Climbing mountains is useless. And that's why we do it.

"The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, "What is the use of climbing Mount Everest?" and my answer must at once be, "It is no use." There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever. Oh, we may learn a little about the behavior of the human body at high altitudes, and possibly medical men may turn our observation to some account for the purposes of aviation. But otherwise nothing will come of it. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, not a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a single foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise food. It's no use. So, if you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won't see why we go. What we get from this adventure is just sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life means and what life is for."
 George Leigh Mallory, 1922

It exists. To be climbed. The end.

That there? That's why i want to do the #AboveAndBeyond. (Read about it here -  http://bit.ly/scbbrsm3)

In a conversation I had yesterday, I got that there are two types of conversation one can have.

1. A conversation ABOUT stuff: We have those all the time. Descriptive conversations. They can be interesting boring/bland/informative and everything else that spectrum covers. There's a whole section in these type of conversations dedicated to just complaining.

2. A conversation with a COMMITMENT to something. they share many characteristics of the above with just one exception: The conversations you have are all aligned towards a particular outcome, goal or result.

Type 2 conversations are straight. often painfully blunt. There is no opportunity to waffle on, or disguise a situation as being different from anything it really is. Let me illustrate:

Sam is asked to share a post online by an agency. 6 hours later, an agency rep calls to find out if it has been done. Here's how the two different conversations could go:

Type 1:

Agency Rep: Hi Sam! Got a minute?
Sam: (Racked by guilt seeing as the task has not been done). Ok. Just be real quick...I'm kinda busy here
Rep: Sure. I just wanted to know if the link was shared.
Sam: That? Bana...I tried but the net has been acting up...si you jua how Safaricom has been acting up lately? Wacha I keep trying tu. Plus my workload is for 3 pundas on sedatives bana...you know how it is..
Rep: Ok..so when can I expect the shares to go up?
Sam: Erm.....lets give it another 24 hours like this..ama? Hoping Big Green and Kenya Powerless don't collaborative on an epic mindfuck. You know how it is...
REp: Ok Sam. We're counting on you
Sam: Sawa. I'm trying bana...I'm trying..


Type 2:

Rep: Hi Sam. Got a minute?
Sam: You have one minute. shoot.
Rep: Ok. Did you share the link?
Sam: No I did not. I said I would but I haven't.
Rep: Ok. Will you put it up?
Sam: Yes. I'll do it at 3.15 and call you at 3:20 for you to confirm.
Rep: Cool. Thanks.
Sam: Cheers.


See the difference?

I'm committed to having type 2 conversations. Straight. No drama. I don't have to make anyone wrong for anything. I am present to being that I am my word. When I honor my word, I honor myself.

The Bear. He speaks truth.

Type two conversations are about being in action in the areas of your life that matter to you. You are not resigned. You don't accept statements like "Well, that's just how it's always been." Type 2 conversations are about saying stuff like "I'm sick to death of reading stories about poaching of rhinos and elephants. I'm doing something about it. Because I said I would."

When we pray, we ask God to speak into our lives.

SPEAK into our lives...

SPEAK.

We ARE who we SAY we are.

And here's what you really want to get about that statement. Those declarations are not backed up by fact.They probably don't even agree with the current reality. They are an act of creation. They come into existence, as the world did, because they were spoken into BEING!

This is what I'm for then: I'm for learning how to have the conversations that get people into action. Today, that action is to click and share a link. Next time round, to move and shape destiny. To save a soul. A species. A world.

And my first lesson already is that I can't do it all alone. I have help from my spiritual source. And the source has led you here. So here is my invite to you.

Click this link: http://bit.ly/scbbrsm3 . Then share it.

That's what you are. A boss.

Thank you.

Sam

"You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
 Rene Daumal

Coldest Everest Deal That Wasn’t Cold AT ALL (Guest Post by Fred)

Ello good people!

I had an open invitation last week to join me in world domination and the development of truly excellent content. And y'all stepped up! First off the block is Fred from vistamediainc.com. This is his take on the current campaign. It's a departure from the standard fare here...more poetic no? 

Tell me what you think. Hit that comment button on the way out. And all the other links on this page as well (they pay the bills) 

Enjoy!

This way to the mountain! Er...don't forget your frilly underthings..

A story is told of two fearless warriors, fully armored and ready for battle, who slew the bite of cold wind, sharp rock and snow to shake hands on an extraordinary deal.

This deal would go into history books as the highest bounty exchange to go down in extremely harsh conditions.

Oh yeah, the environment was brass; an annoyed and angry face of nature. Yet, our warriors had bravely and passion, so forward they forged.

Many were there if only as spectators. You know big wigs and stuff. No naming names but few could miss what Stanchart had prepared. No naming names.

Still, our warriors were at it; moving further away from the warm embrace of loving hands and closer to a harsher reality.

Lest we forget, there was a goal at the end;

And gallons of adrenaline, determination and the strength of an army. Or better still, an A Team, those commando men and women; the kind of team that is always a breeze to work with.

A humongous obstacle rose before them. A huge, huge rock of cold. Name is Everest, or rather Mt. Everest. It has been resting there forever. Moreover, it is cold. Too cold. It is waaay higher than you can imagine. You have to see it to believe.

