Journey of a thousand thoughts

hello Spring

2010-10-29T14:32:00.000+02:00

Eureka Tower and Melbourne Arts Centre

Melbourne Recital Centre

2010-10-29T14:31:00.001+02:00

Black and White Version

Melbourne Recital Centre

2010-10-29T14:29:00.000+02:00

One of my fav buildings in Melbourne, changes beautifully at night

marshmellows and spaghetti

2010-10-29T14:27:00.001+02:00

2010-10-29T14:27:00.000+02:00

marshmellow teambuilding excercise @ Rotary Club of Melbourne Park - Betsy,Junior Burger and Lauren - we had the tallest tower but cheated with time

present for Will

2010-10-29T14:23:00.000+02:00

having a bit of fun and games at Tribal DDB Melbourne, this is a little gift I left for Will on our Fruit day!

2010-10-29T14:22:00.000+02:00

archive of photos in Melbourne for my good friend Mario in Poland - will be sharing my story thru my pictures mate

Guinesss Book of Records 2010 @ Melbourne

2010-10-29T14:19:00.000+02:00

When they were young

moving meditations - emotional attention and attachment

2010-05-13T04:26:00.003+02:00

Some of the most powerful thoughts that capture our attention is the spectrum of emotions that we absorb or interpret for any given situation. It is most poignant from those close to us, those we care about even if we wish to deny it. Can one change the story so that the experience of painful emotions is muted?
Maybe so, but should we just also let ourselves give into the pain, that it needs to be experienced fully so that it can have a good chance of dissipating?
For me, family has been the source and giver of the most intense emotions - something that I thought I had left behind, but realise will always be there no matter how old I grow. The joy of a new edition, of seeing a pure smile from my youngest nephew was amazing to experience again.

That is what we get from our children - the chance to experience some of the things we lose along the way or forget that we still have inside of us

Life's lessons

2010-04-17T14:53:00.008+02:00

"Help only those who want to be helped"

"Friendship is about what you are willing to sacrifice for the benefit of your friends - time, effort, attention"

"Crisis offers the most opportunities for growth, helps you focus on the important things that matter most to you"

Never believe that your assumptions are reality

simple, focus, community, attention, useful, goals are words worth knowing

Startup basics - Sean Ellis

2010-04-05T06:55:00.006+02:00

1. Market Fit
"If you’re targeting small business owners or sole proprietors,
I believe it’s better to keep your product free until you find the product/market fit. I would however
recommend creating a formal beta program where the company locks in a 50% discount in exchange for certain commitments (like a 15 minute interview and monthly surveys). They should understand that they can use it for free during the beta period, but if they want to continue using it after the beta finishes, they’ll need to buy."

The “40% very disappointed” metric
"..at least 30 responses, which is where I start to see results stabilize. Of course more responses is better."

MEASURE MARKET FIT use:
http://www.survey.io

Notes based on the principles espoused by Sean Ellis

Pre - evalution of idea

Does this product/service as spec’d solve a problem or a need customers have?” Is our solution compelling enough that they want to buy it or use it today? Steve Blank

Day 1 - VALILDATE Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
problem exists?
is it worth solving?
minimum set of features to solve it
- then meet prospects

Where’s the Love? “the flock always finds the best grass.” Vinod Khosla
Start looking for a signal about who loves your product and why as soon as you release your MVP
Most products have at least a few people that truly consider it a must have. These people hold the keys to the kingdom.
Learn everything you can about them including their specific use cases and demographic characteristics. Try to get more of these types of people.

Expose the Core Gratifying Experience
find core user perceived value and exposing it in messaging optimized for response.
remove complexity from the initial user experience and messaging in order to highlight this core user perceived value.

Metrics

Start Charging

Extreme Customer Support
first marketing expense should be to expand the customer support team.
Anyone that cares enough about your solution to contact customer support is a great source of insight about your target market.

Brand Experience Over Brand Awareness
most entrepreneurs understand that brand awareness campaigns are a waste of money for startups
Instead, it’s much cheaper and more effective for startups to focus on creating a fantastic brand experience.

Driving Growth
CEOs must take an active role in driving customer growth whether or not they have an interest in marketing.
It’s important to stay aggressive and take all slack out of the market.

Business building
Fast growing businesses are difficult to manage. This is the point where you should bring in some experienced operations people if they aren’t already on the team.

1. Determine Market fit
1.1 Create a free or beta program of your product - get at least 30 users for feedback
use http://www.survey.io to assess at least 40% of users saying they would be “very disappointed” without your product.
x BAD response? engage existing and target users to learn how to make your product a “must have.”

2. Promise: Highlight the benefits described by your “must have” users (those that say they would be very disappointed without your product).
3. Economics: Implement the business model that allows you to profitably acquire the most users.
4. Optimize: Streamline a repeatable, scalable customer acquisition process by testing multiple approaches and tracking to improve the right metrics.

11am meditations

2010-01-19T01:15:00.002+01:00

To truly have 100% focus you need to take care of or eliminate if possible, the distractions.

What is your underlying fear that you are not aware of that prevents you from taking action?

- experience with coasters.com.au > great product > great service > good seo yet no substantial sales? what is missing? marketing, sales tatics, business/marketing relationships with the right people

- no sales yet of new servicing offering - need to review pricing, try ozbargain

Criterias for successful collaborations?

What do they have at stake?

If they can't get it done, what have they got to lose? their livelihood? children, family, house, food
What environment are they working under?
Have they undergone hardship and understand the true nature of having nothing?
What are you learning from them, is there a pushback on your efforts?

1. print the digital art
2. send out portograph for vendors

what do you care about?

2010-01-13T01:55:00.005+01:00

notes to thyself...
So I got upset about something this morning, and as a result felt agitated, had a rush of emotions and continued onwards with my 11am meditations.

Increasely distracted by the influx of information data - I have been slightly addicted to the need for constant data feed. Which results in a lot of knowledge floating around in my mind. Which in turns contributes to decision paralysis, inaction and procrastination.

Having too much to think about is a bad thing, as business requires quick instincts from a constantly faster changing environment.

I care about what other people think about me, my efforts sometimes a bit too much. I care about making things work, creating beautiful things that I would happily look back with a smile.

I care about the suffering that goes on around the world, my social network, my family.

Change the story, change the emotions.

Awareness
Acceptance or Action
Change

Dance, Dance, Dance

2010-01-11T23:47:00.003+01:00

To learn how to dance. You have to learn the steps before you can have fun with it.

role models

2009-12-17T01:00:00.002+01:00

Why is it these days we worship performers rather than people who better the world through action? The real Heroes.

Is it we have no time for each other, or that the main medium of consumption for the mind is filled with crap. It's probably most easy to satisfy our need for instant gratification sitting on the comfort of the couch, rather than undergo through the efforts in changing the messiness and the ugliness of most interactions.

How do you shift the attention to thinking of the needs of others?
In the age of self-centred consumption - does family get you there - is being a parent make you focus off from the TV, Internet, devices and all the distractions the age of abundance has given us?

art of travel

2009-11-09T18:59:00.003+01:00

“the normal is the rarest thing in the world,” and when he was traveling he spent little time looking at the sights, but went off instead “on the search for emotion,”

“A novelist must preserve a child-like belief in the importance of things which common sense considers of no great consequence,” he wrote late in life. “He must never entirely grow up.”

I want to see life and death, and the passions, the virtues and vices, of men face to face, uncovered.”

“What is the use of hurrying to pile up money when one can live on so little?”

Somerset Maugham via http://www.worldhum.com/features/travel-books/the-perfect-traveler-20091026/

determination

2009-11-09T04:14:00.001+01:00

"So here in sum is how determination seems to work: it consists of willfulness balanced with discipline, aimed by ambition."

from the blog of Paul Graham http://www.paulgraham.com/determination.html

Room for rights?

