Archive for April, 2008

Missing Deals, Losing Sleep

Published by
the Hungry Dork Lord
at April 24, 2008 in Las Vegas and Real Estate. 0 Comments

One of the worse feelings in the world is knowing we had a chance to take advantage of an opportunity but didn’t. Especially when that opportunity had the potential of helping all parties involved. That’s how I felt this last month. I had the opportunity to buy a house in Las Vegas through a short sale due to an upcoming foreclosure. My co-worker rents the house and she told me before hand that the owner of her house was not making payments on it. Two months I had known this and still failed to come up with a plan to purchase the house.

In buying the house I could have invested in a real estate property that would have been worth more than my purchase price, my co-worker could have continued living there and eventually bought the house from me, the current owner would have avoided foreclosure, and the bank would have one less house to worry about in this devastating real estate market.

In the end someone else came up with a short sale offer and as far as I know they are just waiting on approval from the bank. Even if the bank does not accept the initial offer I’m sure they’ll work out some sort of deal. Regardless of what happens, it’s still a deal I will have to miss because I did not do anything about it while I knew it was there.

Unfortunately that’s not the worst part. As much as it sucks to miss out on a great deal, what’s worse is realizing that I never had a chance to take advantage of that deal. I simply don’t have enough knowledge and know how to do so. I don’t have the funds to purchase a house on a short sale. I don’t even know how the whole short sale process works. It was possible for me to take advantage of the deal, however, I could not do it alone and I was no where close to being prepared to doing so.

After losing this deal I had a little difficulty sleeping because I kept trying to figure out how I could have taken advantage of this opportunity and how I can take advantage of another opportunity that is looming. Failing to do something always gets my head moving. I always tell myself that I will not let any particular situation happen again. However, it’s not so easy. Unless I find the know how and the connections to be able to take advantage of such a situation I will never be able to make a deal like this happen.

Not all is lost though. At the very least I know what I need to do now. I need to learn. There is so much to know about the real estate market and how to invest in real estate that I’m not going to learn it over night. I need to learn all I can and then use what I have learned. Action and education go side by side. Education without action is worthless. Action without eduction is wasteful. Fortunately for me, I’m young and there is a so much knowledge out there to learn and so many deals to look forward to. For right now though, I need to get prepared.

Enjoy the week. Peace.

Weighing me down, but not holding me back!

Published by
jumpDAMNIT
at April 14, 2008 in Fitness and Jump Training. 0 Comments

I’m about almost halfway through April and I can basically see the light at the end of the tunnel. School as I know it will no longer be a hindrance for any goals any longer. However, that doesn’t mean I will stop learning. On the contrary, one of my main goals in life is to continually be an active student in the school of life.

Now on to my jump training. Its been tough, to keep playing bball and doing jump training at the same time. All the research I’ve done has stated repeatedly that its not wise to do jump training while playing basektball, but I think they meant an actual season of basketball. And not my one time a week kind of scenario. So what’s been weighing me down? Well, simply, its weights!

I got a weighted vest about 1 month ago and this last Thursday was my first day actually using them in my jump training. The vest can weigh up to 20lbs, but I chose to start off with only 6 lbs. I basically did my regular routine for jump training, but added the vest with some of the exercises for extra excitement.

5 sets of explosive squats at 145 lbs with 10-12 reps

3 sets of sparq lunges with a 10 lbs weight, at 10 reps each set

3 sets of box jumps with 6 lbs vest, at 10 reps each

3 sets of depth jumps with 6 lbs vest at 10 reps each

3 sets of box jumps w/o vest, at 15 reps each

3 sets of depth jumps w/o vest, 8 reps ( I was pretty much dying at this point)

And well today is Saturday, and my legs feel like jello. I consider that success. My next way of improving my jump training is to be able to do this twice a week. Lets see if this will happen next week. Thanks for listening.

Back on track

Published by
jumpDAMNIT
at April 14, 2008 in Basketball, Fitness and Jump Training. 0 Comments

I think my last post for jump training was over 2 weeks ago. But don’t let that fool you into thinking I’ve let my training go for 2 weeks. On the contrary, the training has only become more frequent and intense. It is just too boring and long to write out exactly what I do on a weekly basis for my jump training. Here is a summary:

1) Been going to the gym twice a week for my jump training.

