End-of-year update

I’ve been swamped of late, as Wilderness was scrambling to test and refurbish all kinds of machines over these past couple months. We just completed a huge rollout of 110 or so Pentium 4 computers to 11 new WildTech member schools. Held the big seminar this past Friday. Absolute chaos all ‘round, but somehow, we came through for the better. This in spite of very low donor input for the quarter resulting in a severe shortage of essential parts like RAM and hard drives.

And we couldn’t have done it this week without support of volunteers old and new all year long. An old friend dropped in last month looking to check in on things since he left for a job a year ago; while a new part-timer signed on from an all-too-familiar place. The former, younger man is merely a geek-at-large. The latter gentleman is a software developer who worked with Mac computers. Both are eager to help when and where they can.

Not to be outdone by these two, the quarterlies from Bellevue have also done well. They come to receive credit from the man I call “sensei,” Mr. Rudolph Helm. My former instructor sent a profoundly deaf young man unto us. You might be wondering if, in a business with a lot of beeps and blips, such a man can do the work expected. He can, and more. This young man also has an uncanny sense of humor (and some very animated interpreters) to carry him through. Everybody has potential, but it takes a very special person to recognize that potential and set it into motion; so as Rudy had done for me, he did the same for the deaf man. This humanism, I think, is what makes him a powerful teacher and mentor, and one whose style I would like to draw upon someday.

As always, Wilderness has been a great organization to work with. I’ve been through a lot with them in these three years I have served. Students and volunteers come and go, but I have remained. From 2004 to present day, I’ve been watching over the Wilderness without fail, rising with the sun and never fading; I work until nightfall to ensure that the company’s customers are served well and with the very best equipment and education that it can give them. But in the process, I wonder, is three years enough? Or perhaps too much? Either way, I will not be renewing my Vista commitment, so that another man may take this opportunity to serve. As I see it, there are a number of things I’ve learned while serving, and as many paths now open to me—many more than before I signed on. I could go back to school and become a teacher, or test the open job market, or even start my own business with the skills I’ve refined here. I’d love to stay for another year, but my feelings tell me I must move on; that I have accomplished my mission here; and that continuing further with WTA would do more harm than good. Though I face an uncertain future, I am not one to shy away from it.