I will be driving to Seattle tomorrow morning, and after running some errands across the border, I am staying at the Sheraton while I enjoy some good seafood dining in Seattle near the waterfront quay market. The next morning I am off to Costa Rica on a plane that stops over at Dallas, Texas, and then lands at San Jose, which is Costa Rica’s capitol. Not to be confused with the other one in California, where the San Jose Sharks NHL franchise is based out of.

I will remain in Costa Rica until the 24th of July, and then the flight will leave that day, taking me back to Seattle late that night. I’m not sure if I’m staying in Seattle for a night again, or if I am driving straight home, as I don’t believe I need to run errands during the day for my clients in Seattle on my return.. We’ll see.

Anyhow. For the next little while I will be writing many posts about what Costa Rica is like, as well as the events I will be attending, including the “World Peace Gala” which is a nationally televised event in Costa Rica with the attendance of the President as well as other high government officials.

At this point I am not going to disclose the nature of this trip, no further than the fact that it is strictly a business trip, not a vacation in nature.

Thank you to all my readers, and look forward to some Central American heat!

Mind over matter. Quantum physics. We’ve all heard it, and I won’t go as far as saying if you imagine something you can have it (some people interpreted “The Secret” in such a direct way, and are bitching about it. They are about as intelligent and insightful as people who take the theory of creation LITERALLY), but your mind is where success begins.

I’ve written a short article last time on the habits I pursue to be successful in my business.  Well, Jane May at Career Ramblings wrote today an article on success : Success Is A State Of Mind.

Should be a good read.

I recently purchased 3 new domains, but I’m only going to reveal 2 of them. The 3rd one will NEVER be revealed to be connected to me in any way!!! It’s set up under a false name/address and all. Nonetheless.

First one is www.WhyGodMadeMorons.com. While the site is still incomplete (need to set up categories, and some more posts to start marketing it, as well as some CSS cleanups and other plugins), it is up and running. It’s a Wordpress blog. It’s a comedy type of a website that is intended to make fun of morons and idiots all over the world. Videos, photos, hilarious articles and stories, you name it.

Second one is www.Synchronous.ca. This has nothing on there yet - you’ll just get a 404 error, or maybe the domain registrar’s landing page. This will be a new design/marketing company. I picked a .ca domain because the .com was already taken, and I wasn’t ready to pay hundreds for it. Besides. I can show pride that my company is Canadian based, and I am a Korean-Canadian, with a Canadian citizenship. Why not sell the local aspect? The full name of the new company has been set to Synchronous Design & Marketing, to incorporate the web designm and code development, brochure/print media design, newspaper/magazine ad design, business cards, and much more.

This domain will remain, with a slightly changed design at the top (don’t worry folks, the RayBan transparent design that I hand-crafted will stay as it is!), and will be re-named Jeff Kee Enterprises, or Jeff Kee and Associates, or whatever other recommendation you guys may have.

Jeffkee.com will be more of a personal marketing thing, while it holds information of my other companies and websites (I will probably start more) and links to it identifying them as subsidiaries.

As irrelevant as this topic may be to this blog itself, it is a public health issue as well as an issue that a lot of healt-conscious guys are interested in, so let’s give it.

I’ve been getting into my gym spree quite a bit. To get more out of my workout, and to fit more nutrition into my busy schedule, I purchased a gigantic bucket (literally, this package comes with a handle on the bucket) worth 6 pounds of protein shake powder, and 39 grams per serving of 2 scoops. Add the 9g of protein in 250ml of milk and we’re talking 48 grams of protein per glass.

And then of course I read this article about how people shouldn’t waste their money on these protein drinks and just eat real food, because the quality of the protein in real food is not any less, if not better, than the protein in whey protein shakes. It pitched tuna, milk, eggs, chicken, cottage cheese etc. as better and cheaper sources of protein. So, I started doing some detective work.

I picked a few items to compare based on - I ommitted chicken because I didn’t have any in the fridge which meant I had no data on how much it sells for. I picked milk, canned tuna, eggs, and the protein shake as basis for comparison. The key points I picked were these :

• Price - $ per gram of protein
• Fat ratio - Fat/Protein ration to see how much fat you’re getting while you take that protein in.

