Hot Cross Buns in January?!?

I love Hot Cross Buns. Or as I like to refer to them, HCJB. Not my Dad’s former employer, but Hot Cross Jesus Buns. Is anyone else excited that Easter has come early in Twenty12, or is the vast majority of people, like my parents, opposed to the extension of the HCJB season?

In case you haven’t gathered, I REALLY like HCJB. I must also publicly acknowledge that I am the reason HCJBs arrive earlier and earlier each year. My first HCJB purchase this year was Friday 6th January from Bayswater Woolworths. I remember the day vividly, like it was a week or two ago – wait, it was just two weeks ago! Yvonne had just picked me up from work and we were heading to the In-Laws to collect Toby. We had to drop in to the supermarket to collect something for the weekend… [okay, my memory isn’t that good]… Just then I saw the magnificent spiced fruit buns garnished with the flour and water cross, and I knew instantly that this would be my first HCJB for the year.

The media hype every year about the premature installation of Christmas decorations will before the scheduled arrival of Coca Cola’s legendary Santa. But retailers and consumers alike love the cyclic calendar of shopping events throughout the year.

1. Back to School
2. Australia Day
3. Valentine’s Day
4. St Patrick’s Day
5. Easter
6. Mother’s Day
7. EOFYS (end of financial year sale)
8. Father’s Day
9. AFL Grand Final
10. Halloween
11. Christmas
12. Boxing Day Sales

Throw the London Olympics in for this year, and that’s more than one marketable retail event a month! This is sure to keep the retailers busy as well as the manufacturers and suppliers of the products for these retail events.

Cadbury Ringwood commenced Twenty12 Easter production before Easter 2011. This isn’t a rare occurrence. Even Santa’s elves work year-round to produce enough toys and gifts for our always wanting society. The only difference is that Cadbury don’t employ elves or oompa loompa… or do they…? This is a simple case of supply trying to keep up with demand. And the demand is coming from us, the consumers.

But is the early season of Easter really such a bad thing?

Sure it is, from an over consuming glutton of a society that we have become, but that removed, I don’t think it’s that bad an idea. I actually like the fact that there is something that can tie both Christmas and Easter together. If Jesus is the reason for the (Christmas) season, is it wrong to have line-of-sight to the true reason he walked this earth – remembered during Easter? It’s a shame that as soon as Christmas is over, and the decorations are packed away for another year, we seem to forget what we just celebrated, and its real reason.

So go out and buy a HCJB – Hot Cross Jesus Bun, and as you enjoy it, remember the real reason for the (Easter) season.

And no, it’s not the Easter Bunny.

;

Please note: this article is my own opinion, and not necessarily that of my employers (current or past), or professional, political or religious associations and affiliations.

Board of Directors

What makes you who you are today? Who you will be tomorrow?
Whom is it that has helped shape your character and the values and attitudes you hold?

Throughout our lives, we are guided and taught by many people and tribes – those learned, ignorant, young and old.

Years of coaching and mentoring from our families, teachers, friends, colleagues and managers have led to this point today. And during this time, especially in our careers, we are challenged and encouraged to find ourselves a mentor or role model (living or past) to aspire to and to learn from. To use their experiences as reference in our own.

But why are we limited to a mere role model or mentor? Presidents and Prime Ministers around the globe have a vast array of advisors on staff to support their respective leaders. Large corporations and enterprises have experienced teams around their CEOs leading the corporate strategies. Elite sports athletes have various experts to help reach their peak, from coaches to nutritionists, and public relations gurus.

Even computer games, like Civilization, embed a panel of diplomacy advisors to assist players in conquering their AI world.

I would argue that we too, as students of our own careers and professions, engage a Personal Board of Directors.
So who should be invited onto this Personal Board of Directors?

• Finance
• Culture
• Spiritual
• Travel
• Learning and Development
• Trusted Confidant
• Industry Expert

One Blog suggests one needs a clarifier, a connector, a challenger, and a wise elder to form a successful panel as well as some free agents, but the key is that they are people that you trust and respect. Friendship is not a prerequisite for this position, and in some cases, may hinder its effectiveness.

The benefits of the Board of Director framework, means that each advisor doesn’t need to know they have been recruited or that there are others on the same panel. But the benefits for the individual themselves is well worthwhile.

Have a look through the web for some more inspiration, including:

• http://blogs.hbr.org./cs/2010/10/forget_mentors_employ_a_person.html
• http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2000/03/10300a.html
• http://www.kimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/looking-out.html
• http://www.scienceofpeople.org/2011/12/why-you-need-a-personal-board-of-directors/

Twenty12

Twenty12 is set to begin with a fresh start. Over the next two weeks I will be wrapping up my tenure at Kraft Foods Cadbury Ringwood manufacturing site. I have enjoyed working with the team at Kraft Foods, and I have had the opportunity to work with a range of people across the production, maintenance and various support functions. It has been great contibuting to the Kraft Foods vision of Make Today Delicious during my time with the business.

From Monday 16 January, I will be commencing with RMIT University in the role of Senior Advisor, Health and Safety. I look forward to this next stage of the career journey, and the opportunity to return to the old ‘Working Mans College’, the place where I studied my undergraduate Chemistry degree. After meeting a few of my future colleagues already, I am enthusiastic about this move and stretch in my caeer path.I am yet to know what schools will be within my advisory portfolio, although the diversity within the University and TAFE branches of RMIT is sure to keep me on my toes.

