Archive for the ‘what i'm doin’ Category
February 26, 2008
i arrived in vegas saturday morning around 9am, waited for eli’s flight to arrive, and then we headed to our hotel. we were both so completely exhausted that we decided to take a nap for a few hours until we had to go to dinner. we end up eating at a really good brazillian steakhouse inside the mirage and i ordered my first drink in vegas, which was a huge fruity rum drink that had 1/2 of a pineapple hanging off the side hahah after dinner we went to see cirque de soleil “o” performance at the bellagio hotel. that show was so amazing! after cirque we went to the venetian where we took a gondola ride, where our gondolier sang “o sole mio.” loved it!
we met up with our friends chris, jason, nathan & nick and headed to the palms. we ended up drinking there and at the rio until about 8am sunday morning. again we slept until about 4pm, headed to the affiliate summit meet-up which was pretty much dying out so we chatted until we had to be at the palms g suite for the copeac party. it was nice to see my friends that i haven’t seen in way too long. from 7-9 we all hung out in the g suite then headed to ghostbar. monday we met up with jason & nathan for lunch @ the rio and walked around the summit booth area for a little while. i’m glad eli got his skateboard 
we headed to the airport at 4 and both of our flights left at 6pm. my flight almost got cancelled due to weather but luckily we made it out on time, cause that would really suck if i had to stay another night in vegas…………
February 17, 2008
friday night i drove up to chicago to do some club promoting at enclave. i met my group of friends (derek, carlos, blair, katie, amanda, leo) at the pre-party at carlos’ condo off of navy pier. wow, what an amazing place..the view from his living room looks onto navy pier and you can watch the lighted ferris wheel as you play call of duty 
carlos’ roommate spun on the tables as we had some drinks before we headed to the club. our group was going to be rolling in there about 50 deep so when we got to the club we immediately got upgraded to 2 more tables and put right next to the dj booth. as people started arriving we ended up going through about 7 bottles of greygoose! i must say, enclave is one of the funner clubs i have been to. the energy in that place was so amazing, and everyone was really cool.
February 13, 2008
i have really been blessed with the people who have come into my life in the last month. i’m not a religious person, but i used to be. certain events happened in my life that made me question faith and God. i’ve always thought of myself as a loving, giving, and kind person with a good heart. in the last week, 3 different people have approached me and began a conversation about religion and people being lost but finding their way back. it seems as though someone is trying to get my attention. you have it.
my professors this semester have been nothing but awesome. i feel very comfortable sharing my concerns with them about difficult assignments, and they are very willing to help. dr isele even offered to meet me at steak n shake at 3am to discuss history standards as they pertain to researching family heritage. i look forward to being a teacher someday, or at least making a difference somehow in a child’s life.
“Remember that there are multiple classes of children in your future just waiting for their teacher to come into their lives and smile back!” - Professor Isele
well, tomorrow is valentines day and i will be working until around 9. my friend steve and i decided that we are having a anti-valentines day night (since we both do not have dates) drinking beer and watching espn at a neighborhood bar after i get off work. nothing like hanging out with the guys on the most romantic day of the year 
lol
my mom has been recording old family vhs tapes from christmas and other events onto dvd, so hopefully soon i’ll find some good video of me with a serious mullet and leg warmers dancing to debbie gibson and riding my strawberry shortcake bike with the awesome handlebars.
January 29, 2008
we’re supposed to be getting this crazy ass blizzard today so i just looked on weather dot com and typed in my zip code….wow, to my amazement we’re going to have “scat snow”
i had to take a screenshot immediately due to my horrifically perverted mind
January 15, 2008
Yesterday was my first day of 2nd semester at Western Illinois University. At first when I made my schedule I wasn’t sure if I could handle it. I ended up taking 7 classes, and my days at school are 13 hours long. Yes, that sounds horrific I know, but it actually is a pretty good day. I have (3) 1 hour breaks where I go outside, eat my lunch (pb&j), have a smoke break (150 feet away - thx new IL law :P) and rest my brain. I’m really looking forward to this semester because I get to spend even more time than before in a classroom. I will also have the chance to do some teaching.
