Contrast

I'm an early riser, always have been and continue that practice here.   There is a big construction project right next to my apartment and the banging begins promptly at 7 am which is a big motivator to get moving but even without that I'm awake at 5 or 6.  The BBC radio is on before 7 so I can lie in bed and get caught up on the news of the day, or is it yesterday from our perspective down under?   I arrived in Australia on January 22nd.  The same day the protests started in Egypt.  So while I have been fiddling around here,  learning the protocols of the office,  figuring out bus and ferry schedules.  hauling groceries home and playing tourist, Egypt and  the world as we all know it has been shaken and turned upside down.   

UE has done a great job of keeping track of what our members are doing to safely evacuate students and faculty from the turmoil in Egypt.  The scale and scope of what is happening there and how it changes the chess board of diplomacy is hard to get my head around.   I rely on the BBC radio for audio news and although I promised myself not to check news from back home, I have cheated and log onto the NYT web site to get some US perspective.  It is a close tie to decide which is the worst news source here;  Australian radio,  TV or the newspapers.  All three are really bad.    As I visitor I don't want to be snarky about the news media, or anything, here but it is underwhelming.  This is of course Mr. Murdoch's birthplace.    I turned the TV on my first afternoon as I wrestled with hooking up the wireless internet in the apartment and haven't turned it on since.   Bill Bryson in his 2000 book on Australia commented on the poor state of Australian TV and seems like things haven't changed.   As for  the radio, and I admit to be devoted ( addicted) to NPR back home, but at 7 am,  the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company) radio show READS THE HEADLINES AND ARTICLES FROM THE AUSTRALIAN PAPERS.   It is almost reminiscent of a SNL sketch.  But real.   I'll post a link to the Sydney Daily Herald on my facebook page. 

On to other issues.  Still haven't been on the water yet for sailing, the wind has a magical way of disappearing when I appear for my lessons.  I'll try again Sunday morning.    Finished my second bridge lesson and I think I can understand why Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are crazy about the game.  It is a pretty cool,  challenging and fun. 

Very engaged in the work of LeapFrog.   A lot of thinking about what should be measured.    UE has values that guides all interactions and work of our staff.   Teamwork, Integrity, Quality, Innovation, TIQI, and although the measurements are subjective and we are looking for objective measurements of social investments, we think  there are  ways to measure the  effectiveness and efficacy of social impact investing.   There are really smart people here who's life work it is to think about and launch these products and it's terrific  to be a small part of this process, even  for such a short time.  The UE staff will laugh but I am also using The Ultimate Question and the concept of Influencers,  Promoters etc. for some work here.  Maybe we have a source for those books yet!  

Starting to plan some trips for when family visits.  OZ is amazingly huge, and although there are only about 22 million people in the country, there are so many things I want to see.   Should we go to Tasmania, it will be chilly there in April but everyone I talk to says it is very special and the walks are really amazing,  maybe up to the Daintree, Cape Tribulation and upper part of the GBR, but will "stinger season" be over?  What about Uluru and the Olgas?   Maybe Kangaroo Island?  Melbourne of  course and some folks say Canberra has a wonderful art museum with the best collection of Aboriginal art and although the capital city is much maligned, others say it is a really nice place to visit.    Canberra was a compromise after Federation when both Melbourne and Sydney wanted to be the capital of the new country.   In the spirit of compromise, half way between the two, Canberra was built.  After all DC was a planned city, built on a swamp as the US's new capital.   At least Canberra wasn't built on a swamp.

I will be traveling to South Africa at the end of March for a meeting of LeapFrog investors and partners and booked two nights at a game park at the end of the meeting.   I haven't been to SA in over 25 years so I am really looking forward to seeing how much it has changed.  I'll travel with  a colleague to the Philippines at the end of this month and anxious to see the country, or at least Manila.   

Heading into the weekend,   will follow events in Egypt closely, go to an independent theater production, "Speaking in Tongues" tonight and Dr. Zhivago, Saturday night.    May go to the zoo or maybe a market in Paddington, and of course try once again to get on the water for a sailing lesson.