People Matter ∴ Do Good

Lead a vivid life that does good

Author: Andrew (Page 37 of 43)

Saying things to wind people up.

18 January 2007 /

"I don't think you have thought through this" were his words after I had told him that we didn't need to discuss an issue and that we would handle it on the day.

He said it half heartedly, but he made a good point. He needed to talk about it. When I say "we'll discuss it on the day" it winds him up.

You see according to the styles of influence, cognitive scale, a high abstract person (like myself 99%) is always thinking and generally has thought about it and doesn't need to verbalise, whereas a mid-range cognitive person (my friend) needs to verblise it to make sure they have understood it and are clear on the plan.

Me basically telling him I have a plan leave it til the day is not what he needed to hear. Him telling me I hadn't thought about it was not what I wanted to hear. If it had gone on, we would have been frustrated with each other for no real reason.

The result – we talked and his views were the same as my thoughts – both happy.

How easy it is to miss these points sometimes!

Is it a rock, a stone or a pebble?

14 January 2007 /

Smallrock When you look at this picture what do you see? What does it bring to mind?

I found this rock/stone/pebble while sitting on the sea wall at the Tauranga Marina the other day watching the world go by.

I wondered if the rock used to be a part of a bigger rock. I wondered if it was man made or how it was created. I wondered how old it was and what it weighs. I wondered what its composite materials were?

When you look at it what do you see?

Do you think I should try and sell it on Trade Me?

I post another day about what I thought after I wondered all these things. (Maybe)

What if apple did a phone?

11 January 2007 /
Introducing iPhone

They are going to and it is called iPhone.

This is going to be a cool device. It combines a PDA, iPod & Phone into one. Super Hi-Res touch screen.

This is one sexy little device. Will be released in US in June and probably not here until next year.

[Hat tip: Rod Drury]

A quest for an ingenious business

10 January 2007 /

If you buy a Lighter then you would expect it to have gas in it – right? Well when I purchased one from the Oasis SuperetteOasissuperette  in Papamoa it didn’t. I went back and they put it right for me without blinking. They were really helpful and its an enjoyable experience going to their store.

The service I experience at the Oasis was great, if not very good, better than I had experienced at a dairy or superette in years. And yet it was not remarkable or ingenious (save for the fact that I now tell you about it)

I would go back to that store as opposed to the store 50 metres down the road (and recommend that you do), but I wont drive for 20 minutes to go back the next time I'm in Tauranga

A recently read book by Seth Godin called “Purple Cow” ^ which says the “remarkable is the opposite of very good”, and this has caused me to think about our ^ desire to provide ingenious services.

The America Heritage Dictionary ^ defines ingenious as “1. Marked by inventive skill and imagination. 2. Having or arising from an inventive or cunning mind; clever: an ingenious scheme.”

In business I believe that Ingenious means providing remarkable and inventive and edgy and stunning service.

Ingenious companies care about their customers and are truly creative about meeting their needs. The type of service they provide gets noticed and talked about and ingenious businesses are known to be the experts, the geniuses, the elite, the ONLY place to get that service.

I am starting a short-term quest to post comments on businesses that are ingenious and those that aren’t and why.

A funny oxymoron

5 January 2007 /

The camping ground that we are staying at as a strict no Alcohol policy. You CAN NOT bring alcohol onto the site.

So imagine my surpirse when the hand gel in the toilets is alcohol based. You would think you could get a different kind of hand gel.

Campsign

Camphandcleaner

Family Holiday

4 January 2007 /

Today we (the Nicol family) started a traditional kiwi holiday at Papamoa.

Camping1

CampinglaptopOK, given the fact I am blogging from our caravan, maybe its not quite as traditional as kiwi holidays used to be.

A review of my blog

4 January 2007 /

"In short I thought I would start shouting into the wind…"

And with those words my blog began. Like most things in my life my blog has proven to be random, distracted thoughts. It comes and goes depending on my mood and has had three major changes to its look and feel.

It will continue to change because I love change. It will continue to be random and change in writing style because I am always learning and experiencing different things.

Anyway here are a few of my favourate posts etc from each month since Aug last year.

