Life is way to good to me.

Working at Del Sol has been a crazy cool gig. It has been surprisingly easy to lose sight of how good I have had it the past 7 months. No house payment, no car payment, no worries about plane tickets, no worries about gas money. Just when I think life can't get any easier, it does. I am not saying these things to brag, but rather to say how thankful I am for all of my opportunities. I think it is good to be able to look back on your thoughts, and for me, most of my thoughts populate my public blog. Anyways. When we accepted the management position they said we would get a paid trip to the BVI's in our contract. SICK! I have never been able to go on a trip, on my works money. (that's a lie, the past 7 months have been a trip) Corporate seems to be really happy with the job we are doing. Today they called and said that they would be paying for each of our ferry rides this Saturday to Virgin Gorda, 70$. We arranged this week for to stay in a villa for the night and it is costing us 300$. thats 75$ split four ways. and a car rental for Saturday night and Sunday, another 50. So today when we got the call from Landon, (the Caribbean sales director) saying that they were paying for the ferry, our car, and giving us each an extra 75$ for whatever. Naturally we were all stoked. AWESOME. Receiving a gift, feels amazing. This trip to Virgin Gorda will be unforgettable. I am so lucky. WE ARE SO LUCKY.

Two days ago, Jake and I got offered the management positions until May. AWESOME! I think I knew deep down in my heart that I wasn't going to accept. But the fact that corporate trusts us enough to manage their first Del Sol, that has been here for over 15 years for another 5 months speaks volumes. In the contract would be a week long trip to Puerto Rico, and a pay raise again, as well as bigger bonuses. But, money is not what I am after.

Jake and I have really been trying hard. We have gotten damn good at what we do. I never told my parents about the job offer. I know it is another burden they shouldn't have to even think about. I am ready to feel like a stranger in my own house. Coming back to Salt Lake is going to be like seeing it for the first time. I did a good job at milking Salt Lake for all it is worth when I lived there, but having spent all this time away. I am going to be able to get so much more out of home. Del Sol may be in my future, who knows. All I know is right now I am LIVING on St. Thomas. Thriving. I cannot wait to immerse myself in Salt Lake again. It is such a beautiful place, filled with so many beautiful people. My only hope is that I will bring some of my wisdom home, and never forget the pieces I picked up along the way, in Durango, and St. Thomas.

I cannot wait to see all of my beautiful friends and family when I come home. It will be in January, and I hope you are as ready as I am.

Don't Stop Breaking Down the Doors

-Kam

Stressin

The past few weeks have been a complete blur. Time is flying by. I cannot believe I have about one month left here on STT. It has been such a crazy experience. I know I will definitely never be the same. I am going to miss so many things. It has been crazy running the store with Jake and Sheryl. We got left a TON of problems from our last manager. She didn't even properly train us for 90% of what we are doing now. It has been a huge learning experience for both Jake and I. I feel like we have done a pretty decent job weathering the storm that we were gifted. I have had to work the past week 7 days straight 11 hour days. My legs are killing me.

Over the past month the room mate I share my room with has really been getting on my nerves. It has been super frustrating for me. He is a control FREAK. We asked one of our friends what she thought of the four of us and she said she thinks he is the leader. She is right, but sadly he doesn't lead for the right reasons. He leads, because we all know if anyone else were the decision maker, he would make it hell for the rest of us. I am not sure if he knows it, but he sure has a way of making people feel like shit around him. He is so passive-agressive. Everything he says is followed by "well thats the way i would do it if i were you" but not in a helpful way. I know things would be different if there was some way to escape him. It is nice back home, because if I don't like someone at work, I always have my life outside of work to get away from them. But here, there is no escaping his negativity. Everywhere I go, I am around him.

I cannot express how thankful I am to have such an awesome group of friends at home who supports me. I cannot think of one person who I would not spend a day with at home. Life is good down here. My long awaited day off is tomorrow, I have it all by myself, and oddly enough I am stoked about it. I can go out and do whatever I want, whenever I want, and not have to worry about others being lazy. Here are a few pictures from the beach today-

Don't Stop Breaking down the Doors

-Kam

Down Under

I have been in a bit of a slump recently. Living with two people you never knew can be rough. I find myself trying to escape Joel and Charles more and more. Yesterday was my chance, it was my day off with Charles, and he said he needed the car all day, so i picked a beach and he dropped me off. He usually wakes up way late, so after i dropped jake and joel off for work, i zipped on over to Hull bay. It was awesome, within five minutes of swimming I  saw a barracuda. Once i got out into the water a little farther i saw a baby sea turtle. AWESOME!

Charles woke up so i had to go home, and he dropped me off at secret beach, since visibility at Hull (the other side of the island) was poor.  SO glad i chose to spend the rest of the day on the caribbean side. I saw a cluster of lobsters, some caverns, and lots of awesome fish. I got some OK video with my gopro. It is so hard to try and keep that thing stable underwater while swimming hard to keep up with the fish.

