Category: Life

The Persistent Shower Companion (or Early Mornings At The Munich Airport)

There comes a time in a young boy’s life when his shower companion will be a beautiful woman. This wasn’t one of those times…

It was our last night in Munich, Germany. In less than 12 hours I would be heading back to Orlando and my friends Jason and Adam (NSFW) would be heading to Chicago and New York City, respectively.

Adam and I had early flights out the next morning and he decided not to get a hostel for the night. With the total trek (including walking and waiting) to the Munich airport being at least an hour there was no point in sleeping. Being that it was an International flight, he’d have to get to MUC around 5 am to be on the safe side for his 7 am departure.

I thought about it for a few minutes and decided I’d pull an all-nighter as well since my flight was at 9 am.

With all of that settled we went out for the night to our new favorite bar, Schwabinger 7, king among dive metal bars.

The music is loud, the bartenders are amazing, the drinks are cheap, the people are friendly, and the place is very small and very packed every night. Always the makings for a good time.

Side note: the men’s bathroom is pure filth. Just like a dive bar should be.

We sat down with a large group of German students who were in Munich for just a few more days on some kind of school trip. Their English was good, but I didn’t understand if this was a Winter break or if they were in town to study.

Whatever the case, they were definitely in town to drink.

By 3 am, with a sufficient amount of Germany’s finest flowing through our systems, we headed back to Jason’s hostel. After getting some food at the only place open this time of night (Burger King, so I had fries and salad) Adam and I picked up our bags from Jason’s room and said goodbye.

With a night of drinking and, unfortunately, close-quarters in a smoke-filled room behind me, I really needed a shower. I knew there were showers at the Munich airport so I was really looking forward to getting there quickly.

Adam and I had both spent our last Euros on food and the ticket machine at the train station didn’t take credit cards. In a lot of places that would be a problem, but Germany’s authority figures seemed to be pretty lax about actually checking to see if anybody’s public transport tickets were valid.

So we chanced it, didn’t pay for the 9 Euro train tickets (sorry Munich, I love you, and I will repay you somehow!), and got on the next train to MUC, a 40 minute ride.

I clutched an old train ticket in my right hand and went to sleep, hoping if an agent actually came around, he’d see the ticket and wouldn’t wake me up to check it.

At the airport, I said bye to Adam and went off to locate those showers. It was now 5am and in my slightly drunken and definitely very tired state, it took me a few circles around the airport before I found them.

Being that it was so early the showers were empty so I made my way to the very last of 6 stalls.

I once paid $7 for a shower at a dirty truck stop in the middle of the Arizona desert. The MUC airport shower was free and didn’t have the “truckers use this shower for unmentionable acts of biology” vibe. A clear winner in my book.

After my much needed shower I started brushing my teeth half-naked at the sink just outside my stall when a short man with shoulder length, curly hair, walked in.

He headed straight towards me, opened my stall door, walked inside and started laying his things down next to mine.

Each stall is separated into 2 “rooms,” so you can have all of your belongings with you in the stall, but they won’t get wet.

I quickly spit the soap out of my mouth, opened the stall door, and asked the man what he was doing.

He responded in a language I didn’t understand. It definitely wasn’t English or German so this didn’t bode well.

I pointed at the things strewn about the stall, said “That’s my stuff, what are you doing?” and then pointed at the other available showers.

He looked at me, said something in his indecipherable language, and continued unpacking his shower essentials.

Again, I pointed at the other showers and angrily asked him what he was doing. None of this seemed to matter to him and it was clear this conversation wasn’t getting anywhere.

I gathered my gear and left thinking “this feels like it would only happen in a movie.”

What a perfectly memorable way to cap off my last night in Germany.

I’m just thrilled he didn’t make my acquaintance 15 minutes earlier.

How To Pay $82/month For Health Insurance (For The Self-Employed or Uninsured)

Health care is a huge social and political issue, and one thing is certain: nobody agrees on anything when it comes to reform. But the politics doesn’t matter to me because I’ve taken health care into my own hands.

The most pressing problem with health insurance here in the States is that a lot of people think they can’t afford it when they most certainly can.

Being that I’m self-employed I’ve been purchasing my own health insurance for my whole post-Collegiate adult life.

I’ve never paid more than $82/month for health insurance and you shouldn’t have to either…

Health care is a huge social and political issue, and one thing is certain: nobody agrees on anything when it comes to reform. But the politics doesn’t matter to me because I’ve taken health care into my own hands.

The most pressing problem with health insurance here in the States is that a lot of people think they can’t afford it when they most certainly can.

Being that I’m self-employed I’ve been purchasing my own health insurance for my whole post-Collegiate adult life.

I’ve never paid more than $82/month for health insurance and you shouldn’t have to either.

There are some caveats, of course.

