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Wonka, 2023 - β˜…β˜…β˜…

I wanted to like it more, but it was trying too hard.

Lean Can Be Applied Anywhere

Deploying small, incremental improvements. Prototyping an improved workflow using lean, visual control and 5S principles. Observation will determine what improvements and changes to next make.

I spent the money. This is a much more pleasant reading experience. πŸ“š

Should I spend $16 to buy a Kindle version of the book I’m reading so I don’t have to deal with small print? The pink highlight shows the Kindle viewport. πŸ“š

Vesper, 2022 - β˜…Β½

Wow, that was really boring.

The Big Lebowski, 1998 - β˜…β˜…β˜…Β½

This movie makes me want to go bowling.

The Breakfast Club, 1985 - β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…Β½

I think I’m older than the teacher now. He’s the guy I now relate to.

Once a Nerd…

I can draw a fairly straight line from my personality as a young fella to who I am today.

I mean, look at this nerd. He’s got a Commodore computer running Workbench 2.04. Dot matrix printer. Stephen Lawhead books on the shelf. A thermometer that read the outside temperature. Basketball trophies. This would be a great submission for one of Hemispheric Views Desk Reviews.

Andrew as a youngun

But it doesn’t end there. As listeners of my podcast will know, I maintain a depreciation spreadsheet tracking my major asset purchases. Turns out, this isn’t a new concept for me. Here is the prototype, from 2001:

Depreciation 2000's style

People may also know me as a prodigious booster of YNAB as a means to manage your personal finances. Before YNAB, there was Quicken. Before Quicken, there was my ledger book.

Financial Ledger Book

And before my ledger book, there were my transaction registers!

Financial Transaction Registers

To give a sense of the timeline, the registers, as the first documents, are dated from 1994. That would put me at 16/17 years old. My memory has me doing these a little younger, but this is the first documented evidence.

I also found a neat record of my automative service history from 2000. This car needed a lot of work!

Automotive Service Log

I’m not sure I’ve changed much in the 30 years since.

I just did an internet quiz like it’s 1999. What Anime Hair Color Best Suits Your Personality?
What Anime Hair Color Best Suits Your Personality?
Hosted By theOtaku.com: Anime

via Thomas Rigby

It was @Ddanielson that made me do it! A throwback to my younger years.

Candy Cane Lane, 2023 - β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

A good old fashioned comedy that actually made me laugh out loud.

Who can resist a Blu-Tak snowman guy?

I can’t.

The Mop Will Always Be Your Friend

A career is an interesting thing.

I’ve never been a “career at all costs” kind of person. Probably why I’ve never made millions of dollars or been a CEO.

At uni, I worked at a pizza shop and a liquor shop. The mop was my friend. Things always needed to be cleaned.

I spent the first part of my “proper” career working to get ahead, to succeed in using my brain and to find new challenges to overcome.

The middle part of my career was spent leveraging my specialist skills to deliver consulting services and support others. There was value in status with this role; being seen to be successful and knowledgable.

Now, in the current (but hopefully not last) part of my career, I’ve got no interest in any of that. I don’t really care what others think of me, or what status is assigned to my job. I’m enjoying the effort of being a good manager. As a manager I have an ethos of never asking somebody to do something that I wouldn’t do myself (if I have the requisite skill and capability).

Mopping. I know this. 30 years later, the mop is still as friendly as ever. I feel no embarrassment about being a manager that mops.

IMG 0278

I keep getting older. Not even an iPhone 15 camera can change that.

Look what arrived in Perth, Western Australia @rknightuk @prami@social.lol

Four months ago I took an opportunity for a career change. A move from consulting to managing two Centres of not-for-profit WA Police & Community Youth Centres. It’s been an opportunity to learn, grow and improve. What I love most is working for my staff. The people at Rockingham and Fremantle Centres are first-class. As their manager it’s my job to make their work days better. When employees are happy, customers win. Culture is king.

Andrew in front of PCYC

Tim Cook chasing more of that sweet services revenue. A 16% increase! Even though I don’t use Arcade & Fitness they still have me over a barrel.

Totally Killer, 2023 - β˜…β˜…β˜…

A fun movie that doesn’t take itself seriously and works as a result.

Champions, 2023 - β˜…β˜…β˜…Β½

A fun, heartwarming movie that is a good reminder that sport should be fun.

Fair Play, 2023 - β˜…

Molasses moves faster than the plot of this movie. Bad in so, so many ways.

End of month YNAB life. πŸ˜…

Cannonball, 1976 - β˜…β˜…

I really wanted to watch Cannonball Run! but I got this instead. The 1970s were a simpler time.

Climate Change Stripes for Perth, Western Australia

Depressing; alarming.

This is an emergency.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, 2004 - β˜…β˜…

Some nice moments but this film felt like it ran for 4 hours.

Love this end frame quote from Young Sheldon. If this doesn’t describe Trump I’m not sure what does.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, 2023 - β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…

Just love the animation style. So impressive.

β€œFrugality, quite simply, is about choosing the things you love enough to spend extravagantly onβ€”and then cutting costs mercilessly on the things you don’t love.”

β€” Ramit Sethi

The Value of Rest

This article was originally written for the September 2022 edition of Hemispheric News, delivered as part of the Hemispheric Views podcast member bonus program, One Prime Plus.


Beck Tench is a person whom I follow online. Beck has produced a range of content pertinent to her areas of interest as an academic. One of the topics Beck has written about includes the power of rest and what makes a restorative environment. I’ve always found this interesting. I’m not an academic but I do have a brain that grabs onto new and interesting thoughts, philosophies and approaches.

Rest by definition is restorative. If the body and soul are not being restored in a period of rest - then what is the point? But in this modern world, what is rest?

I think mental rest is almost more important than physical rest for many of us. That is not to diminish physical rest - especially hours of sleep - but many of us as modern knowledge workers are not destroying our bides daily in the way the majority of the workforce once did.

We are, however, pressing our minds so much more, whether that be through higher-level thinking or information absorption. How many RSS feeds, podcasts, news articles, and social networks do you imbibe daily?

The point is, we need to give our brains a break. We need a chance to restore.

Beach

Recently I enjoyed a week away in Exmouth - a remote town of Western Australia. Exmouth has bad internet. You may have surmised this when I called into Episode 064: Nested Jackets. On this holiday I was able to step away from the daily hosepipe of information. I allowed my mind a rest from the the thoughts of others and gave it a chance to focus on the here and now, and my own thoughts.

In addition, I gave my body more activity and motion than it usually gets - but an amount that is more healthy than what I typically achieve. This may seem opposed to my thoughts about rest. But what it meant was that I went to bed hours earlier than usual and got more sleep each night.

This additional rest was restorative.

Another element of Beck Tench’s thesis (as best I can tell) is that water is restorative. I experienced this to be true on my holiday. Between pool swims, ocean splashing and reef snorkelling seeing coral fish and turtles, being in and around water was restorative.

What am I trying to say through this essay? Apart from corroborating what I’ve noticed Tench write about, it is an exhortation to myself to not lose touch of the value of stepping away; and to you, to encourage you to take a rest yourself.