My Story
Bought a Condo!
Mar 1st
After looking for the past 2 years (pretty much) for a place to live I finally found a pretty nice condo that will do the job. It is right downtown in Toronto and for a downtown condo has a decent amount of space. The building it is in is pretty sick and has all sorts of cool ammenities including a pool, bbq area, gym, rock climbing wall, spin class / yoga studio, movie theather, business center and many more! I move in in just 3 weeks so will probably be scrambling to get a lot of things ready for the move.
Work has been getting pretty busy lately too. I am trying to develop a lot of the domains I have just sitting around with nothing on them. The biggest one that I am building is a casino site, which I will post more about when its closer to completion (just in case any of you readers have similar domains that you are building on 
)
Other than that, not a lot else going on in my life. Will try and write some better posts on this blog soon.
New Office / Happy Holidays!
Dec 22nd
Again, it has been a while since I wrote anything here so I thought I should probably post an update of what is going on in my life. So, here are some of the bigger things going on….
New Office - The past few weeks I have spent looking for a new office. Finally, last Thursday I managed to find one in one of the best areas of the city (Yorkville for those of you that know Toronto) that doesn’t cost a fortune. I am splitting the office with my good friend and fellow affiliate John making it even more affordable. The office isn’t anything super fancy (it looks like it was probably used as a closet at one point), but the location can’t be beat. I will try and get some pics up shortly (probably after we paint it and fix it up a bit more). The main reason I decided to get an office was working from home and Starbucks all the time was really starting to take a toll on my productivity. Even after being here for only 2 days, I feel like I am already accomplishing so much more.
Other Niches – Lately I have been really trying to focus on building some sites in other niches. I have had a music site with a friend for a while now that gets pretty good traffic, and registered a few other domains to try and build on (such as a site about Toronto Catering companies – still being built). Who knows what the future is for online poker, so I think diversification can never hurt.
Vacations – In January I will be heading down to Trinidad with a few friends for a week of fun in the sun. I have never been there before, but my friend is half-trini and goes there all the time so he knows where to go. After that I may head back to Argentina for a month, but still trying to decide.
Working Out – I am not sure if I mentioned it here before but for the past few months I have been taking Muay Thai classes. They are an amazing workout and I am probably getting in the best shape of my life. I think since I have started I have lost around 20lbs or so. Anyone thinking about trying it, I HIGHLY reccomend it, but be ready to work your ass off!
Other than that, there isn’t too much else going on that I can think of, so I will end this by wishing everyone a Happy Holiday!
Back in Buenos Aires
Jan 27th
Man is it nice to be back here after freezing my butt off in Canada for the last little while. Not much has changed here and it is still lots of fun as usual. Since being back I have managed to catch up with some friends that I met last time, and start spanish classes again.
I found a pretty kick-ass apartment and I have actually been able to get a little more work done. Here are some pics of the new place:
Fortunately this apartment has wifi, so I can even sit outside and do work. Right now its around 30+ degrees everyday and there is always a nice cool breeze.
Also I have joined a gym and am trying to be a little more healthy. Reading Justin’s new site has really made me start thinking about getting back into a more proper workout routine/diet, rather than just going to the gym a few times per week.
Anyway, I’ll try and write more later, but unforunately I HAVE HOMEWORK/STUDYING TO DO… I know… WTF?
Don’t Go To Venezuela / Welcome to ‘09!
Jan 14th
First off, this is the first post in 2009 so HAPPY NEW YEAR! I had a good new year until the end of the night when my jacket managed to walk its way out of the restaurant that I was at. This is never a good thing to happen especially after a ton of alcohol as when I got home I sent some stupid email to the restaurant. Anyway, turns out someone “mistakingly” left with my coat and it is waiting at the restaurant now to be picked up. So… the point of me telling this story.. don’t use your computer when you are really drunk.
