Same problem - different flight

The same problem with the climate control occurred again on South African Airways aircraft on the same route, that means it is the same aircraft I flew from Perth to Johannesburg a little over a week ago.

The turbine on the tail for electrics and air-conditioning was non-operational, the cabin was uncomfortably hot just as it was flying from Perth to Johannesburg. Same problem on the same route means the problem was not resolved, they just keep running the aircraft with known maintenance defects.

Will this mechanical issue prevent the aircraft from flying? Well, clearly no but it is uncomfortable for passengers and that pretty much tells us that South African Airways isn’t performing maintenance on their aircraft and they more than likely have liquidity issues so let’s see how this pans out.

Bringing my mountain bike back into Australia

As we prepare for landing, I think about my next set of problems. That is, bringing my mountain bike back into Australia.

I spent hours cleaning that bike, first there was a preliminary wash with water to get it half clean. Next I rode from my room to the house of the Field Maintenance Superintendent for the next cleaning cycle, that was running water and a brush of the bike assembled. That took a few hours to do, I think about four hours.

Then the wheels were removed and more washing took place, still with the hose, brush and paper towels. Then I started packing the bike up, handlebars off and the bike was dried and packed in the travel bag.

The next weekend the bike was pulled out of the bag and another cleaning took place with paper towels and spray. I started with CO spray and then onto a water dispersal fluid, that took another four to five hours and the bike was repacked into the bag.

So after those hours spent cleaning the bike, what was quarantine going to say? I’m pretty sure they are going to inspect the bike, it is clear they don't want soil brought into Australia. We have strict bio-security rules for a reason and I’m doing my best to comply with those rules.

I can't say I’m nervous, I’m not trying to hide anything so the question is now, how long am I going to be held up with inspections and how much is this going to cost me? I guess they will require further inspections, cleaning and possibly treatment. I am going to find out pretty soon I guess.

Smoking during work hours

As a non-smoker, I wondered if I could start taking breaks pretty much whenever I wanted? Maybe I need to take constant fresh air breaks. I reckon I will be losing 45 minutes to one hour lost productivity per day based on the smoking social gathering that is taking place in my workplace.

Our office was unattended, the phone is ringing and people are queued up at the counter while the whole front office staff are standing out the front together having a smoke. There is no point complaining to the boss as he is the one leading the smoko break - go figure.

You walk out the front and there are cigarette butts everywhere, this is the front gate of the college - the main entrance. People entering the college are greeted with staff standing out the front standing around puffing on a cigarette, students lazing about smoking and the grass is littered with cigarette butts - is this really the image the college wants to project?

Ironically, our evacuation point is the smoking area, this isn't an actual legitimate or designated smoking area but it is an official evacuation area. So the last time we had a fire drill, I reckon I inhaled more smoke than if I stayed in a burning building.

I fired off an email to the campus manager asking about this and was not met with an answer, nobody wants to tackle this issue and that is why it will continue to be a problem. Now I am out, this doesn't affect me just now but my job is open and I may be back - I will tackle it then.

Sipping Riesling in Frankfurt

It was a cool Friday evening, glancing at my watch, it had just turned 7:30 and the crowd was in a wonderful mood. The first thing I noticed was everyone was standing around sipping Rhine Riesling on this beautiful autumn evening.

In the plaza, pop-up bars abounded, a plethora of options were available, there was no shortage of choices, the real issue was to find a clear spot to stand. As I wandered up to the one of many bars, I was astounded at the choices of Riesling on offer.

I was offered a selection with a simple question of sweet or dry? This wasn't a difficult decision, of course, the answer was dry. I was given the option of a tasting that supported my initial selection and a glass was poured with a choice of 0.1 at €2.50 or 0.2 at €5.

The choices are so simple, there was a €2.50 deposit for the glass that wasn't unreasonable, I was so happy to be drinking from a decent quality glass at a pop-up bar in the heart of Frankfurt.

Friday evening was a wonderful atmosphere, guys in suits standing around soaking up the long days of sunlight, women in work attire happily chatting away after their work week had drawn to a close and the weekend approached.

This was a great lead into the weekend, everyone was happy and I certainly was. I found Frankfurt to be a wonderful place to visit, I would certainly be happy living in this city.

The five-step problem solving model

I love the use of models in a workplace environment, my business training is supportive of models and efficient decision-making should be highly structured. From my personal experiences, haphazard, illinformed and misconceived decisions occurred after ad hoc ideas lead to poor decision-making. 

At business school, I undertook a unit on decision-making, we read a ton papers loosely related to decison-making but never really reviewed one model. So I went searching for my own models, the whole framework of university education is research based after all.

The five-step problem solving model begins with the recognition that a problem exists, the identification of the problem of what should be occurring as opposed to what is actually happening. The analysis of the identified problem

The second step is to gather information, in order to make an informed decision. All decisions should be based on fact and the only way to do so is via reliable data collected via information.

On the data is collected and analysed, you are able to devise alternate solutions and then analyse the consequences of each potential solution. A number of quantitative data analysis exist that may use extensive mathematical modeling and programming.

Implement the decision, in many respects is the easiest step. To properly implement a decision, in many instances a matrix is required that not only sets out responsibilities and tracks progress, it identifies obstacles and provides solutions.

A step often overlooked is evaluating the decision, this step is important for future decision-making as the process is reviewed in relation to the data collection methods, evaluation criteria and compilation of the action/consequence grid.

Diving the Suunto D4 dive computer

I was going through old inventory at the dive shop and I found an older style and now outdated Suunto D4 dive computer. Any excuse for a dive right?

The Suunto RGBM algorithm is fairly good option for a first dive, you have fairly long no-decompression limits to actually enjoy your dive. I reckon when undertaking multiple dive days, any dive computer except for a Suunto is a good choice. 

While these are compact wrist mounted computers, the limits they place on on divers for repetitive dives means they severely limit your options for what you are able to do. I am not a huge fan of the RGBM algorithm but I do understand the importance of conservatism. 

What really annoys me is every other diver in your group can dive the profile you are unable to do and ascend safely - I have missed eagle rays, large mackerel and manta rays because of sitting in the shallows because of the ultra-conservatism of Suunto - never again.

