A hearty bowl of oatmeal and away we go…

A bowl, spoon, 2 packs of cinnamon spice oatmeal, pour in a bit of water, microwave for a minute twenty, and we are good to go.  Let my stomach settle for a bit, brush my teeth, put on some old spice deodorant, change into some gym clothes, put on my shoes, and head to the gym.   The treadmill begins to speed up as the first trickle of sweat falls from my hair.  Those first five minutes are for my body and mind to wake up a bit.  A nice 7:30 minute mile pace will do as my upcoming day races through my head.  ”What was the name of that Indian restaurant owner’s name at India Express”? I ask myself.  I have a meeting there at 10am, and the last thing I need is to space out on the owner’s first name.  ”Steve…no thats not indian…Sammy…Sonny, Sonny, its Sonny!” I push up the speed to 7:00 minute mile pace as the sweat starts to seep out of what seems like every pour in my body.  ”That NFC Championship game is going to be a blast this weekend.  Hanging out with a few childhood friends, and going to watch the New York Giants play their way to the Super Bowl, what could be better?  I hear its going to be cold and raining, and warm and sunny here back in Denver, but what do I care, its championship football.”    Three miles later I am ready to roll for the day ahead.  A quick weight lift, a few slurps of water from the water fountain, and its time to shower and get this day started.  A good workout in my opinion is when your shirt is drenched to the point in which it looked like you were at a water park all day.  There is nothing better than a great sweat to start the day.

I haven’t written on here in a couple weeks because I really haven’t had much to talk about.  I am in the middle of the daily grind routine in which I pretty much do the same thing every day.  These menu sites are really occupying all my time at this point.  Milehighmenus.com is beginning to pick up some steam, but I am eager to see more orders and traffic generated as soon as possible.  San Francisco will be a good break this weekend, and then it will be back to the same old routine until hopefully two weeks from now when the Giants are playing in the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.  Then I can kill two birds with one stone and go to btown and check up on things, and go to the Super Bowl.

Heading to the Whiskey Bar for a neighborhood association event.  Until next time…

 

 

doing things just to do them

I “love” these marked days of the year in which you feel some kind of social pressure to go out an do something.   As you can probably figure out, I am being completely sarcastic.  It’s december 31st…time to go out, spend $150 to be able to get into some bar/club, and guess what?  You see a bunch of amateur drinkers that can’t hold their liquor. (These individuals buy into the whole “its New Years eve, we’ve gotta go all out like the world is coming to an end) If you are thinking about trying to breathe or move more than six inches every ten minutes, good luck.  If you are lucky you will walk out of that establishment still being able to hear out of one ear, and there is a slim chance that your clothes will make it out alive without too many spilled drinks and who knows what else.   At least you got to experience the thrill of being around hundreds of drunkards at the crack of midnight.

Looking back, I can’t even remember what I have done on many New Years eves over the past years.  They all wind up singing a similar tune, I dress up in a nice button down and some dress pants,  go out to a bar/club I would never go into any other night of the year, have some drinks, and next thing I know it is the morning after.  My pounding head is wondering why I fell into that trap of doing things just to do them.

I didn’t fall into this trap this year.  Originally I was going to be in LA for New Years, but I shot that idea down because the timing didn’t make sense.  Then I thought it would be cool to go out in Boulder or Denver with my brother and a couple friends. When push came to shove, a few glasses of red wine, and some good college basketball games kept me entertained as 2011 ended.  Might not have been a crazy night, but it will be one that I remember.  I am proud of myself for not just going out last night for the hell of it.  At this point, my lips have touched every type of alcohol that they need to, and there isn’t going to be some crazy party that is any different from any other one.  Maybe at 25 I am starting to see the light a bit.  If you want to do something, go for it.  If not, then say fuck it, and march to the beat of your own drum.

Have a great New Year’s day everybody, we all have a clean slate now as the first day of 2012 has arrived.

 

completely refueled and ready for action

I never fully grasped when family and friends used to tell me how relaxing their vacation was.  The word relax doesn’t really fit well with my daily verbiage, as I have a tough time sitting down for more than a few minutes at a time, let alone take off for a week.  Mexico was the magic potion I had been coveting for the past few months.  80 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and a lot of time to lay out in the sun, play beach volleyball, and drink coronas really puts things in perspective. (I stayed away from the tequila on this trip south of the border…my stomach can’t muster that stuff anymore) From now on I have decided to take a one week vacation every three-four months.  This will prevent me from burning myself out, and will allow me time away to reflect, and rejuvenate for the next chapter, and whatever lies ahead.

