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.

The Mares icon dive computer

The Mares icon dive computer is a piece of rubbish. You are overcharged for a second-rate dive computer with a fancy screen offering little else. I owned the first series, the one before the gas transmitter was included and I regret purchasing it.

Ok, sure, I am annoyed that this expensive dive computer failed to live up to marketing hype. Well before the premature failure of my high priced dive computer that failed to deliver, I wasn't happy with it. The fact was, it was an awful dive computer with a fancy screen and Mares wasn't interested in offering warranty - they just wanted to sell me a new computer. 

The algorithm unduly penalises a diver who is diving less than an ultra-conservative profile, you have to be safe, we all understand that, you have to be realistic though. You purchase a dive computer and you start diving side-by-side with a diver until the decompression burden is too great so you ascend and miss a great portion of the dive - yeah right.

The guy you are diving with maintains his depth, see some amazing sights while you are off-gassing in shallow waters - loser. I wont be replacing this useless wrist weight with another icon computer, I will not be purchasing another Mares dive computer ever again.

illy coffee

I first came across illy coffee in the late 90s while living in Turkey. The German clientele of the dive shop where I was employed would bring some tins out for the Turkish owner who had spent some time living in Berlin. He no doubt picked up the love of illy coffee whilst living in Germany.

When I first tried to purchase illy coffee in Australia, I nearly passed out after what the importer was charging, naturally the retailers tried to pass the costs on to the consumer. I contacted the Australian distributor for information on retailers in my area that hopefully don't gouge consumers - they never even bothered replying, such was their attitude of nonchalance.

Most cafes in Perth do not stock illy coffee, this is a shame as I am seeing plenty of illy coffee houses in South East Asia to support my coffee addiction. I love nothing more than to grab an espresso on the run of this flavoursome coffee blend.

Multitasking - an outdated ideal?

We have been constantly lectured on the virtues of multi-tasking, but is it really effective? So what is multi-tasking? Walking and chewing gum? Walking and farting? Taking a leak in the shower or putting on make-up or shaving in the car on the way to work? To my way of thinking, this is a time management issue - instead, why not get out of bed 15 minutes earlier? Then there is always driving and texting, should we really be promoting activities that cause series injury or death?

In management circles, multi-tasking is being increasingly viewed as an ineffectual strategy as the potential to end up with a bunch of half completed and shoddy tasks ultimately results. We came onto a nightshift in an underground mine and there was broken down machines parked in front of the workshop, in the workshop and alongside the workshop - this was a huge hit to productivity. The leading-hand ordered the mechanics to repair individual machines and despite my protests, we all set off to work.

After three hours of hard labour and all machines still parked up, the leading-hand feeling the pressure was open to suggestions. We worked out which machine could be back and running first and hit the job with man-power, we split into two teams and concentrated the work effort. When the repairs were complete, that machine rolled back into production and the team moved onto the next task, when that machine was back working the team hit the next job. Machines now rolled out of the workshop at regular intervals and the production management was reasonably happy. A concentrated effort was the best strategy in this situation and just about every situation.

The learning organisation

Learning organisations are the current management solution gaining traction solving complex training and development issues; learning organisations generate environments open to creative thought and innovation embracing solutions to ongoing problems through team interaction. The learning organisation acquires knowledge innovating at a pace to not only survive but to thrive in a rapidly changing environment to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. 

Learning organisations create a culture encouraging and supporting continuous employee learning, applying critical thinking to problems encouraging risk taking to generate innovation. The learning organisation operates in a blame free environment accepting mistakes valuing employee contributions. The learning organisation encourages experimental learning gained through team experiences; finally, the learning organisation disseminates the knowledge throughout the whole organisation incorporating daily activities.

American business ideals

What I like about the American psyche is their ability to engage in business enterprise with their entrepreneurial spirit. The United States now has a service based economy; you exclaim, that's not exactly true, unfortunately the majority of their manufacturing base has been eroded and transferred overseas.

Design is still undertaken onshore, technology and innovation still rank highly but intellectual property and not manufacturing capability dominates the economy now. Currently, the US market is structured around consumption with retailing, after sales service, logistics and distribution the primary economic strength. Manufacturing in the US is pretty much redundant these days, although not entirely the case, technology and manufacturing capability technology continues to be exported overseas.

Americans are traditionally very strong at marketing and sales, this once again harps back to retail and services, the United States is very much a consumer driven economy. Financial services has been the growth industry, this has however been their undoing in many respects, this was the downfall of American manufacturing manufacturing. The purpose of finance is to raise capital to fund business activities and enterprise, by sending manufacturing and the respective technology offshore, economic capability is inadvertently lost.

The flow of international funds into a relatively stable US economy tends to mask the underlying issues and their causes - they just don't produce anything of substance anymore. As Wall Street is increasingly under pressure as the financial hub of the world; European, Asian and Middle Eastern financial centres are threatening the dominance of American finance and the viability of the United States as a superpower. 

The Singapore MRT

If the Singaporean MRT isn't the best underground rail system in the world, then I would like to see what is. With the British influences in Singapore, I'm guessing their MRT is modeled on the London underground.

The rail system is new unlike the London underground or Berlin U-Bahn, the carriages are all interconnected and the system is driver-less. As a passenger, you are able to wander up to the leading carriage and watch your progression through the tunnels. During the non-peak times, you are able to glance down the carriages to view the train powering along through the tunnels also - it is kind of fun.

The platforms are shielded preventing anybody from falling down on the tracks, that rules out suicides too. The train comes to a halt with the carriage doors opening before the main doors, the floors are marked to position commuters so all inbound passengers wait to the side causing no congestion to departing passengers, free WiFi runs throughout the MRT system - everything about the Singaporean MRT is great.