Yesterday I got back from a week in Margarita Island, Venezuela with my good friend Greg. It was a nice relaxing trip, but I would probably never go back there. The people were pretty rude, unfriendly and didn’t seem to welcoming to tourists. For example, I went to the mall and tried to order a pretzel, the girl just looked at me with one of the coldest looks and was like “no”. I couldn’t tell if they didn’t have them or if she just didn’t want to sell one to me. Also, when we were leaving the Country at the airport they had these Chavez dolls that talked. I decided to push the button to hear what it said and some douchebag came over and said, “you aren’t going to buy it so why are you doing that”. I just looked at him and said, “this is why your country sucks and why I’ll never come back”. I am so tempted to register MargaritaIslandSucks.com right now, but I’ll sit on it for now.
I shouldn’t say that all the people were bad ovbiously, as one of the bartenders at our resort was awsome, but I think he was probably the only nice Venezuelan we met down there. I even asked some Venzuelan/Canadian girl about the general attitude we had been receiving at one of the clubs and was told simply: “they don’t like gringos here”. On top of that the island itself had a communist feel to it, and at times didn’t feel very safe. When I asked one girl about going to a club one night she must have told me about 5 times to “cuidado” which means be careful in spanish.
The trip wasn’t all bad though. I spent most of my time there lying on a beach getting a tan, doing little to no work. We left the resort quite a bit and took a jeep tour of the island which was a ton of fun. It was 8 hours long and included a boat tour, open air jeep driving around the island (you could stand in the back which was a ton of fun), off-road driving, lunch, stop at a beach, and much more all for just $50. Here are some pics of that:
The food at the resort was pretty decent, so I can’t really complain about that. One thing that was a little annoying though was Greg and I were probably the only single guys at the resort so the “girls” situation was awful. Long story short.. if you are thinking of going to Margarita Island, I’d pick somewhere else (like Jamaica) instead.
Well, next week I am headed back to Buenos Aires 
I am so excited to get back there as the winter cold is killing me being inside all the time. I need to get out and move around as I feel that winter makes me feel so much unhealthier.
As for ‘09, I think this will be a good year. My main goals are to start expanding on non-gambling projects and investigate other areas of online marketing. I think my strong points are consulting others so if possible I would like to focus on that a little more. Hopefully this year I can come up with a more long term goal for myself as right now I still have no clue what I want to do with my life. Time will tell! If anyone is planning to come to BsAs (Buenos Aires) or wants to, send me a note. Best to everyone with this year!
Buenos Aires Recap
Dec 15th
Ooops… been back for about a week now and forgot to post about the rest of the Buenos Aires trip.
Well, I survived the paragliding. What an experience that was! For the rest of my time in Mendoza I went rafting and biking around the vineyards. It was probably one of the best parts of my trip and I had a ton of fun there. Here are a couple pics:
Gettin Ready to Jump
On top of the mountain
Biking to the wineries
Dinner with the Dutch Girls on their last night. Amazing Tapas and Wine!
After Mendoza I headed back to Buenos Aires where the trip came to an end after a few more nights of partying.
All in all it was an amazing experience and I am so glad I went. I met a ton of great people from all over the world and made some new friends.
Here are some more highlights from the trip and things that I’ll miss about Buenos Aires…
- Finding out they have Stoli Elite for less than Absolut at Godoy (obvious mistake)
- Celebrating Colombian Christmas at Claudia’s Appt
- Daily beer tips to Plaza Serrano
- Seeing a new “hottest girl in the world” every single day
- My friend Lucio trying to pick up the same girl about 50 times in a row while she is standing at the bar with her boyfriend
- Cheap amazing dinners at sick restaurants every day
- Random blaring of “Feliz Cumple Anos” in nice restaurants
Plus many more!
I might be heading back there again in the new year. If anyone is interested in coming down, let me know.
Bye for now!
Possibly my last post…
Dec 1st
Well, I hope not, and am knocking on wood right now….
This morning I arrived in Mendoza, Argentina. Mendoza is a city in the north that sits right on the edge of the Andes mountains. It is most known for being the wine region of Argentina and probably South America as a whole.
