After many days of not being able to workout after going out the night before (ok one night), and then being lazy, and now finding out that my grandmother, my last grandparent, who was from Australia, has passed away this morning. I’m heartbroken, but I did get to visit her recently and talk to her about everything I wanted to ask her before she passed. I made that mistake with her late ex-husband, my grandfather who was a purple heart veteran of WW2, who I wished I had talked to more about the war and such.
Other then that, I’ve been working a ton, trying to collect debts and setting up a new laptop that I bought for my father. It’s amazing what kind of deals you can get on used stuff, especially technology. Another Dell, that’s for sure. I love them, never had any real problems either. I’m going to try to keep my mind off the current events, as I have to now fly up north in the next couple of days, for the one reason I hate to be going back for
Day 2 of Insanity workout and now I understand why they call it Insanity. Even the paid people on the video are barely keeping up and some have to quit and take a break. This Shawn T guy is insane, and really jacked, so I don’t feel bad about not being able to do the entire routine. I figure by the end of the week I might be able to make it all the way through, I did about 2/3 of the hour workout today. My knees hurt. I also need to buy some kind of a mat to put on the floor so I can do the push-up style exercises, my hands slide around on the tile floor.
Kyle put up a ton of photos, most of which I would be fine with them never being put up in the first place, from highschool. Some great memories there and some I’d like to forget, and most that I already did. However, it did make me see again how skinny I was when I played paintball competitively and skateboarded daily. Feels good to work towards a goal. Now, back to real work to make some money.
Just completed my first day of the Insanity workout. It wasn’t as crazy as I expected the first day to be, but it was intense and great. Sweating my ass off felt great. They have you keep track of your workouts since it’s not interval training, so I look forward to seeing the numbers go up as I continue.
I spent the weekend in Jupiter for our annual Father’s day round of golf and then watching the US Open. It was extra exciting this year since my company’s table covers were being used by the USGA at the event. We now have 3 of the 4 Majors using our products, all that’s left is the British Open and we have a grand slam.
So I run the Housing Corporation for my fraternity, which is very equivalent to the USA helping Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re there, but we’re not wanted. Our only purpose is to help the Fraternity exist in the long run, we don’t get paid, and donate a lot of our time, all for an end result of the chapter members resenting us and not even understanding why we’re there. So, much like the USA, we’re starting a campaign to win the hearts and minds of the undergraduate chapter. My friends from other chapters ask me why I do it, why put up with these people who don’t care or get it. I guess it’s because the members of the housing corporation, including myself, are the founding fathers of the fraternity, so we don’t want to see it end. Let’s hope our campaign goes better then the USA’s did.
210.5lbs this morning. The late night eating needs to stop. I realize though that since I take my adderall in the morning, I’m never hungry, so I end up eating a lot more, later in the day. That’s not good obviously and even though I’ve gotten a lot better about it, it’s my one weakness that my willpower cannot seem to control completely.
This reminds me of when I realized I was getting addicted to nicotine. My freshman year of college, everyone I was hanging out with was smoking black and milds. I wasn’t a fan of them, but tried them every once in a while. One morning I woke up wanting a black and mild, and that’s the first time I recognized “the craving” that these addictions can have on you. I vowed to never have one again, which I have kept to 6 years later. I feel for people who are addicted to things, but in reality I really think they’re just weak-willed.
Man, blogging again is semi therapeutic, I think I’ll continue from now on.
Since I don’t use this blog for anything any more, and I’ve come to terms with that, I decided to use it to keep a log of my summer workout plans in preparation for Burning Man in the Nevada desert in approximately 90 days. If you don’t know what Burning Man is, check youtube for some videos and their website: http://www.burningman.com/
Today I mowed the lawn, went for a run until I puked, did more yard work immediately after including busting out the chainsaw, and just took a long, cold shower. Starting weight @ 6’4″, 210lbs. Goal, 190lbs in 60 days after doing the Insanity Workout which I am starting next Monday once Kyle gets back from France.
I have t-mobile and I am really sick of not having 3G or a new blackberry past the curve (Bold is #1 choice for me right now, tried the Storm and was not impressed). However, after shopping around, neither of those providers can compare to t-mobile’s price.
