Bend in the Weather

Yesterday saw Sol Trujillo the CEO of Telstra resign to go and join his former exec mates (Greg Winn and Phil Burgess) back in the US of A. So come June 30, all of the 3 amigos will have left the country and resigned from their positions.

It will have been 4 years to the date when his last day at Telstra occurs. Let's take a look at what he's achieved in that time:

• Taken a company that had a shareprice above $5.06, to hover now around the $3.68 mark. (Shaving of over 25%)


• Earnt $13.4 AUD million dollars last financial year, and likely walk away with a golden handshake of $20AUD million dollars.
  


• Managed to be pig-headed over the NBN, and ultimately ensured the joke of a proposal Telstra submitted was thrown out. Sol by his own admissions, claims it probably cost the company around $2 AUD billion dollars.
  


• Consistently fought with the ACCC and both Liberal and Labour governments on regulation issues. The management style used in the states of bullying governments into submission didn't rub well with Australian federal politicians, and worked against Telstra in the end.
  


• Used their monopoly against competitors at the detriment of Australian consumers; with lock outs of Telephone exchanges (so they could install their own equipment), delayed the rollout of ADSL2+ (left equipment sitting there for at least 18 months), anti-competitive pricing of back-haul charges across the country, and over inflated prices at both wholesale and retail levels.
  


• Clashed relentlessly with the Communications, Electrical, Plumbing Union on his way to sacking 10,143 employees (he's still got 3 months to go, expect more heads to roll before then. He stated 12,000 to go in 5 years, and he's been pretty much on target there, not ideal in the current economic climate. Industrial action since Sol came on board has been ongoing. The majority of call centre staff and IT staff are now outsourced from cheap labour countries like India.
  


• Over simplified the business transformation process which will grossly exceed budget and stretch out for at least another 3 years. With the departure of the 3 amigos, the job they commenced will not be finished, and some poor bunny will be left with egg on their face when the true details of the projects emerge some years later.
  


• Disregarded a vote by shareholders at an AGM not to raise company execs salaries. They rose them anyway.

Surely we can find someone as dreadful in Australia to run this country and don't need to import another 'know-it-all' yank who thinks he knows what's best for us.

I wonder what Jodee Rich is doing these days?!
(Answer: Working on PeopleBrowsr)

Saturday February 7 2009 will be etched into the minds of many Australians for generations to come.
"Black Saturday" saw fires rage over Victoria.

The International Reaction to the fires has been unprecedented.
To date, the final numbers aren't known, but 209 to date have been confirmed to be killed by the fires.

Today (Sunday 22/02/2009) saw an official day of mourning. Events were held around the country, and televised throughout the nation for the 90 minute service.

To say these fires were immense doesn't describe it. In Australia, we use the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) to rate speed and spread of fire in Australian forests and grasslands. 'Black Friday', the 1939 fires was rated at 100. It's estimated that Black Saturday saw that index range between 120 - 190.

From the CSIRO website -- they best describe the Index:

An index of 1 means that a fire will not burn, or will burn so slowly that control presents little difficulty. An index of 100 means that fires will burn so fast and hot that control is virtually impossible.

The Premier of Victoria has announced a Royal commission into the fires and what can be learned from it. I hope much of the former research that has been undertaken by the CSIRO over the years is called upon, and where necessary additional funding provided so they can continue work in this field.

Many have heard about the couple that had to pay $100,000 in fines and legal costs after being sued by their council for clearing trees on their large property so they were not within 100m of the house. Interestingly they followed the exact advice from the CSIRO.

The easiest way to increase the probability of your house surviving a bushfire is to reduce the amount of fine fuel within 100 metres.

Remember this is a family that felled 247 on a property that contains thousands of trees. I hope it goes back through the courts and they are reimbursed for every cent they have had to pay. The Sheahan's house was saved, sadly their neighbours were not so fortunate.

It's time that the so called Greenies where put in their place. These latte sipping inner-city dimwits are lucky to even venture out of their high rise apartments. Most that live in the country, earn their living off the land. They understand the vital role that the soil, wildlife and foliage play in that. The days of indiscriminate land clearing of thousands of hectares are over a century old. I'm yet to find a Greenie who actually makes a living off the land.

