Days 3-5 of my P90X reboot sadly had no P90X involved, but I like to think of P90X as a way of life, not just a DVD program.  In true spirit, my wife and I rode a total of 16 miles on bikes during our expedition to Colorado.  The Homewood Suites provided the bikes for free, giving me yet another reason to favor the Homewood over every other hotel out there.

What have you done today to make you feel proud to stay active and involved in your well-being?

Day 2 of my P90X reboot entailed good old Plyo X.  I absolutely love Plyo.  If you’re just starting P90X, chances are you hate Plyometrics with a passion.  Oddly enough, this has grown to be my favorite workout in the entire program.  It pushes me to reach past my limits and make some real magic happen.

Plyo felt great, and my abs and chest are sore today from yesterday’s Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X workout.  Being in shape feels so, so good.  Don’t keep it from yourself.

 If you’re on the fence about trying P90X, check it out here at Amazon.

The past month has been a very hectic one for me, so I haven’t been able to keep up with P90X like I would have liked.  I still did a Plyo or Yoga workout about once every 4 days, but I didn’t get the real burn that P90X is meant to dish out.

As of now, I am in full P90X reboot mode.  I’ve done about one and a half rounds (around 155 days), and now I’m starting fresh from day 1.  I’m going to get to 270 total days and then set a new goal.  I’m feeling great already, and I can’t wait to share my progress with you.

Today was Chest & Back and Ab Ripper X.  Curiously, I didn’t do as poorly as I thought I would do after a month of slack.  I did feel quite sick when I was done, but I got through just about as many reps as I’ve done throughout my history with the program on average.

Here’s a photo of my breakfast every day.

I have Bacon and Rice with Sriracha sauce, with a cup of Peet’s Major Dickason’s blend French pressed.  For the rice, I use Mohatma brand.

If you’re on the fence about trying P90X, check it out here at Amazon.

I just got the biggest freaking wave of “I miss London” that I’ve gotten since we left.  Like so big that we’re going to have to stay for 2-3 weeks this time.  Maybe longer.  God I miss that city…

If you haven’t been keeping up with The Rich Life lately, you’ll be surprised to know that I’ve recently published a book.  It’s called Live Free Travel Free, and it’s all about traveling more without spending more money.  This book is the most extensive recounting imaginable of the techniques I use to get slick deals on everything I buy and travel extremely often for cheap or free.

The book is over 9,000 words, and it is something I am truly proud of.  In a nutshell, Live Free Travel Free is all about using arbitrage techniques with rewards credit cards to earn unlimited amounts of rewards points.  While earning these points, you’ll be able to acquire elite status with a few of the hotel chains, and possibly earn something even better like a Southwest Rapid Rewards Companion Pass.

I don’t want to spoil it by giving too many details away, but if you want to seriously increase your potential to travel for free and earn a good bit of side profit while doing so, I’d highly suggest downloading my book.  You can also join the subscription service to receive instant deal alerts, but if you’re more of a read-and-learn sort of person, just stick with the book.

Here’s a link that will take you to the shopping cart where you can purchase Live Free Travel Free.  It’s selling for $47, and will soon be increasing to $57.

This is it.  This is the cultivation of all my efforts for the past five weeks.  Well, if you count all the research necessary, the past two years.

Live Free Travel Free is my offering to the world of people who want to travel but don’t want to pay the insane prices attached to travel.  It is also for people who have tried and failed to make money online (or offline) as a side business, or to replace their primary income.

Over the past two years, I have accumulated mad skillz w.r.t accumulating award miles and points and making extra money.  I have gotten so good at it, in fact, that I have accumulated over 600,000 reward points.

Getting deals, earning miles and points, and making smart profits are all my passions.  I absolutely adore doing these things, and Live Free Travel Free is all about teaching you how to do what I do.  I want you to enjoy free travel just as much as I do, and I also want to dispel the myth that it’s impossible to make money online.

LFTF is in Version 1.0, and I’m very excited to watch it grow as its content grows.  Even if you don’t check it out, thank you for being loyal readers of The Rich Life.

Oh yeah, and Happy Holidays!

Dammit, Hilton

You just had to encourage me to save up 240,000 points, didn’t you?

On another note…

Traveling is living.  Go have some fun!

On another-nother note…

I have finished writing the ultimate guide on how to earn miles and points like I do.  Be patient, my young Padowans.  It’s coming out within the month – along with a little surprise!