If you’re a smoker, for example, should you really expect cheap health care?

When you play the lottery and lose do you expect to get paid anyway?

Smoking is to cheap health care as playing the lottery is to winning. The odds aren’t in your favor.

If I smoked I would expect health problems. Therefore, I wouldn’t expect a for-profit (the key word) company to play the lottery on my health.

They should, can, and do charge almost whatever they please.

I’m not trying to sit on a cloud of judgment handing out life lessons to all the sinners, but the truth is, if you want low cost health care, you should strive to be in generally good health.

It’s a give and take.

You show you’re willing to work on your health and health insurance companies will take risks on your health.

That’s fair, don’t you agree?

Your Health Insurance Needs

Another benefit of striving to be in generally good health is that you won’t need the “everything plan” insurance.

What I mean is, you won’t need the $0 copay, $0 prescription, $0 hospital, full coverage dental and vision, insurance plan.

Why?

Because if you’re in generally good health you won’t need to visit the doctor very often, take regular prescriptions, or get treatment for preventable issues.

If you’re in generally good health, all you need is what I call catastrophe insurance.

If something unexpected or tragic happens the medical costs won’t bankrupt you.

What is unexpected or tragic?

Any type of accident, be it car, motorcycle, bicycle, sports, the list goes on.

We can’t control everything that happens in our lives, so it’s good to be covered in case something does happen.

What else?

Cancer and/or other terminal illnesses.

While your diet does have a profound effect on your health sometimes you’ll get gravely ill no matter what you do.

Sometimes the non-smoker gets lung cancer and dies.

Sometimes the constant smoker lives to the wonderful age of 100. (George Burns anyone?)

But would you rather take your chances with cancer as a smoker or a non-smoker?

Your health insurance company feels the same.

When you boil something down to its essence like that doesn’t everything become clear?

So if you’re ready to pay less than $100/month for your health insurance here’s how:

1. Strive to be in generally good heath. That means regular exercise and lots of living foods (fruit, vegetables, greens) in your diet.

2. Research high deductible insurance plans available in your area. (A Google search for “high deductible insurance” will get you a ton of results.)

My insurance plan has a $5,000 deductible. That means the first $5,000 in medical bills per year I have to pay out of pocket. If it wasn’t for catching on fire my 2008 medical bills would have totaled $0. (Yes, that story is coming. :) )

You will be able to find a high deductible health insurance plan for less than $100/month. Mine is $82/month through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, the top rated health insurance in Florida according to J.D. Power.You also want to make sure the insurance plan you’re choosing is HSA compatible because you’re going to…

3. Open a Health Savings Account (HSA). This allows you to save your money TAX FREE up to a certain amount every year.  I believe it increases every year, but it’s currently capped at $3,000 for individuals.

When you happen to have a medical bill you can easily pay it from your HSA with a debit card.  My HSA is with Fifth Third Bank and costs $3/month.  The interest rate is terrible, but the tax savings make it worthwhile.  Fund your HSA regularly, up to the limit if you can.  You can also use your HSA to pay for dental and vision care. I don’t have dental problems since I brush and floss daily, so my biannual cleanings cost less than $200/year. (Side note: I absolutely love getting dental cleanings.)

Beware: if you use your HSA funds for anything not health related you will have to pay taxes + penalties.

It really is that easy to get cheap health insurance right now in the United States.  No need to wait for the government to bail you out.

How To Stop Having Problems or “The Eighty-Fourth Problem”

There is a story about a man who went to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great problem solver. Much like you and me, this man had some problems in his life and he hoped the Buddha would solve them…

The following is a Buddhist story that can help with your problems. If you’re not interested in learning from the Buddha, you have 2 choices:

1) Stop reading. No hard feelings.

2) Hear (read?) me out.

(Adapted from Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen.)

There is a story about a man who went to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great problem solver. Much like you and me, this man had some problems in his life and he hoped the Buddha would solve them.

This man was a farmer.

“I like farming, ” he said, “but sometimes it doesn’t rain enough, my crops fail, and my family lives on the constant brink of starvation. On the other hand, sometimes it rains too much, my crops die, and my family lives on the brink of starvation.

The Buddha listened patiently as the man went on.

“I’m married too,” said the man. “She’s a good wife whom I love, but sometimes she nags me too much and I get tired of her. I also have kids. Good kids mostly, but sometimes they don’t show me enough respect. I feel like my family doesn’t respect me or the land, and just sits around being lazy and uncaring, eating my food and spending my money.”

The man went on telling the Buddha his problems. Finally, he stopped on the brink of tears, and waited for the words that would take care of everything.

The Buddha simply said, “I’m sorry, my friend, but I can’t help you.”

“I don’t understand. Why? What do you mean?” said the man.

