and providing assistance to your team mates. Sport mirrors life, the lessons learned in competition and training help shape the youth for their entry into the broader community. 

Back diving in Anilao

It has been a year, but finally I am back diving in Anilao with Ronnie, Rene and the rest of the team at Anilao Diving. I enjoy diving here, this isn't the best diving in the Philippines - yet I like diving here with this crew.

An excellent start to diving saw us lead off with a 70 minute dive followed by after the surface interval with an 84 minute dive before heading back across the bay to aquaVenture for lunch and a 70 minute afternoon dive.

I once again stayed at the excellent aquaVenture resort, the weekend was very busy with the usual groups out from Manila.

My trip last year saw me staying at Mayumi Resort in the same area, I do prefer the location of my 2012 trip much more. It isn't cheap by Philippine standards, but nonetheless, it is my preferred option.

During the week, the resort was much quieter, a Chinese group kept the place busy. They had some TDI technical courses goin on, some rebreathers and sidemounts set-ups, there was plenty of doubles and stage cylinders on hand too.

Weekdays are normally pretty quiet as their usual Manila based clientele is busy working for the weekend. The last time I stayed here, I was the sole person in the resort, another group booked in as the Chinese group was heading back so the place is busy as the Philippine summer was starting.

The sunsets over the water are excellent, it is a hassle carting wine from Manila, yet sitting out watching the sunset makes the hassle worthwhile.

The falacy of union leadership

Australian trade unions are decrying the royal commission into trade union corruption, this is, of course, of grievest concern to past and present trade union leaders. The royal commission will examine methodology and tactics individuals utilise when they misuse their privileged role as trade union officials for political advancement and self-enrichment. 

When a trade union official gouges funds from a business enterprise; this occurs because the business enterprise is purchasing a commodity of value to the business, it could be industrial harmony, prevention of strike action or work to rule, hindrance, industrial espionage, willful destruction, theft, bullying, harassment, intimidation and actual violence. As the self-elected custodians of employee rights, union officials have just two products to sell - employee rights or political assistance.

Union officials must be subject to stricter supervision and greater regulation than company directors. After all, the company director represents the interests of the organisation; should that director act in a manner that is contrary to the interests of the organisation, the director is held personally culpable. The director has to prepare annual reports and lodge to the Australian Securities and & Investments Commission (ASIC); the accounts are prepared by registered accountants and reviewed by auditors.  

A trade union is the recipient of funds gained from members, that is employees paying fees derived through their employment (usually a percentage these days); strict financial management including a general ledger (recording revenue, expenses, assets and liabilities), cash records, debtor and sales records, inventory records, investment records and wage & superannuation liabilities. Trade unions don't pay tax, a ruling by the Australian Taxation Office means trade unions are flush with cash and reduced responsibilities.    

The well worn political narrative sold to workers is Labor party is the protector of the worker while the Liberal party is the voice of big business, any neutral observer can see this no longer applies. Trade unions have traditionally relied on confusing worker's rights with union rights - the union pitch is we fight for your rights; therefore, if union rights are curtailed, then worker rights and privileges are under attack. 

What really happens is when union membership is reduced, union influence is curtailed - hence the huge fight to maintain compulsory union membership on industrial work sites. I still recall the days of NO TICKET - NO START, you were not allowed to even set foot on the work site without current union membership, you had to produce the ticket on demand, hence my required union membership back in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Trade union leaders repeatedly cast the Liberal party as the protector of big business; however, trade unions negotiate regularly with big business, not small business enterprises that have little to no union membership. 

It is of particular irony that the Liberal party is aligned to small business while the Labor party is aligned to big business. Labor may soon be recast as the party big business while the Liberal party may be recast as the party of the ordinary worker - who would have thought?

the Bottle-O - where are their priorities?

I was at my local shopping centre picking up some groceries and decided at the last moment to pick up a bottle of wine for a Friday evening watching Hawthorn v Sydney on the television. I can honestly say I made an impulse purchase as I had four bags of groceries still in my hands. I previously supported this liqueur store when it was owned by a couple of old guys who were very amicable, I chose to support smaller independent retailers who offered personalised service, I was aware they were unable to compete on price alone - you accepted that. 

I was doing a search of Penfolds Bin 9 later that evening and found much to my surprise found Dan Murphy's was retailing the same wine for $28.30 per bottle. My local liqueur store, the Bottle-O, sold me a 2012 vintage for $38.99 - not happy. Now the Dan Murphy's price is pretty good, an average price is closer to $30 per bottle is acceptable, this is an unacceptable price difference.

Now the Bottle-O is a national chain, as such, they have bulk buying power, while their purchasing power may be somewhat less than the larger chains, this is by no means a small chain. It appears the Bottle-O seems to be more interested in sponsoring V8 super cars than passing on cost savings to customers - you are left in no doubt to where their priorities sit. This is not an organisation seeking to build a long term sustainable competitive advantage and a loyal client base.   

