I've been going to the gym on a regular basis for a year and half now and the results are paying off. It was a resolution of mine a while ago to gain some weight and "buff up," so far, I've managed to stick to it. The following tips have more to do with mindset and habits rather than what workouts to do at the gym. My personal workout schedule will be posted later on. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Statistically, the odds are against you if you intend to keep your New Year's resolution. If you're one of those people who have trouble keeping that "Get fit, get healthy, get that summer body going" resolution here are four easy tips.
1) Make it realistic. - Too often I hear people setting unrealistic standards for themselves both in terms of resolutions and weight lifting. Bite the bullet and be humble for a while. Remember there's nothing wrong with starting a bench press at just the bar. We all have to start somewhere.
2) Get a friend to help - This applies especially to the "get healthy" resolutions. Find a friend who goes to the gym regularly and ask if you can tag along with them. And make sure you take the effort to get there on time. It may be hard, but make sure the friend pressures you to get to the gym and to put forth the effort while AT the gym. The goal is to have both of you motivating each other to stick to it.
3) Reward yourself - Along with your New Year's resolution, set milestones along the way. Every time you reach one, reward yourself. Make the rewards meaningful, so you have something to give you that extra push to keeping your resolution.
4) Keep going - Forming a habit can take a while anywhere 21 days to 6 weeks. Keep this in mind for those oh-so-hard good habits. With that being said, the hardest time to keep a training schedule at the gym is during your first two weeks. Survive that, then aim to never miss a workout session for a month, then two months. Keep on expanding it. If your goal is to body build, don't be afraid to take a week off every few months to let everything rest and completely recover. Do make sure you return to the gym though or all that hard work will be for nothing.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Recipe - Beer Butt Chicken
Beer Butt Chicken
Synopsis: One my favourite recipes for summer cooking. It looks weird as hell, but if prepared correctly, it'll be one of the juiciest, most mouthwatering birds you'll ever eat. Ever. I like the whole aspect of theatre thing when you cook it, because it looks so damn weird on the grill that people will wonder what brand of crack you switched to.
Ingredients & Materials:
1 Working BBQ Grill
1 Whole Chicken
3 Tablespoons: Sugar
3 Tablespoons: Sea Salt
3 Tablespoons: Paprika
2 Tablespoons: Black Pepper
1 Beer Can (One that hasn't been opened. That's right, a full can of beer. The 355mL can works best. The brand doesn't matter. I, myself use Labbatt Blue)
Recipe:
First, you need to make your seasoning using the sugar, sea salt, paprika, and black pepper (grounded form). You can change the amounts of each to suit your own flavouring, or even change the seasoning entirely. I recommend the above as it gives that true BBQ-y taste. Feel free to use your favourite meat rub, even premade ones will work. Another recipe uses garlic, basil, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Experiment to fit your tastes.
Take a whole chicken, give it a water "wash" and rub the marinate all over it. Outside AND Inside. As much as you can. The goal is to get as much of the marinate as possible to stick to the chicken skin. The reason for "washing" the chicken is to aid the dry marinate powder in sticking to the chicken skin.
Refridgerate marinated chicken for approximately 30 minutes.
Preheat the barbeque on HIGH heat for 30 minutes. (one side of the barbeque only, leave the other side off)
While the chicken and the barbeque is preheating is marinating, take this time to prepare the barbeque and beer can. The beer can should have the top cut off (with the use of a can opener)
Pour approximately One Quarter (1/4) of the beer into a cup and drink (You need some rest after all that hard work, don't you?). Seriously, you don't need that beer.
Take marinated chicken out of the fridge and lower the chicken over top of it. The beer can goes into the chicken's body cavity, bring it down until the meat is at about the same level as the can. This allows the chicken to stand upright on the grill.
Turn heat down to medium and place the upright chicken (so the can is in it's natural standing position) on the side of the barbeque that is OFF and close the lid.
Rotate chicken every 30-45 minutes to get that crispy skin effect going. Takes about 3-4 hours to cook.
When chicken is ready for consumption, remove the can from the chicken VERY CAREFULLY. There will still be liquid in the can and you do NOT want it to spill anywhere, especially on the chicken. Not to mention the metal can will be hot. Yea, that too.
Serve as you would a regular chicken: Breast? Or Leg?
Note: Cooking times vary pending on the size of your chicken and the temperature of your grill. Compensate as needed.
