DaveBarousse.com

While going through my RSS reader, I ran across a link on a blog I’m subscribed to that directed me to an article by Jennifer Lynn, author of Broke-AssStudent.com, that talks about why she blogs. In the article, Jennifer explains that she was “tagged” to discuss this topic by another blogger and has also tagged several other bloggers to do the same. There are also links to the bloggers that Jennifer tagged.

As I read through each tagged blogger’s posts about why they blog, including Broke-Ass Student, I noticed that everyone mentioned one reason that they blog is because they are interested in sharing what they learn with others. It seems that having an open platform to communicate thoughts and ideas to the masses at any give time is enough to make some people spend countless hours writing articles about those exact thoughts and ideas. I’m not sure I’m willing to make that investment.

In a comment left on my post declaring that the daily food intake log is dead, Eric from Risingspiral.com pointed out that I need to figure out who I’m blogging for, which is an interesting twist to the question, “why do I blog.” I totally agree with Eric, but I think I can say that I don’t want to spend time blogging for myself only. I’m already getting excited about my RSS feed subscriber count that just reached double digits.

I have been publishing content on the web for several years, but all of that content was focused in one area that I’m not really excited about much anymore. Since removing myself from that environment, this is my first attempt to create content that can be about whatever I want. I find that intriguing, but is that really the best way to spend my time?

My number one goal in my life right now is to make as much money as I possibly can. Some may not agree with that, but whatever floats your boat. Will blogging play a part in achieving that goal? Possibly, but it would take a lot of work. Reading some articles on Stevepavlina.com, such as How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog) and How to Make Money From Your Blog sure do give me hope that it can. So does this article by ConversionRater.com.

Regardless if this blog plays a part in my financial goals or not, I have a lot of work ahead of me. And if I want this blog to play a part in those goals, I need to plan for it. Once that happens, this blog may finally have a purpose. Until then, I hope I don’t get tagged because I really don’t know why I currently blog. And on that note, my blog is still about nothing.

Worlds colliding!

I’ve been reading Johnchow.com for some time now and always enjoy the topics that he writes about. He has openly talked about his efforts to monetize his blog and the technics that he uses to do so. When reading such posts, I often thought about introducing John to a product I was heavily involved in developing at my job called RMX Direct, but the timing was never right. Until now.

Recently, our business development team for RMX Direct purchased a review of RMX Direct by John Chow. I personally think that a lot of his readers, who are small publishers and bloggers, will benefit from this review as the product can and will increase their advertising revenue.

I think RMX Direct is an awesome product, despite my biased opinion. I have been a small web publisher for several years and have always wanted a product like RMX Direct to manage the advertising on my sites. Luckily I had the opportunity to build it, along with all the smart and talented members of the RMX Direct Team. It was a lot of fun building the product and is now even more fun watching it put more cash in the hands of the publishers.

Thanks for the review John!

My main reason for doing the daily food intake log was to get in the habit of making post to my blog on a daily basis. I thought that would be an easy topic for me to write about and would help me in my quest to shed a few pounds. After making a few posts about my daily food intake and reading this article on Michael Masterson’s Blog, I now realize how boring the content really is. Other than me, who cares?

Unless I am Brittney Spears or Paris Hilton , why would anyone else care about what I had to eat? This actually brings me to my biggest roadblock in blogging and that is, does anyone really care about what I have to say? I read a ton of blogs, so I guess the answer is, Yes they will. The trick is to find an interesting topic that motivates me to make frequent posts, but is also interesting enough for others to read. After all, my whole reason for blogging is to share my thoughts and ideas on topics that others are interested in, not just publish a bunch of content that is worthless and only means something to me.

Another blogging roadblock that I have is giving my ideas and thoughts on subjects that I’m not an expert in. If I’m not an expert in a field, do people really care what I have to say or what I think about it? Again, I look to my own experience and I have quite a few blogs that I subscribe to that I read on a daily basis about a particular subject and the authors openly admit they are not experts. However, I read what they have to say anyway and some times, I even take their advice.

Until I get over my blogging hurdles and decide if blogging is really for me, I’ll probably experiment with some different things. I also need to make post more frequently, even if it is just a quick thought.

This blog is actually turning into a blog about nothing more than what the blog should be about. Was that confusing? Probably.

If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment. Maybe I’ll take Masterson’s advice and purchase the book, No One Cares What You Had for Lunch: 100 Ideas for Your Blog.

I knew I was going to have a hard time today following up my most healthy eating day in quite a long time. On Thursdays, I mentor at a local middle school. A few of my friends at work are also mentors, so we usually all go out to lunch on our way to the school. We also celebrated a friend’s birthday at work today and cake was involved.

