My wife and I decided to paint the bathroom this weekend. Seemed like a rather quick job, except the replacement of the faucets for the vanities. There was wallpaper that had to be removed first. This took more time than we had expected. After removing the wallpaper, there were gouges in the walls which needed to be filled with spackle. We then needed to cut out the seams where the wallpaper seams were in the water closet. We decided to not remove the wallpaper in that small area since it took so long to remove the wallpaper in the main part of the bathroom. We were covering up a taupe color which required two coats of paint and lots of cutting in. We started on Saturday and finished Sunday afternoon. We still have faucets to replace and mirrors to install, but the bulk of it is done. After working with websites and computers for the past 10 years, I have become accustomed to instant changes or at least changes that don’t take a lot of time. Before I got into this whole website business, I would have not thought twice about taking on a huge remodeling project. I would know that it would take a huge investment in time, dust, sweat and tears, but that would not have fazed me a bit. Now, when I take on a remodeling project, I want instant results. I want to take a digital application, run a few lines of code, upload it to the web and see instant results. I tend to want the same when I do any kind of manual work. Am I getting lazy? Am I getting old? I DON’T LIKE IT! I know that it is due to the digital world that I make my living, yet I do not like what it has done to my previous world of nuts, bolts, wood shavings and satisfaction of actual manual work. Do you find yourself in a similar state of mind, that is if your actual vocation involves 0’s and 1’s. Have we become a digital replication of reality? Do we favor digital relationships over real ones? I dare you to ask yourself the question. I know that I have.

When you hear someone use the phrase “pay attention to detail”, one usually thinks of an OCD person, at least I used to. Isn’t it interesting that we have labels that we now place on people who don’t fit our perception of ‘normal’. Anyone that has achieved anything noteworthy most certainly would have had a label placed upon them. People who fit in this category are usually not easy to work with; they upset the status quo for sure. Instead of being able to submit our work to them and go eat lunch, they say, “not good enough, what can you do to make it better?” Damn, there goes lunch. I just want to punch a clock, get the work done, then go have a beer! If you have a boss or fellow worker that “pays attention to detail” and you just want to punch the clock, you better look for a new job. You just want a paycheck? Go work for the government, there are plenty of people there that are little cogs in the big wheel of government that love becoming invisible in the huge machine that the government provides. Enough about those of you that just want a paycheck. I’m here to challenge you. I love old houses; I’m talking houses that are over 100 years old. The “attention to detail” was amazing. The interior trim wasn’t just what we call “Ranch style” trim, which to me means BORING. The trim had detail. It took time to create this molding. Look at the brick work. The modern ranch style house did not look like a house on the ranch. It looks like a box. If it has brickwork, typically it’s just your standard running bond style brick. Pediments and even the use of herringbone style brickwork is rare these days. Look at these Tudor brick chimneys at Hampton Court Palace in the UK.

As you can see, this brickwork has detail.

I just finished watching a documentary on the building of Disneyland. Disneyland was built in one year plus one day, yet the planning and “attention to detail” is amazing. Every attraction, every tree and walkway was put in a certain place by design. Walt was never satisfied with the first set of plans. He wanted those that visited to notice his “attention to detail”. He hired experts in their fields to help him build Disneyland. If he wanted something built and he didn’t know how to do it, he hired others that could help him realize his dream. He wanted his visitors to experience something that was outside of their reality, this is why he had earthen berms built all around his park to shut out the reminder of their normal lives.

Every time we create something new, be it a recipe or a new building, we have the opportunity to take the mundane and transform it into something that we and others will remember because we made sure to “pay attention to detail”.

Good enough isn’t good enough. Good enough gets you nothing extra, it gets you by. It might pay the bills, but is that what you want out of life, just to have enough to pay the bills? If you “pay attention to detail” and create something out of the ordinary, put yourself into it so that it is a reflection of who you are, you will be able to do more than just pay the bills!

