A Crisp Swim and Wildlife

As the Memorial Day weekend begins here in the USA it is the perfect time to kick off the summer season on the lake. The unfortunate part of this is that it is cold here, cold or not I still had to swim, so last night I swam for one hour. It was not bad, some cramps, could see my breath by the water, my toes started turning in weird directions but it was great! The hair on my face literally seemed to stand straight up and it was solid like nails sticking out of my face. I absolutely loved the swim. So much that I did another one this morning, while I could not find the temperature of the lake online, I am thinking it was around fifty degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Upon arriving here this weekend I discovered that the house was invaded by some sort of animal, and after plugging the hole and cleaning it up a bit all seemed fine. I think the word seemed is a lazy word, it means I did not track where the animals actually came in from and look for potential nests. Well the “Seemed” part was of course inaccurate and about 9:15am today, after my swim, the dogs went crazy and chased a chipmunk, or several of them, up a tree/trees. What was sad is that I learned that chipmunks have “Bad” smell glands. So it is time for a big cleanup around the house and time to get hot sauce and some more mothballs.

 

So my day holds about three hours reading on the Israel/Arab conflict, writing a professional blog post for 34a, and cleaning out a chipmunk nest. I am not complaining of course as there are worse things in life. So, back to swimming, I did one hour last night and thirty minutes this morning. I think I need to do another hour tonight and hopefully two hours tomorrow. I am excited about building my tolerance to cold, as I get closer to my July Trek.

Ciao,

Rob

 

 

 

Seven weeks till Kilimanjaro

Ernest Hemingway on safari

In my Expedia account today I noticed that my flight to Tanzania is in seven weeks. It hits me that I have not trained hard enough and I have not been focused enough on general preparations. I hope to adjust this over the next week. In my final month I think I will spend much time around Mount Washington. There is nothing like actually hiking up a mountain to prepare you for hiking up a mountain, yup that simple. It is somewhat appropriate as well because it was on Mount Washington that I first developed my love of hiking. I believe there are things that we do in life that stay with us forever and for me my first hike to the summit of Washington was one of those life events.

Since that first hike up Mount Washington I have hiked in many places and on every continent. So now it is time to change up “the game” a bit and the change is to make it a bit more unique. Kilimanjaro is unique and a place to go to test yourself, I will be taking the western approach. It should be noted that Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain in the world. Ernest Hemingway’s book “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” has a great couple of lines in it:

“Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai ‘Ngaje Ngai’, the House of God. Close to the western summit there is a dried and frozen carcas of a leopard. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.”

What am I seeking? From starting in a rain forest, my path,  has me continuing up to more barren surfaces to points where you no longer see life all around you and of course glaciers. I think that this hike is going to be an eventful trip and I feel this way because of experience. Just as Antarctica was a view into a strange crystal desert – I believe Kilimanjaro will provide a view into my soul.

Any lover of telescopes will tell you that for the best viewing you will want to get away from the light pollution of cities and they are right. As for the hike, with getting into the wilderness you get rid of the pollution of civilization. I particularly like the idea of not showering until you come back down from the mountain, as it is hard to get away from nature when you are covered in her. It is funny, as we try so hard to keep nature out of our lives, we have climate controlled houses, cars, and even public transportation no stone is left unturned to save us from actually dealing with nature. Well, while on Kilimanjaro that will not be an option, hiding from nature that is. I suppose my next hike of any magnitude post Kilimanjaro will be in southern Azerbaijan in November or in Armenia as a tack on to this year’s IGF Conference in Baku.

So, I am prepared, as my boots are broken in and my mind is settling in on the task at hand. I am wondering what my travel clinic will say, what shots I will need and what pills I should take along with me. I will not be worrying about what is on my iPod because I think it will get as much use on kili as it did in Antarctica. That would be none. I suppose the last thing to say in this post is,”Let’s go Sixers, Let’s go”, have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Cheers,

Rob

p.s. Do not forget today is the last day to get my eBook “Going to Antarctica” for free.