The cool thing about the Core2Duo processors at the time, is that they were the first legitimate dual-core processors.  The Core Duo processor was marketed as “dual-core”, but it only had 2 threads.  The Core2Duo actually had 2 cores.  This meant it was one of the first 64-bit processors to hit the market.  Since 64-bit operating systems weren’t widely popular at the time, I knew this processor would stand the test of time – for a LONG time – as the next big thing hadn’t even started yet, and this processor was ready to take it on.

The Determining Factor

The HP was selling for about $1200, and the MacBook was selling for about $1700.  What would make the $500 decision?  I just happened to be taking a course called ‘Multimedia and Music’ the following semester, and I knew the class would be focused on Macintosh software.

I was working a fantastic job, making close to $18 an hour, which is pretty damn good for a college student.  I was paying my way through college, and I was okay spending a few extra dollars on something I’d be using a LOT, so I decided to go with the MacBook.  Since Apple didn’t make the Black MacBook very long, I dubbed it the “BlackBook”.  I still remember exactly how much it cost – $1783.10 after tax.  I was thrilled when I hit the “complete order” button.

Paradigm Shift

The MacBook arrived during the week of finals.  On the second day of finals, to be exact.  Perfect timing, eh?  I left it in my room unopened for a day, hoping I could make it through finals without playing with it.  On the second day of ownership, I gave in and took it to school with me.  We all oohed and aaahed at it, and little studying got done.

It took me three days to become acclimated with the Macintosh OS 10.4 Tiger.  Once I got acclimated, I cried a tear of sorrow for all the time I had been wasting with Windows computers.  (Side Note – having tested Mac OS’es previous to Tiger, I’m glad I came in the game at 10.4, as the previous OS’es just aren’t as good.)

My productivity shot through the roof, and it was time to start hacking around with this thing.  I triple-booted the thing, so that Mac 10.4 (then 10.5, then 10.6), Windows XP (then Vista, then Win7), and Ubuntu Linux could all take full advantage of the hardware during use.  I was putting the BlackBook to full use – likely doing much more with my laptop than 99% of Apple users do.

A trusty workhorse

I firmly believe that this BlackBook is the best computer Apple has ever made.  I never experienced ANY problems with it, throughout my 5 years of ownership.  I upgraded the ram to 4GB, only 3.3GB of which is visible to the operating system.  I also removed the optical drive and installed a bay, which housed a 64GB Kingston V100 solid-state drive.  I installed the OS on the SSD, and the laptop was flying again, like it was a brand new computer.

I took insanely good care of my BlackBook, and it took equally good care of me.  It has never complained while I’ve run iTunes in the background, Photoshop for editing large files, Cyberduck for FTP transfers, Textmate for web development, Firefox for YouTube videos, Handbrake for transcoding videos, and Thunderbird for email – all at the same time.  The Core2Duo processor is surely one of the best ever manufactured.

Only about two months ago did I start to notice that my power-user habits were being slowed down.  My laptop is my office, so it literally handles everything I do at once – save for making the coffee.  After five long years of ownership, my BlackBook had finally started to show its age.  It was still doing everything I asked but was just being bottlenecked by the processor.  Sadly, it was time to move on to a new workhorse.

Farewell, old friend

I searched for a replacement for about two months before I finally pulled the trigger.  When I bought the BlackBook, I bought it with every option available.  I don’t skimp on my laptops because I use them to the fullest extent.  I wanted this replacement to be extremely powerful, while still being respectful to the environment.  I ended up getting an open-box deal on the top-of-the-line previous generation 17″ MacBook Pro, for $1,000 off.  It was almost exactly the same price as my BlackBook was new.  (More on this new machine later.)

I listed the BlackBook on KSL and waited for the responses.  As usual, some lowballers contacted me, and I ignored them.  I could make what I wanted from it on eBay, but I preferred to see the buyer in person.  I finally got the right email and met up with the guy at Starbucks last night.

I couldn’t have asked for a better adopted parent for my BlackBook.  The guy was just out of high school and had been a long-time Mac user.  He runs a game server on his circa 2007 White MacBook.  He’s a programmer.  He’s a geek.  He’s like a younger me.  You might think it sounds ridiculous to speak about the BlackBook anthropomorphically, but deal with it – I live in a first world country, and I make enough money to do these things.  That’s just the way it is.