Why do we like secret rooms? Is it because it is unexpected? Someone took the time to create something of intrigue, not just another room off of the hall. It took some planning to be able to hide this secret room. The room had to be concealed so that it wasn’t obvious from outside nor inside the house; unless you knew of this room and it’s secret entrance, you would never have know that it was there. It’s a lot easier to build a house without “attention to detail”. Most people are happy with a great room, nice bathroom with an en suite and kitchen with granite countertops and a few rows of stone around the front door. Our ancestors who built these incredible homes found in the older sections of most cities around America would have never been satisfied with what we are satisfied with now.

Faster is not always better, it’s just faster. Just because you can get away with the minimum doesn’t mean that you should. The way I look at it, if you put little into this life, just to get by, you will get little out of this life. If you put a $1 bill into a change machine, do you expect to get out 5 quarters?  No, you get out of it what you put into it. Life is the same way.

If you want an extraordinary life, you need to put in an extraordinary amount of effort. So, the next time that you are tempted to just put in the minimum, why not “pay attention to detail”!

Reality tv is NOT reality. Do you really want to be a Kardashian? Get a “real” life. If you don’t want to be one of the masses with an ordinary life, going to an ordinary job living in an ordinary city, then you have to do something to be different. Your friends predictable habits will get you predictable results. YOU have to do something different to change your current life every day. YOU have to work later, work harder, think outside of the dull square box if you want a meaningful life. Sure, going to the pub, the club, the typical places your friends go is fun, but if you go there too much, you will have the typical life. Life doesn’t just happen to you. YOU have to fight against the current, or end up with results that people who go with the flow end up with. It’s up to you. Don’t look for your “big break”, you will be waiting forever. YOU need to chart a course for that new land, that one that is waiting to be discovered.

A dream has to be bigger than yourself in order for it to be worth achieving. If you have a dream, but already know the hows and whens of what is necessary to achieve your dream, then the dream isn’t big enough. There needs to be a bit of “how am I going to get from here to there” in your dream. The unknown is what drives us. Sure, we can play it safe, and look back on our life that we played it safe, and wish that we had of taken a few calculated risks. When the US decided to go to the moon, do you think that we knew everything about space travel, or what the surface of the moon was exactly composed of? Sure, we had a good idea, but we didn’t know everything. Now, the US has decided that putting a man on Mars isn’t a good investment, but the return on our money can’t be measured in dollars and cents. There were so many fringe benefits that the moon shot accomplished for America. There was a generation of kids that were taught to believe that any one of them could become an astronaut. Before the space program, every boy wanted to be a fireman; now every boy wanted to ride a rocket! The Steve Jobs and Bill Gates of today were the same kids that watched Neil Armstrong walk on the lunar surface. It was the American dream to push further than we had ever gone that stimulated the imaginations of young boys and girls that later launched so many of our tech industries today. We were taught to dream. Today, it seems as if we all want to play it safe. We want security, in a world of uncertainty. We want guarantees in a time of unknown resolutions. If you take the road that is traveled by the masses, don’t expect to receive the results of those that dare to dream. Walt Disney used to have a phrase that he used, “Plus it”. It was rather simple, but what he meant was, “Don’t just settle for what you did, what CAN you do to make it perfect?” There was a guy that had quite an imagination. His brother Roy had to find ways to make Walt’s dreams become a reality. Walt was the idea guy and Roy was the money guy. Whatever your dream is, it involves money to be sure. You can’t let money get in your way. You can begin small, most everyone did. Do you think that Bill Gates started with 100 programmers and a 10,000 square foot building? No, he pretty much started in his bedroom, like most of us dreamers do. The difference between them and others; they started. They didn’t just think of an idea and do nothing. They started, they began, they said, “What if”. Make a promise to yourself today to never be afraid to dream, nor ever to think that there are too many obstacles in the way to realize your dream. We all want to see what you can do!

