TG’s WEBlog (Known
as a BLOG or Blogging)
Wanna discuss the
WEBlog content? Email TGtips@topica.com
or link to TGtips Discussion Place
for an open discussion group.
January
Blogs: Actions Speak
Louder than Words, Wordy Bullshit, Branding, Links Today, TV Heaven, Enemies
Bring Gifts, Debate on Dave Weinberger’s New Book, Change Now, Rant, What I did
on my Holidays, Fame and Immortality (Me and Bill Gates),e-business failures,
Parallels with my Father, Micropayments-The Future of the Internet, My First
Day at School, Football Memories and a Chance in Life, Rivers Link People,
Links, Design and Creativity, The Other Faces, 7UP, What is Voice?-Vision and
Action, Writing in Progress, Latest Virus Alerts, When is a Weblog a Weblog,
Hello 2002, Happy New Year, 2002 New Year’s Resolutions.
February
Blogs: Spike Milligan Dies, Camp It Up!, Cluetrain Savaged
(and the Nevilles), Goods Luck Elliot!, Monkey Brains, Busy and Thanks,
MindMaps and Walter Winterbottom, Radio 8 Blog and Micropayments, Morning
Pages, Women!, Jackson Browne Lyrics – Lives in the Balance, Let
the Consumer and Employee Revolution Begin, Life and Death, Corporate Rant,
Wilful Georgia!, Celebrity Blogs, United Internet, Friends Reunited at Work,
Immunisation?, Good Business Leadership, No Logo, Definitely No Logo, Missing
in Action, Paolo Di Canio.
March Blogs: Words Fail Me,
Losing My Religion, Bush Fire?, Fucking Telstra, Redflagsweekly, The Best Companies
to Work For?, Good to Be Back, Write On – Cling Sheets, Georgia, Redundancy, Am
I a Loser?, Google Image Searches, Sporting DNA, Corporate DNA, My World has
Changed, Internet Laugh, No Logo, Political
Compass, Fark, Sex Sells, Tourette
Syndrome Barbie, Trailer Park (Trash?), Gauss Rifle, Bruce Sterling, Deep Links
and Google Scientology, Jimmy Hill I love you
because…,
April Blogs : Doctors-My Arse,
My Website Stats, FriendsReunited and Demography of Networks, Other People,
Today, Missing Days, Nothing Today, Aussie Humour, Come on England, Ethics,
Quality of Life, United Reject, I’m Tired, Israel, Vaccines, Computer
Addiction, Self Adjusting Networks, Website Redesign, My Website is Back,
Apologies for Telstra, Andrew Sullivan, Zipf’s Law, Fucking Telstra yet again,
Still a Snowboard Addict, and Logos, Redflagsweekly Again and The Queen Mum’s
Funeral, Game Addiction, Gravity and Science, Maglev and Political Power, Fark
Links, Lost Keys and High Hopes, Scientific Research Stinks, Big Companies,
Dangers of DHMO.
May Blogs: Georgia not sleeping, Georgia
not well, Sydney, QANTAS, Dave Portnoy – Friendsreunited, PC Cleanup, Cooking
Food is Killing Us, Printers and Designers, Telstra Update, Stupid White Men,
Fixit and Hoaxes, Website Nightmare, Blogging Time, ICL and British Invention,
Wedding Photos, Stressful Day, Good to be
Back, Crawling Daughter, Blue Peter, Anti-Gravity,
Mothers Day, Sven’s England Team, Man Yoo Mourning, Nothing and Tom Peters!,
Telstra yet Again and Broadband, Crawling!, Perth, Barbara Castle and Sliding
Doors, Enzymes.
June Blogs: Brazil, Tim Henman’s Serve,
David O’Leary sacking, Wheels come off WorldCom, Brazil beat Turkey, A Deeply
Frustrating Day, Sick, England Keep Falling Over, Oh No, England 1 Brazil 2,
America and Anthrax, Korea!, More USA and Football, Brazil here we come!, 3-0
to The Inger-land, England v Denmark, Dell, C’mon Inger-land, And just to prove
what crap Americans write, Isolation of the USA, Limitations of the Internet,
England, More Canberra Rex, Defer to your experts on the frontline, IBM PC
Visionary, Canberra Rex Hotel, Canberra, More Dyslexia, Dyslexia.
July Blogs: Laptop Troubles, Sense of
Direction, Rio, Miracles of the Mind, Sick and Tired, Lack of Fame – Janis Ian,
Fame, I want to live forever! Rod Steiger, Brisbane, Born in the USA.
August Blogs: Small Pieces Loosely
Joined, Wil Wheaton inspires me to Think
Big, Medina Apartments – Don’t Go There, Thank You QANTAS (Eventually), Strike,
Gold Coast Dreamin, Adversity, Queensland Taxi Driver, Chilean Taxi Driver,
Beckham’s Wiener, Founding Friends Reunited and Mark Purdey is a genius, I’m
Back.
September Blogs: Good Weather and Fast Company, Dad, 25 Years Ago, Aussie Rule
Grand Final, Banks and Mobile Phones (yet again), Just Back with
Big Ideas, Nowt as queer as folk (on the
Internet), Roll on Wi-Fi, A Little Ray of Sunshine, Birthdays,
Lazy Sunday Afternoon, Calm Day Dreaming, Frustrating
Day, Stuck, Raging Anger with Australian
Telcos, A Day of Contemplation, Death and Email, Leeds v
Man United, Taxi Drivers – Nepalese, Chinese, Tanzanian, One Year On, Damn Modem
Link, Double Bay, Corporate
Rant, Greece, Kurds, Literal
Answers to Rhetorical Questions, Networking
Challenge, Ecademy, Wil Wheaton and the Power of The
Internet, If you pray hard enough!, Size Is Not a Strategy, Fathers Day, Roy Keane.
Monday 30th September 2002
It’s not until I’m in really good weather that I realise what a
difference it makes to my outlook.
In Cairns today, it’s 28°C warm, breezy but not so humid.
