Awareness & early detection

Some stuff in the world seems to pass you by as if it will never apply to yourself, only to other people.Breast Cancer is a disease of epidemic proportions, but in the last decade or so a great deal of progress has been made in the treatment of it.
The key is to be aware of the risks, detection and tests out there. It really is something that is very beatable if picked up early.

Awareness. Not just women, but their men too. Everyone needs to educate themselves a little bit more than from what they think they know.

Take some time now to read this site BreastCancer.org. Be aware of what to look for. Get regular checks. Get anything odd checked early. Get second opinions and be suspicious of anything until it's cleared.

Awareness will save a life.

Welcome 2007

Wow, it's been a hectic last 4-5 weeks or so, and now that I am back at work I will hopefully be able to do some more blogging get back to a normal sort of routine.

Here goes.

Simplistic Theory #2: Units of Time

Being the simplistic fella that I am, I link to come up with theories that measure certain sides of life, and in doing so, try to work out the best way to learn from the past to get the most out of the future.

One simplistic theory I came up with maybe 20 years ago was the theory of People Categories. It's highly un-PC, but it's the science of categorising a complete stranger based on how they look and act and comparing that data to what you already know. Basically, it helps determine how to deal with that person, what they are likely to enjoy or dislike, whether they are more likely to be a dick or an asshole.....that sort of thing. But that is Simplistic Theory #1, which I will go into detail another day.

Simplistic Theory #2 is the Theory of Units of time. Having been fortunate enough to live and work in different countries, I have picked up on a very little observed phenomin, fenomin, phanomin thing. The unit of time you need to work to is determined by your lifestyle. Lemme explain....
In NZ for example, you can drive anywhere in most citys in about 20mins, you can generally park right out the front FOR FREE, Stores are generally deserted. What this means is you can do ANYTHING in a unit of time that is 30mins long. Sometimes you might need 2 units, say meeting a friend for coffee. 3 units for a nice meal, 4 units to go have a BBQ at the beach. You get the idea. In Singapore, the unit was closer to 1 hr. London it was 2 hrs, Here in Taiwan, it's closer to about 3hrs.
I think I have worked out the pattern here, and here is the formula:

The quality of a lifestyle is inversely proportional to the unit of time used to maintain it.

WTF? Well, I think it should be an aim in life to get your unit of time down to as small as possible. Why? Well, think about when you try to hook up with friends, how it sometimes seems impossible to get a slot that matches. If I need 1 unit of time to go and buy a magazine here in Taiwan, then fitting in a coffee is going to be another 1 unit of time, so 6 hrs total. That's a big chunk of a day man....no can do. Let's do coffee July 23, 2009 at 2pm.
In NZ, a buddy want's to meet for Fish and Chips at the Marina?..no problem, be there in half an hour. With the food. And Beers.

What is the main cause of this? Well different places have different factors, such as population, congestion, weather, language barriers, scooters everywhere, notoriously bad punctuality...blah, blah. It all contributes to the required unit of time of a given place, which can be improved on with personal innovation.

So, why should we try to get our units of time down? Well, you get more out of life, that's why.

categories: [living_][strange_][thoughts_]

The Lincoln-Kennedy Connection

Yeah, yeah, I know this is OLD, but I remembered Lincoln-Kennedy thing this last night when I was listening to online talkback Radio in NZ, and some dood was talking about the number "Eleven" in events surrounding 9/11. It is quite interesting.

Anyway, here is the Lincoln-Kennedy thing:

• Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
  
  
• John F Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.
  
  
• Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
  
  
• John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.
  
  
• The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.
  
  
• Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.
  
  
• Both wives lost their children while living in the White House.
  
  
• Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.
  
  
• Both Presidents were shot in the head.
  
  
• Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
  
  
• Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.
  
  
• Both were assassinated by Southerners.
  
  
• Both were succeeded by Southerners named Johnson.
  
  
• Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
  
  
• Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.
  
