Triple Triggerfish fun

I was midway through a dive at Eva's Point at Sipalay in the Philippines just hovering on the sloping wall and just about to head over to the vertical drop-off, I was pretty relaxed. The dive guide's frantic rapping of his stainless steel spike against his tank drew me from my hypnotic state to look up and over in his direction when it dawned on me why he was trying to get my attention.

Three triggerfish had made their move towards me with the closest about a metre from my head. Had I been aware, I would have seen them all charge me at once and I would have had time to get in the defensive position using my fins as a decoy. As they tend to attack your fins especially when mounting a rear attack, the first you know of their presence is them biting your fins.

A frontal assault is a different battle when your head is exposed, the powerful jaws of the triggerfish allows them to bite chunks of coral off with ease - this is not what I want biting into my head. My first experience with a triggerfish was in Papua New Guinea about 20 years ago when one attacked the head of a Japanese diver, he lost huge chunks from his head - it was not a pretty sight.

I have been involved in a dual triggerfish duel about 3 or 4 years back, having to fend off two at once whilst maintaining my decompression ceiling. This was an experience I was not keen to repeat; now three of them in a group was looking a real task.

My first movement was to throw a right hook, this missed wildly but bought me a little time. As I was within reasonable distance from the group, I was able to make my way over to the others and with weight of numbers the triggerfish weren't going to take this any further.

The little triggerfish didn't concern me too much, it was the medium sized triggerfish that was the first one to lunge at me and get things rolling. I have successfully fought off triggerfish of that size before, it takes a battle but you can get out of their territory reasonably unscathed. It was the large triggerfish that scared me the most, this thing was massive and powerfully built. This was going to take some work to defeat, I wouldn't want to endure an attack from this big fella as a one-on-one let alone working together with the other two.

Much to my delight they didn't pursue me into the group, all of a sudden they were outnumbered and just hung back and watched for a while before leaving the group alone. Later on the boat, the old German lady was laughing and saying I normally look so calm underwater, this wasn't the case, yet I wasn't worried - I know the damage these bastards can inflict.

Hailing from a trade background

Applying for an MBA normally sees a number of high flying candidates coming from senior management roles, mid-level managers, finance and consulting. But does this really represent the full spectrum of MBA applicants? I don't think so. Certainly the senior managers, finance specialists and consultants would be prime candidates for executive MBA programs but what about the majority of applicants?

I saw a promotional slide where the MBA graduate reflected on his trade background and I thought that tradespeople are really under-represented in MBA programs. For my way of thinking, tradespeople are excellent candidates with their technical knowledge, project skills, diagnostic and trouble-shooting abilities, work ethic and ability to work under pressure.

Even more so, candidates from technical trades make ideal mid-level managers owing to their extensive operational experience once they have gained experience from leading-hand, foreman and superintendent roles. From an operational perspective, technical tradespeople know the business from a bottom-up viewpoint.

All technical tradespeople need to do is learn the language of business and become more conceptual in their thinking. Such candidates need to learn the art of leadership to get the job done through the efforts of the team - it isn't that much of a step up.

Flying Christmas day

I never look forward to a Perth to Bali or Bali to Perth flight, this isn't a normal airline clientele and flights never appear to be routine. Today I was hopeful, this was a day families would be attending luncheons at the resort and an empty flight awaited me.

I imagined flying on Christmas day to be a fairly quiet flight based on previous experiences. I recall a Garuda flight on Christmas day from Bali to Perth to be almost empty except for half a dozen people on board, this was a decade ago. This was a midday flight and I guess everyone was busy having Christmas lunch in their Balinese resort.

After a long lunch at a resort, I was taking a later flight, this was a 18:20 flight and I was expecting similar circumstances. In the boarding lounge much to my surprise, there were more people than I expected, but still, this wasn't looking like a full flight and I was pretty happy.

I was feeling pretty relaxed during boarding, then the chaos started. A whole bunch of people with unruly children arrived late, I was already seated, still feeling good at this stage and thought they were ready to close the door.

That's when the horrible screaming, crying and poorly disciplined children and the mayhem erupted. I quickly reached for my tablet and headphones and cranked the volume up in an attempt to drown out the noise - this was to no avail.