Sharp rock, shingles, steep slopes, snow and slippery everything.

But our warriors were fearless. Yes they were. The rock, the cold and the harsh environment were just all part of it.

Yet a deal needed shaking hands on.

Track the expedition…

In which the Buggz goes commercial...and he's taking all of you with him.

My word..it's dusty here!

*Walks through the derelict ruins of the blog.*

Well, the architecture seems fairly robust...image source

I really have been away too long. I hope this dust doesn't make my allergies act up.

So how are you people? Been well? Getting into all sorts of delightful and delicious mischief? I hope so..life is far too short to spend being strait laced.

Me? I've been good. Actually, I have been more than good. I've been amazing. Perhaps I should explain that.

Actually..no. Mainly because there really isn't much to tell.

Twitter killed the blogging mojo. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Perhaps it's because I never have to think through an idea to it's myriad possible conclusions. Or that by tweeting jokes and inanities, i have built a sizable following who can count on me for light entertainment and moments of mirth. And it didn't really matter to me either...it was all in fun you see. It's never that serious.

Until it is.

It seems that corporates and other bodies interested in getting 'aye-balls' to their products have been tracking the top tweeps social media chaps and chappettes. They follow their engagement with their followers .note the influence these near mystical beings seem to have on a diverse crowd...

Needless to say, the corporates want in.

And I want them in as well. My motives? Mostly financial. Let's look at Psy for example:

I'm dropping my next big hit! It shall be huge! 

Gangnam Style made the chap about 8.8 million dollars. DORRAS People! All from a silly dance and a catchy tune.

I'm up for learning that. And the first opportunity just hit my inbox.

The folks at Stanchart are launching their new mobile money solution named Breeze.

The Goal: Route as many people as possible to view this post here: http://bit.ly/scbbrsm3 

The Pitch: Two intrepid mountaineers are currently on their way up Mount Everest. Once up there, they will attempt to make the world's highest mobile money transaction (Eat your heart out MPESA!) using breeze.

The payout: Well...this is where it gets interesting. First: There's no cash. Zilch. Zip. Nada. Naesting. Iz bi....well you get the picture. What there IS though are 3 phones up for grabs. An Iphone 5 (Everest edition) and 2 blackberry Z10's.

It gets more interesting. Only 10 people Big wigs  bloggers have been selected to participate. And I'm one of them.

I won't lie to you people: This is a crazy undertaking.

Their Wigs

My wig. That's right. I'm a baller. In every sense

They have an army. A couple of them have foller numbers that are 20 times my size. Power to them. But I don't need an army.

I need a commando unit. A team I can count on that influences other small teams to make a big thing happen. And the team will have just one goal: To make sure the link above has the highest number of clicks by the end of the month.

What's in it for you I hear you ask?

Well...

 How about this: I'm just getting started in learning all about online marketing and influence. This is the second campaign I'm getting involved in. Regardless of how this campaign works out, if you are a demonstration of commitment and can-do focus, then I want you on my team. For the long term. Terms can of course be worked out depending on the nature of the assignment.

That's pretty much it.

Join me.

"Do as the Buggz says, we must!" - Yoda

The Social Story Experiment

Greetings carbon based lifeforms! And Chiira (Your chemistry is still being investigated.)


Nyambura , a dynamo of good ideas and even better writing shared about this site called http://www.kwirkly.com/ where a bright spark was putting out a bright idea each day. Idea number 12 resonated pretty strongly with me and I figured it would be something cool to do. 


So i'm doing it. 


Nyambura thought we'd call it the 'Wote Ndani' story. I'm in agreement. 


So here's a quick overview:


Start a crowd-source fictional story on Twitter edited & moderated by @Buggz79 where each Twitter user, after writing his/her part in 140 characters or less, mentions another person that continues the story. Each tweet is followed by a hashtag that allows the moderator to curate the whole story, which can later be downloaded free.


Ground Rules:

1. The hashtag is #WoteNdani

2. The story is in English. However, story characters can converse in any dialect they please

3. While the occasional expletive is fine, lets keep it PG13

4. Tagging: The person tagged to continue the story has 2 minutes in which to respond. If it takes longer than that, the moderator may reroute the story to another respondent

5. A person may be tagged multiple times. However, try to minimise this. Lets have as many people as possible participating. 


*EDIT*


I've decided on a round robin approach. Basically, the story will flow in the order of the names below. This takes out the question about who's next in line and keeps the story fairly random!

Stuff I still haven't worked out:

1. How to determine that the story is complete. We could either do it time based or after a certain number of players. 

2. How to ensure the maximum number of people who'd like to play get a shot. If we tag the wrong people, momentum will be lost with a whole lot of people asking "What's this about?"

The following people have expressed an interest in participating thus far:

@rimbui, @barongreen_back, @roomthinker, @njukey, @kevdanative, @karareiy, @benjaluta, @wiselar, @yaadinfo, @notmutant, @lucyambasi, @vancemuriu, @okundayor @ydee @bintim @twezlie @edgicovi @akenyangirl @cirukairu and @mercymurugi @Ahendaa @saitone @murimuriz @akellove @ ReneeMurrey @just_sham_it @njerithande @mediamk @gitts and @iamsospaceship @skayjnr @a_kabari @alyah_QQ @Nyakabs and @adeborayo

If anyone else expresses an interest, route them to @buggz79 and I'll add them to the list. 