I also reached my goal to attend ASW today! I want to thank everyone who bought text links or just donated to the fund. I hope to see you all in Las Vegas and we can say hello! I have my plane ticket purchased
January 8, 2008
i really can’t believe it’s 2008 already. i have had a pretty amazing year, been very blessed, and have met so many great people from the internet community that will impact my life forever.
when i attended SES NY in dec of 2006, i really learned how amazing the people in this community are. being able to spend time with rebecca kelley, cameron olthuis, rhea drysdale, becky ryan, dave naylor, shawn hogan, frank watson, eddie machado, james fleet, dax herrera, rea hoffman, david temple, jane copeland, daron & brandy, todd friesen, li evans, jessie stricchiola, danny sullivan, vanessa fox, greg hartnett, brian prince, adam sussman, simon heseltine, todd malicoat, marcus tandler, joe morin, and mike jones & brock with the pepperjam crew. i know i left a ton of names out there and i’m sorry but it’s hard to remember back a year without going through pictures galore! just know that all of you influenced me in some way and for that i am grateful.
this year i had the honor of organizing the first two elite retreat events, where i learned so much and started my internet community networking circle. to only name a few, elite retreat introduced me to guy kawasaki, lee dodd, neil patel, kris jones, aaron wall, darren rowse, chris hooley, laura alter, kevin henrikson, suj patel, bruce sutherland, alexander barbara, lisa brown, wendy piersall, and many other attendees that i still keep in contact with.
i also attended the affiliate summit west in las vegas (first time in vegas), where again i met so many great people that are some of my best friends today. all of the guys from wicked fire are what made that such a great experience for me. i cannot wait to go back to see everyone again this year!
my favorite conference experience by far was SES NY in april where my crew was absolutely off the chart! chris hooley, jon heinl, nicola young, cheryl clark, amy tuck, and joe whyte are by far the best people i could have been with. i even made a video of how awesome my trip was. not only was it a trip to a conference, but we had a killer time at spotlight which is the best karoake club in the world, where i got to meet kerry simon (as seen on iron chef) and meet master shake from aqua teen hunger force.
after getting to know my friends from wickedfire (eli, c0ck, smax, jon, crypt, tobsn, voodooman, engaged, darfur, conceptualmind, mwattier) for so long we decided to plan a trip together and hang out again. at first it was scheduled for chicago, and soon got derailed to go snowboarding on mt hood in oregon where eli lives, which most people decided not to go but me and eli. jon waraas and wes came to board with us along with eli’s sisters and we had the weekend of a lifetime.
i have been truly blessed this year because of all of the wonderful people who have become a part of my life. because of the amazing relationships i have made this year, i know my business will only get better and i am looking forward to new projects coming up!
I wish everyone the best of luck in this new year, 2008 should be quite an interesting year for online marketing with all of the changes to come.
January 7, 2008
I had a real decision to make. Was I going to drop out short of graduation this year or try to wade through the student loan brokers to find enough money to finish? It hadn’t been easy. I had borrowed all the government money, had gotten all the grants I qualified for, and was not able to do more than barely get by on the jobs I was able to snag. Trying to finish college after a stint in the work world is pretty hard. Parents had helped early on but they are tapped out and retired. You know, really, how long can they be expected to help? I still had classes left. I was feeling really dead-ended. I found myself trying to figure out a million ways to get this done with no real possibilities!
In December I was chatting online with a recent college grad who mentioned NextStudent and how she finished her degree. I found it easily and began looking through the site. It was pretty easy to locate. Then I found what I really need in understandable language- private student loans! It was simple to apply with my information and got a personal reply quickly from a NextStudent employee. He explained that the private loans can cover the total cost of my last few semesters including books, fees, services, and even travel if it is an educational expense. I never expected it to be so easy and so fast. I am heading back this semester with a load off my mind. I know I can borrow up to $30, 000.00 per year if I need it. NextStudent is easy to understand as a website and easy to apply. Man, tell your friends. This site hooks you up with the cash to finish. Go online to NextStudent and see for yourself! It works.
