Those ads from popular recreation retailers with the hip mountain climbers toting their new camping gadgets and gear, surrounded by soaring cliffs – they’re not just promoting the great outdoors…  They’re telling us all this cool stuff makes you look good!

It’s important to look good. According to our wilderness guide, who told us the backcountry rules at the start of our recent two-week family trekking expedition, “Look good” is rule #1, followed by “Don’t die.” We were part of a nine-member crew that trained all year for this “leave-no-trace” adventure in bear country. No creature comforts, only what we carried with us and Mother Nature. This meant we took extra care to leave our campsites pristine while we were looking good trying not to die.

Jeannette backpacking with her family

So there we were, hundreds of miles from civilization, backpacking 10-20 miles daily along dusty, rocky, sometimes muddy trails (if it was raining, which it did every afternoon since it was monsoon season), up and down pine-covered mesas, through meadows of aspen and across sage-dotted valleys. We got wet. We got dirty. We got smelly. But we were cool because we could rely on our electronic accessories to keep us looking good while we tried not to die.

We’d stop at the edge of a bluff to log our distance on our portable GPS tracker. We’d turn on our cell phones atop scraggly peaks to call home. We’d shoot high-res photos with our ultra-light cameras while scaling sheer rock walls. We’d shine our LED flashlights toward the glowing green eyes of a mountain lion stalking us under the scrub oak. We’d click on the video cam just before whizzing along sky-high zip-lines. We’d stare danger in the face and not be afraid, confident we were looking good with our cool tools in hand.

In fact, we were never more than 10 feet from a Molex connector at any time. With certainty, we know that Molex components are integral to all of this electronic equipment. These personal effects brought a definite cool factor to the trip. Plus, we couldn’t have made the trip without connectors. The mini-vans, trains and airplanes that brought us to the mountains all required interconnects, switches and cable assemblies to function reliably and efficiently. Not to mention the computers and data infrastructure for arranging the trip logistics — or the communications and POS hardware for acquiring all the cool gear. Having access to trendy devices and trusting they work well are things we take for granted. That’s important as we continue our quest to look good and not die.

You could make a rule that connectors make you cool. New rule #3.

What other rules can you associate with life’s adventures and electronics?  Share your comments with me!