Dicotomy

 As we move have moved from completely experimental a few years ago, to refining and developing now, the work when I am in Ghana has changed as well.

When we were in the creation phase, I was running all over the greater Accra area meeting with this person and that. Once we launched, there was a long period where we had to figure out how to work and where to work. That accomplished we settled into a more regular work pattern. My trips have become about enhancing the focus of management and training. Now I pretty much just go back and forth from apartment to office.

We recently moved offices. Our first office turned out to be very inconvenient for where people lived. It was too small once we added people. And it did not give us the quality of internet connection necessary for the virtual work we do. We've been doing a lot since the end of last year in improving our operating systems and quality control. And we've been working to improve the quality of our skill sets. 

The results of this became crystal clear this trip. I was listening in on a client call where the primary virtual assistant brought another of our team in to help the client add some things to their website that would enhance the website's connection with social media. I had no clue what they were doing but I saw the client was majorly impressed. 

In another case, the participant who is tracking our work flow (which had been a problem) had taken it off of a spreadsheet and put it into Microsoft Teams. I had her demo it for one of our local board members. He was majorly impressed. 

So in some areas we are really advancing rapidly. But then there are others. Having people think through how to design a process for something or detail the component pieces of a project (like designing our training courses) and I will have a roomful of people just blinking at me. The contrast can be jarring. Because I'm never quite sure what things they pick-up quickly and which things they really need a lot of hand holding. 

But put in the context of where we started when back in 2020, it is all pretty cool.

Humiliation

WhatsApp is a huge part of my communications life. It is the most commonly accepted tool outside the United States for texting, voice and video communication. I love it because it is free and because you can put it on your computer as well as your phone. 

And therein lies the root to our drama today.  

My WhatsApp computer version has been acting squirrelly recently. It kept freezing. I had toforce quit and reopen it a number of times a day. Finally, today at worked it completely crashed. I was forced to reinstall it. 

The instructions were very clear. Download. Open. Go to your phone settings and find Linked Device. Initiate and point phone at QR code. Then it should install. Easy. 

Except my phone settings page has no 'Linked Device' option. I searched in other places like Control Panel and Bluetooth with no success. I went online and put in many, many search inquiries. All said, "Go to Linked Device".  After 30 minutes of this I am seething. I am ready to pound my head on the table.

One of the women of my Theodora team comes up and asks what the problem is.  I vent my frustrations. She takes my phone and goes to the WhatsApp home page. On the bottom right is a 'Settings' icon. She presses it and the menu shows "Linked Device". She presses that and initiates the sequence to capture the QR code information off of the computer screen. WhatsApp is back running on my computer. It took less than 90 seconds. 

She pats my shoulder and says BBC (born before computers).

Win, Lose, Or Draw?

 So it's off to Ghana today. 

I am off with a very inauspicious start. Last night they predict snow to start in Albuquerque at just the time I am to be picked up by Uber to go to the airport. Knowing Albuquerque and snow, this leads to much angst about whether the ride will show up.

I slept well though and true to the prediction just before 5am the snow starts and it is coming down at a very respectable pace. But my driver arrives and is a bit early. He then stands and watches me schlepp all my bags down to the car (he did not back up into the driveway while the snow covers my bare head. I even had to put the bags in the trunk (no tip for this guy). The roads are really pretty slick but thankfully there are few cars on the road. He drives faster than I think is safe and ends up sliding through a couple of red lights. But thankfully, we get to the airport in good time. 

I get on the plane (the first of three). I am off to Atlanta, then New York City, and finally to Ghana. We are on board and the cockpit announces we will need to be de-iced. We are waiting and waiting but no de-icer. The captain says there is only one and we have to wait for it. It finally gets to us AND IT RUNS OUT OF FLUID! I can hear MUPGT laughing its horse-tailed ass off. We are an hour late. They are finally doing our plane. It is taking a long time. Our plane was out overnight and a heavy layer of ice built up on top of the plane. THEY HAVE RUN OUT OF FLUID AGAIN!

Others in the plane are frantically trying to make changes for the connections they are going to miss. I was supposed to be joining a meeting but that's not going to happen. It is two hours late. The captain (very nice, understanding, but nothing he can do actually) sadly tells us at the three hour mark they are legally required to return to the gate. Our airline asks another if their truck can come and help. SUCCESS. 

It is two and half hours late. We finally takeoff. When we arrive I am at a far end of the airport, about as far away as one can get in gigantic Atlanta airport. I finally make it to where my gate is and go into the airline lounge BECAUSE I STILL HAVE FOUR HOURS WAIT. My layover in Atlanta was originally nearly seven hours. 

