August 2026 Ilulissat → Snæfellsnes
The eclipse I never saw
I spent months building a network that could livestream a total solar eclipse from the edge of the Arctic: two satellite terminals bonded together, batteries to run the whole thing off-grid, a camera rig that could work without me touching it.
Then weather cancelled my flight out of Greenland and stranded me there for two days. The eclipse happened without me. A friend on our team drove the gear to a national park rooftop in Iceland, and I aligned the dishes from a thousand miles away by watching his video call and telling him which way to turn them. The network came up and stayed up for three hours straight, through totality and out the other side. The broadcast went out worldwide and got picked up by Reuters.
In Iceland, it was cloudy. Nobody saw the eclipse there either.
I got reindeer, musk ox, two towns of fifty people, and the most useful failure of my career. I'd do it again.
2satellite terminals
20 ftapart, on a roof
3 hrson battery, no drops
1,000+ mifrom the operator
0sun, either country
Seasonal Sarasota
Twenty men and a Hero's Journey
I facilitate a men's group — about twenty of us — working through Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey as a seasonal arc. Departure, initiation, return, and then we start again.
It is the least technical thing I do and probably the one that has changed me most. Men will tell you the truth if you build the room correctly. That turns out to be an infrastructure problem too.
Ongoing Podium
Learning to say it plainly
Toastmasters, for years now. I started because I wanted to pitch better and stayed because I wanted to think better. The habit I care about most is looking for the framing that brings a room together instead of the one that splits it — which is harder, and worth more.
Whenever Wherever
Photographs
I shoot what's in front of me — Canon, a few prime lenses, and a long zoom I bought to point at the sun. I'm not precious about it. The camera is mostly an excuse to be outside at the good hours.
Most of it ends up on Instagram at @VisaJake. A proper gallery is coming here.
Day job Southwest Florida
What I actually do for a living
I own Elite Technology Solutions, where we build networks, cameras, access control and fiber for properties around Southwest Florida — resorts, condominium associations, estates, and the occasional festival in the desert. If that's why you're here, everything is over there.