If You Love Iced Tea....

This is for you!

Mr. Coffee Tea Maker!

Stove top is the method that I used prior to this machine, so maybe my expectations were fairly low. But this thing ROCKS! So easy to use and the tea is fantastic! I like that I don't have to transfer to a pitcher and it fits easily in the fridge.

One tip: remove the basket with the tea and filters prior to pulling the pitcher away. If you don't some remaining drops will run down the front. Other than that, this is a steal at this price!

Again, the Mr. Coffee Tea Maker is a fast and simple way to enjoy your iced tea this summer!

Paul McKenna--I can make you thin!

At first glance this book's title can seem off putting.  I mean, who is this guy and why on earth does he think he can make me anything!

That was my initial thought about I Can Make You Thin, by Paul McKenna.

In fact, the book is really great.   The title is wrong, you have to do the work yourself, but the author is trying to make a "I can make you..." book series along the lines of the "Idiot's guides to... " type of series.

For this one, if you can get past the title and actually into the book, you will be greatly rewarded.  It's not that any of the recommendations are terribly original.  In fact, you already know what to do.  What I find makes this book great is it's simplicity.  By teaching to eat on purpose and eat what you want instead of this or that, the book is amazingly practical and extremely easy to follow.

It really ends up being about learning to listen to your body and following what it says.

So, what has my experience been?  Very interesting actually.  In my childhood I was constantly told to clean my plate because there were starving kids in Africa.  I would sit at the table well after everyone left, in order to choke down the entire meal.  Now, admittedly, not eating the brussel sprouts was not about being full, but about the nasty taste.

Over time I developed a habit of eating what was put in front of me, even to the point of being painfully full.  I remember as a kid back in the 80's we brought home "doggie bags" from the restaurant EVERY TIME.  However, that turned into just eating everything and somewhere along the line we just ate everything.  After reading this book, I've found that I'm needing the doggie bag is again a necessity.  Shockingly, I've found that I only need 1/2 to 3/4 of the meal to actually get full!  This is great, because it actually saves money since I can get an extra meal or snack out of most restaurant meals!

If you feel like you've tried everything and are still having trouble losing weight or keeping it off, give I Can Make You Thin a try!

Is a Keurig worth it?

Our family had wanted a Keurig coffee maker for a long time.  We had visited a friend who has one and we loved the taste of the coffee and the ease of use.

There were a couple of major concerns.  First, we love coffee and drink it often.  That being so, the Kcups seem to be at least 50 cents per cup of coffee!  Needless to say, we each drink multiple cups of coffee per day.  This would quickly get too expensive for us to use.  Secondly, we were concerned that making coffee one cup at a time would get really old.  This could create frustration and a desire to go back to a regular coffee pot.  Again, if we spend money on the Keurig, it would be a terrible waste of money to buy it then go back to a regular coffee maker.

During this past summer we came across a little extra cash, enough for a Keurig.  We decided to make the jump.  This is something that we've thought about for a couple years and we just decided what the heck.  We ended up going with a cheaper model, the Keurig B60.  We also picked up a Solofill K3 Chrome refillable Kcup.  The thought was that a refillable cup might save some costs.

So what did we think....?

We've been using the set up for the last 4 or 5 months and we are very happy that we made the leap!

Initially we had a few free Kcups that came with our machine and the coffee was fantastic.  We did buy one extra set of cups that were on sale.  Truth be told, if we had to buy new Kcups all the time and couldn't use the refillable cup, we wouldn't be nearly as happy.

The Solofill refillable cup has made this a great experience.  The first cup of coffee I made with it was terrible.  It takes a little trial and error to find the sweet spot.  Initially I didn't put enough coffee in and it was very watered down.  On the second try I did too much and it was too intense.  Eventually, I  found the right mix.  Then we bought a different coffee to use and I had to start the trial and error over again.  The thing is, each type of coffee is different based on the strength of the coffee and how the beans are ground.  But the main point is the same, you can make an awesome cup of coffee with this refillable filter.

We never tried the Keruig refillable filter.  The main reason was that it was a 3 piece model.  You had the filter, the case, and the lid.  It just seemed like a lot of hassle.  The Solofill is a 1 piece model that works great.

The machine itself works great.  There is a built in filter that keeps the water tasting great and keeps the coffee consistent.  It's pretty much a plug and go process.  Not much to mess with and not much to adjust.  The only potential downside to the  Keurig B60 is that the fill sizing is 6, 8, and 10oz.  Some of the more expensive machines have bigger sizes, but again we were wanting to keep the machine cost down.  All in all this one downside has not impacted our enjoyment at all!

One of the things we didn't count on was using the Keurig for tea and hot chocolate!  Now, I personally wouldn't buy Kcups for tea, I just use the Keurig to heat up the water and use a regular tea bag.  Same thing for the hot chocolate, I just use the Keurig for the water.  I haven't had a chance to try using it for the ramen noodle soups yet, but I plan on trying that too!

How To Stop Dog Aggression.

If you want to understand how to stop dog aggression let me start by asking you two rhetorical questions!

Firstly, do YOU start the aggression and then your dog simply joins in?

Secondly, if you try to show your dog a new way to behave, does it listen to you just before it misbehaves?

The answer will of course be the following:

At the point your dog starts to become aggressive he is taking no notice at all of you.

He is making his own decisions and will not listen to you if you try to show him a different way to behave. What he is doing is simply too important to him and is the right thing to do. Dog aggression is nearly always done in order to protect their pack and their own lives.

There is of course a whole range of different types of aggression from dominant to fearful and everything in between.  There is aggression that occurs all the time and other erratic aggression that is random depending on a number of differing factors. You can also look at what your dog is aggressive towards; it could be people, animals, other dogs or objects.

