Posts made in March, 2009

How I Kicked my Caffeine Habit

Posted by admin on Mar 27, 2009 in health | 3 comments

When I was 20 I was fortunate enough to study in Germany for a year. Not only did I learn how to speak the language, but I also discovered how to open bottles with lighters, flip beer mats with one hand, and roll cigarettes. I picked up all sorts of vices, including the taste of good beer and strong coffee.

I tried to kick this caffeine habit a few times in the past. The closest I came was while I lived in London and substituted my morning mocha for two cups of black tea.

After moving back to the States, we found a great little coffee shop called Scooters where we would treat ourselves before heading to work. This led to ground beans to take home and before you know it we were drinking mugs of it every morning.

Recently I decided to substitute my morning jolt with a shot of wheat grass instead. I felt an instant surge of energy after drinking the chalky grass clippings. Not that nervous, jittery energy — just alertness.

The first two days came with late afternoon headaches which made me a bear to be around. I just wanted to shut out the lights and sleep. Worse yet, I was getting the 3am “what-if” sessions. What if this, what if that, what if I suddenly get fat.

Mostly, I missed the warm mug coffee and tea in the morning pulling me out of bed before the sun comes up. Praise be to my two favorite latest discoveries — Decaffeinated English Breakfast Tea by Twinnings. It tastes just like my PG Tips. And Teeccino , a delicious herbal tea that tastes like coffee! I recommend the Hazelnut flavor.

My body had been caffeine free for a few weeks now and I’m loving it. I’m filled with natural energy, deep sleep, and no late afternoon crashes. I’m still doing wheat grass shots each morning. I also get my blood pumping with some yoga.

Spring is a good time for change; to break old habits and try a new way of living. We’re all creatures of habit. Even if we know that a certain activity does nothing for us, we continue doing it anyway. We may think it’s easier to do the same thing everyday, but in the long run is it? Sacrifice is simply giving something up for something better.

Believe Gratitude Bracelets

Posted by admin on Mar 15, 2009 in happiness | 9 comments

A couple weeks ago I got this crazy message from someone who purchased Gratitude Journal for the iPhone. Her name is Marcie and it went like this:

I was looking through Apps on my iPhone, while donating blood two days ago (what else are you supposed to do while your blood’s being sucked??!!), and I came across your Gratitude Journal for the iPhone, downloaded it, and, immediately started making entries into my journal. (again, all while the needle was still in my arm) (BTW – I filled up my bag-o-blood faster than other people who sat down and got hooked up before me … I think it was because I was so excited about finding the Gratitude Journal, my blood started rushing happily through my veins!)

LOVE THE GRATITUDE JOURNAL!!! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT!! LOVE IT !!!!

Needless to say, I was extremely flattered at this point. But then she went on to tell me that she makes Believe Gratitude Bracelets “…. very similar to Mala Bead / Power Bead Bracelets, and used as a means to remember to express gratitude throughout the day…” She wanted to send me one to thank me for creating Gratitude Journal.

Now I was blown away. See, just a couple days earlier I was at the gym pounding away on the elliptical machine (I call it the marching band because I feel that’s what I’m doing). Anyway, I was telling myself how I need to find something to wear to remind me of how great life is. Something on my wrist so I notice it while sitting at the computer, or in traffic. I imagined exactly what these bracelets would look like. When my workout was done, the thoughts slowly slipped away.

Now Marcie wanted to send me just the thing I was hoping for days earlier. Of course I sent her my address, happily accepting her generous gift.

Instead of just sending one bracelet, she sent five! Not only that, they’re almost exactly like the one’s I imagined that day at the gym. I was speechless.

These bracelets are far cooler than what I hoped for. That’s because every time I see my bracelet, I know that insane, crazy, wild miracles can happen. Okay, this isn’t walk-on-water stuff, but I have to admit, it’s pretty cosmic. The bracelet I chose says “Trust Your Dreams” — so appropriate.

I’m giving the other bracelets to friends and will probably order more. If you want to get a Believe Gratitude Bracelet, you can email Marcie at BGBZen@aol.com. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a website yet, but don’t let that stop you. Drop her a message and she’ll hook you up with just the right one.

UPDATE:
Marcie now has an Etsy shop where you can buy her bracelets!

Listening is a Gift

Posted by admin on Mar 11, 2009 in wealth | 10 comments

Recently it was brought to my attention that my blog is becoming more of an advertising venue. I was delighted to get such candid and honest feedback. As a designer, I’m constantly trying to extract nuggets of honest opinion and it can be extremely difficult to come by.

I usually have to coax it out of people, ensuring them they won’t hurt my feelings. I’m pretty good at taking it in, digesting it and turning into an improved product. But this time I’m confused what to do with this information.

All these things I’m creating, I’m putting them out there to improve other people’s lives. To give them a chance to learn from my experience and try something new. I sacrifice my early mornings, weekend, and personal time with the people I love so I can get these products together — not to get rich, but because I hope they make a difference for someone.

Some have told me I’m an inspiration and love hearing about my latest creations. But I have also heard otherwise. So I turn it back to you my friends, what would you like?

Does it bother you that I write about my products on my blog?

I’m listening….

Inside Secrets of an iPhone App

Posted by admin on Mar 5, 2009 in wealth | 4 comments

It started with just a trickle. Every few days someone would write to me inquiring about how I created my iPhone app, Gratitude Journal. More than happy to share everything I know to jump start their project, I would send them a long winded reply. Followed by a couple more emails of items I forgot.

From there it grew to more emails, long chats on Skype, and even more emails. I found myself repeating the same message spending hours sharing my story with anyone who asked.

This prompted me to create the ebook “Inside Secrets to an iPhone App – the essential non-developers guide to creating your own app”.

This book outlines everything it took to transform my wishful idea in my head to a top selling app on the iTunes store for only $500. It describes how to create a winning design, how to outsource the development at an affordable rate, and all the surprises along the way.

There are plenty of technical manuals out there, but what about people who don’t care to learn cocoa development? Their iPhone ideas are exception and just need to be brought to life. This book is designed to help them do just that.

I’m also throwing in two additional ebooks for free. The first is “Interviews with the Best” where we get to hear from the makers of Classics, iSteam, Weightbot, and the best selling app of all time, Koi Pond.

The second free book is “How to Promote Your App”. This handbook is a collection of everything I learned from promoting my app as well as from months of researching blogs, attending seminars and webinars, and asking everyone for advice.

Sign-up to get notified when the books are available, and your name goes into a drawing for a free copy!

Get Notified: iphoneappsecrets.com

I’m so excited to help more people get ideas out of their head and onto the iTunes store. And then onto my Touch.

As always, I’m donating 10% of all revenues to charity.

I’m Back!

Posted by admin on Mar 4, 2009 in happiness | 1 comment

After a very long week of no website, I’m slowly coming back to life. We’re still struggling to get my back-up off the server. Unfortunately it’s six time zones away from me, so it’s proving a little bit challenging.

I learned two lessons.

One is how much I love to blog and how lost I feel without it. So many wonderful events are happening that I want to share with you and Twitter just doesn’t seem to capture it all.

The second is backup the backup on separate devices. This lesson learned more than once but it still hasn’t stuck. Maybe I’m a little bit stubborn (that’s three lessons).

Perhaps you didn’t even notice my blog was down. Still, it’s good to be back.