Same Name, Different Talent
Robert Smith & Robert Smith
The better known Robert Smith is the lead singer of the Cure. The Cure have a cult like following and great songs like Just Like Heaven, LoveSong, and Pictures of you. The other Robert Smith was a running back for the Minnesota Vikings who retired at 28 and in the prime of his career. He does some college commentary on ESPN and picked LSU against Alabama in the regular season of 2011 and won me like 300 bucks, which is why I continue to like him.
Chris Wallace & Christopher Wallace
Chris Wallace reports for Fox news and Christopher Wallace was the Notorious BIG AKA Biggie Smalls AKA Big Poppa AKA The Black Frank White. Chris Wallace has received 3 emmy’s to give him prominence to this prominent list. Biggie died at 24 and that always shocks me because he was able to do so much at such a young age. I sit here at 28 with nothing to show and at 24 he established himself as one of the highest figures in the business. I also liked the parody of these two, which is why it made the list.
Joe Jackson & Joe Jackson & Shoeless Joe Jackson
The first Joe Jackson is famous for the songs “Is She Really Going Out With Him” & “Stepping Out” and is currently the feature of my spotify radio station. It’s Different For Girls is also worth a listen. The next Joe Jackson was the father / manager for the Jackson 5 and most notably Michael and Janet. He’s not the most respectable character as he had engaged in extramarital affairs and abused his children. He’s 83 years of age. Shoeless Joe is probably the least well known. His prime time came in the historic 1919 World Series where he played a role in conspiring with gamblers to help his team lose the Series. Another not so reputable Joe Jackson.
Howard Stern & Howard K. Stern
I listen to the Howard Stern show and I find it so comical how unfavorably biased people are towards him. If you don’t listen to Howard you probably know him as the shock jock who stands for lewd & crude humor. In reality he’s a very honest, hard working individual who speaks the truth about a variety of topics. He just has a bad rap and perhaps in his younger years that was the case, but as he’s matured, he doesn’t deserve the disrespect people show him. Howard K Stern was the attorney for Anna Nicole Smith and the “alleged” father of her child Dannielynn. This turned out to be incorrect and just a ploy for Stern to gain access to the millions of dollars Smith left behind from her cold hearted inheritance from some aging billionaire.
Using the Best Quality
I feel that a lot of people don’t understand the idea of value & quality. Value is mostly perceived and is how much something is worth to you. Quality is how good it is. People tend to shop on low prices and I think that’s a big mistake. Through my life I’ve found that spending more money on goods can have major benefits. Generally the more money you spend on something, the higher the quality, and the more value you receive. Here are some objects that I don’t mind spending extra money for because they add to the experience.
Titleist Pro v1
I’m a better than average golfer but still considered a high handicapper. I am not deserved of playing a golf ball of this quality. I think each ball retails for 3+ dollars and there’s nothing worse than losing your money in a lake. I have been quite lucky though in the fact that I am given a few dozen Pro V’s each year so I can feel what it’s like to hit the same ball the pros play. The ball doesn’t make me any better but at least I know I can’t attribute my shitty playing to the ball I’m using. My friends tend to tell themselves that their games aren’t good enough to be playing a Pro V. I refuse to bow down to this negative thought and hit my Pro V’s OB like I was born to do it. If I weren’t given these balls for free I probably wouldn’t play them. Since I am, I feel like I should always be hitting this golf ball off the tee.
Ommegang
I spent $60 dollars for 24 bottles of this brewery’s variety pack. Most people just think beer is beer and as long as it gets you drunk, what’s the difference. I however do not agree with this sentiment. Why on Earth would I pay 60 dollars for premium beer? First is that you have to get over the price. People see price and think expensive. I see price and ask why is it priced that way? The reason is that the lowest ABV beer in this case is 7.5% with the highest over 10. A Coors light has 4%. So I’m getting twice as much alcohol in this case as I am with Coors Light. The other benefits are that these are wildly good tasting beers. If you don’t like beer, you won’t like this beer. This is a manly beer. IPA’s, Ales, and the 3 Philosopher’s which is dynamite. Bars will charge you 10 bucks for a pint of these, I’m paying $2.50 retail. Once again the initial reaction of spending 60 bucks on a case is not well founded as these beers are better than anything you will ever try and you still get good value on the alcohol content.