And here are the figures (lower the better!) :

1. Milk : A 4L pack of 2% partially skimmed milk costs $3.99 CAD, without GST (it’s a basic food item, just like eggs). According to the labels, it has 9g of protein per 250ml serving which works out to 144g of protein in the whole jug.

   $3.99 / 144g = $0.028/gFor every 9 grams of protein there is 5 grams of fat. 5/9 = 0.555 is the fat ratio.

2. Canned Tuna : A larger (150g) can of canned tuna costs, on average, $2.50 and taxes, while containing 29g of protein as well as 30g of fat (this is the type that’s submerged in oil, not water. The tuna in water is so gross, I can’t eat it without draining/mixing with mayo).

   $0.092/g
   1.034 Fat Ratio

3. Eggs : A pack of 12 eggs cost me $2.25 today, and no taxes. Each egg has 6 grams (72g per 12 eggs) of protein to 5 grams of fat.

   $0.035/g
   0.833 Fat Ratio

4. Protein Shake : A bucket with exactly 60 servings in it costs me $80 and GST. Each serving as 39g of protein and only 1 g of fat.

   $0.037/g
   0.026 Fat Ratio

So there it is folks.

Price wise, milk proved to be the best value per gram, BUT you can only drink so much milk at once. The amount of protein per glass is very low, and to achieve 180g of protein a day for me (which is the recommended intake based on 180lbs of body mass that I have) I’d have to drink a lot of milk - excessive enough to get me sick.

Tuna was very expensive compared to the other proteins - not an option for a constant source of protein intake. If I craked 2 tuna cans after working out (day and evening) I’d be spending a lot more money on protein, not to mention I’d be getting in a LOT of fat. Tuna was the only item that had more fat than protein!

Eggs were slightly cheaper (by 0.2 cents) than protein shakes, but the fat ration wasn’t exactly satisfactory. Well, it was almost as much fat as protein. While eggs are considered nutritious, a lot of nutritionists will recommend against too much eggs for its cholesterol content as well as fat content. If you had the Egg Beaters or other equivalent products that eliminate the yolk, that’d be a different story.

So overall, in the price department, protein was somewhat more expensive than milk in terms of protein costs (32% higher) but the concentration of protein as well as how low in fat it is made it the MOST ideal candidate for that extra protein boost.

As much as I am defending the protein shakes as a good supplement, it is only a supplement - I still eat healthy meals with real meat and milk etc., but we all know how busy we are and it’s hard to make sure I get enough protein all the time, and the protein shake is an excellent way to get that missing bit in without hiking up costs too much OR hiking up my fat intake.

I was tagged by Hannes Johnson to pick 5 blogs of my choice that I read the most. This was origianlly started by The Paper Bull.

1. Career Ramblings - This is one of my favorite blogs. It is run by Jane May and John Anthony, and they discuss various aspects of your professional life, finances, personal development, etc. It’s a good read, good learning. John Anthony focuses more on the business person’s perspective, while Jane May has it all figured out on how to survive and excel in a corporate employed environment.
2. John Chow - I met John Chow through a business network group that I am part of, and was already a reader before I met him. He is one of the top bloggers out there making a solid income from blogging (and that’s just his side income) and he shares great insight on how to blog and what not. He also happens to be my client now and I’m doing a secret project for him that will be revealed in a few weeks’ time.
3. Gary Lee - He’s the guy who started the Technorati Faves Train and consequently helped me get on the top 100 most favorited list on Technorati. He works in LA California, and has great insight on marketing on the web and outside the web as well as on electronics. It’s one of those small blogs (so far small) owned by smart guys who share great stuff. A diamond in the rough!
4. Jane May - Same gal who runs Career Rambling, as I mentioned above, except now she’s branched out to her own personal blog to review the successes of her other operations. It’s a good read - it’s sorta like watching a reality TV show on Career Ramblings. Did I mention she’s also fucking hot? I think I have a little crush on her. Well at least she hot is according to the photos on her blog - let’s hope we don’t find a perverted 45 year-old virgin man with a bald head and a doughnut waist behind the keyboard. Just kidding Jane! … Man, I wonder how long it would take for her to get sick of me making these comments I shouldn’t be making outside the bars in Vancouver!
5. Ask Dan and Jennifer - Now, this blog is quite unique and different from the ones listed above. It has nothing to do with technology, blogging, money making, finances, etc. This fine couple from the Souther country are one of the most open-minded, realistic, intelligent people I’ve seen. They discuss relationships, marriage, sex, divorce, personal and spiritual growth, etc. In this tough world we all need some soothing things to read about the warmer, non-logical side of life, that does not revolve around binary figures switching back and forth (and if you don’t get that punch line, you’re not as nerdy as I am). Grab a hot tea or a coffee and read up on their stuff.

