Getting fit - bit by (buy) phone

It is FINALLY here!  My Fitbit Surge has finally arrived and is on my wrist.  I have been waiting for this day for exactly a month, a month since I pre-ordered it online.

It has been about two months since my UP band gave up the ghost (pardon the pun), clearly highlighting a design flaw in the UP band that I had not considered when I bought it mid way through last year.  Having your product fully enclosed in rubber is a fantastic idea to protect the mechanisms from shock and keep it a bit waterproof, but rubber stretches, and over time, it stretched to a point that the button was difficult to use, and the vibration alerts (such as the daily alarms) were not being felt.  This was a bit of a bummer really as i was quite fond of my UP.

I thought about replacing it with another UP, but by then, word was out about the new Fitbit Surge - complete with heart rate monitor - exactly what I was looking for - as well as the ability to function as a watch.  My dream piece of monitoring equipment was on the way.  I could finally think about getting rid of my chest heart rate monitor and combine both concepts (activity tracker and heart rate monitor) into one.

So far, the Surge has fulfilled its intended role, even if the "dashboard" that collates all of your stats takes a bit of getting used to after the UP.  This works fine on my laptop, but here is the thing - the app for the Surge and my iPhone 4 are not compatible.

Because of this Bluetooth 4.0 thing that seems to be the rage these days, my iPhone does not have, I cannot use it to real time monitor my stats when working out.  Yes, I know - this is a "First World Problem", but is it all part of clever marketing by these big companies (i.e.- planned obsolescence)?  Or maybe I am being cynical and it is just that my phone is old and out of date.

No, I don't think I am being cynical, my phone works just fine.  In fact, I like my iPhone, it does what I want it to (all except for monitoring my Surge).  But I like my Surge too, and I bought it because it does what I want it to.  I am of the considered opinion that technology is moving just quickly enough to continue to part us from our hard earned cash in the pursuit of continued compatibility.

On the upside though, at least now I have a machine that can tell me I have had a bad nights sleep, just in case I was in any doubt to begin with.

Anyway, time to go now.  According to Fitbit's dashboard on my laptop, I have three more flights of stars to walk up before I go and buy a new phone.

Until next time,

CfB

Elvis to the Rescue

Time for a bit of a rant!  The serial arsonist that I made comment on in an earlier post has been at it again in the Bertram area with a massive bushfire yesterday started under suspicious circumstances.

It was forecast to be a 41 degree day yesterday with high winds - an arsonist's dream, and the public's worst nightmare.

Fortunately, DFES was onto the fire almost immediately, and it is only their intervention that prevented loss of life and property.  But what are the other costs associated with this act of arson?

The freeway (the major road in the Perth metropolitan area) was closed in both directions which created chaos on the roads for commuters trying to get home at the end of their day (as I write this post, the freeway is still closed).  That cost thousands of people hours each.

Running the aerial support for the ground fire crews is not an inexpensive exercise.  Yesterday's act of arson cost the taxpayer thousands of dollars.

The volunteer fire crews who were called away from their usual place of employment to fight this fire would have cost their employers thousands of dollars in lost productivity.

Then there is the cost to the environment.  This is the third deliberately lit fire in "The Spectacles" this summer.  The Spectacles is a nature reserve and home to countless wildlife.  It would be impossible to say how much native flora and fauna was lost yesterday and in the previous two instances.

I could keep going with regard to the indirect costs of arson.  But we haven't seen the biggest cost yet - fortunately!  Eventually, these acts of arson are going to cost someone their life.  Either a member of the public, or one of the firefighters defending the population.  Either way, it will be a dark day when that happens.  I say when, because the law of averages says that it will happen eventually.

I have inserted a photo of "Elvis" in action yesterday, one of the Sky Cranes that does such a magnificent job in fighting bushfires every year.

Until next time,

CfB

Weekends are Precious Things!

Once upon a time, I knew what a weekend was.  The last time I had one was in the BC era (before children).  The thing is, I cannot remember what I used to do with them!

Take this last weekend as a classic case in point.  We were the 'away' team for #2's cricket competition on Saturday, and the game was against the side furtherest away from us.  Essentially, this translated into a 6.00am get up, to be out of the door by 6.45 for an 8.00am start to the match.

So, the game ends about midday (and unfortunately we lost in a close one), so you then have to do the reverse trip and are home at around 1.00pm.  Time to throw down some lunch and get the BBQ (griller in other parts of the world) lit to put the roast on for dinner.  Once that is on, it is time to coach #1 through the process of making a red wine reduction to go with the roast.

Before I know it, it is time to get the roast off the BBQ to rest and eat dinner.  All of a sudden it is 7.30pm and I am ready for bed (I must be getting old)!

