The Breitling Navitimer

The Breitling Navitimer is a classical timepiece featuring a unique aeronautical design for pilots. Whilst not a pilot myself, I am still able to appreciate the style and functionality of the Navitimer.

The centrepiece of the 1952 released Navitimer is the rotating bezel activating a circular slide rule allowing pilots to perform complex calculations for navigation and aeronautics. Whilst modern commercial aircraft utilise GPS and computerised avionics, the Breitling Navitimer remains a favourite timepiece of pilots and aeronautical engineers.

The slide rule is no longer required for normal commercial aviation requirements but maintains the aviation inspired heritage of pilots. I wouldn't purchase a Breitling Navitimer for only one reason and that is I'm not a wannabe pilot and don't want to be running around pretending to be something I'm not. I will leave the Navitimer to the people who have earned their flight status.

How did it come to this?

I began my employment at my current state government employer in 2006 and worked really hard progressing through a series of levels after five years service and successfully completing a graduate diploma to gain the prerequisite qualifications to progress further.

I then undertook tertiary education to further enhance my formal qualifications at a considerable financial cost and time because that is what is required. I also undertook every challenge that was offered, worked overtime without remuneration because the job required quality outcomes. I was up to midnight most nights preparing for the next day and weekends were written off for the first two years.

Then, when I was preparing to go on long service leave in mid 2014 and nearly worked myself into a state of exhaustion, I noticed a shift in attitude going on that wasn't rewarding hard work, it was rewarding alliances that agreed primarily with one person to shore up their power plays.

These people are pathetic, they did not even have the courtesy to speak to me face-to-face, they just undermined me at every opportunity knowing I would be away from the job for three and a half months. This was really the period I lost respect for these individuals - sad really.

So upon from my return from three and a half months break in September 2014 after everything had changed, I set about fixing this up. I already knew these people could not be trusted, I was threatened off-the-record and told that if I ever repeated this threat - it would be denied.

Until that time, I had been a model employee, albeit somewhat opinionated but the attitude of those you had been entrusted in a management role changed all that. What they had never expected was my resilience and appetite for a fight - they didn't get to walk all over me as they expected.

JJ's Kitchen Chinese Restaurant

I was fortunate enough to finally not have a busy schedule so I decided to head down to JJ's Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant in the southern Perth suburb of Thornlie for lunch yesterday. The restaurant is part owned by a work colleague and managed by his partner so I sought the restaurant out as I really wanted to see the business he invested in first hand. As she is from northern China not far from the North Korean border, the cuisine has a distinctly northern Chinese theme.

That being said, their lunch-time chef is a Chinese/Malay gentleman so a number of dishes have Malay and Singaporean influences. As such, I didn't order off of the main menu instead reaching for the lunch menu specials and a laksa was my choice with spring rolls as an entree. I was pretty happy with my choice and there are plenty of future options for lunch.

Normally if I skip out from work to head out for a meal, I go to the food hall at the Maddington Shopping Centre. Heading in the other direction, I can drive down to the Thornlie Shopping Centre that isn't that much further and get a better quality meal for a better price. A better option in the future will be to order take-away and get them drop it to our workplace now that I have had a chance to see the place - a much better option.   

The TAFE South Australia fiasco

So TAFE SA has been found non-compliant against national regulatory standards; that is the state government funded and managed Technical and Further Education college in South Australia. 

So far, the Chairman has been fired with the South Australian government appointing consultants to review quality assurance processes and a possible Senate investigation likely.

The question is, could TAFE colleges in Western Australia also be found non-compliant after the damning independent review by the national auditor in South Australia? So far fourteen courses have been found to be sub-standard. 

Now courses have been suspended and no longer allowed to enrol students until the non-compliant courses have been cleared. The questions are; will students have to be re-assessed? Will further academic study be required? Who will pay for this?

Could funding arrangements in Western Australia be affected or any other state or territory in the country for that matter? Could rorting even take place in the form of resulting fraud so full funding could be claimed when students are rubber stamped? 

With all the regulation involved monitoring vocational education and training in Australia, could misappropriation of government funds even occur? The was no indicators of misappropriation of government funds, this was purely related to compliance. 

Whilst these possible abuses appear to be vastly different to the challenges affecting TAFE SA, the question is, could they occur in different jurisdictions in Australia with pretty much the same results achieved by different means?

