so much for promises

Well, I promised I'd blog more and didn't.  That's what Mary Poppins calls a "pie crust" promise.

Easily made, easily broken.

Lots has happend since my trip around asia deploying a system for Mercury Professional Services.  I completed the deployment in under a quarter and had most of the reporting structures established and data entered.  The only problems other than normal organisation change, was that people simply would follow the rule of data entry into the system so the reporting wasnt as good as it could have been.  The system (QuickArrow) simply wasnt designed to stop people from entering their own unique job codes.

Then in Feb 1 2007, Mercury was acquired by Hewlett Packard.  I was moved into a role called HP Software Education Manager for Asia Pacific and Japan.  There was far too much for one person to do.

 It seems that no matter how I explained the situation I simply was not able to get the neccessary resources required to adequately service this region.  I built the partner network, the business, and the service levels in order to deliver training services.  But, this was not enough.  I was managing all logistics, orders, sales, administration, operations, and delivery across and enormous region with complex business issues and no support.  A new global director was appointed, he seemed to understand and was willing to make changes, but there were others in the organisation that thought “I was not strategic enough”. 

It is difficult to understand how being strategic  would have helped me solve what were in my opinion clearly tactical issues.  No matter how much strategy I might have liked to put in place the fact that there was no operational or tactical resource behind it makes the whole strategy a little redundant.  After much discussion and thinking through of my own, I’ve managed to work out a severance package.  As of Sept 28 my employment with HP will be terminated. 

Its a shame, they dont know what they are missing in a person like myself.  Just check my recommendations in linkedin.com.

Oh dear...too long between posts

Wow, Life just zoooms by. Another year before I posted. Guess I just havent developed the habit yet.

Well the scifi party was good, though it was off to a false start when I was rushed to hospital to have an operation. Too much fibre...would you believe it. I blocked up my intestines and so they had to operate to remove the blockage. Whilst they were in there they found a carcinoid tumor. Only a small one, but it is one of those things that could have been bad if left for too long and they arent easy to detect.

I'm all better now!!

My job has changed alot in the last year. I was the Consulting Manager, now I'm the Senior Manager Program Managment Office Asia Pacific Japan.

Currently deploying a new system for my company in the JAPAC region, so I'm off on a trip with Natanya, to Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo.

Will blog more....I promise.

The Flu and stuff

Gee almost a year since I wrote. Well, I'll just have to try harder.
Lots has happened. I wont fill you in on the year. That would be boring I think. Mainly because I cant remember everything. Its a bit like that these days. Everything moving so fast, no time to really take it all in.

My oldest daughter, Tessa(left) , first tooth fell out this week. Very exciting. Lower front if you really want to know. She got $5 from the Tooth Fairy. Natanya is in bed with the flu for the past few days. SO I've been working from home and doing the school runs etc. All this with a bad back! So in some ways this was a good thing. It meant I had to attend Tessa's school assembly and I'm glad I did. She was awarded two praise certificates for improvement in Poetry, and Mathematics. Wow was I impressed, and so was everyone else. Even the other children were quite impressed. It would appear that not many people get two certificates at the same time.

Now, Tessa is not a genius but she does work hard and that is a wonderful thing. I hope she does better than I did at school.

Zoe, is just gorgeous. She is learning to push the boundaries quite alot. What 4 year old doesnt. We have her enrolled in a modelling agency and she has done a few jobs now. One for a training video, the other for a toilet paper ad on TV. Gee they get paid well. For 40 mins on the set she got paid about A$500 !!!! I'm gonna quit my day job.

Both my girls are just gorgeous, loving children. They are not without their faults but generally they are well behaved and polite. Natanya and I are starting to become a little more disciplined lately because we feel a little like slaves picking up after them. We will get there as we have a great partnership in this respect. Natanya is a great mum and wife.

I'm going to write a few blogs on alternative medicine and some stuff I've been reading. I think it is important to capture some of my thoughts and share them with friends and relatives that are up for a good debate. I'm not exactly a great debater, but it will be fun.

I'm turning 40 soon and preparing my sci-fi themed party. Have already started decorating the house with interesting lights and getting some of the food ready. I think it will be fun.

ciao for now
Steve B

Its been a while - Holidays

Well, its been a while and I just havent had the time to post anything so I'm going to have to be a bit more diligent and at least keep a journal elsewhere on my laptop and then upload it. So much has happened in the last month.

Went on holiday with my family to Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. Not just my family, but, my whole family. There were 14 of us, 8 adults and 2 young adults, and 4 children. We had 12 wonderful relaxing days in the 32 celcius heat. We slept, ate, swam, and did shopping. Even took some time to see Orang Utans in the nature reserver connected to the hotel resort (Shangri La - Rasa Ria - Dalit Bay).

I recommend going to this relatively unspoilt country. They are starting to realise there is serious money to be made on eco tourism and there is plenty of it, from white water rafting, rain forest treks, mountain treks on Mt Kinabalu, turtle hatching watch, scuba and snorkeling, sailing...the list goes on.

Its also cheap. At the time the Malaysian Ringgit was 2.6 to the Australian Dollar (or $US1 = RM3.8). As an example a main meal at the resorts most expensive up market restaurant averaged on RM65. The regular restaurant prices were in the range RM25.

The food was great and the resorts facilities were excellent.

My First Post

Well, I've decided that maybe Blogging is a good idea. We'll just see what happens. I think of lots of things everyday and often never write them down. I intend to use this blog to solve some of that problem at least.

I'm also genuinely concerned about many things that happen on this planet. From things like peoples belief in herbal remedies, homeopathy, accupuncture, ghosts, phsychics & readings, channelers, spiritual healing. I'm a skeptic and member of Skeptics Australia www.skeptics.com.au. Despite what many people think, a skeptic is not someone that disbelieves eveything. More accurately a skeptic is a seeker of truth or facts. I try to maintain a skeptical attitude which could be summarised by the following:

-Seeking all relevant evidence concerning any extraordinary or putative paranormal event, claim or theory.
-Keeping an open mind and not rejecting paranormal claims a priori.
-Refusing to accept as true theories and explanations for which there is insufficient or ambiguous evidence and recognising that withholding belief is a preferable position to accepting claims for which there is insufficient evidence.
-In seeking explanations, to prefer the ordinary to the extraordinary, the natural to the supernatural and the simple to the complex.
(thanks to Australian Skeptics for this summary)

I'll talk about these thoughts a bit later in separate posts. I'm sure that we can have some interesting discussions on these and many topics.

I'm looking forward to some interesting feedback.

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