With this I shall tag… Jane May, Tyler Cruz, and finally Ed Lau, who has been commenting quite a bit on my blog and has earned this spotlight!

To keep the viral aspect of this meme intact I think that participants should link to the post where they were tagged and maybe also the paper bull to give him credit for starting this.

I never truly acknowledged the threats of identity theft until now, as I became a victim to it. Here’s what happened on Saturday night.

I went to the ATM to get some cash. Saturday nights are the guys’ night out at the bar etc., so I need cash obviously. I couldn’t take the money out - it said transaction limit exceeded. I usually don’t even use my debit card let alone take cash out - I’m the credit card swiper at all times. So anyhow I went to check my balance, and there was another $500 extra. I was completely lost on where that came from, so I called my bank.

They explained that, somebody in Lancaster Ontario, which is on the other side of the country from me, had deposited $500, and then took out $500 right away. I have cashback so I can deposit money at the ATM at off-hours and still have instant access to it. But my limit for daily withdrawals is set to $500 a day. So when the bastard made another $500 deposit, he couldn’t take it out anymore, so he had to give up.

The irony of all this? I got a letter on Friday explaining that they have reduced my daily/weekly withdrawal limit for security measures, so I guess they figured the debit card scams were on the rise. With my previous limit it would have been $1000 gone, not just $500.

Anyhow, they couldn’t give me too much detail over the phone and I need to go into the bank tomorrow to sort this out.

I can’t believe this happened to me. My PIN is a top secret - I never give it to anybody. But then, it’s not that hard to catch somebody’s PIN while they type it in. As for how they duplicated my debit card, which I still have in my wallet - well I figure they scanned it as I was taking money out or whatever, and they created a duplicate.

Everybody should watch for identity theft - they are coming up with more creative and high-tech measures to do it, and everyone should be vigilant. Don’t ever think “Naw that wouldn’t happen to me.” It can.

Among my friends I am obviously the techy guy that everybody goes to for asking questions on what to purchase when it comes to electronics. DVD players, TVs, laptops, cameras, etc.

This time I had some people asking me what computer to buy - between a Windows laptop and a Macbook.

Max : Male, 20 years old

Max : What should I get? I’ve been using Windows all my life but recently I got into the macs at my university and I’m thinking of getting one myself.
Jeff : Well, Macs have a drag-and-drop type of interface, just bloody simple. But for me it felt too slow to do everything that way, not to mention it didn’t run Illustrator and Photoshop that fast. I find better value with a Windows laptop with a memory upgrade.
Max : But I do like the virus-free aspect. Spyware and trojans are just a hassle on Windows.
Jeff : You’re right… (goes on for another few minutes with technical talk)

Sinzy : Female, 17 years old

Sinzy : Should I get a Windows laptop or a Macbook?
Jeff : Eh, you’ve been using Windows all your life, and you’re not very techy. To learn a whole new system will be frustrating, not to mention they’re double the cost. For your university needs which are typing papers and surfing internet and using messenger, a $700 Windows laptop with a 15.4 ” screen will do just fine.
Sinzy : awwwww, but the Macbooks are white and pretty …
Jeff : (speechless)

There it is ladies and gentlemen. Sinzy got a bit upset at me for now making her feel guilty for wanting the pretty white laptop, as she couldn’t justify it anymore after asking me. She says she wishes she hadn’t asked me.

That’s the difference that testosterone and estrogen brings to us.