Category: Life

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The Mount Everest Syndrome

The top of Mt EverestAre you climbing Mt. Everest? If you are, you will need the finest equipment available. If you are climbing a small hill near your home, you may not need that quality of equipment.

This basic principle should guide how you spend your money. We all love perfection. Many of us like to have the finest stuff we can afford. But ask yourself, do I really need that good a thing? Do I need my whatever to last 500 years when I’ll only live to 70 or 80?

Save your money. Understand that if you have kids, they may not want to inherit that thing after you die. It probably will be obsolete then, even if it will last another 430 years. And if it’s not obsolete, it will probably be hopelessly out of style, at least for three or four fashion cycles.

Footnotes:

1. Some people have this syndrome more than others. It’s partially a function of personality type. I have the personality type that is prone to this. If you know someone who has this tendency, help them fight it. One symptom might be watching them buy a 4WD vehicle that can scale Mt. Everest, when they live in a flat part of Kansas.

2. I wrote about this before, in other terms: What once held value on this blog and What once held value on my old blog.

3. There are other references to this syndrome, though the Wikipedia definition reflects a slightly different beast. I’d also guess that it’s a symptom of OCD.

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Inspiration can be anywhere

interesting headline treatmentParade magazine is not where I usually look for visual inspiration. However, this article’s headline was visually very interesting! (Also, note the creative treatment of the writer’s byline.)

Some takeaways:

1. Look all over to get inspiration.

2. Don’t consider any source of ideas to be unworthy of your attention.

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Remember, they are human too

call center operatorsWhen was the last time you got frustrated with a call center operator? It’s easy to do. First, it probably took you ten minutes to reach an actual human. The person at the other end of the line may have an accent that is hard to understand. They may not be trained to know the exact answer to the question you asked. They may not have the authority to refund your purchase price.

So give them a break. Remember:

1. They probably have little influence over the setup of their company’s phone maze.

2. They may be having a bad day too.

3. They breathe air and eat food just like you do.

4. They might actually enjoy sharing a cup of tea with you, given the opportunity.

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Lists

Evernote windowLists keep me sane. Putting something on a list allows me to stop worrying about it. I love knowing that I’m keeping track of most of my to-do items on various lists. I enjoy being able to easily find those lists.

Evernote is a tool that helps me keep track of my lists. It’s free and also cloud-based, so I can access those lists from my mobile device. (Like every cloud-based tool I’ve used, that aspect is not perfect… syncing may or may not happen as fast as I want it to. However, it does work most of the time.)

There is tons of functionality that Evernote offers. I am barely scratching the surface. Only using it for lists works well for me.

Give it a try! This is not a paid ad. I use Evernote and think you should too.

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The great thing about being a kid

Skier kid asleep on a staircaseThe great thing about being a kid is that many times you just don’t care what other people think.

We went skiing a few weeks ago, and this kid fell asleep on a very busy staircase in the main ski lodge. He didn’t care about what other people thought. He was so exhausted that he had to collapse right then and there.

I was jealous of his strong filters. What a cool thing to be able to sleep there!

I was not jealous of the kid’s parents. Their filters were a bit underdeveloped. I feared a skier who had one too many beers at the bar would stomp on the kid’s head on their way down the staircase. At least the kid had a helmet on. (But in all fairness to his unseen parents, maybe they were so tired they collapsed on a different staircase.)

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That perfect moment

A tiny sparkle on the Denver foothillsSometimes you must act immediately. You have to drop everything and act before it’s too late.

I was engaged to a woman for a week, prior to my relationship with Heather, that ultimately resulted in marriage. The one-week engagement woman could not say, “Yes!” until it was too late. She took two long months to get off the fence and finally say yes. I gave her a deadline for saying yes, and she couldn’t. On Deadline Day, I said it was over and began dating Heather. Then she was ready to say yes. So I said yes back. For a week.

I was in agony about her reluctance to say yes. In fact, her yes was less than enthusiastic. I asked my parents what to do. They wisely would not advise me, other than to say, “Just listen to yourself.” I did – and I had to call it off.

The window of opportunity for the first woman was lost.

My wonderful wife had absolutely no hesitations when I asked. With a huge smile, she shouted out, “Yes!!”

So don’t hesitate. (I’m very glad that lady hesitated! And I’m glad Heather did not hesitate.)

The photo is a very weak capture of a moment… This is the morning view of the foothills, visible from our front porch. Occasionally, you can see the morning sun‘s reflection in the mirror-covered glass of a distant office building. On a recent morning, there were about ten shiny windows. I had never seen more than one. And it looked like sparkly Christmas lights. Sadly, my camera was not up to the duty of capturing the moment.

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Lessons from a homeless person

Duct tape car window repairHomeless people can be very resourceful.

Spending $250 to replace a broken side window in a 20-year old car is not an option if you are living in that car. Duct tape makes a strong and waterproof seal, if only temporary. The total expenditure was about 50c. Maybe sun will destroy the tape in six months, but then the owner will just need to re-tape the window. They’ll have the opportunity to use a new and different patterned tape!

The lesson I learned is to be resourceful. When you don’t have an option, creating a solution that’s “not perfect” is often perfect.

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Your tax dollars at work

A fixed crack in the sidewalkI rode my bike to the shop to pick up our car. County employees recently ground the edges of sidewalk cracks to smooth transitions between each slab of concrete. (Freezing and thawing water wreaks havoc on Colorado’s roads and sidewalks.)

My tax dollars paid for those repairs. I’m glad.

I have lived in other parts of the world where I could not see much government expenditure on local infrastructure. I’m thankful to live in a place where I can see positive results of money I give to the government.

Sometimes I like to focus on the good they’re doing rather than the things I wish they’d do differently. There is a lot of good.

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Don’t save it

old mouse padMy in-laws gave Heather this lovely mouse pad, back when our boys were about 2 and 4. The oldest is now in college.

Things fall apart. In this case, the rubber on the back of the pad started to deteriorate. Fine powder began spreading around the home-office… time for the trash bin.

But thanks to the wonders of technology, I can remember that mouse pad for many years to come.

I would urge you to do the same. Take a photo, and then throw the darn thing away.

Click on each word for > more in this series.

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