I can’t say I have ever been a fan of Starbucks coffee, so when I saw the Nespresso style coffee were on sale in local Perth supermarkets, I decided to give it a go.

To be honest, I didn’t expect much as I haven’t been a huge fan of the whole Starbucks brand. I gave it a go and I liked it, I even dumped the Nespresso lungo that I normally drink. Their coffee and their outlets are well marketed, but their product lacks so I tend to believe this is where they spend their money. According to the notes, this medium roast is a level 8 with flavours of cocoa and nuts. I ditched my preconceptions of Starbucks and I was pleasantly surprised and this is now my regular lungo. They worked together with Nespresso, I’m guessing this collaboration improved their product and we now have a pretty decent coffee.

A timepiece that has taken my interest is the Hamilton Khaki Mechanical, a rugged field watch mounted on a canvas strap. Living in Perth, I can’t just wander down my local boutique, I searched online but a Melbourne dealer was also unable to supply.

I am specifically searching for both a field watch to add to my collection and a manual wind movement. I get the two features I am seeking from this one timepiece so I am pretty happy. The Khaki Mechanical very much reminds me of the Vietnam War where Hamilton supplied watches for the troops. Hamilton was an American manufacturer before becoming a member of the Swatch Group, one of the largest watch groups internationally. Hamilton has a distinguished reputation hailing back to 1892, they manufactured field watches for the US military from to MIL-W-3818B specification.

So I will continue to search, I don’t purchase second hand so I require an Australian based retailer selling new timepieces online. My best guess is either Sydney or Melbourne but I see they appear hard to source. I am guessing these are grey market dealers so I would prefer to deal directly with the distributor. That being said, whilst I prefer correct channels, I know this position of power has been abused in the past so I hope to enjoy the advantages of competitive forces.

I love reading news from a variety of sources and news from my region is of particular interest to me. I particularly enjoy reading Singapore’s The Straights Times newspaper as it has both a regional South East Asian focus and obviously a high Singaporean content online newsprint.

I find the articles well written and researched, then I read the comments section. What I know about Singaporeans is that they are well educated, actually extremely well educated and reasonably reserved. I have worked with Singaporeans and socialised with them both in Perth, Singapore and overseas. We all know how well Singapore as a nation works – it just works. I have found the people to be both polite, respectful and knowledgeable. Without doubt, Singapore is a safe city where crime is so low it is almost virtually non-existent considered to many international standards.

As a reasonably close city, Perth in terms of distance and as a transport hub, over a period of many years I have traveled to Singapore where I always have an enjoyable time. As an educated society, many Singaporeans live and study in Perth attending university with Murdoch and Curtin being the most popular universities. So when I read the comments sections of The Straights Times I am a little astonished as the vitriol can be pretty strong at times.

Any articles on mainland China are met with derision; the Singaporeans, well, the ones writing in the comments section anyway tend to really look down on the Chinese and this is reflected in the comments. Then you get the articles related to the Philippines, especially related to outspoken President Rodrigo Duterte and their army of paid trolls or those caught up in the nationalistic fervor. As a nation, Singapore has a lot to offer and Singaporeans have plenty to be proud of – I get that.

As a foreigner I could understand the locals would have issues with me commenting on their newspaper – fair enough. I don’t mind being called an ang mo, names don’t upset me although I always believe attack the argument and not the person. What I am asking myself now is this mainstream Singaporeans putting up these arguments. Regardless, this ang mo is laughing his head off.

Or does this come from the city state’s diverse imported workforce that are not as possibly as educated as the mainstream Singaporean. So is the typical online punter more outspoken behind a keyboard or do they really feel inferior? I can’t see why, what’s not to like about Singapore or Singaporeans?

A luxury watch I see at boutiques is Chopard, this warranted further investigation as I really didn’t know much about the brand and wanted to know more. It took me ages to wander into one of their boutiques – I’m glad I did.

