Category: Life & Times
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Who is A True Blue Aussie?
I begin this article by acknowledging the traditional custodians of this land, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Who is a True Blue Aussie? Not that hard to describe. For those of you who have watched ‘Crocodile Dundee’, Paul Hogan is the best fit. For others who have not yet had any friends, colleagues,…
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How I got my first job in Canada.
The interview was scheduled for 9:00 a.m. I was excited. Potentially, it was going to be my first job in Canada. The hiring company was an International Distributor of consumer products. I located the office on a warehouse-lined street. It didn’t quite fit the settings I had built up in my mind. Far more people…
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What do you do when you find out that your child is dying?
I have spent the past year waiting for my daughter to die. Findings and opinions were many. One in a billion genetic mutations. Only three known cases in the world. Your child is dying; she’ll be dead in fifteen months. Enjoy your time together. That was the initial prescription – enjoy your time together. Everything…
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The Elusive Canadian Experience
The well-dressed lady behind the counter was polite. I had seen the “We’re Hiring” sign on her store window and had walked in to see if she would consider hiring me for the job. As she glanced through my resume, I looked around. The store had an expensive feel to it. The sign outside said…
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The Retirement Calculator – A Light-hearted Look
The retirement calculator was not complicated, but detailed. My friend Dino had sent it to me. Conversations among the folks that I hung out with at the club seemed to always drift towards retirement planning. No one was getting any younger. I had met Peter, my financial advisor, at the club. And then there was…
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How to save money leveraging free technology
The good thing about technology is that a lot of it is free. Or, nearly free. Leveraging free technology can save you money. The Internet, Instant Messaging, Social Media, and the multitude of apps on the web are mostly free. As a consumer, I believe free is good, and leveraging free technology wherever possible, is…
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Do you take instructions from wearables and ignore advice from humans?
Midway through a keynote presentation at a recent seminar, the person sitting next to me suddenly stood up. The presenter was waxing eloquent on the trends and opportunities within the Internet of Things (IoT) space. The session was not meant to be interactive – no time was allocated for Q&A. “He needs a bio break,”…
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Creative Destruction – Make sure that you have a Plan B
As an economic theory, creative destruction has been around for over seventy-five years. But, its impact hit me during a recent visit to a tea plantation in Kerala, India. Trekking through a lush tea estate in the hills of Munnar, I noticed that there were fewer tea-pluckers than I remembered from a previous visit, nearly…
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Missed call – When hanging up on someone is a good thing!
“Sir, Give me a missed call when you are done,” said the Uber driver. I had just been dropped off in front of the Grand Chola Hotel in Chennai where I was meeting an old friend for lunch. The driver, whom I had arranged through a cousin, was clearly tech-savvy. He had initially suggested that…
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Lifestyle Marketing – When People Judge You Based On What They See…
I replaced my BMW X5 with a Toyota Prius. I had not heard of lifestyle marketing at that time. It was a couple of years ago. My lease was up and I was browsing for a replacement car when my daughter, the sane one in our family, quipped up. “Why do you want another gas…