10bucksapop.com

I recently launched a new retail website: 10bucksapop.com selling graphic design t-shirts. I hope to build this site to a full time part time job. In other words, this will hopefully make enough cash that I do not need a full time job AND that I can have enough of it automated or outsourced so that it takes up less than 10 hours of my time a week.

The main goal of this is to free myself from the cubi-cell monotony of corporate slavery and the geographical restriction that comes with a "real job". I really want to move to the beach in South Padre, and I mean ON the beach, but the economy there is one that does not offer a lot of opportunity outside of tourist type things and what not. Basically if you want to live on the island, you need to bring your own source of cash flow.

If it all works out though, I can spend my days chilling in the sun and kite surfing. :)

This is not my first online business, but it is presenting some new challenges. Advertising for example is a lot different as people will want to see pictures of the products, so I am doing image type ads on google, which is a whole new field for me. Also, I am trying some facebook integration to get some viral advertising action too.

I still have a lot of ideas that I need to expand upon and implement, so there is plenty to be done, but with me, motivation comes and goes in waves. Hopefully I can get it done and start a new and exciting chapter of my life!

Anyway, there you go. That's all I have to say about that.

Birthdays

I recently had a birthday and this one was different than the many others that I have had. I normally look forward to my birthdays, but as I grow older, I look forward to them less and less. I used to have a very narcissistic view of my birthday and liked that it was all about me, me me! This year as my birthday approached, I felt that doom of missing all that I wanted to achieve by this point in my life and forgot to look at the accomplishments. I started to realize that this year was not going to be all about me and that frankly people did not care as much as I did. Shamefully, I have to admit that I was pretty bummed.

A couple of days before though, I decided to make my birthday not about me at all, but rather to make it about appreciating the people in my life that have made it what it is.

When I worked at On Board, the head guy there, Brian, used to bring in doughnuts and such for everyone on his birthday. He said that it was a custom that he picked up in Germany, but regardless of where it came from, the idea stuck with me. On the morning of my birthday I brought in three dozen breakfast tacos for my co-workers. It was a simple way to say thanks and many were confused by the gesture, but everyone seemed happy (I mean come on, free tacos!). I left work early and spent lunch and the early afternoon with my mother, since she did give birth to me. While we were out I picked up Jenga and another game to play that evening with my niece and nephew that were visiting.

After hanging out with my mom, I headed home where I was surprised by my wonderful wife with an amazing gift and the customary cookie completely covered in chocolate from the Great American Cookie Company (the place at the mall). That was pretty awesome! That evening, I played games and hung out with Kasey and her sister's family. Ok, I did play a little Playstation too, but only a little and with my nephew.

I did not get to see everyone that I wanted to on that one day and even if I did, I could not do justice to that amount of time, so over the course of the next year, I am going to try to make a point to spend more time with the people that really MAKE my life, the ones who change me just by being a part of it. And hey, if I don't get to you, don't take it personally, I probably just forgot that this was even my plan. (ha ha)

Cool Starbucks Tip

This morning I went to Starbucks (imagine that) and learned a useful tip from my local barista, Chris, that I thought I would share.

Starbucks has a handy dandy little green stick that you can stick in the little hole in your cup to prevent the hot coffee from splashing out all over your hand or car. Since I my stops to Starbucks are usually in the morning on my way to work, I always want one of these to keep the coffee in the cup and not all over the car, but it seems that my local neighborhood coffee shop is nearly always out. In the past, Chris has offered me a sticker from their label machine, which … kind of works, but today he solved the problem for good.

If you are ever faced with this, all you need to do is take one of their short straws (they have larger ones for venti frappuccino's that are longer and fatter, don't use these) and bend it in half then stick the fold into the cup. I am happy to say that it works well and they are a lot less likely to not have straws.

Thanksgiving 2009 Menu

So thanksgiving is next week and I need to get all of the ingredients before it gets too late. I figured out everything that I am going to make and it is very similar to last year, with a couple of twists. Either way, I figured that I would share my master plan with everyone. I got most of the recipes from allrecipes.com except for the cranberry relish (from NPR), mashed potatoes and the other ones are obvious.

I did change the recipes to NOT use shortening since it is horrible for you and I am going to do it old school with just some plain old lard. I have tried making pie crust with "alternative shortening", butter and even coconut oil, and while they were all acceptable, I have never had one come out just right so I am going with Lard this year.

