crazy co-workers, free androids and eating fugly frogs?

Sorry everyone. I couldn't post for the past couple of days. I had been really busy and I didn't want to post without having the time to read and comment and all your posts also ;-)


I told you guys last week that I quit. This week I got a new job. Well, not entirely new because I'm doing the same thing. Only with a different company and for more money and in a higher end market like I was shooting for. I'm excited!

'So why is this picture of this crazy, penis removing witch here?' you may be asking. Well she used to work at the office I worked at.


I'm not sure if anyone else saw the free Nexus S advertising on the Google homepage yesterday. It was right underneath the search-bar. All there was a line saying 'have the Google experience, Nexus S free today only' or something close to that. Well I clicked it and it linked me to Best Buy, a pretty big electronics retailer here in the states and it did show the cost for the phone at $0 but only for new customers and we established new service a couple of months ago with a 2 year contract so for a moment I thought we were assed out. BUT when the new service was established my wife and I used phones we already had and didn't take any new customer discounts or rebates. So we were able to still use the new customer rebates and get the Nexus S for free yesterday! I checked the Best Buy website today. It is sold out online and the price went back up.

And on a different note...a few years a go I read a book that still resonates with me. I wouldn't really call it a motivational book as I would a how-to book. The title is 'Eat That Frog'. It's a very short read and can actually be summed up in a couple of paragraphs. I believe its a good way to think.

***SPOILER ALERT***

If you had to eat the most horrible looking frog on the planet...what part of the day would you eat it. Morning or night?

If you waited until the night you would dreading it and thinking about it all day not wanting the night to come. Same goes for the afternoon or evening for that matter. But if you ate it first thing in the morning, you can move on with your day and enjoying it for what it is and not having to worry about having to eat any frogs later.

So what's the point? we all have to do stuff we really don't want to do. Either make a call we don't to make. See or talk to someone we don't want to talk to or deal with. Whatever it is everyone has shit they don't want to do that needs to be done or things that are always put off or put on the back-burner so to speak. Well, those are my frogs.

The things I am reluctant to do are my frogs. If I eat them in morning I get them done and out of the way. I won't spend my day thinking and dreading the frog I'll have to eat later.

earthquake weather?

Earthquake weather. Ever heard of it? I've been hearing about so called earthquake weather for as long as I can remember. I live in Southern California and I've felt many earthquakes but no recent earthquakes come to mind. Although California is known for having earthquakes we just haven't had a sizable earthquake in quite some time. Most of the earthquakes I remember happened when I was a kid. I did feel a small one about three years ago and that was my wife's first time ever feeling one. It kind of rattled her. I can imagine that she is going  freak out when she feels a bigger one.

I don't really recall the weather on or before the any of the earthquakes I have felt. Maybe I don't remember because there was nothing out of the ordinary. Or maybe I don't remember because the bigger earthquakes of note happened when I was much younger and I just don't remember.

I've also heard that dogs can sense earthquakes. The last earthquake I felt was about three years ago. I was at home sleeping when it happened. My dog did not warn me. As a matter of fact I think I woke up before she did.

In any case, fortune telling weather or not, one thing is for sure...a big earthquake is bound to happen sooner or later. Scientists and history says so. To be honest, I'm not sure if there are in fact some sort of change in weather patterns before an earthquake or not, so I don't want to go out on a limb and call BS. It rained and was a little chili here yesterday and today its flippin' hot.

I hope the weather is not trying to tell us something.

Click here to see the U.S. Geological Survey maps that show earthquake activity around the world. See how stable your neck of the woods is.

more useless facts!

Hello everyone! I was away for the past couple of days and wasn't able to reply to your comments. I'll be sure to do it now! Thanks for your support!

A few posts ago I listed some useless facts I found. A lot of people seem to have liked reading them so I thought I would post some more. So here are some more useless facts...

-A dogs sweat glands are found between their toes.

-Nose prints are used to identify dogs, much like humans use fingerprints.