I have begun developing a collection of handover information for my Kraft Foods successor. It’s amazing to see how much you actually do when you attempt to put it all on paper. Too often it can feel that all you are doing is putting out spot fires, but when you can stop to take account for the last year, it allows you to see things a bit clearer – all that work obviously hasn’t been a waste of time! I have set up a range of ‘Project Folders’ which will hopefully ensure that key information is sorted for ease of reference in the future. Looking back, it would have been a beneficial thing to have started when I commenced working at Kraft Foods, rather than only on my departure. Alas, retrospect is a marvalous thing.

I have also recently started trialing the use of a GTDTiddlyWiki HTML file as a way to track key activities, projects and aspects of David Allen’s Getting Things Done. GTDTiddlyWiki is an adaptation by Nathan Bowers of JeremyRuston’s Open Source TiddlyWiki. The purpose of GTDTiddlyWiki is to give users a single repository for their GTD lists and support materials so they can easily create/edit lists. A TiddlyWiki is like a blog because it’s divided up into neat little chunks, but it encourages you to read it by hyperlinking rather than sequentially: if you like, a non-linear blog analogue that binds the individual microcontent items into a cohesive whole. The TiddlyWiki concept is published under a BSD Open Source License, which allows the user the freedom to customise to their needs. Visit http://nathanbowers.com/gtdtw/ or http://tiddlywiki.com/ for more information.

What adventures and mystery does Twenty12 have in store for you?

One Flight to Go

With the last flight of this trip leaving at 7pm, I am nine hours from home, family and a real bed.

The trip has been fun, and although the overnight in Hong Kong was warm and humid (88%), I’m ready for the normalcy of home.

With a 11 hour red eye flight yesterday I am looking forward to the 9 hour one today. Let’s hope there are many free seats to extend my long legs!

Homeward Bound

I am sitting in the Dubrovnik Airport waiting for our flight to Munich. The walk to the shuttle bus this morning was better than expected. The hill climbs in Dubrovnik are crazy, there are steep stairs everywhere, and couple this with a 15 kg suitcase was initially daunting.

Note to self: when in Europe, use a backpack everywhere.

We were able to find a small path which connected to a sloping road to the bus pick up point – minimal stairs! Although my arms were a little sore from the 15 minute uphill walk, it could have been much worse.

Waiting for the check in gate to open for our flight, we had plenty of time (2 hours) to sit and have a morning coffee, while playing Angry Birds on my phone, as well as making a quick call home to Oz to say hello.

After arriving in Munich, we have a 7 hour lay over until our connecting flight to Hong Kong. We are still undecided whether or not we will venture out of the airport during this time, although we do have plenty to spare.

We depart Munich at about 10pm, arriving in Hong Kong at 3.30pm the next day (11 hour flight). Safe to say, its going to be a long day!

The Final Day

The last full day in Croatia was somewhat relaxing, and an opportunity to do the last walk around the Dubrovnik Old Town before we begin the homeward leg.

In the morning we took a cable car up to the top of the neighbouring hill, which has just recently been reopened after it was destroyed during the Dubrovnik siege.

The panoramic sight from the top of the hill was amazing, I just wish I had a better camera to capture it on. A 3 kuna postcard will have to supplement. Around the cable car station is some evidence of the stand off, and an old communications tower which, hand on heart, I thought was a space rocket!

The surrounding hillsides were scattered with land mines, and although it has been ‘cleared’, locals are quick to warn you to stay on the paths. Even the fire brigade are hesitant to fight fires in the hillside forest.

The rest of the day included some last minute sightseeing, with our most expensive dinner so far in the evening. For dinner we had local seafood, ‘fresh tomorrow’ according to the waiter. I had lightly fried squid, but shared some with Dad to get a few mussels. It was a good way to finish our Croatia trip, and for only $50 (total cost) it did seem worth it.

Mostar

This morning we caught a tour bus ride to Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina courtesy of Elite Tours. The bus picked us up outside the Hilton Imperial Hotel, and followed the coastline via Ston and then inland through Pocitelj.

Ston is at the base of the Peljesac peninsula and is colloquially known as ‘The Great Wall of Croatia’ has a long wall climbing steeply up the hillside, and is the longest city wall in Europe.

Pocitelj is a mediaeval town in Bosnia-Herzegovina, with huge castle towers on the hill as well as a large Mosque and bath house. As soon as the bus pulled up, a dozen old ladies ran towards the bus with baskets of fruit to sell to us tourists. Dad bought some figs for 8 kuna, and got his moneys worth by getting a photo of the lady as well.

Mostar has a rich history, with 400 years of Ottoman rule, followed by 200 years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then Yugoslavia until declaring independence in 1991 which lead to a terrible war ending in 1995.

The scenery of Bosnia is similar in some ways to rural Croatia, however slight more rustic and there is substantially more war affected building remaining untouched. This is something I won’t dwell on much because the country itself and its people are clearly doing what they can to move on from this devastation.

When we arrived in Mostar, we met our local tour guide behind the massive Franciscan Church. Jasmina our guide, took the English tour, while one of her colleagues took the German tour, which left us in a small group of 10.

The tour went down to the Old Bridge (Stari Most) and we were given a history of its construction by the Ottomans, eventual destruction in 1993, and its reconstruction in 2004.

The bridge was targeted by the Croats in 1993 and fired shells from a distant hilltop. The reconstruction was started using the same materials and methods of the original bridge, and took longer to build and eventually cost over $13 million (funded largely by international donors). The new Old Bridge is World Heritage Listed.

We also visited a traditional Turkish House and a Mosque, giving an insight into the Muslim life and traditions.

The bus ride back was relaxing and I dozed off a couple of times. Arriving back in Dubrovnik, we grabbed some dinner and walked the streets of the Old Town until it was time to retire for the day.