Food Intake

• 3 Scrambled eggs with ham

• 1 slice of bread with natural peanut butter
• Salad
• 3 small slices of pizza
• 1/2 slice of chocolate cake
• Hand full of soy nuts
• Piece of cheese
• Bowl of homemade beef/vegetable stew
• 4 cups of coffee

Exercise

• 1 Hour of shooting hoops at the gym with Cam

• 1 additional hour of a pickup volleyball game

It was a total coincidence, but after my first food intake post yesterday, I had my most healthy eating day today in probably over a year. Today was the first time that I can remember, in quite a long time, that I did not eat a meal in a restaurant. I know that sounds horrible, but it is true. So I’m proud to say that today my breakfast, lunch and dinner were all composed of food purchased at the grocery store and not at a restaurant.

Food Intake

• Bowl of oatmeal

• 2 ham sandwiches with swiss cheese (no mayo)
• Salad
• 1 bowl of homemade beef stew (left overs from last night)
• Hand full of soy nuts
• 4 cups of coffee

Exercise

• Full body circuit weight work out (more on this work out to come)

Reinvented An Old Idea

ING Direct USA, a subsidiary of ING Group, opened their electronic doors in September 2005. The goal, re-create the banking industry so that the customer is the winner. The idea, use the Internet to eliminate brick-and-morter branches in order to reduce overhead, cut cost and pass those savings on to their customers. With the “bad boy of banking”, CEO Arkadi Kulhmann at the helm, ING Direct was on a mission to challenge the practices of the entire banking industry. Some may argue that online savings accounts are becoming a commodity, but ING Direct is still a good story.

I really like it when inefficiencies in an industry are reformed by motivated, foreword thinking, individuals that are truly passionate about what they are trying to do. Most of the time, only good things come out of that situation and more often than not, the customer is the winner. I luckily get to see this happen every day at my job.

Easy Sign Up

When I signed up for my ING Direct Orange Savings account, I was really surprised at how quickly I was able to set up the account and fund it. It was really as simple as picking the product, supplying some personal information and then supplying my bank account information. Within a matter of minutes, I had a savings account open with a transfer scheduled with my bank to move some money into the new account.

The only confusion I had when opening my Orange Savings account was adding my wife as a joint holder. Before opening the account, I did some research and learned that ING Direct’s security is pretty strong when dealing with them on the phone. Because of that, I wanted to put my wife on the account in case something happens to me and she needs to access the money and can’t transfer it online for some reason.

No Fees, No Minimums

As I previously mentioned, ING Direct does not have physical branches. They don’t have commercial bankers with high salaries and currently don’t even have ATM’s. However, one thing that ING Direct does not have, that most banks do, is a fee attached to your savings account. You can move money to and from your Orange savings account with no service charges. You can also set up automatic drafts from your checking account to enforce an automatic savings plan, all free of charge.

Most savings account require a minimum deposit to get started. Some will even base the rate of return on the amount of the initial deposit. ING Direct does not require a minimum deposit and can be opened with any amount of money. What I like about this is that people can start earning a return on their money immediately, without having to save additional funds before getting started. Of course, you can’t expect to make a boat load of money from a $10.00 deposit, but you can essentially start implementing your savings plan with the money you would normally spend on an average dinner at a restaurant. Getting started is always the hardest part for most, so making it easy was a great move.

High Rates Of Return

ING Direct is currently offering a 4.50% Annual Percentage Yield on their Orange Savings Account. They have actually been catching some heat lately due to their rate coming in below some of the other online banks, such as E-Trade. However, ING Direct is committed to giving their customers some of the best rates in the industry, so I would imagine that they will be raising their rate to compete.

Naturally, most will want to get the highest possible rate of return on their money, but if chasing the highest rate can actually cost you money in the long run. If you are considering ING Direct, but are more attracted to the higher rates currently being offered by others, my suggestion would be to compare a few other details, such as support, to see who can actually provide you with the best value.

Focus On Saving Money

One thing I really like about ING Direct is their focus on saving money. With their simple, easy to use, product offerings and blunt catch phrase (”Save Your Money”), it is obvious that ING Direct is trying to lead Americans back to savings. Where most institutions encourage spending, you’ll notice that all of ING Direct’s products are focused on saving money. ING Direct does offer a Mortgage and Home Equity product, which can be interpreted as “spending”, but they completely avoided offering credit card and brokerage accounts. The idea is to not offer customers anything that can potentially make them lose money.

I think it is great that ING Direct encourages customers to save their money. Of course, it is in their best interest and is good for business, but their commitment to doing so feels very sincere and genuine to me.

Interesting Side Notes

Another interesting thing about ING Direct is that they prefer to have thousands of customers depositing small amounts of money rather than a few whales who bring in millions at a time. The reason is because those types of customers expect too much and actually cost more to maintain. They feel that since they have large amounts of money on deposit, they should get special treatment. I can’t say that I don’t agree with them, however, it is interesting that ING Direct prefers to deal with the small guys.

If you want an easy way to put some money to work for you, so that you don’t have to work as hard, ING Direct is definitely an option worth considering. You’ll be able to sleep better at night knowing that the money in your FDIC-insured Orange Savings Account is working hard and is not subject to a drastic market change that can take money out of your pocket over night.

