GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 36 - October 2016

What do you do to stay in shape — both physically andmentally? I ama sport cycler. Every year I have a fewchallenges. This year in June, Iwent to Italywith a group of cyclers. It’s alsowhy I missed the affiliate conference inAmsterdam. Every daywe climbed a new mountain in the area of Bormio. And on D- Day—that is what we call the daywe try to meet our challenge— we climbed the Stelvio two times. The Stelvio is a highmountain of I think 2,700 meters in Italy. We did it one time from the Bormio side, and did another climb from the Prato side. To train for these challenges, I often do cycling and running in my hometown or in nice areas across the world. Cycling is also a good way to stay fit men- tally. During cycling you have loads of time to think about business or your life, what you want to do in the future. I often cycle with Koen, so we can do our business meetings on the bicycle. It’s a great way to have a meeting and be sportive at one time. What do you do with your spare time? I love to do impulsive things. I often visit in- ternational football matches with friends or family — most of the time, matches of my favorite club, NewcastleUnited. Because ofmy involvement in both the gambling and dating industries, I visit a lot of conferences across the world, because in the dating industry there are also a lot of conferences. I always add a few days to those trips to explore the area where the conferences are hosted. So when I go to NewYork for something, I stay there two days longer to see things in New York; when I go to Las Vegas I want to stay a few days longer to see the GrandCanyon or something— just traveling around the conferences; it’s a com- bination of business and pleasure. Above that, I love to go skiing during the winter. Two times a year we go toAustria, my friends and I, and those skiing trips with my best friends are priceless. What did you dream of doing, both pro- fessionally and personally, when youwere a kid? As a kid I always wanted to be a pilot — until the moment I had to make a choice aftermymiddle school. I had two forms, one for the pilot study and one for commercial economy. Some ofmy friends and family told me “You don’t want to be a pilot, you want to be commercial,” because I was someone who couldnot sit still. So in the end I decided to throw the pilot option away and I signed up for the commercial study at the school inAlkmaar. And now that I’m traveling the world for the conferences, I am sure that was a good choice. I guess sitting in a plane for eight hours would havemademe crazy. If someone from out of town were vis- iting you, what’s the one place you’d definitely take them to see? If they came from another country I would definitely show them all the water in my area. I would take them on boat with some mu- sic, some drinks and some food. And we would go sailing through the area for a day or two. Boondock Saints . I have a self-made brush painting of this movie in my house. And I share their spirit, with the quotes they have on their tattoos: “Veritas, Aequitas.” Which means Truth and Justice in Latin. I really stand for both of those words. If you could invite any five people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be? Ha ha. Great question. The first, without a doubt, is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the football player. I love that guy and everything he does and says. He’s great. And I would say Gordon Ramsey, so he could make the dinner. If he is eating it, I know for sure it will be an amazing dinner. For the background music I will invite Bruce “The Boss” Springsteen. A few weeks ago I went to Bruce’s con- cert in Holland; it was amazing, great reviews, and he’s still going strong in his old age. A dinner without a beautiful girl is not complete. So I would like to invite Ka- ley Cuoco, the actress from The Big Bang Theory . And I want to finish with David Copperfield. He can add just that part of entertainment we need with this group of people. Name three things that people read- ing this magazine don’t know about you. Three things is pretty hard be- cause I am really an open book to ev- eryone around me. But if I have to name one, it would be a ski accident I had in 2001 that resulted in 15 broken bones and seven broken teeth. I hope that is enough, because I think that’s the only thing people don’t know. I can’t think of any other things. I like it when things change because you can jump on it and in the end, if you jump on it and you do it well, it will bring you some profit. I live in the north of the Netherlands. This is one of the rare places in the world where we live underneath sea level. So for some people it’s really strange to come here; some people don’t like to come here be- cause they are scared that once they’re here, everything’s going to be underwater. We have lots of small waters, lakes and nice green areas; it’s really nice to sail around in a boat and have some drinks and some fun. When you need to get as far away from work as possible, where do you go? Skiing inAustria! Once I step into my skis I forget about everything. I love to do some nice off-slope skiing in the fresh powder. As Vin Diesel once said in the Triple X movie, “Nothing like fresh powder.” Speaking of movies, what’s your all- time favorite movie? Very hard question, because there are so many good movies. But if I have to choose one, I would choose Dave Sneekes – BBCasinos W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G 43