On being afraid

I have started keeping a daily blog to recount my preparations as prepare for my hike up Kilimanjaro in July. In researching for this blog I found a site that showed the daily journals of hikers on their approach to the summit and as they made it to the top. Later in the evening, as I read further I noticed that one post did not recount tales as trekkers arrived at this camp or the next one, nor did it say that someone just summited, however it did say that two trekkers fell ill due to the low oxygen conditions and they had to be taken down the mountain.  Their attempt to summit Kilimanjaro ended far too soon. I have to admit I was sad and their story stayed in my thoughts. As my head touched the pillow and my eyes slowly started to close the blog post about the two trekkers was still on my mind. This morning during my first workout it hit me and I thought to myself how sad I was for them.

It made me reflect a bit on my life, where I had come from and what I valued in life. Was I afraid? We are taught in life that there are two basic answers to the question of a personal challenge, fight or flight. This is perhaps the worst lesson that we can learn as it promotes fear to a level it should not achieve. Some of the greatest stories of the ages are of people who accomplished one of two things in a situation where they had fear; they faced it and overcame or they faced it and failed. Many times you will find both. Even the most basic of scientific discoveries are a long list of failures leading through to some truth and of course the discovery.

Today, I thought for a while about what if I get sick, what if I get sick at 17000 feet, and what then? That is when my day turned around. I could answer this from experience. You see, I have the fortune or misfortune of remembering my failures in life and the resulting outcomes. I failed a lot in life! It is absolutely amazing how much I have failed, but that is not my story. My story in this blog post is about what happens after the failure. It takes me back about twenty-seven years and to one of the scariest moments of my life. As a young man I had lost my job, could not pay my rent, sold my belongings to buy food and was counting down on the days until I was homeless. I was terrified – literally frozen by my fear. You see unemployment had run out, I think it was 16 weeks back then but regardless it was insignificant.

I was wallowing in self-pity awaiting the end of my world.  I wanted to see no one and of course talk to no one. That is when the phone on my wall rang; yes we had land lines back then. It was a friend of mine he wanted to come down and have some beers and I said that I did not feel like it I was broke and miserable. He said “look I will come down with the beers” and after a ton of prodding and insisting I agreed. He had to walk a few minutes to the Quincy T station and catch a bus down to Hough’s Neck. It was a warm summer’s night and he was full of energy and very excited. We walked down to the sea wall and looked across the harbor to Boston. We both cracked a beer and started talking.

After about five minutes he pulled a bottle out of the bag, it could have been JD or it could have been champagne, I do not remember but I will never forget what he said; “Bob, let’s celebrate”, I responded “Celebrate?” , he replied “Yes Celebrate.” I was thinking he must be crazy, he took a swig and said “to your next job-you always land on your feet doing so much better than you did in the past” and then he passed the bottle. I took the bottle and looked across the harbor to Boston and said, “Thanks and one day I will be in charge of systems at that building in Boston . “ He was right I would get up on my feet again, I would get a better job and I would fail again and get up again. On that day I had a clarity that was never forgotten. I would fail, over and over and I should never fear it but I should look at it as an opportunity.

My thoughts then turned to my own climbing and that has been mixed with failures and successes. It is also true that some of the most epic failures have led to the most epic successes. I thought to myself that from the moment those trekkers stepped on the trail at Kilimanjaro they had succeeded! They did not need my pity and they blazed a trail for me.  I finished my workout, hit a sauna and felt honored to be amongst a group of people that challenged their fears. It is important to understand that success is often preceded by failures and the failures are often as epic as the success. So good luck in your next failure – may it lead to amazing successes.

Ciao

Rob

 

Ukraine: Going Beyond Core Beliefs

Going to Eastern Europe, as an American, will challenge you if you are a person of strong convictions. This, in my opinion, is because you must understand that when you get far enough away from home there is a different influence on beliefs.  This should not be viewed as something to to fear but in fact it should be embraced by both young and old. Yesterday was my first full day In Kyiv and this brought some great food and my new Ukrainian tradition – Eat way too much at breakfast and then go back to my room to write a blog post as there is not much more I can do  for a bit until I let some food digest! The breakfast here at the hotel DNIPRO is great, buffet style or omelet on demand. I read on trip advisor some not so great reviews about this hotel but I chose to ignore them because of a few of the good reviews. Truth be told; great staff, good breakfast, rooms are twice the size of central London for half the price – but please do not forget price is all about location! While there were of course different influences on the interior this is a solid place to stay for those not needing luxury.