90’s Jenna Jameson
Jenna is the best starlet of the 90’s. I think she’s the hottest pornstar of all time. Not in her later years but her prime young 20’s to mid 20’s, she takes the cake. Back in the 90’s not any random girl can make a porno. There were only a few companies like Vivid who produced these films. They chose the best girls and obviously held them to certain standards. Jenna was the most popular of that era and rightfully so. If you aren’t familiar with Jenna 90’s porn, it has my recommendation. Plus the Dr. that did her boobs deserves a throne.
Butterfly Ping Pong Balls
Bad players don’t understand the level of play that comes with a ping pong ball. A ping pong ball is not just a ping pong ball. A one star ball might be fine for throwing into a cup but if you are hitting it as hard as you can and want to expect a high level of consistency, you play with this ball. The difference is monumental and effects every aspect of play. This is one of those products that makes the game good or bad. Bad balls lead to bad play. If you ever seriously play ping pong, buy a nice ball.
High level products make for high level experiences. In life I believe you want to experience the best that it has to offer. Generally this will cost you more money to do so. Don’t feel as if you are wasting your money though because most likely you are gaining the experience of the finer points of life. I feel like most people are either too cheap or don’t understand this relation. A great example is the purchase of TV. It lasts for 5+ years and you probably watch it almost every day. Spend 1,500 dollars on a nice TV. That’s a mere 300 dollars a year for something that gives far more entertainment and you are experiencing the programming the way it is meant to be seen. These concepts seem foreign to some people. Get past the price tag.
It’s my life
If your an avid reader you’ll know that I spent the last week not seriously posting. This is the 4th post today and the 6th if you’re following my running blog. This has probably consumed about 2-3 hours of my life today. I’m basically sharing anything ranging from my life to things I think about. It’s almost criminal to write down everything I think so you can voyeur into my life. Obviously I’m joking with that last statement because I willingly share my life through this medium and only share what I want. But why do you care? Do I interest you? Am I arrogant because I think I interest you?
I can’t explain why sometimes I shut this outlet off and other times I feel compelled to write. There’s part of me that says who cares what other people think. Why share my thoughts with any random person? If I know something and believe in it than that’s what’s real. Sharing it with you is like feeling the need to please an audience. Like I’m all knowing and that what I write, you should care about. Why do I write the blog and you don’t? When I take time away from the blog these are questions I ponder. I think to myself, “I wonder who is wondering about me not writing about my life.” Yet the people out there who do wonder that never wonder it to me. This blog gets very negligible correspondence and that’s what makes it hard to justify such an effort to maintain it properly. For now though I will spend some time till Thursday loading it up with as much material as I can think of. This post fits nicely into the 3rd category below.
Great Minds Discuss Ideas
Average Minds Discuss Events
Small Minds Discuss People
3 Unfamilar New Wave Bands
I’m going to share something I’m not particularly proud of. When you ask someone what is their favorite type of music, you might hear answers like Rap (JayZ, Kanye), Classic Rock (The Beatles, Led Zeppelin), Grunge (Nirvana, Pearl Jam), or Pop (whatever is current). All of these genres I’d consider normal answers with R&B and Rock coming along with it. My favorite type of music though comes from an era that isn’t regarded as high quality music making. If you haven’t guessed, it’s 80’s alternative. My favorite station is #33 on Sirius which they label as “New Wave”. Examples of bands that are played on this station are Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, and New Order. I don’t necessarily think people consider this bad music, but if you go through the Rolling Stone’s list of top 100 bands, aside from The Police or U2, there aren’t many from this time period. It’s not like I’m totally blown away by the instrumental expertise but I like the sound and how the message of the songs is conveyed. It’s not as hard and serious as the 70’s. Sort of a weird time for music when MTV arrived and artists were just different. I’m going to defend my position with 3 bands that I really like and you’ve probably never heard of. Also notice on every video I play that the likes to dislikes is enormous.
XTC
Their 8th studio album called Skylarking was ranked #48 by Rolling Stone for the top 100 albums of the 80s. This should at least give some credibility to a band you haven’t ever heard of. I reviewed their Wikipedia and their isn’t really anything to stupendous about the band. They enjoyed moderate success, made a lot of music, and sort of did their own thing. Here are 3 songs from this band. I could link 10 of them that I really like but I think that would be too overwhelming.
