Well, since I spend a lot of time browsing the iTunes store, every now and then I come across some good products. Mostly I look for games and finance applications but today I found out about a hilarious new iPhone app called iMotorboat. This application looks like its the next iFart. The app supplies you with a beautiful bust picture to place your nose upon. You then proceed to motorboat. The coolest part is, you can use the camera feature to capture new images to use as your background. I laughed at the name and icon alone and already knew everything I needed to know about the app. I’m not reviewing it, just spreading the word. Check it out yall.

2 out of 3 aint bad…

Dan Henderson def Michael Bisping : Good to see Hendo get the win in this fight. Like I said before, I lost my respect for Bisping when he jeered Matt Hammil after their last fight. There isnt really much to say about this fight. Henderson stalked and struck. Bisping looked the best he ever has physically but he couldn’t get over his habit of circling to the right, into the punch. It was quite a knockout. I was a little disheartened to see Hendo drop the second bomb on Bisping. We all knew he was out cold. Henderson even admitted that he threw in an extra shot for personal reasons. I am a fan of good sportsman ship even when someone deserves it the most. Congratulations to Dan Henderson.

Georges St-Pierre def Thiago Alves : This fight was entertaining but honestly I thought that Alves was going to do more. Granted I am glad I was right about the victor of this fight, I didn’t expect to see Thiago get neutered I mean neutralized the way that he did. GSP put on an absolutely amazing display tonight and proved to everyone why he is in the top 3 of pound for pound best fighter in the world. I knew that someone not even mentioned on that list nor with the experience of fighting anyone even close to that list, could beat someone who was on the list. On a side note, this was a true gentleman’s match. Both fighters had mutual respect for each-other before, during and after the fight. Its good to see that caliber of sportsmanship in such a brutal sport. With that said, congratulations to Mr. St-Pierre

Brock Lesnar def Frank Mir : In the only win of the night that I didnt see happening was Brock not just winning the fight but BEATING Mir in all aspects of the fight completely from the first bell to the referee stoppage. Mir had about 4 to 5 seconds of glory in the whole match, and in that time I thought I almost saw an opening for a win for Mir as Brock looked like he could have gone down from one or two more big shots. Unfortunately that short lived glory was nowhere near enough to keep Mir from suffering 10 to 12 more car crushing blows with only bone and flesh to block them with. With that said, I have to say that I am actually glad that I was wrong about this fight. Leading up to the matchup Mir talked an enormous amount of smack for a man who barely won the first match. Knowing that Brock was only interested in fighting a good fight and was very humble about his intentions and had a solid attitude about the matchup I was immediately in favor of the big guy. This may seem like a last minute cop out but if we could go back to before the fight, even with Mir’s trash talking I still would have chosen him as the victor. I just cant stand people who talk smack in the wrong way. I also think Brock could have done without the last minute insults to Mir, but to Brock’s credit, they were well deserved and also well earned. Congratulations to Mr. Lesnar. I personally hope I can see a Bobby Lashley v Brock Lesnar. That would be a great fight to watch.

Recap: Overall it was a great card, I hope you all enjoyed it. I also just want to state that my predictions are solely based on my opinion of each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses against each-other’s strengths and weaknesses and that is it. I try to consider all of the possibilities and most likely outcomes when picking a winner. With that said take my predictions as seriously as you want, but they are only my opinions. I don’t wish any fighter to be harmed or get beat up etc. Each fighter is a great athlete and deserves more credit than most fans are willing to give (to the losers anyway).

Cant wait to see this movie!

Ladies and gentlemen it is almost that time! UFC 100  is going to be a spectacular card featuring 2.5 super-fights on July 11th! For those of you looking for an inside edge on the match-ups, look no further than this post. As none of you know I am a big time MMA fan (and potential competitor). With that said lets get to the guessin’.

Lesnar v Mir: For this fight, I see Mir taking it again. Now I know everyone thinks that Brock has learned from his previous loss and will come back with punches that will crush mountains, I beg you to vote Mir. Frank narrowly won against Brock in their last encounter. I don’t think Mir will underestimate the strength, skill, and strength that Brock possesses this time. I see Mir doing a lot of in and out striking, landing opportune blows and sidestepping away from Brock. This tactic will keep Brock off balance, and unable to plant and throw a good power shot on Mir. Between the two, I give the better hands award to Brock so Mir will need to dodge/ parry. Id say if Mir can dance and strike for 1.5 rounds he has the fight in the bag, because Brock is built like an SUV, Massive and Powerful but terrible MPG. 