And life is good.
It tells me, I need a holiday and a break.
Annie needs a break as well.
And Georgia just enjoys any situation!
There’s some great articles in Fast
Company magazine Oct 2002.
A scathing article on modern CEOs by John Ellis,
“today’s CEOs are failing miserably.
By turns disagreeable, petulant, and self-pitying, they have as a group
failed their employees, their investors, and their customers.
They border on the pathetic……Here’s what they don’t do.
They don’t blame underlings.
They don’t blame their
predecessor.
They don’t complain about press coverage.
They don’t whine about Wall
Street.
They don’t mindlessly cut research and development.
They don’t fire 4,000 people in the hope that that will bump up their
company’s stock for the weekend.
They don’t obfuscate, dissemble or lie.
They don’t hide behind a retinue of handlers and lawyers and public
relations fools.”
An article on Umberto Eco’s suggestion that “Fakes.
Lying about the future produces history.”
A scathing article on companies built to flip.
“If a company focuses on making creative contributions that fall in
the middle of three intersecting circles,
What it is passionate about
What it can be the best in the world at
What drives a sustained profitable economic engine
-then growth will likely follow…..
…mediocre companies tend to focus on growth for growth’s sake, whereas
truly great companies focus on making creative, profitable contributions that
are squarely focused on those three circles.”
All good stuff.
Sunday 29th September 2002
This morning my heart was heavy.
I was flying to Cairns this morning and leaving my wife, Annie, and
daughter Georgia at home for the week.
But mainly because today is the 25th anniversary of my Dad
dying.
Thursday 29th September 1977.
I can’t believe it’s 25 years and I remember it like it was yesterday.
I don’t know what’s appropriate to write in a weblog and I’ve thought
about this for a while, and I wonder who’s going to read it anyway.
But I want to tell the story from 25 years ago.
I’m sitting in a Cairns Hotel room in Queensland on my own.
We’d just come home from school. I
was 16, my sister 14.
Switched the TV on and sat down to watch.
Dad was upstairs, he’d come out of hospital having had a serious road
accident a few months before and been in hospital for 3 months!
He’s broken his neck and been flat on his back in traction for 3 months.
I can’t imagine the pain he must have been in because on top of that he’d
always had a form or arthritis, Ankylosing Spondylitis.
We’d not seen him much in hospital because he’d been in such a bad way to
start with, his car had hit a motorway bridge support.
He recovered and was wearing a neck brace to support him in his recovery.
No sooner had Dad come out of hospital than Mum went into hospital to
also have a serious operation.
She’d been out a week.
So Dad was upstairs and Mum out shopping.
Mum came home and asked us if we’d said hello to Dad, typical teenagers
hadn’t even gone upstairs to say hello.
Mum went upstairs, and a minute later called my name out.
“Anthony”
I’ll never forget the chill in her voice.
I thought she’d burst her stitches.
She called for me to come upstairs and leave my sister downstairs.
I ran upstairs, and into their bedroom.
Mum was in the bathroom cradling my Dad.
She’d found him in the bath unconscious.
He was blue/grey and cold to the touch, I thought about mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation, and attempted to put my hand in his mouth but somehow I could
hardly get my hand in.
Instead, Mum held him in the bath and I called the doctor and the
ambulance and Mum’s friend Pam.
They all dashed round as soon as they could.
As I sat there dialling the number I asked Mum if she’d found him under
the water, she thinks she did.
I kept hoping and praying, you never give up hope and you never believe
someone has died.
So I started to calculate from my Guinness Book of Records knowledge how
long someone had survived whilst under water, and believe it or not I think
it’s 3 hours unconscious, so I hoped and prayed. I don’t know what happened in those few
minutes between phoning and the doctor and ambulance and Pam arriving.
I think I went downstairs to be with my sister, and look out for the
ambulance and doctor.
I can’t believe how calm I was in the face of tragedy.
The ambulancemen and then the doctor went upstairs and I think Mum came
down to tell us that Dad had died.
She told us he’d had a heart attack, and that was what we believed for a
few years but the reality was that he’d had a heart attack in the bath, passed
out and drowned, though the heart attack alone would probably have killed him.
I was just stunned, not crying, just stunned and silent and trying to be
logical. Thoughts not feelings.
Pam, Mum’s friend arrived and I remember dashing outside and running into
her arms to tell her.
Dad was 56 when he died, young in some ways, but he’d led a very full
life and fitted more into his life than most of us in three score years and
ten.
He’d flown in bombers in the war, he’d bailed out over Germany when his
plane started to falter, he’d been captured after 24 hours of being stuck in a
bog!
He was a prisoner of war for 4 years, in Stalagluft 3 where the Great
Escape happened.
He’d come back after the war, set up businesses, raced cars, flew planes,
led the bachelor life and then got married.
His wife died 3 weeks later! He
met my Mum several years later.
I miss him. There’s so many things
I want to ask him and seek his advice on, and tell him about my life since.
In reality had he lived we probably wouldn’t have talked much, he was a
man of few words, but well meaning.
Short in height but big and tall in stature. He had an air about him that only those who
knew him could really describe, some feared his silence.
He wanted and strived for the best for us.
In the end it all caught up with him.
The Ankylosing Spondylitis, business worries, depression, the car crash,
being in traction for 3 months on his back, fading mind.
The doctors always ask me if there’s a history of heart problem in the
family. Well yes my Dad had a heart
attack, but you try and pick from all those circumstances if it was a heart
problem. I guess it was his time.
I’ve always been at peace with Dad and what happened from that day. I’d done my best with him, there’s nothing I
regret not having said or done. I wish I
could talk to him for just 10 minutes longer though. Show him Georgia my daughter and Annie my
wife. To think there’s a quarter of my
Dad in gorgeous Georgia who’s just 1 year old.
“I wasn't there that morning
When my Father passed away
I didn't get to tell him
All the things I had to say
I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I'm sure I heard his echo
In my baby's new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years
Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It's too late when we die
To admit we don't see eye to eye” The
Living Years – Mike and The Mechanics
And my oh my how things have changed in those 25 years.
