“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.”  – Robert Kiyosaki

At the end of last year I had big plans, huge dreams, and a goal in mind that seemed like it would be quite obtainable.  Then everything broke loose!  I lost my job, uprooted my life and home twice, and was forced to back burner several projects I had begun working on with a few different friends.  It was hard to not have a set direction, disappointing to not be able to finish the projects started, and awkward at best to find the time to stay inspired.  All of this felt like an overwhelming wave that I couldn’t seem to get out from under.  I must admit that while I dropped my online activity both in my blog, social interaction, and projects I also learned a lot about myself and what I really wanted to accomplish when I did make it back on the social media scene.  I still don’t know what my niche is, but I have a set direction in mind, and I figure if I keep heading towards the goal I have set everything else will work itself out over time!

So today is my “New Years Resolution Day” of sorts…

Welcome to day 1 of my reemergence into the social pond!  I have some big things planned for the rest of the month, and really through the end of the year, and it all starts today!   I am excited, a little nervous, and even a little concerned, but I feel like it’s time to get back to work, and either sink or swim!

1. Minimum of 3 blog post a week

2. Minimum of 1 new video a week

3.  Minimum of 2 Post a week on Fat Ass to Fit

4. More Pictures

5. Revamp and Bring Back the Falling Flat Podcast

6. Possible business project with 2 friends

7. Super Secret Surprise Project that I can’t talk about yet… It is going to be big if I can pull it off!

So there is my starting list… I think it will be quite the challenge given I am still working on finishing  the apartment so I can move in, and I have been picking up every extra shift possible at work trying to put some cash away.  I know I am up for the challenge though. Feel free to get on me if I miss a deadline, or neglect to post, I am counting on you guys to keep me accountable over the next month.

Now I would like to hear from you guys…  What is One life changing decision you’ve made, dealt with, or are contemplating making over the rest of the year?

So I am glad to say I am finally back!

After a hectic past 3 months, things have finally started settling down enough for me to begin getting caught up on all the things I unfortunately had to set aside.  All I can say is between moving to Milwaukee, WI  and then back to Ann Arbor,MI Finding a new job and then going through the orientation and learning process that is involved there, and various other activities & odd jobs I have neglected several of the personal things I enjoy doing myself.

Fortunately all that is starting to change…  I have a few social media projects in the works, One of my good friends is talking about bringing a project we worked together on in the past back to life; with a new spin on it of course, and I am hoping that Falling Flat will be making a new debut as well, after lying dormant for almost 6 months.

On top of all that I will finally be blogging more, I want to post new material at least 3 times a week, as well as posting at least 1 video a week as well.  Fortunately I was able to pick up a new Flip Mino HD this past month so I don’t have to be sitting in front of my pc to film anymore!  I am super excited to get out and start filming with it!!! You’ll have to forgive me if I start slow though, I am still in the process of renovating my new place, and I don’t have an office area set up yet.  I will be the first to admit, with all the distractions at my parents house I have been known to get sidetracked a time or two.

I have also neglected my gym time as well, fortunately I have maintained the weight I lost previously, but I am looking forward to getting back into the gym full time.  I miss the feeling you get after a good workout and all the extra energy that comes with it!  Right now they are working on putting a new Anytime Fitness right down the road from where I will be staying, but until that one is finished I have at least a 30 minute drive to the next closest facility.  That being said I have put together a routine that I can do in my basement on the days that I don’t go out to the gym.

Speaking of the Gym I will be tracking all my stats on Daily Burn again as well as chronicling  my weight loss journey on Fat Ass to Fit along with Drew Griffin.  We started the website to build a community around Health, Fitness, and Weight Loss for the average Joe that doesn’t have the time or resources to spend in the gym, on supplements, or that can even keep a steady schedule due to family, work,  and all the curve balls life seems to throw on a daily basis.  We will have some great material going up there, as well as guest post by personal trainers, massage therapist, and members of the medical community.  I look forward to turning that into a full time, amazing community!