St-Pierre v Alves: This is going to be the most entertaining fight of the night hands down. These guys are no joke, and will come in ready to bang. Don’t expect any 1.3 min feel out session in round number one. I believe Alves will try to be the initial aggressor and set the pace. I say this because Alves is fighting a more experienced fighter so Alves will not want Pierre fighting in his comfort zone. Pierre on the other hand is finally fighting an opponent who is as physically impressive as himself since Hughes in 07. I imagine Pierre will try to counter more often than setup. This fight I see Pierre going for a spider vs fly tactic. Let the fly trap himself, and then attack and destroy. Alves doesn’t have enough big name defeats on his belt so it is hard for me to put my faith in him, where as Rush’s history resembles a who’s who of their weight division with most encounters ending in victory and reclaimed losses. So who do I think will win? I believe the winner will be a bloody and battered Georges “Rush” St-Pierre.

Henderson v Bisping: When he was on TUF, Michael Bisping was my favorite fighter from the start. Comical Brit, with amazing technical skill for how novice I believed he was at the time. He went on to continue to gain my favor with his undefeated UFC record. I did lose my favor for Bisping though after watching him lose his way to victory over Matt Hamill and then taunt Hamill afterwards. Dan Henderson one of the staples of the Pride Fighting Championships has been delivering fights worthy to his name, though some wins some losses, his skills have not waned in the crossover from Pride to UFC. I give this fight to Henderson towards the end of the second round. Hendo will deliver what Bisping hates, power shots. One thing I know about M.B. is when you unload some power on him, he responds with a few rabbit flurry punches from multiple angles. The problem though is they do not cause any damage. Bisping doesn’t hit like QJ, and isn’t as precise as Anderson Silva, therefore I don’t see him having the tools necessary to hurt Hendo, and I know Mike wont be able to take damage long enough to win a decision…

Overall: This is going to be a great pay per view. I would suggest ordering it or finding a place to watch. Just so you know I wish all of the fighters good luck, as getting into an octagon for a fight is very dangerous. I want to see a good clean show, touch gloves and come out fighting!

Credit? Cut it out

Today was the day I decided that I had to cut up and get rid of my credit card. It was a liberating moment in my financial life. Though cutting the card did not rid me of my debt, it does ensure that I will not create any new debt.

Too many of us have been fooled into thinking that credit is the new cash or even that it is better than cash. Under the presumptions that you have the money to pay off your temporary debt, you are establishing good credit which could later be used to buy a home etc. While it is true that having good credit is a great thing, the facts is, most of us don’t have the discipline required to use credit properly. Instead we use the credit exactly the way the banks intended, by paying as little as possible for much longer than necessary. I would loan someone $100 if I knew I could get them to pay me $118 back, hell banks do that all the time… in fact they “Bank” on that.

The reason we like loans and credit is because we can get what we want now and pay for it later… The problem is you REALLY pay for it LATER. Lets do some simple math…

Joe wants to buy a new car for $15,000 on credit (finance). Dealer Ted sells Joe the car on a 48 month plan with 9% interest, and 0 cash down. With taxes and fees included the purchase price is 16,090. Joe agrees to the 48 month deal paying $400 a month, because he can afford $400 a month but he cant afford $15,000. Well, 48 months go by and Joe makes every payment on time. Very happy he brags to me about his purchase and all I do is face-palm. 

I say to Joe,  ”do you realize that you spent $19,200 on a $15,000 car?”. I follow that up with, “on top of that… lets say the bank behind your auto purchase put your payments into a savings account (assuming a 2% interest rate that compounds 4 times a year). At the end of your loan payment, they will have $20,036.76 give or take. That’s a $5,036 profit (assuming they sold the car at cost $15,000) which we know isn’t true.

Joe began to get upset and his face grew red as he explained to me “Well at least I own the car now, I didn’t have a car and now I do. I was able to afford the monthly payments so I am happy. I told Joe “Congratulations man, you paid $19,200 and were finally given the title to a car now worth $7,500. I bet if you had 12,000 in cash when you went to see Dealer Joe, you could have purchased the same car out right and kept a potential $7,200“. Joe slammed his fist down on the table and left me at the restaurant to pay both our bills.

