2019 was the year I didn’t renew my PADI membership, I became a PADI member in 1999 and I was very active in my early years.

I believe a diving instructor has a finite life, I was working part-time for three years, then fulltime for a five years before transitioning back to a part-time instructor for another seven years. After I closed down my dive business I walked away from the dive industry as I was so disenchanted. My business partner had left the business in a huge mess, I was left to clean up the aftermath and pay off the creditors.

My partner had fled the country, the decisions he made led to the state of the business as we had lost suppliers. We had lost our best instructor, she was difficult to deal with, that’s for sure but she did a great job. My partner’s arrogance was his thoughts were that he was now successful that didn’t need to deal with difficult people, this arrogance cost us the business. I was left to appear in court, I paid the creditors off slowly; instead he ran away, told lies to creditors and never paid his debt. 

I won’t be getting back into recreational dive industry anytime soon, the industry exploits people through low wages, poor conditions and little to no benefits. This industry tends to attract a certain type of people who take joy in exploiting people – this is unfortunate. That being said, it is expensive to run a dive shop in a retail setting, the resort style operations is more of a concern to me, that I don’t miss.

The 2016 TAG Heuer Aquaracer is a pretty cool timepiece although not everyone thinks so. We have a number of  guys at work really interested in horology so the discussion of watches in a fairly frequent discussion.

This is a conversation I can now join after the phases of model airplanes, go-karts, rifles, pistols and model helicopters have run their course. A number of us are divers so the discussion of dive watches is especially interesting for me. I have been a keen observer of TAG Heuer for some time now going back to the 2000 series although I decided on another dive watch from the TAG Heuer range as my first purchase 20 years ago – I don’t regret that decision.

So I decided to revisit the Aquaracer series now they come with the ceramic bezel insert. The size of wrist watches has increased in diameter and in one of our discussions one of our enthusiasts, a Rolex owner commented about the size of his son’s Carrera and how it feels like an onion on his wrist. This is a case of style, I prefer a larger diameter watch as my wrist size supports such a timepiece and I have always thought a dive watch should be larger than smaller as you tend to have difficulty reading instruments underwater.

This is especially true in murky water or silty conditions, night dives are a little better as a dive light provides a source to charge the lume. Rated to 300 metres, the Aquaracer is a professional timepiece for commercial divers with a chronograph option although I prefer the three hand model. The Calibre 5 automatic movement is either 25 or 26 rubies with the ETA 2824-2 being the 25 jewel model and the Sellita SW200-1 fitted with 26 jewels. Both movements have a balance frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour equaling 4 Hz and a power reserve of approximately 38 hours.

The general conscious is that the ETA is the superior movement with Sellita being a rendition of the ETA movement as patents have apparently expired. Speaking to my local watchmaker, he doesn’t much like the finish of the Sellita movement even if they are now becoming the industry standard mechanical movement now that ETA are becoming harder to source.

Interestingly Sellita previously undertook outsourced work for ETA and the SW200-1 is fitted with the extra jewel. Which movement is better? I really don’t know, but as the 2824-2 is certainly more marketable than the SW200-1 and in the world of luxury goods, that is a decisive factor.  Really, you would be hard pressed to beat the workhorse ETA 2824-2 movement without developing an in-house movement. Then the argument moves to in-house movement versus generic movements and the marketability of each.

Viewing some watch videos online and speaking with my local watchmaker, the finish of the Sellita seems to be lacking and that isn’t a great selling point for a major Swiss watch manufacturer. Maybe future models will incorporate a display case back but that might require TAG Heuer to lift their game and manufacture an in-house movement for the Aquaracer series. The Aquaracer uses the Calibre 5, that is nothing really as it was either the 2842-2 or SW200-1, so unless you popped the caseback off or counted jewels, you are not even sure of the engine in your Aquaracer.

The ninja generation – no income, no job or assets – that is the best description I have heard for the millennial generation. Yet to some degree, this addiction to debt isn’t their doing, this is the way this generation has been conditioned through absolutely no fault of their own.