Fall out of bed on Sunday to get ready to take #2 to district cricket training.  Not as far as Saturday's journey, but still adds up to another hour or so in the car to get there and back.  BOOM! Sunday blown out of the water.  Get home in time to start cooking dinner (an excellent smoked cod and corn chowder if you were interested).  Throughout this, we are sitting down with #1 watching an adaptation of "The Taming of the Shrew", to assist with his school work.  It gets to 8.30pm and I am off to bed again because of a 7.30am meeting at work on Monday morning.

Now please understand that I am not complaining about any of this because I got everything done that I needed to and managed to get a couple of beers in as well.  But having said that, I sometimes don't know where the weekend goes, and more importantly, what I ever used to do with them before.

But the best part of the weekend was that I was able to spend some quality time with both kids as a dad.   This is what weekends are all about as far as I am concerned - time for family and friends.

We have a long weekend coming up next weekend (Monday is a public holiday in WA).  Three days to go and watch #2 play cricket and spending some time with #1 in the kitchen - simply perfection!

Until next time,

CfB

Social Media is tough!

I am fairly new to this whole social media thing, and as I have said in an earlier post, I do not do Facebook - it's simply not my thing.

What I have set up is this blog and a Google+ page, as well as a Twitter account.

The reasons for this were also outlined in an earlier post.  What has intrigued me is just how tough it can be.

Let's take "followers" for example.  As I have discovered, it is relatively easy to gain followers on Google+.  Add a few circles and get yourself added to a few, and it quickly racks up the numbers.  I started my Twitter feed and blog on the same day, and it has been interesting to compare the three.

My Google+ "followers" are currently 309 (at the time of writing this post).  Most of these wonderful people have come on board in the last week or so.  My Twitter "followers" are at 19, and blog followers is zero.

Now, I am not delving into social media as some sort of warped way of feeling important.  I am quite secure within myself and my self esteem is just fine.  I have not ventured into social media because I feel that my voice or opinions are any more important than anybody else's.  That doesn't mean to say that I don't want to voice them occasionally.

I am quite surprised at how different the social media platforms all are.  I have to admit, I look at my Twitter feed quite frequently because the nature of my work does not allow for a radio to be on for most of the day, and I am a news junkie.  My Google+ would be second and this blog would be third, purely because I do not post every day.

So what makes Google+ so different from Twitter and Blogspot?  Why does it appear to be more difficult to gain a following on Twitter?  I am beginning to think that it has to do with the immediacy of Twitter as opposed to the longer term nature of a blog post.

For what it is worth, my Twitter feed is @real_chooka and I would be more than happy to follow you back, because that is one of the ways I learn more about the world.

Until next time,

CfB

Where there's life, there's hope!

I feel that I have to write this post to add my voice, however small, to the national outcry against the impending execution of two Australian citizens in Indonesia.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were found guilty of drug smuggling in Indonesia nine years ago.  They have been on Death Row ever since, and the Indonesian authorities have cleared the way to carry out the executions soon - nobody knows exactly when.

Nobody denies the guilt of these two men (and their seven accomplices), and it is a well known fact that drug smuggling can attract the death penalty in Indonesia.  One can further argue that, as a sovereign nation, Indonesia is completely within its rights to structure their laws as they see fit.

That does not mean that we have to agree with them.

Australia is a country that does not have the death penalty.  We once did and the last execution was carried out in the late 1960's.  As a country we do not agree with the death penalty and actively promote alternatives throughout the world.    These two men made a huge mistake in trafficking drugs, and we all know that the drugs they were smuggling could very well have killed many users on the streets.  None of that is deniable, but the price the are about to pay for that mistake is way too high.

They were young men then, and all young men take stupid risks (be it speeding in a car or drink driving or whatever), and most of the time, we got away with them.  It does not appear that these two men will get way with theirs.

As far as I am concerned, these two men can spend the rest of their lives in jail for the crime they committed.  I despise drugs and those who peddle them.  I cannot help but think that a very lengthy sentence in an Indonesian prison would be no holiday and punishment enough.  State sanctioned murder is not the answer.

Last month, Indonesia executed six individuals convicted of various drug related crimes - five of them international citizens.  I can only hope and pray that our diplomatic efforts will be enough to spare their lives, but I doubt it.  Indonesia seems intent on sending a very clear message to the world that you will pay a very heavy price for smuggling drugs through their country.  It seems somewhat hypocritical to me that the Indonesian authorities are quite happy to turn a blind eye to their citizens who openly traffic people through their borders.

Where there is life, there is hope.  I will continue to hope and pray that Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be spared.

Until next time,

CfB

Australian Politics Soap Opera Style - Part 2

In my last post, I related a little of how our current federal politicians are faring, which, needless to say, is about as well as any other kid in a schoolyard.  The broad topic of this post is politics at a state level.

