What's Wrong with this Picture....

These two fine Irish workmen toiled throughout the day installing bollards to stop Nurses parking on the pavement outside the Royal Hospital in Belfast, Ireland.

The photo shows them cleaning up at the end of the day...

How long do you think it took them realise their mistake? Apparently this photo is the original and is undoctored (?!) so to speak. Dear oh dear... 

Think Long and Prosper

Biggles

Lord of the Skies

I checked out Movie Director Peter Jackson's (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) Aviation site earlier today and felt the need to give it the big thumbs up in my Blog. After all Biggles is world famous for flying some of the aircraft Peter and the team at The Vintage Aviator are recreating with such astonishing precision.

Peter has been a lifelong Aviation nut, with a personal bent for WWI Aircraft. He has established a Museum and Aircraft Manufacturing business and they have built unbelievably exact replica's of various fighters that took part in that conflict. As an Aviation nut myself, I am staggered at the company's achievements and wish to congratulate them on their efforts.

All of the test flying and management of the operation has been overseen by an equally inspiring character - Gene DeMarco. Gene has featured for decades in the historic aviation game, flying for world famous flying shows and organisations. His experience is probably unmatched and in just about every photograph you will see of the aircraft Gene will be the man in the pilot's seat. You'd have to have just about the best job around Gene, and I bet you don't see it as work.

Visit the site - http://www.thevintageaviator.co.nz/ - and have a look at the planes they have put together, read the research and detail that has gone into the recreation of long defunct machines. They not only built the planes, but also the engines - all from known plans, intuitive guess work and researched historical documents and, and, they have a section devoted to building replica aircraft machine guns for their flying platforms. Unbelievable.

A personal favourite is the Albatross DV A, a fighter that Manfred von Richtofen - later known internationally and still, as the Red Baron,flew with distinction. The photo above is the actual aircraft built by the team and is being flown by Gene De Marco. It is represented in the markings of Jasta 5's Leutnant Josef Mai who reportedely scored 11 victories on this type of aircraft.

And you just have to check out the Spitfire and Sopwith Fighters flying side by side, graphically illustrating the enormous developmental acheivements of just 20 years in Aviation. You can see the Spitfire having to fly nose high to maintain formation with it's much slower predecessor.

Everything about this site underlines what you can acheive when you put your mind to it, and don't give up until you have acheived your goal! Well done guys, Magnificent stuff. Fantastico!

Think Long and Prosper
Biggles

Training Room For Hire - Maryborough, QLD

As part of the DRM GROUP of businesses I have a training room primarily used by us to train the Security/Investigation and First Aid Courses. The room is centrally located in the Maryborough CBD affording easy access and parking, and just a short drive from Hervey Bay and other neighbouring towns.

I decided to offer the training room to my Italian Language teacher to allow her to teach groups interested in learning the language and as part of our philosophy of advancing educational opportunities, community relations and cultural understanding I offer her the use of the training room free of charge.

However, if you have a group searching for a specialised, modern and comfortable training room then phone me or call in and check out our facility.

Air conditioned, able to seat 12 comfortably at tables, or up to 25 with the tables removed, DVD/VCR and television, Whiteboard, Internet and office facilities for the trainer to use, tea/coffee and soft drinks available, the former is supplied free while the latter can be purchased. A projector will be added in the next fortnight as well for those important power point displays.

And as part of our ongoing expansion we will have 6 computers installed and operational within the next month for Computer training courses soon to be offered.

The room is available for half day (8:30 am - 12:00 noon or 12:30 pm - 5:00 pm) or Full day (8:30 am - 5:00 pm). It is also available for evening sessions if you have short meetings or courses (6:00pm - 9:30pm). The kitchen has a Microwave and a very handy portable oven for heating up any supper or snacks you may wish to provide.

Call me on (07) 41230795 or contact me at admin@drmgroup.com.au  to discuss your requirements, I think you will be pleasantly surpised at the competitve rates and service we can offer to make your training or meeting a resounding success.

Think Long and Prosper
Dan

Focus, Determination...and a PLAN

You may have read post's concerning my New Years resolutions and the success I have been having with them.

Well another of my resolutions has been to focus more intently on growing my Investigation and Training business. To date, it seems to be working.

I have been making at least one positive step per day in focusing on and advancing my business. This blog, for instance is one of those steps, although I really view this as an enjoyable side issue. I enjoy posting details of what I am up to and how I can benefit you as a student or just giving you an isea of what I am up to. Any flow on in a business sense is really just a bonus.

I have written up several positive affirmations on the white side of some old business cards and I refer to these affirmations several times a day. Each of them is designed to focus on a separate yet complimentary side of my business life and I have found that they really do tend to keep me focused and aimed in the direction I wish to go.

One of them states: "If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you no where".Think about that for a micro second. Don't you just know it makes sense?

For that reason I have made a much more structured start to the year and this in turn has made my goals that much easier to maintain. I have written out a plan of attack for the first three months of the year and so far I am on track. If I had not made that plan I can confidently state that I would be all over the place again by now.