2009-11-07T20:10:00.003+01:00

An individualistic society equals more room for depression?
When you have to look after the needs of more than a billion people is there room for rights?
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4867151,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

art of hiring future stars

2009-10-27T20:11:00.002+01:00

Excellent article from Harvard Business
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/cs/2009/01/the_interview_question_you_sho.html

Main points:

Ask the correct question - What do you do in your spare time?
"Obsessions are one of the greatest telltale signs of success. Understand a person's obsessions and you will understand her natural motivation. The thing for which she would walk to the end of the earth."
With different occupations narrow down to 2 or 3 spare time activities which are most important

art of marketing hustle

2009-10-07T14:16:00.003+02:00

"The art of hustle is being willing to set everything aside to get what you need and want. It is about doing what it takes in the moment to achieve what you need to move forward. It is about taking action again and again and getting better at it. It is about implementing and profiting."

"When you need to make things happen hustle is the key to success, do what needs to be done, put your pride aside and get to work. There is no failure except in doing nothing."

"Success is a series of actions that you take even when you don't feel like it and don't want to, it is not something that happens by buying a box of anything."

"Practice fearsome focus, work hard, do what others don't want to do, follow through, leverage your time and your money, keep what you earn and make it grow, take some time out for yourself now"

http://boldapproach.typepad.com/bold/

coaster canvas

2009-10-06T00:07:00.007+02:00

new samples of the commerative 100 years of Audi - well done to the company for pushing the levels of high design.

on friendship

2009-10-01T04:25:00.003+02:00

" Direct contact is the basis of a true relationship. Writing a letter, picking up a phone, hey - even meeting in person. The positive action that provokes a response is the bricks and mortar of a real relationship. "
Chad Taylor

on choice
The Paradox of choice - options make us miserable? does more choice achieve better results?
" to be rendered choiceless is to be free.."
Sarah Wilson

consulation for restless soul

2009-09-22T00:52:00.003+02:00

Travel reminds us not to get annoyed at the little things, to realise that we don't need to carry around so many material things to enjoy the excitements that life has to offer.

It allows us to be braver towards other people, to gain confidence in ourselves to overcome that initial fear or invisible barrier that we put up between ourselves and people.

In an age where we continually push ourselves to be better and compare ourselves to the images of perfection, sometimes what's broken is authentic and enjoyable.

Design is pervasive

2009-09-20T06:18:00.002+02:00

Cooper's mantra was that good design is good design, regardless of the medium, a position Strausfeld has shared with her current colleagues.

http://www.fastcompany.com/design/2009/featured-story-lisa-strausfeld?partner=mod

Daily distractions

2009-09-03T10:49:00.001+02:00

Thought for the day

There are so many things that you will come across daily that will stop you focussing on the important things....empty the noise.

MIBAZAAR: Your Latest Twitter Status on Google Maps

2009-08-18T13:15:00.000+02:00

cool way of combining googlemaps and tweets
MIBAZAAR: Your Latest Twitter Status on Google Maps: "
View Larger Map"

Book summary - Made To Stick

2009-08-03T14:58:00.003+02:00

Made to Stick
by Chip and Dan Heath

One of the best books that I have read recently on the art of communicating, whether it be in
teaching, marketing or for a presentation or pitch.

http://www.madetostick.com/excerpts

SUCCESs
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotion
Story'
s
- a checklist designed to be a tool for normal people in normal situations to make a profound difference with their sticky ideas.

Book can be purchased at the book depository with free worldwide shipping.

Chasing up clients for late payments

2009-07-06T05:13:00.003+02:00

Some really useful info and guidelines for current economic climate:

https://mybrc.com.au/Money-Legal/Managing-Money/Business-Finances/Pages/Five_Essentials_Invoicing.aspx

source:Debt collection guideline for collectors and creditors: joint publication by ACCC and ASIC

Full guide here

21. Legal action and procedures
[a] This section should be read in conjunction with part 2, sections 19 and 20 of
this guideline.
[b] Creditors and their agents have a right to pursue debts through the courts.
However, in pursuing or threatening to pursue legal action you must comply
with the consumer protection laws.
[c] Do not make misrepresentations about the legal process. For instance, do not:
• misrepresent the nature or purpose of correspondence. Ensure the layout,
wording and design of documents (for example, letters of demand) are not
likely to create the impression that they are court process or other court
documents, or that they come from a solicitor’s ofﬁ ce, when this is not
the case73
• suggest that telephone calls are recorded ‘for training purposes’ (and, by
implication, only for such purposes) when those calls may also be used
as evidence
72 See Ofﬁ ce of the Privacy Commissioner website at: ww.privacy.gov.au/publications/.
73 See also s. 26(2)(a),(c),(f)(g) Fair Trading Act 1992 (ACT); s. 21(2)(a),(b),(c)(f) 2 Fair Trading Act 1999 (Vic.); and 9
s. 43(2)(c) Fair Trading Act 1987 (SA). These provisions relate speciﬁ cally to misrepresentation regarding 7
documents, court process etc.

• misrepresent that failure to pay a debt (where no fraud is involved) is a criminal
or police matter, or is likely to be referred to the police74
• misrepresent that you are a police ofﬁ cer, court ofﬁ cial, or have some ofﬁ cial
capacity that you do not have to claim or enforce payment of a debt
75
• state or imply that unsecured basic household items can be seized if the debtor
is made bankrupt
76
• state or imply that you have instructions to start legal proceedings when this is
not intended, or you have received no such instructions
• state or imply that legal action has already been taken, or judgment entered,
when this is not case.
d] In certain circumstances the way legal action is threatened or employed can
amount to unconscionable conduct or harassment. For instance, this may be the
case if you start or escalate court action against a debtor when you have agreed
not to, or when a payment arrangement is in place and is being complied with.
e] When you know or can reasonably obtain the debtor’s current address, we
recommend that you issue debt recovery proceedings in the jurisdiction where the
debtor lives.
77
In some circumstances, limiting a debtor’s ability to contest court
proceedings by starting those proceedings in an inconvenient jurisdiction may
constitute, or be part of a course of conduct constituting unconscionable conduct.

assertiveness - Dale Carnegie

2009-07-06T03:57:00.003+02:00

1. Describe and summarise the facts of the situation
2. Express your thoughts and feelings
3. Clearly state your wants and needs (and hopefully include the benefits to the other party)

Vietnam - back to the beginning

2009-06-30T07:13:00.003+02:00

street peddler taking a rest in streets of Vietnam

Just some of my thoughts upon returning to my place of birth after over two decades. I personally feel a sense of empathy when I witness how people survive the day, whether it be a woman in her 60's carrying 20kgs in the heat of the day or a cyclo peddler sweating with perspiration during the same time. Life still is hard for the many in this developing country, and I was struck by how safe I felt, there was hardly any beggars on the streets as I saw in Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangkok.
People here seem to give anything a go, they are really resourceful with the little that they have, some things are slow, unplanned, unstructured and there are opportunists everywhere.

I had a great 3 weeks travelling through the country with my friends, discovering the coast of Vietnam in Hue, Da Nang and Ho An (was one our favourite places due to the rustic architecture and shops). My top 3 foods were the mini banh xeo (off the street-Saigon) Fruit-fed suckling half wild pig (Tay Ninh farm) and the Hue specialty - lotus shoot salad (Hanoi)

Social media - Entrepreneurship forum

2009-05-25T02:11:00.004+02:00

The 3 lines you can base your business relationships from:

This is what I can do.
This is what I can't do.
This is what I won't do.

Customer service
- give customers individual attention
- have convenient operating hours
- give customers personal attention

Maintaining contact with the customer after sale is more powerful than advertising

Referrals are based on 90% relationship
Power of networking, "who do you know in this room to get you where you need to go?"

