The Godfather
Last night I found a new find. This happens from time to time. Usually, it's wine... Or something along those lines... BUT, this time... It's not wine.
Okay, so, right now I'm finishing up what's left of my Oregon Chai (http://www.oregonchai.com). Why? Well, I'd previously been using it to combine with iced cold brew from Whole Foo... And a little milk in it too.
Why did I not buy more cold brew from the Whole Foo like I was planning too this evening?
I found something else...
Gasp! No!
Yes.
What is it? You ask?
It's called... The Godfather.
Sorry, that's supposed to be said in like... You know, a Godfathery type of voice.
"It's called... The Gawdfawthah."
There, that's better.
So what is this drink? It's... ready?
It's a mix of... Chai Tea, Espresso, bold espresso at that, and Cacao.
Oh, it's good.
http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/black/godfather-tea-latte-concentrate
It's from Celestial Seasonings. They make that Sleepy Time tea. You know, the one with the bear on it.
http://www.celestialseasonings.com/products/herbal/sleepytime-classic
Anyways... I'm a fan. It's a little bit on the sugary side I'll admit. SO, I probably won't have it too often. But combine it with a little bit of milk, or whatever dairy type drink that you prefer, and... It's one sweet treat!
The Monkey And The Elephant
Last night after yoga I went to Conshy Brewing, but instead of the location located in Conshy, I went to the one in Bridgeport.
Oh man. It's quite rad. I mean, it's open, and spacious, and dope and bodacious..
True story.
I had a beer, AND, a half priced burger. Because I know where to find ALL the deals.
So what does this have to do with monkeys and elephants you ask?
Good question. I'm getting to that.
So, the reason why I went to the Conshy brewing in Bridgeport is because one of the peoples I do yoga with is a bartender person at that location. So, I went on a suggestion.
I definitely will be going back to write there. It's like, the perfect bar to write at. Speaking of places to write...
See, I TOLD you I was getting to my point...
Anyways, speaking of writing, I did not write last night, I only read and ate my burger and drank my beer.
But, I was looking up more coffeeshops spots and found that there is this one coffeeshop in the city named...
The Monkey and The Elephant.
So what's the big deal?
This coffeeshop is different. It's really a non-profit that helps those who have aged out of the foster child program.
So, there's a whole lot of information on their site about it...
http://www.themonkeyandtheelephant.org
That's the main site, but if you click on http://www.themonkeyandtheelephant.org/program/ you can get more information about the issue at hand.
It's a big problem though.
I mean, I can't imagine just all of a sudden being out in the world without any kind of family backing. The thing is... Like sure, my mom is no longer there to help me and I can't ask her things and what not... But even still, she left me with quite a bit that will be around for the rest of my life for sure.
You can be pretty much guaranteed that foster children don't have trust funds. So not only do they not have someone to ask for advice, or just talk to, or have as a mentor like people that have parents do... They can't just ask mom and dad for a car, or help with student loans, or help with a downpayment for a house...
There's nothing there for them to lean back on.
A lot of us don't realize just how much that makes a difference in your life. A lot of us lean on family members and friends and we don't even know how much we do.
Parents, brothers, sisters, extended family, even a significant other...
I mean remove any one, or all of those people and how would that change your life? Something to think about.
What if you didn't have your parents, or a brother or sister, or your significant other... How would that change your life? What if you'd never met that person, or never had that person in your life ever? How would your life be different?
Again, something to think about.
Anyways, I just was like... Wow! That is a cool idea. I mean anyone can simply choose to be all like, oh well.. Sucks to be you! But the person who started this coffeeshop decided to reach out and help and I think that's pretty cool.
So, anyways, I'm definitely going to check it out and grab a cup of coffee there for sure!
Because who doesn't love drinking coffee for a good cause. That's like a double win.
‘feine
Today I went to a new coffeeshop... the name of the place is 'feine.
It's a super cool little place. I love it! Okay, so it's not my list of places I plan to go to... But it's still a neat little place. I'd never been, but had been meaning to go for some time, and it was close to the yoga place.
