family life |
Aug 18
Lazy Days In Las Vegas

I'm still here in sunny Las Vegas, working by the pool everyday. Life is good. The temperatures are hot but it's a dry heat so you don't sweat much at all, unlike Vancouver that get's humid heat in the summer.  I snapped some shots of random shit , that has been added below. Taking photos costs me nothing, and it's a great way  to preserve memories.

I've been putting offers on more condos down here. The prices are too cheap for me to resist:). If you can get 2 bedrooms condos in the $55,000 range and rent them for $800-$900, it won't be long before I retire completely and let the rental cheques do all the income earning for me, lol. I'm not going to preach about why you should buy here, it will be more for me to buy so stay away!

Tommorow night were going to the Olive Garden, I have been there only once ever in Langley. They're having  an all you can eat pasta deal for $9. We have gone out only once since beening here for 3 weeks, so that's ok if I have some fat ass carbs for once night..  I can't even recall the last time I had pasta, and I'm Italian…. Ma Che cazzo!

The weather is still hot, palm trees are growing and prices are still cheap. That's all I have to report kiddies. Stay tuned for more from Sin City!

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Harley Davidson on Las Vegas Blvd (the strip)

Hang Over T Shirt Lazy Days In Las Vegas

Hang Over movie anyone, ring a bell?!?

fuck you Lazy Days In Las Vegas

self explanatory…

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cheap trick Lazy Days In Las Vegas

80's music Cheap Trick!

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After a rain storm…

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Caesars Palace Bhuda thingy

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Caesars Palace..

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Aria hotel, biggest hotel in Vegas…

Aria hotel Lazy Days In Las Vegas

Aria hotel, biggest hotel in Vegas…

warn a brotha Lazy Days In Las Vegas

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street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

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street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

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street magician at Freemont in downtown Vegas

pool jumper Lazy Days In Las Vegas

she's a jumper now!

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New York, New York

MOnte Carlo Lazy Days In Las Vegas

crazy looking clouds

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at the MGM hotel,trainer with tiger…

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i love to fart Lazy Days In Las Vegas

I do love to fart!



Jul 30
Whoa, Don’t Believe The Hype

ell, well, well, look who's back. It seems I took a little hiatus from blogging. Everyone needs a little break and I don't even know if I'll be posting after this blog post. I am back in the sunny south western USA. I've been in Las Vegas for the last three days and I'm enjoying the heat, and the sun.

I drove down, the same as last time and stopped in Boise, Idaho halfway through. The drive was hotter this time, but it felt shorter which was a good thing. With temperatures down here in Las Vegas reaching 40°C it sounds a lot hotter than you would think. I am not saying that it isn't hot because it definitely is, however if you compare 40°C in Las Vegas compared to 40° in Vancouver, you would die in Vancouver with the humidity level that they have there.

In any case I've been working online and pushing forward. I will be contacting the realtor I deal with down here in Las Vegas, and possibly will be purchasing another condo or two while I am here.

The property management company that I have been dealing with is great, so far no problems, and I don't expect to see any in the future. I have actually been receiving checks, instead of dishing out money every month like I had to with the properties I owned in Winnipeg three years ago!

Buying a condo for $64,000 and then renting it out for $795 per month, just can't be beat. The properties down here require very little maintenance because they are new, so right out of the gate you have much less problems, less repairs and less headaches if you are dealing with the right property management company.

Personally, from what I can tell it looks like the prices of properties here have stabilized and has been that way since I was here and purchased here last October in 2009. No, the prices in Vegas have not gone up very much, if any yet. Obviously, Las Vegas is in a recession, and it still is. But, so what? Las Vegas will bounce back it is just a matter of time. And, in the meantime if the property is being rented out with positive cash flow, what's the problem?

I am making money every month off of my rental, while I wait for the market to rise. Even if it takes three years to rise, I don't really care. All I care about, is that I got the property for a good deal and I am able to rent it out to cover my costs and make some money on the side. This place is a no-brainer for any real estate bastard. If you have the money, and you have the balls this is the place to invest. I have said it many times, but you will see a blog post from me, when the prices rise and the profit of selling one of my condos becomes possible with a nice chunk of cash in my pocket.