Firstly, enter the financial scandals of Enron [2001], Arthur Anderson [2002], WorldCom [2002] followed the dot.com bubble and bust [1997 – 2001]. A whole host of American companies of the era with no ethical principles were morally corrupt. Then later in the decade the global financial crisis [2007-2008] hit Wall Street and took down the worldwide financial system. Now in 2018 and we are still feeling the effects of the Wall Street debacle sub-prime mortgage collateralised debt obligation.

A whole generation of people have grown up to financial turmoil and a lack of opportunity, I can see why they are angry. I can see why they are gaining more socialist views, American millennials are looking at European models with socialism mixed with capitalism and are liking it. The European model has plenty of advantages, sure taxes are higher but services are structured for the entire population, the poor can get health care and housing – that’s a positive.

The Apollo 8 mission was the second manned mission of the program, this was the first mission to leave earth orbit and travel to and orbit the moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were the first humans to escape the gravity of a celestial body orbiting the moon 10 times. This was a very impressive step in the moon landing program, they orbited the moon to prove they could.

The Apollo 8 mission was a highly important mission as this was the first mission to move past the gravitational pull of the earth and enter lunar orbit. The Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to view the dark side of the moon hence the Speedmaster Apollo 8 is named after this important mission.  The watch design views both sides of the moonwatch with the near side represented by a laser etching of the movement through the skeletonised dial, the far side is viewed through a display caseback. The case is black ceramic fitted with a sapphire crystal with a 50 metre water resistance rating.

Some would argue there are way too many special or limited edition Speedmaster models with Omega cashing in on their NASA ties. Well of course this is the case, Omega is going to milk the NASA connection. It has been argued that the Apollo 8 is the best of the special editions and while I am not a fan of skeletonised dial, this edition is interesting to me. I would suggest this is one of the better limited edition models, they are extremely difficult to get hold of, not too many Omega boutiques is offered this limited edition model, so they are snapped up pretty quick.

I hear people refer to a certain cohort of females as mail order brides. This is a disgusting term but so frequently used that has become part of the social language. In Australia, this normally refers to a woman of Asian heritage in a relationship with a local male, predominantly white, but not always. I wonder why people are so judgmental, it really has nothing to do with them.

This doesn’t even take the age differential into account although a fourty year age difference does raise questions whatever the cultural mix. These snide remarks don’t even take into account the actual citizenship of the female or even the country of birth. I have seen plenty of examples of Asian women born in Australia to immigrant parents with a white partner.

You only have to listen to their accent and terminology, a local dialect and language mannerisms should be a pretty strong indicator. Regardless, such an attitude is basically racist in nature. These females from a different ethnic background are a lower social order and inferior to them. Naturally, this form of advertising certainly doesn’t help the perception.

Their biases are without foundation as many of these females come from affluent and close nit families who save hard to offer their daughter to gain an Australian tertiary education. As an example many females from Asian nations come to Australia to undertake study at university or higher education institution.

During their studies or social outings they meet and are attracted to a local guy, they could even be introduced through friends, who really cares how they meet. The internet is now a socially accepted tool to meet people in the electronic age, not everyone goes to the dance anymore and nightclubs aren’t a great option. So who cares about how people meet? As long as they are happy.

For my retirement, I am planning to spend my time between Australia, Europe and Southeast Asia. Perth winters are cold and rainy, I was considering an endless summer retirement with part-time work in Perth and trips away.

I expect to have a very active retirement, the early years at least before injuries and age take their toll. Retirement planning isn’t purely financial, it involves lifestyle and scuba diving, sailing, mountain biking, hiking and trekking, kayaking and climbing are the pastimes I will be exploring. Sailing around the Mediterranean, the South China Sea, the Andaman Sea and through the Indonesian archipelago are the expectations I am seeking. Sure, these activities cost money but within reason, life experiences are worth every cent.

Reverse racism, there is no such thing, racism is racism and you encounter it almost everywhere you go around the world. When I am in a foreign country, there is usually a local name for a foreigner and there is normally a name for a white foreigner.