The tentative start time for this would be Friday 10.00 am till 12.00pm. I'd like to keep the story short. 

And lets have some fun with it people! 

Cheers!

Buggz.

PS: If you have any tips of pointers, please share them in the comments below. 

Discovering Workability: One year after the Landmark Forum.

Slightly over a year ago, I saw this tweet from @locococomoco:

"Any tweeps out there who will be attending the Landmark Forum from tommorow?"

Now, Loco is in the "stratosphere-nose bleed" league of cool people. So i figured I'd check out what this Landmark biz is all about. The results of a quick Google search were frankly not encouraging. 

Thing is, Loco, despite her moniker is a very 'together' individual. So I took a chance and showed up at the Sarit center exhibition hall on a Tuesday night. That's when my journey begun.

It started with a really basic question. 

What matters to you?

My answer to that initially was Money. Money makes the world go round. So logically, if i have money, i would be able to throw it at any situation and stuff would start working again. 

Sounds nuts huh?

I walked into the landmark forum pretty sure that i'll get some insights into how I'd make more money. I walked out with something profoundly more valuable. 

The money was not what  i actually wanted all along...it's what the money gets you. So..I want the money, to buy me a nice house, which get me a feeling of security, which leaves me relaxed, at ease and confident. 

So that what i really wanted all along...to be relaxed, at ease and confident. 

More importantly, i want to be that person regardless of what my personal finances look like. I want workability. To have a say in how my life goes. 

That, ladies and gents, is what i walked out with from the Landmark forum. 

On saturday the 5th of May 2012, we will have an entire day of introductions to this fabulous education. We'll be doing this at Under the Radar. This is my invitation to you. 

Come and expereince workability like you've never experienced it before. The Landmark forum costs 14,000 shillings. You can register with 4,000 3,000 shillings and pay the balance before the next forum. This is in Sept 7,8,9 and 11th 2012. 

I do promise you one thing. This stuff works. 

I’m not afraid…ok so who am I kidding?

I’m addicted.

I guess a whole lot of the people I interact with are addicts too…and our fix is that lethal S substance. It’s the whole reason we sit through insane inane meetings every week. The reason we roll out of bed on a weekday morning…whimpering on the realization that it is not the weekend.

I’m talking about salaries.

A quick glance on my timeline each morning has people griping about what day of the week it is. (incidentally, twitter makes for a GREAT calendar for tracking days of the week)

The mood becomes positively electric as the end of the month approaches. It's like everyone has been given a shot of euphoria…offers to throw rounds (at least in the pre Mututho era) and parties all round..

Then a week later, the griping begins.

But what happens when the opportunity to wean yourself off a salary comes along?

I’m kinda struggling with that. A young startup with a great deal of promise has approached me and said the dreaded words: “Lets deal”

Now they don’t have the same organizational structures as my employer. They don’t have the medical packages and cushy allowances. They are promising insane hours and a very real threat of public humiliation should Murphy begin to actively enforce his laws. And the product they want to take to market will put me squarely in the glare of the public.

If it does go well, its still not all deviled eggs, caviar and pink champagne. There are a list of heavy hitters who have sunk quite a bit of their money and they are expecting a handsome return. So in terms of payoff..I’d way over there in the back of the park.

That said and done, I do know that the path to wealth does not have salary affixed to it. Every company alive today did so because an individual somewhere stood up and decided to create something. And the urge to create something and leave a legacy is pushing hard on me…

I have to make that call soon. Whether it turns out to be right or wrong is immaterial for now. What counts for me is the courage to choose the path less trodden.

Wish me luck.

For Angel. The beautiful little girl that died of a broken heart.

For Nganga and Susan,

We grieve with you. Cry with you. Laugh with you. Pray with you. She is yours by birth and ours collectively by blood. I have no words in which to express this loss. But words aren't required. Our eyes say it all. I found words from others who have experienced such loss. I'll share them with you. For you shall not walk alone on this dark path. We'll walk with you. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually.

If tears could build a stairway,
and memories a lane,
I'd walk right up to heaven,
and bring you home again.

If every tear we shed for you,
became a star above,
You'd stroll amongst the angels in heavens garden,
Lit by everlasting love

A thousand words can't bring you back,
We know because we tried.
And neither can a million tears,
We know because we cried.

An Angel in the book of life,
Wrote down our baby's birth
And whispered as she closed the book,
"Too beautiful for earth"

Death leaves a heartache,
No one but God can heal.
Love leaves a memory,
No one on earth can steal.


They say that time in heaven is compared to the blink of an eye on this earth. Sometimes it helps to think of Angel running ahead of you in a field of beautiful flowers and butterflies. So happy and completely caught up in what she is doing that when she looks behind her, You will already be there.

I love you Nganga and Susan.

I love and miss you Angel. Wish you were here.