Title Number 4 - Golden State Warriors - Some life takewaways

Congratulations to the Golden State Warriors on another NBA Championship - 4 in 8 years - a truly remarkable season and overcoming of adversity/injuries and negativity.

I have been a fan of Golden State for a while now, before the current run of championships. I actually was visiting San Francisco and headed to a basketball game at Oracle - watching OKC vs GSW in 2013 - where Iggy hit a fadeaway jumpshot to win the game.  Epic atmosphere which was nothing I had experienced.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi2bmUZ4NvU)

So fast forward to today, 18 June 2022, and the Golden State Warriors have won their fourth championship over in that period.  Following this team over this period has definitely allowed me to reflect on their success, drive, determination and fuel over this period of time and tease out some lessons I personally want to take away about what I have seen - and hopefully be a reminder to myself one day about how to achieve success.

1) Change the narrative - listen to criticism and work on changing

Bring up any Steph Curry backstory and it definitely includes his "narrative" - from not being highly recruited, the Nike slip, "weak ankles", him vs Monta Ellis, as well his defensive weaknesses.  

He went about his business and changed that all.  He definitely looks bigger/more defined than in his earlier years in the league, and the Celtics were not able to exploit his defensive weaknesses despite their best efforts of hunting that mismatch.  He was good in a number of series (incl. against Memphis).

He worked on changing the perceptions and his legacy.

Andrew Wiggins was huge for during this run- and he had a narrative attached to his name following his spell at Minnesota after going number one in the draft.  He played defense and gave them timely/clutch baskets when the team desperately needed something to turn the momentum (huge dunk on Luka anyone)?  He was constantly guarding the opposition's best players and scoring, and grabbing rebounds.  Sure, he is not Kevin Durant - but was clearly the second most consistent player during this run.  When he arrived the "experts" felt he was not up to par and was just draft fodder.  He worked hard to change his game and fit into the system.  He didn't need to be Kevin Durant because he is Andrew Wiggins.

Listening to a wide variety of commentators etc, there are always going to be critics and negative comments.  Take the criticism and change that around.

2) Find fuel

"I have a lot to accomplish. I don't have anything to prove."

Words from Steph in 2021.  He had his rings, his accolades, his max contract extension.  He doesn't need to win anything else and would still be a great player (as he was already in the top 75 players named by the NBA). But he continues to find the motivation to keep playing winning basketball. Motivation is the key to make one take action.  To wake up in the morning and continue to grind.  Every morning - not some mornings.

 

Mind you, post game 6 and watching the celebrations, these Golden State players definitely kept receipts of all the naysayers/slights/negative comments during the season and threw it back into people's faces.  But that's fuel for the individual to keep going.  

 

The core starters of Steph, Klay, Draymond all were getting paid handsomely, and had won it all three times before.  But they stayed hungry and motivated to finish the job.  They certainly looked and played more hungry than some of those who had never won it before!

 

Reminds of when I started going to the gym and not seeing results. Questions creep in - will I get there, when will it happen etc.  Remember the long haul, not about seeing results in one or two weeks.

 

3) Setbacks happen - stay positive and look forward

 

Injuries to KD and Klay left them disappointingly short in the NBA finals. The departure of KD and then further injuries to Klay, Steph and Draymond left them at the bottom of the league and not making the playoffs for two years.  Everyone was looking at them as an embarrassing fall from grace and end of their title runs.  

These would have been dark times for individuals and the team.  I have been injured before and had to take extended time off sports.  Okay, I don't have the luxury of multi-million dollar medical teams at my disposal, but watching various sports stars return from Achilles and ACL injuries highlighted a lot of them are not the players they once were.  

For the team and individual they had to accept they faced a setback and plan a path to recovery.  They had to buy into that plan - and nurture the young talent they could afford on their roster in order to move forward.  Yes, sometimes, one gets dealt a devastating blow and there are setbacks - but one has to stay positive that the path is right and continue to accept that one will be tested on their journey.

 
4) Let your game speak for itself, but you do it as a team, not individual

 

So many experts (and some who had never played the game at a high level) were making predictions.  Only a few faithful believed but the casual observer would not have picked them to win it all.  Even the ESPN BPI had the Celtics at over 80% chance of winning before the series started.

But at the end of the game, the Warriors let their game do the talking - as a team.  IMO, the Mavs and the Celtic's supporting cast failed to deliver in the clutch moments.  Steph Curry was great (as he is almost expected to be). But contributions up and down the roster also helped when it mattered.  Wiggins.  Looney.  Poole. Payton. Green.  Thompson.  They won it as a team throughout the various series and played collective basketball - and yes, they played off Steph's brilliance, but that's what they can do. 