On another note, I have to say that people tend to exaggerate everything. I was a little worried that coming to Las Vegas in August was going to be too hot. Yes it is hot, but as always friends and family, and anyone else always tend to jump in and put their own opinion resulting in fear and leaving you scared of the unknown. Never take anyone's word for it, learn for yourself. What is hot to some people, is warm to others, and vice versa.

Anyways, I'm having a great time down here in Vegas, enjoying this time, working and just enjoying my relaxing work vacation. I am so grateful that I purchased the place down here as a vacation home I can't even begin to explain it. I will have this place for many decades to come, even if the prices rise, and they will.

Remember whatever you focus on will expand. What does that mean? Well if you are continuing to think about how fat you are, you will get even fatter. If you continue to think about how sick you feel, you will continue to get sick. You're a thoughts will become your reality. Think about ways to make more money, and you will make more money. If you think about ways to get out of debt, you will create more debt. Think about what you want, not what you don't want. The Law of attraction is always at work, even though many times I find myself thinking negatively it is still working for me just in the wrong fashion. Training your self to be positive is the only way to have a happier life, I see this in myself all the time, and I work on improving myself all the time.

IMG 1054 Whoa, Dont Believe The Hype

IMG 1091 Whoa, Dont Believe The Hype

IMG 1090 Whoa, Dont Believe The Hype

IMG 1089 Whoa, Dont Believe The Hype

IMG 1092 Whoa, Dont Believe The Hype

Have a great day, I'm off to the pool!!



Jun 1
Giving Up Is Not An Option

I figured I better post these photos before  they become non relevant, since I am in Vancouver now. Well it was fun while it lasted. We stayed in Vegas for almost 6 sun filled weeks, it was awesome! We walked daily for about an hour, felt great with the sun in our faces, wearing shorts and t-shirts.  Buying that condo in Vegas was one of the best decisions I have ever made, it feels so good to be able to getaway anytime we want.

I’m back in Vancouver looking at the rain outside and wondering why the f*ck we even came back to the “most beautiful city on earth” (Vancouver?!). In any case now I can focus on the work tasks as hand with no distractions of nice weather, LOL. Driving wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, 20 hours to get there, with a night in Boise, Idaho in between Vancouver and Vegas.

Now it’s to get off my lazy ass and make some money!

I don’t like not making my goals and it seems the last time I blogged about getting back to my $1500 profit per day it didn’t happen. Why not?

  1. Part of it really has to do with me and my relaxed work ethic. Psychologically I think I am happy with the success I have achieved so I don’t work as hard as I should be or did in the past.
  2. I don’t push myself like I used, the end result is lower income.  Another reason is feeling sorry for myself because I’m not making as much (stupid I know…). Money screws with your head, when you making tons of it you want more, when it comes in less amounts you get pissed off, angry etc..  Human beings are strange creatures, always wanting more and more, never being satisfied or happy with what they have already.
  3. Lastly the internet is constantly evolving and changing and many opportunities that I made hundreds of thousands of dollars from in the past aren’t there. Competition comes in and pretty soon you aren’t making money. Google chances how the rank websites and your AdSense earning dry up and so on. Surprisingly I still make about $1,100 month from Ad Sense, from informational websites I built in 2003-2006. I haven’t touched them in years since at least least 2006. $1,1000 isn’t a ton of cash but I get check for doing nothing. Back to the changing Internet, I found loopholes in search engine like Google, Yahoo and MSN that allowed to get very cheap targeted traffic to my sites and made a killing for years. Most of those loopholes are now closed unfortunately, however the money I made from these tactics has been invested in real estate safe and sound.