The whole duration of the flight had screaming children running up and down the aisles, children climbing over everything, kicking seats, pushing the flight attendant button, yelling, turning the overhead reading lights on and off, constant crying and of course the all too frequent scream. This group of parents just let these kids run riot for the whole flight, this was a flight that had descended into chaos.

I'm not a parent so maybe I'm a little intolerant to parent's issues but I also know bad parenting too. We had certain standards of behaviour as kids growing up in the 70s, we knew what we were allowed to do and what we weren't and we knew the consequences of not behaving. Christmas day is for the kids and today they certainly did as they wished.

The capitalist organisation

I was recently discussing company values with a friend as she is employed for less than an ethical company. She lamented the owner's lack of regard for worker rights; ultimately she was true and correct.

I responded with my analysis of the organisation that fulfilled the obligations of a capitalist business inherited by the owner paying scant regard to ethical values, the triple bottom line, sustainability and corporate social responsibility her company met none of this criteria.

The business is there solely to make the owner richer; he pays the minimum rates of pay to stop people seeking employment elsewhere - that's about it. He has created a culture of blame that lacks innovation, accountability and motivation. No need to discuss modern management practices and the role of stakeholders in decision making - he just isn't interested.

Whilst economist Milton Friedman claimed the sole role of the organisation is purely to make a profit in the late 1960s; I feel the era of stakeholder involvement and corporate social responsibility has advanced to such a degree since he made his remarks that businesses now ranked on their sustainability programs now compete on their green credentials.

Diving Amed

Diving is overpriced in Bali, there is no doubt about that. I really haven't done enough diving around Amed and that needs to change. There is plenty of good dive sites midway up the island, all to often, my trips involve diving after a few days relaxing in the south and I should spend more time staying in Amed.

What I really need to organise is a long weekend away dedicated to diving during the cold and rainy Perth winter. I often threaten to take a long weekend diving up around Amed but never seem to get it organised, maybe 2017 is the year I actually get this short dive weekend organised. Tulumben is the best known area in Bali for diving owing to the Liberty wreck but just down the road is the small village of Amed, this is a pretty good and underestimated area of Bali diving. 

Roofing - insanity or art?

There was the planking craze that had everybody mimicking the trend. The ice bucket challenge was pretty popular too - everybody had to get in on this craze. To be fair, the ice bucket challenge was a great idea devised to raise awareness for motor neuron disease and raise money for this worthwhile charity. What I hope doesn't take off is roofing - this is seriously dangerous. There was no skill involved in either the planking or ice bucket challenge but everyone had fun, this is not the case with roofing. This is not an activity to be copied - there wouldn't be too many second chances here.

Russian Instagram sensation Angela Nikolau is probably one of the more famous exponents of roofing. Whilst this is no doubt linked to her stunning good looks, balance, poise and athleticism; this modern day adventurer doesn't appear to have any fears. I have to admit, when I scroll through some of her photographs, I feel more than a few pangs of anxiety.

Check out her Instagram feed at https://www.instagram.com/angela_nikolau/?hl=en

Dealing with yes men

True leaders don't want yes men; that is all great in theory but most of us have managers that are surrounded by hand picked yes men who will do anything to undermine high quality employees to bolster their position. 

How many of us work with true leaders instead of petty managers using their position to manipulate workers for their own means? Generally, such managers are weak leaders too frightened to employ top notch candidates who would be considered a threat to their shaky abilities. Instead, they surround themselves people of limited ability who remain loyal to that manager as they know they will not be likely to pick up a similar position in another company. 

You need to play these guys as hard as you can, they believe that you are weak and will not confront them directly. In military terms, a frontal attack is a poor choice, instead flanking and penetration tactics straight out of the German WWII military manual stand the test of time. 

If you adapt such tactics for business, this ensures you counter-attack from a defensive position and not leave yourself exposed. The German military were not stupid enough to attack France by going over the Maginot Line; instead, they swung around through the poorly defended Belgium and attacked the flank at their weakest point in a Blitzkrieg maneuver. Well, you need to adapt the same tactics and use maneuver to your advantage. 

You need to build alliances to counter their unethical tactics and use game theory to determine your desired outcome and work backwards to counter their every move. That way you will have insights into the way they play the game and be ready to counter their now poorly and hastily planned defensive moves stifling any further offensive moves. Then you have them.

