Category: Thoughts

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Thoughts

Another Gadget

I love gadgets and electronics.

After years of working for computer manufacturers, and being an Amateur Radio (Radio Ham) enthusiast, (G8YJQ), electronics and gadgets fasinates me.
If it is new, I want it, I want to see how it works, has it any benefit to me.
I may try it once, understand how it works, and then never use the gadget again. But, my curiosity has been satisfied.
Visiting many countries as I do, staying in contact is a must.
With the internet, as long as a WiFi connection (free) is available I can be in contact with others.
With mobile phones, covering nearly every square inch of our planet and beyond, we can stay in touch, sometimes at a high cost, sometimes with a bit of out-of-the-box thinking, cheap calls can be obtained.
One way to get cheap mobile calls is to get a local sim card of the country I am visiting, a local telephone number.
But that means I have to carry two telephones, one for my British mobile, and one for the local country I am visiting.
More holes in my trouser pockets.
Problem solved now.
I came across a mobile phone, the HKV HK5000 Dual Sim Mobile.

HK500 Phone

The HK5000 allows me to have two sim cards in the same hand unit, and it will operate both, so I can make and receive a phone call from my British telephone number 07973178602, plus my Italian, Turkish, Malaysian or whichever one I wish to insert.
Now I only need to carry one phone.
Forget about the new iPhones, Blackberry, HTC, PDA’s smartphones, that do things I personally rarely use, I now have a phone that is practical, two phones in one, that is to say, I can make and receive phone calls easy, does not take up space, and I do not have to remember to charge two phones.
Sadly, it only lasted six months, so I reverted back to iPhones. How time flies, it is now 2016 and I wrote the above article in 2008, how things change. Oh Poo Poo, and I still buy gadgets..
Categories
Thoughts Travels

Santa did not call

Well Christmas Day has come and gone again.

Part of the family (over twenty) arrived for a Xmas feast in the evening, from babes in arms to the oldies, all tucked-in to so much food, we will be eating the left-overs for days to come.

But Santa did not come to my house. Perhaps it is because we have no chimney? No gifts. No wrapping paper. No unwanted socks. No clothes to take back to the shops to exchange for something more suitable.

Maybe, I might get a belated present one day when I get back to the UK, something I have wanted for a long time, slowly unwrapping, revealing that very special thing.

Well, actually I did come down to a special gift, left in my office.

Cat poo.

Being so hot and humid, the windows and doors are always open, but grills stop any intruders getting into the house.

It is a strange Malaysian custom for me, as most homes are like prisons, grills guarding every entry point, even every exit point, (is someone keeping me a prisoner?), inside the window or outside. I have even seen apartments at 20 floors with grills at the windows.


    
Grills inside and outside to stop intruders.

So the cat must have got in during the evening, and not realising an extra guest, the windows and doors were shut as we slept.

Poor thing, must have got hungry, and eat some of a bun called a kaya pau, steamed white dough with a wonderful jam filling (Kaya), and it could not have agreed with its’ stomach, because it left me with a present, loads of poo poo, runny diarrhea, smelly, and …….. I will not go on.

Not only had I the cat to clean up after, the floors to wash, but we have another overnight guest. A fruit bat.



Sorry too dark for my flash, but you can see the fruit bat’s eyes and shape

Every evening, fruit bat will come and hang from one of the porch wooden beams, and after getting a supply of wild fig or other fruit, will munch away, hanging there up-side-down. Within minutes it seems to come out the other end, landing on the car or floor tiles. It dries every quickly and is very difficult to remove.



Fruit bat droppings on the car

Like life, poo poo happens, (click to understand oh poo poo) just get on with it and have a laugh. (visit the ok.poo.poo web site for jokes)

Categories
Thoughts

Happy Chirstmas

Here in Malaysia is 8am, 25th December 2008, and it has just turned mid night in the UK, so Happy Christmas all my friends in the UK.



Happy Xmas

Categories
English Sayings NLP Thoughts

Keep your mouth shut

There is a saying in English which says “keep your mouth shut“.

It is what it says, to stay quiet, not to say anything, to keep your thoughts to yourself.

Often it is the best medicine, the best thing to do, because you can “dig the hole deeper“, you can create situations, arguments which get worse and worse, driving the conversation deeper and deeper, entrenching people firmly into their beliefs.

I have found myself on many occasions where I have been in conversation, maybe in the training room, maybe in debates, and I have said something which I believe to be true from my experience, from my life, from my culture, from my religion, only to suddenly realise I have said something wrong, to person or persons I am in conversation with, who disagree with my ideas, as my understanding, my culture does not fit theirs.

It is time like this that I wish I had kept my mouth shut, not said what I did. For now I have upset someone.

But then sometimes, like a fool, I will “stick to my guns“, I will “stand my corner“, I will argue my case, defend my point of view. Not only do I defend my argument, but so does the person I am in conversation with stick with theirs.

