Action

I'm hyperactive... have ants in my pants and passion in my soul.

I am now packing, ultralight, for a Maine hike. I leave very early Saturday after a night of barbie and brew with the boys.

I had been squeezing in 3 hours of daily cardio, besides the lifting. This week of rest has reminded me that I just don't idle well. The throttle needs to be darn near full-open for this machine to be happy. This applies to all aspects, from work to home and to sleep. At work I've hired 10 new people this past year and my day is still an all-day heart attack. Then I dissipate more fuel afterwards at the gym or outside. Unless I'm exhausted, I don't sleep well, nor feel happy. I'm at my best when I'm contributing fully at what I like. I may not retire until I wear out completely. In the meantime, I'm thoroughly enjoying every adventure, big or small. More hikes and bikes, local and far, as well as growing an army of replacements at work.


It's all about the journey. It's not about watching. It's not about catching what's coming. It's about initiating action to get... anywhere.

I took after my daughter that way.


- © 2010 by Willy

Inspiration

The daffodils bloomed, I noticed this morning after another week out of town... this one attending an important week-long meeting for work. Maybe the blooms were there before but I haven't been home much and I've been too busy to notice. Something tells those things to bloom at this time every year, whether somebody is around to see it or not.

Why did I bloom? ... and acquire my past and current responsibilities? Why not stock a grocery store? Why did I pursue the dream instead of staying home and taking care of my mother? Or of my crazy ex? Why did I even have the dream? Did I get "lucky," or was it inspiration... spiritus... the divine breath?

Does the fact that I bloomed matter? Do I delight someone's gaze? Did I help something happen or help somebody out? Have I made a difference? Did I contribute? Did I follow The Plan? Those are good questions that may or may not have an answer, but I hope for the affirmative.

But I did not bloom by myself, and I am counting on staying on... on the straight and narrow... by using a wish and a prayer. That seems to work better than anything else.


- © 2010 by Willy

P.S., Chaos Theory says that everybody and everything matters.

Minimum versus Maximum Effort

I've got another hike coming up this month, but compared to The Whites or even the Grand Canyon, hiking up LeConte in the Smokeys has become kid's play. In order to make it challenging, I've been hiking up it with some tough cookies to see if I can keep up or beat them to the top.









Why do the minimal effort? Is it because we lack motivation? We have Free Will to do that, or to put in our best effort. Our choice.

I just ain't going that way... I'm not taking the shortest route. I'll enjoy taking the long, scenic way. See you at the top. I'll be waiting for you. With some humility, right.


- © 2009 by Willy

The Path Well Traveled

Unlike Robert Frost, I took the path most traveled.

Since the beginning, I took a path forward that appealed to my interests, a path that satisfied my curiosity, and a path that was easy given my talents.

As a boy, I took apart toys, figured how they worked and put them back together. A top was magic. A camera was a wonder. As a young man, I brought home every piece of junk piled on the street. I tinkered with cars before I could drive 'em. My bolt-action .22 was interesting but a semiauto gun was a marvel. I wondered why the doctors did not just coat my grandmother's bone joints with Teflon to reduce friction and improve action and I was fascinated with the concept of the human body as a bio machine of bones and muscles as levers and actuators. This all came easy for me because it fascinated me. An engineer was the easy way forward, and one that appeared to be the well-traveled path.

At school I had A's in "interesting stuff" and B's in the required humanities (who cared for a topic so subjective that it had no wrong answer?). For my BS I took every course offered in electronics and computers, resulting in a double major. For my MS I completed the required PhD courseload and I wrote a kickass thesis that was used as teaching material at UCLA. I continued towards a PhD and took every course in electrical engineering except electronics (done that for the BS) and many in other disciplines. I was just taking was what interesting and thus easy.

In the sixth grade, Robert Frost's poem intrigued me... why didn't he check out ALL the paths?

I took the course most traveled, I contributed, and made a difference. I am the better for it.


- © 2009 by Willy

Change The World...

... from the inside and from the bottom!

Some old people take a devil-may-care attitude in their later years and go for the chocolate. I've taken that tact in a different way. Instead of indulgences, it's been activity.

From youth, I was a bookworm and a tinkerer, like any engineer. Due to my hyperactivity, I've had no problem reaching my professional pinnacle. I am respected for my organizational and technical abilities, have a great boss and am in high demand. I wear 5 hats and have dozens of helpers. I mentor those helpers because they will inherit my job sometime.