Ok, so the Bottle-O made the sale tonight, what I can say is enjoy your V8 super cars and watch your customers leave you en-masse in the digital age, you caught me out tonight on an impulse sale - that won't happen again. 

A heart catheterisation - in and out in a day

I have been sporting a bit of heart ailment; the cardiologist thought it was time to take action, so off I set to the hospital for a one day procedure. You are awake the whole time; I walked in and jumped up on the table and they started the prep. I actually thought they were going to knock me out so it came as a surprise when the cardiologist walked in and dropped a local anesthetic in my leg, further pressure indicated we had started - I have to say, I was surprised.

It was amazing, you are laying there on you back, wide awake and totally motionless, why would you move? The catheter wire is inside your heart at this time, your nose is itchy and there is no way you are going to take your hands from under the sterile sheet to scratch it, I was not going to move under any circumstances.

Inserting the catheter into the femoral vein took a little pressure, the local anesthetic ensured there was no real pain but you could feel everything going in and as it is pushed around you. You are on edge, you clench repeatedly throughout, he asked me if I wanted some light sedation, I replied no actually hoping for some heavy sedation. Apparently three catheters were inserted, it was difficult to tell exactly what was going on, I really wanted to watch, it is very interesting.

You are on your back listening to everything, I wanted to lift my head up to watch but I never tried. I do know the ablator catheter failed, I heard them grumbling away and they had to get another one. I know they were going to send it back for an exchange, they also had troubles getting good images on the screen as they spent a fair amount of time trying to reset connections, I couldn't see what was going on but your certainly had awareness of the situation.

They were working from 6 large flat screen monitors, there was a team following monitors in the adjoining room, they were calling out to each other, there was another team behind me to my right, I was not sure what they were doing, there was some chatter among them at certain times. Throughout the procedure, the x-ray head was swung across, the lights were dimmed and out of the corner of my eye I could see an orange light on the screen mount light up.

I am amazed at modern medical techniques, I basically arrived at the hospital at 7 am, was second in line so wandered into the catherisation lab from the adjoined recovery room after waiting for the first procedure, it was a gentleman getting the battery replaced on his pacemaker. After inserting the catheter, he injected drugs to crank the heart into arrhythmia a couple of times to map the area; I heard them all go ahhh after a while - I guessed they had then found the spot. Radio-frequency energy is then used to destroy abnormal electrical pathways. I must say, I was concerned they were killing parts of my heart, you ask yourself, what if they zap the wrong area? What then?

After about two hours, it was all done, I actually fell asleep and had to be woken up, it was the second time I had fallen asleep that morning. As I waiting for my procedure, I nodded off, I was awoken by the cardiologist standing alongside the bed informing me it was time to go. Getting woken up by the cardiologist again smiling widely was reassuring, he told me they had been successful as they lifted me onto the recovery bed and wheeled me out.

Fortunately for me, I tried lifting my head up as soon as I was wheeled into recovery, they reacted very quickly, apparently it was going to put pressure on my groin causing bleeding, had to spend three hours of recovery pretty much on my back - boring. At least I didn't try to lift my head while the procedure was underway.

Wandering out of the hospital 3.30 pm the same day is amazing; I was walking with a limp consistent with riding a camel across the desert, no complaints though. Later that night, I was feeling some slight pain in the heart, I guess the result of trauma of sticking a wire into a beating mass of muscle. Heartbeat at this time isn't great either, felt it race away a few times already, let's see how it settles down over the weekend.

Upper Reach Reserve Shiraz

Easter Saturday, the Fremantle Dockers are playing the Sydney Swans in the Preliminary Final rematch weekend with Hawthorn and Geelong scheduled to play Easter Monday. A great time to open a good West Australian shiraz to complement what was expected to be a cracking game.

My father and I went to watch the last time these teams met at Subiaco oval, a ferocious attack by Fremantle saw the most sustained pressure applied in a game of Australian Rules Football. A 2009 Upper Reach Reserve Shiraz was in my sights, a tight and hard game of Australian Rules football awaited me, the game whilst exciting didn't end with the result I wished for - oh well.

Cracking the top off the bottle, the aroma immediately wafted from the bottle filling the kitchen. As the deep purple hue washed into my quickly filling tasting glass, the complex spicy aroma gave way to temptation and I probably didn't let this wine breathe as long as it should, the game was starting and I was in a rush. No worries though for a wine with 5 years of aging. 

The robust flavours of deep cherry, dark chocolate overtures held together with fine but no overpowering oak made my afternoon memorable, tannin structure was soft, as expected for a shiraz with 4 - 5 years of bottle aging. While this would be an excellent wine to enjoy with friends and family, I enjoyed following the game drinking solo, I have a couple more bottles left in the cellar, will be sharing around next time.

As it was, Sydney won the hard fought battle leaving the team with a little soul searching with a poor second quarter, as for myself, this excellent wine took the edge off the loss. The pressure and application of the 2013 Fremantle side was sadly lacking in the 2014 team, however, 2014 was a good time to be cracking open an outstanding Swan Valley shiraz.