So, the coffee is REALLY good. I'll say that. Second off... The seating is really neat too. They have these old tables that are scattered about between two rooms behind where the coffee bar is. So, it's almost like it used to be someone's apartment or house, and you walk into the living room, and then order, and then walk into the second room where you can sit, or you can continue back and sit in the tucked away second back room.
It's just neat because each time you go, you can alternate between rooms and have a different experience.
Trust me, when you go to coffee shops over and over again, sometimes having just one room makes things a little dull. That's why it's good if you have a second room, or an upstairs or something. Then you can change things up and go up or downstairs depending on the mood. Or you can sit right up front or in the way back room if you want more or less action happening.
I sat in the first room.
The thing i like though is there are lots of spaces to sit. Some coffee places are like... You ask where to sit and they point to some bench that isn't really a bench it's like a stool in the shape of a bench and it's up against a window and you have half a foot of table space that isn't really a table but some kind of strange shelf or something.
And you're like... Umm... okay.
And they just shrug and help the next customer.
Those are really the places though where it's meant to be a stop in and grab a to-go cup before betting back to work.
I like the nice little sit down place good for cold and snowy or rainy days. Lots of tables, wifi, bathrooms, a fireplace.... You know. All the coffeeshop amenities.
An upstairs door that leads to another world... That type of stuff.
So, this place has it all. Well, it doesn't have the door that leads to another world, but I mean... Besides that, it's got it all.
Switching It Up
So, generally, most of the last few years I've usually gone out late, maybe to a bar or something, to write. And then I've slept in. I think I'm going to try changing it up and just go to sleep early and then get up early on a Saturday or Sunday and hit up a coffee shop in the city.
I was trying to find some new places to write instead of bars, but noticed all the coffee shops closed at like 7 or 5 in the evening. But they open up at like 5 or 7am.
So, I guess the coffeeshops culture is that it's an early bird gets the worm type of deal.
I'm usually a night owl. But, there is some research that suggests early birds instead of night owls do tend to be more successful in life.
I feel as though it couldn't hurt to give it a go and try for an early Saturday or Sunday coffeeshop experience to start my day!
My plan is to try and check out as many of these coffeeshops from this article as I can in 2017....
http://philly.eater.com/maps/map-21-best-coffee-shops-cafes-philadelphia
We'll see what happens! I do like my sleeping in, I have to admit to that. Maybe if I got up, went to the gym, and then on to the coffeeshop. Might be a good way to stay motivated through the weekend instead of getting all lazy and loungey.
I mean as I type this, I'm in my PJs still. Although I'm about to get dressed and go out for a bit to help a friend with a computer issue that I just got a call about earlier today.
To be fair I was pretty productive today even in my PJs. I cleaned, and rearranged and sorted and worked on more final touches of this new song...
But, it still feels like I haven't accomplished much since I'm still not showered and dressed.
Anyways, so, maybe I'll try early birding it a bit this year instead of staying out late and sleeping in.
Okay Then
SO, my college girlfriend, who friended me on Facebook after my mom died decided to unfriend me today.
Why? She didn't like that she wasn't the one I fell in love with the most so far in life. She was upset that I status updated that I fell in love with this other girl...
But guess what? She's married, to another guy, and has a kid with him.
I'm just like... REALLY? Okay then.
I mean, at the time, I DID love her. But then I met this other girl... And then what I thought was love then... Was like amplified for this other girl.
But it's like, what do you care? You're married! You have a kid! I shouldn't even be a blink in your mind. I shouldn't even cross your mind! You HAVE a guy. I should be NOTHING to you. HE should be the one you care about.
But instead, she was commenting and liking my statuses left and right.
It's just stupid. I mean, YES, I DID love you at the time... But that was before I met someone else that just made me go, WHOA... WHAT IS THIS FEELING!?!?!
Yes, it didn't work out... and anyways she's all about this other guy as far as I know. So it doesn't matter anyways.
But the thing is you can't control what level of feelings turn on and off and for which person they turn on and off for. That's not something you can choose. You can't actively decide WHO to fall for. It's not a choice.