At 40 I began physical activity... a new parallel sideline... transforming myself into the physical. Ten years ago I won a benchpressing trophy, and I have the current record for my gym (all ages!) and enjoy pressing with the youth, motivating them and encouraging them. I train, hike and bike more now than I ever did. I hike 8 to 12 mountain miles every weekend. This year have two Smokeys hikes (I did a 6-hour 8-mile straight up hike to LeConte in 4-hours two weekends ago), a Rockeys hike next month and a rim-to-rim Grand Canyon hike in September. I do this because I enjoy nature... scenery, wildflowers and birds. I continue bicycle commuting to work daily (when I can), and ride a 35-55 miler on the weekends, with the goal to bicycle back from the beach (400 miles) this fall... just because I enjoy the wind in my hair. I'm very vocal and active in promoting bicycling to work, having taken part in news stories, videos and newspaper articles. I'm don't train specific but am a unusual generalist with muscles and cardio ability both. I'm proud and smug in my physical prowess... whereas my ex-wife just entered a nursing home, and my peers have trouble with the stairs, I smile instead and suggest an active lifestyple with my example.

My real work is that of a mentor, teacher, and kindness distributor... enabling others. At my job, I call myself The Roto-Rooter Man and have a plunger in my office as a symbol to help make things flow again. I spend a considerable amount of time and money to do this. I'm the vice-chair of the Industrial Advisory Committee for one of the local colleges. I taught 20 years in the evenings, to good reviews. I buy dozens of birthday cakes a year for work and elsewhere, and actively look for possibilities not just to help but to teach 'em to fish. After all, I'm a co-dependent, and I am what I am.

I disagree that happiness is a good relationship. Nor the usual FFF (Friends, Fun, Food) nor PPP (Possessions, Power, Prestige). To me life and happiness is first contributing... from the bottom up... and then being content and proud of what you are and what you have done. I have an enormous amount of power to change the world from the inside and from the bottom, and I'm doing so with very few people noticing.

- text © 2008 by Willy

P.S., How do you change the world? One small act of kindness at a time.

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Gratitude List

Making a new Gratitude List every time depression or anxiety present itself is a terrific coping strategy that forces a positive outlook and a positive attitude. Also, there's something said about this rewiring your brain. Key is to keep the gratitudes positive and always tell myself the truth. Here goes today's...

I'm grateful because I'm in control of my own life and have nobody to tell me what to do. Although I do have responsibilities and obligations to meet, there is no nagging or bitching at home or work.

I'm grateful for my programming by The Creator since birth for thirst for knowledge and self-reliance... I do stuff rather than depend on others. I'm grateful because I do not have to bother my friends.

I'm grateful because I have faith and do believe in God and His miracles.

I'm grateful that what I do, I do well... and that I love what I do. And I'm grateful to be very well respected in my technical field.

Managerially I'm trusted with significant power over people's careers. I'm grateful for this trust I've earned from my peers and management, and for the grace to keep my composure.

I'm grateful to be able to do the right thing, no matter what (I'm not politically correct).

I'm grateful for my blessings... the many mentors and angels I've had, that I'm a part of. Without them, I wouldn't be me. And for my helpers who I myself mentor, and who will inherit my work; thus for all the students and teachers I've had, formally or informally and for all my coworkers, friends and acquaintances; for all my dependents and failed relationships, and for my enemies too, because they also shaped my life.

Thus, I'm even grateful to have fallen in love, although I'm not doing it again because it about killed me.

I'm grateful because I do love good, kind people, although I suffer no fools. That I can be kind and generous with time and money, and that I can sympathize and empathize with friends and family and help when needed.

I'm grateful that my two kids are gone, learning self-reliance by separating from their mamma-daddy (me!). That I was able to influence them in a positive way, and that they have grown up nicely.

I'm grateful because I've been able to remain physically active and healthy. I weightlift, yet am limber and flexible, and yet still, my cardio doesn't suffer. I'm able with 100-pound dumbbells as well as 100-mile rides. I'm grateful because I've been able to deal with accidents, injuries and deterioration... and continue.

I'm grateful that I am at peace with myself and thus can get a good night's sleep.