A lack of leadership

I watched with great interest my former workplace descend into chaos brought about constant sniping, infighting and backstabbing. The leadership vacuum created by those holding positional power along with laissez faire management not only allowed this situation to develop - they encouraged it. 

The study of organisational behaviour is of special interest to me, these behaviours are textbook occurrences that occur in a leadership vacuum, this is unfortunately a government funded institution based solely on personal gain.

The behaviour by the majority of staff is poor, this is a taxpayer funded organisation with a charter to provide a service to citizens at a reasonable cost. The trouble with long-term government positions, people are elevated to roles well beyond their skill-set and capabilities.

What I learned with more than a decade in state government employment is the need to improve one's position at the exclusion of another. At the lower positions in a state government enterprise in the one upmanship and the need to white-ant fellow workers to achieve those goals.

Then there is the constant meetings with terms like teamwork used throughout yet I don’t see much application here. Leadership posters hanging on the wall everywhere, that is humorous in some respects yet sad in others.

So what needs to be done to correct this situation? Mission, vision and values statements need to be ingrained within the organisation at business unit level. This is all about culture and the application of values - this is what needs to occur.

The FIRE movement

The New York Times reported the FIRE movement to the masses; FIRE is Financial Independence Retire Early with millennial generation as the adopters of this philosophy. Naturally, this movement got hold in the United States after their disastrous economic meltdown - hardly surprising really. 

The FIRE movement espouses frugality, this is a pre-requisite for saving. Blowing income on non-required expenses and luxuries right now is the basic foundation to invest for the future. The ideals seek long term gains in low-cost index funds heeding the advice of Warren Buffett over speculation in forex, futures or even IPOs.

This form of investment takes full advantage of the powers of compounding with the largest gains generated later rather than earlier. They are listening to old guys like Buffett who have benefited enormously from solid investment and proven philosophies.

The millennial generation have jumped on board the FIRE phenomenon in the United States and I can't blame them. For many, their first experiences with the jobs market and interacting with the economy were in the aftermath of the GFC and the ensuing recession.

They were left behind, offered limited opportunities and lost belief in the system - hardly surprising. They were told to get an education they burdened with high tuition fees that limit their future investing potential - I love it when people back themselves in.

This formed a whole new mindset, for young professionals at least, they have the opportunity to get into their career, live frugality and save for better times so they can experience life. I say good on them, as older generations we would be getting on their case about blowing all their money and opportunities whilst living an extravagant lifestyle.

Hanging at my favourite cafe

When I’m in the Philippines I love hanging out at my favourite cafe, originally it was to cover coursework for my Bachelor of Training and Development. When I completed that qualification, I then without reason undertook more pain with a postgraduate qualification.

When I was hanging in the Greenbelt mall, this was without a doubt The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, I could spend hours there with my textbook, a folder full of required readings, documents and journal articles.

My drink of choice was their double espresso, when Mecky would arrive she used to drink a macchiato, her tastes changed somewhat as she now preferred a double espresso as well

Shangri La Plaza offers a few choices as they have a Starbucks, a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Toby’s Estate, Dome Cafe and Mary Grace as dedicated outlets along with all the restaurants. Forget Starbucks - no way

My trips overseas we less than lightweight, dragging all this gear around was cumbersome and a greater burden than needed at times. But, what a location to study?

When I was in Mandaluyong it was the Dome Cafe, they once again had a WiFi connection and I could spend hours working away refilling my long black every now and again.

Still friends with former colleagues

I worked with these guys for thirteen years, we had some great relationships, we work together and there is a fair degree of mutual respect. That is for a handful of these guys, the rest I couldn't care less about.

I worked in a team of just over fourty guys and I’m staying in contact with just four of them. So that's what thirteen years of work comes down to just four people. That being said, whilst I have a general lack of respect for a vast majority of former colleagues; the ones I respect are held in high esteem.

So I ask myself, why the large discrepancy? I worked with some very high performers, the vast majority don t perform at all. The question now becomes, how is this allowed to happen? Leadership is based on values and culture, whilst management is based on measurement.

What we were seeing is a general lack of accountability brought about by a culture of value erosion with no performance measurement. In many respects this was interesting to view from an organisational design viewpoint. I have taken many lessons from these experiences so I never have to witness again.   

5 km in 38 minutes

Running five km in thirty eight minutes, these numbers aren't flattering, I know that. Still, I persist and really enjoy my run despite the times I post.

My numbers were a little different when I was twenty five, whilst I never bothered timing my runs, they were around twenty minutes or better. So, what happened? Well, for starters, I ran five to ten kilometres three to five times a week, now it is one to two times in any given week.

When I wasn't running I was doing weights, normally a run was combined with a weights session, if I didn't run then it was just a weights session. We also need to take into account my age, I'm not 25 anymore, I'm 50 so I need to expect a slowdown of sorts but I need to ask myself, is double the age and double the time acceptable?

Ok, so I have hamstring issues on my left leg, I also have a sore left knee, I walk with a limp these days that causes muscle strains in unusual places on my lower legs. Standing in one position too long causes pain, a little difficult when I am supervising workers as I am direct contact and tend to spend long periods in one place.

Or should I be happy? I'm 50 and still running, sure, it's not at a level that I am happy with, should I just be happy that I get out twice a week for a run. Actually, I'm happy I am still out running, could I go faster and harder? Well, yes I could but I run to a heart rate monitor as I had heart issues so I don't push it. I try to get a maximum heart and lung workout as that is my desired outcome.

I never ran to a timer or heart rate monitor previously, I wish I did so I had a better baseline but since it was never an issue before I never concerned myself with such details. Since I began to write this post, it sat in a folder waiting to be published my heart rate monitor broke and I no longer run to a specified heart rate.

Now I run with a chronograph watch on my wrist, my old TAG Heuer s/el and I'm posting times around 35 minutes now - I’m happy with my progress. What annoys me is I've had this timepiece for 20 years and only recently began to run with it on my wrist, previously I had taken it off my wrist for any form of exercise without ever thinking about it.

Still, I’m 50 years old and not just running, sure the young ones knock me off with their pace and endurance but I'm happy to be out there exercising and enjoying life. Next I'm going to fix up my mountain bike and clock up more kilometres on bush tracks and enjoy the scenery and spend more time paddling on my kayak. Life is great, loving the Perth outdoors lifestyle.