Flying Jetstar

Flying Jetstar is a bit of a lottery, a short flight to Bali is usually uneventful even though flights can be delayed, I don't mind as that it is a budget flight. As the trip is a short three and half hours, how uncomfortable can it be? You have to be careful, these budget carriers can be more expensive after all charges are considered.

You don't need a meal for such a short flight; no need for complimentary drinks, there are plenty of opportunities for that in Bali and you can load your own in-flight entertainment onto a tablet. For the return trip, I could't believe my luck, apparently Jetstar had a number of maintenance issues and had to seconder Qantas aircraft. 

So I could view their in-flight entertainment and enjoy a glass of wine with my very basic meal; Jetstar was in a little trouble and it was Qantas to the rescue. I was told by friends that Jetstar tried to charge them for extra services; get your maintenance schedule right and you don't have to provide upgraded services for no extra cost.

The death of Fairfax

Fairfax Media is on a downward spiral, decreased revenue and journalists fired and moved on - this old style media empire is not adjusting well to the information age. The internet has taken most of the revenue that classified advertising earned through newspaper sales. Now unable to finance quality journalism; this is what we end up with - an inferior product.

What is now churned out of Fairfax could barely be described as journalism at times, unfortunately the journalists all left when they were given their marching orders and one presumes with decent redundancy packages. Along with The Guardian, Fairfax media has a strong left leaning, that in itself isn't a problem as we require balanced reporting in an open press even if it is somewhat skewed and one dimensional. 

Otherwise, what we end up with is a biased press that is concentrated in the hands of a small number of proprietors with extensive influence. Unfortunately the fact is Fairfax's clientele doesn't wish to subscribe for articles and Google and Facebook is picking up the former revenue that the Fairfax group once collected - the fate of Fairfax is heading to game over.     

Teaching dive computers

I can't recall the number of discussions I've heard about teaching dive computers as opposed to teaching dive tables. I believe in teaching dive computer use to post entry-level divers; I don't believe in overloading entry-level divers with knowledge development and motor skill exercises too early. The objective is to build knowledge, skills and attitudes known in the training field as KSAs in staged and carefully sequenced events to reinforce learning.

Firstly, I despise the term advanced diver for a person who has just completed their first four certification dives under instruction and then a further five dives under supervision for a total of nine dives to call themselves an advanced diver. What I do advocate is teaching dive computer use to level-two divers, this includes general computer operation, algorithms, basic decompression theory, multilevel dive planning, ascent rates, extended safety stops (including deep stops), gas usage and what to do if you end up in decompression.

Now before I get shouted down, I do not advocate decompression stop diving without proper training and planning. What I would like to see is decompression awareness as I have seen so many times on charter boats divers sitting on the boat with alarms ringing and quizzical looks on their faces. These divers have gotten themselves into decompression and not completed the required stops as per their schedule. They just surface as they normally do and wonder why their dive computer is making so much noise. This situation then prevents dive computer lock-out which could be devastating on a live-a-board dive charter or weekend diving retreat before we even consider the implications of decompression illness.

So what about entry-level divers then? I believe they should undertake a computer orientation at entry-level so they are familiar with dive computer use with an assessment in basic use much like compass navigation is taught for a heading and reciprocal bearing. The next level teaches intermediate navigation techniques with a navigation specialty also available for more advanced skills. Dive computer use should be learned on a similar format with basic NDLs, surface intervals, flying after diving and accidental decompression.

40 minute dives on holidays

You work hard to earn a living, you save your money and you become proficient in a specific activity only to be dudded when you go on holiday by lazy resort staff. It's not right when you fly 12 hours with a further 4 hour combined bus trip, jeepney and trike ride to end up at your dive destination to be rewarded with a divemaster who sees this private charter as an opportunity to take it easy.

When you have a boat to yourself, abeit a small banca, you are paying for the boat crew and dive guide and none of the costs are shared. Needless to say, this really grates on me as a longtime client of the business. So where does this lead me? I three choices - I can complain, I can accept this and do nothing or I can never return to this business - I am currently contemplating the third option. I did complain and told my dive guide that I didn't come all this way for 40 minute dives so he still ended up sitting in the boat after 40 minutes and I dived the final third of the dive by myself - outstanding.