Thank GOD I have two ovens, or this would be near impossible.

Anyway, if there is anything that you think I have forgotten or whatever, just let me know!

Stuffing

• 1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread
  
• 3 3/4 cups cubed white bread
  
• 1 pound ground turkey sausage
  
• 1 cup chopped onion
  
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
  
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  
• 1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped
  
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
  
• 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
  
• 1 cooked turkey liver, finely chopped
  
• 3/4 cup turkey stock
  
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.
  
• In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
  
• Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, parsley, and liver. Drizzle with turkey stock and melted butter, and mix lightly. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill.
  

Pie Crust

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 3/4 cups lard
  
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons salt
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 cup water
  
• In a large mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, lard, sugar, and salt. Blend together with a pastry cutter until crumbly.
  
• In a small bowl, mix egg with water. Blend into flour mixture. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use.
  

Pie Filling

• 2/3 cup white sugar
  
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
  
• 8 Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and sliced
  
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  
• In a small bowl stir together the sugar, flour, cinnamon and cloves.
  
• Place one of the pie shells into a 10 inch pie pan. Put 1/2 of the sliced apples into the shell and sprinkle half of the sugar mixture over them. Top with the remaining apples and the remaining sugar mixture.
  
• Cover apples with the top crust. Press edges with the tines of a fork to seal and poke holes in the top with a knife. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.
  

Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish (This is the BOMB, yes I said "the bomb"… old school)

• 2 cups whole raw cranberries, washed
  
• 1 small onion
  
• 3/4 cup sour cream
  
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons horseradish from a jar
  
• Grind the raw berries and onion together. ("I use an old-fashioned meat grinder," says Stamberg. "I'm sure there's a setting on the food processor that will give you a chunky grind — not a puree.")
  
• Add everything else and mix.
  
• Put in a plastic container and freeze.
  
• Early Thanksgiving morning, move it from freezer to refrigerator compartment to thaw. ("It should still have some little icy slivers left.")
  

Biscuits

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
  
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
  
• 1 cup milk
  

In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt; mix well. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in milk just until moistened. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; knead gently 8 to 10 times. Roll to 3/4-in. thickness; cut with a 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm.

Deviled Eggs

• 12 eggs
  
• 1 (4.5 ounce) can deviled ham
  
• 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
  
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  
• 1 pinch black pepper
  
• 24 slices black olives
  
• Paprika for sprinkling
  
• Place egg in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring water to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Cover and let eggs stand in hot water for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from hot water, cool, and peel.
  
• Cut eggs in half lengthwise, place the yolks into a mixing bowl, and set the whites aside. Mash the yolks with the deviled ham, mustard, mayonnaise, and black pepper. Spoon or pipe filling into egg white halves. Garnish each deviled egg with an olive slice, then sprinkle with paprika.
  

Turkey

• Tony's injection
  
• Tony's seasoning
  
• Inject the turkey as per directions
  
• Rub the turkey with Tony's seasoning
  
• Stuff the turkey with the stuffing above
  
• Bake the turkey per directions that come with the bad boy.
  

Brown and serve rolls

If you need directions for this you are an idiot

Mashed Potatoes

• Small bag of red potatoes
  
• 1 cup sour cream
  
• 2 tbsp garlic
  
• ½ stick of butter
  
• Cut potatoes into small chunks
  
• Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes
  
• Drain water from potatoes
  
• Add all ingredients and mix to desired consistency
  

Green Bean Casserole

I don't remember the recipe off hand; I will have to get it from Kasey.

Slacking? Not one bit.

I feel like I have been slacking since I have not written in my blog lately, but things at work have been pretty busy. I am on a new project and have been learning and using Flash and Flex to make all kinds of cool things. In anticipation of this new project, I have been sent to training for ATG eCommerce in Boston (Cambridge actually) and to Charlotte for training in Flash.
Both places had some great tings about them, but I LOVED Cambridge. That place really has character and if I would have experienced it earlier in life I can totally see myself living there. The training however was just kind of, eh, boring.
Charlotte was nothing to write home about as a city, but the training was incredible. I took a class at Lodestone Digital and it was worth every penny. Although the company paid, I felt that it was so good I would have paid for it myself.
Other than that, I have been doing the usual, busy with work, home and church.
I am not sure if I had mentioned it before in this blog, but kasey has had a broken foot since about the 4th of July, so she has been incapacitated and this has kept us from going to the beach. I felt really bad for her, with not being able to get around and being in pain. She was really sweet though and bought me a super cool camera to thank me for taking care of her. (How thoughtful!)
Now, the holidays are coming up and my favorite, Thanksgiving, is just next week! I am really looking forward to it and I will be sure to post details on the great feast that I have planned.
Well, like I said, I am really busy, so it is back to the grind for now, but I will make a better effort to keep this updated!

