Repairs

A while back we decided against making an offer on a particular house because it had asbestos siding. My thinking was that it would just cost too much to remove and I couldn't justify living in a house covered in a known carcinogen no matter how safe they assured me it was.

Recently my buddy has also been looking at a similar house and found that it is totally legal to remove the shingles yourself and take them to a facility but if you pay someone to do it, then they have to do the whole 9 yards of HazMat removal.

He also claims that the risk of needing Mesothelioma treatment from this is fairly low as a simple mask can protect you from the dust and problems only arise from repeated exposure not one time exposure.

Still, he is braver than I am. I'm still not sure I would have wanted to mess with it, short of wearing a full under water diving rebreather apparatus that took in no outside air whatsoever.

Great News!!!

I just heard about a great new diet pill!! It's called "quit blaming everything and everyone else and start taking ownership of yourself"

Turns out that when you take it, you suddenly realize that your weight is not someone else's fault, and that the best thing to do is stop eating junk and start working out.

Not only that, but vegetables, fruit and water will suddenly taste way better than sugary stuff and you will sleep better and even think more clearly!!

Sounds great doesn't it? Well it turns out that you can have results like this but it doesn't come in pill form. You have to do a bit of work. I'm still getting better at making good food choices and working out regularly. Two years ago I might have told you that I had come a long way and was far better off than I had been before that, but today I can see tons of problems with even THAT lifestyle. So over time, you will get better at this, but the point is that you have to start now.

Gadgets

I love gadgets but I rarely get to play with all the ones I want. I just costs too much to buy an ipod nano, iphone, tablet pc, heart rate monitor, and gps. I would love to have all these things but without a very cheap wholesale electronics store to go to, I'll just have to dream.

Granted I don't really NEED any of those things, but the gadget geek in me would love to play with them. There is just something cool about having a really powerful tool that almost every guy understands.

Intervals

I've been experimenting with interval training this week since my shoulders have been pretty sore and so far it has been pretty interesting. I've just been doing 3 minute intervals on the bike (1 minute hard work, 2 minute medium work) and completing about 6 intervals.

The hard part is that I don't feel like I'm getting as much done in the gym as I should because it doesn't take that long and I'm not feeling like poop afterwords. So either I'm not working hard enough, or this just is that much better than regular cardio.

All the experts will tell you that this is the best way to ramp up your metabolism with the added benefit that it doesn't affect your muscle mass that much. A good example of this is that marathon runners are usually very thin and sprinters are still muscular. Short bursts of work seem to maintain muscle better, plus your metabolism stays high long after you are done.

So we'll see how it goes. I plan to try to lift again next week. Probably with lighter weights and higher reps, just to mix things up. My hope is that I can find a way to continue the intervals as well. Stay tuned.

Some Great Writing

My good friend Dave has been busy writing which is combines two of his best talents. Story telling, and well, writing, so do yourself a favor and check out the following links

Story about Stories

Stories for Us Mourners

Dave Ramsey

In light of my most recent post, if you are looking for a good life insurance lead, then go to Dave Ramsey's home page. He has some good links to help you out. While you're at it, buy his book and read it. If you aren't already taking ownership of your finances than there is no time like the present to get started.

With the economy in it's current state, there is no reason to be taking chances. My wife and I are on pace to pay off our credit card in a month and a half and I can't wait. After that, we plan to tackle our car loans. Being debt free is hard work but I was just tired of being a slave to monthly payments. We still have a ways to go, but I'm excited about how God has blessed us with the opportunity to work on it.

Hassle

Getting life insurance is a real hassle, but a necessary one, especially if you have kids. We did it a while back and the most annoying part was the exam. Even if they come to your home and do it, it's a pain. If you could get life insurance no exam that would definitely be better for the consumer but how could the companies afford to do this?

To me this sounds similar to the home loans that caused all our bank problems of late. Companies taking more risk to get the sale and then not being able to back it up. Personally I would be a little leary of companies that offer that.

Weekly Deals

I just found a sale on the Buy.com website. Apparently they have a weekly deals section with some pretty good stuff. I personally was excited about the 250g back up hard drive. I've needed a new one of those for a while and that price is pretty good. I don't need one quite that big but I bet they will have other similar items in future weeks.

With the way things are these days you need to spend as little on nonessentials as possible and looking for sales is Money Saving 101.