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.

A dive briefing

Having dived in the Mediterranean, I have been accustomed to European style dive briefings. Likewise, in Australia, we standardised dive briefings at many dive operations to mitigate any possible legal ramifications. We made sure we were meeting voluntary codes of conduct.

We had boat briefings and dive briefings printed on laminated sheets in bullet point format so as to not miss an important point, the actual briefing was then left to the finesse of the staff member and their personal delivery. It is a fairly standard risk management practice; not only that, it is best practice to inform the divers in your charge of boat procedures and potential hazards.

So when I dive in South East Asia and I receive no briefing from the moment I walk into the dive centre to the moment I hit the water, I wonder about the professionalism of the operation. I remember walking into a dive centre in Moalboal, Cebu - I was just left standing around and not even acknowledged as I stood there.

Eventually, one of the customers, yes, one of the divers and not the owner or staff showed me where to place my equipment, where the weights were, the washing facilities and departure times for the boat - unbelievable.

During my week of diving at this dive centre, he was the only guy who actually spoke to me along with his friends, the owner and staff completely ignored me, the only time they spoke to me was when I paid the bill at the end.

That was naturally minimal conversation in order to complete the financial transaction - strange. Even more strange was the fact that this was a German owned and run operation, normally they are run with the famed German efficiency.

On my next trip to the Philippines just a couple of months later, I was diving on Panglao Island and ran into Andre and his bunch of mates again. He was a profilic whore monger who had along with his mates had his bar girls out on the boat swimming and sunning themselves and generally playing up.

I was once again traveling alone and as he was once again already diving at this operation and gave me the rundown in lieu of an actual staff member performing any type of briefing.

It was a fun party atmosphere on the boat with all the girls misbehaving and playing up outside the confines of the club where they worked - it made for a fun week, better than any of the staff provided.

Why I like Google Hangouts

I really like Google Hangouts, I much prefer this communications platform over Facebook Messenger as I tend to have more privacy in this app. Once you are logged in with Google, you are logged into all their programs and they are all linked; although Google is not synonymous with privacy.

Google Hangouts has a much smaller user following than Facebook Messenger and I only have dedicated conversations with the people I am associated with. Getting friend requests on Facebook seems to get me involved with people I have never met or will never meet. As a Gmail account user, the chat function is also available when using my email account but I tend to have less requests.

When they separated Hangouts from Google+ I was concerned but I was able to access the app through the Google programs on my computer, tablet and phone. That worked out fine and I am able to receive messages on my phone.

Facebook Messenger is such a large external program that always needs to be updated and my phone just doesn't have the memory to support this program without deleting the material I have saved to the phone. There are no such problems with Google Hangouts and I am glad about that.

What is the value of the performance review?

Really, what is the purpose of the performance review? Why is so much anxiety expended preparing your response for an ill-prepared manager lacking the skills to execute a relatively straightforward meeting?

I sometimes wonder what the real benefit the performance review is to the organisation, we are having this meeting because all the other companies are holding performance reviews - that's not a real reason. The trend in US corporations is to move away from performance reviews, there is plenty of evidence indicating the yearly performance performance is purely a paperwork exercise. So what other choices exist then? Tech company Adobe Inc is moving to an eight week process where managers and team members set mutual goals and check-in with managers to measure performance against goals - this is really an adaption of Drucker's 1954 management by objectives incorporating Doran's 1981 SMARTT goals. The old 1950s system as described by Peter Drucker is still the superior process - who would have thought.

Prostate cancer awareness

I was sent a message requesting me to post on my Facebook newsfeed a pre-written about spiel promoting prostate cancer awareness by a cut and paste message. I thought about it and reckon people really don't take notice of these generic messages as their Facebook feeds are already cluttered. I thought I could do a little better raising awareness of prostate cancer symptoms by finding an infographic and promoting to a wider audience.

The most common symptom is difficulty urinating with a weak urine flow, I know this well not from a enlarged prostate but countless kidney procedures with what my urologist explains as caused by instrumentation scaring. Still not great but much better than the alternatives. These symptoms are pretty well known, but moving to erectile dysfunction, blood in urine or semen, a loss of bladder control, pelvic discomfort and bone pain paints a pretty break picture of what could occur.

So doing just a little research, I found out the early stages of prostate cancer are relatively symptom free - now that is a real issue. This was supported by a doctor friend who contracted prostate cancer and was treated in the early stages of the disease. I commented that it was lucky he is a doctor and picked this cancer up early, he replied that this was not the case; he only found out due to having to undertake a medical exam for a proposed trip to Antarctica. It goes to show that even well trained medical professionals have difficulty in picking up the early stages of this disease.

The 2017 Rolex Sea Dweller

The Baselworld Watch and Jewellry Show is the leading trade show for the international watch and jewellery industry showcasing prestigious brands, world class designers, industry suppliers and international dealers.

The latest models, innovations, limited editions, upgrades and re-released versions of classic and heritage timepieces are usually released at this trade show.

The Rolex Sea Dweller, pretty much a heavy duty Submariner was upgraded with a number of changes that tends to upset purists who believe watches should stay true to their heritage.

I'm not so sure, I like plenty of the upgraded versions of classic timepieces but do understand that this distinctiveness created the foundation of the particular model.

Regardless, the case diameter of the Sea Dweller was enlarged from 40 mm to 43 mm making this a significantly larger timepiece. The real controversial addition is a cyclops loupe similar to the Submariner model was added to the glass over the date.

The Sea Dweller inscription on the face was changed to red whilst the rest of the lettering remained white. The bezel retains the minute graduations around the full circumference of the bezel as opposed to the Submariner with graduations to only the 15 minute indicator.

The helium escape valve remains as well as the 1220 metre water resistance depth limit, four times the limit of the 300 metre Submariner. I like the upgraded version of the 2017 Sea Dweller even if I won't be racing out to purchase one anytime soon.

Based on feedback I have received from dealers, these upgraded versions are almost impossible for the average punter to get their hands on with a waiting list sometimes extended to years.

Gaining access to political figures

Speaking to my colleague involved in our internal Twittergate incident; he made a fairly astute observation that I would like to share. He believed that through social media, never before has the general public had such access to political figures - this is very much true. The senior management of public service organisations are now under more scrutiny than they have ever been before and rank and file members of the organisation have the ability to influence thinking like never before.

Possibly, no longer can bureaucrats filter information to heads of departments or political figures, now any government employee can post a comment on the page of a politician or public figure. This could possibly be a seismic shift in workplace dynamics; sure social media pages of politicians are usually monitored and run by staffers, but the staffers can and do bring issues to the attention of political figures. Also laughable, the director of human resources informed my colleague that our workplace, a state government department monitors the pages and profiles of key figures on a regular basis - now there is a great use of government resources.