Caffeine and Crunch

                                                      

Edition 128 Monday 27^th February 2012

 Hi,how far would you go for a juicy slice of ginger crunch? I am a sweet tooth, always have been, so no distance would ever be too great to travel in search of such a mouth watering morsel. Such was the case on Sunday as we fired up the recently neglected Suzuki Retro 750cc mean machine and headed off in pursuit of caffeine and crunch !! Its cool adventuring on two wheels with the wind in your face and the road disappearing under the speeding rubber as the motor purrs its approval at being out there where it belongs rather than in the shed keeping Harry and the Hendersons company!

I love my bulletproof Suzuki,yes, it is a midlife toy but one I will never regret indulging myself with !

Another reminder of the mid life meno-pause me was my son Mark turning 29 last week!! 29 !!!!**#? Crikey mate good onya, just don’t tell too many people bro, I know, how about we count it backwards now for the next few years just to avoid that big 30 for a while longer….his thoughts exactly !!!

Speaking of time flying I don’t know about you but I was caught by surprise on the weekend when the Super 15 season ripped into life. I was flicking between the ruggers and the cricket which was bizarre. Looks like it is going to be another tough season for Blues supporters if Friday night is anything to go by? I love you Piri but time to cut down on the pies,bottle milk and doughnuts bro.

I hope you had a great weekend flicking between winter and summer weather and sporting options ad that you got to do some fun stuff with family and friends.

Have a great week as we farewell Feb and welcome March, cheers Jonesey.

 Harry and the Hendersons love chasing sticks and swimming in the local stream on the weekends, now there something you cant do on your precious Suzuki pal !   

“Planet Savers” Green Gorilla mantra

There is something satisfying working in an industry where you get to make a difference everyday.

I used to sell new vehicles in the mid 90’s and whilst it was an amazing adrenaline rush to sell a car I cant say I ever felt that good contributing to the pollution issue in the city by increasing the number of large gas guzzling automobiles on the streets !

Working in the resource recovery and recycling industry is completely different as we get to work with customers to reduce their waste streams and assist them to divert this material away from the landfills . We do this in a number of ways and by reprocessing and recycling various parts of the waste stream. There are the traditional materials that have established commodity trading demand like paper, cardboard, plastic, and steel. We have alligned ourselves with new players in these industries and together with them we are building creditable alternative outlets to the ‘big guys’.

We have talked about the arrogance and the complacency of the big guys and how this has given us an opportunity to get established but we know this wont always be the case. In fact it is getting tougher right now even as I write this to you.

So now we are in the game how do we stay ahead of the tiger who has awoken from his snooze and discovered we have him by the tail !!!!!

That is the exciting part….last week I managed to find outlets and recycling options for a number of waste types that no one had ever dreamed or thought a reuse possible for. As a result of this we are in the box seat for large competitor business because we pushed the envelope and challenged ‘normal’ and the ‘status quo’. No I am not a particularly smart or bright spark just someone who is desperate to win business in a competitive and tight market . I am trying to be smarter than others who may not be driven by the same desperation but who are awakening from their comfort sleep and will soom be getting smarter or copying us…..exciting and scary but that folks is business today!!!

“If you see a ‘bandwagon’ its too late.” Sir James Goldsmith

Battle Scars!

Hi,I love running in the rain although running first thing in the morning these days is a bit more difficult as the days shorten and it is dark again. The dark and the rain conspired last week making vision difficult and I ran into a tree overhanging a narrow walkway!!! Crikey talk about bleed, my use of a daily blood thinner doesn’t help when the skin is broken no matter how big the cut is. Being a bloke I kept going and thought no more about it until I got home.My face and neck were covered in blood and I had to do some quick talking to avert the 111 call to the Westpac helicopter!! Harry and the Hendersons did a good job of cleaning me up, leaving a fresh scar across my cheek and ear! It was more than noticeable and I spent the rest of the day explaining how it happened, as you do ! Saying “I ran into a tree” was weak and suspicious and only fuelled speculation of how I had really received the injury. Its amazing how quickly people notice stuff like that and want to know all the details ! Funny things visual scars, they are telltale signs of bravery, clumsiness, luck or just some close scrapes along the way. Good to know and be able to talk and laugh about.