5) Success is not guaranteed, so enjoy every moment

Like many in professional sports, there are a litter of bodies who don't make the NBA, or are out of the league after a short period of time.  Of those who stay, there are still only a few who collect a ring or any hardware.  One can be top of class, top of state, number one pick or MVP of the league - and still be ringless (*Charles Barkley/Karl Malone/Westbrook/Harden). Winning it all is not a guarantee, despite all the success one has had prior to that point.  Working hard doesn't mean success will follow automatically.

If the Celtics had won, then the stories written would be quite different.  No talk of dynasty.  No talk of greatness.  More talk of KD being the reason for them winning two championships. 

The two year hiatus reminds me of the Bull's championship run.  Sure, it was not due to injuries, but they needed motivation to keep winning - and it was the drive to become great and do something special.

But there are no guarantees - a missed shot, turnover etc would have ended that streak.  And even when the Bulls were on top, they blew up the team anyway and have not been contenders for a while.  

So one has to learn to accept defeat - bask in what one has achieved but need the drive/hunger and will to keep striving forward.

I personally was never good at enjoying what success I had - rather I would be quite shy about anyone giving me "props" and embarrassed so I tried to keep my head down.  From now on, I will try to accept and acknowledge the positive comments but know where I want to get to and keep striving forward.

 

Anyway, I hope I can look back at these one day and say I incorporated them into my daily life and thinking.   Hopefully I can add more thoughts as I go along!

New skills, new tech. From Nikon to Sony.

I have been on and off in terms of photography when I bought my first camera.
The trusty Nikon had served me well over the last 9 years or so.  Firstly the picture quality was great being a full frame camera and I managed to take it to many places with me over the years - Peru, Europe, Asia.  So many fond memories of the camera. 
In saying that, technology has come quite far over that time and lots have improved.  Image quality and dynamic range in the photos, autofocus (like Eye AF) and not to mention mirrorless full frame cameras has certainly seen huge moves over the last 9 years where technology is at the point where I see it as being quite mature.  I have never been fond of being the earliest adopter of technology, especially in areas of limited use.  But all these things are large step ups from what and where we have come from over this time.  In my latest camera acquisition, I decided to give Sony a go, having show with Nikon pretty much these last 9 years.  I did do a lot of research on this and thought I should outline why I decided to go with Sony this time around.
Firstly, I really enjoyed my older cameras, but did feel like I was missing out on new functionality, such as WIFI, video functionality (let alone 4K), live view and focus peaking.

1) Mirrorless - weight, size and live view.
We have seen mirrorless around for some time, and Sony was really forging ahead over the last few years in this field and established themselves as having very good full frame cameras as well.  Over the years, the weight of the sturdy DSLRs as well as significant improvements in phone cameras has meant I have often opted for the convenience of my phone over the DSLRs and often were left sitting in my dry box.  In addition, I felt I was missing out on live-view to compose my shot and settings real time.  Short trips as well meant I was carrying a fair amount of size and weight on trips and was thinking about how I could make this easier.

2) Autofocus
The new cameras and mirrorless, have great autofocus.  Covering a very large area of the screen as well as Eye AF in the Sony.  One of the most annoying and frustrating things for me is missing focus - because nothing can be done about it in post processing.  Being able to track subjects across the frame rather than just the centre of the frame is very nice.
Also, autofocus on these cameras is quick - less missed shots and high burst rates!
Shots of people, portraits - it's awesome to have some of the algorithm take some of the hard work out of it and just nail the autofocus.  Most manufacturers in mirrorless have it or at least it's coming (e.g. Nikon).  Perhaps also my eyes are not what they used to be!  Clearly it is something shooters are looking for these days. 

3) Video
Video is something which interests me, but I have not gotten into as yet.  Earlier years saw implementation compromises in the Nikon DSLRs, so I did hesitate.  But now that 4K is quite prevalent, I would be keen to capture footage now!

4) In body image stabilisation
Interestingly, Sony offers IBIS which is great for older lenses.  While not all mirrorless cameras offer it, definitely helpful for someone like me with some shakey hands!  Lots of image blur is unrecoverable in post as well.