Save your money.

As part of my personal development process, one of my top priorities is my health. I am in no way perfect or freakish about living a healthy lifestyle and it definitely shows in the few extra pounds that I’ve been carrying around lately. One way to start identifying where your diet is breaking down or areas that you can improve your diet is to log your daily food intake.

My reason for wanting to log my daily food intake is two fold. Most importantly, I’d like to see what I’m eating and how often I eat items that are contributing to my unwanted poundage. The other reason is to get me in the habit of posting to my blog on a daily basis, even if it is just something quick. I’d also imagine that discussing the food that I eat will lead to other stories surrounding food because my wife and I like to eat out quite a bit.

Another thing about me and my daily consumption is that I like to drink coffee. I am borderline abusive with the amount of coffee that I drink, so it will be difficult to track the actual number of cups that I consume. However, I will try to give at least a good estimate.

Although I think it is a really cool idea, I am not participating in Jason Calacanis’ Fatblogger program. I’m kind of doing my own version at this point, but may participate in the program if my method doesn’t work out as planned. I don’t really consider myself fat, however, I do need to lose a few pounds.

Game Plan

My plan is to list the food that I’ve consumed throughout the day. I will also list any exercise that I did and the amount of time that it took. I may play with the format a bit until I find something that I like.

I’m embarrassed to list my intake for today, but there’s no better way to start this off then with a day like I had today. I woke up early and had a larger than usual breakfast. I had a miscommunication on lunch plans and ate a sandwich prior to going out to lunch. Finally, today was also a good friend’s birthday that lead to watching a movie and eating birthday cake. Like I said, today was actually a good day to kick this off.

Food Intake 02-20-2007

• Scrambled eggs with ham
• 1 slice multi-grain bread with natural peanut butter
• 1 ham sandwich with slice of swiss cheese (no mayo)
• Terriaky Chicken, rice and cucumbers
• 1 bowl of homemade beef stew
• Salad
• 1 slice multi-grain bread
• Small popcorn
• Medium soda
• 1 slice chocolate cake
• 4 cups of coffee

Exercise

• 45 minutes of shooting hoops at the gym

I have always been an advocate of self improvement. If there is anything I have total control of in this world, it is my ability to maintain my health, be a good husband, be a good friend, increase my knowledge and increase my wealth. These things are all very important to me and require my constant attention, but all come with great rewards.

One of the greatest rewards is in the lessons that I learn along the way. Mainly that is because I generally learn something new and I also really enjoy sharing the experiences with those who I am close to. That brings me to the reason for this post, and ultimately, the reason for this blog. I’d like to broaden the audience that I share my experiences with and I’d also like to use this blog as a mechanism to track my progress.

The topics that I plan to cover on DaveBarousse.com will include, but are not limited to, my plans, lessons and experiences that I encounter while working towards achieving my goals. The majority of my post will be focused in areas of:

• Staying Healthy
• Becoming Wealthy
• Increasing My Knowledge
• Positive Thinking
• Relationships

My inspiration comes from an array of different sources, but mostly from friends and co-workers, as well as other bloggers that I have been following over the years. In fact, it was a post from blogger John Chow of Johnchow.com that motivated me enough to finally get this blog off the ground. In his post, Someday Never Comes, John talks about putting a time limit on your goals to truly make them a “goal.” He points out that without a time limit, a goal is just a dream. Putting a time limit on a goal forces you to take action.

That concept may be hard for some of us because it could mean that there is a chance that we will fail at reaching our goal within the time limit that we set. The good news is that it is OK to fail. If we fail, don’t be regretful, just continue moving forward, learning from our mistakes.

One of my first goals with this blog is to figure out the frequency of my posting. I plan on posting short status updates on a daily basis. You can also expect a few post per week that will be more in depth.

So site back and relax, the show is just getting started.

Only a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita ripped through Louisiana, my wife and I moved to Oregon. After driving 2600 miles from Louisiana to Oregon with my wife and our two Boxers in a fairly new F150 Super Cab, I thought it would be nice to get a small SUV to give us more interior room. My thought was that we would have family and friends visiting and it would be nice to be able to carry items in an enclosed area. Soon after making the deal on the SUV, I realized that it was a mistake and I really missed my truck. Finally, after having the SUV for a little over a year, I decided I’ve had enough and got another truck.

This time I went with the Crew Cab to give us more interior room. I also wanted a 4 wheel drive. I didn’t need 4 wheel drive back in Louisiana, but it sure is handy to have in Oregon, especially when driving up to the mountains for some snowboarding.

This is a horrible picture, but here is my new Ford F150 4×4:

I’ve been having this desire to start a blog, but I could never figure out a subject I wanted to focus the blog on. I still haven’t made a decision yet, but I at least wanted to take a step in the right direction and get started on it.

This is my first post…enjoy!