  
• John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
  
  
• Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.
  
  
• Both assassins were known by their three names.
  
  
• Both names are composed of fifteen letters.
  
  
• Lincoln was shot at the theater named 'Ford.'
  
  
• Kennedy was shot in a car called 'Lincoln.'
  
  
• Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
  
  
• Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.
  
  
• Booth and Oswald were assassinated before their trials.
  
  
• A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland.
  
  
• A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Marilyn Monroe.

In the interests of balance (cos that's the kind of guy EYE yam) here is an 'urban myth buster' about this.

Now check out the Eleven thing then:

http://www.september11news.com/Mysteries2.htm

I normally wouldn't link to this stuff (My Hairy Arse = 11 letters) but I sell my soul today, for all my fans out there in the name of cheap entertainment. Enjoy.

Sailing in the Z

I grew up sailing. My Dad built a Nolex 22 trailer sailer around 1977, and we took family holdays in it for years. It was a 4 berth glass over ply yacht, painted bright yellow and called "Kowhai Manu" which, in Maori, means yellow bird.
We sailed it around some of the beautiful lakes and coast of NZ.
When I was 9, he built me a racing dingy called a P-Class, which is a 7 foot wooden boat with a large sail. P-Class's are a NZ design since the 20's and really are a NZ institution - every significant kiwi sailer usually started in a P. Some of the more well known kiwi sailers are:
Peter Blake
Russell Coutts
Dean Barker
Chris Dickson
Peter Lester
Grant Dalton
Leslie Egnot
Digby Taylor

NZ is famous these days as the only nation to ever successfully defend a challenge for the America's Cup outside US waters. NZ's fixation with the America's cup started when Australia won it in 1983, and NZ decided to challenge Australia for it in 1987 in a boat called "KZ7". It was a classic story, including a "BandAid" type celebrity song called "Sailing Away" that all kiwis bought a copy of to help find the challenge. We didn't win, but we learnt a shit load about 12m yacht racing, including the biggest wanker of them all, Dennis Conner. After that were a couple of challenges for the cup in San Diego, much of in in court rather than on the water as rules were bent, broken and ignored.
1995, NZ got really serious, and built a black boat, NZL32, or "Black Magic" which totally kicked ass and finally lifted the cup off the Americans. The same competition saw the Australian boat sink in the opening round, which absolutely delighted kiwis the world over.
1999 saw the first NZ based Challenge, and that injected billions into NZ as global fat cats came down to eat fresh NZ lobster with NZ wine while watching the races just outside of Auckland, and left with titles to coastal property all over NZ. Some would say this was the beginning of the property boom in NZ (subsequently fuelled by Lord of the Rings, and 9/11)
NZ defended the cup and soon prepared for another onslaught in 2003. Russell Coutts, the man who helmed both the win in San Diego and the defense in NZ, was bought by a Swiss team called "Alinghi" much to the horror of the nation. I have never seen such passionate anger over a sport as happened when Russell went to the Swiss. The 2003 campaign Team NZ logo was called "Loyal".
Russell took with him some key players of the previous NZ team, so the writing was on the wall for NZ in the 2003 series, which saw the cup lifted from NZ by Alingli, crewed mostly by Kiwis who were paid millions.

I was lucky enough to meet and talk sailing with Peter Blake around 1982 when I was 12, and it was a tradgedy when he was murdered in 2001 while on a Environmental Awareness expedition in the Amazon.

100% Pure NZ Sailing website
The America's Cup wiki
Sir Peter Blake
Red Socks

Screwing with the numbers

Some people make a living out of bullshit. Meet Kenneth Lay, recently convicted in all counts of fraud charges against him in the Enron collapse.

Here's a rant. The Media and statistics.
I get pissed off when the media misquote statistics to portray a completely different intent than the numbers show.

It's easy to do - ask yourself which burger you'll eat:
1. Hamburger - contains an almost whopping 20% fat....or....
2. Hamburger - over 80% fat free to say "Hello" to your heart.

