I was going through old inventory at the dive shop and I found an older style and now outdated Suunto D4 dive computer.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.

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. Based on my personal observations, a leadership vacuum combined with cronyism creates a toxic work environment.

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 culture of the organisation is shaped by the minimum standards the management is willing to accept.

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.

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 need, there are so many better options with a greater product line. The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is the best option, their double espresso is a great drink served in a proper coffee cup. As a person concerned with environmental issues, no way would i purchase coffee in a cardboard cup.

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.

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.

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 back then, 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 and the best weeks, I ran more shorter routes and a pretty decent pace.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, she could find herself in a really compromising position.

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.