I thought I would throw out one of those self-help type blogs so I could give you a review of a site that I have discovered that is gaining wide popularity.

I chose to review this site because it is the new year and one of the things that comes with that is resolutions, as always one of the top resolutions for the new year is to lose weight and get in shape.  It is also one of the hardest things to stick with, by the end of February a lot of people have dropped the whole idea of it.  I have to tell you, I have come across a site that is going to help you stick with it.

The site is BistroMD.com, they carry doctor designed gourmet meals and deliver them right to your door. Both Dr. Phil and CNBC have featured this web site and the expert behind it Dr. Caroline Cederquist and both have had nothing but good to say.

Here is how the program works.  First you select a plan, they start out at $129.95 per week and go as high as $179.95 per week.  It sounds expensive at first, but when you calculate out your weekly food cost then it really is not that bad.  You figure eating out a 2 or more times a week for dinner, lunch every day at work, that cup of coffee and donut in the morning, some snacks here and there.  It can really start to add up.  So, factor in that with BistroMD.com you get access to Dieticians and weekly program material to help keep you on track to your health goals its a very reasonable price. 

Once you have selected a plan the next step is order the meals.  There are a variety of menus to choose from and you are able to substitute things that you do not like or cannot eat due to allergies or religious preference.  Then your meals will be delivered right to your door for you to heat and enjoy.  Sticking with this plans the average member lost 2.5 lbs. per week, I am sure that if you threw in a regular exercise program a person could easily double that number or better.  I look at the people that are on the television show, The Biggest Loser and they are losing well over that in a week.  Of course, they are also practically killing themselves too. 

So to wrap this up I am recommending to you all that you take a look at the offerings of BistroMD.com and see if it fits into your lifestyle.  With reasonable prices, great menu selections and being a doctor designed meal plan it would be hard to go wrong on this. 

Take care web.

You ever watch television late at night or very early on weekends and caught an [tag]infomercial[/tag] for a revolutionary new product that is just so great, and the entire world is buying it, and if you call within the next 12 minutes you also get a free set of knives and a new toothbrush? Of course, who hasn’t? I thought I would write a little bit on that, just because it hit me as a good topic, it may get strange, it may get boring, I have not fully wrapped up the thought on it yet so you’ll have to bear with me.

I can’t say the last one of these I saw, they have been something to be avoided for me. You want to know why? Because I want the product. The people on there are so convincing that it would enhance my life in some way that you just feel you have to have it. But you know, I have bought into it before and know others that have done the same thing and the outcome is never as advertised. If you have never picked up the phone right now and called the toll-free number on your screen then I am going to give you a run down on it to save you time and money, in some cases lots of money. I can relate this to other forms of shopping as well and I will do that before it is all over so stick around.

First, the product you see on TV is a good product, for what they are using it for and the time that they are using it. You ever see them demonstrate a product on something and tell you it will do so many other things, but they don’t actually show the product doing that, they only show what they want you to see. More than likely, it will only do what they show it doing. Keep that in mind. To elaborate on the time that they are using it, that 1/2 hour or hour that they are demonstrating that product, for alot of these things you can just about double that time and expect that to be the actual product life. It will probably break shortly thereafter. Anything that you are considering buying from your TV, make sure to find out what others are saying about it first. Here is a helpful tip, visit [tag]http://www.as-seen-on-tv-reviews.net[/tag], here you will find just about everything ever to be shown on your TV screen and the experience that people have had with it. Not only that, but you can share your experience as well. I love to get on there and just read what people have to say about things whether I plan to buy them or not, it is amazing how much junk is on the market.

So, how do you know if something being advertised is junk or not? That is the big question, one that plagues consumers by the millions. I am going to give to you the answer to that. Look for the value. How much is the product worth? I am not talking about percieved value, that is what they are hooking you on; how much time this product will save you or how much better your life will be with this which you are then to try to equate to real-world dollars. Which you can do easily because look at these people in the advertisement, they are all greatly satisfied. No, I am talking about actual worth here. Let’s say I have a product that has a value of $199.00, that is the estimated cost of developing the product, producing the product and marketing the product as well as having some profit margin in there, you have to have that so you can reinvest to come out with another great product that people can use and enjoy and if it is a good product they will return to you for that next product. Anyway, I strayed a little bit there; so I have this product that is valued at $199.00, how much do you think I am going to sell it for?