So, write down what you want to achieve, incorporate it into you wider plan and refer to it on a daily basis. I remember when I was planning business and the office I now work from, I had a very detailed vision of how it would look and what was required. And guess what I ended up with. An office I am very proud to call mine and which I can confidently meet clients and students, and one I enjoy coming to every day.

I have to work harder than some to maintain my enthusiasm, but that is of no concern, every small goal acheived - no matter how trivial it may seem,
fires me up for more action to succeed in the overall plan.

Do you know where you are going?

I have always used a diary, well at least for the past 25 years or so, and so that comes naturally to me now. You may not feel so comfortable with a diary, but make the effort and it pays huge dividends. I prefer the hardcopy version of a diary as I can adjust it at will and carry it with me. The computer versions are fine but don't seem to work as well for me.

Mind you, I have just remembered I wrote in my nephew's birthday for today and I forgot to ring him and wish him happy double figures. So you do have to make the effort to check it every day. It is the first thing I do everyday when I first sit down at my desk and in using it throughout the day I am constantly re-checking my stated targets for the day. Today being a Saturday, however, I didn't really sit down at my desk in the usual fashion so my routine went out the window. I'll need to work on that.

I am determined to succeed in the Investigation and Training business I have established, I have so thoroughly enjoyed working for myself that I cannot, and have not, imagined returning to the daily grind of working for someone else. Granted there have been occassion's where I would have enjoyed the more consistent income, but over all - and without question, I know I made the correct decision to go into business for myself.

If you are considering a similar move then feel free to give me a call, I am happy to discuss the issues of business set up and the pitfalls I have managed to avoid, bounce out of or steered clear of entirely. Don't think I am naive enough to think I know it all, I surely do not, and fully expect to go on learning for the rest of my days. But that prospect thrills me now, it is not one I dread.

Ask me anything you want in relation to any training, business set up process or other business related matter on http://www.drmgroup.com.au/ .


I am off to my next Toastmaster's meeting on Tuesday, my fourth Italian lesson on Friday, the bookkepper is lined up ready to receive my jumbled accounts (another goal)and a task I am happy to outsource to the experts, I have cleared the decks of all the legal documents needing my attention and can face the new week with confidence that I am on track. That determination and more importantly - the PLAN - is really beginning to show a return. Get out your pen and paper and put your plan in writing. It is never too late.

Think Long and Prosper
Biggles

FREE Investigations Training with a Guarantee!

I hear you say "What, Free with a guarantee" how can that be?

Well I can guarantee that with my personal support and guidance, plus my 30 'odd (very odd some of my best friends say) years of experience in this field, you will pass the course. There are proviso's and I will talk to you about them when you contact me either by phone (07) 41230795 or through the website at http://www.drmgroup.com.au/

I am currently offering a very select number of places in government funded Private Investigations courses but you must act quickly to gain your place. I will leave this offer open until the end of February or until the positions available run out, whichever comes first.

Unfortunately, for those of you outside of Queensland the offer does not apply but there is funding available for you in your state or territory, contact me on http://www.drmgroup.com.au/ and I will point you in the right direction.

If you are thinking this course is right up your alley then contact me and I will fill in the gaps. Free training with a guarantee, how can you go wrong? Simple answer is - You can't, so contact me now to learn more.

Think long & and prosper
Dan

Another one bites the dust...

Well this year just keeps getting and better for the DRM GROUP and yours truly. I take pleasure in reporting that I have acheived another new years resolution, and now face the remaining goals head on with absolute confidence and commitment.

For this latest resolution was based in an easily recognised failing, Public speaking.

I recently had the misfortune to read a transcript of an interview I conducted and the shock from seeing that transcript has changed my life. I had never noticed the um's, er's, arrgghs, hmm's that had infiltrated my, and if y ou are honest - your's as well, interview style until the day I saw the transcript but once I did I determined immediately to rectify that problem area. From that grew the desire to change several other issues confronting me and hence the whole new year resolution thing.

So far it has been working brilliantly, as I have already related in previous posts. The latest tick in the succesfully initiated column is that of attending Toastmaster's with the desire to improve on the terrible presentation style I exhibited in that interview mentioned above. I contacted the Maryborough, Qld branch of Toastmasters and requested meeting dates and times. I should state that being a trainer for the DRM GROUP ( www.drmgroup.com.au )has allowed me to overcome the problems most associate with speaking to groups, but I am still only a beginner when standing next to the experienced speakers of this organisation.

Nevertherless, I draw inspiration from the opportunity to challenge myself and to draw on their knowledge to benefit not only myself but everyone needing my services in general. The fact that I am the one gaining this benefit is just luck of the draw I guess! Not!

I was impressed with the polished and relaxed style of the veterans of the local Toastmaster's Club, I watched and listened, soaking up all I could. I know there is a lot to learn to reach the level of the long time exponent's of the Toastmaster school but I will get there, of that there is no doubt in my mind.

I quickly managed to identify several issues that I had failed to bear in mind during the terrible interview I mentioned above, but I saw that failing as an opportunity to increase my knowledge. How? Well how else, go to the experts in public speaking of course...Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org).