I made at least 2-3 million dollar in revenue  from many, many loopholes that  I found that will be forever closed. I am very grateful for being in the right place at the right time in many situations for many years. I basically milked every idea I had as long as I could, and still milking some now as I write this. Being resourceful has helped to cement my financial freedom for as long as I am alive and my kids (and grand children) will be taken care of long after I am gone 50-60 years from now, for that I am so VERY grateful for! I feel like  I have done my duty as a provider, and it feels great to have achieved it.

Don’t count me out yet though, not even close. I still have some tricks up my sleeve I’m not going to slowdown and retire. I have too much energy to stop!

As for the local affiliate marketing I tried it with a local plumbing company, I made a website for them, I set up phone tracking so my client (plumber) knew that these calls were coming from me. So far from what I know he got 1 customer from it in about 1 month.

  1. The problem is this, he doesn’t answer the call every time because he is busy being a plumber, if he calls a few hours later then that potential customer may have gotten another plumber lined up for the job.
  2. I am paying for all the online advertising, so I get screwed because he isn’t on the ball!
  3. Also some plumbing  jobs are just too small for this plumber to do, for instance changing a leaking faucet isn’t really worth it to him. I get 10% of each job, but it hasn’t worked out too well.
  4. Traffic for local marketing campaigns is much lower than a dating site where you can target millions of people. For instance for this plumbing client, I get anywhere from 5-13 clicks a day. This is enough to get a job per day you would think but apparently lots of the phone calls are people asking questions more than booking jobs.
  5. He has poor communication skills and takes him forever to call me back (many days usually).

I’m not too bummed out on this because I knew there were be problems that I wouldn’t be able to foresee until I actually had a campaign running. Local affiliate marketing definitely does work, because I track the phone calls the plumber is receiving. He is getting the calls but a factor of a few things really isn’t making this deal work out for me. Currently I lost around $250 roughly on this test, you live and learn. I don’t regret doing this project at all, I learned lots and I can use what I have learned on other clients that will pop up. I will be pausing the phone tracking as well as all my online advertising for this client. I wasted enough of my own time and money to try this out. If the client doesn’t want to put in much  effort then I have no alternative. I don’t like chasing clients for their input or money. There are way too many other people who would love an opportunity to have a chance at expanding their client base and only pay for actual clients. Whatever, you live and learn…

Watch this video below it is very inspirational Will Smith is the man he is a driven man, so awesome!!! He never gives up he would rather “die on a treadmill”. This is how you achieve success, so simple but yet SOO POWERFUL. He understands the universe and a crazy work ethic. AWESOME. This video sums up how I feel…

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heading out on the 20 hour drive from Vegas to Vancouver

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stopping for gas in some Nevada desert gas station

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through the Nevada desert..

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cool rock formations in the Nevada desert..

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Nevada highway patrol

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creepy little town in Nowhereville, Nevada USA

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ditto

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Once you get to Western Idaho, it all changes and looks like Vancouver…

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cool looking winding road…

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peacearchborder Giving Up Is Not An Option

Almost home!!



Apr 17
The Drive To Las Vegas From Vancouver

Yah, we arrived safe and sound at 7pm on Friday night! The truck was full of bugs and we were all tired but we arrived. Overall the drive from Vancouver to Vegas wasn’t that bad actually. We woke up at 6 am but didn’t leave Vancouver until 7 because having 2 kids always takes more time to do anything. The Peace Arch border was empty which was great. I got a speeding ticket  just before Seattle, fuck. It cost me $96, which sucked but whatever. I wasn’t trying to speed it just kinda happened. After that little fiasco I kept my truck on cruise control the rest of the road trip, so I couldn’t go over the speed limit.  We drove though the Cascade Mountains and Enumclaw, Washington, where it was pissing rain.

The drive from Vancouver to  Boise, Idaho was 10 hours, we  got to redneck Boise at 6 pm. We stayed the night in a really nice hotel that was basically brand new, and it only cost $63. We stayed in a town called Meridian which is a suburb of Boise. I found the hotel on HotWire.com and it was a 3 star hotel that had free wifi through out the hotel, as well as a complimentary breakfast for the whole family! It was well worth the price. If you want the best possible deals on hotels as well as airfare, then check out HotWire.com. I’ll get the name later, can’t recall it right now.