Last week the tragic suicide of an old school and rugby mate made me think about the other scars, the invisible ones, those we don’t see, the ones that are hidden, those we don’t know about? How many of our family, friends or others around us have invisible scars or internal battles they deal with daily, weekly or monthly that are not obvious or known to us? Made me think long and hard about trying harder to stay in touch and in support with and of friends and family and about how helpless something like his loss made me and others feel. I guess all any of us can ever do is make the most of now, appreciate how lucky we are to laugh and joke about the external scars and hope to have loving support to identify, confront and control the internal ones.

To that vitally important end I hope you all had a magnificent weekend in the sun having fun with family and friends. Have an amazing week, stay fit, focused and take care. Cheers Jonesey !

 Harry and the Hendersons can tell you about real battle scars, how long have you got?

“Entrenched thinking is the enemy of progress” Richard Boock

Most new ideas are firstly condemned as ridiculous;then they are dimissed as trivial.Finally they become what everybody knows. Way back through history there are examples of this being the case before great ideas and massive changes in thinking and direction were accepted and adopted.

So last week I was not daunted when several new ideas, I had, met the same initial fate. They were put forward as a ‘left field’ , ‘out of the box/square’ solution to some age old customer issues.

My ideas are yet to be dismissed as trivial and still a way off becoming what everybody knows but they were certainly right up there in the condemned as ridiculous stakes !!!!

Instead of letting this deter me I have used the initial reaction to provide the motivation to prove my ideas will work. My suggestions came as part of a ‘brainstorming session to work up a sales  strategy for a new customer. There was no way an apples for apples quote would win the business. A complete change of thinking from buyer and seller was required. Fellow brainstromers had clearly left their creativity and that side of their brains at home or in the lift, car or train and it was up to me to bravely go where no recycler had ever been before. So I duly sacrificed myself and laid out my brilliant ideas that had come to me that morning in the shower , the birthplace of many a solution to the problems of the universe!!!! After the laughter had subsided slowly but surely there was a growing feeling of appreciation for a new idea, something to examine for flaws and reasons it wouldn’t work. Someone has to be first, so why not us, we don’t have the business now so what have we got to lose with a refreshingly different ,bold, sassy approach? You get what you pay for and we know they are not happy at the moment so why not. Instead of dismissing it as trivial why not lend your support to make it become what everbody knows……..and they did, how good does that feel !!!!

“Things do not change:We change.” Henry David Thoreau

'The Naki'

Edition 126 Monday 13^th February 2012

Hi, few things beat getting out of town for a weekend, last week was extra short for us as we headed off to the ‘Naki’ on Friday to check out the Half Ironman event on Sunday. Wow talk about find the summer sun, we roasted in high 20’s degree heat all weekend and I paid the price now resembling a steamed crayfish! We went ‘back in time’ staying at a seaside motorcamp just out of town overlooking the Port and the Tasman Sea. It bought back some memories of family times spent at these type of camps up and down the country. We mixed it with a wide cross section of campers, all nationalities and ages under canvas, in mobile homes and cabins all off for a real kiwi adventure doing the same thing. It was exciting to share the experience with so many like minded intrepid travellers and to be reminded yet again what a great place this is we live in. There is some truth in another old adage and that is not to “ leave town till you have seen the country!” The Half  Ironman event was a buzz and further fuelled our desire to train hard in order to  have another crack!

Thank you for the ‘heart’ felt feedback from last weeks edition, things have quietened down for me nicely with  all systems in synchronised harmony. I appreciated your concern and the timely wake up call. I have focused hard on reducing the stress levels and relaxing more.

On that note I hope you all had a great weekend relaxing and having fun with your family and friends wherever you were and whatever you were up to. Life is too short to drink bad coffee, bad wine or not to take time out to enjoy it with family and friends.

Take care and have a great week ahead (don’t forget Saint Valentines day Tuesday !!)Cheers Jonesey

 Harry and the Hendersons met dogsitter ‘little John” who spoiled them rotten all weekend. They cant wait for us to go away again, thanks John, you are a dog legend!  

“Jealousy and anger shorten your life” Mainfreight quote on their building Sunday 12/02

I have mentioned it before and I will mention it again I am sure but Mainfreight are a kiwi success story. Started with one truck running on the smell of an oily rag  the business is now an International freight heavyweight and a favourite home grown stock for kiwi investors to support.