The way to stop dog aggression has very much the same source as the above cause of the problem. Your dog thinks that it is the pack leader.  He becomes fearful and attacks to protect, you and himself. Dominant dogs will be more proactive, often they are attacking when they still have the option of running away where fearful dogs will only attack if they have no place to run. All the other factors relating to why aggression occurs pale into insignificance compared to this main source.

The most important concept to grasp if you want to understand how to stop dog aggression is that your dog must first look to you as the pack leader in the home. (This is the easiest place to convince him you are the decision maker.) Only then can you convince him that you are the pack leader on a walk. There are some fantastic video sites now that show you exactly how to become the pack leader.

Once you have convinced your dog that you are the pack leader outside, he will then actually start to take notice of how you are behaving when he reaches the point where he would usually become aggressive!

Just remember, dogs are pack animals and they follow the pack leader.

One of the best examples of a professional dog trainer putting this all into practice is The Online Dog Trainer. The site has live videos of this method being demonstrated and explains exactly how to stop dog aggression by simply convincing your dog that you are the pack leader. CLICK HERE

iPhone 4S Lifeproof case

Back in August my wife and I decided to make the switch to the iPhone.  For years we've had Google based phones and this time we just got tired of having everyone we know be on an iPhone, so we thought, what the hell!  We ended up getting the iPhone 4S models as they were on sale.

The downside to an iPhone for us is that we have a tendency to break our phones within the two year contract.  We've been told that the iPhones are particularly easy to break if you drop them, so we began looking around for cases.  I don't like to spend money if it's not really worth it.  In looking at the different things we wanted out of a case we settled on three things.  First, they have to protect against dropping.  Second, we needed something that can get dirty and be able to be cleaned.  Lastly, we need to make sure that if it's jumps out of our hands and into the toilet or shower, that the water not kill it.  

Conveniently, these were the points that the LifeProof case spoke about.  The problem was the price.  It's pretty expensive and I didn't really want to pay that kind of money, but I figured if it protected the phone for the contract period, it would be worth it.

I was about to check out and just get the phones, when the sales rep did a really interesting thing.  He took his phone (in the LifeProof case) and literally threw it across the room.  Now, after we picked it up I went through it and everything was still working seamlessly.  Not that I would throw MY phone across the room, case or not, it was a good enough point that I did buy the case.

So far I have dropped my phone, splashed water on it (no submersions yet!), had it fall off tables onto hard flooring and the phone has always remained protected.  It works great with no scratches or dings or cracked screens!

With everything that we put our phones through, including letting our children play games on them, this case is worth it's price!  

Order a case today!

Doggy Dan's Online Dog Training

Doggy Dan's Online Dog Training Program--get it here!

I rate this a 4 star product.

This is an interesting concept.  Having had dogs my whole life I've seen a lot of different training programs and most have been unsuccessful.  I have done the training at the local pet store.  Hired a trainer.  Watched TV trainer programs to try and gleam free wisdom from their lessons.  All of this was to no avail.  

The problem was in training myself.  The process of training a dog is really a process of self education and training.  Most of the local training programs had great positive reinforcement tools and tactics that were great for getting short term results.  Once we got home, we would fall back into the old routine.  Whether it was the surroundings, or that "life" got in the way of maintaining the training, it just fell apart.

Doggy Dan's video's correct all the problems I was having before.  The online video's are great and walk you step by step through everything you need to know to have a happy pet and family.  The only downside is he has an accent, so if you have difficulty understand accents then it could be a little difficult.  However, his accent is very mild and I found it to be easily understood.

IF YOU HAVE A PUPPY!  There is a great section where Dan walks you through step by step with his new little puppy.  You're with him from the day he gets picked up and you get to see things as they happen.   This is a great section.  

Dan uses the general technique of training you to understand how your dog thinks.  He shows you how to develop the roll of pack leader and naturally take control.  No yelling, poking, or prodding.  It's really a great system and he even shows how to train so that your children are involved and in the appropriate roll within the pack!

If you've wanted to have a dog that's completely trained to listen to you and be a great part of your family, then this is a great way to do it.  Dan offers 72 hour access for only 1 dollar so you can check everything out to see that it's everything he says it is and everything that I've described to you!

Even if your dog is somewhat trained, do yourself and your family a favor and check out Doggy Dan's program!

The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice

The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice  

Today I want to go into The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice.

So, you are a new financial advisor, or an existing one that’s trying to get off a plateau.  What do you do?

Well the first thing you should do is buy The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice 

As for our ongoing star ratings I’m going to give this a 4 star rating.

For the good: This book tackles everything you’ll need to know about what you should focus on to get to your goals.  It’s broken up into sections so that even a senior rep that wants to explode their business will know where to begin.  This book is phenomenal in that it breaks down all the steps and numbers you will need to his and by when to get to your goal.  It doesn’t paint an easy picture, but if you are in the financial biz you already know that it’s one of the hardest businesses to get going!

FOR SENIOR REPS:  Take a look at this book.  If you have an established practice and are stuck in the 400k-600k production range, this book will give you exact steps to boost your business and take it over the one million mark!!  You have the foundation laid, this book will show you exactly what you are missing and why you haven’t got over that point.

Buy The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice   

For the Bad:  The only downside that I can give this book is on the scripts.  It has some scripts that they say work and have used in the past.  In this biz, the past is dead.  No call lists and easy access to financial transactions via the internet have made some of these obsolete.  You will need to adjust the scripts to make them work.  For the record, the scripts aren’t terrible, they just don’t produce interest the way I would hope for.  If you use them, plan on fighting discouragement.

All in all, a great book on building your financial services business.

The Million Dollar Financial Services Practice