So that is basically the past 3 months in a Nutshell… just wanted to fill you all in, and apologize for my lack of participation.  I can’t wait to jump back into everything feet first, and see what I can accomplish before the end of the year!

So for a few years now I have wanted a puppy. Unfortunately due to outrageous fees or no pet rules that most apartment complex have I haven’t been able to afford to make my puppy dream a reality. All that changed this year. I am actually staying at a puppy friendly complex, the fees aren’t outrageous, and I have actually found a few within my price range.
Now I’m not gonna lie, I really want a Jack Russell Terrier. My sister is convinced it is all because of the tv show Wishbone, but I have wanted one since long before then. Still at this point I am willing to concede to almost any mix out of the terrier breed of dogs.
Anyways, to make a long story short I have been watching the Humane Society for puppies, and tonight I found 3 adorable little Terriers that need a home. While I like the other 2 the one pictured above is by far the one that really made me consider adopting a puppy this Christmas. I can’t call till tomorrow to see if she is still available, but I will be doing everything I can in the next few days to bring this little lady home for Christmas.

So the other day I went with my sister to run some errands. First stop on her list, an oil change. Normally my sister just goes to the Walmart auto center and has it done there. However with money being tight during this Christmas season she decided to shop around a little and see if she could find a better deal. Well what do you know the first place we try (Midas) was advertising a special right on their sign Oil Change – $19.99
So now my sister is really excited, she is gonna save almost $15.00 then we go in. I will shorten the conversation but it goes something like this:
Elizabeth – I’d like to get my oil change
Cashier – Were really busy today, we can’t get you in till most likely tomorrow
Me – Do we need to schedule an appointment for tomorrow
Cashier – No sir we do oil changes on a first come first serve basis
Me – Then if were here now why can’t we get an oil change today?
Cashier – We have all these scheduled appointments ahead of you
Me – but you said it is on a first come first serve basis
Cashier – your gonna have to come back tomorrow
Me – So what your telling me is I can’t schedule an appointment for tomorrow, I just have to show up and you’ll do my oil change on a first come first serve basis unless you have scheduled appointments ahead of me again in which case I’ll have to wait once more.

So now my only option is to either go somewhere else and spend more or spend the gas money tomorrow and attempt to come back to Midas again in hopes of being able to get my oil change then. Now of course there is no guarantee there either since I wasn’t allowed to schedule an appointment for the oil change.

Needless to say we went to Walmart, paid the extra cash, and were on our way in under 30 minutes. I don’t think we will ever go back to Midas again. The cashier was not as polite as I wrote above, they didn’t have the staff to adequately cover their advertised special, and they wouldn’t let me schedule an appointment, I just had to show up and hope there was an opening. All this meant to me as a customer was if were busy or understaffed we can just tell you to come back tomorrow… indefinitely!

This however really got me thinking, how many times do you see advertised great deals only to find when you get there that the store only has a limited number in stock, Even better, where a certain price is advertised, only to find when you get there that you have to jump through hoops, or meet certain requirements to get that actual price, even better yet the notorious added fee… my personal favorite.

I wonder how much extra business Midas brought in from customers coming in to get an oil change and upselling another service to them?
I wonder how many people Midas turned away because of being either short staffed, neglecting to allow appointments, or telling the customer to come back tomorrow?
I wonder how many potential repeat customers Midas lost because they ended up going somewhere else for the services needed?
Somehow I don’t think the gain from question 1 is going to exceed the combined total of disappointment, negative comments, and loss of potential gain caused by questions 2 and 3.

So what are your thoughts? Have you run into similar deals, sales, or specials only to be let down? I want to hear about them.

As for Midas, just on a whim I stopped in a couple days later to see if I could get the oil changed in my truck… I was told I’d have to come back tomorrow!

A few months ago I learned of a new sport called Geocaching while surfing one of the many social sites I frequent. A few people had posted pictures of the new travel bugs they had received, and while I didn’t fully understand any of it at the time, it had peaked enough of my interest that when I stumbled back across geocaching again about a week ago I decided to look into it further… Imagine my surprise when after my first time out I became instantly hooked. I only wish I would have found this sport/activity sooner.

