Defining success their livelihood -- at least for now

"You're crazy."

That's what Brian Ardinger's boss said when Ardinger announced that he was leaving a good job to travel the country.

Obviously, the two don't share the same definition of success.

In fact, defining success is what Ardinger's journey, called Quest-4, is all about. Ardinger and his childhood friend, Chris Moeller, both 30, are crisscrossing the nation asking people what success means to them. This week they're in the Columbus area (where Ardinger's father lives), conducting interviews.

Until this spring, Ardinger was a Silicon Valley marketing consultant and Moeller a Los Angeles designer of Web pages. They were doing well -- making good money, in other words -- yet they felt the same sense of dissatisfaction they'd heard expressed by others of their generation.

Friends since grade school in Huntington, W.Va., Ardinger and Moeller had a "light-bulb moment" while talking one night. Why not turn their personal search into an occupation? They began laying plans for a six- to eight-month journey across America, asking people how they defined success and what they were doing to achieve it.

The trip is being chronicled on their Web site -- www.quest-4.com -- and will be the subject of a book. The men are financing Quest-4 through their own savings, a couple of corporate sponsorships, and the kindness of friends and relatives willing to put them up for a few days.

They have talked with dozens of people since setting out from Los Angeles in June, but they have avoided analyzing the material. They want to keep an open mind while researching.

This is not a scientific study. They have chosen their subjects based on recommendations and referrals. They seem to have a preference for artists, entrepreneurs and people with peculiar occupations (a songwriting insurance actuary who also runs an animal hospital).

Some of the interviews tend toward New Age mushiness -- there's talk about positive energy and self-actualization and so forth. But there also are quirky and insightful comments from an eclectic mix of people......

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