Life

Walking the Avon Walk For Breast Cancer

In October 2012 I will be walking for breast cancer as I signed up to walk with Missy Ward and her team as they take to the streets of my hometown New York City. It is a 2 day walk that will cover over 39 miles through the streets of NYC.

As soon as I heard Missy was doing the walk in NY this year I was signing up. I always wanted to do the walk to show my support for a great cause, but it seems like scheduling was always bad. This year will be different! I am looking forward to doing this and joining others raise awareness for breast cancer.

What Motivates You To Become Better

Vinnys double chin — Look at Those Chins

Everyone Needs Motivation, Without Motivation You Have Nothing.

The other day I went on a trip and had a great time but when I came home and looked at the pictures from the trip it served as a wake up call. It looked like I gained 50 pounds since the last time I looked at myself in a picture. I guess I actually gained about 20 pounds in the last year. It was a scary thing but it gave me the wake up call I probably needed to see.

Over the last year or so I have been focusing so much on Debbie’s health issues that I guess I didn’t really think about my own. I knew once I left the 9-5 job I had to replace the 10,000 steps I use to take during a workday. Did I? Of course not. I sat in my computer chair rarely eating the right things and drinking soda by the liter. The soda addiction stopped about a month ago when I switched it up to unsweetened ice tea which I actually like better.

Once I saw this picture and a few others you will see when you scroll down you will see that I just don’t look healthy. That has to change, and it will. According to all the health sites I have been reading my weight for my height suppose to be around 165-175 while I don’t see that happening I am going to get down to something I think is reasonable.

My thought is to loose 5 pounds in 5 weeks and when that happens repeat the process. What am I going to do to change the processes, I am not exactly sure but it will involve moving around and actually doing something to burn calories.

I will also have to change my eating habits since they really suck. Ice cream runs at 11pm have seen its last day. Going to the store to get a quart of ice cream is not exercise no matter how you do it. I am sure that having 1150 calories of ice cream fading from my eating habits will help with the weight loss.

No Extreme Dieting

There is no timetable for dropping the pounds since I know I didn’t put it on overnight. It will take some time to take it off but that doesn’t matter as this is not a sprint, it is a lifestyle change. We bought an elliptical machine in April and although I do a few minutes here and there that just isn’t good enough. Going to have to pick it up a little bit on that also.

Minutes ago I just got off the elliptical where I broke my previous record by 5 minutes and that is what inspired me to make this post. I tell people on this site to follow your passion so here is me sharing my passion to get in shape. I probably should start a weight loss site but I don’t have the time for that and it would be impossible for me to keep it up once I get down to a healthier persona so I won’t do it.

I have noticed that the elliptical looks better when it is not being used as a coat rack. It is now right in the middle of the living room where I can look at it and jump on it if need be. Instead of doing like a half hour at a clip I will probably do one longer workout a day and some quick short ones to get the blood pumping.

What I need to do is remember to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yep all three are so out of whack I find myself making a sandwich at 2 am an hour after eating a quart of ice cream.

When I was on my last trip my friend Amy said to me that I needed to get healthy with Debbie and I kind of shrugged it off but I guess she noticed the change and was trying to help me out. I thank her for that. Message has now been delivered loud and clear.

Vinny's Fat Belly — Look at that fat Belly

Time to Get Moving

So here is the last picture that I saw on the trip and all I see is my big ass stomach up against the railing of the ship. It looks like it is holding me up for goodness sake. It is a shame that I have such a big belly in this picture as I would probably use this picture as my logo since it has a nice background.

So my 236 pound body has to become a better shape. I am open to suggestions since my eating habits avoid vegetables, chicken and fruit. While I will never eat chicken again I guess I will be adding fruit and veggies to my new eating plan. Notice I didn’t call it a diet? I am guessing I will post here when I hit a milestone like 220 210 and 200. My ideal weight is probably around 190-200 which is still considered fat but not obese.

So that is what is motivating me right now. What is motivating you and what are you going to do about it?

Sammy Hagar’s Business Lessons

I just got done reading Sammy Hagar’s new book, although I liked Van Halen better with David Lee Roth, Sammy’s book really opened my eyes to a few things about the band.