Fire prevention practises need to change. Hopefully the Royal Commission probes deep into such events, to ensure a disaster of this scale never occurs again. May those lost not be forgotten and covered up in bureaucratic red-tape.

Certainly the weather played a big part in these fires, and there was going to fires on that day. (Temperatures in the high 40's and wind gusts up to 100km/hr are never a good combination). However, the carnage created had a lot to do with the amount of fuel left to burn. Many of these areas hadn't had a fire since the '39 fires... some 70 years earlier. Having been into many of these areas within the last year, I distinctly remember seeing undergrowth so thick it was humanly impossible to walk through (It would of been 1.5 to 1.8 metres tall!).

However, these questions will be answered in the course of time.

Today was a day of remembrance and thanks.

Thankyou to the countless firefighters, emergency personnel, volunteers, medical emergency staff, police and army personnel who have helped (and are still helping).
May we remember those that perished, the families torn-apart and those still waiting to hear about missing loved ones.

Watching the ceremony, it was one of the most moving events I've ever witnessed.

Whilst there was plenty of tears, it was an event of healing.... as everyone from all walks of life came together. Whether you were a farmer, a housewife, a dignitary, a religious leader or part of the emergency response; they all came together as one.

The main theme from the event was one of hope, mateship and the sense of rebuilding.

It will take months, years and even decades for parts to be restored. However due to the assistance provided by all levels of government, the massive fundraising through the Red Cross (via public donations) and the steely determination of those effected -- the task will be undertaken and completed.

These fires now rank in the top 15 disasters in this nation and are the worst bushfires on record. February 7 will also be commemorated nationally each year, with memorial services and the nations flags at half-mast.

For those directly affected by this horrific event, the nation mourns with you, we will assist you in the recovery, and your losses will not be forgotten.

Don't you love it when you find out your entire weekend is on the scrap-heap because you need to work.

I love hate the way projects are handled at this place.

1. Project is given 3 months from start to finish
2. Design Architects spend 2 months stuffing around with the design, which they always get wrong.
3. Cablers and networks take 2-4 weeks getting the infrastructure in place (most of the time).
4. You're left with whatever crumbs are left to actually build the OS, harden it, install your regular tools, configure users, configure up the SAN disk, and deploy the various host applications required.. (You can read this as normally (-1 day -> - ∞ days)
5. Project manager can't understand why he is now running behind schedule and decides that escalating you is the best solution to resolve the issue.
6. As a result someone high up thinks the best way to resolve the issue is to insist on bloody hourly updates... taking you 30 mins each hour to complete. No-one seems to realise that this only leaves 30 mins each our to actually do the work!

Right... I feel better I've got that off my chest.

Now back to the joys of this weekend.... I've already worked past midnight most nights this week and running on empty.

I dunno why I whinge, it's a process rinsed and repeated over and over. It's not like we get recognised for the crazy hours demanded of us (or even really compensated).

Huawei, the Chinese company that ruffled a number of Cisco feathers have been pushing out a number of wireless 3G devices for wireless broadband for some years. You can find the Huawei devices like the E220 and E169 available from several Australian telcos for 'mobile Internet'.

I personally own a E169 on a Optus Pre-Paid Mobile broadband connection as a 'backup' for when my ADSL connection goes down.

This week at the Mobile World Congress being held in Barcelona Spain, Huawei has announced the release of i-Mo; a combined 3G wireless modem and Wifi router unit. This means one connection can now support multiple people.

Many people are already dropping a dedicated telephone line and the cost of ongoing line rental, such a device is certainly only going to grow this market more, as it can now move from a single user device to a household device.

However, the biggest news from the Mobile gathering is that we're likely to finally see a universal power adapter for mobile devices (so no need for a new charger whenever you upgrade that mobile phone). They are also suggesting up to 50% power savings when charging your phone. Don't hold your breathe, it won't become active until 2012. If only they could do the same with damn data connectivity cables!

The levy imposed on fresh milk is about to be abolished on the 23^rd February 2009.