Squeeze
You may have heard the song “Tempted” by Squeeze which they are even starting to play on classic rock stations. Tempted by the fruit of another… Aside from this song though I can’t imagine anyone has ever listened to Squeeze. I have one friend who tells me that all his friends make fun of him for listening to them and I’m one of the first people who agree that they have created some good music. I don’t find that they have as many listenable songs like XTC does but still an interesting sound. Here are some examples:
Oingo Boingo
Same genre as the last two, late 70’s start – mid 80’s peak, and not really a true hit. Dead Man’s Party was played by them in the Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School. I bought the greatest hits version for that song and found about 8 others I really liked. A different sound and tons of instruments and band members.
Losing to Win
I want to go over the idea of losing can be winning. No body likes losing. Losing generally means that something of value is diminishing. Whether it be your pride, your bank account, or something material, losing sucks. The uber successful people don’t like to lose. Michael Jordan wouldn’t be OK losing in any form. I however believe that it is OK to take short term losing for long term wins. This post describe my loss.
When I decided to buy 20 Mad River Tickets to try to scalp, I didn’t do it to try to make money. Making money was the secondary function to my ploy. A bartender who I have known there for years gets X amount of tickets to sell to patrons. It’s how the bar gets people to their events. She gets status the more tickets she sells. Unlike 99% of the population out there, I have 2 things in mind when I’m making this decision to purchase 20 tickets to scalp in this order 1) I’m helping someone I like out 2) I can profit. I promise you the #1 even surpasses me wanting to bang her but that falls as 1a. I’m well aware that I might lose money on this deal. I don’t care about the money. My life exists on more than money, For the rest of my life she’ll know that I did that for her and that’s cool. She’s hooked me up with drink deals in so many years that I owe her and will actively try to help her out if I can. I am a nice person to anyone who is nice to me. I never have any malicious intent to anyone unless there’s a reason.
This example is human emotion. I didn’t have to buy any tickets. I didn’t know 1 person who wanted to go to the event. I know this reads like a crock of shit but I promise gaining money had 0 influence in making this decision (maybe like 10 influence, I’m not really sure how to quantify it). The lesson though is that you don’t always have to win in life. You can win by losing. People like losers. If you can be ok with losing you can deal with a lot of life’s problems. Losing doesn’t always have to be negative. The masses identify with losing. People respect losers. Better put, people who are good at things, respect people telling them that they are inferior and they’d be willing to learn. That last sentence is seriously such a key to life. When you know someone is good at something, ask them how and why. They will appreciate your interest in something that you are really good at and are wowed by the fact that you can take an honest assessment of your own ability.
Just to close with two personal examples, this is why everyone is an idiot who says they are the best at ping pong and why I’m so humbled when Addasheee asks me for all my tips on how to swing a golf club.
The Sales Bully
In life you will encounter bullies. In your youth it might be the kid who took your lunch money or gave wedgies to humiliate you. Funny how the older you get the reasons of bullying don’t really change. People still want to take your money or make you look dumb. In my life I encounter many pushy salespeople who I’ll label as using bullying sales tactics.
The first obvious trait about a sales bully is that they most likely will have approached you and not vice versa. These people tend to do a lot of cold calling and gravitate to any inkling of interest. The good ones that last all have one common trait, persistence. They are told not to take no for an answer. So when you find yourself in a situation from a pushy salesperson, I’m going to give you an approach to how I handled a situation that is currently ongoing.
Anyone and their brother has the opportunity to sell you energy from a 3rd party. Meaning that their energy company handles the billing but the service doesn’t change, Peco still provides the energy. So you get a lot of people walking to your door trying to convert you to their energy company. They can save you cents on a kilowatt of energy and perhaps reduce some tax charges on current billing. The total savings might be 10-20 bucks a month which obviously isn’t going to save you any substantial money. I’m just pointing this out to give you an idea of how important this decision is to a business owner. However, signing up new accounts is the most important thing in their business as they get some sort of incentive to do so.