Trends
- more CRM (automated)
- less choice
- loyalty is a novelty (jump without thought)
- customers are far more knowledgeable

Notes from presentation by Heath Kilger www.footytips.com.au

business background
+ 20 million page hits
+ cold calling via phone by asking for the right person who organised the footy tipping within business
+ fortunate to be around when Victorian Labour govt came into power delivering on a political promise of national footy tipping competition

- cashflow issues
+ creditbility: bought by Tattersalls
+ sites licencing backend software from www.footytips.com.au
started in 1998
+++ media assets worth much more than software assets
FOCUS on goals of business

Social media
+ genuine engagement
+ ebay and amazon as social networking
+ sharing information (reviews)

Moving meditations - Relationships

2009-05-15T00:40:00.007+02:00

How real are the relationships around you? In the advent of access to unlimited access to possibilities, which ones affects you the most?
Have you given up the hardest ones?
Would you rather enjoy the passive ones that elicit tears without the actual experience of undergoing the pain?
The excitement on an imaginary character's face when they sate their curiosity?
Our attention and ultimately, our efforts in this world is increasingly being divided into multiple slices. Without properly attending to, or being very disciplined in our natural tenancies, we will indeed become "slaves to the machine".

The machine being whatever we choose to spend our most energies investing into - your iphone, your TV, your virtual world.

Wonder what the behaviours of the next generation will be like:
"rather be somewhere else?"
"I read enough about you already to bother trying to engage you?"
"it is quite a privilege for us to be having a real conversation, as it has been determined that our psychometrics match nicely"

So where is your emotional attachement? and does it help you grow, can it be nutured and is it like a living thing?

Moving Meditations

2009-04-20T16:21:00.004+02:00

- what am I running away from?
is me avoiding the prospect of committing to having a house and settling - an avoidance of responsibilities, life's milestones?
- is it me speaking or my ego speaking?
- how am I going to test my confidence, or the reality of the ideas without spending the time to make it happen ---always floating around, sometimes making me frustrated at myself for not taking action

- how am I gonna make it work?
- other people cause me stress - mainly work atm, clients saying one thing, things not going right
- what is the point of being self aware??? to know what drives you so what?? how can you use this to enrich life, be more efficient, productive, realise happiness, create excitement?

1. Define the problem /obstacle 2. Proposed solutions 3. Results

Bob Isherwood former World Creative Director of Saatchi and Saatchi on 3 Keys to Success

2009-03-31T14:36:00.001+02:00

me getting a glimpse of the man himself

the 3 are ORE (Originality Relevance Emotional connection)
Originality is the inspiration for originality.
- encourage yourself to challenge the brief: what is the business problem you are trying to solve?
- techniques to assist: visual, power of words, power of music
- has to be relevant.
- avoid cynical people, work with great people to get inspiration.

Readings - Duct tape marketing

2009-03-29T08:48:00.011+02:00

Hermit Crab, Cook's Bay - Tasmania, Australia

Duct Tape Marketing
author: John Janstsch

Discovering your core marketing message

"Find something that separates you from your competition; become it and speak it to everyone you meet.
Quality isn't it, good service isn't it, fair pricing - not it. These are all expectations. The difference needs to be in the way you do business, the way you package your product, the way you sell your service, the fact you send cookies to your clients, the fact you show people how to transform their lives --
it's in the experience you provide..."

The talking logo - what you really do for a living
It may not really tell them what your really do, but will force them to take note and want to know more.
Part 1. addresses your target market
Part 2. zeros in on a problem, frustration, or want that market has.
E.G "I teach business owners how to get famous"

The pattern: action verb (I show, teach), target market (business owners, teachers), how to solve xxx (solve problem or need).

marriage = population control : moving meditations

2008-12-10T13:21:00.005+01:00

Josh and I enjoying drinks at AGDA's charity xmas party, Greenroom a sustainable bar at Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia.

What if we as males were allowed to have as many partners as our lust permitted?
Imagine a world like that! I'm thinking that the earth's natural resources could not possibly support that and so I have to hand it to the forefathers, kings, church who had the foresight of using marriage or religion as a tool of control.
So now in an age of having access to birth control, why isn't there a flagrant disregard for the institution of marriage. I guess the divorce statistics can allude to that of having the freedom to revoke it when things go sour.
What is it about being human that causes us to value relationships, the time invested as opposed to animals that have sex for the sake of reproducing? Why aren't we going around promiscuously enjoying sex and not thinking about the consequences?

Or even in the matter of relationships? Why can't we have the best of many short term ones rather than favour a long term one?

What is it about experiencing growth, change together over years that is preferable to a few intense months that you will remember forever, even if it meant it was not to continue?

Is it about building a story or how many stories that each of us were together in? I think it is this opportunity to have as many shared experiences with each other that cements a deep bond that allows us to be less mindful of the imperfections in each other, and to also enjoy the significant moments that are to come.

emotional rewards and other things for sale : moving meditations

2008-12-09T10:22:00.006+01:00

Nicholson St Melbourne at the Hispanic Festival

Fave tune of the moment: http://moosepl.wrzuta.pl/aud/file/fuy7UBMJ5L/tiga_-_3_weeks_booka_shade_vocalmix.mp3

I feel good when I eat, when I buy stuff, when I drink, when I have a nice place to live, maybe even unconsciously when I drink coke...

Do you ever stop to think why you work so hard and long?
Why in each particular culture there are different things that individuals work towards so that they can look around and feel that they have earned what is deemed success in their peers' eyes and garner the respect that comes along with it.

Why we work longer hours, even as we spend less time eating correctly and ballooning from all that easy-to-eat processed food, in the meantime being shown skinny beautiful models so that we can compare ourselves to?

Is this a system of self degradation escapable?

less TV time, shopping time and more moments with family friends doing things that involve interacting with each other instead of escaping and interacting with the plethora of distractions that we create ourselves so that we don't have to deal with the effort of figuring out each other and always being in control of our own snippet of existence.

Is this where it's all headed? our attention divided into devices vs living beings?

Customer Service

2008-12-07T00:39:00.000+01:00

The only reason to answer the phone when a customer calls is to make the customer happy.

Outliers: The story of success

2008-11-23T00:00:00.004+01:00

Daniel, Me and Anthony checking out the laneways of Brunswick, Melbourne photographed by Nathan, my other nephew.

2 kinds of talented individuals
1. conceptual innovators (rare: express quite quickly, precisely and immediately) Picasso
2. experimental innovator(more common: discover at in the doing - 10000 hours) Cezanne

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/video-gain-2008-gladwell (video of Malcolm's presentation at AIGA)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5iojXsASu4ksaKfh9UKWlw9W4YeuQ

Malcolm Gladwell's site http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html

Good Design Great Business summary

2008-11-19T05:42:00.003+01:00

"People who make it happen"
"People who watch it happen"
"People who wondered what the hell happened"

Truly successful industries align their ‘wants’ with basic needs (like hunger) and consumers (that’s us) cooperate all day long.

Tribes by Seth Godin
notes:

It's about creating the connections for people who share the same beliefs

Of here and now

2008-11-07T10:20:00.002+01:00

celebrating with a river BBQ, Germany

some thoughts during my moving meditation:

the urges/desires/discomfort with things repeats itself endlessly in the background even if you manage to ignore it. It needs to be addressed or it will always reside in the unconscious.

Flow comes from the art of focusing your attention on the moment, being aware of every little detail, taking in the visual, physical, aroma, taste and sound of things.
When was the last time you were so involved in an activity that you lost all awareness of time and place? What did it feel like? Was there any emotions? What was the result? Was it something of beauty, crafted with the very essence of being connected to the task? Or was just clearness of thoughts of the future or the past? Where were you, who were you with, what did your surroundings look like? What were you wearing, what was the weather like, the sounds, the aroma, how did you look?

Knowing or being able to zoom in to appreciate the very experience of it -- something that in our youth comes automatically and I feel we become glazed over by all our plans and responsibilities and sometimes actually come back to and really enjoy again.