Anyways...
I mean, and who knows, maybe I'll meet yet another girl further down the road that will make me say that to the last girl that made me feel that way.
But it just kind of annoys me because not only is she married and has a kid... But she is offended that I wasn't like posting statuses about her being the love of my life.
That's just like... I mean, WHO CARES about me or what I think. I don't get that. She shouldn't even give a crap about me because she met someone else. That's how it's supposed to work. You give all your crap for him... Not me.
If she were still single, yes, I could understand that. But like what... Is she sitting there in the middle of the night reading my Facebook with her husband there beside her in bed? That's just creepy if you ask me. If I were married to a girl and she were sitting there commenting on her ex-boyfriend's status updates and then sending him a personal message about how she was upset that she wasn't the love of his life...
I'd just be like what the????!?!?!
Everyone only needs one person to be the love of there life. SO, once someone ties the knot, they shouldn't care if anyone they dated previously could care less about them. This isn't like... Collect as many loves as you can and get lots of people to tell you that you were the love of their life. That's not how it works. You find a love, and then no one else should matter. No one else you've ever dated or have been with should matter once you are with someone and it's so serious that you decided to get married.
That's how it works.
I mean, hey if you want to be friends with exes... That's fine, but if they then say that you aren't the person they fell in love with the hardest so far in life... You shouldn't be upset by that. You should just be like... Whatever, I don't care because I've got someone special. And then you turn to your significant other and kiss them and say.... "THIS is the love of my life, and I don't care about any of the loves I've been with previously or what their feelings for me were in any capacity."
That's how it works. Once you get someone special, anything you've previously been with can say pretty much anything about how they felt or think or even currently feel and you don't give a hoot because you're with someone that IS special.
And that's the only person who matters anymore.
The day I get married, I'll just be like THIS is the girl that matters most.
I won't be like... I hope I still matter to my ex... And then roll over and kiss the girl I'm currently with. That's just creepy.
Leave a Facebook comment on exes status, send personal Facebook message to ex... put phone down and go over to current love and kiss them.
Seriously. That's just creepy.
When you decide you don't want to be with someone... You're not allowed to still be offended if they aren't all like still in love with you.
That's how it works. But anyways she unfriended me so it doesn't matter.
I just hope whoever I marry doesn't kiss me right after she wishes her exe had loved her in college.
As she turns to me on the couch one night while we're watching TV and says to me, "I'm married to you... But I'm upset that my ex didn't think of me as the love of his life in college."
I'd just look at her and be like... "Umm...What?"
Buzzing All Night Long
This is my "to be continued" blog post. Okay. SO, last night I spoke of a tea/coffee concoction. My friend Andrew has decided to name it Cofftea. I think that works.
Now, I've experimented with several coffee and tea mixes. I've learned some DOs and DON'Ts. Obviously, using Earl Grey tea with coffee isn't a good idea. The citrus flavor just... It doesn't work. Trust me.
Actually, let me back up. So the idea in the first place came about because I tried making some tea in the coffee maker. I was Googling that... and I found that some people cut coffee with black tea to try and take down the caffeine content.
I found that to be interesting. Meanwhile, my tea in the coffee maker actually comes out pretty well. The key is to run some water though it between coffee and tea.
I tried black tea, green tea, some herbal teas. Not together, just in different batches. I drank some hot, and some I iced.
The reason actually for the tea in the coffee maker was that I bought some loose lipton tea in bulk and was going to make iced tea... I wanted to see if I could quickly make a lot of iced tea.
That answer is yes. You can take the bulk lipton just plain cheap black tea and then double the quantity of black tea leaves for whatever amount of water you are going to brew. This is a 12 cup that I have. So I could just fill up the coffee maker with tea leaves, brew a good amount, then let it cool down and then I have fresh home made iced tea.
Okay, back to my previous thing... So after some brewing and experimenting, I decided that a better way to do this would be to combine half iced coffee, and half iced tea, and not to brew them together.