Sure the media has picked up on Sammy stories about aliens and his dreams, and that’s the way Sammy probably wants the PR to go out. When I picked up the book I really didn’t think that it would apply to business that much but it really does. Not many people know that Sammy Hagar is a very smart businessman, that he surrounded himself early with very smart people.

I had no idea of the early history of Sammy’s life, the bands he was in, I didn’t even know where he came from when he joined Van Halen. My thoughts on Sammy was that he was a one-hit wonder who had that song “I can’t drive 55” and that was about it. After reading the book I have a very different opinion of Sammy.

One of the first things that Sammy set up was his own publishing company. Usually this is done by some record company executive and the record company keeps all the profits. But Sammy was smart enough to know that he when he was writing the songs that he should get paid for them as a songwriter.

Sammy had many businesses over the years, and most of them have been very profitable. A lot of people don’t know that Sammy was actually one of the first people to have a mountain bike. I forget who it was the brother-in-law or a close friend at a bike shop, but he was one of the first people to convert a beach cruiser into a bike with gears. Sammy ended up making the first mountain bikes and he is even featured in bicycle magazines. He also owned a few bike shops, and had a line of clothing for bicyclists. It was very big in California, not a bad place at all to be in a mountain bike business with all the hills.

From now on whenever I see a bicycle with black rims, I will know Sammy had something to do it since it was his idea to paint the rims black. I’m not sure what happened to the bikes, I think he sold it to a larger bicycle company. Whatever it was he made some nice money.

Along with the apparel company for bikes he also was in the clothing business. Although that wasn’t as successful, he made some money on that to. Of course along the way he also made a lot of money by endorsing products like Jackson guitars. Sammy has also written a lot of songs that we heard on the radio back in the 80s and 90s but you would never know it was Sammy who wrote the songs.

One of his other profitable ventures was when he started the Cabo Wabo cantina down in Mexico. What started off as just a vacation place for Sammy in the early 70s it became a place where he could both escape the music industry for a little while and relax. While down in Mexico Sammy got introduced to tequila, and he ended up starting his own tequila company.

Cabo Wabo is one of the best tequila companies in the world. Although Sammy got many offers to sell it for millions and millions of dollars he held out because it wasn’t the right deal. He ended up selling 80% of his company for $80 million. Not bad for a lead singer.

After reading how Sammy has a killer work ethic it doesn’t surprise me that he has been so successful. Sammy would make an album and then go out on the road for a year promoting the album and then come home and make another album and then right back on the road again. This was his schedule for most of his recording career. He learned very well on the road what to do and what not to do. And this led him very very well to success in his other ventures.

What’s funny after reading the book I can figure out what Sammy’s going to do next. I am watching him go on talk shows like the Tonight Show and so on and just do interviews – no music at all. He’s probably gonna circle the globe in only three weeks doing interviews go home, rest for a little while, record an album and go out on a tour for a year. I don’t know if it will be with his band “The Wabo’s” or with his other band “Chickenfoot”.

One thing that I learned from Sammy is that he is terribly honest. If he doesn’t like something he will say it and say it again. If he doesn’t like the deal that is put in front of him he has no problem waiting for a better deal. And I would bet that there was always a better deal out there for Sammy.

After reading this book I really want to go down the Cabo Wabo and have some tequila, kick back and enjoy.

Sometimes You Have To Smile

Sometime the simplest thing can bring a smile.

I was at the airport waiting for my friend Jen who was flying in from Denver. While waiting at baggage claim I saw an elderly couple. They were there waiting for someone also.

What I didn’t know was they were waiting for their daughter and her husband. While I was standing there waiting all of a sudden I hear a lady yell OH MY GOD IS THAT THE BABY. With that I turned my head to see a grandmother seeing her grandchild unexpectedly for the first time.

The smile that was on her face totally made my day if not my week. The grandfather was next and it appeared that the young couple didn’t tell the grandparents they were bringing the baby.

The grandfather yelled at the son in law because he didn’t bring a car seat to get the baby back home. Luckily the stroller they had was also a car seat.

Sometimes life gives you these moments, you need to take the time to appreciate happiness even if it is not your own.

My Rules For Twitter

Vinny’s Rules For Twitter

The other day I was on a well known social media experts blog and he had a set of rules for using Twitter. I was amazed at some of them to say the least. Instead of leaving a comment on his blog I decided to write a post instead. Why give him the traffic he already has enough anyway.