My thoughts are dominated by the future and the past, and fleetingly of the present, as it doesn't register much excitement. How do I change this? by taking little 3% steps towards what is termed as "a beautiful day" Today I realised that the onus is on me to put the effort in to the relationships I value back where I called home for the last 20 years, as I was the one whole left for the adventure for 2 years. It may mean letting go of some good ones, but when you come back or start afresh it is upto you to build the relationship if you are the stranger. It is with anywhere through you travels, and it is this sequential effort that will bring out the best in your nature and provide a remedy to the inherent complacency that we tend to get into when we are well off enough not to need anyone to our basic needs met and not needing to worry about ending up on the streets.

I guess I agree with the idea that we do become too independent, not needing to ask anyone to fulfill our most basic needs of food /shelter. So that leaves me to ponder my escape mechanisms of reading, movies and TV to live out certain experiences that I yearn for. Of having drama, conflict love, loss and joy saturating my attention, so as to fulfill my emotional fix.

It is like a drug and one that I hope to control as I realise that if I don't put in an effort in to create these experiences in real life, then all I have to look back on is an empty passive comfy life that draws meaning from the stories that others have wrote for me to show what it could be like.

To get to the reality of the thing that stops you, find the payoff you are getting from doing/not doing it. What is the fear and then you can get to the truth where you are left with a choice. Then choose, choose your dream, or choose your past.

Virtual Team notes

2008-10-29T01:59:00.007+01:00

source: Mike Bennet of reasonablesoftware.co.uk

"Growing a Tribal Software Company with Integrity"

We are a Network, not a Hierarchy: People’s job really was Their Job. I needed to know what was going on and we’d have some meetings – but the initiatives were mostly theirs. This was helped by everyone working from homes all over the UK linked by phone and email.
To encourage unconventional thinking, ﬂexible and continuously changing structures, self-organisation, empowerment
and generally behaving like proper human beings: This helped to provoke people into doing new things. One response to plans I found useful was “It’s a bit boring”. Not telling them what to do – but pushing them to go farther.
To speak the Truth - even if apparently to our disadvantage: Radical!
To take the largest possible view of any situation - including the customer, the patient, society, the environment, the
Universe and ourselves: If you design a business model and software that meets the needs of everyone in the best way, it puts you way ahead.
To understand everything from ﬁrst principles: It’s often things that we take for granted that obstruct great ideas.
To produce outstanding software that makes customers say “WOW!”: (Thanks, Tom Peters.)
People responded amazingly to all of this. For example, the 5 person self-organising support team were on a demanding 24 / 7 schedule with a guaranteed 30 minute response – and took pride that they were achieving under 5 minute response times. And we could change direction as a company very fast – far faster than our competitors (who were all huge)!

You do need to recruit the right people – they need to be happy working without close supervision and to relish freedom – not be afraid of it. For the right people it was a great environment, and they gave far more to the company than they would have to a normal company. They were committed! Totally.

I found that the role of the MD / tribal leader is coach more than CEO, people development not “The Decider”, values not orders. The Visionary and also the person who keeps it all together by ensuring we’re mostly going in the same direction. You only actually need one person to set it up – provided that they are in charge and don’t have to negotiate with others who are more concerned about the money or have other values (like wanting power for instance).

Part of the background that I brought to this was lots of time in various spiritual groups – and I wanted to use that experience in designing and running the company. What would the company have to look like to attract people trying to live at the highest level of spiritual integrity? Well, we didn’t in fact recruit anyone like that – but it still set a standard of behaviour within the company."

looking into the facade that reflects the illusion

2008-10-27T13:48:00.004+01:00

Anthony @ Bonbeach

What does the things we wear and the way we wear it say about us?
How much of it is an accurate reflection of who we or or what we want others to perceive of us?
What is it that we seek to control?
Just thinking upon these questions, makes me wonder if we use clothing, objects and artifacts to create an extra layer or filter of identity to the world.
Akin to a facade, by wearing a luxury brand may signify to the world you are wealthy, you have taste, maybe quality or bring a set of behaviours that may be associated with that brand.
It also gives your peers a shortcut into the set of prescribed rules/behaviours into how they relate to you.
If clothing helps determine what "tribe" you belong to, then what happens when that extra layer of material identity gets stripped away, and we are left but to look at the bare body or our focus may be the eyes of another human being.
What about with the knowledge that everyone else is also looking at you -- how self conscious of the state of your body would you be? or the filters that normally get applied to others, in turn comes realised to the one looking back the mirror? How confronted will you be?
That unconscious desire for physical perfection, to be godlike perpetrated by advertising that floods our visual senses daily. This dream of an impossible beauty by consuming whatever is being sold.
If this is the norm than what is the alternative? to barricade oneself from media or cityscapes and hang out in the mountains?

How can one manage this, or at the very least bring the unconscious conscious? What about children growing up in such a media soaked environment, the advent of a "poser" generation is more likely with access to cheap digital recording tools.

Some of my ideas:
Turn off TV, pack your bags and get out of the city for a bit and find other beauty that nature offers, read a book rather than your gossip magazine, practise conversation rather than wait passively for entertainment to engage your thoughts or just stop thinking so much and be aware of or curious about everything around you

The circle of credit and "culture of contentment"

2008-10-26T11:30:00.006+01:00

Jasmin @Bonbeach, Mornington Pennisula, Melbourne, Australia.

Quick simple summery for myself about the credit crisis

notes from: Fiona Allen "http://newmatilda.com/2008/07/15/great-australian-nightmare"

1. Deregulation of the mortgage lending market intended to allow more people to have the opportunity to own their own homes

" The subprime mortgage market — lending to people whose income is too low, insecure or risky to qualify for an ordinary mortgage. "

"Selling the most sophisticated of financial products to the most vulnerable households came at the end of two decades of financial deregulation, which was also a period of rapidly rising housing expenditure. Between the 1950s and 1970s in the English-speaking countries, housing overtook food as the largest single expenditure for the average household."

2. Results in people having "The maximum amount a ‘typical couple’ could afford to borrow under standard lending rules jumped from $135 000 in 1992 to $305 000 in 2006."

3. Rising house prices soon overtook rising incomes, borrowing capacity and purchasing power.

Conclusion - Allowing people who cannot really afford to borrow money encourages them to spend that extra cash, inducing a overvaluation of property prices, thus putting them more into a debt that they really can't afford long term and eating into their ability to save and spend.

All this income going into house debt repayments makes Jan unhappy as she doesn't get to spend money as a consumer, which inturn affects retail which affects wholesalers and manufacturers.

Three birthdays in one

2008-10-15T15:30:00.005+02:00

celebrating our birthdays (me, Trung and Phong) with my family with a Peking Duck dinner - all ducked out for this month

image unconscious

2008-10-06T13:53:00.002+02:00

As she left my side,
a magnificent beauty etched forever into the memories of yesterday,
leaving ripples of loss in her wake,
saddened and breathless,
I am left frail always dreaming of the encounter.

Clarity and other advertisements

2008-09-28T13:33:00.007+02:00

Seagulls taking a bath to cool themselves down, Darling Harbour, Sydney, Australia.

Just some moments of clarity worth noting for myself during my yoga session.

What I learnt today:

1. You need to ask yourself the right questions.
e.g What would success mean for me? What would I be doing? Who would I be with?
How do I take what I learn and customise it to my unique story?

2. Focusing on one right thing gives you much more power than trying to juggle and be aware of 10 different strategies

3. If you are out of integrity with yourself, how do you expect to have integrity with others?
(e.g if you break little promises to yourself then you drain away confidence, faith and power in your intentions)

Today I had my best practice so far in yoga because of the realisation of how I shaped my thoughts during the postures and the presiding thoughts.

I focused on my breathing and also feeling how fast my heart was beating during rest.