After a long swim i rested and read on the beach. It is sweet to be able to read Into the Wild, again down here on my own adventure. I love being able to escape the warm island life for a short time, via a good book. Charles was on his way to the beach to pick me up, so i went out for a short swim again, and found my new favorite thing. I swim out to where the depth is about 20 or so feet, and sink to the bottom and lay there for as long as i can, letting fish come curiously to me. Staring up and the mercury like surface, in the silence of the ocean is so relaxing. Sometimes i know i am down there for nearly a minute. Once i get really relaxed, more fish come and i am able to stay down for a lot longer. It is awesome. Definitely something everyone should experience.

Today i have the day off again, all by myself this time, and i think i know just what i will be doing.

 

Don't Stop Breaking Down the Doors

-Kam

Just add sun

Stuff is pretty hectic down here. Our first few days at the reigns Jake and I have been able to hit our goals, and stay well above our monthly %110. We are shooting to get our big end of the month bonus. Cariloha is doing really well too. The other day I briefly went through all of the things we have to do with Joel, (Get the new Disney product, discontinue 3 mens shirts, 2 boys shirts, 3 girls shirts, and 6 womens shirts. all to put in the new Disney product, then once we get that done we have to figure out where to put, and which 4 new designs we will be ordering.) He said "Well that's good for you young guys to have to work hard like that". WHAT THE F$%#. Really?! I know this shouldn't piss me off, but it sure hit a nerve. It is super annoying, to try and hit goals on days where the odds are stacked against us so much in Del Sol, then get it casually rubbed in our face how easy it is to hit goals in Cariloha. They are fantastic salesmen, what they have done in Cariloha over the past three months is awesome, but to act like just because they are two years older than us, makes them better than us is bullshit. I will admit, I have had the same feelings growing up, But from this point forward, I am going to do my absolute best to never be discriminate of age. It is such a stupid thing to discriminate against.GRRRRR now I am just ranting.

In every one of my books I have read while I have been down here, one lesson continually comes up. ENVY. Happiness cannot coexist easily with a heart full of envy. I have been working really hard to rid myself of all the little things I envy. It is not an easy task, but i think i have come out on top a lot more recently, because i am not stuck envying everyone around me.

My goal for the next few weeks- Actively rid myself of all Envy. Just go with the flow, and figure out together with Sheryl and Jake, how the hell we are going to figure this Disney stuff out.

END RANT.

Never Stop Breaking Down the Doors

-Kam

Whirlwind

WHEW! What a few weeks it has been. Here's the breakdown- Last month as a store, we set a all time record for Del Sol St. Thomas. Jake and I as well as the local employees stepped it up.... huge. We set the highest average dollar per transaction record. (ADPT) It is pretty sweet, because this is really the only number that we can control as a store, most of our end of month totals and ship totals fall in the hands of the Port Lecturers, but how much people spend on average is really a testament to how we are doing as salesmen. We were able to achieve all of this while our managers were in and out of the store with sickness, and traveling. Last week we found out that our managers were leaving. Today..... We found out Tuesday that corporate wanted to make us (Jake Joel Charles and me) the managers of Cariloha and Del Sol. In the deal, we got a pretty sweet pay raise and an all expenses paid trip to the BVI's. We accepted of course and two days later, our managers are on a plane to Alaska and we are the new manages. HOLY #@$#. Talk about baptism by fire, busy season has officially set in as of this week, and here we are at the reins. I know we can do it.

St. Thomas has really grown on me. It has hit me down here about the same time it hit me in Durango. A little over two months into living in a new location I really begin to hit stride and see how much the location has grown on me. The local language is English (this could probably be argued). The money is American, and the people talk about Obama being president. The cars are left hand drive. That is about all that is American in St. Thomas. The USVIs are about the only place you can "live in the US, without LIVING in the US". Charles went to the beach the other day and took some beer with him, he didn't finish it all, and had to come home, so he finished the last one on the way home and left the empty beer cans in the car for days. Nowhere back home can you just leave empty liquor, and beer cans in the car, and not even have to worry, even if you get pulled over. You can literally be pulled over while drinking, and as long as you have a good story and are nice to the cop, they let you go no questions asked.

I am truly going to miss being a minority when i get home. Living on an island full of African Americans is AWESOME. It is so fun being able to joke with the local employees about my race. If they ever say "whats up", or talk like us, we always tell them that they sound super white. You find yourself daily thinking, "wow, that just sounded super white, i am an idiot." I don't know how, but we rarely get asked if we are tourists, and get honked at by taxi's anymore. Maybe it is the tan, maybe it is the scruff, maybe it is even my hair, who knows. All i know is that St. Thomas has definitely become a part of me, I hope to never forget the lessons i have learned here. We are more than half way through our internship, and time seems to be going faster and faster. Today is a long needed break for me, and I finally got a good nights rest for the first time in a week. More responsibilities and brighter days to come. Life is good.

I love and miss you all.

Don't Stop Breaking Down the Doors

-Kam