January 4, 2008
as a suggestion from my visit to the doctor yesterday, my nurse suggested that i start to write down everything i eat. by doing this, it makes you more aware of your intake and stop you from eating foods you wouldn’t want to admit you did. i started to make an excel spreadsheet but did a search for food journals online.
i came across a great website called Fit Day and they have a free online diet & fitness journal that is really easy to use. you set your goals and it tells you how much you have to lose, and also breaks down your intake by calories and every nutrient. i like the user friendliness of it because pretty much every food is already in there with it’s calorie and nutrient count, so you just select it and it adds to your journal. for the exercise portion, you just type what kind of exercise you did like..”walking” and there are preset distances and times to select, and you just choose one and it automatically adds that to your journal for you. after you select your exercise, it shows how many calories you burned from doing that.
i set a 3 month goal and i have to lose 3 lbs /week. my goal is between 30 lbs by my 30th birthday in march!
January 4, 2008
like most people, i used to have the mental picture in my head that free health clinics are filled with crackhead prostitutes and the place is all dirty. i was so very wrong. since i do not have health insurance (and haven’t for a year) i did some research on where i could see a womens health doctor that won’t cost me hundreds of dollars for an annual exam. i was told to call my county health department, and to my amazement, i found out that i could have a free annual exam done. this morning was my appointment and i have never had such a pleasant experience at a doctors’ office before in my life. not only was the place clean, the entire staff there was so nice, comforting, and educated, plus i learned so much in the time i was there. i have never had such a thorough exam before either, they spent an hour talking with me about family history of illnesses, new options in birth control (some really great things available now), help to quit smoking, diet and exercise information, and a whole lot more. my old gynecologist never spent more than the 5-10 minutes it took to have my pap and out the door she went. ever since i can remember i’ve always had to see a gynecologist about my ovaries and such, and i was diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome at a young age. those visits were always very intimidating and scary to me, but this place just made things feel okay and i felt like i was chatting with my mom. hopefully by talking about my experience i’ll be able to help someone find a place they can go. (most clinics also offer free pregnancy testing, free condoms, and std checks). i also found out today that i am extremely anemic…had a little issue with it this evening but things seem to be a-ok now! my hemoglobin level was 8.2, normal is 15…i was told it’s likely to be a side effect from my gastric bypass surgery (which is pretty common).
January 2, 2008
Over the past 3 months, I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I was going to Affiliate Summit West in February. Unfortunately, I don’t have the money to pay for my trip because I am currently paying my way to attend college at Western Illinois University to finish my degree in Elementary Education. I am paying for school right now from money I make as a bartender and the income generated from my sites. I’m not a big online income generator like many people assume, I do make some money from doing internet marketing, but it’s not my main source of income. I’m a smart, hard working college student who wants to influence the lives of our future generations and make a difference in this world. I have learned so much about internet marketing in the last year, and I hope to learn more in the year to come! My last conference was SES NY in April 2007 and after that is when I started back in school again to finish my degree that I had already started. I plan on documenting my trip with photos, videos, and links of everyone I meet.
I’ve created an incentive to donate….a text link on this blog for any donations $20 and over. Each increment of $20 will get you a link, so you can have as many as you want. This will not only be an investment for you, but it will also be a much appreciated donation! My goal is $600 which should cover my flight, hotel and expenses. I am also willing to hear any other suggestions you might have for me to make money towards this trip if you have work for me online (writing, data entry, etc.).
Click Here to Donate and be sure to put in your url and anchor text for your link(s). If you wish to remain anonymous for your donation just let me know.
*update- please put your link info in “shipping address”if it will let you or send me and email to andrea at planetandrea dot com