Shay's Flat Vineyard 2012 shiraz

I'm a member of a wine club, it really isn't a club but a wine selling business. For me, the benefit of their sales expertise is the opportunity to be introduced to wines I am not familiar with. I am fortunate to live in Western Australia where we have world class wineries, new world wines and restaurants.

I was fortunate to be offered a carton of 2012 Shays Flat Winery shiraz, this is a wine I wouldn't normally purchase without a tasting. Until I became involved in this wine group, I had pretty much avoided Victorian wine, I am happy to be converted. This shiraz is deep red, this will stain anything it comes into contact with including tablecloths, shirts and trousers - I need to be a little more careful than normal.

Lovely cedary oak textures are exhibited, French oak flavours are displayed after 12 months maturation in French oak with blackberry and cigar box later in the palette. Apparently, a small volume of the wine is matured in stainless steel vats to preserve a degree of freshness. The tannins are not overwhelming but has enough legs to allow a fairly decent cellaring, for me, I was enjoying this wine relatively young.

Almost considered unemployable

I spent too long employed in the state government, I was just about considered unemployable back in the private sector. That all changed now, I am so glad to be out of the government and all of its inherent problems.

I understand that the perception of government employees is viewed as under worked, overly regimented and inflexible - it actually pretty accurate. Well, this perception is based on my personal work experiences anyway.

Fortunately, I am now employed in a leadership position, that offers a degree of freedom to run your area as you see fit - I escaped mediocrity.

Naturally, leadership roles come with a degree of stress involved but that is the trade-off for the lack of physical excursion involved. But now I am back in the private sector, I am no longer seen as an employment risk and in a year or two I will be employable again.

So why are long-term government employees seen as an employment risk? It is pretty obvious really, the perceptions are fairly accurate, lazy, a lack of accountability, indecisive, lacking vision, leadership posters hanging everywhere with no positive leadership examples to speak of. It's a pretty damning review and unfortunately fairly accurate.

The incredibly entitled and privileged will.i.am

Displaying the very traits of an entitled American victim, rapper will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas embarrassed not only himself but pretty much any public personality. I hate the term celebrity, he acted as a spoilt child initially before claiming racism - bad move mate.

He was in Australia and flying on a Qantas flight, this is the airline with the world’s best safety record. If he is instructed to stow his laptop on landing to prevent the object from becoming a flying projectile and injuring an innocent person in the cabin - then he should do just that.

His entitled behaviour was reprehensible, he is clearly used to getting away with whatever he wants based upon his celebrity status in the United States. The rules apply to everybody, especially when safety is involved and trying to claim his noise cancelling headphones is just a weak cop out.

He is quickly learning that Australia has an egalitarian society, sure there is business class and economy class but you pay for that level of service. However, he is finding out that regardless of the seat you have on an aircraft, an expected level of behaviour is required and he failed that expectation.

Then the situation becomes funnier, or more absurd, depending upon your point of view. He then claimed racism because he was told to pull his head in and follow the cabin crew’s instruction when he would not follow mandatory safety requirements.

So like a spoiled brat, he goes and tweets he name and details of the flight attendant trying to do her job to his legion of 12 million plus Twitter followers. Only the unintelligent and weak minded go and claim victim status for their poor behaviour instead of just apologising and stowing his laptop as required.

Qantas has been brilliant, CEO Alan Joyce has supported his employee superbly by willing to sponsor expensive defamation action against the rapper. He thought he was untouchable, he incorrectly thought his wealth and privilege would protect his boorish and unacceptable behaviour.

Now he will find out that Qantas has deeper pockets than him and will pursue him harder than he ever imagined. I respect a company that supports their staff and I fully support Qantas here. They have backed their staff to provide a safe working environment and I hope they take this defamation action all the way and hold him accountable for his actions.

Getting your drink spiked

The footage is a little old now but still unbelievable; the young woman at the festival taking a selfie and having her drink spiked. Some say this this was a set up, do I believe this? No, I do not; neither do I know if it was indeed staged. What I do know is this could have sinister outcomes.

Women do get their drinks spiked, the news networks are littered with these reports. Women are constantly told to be careful, be aware and not leave their drinks unattended. All good advice, but what this video shows us is how quick this can actually happen.

What is also not known is what the drug was and what effects it could have on an individual, I don't know much about drugs so I don't know the likely effects but I do know the manufacturing of these drugs is a criminal activity and they don't produce their product for the benefit of consumers; these dealers are in the trade to maximise profits at any cost.

A missed connection

For a major national airline, South African Airways offers a pretty crap service but this is well known, but for certain routes, we don't have many options until better options become available.

My flight was delayed from Perth International Airport, this happens at airports all around the world for a variety of reasons and is not the issue. However, on board the aircraft I notified cabin staff that this delay in departure needs to be forwarded to Air Katanga check-in staff so they can hold the aircraft for me.

The integrity of South African Airways is at risk here, their service is poor, everyone knows that - that is a given. There are not too many options available, if Qantas starts flying the Perth to Johannesburg route again then their monopoly is broken and their lousy service will not be accepted in a competitive environment.

I requested that as the flight is delayed, my information is forwarded to the check-in counter of my next flight. They assured me that this has already happened, I pointed out this is a company charter and still no issues they told me. Needless to say, this did not happen, they were dishonest in their dealings with me - in short, they lied.

I arrived at the check-in counter 2 minutes after the staff left, needless to say, they had not been contacted so I missed my flight. But in true South African Airways it gets better, they loaded the luggage on the wrong conveyer and these guys are in no rush to do anything.

Had South African Airways lifted their game ever so slightly then this wouldn't have been a problem. To say these guys move in slow motion is an understatement, they have no accountability whatsoever, it is not hard to work out why they are in financial difficulty.

The unraveling of Tenke Fungurume Mining

So the project at Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM) unraveled very quickly, the Chinese owners of the mine decided to demobilise all western expats and bring in cheap Chinese labour.

On international projects, government contracts and mining leases stipulate and expat to national ratio to train the national population to take over operations within a given timeframe. This is not what is occurring at TFM, the management is bringing in cheap (and largely unskilled labour) from China.

As Western expats, we are being moved out and replaced by cheap Chinese labour that has been found to be sub-standard. That happens, I can live with that as I possess a certain skill-set that makes me highly employable. However, the national workforce should be afraid - very afraid.