How
on earth did I end up in a hotel room in Cairns, Northern Queensland, on a
Sunday evening?
Well
Dad, do you want to start here and work backwards or shall we start from 25
years ago!
Saturday 28th
September 2002
Just watched the Aussie rules Grand Final, Brisbane Lions v Collingwood.
Very close, Brisbane won.
The enthusiasm for the game reminds me of how the enthusiasm for
The F.A. Cup final used to be.
The one addition is that they use the day to celebrate Aussie
Rules and the players from all clubs, not just the finalists.
It’s a very hard game and when you get hit you stay hit, no
faking, though that is just starting to creep into the game.
But there’s very little diving of the sort you see in Football
(Soccer).
Not much else to report, except my bank finally granted me a
charge card which lets me spend money in my business account!
That I stress is money I have!
So far I’ve used my UK credit card and squeezed my funds there, followed
by my personal joint account which keeps running out of money because of my
business expenses, and finally now, I can run my business properly with a
charge card.
Why do banks make it so difficult to run your business when you
don’t want their money and you have lots of cash?
And then of course there’s the on-going Ericsson T28 mobile. I picked it up yesterday on the way back from
Melbourne airport.
Consequently I didn’t pick up my handsfree from home, but I went
to the shop where they assured me all the repairs had been done.
Guess what? The handset speaker
doesn’t work well, I can’t be heard, and the handsfree doesn’t work at all.
Either the shop didn’t listen to me, or the repairers haven’t
repaired it, or as a very long shot my handsfree isn’t working.
I’m fuming. On a good day
when I’m delivering training, I worked out my hourly rate, and pissing around
with banks and mobile handset repairs cost me considerable time and hence
money. I haven’t got the time to spend
arguing with them. I want it sorted now.
It’s so damn frustrating.
There’s not much to differentiate banks and mobile shops in fact
I’m not sure there’s any difference, just the dressing, so at what point to I
leave these idiots.
This one mobile shop, has sold me a handset I hate, by telling me
that the alternatives were more unreliable.
They then lied when they said they’d never had a problem with the
Ericsson T28, I’m on my third which has just been in for repair, and another
customer in the shop a year ago brought his handset in at the same time as me,
totalling 3 handset total failures in 2 weeks.
They then tell me last week that a Lithium battery is better than
a Nickel Metal battery and they save me one at their other shop, except when I
get there they’ve saved me a Nickel Metal battery. The woman in the shop then tells me that the
Nickel Metal battery is more reliable which contradicts the guy in the other
shop!
Finally they’ve screwed up the repair. All this costs me time and I’m sick of it.
And finally, has anyone ever had a reply from a website?
Whenever I’ve left an email on either corporate website or a
personal website, I don’t think I’ve ever received a reply!
Friday 27th
September 2002
Just got back from Sydney, so I’m catching up on everything and
not much time to write.
I only just found out the Man
United beat Bayer Leverkusen
And that was on Tuesday!
I’ll write more tomorrow when I’ve caught up on things.
Lord knows if I’m going to write the other bits today at 23-21 at
night!
I got distracted by chat conversation. Good one though. A friend has a brilliant business idea and he
was asking me about it.
Also told him about one of mine from over a year ago.
I must put these ideas into action no matter how big they are.
Thursday 26th September 2002
The more I deal
with people on the Internet, email, email groups, chat, websites, the more I
realise how different they are to me, to the point of intolerance!
Firstly, I just
can’t believe that people don’t respond to an email from someone they know.
I can’t believe
they delete it knowing that someone they know is asking them something.
Secondly, I can’t
believe the drivel that people will write to an email group with, either
comments that aren’t funny at all, or getting on their high horse about things
I see as irrelevant or just not worth worrying about. They argue on points of principal instead of
getting their finger out and getting on with it.
And thirdly, chat
is just as bad if not worse. People
using chat seem to have had their brains removed, that or they can’t type fast
to don’t say much.
One thing I take
for granted is that I can type well enough and fast enough. Hard grind, I taught myself to touch type
using Mavis Beacon about 10 years ago.
I’m not that fast
or accurate, but good enough.
I take this for
granted and forget that others haven’t bitten the bullet for 2 weeks and learnt
to type.
It would take
them a long time to write a medium/long email, so they don’t bother at all.
I wonder how many
people are like that.
Most people I
know have used I.T for a long time, very few people have secretaries and P.A.s
anymore, so how many people can’t type.
Maybe people have
better things to do than write emails to me.
Like what?
I’m sitting in
front of the telly, away in Sydney, typing this on a laptop.
Is that so
advanced?
Am I not making
best use of my time?
What is everyone
else doing right now that I’m clearly missing out on?
I’m determined
this year to have something to show for myself, some content.
And hey presto if
I keep on at the present rate, I’ll have 20 items per month, 4 subjects
(Weblog, Selling, Motivation, Childhood memories), 12 months, that’s 20x4x12,
960 items written by the end of the year.
What are the rest
of you doing that I’m not doing?
I just can’t work
it out.
Wednesday 25th September 2002
I can’t wait for the advent of Wi-Fi (wireless broadband) wherever I go.
I don’t have Wi-Fi myself yet but I sometimes wish I did.
Back in Sydney the place I’m staying seems to have such antiquated phone
wiring, that the modem in laptop doesn’t like the signal so it’s setting the
transmission very very slow, so I can’t view any websites, and each email is
taking more than a minute to download, and I reckon I have 50 to download, so
I’m out of circulation for another day or two.
Strangely, I can upload my WebPages just about, so what the hell is going
on.
Having broadband at home I’m spoilt and hate using modem speed now.
Roll on Wi-Fi.
The issue is, is it going to be free by people clubbing together and
sharing bandwidth or are the big boys going to move in charge a fortune and
restrict people offering it for free?
I must find out how much free Wi-Fi is here in Australia.
Tuesday 24th September 2002
“A little ray of sunshine has come into our lives.”
