Outpost Chronicles

When I come to the end of my to-do list, I find myself less efficient at working. I’ll become less inspired and therefore not as productive.

It’s not until I travel that I find a rejuvenated sense of motivation. Removing myself from the grind that is the everlasting, day-in-day-out monotonic routine that is work is the only way for me to clear my head and think about my goals. Meeting new people and discovering new experiences helps me reaffirm my professional & life goals. It motivates me to work harder, be more creative, which ultimately results in a new to-do list. 

I not only come back from travels refreshed, but also inspired to push new limits and accomplish larger goals.

Cheers San Fran… it’s been real.

I haven’t seen my brother since I got married last August. He’s younger by two years but we’ve always been close. We’ve gone to the same schools and been on the same soccer team since practically preschool – that even includes college. So to not see him for 8 months is a long time in our books.

The beauty of my job is the amount of work I can get done remotely. All of this, of course, made possibly by the remarkable team I have on the ground. When traveling, I take the opportunity to rake through the data, analyze it, and readjust strategy as needed. With our enhanced communication system, I can discuss with my team as if I were sitting right alongside them, and they can then take the necessary course of action.

I guess my point is, this trip would never have been possible should I a) still work in finance where we were awarded 20 days of vacation a year and b) didn’t have such a reliable team back home. Of course, to further touch on point a), it was frowned upon to take most of your allotted time off.

So, here I am, on the Gulf one week, the Caribbean the next, and the Pacific the week after all while still working at least a forty hour work week. Cheers to the modern day marvels that allow such flexibility – and of course my team!

In light of public debate, I wanted to present a photo I took on April 2, 2016 (pictured above) — 4 days prior to the incident that’s now going viral.

Comparing the image above to the one below, I noticed a few takeaways:

1. The height of the commercial plane (pictured above) is much higher than the plane that had “tagged” me.

2. The commercial plane is more centered over the traffic circle.

3. If you zoom in to the photo above, you’ll notice a couple standing a few feet from where I had actually been standing myself. You can use the sign that appears to the right of the couple in the photo above and also my right on the photo below as a point of comparison.

Now, take a look at the photo above and picture how low that plane must have been to the street for it to not only to “tag” me, but to also hit that aforementioned sign. The sign lies a few feet to the right of me. I was definitely a near miss, but so was that sign. Friends, he’s too low.

The above is a screenshot of the video taken by videographer, Sebastien Politano. The video was taken April 6, 2016.

As some of you already know, my name is Mekki Jaidi. I don’t consider myself to be a “photographer” by any means. I’m just a guy who read a book on photography, picked up a DSLR around Christmas of 2015, and started photographing — mainly nature and my beautiful wife, Jane.

Instead, I run Outpost, a vacation rental and tech company in Jackson Hole that gives visitors of the valley the best guest experience.

Contrary to public belief, I am not a risk taker. Actually, I’m quite the opposite. I ski seldomly in fear of blowing out a knee and I’ll shy away from less frequented hiking trails because of my insane fear of bears.

I also know what risk is. I was a former currency options (derivatives) trader at RBS and graduated Columbia University’s school of Engineering with a near 4.0 GPA studying risk, probabilities, etc.

It had been my third time on the island of St Barts. On numerous occasions I had seen people park their cars or stand exactly where I was standing trying to experience the thrill of low flying planes landing into the airport. In fact, I was not alone when I was capturing the shot. My wife was to the left of me, and to her left were two scooters, and of course, there was the videographer.

This was an anomaly. The plane was approaching far too low. Given I was looking through a viewfinder, it was hard to assess exactly how low. This had been the pilot’s second attempt at landing this (non-commercial) plane, which resulted in a aborted landing and therefore a third and final attempt.

In the end, I’m still here. Would I do this again? Perhaps from a different angle, but certainly not in the approach path of these planes.

Instagram: @mekki.jaidi

In case you haven’t seen it:

Good Morning America, Business Insider, Today Show, Gizmodo, Huffington Post… list goes on.

