Two years, Bora Bora, and Steve Jobs

There is no possible way that I could have ever predicted that, on the second anniversary of my stroke, I'd be in Bora Bora, French Polynesia. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for the stroke, it's unlikely I'd be here either. I'd probably be working someplace, and could never afford to take a six week vacation.

So perhaps there's a lesson in here somewhere. Whatever you want to do - do it. Now. You can almost never predict what will happen to you a day, a week, a month, or a year from now. So if you have the means to go do something - go do it. If you don't have the means, find some way to acquire it. And for the most part, the most memorable part of anyone's life is the part that costs nothing - friends, family, conversation, laughing. The travel component can cost some money, but if you're smart and frugal, you'd be surprised how much of this can be done on the cheap too.

Even this "once in a lifetime trip" has been made relatively inexpensive. A tough market is a good place to find travel deals.

We'v spent the last three days in French Polynesia. Day one was on the island of Tahiti (Papeete), the second a few miles away on the island of Moorea, and today on the island of Bora Bora. Yesterday was truly remarkable, a picture postcard of every tropical advertisement you've ever seen. And today topped yesterday.

Laura even openly admitted to me today that seeing these places without the crowds and the expectation of tourist dollars (a la sailboat) would be the ideal way to go.

When we got back to the ship, Fox TV was piped in to the rooms on the TV (the only real time satellite feed we can find - why is that?), and they were reminiscing about the life and career of Steve Jobs. Note that I wrote almost all of the above before we turned on the set and learned the sad news. Steve will be missed by millions. Carpe Diem never meant more than it does now.