On a trip to Las Vegas this weekend I got to work in a lot of reading, and I came across multiple articles about formerly accomplished businessmen now living the simple life. I’m sure you’ve heard simliar tales - one guy, who was 49, was a former CEO of some large software firm for years. Now the dude surfs every morning and spends time with his family.

Quips like “I realized what was important in life” or “I came here and fell in love, there’s nowhere I’d rather be” permeate these stories of corporate big-wigs gone hippie green. I’ve read them so many times I’m starting to believe one day I’ll wake up and have an epiphany of my own.

But until that day comes I’m more interested in pondering why exactly these fellas (and ladies) drop their seemingly cush jobs and daily routines for something that is much simpler. Ok, I’ll be honest, it’s the money part that really gets me thinking - they ain’t getting paid to surf. How the hell are they getting by then?

While money may not be “important” in life, it sure is necessary. I wish I could surf every day too but basically I don’t have the cash to last. Or maybe I just don’t have the balls to leave a comfortable situation for uncertainty. Yeah, that’s it . . . where do these guys get the balls?

Let me just say that this particular article about the 49-year-old surfer guy only mentioned him as a side note. The main focus of the story was a fiftysomething surf instructor who has achieved iconic status in Seal Beach (LA area) as everyone’s favorite guy. People stop by in the morning just to give the guy a hug and look at the ocean.

Others, like our 49-year-old Agent Utah, take a few instructions from the guy and somewhere between the waves and the sun find themselves a new life. Maybe I’m just being suckered by good journalism (how you slay me Spirit magazine), but these stories always get me going.

I’ve met a few surf instructors. I’ve surfed a few times and loved it. But the instructor guys all lived in trailers and didn’t seem like champions of free will and success to me. They didn’t for one second make me want to alter my path in life.

I really don’t know what to say about this. This stupid blog is doing me more harm than good. Damn you former CEO surfer. You may be happy out there on the waves but I’m still confused here at the intersection of two muddy rivers. I’m out.