Currently I have unlimited minutes for myself and an additional line.
T-mobile Costs:
$150 for plan with unlimited minutes and texts
$10 for additional line with same benefits
$20 for blackberry internet services
Cost before taxes and fees: $170.
After taxes and fees, etc, total price is $200.
AT&T Costs:
$99 for unlimited for one line
$99 for unlimited for second line
$30 for BB internet on one line
$20 for unlimited text on one line
Costs before taxes and fees: $250
Man what a rip off, I really wanted to switch but can’t justify an additional $80 a month for 3g.
I have to have unlimited because we use $5000-6000 minutes a month for the business and to get a plan like that on AT&T they would want $329 straight up for 6000 minutes and unlimited text (completely ripping people off and they don’t even know it, calling it “family sharing” lol).
This may be more of a rant, just wanted to hear other people’s thoughts, maybe I’m not understanding something here?
One a side note, I hope T-Mobile gets their shit together and releases a 3G blackberry, as they have 3G service in Orlando and only 1 phone to use it, the G1. They just released a new blackberry, but it’s not 3g, what the fuck were they thinking?
Written on February 12th, 2009 & filed under Regular Update
Back in 2005 I posted a free pizza scam for Pizza Hut, well it’s back but for Papa Johns, and I just got it delivered to my house.
Go to http://www.papajohns.com and register. Make sure you are logged in before starting to enter your promo code.
TMXXXOK is the code you will be using.
edit: Turns out you can also use TSXXXOK. Try it out!
XXX is your random letters. Keep trying random letters until it accepts it. A lot will already be taken as other people have used them. If you get “blocked” simply close your browser and open it back up.
Once you get it, then go to modify cart, and add a topping (1 is free), then checkout choosing “cash”.
$2.00 delivery fee + $3.00 tip = $5 pizza. Or, go to the store and pick it up for free. I was not asked for a coupon or anything, the guy was cool. Came in 15 mins. If they ask for a coupon, just say you got it in an email but have already deleted the email.
Bam.
Written on January 21st, 2009 & filed under Regular Update
I finally graduated. Things feel really different. I feel like I moved but I haven’t gone anywhere. Without having someone else (UCF) dictate a schedule to me, it becomes more of a responsibility to work all day and keep some kind of a regular daily schedule. At least I’m not waking up at 11 and doing nothing…
Here’s a photo from graduation:
I just got over a stomach flu that pretty much kept me in bed for 3 days, it was horrible. Now I can get back to work. I’m starting a new company that will sell table covers for Fraternities and Sororities, as well as colleges. We will also have some other products. It’s keeping me very busy, and I have to juggle that and my current companies.
What’s really bothering me and prompted me to put some thoughts down on this blog, is the economy situation and Obama’s plan. Obama wants to do things like stimulate the economy with more money, which will do nothing more then drive the dollar price even lower, history has already proven that. With all these bail outs, our economy is really screwed up. The only solution I see is a Darwinism approach and let the strongest companies succeed and take over the others, much like the banking industry.
On the news today I heard about some counties in Florida are going to be cutting teachers, administrators, and Junior Varsity sports programs. This breaks my heart to say the least. How would I fix this budget crisis in the public education system of Florida? I’d start by not spending more money to renovate schools and roads, firing teachers, and cutting programs, and instead cut back on things like Crossing Guards. Are you kidding me? I never had a single crossing guard when I was growing up. You know what it taught me? To be aware of my surroundings, make my own decisions, and not rely on someone else to tell me when I can cross a road… And you know what? No one died at my school, or even in my county. We pay these people to sit around for hours AFTER school and hold up a little stop sign in the road. Some intersections have 4 of them! Instead of paying them, I’d rather cut 2-4 of them and keep a teacher on staff. This next generations education is going to suffer and it’s not their fault. With a growing obesity epidemic (I’m down to 210 lbs by the way), cutting sports programs will only ensure this epidemic increases.
Another problem I have with Obama and his, yes HIS, recession, is the effect it has directly on people like me, a small business owner. The bail outs are only being given to the largest corporations in America… however let me shed some light on employment in the USA.
