Thoughts, ramblings and musings!

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Archive for category Betterment

Taming the ugliness (an apology)

Oct 7

Posted by Andrew Blanda in Betterment | 2 Comments

Yesterday, I had gone for a ride with my 2 boys (4 & 7) along the bike path adjacent to Botany Bay starting in Brighton, down to Dolls Point and back. For those not familiar with this bike path, it’s a shared path with pedestrians for the most part, and cuts through 5 carparks.

In one of the carparks, there was a car blocking the bike path (it looked like the driver simply drove into the carpark and just parked the car across the bike path.

Getting Mr4 to look ahead and try and react early is impossible, and I had to speed up and ensure both of the boys stopped before hitting the car. Something in me snapped. I was infuriated at how pig-headed someone could be to park across the bike path!

  • I noticed that the driver was still in the car.
  • I decided (most likely unconsciously) to let the driver know what they had done, as they probably don’t realise it.
  • I approached the car and advised the driver that they were blocking the bike path and that my sons had almost hit the car. (That’s how I wanted it to transpire), but in reality I turned ugly :( . I did let the lady know she was blocking the bike path and that she should move the car to a designated parking spot, but I am not sure I came cross in a non-threatening, friendly manner. I know I then began repeating myself louder…i.e. the refuge of the defeated.
  • Afterwards, I definitely did not feel like I had done a community service – in fact, I felt like crap, mulling it over in my head for the rest of the night.

I am writing this as an open apology to the lady + her passengers who had to see/experience the ugliness that is still within me. It should have gone differently, it could have gone differently, but it didn’t – and it’s my fault. The control of the situation was completely in my hands until I snapped and went down the ugly path.

You can read more about all my 2009 goals here.

Freaky Stuff Happens

Sep 23

Posted by Andrew Blanda in Betterment, Ramblings | 3 Comments

As some of you will know, my planned trip to New Zealand to celebrate my 10th Wedding Anniversary was thrown into chaos due to the Apocalyptic elements of Sydney weather early this morning (SMH article, Flickr photostream, BOM warning).

Whilst at the airport, the Air New Zealand staff did the best they could to explain the situation (in essence, no planes landed in Sydney to take passengers to NZ…simple really) due to limited visibility over Sydney. Our first flight (7am) was cancelled due to engineering issues so were provided a meal voucher to the food court (awesome!) and put on later flight (9:30am). At 7:30am it was apparent nothing was coming into or out of Sydney; the 9:30am was cancelled (due to weather) + the best we could do was call Reservations and make changes. I had confirmed seats on the same flight on the 24th, so decided to go home and make alternate arrangements for the rest of the trip.

Whilst on the phone with United (as the flights were booked through United, not Air New Zealand), I got to speaking to a lady by the name of “Chen” who helped me change my flights, and she was so lovely asking if it was OK to put me on hold many times. (Of course it was OK, I have worked in Customer Service and know how things work), to which I joked “sure it’s OK, I’m not going anywhere yet!” We got to chatting and I said to take her time as I understood there are delays in making changes and I didn’t mind waiting, at which point I asked her “how are other passengers/callers handling things?”

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can and the wisdom to know the difference”

She said it’d been quite a tough morning as the majority of the callers were screaming, mad, angry and frustrated that their plans were thrown into chaos as well. I explained to her that Freaky Stuff Happens beyond our control, and getting mad at others over stuff you can’t control is stupid. I explained that I had time and wasn’t going to get mad, and wonder why others would get in such a way over something they can’t control. She replied “thanks very much for sharing that with me, it helps to get through the day to hear such kind words”

I believe I helped change the way her day will pan out, But wonder where other peoples’ heads are? When the Freaky Stuff Happens, knowing what you can control and what’s beyond your control should help you best direct your energies to achieve a resolution. Screaming at customer service people over the phone for no Freaky good reason is pointless, damaging and unproductive.

To anyone out there in a customer service role ‘affected’ by today’s Freaky Stuff, I wish you all the best to get through the tough day ♥☺♥.  To all people inconvenienced by today’s Freaky Stuff, revel in the different day this is turning out to be, and don’t turn into an ugly zombie!