Synopsis: One my favourite recipes for summer cooking. It looks weird as hell, but if prepared correctly, it'll be one of the juiciest, most mouthwatering birds you'll ever eat. Ever. I like the whole aspect of theatre thing when you cook it, because it looks so damn weird on the grill that people will wonder what brand of crack you switched to.
Ingredients & Materials:
1 Working BBQ Grill
1 Whole Chicken
3 Tablespoons: Sugar
3 Tablespoons: Sea Salt
3 Tablespoons: Paprika
2 Tablespoons: Black Pepper
1 Beer Can (One that hasn't been opened. That's right, a full can of beer. The 355mL can works best. The brand doesn't matter. I, myself use Labbatt Blue)
Recipe:
First, you need to make your seasoning using the sugar, sea salt, paprika, and black pepper (grounded form). You can change the amounts of each to suit your own flavouring, or even change the seasoning entirely. I recommend the above as it gives that true BBQ-y taste. Feel free to use your favourite meat rub, even premade ones will work. Another recipe uses garlic, basil, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Experiment to fit your tastes.
Take a whole chicken, give it a water "wash" and rub the marinate all over it. Outside AND Inside. As much as you can. The goal is to get as much of the marinate as possible to stick to the chicken skin. The reason for "washing" the chicken is to aid the dry marinate powder in sticking to the chicken skin.
Refridgerate marinated chicken for approximately 30 minutes.
Preheat the barbeque on HIGH heat for 30 minutes. (one side of the barbeque only, leave the other side off)
While the chicken and the barbeque is preheating is marinating, take this time to prepare the barbeque and beer can. The beer can should have the top cut off (with the use of a can opener)
Pour approximately One Quarter (1/4) of the beer into a cup and drink (You need some rest after all that hard work, don't you?). Seriously, you don't need that beer.
Take marinated chicken out of the fridge and lower the chicken over top of it. The beer can goes into the chicken's body cavity, bring it down until the meat is at about the same level as the can. This allows the chicken to stand upright on the grill.
Turn heat down to medium and place the upright chicken (so the can is in it's natural standing position) on the side of the barbeque that is OFF and close the lid.Rotate chicken every 30-45 minutes to get that crispy skin effect going. Takes about 3-4 hours to cook.
When chicken is ready for consumption, remove the can from the chicken VERY CAREFULLY. There will still be liquid in the can and you do NOT want it to spill anywhere, especially on the chicken. Not to mention the metal can will be hot. Yea, that too.
Serve as you would a regular chicken: Breast? Or Leg?
Note: Cooking times vary pending on the size of your chicken and the temperature of your grill. Compensate as needed.
Recipe - Fall Off The Bone Ribs
Fall Off The Bone Ribs
Synopsis: Ribs. Baby back ribs. Damn good ones too. You know how when people eat most ribs, you have to use your hands? These ribs have no such requirement. How does this work you ask? Simply. You use a fork to pick up the meat, and the bone doesn't come with it. Seriously.
Note: I don't include how much of each ingredient because it's up to the individual in this case, and depends on the size of your rack of ribs. Also, feel free to alternate on the spices used. Juices can be changed as well if one is allergic to apple/orange juice.
Ingredients & Materials:
X# of Baby Back Rib Racks
Salt
Sugar
Oregano
Basil
Garlic Powder
1/4 Cup BBQ Sauce *
1/4 Cup Apple Juice *
1/4 Cup Orange Juice *
Tin Foil
Oven
* = Per Rack. Increase by a 1/4 cup for each additional rack you plan on cooking. This will make more sense once you read the recipe.
Recipe:
The most important part in preparing baby back ribs is, of course, the rub. A good rub makes good ribs. Everything past the rub is just gravy.
A good rub can consist of something simple, just sugar and salt will work. Personally, I use a rub of salt, sugar, oregano, basil, and garlic powder. You can use whatever you prefer, though.
Rub your rub (keekles) generously over both sides of the racks of ribs.
Put 'em in the oven meat side up (this is very important) for 2 hours at 300F.
Note: It does not matter if the oven is preheated or not.
After 2 hours has elapsed, take the ribs out and put them meat side down on a sheet of tin foil. Pour appox 1/4 cup of BBQ Sauce in, along with 1/4 cup Apple Juice, and 1/4 cup Orange Juice (3/4 cup total). Wrap each rack shut individually with the tin foil (no rack should share a tin foil bagging with another rack, these fella's like to be alone).