I'm grateful because I make a decent income, have a plan for retirement, live in a nice, comfy house with a terrific view of the city, close to work, in a small town with plenty of outdoors opportunities close by, and do take a lot of adventuresome vacations.

I'm grateful to have contributed to life.

I'm grateful for my massage therapist, my dry cleaner and my maid... all long-term regular gifts to myself.

I'm grateful because I have common sense, which I have found uncommon in the populace.

I'm grateful that I'm not crazy. And I'm extremely grateful for having a good sense of humor, which has kept my life interesting and me sane under tough circumstances [wink!].

- © 2008 by Willy
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Feathering the Nest

Gosh, I haven't had much of a home the last 6 months. After the ex left, I've been cleaning up and renovating it.

What that means is that the hardwood guys come and throw everything into one room, work a day, come back in a couple of weeks, work another day, and so on. This also goes on for the bathroom marble tile, stairs specialist, finishing sander/varnisher, molding guys, painters, granite people, appliance folks, and so on... each creating the same delays and mess.

The good thing about it is that they made me realize how much junk I still had... and this is after I already took three truckloads to charity and filled a construction dumpster a few months ago.

The painting is done, so last week I took another vanful of books to the library, another load to charity, and filled multiple trashcans placed at the curve. Yesterday and today I was actually able to put back in most of the den, kitchen and living room from the stacked-up dining room. Still to go this weekend are the entire upstairs and the office (groan!) but it's going to get done this weekend... I'm going to get my nest back, now!

The bad thing is that I've been sleeping where I could. On carpet downstairs when the stairs guy was here, on an air mattress when the upstairs got trashed, on my mattress in the closet where the painter put it while painting the ceiling... anywhere. Everything upstairs got crammed into the guest bedroom. Then I couldn't find clean clothes to wear, since the painter covered my bedroom floor with them when he painted the closet. I did put my closet back together last Sunday, a big improvement to my bedroom and my mental health.

The really bad thing is that at times this interrupts my training and my fun. No bike commuting, no rides, no hikes and not much lifting for the last week or so, since I've been overloaded at work too... zero miles and zero hours. I feel like a slug. I've been busy all day today but haven't gotten any cardio out of it. Legs, yes, going up and down stairs and hill all day. Tomorrow I'm working on my office first, then the upstairs. I hope to finish so that I can relax and go hike my local mountain on Monday (a holiday), not the Grand Canyon, but easier to get to.

I'm mostly done with paint but still not done with workers... they're coming back to tear out and replace the foyer hardwood and lay new hardwoods at the upstairs hall and landing, and then comes the kitchen backsplash, which means more cleanup and repainting, since these boys think their mother lives here. They're a huge hassle, but I don't think my back would have endured if I did it myself.

The house is looking gorgeous... better than new... so I'm buying me a new LazyBoy and staying rather than selling the place. That's less hassle.

This time, the Welcome mats face in.

- © 2007 by Willy
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What Drives Us?

Yes, it's love and money that drive us, just like Freud said. But there are some subtleties within this. My friend Ed, who has a PhD in physics, but also for years owned a retail store, says that we engineers/scientists marry the first woman who pays attention to us... and the second and third. And he may be right. We don't seem to discriminate people very well, although we can easily pick out the best product... TV, car, missile, or whatever, that fits our need.

It may be that we can't pick our women well because it is usually they who pick us, and it seems that they do it on the basis of money and availability. In this town there are many more engineers & scientists than there are doctors, and The Almighty Dollar reigns, specially for those women that don't make a lot of money themselves. I've noticed, in general, that the women that have a great career don't need no stinkin' husband, but they'll take a wife instead, and some I know have done just that... a meek husband that caters to their needs and who may not have a decent paycheck... a dependent. And they have the same trouble with their men as I've had with women. It is rare to see a couple that get along well, but even more rare is to see a couple with great careers, both, that stay together. These are definitely in the minority. Funny, isn't it?

Yes, I could be a male chauvinist pig, and I might be a cynic, but this is my observation. Look around yourself and check it out. Tell me if there's no truth to this. Although, if I have hurt your feelings, or you are the dependent in the story, you have my apology and sympathy... and a suggestion that you plant both feet on the ground and go after that degree and that career to better yourself and contribute! Do something with your life! Dam' the relationship torpedo, full speed ahead.

Oh... and don't get me started on love

- text © 2007 by Willy
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