Think about that, take your time; here watch a video I put together of my son’s first birthday party while you think…

Jonathan’s 1st Birthday Memoir

Ok, you’ve had some time to think about it. What did you come up with? If you guessed $199.00 then you are absolutely correct! If that is the real value of it and it is worth it, then I am going to charge that for it. All of these junk products that you see advertised are valued at 100-200-300 dollars and up, but you can get it today for $19.95, order within the next 15 minutes and you can get 2 for that price. Honestly? If it were really valued at 100-200-300 dollars, then that is how much it would cost, and you would buy it because it would be worth it. So lets look at the value of the $19.95 product. If they are going to sell it for 20 bucks then it is probably worth about 5, since most of this stuff being sold is at a 75% markup, if they are willing to give you 2 of them, then divide that by 2, the product is worth about $2.50. They know it is junk, they don’t want you to come back and be a return customer. They get these products direct from China from a wholesale broker and they figure out how to capitalize on it. They invest a few thousand dollars to put together this half-hour to hour long commercial and put it on the air, they dazzle everyone and sell every one of them they have pocketing 50 or more times their investment and move on to the next thing. You never know who they are, they create a business entity just for that product, drop it and create another for the next thing.

Here is the next thing about these infomercial sellers that I have had personal experience with. When you call they will ask if you want to take advantage of this great program that they will enroll you in for free, for the first 30 days, all you have to do is cancel. They just want you to try it out, no obligation. So you are like, “Yeah, whatever lets move on with the order.”. After a month or so you start seeing this charge on your credit card statement for $39.95 or some other amount, every month. What is that for? You call the number on your statement and find out that it is that free program that they recorded you saying the word yes to when you ordered your magic choppy thing. Suprise, you were so distracted by the order that you forgot all about that until that moment. Not only is there that but they hit you with ridiculous shipping charges as well. Once, I think it was my Mother, ordered that amazing container set you see advertised that has a million different sized containers with a single size lid to fit them all, no more wasting time sorting through your cupboard to match up a container to a lid. It even had a neat little carousel organizer to store them on. She took advantage of the offer to get another set absolutely free, all she had to do was pay shipping on the second set. It took something like 6 months to actually recieve the sets of containers and she got charged in the neighborhood of $70.00 for shipping!

Which brings me to the relativity to another way people shop to save money, [tag]Ebay[/tag]. Ebay is great, I love to shop on there for things, especially higher dollar items that I don’t want to pay high dollar for, like electronics and such. But again, buyer beware. Take a look at the shipping charges on what you are buying. I have seen small package items with shipping fees as high as $40.00, for something as small as a little MP3 player. They sell the product and profit from that, then turn around and double that profit on the shipping charges. So, make sure you do your research and do not buy from these sellers, eventually when they stop getting buyers they will change their business model to be more ethical. Also, when buying from Ebay, keep in mind the seller. If you are looking at an item that is more than $50 then you probably want to purchase it from someone who has at least a little bit of feedback. I would not look at that 300+ dollar laptop and buy it from someone who just joined last week and has a feedback of 0, or worse yet, joined last month and has 50% negative feedback. Just some things to keep in mind.

I will stop ranting now, I just had to get that out there.

Take care web.

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Read all about his first birthday party at his website, http://jonathan.rankspace.com

2009 has begun, out with the old, in with the new.  What an exciting year expected, with the recession, the job market, a new presidency, a new political party change.  Wow, I think this year will definitely be one for the record books, I hope we can all enjoy being a part of history in the making.  I know that seems a bit corny, maybe nothing that anyone really stops and thinks about, but the things that are going on in our world right now are the same things many of our children, and grandchildren are going to be reading about in those boring high school classes.  You have never given that much thought have you?  Think about what your text book told you about, the very things your parent and grandparents had experienced first-hand.  That being said, you know they are going to ask you about them, what it was like, how you coped, how you felt, what it meant to you.  Remember these critical pieces of information, remember today so that you can share it with them when the time comes.