Now, I start searching around online, and find that some people order that drink from Starbucks, half iced coffee cold brew and half iced tea.
I THOUGHT about going to Starbucks to order this, but decided instead I could try and just buy some cold brew, and some tea... and combine them.
So, I'm at the store and looking at options and I find this one drink that is a tea based drink. I then decided, what if I combined it with the cold brew that I like from another store.
I decided to combine the two, and it's pretty good. What are the two drinks you ask? Well, I actually combined 3 because I added some milk to it as well, but you can not do that, or you can add creamer instead of something...
Here are the two that I found that work well...
Whole Foods sells an in-store individually brewed 16 ounce cold brew. It's super strong. If you can't find it, there's various other cold brew 16 or 32 ounce bottles in most stores. Just use the one that is without anything else added... Just cold brew coffee. You can also make it yourself if you do that often.
Next up... I happened upon this drink from Odwalla the other night...
http://www.odwalla.com/products/proteins/chai-vanilla-protein
That's a chai black tea.
I combined the cold brew from Whole Foods with that drink, and a little bit of some milk...
It's REALLY good!
Obviously that drink is a protein drink, so you can just substitute it for any kind of ready made chai tea that you can find in the store if you're not into having that protein part.
Seriously though, feel free to experiment, but chai tea combined with cold brew coffee?
It's dangerous stuff because I drank it down SUPER fast. And you get MEGA amounts of caffeine obviously because you've got the coffee, and the tea...
It will seriously keep you up ALL night long.
Trust me.
I think I'm going to experiment combining different cold brews with difference iced chai teas. I might even head to Starbucks at some point in the near future and order a half cold brew and half iced chai "cofftea" and see what they say.
But, even if you go with JUST the Whole Foods ready made cold brew 16 ounce in store brew and the Odwalla Chai Vanilla protein drink... That alone is pretty tasty...
I guess it works for me because there's extra protein in it for my new weights thing, not that I'm really doing enough weights at the gym to warrant drinking a protein drink on the regular, but apparently protein is what you want when you do weight stuff.
And, of course, the caffeine keeps me buzzing all night long.
I think I want to try a chai though that doesn't have the protein thing just because I'm really not trying to bulk up and become some body builder weight lifter person.
But anyways, so if you want to try half coffee, and half tea... I recommend cold brew mixed with iced chai tea.
Comedy Improv Festival
So, there's this comedy improv festival that I'm gonna hit up. It runs for two days. My only decision is do I want to go for the first day, the second day, or both days?
That's the question. I'm probably going to do both. This month I've got a couple other events going down, or coming up, or however you want to put it.
Going to a friend's birthday par-tay... and then that same friend is going with me to Science After Hours... The very first one for 2017!
Exciting stuff.
Then there's this comedy improv thing. Should be a good time!
Well, tonight's blog will be short because there are chores to be done and I'm kind of sleepy... Although I'm slightly awake, at least enough to finish my chores around the house, because I finally figured out a good coffee and tea combo...
Want to know more about my coffee tea combo energy drink? Stay tuned! Oh NO... It's a cliff hanger!
WOOOOOOOO!
To be continued...
Weights
Lately I've been doing the weights at the gym. Mostly the reason why I've been doing them is because, one day I kind of decided to try out some weights just for the heck of it... And I found that it helped, along with yoga, to keep my wrists feeling better.
Too much computer use over the years has been definitely making my wrists hurt. But the yoga helps... and the weight stuff helps too.
The most annoying part though is that you have to wipe each one down after you use it. Oh well. It's cool.
Some of the people there though are MAD serious. I'm just like... Okay, chill yo... Haha... Like the weights go up to a million pounds (rough estimation). And there are some guys that are there with their buds and they put the thing on its highest setting and then their one friend helps them to lift it until they can pump some mega iron... Then a third bro guy... Videos it. Or takes photos.
I mean, hey, if that's your thing.
I guess I don't get it.
This is probably why I'm single. Those guys probably all have girls. Maybe that's what the girls want? I do kind of have a little bit of a scrawny stature... That's for sure. I'm not tall dark and handsome type. I'm just like... Me.