“Everybody’s got problems,” said the Buddha. “We’ve all got eighty-three problems, in fact. Eighty-three problems, and there’s nothing you or I can do to change that. If you work really hard on one problem another one will pop up in its place. For example, you’re going to die some day. That’s a big problem, and there’s nothing you, or I, or anyone else can do about it.”

The man was at wit’s end. He’d poured his heart and soul out to the Buddha, expecting to find relief in his wisdom.

“I thought you were a great teacher!” he shouted. “I thought you could help me! What good is your teaching if you can’t help me with my problems?!”

The Buddha said, “To make it up to you I will help you with the eighty-fourth problem.”

Curious and frustrated, the man asked, “What’s the eighty-fourth problem?”

Buddha replied, without an ounce of sarcasm or condescension, “You want to not have any problems.”

—–

I read this story every time I have a problem that starts affecting me emotionally.

Without fail, the anxiety and worry about my problem goes away.

Taking Action

The problem, of course, doesn’t go away on its own. Not until I take a very simple, but important step. The problem doesn’t go away until I take action.

What’s the point in taking action on solving a problem if, as the story says, another problem will take its place?

If you frame it so you enjoy being a problem solver, no problem will truly affect you.

Trying Until You Succeed

Problem solving is the essence of life. You’ve been a problem solver since birth. When you were hungry or needed a clean diaper, you’d cry. Problem solved.

As you got older and you were learning to ride a bike, you most likely fell off. What did you do? You solved that problem by getting back on and trying again.

You tried until you succeeded.

In the paraphrased words of Tony Robbins “trying until you succeed is the magic step.”

What would happen right now if you took your biggest problem and “tried until” you solved it?

How would you feel?

At first it might seem overwhelming and difficult, but don’t you agree that just by moving forward with the problem solving process your problem will grow smaller?

If there’s a solution, you’re going to find it because “trying until” means nothing less. There are no failures, only setbacks.

Reframe Your Problem

If you lose your job, for example, that’s a problem. Give yourself a little bit of time to wallow, and then reframe it. You’ve just been given the freedom to find a new job, start a new business, travel the world, or pursue a lifelong passion.

Do you agree gaining your freedom makes you feel a lot better than losing your job?

Simply reframing alone won’t solve the problem, of course. You probably have bills that need paying and food that needs buying. But reframing your job loss is that first action step that will give you the motivation to follow through until you succeed.

Where To Go From Here

The next time you have a problem that affects you in any way take a minute to think about the Buddha’s Eighty-Fourth Problem. (Better yet, bookmark or print this page and reread the story.)

Can you reframe your problem in a positive action-producing manner?

Would you rather be like the farmer and put the blame on somebody else or would you rather take control, take action, and obliterate your problems?

I’m gonna keep being a problem solver.

An Unlikely First Post: Notes From How To Build A High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself

My notes from Tim Ferriss’s How To Build A High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself presentation at WordCamp. I hadn’t planned on launching my blog with a post about Tim or anybody else, but…

Don’t write about what your readers tell you to write about. Write about what you’re passionate about. – Mark Cuban

I’ve written over 30,000 words of Ridiculously Extraordinary content thus far and hadn’t planned on launching with a post about Tim Ferriss or anybody else. I had planned on launching with my own content, of course.

Why Post “Rehashed” Content?

I felt compelled to post these notes since I learned a lot from Tim’s presentation that will help launch the Ridiculously Extraordinary brand.

Keep in mind these notes aren’t necessarily comprehensive. While I did take notes regarding most of the things I already knew about (to reiterate them to myself) I may have missed some things that will benefit you.

On the whole, there are a lot of useful nuggets of info synthesized from a 50 minute viewing to a 5 minute read.

With all that out of the way, following are my notes on Tim Ferriss’s How To Build A High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself presentation from WordCamp.

The full 50 minute presentation is available at the end of my notes.

(Timestamps on the left are approximate.)

3:20 – Use blogging for access to people / resources. Not necessarily income.

3:45 – “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” Mark Twain

6:15 – Measure the things that matter. You can spend all day testing and tracking every little thing on your blog but spend most or all of your time tracking what will benefit you the most. This has to be in line with your own goals for your blog.

7:00 – Best times to post to the blog: 10 am EST and 6 PM EST. (In the video Tim says 7 am PST and 6 PM EST.)

Best days to post: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday

8:20 – Changing Category to Topic improved click activity / average page views per visit.

9:20 – Current Hits on his upper right sidebar changes every 30 days. If you put all the focus on All Time Hits then it’s self perpetuating. They will always get clicked, and always have more visitors. Top posts in past 30 days gives you a better shot at spreading the page view love.

10:00 – Removed Twitter link from upper right hand because working hard to get a visitor and then sending them away from your blog isn’t a good idea.