I place little respect in the Chinese management, they are generally low paid idiots that make embarrassingly poor decisions without any thought for consequences. However, one decision they made half right was to demobilise the expats in waves according to importance so the project didn't stop altogether.

So that left me some time to contemplate employment options, I was to be demobilised in the final wave of retrenchments. I counted less than 10 Western (white) expats remaining on site on my return from offshore R&R rotation.

So I used my time remaining to research and apply for positions, I was fortunate enough to be brought in for two interviews for a position in Botswana during my break. Whilst I never believe I have the job until the door is shut, armed and cross-checked and we have push-back.

They did mention positive steps such as a final telephone interview with the Project Manager and mailing official contract hard copy documents to the site I am currently employed. The HR recruiter asked if I could hang out a further 6 months on this project but I told her unlikely.

So, where do we go from here? Sitting at the departure area of Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport waiting for my delayed SAA Express flight to Lumumbashi, I have no idea how long I have left. The initial hand-over from the contract maintenance team to an internalised model went well because of the expat planning and organisation.

That was a great experience for me, that required advanced planning, organising and project management skills. Now, in their rush to throw the Western expats out, the maintenance program isn't as stable as they think. Now the component replacement program is 40% behind plan, machines will soon be running components to failure, production will soon decline.

There were four maintenance divisions headed by four experienced expats, now the want to join four divisions into two large divisions and place under the control of two inexperienced and newly appointed national Superintendents to save money. What a brilliant plan nobody said ever, let's watch a $2.63 billion project be transformed into a $500 million project.

So now they are planning to restructure to save minor costs when major costs are looking to blow out of control. Not that this will worry me, I was well advanced in my negotiations for the Botswana project as this is the future and Tenke Fungurume Mining is soon to be the past.

It looked like I needed to find a short-term position to keep me busy waiting for this role to eventuate until that position fell through and it was time to start looking for work again. Just when you think you are comfortable, everything changes and your plans are thrown into turmoil.

Should I go or should I stay?

Should I go or should I stay? When a restructure is announced the decision is, do you get out early before the mass retrenchments or do you hang on for some form of financial package?

As a contractor, the best I could have envisioned is one months salary and no one was really sure what was going to happen. We were in the middle of a large change management program so even the inept incoming management could see we were required.

That gave us some time, we knew we were going but no indications as to when, fortunately the HR Coordinator was an expat as well and kept us expats quietly informed. The change management program began to reach the minimum requirements that we set so they believed normalisation had occurred.

8/2 is a difficult roster

So now I am back on an international job, I am back working long rosters and 8/2 is a long enough roster. But it is an international job, life is good and I certainly have nothing to complain about.

For those uninitiated in mining rosters, an 8/2 is 8 weeks on and 2 weeks off, even better, I travel in my time off-site. For this international travel, it takes me 27 hours to get home so I am pretty buggered when I walk through the door.

Some could argue all I am doing is sitting in a vehicle driving to the airport or sitting in the pressurised tube hurtling through the air at high speed. It is not hard labour but it is certainly time you don't get back.

Rosters change depending on projects, I was being sounded out for a project in Botswana that has a 6/3 roster. Two weeks less to offshore rotation and another week off, whilst we hadn't discussed remuneration yet, I would expect it to be similar in pay and we have discussed retirement benefits that were not available on my current posting.

That is too far in the future, I need to concentrate on now, that is the current goal. Sure 8/2 is a tough roster but no roster is my biggest concern. Still, 2 months away from home is difficult, but if you enjoy not only the job but the people you work with then that 8 weeks goes fairly fast.

You miss a lot during the two months you are away, then when you return you lose days of your break. You are tired, firstly from your 8 weeks of work, then there is the flights and the mandatory jet lag. When you are feeling better, it is time to jump back on that flight and do it all again.

What happened at Tenke Fungurume Mining?

So the job at Tenke Fungurume Mining (TFM) in the Democratic Republic of Congo unraveled very quickly. TFM as it is known was managed for a decade by FreeportMcRan, an American mining giant.

However, an ill-timed foray into oil and gas at the peak of the boom left the company laden with debt as oil prices dropped dramatically. The company was in dire financial distress and needed to off-load assets to survive, hence TFM was put on the market and sold to CMOC International, a Chinese company.

The first year went well, the project ran pretty much as it had under expat control and CMOC International remained a good corporate citizen by all accounts. There were however forces at play within the company as the communist party in China was a shareholder and sought to exert control over their shareholding.

We have all seen the events unfold in Hong Kong, the communist party is neither a good global citizen, as the world saw in Tiananmen Square, any form of dissonance is crushed without remorse. The communist Chinese government and their henchmen are pure evil - there is no doubt about that.

The management made a request to the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to crush the artisen miners and troops were called in. People were displaced, their homes burnt down in what can only be described as human rights abuses in direct contravention of the United Nations resolutions.

The mine maintenance section was under-performing and a new leadership team has brought in to develop a world-class maintenance program. Collectively as a high-performing team, that is what we did but that didn't last long as we internalised maintenance processes and were then retrenched once the handover took place and the maintenance stabalised.

The New South Wales fires

The bush fires burning out of control in New South Wales are devastating, with more than 80 fires burning across the state. This is a national emergency with the army and army reserve called in and firefighters are working to exhaustion.

Adding to the distress is all sides of politics engaging in bullshit climate change finger-pointing political point scoring. People are dead, homes are being burnt down, native animals are dying with reports of over 350 koala deaths in the Port Macquarie fires and all types of animals lost.

Nobody with half a brain gives a fuck at this point, from what we are able to determine, some of these fires are deliberately lit and others are caused through carelessness. Seriously, there will be a time once the fires are out when families are clearing up burnt out shells of homes a proper and through analysis of the cause and origin of the fires can be undertaken by professionals.

So what is a hedge fund?

I was reading an article on Bloomberg about how high net worth Asian families are deserting hedge funds en mass. Firstly, I had to do a little research to understand the difference between hedge funds and mutual funds as I wasn't entirely sure.

So I discovered mutual funds differed to hedge fund insofar as hedge funds are pooled investments generally investing in security classes such as shares, bonds, infrastructure, short-term cash, fixed interest, derivatives and some venture capitalism using the equity provided by members.