Note: The above is the most crucial part in cooking these ribs, as this is where the meat gets tenderized enough to fall off the bones. Apple Juice and Orange Juice are not required, but are preferrable. IF you have no Apple Juice/Orange Juice, use some more BBQ Sauce and a bit of water.
Back in the oven for another 2 hours at 300F.
After the two hours have elapsed, take them back out, uncover them and place them back in meat side up. Cover generously with more bbq sauce.
They'll go back in the oven for 15 minutes at 350F.
After 15 minutes have elapsed, take them out, cut the rack up into serving size (2-4 ribs per piece) and serve.
Enjoy!
Synopsis: Ribs. Baby back ribs. Damn good ones too. You know how when people eat most ribs, you have to use your hands? These ribs have no such requirement. How does this work you ask? Simply. You use a fork to pick up the meat, and the bone doesn't come with it. Seriously.
Note: I don't include how much of each ingredient because it's up to the individual in this case, and depends on the size of your rack of ribs. Also, feel free to alternate on the spices used. Juices can be changed as well if one is allergic to apple/orange juice.
Ingredients & Materials:
X# of Baby Back Rib Racks
Salt
Sugar
Oregano
Basil
Garlic Powder
1/4 Cup BBQ Sauce *
1/4 Cup Apple Juice *
1/4 Cup Orange Juice *
Tin Foil
Oven
* = Per Rack. Increase by a 1/4 cup for each additional rack you plan on cooking. This will make more sense once you read the recipe.
Recipe:
The most important part in preparing baby back ribs is, of course, the rub. A good rub makes good ribs. Everything past the rub is just gravy.
A good rub can consist of something simple, just sugar and salt will work. Personally, I use a rub of salt, sugar, oregano, basil, and garlic powder. You can use whatever you prefer, though.
Rub your rub (keekles) generously over both sides of the racks of ribs.
Put 'em in the oven meat side up (this is very important) for 2 hours at 300F.
Note: It does not matter if the oven is preheated or not.
After 2 hours has elapsed, take the ribs out and put them meat side down on a sheet of tin foil. Pour appox 1/4 cup of BBQ Sauce in, along with 1/4 cup Apple Juice, and 1/4 cup Orange Juice (3/4 cup total). Wrap each rack shut individually with the tin foil (no rack should share a tin foil bagging with another rack, these fella's like to be alone).
Note: The above is the most crucial part in cooking these ribs, as this is where the meat gets tenderized enough to fall off the bones. Apple Juice and Orange Juice are not required, but are preferrable. IF you have no Apple Juice/Orange Juice, use some more BBQ Sauce and a bit of water.
Back in the oven for another 2 hours at 300F.
After the two hours have elapsed, take them back out, uncover them and place them back in meat side up. Cover generously with more bbq sauce.
They'll go back in the oven for 15 minutes at 350F.
After 15 minutes have elapsed, take them out, cut the rack up into serving size (2-4 ribs per piece) and serve.
Enjoy!
Student Price Card
Many people who know me personally know that I love to eat out and I love shopping. Yet, there comes the question: "How can you do all that if you love keeping money too?"
I present the Student Price Card, a student discount card for those in Canada. Cost of the card is $7-$10 and you get a lot of discounts. Discounts on average are 5%-15% and some fast food restaurants will throw-in a freebie if you make a purchase with the SPC Card. If you're over 16, you need to have a student ID just in case (I've never been asked yet). Click here for a list of participating stores. This list is not exhaustive as there are many local deals too, click here to find the exact deals nationally and locally.
Is it possible to really save that much money with that card? The answer depends on personal habits. I've managed to save well over $300-$400 so far using the card. Eat at Jack Astor's once and you've saved the money you used to buy the card (and you get more free food!). Perhaps the most important thing to do when you get the card is to check if you can use it at the store you're shopping from. One of the things most people forget to do is check.
The card works from August 1 of the current year to July 31 of the next year, at which point you'll need to buy another to replace it. Alternatively, if you sign up for the BMO Mosaik SPC Card, you'll get the same discounts without having to buy a new SPC card every year. If you opt for the latter option though, make sure you mention SPC discount whenever applicable or they'll just charge you regularly.