Australia is the most governed society in the developed world to the best of our collective knowledge.  Not only do we have a federal government, each state and territory (six states and two territories) has its own state government, and then under that, we have local government.  It is an ongoing spat between the Western Australian state government and its local governments that has caused much angst over the past year or so.  It finally came to a head last weekend, but the ongoings at the federal level relegated this post to second place (see Part 1 of this story below to refresh your memory).

The Perth metropolitan area has 30 local governments within it, and the state government decided that it only wanted 15 or so, so it passed legislation to 'force' local governments to either merge, or in some cases, change their boundaries.  There was no consultation with either the local government authorities or the population at large, so as Australians are want to do, we got a little bit annoyed and said "NO!" to the impending changes.

The state government eventually conceded to allowing those rate payers in areas proposed to be amalgamated a vote (in effect a referendum) on whether we wanted to amalgamate or not.  In order to overturn the governments decision, 50% of eligible voters had to vote, and 50% + 1 had to say "No" to the amalgamation.

Now, voting in federal and state elections is mandatory in Australia, but local government matters are optional, and as such, if we (being Australians) don't have to do something, then generally we don't.  The state government was banking on this historical perspective to get their legislation passed.

An overwhelming voter turn out resoundingly voted "No" on February 7, and as such, the amalgamations were defeated and the state government was forced to back down.  In true politician style, the Premier of WA (Colin Barnett) has had a massive sulk session this week, and is refusing to compensate the local government authorities for the millions of dollars they were forced to spend by the state government to attempt to meet their draconian legislative requirements.

Oh well, a phyrric victory of sorts - we get to keep our local government just the way it is.  The local ratepayer will have to foot the bill (as usual) but it is worth it to let our government know that proper consultation is a far better method of getting your way than attempting to bully your voters into submission.  We don't like that.

However, we are all eternally grateful that we live in a country where we can have our voice heard and respected by our governments should we choose to exercise it.

Until next time,

CfB

Australian Politics Soap Opera Style - Part 1

The casual outside observer could be forgiven for thinking that Australian federal politics is a soap opera, played out on national television every night for the nations enjoyment.  Now I know that Australian politics does not really rate as an exciting topic in Australia, let alone the rest of the world, but it really is fascinating if you get into it.

Australia is without a doubt, one of the (if not THE) most successful democracy on the planet.  We are pretty much the only democracy that was not born out of a revolution, and while its machinations are a bit clunky, it has worked exceedingly well since Federation (January 1, 1901).  It is within this context that the last couple of years of federal politics are simply baffling.

We have a Westminster System of government here in Oz, which means the people vote for a local candidate, and the party with the most candidates elected forms government.  Whichever party that is (currently the Liberal Party, a rough equivalent of the US Republicans) has a party leader, and this person becomes the Prime Minister (sort of like the US President).  This person is elected by the party - not directly by the population.  It staggers me that we very nearly had our fifth PM in twenty months earlier this week with the attempt to spill the Liberal Party leadership on Monday, which failed to get up, but it is only a matter of time for the PM, who is mortally wounded in a political sense.

Quite simply, our federal politicians have lost the plot over the last couple of years and seem to have forgotten that they were elected to govern the country, not look after themselves.  Case in point, the current PM (Tony Abbott) making a "Captain's Call" to confer an Australian Knighthood on Prince Phillip (yes, that's right - the Queen of England's husband).  Just think about that for a minute.  Prince Phillip cannot really refuse to accept the 'honour', but who gives it to him?  For those unaware, the Queen is still Australia's sovereign, so I really cannot see who the Prince is to bow down to, to receive his knighthood - sheer madness.

I don't often stray into the political debate - my views are my own and I think that is where they should stay.  I am writing this post to give the world at large the heads up that is they are looking for a good laugh on TV, seek out Australian federal politics and have a look.  It strikes me that our politicians have suffered from 'Relevance Deprivation Syndrome' over the summer recess, probably born out of the typical Australian attitude of not caring about politics.

This has been a very small snapshot of what has been going on at the federal level in Australia lately. In my next post, I will bring you up to speed on what has been going on at a state level.

Until next time,

CfB

Californication - Yes in Australia

I was sitting out the back the other night indulging one of my passions (when I should have been in bed), which is storm watching.  We had a ripper electrical storm going overhead, and courtesy of growing up in Papua New Guinea and Darwin, I have always had a love of storms.  I was tweeting out a running commentary of the storm from a Bertram perspective (@real_chooka) with a few others from around Perth, one of whom has the handle of "Ocean Breeze".

That got me to thinking of one of my favourite songs, "My California", by Beth Hart ("Ocean Breeze" is a musician you see) which has the line, "I wanna feel the ocean breeze", in the lyrics.  That further got me thinking that I miss Hank Moody and all of the quirky characters from that great TV series, "Californication".