Drugged and robbed in Manila

In a story that was retold to me by a young English woman on a trip to the Philippines left me shocked and outraged, I have read about this type of incident happening before but I never really believed it. I thought these stories were more urban myth than reality; this really goes on go with young solo travelers targeted.

She arrived in Manila and headed out to Intramuros, an area just south of Manila central with a wonderful Spanish influence courtesy of their rich colonial history. According to her she was befriended by a couple of women who invited her out to lunch, she duly accepted their kind offer. 

Apparently a male also came to lunch and was introduced as the husband of one of the females. She is where her story becomes somewhat hazy as she was drugged at lunch and loaded into the back of a taxi where she was driven around Manila and her bank account emptied via her credit card.

She recalls being in and out of consciousness where she was being kissed by a male accomplice but doesn't speak of any sexually explicit activities going on. I did ask her if she felt sore or had and injuries, she replied that she did not. 

I did point out that there may have been photographs taken as she only remembers a small part of being kissed. I did unfortunately advise her to go and get some tests done for sexually transmitted diseases as she had established some form of inappropriate activity occurring in her description of events.

Upon being dumped and slowly regaining consciousness she made her way to a police station where she reported the incident when she was still affected by the drugs. The police took a short statement but were anything but enthusiastic about pursuing the matter further. 

She was shown a photograph where she was able to identify the male offender where the police stated that this individual was known to them but they wouldn't be taking the matter further. The police cited the reason as being that she will be out of the country when the trial would be expected to occur; she replied that she would be in attendance when a trial is set. 

All she required was sufficient notice to organise flights and accommodation. The answer was still a resounding NO. One suspects the police are in on the scam taking a share of the profits in exchange for not investigating this crime. 

Keeping in mind that this is the same police force given special permission to execute drug dealers, this is somewhat perplexing that they should not be keen to investigate a known criminal group using drugs as a way to incapacitate vulnerable women.

A coward's punch condoned by the justice system

So here we go again, homegrown thug and genuine loser Dylan Robert Thomas has been sent a clear message by the justice system - your actions are condoned. 

In June, Thomas punched, without warning, seventeen year-old Sam Ortiz with so much force that Ortiz, already unconscious, fell backwards striking his head on the pavement risking life threatening injuries.

We have a serious societal problem where young people go out and get drunk before punching people whilst they aren't even looking. We also have a justice system not only supporting such behaviour, this decision endorses one punch attacks - this is why we are where we are right now. 

Thomas avoided prison and was instead warned by the magistrate about the mindset of young thugs and one-punch attacks. Ortiz has been left with headaches and memory loss no doubt other injuries. 

Thomas then went and assaulted another person in a one-punch attack twenty minutes later in the same area. If the magistrate wanted to send Dylan a message then he would have enforced prison time, that would make thugs think about actions and consequences. 

In a pathetic turn of events, Dylan and his family left the court smiling away taking selfies as if this is a big joke, unfortunately these fools are correct. This is the justice system, they walk free and mock the people they assaulted. 

The one and only Sir Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney last played in Perth in 1993 so it's been a while, so when Paul wandered out on NIB Stadium in Perth on Saturday night we knew we were in for a treat - Paul really knows how to entertain a crowd. 

We were not disappointed, three hours of top class entertainment on a balmy Perth Saturday night. It might have been 36°C during the day but the evening really cooled off making for a wonderful evening. The moon hanging over the stadium really set the tone, Paul stepped back to enjoy the atmosphere and we did too.

Paul casually wandered on to the stage to a rapturous applause with his left-handed Hofner violin bass slung across his shoulder facing downwards opening with A Hard Day's Night, Junior's Farm and Can't Buy Me Love. Paul played some old Beatles songs, some Wings material and newer songs including the Rihanna and Kayne West FourFiveSeconds song he collaborated on. 

What I learned was that some of the old Beatles songs sound great live, much better than the studio recorded material we are used to hearing on the radio. Paul has an absolute on-stage personality, he is a humble guy and despite all his adulation over the decades, he is a great bloke.

You knew there was going to be some Wings material and Band on the Run as well as Live and Let Die were going to light the crowd up. There was some Helter Skelter, Sergeant Pepper as well as Blackbird and a tribute to George Harrison with Something that began on George's old ukulele. 

I'm not going to list all the songs as we were entertained with a 40 song setlist; he had the WA Police Pipe Band on stage for Mull of Kintyre with bagpipes as part of the 8 song encore. We had an on-stage proposal and a whole bunch of fabulous stories between songs, this was a fantastic Saturday night and I am glad I was a part of it.