-On average it takes a shark seven days to replace a tooth.

-Only female mosquitoes bite humans. Male mosquitoes live on natural liquids from plants and other resources.

-American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating one olive from each salad served in first class.

-Nintendo was first establish in 1889 and they started out making special playing cards.

-Los Angeles's full name is El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula --and can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A.

-It’s against the law to leave your house in Thailand if you’re not wearing underwear.

-It is illegal to be a prostitute in Siena, Italy, if your name is Mary.

-In 18th Century Britain, you could take out insurance against going to hell.

-Until 1967, LSD was legal in California.

-"hello" wasn't always the first thing said over the phone. The first operating phone service was esatblished in 1878 and the formal greeting back then was "ahoy"

-According to suicide statistics, Monday is the favored day for self-destruction.

-In New Mexico, over eleven thousand people have visited a tortilla chip that appeared to have the face of Jesus Christ burned into it.

-Bill Gates donated close to $100 million to fight AIDS in India. As a percent of his total wealth, this would be comparable to him donating ten cents if he only had $60.

-In the USA, 32% of employees eat lunch and work at the same time.

-At the outbreak of World War I, the American air force consisted of only fifty men.

-Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson grew Canabis sativa (marijuana) on their plantations.

-Honey is the only food that does not spoil. Honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible.

I hope you found them as useless and entertaining as I did. Thanks again for reading!

Did what I had to do.

Ok..It's done! My now ex-boss was stunned. He did not expect me quit. But what did he expect? In my previous post I didn't really explain why I was upset. I didn't want to bore you guys with a long rant so I just summed up what I was going to do. Now, I'll quickly tell you what led to that.

I sell Real Estate and I have sold just under 40 properties over the past 5 six years. That's not great but it's also not bad. I was asked to give up my corner office becasue they need the space and so another agent with 12 sales in the past 6 years can keep hers (I've had mine for about 4 years and she just got hers this year, wtf?). The branch manager is an old pervert and this other agent comes in about once a month or so (seriously...she comes to the office only about once a month. That's it.) wearing small outfits and acts all bubbly and flirtatious with him. When you look at the production numbers I just don't see the logic. The only explanation I can see is that this old man has a thing for this woman and wants to keep her around.

So today I told the old perv that I quit and I'll take my business somewhere else where it will be appreciated. He didn't think I was going to do that. He was stunned and stayed quiet for a minute and that was pretty much that. It was almost anti-climactic. I also taught the Real Estate Licencing class so I decided to this about an hour before the class was supposed to start. Needless to say there was no class tonight.

Getting hired at a Real Estate company is as easy as walking into an office with your license and asking for a job. The hard part is selling the houses. My motivation is super high right now. I'm shooting for a better market where homes cost more and to double my production. Fuck that guy!

Time for Change!

This is the second go at writing this post. I had just written a long post going on and on about how terrible my boss and the company I work for are but as I was writing (and well into it I might add) I thought why don't I just write a something brief to sum it all up...


Tomorrow, I'm going to tell my boss to #@&$ off! Well I'm not sure sure if I'll be using those exact words but he'll catch my drift. He's proved himself to be an a-hole and I just rather not deal with it. I'll let you know how it goes everyone!

Close to 100 and a short recap

Hi everyone! I'm close to having 100 followers and I thought for today's post I'll quickly go back and visit my previous posts and update you all on what has changed since then. So here we go...

May 1st...I started this blog with the intent to teach anyone who cares how to grow their own to save money and on June 26th, I posted about having to sell my equipment because of hard times. So the meaning behind the title of this blog "I'm ready to grow!" has now changed for me and is no longer about growing your own. It's more about growing as a person and always trying to better myself.

July 10th - 'looking up'...In this post I write about how dirty the pool is my condo community. I have to say..it looks nice and blue now but I can't help think about how many kids probably peed in it.

July 22nd - 'close call'...Well the branch manager at my office is at it again. Busting my balls over my corner office. I have a meeting with him about it tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

July 15th - 'Snail's Pace'...I'm still making sure I don't step on any snails...