Apple v Samsung again

With Samsung having to pay a fraction of damages sought by Apple smartphone patents, one has to ask, is it all worth it? I think not.

A Californian jury found Samsung did in fact violate some Apple patents ruling the South Korean company pay $US119 million in damages to Apple. However, in an interesting decision, the jury ruled in favour of Samsung counter-claims with Apple to pay Samsung damages of $158 million.

Apple launched aggressive litigation a number of years back with lofty aspirations of slowing the market penetration of Android powered smartphones, the largest rival to Apple's iPhone was Samsung's galaxy phones. Apple has massively failed, even a favourable decision last year is now being appealed.

This failing strategy won't get Apple any closer to stemming the market dominance of Android powered devices - major fail. Just get on with the job of designing better products increasing competition in the marketplace instead of trying to crush your opponent to lessen competition. Wasn't this the whine of Apple lovers years ago against Microsoft?

A tough budget ahead

We have a tough budget ahead, it affects us all differently, I try to take a national view; that is, what is best for the nation must be placed ahead of personal gains, instead of complaining about how it affects me.

I pay extra tax, above and beyond normal employee tax rates, I don't receive any tax benefits, as such, I am a net contributor, not a receiver of government benefits. This is an unusual situation in modern Australian society.

I am against the welfare mentality, yet I understand that a safety net is required for those less fortunate than myself.

How the budget affects me directly is the uncapping of university fees, with uncapping to be likely to be implemented from the 1st of July this year. This will affect the final two units of my bachelor studies, that is leadership and then business ethics, globalisation and sustainability.

I was also seeking to undertake a further unit in organisational behaviour to round out my education. I was seeking to then apply for my MBA,  the expected doubling of university fees will likely make a ROI impossible.

It will just not be worth the effort in the short to medium term. It will probably have the affect of enhancing existing MBA value in the workplace should graduate numbers decline.

I have to ask myself, have I ever gotten value for money from my taxes? I drive on the roads, drink the water, don't walk around in the dark and spent fifteen years in the primary and secondary education system.

Sure, you might argue, you are charged for electricity and water but I can drink from most taps in the country free of charge and can walk down the street without being charged for the actual light I used. So someone pays for that, sure we do so collectively, the burden to finance a functioning society falls on the inhabitants.

As has been described, the age of entitlement is over, I currently study under the Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) system, that is, a federal government higher education subsidy. I expect a rise in fees for the last two units, that I will have to live with to complete my qualification.

I thought my dream of attending an MBA course had eluded me, postgraduate education is full fee anyway and not financed under the CSP system -  maybe I still have a chance to realise my goals after all.

In memory of Pablo De Jesus

Pablo was my sister's husband, the father of my nephew, and, of course, my brother-in-law. To me, he was more than that - I reckon he was a pretty good guy. To have your life defined by being described as a pretty good guy, I believe, is an honour. He was liked by all, a popular guy with no one ever saying a bad word about him.

Pablo was an extremely hard and dedicated worker; one could even say his life was defined by his work ethic and application. If he was ever called upon to help out with the family, Pablo would always be the first one there, he did a lot of work for the family, his effort was acknowledged and very much appreciated. Pablo was a guy you could rely on.   

Born in Madeira, Portugal; he moved to Australia as a four year old with his father, mother and sister. Pablo lived 44 years in Fremantle before his life was cut tragically short at age 48. Whilst native Portuguese, he was very much Australian, he maintained his Portuguese traits and heritage. Pablo was very much dedicated to his family, sharing responsibility with his sister Maria looking after his mother after she had been hospitalised. 

Pablo loved his golf, getting up early on Saturday to head down with his mates to strike a ball around the fairway, he was a pretty handy golfer by all accounts. A follower of the South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League and Fremantle in the AFL; his son Samuel plays Australian Rules football for South Coogee, Pablo would been seen on a sidelines offering advice and encouragement to Samuel and his mates during the game. 

Pablo's fight for life ended early on Tuesday morning the 29th of April, an ambulance was called to the family home in the early hours of the morning just before dawn, Pablo had developed chronic lung disease and was now on oxygen full time, he was having severe difficulty breathing. A second ambulance was called with two crews working on Pablo to resuscitate and stablise him before the emergency dash to to nearby Fremantle hospital - they did all they could.

The world has now lost a pretty good guy - yeah, I'm going to miss him.

Surface marker buoys

One of the skills learnt in technical diver courses was deploying a lift bag during decompression; this skill was learned in case of a missed ascent line. 

The purpose was twofold, it allowed the vessel to follow decompressing divers from the surface and gave a reference for a blue water ascent for long hangs. Needless to say, the ascent phase is critical to a stable and safe off-gassing schedule during decompression preventing the growth of bubble nuclei.

I love diving South East Asia and have noticed every dive guide in the region is equipped with a finger reel and surface marker buoy, this has been a great innovation from technical diving seeping through to mainstream diving procedures.

On many occasions, the boat does not moor on coral reefs with divers following the divers conducting their safety stop in current. Instead of a lift bag, the safety sausage is now used with higher surface visibility than a lift bag.