Yesterday morning I walked out to the river to grab some pictures and to simply enjoy the morning. After about an hour of walking around it was back to the hotel lobby bar for espresso. Coffee in Kyiv is not bad, not bad at all. I took advantage of this short respite and then headed to go pick up my ticket for my morning tour. The morning tour would be of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra Monastery. This represented my first time lighting candles in a Orthodox Christian Church but perhaps the fun part was getting there. To start we went on the Kiev Metro, just one stop from the city Centre but it was very deep. Deeper than DC or London and perhaps this was done for political or military reasons as well, it would make a great bomb shelter. The metro line was nice, a work of art perhaps with older style trains. I was really happy to get a chance to ride the metro. Upon exiting the metro it was time to discuss the local buildings and the history of the city. My guides were extremely knowledgeable and ready to answer all of my questions political, social, general neighborhood construction. We walked along the roads and eventually came to the churches, it was quite interesting and this is a tour that I would recommend the company: http://freetours.kiev.ua/individual_tours.html and their individual tours, I will be using them again today.  These tours are affordable, informative and perhaps fun.

I really enjoyed the ability to discuss Ukraine by year and the different wars and battles.  It should be noted that what I was taught in school does not appear to match the facts on the ground. Before arriving at the churches we did have the chance to see some monuments to the different winters of famine due to political reasons and of course monuments to different wars or battles of revolutions. I was also pleased to be able to discuss the differences between Orthodox and Catholic Christianity. It was clear that I had misconceptions about eastern orthodox and my friends had misconceptions about Catholics and of course there were atheists. There are of course some differences but in the end there are of course more similarities of beliefs in all three groups.  The architecture was unique and in the style of Ukrainian Baroque this seemed different to me from Western European Baroque as it seemed simpler and cleaner in ornamentation and form.

After this tour, that took several hours, I was asked if I wanted to go to the war museum tour as we were close and I thought it was a great idea so I said “sure”. The walk to the war museum was interesting. The discussions of the different world views and views on world events were amazing and dare I say enlightening. The Russian exhibit on their Afghanistan war was large and then of course there were World War II memorials. However, inside the museum there was only one room dedicated to WWII and the rest was of the great patriotic war. To have both WWII and such political changes all at once had to be hard and a walk through this museum proved this, from holocaust stories and photos to the massive loss of life in all of the battles.

I was curious about the relationship between Russia and Ukraine and I tried to see how people had felt, locals, did they feel like a colony or a Federal Russian state, for lack of a better word. So throughout the day I asked a simple question; if Russia was invaded would you go to fight to defend her. The answer was always very fast, “No.” in general I believe the majority view that they were more of a Russian Colony versus an equal state.  Of interest and on my original tour – I saw a site of Russian Pilgrimage and looking back in history it is clear the Ukrainians see Moscow as being founded by Ukraine (Kyiv), so I guess I need to go to Moscow and see if those citizens would come to help Ukraine is they are asked in a conflict, I wonder if it would be welcome help.

Breakfast is digested, time to head out  to the street, have a great day – here is a site with some history of the Ukraine.

http://www.torugg.org/History/history_of_ukraine.html

Cheers,

Rob

I should add, when getting on a bus you buy a ticket. After buying the ticket you then have to find a ticket cancellation device on a pole and place your ticket in and cancel it, or simply get on the back door of the bus and use the same ticket every day and punch or never punch / void the ticket. (I voided my ticket) The citizens seem to all compliantly punch their ticket. Or at least all that I saw. Wouldn’t they be better off with a monthly pass system!

Getting To Kiev

As third attempts go this one, my third attempt to go to Kiev, was looking to be a failure. There were many things going wrong to from the very start of the trip. First, my flight was delayed in the USA and then my cell phone did not work in Germany. Noteworthy: It is odd to have both of these occur on the same day. However, by the time I landed in Kiev all was fine. I have to admit I am a bit tired, well more than that and I feel as if I have walked about six total hours tonight. I ended up exploring several sites: Independence Square, Khreshchatyk Street in general and the waterfront to end my day.