But anyways... I just want pain free wrists.
Anyways... So, yeah, I'll probably keep doing the weights along with the yoga stuff.
Everyone at the yoga place is like that too... They are like... I'm here on serious business... and I'm just like... I just don't want pain in my wrists from all the computer typing.
I guess everyone has their reasons for the things they do.
Well... So, that's my story about the weight machines at the gym. The gym is weird though... It's like, everyone just glances at everyone else... But no one ever exchanges a hello. Except when two girls are working out together, or 3 bros are pumping iron together, in which case they just talk amongst themselves.
What I REALLY need to do is make myself a gym workout play list or something.
Usually I read on the elliptical, or when I walk on the treadmill or whatever between running... But then I have nothing to do when doing the free weights. I just kind of stare off into the distance and what not.
It's dull. I like to do things to keep my mind occupied. Most of the time I do podcasts... but if it's loud and crowded, it's hard to hear the people speaking in the podcast... So just some music wouldn't be bad.
Banye East
Tonight I'm at the gym... and my mind is just kind of zoning in and out. See, usually I read while I do cardio. But during my working out on the weight machines, I can't read. Sometimes I can put in headphones and podcast it, but I went early tonight and it was busy as all get out and I couldn't hear for beans... Too many people pumpkin iron and what not.
I'm not a big pump iron person, but I like to do some strength training because including cardio, strength and stretching as part of a regular workout routine is a good way to keep your body and mind in top shape as you age. And I mean, I'm in my 30s now... So I'm starting to enter the stage of life where I just start to fall apart and what not.
Anyways, it was too loud to listen to a podcast while I worked out... This is why I generally go later instead of earlier, but tonight I went earlier.
So... I just zoned in and out. Let my mind wander. I had a thought that I should perform my music under the name Banye East.
It's like, the cool version of Benny East. It's like the Kanye West version of Benny East. Banye East, yo!
But then, I was just like... That kind of sounds like the Spanish pronunciation of bathroom. Bano.... Banyo.... I'm missing that funky little wavy thing. El Bano (Banyo).
WELL anyways... Then I'm thinking well I don't want to be Bathroom East! That wouldn't be cool at all.
"Yo, where's the East bathroom?"
Not so much.
I guess there will be no Banye East.
So, I'll just have to stick with Benny East.
100 Years
Today I added another dividend paying company to my baseline salary.
The company has been paying out dividends for over 100 years now, and increasing them as well for a good number of years.
Right now, I'm just in the phase where I'm easing into my baseline salary. I'm going with about 1 purchase every couple weeks or so.
Once I've gotten my portfolio to the next tier that I want it at, I'll start to cherry pick some of my tops and then diversify that cash. Basically this means I sell winners for capital gains and then take the money that was in 1 single stock and reinvest at lower baseline amounts into 2 stocks. Sometimes I use that capital gains cash in combination with some other capital gains sales to balance out a big loss...
I'm waiting to see if one of my bottoms goes belly up. It's a US shale play that I got into years ago. It was a bad decision... And it could be even worse if it goes bankrupt. I'd probably be wiser to sell my shares right now for the loss....
But I have one rule... I never sell at a loss.
Never. Instead, I only sell gains... let those gains pile up, and then let my losses happen when a company goes out to lunch. And while all of that is happening, I let my dividends come in and pile up in a second pile.
Capital gains (lots of smaller cherry picks) - capital losses (one or two giant 100 percent stock wipe outs) = preservation of capital. Whatever is left is used to pay taxes, and then the rest gets reinvested.
Dividends = income... Use this money to pay credit card, write checks, pay bills with bill pay... Etc. etc.
It goes against basically every single money manager person's investment strategy. They'll tell me up and down how I don't know what I'm doing and how I should be tax loss harvesting and how I should be getting out before the stock drops even more to preserve capital and put my money in a better place.
But... that's not my investment strategy.
It doesn't REALLY matter because this is my "play" portfolio anways. The other money is being managed for me in the way that all the money manager people manage money. So, they can do whatever they like with that account and I'll do things how I like with my play account.