Small Businesses (those with fewer than 500 employees)…
Represent 99.7% of all employer firms (meaning, companies with employees)
Employ about 50% of all private-sector employees
Pay nearly 45% of the total U.S. private payroll
Have generated 60% to 80% of net new jobs annually over the last decade
Create more then 50% of non-farm private gross domestic product (GDP)
Hire 40% of high-tech workers (such as scientists, engineers, and computer workers)
Made up 97.3% of all identified exporters and produced 28.9% of the known export value in fiscal 2006
Source: Small Business Administration
What does this mean, and why am I mad? The government (Obama’s new plan) offers no support for small business owners. However, just yesterday I did hear that they are going to offer a $3,000 per hire tax credit for companies with new hires. $3,000 isn’t really that much if you consider what it actually COSTS a business to have a new employee after benefits, 401k, etc.
What else sucks about the recession is that even though I have almost perfect credit (no negatives, just not a long history since i’m 22), I can’t get a loan. I can’t get a loan because people that had bad credit got credit cards and maxed them out with no way to pay. Basically America borrowed money from the entire world and now has no way to pay it back. Now what?
I don’t have a solution for the whole world or the U.S’s financial problems. I hope someone does because I think Obama is only going to make things worse and stick the next president with the bill. I know personally I’ve seen a drop in revenue in all of my companies, and it sucks. That’s why I am starting new companies with new strategies such as having everything be Just-In-Time and no inventory to minimize my risk if the companies fail. Wish me luck.
Written on January 9th, 2009 & filed under Regular Update
Just got back from a business trip to Vegas, and it was so much fun. I went with a fraternity brother and spent the week gambling, going to clubs, dinners, etc. Now that I’m back in the ever-humid Orlando, I find myself wanting to go play some Craps. Looks like I’ll have to take a trip on the river boat to do so.
Written on August 28th, 2008 & filed under Regular Update
If I could have anything, it’d be a time machine to go back and do things differently. I know I wouldn’t end up in the same place I am now, but I think I’d be in a better place. No one event has brought me to that conclusion. It’s scary getting old, and you might say to yourself, “Matt, you’re only 22, you’re not old”. But think back to how carefree everything was when you were younger, I really miss that.
I’ve been getting so much work done lately. If it wasn’t due to technical problems, I’d have almost nothing to do on my “To Do” list, which I keep update daily, always scribbling in new things to do, crossing out activities as I finish them. The list really helps keep me organized, if you’re unorganized, try a list for a couple days, it will change you.
The technical problem is that for some reason the online class video I was supposed to watch last Wednesday, is in a very low resolution, low bit rate encoding. And since this is a math class, it makes it near impossible to see what the teacher is writing. So for now, I’m 2 classes behind, and the teacher has told me that he is working on getting the correct version online. I’m not holding my breath. I found a mistake in his study guide. Not the kind of mistake like “the answer is A not B”, as in the wording of a true or false question could actually be True, even though it was meant to be written as False. He was a bit surprised when I showed him that I guess, as no one in over twenty years had caught it.
I finally got myself out of the house last night and went to Devaneys with some of my brothers, because I hadn’t gone out in a week or so. I try to keep the going-out to one time a week, two if it’s some kind of special occasion or birthday, which happens a lot around here. My life is still pretty drama free though, so that’s always good. I find myself finally at a point in my life where I don’t have to call other people all the time to arrange things. In highschool, if I didn’t call my friends, setup parties, events, etc… nothing would of ever got done. Finally people are starting to grow up and get off their asses.
Speaking of finally growing up though, I also find that some of my best friends have real jobs. It makes me think about being an entrepreneur for the rest of my life. It might be a big lonely when I don’t have any work to do. If I don’t want to work for part of a day, or even a few days in a row, I can do that. It’s a majority of the reason I’m doing this with my life, comfort. However, I can’t just call up my friends and tell them I want to go to Vegas this weekend with them, because they have to schedule time off, can’t get time off, etc. That is going to be one downside for sure.