I had a really great time in Puerto Vallarta with my family.  We used to go on a trip every year together with our entire extended family.  My mom has four sisters and a brother, so there are a lot of cousins.  I am the oldest brother, and the oldest cousin in my entire family.  This always makes me feel that I must lead by example.  Its a nice pressure to have, and a constant reminder of what I think is expected of me.

I was planning on going to LA for new years, but I have decided to push back that trip a bit.  Los Angeles isn’t going anywhere, and as soon as I get this Denver site rolling, I will be able to take as many trips to wherever I want.  There is too much for me to get rolling in Denver with Milehighmenus.  The Denver University students all get back the day after New Years.  They are on trimester, so they have been off since before Thanksgiving.  I am excited to execute a marketing campaign in that area to really start facilitating more orders and traffic to Milehighmenus.com.   We also are in the process of growing the downtown Denver market.  My brother Dan and I have a great game plan for how to attack DU and downtown.  I am excited to lead a huge street marketing team over the next few weeks. Just going to keep taking things day by day, and things are going to work out just fine. I’ll catch you all at the start of 2012, a clean slate for everybody.

 

Mexico, LA…time to refresh for 2012

The time of year has rolled around in which I take a couple weeks off to refresh the gears a bit.  I am heading down to Mexico on sunday for a week.   with Both of my brothers and I and our buddy Darren, are staying in a villa right off the beach about thirty minutes outside of Puerto Vallarta.  Warm weather will be a nice breath of fresh air from the cold Denver winter.  I am planning on doing a lot of laying out in the sun, (maybe getting a bit tan…is it possible?) reading, having my fair share of coronas, and margaritas, and spending some quality time with my brothers to end 2011 on a high note.

I get back to Denver on Christmas day, and then two days later I am off to LA for ten days. My buddy Dan, from birthright hooked up free Lakers tickets for us so that should be a great time.  There are  some  people I want to catch up out there, and I have a lot to do as well.  John, Sean, and I have lined up a bunch of high schools around the LA area to rent out classrooms in for mock ACT and SAT testing.  My buddy also has a trade show for his clothing line in Long Beach which I am going to help him out with.  I am in the process of trying to get a clothing line going revolving around food and helping fight child hunger in our country.  Hopefully this trade show will teach me a lot about the industry, and aid me in what steps I have to take from here.   My family is also very interested in potentially launching menu sites at UCLA, USC, and some other colleges in the LA area.  I am going to scope out the colleges and see if it makes sense for us to get the ball rolling out there.

I am probably going to end the trip by going up to San Francisco for a day or two to visit one of my childhood friends that just moved out there.  I will be back in Denver on sunday, January 8th ready to kick some milehighmenus ass again!  Have a great holiday break everybody…be fun and safe.  Next time I speak with you it will be 2012.

Saturday with the chef

There are some decisions that you make in your lifetime that makes you think you might be the biggest moron in the world. Then there are those that make you wonder if you are a genius.  This hiring a personal chef has definitely been one of my brighter moments as of late.  Now that I have a personal chef, there is definitely no turning back.  Chef Brett showed up around noon with an entire arsenal for my kitchen.  New sets of pots and pens, silverware, bowls, glasses, plates, a panini press, a blender, a conventional oven, a spice rack, a wok…you name it and he hooked it up.

The Indiana Kentucky game was on at 3:15 mountain time.  He whipped up a bruschetta with veal and orange and red peppers.  I was drooling before he even placed the plate in front of me.  This was followed up with some healthy snacks to tie us over before dinner.  Some dried bananas and peaches, and pop chips. Just as Indiana hit the game winning 3 at the buzzer, Brett put together probably the best tomato bisque soup I have ever had.  The homemade croutons really added a nice touch.  The key ingredient in the bisque was yogurt, which really added a sweet touch to the soup.

