You're going.. NAH, you're not.. oh, ok, you are....

WHAT A WEEK!
Just to recap for those snoozing at the back. Tomorrow is the day I was supposed to have my whole life neatly arranged in a backpack and be on my way to a long overdue reunion with my old friend Il Tritone in Piazza Barberini.That was last Wednesdays plan. Thursday came along with a whole bag of stinky a** that required immediate action in order to ensure the survival of 'the business'. The business that I speak of is, of course, the factory that I have some minor shares in, and that my sister owns most of. Operating a manufacturing facility is never boring but frequently stressful and not for the faint-hearted or nervy types. I have a customer that used to have his own manufacturing facility, but gave it up in order to concentrate on product design and product sales, much like what I do with Sana Direct. I asked him if he would ever go back to it. After a long, giggle stifling pause he came up with something diplomatic. I think it was 'oh god, no, no, no'.

Friday, it looked as if we would have to cancel our trip - a depressing thought indeed. Luckily we have some very good business people as advisors and they assure us that business can in fact be conducted from the other side of the world these days and that our physical presence is not necessary and probably not desirable, given the sad faces and bad attitudes that inevitably accompany a travel-related disappointment.

After much grovelling to the travel agent and paying of transfer fees, I managed to reschedule outgoing flights and stopover hotel beds for Wednesday 25th and my emotional barometer is inching back toward 'excited', having been swinging from 'worry' to 'despair' to 'relieved' to 'stressed out' and around again. I wish I could report that I kept my eating 100% on track through all of this, but in fact I managed only averagely and did slip into some emotional eating, using sugar to prop myself up in the afternoons. After three days of this I was feeling the return of the old B.E.D negative mindset and made an effort to de-stress through exercise and getting some sleep and relaxation. Now the eating is feeling normal again, but this 'walk on the edge' reminds me that I have to manage my life, no matter what might come along to destabilise my equilibrium.
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Go Kiwi's!
Last week had a high point. A bright moment. The proposed Therapeutic Goods Act has been defeated through sheer public pressure (edit note: I had to do an emergency edit on this post when someone pointed out to me that I'd made a typo.. pubic pressure. hurrrr.). Australians will know what a disaster the TGA has been in their country for the natural health industry. Many innovative companies were strangled by the prohibitive costs and legislative red tape that sprung up when health products became regulated by the same piece of legislation that governs pharmaceutical products. Other companies took their manufacturing off-shore or moved out of Australia altogether. How good could that be for the economy? In my opinion the main problem that Australia faces now is the extreme expenditure of both money and time that is involved in introducing a new product to the market. In a fast moving genre like bodybuilding supplements, Australian manufactured products are falling behind and becoming 'middle of the road' where they used to be cutting edge. It's very sad.


Given that their scheme was so well received (?), the Australian government decided to put pressure on NZ to join in and have a joint regulatory scheme. In a rush of blood to the head our health minister signed a treaty stating that NZ was committed to the idea. The bill was drafted and had it's first reading right before xmas - a time when many MP's were on holiday. Public submissions closed on 7th February. The 6th of February is a public holiday (Waitangi Day) in NZ and if you are a busy person (like myself) you probably tend to send things by overnight courier at the last minute. No courier was operating on Waitangi Day and my submission was not read. I know of others that had the same problem. The bill was referred to select committee and then began the meetings. As the health industry met with more MP's it became clear that our governmental representatives did not have the slightest idea of what our concerns were and, as they became educated, many started to ask probing questions about the viability of the proposed legislation. I must admit, I did not expect it to go down the gurgler so dramatically and I'm sure that this is not the end of it. For now though, we can breathe a sigh of relief and feel just a little bit of national pride for standing up against a much bigger guy. Now we must wait to see how the big guy will react to this fairly public mooning!
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The Name
My new nephew is called 'Marcel', like the mime artist. He has very long fingers :)