I am more than fortunate to say that I have been to the fatherland and motherland as they say of my grand parents and with Kiev I have now been to every country that my grand parents originated. Now – I suppose this is not such an accomplishment if your grand parents were both from one “Homeland” and in this small world it is OK to have a homeland. So – I have now been to all the countries of my forefathers; Lithuania, Ukraine, and Italy. I am pretty much a mutt I think and while I feel most at home in Vilnius this country seems the most foreign to me, however I should add with nice and welcoming people.

I sometimes judge places by how well I can blend and yesterday I did not feel as If I blended at all but yet I had several people stop me for directions! This is odd and not because I was of course lost but because they could not see that I was lost! So I suppose I blended enough or at least I appeared to blend. I have the weekend in Kiev and then back to the grind in the states. Weather is perfect today so there should be many great tours and pictures.

Cheers,

Rob

- and yes, I have gone deeper into the locations previous: like greece, naples, and sicily…  Just covering all bases, additionally I understand one family member disputes the borders of villages etc in Ukraine, I choose to not get into the weeds as I am happy with my data!

I was asked: Why am I going up the mountain anyway?

My route of choice - Kili Western Approach - select for larger image

I just received my travel folder from the company that I am using for my Kilimanjaro trek and there were two questions in the paperwork I was completing that made me think; what was the main reason for the trek and what where my expectations. It occurred to me that these are really great questions. Somehow I have arrived at the decision to take this eleven-day or so trek to Africa’s roof. Where did it all start, how did I get to this place, and what did I really expect to get from this trip besides a brief break in Africa.

First, I think part of the goal for me is doing what is not typically done by others and going where most people do not go. Some might view this as silly but if you stop a second and think about it you will see the logic. It is hard to describe the feeling you get when you accomplish something that so few people have even ever set out to experience. I imagine that most of us remember our automobile license exam and yes this is a test of “who we are” and of what we are capable. I remember very clearly my first solo flight, my “Check ride” and of course my first flight as a licensed pilot. I remember stepping of the plane in Vilnius after the Soviets pulled out.  Standing on the bow of the ship and seeing the continent of Antarctica for the first time, indescribable. Finally, it is remembering what it took to arrive at all of those locations or achievements. The sense of accomplishment is something that matters, as failure after failure can lead to memorable successes.

As a new pilot you are very cautious, you keep in mind your minimums. What weather you fly in or when you instead stay on the ground. After one hundred or more hours you test your minimums. Every hour you grow a bit more and you understand your own capabilities, the planes capabilities, and your minimums change. As a person the same is of course true. In every endeavor that we embark on we test ourselves a bit and whether we fail or succeed we learn about our capabilities and ourselves.

Ok so back to the questions:

What were my main reasons for this trek?

• A step, this is my last step before I try an Everest base camp trek via Tibet or Nepal next year.
• Challenge, this is a non-oxygen trek well above 10,000 feet
• Experience, I have learned that every experience makes me stronger and brings me closer to truth
• Exploration, of my world and the magic of the same

What are my expectations for the Kilimanjaro Trek?

• To succeed, I want to complete this; it is not automatic and will take 12 weeks of training to get to the shape that I expect to be in for the trek
• A summit photo, of course!
• To be amongst the small group of people that does this trek.
• To see the Kilimanjaro glaciers before they are gone.
• To learn more truths about my world and about my fellow inhabitants
• The impact of high altitude on a good scotch as I toast the success of the trek or toast the mountain for stopping me on the attempt (Not Likely)
• To have a story to share with my readers
• Discovery, of my world and the magic of the same

Too many times our UU politicians say we are all the same, we are all capable of the same things, and everyone needs to have the same opportunities. What is so distressing is that this is not true and we all know it. What we need to do is to embrace our differences and somehow work to bring out the best of individuals versus herding everyone to some life that we claim is predestined. When we say everyone has to go to University we do nothing more than to freeze the imagination of our youth. We need to show people that nothing is predetermined and anything is possible.

