Personal Transitions and Preparations

Mount Everest as seen from Drukair

The dictionary says that a transition is “the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another” and it says that preparation is “the action or process of making ready or being made ready for use or consideration.” When I think of the last few months these definitions speak in detail as to what I have been going through. It is true that getting ready for anything in life takes preparation if your goal is the successful attainment of something and when it is difficult it sometimes takes a fundamental transition of one’s self and habits.

I have been focusing on my next travel plan and it is neither an important trip by any means nor is it something that is remarkable to anyone but me. It is simply a walk in the Himalayas to a place where in a time of heroes, giants walked (Major Mount Everest Summits-Wikipedia).  I will be cold for sure because of the time of year that I selected for the journey.

From Wikipedia: “The Himalayas, also Himalaya, (/ˌhɪməˈleɪ.ə/ or /hɪˈmɑːləjə/; Sanskrit, him (snow) + ālaya (dwelling), literally, “abode of the snow”) is a mountain range in Asia separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau.”

So being an abode of the snow; the weather forecast states that the daily temperature should be 3-6 Degrees Fahrenheit (-16 to -14 Celsius) daily on this trek, I am sure that it will be below that when adding a few thousand feet and taking away the sun!  But that is OK. I have a very firm personal belief that a life that is not challenged is not lived. 

So it is a simple thing that I will do and a personal challenge that matters only to me, I will spend thirteen days at high altitudes and will do a ton of hiking. It is a time to be alone with my thoughts and my world. In normal life we are surrounded with so much noise that it is hard to think. We stress the small things and live with our first world problems that are nonsensical. So for these days on the trek I will walk, labor, and be in the moment from one second to the next searching for the perfect moment in time while not focusing on anything.   The past will be there and the future will be there and the present will be a subconscious mechanical effort requiring no thought or better put it will be absent from thought.

It takes something like this Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek to allow me to hear my own thoughts again. It is simply a statement that I needed transition to get to this point. I became a runner and transitioned from a place in time where I was out of balance – where my mind was strong but I let my body get lazy. In this transition I have lived the quantified life and now I am a runner that watches everything that I put into my body and how much energy I get from the same. Now I have both a stronger mind and body. Preparations were also required. Cold weather gear to “Gu” all acquired. Batteries and Solar Panels. Blood pressure perfect, Blood Oxygen Perfect, everything is good to go!

There really is not much more to say – in the grand scheme of things this is a meaningless trip but to me the mountains are a temple where I go to seek spirituality and meaning. I look forward to this journey and to the absence of light, air and noise pollution. I look forward to the challenge; whether I fail or succeed is not important the only thing that matters to me is that I walk the path. Hopefully I get some good pictures as well!  So time to finish packing!

Ciao,

Rob

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

“And now we’re going to live on the internet!” ???

Flag of the City Philadelphia Pennsylvania

In the movie, “The Social network” (2010), the character played by Justin Timberlake, Sean Parker, said, “We lived on farms, then we lived in cities, and now we’re going to live on the internet!” Recent news stories show us how dangerous “living on the Internet” can be and we need to view these stories as cautionary tales. But first, let’s take a look at the quote from the movie and parse it a bit. When we lived on farms, we got to know our neighbors personally (of course this is happening today as farms still exist (stuff does not grow on the shelves of the grocery store magically)). Living in cities we interact with other people, albeit not always in the best of forms, but we react with other humans and develop social skills. Finally, the “living on the internet” shows how misunderstood all of these living situations are.  Here are a few of the problems with concept of living on the internet:

• The validation that you get in social gatherings does not exist online
• Behavior is dramatically different

With regards to validation, very recently we have had the Syrian Lesbian Blogger event; most unfortunately this tragic tale of the gay girl from Damascus was in fact written by an imposter who was an American man living in Scotland.  What is comical is that people believed it to be true. While the concept of identifying yourself as someone you are not online may be quite familiar to anyone who has participated in online dating, this situation is harmful in new ways.  The blogger misrepresenting his identity perpetrated a fraud that not only hurts the readers, but also the groups impacted by the consequences.  Imagine the same blogger trying to fool the people on the farm or in the city? Frankly this fraud would be close to impossible.

With regards to behavior, people act differently online then they do offline, as a people, we give a voice online to those that normally would be rebuked in our farm or city, or worse. Imagine Congressman Weiner at a local party, going up to people to whom he had just been introduced, and handing out pictures of his underpants / other stuff. If he did this, we would not just throw him out of our house we might call the police. Or if you prefer consider the loudmouth person in a room that shouts to get his voice heard, (not referring to the congressman here), our reaction to this would be to tune them out promptly and they would have to find ways to change the unacceptable behavior or find a new city or farm on which to live. On the internet they do not have to change. Instead, they can continue to self-validate their ill-conceived behavior / topics. There is of course a darker side, think of a group of people fighting for independence in a nation, telling stories online of how they longed to be free after they just finished gang raping a reporter and right before they set off to burn some Christian churches.  On our farm or in our city would we consider them heroes?