A year ago Georgia came into my life.
It’s her first birthday today, and I’ve been so excited by it. More than her!
A whole year, I still can’t believe I have a daughter. I look at her every day, the miracle of life.
She has half my genes and quarter of my mum and dad’s genes. That’s weird.
I remember her birth like it was yesterday. Annie went into the labour the previous day.
We went to the hospital, stayed overnight but were sent home.
Annie was in agony, and eventually to kill a bit of time, I suggested we
go back to the hospital, and as we were about to go, Annie’s waters broke.
Got to the hospital, and 1 hour later Georgia whooshed out.
Up until then I was convinced we were having a boy, code named ACE.
“Tony, what is it?” the midwives asked me.
“I think it’s a girl!” I replied,
not being quite sure with so much going on.
I cut the umbilical cord, but I didn’t want to cut too close to the baby
so I reckon it’s my fault she had a sticky outy belly button!
And it’s been pure joy ever since.
Fatherhood. I love it.
Happy Birthday Georgia.
Taken lots of photos today, and some video as well.
Can’t wait to put the photos up on my website when I get back.
Monday 23rd September 2002
It’s
Georgia’s first birthday tomorrow, and I realise the reason that birthdays are so
special is because we as parents set it off because we’re excited.
I mean, what
does a 1 year old understand about a first birthday?
Would she
notice if we didn’t celebrate her birthday tomorrow?
Does she want
a present?
To a one year
old it’s just another exciting day.
It’s us as
parents who set this birthday excitement off.
We light the
blue touchpaper at one and watch it go off every other year.
So damn
exciting and we haven’t even bought her a card and present yet!!
I hope she doesn’t notice!!
Sunday 22nd September 2002
Travelling to Sydney today. Not
the first time.
So not much to report.
Training tomorrow which will provoke some ideas and thoughts.
I’m aiming to pep it up tomorrow and start to introduce some new ideas
and style.
Let’s see how it goes!
Saturday 21st September 2002
Not much
happening today.
Looks like my
trip to the States on business is on for October, but you never know.
I’ve sent loads
of emails out over the last few days and not many back. I just don’t get it what people do with their
emails.
I’ve just gone
through all of mine today and reduced my inbox to 4 emails, so any email that
needed a reply has been replied to.
No email never
gets a reply.
Maybe I get fewer
emails than other people.
I must say, when
I’m on my laptop modem it’s more difficult and less of an incentive to stay in
touch by email, with broadband it’s very easy.
I’m wondering
what my Weblog is all about.
I started it as daily
links of what I’ve been surfing, but as I’m limited on time and cutting down on
the web surfing, I don’t have as many links to put in.
I go, BBC,
Football365, Dilbert, Andrew Sullivan, and then run out of steam and time.
I’m not reading
people’s Weblogs so much so I don’t have as many links to put in.
Are people
interested in what I did today? Probably
not!!
Nevertheless it
helps get my thoughts down to write a bit on the projects I’m currently working
on.
And Holy Shit, I
just went off for a quick surf and found this!!
Is it true? I can’t believe it. Fox cable channel plans 'American Idol'-style show to pick
president
So what am I working on?
That’s a bit coded isn’t it, but
watch this space.
It’s all coming together, and I’ve
been thinking about this for 18 months and suddenly it’s all happening.
I remember seeing an astrologer a few years ago, not usually my kind of
thing, but she asked me what my spiel was going to be when I took to the world
stage!
And recently at a Professional Speakers meeting, this was a common
theme, What’s your spiel? What’s your brand? What’s going to make you
memorable?
And I think I’ve cracked it!
Friday 20th September 2002
Bloody Hell!
What a
frustrating day, but at least the highlight of the day was fixing my SEBO
Vacuum Cleaner which my wife hates and keeps sabotaging!!
Mobile phones,
Americans, Queuing, more mobile phones.
I think you get
the drift.
Thursday 19th September 2002
I just can’t get
going today.
Funnily enough I
wrote to a friend last night who said he couldn’t get going, and wrote I back
saying I’ll bet it’s my turn tomorrow.
And it is.
I have 2 clear days
to do some work, make some calls, and I’ve frittered this morning away.
I have to send
some invoices out.
I have to chase
some invoices.
I have to book
some accommodation, send some emails, and make some networking/prospecting
calls, just like I preach.
Instead, I’m
eating and surfing and fiddling.
Waiting to hear
back on our mobile handsets. Fortunately
I realised we have extended warranty, but I’d dearly love to get rid of my
Ericsson T28.
No links of
interest.
Four great
meetings yesterday, but I have to keep the momentum going today and follow
through on them and create some more.
In reality, all I
want to do is take some time out and read Stephen Covey’s First Things First, and do some Non-Urgent Important
things.
Kind of ironic
given that the book is about use of time!
So how do I get
out of this mood?
Do I go along
with it?
Or do I fight it?
Or do I take a
different path, cycle when it’s not windy and windsurf when it is.
I guess that’s
why I’m writing this, because when I feel this way I really enjoy writing this
Weblog and my other pieces, so let’s do the writing first today!
Problem Solved!
Wednesday 18th September 2002
Yesterday my
mobile handset packed in.
Today my wife’s
handset packed in.
We are 14 months
into an 18 and 24 month network agreement with Telstra (Part privatised Aussie
Telco)
The handsets are
2 months over their standard 12 month warranty.
Are you with me
so far?
The mobile Telcos
Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Orange, have all stopped subsidising handsets, so
you pay almost full whack to buy a handset.
If we don’t have
this resolved we have a $1000+ headache to buy 2 new handsets in the middle of
an agreement.
I am Raging with
Anger.
They’ve got us
and there’s no escape because there’s no competition. They’ve carved the market up.
My handset is an
Ericsson T28. I had two new handsets
which went dead on me within 48 hours of use and within the first 2 weeks of
the start of the agreement.
Change
handsets. Well sir, if it breaks down
again you can cancel the agreement! But
is that cancellation within the warranty period of 12 months or the network agreement
of 24 months, now that the third breakdown is after 14 months? So if I get another T28 it will be my fourth
handset within 14 months.