As a kid one of my favorite activities was mysteries, whether in the form of a good book or a puzzle/riddle that needed to be solved. Geocaching combines this very thing along with a world wide outdoor environment to essentially play hide and seek in. In fact my favorite way to describe geocaching to someone is: Geocaching is like a worldwide scavenger hunt with pirate treasure you find at the end all the while sneaking around various locations pretending your a ninja!

The premise is simple… you log on to geocaching.com and create a profile, from there you can search for caches in your local area. I have almost 50 caches in a mile radius from where I am sitting right now, and the list grows larger almost daily. You enter the coordinates listed into a GPS device or Iphone if you download the groundspeak app.
From there you are on your way to discovering whatever trinkets have been hidden for you to find.

There are also a variety of different caches to find. These range from simple micro caches containing only a log sheet, to small caches filled with trinkets, multi-caches that send you from one set of coordinates to the next, to caches that involve complex puzzles or riddles to solve to locate the coordinates. Each cache offers a unique challenge that is bound to keep you active and guessing the entire time your out.

I have a total of 16 caches found in the last 3 days, my goal is to have 100+ by January 1st, 2010. If you like puzzles, being outdoors, or a decent physical/mental challenge give geocaching a try… I think you’ll fall in love with it!

So here I am again, I started out fairly strong only to stop Blogging/Podcasting once again. I somehow managed to let life get in the way, and have struggled over the last few months to keep up on almost everything. I must say I am kinda ashamed, kinda embarrassed, but mostly just disappointed with myself. The worst part of the whole thing is I have actually been able to attend several great events and even went on vacation and failed to really capture or take advantage of any of it.

Last year my resolution was to be more active both in my Blog and on the social circuit… while I did fairly well with the social end of things (even after being laid off) I really let the blogging side of things suffer. Even with all the extra time on my hands I didn’t have the motivation to post, to shoot videos, or even post my pictures to Flickr.

So starting today I am going to start all over again, except this time I am not waiting for New Years to make a resolution… I am just going to do it!

I have decided to start posting about the past few months as a way to get back into the swing of things, so I apologize in advance if the next few post are a little out dated or if it involves any of you and you had to wait this long for me to get the content up. I don’t have a good excuse so just leave your comments on the Post, and I’ll apologize individually there as well!

The exciting part of this whole deal is I was fortunate enough this year to make it back to Podcamp AZ (still one of my favorites) as well as play a interactive video game (Magiquest) and finally make it on a Family vacation… my first in about 10-12 years. So I have a lot of great content to pull from as well as video and pictures from almost all of it.

Also, I am pleased to announce that Jacob Burke and I are recording a new episode of Falling Flat this week and are planning to return to our weekly scheduled releases once again. I know it has been awhile since the last episode, and I am eager to get back on the Mic and back to the show. So for our former listeners welcome back and for the new listeners… Welcome! We have some great ideas for the future of the Podcast and can’t wait to share them with all of you!

One last thing, I almost forgot to mention that the site is going to be undergoing some changes… so please excuse the mess while we work on finishing it up and giving everything that fine polish. I am eager to get it finished as I have a couple of other projects I am looking at getting started after were done.

So that’s about it… Here’s to a fresh start and doing it right this time!
as Jacob always likes to say: Cheers!