The thought that was going through my mind was "draw strength from each breath" which helped me just focus on that 1 thing, rather than a multitude of distractions such as
- goddamn it's hot in here, I'm losing my balance, when is she gonna tell us to stop, so thirsty...etc

Also having a positive rapport and encouragement from the teacher got me to a good start.

Which brings me back to the main point.... what kind of thoughts get repeated during your times of distress? as opposed to moments of insight?
Can you actually write them down, do they make sense to your life? I think I appreciated these particular moments today because it had me asking the right questions about myself and how I viewed the world.

What does it all meant to mean?
What's the point of discovering truth and insight?
If it has worked for someone else, can it work for me?

If I want to be happy, one of the ways I can do that is meditate on compassion.... what does compassion actually mean to me?
How do I express it within my world? Is it alleviating suffering to those closest to me? Is it doing the dishes?

My point being is that even if we come across prescribed solutions that work and are popular, we need to cater it to our unique story, one's expression of love is anothers' version of hate. Firstly define what it really means to us, and endeavour to get a better picture of those around us so that when we go about doing things with the best intentions, that they are received as such.

Upon being able to focus on that one thought "draw strength form your thought" I realised how noisy my mind is normally. A typical day starts with me
- answering 10 conversations
- following 4 or 5 different tasks
- exposing my self to 20 websites in the search of 20 different topics that I think I might need to know for a rainy day
- working on 6 pieces of software on 2 different operating systems
- figuring out how to do one thing in one program with at least 150 options thanks Adobe can't live without it
- all the while listening to some groovy music and messaging 2 or 3 people

I'm an information junkie and really wonder where all my time goes and why I finish the day tired mentally and sometimes feeling like I've haven't achieved anything worth talking about. I'm collecting information and having conversations that have puts me away from sharing the space and moment with people. It is a daily challenge and one that I hope to get comfortable with somehow.

Creativity and Rationality in business

2008-09-16T15:35:00.005+02:00

Father's Day with my sister's kids

Notes from Marcus Powe's talk at the Innovation on Collins St

Innovation is the ability to deliver something (the key being the doing) and draws from a well of 'energy'

- good administration adds 10% to the bottom line profit of a business

- leaders must be at the start, middle and end of change in the workplace, where there is metrics to measure the before and after results.

- one of the hardest thing in being a consultant is the ability to listen, it is easy to prescribe templates, however each business has to create a culture that is a right fit for themselves and not to prescribe to one that may work for a fortune 100 company.

Identifying creativity blockers
Fear, Habit, Prejudice, Blind Acceptance, Stress

Innovation blockers
Poor communication, poor/no time allocation, no recognition, low/morale

more innovation blockers
Politics, tribalism, financial constraints, insecurity, change policy or lack of, no risk taking

Creativity occurs at every level of the workplace, one of the most creative activity happens in the mining industry.

'Ideas are worth nothing' find a way to detach emotion from idea as this has a habit of blocking commonsense and making you suffer.

Try and retain the ability / habit of daydreaming/playing around with ideas and concepts - have time to reflect and think properly.

Under the age of 10 we are more creative, after that we eventually get paid to be/act rational
This is a similar analogy to a young vs an established business, where eventually over-control saps away creativity.

Chop Book Suey - Flip by Peter Sheehan

2008-09-03T14:16:00.013+02:00

Nieces celebrating their birthdays

Excerpts I found useful from the book

Points :
Four Forces of change :
1.increasing compression of time and space
2.increasing complexity
3.increasing transparency and accountability
4.increasing expectations on the part of everyone for everything.

Fast Good Cheap pg 37
In today's demanding market of global oversupply, global underdemand and nonstop technological change business need to offer "fast,good,cheap" plus something above these three necessities to have a genuine competitive advantage.

- to sustain a competitive advantage, you must commit to a perpetual cycle of innovation.

Design as a competitive advantage in the case of Samsung which came from a commodity manufacturer 20 years ago to being recognised as a "poster child for using design to increase brand value and market share"

In every category of product and service, the winning providers who have the highest profit margins in their fees and prices, are the ones that create a distinctive mind blowing customer experience e.g Harley Davidson, Apple

Crowds don't create innovation, they validate them. In the global market place, the crowd will recognise and celebrate the best innovations. However these innovations don't come from the centre of the crowd, they come from the fringe. From bold companies and individuals who are willing to risk doing something different from what competitors are doing and off erring something different from what the crowds are currently embracing.
The best way to differentiate your offerings from the competition is therefore always to take the route least travelled.

Case for lead-user development
BRW article cites that products using the lead-user approach generated returns that were on average eight times greater than products developed the conventional way.
Eric von Hippel from 3M "This is not about traditional market research - asking what customers want. This is identifying what your most advanced users are already doing and understanding what their innovations mean for the future of your business."

Business is personal pg 169
2 things that attract and retain talent
1. the work that you do
2. the relationships that you build with your people

Relationships are simple but not easy:
most important key is to shift your mindset in believing that building great relationships will truly get you the best results.

ensure competence, deliver on what you promise, build trust via three previous steps and also the ability to listen, attentive and tone of voice. Have good manners

Using Wikis to spread useful and up to-date information e.g Geek Squad
Wikinomic: How mass collaboration changes everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. William

Action Precedes Clarity pg273
When we delay our action we deny ourselves the intensely valuable feedback that comes from putting the product to the test in front of a real consumer (or employee), who spent real money and is using it in a real-life situation.
Life and business move and change so fast that we put ourselves at a competitive disadvantage the longer we procrastinate.

Your best work does not happen when you are planning. Your best work happens when you are in the flow.
What decision have you been putting off? Make a decision now! Trust your instincts and go with it.

Photography and the opportunity to be a partner and mentor for customers as they capture the memories of their lives. Traditional photography printers offering digital photography lessons, digital photo frames, online services and scrap book design.

pg 293 Ask yourself: what opportunities are open to me, my career, my life, my business that are potential 'if onlys' tomorrow? What path of action do you think is worth taking a bet on now? Take it!

You want to say 'if only' less and less, as you become smarter, more confident and more successful. And the only way to do that is by getting comfortable with risk.

'In the long run, people of every age and in every walk of life seem to regret not having done more things more than regret things that they did'

Look Listen and UnLearn pg 309
1. Keep moving - look to what your competitors have done that has worked and not worked. Look to other industries for what they have done, can you do something similar.
2. Make up your own mind -
* Decisions leads to action
* Decisions create momentum - The action that follows your decision will give clarity that was preventing you from making another decision in the first place, and now you are off on a positive spiral. Action, clarity, confidence, decision, action, and so on.
* Decisions create confidence - The decision does not only just give you a sense of confidence but also those around you.

To be a flipster you will need some degree of delusional self-confidence, a willingness to believe in your opinions and ideas even if the whole world says you are crazy. An air of certainty must surround a leader.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcomings, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
Theodore Roosevelt

further reading "Blue Ocean Strategy"

art of contentment short list

2008-09-01T15:43:00.007+02:00

Positive Psychology
3 Types of "Happiness"

1.Pleasant life (as much pleasure/good emotion as you can get)
- extremely social, romantic relationship and rich repertoire of friends

2.Good life (Life of engagement)
- being in "flow" what you do
- crafting your life to enhance your highest strengths

3.The Meaningful life
- contributing to causes greater than yourself

Pleasure Vs Flow (Raw Emotions vs Non-feeling)

Meditating on compassion

1. The mind can be trained
2. Emotions come and go, but your consciousness is deeper

My thoughts

I think it is good to be aware that there are different types of happiness, that it can be cultivated and most importantly, to distinguish pleasure and true happiness.

This seems to come up in both videos, and from experience, causes me the most questions. Not all of us can spend all day meditating on compassion, however it maybe useful for 10mins a day to give your mind a break from all that thinking; just like a car engine may need to sit on idle to prepare for the daily grind and run better.

And when was the last time you expressed gratitude for the most important people in your life?
Do we have time for it in this age of noise and entertainment that distracts us for our attention? I know I haven't and find it hard to open up like that face to face, hidden behind the protective social facades.