I had a random guy approach our business offering 9.3 cents per Kilowatt of energy and no cancellation fees (which should immediately be a red flag about the industry). I said I’d consider it, give me some time. The next day he came back and asked if I was ready to convert. I said no I don’t make decisions quickly on random people selling me something. A few days pass and he’s at the door again but this time he has a rate of 8.7 cents and he flat out asks “can we go through the application to get us signed over.” I respect the persistence of a sales person but this is how you answer this type of aggressive approach, “I’m not signing anything today and if you don’t back off I’m not signing anything period.” At this point he’s standing in front of me and it’s completely awkward because he is finally understanding that he’s not pressuring me into signing anything. He leaves by asking “when can I follow up…”
This guy will not be getting my business because I don’t like him or his approach. He’s 100% fake as they come and that’s the worst kind of person. He acts like he’s helping you out and trying to be your friend but it’s only because of his own self serving interest. Plus he’s switching rates to get me in the door and the whole process is and sales approach is dishonorable. I like doing business with people I trust. I’d rather pay more for something and know that I’m giving business to someone I like. This situation is something that you should never feel pressured to make a decision while some salesman is standing on your door step. It’s ok to tell strangers to fuck off.
RiverShock
In one of my brilliant money making schemes I decided to purchase 20 tickets to an event at Mad River at a wholesale price of 7.00 each. I’ve done this exercise before and have managed to sell up to 40 tickets at once to something similar and didn’t think I’d have a problem this time. Secret Service is a relatively big draw and I expected that there would be a line out the door and I could walk up to people and sell them my tickets for a minimum 10 dollars (the admission is 15) and then they wouldn’t have to wait in line making it a win/win for them. Ahh the best laid plans of mice and men. I get there at about 4pm with literally no line whatsoever. So what I had to do was stand outside the entrance about 25 feet away so I wouldn’t get caught (obviously Mad River would frown on my practice) and approach passerbyers hoping that 1) They were going to Mad River 2) They didn’t already have a ticket 3) They would purchase them at a discount from me.
I have never been so humiliated in my life. Well that’s not true but the exercise really sucked. After standing out there for nearly an hour and selling 4 tickets at essentially my cost, I went home and decided to try again later. I went back at 8 and eventually sold all of the tickets (I actually kept 4 in case I wanted to go myself) but managed to lose about 20 bucks on the deal. Scalping tickets seriously makes you feel like the scum of the Earth. I’d say “hey are you guys going to Mad River” and they’d avoid me like the plague. Like I’m some sort of creep who just got off the pedophile bus. It sucked. Especially because nothing was happening quickly. There would be dry minutes of no potential customers. Total flop.
This weekend I also managed to watch the Flyers at the Xfinity center on Friday, hit some golf balls, played about 20 games of chess, played bball at Mondauk and managed to get in a few runs. It sounds more active then it actually was. I have a 200 mile relay on Friday coming up so that will shorten the week by a day which is a nice change of pace.
What’s going on?
I’m sure everyone is on the edge of their seat waiting for this next blog post. First and foremost, there hasn’t been anything different in my life that has prevented me from posting. Things are going very well for me both personally and professionally. I’ve been getting in good shape for some upcoming runs I have and there has been plenty going on business to keep busy. I will start getting back into the routine of posting and hopefully put together some better, well thought out entries instead of posting just to post. It’s funny because during the course of my day I still think about funny things that happen to me and I say to myself “that would make for a good blog entry.” Why I’m not putting it down on paper I can’t explain. It’s just the feeling of constantly maintaining something that really has no payoff. So after some thought I just will use this as an outlet when I feel like I have something to write about rather than writing about everything and anything.
I think it’s hilarious because I had a person last night ask me how the blogging was going. Since I can never tell if the person checks in daily and knows I haven’t been blogging or if they are just casually asking about it, I have to frame my answer. I don’t just come out like an egomaniac and say “Oh, do you miss my blog?” So in my mind I know the person probably is wondering what’s going on but I just try to play it normal. I find myself doing this more often in terms of thinking something but saying something else. It becomes a game. I think it’s because I’ve been reading the Fountainhead and the characters in that book are really thoughtful and manipulative. I have no malicious intent but it’s fun to play the game. I’ve also been playing the eye contact game where you just completely stare at the person you are talking to. I know some people probably do this naturally but I sort of force myself to do it. You’d be surprised how many people just wander their eyes around when talking to you. Ahhh, isn’t life fun.