These are high end timepieces with luxury price tags, but a little reconnaissance never hurt. I walked out of the boutique in Makati with their catalogue that not only lists models but the history of the brand as well. Whilst these are well finished products, I have to ask if the style is for me? They have motoring timepieces such as the Milne Miglia, that is an especially attractive piece named after the road race.

Some of their dress watches are a little flashy for me, the style just doesn’t suit me but I always ask if the style issue is me. I am a member of a number of Facebook watch forums and silently question some of the styles people choose. This I believe is a personal issue/problem and always question if I am missing something. I guess I am nouveau rich without actually being that rich, I believe less is more and certainly don’t like garish and overstated tastes. That being said, Chopard is a serious manufacturer of high-end timepieces and well worth considering.

As I was copping some grief from the Director of HR about my blog and the business and leadership component of what I write about. I understand his perspective, I was undertaking a business course and was writing about business based issues related to my workplace and he was concerned about negative exposure.

He made a comment about some of my trips as I sometimes write about those, I try to write about a wide variety of subjects. Most of my trips I wrote about on my blog were the most recent trips and Mark got me thinking, why don’t I write more about past trips? My memory is still good, I admit, I don’t remember every day of a trip as those trips went for three to six months at a time. Back then, a two week trip was just a short break from work before getting back into it.

A three to six month trip meant resigning from my job, paying my bills in advance so it wouldn’t leave me without funds on the trip. Upon returning, this involved paying any outstanding bills and then saving for the next trip. I owned property and had a household to run and pay for; electricity, water and telecommunications tend to reduce during that period but there are still base charges. Local government rates, insurance and other outgoings were fixed so they never reduced despite the property being empty.

I would work when I was away, but that would generally cover the cost of travel, that wouldn’t pay bills at home or generate savings let alone add to my superannuation. Working also meant filling your day in, immersing yourself in the local culture and giving yourself some purpose. As I get closer to retirement, I will do exactly the same again.

I read a comment on a newspaper article in regards to online learning, students are complaining about online learning during the pandemic. Oh, come on – really. Then there was a father complaining that his daughters were teaching themselves – has everyone lost the plot? 

So I decided to comment, he clearly has no concept of training design, delivery and assessment. They are not teaching themselves unless they write the curriculum, reference materials and academic readings. They are following a program developed on a learning management system such as Blackboard or Moodle constructed by instructional designers and subject matter experts.

Ok, so what does that mean? The young [just out off high school] students are not self motivated, they want their education served on a platter. Adult students hold down full-time jobs whilst upgrading their education. These full-time employees/part-time students are supporters of online education – they require it. They have no need for the university experience of drinking, parties and socialising. They get home, get dinner and get studying – the weekend is where they get the bulk of their work done. Campus socialising is out, this is their big chance to get ahead – no hangovers wanted.

A student has a chapter of a reference book to read, this is supplemented by articles and possibly a second reference book chapter. They need to write tutorial responses, they are referenced and to a strict word count. Based on my experiences, we were also required to interact and this demanded we write two referenced responses to a peer post; naturally, that also requires a word count that is generally half of the original post.

Then there is an assignment to write, that is the real time consuming endeavour and some units require an end of term exam, others multiple assessments. There are online quizzes and collaboration with other students. Naturally, as mature age students, we are motivated as we are already working and want to improve our chances of promotion or recruitment. This is why we are undertaking tertiary education, we are self-motivated and we want to succeed.

I became acquainted with Grant Burge through their Benchmark Shiraz, I started drinking on Friday nights when I was out in Manila. The prices were pretty steep; however, when I frequented certain high range restaurants – Benchmark shiraz was my first choice. So I saw their tawny on the shelf, it was worth a look so I handed over my Visa card hoping to not be disappointed. How it worked out – I was disappointed. It is a Barossa Valley wine, normally a favourite area for me so that adds to my disappointment.

I looked up the website, this tawny is a blend of grenache and mataro with some shiraz. Matured in older bariques and hogsheads, I really don’t think the old wood and six years imparted much wood flavours. Whilst the use of the solero process is well represented, the average age of the fortified wine I normally drink is generally much older, it shows.

