The Money Time Struggle

We work today to earn money tomorrow to pay for things we did yesterday....

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It

The human trait of complacency can always be counted on to make a simple matter bigger and worse then it needed to be. In this matter the banks error costs it dearly in a wonderful case of "sweet justice".

- Source

Lemonade from Lemons...........I prefer Apple Juice.

OK. Car issues have resulted in me being home today vs at work. Sooooo I'll be doing my part to keep day productive. I'll have a large catch up post on the photo challenge, I live a real life so the pix are here just needing to be posted. And I'm sure I'll be dropping a few things today. PSA is now over. :P

**Update** I'm done with the Photo Challenge and will start this 30 day blog challenge which is more to my liking Tonight. My last Photo Challenge post was an image of my parents so I'm content with forgoing the final week.

Insider Info on Bank of America

Here's a testimonial from a former Bank of America customer assistance employee. She was fired on Monday for offering repayment plans to too many customers, even those who "deserved" the 29.99% APR for making late payments.

Monthly Plan Sept 09'

After a pretty low key weekend it's back on the grind.

Socially this week is filled with excitement for the release of 2 big Hip Hop albums Blueprint 3 and Only Built for Cuban Linx 2. Thursday night celebration for the Raekwon's album release and the weekend birthday celebrations for Bright Eyes.

In the midst of all that I prepare to set on another fitness journey. I let the closing of my old gym throw me way of course and I'm focused on recapturing my post p90x form of last Aug and in fact surpassing that level. 228lbs is a the goal.

The savings, debt reduction and credit area of my financial plans are going well. I started the year not saving anything and with 1 credit card. I'm now saving weekly and I'm knocking out dept steadily. The big issue is trying to up my income. As we all know the last part of the economy to "improve" is the job market. So I'm on the hunt for at the very least a 2nd job or quality side hustle. People keep asking me to return to the club scene but it really isn't my thing anymore. But we'll see how thing play out. To stay on course for getting my place next year that income jump is VITAL.

On the other side of business, the Omega Nexus is about to enter a new phase as the big push for that animation deal continues. Even though its been a project so many years in the making, the fact that we continue to draw interest and attention is very energizing. Plus what we planned as a 5 part saga has now expanded into 6. More Intellectual property = move value to the company.

As I mentioned last week I finally finished Tony Dungy's Autobiography. I didn't know it was so spiritually based. It's was/is very inspiring to see a man that so wholeheartedly put his life and trust in God no matter how tragic the ordeals he had to do through. Besides that aspect of things. The underlined message of "doing what you do" really hit home. People do so much that can effect you in a negative manner, but that's only if you only them to. It's on you to keep that power and decide how you will react to what position people try to place you in. Just keeping doing you because no can do you better then you can. Power in simplicity. Next book will be The Greatness Guide 2.

There's a lot happening these days but I'm here to refocus and get the job done.

P.S Please take a moment to add the Hip Hop Democrat to your blogroll. I add my writing touch to the good people over there. All support is greatly appreciated.

Just how much can you do????

From the Internets to the radio waves, the NY/NJ/CT area has been pretty split on the continuing sage of Liza Rios the wife of the late great MC Big Pun and his friends and partner Fat Joe. At the heart of the matter is the claim of money owed to Mrs. Rios from Pun's royalties. In response, Joe has said repeatedly that he gave her money on multiple occasions and that poor money money management is at the heart of her troubles. Truthfully, until paperwork is presented to show just who is at fault its anyone's guess. The Daily Math does a great job giving a realistic overview of how the finances in this situation most likely went.

Fat Joe's Interview on Hot 97 This Morning.


My question is this, just how much does a person owe to a fallen friend in regards to "holding him and/or his family" down. The thought process of many is that Joe got rich off Pun thus he owes it Pun's fam to make sure things are good. But me personally, I think as a grown man it is YOUR job to know that things are in place in the event of your passing, for your family to be taken care of without any dependency on the actions of others, be they friends or not.

