Money

For the next week or so I'm going to share with you all the blogs I read on a fairly regular basis. I read blogs because I find them quite a bit more facinating than CNN international. If you watch that show long enough you can begin to recite the news word for word before they do. Most if not all the Blogs I read come from triathletes. I don't read them because they are triathletes but because of who they personally are and what they write. On a personal side I don't even know half of these people.

Yes, triathletes write about training. I find most of that really boring. I even find it boring when I write about it. My favorite blogs are not exciting all the time but they are consistent with what they produce. The consistently make me laugh, cry or think and that's why I read them.

So I start this process with Lucho. For the most part the daily posts Lucho makes are rather boring. Ran 9 miles with a HR of 146. But every once in awhile he posts something that is astonishing. Lucho is a former pro triathlete and a stay at home Dad. The post I linked you to is what makes this guy special. He knows what's important to him and he doesn't let things like money get in the way.

This post got me thinking about our lives. Mary and I often talk about money. Like most married couples money is a topic. We plan, budget and even sometimes fight about it. But our true belief about it is the same. We don't really care about it. We work not for money but for the love of work. We really like what we do and the money is secondary. Fortunately I guess, we both do work that pays well. And at that point we think we deserve the pay we get. The experiences of what we do far out weighs the paycheck we receive. Read my last post. That kid Mary helped out will pay back to Mary 1 million times more than any paycheck she receives. My goal is to build great shoes for people who love running. If they have great momorable runs in a pair of shoes I worked on than that's really cool to me.

When I was a senior in high school I was working 2 to 3 jobs at any one time. I went to work becuase I liked it and I guess I really liked the money too. I worked at a fish resteraunt and made good money in tips. Basketball season came around and I gave up a great deal of fun time at basketball games to make money at the Fish House. As the season went on the team kept winning. Playoff time came around and I went to the games I could on nights I wasn't working. The team kept winning. They made to the regional tourney (Illionois Basketball) then to the sectional and finally the crazy thing is, they made it to State. Anyone that knows midwest basketball, if you go to state you have hit the big time. As soon as they made state I asked for the time off. I was denied. I pleaded with my boss "This is a once in a lifetime thing" he still said no. The game was Friday night the busiest of nights (the most money) and I made a choice. I called and said I wasn't coming in and I went to the game. We lost the game but it was a blast to be in the University of Illinois Arena, all the lights, all the pagentry. An experience I will not forget. I got fired from that job and financially that hurt and emotionally I got blasted by my girlfriend and her parents. But it didn't matter and it still doesn't. I experienced Illinois State Basketball. Bill Siler at guard, Scott Pierce, Brad Burger, Steve Berg at point and rotations off the bench. Only Bill played college basketball. Scott went to West Point and I don't know but I'm sure Brad is coaching some highschool today. Steve is probalbly CEO of some big company. The point is that the experience watching that group play was much better than a few tips.

It's a good life...

Dave