This was followed up with a spinach salad that consisted of carrots and tomatoes.  Chef Brett does a great job of laying out a well balanced and healthy meal plan, and making sure it tastes great in the process.  Our main dinner entree was a homemade cheese ravioli with a veal meat sauce. To put the icing on the cake, Brett put together a concoction of granola with melted peanut butter, and seared bananas on top.

I will be going to bed tonight with a very satisfied stomach, and a smile on my face knowing that I no longer have to worry about food.

Christmas came early this year

For those of you that know me personally, you know that I am not a very materialistic person.  I don’t wear any type of jewelry, and it would be hard pressed to find a watch of mine, if I even own one.  For the past year and a half I haven’t even owned a car.  Bloomington, Indiana was the ticket capital of the world.  There were literally people camped out just to wait for that meter to expire.  They paid for an entire fucking gym off of parking tickets.  That was one of the defining factors in me deciding to sell my Hyndai Tiburon.

Being in Denver now, and it being frigid during the winter months, I realized it was time for me to get back in the car game.  I decided on a forest green 2012 4 door Wrangler sport.  Perfect type of vehicle for the mountain terrain, now I am really a mountain boy!  Getting around will be a lot easier now, and with all the promo items and food that I have to always lug around, the wrangler has plenty of trunk space to assist me in my journeys ahead.  The gas mileage sucks, but it does seem like a great roadtrip type of truck.  I plan on taking a lot of trips to Arizona, Cali, and Vegas in the next few months, so this should do the trick.

So after getting my mode of transportation all ironed out, I decided it was time to get my food situation mapped out.  When I say food situation, I am referring to the biggest problem that I run into everyday.  I am a foodie for life, and take my food very seriously.  The biggest issue I run into every day is not what to wear, or what to say to people, it is “what should I eat when I am hungry”.  Through a buddy of mine, I was able to track down a personal chef that used to cook for some of the Denver Broncos players.  He stopped by my apartment and showed me what he could do.  To make a long story short, starting on friday, I will have a personal chef cooking all my meals!  I am the type of person that eats whatever is in front of me.  Brett, the chef, is going to focus on nutrition, and making health conscious meals.  Doing the math, since I eat out about 75-80% of all meals,having a personal chef is actually going to save me money.  I will also be able to eat a lot healthier in the process.

On a final note, I got my medical marijuana card this past weekend.  I see all these dispensaries popping up all over the place, and the time had finally come for me to take care of my “chronic knee and back problems”.  I love america!

 

 

The twilight zone

The night before Thanksgiving, a few of my childhood friends and I decided to hit up a local bar called, The Colorado Cafe.  A few of us got together at my parents house.  We got a bottle of Jack Daniels and took more than a few shots.  Talking about the present, some fond childhood/adolescent memories, and what lies ahead, it was fun being with a group of guys I have known for twenty years.  Its very rare that you keep in touch with a core group of 7-8 people for that long.  We had some good laughs, and headed out for a night on the town.  There is always somebody that I hang out with that isn’t a big drinker.  1) Driving drunk is completely unacceptable, 2) Its good to have somebody around that is level headed and sober.  Sean took that spot in the rotation on thanksgiving eve for all of us.  He had just gotten back from a huge road trip and was too exhausted to drink anyway.

The Colorado Cafe is within five minutes of where we all grew up.  The place has been around probably longer than I have.  Normally its known for Square dancing, and has a cowboy vibe to it.  I walked in there one time and was the only one without cowboy boots or a hat.  This bar definitely belongs somewhere in the heart of Texas, but its definitely a good change of pace for the middle of New Jersey.  Bear in mind that I haven’t lived in New Jersey for more than a few weeks at a time for around eight years.  When we walked into The Colorado Cafe, I immediately felt as though I was in an episode of “The Twilight Zone”.  Have you ever gone on the ride “Tower of Terror” in Disney world? Right when you get to the top of the building, and everybody is anxiously standing, strapped in an elevator, a scene from “The Twilight Zone” pops up on a screen.  Next thing you know, you are free falling, and your stomach drops from head to toe.  For some reason, that ride was on my mind when I got into the bar.

