Are you a Fangbanger?

A fangbanger is a human that has sex with a vampire and lets them feed off of them. I recently pulled a marathon session and watched the first season of HBO's True Bloodjust to see what all the hype was about (the series is based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series.)Don't get me wrong: it was good, but it wasn't "can't miss TV" good. Its full of gratuitous nudity, clever puns (vampire rights movement in the South?), and interesting flawed characters (Tara, Lafayette, and Jason), but the writing seems a bit hokie and forced at times (Sookie makes me cringe with her "can't we all just get along" attitude). Does anyone else laugh when their fangs pop out like switchblades? I've liked vampires since Lost Boys and Fright Night, but I think I'm more of a zombie fan.

I Will Teach You to be Rich by Ramit Sethi

I try to read as much about personal finance as possible - call it a weird hobby. I became interested in the topic when I was $50,000 in debt ($25K credit card debt and $25K student loan debt). Back then, I was eating out all the time, buying things I didn't need (pool table, candles from the Yankee Candle Company, etc.), and I was in a rush to have my own apartment after graduating from college (new furniture and groceries add up when your APR is 16.9%). After educating myself, playing the transfer balance game properly, and after a lot of sacrificing, I was about to get out of debt in 5 years.

I recently read I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi and it was one of the best Personal Finance books I have ever read. Ramit Sethi is the co-founder of PBwiki and has a blog by the same name as his book www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com Although I didn't learn anything (I'm a self proclaimed expert on debt and budgeting), its a great intro book for those new to the topic, people in debt who realize its time to get out, and college students who recently graduated. The book is easy to read (no boring financial jargon), the author has a sense of humor, and he does not talk down to the reader. Here are a few of the topics covered in the book:

• Actual scripts that you can use with your credit card company to negotiate a lower APR or your bank to waive overdraft fees (this alone will more than pay for the price of the book in minutes)
  
• Opening up an online savings account through ING Direct or HSBC (no maintenance fees, the highest interest rates, and you can set up automatic savings)
• Automating your financial life: automatic bill paying and setting up savings plans for vacations, your wedding, and Christmas
  
• Taking advantage of your employer's 401K plan and how/when to set up a Roth IRA
• Picking the right credit card reward program
  

Swine Flu = 28 Days Later?

Whenever 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, I Am Legend, or any of the Resident Evil movies are on cable, I stop everything I'm doing and watch. I don't know why I like the post apocalyptic genre so much - maybe its the same reason I like camping (the whole survival element). I've read Stephen King's The Stand and Cormac McCathy's The Road - both were a bit overrated, but they did provide a "How To" manual on surviving and human nature's true colors.

If you turn on the news or cnn.com, the latest health scare is Swine Flu. Before that it was Salmonella (peanuts), E. Coli (green onions), Avian Flu, SARS, Anthrax, and Mad Cow. What is Swine Flu you ask? It's a contagious respiratory disease that affects pigs and is now affecting humans. People are in a frenzied panic because it has killed hundreds of young adults in Mexico and has been found in Canada, Spain, and the U.S. (20 new cases were already found in New York City). What makes the virus so scary is that it keeps mutating, making it harder to have a vaccine for. So what should you do? Lock yourself up in a mall with other survivors, build a fortified bus, and try to find a secluded island. If that doesn't work, stock up on supplies, find yourself a German Shephard named Sam, and make sure to be home before sundown when the infected come out. Or you could wake up from a coma, find other survivors, get to a military outpost, and wait to be rescued.

Top 5 Favorite Books

Here is a list of my Top 5 Favorite Books. My book tastes are all over the place - from finance/business self help (Timothy Ferriss, Suze Orman, Napoleon Hill, Millionaire Mind) to fantasy (Harry Potter series) to mysteries (Dennis Lehane, Agatha Christie).

1) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini: is the best book I have ever read. I was a bit skeptical before I read it. I figured: what would I have in common with a story about 2 boys growing up in Afghanistan? The book provides a historical perspective of Afghanistan before and after Taliban rule and examines the spectrum of human nature (unconditional love, loyalty, fear, cruelty, self preservation). It has a little bit for everyone: history, romance, and a story with enough twists that make it hard to put down.

2) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown: the book is well worth all of the hype it received. Before I read it, I read all of his other stuff first (Angels and Demons is actually the first book in the Robert Langdon series). The book opens up with a murder and follows Langdon (a famous symbologist) as he tries to unravel the mystery through religious cover-ups and secret societies. You know a book is great when it has an impact on people's religious beliefs by mixing fact and fiction. It is an "edge of your seat" thriller which keeps you hanging on each chapter.

3) The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene: this book is cut from the same cloth as Sun Tzu's Art of War and Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince. It is a how to guide (of sorts) on how to be successful in life by using historical examples. The first 3 laws in the book: Never Outshine the Master, Never Put Too Much Trust in Friends & Learn How to Use Enemies, and Conceal your Intentions. Its a cynical book, but it has some pretty good life applications.

4) The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss: Neil Strauss (Rolling Stone writer and author) follows and lives with a pick-up artist (Mystery) to learn the "art of picking women up". The book discusses Mystery's Method of picking up women: I.O.I.'s (Indicators of Interest), DHV (Demonstrations of Higher Value), befriending men within a group of women (so everyone lowers their guard), and using Negs (back handed compliments to break the ice). Mystery later got a reality show on VH-1 called The Pickup Artist where he teaches socially awkward guys to pick up women.

5) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon: I read this book (along with Life of Pi) because Amazon suggested it as a book purchased by people who also purchased Kite Runner. The book is a mystery written from the point of view of an autistic teenager. The author conveys how it is to be autistic (missing social nuances, taking things literally, allowing colors to determine his mood, and preferring not to be touched) without being autistic himself. Its entertaining, insightful, and a quick read.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

I just finished Malcolm Gladwell's latest book Outliers: The Story of Successand it's his best one so far (I wasn't overly impressed by The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference or Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking). The book analyzes why some people succeed and how success is more than just intelligence and hard work. It discusses the similarities of Bill Gates and The Beatles, explains why the majority of professional hockey players were born in January, why Asians exceed in Math, the difference between "practical intelligence" vs "analytical intelligence", and the 10,000 Hour Rule (to become an expert at something, you have to do it for 10,000 hours). The book seemed to digress at the midpoint (I don't know why he dedicated 47 pages to the "Ethnic Theory of Place Crashes"), but it tied everything together at the end by applying the theories of success to the author's family history.

The Big Idea

I just finished reading Greg Holden's Starting an Online Business For Dummies. It had some helpful tips discussing Search Engine Optimization (SEO), merchant accounts, using different means to promote your business (blogs, Yahoo! Groups, eBay Store, website), and generating revenue through Google AdSense & Amazon's Affiliate Program. The question is now....what should I do? I'm pretty proficient on eBay (547 stars to date), but I'm more of an opportunistic seller. I sell things that are in the news (Yankee Stadium's Final Season memorabilia), laying around my house, or things that I get for free. My problem has always been finding the perfect item(s) to focus on that are easy to ship, have a good profit margin, and are in demand. What am I interested in? Sports, traveling, food, and trying new things. The question is - how can I turn that into a business?

Wakeup Call

Overall, I had a pretty good summer. I was out of the office 1-2 days a week playing golf, traveling (Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Philadelphia) , and getting back to my love of reading. I read Tim Ferriss' The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Richand I couldn't help but think - why can't I do that? For those that have not read his book, he promotes taking "mini-retirements", delegating/outsourcing work, telecommuting, and taking the necessary steps to escape the 9 to 5 life. I'm not doing the book any justice with the brief description, but it is thought provoking (in a simple common sense kind of way). So I figured....I'm 30 years old, single, make pretty good money, have no debt, and its time to make a move. I have 13 vacation days left so I'm taking the majority of Fridays off from now until December and a week off in November. Right now I'm digesting books and trying to come up with the right business plan. I started this blog to get help from other entrepreneurs and to inspire others with my journey. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the trip.