Will extra age improve this tawny? I really don’t think so, the style is just too light. This tawny lacks the legs, I really don’t like the style. I think we are seeing too much grenache and not enough shiraz. Mataro is sometimes known as mourvèdre as is a major variety in the Rhône region of France but I really think this tawny falls short.

I wanted to get back on my mountain bike, I missed biking through the bush but there was one little issue, my broken arm had not yet healed.

I can’t admit to being a huge gym attendee but I felt my chest getting soft, my right shoulder had lost all muscle mass and my biceps felt weak. My upper back hadn’t been worked for weeks and weeks, I feel terrible. So I decided to get fit by cycling but where I was living and working, riding on smooth roads offered limited opportunities. Since this was a mountain bike, my best option was to start riding bust tracks again.

However, I could not fall off, not even at slow speed. I can honestly say I cannot recall being so nervous during an activity. Every time the rear wheel slipped or skidded, a rock kicked out, a pedal strike occurred or the front wheel hit a ditch my heart rate soared. Needless to say, I rode conservatively taking every precaution and over analysing every possible risk that would make a safety representative proud. This was a Sunday morning and under no circumstances did I want to re-fracture my arm before my Wednesday flight.

In my view, Bob Hawke was one of the better Prime Ministers Australia has produced. Hawke, better known as Hawkie had levels of personal popularity around 75% in 1984, still pretty much unheard of since.

Hawke came across at a bit of a larrikin, he was really an academic though attending the University of Western Australia (UWA) before heading to Oxford University in the United Kingdom as a Rhodes Scholar. Hawke was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from UWA and then Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford. Apparently, he found he was pretty much covering the same material so switched to a Bachelor of Letters course.

Hawke presented his thesis on wage fixing in Australia, he later used that experience to formulate the Accord between unions and the government to fix wages and prices. Possibly one of his greatest achievements was downing a yard glass of beer in 11 seconds to claim the world record. Hawke claims this achievement is possibly the most important act that contributed to his politician success. During his years at the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) Hawke was a divisive leader, once he became Prime Minister he changed his style and morphed into a great collaborative leader.

Hawke became a master of consensus bringing individuals into the conversation, he listened to people and sought their counsel. Hawke had charisma, he also had a high level of arrogance believing he was the only one who could deliver electoral success. Hawke was rolled by Treasurer Paul Keating on his second attempt during December 1991 and Hawke’s nine years as Prime Minister with Australia in the deepest recession it had ever faced. I believe much of this falls on Paul Keating, he was Treasurer and he pursued the interest rate rises.

Hawke came to power in 1983 during the 1982/83 recession that coincided with a severe drought; ironically, the rains came shortly after Hawke came to power. Sure, there is some luck involved, Malcolm Fraser had a good run and should have been more reformist after Whitlam. The Hawke government introduced financial reforms from floating the dollar, dismantling the tariff system, privatising state sector industries, ending subdisation of loss-making industries and deregulation of the financial system. I think the Hawke government was a pretty decent government and is viewed in a positive light by most Australians.

When I take a break in Singapore, I used to always stay at the hostels on Bencoolen Street. Whilst I have graduated from hostels to 3-star hotels for short breaks, I now stay just down the road at Little India. The area is vibrant, there are people milling and wandering around and the food is excellent. Not only is the Indian cuisine undoubtedly of high quality, the food is outrageously great value. I love sitting in a small local roadside restaurant where I am the only non-Indian in the establishment.

I am not treated as some kind of outsider or to be taken advantage, at times I have been given the bill and it is too cheap, I point out that I also drank 2 cans of Coca-Cola and need to be added to the bill. The cashier nods knowingly and informs me that the drinks have been added to the bill – amazing. In these small places, I was somewhat concerned with the open bill as I didn’t really know if I was being overcharged or going to get stood over for an outrageous bill, no need to fear here – these guys are honest.