When I was sixteen, working as a dishwasher, hoping to finish high school, I always knew one thing; I could accomplish anything that I set my mind to and it was okay if I failed. If I failed it was my fault and no one else’s.   I would learn from my failures and go forward and do better. With every failure comes an education and future attempts. My first time hiking up to Mt. Washington I failed. My second time I had the mountain and an experience no one could take away from me. When I failed because I was unprepared and did not give the mountain the respect it was due, I was not surrounded by doubt or naysayers. Instead, I was surrounded by friends and family that told me I could do it and the next time I did. The granite steps that I had called the giant steps became baby steps on my way to the top. Perception becomes our reality and I hope to have new truths, new realities and new minimums after the trek to the roof of Africa.

Well the problem is how do I put all of these words into the 2 lines they offered for each question?

Cheers,

Rob

Posted – My New Year’s Resolutions 2012

When I was a smoker it occurred to me that quitting smoking was the most perfect New Year’s resolution to make and  and I made it every year. I think we can be naive about how hard it is to start or change habits. So every time I tried to quit I failed. After many attempts I remembered advice from a family member that was simple; “Cold Turkey is the only way that works”, alas that was always followed by the advice; “no you need meds, nicotine gum and of course counseling.”  One day, no resolution required, no grand announcements required and at no particular time I simply quit.

So, as I look at 2012 I think it is important to define what New Year’s Resolutions are to me. I have adopted the method of making a list for everything. I am unsure if it comes from being a trained engineer or if it is something I received from a friend at some point but it is what I practice. Additionally – a big focus of mine is making things part of me.

What does this mean you may ask? Simply put, we are surrounded with information; we can know so much without really understanding anything. I always think of a travel commercial that stated; “You wouldn’t search Bing for Pictures and have them printed and put them in a scrap book. – Would you?”  This speaks to the simple truth that you can read and learn about something, but it is never part of you until you truly understand it by actually experiencing it.  Just think of reading about a job or a book or a game; you may truly learn the rules, requirements and have knowledge of it but until you actually go and participate you will never know if it is for you nor will you understand its true nature.

My resolutions are divided into parts as always and for Travel:

• I would like to understand North America beyond reading and pictures and having said this it is my goal to try to go to as many major cities and minor ones by train, plane or car as possible. I will also try to reach out on-line via different avenues to further understanding.

• I would like to do one of two treks; “leave it all behind on the mountain” a Kilimanjaro trek or Pick a route and trek to El Camino de Santiago (the way of St. James.)

• I would like to go to Mexico City and get a feel for the capitol and travel to other Cities in Mexico.

• The explorer in me is demanding new adventure and as I approach my departure for Antarctica, I am thinking that it is time to get to know my inner fish better and take up scuba. By thinking of – I mean it is time to do it!  As you may know it is true that man has explored more of the surface of the moon than it has the ocean.

And for health:

• I have been blessed with good health and strength since I died, however, nothing is guaranteed. As we age it is harder – not easier to keep our health. Understanding this I will work to keep and exceed my current health and strength: 50% more weights, run at least 3 days a week in the new tear, at least 20 miles a week on my treadmill.
• I will eliminate all toxic items that I can from my diet – not that I have tons to eliminate.

And for art:

• I will paint more, as I come closer to developing my own style and this is important, I will try to paint and sketch a few days a week, giving; at least 1 painting or sketch a month.
• I will finish the my new Novella

And in general:

• In all other areas I will endeavor to improve myself; spiritually, physically, and in general knowledge of all things.
• I will source all my products food, electronics, and general to assure that I do not support, via my purchase, slavery or exploitation anywhere in the world.
• I will increase my charitable contributions

This may seem like much but they are actually minimal goals and I generally exceed my minimal goals. The trick for me is writing it down because then I have a measure. I have left out material things as I have made the mistake of doing something once in my life for material gain only. In doing this I learned, success aside, if your goal is simply monetary gain you will receive just this. I have found that if you love what you are doing all kinds of successes will follow so I never focus on things like money. This list does not include professional goals as I always hold them separate from personal goals Life is much fuller if you keep these things separate.  I hope that all my friends and family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Cheers,

Rob

My thoughts on a Personal and Professional Bucket List

A friend of mine asked if a trip I recently booked was on my bucket list as I called it “number seven”. It was not a bucket list item but a goal of sorts. I think the two do not have to be the same while in some ways they have similarities. So I thought I would take a moment to explore the differences between my goals versus a simple bucket list and I found them to be equal so I decided to put out some current goals. First, I am reminded of Shakespeare and what Hamlet said to Horatio:  “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Second, I am reminded of a simple quote from a very interesting man, ‎”We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being. As a result, men are valued not for what they are but for what they do or what they have – for their usefulness.”  Thomas Merton. These two thoughts are my starting point.