Simple Analogy: Imagine vehicles driving and pedestrians walking on a bridge outside the boundary of JFK International Airport — a public road. Let’s say a plane got too low and clipped both vehicles and pedestrians. Would you fault the pilot or would you fault the cars and people who the bridge was meant for?

The shot above was taken today. Heavy fog lingered in town, but the outskirts was filled with beautiful light. Life’s to short for too much rest and sleep, so get up, and get after it! ?

For many, offseason is a time to unplug from work and relax. But, as my wife knows all to well, I can’t stop working – even on vacation. I use the time to reflect, reassess, and advance.

My team runs in the same fashion. We rethink operations and strategies, we discuss opportunities new and old, and, most importantly, we work hard and efficiently. We throw the concept of “face time” out the window – if it’s a nice day and we have completed all our objectives for the day or week, we’ll call it.

So, this time of a year is great for us to experiment with and then implement our new ideas for the upcoming spring and summer seasons. It’s going to be a busy one and we certainly will leave no stone unturned in our expedition to make a mark with our new system.

Please pardon the previous interruption in The Chronicles since the launch of our new platform. Simply put, I was extremely busy.

It hasn’t become any lighter now, but I’ve just adapted. My routine had changed and therefore I needed to reorganize and become accustomed to the new schedule with the launch of the second business.

For a while I thought I wouldn’t bring it back. But, to my surprise, many of you had expressed interest in seeing it continue that I was convinced otherwise. Then it became a matter of finding the right place for it to live under – I struggled with that one.

The thought process was as follows: we already had a portion of the site dedicated to the lifestyle of Jackson Hole: “Journal.” If we had another section that was similar, but more personal under “Blog,” we felt that would be confusing from a user experience standpoint.

So, we decided it would be best to leave it off the main navigation of the site and just have it connect to my personal (and sometimes business) Instagram. This separation allows for an even deeper personal connection – my life in Jackson Hole, behind the scenes at Outpost HQ, etc.

My goal is that you, as followers, can have a more in-depth view of the people I meet, the places I come across, and the culture I’ve grown accustomed to here in Jackson Hole. That holds whether you live far across the country and just miss Jackson Hole, or are my neighbor and find you’re a little curious.

After a truly busy winter, these past couple weeks unearthed new and fantastic experiences. And, unwind we did.

We were able to visit with family, relax in warm & foreign places, and reconnect after a winter that although was enjoyable and cozy, did at times feel like a “grind.”

We now find ourselves coming home from vacation to the “vacation” that is our lives. We work hard, but live in a place and live a life we both love.

One sunny, spring afternoon in Westchester, New York, my father had picked me up from from school after I completed a 2nd grade spelling test. “Are you the smartest in the class?” He asked.

I was not. I was perhaps second in the class (if there was such a thing in elementary school). When I told him, he asked why I wasn’t number one. From an outsider’s point of view, you probably see this as harsh. But it wasn’t. That is my father, and that’s how we were all brought up. It’s a different tune from what most kids growing up in the US experience, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Everything happens for a reason — if there is a mantra I live by, or a religion I follow, that’s it.

Who I am today is a combination of all the failure and success I have experienced. And my father is a big part of who I am. Throughout my childhood, he believed in me and encouraged me to be the best. Cheering my success and guiding me past my failures. 

This man truly cares for each and every one of his children and hated to see any sort of sadness brought upon us. And he still does.

I owe a lot to my father. He’s the sole reason I developed such a strong work ethic. He pushed me extremely hard because he cared for us, our future. At 78, he is still working — and I guarantee he will continue to work for the rest of his life. I just hope I can put his mind at ease that I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure our family will always be comfortable, but more importantly happily together — even if we are living in all different parts of the world. I’ve always just wanted to make him proud.

So, here’s to ensuring that this new chapter we embark on is a successful one — whatever that may take. And one that is dedicated to him. Cheers, Baba.