The buyer spent about 15 minutes setting up the laptop and making sure it was a good feel before he agreed to buy it.  I was a bit nervous as he walked away with the computer that took me through college, internships, and the beginning of my career – but isn’t it better that he will be putting it to good use now, rather than its going to a landfill in Asia or Africa and literally poisoning the people there?  I think so.

Why the drama over a machine?

This post is tagged as a “guide” because I want you to know that even if you’ve developed an emotional connection with your heap of plastic, coltan, and silicon, it’s okay to let it go.  I knew the day would come when I’d replace the BlackBook, but I didn’t know what it would feel like.  Being such a power-user, I depend on my computer for a lot more than most people.  When it delivers on those demands, it becomes an invaluable resource to me and gains my respect.

I’ll miss the good times I shared with the BlackBook, but it worked non-stop for me for five years and brought in 30% of its initial value upon resale.  Try to accomplish that with a Windows laptop.

Well, there’s some travel involved too, but I’m not getting into details about either.

If you want to travel more – and for free – I’ve got something for you.  Want to get paid all the while?  Yup, got that covered.  Want to join a community of people with the same goals to discuss how to win, win, win?  Well, then.

I am pouring my heart and soul into this thing, because it’s what I love to do.  I am freaking passionate about this stuff, and it’s time I took on an apprentice or two… or one thousand.  If you want to join my SlickDealing, traveling tribe, get ready.  This thing is about to happen folks, and it’s going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

As you may or may not know, my wife and I suffer from several food allergies.  The simple fact is, you probably suffer from the same allergies.  We were just stupid enough to take a test that proves we have these allergies.  Because of our high level of OCD, we have decided to abide by these food allergies as a guide to decide what to eat every day.

Allergies: Dairy, Soy, Egg, Gluten

My wife isn’t allergic to dairy, but because I am, she shows solidarity.  Since the beginning of June, we’ve only been out to eat a handful of times.  Literally, you could count the number of outing on two hands.

We have effectively removed these four allergens completely from our diet for almost six months now.  So what’s different?  I fart a lot less.  A lot less.  If it makes you uncomfortable just hearing me talk about flatulence, imagine if you were around me back when I used to be letting loose all day long.  Reading about it’s better, yeah?

We both have WAY less stomach cramps than we used to.  Unfortunately, the only food remaining that seems to give us some trouble is Cinnamon Chex.  It sucks, because cereal is the ultimate lazy food; however, every time we eat it, we feel like crap.  It could be the almond milk that’s poured over it, but I highly doubt that.

So how crippling/difficult is it to live like this?

It’s ridiculously easy.  The big picture at the top of this post is spaghetti squash pasta.  Jessica discovered the wonders of spaghetti squash, and I get to benefit from its deliciousness.  It looks like a yellow football when you buy it from the store.  You chop it in half, rub some oil on it, and bake both halves face down in the oven.  When it’s done, you scrape it out with a fork, and it comes out looking like spaghetti noodles.

It’s simple things like this that people don’t know about (/aren’t told about) that make them think living on a “restrictive” diet is impossible.  To be quite honest, our diet is the opposite of restrictive.  We (Jessica) have (has) discovered so many new tasty and healthy foods along the way, that we are eating much better than we were before the allergy test.

By “eating better,” I don’t just mean healthier.  We are truly eating tastier meals than many people eat at expensive restaurants.  I don’t know how she does it, but Jessica has created meals that are tastier to me than the few five-star restaurants I’ve been to in my life.  These include restaurants in London, Venice, Florence, and a few in the US.  (Lemme brush my shoulders off really quick here…)

What happens now?

I love to travel.  My Jessica and I have the itchiest feet around, and we are constantly hopping on planes or hopping in the car going to new and exciting places.  When we get to these places, we have to eat.  Pretty normal right?  So you’re probably thinking we’ve had extreme trouble finding places that meet our dietary requirements.

We stay in Hilton Homewood Suites, which allows us to cook in the in-suite kitchen.  When we eat out, we specify our dietary concerns to the host/chef, and we generally don’t have problems.  Sure, we enjoy eating home-cooked food better, but it’s fun to go out every once in a while.

The key is not being afraid of what might be in the food.  We don’t eat out often at all, but when we do, we trust that we’ll be taken care of.  We don’t let our fear of our food allergies overtake our enjoyment of everything else life has to offer.

Note: For everyone who has requested an update on our food allergies, I hope this has helped you out.  If you have any useful tips, please chime in, in the comments.