Is it necessary for us to share our wealth and skills for the greater good of strangers whom we may never meet?

At the end of the day how can we train the mind on compassion, to infuse it to the point where kindness pervades our thoughts, like an athlete trains his mindy/body to work without too much conscious thought..

the art of contentment

2008-09-01T15:10:00.002+02:00

I've been thinking a lot about happiness, and so I happened to come across some web videos that offer what I think are very good summaries of it:

from a Western perspective -

and a Eastern perspective -

writing the stories with my eyes

2008-08-27T15:37:00.000+02:00

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. The purpose of human life is to serve and to show compassion and the will to help others. Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature. Life is an exciting business and most exciting when it is lived for others. You cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width."

@speed of consumption

2008-08-09T04:34:00.004+02:00

Swan at Lake Constance, Germany

Just a relay back to the idea of happiness - "I need more to be happy" is sometimes the thought that reverberates as I toil through the day. Being exposed to more and more change, and experiences drives me to seek a release from the mundane.

It is this non-appreciation of how far I have come and fortunate I have been, that sometime used by me to push myself. Though it is a very poor way of motivation, I have to say. Being motivated by dissatisfaction of one's circumstances will only be fulfilled until the next set of wants.

On the flipside, I am also motivated by contributing to somebody else's success, being able to help those in their time of need, or even if things they haven't considered. Why do we come across these emotions/thoughts that either are toxic for our psyche i.e greed, envoy, lust, apathy vs uplifting ie. inspiration, joy, humour?

There must be some self-serving reason for this sins/toxic feelings... is it to protect ourselves/self esteem/ego? Can I increase my happiness by just focusing on the basics...YES! but how can I still do that if I surround myself with material complexity?

Reduce the complexity? have less things to maintain thus, reducing their need to bother you? or just worry about the important things?

Of rainbow skies and starry-eyed facades

2008-07-26T16:21:00.004+02:00

I came across a sentence that seems to be pertinent to my feelings, and in a way gives me an awareness of the unsettled thoughts that sometimes pervade my otherwise tranquil and comfortable space.

"I cannot know where I most wish to be because I have not seen all that there is."

Tales from the other end of the leash

2008-07-14T07:40:00.010+02:00

My thoughts of contemplation whilst enjoying the simple pleasure of walking my dog...

Fullfillment

I've been thinking about fulfillment and how as we grow older, it seems that we require or demand more of the world or of ourselves to feel/be happy. Well it is what I am realising at the moment for me personally, and I am sure it this sentiment echoes for more than a number of people.

When you are young, your experience is limited to your immediate surroundings, learning, navigating and discovering this world both real and imaginary. As you get older, you have several experiences to compare, and it is exactly this comparison which sometimes takes away the simple pleasures that we took for granted as a kid.

E.g When I was a refugee, not yet 4 years old, our family of nine was escaping from the remnants of the defeat of South Vietnam. I recall the only thing that we ate during what would have been quite a tough, long walk from Vietnam to Thailand's refugee camps, was rice and salt.

That's all I can remember eating during that journey, for breakfast or lunch, actually it probably was once a day. Then, as we finally arrived at the camp, I had my first taste of sardines with tomato sauce. Boy, was I was in rapture!! this sweet yet sourly taste, was to me the best thing I ever had in yet my young experience, tasted. As you would have guessed, no more rice and salt to this day, although everytime I occasionally have sardines, I feel a certain sense of contentment to how far I've come since those circumstances.

The ability to seemingly run faster than the wind, the first stolen kiss of your young lovers' lips, and the unforgettable sound of the ocean still resonating in your memory the first time you put your ears to a seashell.

So do I need a nice fancy car, a huge house and expensive clothes to attain my next level of fulfillment? I might if I listen to enough ads.

Although travelling around during the past 3 years, with all of my possesions bundled up in my large heavy back pack (sometimes being poor has its moments ), my wealth wasn't measured by how much I had in my backpack, it came from the people I got to meet and know. True wealth, I realised came from the richness of your relationships.

Web browser statistics

2008-07-08T03:52:00.003+02:00

Just some research I'm looking at for trends in internet usage, so it saves you from looking..

As the world’s most popular search engine, Google record the user agent client version data from the billions of web searches made by an estimated 75% of Internet users, and is therefore one of the organisations most likely to be able to provide an assessment of the current state of web browser security (Microsoft’s MSRT also has excellent data, but only for the ~450 million users regularly running Windows Automatic Updates). However, for obvious privacy reasons, this data has not been made available to the public.

An interesting survey was released yesterday by Google Switzerland, IBM ISS and the Computer Engineering and Networks Laboratory of the University of Zurich, which provides the first systematic study of the browser data from around 1.4 billion Google users during the first half of 2008. They analysed Google’s client version data and correlated this with vulnerability data from sources such as Secunia’s PSI, in an attempt to assess how many vulnerable browsers were in circulation at a particular time.

The results are very interesting, with Internet Explorer taking 78% (1.1 billion) of the browser share and Firefox getting 16% (227 million). Drilling down deeper into the IE market share shows roughly half of IE users have now moved to IE7, whilst most FF users run the latest release. More worryingly, less that 50% of IE uses had the most secure version of their browser (rising to 83% in FF). For the month of June 2008, the authors suggest that over 45% web surfers (roughly some 637 million people) accessed Google with a browser that contained unpatched security vulnerabilities.

source: http://www.ukhoneynet.org

within the chaos inside

2008-07-06T14:30:00.010+02:00

Sunrise in Schwaebisch Hall Bahnhof

A question of identity, memory and faith

I've spent 2 months back in Australia now, and still trying to adjust to the sense of having my thoughts to being here. Actually, just having the sense of anchoring myself to a place during the travels of the last 3 years has been a new experience that is both exciting and at the same time like cutting yourself from who you were originally, painful and lonely.

It is this sense of belonging that I feel for me; brings meaning to place, the people and your thoughts. What if you don't feel you belong to your past anymore?

That you have been so used to change, adaption, of strangeness, of discovery, knowing that you are a temporary moment that leaves a ripple in the sand, only to be washed away with the coming tide of change.

What if we could replace our memories selectively? because who we are at this very moment comes from the recollection of who we were yesterday, the day before..... ten years ago.

To a degree, this retrieval of identity is circumspect, as who can really say that their recollection of the past is infallible? So in a sense the Buddhist/Zen belief that we are walking around in disreality starts to gain traction. The world we create, contributed by past memories is but one perspective coloured by emotion, exaggeration, and ego amongst things.

So where is the real you hiding?

Random thoughts I had whilst walking my dog Yasmin...

Rules of the simple life

It's not "me me me me" it's "what about you?"
It's not "buy buy buy" it's "I have enough.."
It's not "what's next..." it's "savouring the moment..."

project management 101

2008-06-16T16:51:00.004+02:00

Estimating: What and How to Charge

Estimating projects is a developed skill - it will mostly depend on your ability to properly estimate scope (how big is the project really?) and client management (how much time will it take to educate and control the client?).

When to invoice?

Invoicing expectations should be established prior to the start of work. A normal payment schedule is 30% upon approval of the proposal or Project Plan, 30% upon approval of the visual look and feel, and the remainder upon delivery of the final site. Be clear that any additional charges will be clearly identified and approved at any point in the development process where they apply and that those charges will be added to the final invoice.

source: http://www.web-redesign.com resource: http://www.pmi.org

Stuck in time

2008-06-13T18:40:00.003+02:00

The “abstract framework of divided time” became “the point of reference for both action and thought.” --the impact of clocks on human behaviour

In deciding when to eat, to work, to sleep, to rise, we stopped listening to our senses and started obeying the clock.

source: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

From the article- Is Google making us dumber?

