Supersized

One day this week I received a phone call from my friend the Navigating Phenom (NP) with news that he received a coupon for discount at a local sporting goods store that is now selling SCUBA gear. So today NP , Mrs NP and I duly paid a visit to the sporting goods super store.

I was very surprised by the large selection of high quality SCUBA gear on display. The staff were very knowledgeable and most helpful. I realize that today was their "launch party", but I think they are doing everything right.

In the metro area that I live in there are at least twelve SCUBA stores. So far the SCUBA stores were spread out throughout the metro area with each store basically servicing a region of the metro. With the advent of the superstore selling a large range of SCUBA gear I think there is bound to be a shakeup in the status quo. One could probably compare it to the way Walmart, Target etc. changed the retail landscape from mom and pop stores to superstores.

I am all for supporting the local dive stores (LDS), since I derive some income from instructing from the one of the local dive stores in my area. At the same time I think that competition is good for the local SCUBA scene. In the SCUBA business relationships are very important. The superstores are good at selling on price, but I think that the LDS can handily beat the superstores on building relationships with customers.

For us to survive and thrive we will have to adapt to change and get better at what we do.

It's back

About a month ago, my new camera started acting up. Apparently this specific model has had some teething problems and after a few emails, the manufacturer suggested that I send back the camera for repairs. So I duly sent the camera back the manufacturer via Fedex. After about four weeks a UPS note appeared on my door that I had a parcel from the manufacturer. I was very pleased, except that I missed the UPS guy. I tried rescheduling and after much going back and forth I was able to schedule the delivery for a day when I knew I would be at home.

So today, the camera was delivered by UPS (I remain in awe of UPS and Fedex in terms of efficiency, but will leave that for another post). I realized once again (not that I needed confirmation) that I am a complete gadget geek. I could not wait to open the parcel and get the camera out and start playing with it. Obviously I had to see whether the problem that I had was resolved. Fortunately it was, but strangely I could find no note from the manufacturer about the resolution to the problem. Too bad - I would have liked to know what happened.

I can't wait to go diving to try out the camera again. It is almost as much fun as when I first bought the camera.

Apparently, there is a medical term for what afflicts me and so many of my friends. It is called neophilla. I first learned of this term in an excellent podcast that I regularly watch called Geek Brief. According to an article that Cali from GeekBrief referenced "Neophiliacs are people who love everything new or novel". The article goes on to say

And now a team of researchers have provided these consumers with just about the greatest excuse ever for justifying their expensive compulsion to buy the newest and coolest. They can't help themselves. It turns out some people may, in fact, be more genetically predisposed than others to wanting the newest toys, gadgets and fashions.

In scientific mumbo jumbo, it seems that genetic differences mean that people produce different variations of a mitochondrial enzyme called monoamine oxidase A. That’s according to research from the Yamagata University School of Medicine in Japan, which was recently published in the scientific journal Psychiatric Genetics and mentioned in the New Scientist magazine. (source: http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_5439.asp)

This is all a little tongue in cheek, but I must admit that I do enjoy new technology. I don't think that I am a total first adoptor or pursue technology for the sake of technology, but I sure am grateful to be alive in a time of great technological developments.

Reflection

A few months ago I wrote about a staff instructor class that I was taking. The class eventually ended a few weeks ago and I thought that I would like to write some of my reflections and thoughts on the class. Just to fill in those who might not be familiar with what a staff instructor is, please click on this link to a description.

The first thought that springs to mind about the class is how different it was to be an evaluator of presentations. When I completed my instructor training, I remember the presentations to have been judged very strictly. I suppose most will have the same feeling of things being more difficult in "their day".

The second reflection is how much I enjoyed watching the instructor candidates develop and grow in their confidence and ability.

The third reflection is how my own instruction has improved. Every time you teach something you learn it again. It is commonly believed that to really learn something you should teach it.

If one wants to be good at anything one should keep growing and developing. To be a good instructor takes more than just great personality and people skills. I think it takes work, preparation and dedication. In my opinion, a good instructor makes the material come alive and makes the difficult material look easy. A good instructor will find a way of unpacking the theory so that the students not only learn it, but understand why it is important and are able to apply it. I am not a trained educator, but I believe that the better prepared and trained I am, the easier it is for me to present the class and the more the students enjoy the class.

Even though I am glad that the course is over, I feel a little empty at the same time. My dive buddy (the Navigating Phenom) completed the staff instructor class with me. NP suggested that we staff the next IDC (Instructor Development Course) so that we can apply what we learned and keep developing our skills. Perhaps focusing only on the students success and not being concerned about passing the SI course will make the IDC a lot of fun. I dove with the dive master candidates a few weeks ago (they are the ones who will be doing the next IDC) and found them to be a great bunch of people. I will write more on my adventures with the next IDC as things get started in few month's time.

Thanks to our course directors for a good class.

Go free little fishy

Its been a while since I did open water certification dives. Last weekend I was able to work with another instructor and we had two groups of eight students to run through the certification dives.

We had a great time at the lake, except that the visibility was really poor this year. The visibility has been going down every year for a number of years. I think there are a number of factors that influence the visibility in our lake, but two of the contenders are - fertilizer and apparently the stocking of trout in the lake. The trout, I am told, eat the organisms that keep the algae in check. Who know what the actual cause is of the algae - I just know that at this rate we will not be able to use that particular lake for certification dives much longer.

One of the students in the morning class had an interesting surprise for us. He is a marine biology expert and decided that he wanted to release a sunfish that he had raised from a tiny newborn. He received the tiny sunfish from the local Department of Natural Resources in 1999 and kept the fish as an experiment. I am not sure what the experiment entailed, but he told us that he did not want to name the fish since he did not want to become too attached to the fish.

The marine biology expert brought the fish to the lake in a large plastic bucket and when it was time to release the fish we all gathered around the expert in the water (all of us in our full scuba gear). He tilted the bucket so that some of the lake water entered the bucket and held the bucket at an angle so that the fish could swim out if it wanted to. However the fish seemed confused and did not rush out. In fact it backed up a little and it seemed like he just wanted to stay with what was familiar. Eventually he swam a little forward and then back again. He did this a number of times (all the divers were loudly cheering the fish on by this time). Eventually the little fish swam off lazily to the loud cheers of all the students.

The release of the little sun fish was a unique experience for all of us. What a nice way to end a class.