Californication is one of my favourite TV shows, and I have been known to binge watch a season or two in a day.  Putting the gratuitous sex and sometimes extreme language to one side, I really enjoyed the complex and flawed characters that populated the show.  It was difficult to like Hank, but I found it really difficult to actively dislike him too.  I guess, he is the ultimate "man child", a modern day Peter Pan - the boy who never grew up.

Karen, Hank's 'on again, off again' partner is an equally flawed character whose back story is nicely developed as the seasons go on.  She is glued to Hank by Becca, their daughter.

Becca is the only adult in the series, which is really ironic because she is about 13 in Season 1.  Her character is developed nicely during the series, but it was disappointing to have her effectively written out of the last season.

Now I can't comment on the accuracy of the life portrayed in the series as I have never lived in that part of America, but I really did enjoy the way the script and the cinematography drew you intimately into the personal aspects of the characters "lives".

My darling bride has bought me the successive seasons on DVD over the years, and now that there will be no more, I am certain that 'God Hates Us All' (bad Californication pun!).  I resolved two things as the storm was passing: 1.  to go to bed, and 2.  begin Californication again from Season 1 this weekend.

I can thoroughly recommend Californication to you (provided you don't mind some extreme language and sex scenes).

The weekend is here, let Season 1 begin.  Hello Hank, Karen and Becca, I missed you!

Have you watched Californication?  If so, I would love to hear your views.

Until next time,

CfB 

When two worlds collide

I was down at the local supermarket the other day picking up a few things I needed to feed the 'screaming hordes of Babylon' back home for dinner.  This was just your typical Saturday morning, then fate intervened.

I just love moments in your life that are totally unexpected, yet fill your heart with joy.  One of those moments occurred to me that day.  It was the perfect fusion of two of my great loves - Guinness and chips!

I was so completely overwhelmed by the abject genius of this discovery that I just stood there and stare at them, - adoringly stared at them.  It was if the whole universe made sense at that very moment!

What was a Guinness loving bloke to do?  Almost forgetting what I was at the supermarket for, I hurriedly grabbed the items I needed, and delicately selected a packet of this heavenly fusion and put them in the trolley.  Deciding I might need a couple of packets to be sure I liked them, I grabbed some more and headed to the checkout.

Serendipitously, there is a bottle shop next to the supermarket.  Guinness flavoured chips need Guinness as surely as night follows day.  What was a Guinness loving bloke supposed to do?  Well, the carton was on special, so that makes it better value than just buying a few cans right?,  So into the trolley one went - nice and cold, straight out of the cool room.  I normally stop and have a chat with Matt the bottle shop manager, but not today!  I had to get my lucky find home and show it off right away.

So I get home and burst in through the door, looking for anyone to show off to.  I came across my darling bride first.  I proudly showed her my bags of chips, grinning from ear to ear. Do you know what she said?

"This is why men should not be allowed to go shopping by themselves!"

Another two worlds just collided.

I took a photo of one of the bags to make sure I wasn't dreaming.  Here it is ...




Until next time,

CfB

A scared little dog and fate intersect?

Wow - what a drive home from work today!  I knew there was a summer storm coming, but I wasn't expecting the gates of hell to open up above my car.  Lightning was smacking into the ground next to the road and the rain was so intense that I had to pull over to the side of the road until the worst of it seemed to have passed.  I assure you that was no easy decision to make with the lightning around!

So back on the road I go, and about five minutes later the rain had eased to a light drizzle (as summer storms are want to do in Perth).  There up in front of me on the road was a little, Maltese or Shitzu looking type dog.  Just standing there - clearly dazed by the storm.  The car in front of me swerved around the dog and I slowed to a crawl and sounded my horn.  The dog simply stood there.  Decision time again - stop and pick up the dog, or keep going.  Not a hard decision really, the dog would almost certainly have been run over if I had left it.

I got out of the car and picked up the dog.  It was shaking with fear, and probably just a little cold because it was soaking wet.  I put the dog in the passengers side of the car (on the floor because it was soaking) and got back in to the abuse of a number of other road users.

The dog was quick to jump up onto the seat and start drying itself on my seat covers.  Oh, did I mention the dog stunk?  Being unable to take it home, the only thing for it was to take it to the nearest vet.  Glad to accommodate, the Kwinana Veterinary Surgery took her in (they always have been good like that), and off home I went - ready to deodorise the car and wash the covers.

I don't post this for any other reason than I decided to leave work a little early today because of the storm.  This journey home simply served to remind me that the decisions we make have ramifications - good and potentially bad.  Maybe that scared little dog would have got run over if I didn't come across it, maybe it wouldn't have - I don't know and no-one can say.  What I can say is that a series of events and decisions conspired to put me at that place at that time, and hopefully picking that dog up was why I was there.  Either way, I have to admit it feels pretty good to have had a positive impact on the day.

Do you believe in fate, or are you a believer in coincidence?  I would love to hear your opinions on this.

Until next time,

CfB