Carry-on baggage limits

I am a reasonably frequent international traveler who flies economy and not business class. What really irks me about economy is the inability of the airlines to police carry-on baggage limits. I arrive at my seat and all the overhead lockers are stuffed full of hand baggage, the fight for space slows down both boarding and exiting the aircraft.

Everybody knows the hand baggage limits and a large majority wantonly abuse the limits inconveniencing fellow flyers. Fortunately, my carry-on luggage is below the 7kg weight limit and well under-sized so I can stow under the foot rest of the seat in front of me. Really, it is up to the airlines to enforce these rules to ensure self-centred and arrogant passengers do not ruin the flight experience of fellow passengers who actually do the right thing. The airlines need to get together, this is currently being abused by way too many people.

In sight of victory

It has been a clash I would have preferred to avoid but I had no choice, I could either quit my job, put up with the undermining and the snideness that had embroiled my work or fight the forces conspiring against me. Fortunately, I am up for the challenge and although it was a fight I could win, why not just negotiate in good faith to work through the issue? Ok, if you engage in deceptive, unethical and deliberately misleading behaviour then I have your measure.

I was forced to take my employer to the Industrial Magistrate's Court to put an end to middle and senior management riding roughshod over me. These days they call it workplace bullying, it's not a term I prefer but I can work within the guidelines of such terminology. I despise the term bullying, it makes you look weak; instead what I lacked was leverage. I am not weak, nor am I a push-over and I am not a person who gives in easily.

So after extensive research, failed attempts to organise a meeting to sort out the issue for I marched into the offices of the Industrial Relations Commission in Perth and proceeded to complete the necessary forms and file a complaint. For two years I had been intentionally denied the opportunity to apply for positions I was experienced in, qualified for and was already performing the role. Instead, the management had taken my work and claimed it as their own organising the very people I have worked with to do their dirty work for them, the mistake they made was to become greedy and paid themselves for work they had not performed - not a clever move in a state government department.

I bargained on a nasty fight and after two years of trying, I was finally allowed to meet with senior management to discuss why my employer was knowingly and willingly in breach of an employment agreement formally registered in the Industrial Relations Commission. I certainly had no fear of meeting with three directors for what turned out to be a meeting with no agenda, no minutes, a whole bunch of talk, no implementation plan and no outcomes. So just a normal meeting for these guys but what they didn't expect was for me to put up such a strong showing,

I shot down every argument they made and left them bewildered, I brought my evidence with me and when they argued I just produced their own policies and correspondence. Even funnier, in the days after the meeting I sent them a whole load of material to ponder and they haven't responded. Naturally I am keeping copies of the correspondence I have sent and this won't look good in front of the magistrate.  

What I didn't know at the time of the meeting was that my employer had failed to respond to the court and I could apply for a default ruling in my favour. I had never considered this as I had contacted them via email to remind them of the date and even resent the forms they had lost so they could respond. Apparently they have treated the court with the same disrespect and disdain they have afforded me and now I just have to appear before the magistrate for the default decision. You can bet I will be there.

Diving Lombok

I have been to Lombok twice now; once on a day trip from Bali for a quick look and the second time to dive the Gili Islands. I reckon it was 1995 or maybe early 1996; so long ago now. I do recall the diving was pretty good, I had nothing but dramas though - all of my own doing.

It was so quiet and relaxed on Lombok back then, you could still get around by donkey and cart, that was my chosen mode of transport - slow but scenic. I can remember my driver whipping his donkey to go faster, I was trying to get him to stop, the last thing I wanted was to go fast.

I stayed at Senggigi Beach, there was plenty of dive shops in the vicinity and an easy day trip ensured. The diving was good, the islands are well known for a certain blue coral, I was happy to indulge in searching. I recall plenty of small black tip and white tip sharks sheltering under plate corals, I bet they aren't there anymore.

There are three Gili islands in the group, Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Tranwangan. They were a backpacker haunt back then, low cost, mostly undeveloped and reasonably pristine. So too with the diving, I recall we had speed boats powered by kerosene outboards - boy, did they run rough.

We dived around the reefs of the islands, landing on the surface interval instead of spending it on the boat. There was less colour on the reef than I expected, plenty of shades of brown. I recall eating lunch on the island on most occasions, hanging with my new friends I met during the dive. It's about time I organised another trip.