When I was six my mother died due to breast cancer that was detected too late to treat properly.

About two years ago my mother in law developed cancer, was treated and got over it, only to find about a year after that, that she has now developed a cancer on her liver.  The only reason she found it was because of other complications which lead her to another check up.

I myself also had thyroid cancer.  The only reason I found it was because of a fungal throat infection causing my singing voice problems.   The fungal infection was totally unrelated to the cancer but lead to the scan which found the nodules in my thyroid.  “Luckily,” for me thyroid cancer is the, “best one,” you can have, or so the doctors told me multiple times, because it’s encapsulated and you just remove the thyroid and you are done.   Had I not found it when I did, I was told the cancer would have eventually spread up into other parts of my body.   It’s my suspicion that this cancer was due to being xrayed as a child, as when I was young they did not know better that certain scans might cause cancers.

As if this wasn’t enough I recently found out that an older cousin of mine has a cancer that started in his esophagus and then spread to the rest of his throat and brain.  The doctors gave him just a few months to live and don’t know why he is still around.  Well, knowing my cousin it’s because he’s a tough son of a bitch and isn’t the type to sit on his ass.

His battle with cancer has much the same beginning.  That being, that if it had been found earlier it would have been treatable.

So, please take heed of this warning.  Get yearly scans.  Especially if cancer runs in your family.  Cancer isn’t like a cold that you can feel coming.  When you know something is wrong by how you feel it is often too late or at the very least much harder to treat and survive.  Finding cancer early is the key to surviving it.

My first and still most busy home business is being a private vocal coach.  

About eight years ago I happened upon the idea of starting an Internet business.  I ran into same sales sites selling the idea of working from home and touting how running an online business and selling information products was great because you have no inventory or overhead and it runs itself. 

Well, that is a big pipe-dream, like most work at home scams.

Since I was already a professional vocal coach, and teach techniques that to this day no one really does, I put together my own online singing course.   I’ve learned a lot about running an online business from my singing course, mainly what are some scams you should watch out for and things you need to know. Namely………………………………..

• If it says, “turn key,”  it is a scam.  No such thing as a turn key Internet business site that you just buy from someone and it generates money.     Basically they are trying to sell you websites and web-hosting and then will probably try to get you to buy traffic. They will also probably try to get you to buy merchandise of theirs up front to then re sell.
• Google adwords is a quick way to get lots of traffic.  It’s also an easy way to rack up huge debt.   Google adwords works for some businesses, but unless you can turn clicks directly into sales at very good conversion rate google adwords will cost you money.  A good conversion rate is 3% for a sales site.  The truth is most people who click your google ads aren’t looking to buy anything, they are looking for free information or to just look around.   So, you can see how google adwords can quickly get you in debt and eat up any profit you get from them.
• Buying banner ads or advertising space is huge waste of money.
• SEO companies are a waste of money.   This is especially true today since the google index ranking is weighed heavily on how many sites link to your site.  So, padding pages with keywords and trying to copy off of high ranking pages simply doesn’t work any more.   If what you want is high rankings for your site, you need to get links from other sites.  You can do this by requesting link, reciprocal linking and by running an affiliate program.  If you sell a good product that sells decently you will have many affiliates and many links and go up in the ranks.
• Make Millions On The Internet Your Computer Automates Everything!   Again this is a pipe dream sold by scam artists to people who are lazy yet want to be rich.   Anyone with any sort of online business will tell you that you have to put in real effort.   There is no magic automation system that you can buy that will just do everything for you.  If there was they sure wouldn’t be selling it.  It’s the same old story, some people make more money selling the shovels then they every could actually digging the gold.   Sure there are ways to make money with an online business, but you have do some research and put in the work needed and probably, GASP, learn some technical skills.

You’ve probably heard this before, but it is very true:  If you want to start a business find something you like to do and find a way to make that into a business.   I think that last sentence is very profound.   If you do something you like you will have a passion for it.  If you start a business just because you heard there was money in it, it’s more likely you won’t last long.   I love singing  and vocal coaching and it shows in what I do, that is why I’ve been able to make a living at it.