I hate my
Ericsson T28. It’s fiddly, you can’t
operate it with one hand, you have to open the flip to answer the phone and
switch it off, and the operation of it is counter intuitive at times.
Why did I get
it? I use a hands free all the time, and
I was sick of the Nokia 5110 needing headset replacements every 2-3
months. Love the 6250 but that had the
same connector. The one I wanted with a
jackplug connection I was told had problems with the screen, and so it didn’t
leave much choice. I have learnt my
lesson. Any fliplid phone needs and
extended warranty, and I don’t think I’ll go near Ericsson again, though won’t
Sony make them better?
How dare Telcos
sell handsets whose quality don’t last the length of the agreement. And how dare the franchisee sell me a handset
that they knew was shit. When I first
took the dead handset back they told me they’d never seen one before, when I
took the second one back the following week they said the same thing, except
there was another guy in the shop with the same problem! And the guy in the shop today said the T28s
are known for being bad, but they never told me that 14 months ago. Lying bastards.
I reckon with
this being the third handset to go wrong, the shop and Telstra will replace it,
and I hope and pray the Nokia 6250 just has a faulty battery.
Monday 16th September 2002
A day of contemplation
and renewal.
Time with Annie
and Georgia.
Miserable weather
after a few gorgeous days.
Friends and
contacts who don’t stay in touch.
I realise it’s up
to me to put out and not expect anything back.
It’s Yom Kippur today,
the Jewish Day of Atonement, a time to think, reflect back over the year and
look forward.
A time for
forgiveness.
A fasting day.
Amazing things
seem to happen in the twilight hours as the fast is coming to an end.
The lack of food
and water seems to take my thought to a different plain, and so as I type this
it’s happening.
I’m thinking of
the people I know, and how I can do better with them, regardless of how they
are to me.
Thinking of my
Mum and Sister in Israel.
Before moving to
Australia last year, I visited the cemetery every year with my friend Tony on
Yom Kippur.
It’s 25 years
this month that my Dad died. I’m
thinking of him.
And The World?
Where do you start?
Why does power
corrupt?
It’s not religion
but what people do in the name of religion.
Most of us are
peaceful people, we want peaceful lives.
I know that deep
down people act out of fear, they do what is best to protect themselves and
others from their own fears.
I remember
realising a few years ago that the Nazis acted out of fear, misguided though it
was.
And strangely I
realised that if I had the chance to crash planes into Nazis buildings I may
have done it with my perception.
And had The Nazis
conquered the world, how would they have reported the events of Sept 11th
2001.
With righteousness
as if the perpetrators were wrong. I get
it, I totally get.
But please
stop. Stop killing each other and stop
robbing each other. There’s enough for
all.
Some may have
more than others but let’s help those who don’t have, and help them to help
themselves.
I’m struck by the
Tanzanian taxi driver this week explaining to me why some countries are stable.
Leadership!
And in the
twilight hours, I just found this,
So this year, I decided to omit the "Why?" to
my list of questions. Perhaps my place is not to require an answer that I can
appreciate. I'll leave that to Your Higher Judgment. Instead, I humbly
substitute the word, "When?" When a child asks his parent, "When?"
instead of, "Why?" he's stating his confidence...his belief
that the time will definitely come. The only real question is, "When?"
And so, as the New Year begins, I wonder:
Sunday 15th September 2002
A friend died
unexpectedly last year.
We were in
regular email contact, at least once a week.
And then of
course the emails came to an abrupt end.
I was left with
Marie’s last email in my inbox.
What do you do
with it? Delete it? Of course not, it sits
there in an Outlook folder.
And there’s a
part of me, that at the time she died, and even now believes that if I email
Marie, she’ll reply.
I really believe
this. My fingers hover over the keyboard
wanting to send her a reply to her last email.
I’m wondering if
anyone else had been in this situation, where an email sits there from someone
who’s died and you wonder if they’ll reply!
What it
questions, is the strangeness of the relationships we now build with people
over the Internet.
We send things out
into the Ether, and hope something comes back.
We don’t see the
person, we don’t hear them, we don’t read their handwriting, but we build
relationships.
Do we know where
they are, or who they are?
Some people I’ve
sent emails to are still taking longer than Marie to reply!
What do people do
with emails from me? Do they say,
"Ah Tony, Delete!"?
Do they keep it
and mean to reply? Do they file it in a
folder and forget about it?
What do people do
with my emails when they don’t reply?
Is there an auto
delete?!!!!
I guess part of
the grieving process when someone dies, is coming to terms with them not
replying to you, but I keep thinking I’ve found a loophole in this death thing
by replying to Marie’s last email!
Saturday 14th September 2002
Just watching the Leeds v Man Yoo game.
Very mixed by Man Utd.
Beckham is doing nothing but lose the ball. Good free kick saved off the line.
Van Nistelrooy just isn’t doing it, and Solskjaer doesn’t seem to play
well as a starting attacker, but when the alternative is Forlan, he might as
well start.
Man Utd should have had 2 penalties at least both committed by Woodgate,
who’s apparently having a good game (because the referee’s letting him).
Solskjaer held back, and Butt being body checked. Mind you Beckham should have at least been
booked for an elbow on Bowyer.
The better Sylvestre gets, the more I’m thinking of having him in my all
time Man United team and moving Irwin to right-back to replace Gary Neville.
And O’Shea is looking better and better.
Man United are hardly world beating with Phil Neville in midfield playing
alongside Nicky Butt.
What happened to Man United’s strength in depth? Only Keane and Scholes are out injured (as
well as Gary Neville and Wes Brown (and Veron), but they hardly make a
difference).
Man United look like Chelsea over the last few years. Good football but totally inconsistent, and
no strength in depth.
I keep saying it but Man United’s squad is worse than a few years ago, and
I wonder how Fergie has let it get that way.
Is it pressure from the board to keep the salaries lower?