Today I got a bunch of stuff done, then tried to watch my video class only to see that it was such bad quality (not sure why), that I couldn’t even see what was on the screen. Being that it is a math class, this is bad. I am hoping they’ll release a new version, as I posted in the discussion boards and emailed the teacher. Had really weird anxiety tonight after I got an email from the business department saying they denied my request to change catalog year, which would let me skip out on 6 hours of bullshit electives. I asked for an appeal.
Kyle’s been living with me for about a week now and it’s nice to have a room mate who shares common interest, even though we haven’t been doing ALL that much. Patrick Erickson came to visit for a few days though and that was exciting as always to see him. Patrick if you ever read this, move to FL, seriously.
We went fishing on Pat’s dad’s boat over the weekend in Tampa and I didn’t wear much, if any, sunscreen. Mistake. I turned red as a lobster, which wasn’t bad, and then I was really sensitive, which wasn’t that bad… then I began to peel. I literally will be able to peel my entire body over the next week. Sounds kinda gross, which it partly is, but in the same aspect it gives me something to do. Gross.
I haven’t been cooking that much lately, but I did make some steak sandwiches for Kyle and myself the other day. In the cooking process I managed to cut my left thumb down to almost the bone. It’s not TOO bad, I got it all taken care of without going to the hospital (Never had stitches, they seem like a pain). Anyhow, the meal was really good. I’ll post the recipe at the end of this post.
This weekend I’m most likely going to be in Orlando, then going to Jupiter either Sunday or Monday and staying until Thursday. On Friday I’ll be in Melborne hanging out with Adam Arnold and his family / friends going boating and such. Saturday May 17th is the 1st Annual Great Orlando Beer Festival and I’m really excited. There used to be a really crappy festival put on downtown and it was mostly international beers and 90% sucked big time. This festival has potential.
This is a very simple recipe, stolen from Sandra Lee. I was bored so I turned on the TV and decided to make the first thing I saw. This is modified to make 4 meals.
Ingredients:
1 pounds top round steak
1 green bell peppers diced
1 yellow / red bell peppers diced
1 large onion, 1/2-inch slices
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion soup mix
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 slices provolone cheese
4 sandwich rolls
Optional: Quartered mushrooms (I don’t like mushrooms)
Slice steak into very thin slices. Place sliced steak into large zip-top bag, set aside.
In another zip-top bag, add sliced peppers and onions, and quartered mushrooms. Set aside.
In a bowl, whisk together olive oil, garlic powder, onion soup mix, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour half of marinade into each of the zip-top bags. In a small bowl combine mayonnaise and minced garlic, set aside.
Preheat saute pan on grill. Saute vegetables until desired degree of doneness, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside. Quickly grill steak. Remove, slice into bite sized pieces, then set aside.
Spread sandwich rolls with garlic mayonnaise. Fill rolls with steak, vegetables and a slice of provolone cheese. Wrap sandwich with foil and place on the grill and cover. Cook until cheese has melted. Serve.
I went to the Chi Omega semi-formal last night. It was pretty fun, besides having 12 beers taken away from me, so the result was being sober. Life has been entertaining to say the least. Staying out of drama is extremely hard, but so far has been avoided. Today I made stuffed peppers because a friend asked for a recipe, here is the result:
He asked that I make stuffed peppers. I’ve never made a stuffed anything in my life. I brainstormed for about 10 minutes then went to the grocery and got what I wanted. This ended up being a chicken stuffed pepper, but I originally wanted octopus, but couldn’t find it. I made this with 2 different peppers to see which tasted better. I liked the bell pepper better due to it being a bit sweeter.
This was created today by me from scratch, writing it down as I went, so sorry if it’s a bit rough.
Ingredients:
2 Green Bell Peppers or Cubanelle Peppers
2 cups low-sodium, fat free chicken broth
1 cup organic brown rice
1 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons sundried tomatoes, chopped
1 large chicken breast
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 green onion, diced
1 teaspoon garlic salt or powder
Fresh ground pepper
Dash of chili pepper
13×9 baking dish
Preheat your oven to 400F. Bring the chicken broth to boil in a small pot, once boiling add 1 cup of rice and reduce heat to a simmer, then cover the pot, stirring occasionally. Simmer this for around 20-25 minutes, rice will not be cooked through. Remove from the pot, drain the rice over the baking dish so all liquid goes into the dish, and set aside.