It’s not enough that we have taxes on everything we buy, but we also get taxed on income, so before we even spend our money it’s taxed.

Beyond the every day reaching into our pockets the I.R.S. does, it apparently is now into legalized robbery.

Since it’s law and their is nothing I can do about it I will pay my taxes on income.  But, you are only supposed to pay taxes on income, right?  Not losses, those are supposed to be write offs?  Otherwise you would basically be getting taxed for losing money……well that is exactly what is happening to one of my relatives and anyone who bought stock in Indian Motorcycles.

Apparently you have now have to pay taxes on things that never made money and even lost you money.

Recently a relative of mine was contacted by the I.R.S an informed that he owed them money for some stocks he bought. 

What he bought was stock in Indian Motorcycles when they first came out.   He is a bike enthusiast and like a lot people thought Indian Motorcycles may very well have been the next Harley Davidson.

So, he bought several thousand dollars in stock.  Later Indian tanked, declared bankrupcy and he lost all his money that was in the stock.  What he ended up with was a loss of all the money he invested with nothing to show for it but a certificate.  So, he lost his investment and made 0 profit.

Get this though, the I.R.S. contacts him years later telling him that he owes taxes on the full value of the amount he invested and lost.  So, the stock certificate he has is valued at exactly 0, yet the I.R.S. wants to tax him on the value of the stock the day he bought it.

Can you believe the balls on the I.R.S.    They know full and well that people who bought this stock not only made 0 profit, but in fact lost any money they put into the stock.   Yet, they want to make the absurd claim that the paper certificate is somehow worth it’s initial price.  The stock is absolutely worthless.  It has no chance of every going up in value as the original Indian Motorcycles declared bankruptcy.  The new Indian Motorcycle company is technically not even the same company, so their isn’t even a slim hope the stock will go up.

The reason the I.R.S. is getting away with this is because some, either crooked or extremely stupid,  judge ruled in their favor.

I guess this taxation is happening to a lot of people who bought stock in Indian Motorcycles.    If I were them I’d band together and file a class action lawsuit against the I.R.S. 

This just isn’t right that the I.R.S. can go around stealing money from people in this way and get away with it just because everyone is afraid of having to go through an audit.

I got the idea of resistance bands from the six seconds ab gizmo I bought.  It came with bands, which I used for bicep curls.   I did a search on the Internet and found bodylastics.

The difference between bodylastics and typical resistance bands is that the handles are detachable from the bands.  You get five different bands that go up gradually in resistance.  So, just like adding more weight to a barbell you can add more bands.

I’ve found that they work really great.   I get as good a workout as I did at the gym.  I can do almost all the same exercises and quickly adjust the resistance level.  

The bands come with an anchor that will allow you to attach the bands to any door.  So, you can quickly set it up so the bands are positioned low, middle or over your head.

Bodylastics only weakness is leg workouts.  While their are some exercises you can do for the legs, I simply haven’t found a way to make them work good.  Squatting with them is simply uncomfortable and with enough bands impossible to do because you have to pull up the bands with your arms.   A workout heavy enough for the legs would make pulling the bands up to position impossible.

However, bodylastic excels in upper body, back workouts and ab workouts.

It is very much like having a home gym.  Only better because this one tucks away in a small bag and doesn’t take up space in a room.

Case in point my bands search for a drummer and bass player to fill out our bands line up and become permanent members.    In other words member who play well and will stick around and keep playing with the band for more than one summer.

As far as bass players we had the biggest problem with these.   We are a mainly original band with really good songs, we get nothing but compliments when we play out.   However, we would audition bass players, they would show up and love it and still end up quitting after a few months.   They usually left after they found being in a band was sometimes hard work for very little reward.  We had some really talented bass players over a couple of years, but none stuck.  

Finally I got sick of this and took up bass on top of playing lead vocal.   Am I a great bass player?  No.  However I am a good bass player and get the job done.   I had no natural talent for bass I had to work at it a good year before I was capable enough to play bass and sing at the same time.