Old Posts

Old & New  … Lost after 3 years is the new car smell, it now has one of those car airfreshener smells . A smell that you know is hiding a potentially more potent odour, the way lighting a match in the toilet tries to hide a foul stench… read more [nb this is my most commented post a whole 3 comments]

Origin Pacific falls from the Never Never Land … In my opinion Origin was doomed to failure before their first flight left the ground. They tried to behave and act like super powers, then align themselves with super powers like Qantas, rather than establishing profitable niche markets … read more

Authentic Community …I think this small business called agóge. This business with people from all over the world, with varying educations, from different religions and diverse upbringings is starting to become an authentic community … read more

Woolgathering at 17,000 ft about the Marlborough Sounds … I sit in the ATR, transfixed at the sight of the Marlborough Sounds out my window and grateful for the relief from a tiring day that woolgathering about the Sounds allows. … read more

Flying an Alpha 160 … "It is like climbing into a new car when you have been used to driving a car that is 25 years old." … read more

Most enjoyable book

Blue like Jazz – Donald Miller.

Best quote

"I’ve always thought smack in the middle of a contradiction is a great place to be!"  Bono – U2

DREAMING

2 January 2007 /

"Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives."

William Dement – sleep researcher

Flying an Alpha 160A update

2 January 2007 /

A brief update on flying in the clubs other Alpha (ZK-WJH) which I flew this morning. I did some glide approaches then went solo in the Alpha.

Observations
– The stall warning seems to function heaps better in this plane. I only heard it when I expected to.
– Only having two flap settings 10 & 35 Degrees is a pain on a glide approach. I duffed the first one because I put full flap down to early.

Still great aircraft to fly. Since I have done a solo I am back to normal PPL lessons.

Flying an Alpha 160A

31 December 2006 /

Zkwkf_cockpit "It is like climbing into a new car when you have been used to driving a car that is 25 years old." citied Roger (CFI) when I asked him about the new Alpha 160A (R2160) that the Waikato Aero Club has replaced the Cessna 152's with.

A week or so later he is proven correct when I go for my first type intro flight. The first thing I noticed when I clambered into ZK-WKF, doing my level best not to stand on the plush leather seats, was that everything looks new, there are actually some digital gauges and a GPS unit.

Marie kindly explains the various features and start-up procedure and before long we are off to the eastern training area for some stalls and a forced landing. Zkwkf_ext

I have now completed 3 type introduction lessons in the Alpha 160A and here are my brief observations (from a novice perspective)

  • The view and the sunburn! The view is stunning on a fine day. My first flight out I could see down to Mt Ruapehu. With that comes the glass house effect, sunburn and heat. An interesting trade off.
  • It has a control stick as opposed to a control wheel. Feels really natural straight away (must be the experience of computer joysticks from my younger days)
  • HEAPS more right rudder. The larger engine and huge tail rudder means it takes a lot of right rudder to keep the aircraft in balance. It requires it so much so that you would almost expect it to have a rudder trim. Alias trim isn't there so its off to the gym to work on my right leg muscles.
  • The STALL warning sounds way to early. You are flying a well configured aircraft on approach and suddenly the stall warning goes when you theoretically are 20 kts above stall speed. Scares the crap out of me.
  • It glides like a rock (or slightly better). At the recommended 80 IAS you are dropping 1000 fpm, which doesn't leave a lot of time for a Forced Landing from 2500 ft. The club is teaching Forced Landings at around 72-75 IAS, but then the stall warning kicks in every 10 – 20 secs.
  • Gone are the long flares on landing that I have been taught about in the C152. You basically point the Alpha at the ground and do a small flare just before touch down. If you were to flare at the same angle as the Cessna that rear of the plane scraps along the runner (no brownie points earned if you do that)
  • GRUNT. The 160 hp Alpha verses the 110 hp Cessna can mean some pretty quick trips in the downwind portion of the circuit.

All in all a great asset to the club and a fun plane to fly. I'm looking forward to my cross country flights in it!

[Hat Tips]
Photos – Chris Nielsen
Waikato Aero Club
Alpha Aviation

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