I don’t get it. You put all your
money on one player, Rio Ferdinand, (when you have enough central defenders)
and you end up with a weaker squad.
I must say, Alan Smith looks good.
Mills and Harte at fullback also look the part. Viduka looks like Nick Faldo at his whinging
worst, Kewell had done nothing yet, but the Leeds team looks balanced, and it’s
thanks to David O’Leary and Terry Venables following on. I’m waiting for Venables to screw up, but
he’s not changed much, so Leeds are playing well.
Back to Man United. It’s just not
quite there. I guess it couldn’t go on
forever, but the whole thing of Ferguson retiring, and then not, Stam being
sold, along with other players, and only Van Nistelrooy, Forlan, Blanc, Veron
and Ferdinand coming in, creating a weaker squad, which doesn’t score as much
from all the players. Van Nistelrooy
held the team together last season which hid the deep flaws in the team. Get rid of Fergie only if you can find
better. I’m not sure there is right now, unless Martin O’Neil can do it.
Surprise Surprise, Leeds have just gone 1-0 up. Who was marking Kewell? Ok so Butt goes off injured, but that’s my
point, the United squad is weaker than in the last few years.
If Beckham is so good, let’s see him play well in central midfield.
Brilliant. They’ve pulled off Van
Nistelrooy, totally pissed him off, and brought on Forlan.
I really think this is David O’Leary’s team, with Venables’s only
signing, Barmby playing crap.
Shit, Man United have lost 1-0.
Not surprising, Man United are as inconsistent as they were last season.
Bringing in Ferdinand does not solve what is at the root of United’s
problems.
No-one is as good as Schmiecal, the United midfield has been the same for
several years and going backwards, and Veron hasn’t improved it.
Beckham and Giggs are good, but inconsistent.
You can’t just rely on Van Nistelrooy to score goals.
The squad is weaker than it was, and with Man United being a big team,
this is a travesty.
They don’t have to make big signings all the time, and in fact it’s 1 out
of 3 that Fergie’s got right so far. Van
Nistelrooy great, Veron not, and Ferdinand was too much money.
And Forlan?
I hated Fergie for selling McGrath and Whiteside, but it worked out well
in the end.
I hated Fergie for selling Stam, and it still hasn’t worked out yet.
Losing Stam and McClaren is the current route of all this.
Thursday 12th September 2002
I’ve had some great conversations with Taxi drivers over the last few
days.
It’s a real education and they’re all so educated.
Firstly, I found out a bit about Nepal, its politics and history, and what
90% of its citizens believe happened to its murdered king.
Chinese taxi driver from Shanghai.
Fascinating to hear about the politics and development of China.
And tonight, a Tanzanian taxi driver.
Why does Tanzania have relative peace whilst other countries in Africa
are in turmoil?
Leadership. Tanzania had had
stable and non-corrupt leadership for decades, according to my taxi driver.
I strongly recommend talking to Australian taxi drivers. You never know
what you may find out.
Wednesday 11th September 2002
One year ago, Georgia my daughter was due to be born.
She stayed in and didn’t come out for another 2 weeks.
Thanks goodness she wasn’t born a year ago to this day.
It was a sunny day in Melbourne a year ago.
We finally had all our furniture and personal possessions delivered this
day last year.
I went off for a meeting in the afternoon to discuss business at a café
overlooking the sea in Brighton, Melbourne.
I remember looking at the Melbourne skyline bathed in the sun.
And then I went home, and the world changed that evening.
In fact nothing changed for me that evening except my worst fears being
confirmed.
I’d often wondered for many years if the rest of the world, including the
USA, realised the seriousness and implications of the 1993 attack on the World
Trade Centre.
If one of the buildings had crashed down that day at least 50,000 people
would have been killed.
What was the mentality of people who didn’t care who or how many they
killed? Where did they go to?
And now my fear from then was being confirmed.
I was on the Internet that evening, when a friend in the UK sent a chat
message to say a plane had crashed into the World Trade Centre.
We switched the TV on and saw the helicopters circling what looked like a
light plane having crashed into the first building.
How could a light plane directly hit a building, unless it was travelling
too near to the building?
And then of course the horror began to dawn as the second plane crashed
into the second building.
I worked out pretty quickly what was going on. But remember nobody knew what was going on.
And then came the reports of other planes in the air being hijacked.
And only then did I know what it was like to live in a different era.
To permanently fear for your life.
To watch in horror as you knew something else was going to happen.
And then it did, as the countdown to the plane hitting The Pentagon
happened, and the fourth missing plane.
Where was that going to hit?
I remember that horrible sinking feeling in my stomach as I knew
something was going to happen.
Of course as the evening moved on we watched with horror as the events
unfolded.
I wouldn’t have expected the buildings to survive that impact, and I
didn’t expect the buildings to collapse.
And as they collapsed, and because I’d been thinking of this for so many
years, I fully expected 20,000+, maybe 50,000 or even 100,000 people to have
died.
I just can’t contemplate that number of people dying in one event.
I’ve almost switched off over the last year to the full horror of the
event.
And as the number of people who died in the four events of September 11th
2002 became lower, so I could grasp the situation.
Recently I was talking to a Chilean who had come close to death through
torture and a firing squad, at the hands of Pinochet.
His brother, sister in law and nephew died being tortured in prison.
The venom he still feels toward the Americans for sponsoring Pinochet is
as strong as ever.
I’ve seen recently at first hand the feelings provoked by American foreign
policy.
America is not blameless in all of this, But the innocent people who died
and families who are affected, are.
The thing is that many of these terrorists come from privileged
families. It’s not always them that are
directly affected by injustice.
And what do these terrorists want? If they were to win, how would the
world look like?
What is their plan for the world?
Who would they slaughter and who would the keep alive, and under what
type of regime.
I just can’t imagine.
Maybe I think differently to these people, I look forward to a
future. I dream.
I dream of peace.
But worse of all for me is my worst fears being confirmed last year.
So what are my new fears and can they be confirmed?
I really fear they can.