5) Dynamic range
The new cameras have such good dynamic range - just as good as the DSLRs which have closed that gap up substantially

6) Adapting lenses
I gave this quite some consideration.  As we all know, good glass is never cheap.  But mirrorless has opened up a market for a variety of old lenses to be used on the cameras via adapters, mainly due to the shorter flange distance to the sensor.  Which is great as I won't necessarily need to get rid of all my old glass, as I still have film camera around.  Some even offering autofocus!

So why Sony, given I have been a longer time Nikon shooter?
Sony has been leading the charge in full frame mirrorless.  From the research I had done, their latest cameras have taken great strides in improving their mirrorless cameras.  While I had a friend who has churned through the Sony a7i it was the Sony A7iii which really got my attention.
Better battery life than previously.  Very good autofocus.  Two card slots.  And by virtue of being earlier in the game, and the gamut of lenses (native) and adapters around. 


In addition, there were two swing factors.  While Nikon had come out with their Z6/Z7 cameras, from all accounts, autofocus was not there yet and the FTZ adapter meant that I couldn't even use all my lenses with autofocus, given I have a few AF-D lenses.  Being a younger system also meant it was still getting onto Eye AF, autofocus was good, but not quite on pair, and not as many native lenses (if I went down that path).
Flowing from that, the second big one for me was that Sony (wisely) has decided to open up their mount information to third party manufacturers.  This incentives them to make good glass for their system with pretty much all the functionality, rather than having to reverse engineer the information.  This frustrated me from with the Nikon F mount, as there was good glass out there from other manufacturers, but they were never as optimised on the F mount.
If Nikon had come out with a better FTZ adapter that allowed AF-D lenses and with better autofocus then the decision may have been harder as there is still some very good glass from Nikon.

So I bought an adapter for the Sony which allowed me to also use my Nikon lenses on the Sony body with Eye-AF.  Third party of course, but works.

Of course the Sony is not all a bed of roses.  I knew that it may not have as good weather sealing and ergonomics (menu system is definitely a bit challenging to navigate with nested options), but I felt that it was still worth it with the above.  Lenses coming from Sony are not cheap, but I feel that the adapters and third party lens manufacturers are at least coming up in that sense. Sony also has an adapter for their alpha FF cameras, so that's also an option as well.

In a way, I am excited to try this new setup.  New camera - new tips, new menus and ergonomics to figure out. But hopefully some nice photos to come out!

Sample photo below of some food - straight out of camera!

Welcome to the Leopard...

I remembered way back to my years when I was introduced to the wonderful world of computers. As I was growing, I was using word processors on my good ol' Apple II (yes this predates the Apple IIe). Geez that brought back fond memories. Some of the things I remembered include:
- Having a dot matrix printer which printed mainly text. The ink was mainly a purpley grey colour and geez it was a such a big step up from 1) typewriters due to the correct one's work and 2) handwritten assignments.
- The monitor was isolated to a monochrome colour of green or orange.
- Games were very sparse and limited to what could fit onto a single 5.25" floppy disk. These included the likes of Load Runner, Frogger, Hard Hat Mack and Chess (and I found it hard to beat until many years later).

It wasn't until a few years later that we decided to go the PC route, with the whole line of 286, 386, 486, Pentiums....many, those were interesting times while playing in colour (VGA anyone?). At that point I had never really thought about buying another Apple computer, even after being introduced to them at school. Funnily enough, I believe that this coincided with the change in the helm at Apple...

Well, I never though that it would happen so soon, but I am back in the realms of Apple-dom, as I have gone out and got myself a MacBook. The main driver here is that I don't get given a laptop as part of work any more, so I thought it would be more handy and convenient to have a laptop (especially with travel and so forth). I can safely say that I am really enjoying this laptop, even though I am not entirely familiar with the Mac Operating system, but I'm sure that I will pick it up soon enough.

So far, things I do like about the MacBook:
- Decent specs and build quality for comparably spec'ed laptops and reasonable size. (e.g. built in wireless, bluetooth, camera, firewire)
- Small enough to travel with, without being too bulky (esp. for planes). Luggage space is definitely a premium!
- Wireless N - although I don't have a wireless N router...yet.
- Magnetic power cord - no more tripping over wires and watching in dismay as one's laptop goes sailing across the room.
- Not bad looking in white
- Boot Camp option allowing the user to run Windows if required (this is great for work based computers, since most companies run Windows based PCs)
- Swish OS (OS 10 and 10.5 - Leopard)

Main downsides to current MacBook:
- Attachments/add-ons are expensive ($69 for a white wired mouse, anyone?)
- Too many attachments are optional (no VGA/DVI cable). I guess the plan is minimalist...
- White gets dirty and scratched easily.
- Less applications support Mac OS...which is a shame really.