10:40 – 7 Reasons To Subscribe (to RSS) link is on upper right. Tim says RSS subscribers are fickle and not optimal if your blog’s goal is advertising revenue.

11:20 – RSS subscriptions are becoming less relevant with microblogging tools like Twitter. (This confused me a little because on the one hand he’s promoting RSS over Twitter, and on the other he’s saying Twitter is better than RSS. Disclosure: Tim is a Twitter investor.)

12:00 – Clicks on Top Nav: 1) Gear (page is empty, he put it there as a test) 2) Resources and 3) Forum Note: Tim tracks with CrazyEgg.com for heatmaps; Google Analytics and WordPress Stats also

12:15 – The date is missing from the top of old posts. Posts on home page have the date at the top, but single post pages have date at the bottom. Dramatically improved visitor’s time on site.

13:00 – Test against convention. In other words, if everybody else is doing something one way, test doing it a completely different way and see what happens. Completely useless if you’re not using stats programs to actually track.

14:33 – How I Research: Twitter, Slinkset, Evernote

15:40 – Twitter for polling and quick research. That research is then shared for the benefit of followers. Also uses Twitter as a sort of personal diary.

16:00 – Evernote is used for saving thoughts, ideas, drafts. You can copy text / images to Evernote.

17:00 – How I Write

17:40 – Tucker Max (from TuckerMax.com): “Important thing is not being a good writer, but having a voice.” Tim: communicate your personality to the written word. This probably won’t happen right away and Tim says his writing has gone through a few phases before finally settling into his real personality.

18:16 – Passion beats polling and focus groups. Mark Cuban (blogmaverick.com, owner of Dallas Mavs): “Don’t write about what your readers tell you to write about. Write about what you’re passionate about.” Tim says that when he’s followed what people have wanted him to write about the results were always subpar.

19:00 – Po Bronson (author): “When you’re blocked write about what makes you angry.” Tim: “Caveat: don’t attack other people.” Attack the problem, not the person.

19:40 – Biorhythms: measure output. Tim does his best writing from 1 am – 5 am. Collects data during the day and writes at night.

20:30 – For important posts edit by hand. Type, print, edit. Remove 10-20% of post with each revision.

20:45 – Ignore SEO on 1st draft because it stifles writing quality/flow. Then edit by looking up synonyms in Google Keyword Tool. Sort by average monthly volume and use the highest traffic words. Use these words where relevant in your posts.

22:15 – Video/Photos: Time spent does not equal impact. Some of his videos that he spent lots of time on have gotten marginally less traffic than quick spur of the moment videos. His examples: Chocolate tasting vs Egg peeling vids. Egg peeling has ~2.5 million views, his biggest hit and least amount of time spent.

23:00 – No video only posts. Have value added text below the video. Text spreads quickly and sticks around (gets indexed).

23:50 – StumbleUpon: cheapest source of traffic and works well. (I feel like Tim is an investor in SU but he didn’t mention anything about that so I’m probably off base. That said, I’ve heard lots of people say nothing but good things about SU traffic.)

24:30 – Don’t chase news. Write evergreen topics that will stand the test of time.

24:50 – Where to get good photos. Flickr > advanced search > select creative commons > sort by most interesting

25:05 – Comments: The Living Room Method

26:15 – Your blog is like your house/living room. Keep it clean. Poor etiquette? You’re out. Tim utilized a zero-tolerance policy against negativity and attacks.

26:45 – Save good blog comments in Evernote. ~10% of comments should be good enough for future posts in their own right.

27:07 – Comment rules at top (end of post, before comments) and bottom (after comments) to encourage quality comments. Also to discourage using keywords and URLs in posts which looks like spam and will get deleted.

30:08 – Thing Big But Play Often. Take Fun Seriously!

30:40 – Listen to people who’ve done it. That is, if you want a successful blog take advice from people who have successful blogs.

Q&A section of presentation

34:52 – How Tim Manages Twitter

– Doesn’t use desktop app

– 10-15 minutes on @replies

– Follows a minimum of people. Currently ~140.

– Uses Greasemonkey script to view multiple pages at the same time. i.e. no need to click at the bottom of twitter to get more posts.

– Open each link in a new window because when you click home Twitter takes you back to the top of the home.

– Go into Twitter with a specific purpose.

– If you’re wasting time but you’re having fun you’re not wasting time. That doesn’t mean you’re being productive though.

39:00 – Brand blog in broad terms so you can write about multiple topics. Tim’s blog isn’t just about the Four Hour Workweek even though that’s the domain. He branded it as Experiments in Lifestyle Design.

Watch the full presentation:
https://videopress.com/v/cbG17WXi

Check out Tim’s blog post about this presentation here.

What Did I Miss?

I think I got all the good stuff out of the presentation above, but if I missed anything let me know.

And if you’ve built a high traffic blog of your own has Tim missed anything you feel is important?