I predicted Anthrax. I’ve seen that
coming for a long time.
In fact it’s not as dangerous as I used to think, because of the
difficulty in dispersing it.
But what is possible?
What is probable?
What can my mind think up that could be achieved?
And here’s the crunch.
We expect our governments and police and armed forces to protect us.
We expect the CIA and FBI to know how to deal with this threat.
But ask yourself this.
If you had a brain the size of the universe would you join the police,
the CIA, the FBI?
They’re not the brightest people.
They often lack the latitude to think at the same level of those planning
the terrorism, let alone one step ahead.
Do you think it’s likely that the same events will happen on the same day
this year?
Hell No.
If terrorists can bide their time plotting and planning for 8 years from
1993, doing something very few people thought of, and something so simple, do
you think they can’t do that again?
I can’t see what the answer is other than eradicating these terrorists.
We can’t always tell who is a terrorist, but what’s the alternative.
If you took a different view and tried to understand and negotiate with
them, what is it they want, other than revenge?
You can’t really negotiate with revenge.
My view of the world changed that day.
I worry more when I fly.
I think twice about being in a tall building.
I worry about travelling to the USA.
Security has changed, but hasn’t improved enough.
And worse of all, what my mind imagines as possible, is possible, no
matter how bad.
If I had my way, I’d change the rules.
Not every person is a high-risk threat.
Isolate and watch the high-risk threats. Look for the patterns.
I’m a medium to high-risk threat, new to a country, on a temporary
resident visa.
There should be conditions of entry to Australia, whereby I can be
tracked. My whereabouts and bank details open to tracking.
I’m happy to let this happen if other high-risk threats also faced the
same treatment.
I’m grateful to be here and don’t feel it’s a threat to my liberty. I have nothing to hide.
What’s the alternative? Hope and
Pray it won’t happen again. Bomb some
innocent Afghans.
That’s not good enough
Tuesday 10th September 2002
For some strange reason my laptop modem connection is connecting like a
snail.
I’m guessing that the quality of the line is automatically setting the
connection speed so low, I can’t access any websites.
Apologies if you’ve emailed me and I haven’t responded yet. I can’t get into any website to read or reply
to any messages.
Technology, it’s so damn frustrating sometimes.
Monday 9th September 2002
It doesn’t get better than staying in Double Bay, Sydney, on business for
the next few days.
The harbour, the weather today, the shops.
Georgia was at her wriggling worst on the plane.
She’s been great the other times she’s travelled, but this time, nearly
one and a real handful.
Continuing the e-networking on www.Ecademy.com.
Contacting people who work for companies I’m doing work with.
Aussie contacts and anyone who captures my interest.
Sunday 8th September 2002
Firstly, I found these today.
Is this one really true? Has
Greece really banned all computer games?
It reads like an April Fool. I’m
not sure, I can normally spot when something has been exaggerated and I’d be
astonished if this is the case. If it’s
true, they can kiss goodbye to tourism, and how are they going to administer
the Olympics, they’ll become the laughing stock of the world. But I’m not sure this article is true. In Greece, use
a Game Boy, go to jail - Tech News - CNET.com
On a more
chilling note is this link about what happened to the Kurds in Iraq who were
chemically attacked The New Yorker: Fact.
It reads like
something similar to the victims of Bhopal.
And of course for
me there’s the threat to Israel, where my mother and sister live, and the
historic references back to the Holocaust.
I’m not one for
letting Americans bomb the hell out of a country of their choosing, but the
older a I get the more I realise you have to draw a line in the sand, and say
if you cross it there are serious consequences.
There are bullies and countries in the world who don’t see reason, and I
wonder if Saddam is that type. History
suggests he is and a firm hand works better than negotiation. On the other hand, I really don’t know enough
about the situation and what’s really going on, and what the Americans’ true
interests are. Sure they want to protect
USA, but there always seems to be oil involved.
If you’re pro
Iraq invasion then AndrewSullivan.com is the place for you.
Once in a while I
go on my corporate rant which this time I sent to Chris Macrae
on the Ecademy
website.
Chris, I agree
with your point about the abuse of advertising to muddle perceptions
(obviously, because it agrees with what I said!). And this is what disturbs me,
competition isn't moving into these markets and wiping out the big abusive
players. They become greedy, just like the big abusive players. Here, QANTAS
lost its biggest competitor, Ansett, who went bankrupt. VirginBlue is just a
minor irritation to QANTAS. Same with Telstra (British Telecom equivalent).
They rip me off, post another $3Bn dollar profit and still complain that
they're struggling. And the stockmarket (which I hate more than any other
institution) rewards this kind of talk. They no longer reward companies turning
in a good profit, good revenue, with good product and happy clients. Everyone
wants a short cut to wealth, and they'll cheat if they have to.
I love your point about viral discontentment. It's one thing about
discontentment, it's another thing actually doing something about it. My dream
is 100 million people loosely affiliated and saying, "We've had enough of
you ripping off, we are a market of 100 million, who wants to supply us?"
The customer bites back.
In the meantime we'll continue our weary consumer way, buying our Big Macs and
Nikes and Coke because they're a known quantity and quality, and you may debate
the Naomi Klein points about sweatshops but they are not the worst offenders to
the buying public. 20 years ago if you complained to Marks and Spencer or
British Rail, the employees cared that you were complaining about their
company. Nowadays they want to go home at 5-00 pm, and why shouldn't they, the
companies treat them like crap, so what loyalty do they have to the brand and
sorting out customer problems. Nobody cares anymore because nobody cares
anymore.
A friend who I'm seeing today, cancelled his mobile contract with Orange,
because they sold part of his contract to Optus who started charging for
something he'd agreed was free with Orange. He's moving to Telstra, at the same
time I want to move away from Telstra. So what do the suppliers care if we have
nowhere to go and they lose a few and gain a few!
What amazes me most is that new entrants who see these gaps in the market and
really do something about it, and give these flabby corporates a good kicking.