So, although most of the other bass players we have destroy me on bass as it happens I am the best one for the job because I’m sticking around.  As a plus I now have a hand in writing the music, instead of just singing and telling the other players what key and the structure of the song.

Finding a drummer was much the same story.  When my band first started we had a drummer for a couple of years that, well, needed some lessons.   When we first started we were new to song writing as well.  So, the skill level was comparable.  

Fast forward two years and we outgrew him and he didn’t improve.  His skill level at drumming was often a point of argument in the band when he wasn’t around.  Eventually we had to fire him as he was holding us back musically.

Fast forward another two years and we went through two really great drummers.   The last one was phenomenal.  He could play cover and originals the first time he tried them, perfectly enough that they sounded recording quality.   And his timing and back-beat were really awesome, he really made us sound good.  That is, when we actually played………..

At first it was great everything went smooth.   Then came the girlfriend who had to come to every practice and argue with him or cause a scene.   Finally after a couple of months of practice we tried setting up gigs.   The drummer had some funny ideas.   He couldn’t be bothered to move his drum set for $100 guaranteed + the door for an two hour gig, even though we were a new band and no one knew us.  But, it was alright to play an hour gig opening for his friends CREED tribute band and making $60 dollars for the whole band.

On top of all this he was talking about getting publishing rights to our songs, even though they were all written before he was in the picture, because he read a book that said that was where the money was in music.

Basically, anything we tried to do he would put the brakes on for one reason or another and relegated the band to practicing in the garage, drinking beer, and talking about making it.

Finally, we just decided it would be better to not have a drummer at all than a drummer who thwarted everything the band tried to do.

After going through all the boobs, misfits, drunks and ego maniacs  it occured to me that the only drummer I ever played with that acted normal, didn’t have a huge ego, a substance problem and had a regular job was the drummer I mentioned earlier that wasn’t good enough.   If I could only have his personality with the skill of these other guys.

I made the decision that it would be better to play with someone I got along with rather than someone who was really talented but a jerk.  

Still, there was the skill thing.

The drummer in question was a little older now.  I thought maybe now that he’s older he’s better or at least willing to improve on the things we want him too.   From what I remembered about him he had a very good work ethic.

So, basically I called him up and asked if he was still interested in my band.  He was.  I made it clear that he would have to get a new kit, and learn how to play to our liking and take critiques.

As I was still relatively new to bass I told him we would have to learn together.

Fast forward again a few months and he turned into a new drummer.  He bought loads of videos and listened to our critiques and took them to heart.  So, now we have the best of both worlds,  a drummer who can play his ass off without being an ass.

The moral of the story is that sometimes the person with the most talent or skill is not always the best person for the job.   Not to say someone with natural talent can’t be a hard worker too.  But, many times people with talent take for granted what they have and let it go to their heads.

At the time I had thought she got bit by a bug and got a reaction.

This second time she developed it in the same place, so it was obviously not a bug bite.

I asked my wife’s cousin who runs a shelter and found that dogs get, “anal gland infections.”

Usually if you leave them the dog will just lick them until they pop and it will heal up.  If it won’t pop then you can take it to a vet and they will drain it for a small charge. 

Our dogs infection went away on it’s own the second time as well.   I was glad to find this a common thing. I was getting worried my dog developed a tumor and would cause me a huge vet bill.

Anyone that’s over 25 or is really into music and listens to more than what the radio and MTV will let you hear, will tell you that most commercial music is absolute crap.

It’s a shame that to hear really good music I and most people have to dig for it either by listening to old bands that were not a victim of over commercialization, or finding new ones that are great but don’t fit the music industries tiny window of what they think is marketable.

By and large the music industry has ruined popular music.  A few major acts do something new and exciting that by some miracle gets promoted and gets popular, then the industry spends the next five years looking for bands just like that band or act.   And this way of finding bands/acts is really what is ruining commercial music.