I guess there is always room for a change - another Mac convert here! I guess it's still early days though, so hopefully all goes well!

Being in The Game

I would not classify myself an avid reader of novels. I was never that person in school who would max out their limit at the library with novels. I didn't know the librarian by her name. During schooling years my reading was limited to required texts, crib notes on the required texts I was studying and exam papers. Fast forward to today and I have probably read no more than a handful of novels since receiving my HSC, or university degree for that matter.

A few days ago, my sister dumped a book down as I was playing a video game.
"This book is funny," she said casually, a little grin spreading across her face. I was slightly annoyed at being interrupted during my gaming time - the whole men and multi-tasking thing is true.
"It's about picking up," I heard her say.
Somehere in the deep recesses of my mind it registered what she was saying. Book. Picking up. Hmm...

So it was thus that I first had Neil Strauss's The Game in my hands.

**Warning - some spoilers ahead**

The author, an average frustrated chump (AFC), infiltrates the world of pick up artists (PUA) as an assignment. He is promptly thrust into an entirely different culture, propped up with their own jargon (a glossary is provided as well). One of the main selling points of the novel is that a majority of males fall into the AFC category. Being a self classified AFC (well, I definitely aint' a PUA), I could almost immediately relate to him as well as his feelings. Honestly now, who wouldn't want to be the guy who gets the girl? Who wouldn't want to be the hero at the bar/club/restaurant etc who can chat up the girls? There is almost instant hero status once this is achieved (at least among AFCs). Unfortunately, powering through video games at a crazy rate does not get anywhere near to earning such respect, so I guess my hours have been wasted! The fear of rejection is enough to make a some men man jump into a cage full of lions rather than receive an outright rejection. Therefore, given the opportunity, hordes of AFCs wanted to learn how to become a PUA.

The transformation of Neil is amusing - from the jealousy of his friend who could pull girls, to becoming a guru in the pick up game. The process in which this is learnt is rather startling though. Funnily enough the systematic breakdown of the techniques allowed me to think back to my much younger years, and realised that some of my friends were actually using those techniques! I was secretly wondering whether they had done it consciously after reading some book, or whether they did it subconsciously as a natural alpha male. I knew that I should have studied pyschlogy!

However, the dissection of human nature, mannerisms, hypnosis, NLP followed by the industrialisation of the material available made it a rather stoic process. It was like going through the motions and having a response to every resistance a girl could throw at them. However, I feel that this redraws the border of manipulative seduction and actually dehumanises the chasing process - expecially since I love the build up and the chase.

I am an advocate of the fact that everyone who reads the same text will take away something slightly different based on their past experiences. A main theme for me was the point of social validation. The PUAs were being validated through their success with the girls. In order to get to their targets, they needed to be socially validated by the target's friends as well as their own. I guess deep down, everyone does to some extent. A classic example is if someone gives another a compliment. Sure one may not necessarily be seeking it, but I know it feels good when someone gives me a compliment. Not many people like feeling like an outcast - even if one is not necessarily mainstream per se, they would tend to gravitate to those who most similar to themselves.

Another point to note was that the techniques being used were more or less attracting a certain type of person, and sometimes, they did get blown off. The question for the AFC would be why are they learning those techniques? Is it to get a particular girl? Or get a particular type of girl? I doubt that it would work on too many of the people I know.

Finally, the notion of being emotionally, physically and intellectually drawn in to form a relationship was highlighted. It almost went against the grain for many PUAs (or at least many of the AFCs which became PUAs). From a PUA perspective, too often were the emotional and intellectual elements neglected as they became lost in deploying different "techniques".

All in all, I reckon it was a great entertaining read - and maybe I learnt something from it all (and hopefully not just about picking up).

When Harry Met Sally much later

I admit that even though I had previously worked in a video store and had the luxury of free videos, I hadn't watched a lot of movies.

So I decided to start catching up on a few movies which were deemed to be a bit of a must see - one of which was "When Harry Met Sally" (1989). This is one movie I can talk about comfortably without worring about giving spoliers as almost everyone else has seen this! Don't you just love movie dates?

Previously, when I had watched romantics, I never really thought about the subject matter so much and I guess I didn't really relate. However, I believe that one's experiences shape views and therefore cause reactions to incidents which one was previously not aware of - i.e. one's emotions are tied to feelings for someone in that same situation.