What happens next? An argument ensues. People start to get upset, and the more upset they become the “deeper the hole gets“, the worse the argument gets.

I have lost count of the times I have entered a debate, a conversation, only to realise I should not be involved, because our views are so wide, our understandings, our beliefs, our cultures are so wide, that they will never, with all the good will in the world, merge.

I come across this sometimes in my courses. One participant is so anti the subject, does not believe that the subject is right, that the subject is against their morals and culture, that nothing I say is correct.

Why did they enroll on the course in the first place?

It is then that I will suggest that the person leaves the course, and I will refund their fees. (Subject to this occurring on the first day.)

Sometimes I get emails where I am attacked, because my, like others, methods of delivering the subject matter does not fit the ideals of the writer.

I will never win.

If I say black they will say white. If I say white they will say black.

If I say “I like that“, they will say “No, it is terrible“.

Then there are the people who always know better, have done better, been there or done more, always have the best solution, and there can be no other. They do not believe that others can have their point of view, beliefs or culture.

These people know the best restaurants, the best shops, the best way to get from one place to another. They will know which is the best product to buy, the best flower to plant in the garden, and if you say different, then you are in trouble.

I am aware of these people, and sometimes hear myself becoming one, and have to stop myself, to keep my mouth shut.

Yes, one should express a point of view, it should be everyones right, and it should be everyones right to be given that right to express an opinion, and have it that opinion considered.

But when it will lead to arguments, to bad feelings, rightly or wrongly, I will walk away, and keep my mouth shut.

Each and everyone of us will have our own “cat on the mat“, our own beliefs, ways of doing things, as we process information, go on that transderivational search, to make sense of our world.

The trouble is, some peoples cats are so big, they get so involved in their cat, that result is they can only see their cat, it obstructs the view of a big world of possibilities out there.



Our internal voice need to shut-up too

Categories
Thoughts

What is the real thing?

Some time ago, a friend was given a very personal gift, a gold plated watch.

The friend wore the watch with pride, she was always telling people the time without being asked, thrusting the wrist out in front of people, so that they would notice the gift.

People would notice the watch. It was not over haughty, over fashionable, it just looked good on her wrist.

I think it also marked a transition in her life, as she left behind her the old teenage watch days, to enter into the age of adult watches.

My friend would hardly ever go out without wearing the watch, she had become really attached to it, it became part of her life.

Over a small period of time, it became apparent that some of the shine, some of the luster, had begun to be lost on the gold plate. It was hard to notice, but the signs were. Something was not right.

She was advised to take the watch back to the shop where her partner had purchased special gift, but she would not go, and the gold began to become dimmer, the shine was lost.

She wore the watch less and less.

It was some time on that my friend realised that there was something missing in her life. The special watch had been discarded, it was gathering dust on the dressing table in her bedroom.

She realised that the watch was not only special, it made her special too, as it changed her personality when she wore it, she became more sophisticated, more womanly, it made her feel special, and it brought back such good memories.

She decided to take the watch back to the shop whence it was purchased, only to find the shop had closed down.

It seemed that, that part of her life had now been broken, it was now lost.

Not to loose that part of her, she searched for another dealer, the distributor of the brand of watches, and took it to them, and it was decided there and then that there was a problem, but it could be sorted out, and it would take thirty days.

The thirty days passed, the watch was not returned. The technical people said the gold plating could not be reapplied, so they would replace the watch case with the same model.

My friend would have her special watch back.

The crystal glass, the gold face and hands, the twenty-one jeweled movement would be placed into a new casing.

She would get back that special gift that marked such a change in her life.

This makes me think.

Although identical in every way, which was the special watch? That gift that meant so much her and her partner?

The old case that now lies in the rubbish dump never to be seen again, or, the new one that adorns her wrist?

Categories
Recommendation Thoughts Travels

The cost of a telephone call

Traveling as much as I do to different parts of the world, means staying in communication is and has been extremely difficult and costly.

My good friend, Bill Robertson, once said that he had a telephone book just for me, as I was forever having a new contact telephone number.

Not only that, his first words to me would be, “Where are you today?”  Poor Bill never knew where I was.

Regarding my telephone numbers, yes I moved about from home to home as employment and circumstances changed. With a land line telephone, that meant a new telephone number.

With the advent of the mobile telephone, allowing us to be mobile in our daily life, our home location telephone system soon became irrelevant. It is more and more common these days for people not to have a fixed land line telephone, relying solely on mobile phones.

Problem solved for Bill, all he had to do is remember my mobile phone number. (+44) 07973178602.

Problem for me was that if I was in a country other than the UK, when receiving Bill’s calls, I would pay a fortune, an add-on international phone charge just to receive his call.