It's a levy we've all been slugged with since 2000 under the Howard governments wisdom in funding deregulation of the milk industry.
The levy collected some $240 million a year. Dairy Australia has came out to say that this levy never actually made it's way to the farmers. So where has $2 billion in money actually gone?

GST under Howard was supposed to remove the multiple layers of taxation.
It's amazing that levies have still been a popular hidden method of indirectly taxing the population.

Now if only more levies would start to be removed...

Most people don't realise that we have levies buried in just about everything in this country. From the containers holding your plants from the nursery, to lamb meat and citris fruit just to name a few.

Whilst it can be argued many of the organisations involved in that industry pay the levy, it's likely to be passed down the line to the end consumer.

Levies often are quoted as providing funds for R&D and other improvements, however it's not uncommon for a large percentage of these funds to be eaten away in administration, marketing and other such activities. I would love to see some accounting transparency of the bodies involved in the collection of levies and producing concise reports on just how much money is collected and where it's been spent versus the proposed allocation of funds. It would certainly make interesting reading.

Collection of levies is such big business in this country, we even have a Levies Revenue Service area in the Dept of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food! Unfortunately food and agriculture is just the tip of the ice-berg.

In December we moved into our new house.

Like any new house there are a million tasks that need to be undertaken to make that house into a home.
Slowly but surely Pauline and I are undertaking these tasks.

Whilst the majority of the house is now set up as we desire inside (albeit a few pieces of furniture and moving boxes that seem to continually appear!), the outside has been relatively untouched. Looking out on dirt, rubble and left over building materials wasn't too inspiring.

We laid down approximately 24 metres (yup 24 metres!) of top soil over the Australia Day weekend after removing most of the rubble from the yard. Six hours of bob-cat work and we had it laid out and levelled. Whilst the top soil provides a great foundation for lawns and gardens, it also is a wonderful way to introduce a massive amount of dust and dirt into the house. We also laid about 2 metres of gravel with the bob-cat laying it out for the commencement of a side driveway for us.

I took last week off on work to put in a front garden. This would provide a few solutions:

• Limit the amount of dust being brought in the front door.
• Provide us with some inspiration.
• 'Complete' the front of the house and making it much more appealing to the passing eye.

We started by drawing up a rough plan of what we were after. We wanted a low maintenance garden, but something that was pleasant to look at, but also something that attracted native birds. As the front yard can be seen from the bedroom and Pauline's study, we were also after something inspirational.

One item I did want was a 2nd driveway, to provide access to the rear of the property. We have a 2.5m side gate, and a gravel driveway would be ideal to separate the garden from vehicles and machinery needing to get around the back. I wasn't overly keen on having the garden being stomped on by earth moving equipment. In addition, we could put an area behind the gate to store our trailer.

So after many, many hours in the last week, we've produced a garden we are extremely proud of. It's our first attempt at any serious gardening (do growing herbs and potted plants count?), so we actually surprised ourselves.

Here is a run down on the various stages we undertook. It should also help provide some steps to those wishing to undertake something similar.

Stage 1 - Starting point We had previously had the bob-cat operator in a few weeks earlier. He had laid down and levelled the top soil and some crushed rock for us. This was our starting point.	Stage 2 - Preparing the area We started by laying some treated pine (H4) as a boundary between the side driveway and the proposed garden. 3 additional metres of gravel was then placed on the driveway, and we shoveled and raked this out by hand. (in hindsight -- using a bob-cat would be recommended) Moving this much by hand isn't advised! Weed mat was then applied and pegged down to cover the proposed garden area.
Stage 3 - Laying the chip bark We ordered in 3 metres of chip bark and raked it out. It's about 4-6 inches deep, which helps reduce water evaporation and also provides another barrier against weeds. Now the chip bark is down, the defined areas of the garden can be made out.	Stage 4 - Creating a feature point A feature point in a garden is important, as it draws the viewer in. We decided on a centre feature point to utilise the shape and area we had defined in the garden. ¼ a metre of 20mm tuscan pebbles and another ¼ of a metre of 40mm tuscan pebbles where mixed together to create variety and randomness. The ½ metre of pebbles was then laid out in a 'pond' style shape and curved to break many of the straight lines in the garden.
Stage 5 - Adding garden pieces Garden pieces add curiosity to a garden and often provide the charm. Whilst the plants are the main aspect of a garden, it is often a good idea to add non-plant items to a garden to break up the garden and generate some interest. As we were going for a native/bush garden we added some 'rustic' elements such as the tree stump and the log (a disused/broken old fence post). In addition we wanted to attract native birds to the area, so we added a bird bath to the garden. The tree stump is strategically located so curious birds can fly/land on the tree stump and survey the surrounding area before venturing in for a drink/splash.	Stage 6 - Planting Now that the base of the garden has been established, we planted the succulents, trees, shrubs and flowers. We were after a native bush style garden, so natives and drought tolerant plants were used. We were also mindful of colour, shape, texture and foliage of all the plants selected. Doing so meant that we didn't create a static looking garden but one with visual depth and appeal. Many of these plants when established will grow out to 1-2 metres in width and height. This will provide a rather populated garden and one rich in colour, foliage and shade. Due to so many native plantings, it's likely to also be a hit with local bird and animal life.