Former classmates from my graduating high school class that I hadn’t seen since graduation in June of 2004 were in every which direction that I looked, turned, and walked in.  Throw in every other Watchung Hills graduating class from 2000-2008, this place was filled to the brim with old faces.  I am one of those individuals that have looked the exact same since I was out of the womb.   Maybe not quite that young, but you get the gist.  There were around 400 people in my grade, so for the most part everybody knew each other, at least by face, if not by name.  The reason I had that “Twilight Zone” vibe was because for the most part nobody had changed much.  The guys were 15-20 pounds fatter, and still living in the same area they grew up in.  The girls were either single and still in that “academia bubble/comfort zone”, (going to grad school, and law school…any type of degree that gets another diploma on the wall…gives them more time to figure out life) or were engaged, married, pregnant or the latter: a drunk nostalgic mess, and looking for anything or anybody to cling on.  So many of these guys and girls were reliving high school moments as though they were ever so coveted, cherished, and frozen in time.  Don’t get me wrong, looking back on the past is not always a bad thing.  You can learn from your mistakes, and think of some fond memories with your friends and loved ones.  However, getting caught up in the past is a huge issue.   Overall, it was fun to see some old friends, and catch up with a lot of people I will most likely never run into again.

I spent the first seventeen plus years of my life in New Jersey, and I will never regret that.  Had a great childhood, some friends that will last a lifetime, but after being back there for Thanksgiving, that chapter has been completely closed in my book.  Flying back to Denver early yesterday morning, I felt very refreshed, and very fortunate to be in the position that I am today.   I hope everybody had a happy, healthy, and safe Thanksgiving holiday break.  Until next time…

A tradition that needs to change

I am heading back to New Jersey tomorrow night for Thanksgiving break.  Just like every other year, my family will spend Thanksgiving gorging ourselves with food, watching football, and falling asleep once the L-tryptophan kicks in.  (an essential amino acid found in turkey that has a documented sleep inducing effect). The truth is, this chemical only comes into effect on an empty stomach.  You are just as likely to get drowsy from chicken, pork, or cheese.    I think I get drowsy from the dull repetition of the same ritual on an annual basis.  I love being with family, and I will always be a foodie for life, but can’t we just switch it up for once?  What if we went on a vacation during thanksgiving break instead of all gathering in one place just to eat a lot for a day?  For as long as I can remember I have spent every Thanksgiving in either New Jersey with my immediate family and my dad’s side of the family or in Chicago or Milwaukee with my immediate family and my mom’s side of the family.  Its always entertaining having a slew of characters under one roof for a night.  I don’t get to see my family that often as I live 2000 miles away from most of them.  We can bring Thanksgiving anywhere, as long as we are all together for the holiday, what is the difference?

When the turkey is being sliced, the gravy being poured, and the pies are baking in the oven, and once the delicious aroma in the air hits everybody square in the nose, it will be time for me to move in for the kill. I am going to put my foot down.  Next year we are going to take Thanksgiving on the road.    Maybe this year’s feast won’t seem so mundane, as I know this will be my last Thanksgiving in New Jersey.

 

I hope some of you are taking advantage of the long holiday weekend and going somewhere fun.  Be safe with all your travels, and happy eating!

Patience my friend

Patience my friend…I keep telling myself that.  Day by day, things are starting to fall into the routine that I have been searching for since my move to Denver. The 630am wakeup has become as routine as NFL football on sundays.  I can’t even wake up past 730 anymore (I think being used to eastern time and being 2 hours behind definitely helps).  I have found a good gym with a great yoga studio.  2-3 times a week of Yoga has really gotten me to relax a bit more.  We are starting to get a decent amount of new customers ordering on milehighmenus.com.  Corey has been doing a great job with running Btownmenus on the day to day, as we are heading into the holiday break on a strong note.  I have found my go to sushi and sake restaurant, along with a really cute waitress that works there to sweeten the deal.  Gotcollegecleaning.com is starting to make strides, and I am really excited for the growth after new years.  John, Sean, and I have been on the grind really balancing our time between milehighmenus, the cleaning company, and our crushyourtest tutoring company.

I figure if I can help a lot of people, and make money in the process, why not?  There is nothing that I enjoy more than waiting for that bobber to go under.  That big fish is always a hook away.   I think if we stay at it with passion and dedication, as cliche as it sounds, anything is possible.  I am going back to New Jersey for Thanksgiving next week.  I referred to it as Turkey Day for awhile, but I don’t even like turkey so that’s off the table.  Being with the family, and being stuffed to the brim with stuffing, pumpkin pie, and whatever else is thrown my way will be fun.