The fund keeps a percentage of the fund in cash, usually in the 6% to 10% range so as to meet any short-term outflows. Hedge funds also use pooled funds from members employing higher risk strategies for greater returns targeting sophisticated investors who are generally multi-millionaires or billionaires.

The fund requires accredited investors, in Australia they must meet certain requirements in terms of income, net assets and require a current certificate from a certified accountant under Chapter 6D or Chapter 7 if wholesale clients.

In order to qualify for a sophisticated investor status, the individual must have an income exceeding $250,000 for the previous two years or hold $2.5 million in assets. Hedge funds tend to invest in venture capitalism, also derivatives including short-selling strategies, employ debt strategies involving leverage and carry much higher risk.

The Shipwreck Hunter

The Shipwreck Hunter is an excellent account of the personal adventures written by David L. Mearns describing the manner David located a number of high profile shipwrecks around the world.

Previously, I had just finished reading Eugene Cernan’s The Last Man on the Moon and whilst I thought it was a cracking read, I understood why a Saturn V rocket was required to launch three huge ego into space. Not so with David, for a guy why was at the top of his career for an extended period, I was amazed at how humble this guy is.

The book started out with his education in marine biology at Fairleigh Dickinson University and how he almost failed the first year only to get his act together through hard work and application at the in-house laboratory on the Caribbean island of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands. David attributes his improved grades in his second year to engaging in group study and was shown how to learn.

He then explains his failures applying to various universities until he managed to get a scholarship at the University of South Florida as a MSc student with the potential to pursue a PhD a year later. Although David began marine biology, he decided on studying marine geology instead as he thought this offered more seatime and employment opportunities.

This change in study area links to David’s opportunity to learn to use geophysical instruments and how he got his start using high-frequency towed side-scan sonar to map the ocean floor. David describes the university side-scan sonar he learnt on as one of the earliest commercially available units that was decrepit and requiring constant repair.

As an engineering tradesman, I believe in initially learning the trade on the old equipment to master the concepts before moving onto more modern and sophisticated equipment. For me, this is the foundation of any technical background because generally speaking, most modern equipment is based on a constant evolution of existing equipment and techniques.

The book then went on to describe a number of shipwrecks from the MV Derbyshire, the HMS Hood and KMS Bismarck, TSS Athenia, HMAS Sydney and HSK Kormoran, AHS Centaur and finally the Esmeralda. The wrecks he located describes the human side of the maritime tragedy and the effects on survivors and family members.

What I learned is that David undertook painstaking research to determine and narrow the search box well before the side-scan sonar was dropped in the water. He doesn't just sail around the world's oceans towing a sonar behind a vessel hoping to get lucky, David emphasises the research required to be successful in what I would expect to be a notoriously difficult field.

Moalboal in the evening

You just don't get sick of sunsets like this, Moalboal is a great dive location during the day, the place is a little quiet as it is a small village on the south west coast of Cebu - you don't mind when the sky lights up like this.

I haven't travelled to Moalboal for a couple of years, that is a shame as the dives at Pescador Island were really fantastic. Moalboal is on the west coast of Cebu, it is only a small place and I don't go far once I have finished diving. I don't really like night dives, so sitting on my balcony looking at a moored banca, the dives are great and the evenings amazing.  

Why we have smoking laws

Smokers only care about themselves and their filthy habit, they do not care about anyone close or in the general vicinity.

In Western Australia we have strong smoking laws and as a lifetime non-smoker, I am so thankful of the groups that lobbied parliament to ensure the laws were pushed through. I am so used to people not smoking around me now, when I am overseas it really comes as a shock to me having to breathe in someone else's filthy air polluted by cigarette smoke.

This was driven home to me sitting having breakfast at the restaurant at the Jayakarta Hotel in Legian Bali. We were sitting eating when all I could smell was that putrid stench of cancer causing smoke drifting across from a nearby table. Seated next to us was a young family, the child, I am guessing around the three to four age range was eating her food as the smoke wafted across.

This individual surely must have known small children were surrounding him, but chose not to care, he is allowed to smoke here and bugger anyone else. A small child and her family, no issues, he is enacting his right to smoke in Indonesia as there was an ashtray on the table and his rights were more important than anyone else at breakfast.

This is exactly the reason anti-smoking laws are drafted, if smokers weren't so arrogant and got up and stepped outside to smoke away from people then laws wouldn't be required. It is exactly their arrogance that these laws were passed and they only have themselves to blame, forget about complaining that your rights have been stripped away - you caused it yourself.

The old nitrox arguments

I can't believe I am still hearing the old arguments regarding nitrox. It isn't safe, it doesn't extend your bottom times, the decreased surface intervals are not required, you are depth limited, complex calculations are required and it is dangerous. Lastly, it is just a fad that won't last.

The question is, are you more likely to suffer incidences of decompression sickness (DCS) if using nitrox? Looking at the figures released by the Divers Alert Network (DAN) 2000 DAN Nitrox Workshop, no increased risk of DCS is reported when diving nitrox over air.

This is further supported by the research of Lang (2006) The State of oxygen-enriched air (nitrox) published in the Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Journal, Volume 36, Number 2, June 2006. You can dive to about 50 metres on nitrox; naturally the oxygen percentages are somewhat leaner reducing the effectiveness yet this is still a better option than air.

Nitrogen is the limiting factor for the majority of divers, reducing nitrogen uptake increases bottom times. This can be achieved by reducing the nitrogen partial pressure which can achieved by diving shallower with air or alternatively diving to the same depth with a gas mix with reduced nitrogen. By replacing the nitrogen in the mix, bottom times are increased although oxygen is now believed to be just as narcotic as nitrogen.

Do I decrease my surface intervals on nitrox? I don't so in that respect so while the opportunity exists I never usually take it up. That being said, I don't use nitrox for shallower dives as the increased bottom times for a 18 metre dive just don't justify the extra cost.

Depending on the computer or table used, a 51 minute no-decompression limit is normal for Buehlmann tables, PADI is 56 minutes and the US Navy tables extends out to 60 minutes. Most divers have used all their gas by this stage so the values is limited, the decompression required is also negligible at any rate.