I present the Student Price Card, a student discount card for those in Canada. Cost of the card is $7-$10 and you get a lot of discounts. Discounts on average are 5%-15% and some fast food restaurants will throw-in a freebie if you make a purchase with the SPC Card. If you're over 16, you need to have a student ID just in case (I've never been asked yet). Click here for a list of participating stores. This list is not exhaustive as there are many local deals too, click here to find the exact deals nationally and locally.
Is it possible to really save that much money with that card? The answer depends on personal habits. I've managed to save well over $300-$400 so far using the card. Eat at Jack Astor's once and you've saved the money you used to buy the card (and you get more free food!). Perhaps the most important thing to do when you get the card is to check if you can use it at the store you're shopping from. One of the things most people forget to do is check.
The card works from August 1 of the current year to July 31 of the next year, at which point you'll need to buy another to replace it. Alternatively, if you sign up for the BMO Mosaik SPC Card, you'll get the same discounts without having to buy a new SPC card every year. If you opt for the latter option though, make sure you mention SPC discount whenever applicable or they'll just charge you regularly.
Web Fun!
I'm going to present you with a couple sites in this post. Some of them are PTCs, some of them are just for fun, one of them is a pretty decent search engine. All of them have the ability for you to build a downline, but it is in no way required for you to earn anything from them. I've personally managed to cash-out on my own from these sites without any referrals :)
Moola: Gives you a penny to start with. From there you bet it against other players and work your way up a ladder. Each level is double the previous, but you don't have to bet it all. You could actually just keep playing the first level over and over if you wanted too. You earn more by playing in competitive games such Rock, Paper, Scissors, Hi-Lo (cards), or Gold rush, a game where the objective is to reach 32 points first (or have the higher amount when the 6 rounds are over). I joined the site back in 2007 and having been using it off an on (definitely not regularly), to date I've cashed out $80 from them. I have no doubt this number could've easily been in the 100s had I used it regularly. There is a 4-tier referral ladder for all those interested (4%/3%/2%/1%).
swagbucks: Is a search engine powered by Google and AskJeeves. It rewards you by 'randomly' awarding you with Swag Bucks in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, etc. You trade these in for prizes such as gift cards from Starbucks, Amazon, Subway, etc or save up for big items like an Xbox360 bundle or iPhone. You start off with 2 free swag bucks and 1 more on your first search (that is what happened for me). While you search, you can get randomly win Swagbucks in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10 or $20. Usually it's $1-2 but you get the occasional $5-20. Shipping and Handling to Canada is free. Here's a sample of what you can win:
3 SB - Valley Sports Card e-Gift Card (?)
36 SB - classic VHS or Vintage Records
45 SB - Amazon.com $5 gift card
50 SB - Starbucks $5 gift card
25 SB - various limited edition music prints
10 SB+ - various sports cards
3800 SB - iphone
4100 SB - Xbox360 premium bundle
Here's a bonus tip when using swagbucks: Simply incorporate it into your daily use. Change your bookmarks to the swagbucks search results, so it's simply an extra click away.
For example:
A) You have bl0g7 bookmarked
instead
B) Go to www.swagbucks.com, type in bl0g7 in the search box and out comes the search results. Bookmark the results page (http://swagbucks.com/?t=w&p=1&q=bl0g7).
This way your bookmark is only one click away from your desired site and this increases your chances of earning Swag Bucks without much of a hassle. I don't randomly search the web all the time, so this is a much better way to incorporate it into my daily internet. Alternatively, you can also install the toolbar (http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-plugins).
You can not spam search with swagbucks, there seems to be some sort of time limit to how often you can win. Most of the time it's been more than 1 hour before I win again, but I have won once in a 20 min span.
The next couple sites will be PTCs:
GPT Bank: Is a site that will pay a bonus in addition to whatever PTC sites that you join under them will pay you. The basics steps are:
UnoBux: Another PTC, not much more to say than that. GPT Bank does have this one listed, but they are no longer accepting referrals for it. Do note that all the PTCs listed here have low payouts and rather decent pay-per-clicks (usually about 1 cent). With this in mind, it'll take you about a month to reach most of their payouts without any referrals.
Another note, most of these sites will require you to have an AlertPay account. If you do not have one, you can sign up here.
That concludes this post. In an upcoming post, I'll cover ways to monetize your blog (including alternatives to Google AdSense).