Hey Everyone,

It’s been a long while since I have posted any content on my blog. I just wanted to apologize and let you know that I am still around. I don’t really have a good excuse for leaving it dormant for so long. I guess between all the layoffs, and such I just got lazy, other projects I am working on with friends got pushed aside as they got busy, and I kinda needed to step back and find myself again.
I guess one of the biggest problems I have is I try and do to much, which turns into leaving projects undone, unfinished, or incomplete. It is something I am working on, but I still struggle with on a daily basis. I dream big and put forth a lot of effort, unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day, and I want to do way to much to spend them glued to a computer screen 24/7.
Anyways, work has picked up, I have several events coming up that I will be blogging about shortly, as well as a couple of new ideas as well. Even better news; we are resuming recording Falling Flat as well. If you listen to the Podcast get ready because were coming back and it’s gonna be bigger and better than ever!
So here is my New Years resolution about 9 months to late… I will be posting more content to my blog, I will and have already recorded a new Me Today on Viddler, and hopefully will be posting more pics and live video shortly. (still working on getting a new camera)
Also due to some crazy circumstance and time issues we never finished updating my website. Hopefully we will have the new changes updated shortly provided Jacob Burke can find the time in his hectic schedule to spend on it.
That’s about all I got… I can’t wait to begin posting and interacting with everyone again.

Have a great day,

AronPo

I had the opportunity to participate in a Strongman Boot Camp run by Tom Cole of Colemine Muscle. The first week out I shot some video of just a few of the things Tom had us doing.
It was a great experience, and I look forward to participating further in the activities out at the Colemine.

A while back I wrote a post about a new company called One World Connects.   They had come up with a new Social Media Game that you can play in person via a coin sized medallion called a meridian that can be traded between 2 people and then tracked on their website as it travels across the globe.  One of the highlights of these meridians is the ability to create a custom engraving of up to eight letters thus giving you the ability to send a piece of yourself off with each trade.

I was hoping to receive my meridian before Podcamp Ohio so I could begin the connecting and trading process.  Unfortunately, that plan met with great disappointment as my custom engraved meridian failed to arrive before my departure Friday morning to pick up Jacob Burke from the bus station in Ann Arbor and begin are journey to Columbus.

Imagine my thrill and disappointment when I arrived home Sunday afternoon following Podcamp Ohio to discover a package in my mailbox containing my meridian.  I was immediately disappointed that my meridian had not arrived before my trip given the fact that I had ordered it over a month prior to my trip.

So there I was agitated at the late arrival of my meridian, and the fact that receiving it 1 day after the event was like a kick in the teeth.  Then I opened the package to find not only the meridian I had ordered, but a 2nd pre-engraved meridian as well, along with a letter from the owner of One World Connects.  The letter basically apologized for the delay in shipping, thanked me for my order, and told me all about their rebranding and plans for the company in the near future.

In the 2 minutes it took for me to read the letter I went from being upset with the delay of the meridian to being totally content.  All it took was a personalized letter, and the fact that someone took the time to explain, apologize, and try to make it right.  I wish more companies handled themselves in this fashion.  A upsetting situation was turned around all because someone took the time and effort to make things right.

So I now have an extra meridian that I have decided to give away on the Falling Flat podcast.  If your interested in Social Media and would like to try a new and unique way to play a game and meet new people listen to this weeks episode and find out how to win.

Alright, it’s been just over a week since Podcamp Ohio and my head is still spinning with everything I learned. Talk about an intense cram session of info, and I didn’t even make it to all the sessions I wanted to attend due to overlapping.
It was also great to finally meet Drew Griffin, Brandice Schnabel, and to see Jacob Burke again. Jacob actually rode a bus into Ann Arbor so he could make the drive down from Michigan with me. It was nice to have some company on the drive even if good ole “Luckey Haskens” tried to get us lost.
I hate to admit it but I feel I learned a lot more in my one day at Podcamp Ohio than both days at Podcamp AZ last year. Although, to be fair Podcamp AZ was my first and I went not knowing what to expect, what sessions I should be focusing on, not to mention I was busy promoting Tweet Tees as well. I look forward to going back this year and seeing what Brent has in store for everyone.
I also met a slew of new friends as well from DG one of the host of The Guys Podcast to Cheryl Harrison who was kind enough to appear as our first guest on our Falling Flat Podcast.
My only real regret was how fast the weekend was over. I hope next year Podcamp Ohio will be extended into a 2 day event. I also want to give a quick thanks to all the sponsors, workers, and volunteers that helped make Podcamp Ohio a wonderful event.