For me, it is not a big deal, you just learn to deal with it. You get targeted, no problems, that is all part of the travel experience, both positive and negative. What annoys me is when I hear the term reverse racism, it reeks of apologist bullshit as if only white people can be racist. Sure, I understand that European countries colonised the world and there were terrible conflicts and abuses. But also keep in mind that non-European countries were constantly trying to invade Europe with both victories and defeats over the period.

While the Europeans were generally victorious as they tended to be technically superior, they understood that if they were not offensive in foreign lands, being defensive in your own land was not a great strategy. Somehow I feel people are now becoming apologist for being victorious as we all know there is no race that is superior/inferior to another. Europe was invaded and plundered over the centuries, they got their act together and colonised the world to protect their empires – I really don\’t see that as racism.

Researching the TAG Heuer Kirium watch that was given to me led me to the conclusion that I had a later version Formula 1 series. This model was added to the Kirium range in 2002 and ran until the end of the series.

The Kirium was initially launched in 1997 and came to an end in 2008. Strangely, working in an engineering office, I am the only one at my work who doesn’t actually follow the Formula 1 championship.

The Kirium was designed by noted watch designer Jorg Hysek replacing the 4000 series of which I was never really a fan of either. However, the 4000 series had formed the mainstay of the mid-range watch segment for TAG Heuer since first released back in 1990. The digital/analogue version I own sports a much darker digital readout that the picture suggests. In fact, I struggle to read the the digital readout and have unsuccessfully attempted to turn it off, even before this I can’t say I’m a fan or the Kirium styling.

The Kirium graphics indicate the digital version can be controlled by the two press buttons that took me a while to work out due to a problem with the new movement. The initial Kirium models released utilised the six TAG Heuer features of 200 metres water resistance, a screw-in crown, the double safety clasp, a uni-directionel bezel, a sapphire crystal glass and luminous marking.

I had always thought the Mercedes hands formed one of the six features of a sports watch that TAG Heuer had pursued, I was incorrect on that count with the later Kirium models not featuring Mercedes hour hand. TAG Heuer is fairly famous for it’s high end marketing including the use of brand ambassadors; notwithstanding, McLaren Formula 1 driver David Couthard fits right into the Heuer motorsport heritage.

Needless to say, the TAG Heuer branding is also heavily criticised for expensive celebrity endorsements, so I could never work out why such a large watchmaking business needs to resort to such endorsements. I can’t say I really go for such marketing, that doesn’t change my perception of the brand. Yet, all the major brands have celebrity endorsement, so that argument doesn’t hold much weight either.

I walk around and I am surrounded by so many stimulants, my mind is busy and I have so many topics to write about. I take my tablet with me pretty much everywhere and I have a list of possible blog posts saved in Google Drive.

If I see something I believe is interesting, then I jot down the base title of the post and come back to it later. Based on current totals, I have more than three pages of topics listed to write about. Sometimes I am able to write a complete post, other times I can create a blueprint of what I want to portray in text. I really enjoy writing, to my mind, blogging is a pure example of creative writing.

Then based on current totals, I have more than 700 posts in various stages of completion sitting in drafts. The problem is I forget about them and they get pushed back and I then forget about them. I changed the way I loaded posts, I now schedule one year of posts into the interface. Sometimes, these posts are topical and their relevance is lost as time passes. Due to my employment status, I began to load up 12 weeks of posts in the scheduled folder and they are published on the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday cycle, so posts are published automatically when I am away.

I was beginning to hate Google docs on my tablet, I was unable to access and update documents as the program wasn’t updating. The ideas behind Google docs are very good, we are just seeing problems in execution and I hope they get it sorted soon enough because for the best part – I like it. I don’t have a mobile plan with data, so I would work offline and update when I joined a WiFi connection. The program doesn’t always open, especially if it hasn’t been opened and updated online for a while. So when I try to work offline, I become highly frustrated as I want to write and I can’t.

The huge advantage of Google docs is the ability to collaborate, as the document is stored online, multiple parties can open the document simultaneously and work live on the document. You have the ability to edit, track changes and share with selected users – a great application. I would love Google docs to create a fix where the program wouldn’t crash and the documents, spreadsheets and presentations are available offline without issues. Once they get that sorted, Google Docs is going to be a pretty decent platform.