So despite all the Pony God with Horns of Travel did, it meant nothing to me. 

And I made the last half of the meeting.

Joy

I am not sure I understand quite what is happening. Let me rephrase that. I am totally not understanding what is happening.

When you age you are supposed to be bemoaning the loss of your capabilities. You go within and withdraw. Right? Isn't that what everyone says? You are just playing out the final hands you have been dealt. Bitching about what the world has become. Getting more reactionary and bitter. At least, those are the role models I've seen from so many who preceded me.

So why do I feel so upbeat. Why am I so excited about all the opportunities that lay before me. It isn't a question of whether I will succeed or not. It makes no difference if we make it to another country to live or not. It doesn't make any difference if Theodora succeeds or not. It is the shear joy of pursuing these wonderful goals.

I am filled with energy. I go through my day with zeal. Don't get me wrong. I do feel the limitations of my 75 year old body. I get tired much, much easier. I can only sustain the effort for so long. But damn, the newspaper, my nemesis, each day records this or that person person around my age who has died. Part of me says, "Well that could very well be me." The other part says, "F that, I am alive, excited, having a blast, pursuing cool projects. Balls to the walls. Let's keep going."

I don't understand any of it. I just know I am in as blissful a state as I can ever remember.

Weird.

Theodora Afria Project Update - February 2023

 I am getting ready to head back to Ghana next week. It's a good time to report on Theodora Project progress. 

Like a lot of businesses this year, the combination of the traditional holiday business pause plus the unease about a potential recession, seemed to make getting started again in January more difficult. However, we've started to kick things in gear.

I have had this 'feeling', not necessarily supported by any data, or scientific reasoning, that this is our year to breakout...IF we put the effort in to take advantage of it. Maybe it is because we are at the three year mark. That's a critical time with start-up businesses. You should have figured out who you are and what you provide by then. You should be in a position to exploit that knowledge to promote your business' advancement. 

That is definitely the case at Theodora. We have honed in on what we can do that brings the greatest value to our prospective clients. We've learned where we need to tighten up operationally to ensure we are giving the best service and work product quality. We moved our office and have obtained the best quality internet connection one can get in Ghana - very important for the service we deliver.

Our biggest challenge is business development. We are trying this year to make the big leap from dependence on de-I to a system that works completely without me. We have a wonderful volunteer that has put in over a year and a half of effort and achieved major breakthroughs with our team and their willingness to tell their own story. He is also building our new website and e-marketing campaign. It will be interesting and exciting to see how this all plays out.

Now whats very interesting to me in all this is my own attitude. Which I would say is fairly calm and placid. I don't know how to explain it. Somehow I feel that it's all going to work out....whatever work out means. 

Stay tuned.

Please Keep Your Preconceived Ideas To Yourself!

"I Rant Therefore I Am!" 

Denis Descartes - 1632, Antwerp

(Denis Descartes was René Descartes' second cousin. Terribly jealous of his cousin's fame, he plagiarized his cousin unmercifully but always with a bizarre twist. He died in 1641 while competing in a herring eating contest when a bone became lodged in his throat causing him to choke to death.)

It was a few weeks ago when I heard it yet again.

 

"de-I! Are you still working? I thought you were retired?"

 

What is it about people that they have this image in their mind of what 'retirement' should be and if you don't fit their preconceived notion, there must be something wrong with you. As best I can tell, this preconceived notion somehow encompasses an idea of sloth and inaction. God forbid someone should actually like to do things and utilize their freedom to pursue a different lifestyle.

 

I think a lot of this comes because the vast majority of people evidently hate what they do as their career. Seriously, I never gave it much thought over the past decades. I guess I was extremely lucky to have work I actually enjoyed and gave me satisfaction. Not that it was a bed of roses. No. And I was definitely ready  to leave the world of 'full-time work to make a living'.  But my preferred post-full-time work life of traveling like a maniac requires a bit more money than my retirement income can fund. (Damn. I tell you my addiction to lie flat, business class seats across oceans is expensive. Crack would have been cheaper!) so I continue to work at a modest level.

 

Oh, and of course there is Theodora. Well, if working on the most uplifting, joyous project that is changing the lives of so many people smacks to you of work, truly that is your problem, not mine. 

 

All I know is I feel pumped. I see all the cool things Wife and I are contemplating. I see Theodora continuing to grow and mature. I see us continuing to travel joyously. I feel so blessed and lucky.

 

Oh. Have I told you about Plan J.2.a?