Naturally you are depth limited by nitrox, this is the whole MOD concept and if certified divers don't have either the buoyancy control then they have bigger problems than nitrox. Likewise, should they exceed their depth limits then audible and visual alarms are built into dive computers with divers setting their own PO2, I believe in personal freedom and with training, divers can make informed decisions.

Once upon a time nitrox courses required manual calculations, as nitrox use became more widespread it was found that setting a nitrox computer was sufficient, there are not too many computers produced these days that aren't nitrox capable, twenty five years ago - this wasn't the case.

With fairly extensive research done, nitrox is not considered any more dangerous than air with current computer nitrox courses concentrating on basic principles, computer use and analysing blends - a fairly straightforward course these days.

The proponents of nitrox are old school guys stuck in another era, their diving is usually limited to a single style and they don't understand nitrox themselves and don't expect you to either.

Sunburnt in Europe

Geez, what was I thinking? It’s not like the concept is foreign to me, I have shaved my head since my early twenties. I pretty much carry a hat everywhere with me because I know what happens if I don't.

I’m from Australia, I know all about the effects if the sun, I am well aware of UV radiation. In Perth during the weather report at the end of the 6 o'clock news, they list the UV index warning us of potential adverse conditions.

So how did I get so sunburnt? Well, somehow because it was autumn in the northern hemisphere, I thought the sun wasn't as strong as i’m used to. Up to this point, this is true, however, I was out all day with my cap in my backpack, now that was stupid.

I hadn't washed my cap from previous days and the sweatband was covered in sweat from previous days causing some irritation. My thinking at the time was these UV rays are not so strong here so I can afford plenty of sun exposure here.

Wrong, when I returned to the hotel room I then knew I was burnt - the pain left no doubt in my mind. That evening was uncomfortable for sure but the next morning all pain was gone. Sure, I was still a little red still but I had dodged a bullet and gotten away with it.

So you only speak English

I had to laugh at the comments of a conductor on a train from Trier in Germany to Luxembourg City in, well Luxembourg. As she was trying to explain the ticketing structure to us in German, when that didn't work she switched to French.

Still, we couldn't explain in my limited German and she replied *so you only speak English” in a dismissive tone. Firstly, I live in Australia, a continent with an official language of English with each state speaking the same language so no need to change languages as you cross borders.

My partner who was with me at the time is a native Japanese speaker, she can also use some Chinese as some characters change over and I’m sure she could get the message across in Korean if needed.

Australia is 12,000 kilometers away from Europe so for the best part it makes no sense to learn German, French, Spanish or Italian unless a specific need arises. Due to our proximity to Asia; Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese or Indonesian would be the better option at any rate.

Even for someone such as myself living in Perth, to get in a car and drive across the state border will require about 12 hours of travelling time only to find they speak English there too.

Technically, Australia isn't a continent as the original inhabitants have around 2000 different languages or thereabouts. What I am not able to state is how many are in frequent use or how they differ between each dialect.

Developing multiple income streams

I had yet to complete my apprenticeship although I was either close to, or considered an adult at this stage, so I was around seventeen or eighteen. I had a group of friends who were older than me by a number of years and they were transitioning to their new lives with their partners.

We became involved in Amway and they were doing ok; me not so good though as nobody was interested in being signed up by someone so young - I understood and accepted that. I went to all the meetings where they taught their network marketing scheme and was actively involved.

They were heavily involved in motivation and that is what I really enjoyed - being around motivated people. They also taught basic business and finance principles and one of the concepts I really embraced was generating multiple income streams including a passive income.

For the majority of people their primary income is from their paid employment or through their business; should they become injured or fall sick and become unable to work for a period, they would normally endure financial hardship.

A second job on weekends or evenings brings in a second income as does freelance work or a small business servicing clients. These are still generally related to your direct labour inputs, although a small part-time business may hire staff.

What interested me the most was developing a passive income; that is an income that is not directly derived from my sale of labour. A passive income may be derived from sources such as bank interest, although that is generally a poor return with low interest rates requiring a relatively large capital investment for little return.

Cash is important as a buffer although very inefficient in terms of returns, cash holdings may be funds reserved for future investment opportunities. Fixed interest through term deposits and bonds is a reasonably defensive strategy allowing a degree of diversification.

Residential and commercial property derives an income through rental income although a high capital expenditure is required, sub-letting a room is more efficient but you have to share your home with someone.

Dividends from shares is a brilliant passive income with an advantage in Australia of franking credits from dividend imputation removing the double taxation burden.

Reinvesting your dividends is the best course of action if you don't require the income to support yourself as you are really investing in future returns setting up the longer term. I prefer long-term investing and generally shy away from short-term investments instead seeking an income stream so your initial capital isn't eroded over time.

Closing in on 1000 posts

Closing in on 1000 posts, since starting Observations in an Undemocratic World back in 2013, I have been publishing posts on a regular basis.

These days I average three posts a week released Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with the shortest post on a Thursday and the longest Saturday. So where to from here? I am going to keep posting, I am full-time employed so writing is one of my pastimes but I have other avenues of expression too.

For myself, writing allows a certain freedom and this was especially helpful when I was studying, I could just turn off, write a post and then switch back on again. Now study is over for me, my tablet comes with me everywhere and I tap away at the screen on the train, sitting waiting for an appointment.

It may be straight after a run still covered in sweat too scared to hit the shower just in case I lose my train of thought. Sitting around at a bar is a pretty decent choice, I am happy to have a drink by myself and tap away on my tablet. It is relaxing and a pretty decent way to spend the afternoon.

Revisiting the toxic work environment

I have written before about a toxic work environment, I am interested from an organisational standpoint about how this is able to occur in a modern workplace?

I question why this occurs, why are managers installed in a business to manage operations? If their sole role is to manage, why are they unable to fulfill their role and manage people to a competent level? Management is really work done through others.

This is a leadership failure, there is no other explanation for it yet it is easy enough to rectify. This takes communication skills, the manager has to pull themselves out of office and away from spreadsheets.

You need to be out and about without micromanaging, I believe in delegation and providing support allowing people to expand their roles and knowledge.

You don't show favouritism, people are promoted based on strict and measurable criteria. It is inequity that generally causes a toxic work environment, it creates tension as the high performers generally become dissatisfied whilst the underachievers are allowed to run riot, by this time, the workplace has descended into chaos.

