Tech. Business. Life.

So, a few times around here, I have alluded to “The Startup”….never being in a position to talk about it until today. Let’s get to the meaty details.

What is it? - HomeworkHelponDemand.com - an online resource that will finally make all those potentially educational resources out there on the Internet easy to find, evaluate, and put to use. We’re talking about a complete shift in the way kids, parents, and teachers use the Internet in relation to school.

We’re not releasing much more information about exactly how we are doing what we do until we are a little farther along - but if you go to the site and sign up, you can get access to early-bird previews and VIP access to some information.

I am very, very excited about this - not just because I think it’s an absolutely great idea that will create a very profitable business…..I also feel very strongly about the mission of this business. You see, on a daily basis we find new web businesses out there that are compelling, cool, or even revolutionary in their creation or application of technology. Twitter is a business that comes to mind that is very ‘cool’.

One thing that’s different about HHOD is that our impact won’t just be measured in return on the VC investment, Fast Company covers (although that would be sweet), or how many ripples we can make in the blogosphere. Our impact will be measured in levels of improvement for students, increase in efficiency for teachers, expansion of the parent’s role in their child’s education - things that, at the end of the day, are what really, truly matter.

You can read my first post on our company blog to see why this is important. When 50% of the kids in your hometown aren’t going to graduate from high school, you really don’t care much about the social grid (although we have that), ajax (that too), or bright and shiny graphics (again..) - what you really want to do is give these kids, their teachers, and their parents the tools to access the greatest learning resource of our time effectively and safely.

That’s what we’re here to do. Stay tuned (and, by all means, go to the site, fill out the form, and stay up to date with what’s going on)

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Go to Youtube.com - click on any featured video.

Hilarity Ensues.  Happy April Fool’s Day!

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Part of me feels guilty for all the awesome folks coming here expecting a GourmetDudes post (sorry guys!), so I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on some healthy eating tips I’ve picked up over the years.  These are tips that, combined with a nearly religious 5 day a week training program have, as of this morning, allowed me to drop 15.5 lbs in the last 9 weeks.

(FYI, that’s a little under 2lbs/week and includes the ridiculous food frenzy that was Easter)

1) Replace ground beef with ground turkey - in everything.  You can’t even tell the difference, although it IS pricier.

2) Never skip breakfast - my personal preference is a cup of yogurt or a slim fast, followed up with a Kashi granola bar about an hour later.  (can’t forget the 2 cups of coffee either).

3)Indulge a little.  It’s easier to stay the course when you’re not starving or depriving yourself.   I find cheese nips and string cheese are great to keep on hand.  And, get a jar of Nutella and a teaspoon.  It’ll change your life.

4) Drink plenty of water - duh.

5) Keep alcohol to a minimum.  A glass of wine or a beer is no problem - but overdoing it will kill your progress (and make you feel to crappy to train the next day).

Extra notes - go vegetarian for a while, when in doubt - eat beans, take a vitamin daily, think of it as making yourself better - not as ‘dieting’….

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I can’t help but love the fact that I can read the New York Times, in its entirety, for free online.

I’m not sure how I just noticed this, other than it’s probably because I get most of my news from CNN.com and Google News (and I don’t think “Newspaper” very often) - so it never occurred to me to check it out.  I had a friend mention it to me in a meeting, and now I’m hooked.  It came up because we were talking about how the “old school” PR guys in his corporate communications department didn’t like doing online press releases because they wanted to be “all about reporters.”

It should be noted that, while the company has done several notable things, the last major press coverage it got involved the President (of the USA, not the company) - so, I think it’s safe to conclude that faxing things to reporters doesn’t really work anymore.  And hasn’t for years.  (unless it’s a take out menu - then it probably works)

My main question there is, “Where do these guys think reporters are getting their news?”

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Wow.  My bad.  It’s been a long time.  It’s amazing what being out of pocket (and a Time Warner crash) will do to your blogging.

I needed a vacation, but I hate coming back from them because I always feel behind.  I think I’m mostly caught up, and I’ll try to post something useful here soon.  I’ve been getting up early every day, but between running and making sure the new puppy doesn’t pee everywhere, most of my free time has been taken up.

So, dear reader, I apologize.  I’m sure you’ll survive though - until then…I’m taking requests on topics to post about.  Anything is game - comment away.

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This is pretty interesting.

At the precise time we are looking at integrating some Google Apps into our system, some new features are coming out.  I’ll have to figure out how  we can take advantage of this.

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So, I’m a personal finance geek. I worship at the altar of Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman. I love it - it’s interesting and fun to plan. Most importantly, it’s one of the most important things you can do for yourself. Managing your money and credit is vital to your future - so the sooner you start, the better.

In the spirit of that, I did a template of my personal finance spreadsheet for a friend, and he thought it was pretty cool, so I thought I’d share it here as well. You can download a blank version here (I’ve added in some “dummy” numbers for reference).

The purpose of this model is to manage your month to month cash flow, taking into account debt amortization and savings (although no interest is applied to the savings, but that would be easy to add in). It’s pretty basic, but it’s what I’ve been using for quite a while now, and I have to say, it really works!

If you like this - please let me know! Also, if you have questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Just leave comments and I’ll reply.

One last thing - if you’d like to add something like savings account interest but can’t, let me know and I’ll work on it. It would be very cool to see this evolve into a more sophisticated tool that we can share for free.

UPDATE - Andy over at the Bofe Blog saw my spreadsheet, and raised me a savings account.  I say, download both!

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1) Someone who knows how to set up a SmarterMail Email Server correctly (so it doesn’t look like junk mail)

2) A list of all the Thursday/Friday NCAA games, sorted by time, station, and viewing area.

3) Someone who can train a 2 month old border collie not to pee on my floor (see cuteness here)

4)  About three more hours a day

5) A haircut and an eye appointment

My life would be perfect if I could arrange for those.

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In the world of someone who wants to accomplish great things, there is no room for the term “Good Enough.” Because, in reality, that ENOUGH point is always moving. Move forward and get better or get out of business.

Sometimes, I find myself lulled into complacency when it comes to the quality of my work - mostly due to the hypnotic effect of crossing things off my ‘to-do’ list. So, I do things like I did Friday, and slap up a contact page for the website we’re launching in a couple months (your typical “coming soon - give us your email” page) that I think looks “good enough.” Then, after a couple emails get tossed around, I find myself slightly embarrassed, since the page obviously wasn’t good enough.

It’s a little thing, I know. But it’s the little things that add up to big things, so you might as well get in the habit of consistent excellence if you want to make it.

On a related note, I’ll actually be announcing what the startup site is in the next week or two, after we get a little more paperwork filed. It is the best project I’ve ever been involved in, and I truly believe we can change the world with it. I’ll keep you posted.

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Another throwback to the GourmetDudes days - this is Healthy Fried Rice.

You just need a couple things - ground turkey, egg beaters, and brown rice.  Plus any veggies you like.

Brown up the turkey, drain off what little fat there is. Sautee up the veggies in olive oil,  until done.  Be preparing your brown rice while this is going on.  Dump the whole thing in a hot skillet, and pour in a few tablespoons of egg beaters.  Stir-Fry until desired consistency.

Get a little wild, throw in some Soy Sauce, and enjoy a guilt-free and delicious Chinese meal!

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