One more week of the grind before Thanksgiving gives me a few days to breathe, and be a couch potato for a few days.  Enjoy the holiday folks….

the childhood snow day

I used to want to be a weatherman when I was a kid.  Once thanksgiving time rolled around every year, nobody was glued in on the weather channel more than I was.  If there was a slight chance of snow in the next day, or for the 3-10 day forecasts, I would start checking in on the radar every couple hours.  There is no greater feeling in the world as a ten year old to waking up on a monday and not even being able to look out the window due to a white out from the snow.   The bedroom that I grew up in at my parents house had a phone in the bathroom directly next to my room.  As it is, I have never been a heavy sleeper, but I barely got a wink on those “anticipation snow day nights”.  There was always a message left on the schools voicemails before the crack of dawn regarding the status of school that day. “Today, December 3rd, Bayberry School is…. If I had a cell phone back then, the hot line for Bayberry and Valley View schools (the elementary and middle schools I attended) would have been on speed dial.  Many times the line was busy, because there were many anxious parents and children trying to find out if there was school.

There were three options: open, delayed, or closed.  The fate of my entire day rested on that one word.  Was I going to be able to go out and go sledding, build a fort or igloo, and have a giant snowball fight with my friends?  Would I at least get the luxury of watching cartoons for a couple hours, and a nice homemade pancake and bacon breakfast compliments of mom?   Or would the harsh reality hit that the weatherman was wrong again, the roads were fine, and school would be open on a regular schedule!?  My best hope then would be a hot chocolate for the road…

On those types of days my mom always got a call around 530am with an update on whether or not we had school.  She was the director of the preschool and kindergarten the town over from where we lived.  Therefore, she got the heads up right when the decision was made about whether or not the buses would safely be able to pick up kids and drop them off at school.  I grew up in a very hilly town, and it didn’t take much to have to shut down the buses for a day.  There were days when even the threat of a bad storm would cancel school.

Furious is an understatement for how I used to feel when the weatherman let me down.  6-12 inches of snow expected overnight and I wake up to see that the storm “just missed us”.  You can’t do that to a ten year old boy…its too harsh!

On the other side of the spectrum, there was no better feeling than the blizzard of 1996.  I was ten years old and I remember it like yesterday.  Walking into Mr. Kinch’s fourth grade class on a monday morning in December, I decided to make a bold prediction.  I had been following the weather very closely that year (mainly because Mr Kinch was the most boring teacher in the world, and I hated going to school), and it looked like there was a distinct possibility of a major snow storm hitting within 24 hours.  As all of the students in my class took their seats for a long day of dull torture, I stood up and yelled, “A blizzard is on the way”!  Of course this led to jovial chants from many of my classmates, and a impatient/very stern glance from Mr Kinch. (I think many teachers got a thrill of seeing a ton of young kids being miserable at their desks.  The thought of a snow day, let alone a few in a row because of a blizzard was too much for this on the latter half of sixty, teacher to handle)  He got bright red in the face when he got mad, and started spitting out of both sides of his mouth.  I always cracked up because he wore these ridiculous dress shoes that looked like they were part of a clown costume.  On this particular occasion he screamed “Michael Rolland sit your ass down in that seat now”!  Teachers weren’t allowed to hit children in the mid-ninenties, but back then any type of verbiage was allowed.

Sure enough, a couple hours later the snow started to fall lightly.  There is always that feeling in the air when a huge storm is about to hit.  You always hear people say “they feel it in their bones”.  Let’s just say that we had the rest of that week off after almost four feet of snow accumulated over the next 2-3 days.

I awoke in Denver this morning to a white out, and it reminded me of those snow days growing up.  I haven’t watched the weather in years, and its ironic how as people get older they seem to dread snow more and more.  The inconvenience of getting to work, shoveling the driveway and the stoop…

As the years go on, and there are a lot more snowfalls, I will never forget the childhood snow day.  I don’t even know how much longer I will be living in a climate that gets snow (I much prefer warm weather all year like AZ, or Cali), but I will embrace every snow day that I am a part of.  You all should do, make the best of it, and have some fun when there is a white out.