From what I have encountered, most managers possess poor leadership skills. Well, this was based on my thirteen years of state government experiences anyway. My return to private enterprise surprised me on how far leadership has advanced in the private sector.

I was employed in a leadership role, my manager took seven years to complete his MBA and he majored in leadership. From my experiences with such a proactive manager, he pretty much espouses the leadership culture he wishes to embed in our department.

Private enterprise really encourages university education to provide solutions to problems. The public sector less so, they prefer to maintain the old boy’s club and the old way of doing things. Sure, they engage in plenty of poorly planned and executed change management programs but I can’t really call them strategies.

Posters of eagles soaring over mountain ranges doesn’t equate to leadership, it equates to a lack of leadership ability in my eyes. I have yet to see a great private sector leader hanging such useless posters on their walls, they actively live the leadership culture they espouse.

The TAG Heuer Carrera

The Carrera was released by Jack Heuer back in 1963 espousing their motor racing heritage with the Carrera Panamerican motor race. The Heuer Carrera was the first chronograph timepiece designed specifically for professional racecar drivers.

In 1985 the Heuer watch company was in extreme financial distress; this was in no small part attributed to the quartz technology disrupting the industry. Heuer was duly purchased by the TAG Group, a company ironically involved in the motorsport industry.

Hence, TAG Heuer was born with not even the slightest whiff of arrogance bestowed by TAG Industries. Motorsport sponsorship is not the sole domain of TAG Heuer, the race track is the perfect marketing tool for timekeeping.

The Heuer Carrera was an iconic timepiece synonymous with motor racing with Jack Heuer one of the last direct family members aligned to such a heritage brand. I looked at purchasing a new Carrera but thought the face was somewhat cluttered in the latest models.

The skeletonised versions were even worse for my personal tastes. When I look back at the older versions, the basic shape and style confirm to me why this is such an iconic timepiece. The Carrera in its purest motorsport form is a chronograph, I do admit to really liking the three hand version.

Whilst I would love a vintage Heuer Carrera timepiece, I am wary of the current prices paid for older timepieces. The problem with vintage timepieces is wear to the movement, obtaining parts for older movements may be difficult and is certainly expensive.

Taking into account wear to the dial, hands and pushers, replacement of major components tends diminish the value of the timepiece. That being said, the classical style of the 1960s and 1970s Carrera is a pretty decent place to start.

At some point, one has to ask, would the funds be best spent on a new timepiece? I must admit, I am certainly interested in the shape, style and history of the Carrera and possibly missed my opportunity to become a Carrera owner on a number of opportunities.

I prefer the simple and classic styles and may add the Carrera to my collection in the future, until then I can admire the Carrera in its simplest and unadulterated splendor. I am out looking but as always, I have plenty of time to choose and the price has to be right.

The YF-17 fighter prototype

The US military started to number their fighter aircraft sequentially after the 100 interceptor designations were superseded; the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon and F-18 Hornet filled a number of differing roles.

The F-17 never made it into production with the F-22 Raptor released as the fifth generation fighter jet, I wondered why the F-17 never made it into production. I am certainly no expert on the matter, I am just a little inquisitive - that's all.

Then there is the 19, 20 and 21 designation aircraft that also never reached the production phase either. The Northrop YF-17 prototype looks like a smaller version of the F-18 Hornet currently in service with a number of military around the world.

The aircraft was to supplement the navy F-14 interceptor/air superiority role. The aircraft had to fulfill the attack capacity that was then covered by the Vietnam era A-7 Corsair II and F-4 Phantom, these aircraft were to be phased out.

To enable the aircraft to reach production, Northrop teamed up with McDonald Douglas to redesign the aircraft to operate on the flight decks of an aircraft carrier allowing the F/A-18 to enter service with the US Navy and air forces around the globe.

Toby's Estate - Ortigas

I was meeting a friend in Ortigas for lunch whilst she was at work and we headed off to Toby's Estate, I was impressed. This was a great little cafe, this was a great place to hang for a few hours.

This is an excellent coffee house in an up and coming business district, this is a great place for lunch and not just a coffee. This place gets a little busy during the lunch time rush period, but you can never complain about a business that is pushing big numbers through and still looking after their customers.

I had never heard of Toby's Estate before and then I told this was an Australian chain of coffee houses. I thought they must be big on the East coast of Australia because I hadn't seen any on the West coast until I wandered into the domestic terminal.

For a lot of these East coast businesses, they view the West coast as the wild west and they tend to display a little fear with expansion beyond the higher populated states New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria on the eastern seaboard.

I thought it was an unusual growth strategy, normally a business pursues a domestic strategy before embarking on international growth but I'm pretty happy the have. So some research was in order, I can't just rely on what I am told and I found out Toby's Estate Coffee Roasters is a Brooklyn based chain - I'm glad I took the time to verify. 

Joining a leadership team

Is leadership the new business buzzword? I certainly see it overused and used out of context in the government sector, but what about private enterprise? This is where I actually see leadership applied in the workplace.

I am now getting to use my business skills learnt in university in the workplace. So ok, when you are in a leadership team, what does this really mean, what does this entail? Management was once the domain of getting work done through others, is this now leadership?

I prefer a situational leadership model and without reciting the Hersey-Blanchard model too much, a directing, coaching, supporting and delegating range of situations is the most effective method based on both workplace conditions and personnel.

I certainly believe values plays a major factor in not only leadership decisions but the influence factor of leadership. Motivation is certainly a major sub-skill of the provision of leadership along with providing direction, this requires role model behaviour.

So, as part of a leadership group we are supposed to achieve outcomes through others in a similar manner to what management was. To my way of thinking, management is concerned with measurement and leadership is getting the job done efficiently and effectively.

As a leadership group, our job is to implement the vision as defined by senior leadership. The role of the leadership group is not purely implementation, ideas are developed within the team and turned into policies that benefit the entire workforce. Yeah, I am happy to be a member of a high performance leadership team. 

A 2009 Witchmount shiraz

A number of years ago I went to a wine tasting evening arranged by my brother at his local wine store. They had invited the winemaker over from Witchmount to speak about shiraz in general and also tell us about his pretty decent version.

This was around the time Witchmount had become popular after winning the Syrah du Monde international wine competition held in France for the world's best syrah. This is what we prefer to call shiraz and I prefer in its purest form, I never appreciated cab/shiraz blends or even worse shiraz/cabernet blends, a peppery shiraz is still my favourity.