When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is re-created in the Net’s image. It injects the medium’s content with hyperlinks, blinking ads, and other digital gewgaws, and it surrounds the content with the content of all the other media it has absorbed. A new e-mail message, for instance, may announce its arrival as we’re glancing over the latest headlines at a newspaper’s site. The result is to scatter our attention and diffuse our concentration.

The Internet is a machine designed for the efficient and automated collection, transmission, and manipulation of information, and its legions of programmers are intent on finding the “one best method”—the perfect algorithm—to carry out every mental movement of what we’ve come to describe as “knowledge work.”

Most of the proprietors of the commercial Internet have a financial stake in collecting the crumbs of data we leave behind as we flit from link to link—the more crumbs, the better. The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought. It’s in their economic interest to drive us to distraction.

As we are drained of our “inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,” Foreman concluded, we risk turning into “‘pancake people’—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”

YUM!!!

2008-05-15T10:24:00.003+02:00

Thai in Melbourne, thanks to Rob and his family

transpiration of thoughts

2008-03-25T01:10:00.002+01:00

I am the moment that has just passed, where eternity and memory collide.
I am the loneliness reaching out and yet reaching in.
I am the weakness between us and the strength that holds us together.

London's best parks and gardens

2008-02-26T02:54:00.004+01:00

View from The Strand, London, duotone

The biggest
Richmond Park
with Mazes
Crystal Palace Park (free)
Hampton Court (entrance fee)
Rollerblading
Hyde Park
Views
Alexandra Park, Crystal Palace, Greenwich Park, Hamstead Heath, Richmond Park, Waterlow Park
Walks
Princess Diana of Wales Walk, Jubilee Walk, Parkland Walk, Regent's Canal
Most Secret
College Garden, Secret Garden (Regent's Park)
Riverside views
Battlesea Park, Greenwich Park, Marble Hill Park, Richmond Park, Syon Park
Coffee
Battlesea Park, Kennington Park, Thames Barrier Park
Budget Cafes
Chiswick Park, Tooting Bec Common, Weavers Fields
Butterflies
Alexandra Park, Syon Park Butterfly House
Bird Watching
Alexandra Park, Hampstead Heath, Richmond Park, Highgate Wood, Queen's Wood, Regent's Park (waterfowl)
Art Galleries
Battlesea Park, Regent's Park, Kensington Gardens
Animals
Battlesea Park, Regent's Park, Richmond Park (deer)

London's best museums and galleries

2008-02-23T18:16:00.009+01:00

View from our new office at dusk, The Strand, London, UK at Reactive.com

SShort compilation of places to visit in London:

British Library
96 Euston Rd, London
(Diamond Sutra - earliest printed book in the world China AD 868)
(Shakespeare's folio, Beowulf, oldest surviving Buddhist scrolls)
British Museum
Great Russell St, London
Courtauld Collection
Somerset House, Strand, London 020 78482526
(one of the finest collection of Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings in Britain)
Horniman Museum
100 London road, Forest Hill, London
(World people, culture and environment)
Hunterian Museum, (Royal College of Surgeons)
34-35 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London
(medical science advancement)
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin's Place, London
(portraits of British men and women)
Natural History Museum
Cromewell Road, London
Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art
53 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, London
(one of 20th century's greatest collection of chinese ceramics outside of China)
Queen's Gallery
Buckingham Palace, London
(Royal treasures)
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Kew, Richmond, Surrey
(world's largest seed bank)
www.rbgkew.org.uk
Tate Britain
Millbank, London
www.tate.org.uk
(100 years of painting in England)
Tate Modern
Bankside, London
www.tate.org.uk
(international modern art)

Brett checking out The Crack, Tate Modern 2008
Wallace Collection
Hertford House, Manchester Square, London
www.wallacecollection.org
(French painting, porcelain and furniture)

back and forth in time

2008-02-18T02:29:00.002+01:00

for the love of beer, Belgo Centraal London

for the moments of friendship, Hong Kong

for the love of a stranger, Trafalgar Square, London

for the wistful moments, National Gallery, London

and the relationships that carries us forth

Been a huge break btw posts as I have been slightly addicted to facebook so less time for introspection, although I have been thinking alot about everything. Must write it down lest it disappears into ether.

into the shallows of soul

2007-12-14T06:41:00.000+01:00

Advertising wall in the underground tube, London UK

I have just been thinking about how to adjust to the routine of working vs the sporadic nature of study -- how to make this a little more exciting and interesting.

What little things I can do to live a better story?

Instead of whinging and moaning about how busy or boring evrything is, it is really upto to me to create and influence how the story unfolds everyday. It is taking this responsibility, the putting in of effort to make life as how I would like it that makes the difference.

Rather than resorting or falling back into the easy routine of blaming circumstance, leaning on my complacency (the easist of routes and modes of thinking) I can give my brain and its' creativity a workout, be nimble about life and aim to make a little difference everyday, whether it be in the writing of my thoughts, the depth of my relationships, my behaviour to those around me or just how I learn or progress in design.

I read that Steve Jobs aims to think or work to the fact that everyday is his last day -- it is tricky to translate this sense of urgency when you haven't faced the spectre of death as he has.

Is my life too comfortable, does it allow me too much independence from my fellow human beings to reach out and foster a sense of community - the connection that I don't seem to feel in the midst of a city hustling and bustling along?

What is motivating for me?

What provides satisfaction? gives that little smile when it is remembered?

In search of Bohemia

2007-12-02T20:21:00.000+01:00

Addicted to the intangibles

2007-11-30T14:53:00.000+01:00

Poem of the day

2007-11-08T04:37:00.000+01:00

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

William Blake

Dancin' like the sun will shine 4eva

2007-10-23T03:22:00.000+02:00

They have the moves to make you groove.
Manchester like Melbourne, but with a funny accent

2007-10-14T02:11:00.000+02:00

Another day in Windsor

On the train to Oktoberfest, met some random people who were from Vietnam, my vietnamese was passable

cute southern German outfits

Back in SHA sharing a coffee with Richard, our house master at the Baum Haus, delivered him some crumpets from England.

The Eton Toshi Posse, KAt, Carmen, Toshi and Diego

O these naughty times!

2007-10-14T02:02:00.001+02:00

View from our studio, Piccadilly Circus London

My flatmate's cat Missy, enjoying her soma time

View from our studio, Piccadilly Circus London

Celebrating Pia's birthday and house warming

Doing our own performance at the outdoor Globe Shakespeare Theater

Watching the Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare theatre, London with Linda, Loc and Jenny

Hooray for Deutschland

2007-10-01T00:05:00.001+02:00

Dusk in Schlossplatz, Stuttgart

Bring on the bier!

View from the streets of Munich

Moving to the big city

2007-09-08T23:51:00.000+02:00

Well I'm moving again, to the jungles of London. To all my friends my contact details:

tungvantruong@gmail.com
+44 (0)7949 957 014

I'm working for a cool studio in the heart of Piccadilly Circus named Reactive. Lunchtime is always entertaining as I watch the traffic of an electic mix of people making their way at my favorite time of the day.

Big Wheelie thing

2007-08-12T22:11:00.000+02:00

This is how aussies party

2007-07-24T20:15:00.001+02:00

80's pool party in London UK, short shorts, speedos and lots of glaring colour

Design for the Day

2007-07-23T00:55:00.001+02:00

" of impossible beauty "

A piece I did when I took some photography of the sky over Windsor and stones in front of my work place and some amazing photography on a website that I came across. Sent him an email asking for permission to include it in my portfolio. Cross my fingers...

flight of imagination

2007-07-18T23:21:00.000+02:00

Design of the day

2007-07-17T23:57:00.000+02:00

Of coloured markers and rainbow skies...