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Half Marathon

Sep 11

Posted by Andrew Blanda in Betterment, Exercise | 3 Comments

I am excited to be running my 1st half marathon (as part of the Sydney Running Festival) in less than 2 weeks. For someone who had not done more than a few hundred metres at a time back in May, I think it’s been pretty good going. Some people (notably friends through Facebook and Twitter) have asked why I’m doing this and what preparation I’ve had.

My lead-up to this was the 11km Sutherland2Surf, as well as the 14km City2Surf. Each week I’ve been going to 2 x 1hr Aerobic Kickboxing sessions and a 10-13km run on Fridays. I am not taking this so seriously to be locked into a training regime as my initial goal is simply to get fit! :-)

This is one of my 2009 Goals which I had decided on back in January. I believe that pursuits such as walking/running rely less on technology and more on your own ability. Most other sports rely on other objects (balls, other players, equipment, etc.). Running really does force you to rely on yourself to get through. I am aiming to complete the Half Marathon in under 2 hours.

I decided that as I am fit and well, I’m going to see how far I can push myself whilst I have the capability to do so. It will help me understand who I am (in a physical sense) and provide me a mechanism to get fitter and relieve stress at the same time (I find running and cycling quite therapeutic :-) I’m also working in other ways to expand myself in the realms of thinking, creativity and relationships – I’ll share those thoughts with you soon.

I have not yet chosen my next ‘big’ goal, but will be looking to complete the goals I have set for myself for 2009. Let me know of some of your goals, or if you will also be running in the Sydney Running Festival!

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Books I’ll be reading soon!

Jul 1

Posted by Andrew Blanda in Betterment, Personal Development | 1 Comment

I have always ‘had an interest’ in how we learn – how we take information in and use it to take action of some sort. I decided to look into this, and other areas of interest a little more by going on a book buying journey, which will lead me to a book reading journey soon! I have also included here books that I already own but have not yet read.

Starting with my short-list of topics I am interested with: People, Learning, Ideas, Innovation, Simplicity.

Books on my list to help me work out where to next:

  • “Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love” – Jonathan Fields
  • “Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur” – Pamela Slim

People/Learning

  • “The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force” – Jeffrey M. Schwartz
  • “The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science” – Norman Doidge
  • “Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School” – John Medina
  • “How We Decide” – Jonah Lehrer
  • “The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century” – James Howard Kunstler
  • “The Ruthless Leader” – Alistair McAlpine
  • “The Brain” – Richard Restak
  • “Learning and Behavior” – James Mazur

Ideas/Innovation

  • “Outliers: The Story of Success” – Malcolm Gladwell
  • “Lateral Thinking” – Edward De Bono.
  • “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” – Malcolm Gladwell

There’s quite a bit of reading there for the next couple of months – might be time to devote more time to reading instead of digital fiddling! I will be posting reviews as I read the books, along with recommendations & insights!

My 2009 Goals

Jun 18

Posted by Andrew Blanda in Betterment, Exercise, Personal Development, children, family | 2 Comments

Originally written on Monday, January 12, 2009 at 3:14pm as a Facebook note. To link up to me through Facebook, add me as a friend!

As a follow-up to my Musings of 2008, here are some of the goals I will be aiming for in 2009 (I won’t call them resolutions – I ‘resolved’ to do some of these years ago! :-)

For me:

  1. Increase my volunteering efforts (First volunteering event was on 4th Jan)
  2. Researching the Blanda name/family tree/how ‘Blanda’s’ are related (already begun)
  3. Improving the quality of my relationships, both personal & business, including visiting more people and having more people over for lunch/dinner/a drink or a chat (includes spending more time with my boys).
  4. Understand how I tick
  5. Work out what I want to do with the next few years of my life
  6. Become fitter: All of the below are either a part of or will be a result of becoming fitter:
    1. Participate in more cycling events (including completing the 90km version of the Gongride)
    2. Take up a martial art with the boys
    3. Participate in more walking/jogging/running events (including completing a Half-Marathon)
    4. Build a small gym in my garage

For the Family:

  1. Reduce the amount of electricity we use in the house (underway)
  2. Pay off the mortgage quicker in 2009 than we did in 2008 (underway)
  3. Continue looking for ways to simplify our life and reduce the need for material possessions (ongoing)

What are some of yours resolutions, goals or ‘want-to-achieves’ in 2009?