July 19th - 'Out of my comfort zone'...I still need to get at this. My business needs a kickstart!

July 20th - 'Super Hero'...My dogs are safe and I haven't seen Batman anywhere else. But I have seen the new trailer for Spider-man. Do we really need another Spider-Man movie? Too soon in my opinion.

July 21st - 'WTF?'...I'm not sure what happened to the cop that shot little Canela.

Thanks for reading my blog everyone!

Useless info and a favorite book

So I came across a website today that contained useless facts about a bunch of different things. I like learning about these facts mostly when its something I would not expect. Here is a few of the facts that I found interesting...

Elephants can smell water from as far away as three miles.

It takes seven years for a lobster to grow 1 pound.

There are 4,300 known species of ladybugs in the world.

The fortune cookie was invented in 1916 by George Jung, a Los Angeles noodlemaker.

Between 25% to 33% of the population sneeze when they are exposed to light.

Approximately 16 Canadians have their appendices removed, when not required, every day.

Men have more blood than women. Men have 1.5 gallons for men versus 0.875 gallons for women.

In 1977, a 13 year old child found a tooth growing out of his left foot.

At last count there were about 226,000 trees in New York's Central Park.

Uranus' orbital axis is tilted at 90 degrees. (I lol'd when I read this one)

Every year about 98% of atoms in your body are replaced.

Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.

Theaters in Glendale, California can show horror films only on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.

You can't plow a cotton field with an elephant in North Carolina.

Every citizen of Kentucky is required by law to take a bath at least once a year.

So there you have it...some useless facts.

On a different note...I thought I would suggest to you all to read the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho if you haven't already. It's a great book. I read it a few years ago and want to read it again. Too bad I lent it to somebody and never got it back. It wasn't a very long read and I was actually done with it quite quickly but I didn't want it to end.

WTF?

What's going on? Why would someone do this? Not sure if you guys have heard about the little dog named Canela (Cinnamon in Spanish). She was shot by a police officer in Juarez Mexico just because she barked at him. From the picture I saw she looked to be no more than about 15 lbs or around 7 kilograms. Apparently this cop had stopped to grab a bite to eat with his partner when Canela came up to him and started barking. The cop took out his gun and shot little Canela with a .45 caliber handgun. This cop then picked up the bullet casing and he and his partner left the scene. Canela died but not right away. She went through 7 hours of hell. There were plenty of witnesses and they said the dog slumped over when she was shot and became very confused. There is video footage taken of the dog right after being shot but I did not want to see it. The picture was enough.

As far as I know at the time of this posting the police officer that did this is still on duty and has not been suspended. It is being looked into. WTF?

Super Hero

Not too long ago I had a crazy dream and I think I need to share this. I was in my place with my wife and dogs and there was another couple with us. They were new neighbors that my wife and I had recently met while walking our dogs a few nights before. Well, in my dream the female asked if my dog could go with her for a walk or something...we reluctantly agreed. A short time after leaving with my dog I called her and she hung up on me. When I called again she ignored the call and sent me to voicemail. The third time I called the phone was off and did not even ring. Something was very wrong. She was trying to jack my dog! I then had to make the call for help and I was waiting anxiously by the window when my help arrived. I looked down and there it was... the batmobile. I run downstairs and jump in and there he was....batman. He was having a hard time looking at me because his suit was too stiff around his neck so he could only glance over with his eyes. We took off and we were racing down the street when my wife woke me up. The crazy thing is I don't even really like batman.

Out of my comfort zone

I think I need to get out of my comfort zone. I'm talking about my business. I sell houses and being in the real estate business is tough right now. I have noticed my business slow to almost a complete stop. Because of that I need to start doing things to get business that I didn't do before. For example, I think I need to start cold calling people and start knocking on doors. I never really did it before because I didn't really need to. Business was just there. Not a ton of business but enough. The thing is for some reason the idea of cold calling doesn't make me feel good but I know sometimes I'll have to do things that I really don't want to do in order to get ahead. This is just one of them.