These guiding principles help me to think about and define the things are that are the most important for me to accomplish before I die, “Kick the Bucket”

• Go to Mt. Everest and achieve basecamp from Nepal or Tibet – Next Year
• Hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro -Next Year
• Finish up stepping on (literally) and doing some level of exploration on all seven continents with Antarctica (That is what started this post) – January
• Of course that leaves to Madagascar and the Seychelles Islands as they are not designated as part of the seven (I believe-more research is needed) – Future
• Paint the perfect self-portrait – No idea if I will ever do this but I will not stop trying
• Build an airplane – Yup
• Learn to dive and explore the ocean – Soon
• Learn to speak Spanish, Italian and Latin – Ongoing
• Play the piano well at one of my Christmas parties
• Spend a few million that I have yet to make over the next 50 years
• Help others  and continue my education – Ongoing
• #########

I think people get too focused on hoarding or spending and owning things, cash or people, to ever enjoy just being. So my focus is to value myself as a person versus stuff, this explains the last item on my list. I also must add that I did not discuss my professional life and education but those are not bucket list items. From a professional perspective I would add:

• The best accessibility resources free and open source that will solve the issues of education and tools that remain in the space today. – Working on it
• Finish three different books  that I am working – Working on it
• Make dynamic and flexible Quality Assurance Tools – ConPraxis Baby (Working on it)
• Educate engineers and technical advocates on the true power of simplicity – Every day
• Help others achieve their professional goals – Everyday
• Contribute to organizations that support my professional beliefs and goals- Ongoing
• #########

Spiritually speaking, I will continue to strive to have a better personal understanding of and participation in my faith and to live my beliefs to the best of my ability. This includes Charitable giving to organizations in the form of participation, money, and time. I also fully believe that the accomplishment of any of the things any of  my lists has to be done on my own without causing anyone any harm and the same is true on the professional side with regards to good business ethics. E.g. Bernie Madoff probably did some amazing things, donated to charities, gave people raises and was genorous but he did it by theft and fraud and who needs that darkness on their soul!

The ######### represents the things that I do not know of that will change my list dramatically. I would argue that many things I have done in my life never would have been on my list, either.  So that is why I believe in lists. If you want to do something you need to write it down, a pencil is fine (with a good eraser). I find that if we do this we are more likely to start something. Without the written list, we are not likely to start. I think we can all also agree that if we do not start something it is a sure thing that we will not complete it. I also add check back in 10 years and I will have a new list, or better put 10 minutes.

~ Rob

Oh wait: I did not get to fly a plane over the Serengeti/Africa in General, this is definitely on my list for my next time in Africa! I would also add that my friends and family fall in all of the categories.

And Wait: So goals are basically a bucket list to me, some long and some short term, especially the ones that I write down!

My thoughts on sellouts

Today I am at a very informative conference. I also am very aware that there is always a need to both trust and verify.  I am sure you know what I mean.  Sellouts, we all have personal experiences with this and we have heard of countless anecdotal experiences. The broad definition of a sellout is someone who betrays a cause for personal advancement. Now this means that the person must have control of the situation and their advancement can be personal, ego, monetary, security or like objects. We will stick to business here versus personal investigations, at the same time remembering that business gains can lead to great personal and social gains outside of business.