Cut your peppers open, remove the seeds and insides, keeping the top. In a sauce pan, sautee the shallots in a tablespoon of olive oil on medium. Cook for 10 minutes total. At 3 minutes left add the tomatoes. At one minute left add the green onion. Remove from heat and put into a small bowl.
Once rice has cooled, combine rice, vegetables, chili powder, hot sauce, garlic salt, and pepper in the bowl.
Grill the chicken breast on your grill, and while doing so, grill both peppers for about 10 minutes total, turning every few minutes. Shred chicken and mix it in the bowl as well. Stuff peppers and place in the baking dish with the chicken broth. Cook @ 400F for 30 minutes. Enjoy.
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Written on April 27th, 2008 & filed under Regular Update
I’m all about creating recipes that are healthy, finding ways to cut down on calories, fats, etc. This recipe, to a surprise, uses no cream at all. In fact I actually used low fat milk instead of whole milk and it still came out fine.
Ingredients:
2 strips of bacon
1.5 cups diced yellow onion
6 regular sized russet potatoes
2+ cups of low fat (whole if you like that) milk (will be explained)
1 6.5 oz canned clams (non-drained)
Salt and Pepper
Chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)
Low-Fat Shredded cheese (for garnish)
Hot Sauce to taste
In a sauce pot, cook the bacon fully. Remove the actual bacon (and enjoy lol), and add the onion to the pot. Sweat the onion until they are semi translucent and tender. Add the potatoes and then add enough milk to just barely cover the potatoes (usually around 2 cups). Bring all contents to a boil and simmer until the potatoes are soft. Taste and add pepper only (no salt yet).
After potatoes become soft, mash (preferably with an electric hand stick blender) potatoes to come up with the desired consistency of your soup. This actually works, I didn’t think it would, but it works fine. I mash about 1/2 the total potatoes, leaving chunks. Add the clams and juice to the pot and simmer for a minute or so. Taste and then season with more pepper and salt. The liquid for the clams is very salty, this is why I don’t season salt until the end. This is also when I add my hot sauce. Garnish with parsley and maybe some low-fat cheese if you want. Serve and enjoy.
Note: You can also do this with fresh clams and it would be much better, but more work. What you want to do is steam the clams in the juice that the canned clams came in (so you’d have double the clams total) and then add the juice after using it to steam. Dice your fresh clams before adding.
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Written on April 26th, 2008 & filed under Regular Update
I went to my cousin’s wedding reception this last weekend. This was my third wedding / reception I’ve attended. The actual wedding was a couple weeks ago in the Virgin Islands so not many people were able to go. Overall, the weekend consisted of seeing my family… and drinking. I am pretty sure in that one weekend I drank as much as I normally would for an entire month. Starting the weekend, right off the plane, in Bloomington, IN we went to 5 different bars in the night. Their drinks are about 40 ounces and are usually some kind of long island or other mixed drink with thousands of calories lol.
I made some clam chowder the other night, but I haven’t made a post about it yet, that will probably come later. TShirtReview is also being updated on a regular basis in an effort to increase traffic. Any promotion is appreciated, even down to just leaving it in your AIM away message.
Written on April 25th, 2008 & filed under Regular Update
Today for lunch I made this (planned on making it for dinner but got hungry lol) and let me tell you, this is AMAZINGLY good.
Fishstick Ingredients:
1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 egg whites
1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs (Italian preferred)
1/2 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
9 oz center cut salmon with skin removed
Dip Ingredients:
1/3 cup plain lowfat or fat free yogurt
1/3 cup reduced fat mayo
Handful of chopped parsley
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Cut the fish into 1/2 inch pieces lengthwise. Dip into the flour giving a very light coat, dust off excess flour. Dip into the egg wash then into the bread crumbs. Place on a 13×9 greased baking sheet
Drizzle with olive oil (not a lot)
Bake @ 425F for 15-20 minutes (I do 18 minutes)
For sauce you just simply chop the parsley fine and mix all four ingredients together.
Dip fish sticks into sauce and profit.
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Written on April 24th, 2008 & filed under Regular Update