Dancing until dawn

2007-07-16T09:27:00.000+02:00

testing 1 2 3

Design is a process

2007-07-04T02:02:00.000+02:00

Spent a couple hours more on this piece as I thought the typography could be more playful.
Yes, as you may notice I am a huge fan of kids as they enable us to see authentic emotions. I also enjoy reminiscing my childhood and reach out to those memories so that I don't get too dragged down by the ego of maturity.
This piece is using bits of green for grass cuz every kid tries and eats them, me included, blue for water (rem the first time at the beach?)
A baby bird trying to fly....as we all try to do, sadly after a few injuries we realise that we can't.
Paint splashes to remind us how fun fingerpainting was in kindergarten (hmmmm I wonder that may be the reason they are so popular as design elements now)
And lastly the typography built like the card board fortresses that we slept in instead of sleeping on a nice cosy bed. Maybe it made our young dreams more fantastic.

Ride away

2007-07-01T22:36:00.001+02:00

As I am heading to Amsterdam next weekend, the theme for this week is bikes yikes!

Crop this!

2007-06-19T02:33:00.001+02:00

Playn' around with crops

Snapshots for the start of June

2007-06-17T22:44:00.000+02:00

Hmmm brought out my trusty little digital and here's 2 wks worth.

Summary of stuff short and sweet.

Exploring around Windsor another quaint little town where I currently live and also the Queen although I have yet to give the nice lady a hug.

Attending the Adobe Live Conference 2007 to be inspired with Diego, Suzie my fellow work colleagues from the studio (we teamed up to beat Diego at Futsal yaeay)

Loc running in a 10km in Windsor and coming to hang out at Windsor with me (he has energy like a bunch of dynamite!)

Design for the Day mash up

2007-06-07T03:28:00.001+02:00

add some typography, gradients, crop and wulla! ver 2.o it's like cooking

Design for the Day

2007-06-06T23:16:00.000+02:00

Photography courtesy of Diego.

Design for the day

2007-06-03T19:56:00.000+02:00

Photography courtesy of Diego a kick ass photographer who I have the pleasure of working with.

yesterday's goodbyes

2007-05-25T21:39:00.001+02:00

Very last day in SHA

There is only joy in remembrance

onto scale new heights, everyone has their own mountains to climb (Loc and me at Peak National Park, UK) rainy of course

along the Thames River, Windsor

yesterday's goodbyes

2007-05-25T21:29:00.000+02:00

Big chicken!

Bigger than Tai's head

tense the muscles, ready to eat this fat M** chicken

any1 for a kilt?

decent Burger King Angus burger

Back 2 one

2007-05-25T21:18:00.001+02:00

Straight from the sheep's balls

Camping at Peak National Park, Sheifield UK

Loc, he was kind enough to offer me a place to stay in his lounge whilst I looked around for a roof

all together now

Someone's mini tent, my new living quarters in London

The end of the beginning

2007-05-25T20:19:00.000+02:00

Olivia n me

Farewell SHA LA LA

2007-05-25T20:11:00.000+02:00

footsies

enough beer for like 30 minutes

honorary citizen of Schwaebisch Hall

getting some culture from the Kulture design students

bye bye kiss

Spring time, time to get frisky!

2007-04-10T00:36:00.000+02:00

I have a food fetish!

Beer Fetish

at Kathrin's house party

top of the hill with my sister, Phong

lovely day to laze about in SHA

Upon the cloud forest

2007-04-10T00:21:00.000+02:00

My lovely sister visiting from Oz

Where is the cloud forest?

umm at the Fetish party?

somewhere along the hills?

still looking...

The best of people

2007-04-04T03:41:00.000+02:00

Our awesome english class in Heilbronn, last days

It was our last days spent teaching to quite a bunch of lovely people and I'm sure that a smile will spread across our faces everytime we get carried away (daydream) by memories of the time spent together.
(I will write some more, once I get more time...keep posted)

Peter and Valentina

Peter, Steffi, Pratricia, Monica, Daniel, Heildrun, Valentina, Ramona, Ina, Anushka, Sandra, Beate and Doris

Swing your hips this way!

mmmm look at all this food, so spoilt Anushka (the brainier English teacher) contemplating the yummy choice of food

Home made the only way

our little farewell gifts, thank you so much guys and also especially for the people who organised this, your English teachers are very touched.

Schwaebisch Hall Fachhochschule Open House

2007-03-20T12:27:00.000+01:00

More work!

Fachhochschule Open House

2007-03-19T11:37:00.000+01:00

"For it is in the mind we see, and in the mind we live, whether we know it or

not."

Booth Tarkington

The University that I completed my degree in had an open house to showcase student work this weekend. Such amazing standards coming from the first semester Kulture Design students, I was inspired.

Entry for frei!

Follow the exotic insects

Sugar is the source of life! and also sehr gut mit Kaffee und kuche

Visiting students from Cleveland! *gesturing while you speak is not common for Germans...we will teach them one gesture at a time ;) wave your hands up in the air and say Yeah!

I never thought chilli could not just be spicy!

"Life is too short to be little"

2007-03-11T22:31:00.000+01:00

This is a quote from a book that I am currently reading, which points out that often we allow ourselves to be upset at little things we should despise and forget ....rather we should devote our life to worth-while actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings. For life is too short to be little."

Photo for the day!

Another one for Mario Hola!

Design for the day!
www.amar.com.au winter collection

The Greatest Gift .....love and ???

2007-02-26T20:55:00.000+01:00

Education

I am now starting to realise and have an appreciation of the amount of effort, energy that it takes to assist someone in their learning. It is a big responsibility and sometimes, something we tend not to take too much notice of.

But what comes out of it is something that is invaluable, that enables a person to create opportunities for themselves, give them a decent chance at having the ability to make something of their lives. That is why I believe it is one of the greatest gifts you can give to fellow human being. It would be certainly seem obvious to all the teachers around the world, but for myself, I need to state my personal realisation and let as many people be aware. Normally, we take it for granted (free public education) and not stop to think of its importance, the role of teachers to change lives for the better, their ability to influence and make a difference in the world.

I have a strong desire to change the world for the better, to help those less fortunate, through my teaching my skills whether it be design, english or cooking (yum!). Where do you think this comes from you may wonder ? It is something that inspires me, that follows from my roots, and in a hidden way, how my parents have subconsciously nutured in me...so first and foremost, thanks Mum and Dad for providing me the best education in the world from all that you knew.
Thank you for my brothers and sisters, for teaching me and continuing to teach me as well as my friends.

But I reserve a special thanks to those great teachers who I have had the most impact in my so far short and exciting life:

Mr Debernadi (My legal teacher) incidently without his belief in me, I would have ended up on the wrong side of the the law and severely lacking any decent education.

My high school English teachers who gave me the love of expression and showed me the power and wonder in words.

Mr Spero (My 6th Grade teacher) who encouraged belief in myself, and my fascination with encyclopaedias.

Michael Wright (graphic design lecturer) showed me the value of ideas and continuing design support.

Sebastian Porto (multimedia manager) how to be relaxed and composed even with tight deadlines Peruvian style, invaluable tips on web design and photography.

Kim Colmer (design professor) for her support, contagious enthusiasm and insights into design.

Naomi (RMIT design lecturer) for showing me the power of narratives in web design and creative thinking.

Typography

2007-02-25T14:34:00.001+01:00

Font: Frank Reuhl for more character (human ? qualities)

Fun with Futura font

Design for the Day! I'm on a roll..

Font: Univers LT 59 (I'm thinking it gives out a more graphic design / modern look with an air of fashionable hehe..well have to find more vocabulary to express character of letterforms)

I'm experimenting with different typography as it's an important area of design. I'm not quite sure where to start though, mmmm guess I figure out what already know and we'll go from there. So using different types would be a good basis, I know the basics of structure of the letter form, spacing, kerning, tracking etc. I guess I have to look around and find practical examples, as these details themselves don't really mean much to me yet, except just purely visual aesthetics.
I'll put up some links as soon as I find them.

Photoshopping

2007-02-25T03:12:00.000+01:00

Design for the day!