Hey, you may notice that the site has taken on a new look, a little cleaner, more polished.  Well, if you have seen the page at all over the last 4 or 5 years then you know that it changes every year.  I get out the broom and dustpan, paint and spackle and do a makeover.  Usually not until the new year is well underway though.  This year was a little different.  I find out on New Years Eve that the old site was broken, it had a crash of sorts so I figured why not.  I did not really like the old look anyhow.  Especially after giving it a real close look over after the crash.  It was pretty hideous.  So, this is the 2009 look.  You like?

It has been a while since I posted so you may have to forgive the length of this.  Just fair warning.

Jonathan has been doing great, he has been working very hard on walking.  He is a professional crawler right now, not to mention master at throwing toys.  He is definitely full of personality, and curiosity.  The way he will just look at something and study it, like he is not as interested in what it is doing, but trying to determine how it is doing it.  He got a ton of stuff for Christmas this year, our house is littered with toys of his.  Many things that he can ride on, walk with, stand with.  It is amazing how much room these things take.  Then there is his birthday just a couple of days away where I am sure he will get even more things.  We may have to get him his own house by the time it is all over.  Don’t forget, he has his own web site over at http://www.jonathan.rankspace.com where you can read all about the things that he is up to.

Matthew has been good as well.  His grades have been on the incline over the last several months, something that Angie and I are very proud of.  He still has some work to be done but at least they are going in the right direction.  He got a new laptop for Christmas this year, and a Nintendo Wii; two things that he really wanted.  That should just about hold him until his birthday, I doubt it though. 

Angie has had a lighter than normal end of year at work, I am glad since she normally puts in 12 or so hours per day around the end of the year.  That would have been very rough this year with us being as busy as we have, so in a way I am glad, but in another way that shows that the company is not as strong as in previous years and with the way companies are making cut-backs I hope that it is not a warning of what is to come.  She has had a bit of sickness, flu/cold type stuff, but she has not let it get her down too much.  She is wonderful with the way she manages work, the house, the bills, Jonathan, putting up with me.  I don’t know how she does it all, she is my hero.  I feel guilty for not having the time to help out more than I do.

Myself, I have been good.  I have found what it is that has made me sick for so long, the headaches, stomach problems and such.  Turns out that it is food, or more specifically, [tag]MSG[/tag].  I read about MSG after seeing commercials for foods touting about how they contain no MSG.  So, I decided to search online about what in the world it is.  That led me to more sites with information about sensitivity to it and allergies, I found a list of 84 symptoms relating to MSG sensitivity and I experienced 76 of them.  So I tested the theory and avoided MSG, immediately the symptoms went away.  The [tag]stomach problems[/tag], the [tag]headaches[/tag], the [tag]rosacea[/tag], everything.  I called and scheduled an appointment with my doctor who helped to confirm it.  I now have a [tag]stricter diet[/tag] to follow, but I feel so much better so it is definitely worth it.  The only problem now is that since I have been avoiding it, I seem to be more sensitive to it and when I do happen to get a hold of something containing MSG or similar additive I have a much more pronounced reaction.  But wait, there’s more.  Not only have I avoided MSG, I have also been avoiding a whole lot of other things that I have found doing research, things such as [tag]High Fructose Corn Syrup[/tag],[tag] Aspartame[/tag], [tag]BHA[/tag] and [tag]BHT[/tag], [tag]Propyl Gallate[/tag], [tag]Potassium Bromate[/tag], [tag]Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil[/tag], and [tag]Yellow 6 coloring[/tag].  There are more that I will probably start avoiding soon as well but it is hard enough to find foods without the ones above so I am starting slow.  I am going to put together a web site dedicated to foods and additives, sort of a safe/unsafe list for those wishing to avoid the stuff as well.  Sure, you may not be allergic or sensitive to them, but that still does not make them safe or good for you either.  It is doing harm to you, you just may not notice it as I do. 

I think I will bring this to a close, as to not ramble on too much, most people probably fell asleep by now reading this.  I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope you the best.

Take care web.

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