2) One day is quick feet day and sprinting.

3) The other day has to do with more jumping and squatting.

To know the difficulty and intensity of my work out you would only have to go as far as to ask my work out partner (John Wu). Last week during one of the box jump exercises I pushed him so hard that on his last jump he had no energy left and basically jumped his shins into the metal box. But being the warrior he was, I just put a band-aid on his bloody leg and we continued the workout like it was nothing.

Yesterday, my workout was really intense. I played bball for 2 hours. Then went to the gym to work out and then finished up with rock climbing. I took the day off today because my body was really really tired and it needed the rest. Too bad it won’t be a long rest with this Thursday coming up. I’m heading up north to Davis to visit my boy Mako where I’m sure we are gonna be balling and working out all weekend. And finally, this weekend I will measure my hops to see if I’ve gained any ground on the two inches i have left before touching the rim. It is definitely an exciting time for me right now.

Yes, I Can

Published by
the Hungry Dork Lord
at April 5, 2008 in Family, Goals and Relationships. 0 Comments

For the most part I’m a very positive person. I believe things work themselves out in the end and if someone wants something bad enough they will be able to achieve it. I don’t believe in limitations. I do believe that sometimes people say they want something but they don’t really understand what it takes to achieve it. If they understood exactly how much work went into something they may decide that it’s not for them.

For instance, I want to gain about 20-30 lbs. Even though I’ve been skinny all my life with a “high metabolism,” I know that it’s possible for me to do so. I’ve done my research and I know what to do. However, I still revolve around the 150-155 lbs range. Essentially, I’ve gained 0 lbs towards my goal! Why is this? It’s because I will not make the sacrifices necessary to do so. Not right now. For me there are other things of more importance in my life right now. I remain very confident that I will achieve this goal. There are just other goals that have priority. There are other obstacles that have to be dealt with now.

The biggest obstacle these days is all the negativity. The worst of the negativity comes from my own parents. Negativity is at its worst when it comes from people that are close to you. If random people tell me I can’t do something I can simply brush them off. Their opinion doesn’t really mean much anyway. Their negativity encourages me even. I put them on a list of “haters.” After all, I wouldn’t want to forget to share my success stories with them later.

Negativity from my friends hurt a little but I get by. It sucks to know that some friends don’t think I’m “good enough” to achieve my goals or they think it’s better to play it safe and be practical. It honestly sucks to hear a friend say that I can’t do something or that I should do something else. If I’m not on the right track give me some constructive criticism but don’t tell me I can’t! Where’s the support?!?! Eh, the hurt passes.

Negativity from my own parents however is like having someone you love walk out on you. These are the people that raised me. I’m sure they love me and want the best for me. Unfortunately they have a very terrible way of expressing it. Aren’t our parents suppose to give us the most support? Aren’t are parents suppose to be there for us when we stumble? Where’s the unconditional love between a parent and child? Oh wait, that’s right. Unconditional love is a myth. And parents are still human even if they do mean more to us than most people we pass in our lives. The worst part is I have a really tough time distancing myself from them.

Every book I’ve read on success and every successful person I’ve heard speak on success say the same thing about negativity. Get away from it. It will weigh you down and encumber you. It will prevent you from accomplishing your goals. Yet, how do I distance myself from my parents? How do I distance myself from the very people I want most to share in my successes? Actually, how is not that important. I just need to remember why I need to. They make my work infinitesimally harder. They suck all the energy I have and they stress the life out of me. I’m sick of being in the crossfire of their power struggle that wastes so much time. I want to stabilize my financial situation by October 1, 2008. I’ve been in Vegas for over 7 months and I have made very little progress towards that goal. I have less than 6 months left and my parents are getting in the way. Sucks to say but I need to walk away.

On the bright side… I got a lot of my friends to wish me happy birthday for April fools. Hahahahahahaha!!! Ah the little joys in life. Oh, and I still believe in myself enough to know that Yes, I can accomplish my goals. And yes, I can speak a little Spanish. Si, se puede! Yes, we can!

Enjoy the weekend, Cheers!