Affiliate Marketing

• I’d like to win a contest… nope. The merchants that I work with don’t hold these types of contests. It seems contests are only held by CPA networks these days (you know, the guys with the exclusive offers and highest payouts) and I don’t do much work with them. I either need to drop this goal, or start working with those CPA networks.
• Attend Affiliate Summit East in Boston – done!

Fitness

• 11% body fat, or lower – done! But I’m sure I’m over that now. Maintaining 11% isn’t easy.

Finance

• Max out savings accounts – not yet. I still have time to fund mine, but I didn’t get anywhere on Laura’s or the kids’.

Other

• Watch less TV. Nope – in fact, I probably watch more now. I lessened the impact of TV by putting one in my office, so I can have it on while I’m working. Some people listen to music, I watch (listen to) TV. One result of this has been that I stopped watching Heros – I couldn’t spend an hour reading all that Japanese translations. To make things worse, I installed FIOS recently and now have like 85 movie channels for the next couple of months.

In all, 2008 was a good year. I joined the Black Ink Project back in April, followed the directions line-by-line, and in August my website. Back then the Black Ink Project was free, but today they’re charging $97 to join. Believe me, it’s worth it. In fact, my first 3 days of having my site launched, I made exactly $97 ($32.34, $13.64, $51.02). Since then, it’s done much better, even giving me a day with $1,000 in revenue! I’ll be continuing what I learned from the Black Ink Project as I expand my affiliate marketing websites in 2009.

I’m currently working on my 2009 Goals & Resolutions and will hopefully post that from my new laptop on Jan-1.

I was really happy with my time, and looked over my results from the past 6 years:

2008 was 2 seconds slower than my best time of 41:36 (in 2006). Like we’ve done the past few years, we started at my house, ran to the starting line, ran the race, caught the bus back to the Big Lots plaza at Hertel, then ran home. The long downhill at mile 4 was much appreciated and even though the starting line was mobbed, I still finished the first mile in 8:04 (which worried me, because that was faster than I wanted to do it in). My last mile was 8:06, so I managed to somehow find the energy to finish strong.

This year, we relaxed by laying in the hot tub for a bit. I wish I was able to do the Reindeer Run next weekend, but I’ve already got a few things going on that day. I’ll have to look for other runs to do but today, I need to get ready to turn the Christmas lights on at 7pm!

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So we did 4.56 miles at a 9:22 pace, and only hit ice once.

Today I was measured at 11% body fat!

I lost another .25 lbs of fat, and added 1.5 lbs of muscle. I think the VO2 Max Study I was in helped, as well as all that running. Now I just want to maintain this level, maybe lifting heavier, which I’ve been slowly doing.

I once again ran before my plyometrics class today, which means I was up at 4:30, out of the house (after eating a piece of toast w/ PB and a 1/2 cup of coffee) a little after 5. From 5:15 to about 5:50 we ran, then 6 to 7 had class. Our class was a bit hard for me today, which I think was because I ran a little faster than last time.

Father’s Day this weekend throws things off a bit, so I don’t know what I’ll get done. With rain expected for Saturday, looks like there’s no use in getting up early. Maybe I can run Sunday morning, before anyone wakes up.

I’m really looking forward to getting to bed early tonight, though!

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The run was a bit of a faster pace than last week when I ran before class (and realized about 1-1/4 miles in that I never started my watch, so I have no data from that run) so I was pretty tired. There were threatening clouds the entire time out, but I only felt a few drops of rain. However, leaving the Aquatic Center after class I could see it rained pretty good (still not enough to register on the weather station, though).

My next weigh-in is supposed to be June 15th, but because of timing, I think it’s going to be the 18th. That means I have 2 more weeks to really watch what I eat and take advantage of these double-sessions.

If anyone wants to join me, it looks like my next run will be Friday morning at 5:15 (I don’t like running in the rain).

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Now it was nice burning an extra 435 calories, but I was a mess during class. Maybe I’ll carry my hand towel with me next time. Look at that, I’m already talking about next time. I didn’t like it, but the extra calories burned make it worth it.

Last time I was there you’d have to tie in each time, get it inspected, and your belayer would have to actually work to keep you up. Now you just quickly clip in and the belayer has a safety latch to keep you from falling to your death (or, at least from getting hurt). That gave us a lot more time to climb, instead of goofing around w/ strapping in.

I wasn’t too fond of being up so high – I have to get over that. There were a couple climbs I just couldn’t do because of the lack of places to grab onto. But, overall, I was quite happy w/ how I did. Jason was a maniac, flying up the walls (and sometimes flying off of them!).

Both Jason and Laura want to go back, and since it’s pretty cheap ($10 all day pass, $2 harness rental) I’m sure we’ll be going back soon.

I’ve trained with Jim for a little over a year now. When I first started with him, my form was horrible and I struggled with everything I did. Today, my form is better (not perfect) and I’m able to lift with more confidence.

The point I’m getting at is over the past year, not only have Jim and I worked together, but the group I now workout with has formed tight bonds. We get together regularly (rock climbing later this month; and a fellow gymrat is coming over Thursday night w/ his wife & daughter) and workout together on the days we don’t have class. So while we may be losing our trainer, the group will continue to be strong.

I’ve had workout partners before, but they only last a few months at most. But having a team that works together (there’s 14 of us in the class – when we get together, at least 8 of us show up), losing 1 member, even our trainer, won’t break us up. We may lose some people, but others will come in (one has signed up for the next session, after being absent from class for many months now).

Change is a part of life; you can deny it and be left behind, or embrace the change and continue moving forward.

It sounds bad when I say I drink about 12 cups a day, but those are CUPS, not mugs. A mug is at least 2 cups. But lately, I’ve been having terrible headaches, which may be due to not enough water. It’s not a caffeine headache – I know those all too well. This is far worse. One hit me last night, which pretty much laid me out from 6 last night ’til 7 this morning. Feels like someone hit me in the side of the head with a hammer.

So now I’m trying to drink a full glass of water everytime I refresh my coffee, or before a meal. If not, I guess I’ll go to the doctor, which is really just a waste of time & money, as my primary doctor will send me for some tests, which will come back OK and I’ll never hear from him again with other suggestions.

Completely unrelated, I finished my wingates this week which were 6, 30-second sprints. Next week is 7, then the following week down to 4! I can’t wait to go down to 4!!!