{"id":2345,"date":"2011-10-06T20:50:25","date_gmt":"2011-10-07T01:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=2345"},"modified":"2011-10-08T16:46:18","modified_gmt":"2011-10-08T21:46:18","slug":"some-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/?p=2345","title":{"rendered":"Some Advice"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a cute little advice-column parody at the end of The Atlantic mag, called \u201cWhat\u2019s Your Problem<\/a>\u201d by Jeffrey Goldberg. In the October issue, Goldberg presents himself with a mock question about how to come up with a \u201cthings I want to do before I die\u201d list, given all the choices that a young, rich person might have. Goldberg\u2019s mock advice was to come up with a reverse list, i.e. things you definitely do NOT want to do during your lifetime. He then posted 25 items that would appear on his own list. I thought I would comment on some of them.<\/p>\n

1.) Climb Mount Everest
\n2.) See any movie or read any book about self-actualizing rich people who climb Mount Everest
\n3.) See that movie about the guy who cuts off his arm in a ravine that isn\u2019t even on Mount Everest<\/p>\n

COMMENT: So far I\u2019m totally in synch with Goldberg. I have no intention of seeing 127 Hours either. I like hiking, but not that extreme stuff.<\/p>\n

10.) Collateralize a debt obligation<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Best to avoid debt obligations in the first place<\/p>\n

12.) Colon cleanse<\/p>\n

COMMENT: It just gets dirty again anyway, and fast. Pretty much like house cleaning.<\/p>\n

15.) Create a coat of arms for my family<\/p>\n

COMMENT: I agree, coats of arms are over-rated.<\/p>\n

18.) Play golf<\/p>\n

COMMENT: On a nice day, I\u2019d rather be hiking, myself. But not hiking under big boulders.<\/p>\n

19.) Make love at midnight in the dunes on the Cape<\/p>\n

COMMENT: I don\u2019t like pina coladas either, nor getting caught in the rain (ditto for Rupert Holmes and \u2018Escape\u2019).<\/p>\n

20.) Swim with dolphins, because swimming with dolphins means swimming in dolphin s . . .<\/p>\n

COMMENT: So true! Most people don\u2019t think of that.<\/p>\n

21.) Spend a week in a monastery
\n22.) Spend a day in a monastery <\/p>\n

COMMENT: Now here we differ . . . up to a point. I don\u2019t call myself a \u2018Catholic\u2019 these days, but I wouldn\u2019t mind spending some more time with the Benedictines or Trappists out in the boonies. I do call myself a \u2018Zen student\u2019, but I would dread spending any time at a Zen monastery. People who run such places are always trying to make a point. And the point of Zen is not to make a point. Monasticism is pointless in the modern world. As it should be.<\/p>\n

23.) Join LinkedIn<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Oh yea? Well I\u2019m still holding out from Facebook! So there!<\/p>\n

24.) Update my software<\/p>\n

COMMENT: I wish the whole world would stop updating itself all the time.<\/p>\n

25.) Write an advice column<\/p>\n

COMMENT: Hey Jeff, don\u2019t quit while you\u2019re ahead!<\/p>\n

PS – speaking about quitting while ahead, I see that the laissez faire capitalists of the world are getting a bit flustered with the “Occupy Wall Street” thing that’s been happening lately. Their defenders are quick to point out that many of the young protesters bring along their Apple notebooks and Sony video cams and Droids or iPhones with great 4G service provided by some of America’s most profitable telecommunications companies.<\/p>\n

Relax, Wall Street. Those kids have no idea on what to replace you with. Unfortunately. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a cute little advice-column parody at the end of The Atlantic mag, called \u201cWhat\u2019s Your Problem\u201d by Jeffrey Goldberg. In the October issue, Goldberg presents himself with a mock question about how to come up with a \u201cthings I want to do before I die\u201d list, given all the choices that a young, rich […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2345"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2345"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2352,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2345\/revisions\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimgworld.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}