I am not claiming to be a “Twitter Expert” and these rules should be taken with a grain of salt. They are just some things that I have learned and some rules are not set in stone. It is just some of the rules I try to follow.

1 – Be yourself – Trying to be something or someone that you are not will not help you or your followers. Upload a nice picture of yourself. No one I know does business with an avatar.

2 – Be Helpful – People need help so do your best to help them if you can. It will come back to help you in the long run. Spreading good stuff builds good karma.

3 – Be Engagable – If you are following too many people that you can’t answer a tweet because you didn’t see it then I feel you are missing the whole point of this. Sure you can use list and such to help but if your twitterstream is too crowded you could be missing important tweets from some good people. The so called expert that inspired this post follows the population of Billings Montana which is over 100,000. I read 99% of the tweets of the people I follow, and respond to them.

4 – Don’t be spammy – Pretty easy one, if you have to ask yourself if the tweet is spammy in any way before you send it it probably is. This includes those sponsored ones. Putting #ad doesn’t make it acceptable it just tells me its spam. You can promote your own services as long as it is helpful to others.

5 – Limit your retweets – Not everyone has the same interest as you. Pretty hard to believe huh. I limit myself to one or two retweets a day. I usually retweet something useful or a cell phone tip since I am hooked on my Droid. Sometimes I retweet something because I know it aggravates Shawn Collins when I do it to all my followers. If you can use the manual method @rt your followers will appreciate it.

6 – Be Respectable – It is OK to tweet out a link about your latest blog post just don’t drop the link 50 times during the course of the day. This will get you on to my never follow list very quickly.

7 – Never Retweet a Guru – Everytime I see this on my twitterstream the first thing that pops in my mind is that the person can’t think on their own, they have nothing knowledgeable to share. They don’t realize the so called gurus only reason for placing the tweet was knowing some people will retweet it. If you need to follow all the so called Gurus odds are I don’t need to follow you.

8 – Don’t Be Perfect – No one I know is perfect and guess what neither are you. Admit when you do something that is stupid or not really with the times. It makes you believable and someone I want to follow. I don’t care if you are attending your 100th Poison concert, we all have bad taste in something we do. I would rather hear about a C.C. Seville solo then hearing about how great you are all the time. If 90% of your tweets start with “I” you are doing it wrong.

9 – Help Your Friends – If someone is doing something good for someone or doing something for charity help them out by tweeting about it or doing a retweet. There are many less fortunate people and animals on this planet. Retweeting about a charity never hurt no one.

10 – Be Entertaining – No one likes boring. Have some fun, it shows people that you are real. Be the life of the party as long as the theme of the party isn’t about how great you are.

11 – Don’t Automate Your Location – Most people don’t care where you are every hour of the day. I know I don’t care if you are on a highway or stuck in traffic somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. I have been there and done that. It wasn’t fun then and it certainly isn’t fun reliving that moment again. Every once in a while is OK just don’t do it all day long.

Well I guess that is enough for now. Would love to hear some of your rules concerning Twitter.

FourSquare Twitter Updates Are Annoying

There has certainly been a buzz about Foursquare and I don’t know why. I see Foursquare as annoying and will never use it anymore. (I have an account and I yes I know how it works.) As you probably know I use Twitter a lot and when I get an update of someones location from Foursquare I will usually stop following that person.

I have a guy that I was following on Twitter that checked into Foursquare every morning from a Starbucks. The first thing that popped into my head is the guy should make coffee at home and send the $5 he would save everyday to a charity or something. Odds are if I had known he likes to waste money like that I don’t want to be following him anyway. While he thinks it’s cool to be at a Starbucks everyday I am totally thinking otherwise.

I have another buddy that checks in almost every half hour from the same locations everyday, once again I don’t care where you are or where you are going. Since this guy is up in Canada and I have no plans on going there it is nothing but annoying when I got these updates. It makes me wonder if this guy really thinks we care where he is.

Someone else I was following on Twitter used Foursquare to give updates whenever they stopped to eat. Everyday his morning update was from Dunkin Donuts. His lunch was from another fast food place and dinner was from KFC. When I see this person all he talks about is how his diets never work and he doesn’t know why. He may be the mayor of his local Mcdonalds but to me he something else.

