SEA -> LAX

I’m 39,000 feet in the air, and I’m savoring a few moments of calm between the crazy of the past few weeks and the promise of more epicness for the next month the moment we touch down.

Two weeks ago, I presented on Transhumanism at Gnomedex. Two days ago, I got the confirmation for a one-way-ticket to Los Angeles. How did I get here?

The gent who presented after me at Gnomedex, one Mr Johnny Diggz, talked about something called Geeks Without Borders. Now we’re calling it GWOBorg, for legal reasons which I might expound upon later. It’s a network of geeks set up to assist those providing disaster relief or who are affected by adverse conditions. Because, as Diggz said, “doctors need to look up shit.” We ended up sitting next to each other at the very lovely conference lunch (thanks, Chris and crew!), we talked about the OpenGov Hack-A-Thon his company Tropo was hosting. I informed him that the amount he had paid to use the nearby hotel was preposterous, and that having such events in hacker and maker spaces was a better idea on many counts. As the conversation evolved, we also decided that nodes for GWOB should be hosted out of hacker and maker spaces. I told him I would put him in touch with a slew of awesome people who might help him and his out. He asked if I couldn’t just do it – I knew the people, I knew the reasoning, I have the passion. We agreed upon some terms and I said yes.

My home is not the usual mess it’s left in for my hurried exit to the airport. The cat was mashed, the dishes (mostly) done, the carpet vacuumed. James Carlson helped me in massive ways with the presentation Diggz and I will give at each space. I’ll post it here once it’s done and the voice-over has been added. Levi wrapped his arms around me as we raced down the highway, droplets of water etching designs on my faceshield.

And so now I’m 39k feet in the air, on my way to LA for the first stop of our tour. I wonder how I would explain this to my younger self – what I’m going to do, or that I would ever accept a one-way-ticket from a person I met only 2 weeks ago, when my only liquid assets are the $10 bill in my pocket and blind determination.

Put up or shut up, it’s time to make a dent in the world.

5 thoughts on “SEA -> LAX

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  3. Really enjoyed your presentation at Gnomedex. (As well as Johnny’s!) This is inspirational! I look forward to reading more — safe travels.

  4. “Hey why couldn’t there be something, where across the world Super Internationally Respected Geeks like yourselves could oversee networks of less Internationally known geeks working on world relief issues in respect to their connection to the Technology world???!!??”

    What I am trying to suggest is, a Community or Network based Org to do just that……take care of all the Tech related issues….that the people on the ground may take a bit longer or have issues with resolving for whatever reason.

    Just an idea, that came to me while reading this article. Great article by the way.

  5. Kristin – thank you!

    Jason – we’re hoping to focus some efforts, yes, and have definitely gotten a lot of contact from groups already doing great things. The danger of becoming to top-down is a loss of agility – so our main focus right now is to give better communication channels to those doing the relief work as well as those affected.

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