Add to that the fact that once large labels figured out fashion  and hype about the performer sells music, more than good music sells music, and we a volatile combination where popular music is dominated by sound-alike poseurs who always act and sound a certain way that is expected in their genre of music.

As much as artists and listeners like to blame the big bad music labels a large part of the blame is music fans as well.  Here are few things fans do to gradually ruin commercial music.

1. Support bands that are only good on recordings but awful live.  That is, they can’t really play, it’s all studio magic.  How many times have you saw a band live only to find that the singer sounds like hell and half of what is on the recording is missing because of dub ins?   DON’T BUY MUSIC OR MERCH FROM BANDS THAT SUCK LIVE.  They are posers

2. Support artists who are at best karaoke queens and at worst dancers who lip sync. Seriously why is britney spears a star?   Does anyone think she has any talent?  Quit buying music from crap artists unless you want more crap music thrown at you.

3. Elitist attitudes.  This is very prevalent in rock/metal.  Just because you like one type of music doesn’t mean you can’t like another type.   And just because you favorite band makes it big doesn’t mean they, “sold out,” and you should never listen again.  You should be happy your favorite band hit it big because you’ll see some more albums out of them.

4. Free Music downloads.  It’s too late to reverse this trend now.   However, this is the #1 reason why most of the acts and bands you see now are mediocre at best.   No one with half a brain will put their whole life into music if they can’t make a living from the music they create.  The only way bands, who aren’t already huge, make money now is by selling merchandise like T shirts.  No one buys music, because they think that they are entitled to it for free.  So, what if an artist spent two years perfecting the songs on an album, how dare he want to make money from an album sale……………………..

Non musicians have this funny idea that any band that is on the radio or on a tour or….gasp on MTV, is instantly a multimillionaire rock star.   The sad truth is the majority of bands, even the ones you hear on the radio, make hardly any money.   Record labels take the majority of a bands money in CD sales.   Any upfront money when they get signed gets recouped.  Money upfront when a band get’s signed is more like a loan they are paying back through CD sales.

So, basically if you like a band, buy their damn album, the shirt, and whatever they sell.  Don’t be a doosh, and get the album for free unless the band is offering it for free.   Then, just maybe, your favorite band will stick around a while and make you more music because they can afford too.  This is why bands get dropped from labels and not heard from again, because they didn’t sell enough CD’s, they got dropped.   Probably because a bunch of little dooshes got the album for free on the Internet instead of paying out the measly $8-$13 bucks for the CD.   This leads too……

5. Not voting with your money.   If you really like certain bands, but don’t have any of their physical CD’s you are ruining the music scene.       If everyone that per-ported to love music and this or that band would just go out and ACTUALLY BUY CD’s of their favorite bands,  the music industry would notice.  Vote with your money.   What you buy will tell the music industry what kind of music you want more of.   You can easily weed out crap music by simply refusing to ever buy it or watch any performances of it and spending money on the good bands. 

This doesn’t just apply to big bands either.  If you go out to your local music scene and like think a local band is good, buy their stuff.  Don’t get it for free unless they are giving it away.

Of course there’s the, “music should be free,” argument.  Hey, doosh, can you live off of $0.00?    Music and entertainment is an art and service and even though it’s fun to play music it is very much hard work to put together an album and perform, the artist should get compensated.

Think music should be free?   Keep thinking that way and wondering why most music is mediocre dreck…….. you get what you pay for.    When you devalue music the talented people who create music are more inclined to go into another profession that will allow them to make a living.

The newest Hulk movie got it all right.   For those who don’t like reading spoilers don’t read any further.  In short, it’s an entertaining movie worth seeing in the theatre.

Now for the spoilers……

The intro was great.  I liked it because they didn’t spend an hour showing you how Bruce Banner gets turned into the hulk.   They use a quick series of flashbacks over the starting credits to get the audience up to speed and let those who don’t know that Bruce Banner is a scientist and some experiment went wrong and made him into a guy that when he gets mad turns into The Incredible Hulk.   

