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.