You cannot take a farmer and drop him in the city and say live, just as you cannot take a person from the city and drop them on the farm and expect them to survive. What we need is to understand that social rules that existed on the farm and in the city have brought the global community a bit closer. Having traveled the world extensively I can tell you that there are still farms everywhere, in fact, I have worked on them just to survive. I can also tell you that each city has a distinct and unique personality.  It takes a village and validation to keep a conversation civil. When we come together in a group we can accomplish great things. Personally I believe we can do this because:

• We can sense the loudmouth person in the room
• We can spot the people that are not what they say they are

Moving from farms into the cities created a large majority of the population that probably could not feed themselves if they had to farm. If we are going to live on the internet in the future we will no doubt be in constant conflict as people will not learn how to behave in emotionless and faceless groups. As an Engineer I look at the internet as a tool rather than as a place to live. While the educational benefits of the internet, if validated, are huge, the social benefits or determents are not clear at this point.

More information about the Syrian blogger deception can be found at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303848104576383861153713734.html

If you live in a vacuum and have somehow missed the news about Congressman Weiner you can learn more at: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/06/17/2011-06-17_day_after_rep_anthony_weiners_resignation_sexting_scandal_scarred_expolitician_s.html 

Cheers,

Rob

added some photos from italy

some vistas from my recent trip to italy

rome, venice, naples, pompeii, florence

http://yonaitis.shutterfly.com/10958

IGF10 – Badge Acquired

Today was fun to start and crazy at the end. To start the day I went to LITEXPO and acquired my badge for this weeks IGF10. It is going to be a pretty good set of workshops. From A11y, Sec and to Privacy it should be great. Working out the schedule was hard for us but there are only so many workshops one can attend.  The final count was 17 workshops in 4 days, a US Embassy Reception and a couple tours. After completing the registration today there was a brief tour of The Cathedral and Gedimas Tower. It was pretty cool. My Favorite photo of the afternoon is in this post. So some of the workshops that were decided upon are:

• The future of privacy
• Legal aspects of Internet governance: International cooperation on cyber-security
• Governance of Social Media
• ACCESS AND DIVERSITY
• Enhancing Transparency in Internet Governance
• Privacy and Social Networking
• Engendering confidence in the cloud – answering the questions of security and privacy

That is all that is decided on at this point and of course there will be more and I will see how it all works out. You would think this is enough for one day, but a walk on the street, some kava, soup and salad and then it was time to head back toward the room as the Lithuanian basketball team was winning the bronze medal. The streets were crazy and I had to high-five my way through the crowds at cathedral square and town hall square to get back to my room to watch some football.  All-in-All it was a good day to be in Vilnius. Watching the Lithuanian team get their  medals on TV now and the Eagles just got a field goal in what should be a low scoring team. And just think redskin fans, if mcnabb is relaxed should be a great game!

cheers,

rob

Twenty-Ten Starts with Spain

Hola all,

I leave soon for Madrid. You know, I think the Coast of Italy when I was in the navy was one of my favorite cities to see from SEA, but I have to say I love going to Madrid! Not sure why, but Spain is the intersection of so many things, religions, europe/africa, old and new. I have friends that have moved there to live, and I have a “Goal” to get an apartment there this year. So Where will I go: Prado (no doubt), Parque del Buen Retiro (of course), El Escorial (new place!), and Segovia (another new city for me).

I will also be talking about Accessibility with friends from the W3C and Sidar.org. This is one privilege I have had for the last ten years of my life. That is; to talk and work on a11y projects!

So now it is time to pack. Not a bad thing to do on a miércoles
 afternoon. So yes: My postcard list is made up and I will be sending them soon. Perhaps I will never come home, and i will just live in Spain. Well, No I could not live without moo, and I could not deal with her in a 30 day quarantine, so i guess not for a few years anyways!!!!

buenas noches!

-rob

Gluewein, Munich, Brezel

Well – You all know I do love Pretzels, and I enjoy beer and wine. So where do you go if you want this, Munich. I had the ability to see where hitler made some of his speeches, and a monument to those that died squelching his first attempt to take power.  I did enjoy Audio walk Munich it did not let down on its claims:

Audiowalk Munich is a co-production of audible.de and just GmbH.

You’ll become acquainted with:

Altes Rathaus

Frauenkirche

Hotel Bayerischer Hof

Fünf Höfe

Ludwigstraße

Odeonsplatz

Nationaltheater

Bayerischer Landtag

Am Platzl, Schuhbecks

Viktualienmarkt

Karl Valentin

Well, it was perfect so far. More later

Cheers,

ROb