• The Conformer – this type of sellout is one who is hired by an organization because of fame or notoriety they have earned for themselves as related to a certain cause. They are then put in a situation to use their fame and or trust to push the company position and they knowingly do so even though they know the position is false and harms the cause that they worked for in their past career.
• The Exploiter – this type of sellout builds a career in a specific space and then uses this to extort “reward’ from people in that space for positive mention or coverage regardless of negative impact that their promotion will produce. Their main goal is personal gain.
• The Entitled – this type of sellout believes that they have worked hard enough in a cause and because of that they are now they are entitled to cash in on it and that it is time for someone else to suffer. They take cash and fabulous prizes while the whole time believing that they have suffered so much that they deserve it. While they work in the space they no longer work their belief system but someone else’s regardless of the harm that it does to a cause.
• The Guilty – this type of sellout is a special case, they are ones that have some success or fame just by luck (or unearned gift) and they look at everyone else to be like them and thus unworthy. This twisted belief leaves them to lash out against all in the cause, believing that everyone else must be less then deserving as this sellout views themselves that way.
• The Money – this type of sellout is one that is given control in an organization and with this control they begin to corrupt the cause of the organization to line their own pockets in every way.
• The Helpless – this type of sellout deems themselves helpless and harms a cause that they believe in or know it to be needed/true because they fear the loss of their position if they speak up.
• The Just Wrong – this type of sellout is one that uses the rules of the game that were intended to aid the less advantaged to profit from those rules while knowingly harming the less advantages with bold assertions of how great they are for helping the same.

This is just a short list but there are some things to think of here and they are important to consider as you look to choose your next position, potential promotion, community group or outreach position.

We are in the middle a great period of change in the USA and perhaps the world. People are standing up for their causes but as we do so we have to be very careful, we need to spot sellouts! So the next time you are at a rally, conference or a unconference you must be open to follow the money and motive. Look to the speaker do they practice what they preach and what is their gain? It is amazingly easy to spot a Sellout! What is sad is the disappointment you experience when you know the sellout & remember them before the time that they sold-out…

The way you found the Lion was unplanned or don’t be a Zebra

The title of this blog post is pretty appropriate for the following story which is a brief recount of a true series of events that happened while I was in Kenya last Thursday. The day started like any other day; wake up, get ready for work, and leave for work. The difference was that this day would all be done from Kenya, Africa – as I was in country for a conference – IGF 2001 (Website: http://igf.or.ke/ ). My time was pretty much booked for the entire conference with sessions every day that I was slated to attend. On the 29^th, when I awoke, I decided to review the schedule and the morning sessions. Given the progress of the previous day I decided the entire day besides one afternoon session was not really something that I would be able to contribute in or benefit from – they were just not in my space. So I tried to figure out what to do. I was already going to go flying the next morning (Flying=rent plane and fly it around the countryside) and I had taken a city tour the day before. The one day safari option was costly. In the end I bit the bullet and decided to spend the 90 Dollars for the package. When calling to book the day package I was; one hour late and they wanted another 100 dollars because the daily group had already left. I would be alone on the tour with the guide – this would turn out to be my advantage.  This blog post tells the story of September 29, 2011 and the animal photography hunt that was conducted.

When we got to the preserve it was already hot out and we wasted no time in getting under way. My guide was a short man of a small build. He was very happy to have the assignment of guiding me around because he was low on money and it would help his family. He promised to do the best job possible. I thought – and wrongly, that I had received a rookie guide and the day would be a loss. We headed out and within five minutes we hit a traffic jam. Giraffes and more giraffes were blocking our progress on the path and on the only side we could pass which was on the right. Giraffes are beautiful animals and just fun to watch walk and run. If you get a chance to watch a Giraffe walk or run focus on their legs – amazing. The bumpy on road and off road photography hunt continued and we saw Impalas, Gazelles, and normal antelopes and:

• Ostrich
• Gnu
• Vultures
• Buffalo,
• Rhino in the distance but not up close
• Zebras
• And a couple of planes, like the one I was renting on Friday morning, flying around

Unfortunately, the only lions that we saw were a male and female way off in the distance – and only by binoculars – I could not get a picture – and their position was unreachable. It was getting to be mid-day and the heat would most likely end the search for furry predators. My guide noticed lion tracks and pointed them out. Being an engineer/generally curious person I asked how you track a lion. He said; “well you just follow the tracks and look for other indicators”, simply put of course. He noted that with all the Zebras – and there were a huge number (more than normal even in the migration period) that a lion being around was unlikely. So I figured, based on our previous conversation, that he was excited to make money so I did what anyone would do: I offered 500 Kenyan Shillings (more or less five dollars) if he would show me how to track a lion and 500 Shillings as a bonus if we found one.  The incentive worked and we were off. For all pictures including those of the lion tracks, giraffes and other animals please view: http://yonaitis.shutterfly.com/ .