Ain’t looking for nothing, but a good time…

There is a board game that I like to play called Cashflow. I like to describe it as "Monopoly for Big Boys" but it is actually quite different. It was created by the author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad as an "educational" tool that is just fun to play.

In the game, you start by randomly being assigned a career ranging from janitor to teacher, doctor, lawyer, and a range of others. You get a little card that has information about your "life" such as your income, debts, bills and what not. As you take your turn in the game, you move around the board and you are given the opportunity to make different investments, mostly in real estate, that give you additional income. The object of the game is to earn enough additional income to cover all of your stated debts so that you can retire.

As is expected, if you have the career of a doctor, you have a higher income than a janitor, but you also have more bills. This means that you are able to make more investments more quickly, but you have to have more additional income to "retire".

In most cases, as the game is played the person with the janitor's job retires first.

This teaches one of the things that is stressed in the books, which is basically that if you live modestly, it is easier to invest your money and have it work for you. If you decide to spend your extra money on a flashy car or house or 110 inch plasma tv, then you do not have that money working for you, instead, you are working for your things.

This reminds me of one of the lessons from Fight Club, "the things you own end up owning you."

Taking both lessons into account, it seems logical to me to take the Tyler Durden inspired route and back away from the consumeristic lifestyle while at the same time preparing for a more modest future and retiring "early" as opposed to being a slave to my possessions until I die.

For the past 4 years I have had a BMW and while they are fun cars to drive and have all kinds of cool dripping off of them, they have drawbacks; mainly their total cost of ownership is pretty high. I have recently decided to get rid of my Bimmer in favor of a used Xterra. The Xterra is significantly cheaper, yet performs more functions than the BMW such as towing things and taking my beloved dogs to fun places. Major drawback: gas mileage kind of sucks.

I have ditched DirecTV in favor of over the air HD, Hulu and Redbox. I would probably do better to ditch all of that for books and even then explore the wealth of free literature available from Project Gutenberg.

I now buy very little "crap in a box" food that is pre-prepared and terrible for your body in favor of real food like vegetables, meat, spices, and other ingredients. Yes, it is more work because I have to prepare it. I have to plan and learn to cook myself, but it is actually easy, extremely self satisfying and surprisingly tasty.

I have a modest home and while I do not care for its location (actually I just do not care for the location of some of the other people in the proximity of my house), I see no point in spending half of my net income on a house when a fourth will do.

 

Many times I have talked of living in a van (or RV, or boat) and living solely from online income. While that is an extreme example, it does embody the sprit of what I want: FREEDOM.

I can close my eyes and imagine a life different from my own as it exists now. A more simple life. I would wake up with the sun, eat a simple breakfast and drink coffee outdoors. I would then prepare for my adventure for the day. That could be anything, but I believe that it would be good to seek adventure in our lives, see something new, go somewhere you have never been, try something you have never done, learn something just for the sake of learning. Later in the day, enjoy time with your family and friends, because connections with people are important for both their growth and your own. Finally, I would take time in the evening for a good book and finally for reflection on the days activities and prayer.

I understand that life gets in the way and that not every day will be like that, but the way it stands now, no days are like that and frankly, that is not acceptable.

 

Sometimes I wonder why I bought into this suburban lifestyle in the first place. Oh yeah, so I could have things… Now I have things I don't need and a job I don't care for. (Note to my employer, I don't hate you, I hate being your slave.)

 

Where do you put this on your resume?

When I was younger I used to spend a lot of time playing role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons or Traveler. In these games your character would almost always have a job description of "Adventurer". You would always be on some sort of quest for riches, fame and glory.
As a kid, this seemed to be a perfectly normal profession and one that anyone would want, but what happened to that? Surely there is adventure to be had in the world today. What would the life of a modern adventurer look like? How would you explain that to a future employer? Would you ever need to explain?

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Thanks,
Scott McArthur
www.antbytes.com