Chico Marx Piano Solo... Okay - It's Alex!

I REALLY need to post A LOT more often! I am so sorry! I hope I can make it up to you with the video below. This is my son playing what is referred to as a little "ditty" that was originally played by Chico Marx just prior to the piano falling apart (exploding?) in "A Day at the Races."

I don't mind saying that my son, Alex, is a very good pianist, self-taught, and he truly loves to play (can you tell?). Please feel free to watch more of his YouTube piano videos - he has quite a following. You'll notice that there is never any sheet music - he plays by ear and has done so since he first learned to play Pachelbel's Canon in D at age 11, which he heard on an episode of "The Wonder Years." Prior to this, he had never sat down at the piano.



Want to know about the antiquated piano, by the way? He found it at a thrift store. He sat down and played it, and the other customers were so impressed that not only did someone offer to buy it for him, but another customer had it delivered to his apartment! A very good shopping day!

Mormon Missionaries Can SING!

Any reader who has kept up with my weblogs has likely figured out that I am a Latter-Day Saint or "Mormon." I hope that if nothing else, I have convinced you that we Mormons do not take life TOO seriously - in fact - we have a darn good sense of humor and we're not afraid to use it!

Here's a great example. Please, relax and watch this video all the way through. It will make your day.

Cheap Gas

When I first started driving, I completely understood that the associated costs would be my own responsibility. My parents made sure of that. I was firmly engrained with the fear of two things: auto insurance payments and the ongoing cost of gas and car maintenance. (That's why I didn't drive until I was 19.)

As a full-time college student, I considered gasoline to be expensive, yet necessary, at 29-cents a gallon. If I could manage to save up a dollar (which wasn't all that easy on $1.65/hour part time wages) I could put almost 3 1/2 gallons in the tank and I was good to go! Truth is, I knew gas was a good deal, especially as fuel prices began climbing the mid-'70s. When gas reached 50-cents a gallon, I was ready to hang up my keys. The very idea!

Boy, was I naive. Nowadays I would kill for prices like that! You've seen it - more and more folks are actually driving off without paying for a fill-up, which is really dumb since gas stations video tape license plates as you drive away. If I were that desperate, I would find another way to get around.

What may surprise you is that the price of gasoline and everything else is really just the same as it always was!

What the. . . ???

It's true. Back when stuff was cheap, our dollars were backed by real silver; and today, that same amount of silver still buys the same amount of gas as it did back then. The problem is, our paper money is no longer backed by silver and now it has far less value than it used to. Therefore, increasingly more dollars are needed to buy the things we need. So in reality, the prices of goods and services have not gone up at all; instead, the value of the US dollar has diminished. Drastically.

What this also means is that real money, like gold and silver, holds its value over time.

Okay, great. What does that mean for you and me? Well, investing in precious metals makes good sense! Investment experts recommend diversification, especially in uncertain times. Simply put, a minimum of 10% to 20% of an investor's assets should be tangible - assets that keep their value such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium bullion and bullion coins. Using the experience, expertise, and resources of Monex, you can buy gold coins with confidence, and join over one hundred thousand investors who know that precious metal continues to hold its value.

By the way, the value of your fuel-buying dollar will slip again this summer. Unfortunately, you likely won't be able to pay for your fill-ups with silver or gold, so please don't carry your precious coins around in your car console.

The 60-Day Experiment: Recommended!

Have I mentioned the 60-Day Experiment?

I was a fledgling freelance writer when I found David Perdew's new Experiment on a writers' website. I had never built a website before - in fact my total experience with online publishing was exactly one weblog - this one. I was an online newbie, and had no clue where to start in my quest to earning a living online. The more more I investigated, the more the Experiment seemed to be just what I needed, so I decided to jump in.

A year and a half later, I can honestly say that my "60-Day Experiment" experience was similar to taking several college courses, only better! I recieved one-on-one attention from David and the 60-Day Forum. I recieved oodles of tools (mostly free), and best of all, a weekly -- no, daily -- step-by-step program to help me build my online business in terms that I (remember, a newbie) could understand.

At the end of 60 days, I had learned and achieved all of my goals (remember, this is a hands-on course, not just an e-book to file away on your harddrive somewhere). I discovered how to:

Find my story and my expertice (we are all experts at something!)
Find my corresponding niche and choose a business model.
Build a viral marketing plan and refine it.
Create a functional, profitable weblog.
Write and edit a niche-ready ebook and accompanying sales letter (guess which comes first!)
Publish and market ebook.
Build a multi-page, functional, content-rich website.
Build Google Adwords campaign.
Market with articles, newsletters, e-zines.
And much, much more!

Why is it called an Experiment, you may ask? Well, in David's words, the Experiment is intended for those of us "with too little time to write and not enough know-how to change it." He started The 60-Day Experiment because he believed we need each other for support in creating our future. Our first time around this was truly an experiment as we made and embraced our mistakes and those of our colleagues.

Mistakes???

"The greatest minds in any business, philosophy or scientific study cherish their mistakes. Mistakes lead to learning and learning leads to success. More mistakes, more success. In fact, one the biggest problems you'll have as a beginning Internet Marketer is info overload. We focus on the real experts and use their material when appropriate." --David Perdew

Since the inception of the Experiment, people without technical skills (like me) have created weblogs and websites promoting their work just by following this step-by-step process; and you can do it too.

Video: Bush's Border Control

This is too funny; I couldn't resist!