I should also mention that every few hours my son would have a meltdown and start crying, so he would be let out of his car seat. He would cry for at least 30 minutes sometimes, and he cries really loud, lol. We did try to stop and give him what he needed (breast milk, diaper change or just comforting), but it wasn’t always an option. I knew driving 20 hours with small kids isn’t the easiest way to travel, but what the hell I like taking chances! Overall the kids were pretty damn good, I must say. The DVD players playing “How To Eat fried Worms” on the backseats might have something to do with their overall good behavior, lol.

The drive from Boise to Vegas started to drag the last few hours, since I just wanted to get there, unpack and relax. As we kept driving south in the desert towards Las Vegas the temperature kept creeping up and up.  By the time we got into Vegas the temperature was  27°C, it was perfect. Now I can relax in the sun for a month, work and not worrying about the rain.
Oh yeah for gas, I spent around $250 from Vancouver to Las Vegas which is pretty damn good considering I drive a V8 Escalade  that isn’t really economical. Gas in the USA is at $0.80 per liter compared to Vancouver that is at $1.12! Being Canadian we play allot more for gas, housing, you name it, compared to the Yankees. Now I can tell people I drove through Idaho, wee I am so proud, haha.

Ok that’s enough for now, time for an espresso.


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driving through Washington, rain and more rain….

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someone watching a DVD, with a lollipop..
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driving over some bridge in eastern Washington…

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A house on the move!
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Idaho = farm country & potatoes for miles and miles.

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Yes, there was still snow all over Nevada mountains

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We stopped in this creepy little town in South Nevada, to get some gas. I swear to god everyone was in bred lol.
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Having some food at the gas station…
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little town of horrors….

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I drove that truck for 20 hours in 2 days. I’m still tired thinking about it! I would never make it as a trucker!

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creepy town, USA.. Horror movie anyone? Reminds me of that cheezy movie called “House Of Wax“, with Paris Hilton in it.

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miles and miles of scenery like this..

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Palms trees in the middle of no where. Palm trees are not native to the desert FYI…



Apr 14
Las Vegas Road Trip 2010 Vancouver To Vegas In 20 Hrs

Well it looks like people are interested in doing online marketing, so far the DJ that I have been doing online marketing for is slow.  That is one problem I could have seen coming is the lack of traffic and searches for local searches as “Vancouver disc jockey”. Everything in life is about trial and error and you never know until you try.  That’s ok though I have my second client sand will be starting on building a quick site to promote via paid marketing and start ranking for organic traffic.

Today, however I am preparing for the big road trip down to Las Vegas. The whole trip is a 20 hour drive from Vancouver and going through potato county (Idaho) and then to Las Vegas . We will be stopping in off in Boise, Idaho for the night and then be in Vegas by roughly 3-4 pm Friday. I am super stoked since the temperature is a nice balmy 28 celcuis! I can’t wait!

I have a whole list of people coming to visit, from my brother and his family, my mother in law, as well as my wife’s aunt and uncle.  I have another friend going to down to Vegas who we will be meeting up with, as well as my 3 cousins and their spouses. It’s a full house. People from Vancouver love going to Las Vegas, it’s a cheap, quick get away.

Of course being the workaholic that I am, I will be working  by the pool courtesy of the free wifi available from the clubhouse  in my complex. I can’t wait to work by the pool, wee.

Well that’s about it for now. I need to do a bit of packing, then register a new domain name for the new local client that I will be doing online marketing for.

I took a screen shot from Google Maps of the exact route we will be taking to get down to Vegas. This is the 20 hours driving route, I could have taken the 1-5 route through Oregon and cut across Cali but I would rather save the 4 hours an drive through farm country.  I can always take the scenic route on the way back if I want to.

Las Vegas road trip Las Vegas Road Trip 2010 Vancouver To Vegas In 20 Hrs

Next post is from Vegas, ciao!!!!!!!