If you and your friend went into business together and were successful then your friend dies. If no will is set up to do so, just how far would you do to see that his family is set up and living well.

Monday Madness

Ummmm yeah. Here we go....

This month is almost over already??!What?Memorial day is next week and I feel like 2 weeks behind. Finances are a little tight.Not unexpectedly but still tight.

The fitness side of things is going great but on the flip side I need to take a couple hrs and make some real progress in this book.

I need some relief....that's an open ended statement as relief can be any number of things.

Other random stuff.......Swizz Beats finally speaks on Alicia(anyone that can find love iSUPPORT).......Boston gets sent home(Tuff Break Rondo)......I find that Boyfriend #2 Song to be silly as hell.......The world still seem to be Drake crazy(I'm still not sure what it is but maybe I'll catch on later.)......I'm waiting on an answer to a question that may or may not severely effect a friendship.....Had a great Nexus meeting.......breakfast is never filling enough for me anymore......want IHOP.

April Closing out.........Progress Report

Ok, ok there are roughly 4 more days left in April so lets me where I am currently in respect to my monthly goals.

Physically: My "Superhero" fitness program and the 100pushup challenge is going well but I've been slow to get my ab workouts going. With my June 15th target date. I don't have time to be lazy with that.

Financially: I canceled 1 of the phone lines that I really wasn't using any more and Geico just dropped my payments by about $50.Slow but steady progress. I'm falling maybe $20-$250 over what I wanted to spend this month not horrible but still room for improvement.

Mentally: About 60 pages left to read in the Aprils Book but a May book of the Month hasn't been selected yet so I'll have to get up with Mz. J and figure that out.

Personally/Socially: Local gatherings with the fella's. Nothing major. NY hasn a habit of taxing your wallet to have some basic pleasure but hey you still gotta live life right.

April is finishing well but I see a number of improvement points for May.

1st Quarter Review

With the month practically over it is time for me to look at what I've done against the list of goals I've set for myself at the top of this year. Inspired my Jillian's New year New Attitude Plan, Operation Improve U was spawned to bring about personal growth and a number of key areas within our lives. I renewed and fine tuned my focus on personal growth, better fitness, financial responsibility, Professional advancement, Social growth and just working on becoming a better me overall.

This review will touch on everything except the book of the month as I will give that it's own entry.So let's begin....

1)Fitness.


In late Jan/Early Feb I started my 2nd round of P90X and things were going relatively smooth. In all honesty I was not on top of the diet aspect as much as I was the first time around, so due the time the recent birthday weekend and TX celebration came I had basically maintained my weight and strength levels. It wasn't bad but it wasn't my goal of adding 10-12 lbs of muscle. Going into the 2nd quarter I will be shaking up my regiment a bit. I'll be using the 100 push up challenge and the 200 sit up challenge. In addition to that I'll start incorporating more running into my routines. My job has a fitness challenge starting the first week of May so I'll use that as extra motivation. My biggest issue will be my diet. I know among other things I need about 1g of protein per pound to facilitate proper muscle growth, I'll most likely aim for 1.25g per pound just to accommodate the extra cardio I'll be doing. There's still 3 months until summer so I feel good that I'll pull it off. Plus I just got my physical, blood work, STD testing.Everything 100%. :)

2)Financial


Finances are much more straight forward and I'm happy at doing what I aimed for but still a lil pissed that I waited until now to do it but hey that's life. Anyway the goals were to reduce expenses, get a new credit card(at the time I only had one) and start a new savings account. Mission accomplished on all 3. I wanted to expand my credit and improve my rating so after some sound advice and I started on that and got a new credit card. I still have to finish getting some old accounts off my report but that's coming along too. The savings account is up and running well and I've been steadily cutting expenses too. In a month I'll be canceling one of my phone lines too. I'm not running around as much as before so my Curve is more then enough. With my plan to move next year, my top financial missions will be get a efficient moving list of needed items, expenses, etc created so I have a more definitive number to aim for savings wise. Also I think once I reach a certain point I'll open another savings account in a different bank.