Seriously does anyone care why Batman became Batman anymore?   Thanks for not ruining this Hulk movie like that.

Anyways, Bruce Banner is hiding out in Brazil and trying to find a cure for Hulking out when he gets angry.   General Ross is trying to find him and capture him for his super soldier program experiments.

Fast forward and General Ross explains to a mercenary that the Hulk wasn’t an accident after all, Bruce Banner didn’t know he was working on a super soldier program instead of radiation protection and unwittingly turned himself into The Incredible Hulk.

The mercenary ends up taking an altered version of some of the Hulks super soldier steroids and becomes, “The Abomination.”   This I loved.  The Abomination was my favorite Hulk villain as a kid.  I don’t think unless you were a Hulk comic book fan you would have caught that this was the actual, “The Abomination.”   Just before he was created the scientist involved says something like, “You might become some sort of Abomination.”

Another thing people may have missed is that there is not one, but two allusions to sequels.  The first one most people caught, and that was Tony Stark from the Iron Man talking to the general about putting together a team.  A super group made up of multiple super heroes no doubt.   The less obvious one, is one involving another Hulk villain.   When the abomination is made, he clobbers the scientist that helped him out. The scientist bashes open his head, and a leaking vial of gamma polluted blood pours into his brain.  It heals him, causes a strange pulsing in his head and evil smile on his face.  This is pretty much how, “The Leader,” came about. 

The Leader is another gamma spawned Hulk Villain.  However, he isn’t super huge and muscular.  The only large about him is his brain.  He ends up always trying to capture the Hulk to use him for more gamma experiments and creates his own gamma spawns creatures.

Overall a great movie, liked it much better than the first Hulk Movie.

Don’t waste your money, they don’t work.   If someone invented a pill like that there wouldn’t be any overweight people and the company would be hugely successfull.  But, it just isn’t going to happen.

You are better off learning some self disipline and eating healthy.

Let’s talk about the different varieties of, “eat all you want weight loss pills.”  I think it’s important because some the commericials act like they are scientific breakthroughs and can be pretty convincing to someone who wants to lose weight, but is just too weak to stop eating habits that keep them overweight.

I just saw a new one.  It claims to block all the fat out of everything you eat.  This is another variation on blocking something that people think makes you fat.  A few years ago I bought pills that claimed to block carbs, when low carb diets were the rage.  Guess what, didn’t work.   Maybe a pill can bind with something you are digesting and block it.  But, that won’t make you lose weight.   Weight loss doesn’t come from just not eating fat or carbs.  It comes from a healthy diet and exercise.

Or the old rev up your metabolism with pills.  They don’t work either.  All you get is a heart beating fast and the jitters.

My favorite scam is the one that says you are fat because of stress, and that stress hormones are to blame.  It claims it’s going to even out your hormones. Give me a break.

Losing weight comes down to one thing self disipline.   Eat healthy, eat many small meals a day and  cut out the junk, and exercise.   This alone can quickly take off fat.

However for a lot of people the liquids is the very thing that put on much of the extra weight in the first place.  

Things such as pop/diet pop, fruit juices, iced tea, coffee and tea all cause people to either gain fat or prevent them from losing it.

So, if you are on a diet and still not losing weight make sure and replace everything you drink with plain old water.

Also, don’t believe the crap about diet soda.   It’s filled with sodium instead of sugar.  Guess what sodium causes you to not drop fat.   As  a matter of fact there is nothing good for you about any kind of soda.   If you do nothing else for your diet drop it altogether.  Not only does it put on fat, it makes blood pressure spike badly.

Fruit juices that are 100% natural may be healthy, but even 100% fruit juice has loads of sugar and carbs per serving which will cause your insulin to spike and you will store fat.

It’s the same thing with iced tea, pick up the jug and look at the amount of carbs and sugars its as much or more as you’d get from eating three slices of bread in some cases.

So, if you really want to lose some fat make sure to always quench your thirst with water and water only.  Drinking anything other is just adding calories, carbohydrates and sugars to your diet.

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