Snail's pace

Snails can live up to 15 years. I just recently found that out. I haven't stepped on one for as long as I can remember until I moved to the place I am living now. I didn't mean to step on it. It was dark. They are everywhere at night as they cross the cement walkway to the patch of grass on the other side. I didn't think much of it until I discovered they can live so long. I then thought...what if the snail I stepped on was like eight years old? What if it was just a year and had fourteen years to go? What if it was fourteen going on fifteen and I stepped on it?

The video is from a patch of grass outside my place...

love

I really love my dogs. I've had them since they were pups and they are now four years old. They are like my kids. I had a couple of dogs when I was kid but we didn't have either of them for very long so I never really got attached. Before I got my current dogs I wasn't very much of a 'dog person' but now that I have them I can't imagine not having them. People with kids tell me that I'll be putting them aside when I have kids. I can't see that happening. They are not show dogs or pure breads but they are perfect to me. They bark at people every chance they get and my smallest one at five pounds swears she is a snow dog when we go for a walk. I wouldn't give my dogs up or put them aside for anything in the world.

close call

So yesterday evening at 6pm I get a text message from the branch manager at the office I work at asking me to meet him at 9am because he needs to talk to me. I had text him right back asking if everything was ok and he didn't respond. I called him and left a message and he didn't call back and I was starting to stress. I sell Real Estate and my business has slowed this year I was thinking he wants me to give up my corner office that worked hard to get. Turns out my suspicions were right...But no worries my friends I'm still here in my office. I did not give it up and I suspect he did that to try and push production...

looking up

I live in a condo and we have a community pool. Getting in the pool sounds refreshing because it has been super hot lately but its really gross. There have been a ton of kids in there lately mostly because of poolside birthday parties. Its all fun and games until an unsupervised kid takes dive. Two months ago the pool was a very nice blue...today it had a greenish/khaki tint to it. It would be nice because it is hot. My brother said he saw the devil under a tree drinking an iced tea. Not sure if he is delusional because I think he might of just got confused with my neighbor.

I did sell a few of the hydroponic systems I am selling. People seem to like what they got. That is good news :-)

bummer

Oh man...I just wrote a blog about growing to save money and now I think I have to sell my grow equipment because I need money. What a drag. In the the daytime I sell houses...or try to anyway. This real estate market sucks. I just don't see many people with confidence about the economy. Not sure why. It always goes in cycles. And that's especially true with real estate. Anyhow this isn't about real estate...it's about growing you own.

Hopefully I don't have to sell my stuff....

Oh yeah...if you're interested in growing awesome flowers with a great system for cheap check out http://www.hydraflowsystem.com. I used it one just like it and I paid $100. These ones are exactly like the one I bought but I'm selling them for $70. Just thought I would plug it. Thanks for reading!

time to grow ;-)

Ok so here I am writing my first blog about anything and I'm doing it because I want to save some cash! The thing is I really didn't know where to start when I began to grow and hopefully this blog will help someone who is now in the same place I was at when I started. All I knew was that were soil grows and hydroponic grows and I wanted to do hydroponic. Not sure why but just did. So the first thing I did was cruise the Internet for hydroponic systems. I soon realized that there were a few different kinds and and they were expensive. I mean more expensive than I wanted to pay for my first time growing. So then I considered building my own and almost did but then decided just to buy one. The grow lights were kind of expensive too but I was motivated by what the harvest will bring. I ended up with over 5 zips from 3 plants if your curious.

The system I bought was a 6 plant hydraflow system that used what people call "bubbleponics". It's kind of like a DWC and aeroponic hybrid. There is the reservoir holding the nutrients and roots and the water pump supplying nutrients to the upper root zone and an air pump pumping air in the reservoir to keep the nutrients highly oxygenated and the that makes the roots happy.

I'll come back later to give more details about how the grow. It was super easy...