Welcome to Contrails!

Well, I finally did it! I have officially joined the masses of online bloggers.  The impetus of this whole notion stems from a few years ago as I started collecting anecdotes from my younger days flying fighters in the Navy (much more on that in future posts) and how the lessons I had learned there surviving, and performing in a high stress environment, have helped me be successful in other aspects of my life.   

The working title for this whole compilation was originally The Fighter Pilot's Guide to Business (unconsciously inspired I suppose by my favorite book of all time, and the worthy recipient of my first blog-link, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).  However, as the list of ideas grew, and the various threads of my life became ever more intertwined, I realized that this was to be about more than mere Business...nay, it had to also be about Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, and my experiences with each. 

Thus Contrails made perfect sense. I have always been intrigued by contrails; they are part art, part science.  They start crisp and sure, only to be pushed to and fro, diffused by the winds of change.  They are tell-tale signs of a metal tube flying nearly the speed of sound, high above, taking people to important meetings with colleagues and loved ones.  They also have special tactical importance in the fighter pilot tactical dogma as it is important that one avoid creating contrails as they signal ones presence and maneuvers.  So, just as contrails mark the passing of a jet with their lines carved against the blue sky, so will my words against these pages background mark my life’s path and ideas.

I would also be remiss if I did not recognize the real inspiration for my entering the blogosphere, Diego Rodriguez.  Diego is a design genius and the creative force behind one of the best blogs around, metacool.  His thought provoking ramblings have taught and entertained me, and during a recent brainstorm at his workspace at IDEO in Palo Alto, Diego prodded, chided and ultimately convinced me that I needed to blog, or in his words "To blog is to live..." or something like that.

So Diego, along with his Alter Ego of Innovation, Alex Kazaks, helped me brainstorm various names and themes for this blog.  More later about these guys and what they are doing at Stanford's d.school.  Anyhow, a few of my more favorite runners up:

            * SonicBlog
            * AfterburnerBusiness
            * Dogfight

        And my most favorite:

            * TOPGUN to Bottom Rung - BLOG of a Fighter Pilot turned VC

So I guess this last entry about sums up my life thus far, so I look forward to sharing the flight path that brought me to this point, and my  plans for the future, with you all.  Jim out.

Comments

[Diego Rodriguez]

Cool. Glad you took the plunge, Jim!

Can't wait to see what shapes up. This should be awesome.

[james governor]

my blogroll is too long to ad other right now. i will however continue watching diego, and i am sure he'll let me know if there's something i should read.

[Luis Antillon]

Congrats Jim... look forward to spending time reading your stuff...

[Juan Jimenez]

Jim: Just recently found out about your blog, through Diego's . We are ready to fly along with you in this adventure. Congratulations!