I know that is simplistic, but one does sound a whole lot better....hell, OK, I'll eat both.

Anyway, I was having a debate today with a friend about whether the NZ property market is going up, down or flat right now. The last 3 years it's been cracking 15%-18% capital gain on average each year. What that equates to is 3 years ago a 200k house x 1.18 x 1.18 x 1.18 = 328k now. It's amazing what compounding capital gain can do in a short time.
The problem is, 100s of years of history has shown us that the market is cyclical and at some point it will correct to align with the average long term 7% per annum capital gain. Those people that have entered the market within the last five years for the first time (i.e. first home buyers) cannot believe their luck and how easy it is, and why the heck they didn't do it earlier.
However those that have been in the market a bit longer can remember the days in the early 80s of 20% mortgages and years of flat or declining house values.
When I bought my first house I was 23, the mortgage rates were 12.5%, and the market was flat for about 5 years after I bought it. Hardly a crisis at the time, but even the thought of those conditions now send some people into writhing heart attacks on the floor - they just don't believe it's possible.
Consequently, I believe in the cycle, and I reckon 15-18% capital gains are not sustainable for much longer and will ultimately get many people in a great deal of financial trouble when they correct soon.

Anyway, during this debate today, we referred to an article in today's NZ paper

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3683844a13,00.html
PROPERTY INVESTORS STILL KEEN TO BUY - May 29, 2006

Many "hardcore" property investors believe now is a good time to buy investment property.

The finding comes from a survey by Kiwi Property Investor magazine and BankDirect - a member of the ASB Group - to try to find out what property investors are thinking and doing.
The 689 investors responding to the survey were divided into hardcore property investors - those with five or more properties now or with ambitions to have that many - and the rest.
Of the 203 hardcore investors, a net 30 per cent thought now was a good time to buy. But the rest leaned slightly the other way, with a net of (minus) -6 per cent thinking now was a good time.
ASB chief economist Anthony Byett said the bullish mood among the hardcore investors may be driven by perceived opportunities in a slowing market, or a confidence in their own strategies.

"Whatever their reason, these hardcore property investors are in the mood to invest - over two-thirds stated intentions to buy within the next 12 months."
BankDirect head Jim Anderson said there was an appeal to buying on price dips, and buying houses in the flatter stage of the cycle did work.
The key was to have a strategy, including a clear vision of cashflows under alternative scenarios.

Overall, 49 per cent of those taking part in the survey felt house prices would neither rise nor fall in the next 12 months. Of the remainder, a net 7 per cent thought prices would rise.

Now, if you take a closer look at that article, it is pretty misleading - especially the headline. What does "Many" mean? Does it mean most? Nope. The majority? Nadda. A good proportion? No. What "Many" means is "more than a few", so out of 600 people, "Many" can actually be, well, the minority.

This is what annoys me. Even reading the article it's easy to believe the complete opposite to the truth as stated by the numbers. I am sure this happens all the time, it's just this time it's so blatant I actually noticed.
What the article should say is this (based on their own facts):

"70% of a group of hardcore property investors believe that now is NOT a good time to buy property, according to a recent survey carried out by Kiwi Property Investment Magazine and Bank Direct.
The majority of investors surveyed believe that property value will neither rise or fall over the next 12 months, and of those that believe prices will actually move, and incredible 93% believe prices will decline"

I reckon there should be a law against this sort of thing. I mean, if you're not going to represent the facts then it's blatant bullshit to mislead in such a manner.

I like conspiracy theories. It must be the government.
Who again carried out the survey? Oh yeah an investor magazine and a bank, both organisations make the most cash when investors buy property. I guess they can't just hide the results now can they - they've gotta dress them up a little.

Mutton into Lamb or something like that.