Virgin and Branson can see the problem, I'm not sure I always agree with their
solution but at least they make some attempt at it. I love profit, it should
reflect good value which customers are prepared to pay for, and not branding
disguising crap.
Tony
Saturday 7th September 2002
Just too much on
today so I haven’t had time to write anything.
Also designing
the invite for Georgia’s first birthday.
Just got talking
to a friend, using chat, and now it’s late and I’m tired.
John sent me this
link whilst we were chatting.
Literal
Answers to Rhetorical Questions
Friday 6th September 2002
I’ve been set a
networking challenge to gather 1000 names and contacts.
I accept the challenge
and I’m also building a Melbourne network group to meet the first Monday of
every month.
Watch this space.
Too late and too
busy today to write my other pieces, but I’ve had a magic two days.
Met with someone
to maybe collaborate on writing some sales training material.
Another meeting
to set up a new network group and put is on Ecademy.
Trip to the
States to train the trainers for a week is likely to go ahead, and I’m pushing
for the UK gig as well.
Time for bed.
Thursday 5th September 2002
Just written my
profile for Ecademy, so
now I can network and buzz with those guys.
And I say buzz,
because I get a sense of buzz about the site, which isn’t happening in too many
other places.
Who’s Buzzin?
Cluetrain
isn’t buzzing.
Wil Wheaton is.
Friends Reunited is, but
the people registered have gone a bit quiet.
Andrew Sullivan is.
Ecademy is
Buzzin.
Wednesday 4th September 2002
Yet again Wil Wheaton has
done it.
His writings
about why he’s giving up Trekkie conventions convinced his readers to put
pressure on the organisers.
It shows where
the balance of power is shifting and what’s possible.
It’s inspiring to
know that some of these guys with websites and a genuine voice are beginning to
shift things.
Tuesday 3rd September 2002
I had a very strange experience on Sunday whilst driving along.
I was thinking about my previous car, the VW Golf GTi, which I loved and
was my favourite of the cars I’ve had.
As I drove along in my old Saab, I was missing the cruise control, which
the Golf had.
I was really wishing I had cruise control on the Saab, so that I wasn’t
breaking the speed limit on the freeway.
Five minutes later, I signalled on my indicator to move over into the
inside lane.
What’s that switch on the stalk?
Holy Shit it’s cruise control.
I’ve had the Saab for over a year, and I didn’t realise it had cruise
control!!!!!
Maybe it never had cruise control and my prayers were answered.
So if you pray and hope and dream hard enough, your dreams come true!!!
Monday 2nd September 2002
Read a great article in this months FastCompany magazine.
This
idea we’ve had about the bigger a company is the better it is, is becoming a
myth.
Look
at it.
We as consumers are starting to hate big companies, we hate working for
big companies, and big companies are becoming inefficient and stifle
creativity.
We
think that you get economies of scale.
But this is balanced out by inefficiency.
All
big companies carry a 30% overhead before you’ve even moved.
There’s
an extra bit in the magazine I’ll add, but not tonight!
Sunday 1st September 2002
Today is Fathers Day in
Australia.
My first Fathers Day as a
father and Georgia’s Dad.
I’m loving it and so proud of
being a parent.
It’s what I’ve wanted for a
long time, and it’s everything I expected and more.
We’re lucky, Georgia has turned
out so wonderful.
Beautiful, smiling, good
natured (generally!), a delight.
People, strangers, stop us to
comment on her. There’s something
special about Georgia, and I’m her Dad.
It’s her first birthday in a
few weeks time, so I’d better get designing the invitation.
Proud Father.
On a completely different
note. Roy Keane.
I haven’t seen the sending
off incident with Jason McAteer.
I watched the first half
live, but was too tired at 12-45am, to watch the second half.
I’m sick of Roy Keane. He’s a thug and a liability.
He’s not as good as he thinks
he is.
He sits in front of the back
four which is the easiest job in the game.
Anyone can look good with the
defence behind you, and of course you can make saving heroic tackles from that
position.
Admittedly, he passes well
and doesn’t give the ball away.
But he doesn’t score that
many goals, his engine isn’t what it was, shouting at people isn’t the only way
to encourage.
He’s a bully.
He’s a liability to Man
United and Ireland. His bookings, sendings off, and injuries make it difficult
to plan a team.
He’s a bad example for Man
United, he lacks grace to make him an all time great player, just like his
manager, in whose likeness he appears.
What I’m interested in is
what is good about Roy Keane that was bad about Paul Ince.
What makes Fergie love Roy
Keane and hate Paul Ince?
When Paul Ince went, and Roy
Keane grew, United were at their best, but now the thuggery and diving is at
its worst.
United looked very good in
the first half.
Defence looked very settled,
Silvestre looked good, and O’Shea miracle of miracles for a modern day
footballer, seems two-footed.
Phil Neville doesn’t have the
pace to overlap, and it was interesting to see Beckham play in the middle at
times, but I don’t think he’s good enough.
This obsession with central
defenders is not United’s problem. They
had enough good central defenders.
The problem is cover at
full-back, a midfielder, and most importantly a forward who can hold the ball
up in case Van Nistelrooy is injured or loses form.
The transfer deadline has
passed and United look vulnerable to injuries and loss of form.
Their strength over the last
few years has been strength in depth.
They don’t just have to make big
signings but to have got rid of, Irwin, Johnsen, Berg, Cole, Yorke, Sheringham,
and have a weaker squad, is bad management.
Cole, Yorke, Solskjaer,
Sheringham, or Van Nistelrooy, Solskjaer, Forlan, Scholes. I
know which was better at the time.
And as for this transfer
window. I don’t know why FIFA thinks
it’s good for the game.
What if a player is injured
for the rest of the season?
What about the smaller clubs
needing to sell players to stay in business?
We are the fans, and transfer
speculation is part of the game.
Football is an entertainment
industry.
How can you have the Bosman
ruling for restraint of trade but transfer windows aren’t a restraint of trade?
If it leads to more players
being developed from local youth, fine, but it seems to be creating panic
buying.