I just don't sell my losses. I keep them as reminders to me as to why they became losses.
Instead, I cherry pick my tops. I then use that money to counter my losses. Now, even though I said I don't sell losses... That isn't to say I don't get stocks taken private on me at a loss, or merged out, or any other number of ways that shares can be ripped out of stockholder's hands. It does happen.
This is why my number 2 rule is, I don't put more than my yearly dividend income in any one stock. SO, if I want to buy shares in a new company, my maximum purchase number is my last year dividend income number.
I can never buy more than that number.
So if I had 50 grand to invest... and last year I made 1500 bucks in dividends... My next stock purchase can't be more than 1500 bucks in any single stock, or REIT, or Bond ETF, or whatever.
I generally mix it up though. I buy conservative things one purchase, and then the next purchase will be some new and interesting hot company...
And there's always a next purchase because I'm always cherry picking. Then I get to research and get in on my next stock. I rotate them in and out, but only on the tops. The bottoms get rotated out when they fail.
It's interesting because big losses, are actually fairly rare. For example... I bought this one stock in 2008... It dropped to only 10 percent of the original purchase price within two years. I could have freaked the frack out and sold for a HUGE loss.
But I didn't. Meanwhile, the stock started paying quarterly dividends. It's a geothermal energy company. Since then they've done very well. Every quarter I've been receiving a dividend.
The stock price now is in the green. I'm actually at a place where I could cherry pick it for a long term capital gain and then replace it with a new stock... But for now I'm keeping it. They just pinched their dividend up by a small amount... And, they have some strong global sales.
Not all stocks recover... Some go down, and out, and never come back... some suspend their dividends....
There's always risk. But that's why I spread myself out.
Each stock I buy, is just a small brick in a big giant brick road. If one brick goes out 100 percent... The road still lets you walk along it. Even if two or three go out... The road still works.
And then you have time to replace the failed bricks.
If you'd build the entire road out of one solid brick and it went bad... Well... You get the idea.
My next rule is that it has to pay dividends. No dividend, I won't invest.
That's like collecting a toll on this brick road. I just like little tiny deposits every couple days into my account. I like to log in each morning and be like... There's another one. There's another one. There's another one.
All those little deposits add up!
AND I don't want that dividend being paid out through debt financing. You need strong positive cashflows from sales, and the dividend is a part of those cashflows.
I've blogged about all this a million times.
Really, I'm just interested in slowly ticking up my baseline beach day salary.
Today, I added just a little more to it. We're not talking much. Maybe 3 or 4 bucks a month. But, I plan to hold this company until the end of time.
Or until it gets merged out or taken private, or whatever happens.
They also have been known to increase dividends and have been doing so since 1910. A stock split or two or three has also been on the books from time to time.
It's a boring company. But it's something people use every day.
Those are the companies I want. Air. Or, water and electric. Stuff you would find it very hard to live without.
My time horizon for investments is like 10/20/30/40 years... So the stocks I buy... They can go up and down and whatever, but I just want those quarterly or monthly dividend checks. Just like that stock I bought in 2008 that dropped 90 percent, but continued to pay me a dividend check every 3 months and still does so today.
And hey, maybe it turns out I totally make all the wrong choices... Like I said.... This is just my play portfolio. The real stuff is being managed by someone else for me.
It's hard to argue with 100 years of dividends though. True, the past is no guarantee of the future... But, that's still nothing to sneeze at!
So this was my super old school conservative stock purchase. My next one will most likely be a bit more new school and trendy. We'll see though. I tend to stay away from IPOs and such. I tend to stay away from "hot stock tips" from people. I tend to go with companies that have proven business models and have shown they can be resilient even through times of turmoil in previous years.
What is something that you use every day that you've used every day for many many years? Thinks about your daily habits and think about how likely you are to ever give them up?
Personally? That's the stuff I'm inclined to invest in. Those things you do day and day out... Things we've done for generations and generations, for 100 years even. I love that stuff.