Where is Darran?

I picked up a few books after being bored to death by the last two books on knowledge management. Tom Fuertes recommended I read “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart“. I noticed on the library shelf there was an identically covered book next to it titled “And Never Stop Dancing” so I picked it up too. Both of these books are quick and easy reads, but still happen to provide some perspective on life and how to handle yourself. The author is a psychiatrist and he uses his experience counseling people to provide some insight into certain life events and advice on how to handle them.Not bad books to run through.

I also read “Harvard Business Review on Leadership“. This book provides some perspective into the differences between management and leadership, but nothing that isn’t contained in many other books of the same sort. Towards the latter half there are some excerpts that provide some advice and examples on how to lead organizational change which are more valuable. It is not a bad book if you haven’t been reading leadership books, but Gardner provides more substance.

Today is “Car Free Day” at Centennial Park and the park is probably going to be packed with cyclists. About to go out to put in a long ride to prep for the Canberra Half Ironman.

The header is Sam Hurwitz enjoying a late night smore near Pecos Baldy Lake in New Mexico.

Secured a job at Annette Kellerman Aquatic Centre in Marrickville as a lifeguard. Tomorrow will be my 3rd day and the shift starts at 5 AM. Marrickville is about 5 km from the crib and to get there I ride through Newtown. Newtown is known for being funky and street art. It’s like an Austin in the middle of Sydney. Riding the bike to work is something I have always dreamed of and being a lifeguard is cruise. The coworkers are chill and I get free entry into the center. The clientele is chill except for a couple of teenagers who had to be kicked out on Saturday.

In the past week, I have decided to do the Canberra Half Ironman in December, the Six Foot Marathon in March, and Ironman Australia in April. Despite popular belief, Sydney is not the capitol of Australia. Canberra happens to be the capitol. Apparently, mistaking Sydney for the capitol disappoints Australians. My manager is going to do the swim leg of the Half Ironman as part of a relay team and I’m going to see if I can get a ride and maybe some accommodation. The Six Foot Marathon is a trail marathon in the Blue Mountains. Both the Half IM and the Marathon are meant to be tests for Ironman Australia. If either of them flop, I will be able to pull out of IMOZ and not have the joy of DNFing on a full IM. If unable to participate in IMOZ, the backup plan is to continue training for a later Full Ironman like Ironman China, France, or UK. I have a goal of completing an Ironman on every continent, but currently there is not an Ironman event in Antarctica. However, there is a Marathon in Antarctica that could possibly be used as a placeholder.

The 24/7 lifecasting initiative has been postponed for now. The technology I was planning to use, iBurst, is being discontinued in Australia December 18th. I have transitioned to a technology called Unwired, but it is not as mobile as iBurst. Regardless, I will run some mobile tests with Unwired to see if lifecasting with Unwired is feasible.

Dropped off the courier equipment and uniform today and got a call an hour later with a lifeguard job. Lifeguard activities will start out at two different pools in Marrickville. I have visited both of them and they are chill. It is relatively easy to get to the pools by bicycle because there is a bicycle expressway for most of the journey. Sydney suburbs are full of roads and pathways that are marked as being primarily bicycle or bicycle shared use. These bicycle routes allow you to bike more freely without having to worry as much about pedestrians and cars. This makes commuting much safer and faster. Since I got a bike 3 months ago, I have put around 700 miles on it and plan on stepping up the miles as I get back into Ironman Training.

In the morning, I went to Bondi to get some solid reading time in. Bondi is a great place to chill, check out the wildlife, and get things sorted.

Made it three weeks with Mail Call and resigned this morning. I enjoyed seeing a variety of work environments, exploring the city, and being able to meet new people everyday, but the hassles and long hours have led me to migrate to something more fitting of being in Australia, being a lifeguard. Yesterday, I interviewed with a local pool in Petersham and it looks like I will start there this week or the next. Got turned on to being a lifeguard by a friend while putting up Christmas decorations in the Eastgardens Westfield.

Went to the Customs House library today to pick up a couple books. This has got to be the coolest library I have been to, but that doesn’t say much. Regardless, the Customs House library has a model of downtown Sydney underneath the ground floor that you can walk over, a coffee and desert cafe, a restaurant, and a bar for drinking and enjoying music that gets pretty lively in the evenings. The library itself is spread out over 3 stories and free wireless internet is available. Music can be heard throughout the stacks and there side rooms where one can study quietly.

I went in looking for books on business strategy, but ended up getting the following two books on knowledge management: Knowledge Management and The Wisdom Network. I have been interested in knowledge management since taking a Knowledge Management course taught by Bill Cahill at St. Edwards University. After finishing these two books, I might revisit my final paper for the course. In it, I try to define a way of combining network performance managent technologies with knowledge network ideas to create a knowledge network management system. The eventual goal would be to utilize the system to enable more efficient new knowledge creation aka innovation. Even further into the future would be utilizing technology to facilitate automated knowledge creation.