Moola: Gives you a penny to start with. From there you bet it against other players and work your way up a ladder. Each level is double the previous, but you don't have to bet it all. You could actually just keep playing the first level over and over if you wanted too. You earn more by playing in competitive games such Rock, Paper, Scissors, Hi-Lo (cards), or Gold rush, a game where the objective is to reach 32 points first (or have the higher amount when the 6 rounds are over). I joined the site back in 2007 and having been using it off an on (definitely not regularly), to date I've cashed out $80 from them. I have no doubt this number could've easily been in the 100s had I used it regularly. There is a 4-tier referral ladder for all those interested (4%/3%/2%/1%).
swagbucks: Is a search engine powered by Google and AskJeeves. It rewards you by 'randomly' awarding you with Swag Bucks in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, etc. You trade these in for prizes such as gift cards from Starbucks, Amazon, Subway, etc or save up for big items like an Xbox360 bundle or iPhone. You start off with 2 free swag bucks and 1 more on your first search (that is what happened for me). While you search, you can get randomly win Swagbucks in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10 or $20. Usually it's $1-2 but you get the occasional $5-20. Shipping and Handling to Canada is free. Here's a sample of what you can win:
3 SB - Valley Sports Card e-Gift Card (?)
36 SB - classic VHS or Vintage Records
45 SB - Amazon.com $5 gift card
50 SB - Starbucks $5 gift card
25 SB - various limited edition music prints
10 SB+ - various sports cards
3800 SB - iphone
4100 SB - Xbox360 premium bundle
Here's a bonus tip when using swagbucks: Simply incorporate it into your daily use. Change your bookmarks to the swagbucks search results, so it's simply an extra click away.
For example:
A) You have bl0g7 bookmarked
instead
B) Go to www.swagbucks.com, type in bl0g7 in the search box and out comes the search results. Bookmark the results page (http://swagbucks.com/?t=w&p=1&q=bl0g7).
This way your bookmark is only one click away from your desired site and this increases your chances of earning Swag Bucks without much of a hassle. I don't randomly search the web all the time, so this is a much better way to incorporate it into my daily internet. Alternatively, you can also install the toolbar (http://swagbucks.com/?cmd=sb-plugins).
You can not spam search with swagbucks, there seems to be some sort of time limit to how often you can win. Most of the time it's been more than 1 hour before I win again, but I have won once in a 20 min span.
The next couple sites will be PTCs:
GPT Bank: Is a site that will pay a bonus in addition to whatever PTC sites that you join under them will pay you. The basics steps are:
- Register in GPTBank.com.
- Join ptc sites with GPTBank's reference.
- Start clicking on PTC sites like before and boost your earnings up to %100.
- If we get paid from ptc sites your share transferred to your account automatically.
- When your main balance reaches $2.00 you are able to request your payment to your AlertPay address.
UnoBux: Another PTC, not much more to say than that. GPT Bank does have this one listed, but they are no longer accepting referrals for it. Do note that all the PTCs listed here have low payouts and rather decent pay-per-clicks (usually about 1 cent). With this in mind, it'll take you about a month to reach most of their payouts without any referrals.
Another note, most of these sites will require you to have an AlertPay account. If you do not have one, you can sign up here.
That concludes this post. In an upcoming post, I'll cover ways to monetize your blog (including alternatives to Google AdSense).
Welcome!
XTC Blog is the replacement to bl0g7$, all posts from there will be transferred to here. I recently realized that the reason why I stopped updating bl0g7$ was simply because I had no passion in simply writing about online methods of making money.
I've extended XTC Blog to not only include making money online, but also some neat reviews/recipes for restaurants and food, and my true love, gaming. In particular, MMO gaming. XTC Blog will most likely be moving to a host by 2010, along with bl0g7, where both will receive a complete makeover. Until then however, bl0g7 is on hibernation status and this will be the main blog. In the end, the two blogs may actually merge, since I don't think there's too much point in keeping them seperate. Naturally, when that happens I'll make a post here, this is just an interim solution.
I've extended XTC Blog to not only include making money online, but also some neat reviews/recipes for restaurants and food, and my true love, gaming. In particular, MMO gaming. XTC Blog will most likely be moving to a host by 2010, along with bl0g7, where both will receive a complete makeover. Until then however, bl0g7 is on hibernation status and this will be the main blog. In the end, the two blogs may actually merge, since I don't think there's too much point in keeping them seperate. Naturally, when that happens I'll make a post here, this is just an interim solution.
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