Life is too short to spend 8 hours or more per day of your waking 16 hours working at a job you hate. Ok, so you can’t just quit and then seek your ideal job; you have responsibilities, possibly a family to support. The way I look at it, you can either breathe some excitement into your current job or start searching your soul for what would be that ideal job where you would actually look forward to going to work each day. Some of us have avocations that bring fulfillment to our lives, but is it enough to offset the 8 hr. routine? It’s never too late to do some research on a possible career change. Read up on things that interest you and people who have turned these interests into careers.

After 5 weeks, I have finally squeezed the contents of a 4 car garage into my new 2 car garage. Believe it or not, both cars will fit. With the help of Laurie, I have managed to organize, re-organize, squeeze tools into every nook and cranny. I don’t know what it is about a man’s garage. You can have a really nice home, very comfortable den and beautiful kitchen, but just let me hang out in my garage. I even know some guys that have a TV, comfortable chair, mini-fridge and stereo in their garage. If you are organized so that you can put your hands on any tool you need, you can do almost anything. So, now work can begin on the INSIDE of the house.

Awoke to this light snow falling October 8, 2011. I commented to my neighbor that on Wednesday it was 70 degrees. His comment was, “Get used to this weather, you are now living in Estes Park, CO.”

Allison and Brooke came out in Feb. 2011 to spend a few days skiing and snowmobiling with Laurie and I. This pic was taken on the back of the deck of the cabin we rented for 6 months in Coal Creek Canyon near Golden CO. My brother Drew showed up and went with us.

We went with our new neighbors to a Bronco’s game. Fun times with what seemed like all of Denver. There were 72,000 people in attendance. Its pretty much an all day event.

Allison and Brooke came up to Coal Creek Canyon last February to spend a couple of days skiing and snowmobiling. This is a pic of us on the back deck of the cabin we leased for 6 months. My brother, Drew, came up and spent time with us as well.

Before Laurie and I moved to Colorado, people would ask, “Why Colorado?”. Why not Colorado? Ever since my parents took me to the Shenandoah mountains when I was 13, I fell in love with the mountains. The view from the top of a summit is awesome. To me, I can see the beauty of God’s handiwork. I used to read books on rock climbing.  I loved the outdoors. I spent many weekends on scouting trips and camping. I knew I was really hooked was in 1973 when my parents took my brother and I on a road trip to Alaska where my mom was raised. Mountains took on a whole new meaning with the shear size of them rising from the ocean. Even though my mom is from Alaska, she loves to go to the beach. The outer banks of NC were her idea of God’s beauty. To me, it was just sand, sand and more sand; let’s don’t forget the intense heat and humidity to go with it. The mountains were in my blood. I love to ski, even though I’m nothing to write home about. We went snowshoeing last winter for the first time. I found the forest to be so quiet, especially when there is snow to absorb the sound. Another way to enjoy the outside is camping. It is a great way to get away from it all. Hiking during the day, then coming back to camp to enjoy a great dinner by the fire with only the stars as your only light.  The air is dry here, so there is very little humidity. You can go outside during July, take a hike and barely perspire. Here in Estes Park, you never run out of things to do. We are at the entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Downtown Estes has some sort of festival most weekends until around November. Boulder is only about 1 hr away. In Estes Park, everyone is from somewhere else, so you don’t end up with attitudes about you being new. It’s sort of like a melting pot. We have found the people to be extremely friendly throughout the state. Leaving family back east has been hard; fortunately, our parents will be flying out for Thanksgiving to spend time with us. My youngest, Brooke, just left for college, so she is busy with her new surroundings. Our other children are in their mid 20’s to 30’s so they are very busy with their lives. We do miss seeing them, but hopefully we will fly them out here for Christmas. Eric, my youngest son of 27 years will hopefully move out here in spring with his new bride to work for me at our company. We hope he will send this very contagious bug back east and who knows, we might see a few others follow him here. So, why not Colorado!