How a Fellow Computer Geek Ends up on TV

I was watching the Discovery Channel yesterday when I came across a commercial for their mini-series called “The Colony”. It’s an imaginary reality-type show with a group of participants trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world using their skills and wits. Normally I have no interest in such series, but I recognized one of the participants as an old friend of mine, John Cohn. I knew John from IBM, where he was well known as a technical expert and a somewhat eccentric proponent of science education for young people. He became an IBM Fellow, which was the highest technical rank within IBM, is now a cast member of a national TV mini-series, and is 2 years younger than I. Meanwhile, here I sit unemployed and uncertain about my future.

I had two choices of how to react: I could become envious of his success, which is a rather self destructive approach in the end. Or I could be happy that such a well deserved advocate for science education and all around genuinely nice person is achieving some notoriety, and see what I could learn from his success. That is the option I chose.

So what can I learn from John Cohn’s success?

1. Do what you do with passion and really put your heart into things, whether it’s your career or outside interests.
   
2. Building a reputation as an enthusiastic, friendly, and helpful person can serve you very well in the long run.
   
3. You don’t want to be defined by a single corporate job forever. To avoid this, you need to develop a reputation and a passion for other interests too. In John’s case, it was his active engagement in science education for youth. This in fact may launch him into a second career outside of his IBM technical work.
   

John suffered a tragedy in his life a while ago when his 14 year old son was killed in an accident. My own son recently graduated from college, is trying to start his own business, and is starting to plan a longer term future with his steady girl friend. All things considered, I guess I really wouldn’t want to trade my life with John’s. Sometimes you just have to practice gratitude for what you have. I do wish John Cohn the best, and hope this is the start of a more public career advocating the enjoyment of science for our world’s youth. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

A New Personal Record to Be Happy About

I'm in a good mood today. When I woke up this morning I established a new personal record for the most number of consecutive days..... being alive. 52 years worth of consecutive days in fact.