The garden is quite attractive from all angles:

Here is some close ups of some the plants we planted:

We're extremely happy with the results, particularly seeing this is our first real attempt at gardening. Whilst it's daunting starting out, there is so much information available on the Internet, in books and at hardware stores/nurseries that it really isn't hard to locate the information you require.

Pauline now has a beautiful view out of her office window, and we wake to a lovely garden each morning.
It's definitely not a weekend job, and it did take us the entire week to do. (Though a very warm summer and not being the fittest people going around probably dragged that out). In addition we had to go get supplies on a regular basis which ate into 'gardening time'.

So if you are wanting to put in a garden and remove that dead brown grass I highly recommend it. It's much more pleasant and lively to look out on, and will help attract native birds into your part of the world. Whilst we could have also paid a landscaper to come and do all the hard work for us, we ended up saving thousands and have a great sense of accomplishment. It's well worth the investment in labour and time. On the finance side, we hit just over $500 which is quite cost effective.

Finishing Touches
We are going to put in a pathway from the side gate to the front door. I'm picking up a bunch of red gum sleepers and will be cutting them in half and burying them into the chipbark to provide a nice rustic path via red gum steppers. Even better, I'll pick them up for free after a barter was undertaken (configure up a Samba server for him, and access to the sleepers I would like). Now that's using Linux in ya garden!

We have some garden lights that we may eventually run down the driveway/path to the front entrance. We do have a sensor light there, so I'm undecided at this stage if we need them out the front (we also have a street light opposite us, which provides a lot of night light). If I don't use them around the front, we will redeploy them around the backyard.

To date there has been 84 confirmed dead. Approximately 800 odd homes have been destroyed, and countless livestock.
Words can't convey the sorrow, pain and utter feeling of helplessness many are feeling.

This Google Map really highlights the damage these fires have created.

View Larger Map
Unfortunately it's now the worst fires in Australian history, not a record anyone really wishes was broken.

It is hard to keep up with the number of blazes across the state.
Visually you can see just how widespread these fires are.

Sadly, the fires still rage in about two dozen uncontrolled fires across the state. Some will continue to burn for days. The number of victims is likely to grow as officials will be able to get back into some of these ravaged areas for the first time in the next few days. The grisly task of victim identification is likely to take weeks. Our thoughts and prayers are with those families who have been unable to locate loved ones.

The unfortunate news that newsreader Bryan Naylor and his wife have perished in the fires at Kinglake is now emerging, just one of the dreadful stories we're likely to hear in the next few days.

Areas like Marysville have been completely destroyed and removed off the map. This really has hit home, as I was only up at Marysville in May showing Pauline where my father grew up as a teenager. We have heard late in the day that the 70+ year old country homestead has been totally destroyed. My father has friends in the region, and to date we haven't got word how they have fared. It will be a long few days.

Those wishing to keep abreast of the incident, tune into either ABC Radio or view the ABC Melbourne Website that has excellent coverage on the bushfires.

If you wish to do something, please donate at the Australian Red Cross, or give blood (which is in high demand).