Whilst it was the 2004 vintage that won the competition, I was able to get hold of the 2009 vintage. I was pretty happy, I was able to get a taste of what was considered the world's best shiraz. I have to admit the French style is softer and far different to the Australian style so I tasted this vintage with a degree of trepidation.

Apparently, the black label denotes full bodied, although I feel this is a medium bodied wine and not full bodied as I am used to. That being said, I like to try new styles and a medium-bodied wine suits me some days, the judges know what is a good shiraz based on blind testing, now it is time for me to appreciate it.

The superior management joke

So a trend I am seeing is the self-designated superior management term being thrown around by the incoming Chinese management at the mine I was working.

Nothing could be further from the truth; inferior management, that is a more accurate term. I have never seen a major project unravel so quickly. This is by far, the worst management team I have ever seen in my life and I thought I saw dummies first hand in the government.

Their sole purpose is to get rid of the expat management team and replace them with mostly low paid and sub-standard Chinese workers. This 10 year old project was sold just over a year ago to Chinese interests who pretty much kept the workforce intact.

Then, they decided to unload the very expats that made the 2.63 billion US dollar purchase price possible. The project is already unraveling, their poor decision-making is amazing to watch, they work to no plan let alone a strategic plan, they change their mind frequently and nobody, I mean nobody knows what is going on.

A personal email

I sent a personal email to a former work colleague based on a discussion we had on the final day of my job. I explained that I respected his contribution, he had put in so much unpaid work for the strategic business unit to make it work.

My work email at my new job lit up, apparently he printed this email out and placed it on the lunch table for all to read. Based on the responses I received there was some anger attached but I actually care not even a bit.

From what I was told, it was the same blow-hards, workplace bullies, non-performers, social climbers and yes men. They are not the sole reason that toxic workplace exists as it is a series of complicated social interactions but it forms a large part of the issue.

It is kind of fun to stir these morons up from my new job, what's even better is I have been granted two years leave without pay so I can return at any time. Because of their embedded government mentality, they are angry, nasty and unable to leave this toxic workplace they created.

So now I know he is printing out private correspondence I now have the ability to write with a little freedom and be a little poignant with my prose. I never mention names, they all think they all think it is them so I get some laughs.

The blow-hards think I don't know it is being printed out and they all repeat parrot style their dislike of anyone who has the ability to break out of this cycle of bullying and intimidation.

I'm out of this horrible workplace full of professional youtube viewers, work shirkers and opinionated loud mouths. They have been employed way too long in the sheltered workshop of the government and adapted low productivity practices.

A large contingent watch youtube videos all day in full view if everyone in the open plan office, there is no accountability and although everyone knows what is going on, there are no consequences for their actions.

A large contingent have never held a job in private enterprise, some for just a brief period so they have never been under pressure to perform in free markets. I made sure I never adapted the government work ethic, I always kept my options open, for me, it was a seamless transition back to private enterprise.

My first time in snow

Having grown up in Perth, my only experiences with snow involved throwing open the refrigerator door and peering into the freezer. Stage 2, flying over the Rocky Mountains from New York to Vancouver saw a positive sighting from a airplane window at 30,000 feet and then saw snow again over the Blue Mountains when flying from Sydney to Perth 4 weeks later.

That was until I headed up to the Jung Frau in Switzerland on the rack and pinion train, I walked out onto the snow from the station, slipped over and ended up with a wet backside. This was not the first experience I had envisioned, but your pants dry soon enough and you get on with it - this was an excellent day out.

Enjoying illy coffee in Perth

Founded in 1933 by Italian Francesco Illy, this dark roast coffee is a favourite of mine since first introduced in Turkey by Germans, illy coffee is difficult for me to source in cafes in Perth, this is not like Italy or Germany where I can walking into a cafe at random for a illy coffee. 

illy produces only one blend made from Arabica beans from different parts of the world. This blend is available in three varieties – decaffeinated, normal roast and dark roast.

As a matter of course, illy coffee has been steadfast in its adherence to the highest quality standards. Coffee experts from the company visit different parts of the world to personally select the best Arabica varieties and prepare the unique illy blend. The processing of beans is done under highly controlled conditions.

In the 1980s, illy coffee stopped buying green coffee from global commodity markets. The company buys directly from the producers and has exclusive deals for Arabica coffee from Brazil, Colombia, India, Africa and other countries in Central America.

This practice brings two advantages – firstly, 100 percent assurance on quality and secondly, the cost benefits. Ground illy coffee is pressurised using insert gas instead of air. In fact, the technology of using inert gas in an automatic coffee machine was perfected and implemented for the first time by Francesco Illy.

The technology he used was the predecessor of the modern espresso machines. In order to preserve the precise flavours of each type of coffee, illy coffee company uses steel canisters are used for packaging.

Stacking my mountain bike

So, I stacked my mountain bike in the Democratic Republic of Congo and snapped the rotator ball from my right arm, there was no choice, I needed surgery.

My employer was willing to fly me home to Perth from South Africa, that wasn't a great option from my perspective so I declined. The public hospital system in South Africa is a little iffy according to all reports, the private sector is apparently world class.

So, with my company based private sector insurance, I headed off to a private hospital in Sandton and I can attest, it was a world class facility. After my initial examination, then waiting for the insurance claim, I was wheeled straight into surgery.

After the insurance claim cleared, the surgeon walked back into his office in his scrubs and it was on. They wheeled me into surgery within an hour of the claim and it was on, even better, I was given a private room as I came from the Congo and they were worried about everything from ebola and malaria to hepatitis.

So I came around and receiving a little lip from my nurses, I had a morphine drip and wasn't using it, they would come in the room, push the plunger repeatedly and then tell me all about it. That was ok,  I didn't need it but I appreciated their concern.

So recovery was interesting, I had to wait to be discharged from the hospital, that took way longer than I requested and I missed my return flight to the Congo. I was put up in a very nice hotel in Sandton, the hotel where the senior managers stay, that made recovery a little easier.

It is interesting when even the South Africans refer to the Congo as the jungle, I was enjoying my time even if mountain biking was no longer an option for the next few months. But hey, it got me a better hospital room and hotel room so no complaints.