I took the bus last night by myself and arrived here at 8am (John decided to stay back in BsAs with his future wife). Last week I met a few Dutch girls who mentioned they were going to be coming here also, and we managed to meet up at the bus station and head to the same hostel. In a few hours we are all going paragliding. When I signed up for it, I thought it was hangliding, but apparently I was mistaken. Anyway, should be a lot of fun!
Tomorrow we are thinking of doing a wine/bike tour. Basically you go from winery to winery on bikes getting drunk along the way on great Argentinian wines. Should get interesting…
If I have time, I am also going to go white water rafting. I have always wanted to do it, and it is only like $30 here, so its hard to say no.
I am also having my first real hostel experience. The last few times we stayed in hostels we did the private room thing, but this one I am in a shared room. I was supposed to be in a room with some russian guy, but the room did not have lockers so I asked for another. The only other room had 3 spanish girls, so I decided that I would suffer and take that one
Anyway, hopefully I’ll be writing again in the next few days to let you know how it goes. Bye for now!
I Love Buenos Aires
Nov 5th
Everyday my friend John and I sit around and try to come up with bad things about this city, but so far we have been pretty unsuccessful. Here are some of the reasons why this city is so good:
1) Food – The food here is REALLY GOOD, and EXTREMELY INEXPENSIVE. I am really picky about what I eat, but I haven’t had too many issues here. For example, here is one meal I had recently: Caprese Salad (soooo good) + Filet Mignion + AMAZING bottle of wine = $25 USD / person. The equivalent meal in Toronto would cost roughly $150.
2) Women – I have never seen more beautiful women in my life than I have here in Buenos Aires. When I walk down Santa Fe (one of the main streets) I will see more attractive women here in about 30 minutes than I would see in Toronto in an entire year (and the girls in Toronto aren’t that ugly). As I read on one site, even the ugly girls are cute.
Not only are the girls so good looking, they are also really nice and generous. For example, a couple of days ago I went out for dinner with a beautiful girl that I met here. When it came time to pay the bill I pretty much had to fight her for it, and she got really mad at me for paying. She insisted that she should pay. That would never happen in Canada.
3) People – The people that I have met here so far have been some of the nicest people I have ever met. We have been offered free places to stay, invited to peoples’ homes for BBQs (or Asado as they call it here) and much more.
4) Barrios – Buenos Aires has many different areas (barrios in spanish) and all of them have a unique character. You can go hang out at an amazing (and very cheap) restaurant in Palermo Hollywood, walk through the parks of Palermo, go shopping in Recolleta, or head to San Telmo to watch some tango. These are just a few examples, as there is way more that I am missing.
5) Prices – Other than apartments, which can get pricey if you want something really nice, everything else here is so cheap. Here are some examples:
Subway Ride: $0.30
Taxi (for about a 10-15 min ride) – $3
Decent sit down lunch in a relatively nice restaurant – $8
Drinks in nightclubs – $3-$5
Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice 500ml – $1.10
Bus Ride to city 10 hours away – $60 for what would probably be called business class
Tickets to a huge concert with many international DJs and probably 100,000 people – $40
6) Nightlife – All the clubs we have gone to so far are amazing, and everyone is having a really good time. Not to mention, you don’t go out until 2am as most nightclubs don’t even start to get busy until 3am. They go until about 8am.
Anyway, I could probably go on and on but I don’t feel like writing a 2000 word post. I will end this with some pics:
My friend Matias on the grill making us a nice steak dinner
The roof of our current apartment… soooooo nice. There is also a pool, gym and restaurant up on the roof that are out of this pic, but the park is my favorite.
On the boat to Uruguay with some people we met here
Nice area called Puerto Madero
Everyone getting ready to go out for Halloween at Borges Design Hostel
Ciao for now… hasta luego!
This Blogging Thing Is Harder Than It Seems…
Oct 14th
So, its been ages since my last post and a lot has changed/happened. Thanks Giorgio for the reminder that I need to get back on this thing with an update on what is going on in my life. To celebrate this new post, I thought I would change the theme on the blog to something that I didn’t hate as much. The old theme was really getting to me and I think I need a change.