3)Professional


This has been quite an interesting 3 months. I enrolled in a Human Resources certification class which I finished not to long ago and the 1/2 have of the certification will take place this summer. In the mean time I'll keep reviewing what I just learned and look for more bits of information online. My 9-5 has thrown a whole gang of new duties and responsibilities at me which actually makes the day move faster and helps build up the resume. Once the HR certification is done I'll see what the job market is looking like.

Now in terms of my REAL business. The Omega Nexus is still growing. After much bullshit the shopping agreement with Jamie Fox's FoxxKing Entertainment company was signed not too long ago and we're in the initial stages of directing this new partnership. We're going at this hard from a few media fronts so god willing the forward motion will continue in a very lucrative direction. I still have a book to write for the main series and new side series to create.

4)Social


Right now the focus is me. Not in a selfish way but I can't do what I want to do for me, a female or a family until my position in life has improved. This means that hell I socialize easy but there's a cap on whats going to happen. That's just the way it is right now. I'll step out for a few drinks but that's it. Bruce Wayne mode right now. I will say this though, that I do see an a part of my social behavior that does in to change. I write about it in TX and I may or my not post about it here. It's a touchy subject but conversation made me realize how immature and down right dangerous some social actions were. God didn't bring through so much just for me to act out. So yeah, have to grow up.LOL, I'm almost 30.

Overall I feel very good. I like the control I'm taking over my environment and look forward to what the year has in store for me. Hope you all are doing what you can to improve your personal lives as well. I'll drop the monthly book review a lil later.

P.S BLOGWAGON COMING SOON......

Return of Conscience OR Media Pressure and Bad PR

Via The Boy Genius

Word broke out over the weekend that Microsoft had sent letters to ex-employees asking for repayment of severance package overages. Apparently damage control was able to beat the Grinch out of HR because the company apparently decided to do the right thing. Microsoft human resources chief Lisa Brummel says the company is reversing its course of action and contacting those who received the notice to advise them that repayment is not necessary.

**Full Story**

Month Ending Agenda.......

Final week of Feb and I'm feeling pretty good. Not amazing but blessed to see another sun rise and ready to continuing progressing in my personal productivity. I have a few goals for this week submit my paperwork to funnel money directly into my new savings account, start laying out my march budget to make sure I don't go crazy during bday celebration time. DON'T USE THE NEW CREDIT CARD!!! I know my credit is improving as I got approved for my first new credit card is yrs. I'm keeping it as an emergency credit line. I allow $50 of monthly spending on it just to keep it active. Hmmmmm what else, finish up this last class for the HR certificate. I wanted to jump right into the next course but apparently I have to wait until June to do so. No problem I'll just use that as review time. Um I have a few books to get my hands on Steve Harvey's recent release and possibly Hill Harper's letters to a Young Brother as next months reading, pending Jillz approval.

We'll see what else I come up with today.

The month just Speeds by......

3rd week of Feb is here.Before you know it it'll be March.Birthday Time, Texas time, Spring time, etc...but first things first. I need to step up my time management. I multitask pretty well but I'm looking for little areas of non productive time during my day when I can get stuff done. I plan on finishing Russell Simmons "Do You" this week and then selecting the book of the month for March.Open to suggestions on that one.I spent a good part of the weekend reviewing and evaluating my financial habits and my budget going forward. I located a billing/payment loophole that once addressed will greatly free up my ability to save.

Other then that the taxes were done and sent in last Monday, smh @ me already getting my state refund in 4 days and my federal before this business week is over. And the only other area of business is the brain storming, plotting and formation of the seasonal episode charts I need to make for the Omega Nexus animated. Keeping busy. Hope everyone is being progressive and productive.