Wiki article on Kenneth Lay and Enron

The dawn of a new day

Sometimes its good to experience the dawn of a new day. I mean literally and figuratively speaking.
In the literal sense, there is no feeling like forcing yourself to get up early, feeling that cool, fresh dark air on your face, and seeing the world before you transform as color is slowly introduced.
Figuratively, there is not much difference - it's good to mentally force yourself to wake up, put some things behind and see the world transform before you as color is slowly introduced.

While looking for a decent sunrise shot I came across these pics, taken in 2002, in Mui Né, Vietnam. It is of some Vietnamese Fishermen in the South China Sea, at dawn. I can still remember that day, having decided the night before that as the beach bungalow we were staying is faced east, this would be one hell of a decent Sunrise. The bungalow itself wasn't anything too amazing, apart from the location. It was something like $10USD a night, including breakfast for a tiny room with bathroom...the 'resort' was a collection of these things on the front part of a family's ocean front land. Mui Né seemed to us to be one of the last(but i am sure there are more) coastal villages to be hit by western tourism. I guess anytime soon there will be expensive resorts dotted along that coast, and the innocence and quaintness of the place will be replaced by more and more craziness, noise and boozed backpackers. I hope the resort tourists don't complain about the noise of the fishing boats daily at 5am. I hope they wake up and go for a walk along the beach and watch the bay become orange.
It's a cleansing experience to be privileged enough to be able to be in a foreign country and just relax watching people go about their normal day making a living. It makes you realise just how lucky we are just being born where we were born, and it puts a bunch of shit into perspective.
I took my Dad to Vietnam around this time last year for 9 days. It was his first visting to a developing country, and he still tells me it was a life changing experience for him. We went to the north, around Hanoi and to the hill tribes around Sapa.
In most parts of Asia, the most fascinating time of the day is just before dawn. The markets are where it's at, craziness.
These other couple of desert type shots are also from Mui Né at this weird place just past the village. It seems like a chunk of the Sahara, right there in Vietnam. I can imagine movies could be filmed there. I spotted an old bullet, intact and unused. It looks like a .308 or something, and I wondered if some angry US Marine tossed it into the dune when his M-16 jammed back in 1973.

We all need life changing experiences every now and then. It's good for the soul to realise where it has come from and where it needs or wants to go. Complacency robs us of pushing ourselves, or appreciating circumstances and it makes us take things for granted that are truly amazing.

Official Mui Né website

Am I living it right?

Some people go with the flow. Some people go against the flow. Some people make the flow.

It makes for an interesting world to have a mix of people wanting different things, at different times and realising what is important in life at different times too. It brings so much happiness and sadness at the same time, dreams and hopes come and go. Everyone is looking to discover a synergy.
What is important to some people is a laughable thing to others, and it's the tolerance and acceptance of all our differences that brings peace and happiness.

I love to watch music DVDs. Most people think that is a little weird I think, but with the advent of DVD and affordable home theatre I found the quality of audio and crystal clear video in music to be pleasing to the soul. It's great after a shit day to come home, grab a glass of red and crank a great concert DVD.

Today was a shit day.

In January I bought a John Mayer concert DVD called "Any Given Thursday". John Mayer is an extremely talented musician and over the last 6 months or so I have been enjoying a couple of his albums.
The thing with live music is this, some musicians put on concerts for the money and the show is full of sequenced tracks and by-the-book renditions of their music - close your eyes and you might as well be playing the CD, except the singing is sometimes a bit bum due to the lack of studio help available to them.
John is different. At this concert anyway, his singing is PERFECT. Pin sharp vocals, but not only that, this guy plays the guitar like nothing else. I'm not talking about screaming solos or rapid hammering, but a true man-to-instrument-as-one situation.
It's in the fingers. I don't know how to explain it, but many people can play and instrument 100% OK and hit all the notes at the right times, but rarely, a musician can make the sound coming out of an instrument cross into another dimension - and that's what gives me a kick watching concert DVDs and going to concerts. It's magical.
Over the years I have gone to just about every concert of interest that has come close to where I've been living at the time. Unfortunately Taipei gets hardly anything.

