I'm strange. Always have been, always will be. Can't do anything about it. I'd blame my parents who were wonderfully strange, but that isn't fair. They were great people and I was lucky to have had them as parents. No, placing the blame doesn't make sense, no more than taking the credit. Cogito ergo sum doesn't work for me either. Sum ergo sum. I don't need any more than that.
My philosophy of life is simple. Death is not the opposite of life, it's the opposite of birth. Life is the period between the two and has no opposite. Life is a gift, completely unearned and undeserved. What I do with this gift is incredibly important, even if I'm not sure why.
Mi filosofía de vida es sencilla. La muerte no es lo contrario de la vida, es lo contrario del nacimiento. La vida es el período entre el nacimiento y la muerte, la vida no tiene un contrario. La vida es un regalo, ni ganada ni merecida. Lo que hago con este regalo es tremendamente importante, aunque no esté seguro porqué.
I am a globalist. I'm an American citizen, pleased to be one, and intend to remain so for the rest of my life, but I am also a citizen of the global community. I don't see the global community as an ideal, I see it as simple reality, the natural conclusion of thousands of years of human history. Like any community-building process, it will have its ugly moments as well as its beautiful moments. Such is life in the 21st century. I can't expect anything better, so I'm delighted with what I have.
I am an analyst, both personally and professionally. I try to look at the world as it is, rather than as I wish it was. Specifically, I am a futurist. I like history, I like "current events", but I love the future. It may scare me sometimes, but it excites me. I wouldn't have it any other way.
I am an Internet geek. I operate several websites. Retirement Wave speaks to my generation and others, particularly in North America and Europe, encouraging them to consider retiring outside their home nation, using my new home nation of Panama as a good example. A fair number of my visitors are between 21 and 49, hardly retirement years, who just want to live and work overseas, so I'm looking to find ways to help them too. MiddleAge.org addresses the issues and the opportunities that come with the aging process. It had its 1,000,000th visitor a long time ago. Jeff Lane and I also "edit" a photo blog on Panama called One Beautiful Day in Panama that provides photos from those of us who live in and love Panama. Lake Bayano and its Spanish sister site, Lago Bayano, focus on my favorite region of Panama and where I will one day live. Finally, The Retirement Bubble Blog and The Retirement Bubble site deal with issues of retirement and the search for new alternatives that fit today's difficult financial environment. All of these are free sites in the spirit of the original Internet. I have a couple more under construction too and I'll add them when the time comes.
I guess I should mention that I'm President and CEO of a business, New Global Initiatives, Inc. in the United States and of a new business, Panama Wave S.A., in Panama. They are real jobs, but there's something terribly pretentious about calling myself "President and CEO". It's true, but I'm still just Bob.