I would like to give them a small plug in explaining that Toastmasters is a non profit organisation and are the most cost effective form of self improvement I know of. The veterans, if you will excuse the term, have knowledge and experience that would cost you thousands of dollars - Euro, American or Australian, anywhere else. They are without exception friendly, enthusiastic, knowledgeable and supportive people who seem happy to give freely of their time to help others, something almost foreign in this 21st Century Westernised world of immediate gratification and overindulgence at the expense of everyone but me..well who cares? Recognise that mindset anyone?

As with my previously posted Italian language lessons, I will keep you updated on how I am doing, good, bad or ugly.

Oh and on that score, I had lesson number two (Due) today, very enjoyable once again and totally enthralling. My teacher, Signora Gabriella Coridore is so disarmingly enthusiastic it is impossible not to enjoy her lessons - I like her immensely already - if only my high school teachers had her talent for engaging their pupils.

She taught me an enormous amount today, more than I thought possible in fact, and for that I am very grateful. If you think you might like to learn a new language, well, what's stopping you? In fact, what's stopping you from learning anything new...turn off that remote controlled idiot box and grab a book, head to your nearest Training organisation or Google your topic of interest and make contact, you won't regret it.

I have now set an absolute record for the number of new year's resolutions acheived, within my life at least. I feel safe to say that as part of those resolutions my goal's for the year are looking fantastico and each success only serves to spur me on. Fantastico!

C'mon, give it a go, make this year the best you can with only a little effort. I cannot speak highly enough of the effect on my life that acheiving these little goals, one after the other, has had but boy am I glad I made the decision to give it a thrash. And the best part is with each one down that desire to improve keeps growing, fanning the flames of another fire...another one down, another one bites the dust.

Think Long and Prosper
Biggles

C'mon Chelsea, C'mon Chelsea...

Oh man, they're doing it to me again. Every week since...well a time when the only way to get the results with any speed was to listen in to the radio on a Sunday morning (see even before Sunday matches) I would trundle out of bed, and faithfully record the First Division results (I told you it was a long time ago) and in an era when Chelsea were considered and referred to as a Glamour side - not for the international, highly priced players they have today, but because they were based in the swanky high rent London district of the same name. They were still a very good side, perennial podium finishers but only once on the top step.

Unlike the team my big brother had adopted - more fool he, that rabble from the Mancunian cultural and intellectual desert- Manchester United. Yeah, Yeah I know they had won this, that and everything else over the years but they had the money behind them even then.

Chelsea (http://www.chelseafc.com/) fought valiantly year in, year out on a comparatively modest budget with arguably their best squad that of the late 60's and into the early 70's (pictured below) and only recently discovered that the Russian Rouble courtesy of one Oligarch with the first name of Roman (odd for a Russian don't you think) could fund a team of champions and stars almost unmatched. They began showing a return on the staggering 750 million pound investment of their new owner almost immediately, winning The FA Cup several times, the Premier League two years running and just about everything else bar the World Cup. The Champions League trophy is the one major title that has yet to fill the trophy cabinet, not through lack of trying, but it eludes them nonetheless. That competition has seen Chelsea make several semi finals, a final - beaten cruelly by penalty kicks - and go so close you could see the blue and white ribbons being attached to the handles of the cup. But it has yet to actually happen. Maybe this year, c'mon Chelsea.

Chelsea First Team Squad 1971

The teams of Chelsea's calibre (Barcelona, Real Madrid, that desert mob, maybe Liverpool and a couple of others) play in excess of 72+ matches a season - sometimes 3 in a 7 day period, so depth of talent is imperative and a large roster of talent at that. Gone are the days of 16 players forming the backbone of the squad and playing in all competitions, now it more likely to be 36, all of them getting several games in during one competition or another.

Meanwhile the Mancunian desert mob have continued to win well and frustrate us as they cling to our tail, reappearing with monotonous regularity. They continue to do so, by the way, strangely bereft of the money buys the trophy tag that Chelsea have endured since the Great Roman Intervention, even though the red devils have always had the money to fund the players. And it is no different now, their current American owner has spent heavily to maintain their position - just BEHIND Chelsea - at time of writing. I tell you what, I am grateful I am not living there trying to buy tickets, the prices are mind boggling.

Several times throughout this season Chelsea have moved ahead of the field, scoring freely against teams that should know better than to show up, and then just when I start to relax...they lose to a no one side, draw the next, and the next and find their huge lead whittled down to the point where I have to hold my breath again. And I'm getting too old to hold it for long.

This season is winding down, or up depending on your team's place in the race, mine is tenuoulsy clinging to the lead, while United and Arsenal ramp up the pressure. And as the weeks roll by, my heart rate increases with the unravelling of each weekend's results.

We, Chelsea and me, are so close to Footballing immortality yet so far. This year we can do it all, as that great desert side squad of 99 did, the Premier title, the FA Cup and the Champions League. But oh what a way to see it play out. Raised blood pressure with every draw, the reds seemingly relentless in their pursuit, we falter, they gain, we stretch our legs and they are still there in our shadow waiting to pounce.

Oh come on Ref, blow the whistle for full time pullleeaase make it stop...make it stop!!!

Think Long and Prosper
Biggles