A song performed from the heart brings the lyrics to life, and one track that stood out to me tonight is "Why Georgia". It's funny how you can listen to a song for months or years, and then one day life is a little different to it usually is and then the words just jump out.

Why Georgia (From the Album "Room for Squares")

I am driving up 85 in the
Kind of morning that lasts all afternoon
just stuck inside the gloom
4 more exits to my apartment but
I am tempted to keep the car in drive
And leave it all behind

Cause I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?

Why Georgia, why?

I rent a room and I fill the spaces with
Wood in places to make it feel like home
But all I feel's alone
It might be a quarter life crisis
Or just the stirring in my soul

Either way I wonder sometimes
About the outcome
Of a still verdictless life

Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

So what, so I've got a smile on
But it's hiding the quiet superstitions in my head
Don't believe me
When I say I've got it down

Everybody is just a stranger but
That's the danger in going my own way
I guess it's the price I have to pay
Still "everything happens for a reason"
Is no reason not to ask myself

If I am living it right
Am I living it right?
Am I living it right?
Why Georgia, why?

Room for Squares is a great album, and I am amazed this was recorded when John was just 22. How on earth can someone be such a good songwriter and musician at 22? It's just one of those things you can't ever aspire to - it just happens.
The other Mayer album I have is Heavier Things. It's also fantastic, particularly the first track, Clarity.

John Mayer Official Website
Any Given Thursday DVD
Room for Squares CD

T'be shure, T'be shure

Today is St. Patricks day, and even here, yes Taiwan, there is hype about it. Some of my local friends here have tried to get me to explain what it is all about cos they are confused, and after saying "well, that's easy......" I decided I wasn't too sure myself. Green Beer, Irish Band and Irish Stew or something like that. Oh yeah, Guinness. (you know that stuff that is liquid and black on the way in, and solid or semi solid and black on the way out.)
So, with March 17 falling on a friday, I am sure all the oirish pubs around the world will make a killing. Enjoy it, the next Friday St. Pats is in 2017. (I just guessed that, but I was right when I checked.)

I got to thinking about Ireland, and it is one place I'd really like to go to. I'd heard that the countryside is nice or something. But wait a minute, while looking for some pics of Ireland right now I don't think I'd go there for the scenery....cos it looks just like NZ, cept with old shit everywhere.

So what is it about the place? Well, the music for one thing. There is not much I don't like about Irish music, whether it's old reels or modern rock...it's all great. Something about those melancholic riffs that stirs something, I am not sure why. Maybe I am Oirish? There could be a good chance as on both sides a couple of generations ago my ancestors came from Newport in Wales, and Mellor, outside Blackburn in England - both places very close to the west coast of the UK, which is a splash away from the land of Bailey's Oirish Cream. Yum.
Going back to the music, spare a thought for Irishman Dave Evans, whose 7 year old daughter has just been diagnosed with Lukemia. Dave's band has decided to cancel the remainder of a world tour for a while, which is pretty nice of them really. It's a pretty big deal when your stage name is "The Edge" and your band is U2. All the best for Dave and his family.
I see in NZ they are offering full ticket face value refunds for all the cancelled shows. Too bad for all the people that bought scalped tickets on Trademe for several times their face value, of course.
I have been a U2 fan for years. The Joshua Tree is one of my all time classic albums that I have happened to buy 4 or 5 times so far...huh? well, the first one was a tape....and i played it so much it wore out so I bought it again, on tape. About 1984 or 85 I reckon. Then with my first airforce pay in 1989 I bought CeeDee Playa. Sony rack mounted thing, about the size of a VCR (remember those?) Anyway, the first CD I bought was "The Joshua Tree". When you have got a really cool CD player and 1 CD, you tend to play that 1 CD a bit. Ha. Then a few years later it got stolen in a house burglary, and then the next one I bought got stolen in a Car break-in. The CD I have now is a burnt copy of a friends original CD, but hey I'm on #5 so I figured I've paid the licenses enough to own a burnt copy. Now it's on my iPod anyway.