The amusing factor was seeing two people who were practically polar opposites being drawn together like some wicked spell. I guess it highlights the fact that the person who you truly are compatible with start out on a platform of friendship and opening up to each other (and how Harry even admitting that he can tell her things which he cannot even tell his best friend).
Throughout the movie, I felt that Harry transforms from some strong headed, opinionated young graduate, through to a more mellow, emotionally oriented person - especially at the pent up feelings he had felt after his divorce. Sally was the "I'm ok" kind of person who was the type to shy away from revealing her true feelings and is more guarded and conservative.

I guess the ending emphasised the fact that ending up with someone is not based on some secret formula and cannot be boxed in neatly into being boxed in based on rules. Sometimes, things dont turn out the way in which one expects.

Marie's earlier line: "All I'm saying is that somewhere out there is the man you are supposed to marry. And if you don't get him first, somebody else will, and you'll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that somebody else is married to your husband " is somewhat reflected in the finale of the film, as one of the most thought provoking and inspiring statements was delivered:
"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with a person, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

Being able to make that statement with such conviction is definitely worth admiration - and having attended a couple of weddings of late has definitely fed my thoughts on the gravity of dedicating one's life to another.

I guess the certainty factor is very difficult to attain - how can one be certain that the person is the one whom they wish to spend their short eternity together? Even certainty of oneself does not guarantee an equal measure of commitment by the other person. I guess that it is the leap of faith and trust that one has in the other person. Embracing someone in their entirety -flaws and shortcomings included is a rather daunting proposition; uncovering them late in the piece can also be a problem. Although it took Harry a while to find out what he wanted or needed, I'm happy that he finally did.

In any case, it was a definitely a funny movie, with some great dialogue which really highlighted the characters.

Well, I guess I still have a lot of movies to catch up on...

One man's chocolate...

To be honest, I rarely eat a lot of chocolate these days. I guess that's part of me trying to lead a healthier lifestyle. Or perhaps it was because one time I pigged out on a lot of chocolate and felt sick afterwards. Hmmm....either/or I hadn't really had a calling to eat chocolate for a while. I also confess that I hadn't been to a confectionary store in a while (I guess I, like most others, shop at supermarkets).

But it was upon recommendation (or maybe some strong marketing - who knows) that I was standing inside the chocolate store, requesting samples of the different types of chocolates that the Chocolate Genie had to offer.

The assortment really stirred the imagination as well as the stomach. I sampled the Equadorian, Cinnamon, Chilli, Ginger, Dark, Milk Coffee, Lemon, Lime, Lemon Myrtle, Orange - and it definitely was a heck of a decision when it came down to choosing the ones I really liked. Some were really refreshing; some had a bit of a bite to them; some were downright unusual so they had the novelty factor working for them.

I tried to narrow my choices down to a few items which I really enjoyed, but I have to say, I really did like a lot of them! Of course I ended up buying a whopping 7 packets for myself and 5 packets as gifts (and departing with $50 - even after a 30% discount). That coming from someone who "rarely" eats chocolates.

Unfortunately, I learned from the shop attendant that they are closing down over the next 2-4 weeks (the owner has decided to retire at 66 years of age). To an extent, that would have fuelled some of those purchases as I would not be able to buy them in the future.

It's a shame to see a store like this will not be available any more. This got me thinking why a store with an award winning product would close down (and I'm sure that I am not the only one thinking that either).

For those who have actually been to the store, I would say the first few things which hit me were:
1) Location - being at the back of an shopping arcade in a residential area just did not allow it to get the visibility it deserved. Furthermore, with a major shopping centre in the next suburb, it was much more easily forgotten.
2) Packaging - the packaging definitely left something to be desired. Sure, the product is great, but part of it is self promotion. A well presented and unique box or bag will surely go a long way to ensuring that people will buy it or use it as gifts.
3) Marketing - how many people had even heard of this place? There is virtually no marketing outside local areas for this product. Also, the decor seemed dated and was not conducive to enticing a broad crowd to come and try the chocolates even if tasting was for free.

There are a number of other factors working against the chocolate scene in that it is not perceived to be a health food and typically is complimentary around a normal meal in that it is really a eaten when relaxing. Now other chocolate stores have cropped up and really taken a foothold in the market.

However, without trying to oversimplify the complexities and underestimating the difficulties in running a business, I do believe that there is a positive value proposition to be had with the store. I wonder if it will be rescued or reincarnated in some form or other? I hope it will.