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It’s taken about 6 months of planning and development, but now bannercache.com is live. It’s more of an experiment in what it takes to create a site like this, but hopefully I’ll re-coup my expenses which wasn’t too much. It took a lot of work for sure. Essentially it’s a site that allows web developers to upload the shockwave/flash banners they have created and rate/comment on the ads. Also normal people can upload ads for products and services they are promoting. The site keeps track of clicks as well. Also, to generate revenue, if an advertiser wants the most exposure on my site, they can pay to have placement at the “top spot” or homepage. Take a look and let me know what you think.

I go to Trader Joes, and although it’s a little pricey, I buy the pre-cooked brown rice packages. Just throw them in the microwave for 1 minute and it’s ready! Having the rice around is a great incentive to steam some veggies or fry up a little tofu. It’s great for fast cooking – you know how long brown rice can take to cook…Provides plenty of left overs even for 2 people. I take the extra to work for lunch and it’s filling and tasty with a little soy sauce.

Six months after my wife and I got married, we gathered every last bit of cash from retirement accounts, stocks, and family and got the down-payment. I had to sell my truck, my dirtbike, and everything else of value. Then we purchased a condo at a reduced price because it was rented by smokers. With that in mind, I stripped the ceilings of the white snow, plastered and painted the ceilings. We had the carpet removed and replaced it with Pergo wood laminate downstairs and replaced the carpet upstairs (Home Depot actually did a great job). The place looks great now and no longer smells of smoke. If you buy a place, be sure to leave at least 2 weeks before moving in to repair/clean/paint. In all it wasn’t that terrible of a process. I think back to when we paid 1600/month for renting a leaky non-insulated guest house and now we pay just $600/month more for our own place. It’s scary living with this much debt but at least we have an investment instead of paying for rent which will never accrue any value. It takes sacrifice but if you really try hard (esp. in California), you can reach your goals.