I think part of the reason for the lack of updates, has been a lack of motivation overall from me over the past few months. So, in an effort to combat this, I am gonna get some things off my mind in this blog post.
I, like many other affiliates I know, am falling into ‘the trap’ and becoming very lazy. Part of the reason for this is because when I was at IBM my job was a complete joke and 95% of my time was spent sitting around doing nothing. Funny enough, with the remaining 5% of the time when I actually worked I managed to get the highest promotion levels and reviews from my managers… go figure. This wasn’t because I didn’t want to work, there just simply wasn’t any work to be done. Could you imagine what they would think of me if I really busted my ass the whole time I was working putting in 100%!!!
To some people this would be the dream job, but I’ve never been like that and have always appreciated a good challenge. In fact, this could be partly why I am getting lazy lately, because I figure if I do nothing or very little work, things will get harder for me and I will have to start busting my ass again…. WRONG!
In fact, being lazy is actually having an opposite affect and it seems that every month keeps getting even better. I guess I am riding the fruits of my labour in the past as they are starting to pay off, but I know this won’t last forever so I really am making a strong effort to turn this bad cycle around.
I’ve tried taking vacations, breaks, getting up earlier, excessive drinking, but really nothing seems to be working. The reality is, none of these things are gonna change anything and I am the only one that can do that. So, going forward I am really going to make an effort to change this. I am going to make more goals and set more targets for myself. I think that will help. Anyone got any suggestions on staying motivated?
Hell, I’ll do 2 back to back blog posts now to prove that I am trying to break the laziness!
Additional Shout Out / Poker Affiliate Tip
Shout out to Chris from Poker Affiliate Solutions (or PAS for short). Chris told me tonight that he had my blog in his blog reader (Google reader is my choice) and was also hinting that I should do an upate. I am just glad that I finally know who the other RSS reader is beside me JK… i know there are a few of you out there and appreciate that you care what I have to say. Anyway, PAS provide services to affiliates such as the ability to create a rakeback section on your site and offer deals that you wouldn’t be able to get normally without knowing someone. I have created a rakeback section on my site using their software and so far it has been great, though I am sure Chris is thinking it would be greater if I sent them more players They have a really cool admin back-end and it makes things really easy. All you have to do is bring the players, so if you haven’t checked them out I recommend dropping them a line today if you are looking to offer something like this on your site. Chris also has a blog over on PAS which is even more overdue for an update than mine! You should get on that Chris
Balling Chair / I Love Online Marketing
Jul 17th
Today I decided to ball-out on a chair and picked up the Herman Miller Aeron. I figure I spend enough time on my chair to justify the high price tag, and lately my back has been bothering me a bit.
Anyway, back to online marketing. Here are some of the things I love about it:
1) You can wake up whenever you want, though I still force myself to get up early.
2) Most days I work from home for half a day then head over to Starbucks and do work from there.
3) You can go out any night of the week, and if you stay out late it just means you work a little later the next day.
4) Watching all the people working the 9-5 with their half hour lunch breaks thanking god I am not one of them.
5) Freedom to take vacations whenever you want… no more 3 weeks per year.
6) The ability to work anywhere in the world, though I have yet to take advantage of this one yet.
There are some bad things though, and it is a bit of a struggle at times. Here are some of the negatives:
1) Keeping yourself motivated is WAY harder than I imagined. Its so easy to get distracted and not do anything all day.
2) Accounting sucks. Even with an accountant you have to do a lot of stuff.
3) Creativity can drop – I feel that sometimes I am not as creative as I used to be as I get caught up in day-to-day work far too often.
Anyway, just wanted to post that I am so happy I made the leap from the corporate world and left IBM. I have heard that my old job will probably be non-existant by next year as it is being off-shored to South America. Its really a shame that big corporations are so short sighted and if they just figured out the problems they had where they were currently located, they’d probably never have to do these things.
So to end on a positive note, life is good