A VAR Experiences The Joy of Fear

Lester Keizer, CEO of solution provider Connecting Point Technology Center of Las Vegas, recently returned from a vacation in New Zealand, where his son Andrew is studying for a year. While there, the pair went to Kawarau Bridge, known as the site where bungy jumping became popular. Lester went to watch Andrew jump, but soon the adrenaline was flowing and he too had strapped bindings too his feet and was ready to plunge 140 feet towards the river below.

Pictured, the solution providers holds his jumping papers, ready to go.

The Kawarau Bridge was constructed in the 1880s to help transport gold that was being extracted nearby. It was the site of the first commercial bungy jumping venture, opening in 1989.

Here's the view from the bridge, and what separates the jumpers from chickens. "I had seen videos on this on the Discovery Channel and never thought I wouldeven contemplate throwing myself off a bridge to a raging river. I don't know what possessed me but when we got to the bridge. I quietly said to myself, 'Whatever it takes, I am going to do it. Today is the first day of the rest of my life!,'" Kaizer wrote on a travel blog of his experience.

No, it's a raft waiting in the water to return the jumpers back to land.

As the jumpers prepare for their leap of faith, a crowd gathers off to the side.

Kaizer gives a thumbs-up moments before he makes the jump. When he let go, he swears he yelled "Connecting Point! Xilocore! (the name of his managed services company)."

For those of us, who have never had the guts to take the plunge, here's how

Lester describes it:

"I screamed in triumph, raised my fist in the air, albeit downward, and then screamed again in excitement at life. After three jerks up and down from the bungy cord, a yellow life raft came to my rescue. I grabbed on to the stick and they pulled me in. The guys in the boat asked me how it was. I replied, 'kind of like when I lost my virginity!' They laughed and said 'too much information!" But it was true. Minutes of nervousness, followed by sweet elation."

The view from the bridge as Keizer plunged toward the water. Keizer said while he was jumping, Andrew was chatting with another man mustering up the courage to jump himself. Andrew asked the man if he was going to get wet.

Andrew said he appeared nervous and said no. The man's two sons, standing by him said, "Go for it Dad." At the time, Andrew didn't recognize the man: Joe Montana.

Keizer said Montana's wife jumped right before him and they talked about how many more females were jumping than males.

"So here was this football icon, who had given us many breathless moments when he had been at the one yard line, fourth down and seconds on the clock. Here he was in New Zealand and as anxious as the rest of us," Keizer wrote in the travel blog.

Keizer didn't get a photograph with Montana, but he had the Hall of Fame quarterback sign his certificate, which coincidentally reads "this certified jumper has become more than your Average Joe."

In summary, Keizer, who said he's never attempted anything like bungy jumping in his life, said it was a great experience that he was able to share with his son. "I took one last look at the bridge and the river as we drove away and thought to myself everyone needs a form of controlled danger in their life.....THERE

REALLY IS JOY IN FEAR!"