Mainfreight is  one of those companies you cant help but notice. Their vehicles are always immaculately presented and all feature motivational, positive quotes prominently displayed for high exposure. The appearance of their fleet is no accident as their company policy ensures that all vehicles are cleaned and polished daily before they leave their respective depots. Appearance, image and perception is everything , sharp look , sharp company!

Their offices all feature the same motivational vibe with quotes prominentyly displayed and in some cases electronically changing daily (like the one above on their Airport Branch). I had an appointment with one of their Auckland Managers recently and was lucky enough to visit their Head Office.

The atmosphere was positive and “UPBEAT’, their staff looked and sounded happy to be there and all made an effort to engage in conversation and to assist.

They have a Mainfreight training centre that all staff spend a week in being inducted to their business. All staff learn what the company does and follow an item of freight from its entry to the company to the time it is delivered to its destination and all the important stuff that should happen to it along the way! Mainfreight figure out if you have ‘blue blood’ in week one, if not then you don’t get to week two, if you make it through week one then it is highly likely you will be there for life which is what makes the company so successful. They are there because they want to be and they make you feel you are lucky to be doing business with them. I felt priveleged to be exposed to their culture.

I think we should all be looking for a business like Mainfreight to model our own on and one from which we can learn from personally and collectively. I know I drove them nuts asking heaps of questions about why they were so good….to me this is a key secret to success, how about you??

“Think, believe, dream and dare” Compliments of Walt Disney and the team at Mainfreight NZ

"In a Heart Beat'

Edition 125 Tuesday 7^th February 2012

Hi, someone once said “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and its all small stuff”. It’s a pity I don’t adhere to that philosophy enough on a daily basis. Last week was a case in point and a real wake up call for me personally. The week started normally enough after a nice long weekend but I soon wound myself progressively into a hypertensive knot over what was in essence a bunch of minor stuff. I have a bad habit of letting little stuff that I have no control over take control of me. The upshot was a couple of bouts of cardio arithmia during exercise and the motorway commute that reduced me to a sweaty breathless basket case. Apart from being scary for me and those around me it was a huge wake up call for someone who should and does know better. After eliminating other potential triggers I decided conclusively that my old enemy self induced ‘stress’ was the key perpetrator. After calming down a bit , a couple of calls to the Auckland Heart Group and some honest self analysis I was sort of relieved to find that no one else was to blame but me ! It is so important to focus on things you do have control over and not waste time on sweating the small stuff. Reminds me of another old adage about us “not worrying so much about what other people think of us or what we are up to if we only realised how little any of them do!”  Even superb athletic specimens like me find it hard running up hills cycling or swimming km after km when the top and the bottom of the heart are marching to their own beat……scary , you better believe it. Calm down Mr ‘Upbeat’ the last thing you want to be remembered as is Mr ‘No beat’ !!!  A useful wake up call , listen to your heart, its in charge so don’t mess with it or let self induced stress invade or restrict your lifestyle.So to that end I hope you , your family and friends had a relaxing Waitangi weekend together. Have an awesome short week ahead. Take care. Cheers Jonesey.

 Harry and the Hendersons have developed the perfect ‘stress free’ lifestyle. Its all about keeping life simple as follows; sleep, eat, exercise, sleep, eat , exercise, sleep Zzzzzzzzzzzz  

“You only live once, but if you work it right , once is enough. Joe Louis

I just finished the last chapter of the book ‘Ultra Marathon Man’ the story of this amazingly committed long distance runner Dean Karnazes.Crikey it has been an inspiration to read. Like most autobiographies it is an insight into an incredibly driven individual. Here are a couple of extracts from his conclusion that  sum up a life well lived….have an inspirational week, good luck.

On ‘passion’

“Running has taught me that the pursuit of a passion matters more than the passion itself. Immerse yourself in something deeply and with heartfelt intensity-continually improve, never give up-this is fulfillment, this is success”.

On fulfillment….

“Most people never get there. They’re afraid or unwilling to demand enough of themselves and take the easy road, the path of least resistance. But struggling and suffering, as I now saw it, were the essence of a life worth living. If you’re not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you’re not constantly demanding more from yourself-expanding and learning as you go-you’re choosing a numb existence. You’re denying yourself an extraordinary trip.”

On ‘life’…

“Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: WOW!! What a ride!”