Training Wheels

My brother Phil commented on one of those "rare and wonderful" moments in life. He took the training wheels off the bike of his son, Shane.

This is certainly one of those "rare and wonderful" moments. I am sitting in the J.N. Tata Hall waiting for a very clever guy named Atul Chitnis to give the OPENING speech at FOSS.IN. We are listening to some Indian metal over an excellent ("too good", "scary good") PA system. Did you know that Bangalore is the metal capital of India?

I have been here three days and learned SO MUCH already! Yet these have only been pre-conference workshops, so-called project days. Sanjay said to me last night: "Mick, I am jealous. You are so lucky, at our age, to become a learner again!"

How liberating, that feeling of taking off the training wheels. I am giving up my comfortable little life, a good-paying job that I like, the easy life of an ex-pat in Bangkok, and going home to spend time with family and learn something new.

Right now it feels great. Who knows how it will feel when I crash? After Shane crashed, he said, "Daddy, put the training wheels back on!"