Now, I do not mind paying that extra to speak to Bill, but I do object to paying for “cold sales” calls, wanting to sell me a new mobile phone, an insurance policy, advertising space, to sell our timeshare or replacement windows.

My first solution to this problem was to obtain a sim card, a mobile number for the country I am visiting, that I can insert into a spare phone I carry around with me.

Problem solved, poor old Bill  will have more numbers for me to remember or write in his little black book, plus he would have to pay the international call charge for the privilege of speaking to me. Plus I would have to spend a fortune telling people of my foreign telephone number.

But this is a problem for me, as I do not want a contract with a foreign (non UK) phone company, paying a monthly fee, and a “Pay-as-you-go” service is OK, but if the number is not used for say three months, you loose the number and any credits I may have.

Then came VoIP, a revolution in communication, using the internet to make telephone calls. This system was all well for technical minded people, who could get their heads around SIP codes and numbers, proxy servers, RTD port. etc. Not very intuitive or easy to use for the general public, and special equipment was required.

As usual, it was someone who knew the KISS acronym, a seemingly simple piece of software that was easy to use and install on a computer, enabling users to talk computer to computer free of charge. MSN messaging, Skype and Gizmo to name just a few.

But these systems required the users to have their computers on and attached to the internet.

As more and more users embraced or took-up the VoIP systems, so manufacturers developed and enhanced such services as Skype. Providing hardware such as the DualPhone 3088, the SMC WiFi phone, which does not require a computer to be switched on, just an internet connection, wired or WiFi. In the UK one mobile service provider (3 Mobile) sells a mobile phone with Skype already installed.

But these VoIP systems, Skype, still require the vast majority of users if they want free calls to have a computer connection to make a call, plus special hardware, headsets, microphones, etc to make a call. The vast majority of people still use normal land line handsets or mobile phones to make calls.

But I have come-up with a system that enables people to keep in contact with me, my business, to keep in contact with my friends in the UK at a cheap rate.

Skype allows subscribers to get a telephone number (SkypeIn) which is a standard UK London number 020 8816 7962 (different countries and regions are also available), and when dialed, will that call be diverted to the Skype account on a internet computer or the DualPhone 3088, no matter where I am, or the Skype user, located in the world. The person dialing the “standard” land line number is unaware that it is an internet number, and is only paying the cost of a standard phone call.

What I have now done is to redirect my UK mobile phone number, 07973178602, to the SkypeIn number, 020 8816 7962, so I pay a small charge, now the call is sent to my Skype account, and if I am sitting next to my DualPhone 3088 here in Malaysia, it will ring, and I will answer it.

If I am not available, and cannot answer the DualPhone 3088, say I am out shopping, visiting or working, Skype will divert the call to my Malaysian mobile phone +6 0174491308, myself paying a small fee (Skype international call) for the privilege.

The next country I land in, perhaps Sri Lanka or Turkey, I get a mobile or use “local” sim card number, redirect Skype to that telephone number, and “Bob’s your uncle“, I have an easy to use and cheap communication system, always in contact.

Now I have another problem, people still want to telephone me from the UK at 6pm in the evening, when I am fast asleep. How can I educate them?

I will just have to switch off the phones, and allow my Skype account to take an answerphone message.

I hope you understand. At least it passed away a couple of hours writing the blog.


  Call me! on Gizmo.

Skype Me™!on Skype

Categories
Thoughts

There is a heaviness in my heart

There is a heaviness in my heart, or is it my chest?

Is this is what it is like when a loved one is lost?

Is this what it is like when something of immense personal value is lost?

Does it feel as if the heart misses a beat?

Does it feel as if the heart or chest is about to explode?

Are there hot sweats?
 
Is there a lack of sleep?

I have been waiting for an answer, some communication from someone, but it never seems to come. Oh yes, when I contact them, it is all a “bed of roses“, but nothing is resolved.

Some of our personal goods has been shipped from the UK to here in Malaysia, but instead of our container arriving in the port of Penang, another person’s container arrived with a car inside which was bound for Nairobi, and our container is where the car should be, in Nairobi.

Can I get is sorted out? No. There seems to be no resolve.

It seems to being swept the under the carpet by the shippers, Crown Relocations, who must have labeled the containers incorrectly in the UK.

I have many prized books in that shipment, rare signed books, which could never be replaced. Are they now sitting on someones bookshelf in Kenya?

I am aching. My back, neck, legs. Here in Malaysia, or where the house is, I have no incentive to go for a long walk for exercise. It is too hot and humid, there are no shops to visit, no park land. The mattress of the bed is too hard for me, so I tend to ache when I wake up.


But are these aches lack of exercise, the mattress, or the return of angina, the problems with my heart? Missing heart beats, night seats, chest pains, my feet swelling up like elephant legs.

Perhaps they are symptoms due to stress, the high temperature and humidity, the food?