There is one other irish connection I was getting to. Another Irish guitarist by the name of Stu. His stage name is Stu too, which is handy. Stu likes to tell stories about things, I think it is an oirish trait, and I have heard him mention his travels to far away lands like Spee-In. (That's how he say's it, I think he means Spain, pronouced "Sp-ayne") One of his other stories is about how he bought a bargain American Fender Stratocaster off a paraplegic In Taipei. It is the classic Strat I've always wanted too, bastard. Stu's a really nice guy, and he's probably quite dashing too if you are that way inclined. Some people say he looks like Kevin Bacon, but I reckon he's got the Ryan Seacrest thing going on(y'know American Idol- get with it). It's all about when he was born, which was just a few days after me when Apollo 13 was transmitting "Houston, we have a problem". It was a good month.

Stu is actually from Belfast in Northern Ireland (where they have nice murals everywhere I hear) and I haven't asked him yet if he says "Derry" or "Londonderry". Some people are picky about that.
Anyway, Stu did a podcast interview in Taipei in honor of St. Pats day, so now he's also practically a celebrity. And I know him. Honest.

I think that covers some irish stuff, happy Saint Patrick's day.

Ireland Pics and Music
U2
Stu's Interview
Stu's Website

Farewell Giorgio

I'm a hoarder. It bugs the hell out of me, but I just can't throw stuff away - I always see some value in something.
When I was in NZ last month I bought 12 shirts. Yep 12. I find it really difficult to find shirts that are comfortable here in Taiwan, and the only place that seems to have potential in the shirt department is Sogo, but there always seems to be 7 salesgirls desperate for a commission that it become pure hell to even look around. Besides that, the shirts they thrust in my face are $3400 NT (about $150NZD) versions, which to be fair is way too much to pay for a business shirt that no one is really going to appreciate but me.
So, in NZ there was a few sales going on and the cuts are much better so I bought up.
The dilemma came when I got home - where do all these shirts now live? So I scanned the wardrobe and gave a big sigh as I looked at some old favorites. Yep fellas, you have got to go.

So I did it. I threw some shirts out. They were past their best and I virtually never wore them anymore.

Take Giorgio for example, I remember him well. I bought that masterpiece in June 1999 in Hawaii. Took the bus from Honolulu to a huge shopping centre called "Waikele". I remember I also bought a Black Donna Karan tie with gold lining there. The tie stays, the shirt must go. It served me well as work dress in NZ, London, Singapore and now Taiwan....I am now embarrassed to say.
But, I am the type of guy that believes quality will always go the distance....and it did again. Buy classic and it will remain timeless? Something like that anyway.

So I ditched 3 shirts. Mmmm, I see there is still going to be a problem in the wardrobe - ah well, there is a bit of room in this drawer over here....

I don't like the name blog

...but that is the terminology. After years of thinking blogs were kinda cheesy, here I am writing in one right now.
So why do it then? Well, I enjoy writing things to share sometimes, and othertimes I just like to capture a moment or thought. Pictures help too, so the plan is to use plenty of pics.

I have thought about it for a while, and it took me a while to get going cos I was looking for some blog software that had categories....
....like these here ->
Mostly it is impossible to find categories and all that on free blogs, and I am too tight to pay $4.95 a month for the good stuff, so I found a hack on the blogger help about setting up categories. Ta Da. (Edit: This is now irrelevant as Blogger now has labels. Woo Hoo.)

I hope you like them, well I hope I do mostly.

I am also not sure about this look and feel. It's O.....K..... but it's good to fiddle with HTML now and then so don't be surprised if I change this.

Let's see how this goes. I am feeling positive. Today.