I don’t get why anyone would let anybody know their location using the gps on their cellphone. You have no idea how they are going to use this information or if they are going to sell it. What if Foursquare was sold tomorrow to an advertising company? Now someone you had no relationship with knows your popular locations and what time you are usually there. To me this is the scariest part of Foursquare.

What happens if a crime is commited in or near your location, you could end up being dragged into something you know nothing about. I know that is far fetched but it could happen, all because you had the need to tell strangers where you are.

Last week I was reading about how big brands were giving money towards Foursquare. Little do they know there are many people like me that find Foursquare as annoying. Whenever I see the companies that are using this I stop buying their products forever. Never again will I buy a product from a certain soda company that gave Foursquare 10k a few weeks back. Guess they are doing me a favor since I drank alot of soda over the years.

I am all for Social media but this service is totally spammy to me. There is no circumstance where I would keep following a person that likes to post their location updates to Twitter. If you want to use Foursquare be my guest but please turn off your updates on Twitter.

Droid and the Harper Valley PTA

This morning when I got off the subway in Bed-Stuy I see the homeless guy with a coffee cup and he is singing songs trying to get a few bucks for his morning coffee. This guy is there every morning and I am sure he makes a few bucks as he is very entertaining. He sings songs that are not the normal songs, one day its nursery rhymes and the next day it could be Nirvana. He makes everyone smile as they walk by with these crazy songs.

I go into the coffee shop like I do every morning to get my breakfast and talk with the old timers like I usually do. The homeless guy comes in and starts singing “Harper Valley PTA”. The whole place is in laughter as they want to know why out of all the songs in the world this guy chooses this song to sing.

Two of the old timers start a discussion across the room from me about who sang the song originally, the guys are starting to work up quite a discussion and its getting heated. These guys are usually disagreeing with each other, they are like an old married TV couple. One of the guys is insisting that the song was sung by a guy and the other was saying it was a woman. I know of course that the song was sung by a female but the name escapes me as it was a one hit wonder.

Now I was cuurious so I take out my Droid and do a quick Google search for “Harper Valley PTA” and I see it was sung by Jeannie C. Riley so I let the guys know and of course the guy that said it was a male singer disagrees with me.

He didn’t realize I had looked it up online, actually he probably doesn’t even know what a computer is as he is still stuck in the 1960’s. I went into my pocket again and pulled out my Droid again and searched for “Harper Valley PTA video” and sure enough the video of her singing was on YouTube.

I start the video and show him the lady singing Harper Valley PTA and I thought he was going to have a heart attack. I didn’t realize that the two guys had a wager for breakfast on it. It seems that the guy already owed the other guy a breakfast and he was betting double or nothing. Well he lost and everyone in the place knew it and was rubbing it in. Apparently this guy is one of those that boast when he wins so it was a change of pace that everyone liked to see.

You should have seen the reaction from everyone as the video was playing. Some guys were asking me why do I keep a jukebox in my pocket, all of a sudden I am standing among 7 or 8 people showing off the features of the Droid. People were amazed that it was a phone, I got tired of this as my breakfast was ready and starting to get cold but people were so intrigued I couldn’t just walk away. I spent about 10 minutes showing off the phone. It was quite a site to see.

All because of a guy singing a one hit wonder from the 1970’s. Can’t wait until tomorrow to see what he sings, maybe I can get a free breakfast out of the deal 🙂

Is it Time To Buy A House For an Investment

I just returned from a 3 day seminar on buying houses at discount prices. The sessions were pretty good and it was near my house so I went. I learned way too much about the shape of the real estate market and where it is probably heading.

Next week I am going to Arizona and Las Vegas to look at foreclosed houses. The prices are great and it is time to start investing more into my real estate portfolio. The amount of foreclosed homes in this area is amazing and Las Vegas is still growing so buying something there and renting it out could be a good idea.

I am actually going on a bus tour of foreclosed homes in Las Vegas. You can see more on their site. Las Vegas Real Estate Tour Should be lots of fun, I am sure I will have a blank check in hand just in case something catches my eye. Not to sure it is smart to bring a blank check to sin city with all those slot machines around but hey I will take my chances.

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