I had eaten too many nuts, and on the flight out with Singapore Airlines (Singapore Airlines A380) meals containing beef were served, both food stuffs seem to give me pains in the chest.

Some of the food I had eaten since being in Malaysia have had excessive fat on the meat, even if I tried not to eat it. Excessive fat content seems to give me pain.

Or is my state due to the drugs I am taking?

The Atenolol 50mg, certainly have been wrong for me (see blog Missing days).causing loss of short term memory, making me feel unwell, slowing me down too much.

That should be resolved with the reduction in strength of the Atenolol, and the introduction of a new drug called Isosorbide Mononitrate. But this drug is making my head swim, my brain seems to pulsate, throb, I feel light headed, weak, and I am falling asleep early in the evening, which means I wake-up early.

But am I waking-up early because there is a mosque somewhere near, and the early morning prayers (5:30 am) are pumped out through speakers which the group Led Zeppelin would use on stage, and the prayers go on and on and on.

Am I waking-up due to the thunder storm and the tropical rain?

Oh well, better get on with life.

Oh yes, please contact me with the answer, I am waiting. You can click on the lick on the left or below. 


Skype Me™!

Categories
Books Electronics Thoughts

Being in the right place at the right time

I seem to have some knack of being in the right place at the right time, not all the time, but often enough for me to take notice.

Many years ago, after years of working for computer manufacturers and end users, I was ready to leave the computer industry, to try something new.

I had an interest in how the human brain worked, after all, I had been trying to replicate it for many years, getting computers to emulate what humans were doing in the offices, hospitals, hotels, etc. I also had an interest in hypnosis, how did it work, what was the process.

I happened one day to pick-up a newspaper on a train, one I never usually read, and I scanned through it, noticing an advert by Paul McKenna selling his course to learn hypnosis. That course was my first introduction to hypnosis.

Why did I pick that one newspaper on that one day and see that advert, for something that has led me on a very successful new career.

Why was it that I received an email from Ormond McGill and Jerry Valley inviting me to a course in LA to learn Stage Hypnosis? Me, not others in the UK.

Why is it that I have worked with the greats of personal knowledge learning, Tony Buzan, Richard Bander, John Grindler, Win Wenger, Gianni Golfera, and the many more people?

Here in Bukit Mertajam, Malaysia, I had set-up the new Sling products, SlingCatcher and SlingTurbo, allowing me to connect to my cable box in the flat in Norbiton Hall, Kingston upon Thames in the UK to watch live British TV and listen to live radio.

I happened to key-in a channel, I never listen to the radio via the cable box, and there was Tim Lichfield broadcasting on Absolute Radio (listen live) in the early UK hours.


Tim Lichfield DJ on Absolute Radio

I had taught Tim Stage Hypnosis a couple of years early, and found him to be a eager learner and a great guy.

I dropped him a line just to say hi, only for him to give us a mention on air. Strange to be able to listen be involved with something from the other side of the world.

Why did I happen upon that radio channel?

There will be a reason I know, either for Tim or myself.

             

Categories
Thoughts

Beauty is there

Although Nobody loves me, is it only because I have not opened my eyes and looked around me.

I have only just noticed some flowers in the apartment here in Norbiton Hall, Kingston upon Thames.

Yes I knew they were there, but I had not taken time to look at them, to admire the beauty.

I know them as Christmas Cacti, or its scientific name Zygocactus, and as their name implies, they flower around Christmas, December.



                                        

                                                                        

                                                                                                            

Categories
Thoughts

Nobody loves me

One of the worse aspects of my job is the time I have to spare between my training courses and presentations.

Due to cancellations in Turkey of an NLP course, (sorry folks), I find myself back in the UK, all alone, nobody to speak to, just the salespeople on the telephone, trying to sell me advertising space, new windows, home and car insurance, or the cashier waiting to take my money.

Oh Poo Poo, nobody loves me.



see whole picture

So, I have to do my own washing, shirts, socks, underwear.

I have to strip the bed, Wash the sheets.

After washing, I have to iron.

I have to prepare my meals. Well actually I have been cheating, getting talk-aways.

I have to clear up after myself, unpack my suitcase, make the bed, do the washing-up, vacuum and dust.

I have had too much time to reflect on what could have been.

It is all too much, I just want to cry.





So, I have time to myself. Great.

I have played with electronics, to get Slingbox to output to a normal television anywhere I am in the world, allowing me to watch my English home TV.

I have been able to catch-up on reading and research on new subjects.

I have had time to become a Master Trainer of Tony Buzan’s iMindMaps.

I have had time to go into a retreat, to reevaluate myself.

I have had time to check my health out, to have my smiley eyesight reviewed.

It is not all that bad, it is the way I look at my time.

Perhaps somebody does love me?



see whole picture