You see Joe didn’t understand how he was really spending his money long term. He was blinded by the possibility that credit opened up for him. I too was once Joe. I purchased car rims on credit, I financed my first car. Now with all of the studying I have been doing on finance and economics, the last thing I want to have is debt of any kind. The moral of this story is, do you best to decrease debt (liabilities) and increase income (assets). Also do yourself a favor and don’t buy a brand new car. If you want a new car, get a used car that is a year or two old, after it has already had its most significant depreciation in value, that’s what most millionaires do anyway.

Gone too soon

On June 25th 2009, Michael Jackson went into cardiac arrest before slipping into a coma. He was pronounced dead at 3:15 pm. This is a sad day for the entire world.

Michael Jackson is my favorite musician and I am deeply hurt to know that we are without him now. My condolences to the Jackson family, I pray for you all in a time of unmeasurable loss.

In loving memory of Michael, I will be playing my favorite Michael Jackson songs wherever I go in hopes to help people remember why he was so great. His music is timeless and will never die.

Michael Jackson Forever.

 

Revenge of the Blockbuster Movie

I have a list of close personal friends who went and saw Transformers II for the midnight opening… They came back and said the movie was not good, that I should avoid it at all costs, and be weary of robot testicles. 

As usual, I had to find out for myself and I watched TF II anyway. Overall, I enjoyed myself very much and had quite the opposite reaction of my friends. There was a lot of action, better fight scenes, and lots of comic relief. Actually almost too much comic relief. I will say this though, it was awesome to see Optimus Prime kick some major butt for about 3 to 5 minutes straight.

The original TF cast is back to deliver the second performance in the series. Sam is a little more brave, but just as witty as he was in the last movie and Michaela is twice as hot. I think they went a little far with some of the jokes in the movie, and the occasional groan was heard throughout the audience but all in all it was well worth the money.

The only real problem that I had with the movie was the special effects. TF I had some amazing visuals that set the bar for all movies to come for a little while. TF II had some scenes where the visual effects look like they were film school homework assignments. I don’t like to spoil so you will just have to watch to see what I mean. Thankfully there aren’t many, but there are times where you will be pulled out of the immersion of the movie because you will see some terrible compositing and 3D special effects.

Good movie, go see it.

Rated 4 out of 5

Cant wait to review this movie tomorrow, but for now check out the trailer.

By S. Truett Cathy

Eat Mor Chikin

This wonderful and inspiring book is the story of S. Truett Cathy’s life as he started and built up the fast food franchise known as Chic-fil-A. I wanted to read this book primarily because it was the story behind a company that was completely service driven. Their business model was based on customer loyalty and not customer manipulation. Reading the book made me want to tip my hat to Cathy, each chapter takes you a bit deeper into the man behind the chicken.

Cathy has over 100 foster children and he loves and supports them all. Do I see a reality show, Cathy and Jeanette plus 103. His love for life, and appreciation for honesty and integrity show through each chapter of the writing. This man puts God first in everything and has seen much success. Not often do you see such a publicly known for profit company with so much of its business model based on servitude for the Lord. Commendable if you ask me.

Eat Mor Chikin, will help you think about giving back. You will often put your decisions against his and realize areas in your life where you can offer more help or any help to those around you. I think this book is a good read for anyone let alone people who are interested in business and the Chic-fil-A history. S. Truett Cathy is an inspiring entrepreneur who we should all try to be a little more like. On another note though, I was expecting to read a bit more about the business. I wasn’t turned off when reading about the foster care, and the evangelical acts and random kindness that Cathy wrote about, I just was looking for more… meat. Good book though, I’ll keep this one around.

Rated 4 out of 5

Oh my goodness. This is disturbing and funny. A kid flips out because his mother cancels his World of Warcraft account. If this performance doesn’t keep him from getting a wife, his 2 second stint with homosexuality will definitely take him off the market for good.

I personally enjoy playing WoW and have never had a flip out over the game. It’s disturbing to know that someone out there takes the game this seriously. Or took it that seriously since he can’t play anymore. Who is to blame for something like this? I don’t think Blizzard is at fault for making a good game. Somewhere along the line, he missed out on some valuable life lessons. After I finish laughing, I am going to pray for him tonight. I am seriously worried.