Archive for the ‘People’ Category

It’s That Time Of Year Again!
Saturday, September 19th, 2009

Ahhh, September. Footy finals here in Australia and a multitude of sport all around the planet.

We have the cricket coming to an end in the UK, the Vuelta Espana in the cycling and countless other events to keep every sports hungry fanatic glued to the living room sofa.

My team? Gone. No more. We made the semi-finals (limped in is a better term), only to be thwarted in the first week to start thinking about 2010.

Who to support now? Anyone? I just love watching great sport, period.

Plenty of issues to discuss at the moment. Freddy Flintoff becoming a free agent in the cricket is interesting. To be honest, I think many other players will follow suit. The attraction for playing any sport for your country would have to be a big thing for any athlete, but if you can get ten times (or even more) money for being a free agent, I would have no interest what-so-ever if I had to choose one or the other. Sure, it’s an opportunity lost, but as a professional sportsman, you have only a few years at the peak of your ability before you have to figure out how to spend the majority of your life once you retire.

Smart financial sense to take the cash!

Will this sort of thing happen in other sports? Well, for my favourite sport, it already does. Rugby League is happy to watch its players get poached by other sports, because it can’t match the money. Why would you even be loyal to a sport you love that you’ve been playing all your life, when you can get a 50% pay rise to try something new.

If it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to the original plan, right?

What would you do?

I know where I would be! Playing quoits if it meant the best income!

Filed under: Money and Finance, People, Sport — Tags: , , , — Pete Kvist @ 4:18 pm
Michael Jackson’s Death
Friday, June 26th, 2009

Michael Jackson, the man who is one of the most famous musicians in world history, has died at the age of 50 in his LA home.

This is tragic news for everyone, as although he lived what many would regard as a very strange life, there is no doubt his music changed the world.

All this got me and Liza thinking this morning about the whole mortality thing once again. You never know when your number is up, but if you did, would you be living your life differently. Sure you would.

But here’s the problem, when you hear these guru’s say “live every day like it was your last”, there are many holes in the statement.

For example, if you lived today as if it were your last, wouldn’t you take risks you wouldn’t otherwise take? What if that actually is how you die? lol. I know if I knew today was my last, I’d use every dollar I had to go and do all the things I ever wanted to do, but what if it’s not my last and tomorrow I have no money?

I’m not a naysayer, I just think the statement should be, “live every day with no regrets if you were to die tomorrow”! That’s better surely?

Anyway, it is with a rather sad feeling that we also bid farewell to a pop superstar today and understand that no one lives forever (yet).

More soon at VIP Success Club.

Farewell Michael Jackson.

Filed under: People, Pete's Thoughts — Pete Kvist @ 11:47 am
Always Be Flexible For Friends
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Let’s be honest. Friends are in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime and often it is very difficult to guage which is which.

Sometimes you will need friends around you in a time of need.

Liz and I have learned several valuable lessons over the last few days.

Liz was called upon by a friend who needed her desperately and although Liz had very little sleep the night before and every minute she spent with her friend meant less time sleep that night, Liz was an ear to listen. It was probably exactly what her friend needed.

Needless to say, the friend probably doesn’t even realise what sacrifice Liz made for her, though we know that this gesture is something that will be reflected in our own lives if we were to ever need it as well.

We also had a friend flying through Sydney. Although work is extremely tight at the moment and any time given up would be valuable precious time that Liz and I would have spent together, we opened our doors and offered a place to stay several nights and were happy to play tour guide around our beautiful city.

His response was one of awe and it was very obvious he was greatful.

Again, it’s not something we needed to do, though being flexible for friends is one of the things life is all about. They offer us experiences that most other aspects of life just can’t provide.

And we know that if anyone ever provided an ear or a place to stay for us like we have over the last several days, that we would be extremely greatful as well.

Filed under: People, Pete's Thoughts — Tags: — Pete Kvist @ 6:31 pm
Being a Part of History
Thursday, November 6th, 2008

I was speaking with a friend of mine this morning from LA in the USA. He has been working frantically on the campaign of Barack Obama for the US Presidential election and today I called to offer my congratulations.

We got to talking about how this is such a momentus occasion and that history is being created as we watch and I thought back to a story from not so long ago.

I remember meeting a man many years earlier and we got talking about major events in history and he said something very interesting to me.

He spoke about when he heard that the Berlin Wall was going to come down and said that when he heard the date, he immediately took leave from his job, booked a flight to Germany and was there to watch the wall come down.

I asked why and he explained that things like this are going to become key points in history and will be remembered for generations to come. For the cost of simply an airfare and a few nights accommodation, he can say he was there to witness it first hand.

This got me thinking once again about Barack Obama. Firstly, for the people in Chicago last night who were witness to Obama’s winning speech, what a moment. Though my friend said that he was already making plans to be in Washington DC for the inaguration of the new president and I thought back to my discussion with the man about the Berlin wall.

Am I going to be there? Maybe…

Though isn’t this one hell of a chance to be a part of history!

Filed under: People, Pete's Thoughts — Tags: , , , — Pete Kvist @ 2:52 pm
Send a Loved One on a Five Star Cruise!
Tuesday, October 7th, 2008

This post today is something very special to me and I’m sure it might hit a few notes for some others as well.

My wife’s Grandmother is now 82 years old. Her life story is one of the most incredible you will ever hear. After surviving concentration camps in WWII and escaping the Nazi’s by playing dead in a swamp of dead bodies for several days whilst the Nazi’s came through and stabbed random bodies to ensure they were dead, you know her life was meant to be special.

Although she has also suffered the loss of two husbands tragically, she has grown to see a beautiful family of a daughter and two grand daughters, one of which being my wife, Liza. Her second husband passed away many years ago now and with him, her dreams of travel.

Recently, Liza and myself sparked those dreams once again by asking her things that she always wanted to do. She humoured us with these questions, talking of what were now seemingly unreachable dreams of taking a cruise. At 82, doctors have said she can no longer travel by air and now has her body feeling the effects. She even looked longingly at brochures before throwing them in the bin and justifying with “I’m too old” or “I don’t have the time”, when really, it was just the money and the reason to do it.

Liza and I have always talked of doing something special for her grandmother and just a few weeks ago sat down and made a decision once and for all… “why not send your grandmother on a cruise?”. We acted immediately. Liza’s grandmother is not getting younger, so the sooner the better we thought and just a few days later we’d found the perfect trip!

12 days cruising from Sydney Australia around the Pacific Islands from the luxury of a balcony suite on board the Dawn Princess, a five star super-liner!

Some of you may be asking how could you justify to do something like this for someone special in your family. My answer is, how could you not do something like this. We may not get this opportunity again if we wait.

Money is just an idea anyway. Who knows how long Liza’s Grandmother will live? Maybe decades? We are just so grateful that we have the opportunity to do this now.

I wish for you the chance to see the look on the face of the person you love when you do something special for them that they have wanted to do all their lives. That moment in itself was worth every single cent!

Even if it is not something as lavish as a cruise, even if it is just the gift of time… Give a gift today to someone you love while you still have the opportunity!

Filed under: Inspirational, People, Pete's Thoughts, Travel and Lifestyle — Tags: , — Pete Kvist @ 2:09 pm