We followed the tracks a bit and then lost them. The guide noticed the proximity to a watering hole and decided to look there to see if we could reacquire the path. We headed that way and the guide spotted what he thought was a dead zebra. We could not tell what it was and only see a bit of a rib cage and I asked if he could drive closer. The guide said he basically had two rules – do not go up to animals and stay on the paths and loosely called roads. He said his company did not offer an armed approach. I asked nicely and he said sure but just for a second. I later found that he could get in trouble for this and it was not actually safe. We got closer about 8-10 feet and found that it was a Giraffe – what is interesting is that this young man from Kenya and I from the USA had the exact same response. We were both saddened as we did not find a zebra like the guard thought but a giraffe. Now a giraffe can kill a lion with a well-placed kick and they are not very vulnerable to lion attack. With this in mind the guide said the animal must have been sleeping. (A couple of days later while waiting for my flight out of Africa I would learn that giraffes were pretty safe from predators but not so much near watering holes.) It is hard to describe the sadness. We went forward and found the watering hole and many more tracks than before and we assumed that the lion was walking around. It should be noted that we thought the lion had killed the giraffe in the AM as it seemed like a pretty fresh carcass, no vultures. What should be interesting here is that I the guide and I were agreeing. I have never done anything like this before.  In retrospect – what I asked for and paid for – might have not been so smart.

We moved on and it seemed to get hotter by the minute. We stopped at a lookout overhang – a very high area and the guide snapped a few photos for me. The problem with traveling solo is finding someone to take pictures and it was great to get a picture for a memory today. After this it seemed like we drove for an hour and saw nothing and at this point I thought the day was over. And then I saw it. An odd rectangular shaped piece of wood – I stared and the wood moved – LION! And yes it was a lion; we broke out the binoculars and confirmed it. We drove forward 50 yards and I got a picture. The guide suggested we loop back and then see what the lion was stalking and get a head on picture. I concurred. We drove around and seemed lost. Nothing! Then I saw it, an odd rectangular shaped piece of wood-again-and so did the guide. The problem was that it was still far off. What I learned from earlier was that the guide could be incentivized with a tip and so 500 Shillings and a request that he go close to the lioness so I could get pictures. The Driver agreed.

We drove in at a 20 mile per hour clip when the vehicle stopped short; I had to stabilize myself as I almost hit my head. I said “what” and the driver said nothing. I looked out in front of the truck and I saw them, a small lion pride – three cubs and a lioness. The lioness that we were heading for was still 50 yards or so in the distance. There was a recent kill situation and the lioness we ran into was sitting in front of a dead zebra, the blood from the zebra covered the cub’s faces. We shot some photos and decided to move closer. The cubs were very handsome and had blood on their faces. They were young and still had most of their spots. From what I understand a lion reaches maturity soon after it loses its spots. I asked the driver to drive closer and he objected but did so and claimed that I needed an armed tour – tips work and they should not! As we drove closer the cubs got spooked and ran. The second lioness – that we originally were looking for, was aware that the cubs were scared and started running at the vehicle. I am unsure what I felt – I considered the thrust angles needed by my initial push to prevent the lion from getting into the vehicle. All of this happened within a few seconds.

In the end the cubs stopped running away from the truck and turned toward the lioness, stopping about 10 feet from the safari vehicle. The Lioness stopped and licked their faces and went for lunch thanks to the Zebra. I have NO Doubt IF THE CUBS DID NOT STOP THAT THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN AN INCIDENT and alas it was worth more than 1500 shillings. I shot some more pictures and we left. The guide was very proud and boastful as this was only his third time ever finding Lions in a kill situation.  It was inspiring. I takeaway – be safe not stupid and above all do not be a zebra – be a lion!

-          Rob

P.S. It rained the next morning and I could not fly, I missed my spot. But in retrospect and if I had a choice I would change nothing.