DNC Worldwide

Frequently I become obsessed with thinking about making more money and falling victim to the traditional American school of thought that working hard for your boss is the way to get rich. For me working harder means putting in more time at the office, which in turns means sacrificing the things that are important to me: mainly training and hanging with friends. The following is a parable that I read whenever I get stuck in these work consumed phases that allow me to re-focus:

One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the hope of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working hard to make a living for himself and his family.

“You’re not going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman, “You should be working harder rather than lying on the beach!”

The fisherman looked up, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?”

“Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer.

“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!”

“And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said.

“And then what will my reward be?”

The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let your employees catch fish for you!”

Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?”

The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”

This got me thinking about my ideal world. In my ideal world, I would work 20hrs/week and be allowed to do it remotely so I can travel whenever I want. I would spend the majority of my time training, and goofing off with friends…basically living the college life as an adult.

A couple questions for you guys/gals:

1) What is your ideal world like??

2) How do we go about obtaining it in the near term??

Saturday Morning

Jimmy & Silver at the airport in Houston prior to departure.

We got to Denver at about 10pm on Friday night. We picked up two  h3 hummers to drive up the mountain to Winter Park. It was snowing on the way up and we saw the temperature drop to 7 degrees in the mountains from about 38 degrees in Denver. It was a long, windy, and snowy trek up the mountain but we finally made it to our lodge by around 12:30am.

The lodge we stayed at, along with our twin rental trucks.

Riding in this was an adventure.

We ran around the huge place and discovered ten bedrooms and  a hot tub amongst other things. The rustic design was so fitting and the place was huge! Shortly after dropping our bags off and getting to know our accomodations, Craig, Silver, Kin, Gabe, and I left to enjoy the last 30 minutes at the bar with the local ski bums.

Audra and I getting ready for the mountain.

Husband and wife on the lift.

Winter Park!

Some of us made a few friends really quickly at Freestyles, which was the only bar in town open until 2am… Kim and her adorable dog Pearl were 2 in particular that I gravitated to immediately. They were adorable! Pearl kept following me around. It was cute. Meanwhile, Silver ordered like 15 jaeger shots for us. Keep in mind that we had already polished off a bottle of Crowne Royale on the way up the mountain. Needless to say, the locals did not take kindly to a bunch of rowdy Texan drunks barging into their bar at the end of the night and making friends with their women. We avoided a barfight and headed back to the fritz lodge trashed and laughed it up with the whole group until almost morning. We eventually found ourselves scattered and passed out in assorted rooms at about 4am.

I had a hell of a time trying to get up.

Exhausted at the bottom of the mountain.

Ouch. Laying like this for 15 minutes at a time was pretty much a regular thing up there.

Chillin’ with Silver in the infirmary.

We got up at 8am today and left for the Winter Park Ski Resort for early snowboarding lessons. I listened to the Brit instructor girl for less than five minutes (enough time to learn toe/heel edge) before leaving on my own accord to figure it out on my own. It only took two runs to get to the point of having fun just going down the mountain but this stuff is tiring! Silver ended up in the infirmary bed with altitude sickness and I wasn’t too far behind. Meanwhile, Kin & Gabe took turns falling down the mountain and taking shots before going back up. Crazy stuff.

At the Derailer taking a break with Gabe.

The 2 Black Diamond skiers of the group.

Gottamn, I look like a shadow demon!

Taking a shot of myself.

Jimmy was awesome for cooking us breakfast on both days.

Saturday Evening

We were going to go tubing after the resort but we went home instead after drinking it up at Derailer with the whole group. As I type, I can hear the glorious sound of the jacuzzi warming up in the sauna room nearby. That will surely help with the sore muscles that are becoming more and more prevalent as time goes by… have 2 hrs to rest before we hit the pubs.

Anti-Bruise Therapy.

Sunday Morning

I just got out of the jacuzzi, where I spent the last 45 minutes contemplating some things. We didn’t do much of anything last night. Kin, Silver, and I skipped dinner at Hernando’s and watched Lucky Number Slevin at the cabin instead. We were so spent from the day that all three of us ended up sleeping the whole night through. We plan on going snow-mobiling around the mountain today. Resort until about five and then Houston by midnight.

Old miner’s house.

Sunday Afternoon

I’ve become enamored with local culture around here. It seems like every local owns a dog and a Subaru. They dance weird and are extremely laid back. The girls are athletic but wear no makeup and are generally not pretentious. Hanging out at this mountain all day, I’ve quickly discovered that skiing and boarding into ice cold water is a lot of fun! I’ve got some sweet pictures of that. Silver and I also bought a bunch of stuff at the shops while we were exploring! Last weekend of the season so 50% of everything. Sweet! I got a new backpack, etc.

Spring Blast Jumper 1

Spring Blast Jumper 2

Spring Blast Jumper 3

Spring Blast Jumper 4

Monday

We got in at about midnight last. We barely made it on the plane in Denver. And by barely, I mean Gene and I sprinted onto the plane as they were shutting the doors! We didn’t take off from Winter Park until about 5pm and caught traffic down the mountain. In short, we got the the airport for our 8:40pm flight at about 8:10pm. I finally got home around 1:30am and talked with Omar and Kris until about 2:30. I’m exhausted. The end.