Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 25, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Sun Sun Sun
I am so excited for the nice weather this weekend, we haven't decided what we're going to do, but none the less, I'm stoked. It's just so nice to get outside and enjoy the air and have some fun. We've been having a lot of fun the last few days with Guitar Hero World Tour, which my folks got Brandon for his birthday(Thanks again!). It's been a blast, although yesterday morning the boys started at 6:15 am, and that's just a little to early to hear Eye of The Tiger over and over. I have to admit that I like the game quite a bit, Kim and I were rocking out last night, with me on the guitar and her on the drums. Those drums are tough, but once you get the hang of it, I'm sure it get's easier. I'm going to get a 3rd remote for us this weekend, that way I'll be able to bring in the vocals. For some reason, I'm a big fan of the singing. Ever since my Humpty Dance rendition at Tim's wedding a few years ago, I've loved rocking the mic. Although the audience in my living room is considerably smaller than the 150 or so guests at the wedding, it's still kind of a rush.
On the business side of things, we're cruising along. We're trying to get things worked through for our line of shirts, but sometimes being creative and original at the same time can be tough. The line "great minds think alike" is so very very true. You can come up with an idea, think it's the best thing since sliced bread and there is no way somebody else could have come up with that. Then you do some research only to find out that 17 other people came up with it before you did. Sometimes it is disheartening, but what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. If you come up with enough good ideas, one of them is bound to stick. Things are looking up for us though, some of those ideas I spoke about in previous posts look like they may be winners, one in particular. We'll continue to grind on everything and do our best, because we know that we'll be successful at whatever we put our minds to. If we don't think that, then what the hell is the point of trying?
If you are looking to possibly go into business for yourself, here are some very good sites that you may want to check out before you start your journey. Believe me, it's a journey. SBA, Entrepreneur.com, if you're looking to get into online business, this is a good one at about.com.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, get out there and fire up the bbq, spend time with your family and be thankful.
Stay Positive
On the business side of things, we're cruising along. We're trying to get things worked through for our line of shirts, but sometimes being creative and original at the same time can be tough. The line "great minds think alike" is so very very true. You can come up with an idea, think it's the best thing since sliced bread and there is no way somebody else could have come up with that. Then you do some research only to find out that 17 other people came up with it before you did. Sometimes it is disheartening, but what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger. If you come up with enough good ideas, one of them is bound to stick. Things are looking up for us though, some of those ideas I spoke about in previous posts look like they may be winners, one in particular. We'll continue to grind on everything and do our best, because we know that we'll be successful at whatever we put our minds to. If we don't think that, then what the hell is the point of trying?
If you are looking to possibly go into business for yourself, here are some very good sites that you may want to check out before you start your journey. Believe me, it's a journey. SBA, Entrepreneur.com, if you're looking to get into online business, this is a good one at about.com.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, get out there and fire up the bbq, spend time with your family and be thankful.
Stay Positive
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Thursday's Recipe-24 Hour Brined Chicken
This recipe is another one that is easy, but it takes some waiting around to see the results. My recommendation is to prepare this the night before you're going to eat, while you are cooking that evenings' meal. That way, it cuts down on the mess you'll make.
Ingredients:
1 whole 5-7 lb fryer
1 qt apple juice
1 qt water
1/3 cup + a little extra BigSpill's Basic Rub (recipe to follow)
2 t liquid smoke
Combine the apple juice, water, 1/3 cup of Rub, liquid smoke and chicken in a non-reactive bowl and allow to brine for at least 24 hours. 1/2 hour before you're ready to cook, remove the chicken from the brine and let it sit on a plate, followed by sprinkling a little extra rub all over the bird.
Now you have a decision to make. You have to decide how you would like to cook the bird. When I do it, I like to split the chicken in two and bbq on a charcoal grill for about 45 minutes. You can also cook it "beer can" style, using the brine in the can instead of the beer. Another route would be roast it whole in the oven at 375 for 1.5-2 hours. Or, just throw it on the hood of a 67 Chevy.
However you decide to cook the bird, check for your final temp of 170 degrees by piercing the meaty part of the thigh with your meat thermometer. Whatever you do, DO NOT CHECK THE TEMP BY POKING THE BREAST! Sorry, I know my capital letters are loud, but I just don't want all of the juices to roll out.
BigSpill's Basic Rub
1.5 T Salt
2 T Garlic Powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 T Black Pepper
1/4 t celery salt
I hope you enjoy this, and as always, let me know what you think.
Stay Positive
Ingredients:
1 whole 5-7 lb fryer
1 qt apple juice
1 qt water
1/3 cup + a little extra BigSpill's Basic Rub (recipe to follow)
2 t liquid smoke
Combine the apple juice, water, 1/3 cup of Rub, liquid smoke and chicken in a non-reactive bowl and allow to brine for at least 24 hours. 1/2 hour before you're ready to cook, remove the chicken from the brine and let it sit on a plate, followed by sprinkling a little extra rub all over the bird.
Now you have a decision to make. You have to decide how you would like to cook the bird. When I do it, I like to split the chicken in two and bbq on a charcoal grill for about 45 minutes. You can also cook it "beer can" style, using the brine in the can instead of the beer. Another route would be roast it whole in the oven at 375 for 1.5-2 hours. Or, just throw it on the hood of a 67 Chevy.
However you decide to cook the bird, check for your final temp of 170 degrees by piercing the meaty part of the thigh with your meat thermometer. Whatever you do, DO NOT CHECK THE TEMP BY POKING THE BREAST! Sorry, I know my capital letters are loud, but I just don't want all of the juices to roll out.
BigSpill's Basic Rub
1.5 T Salt
2 T Garlic Powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 T Black Pepper
1/4 t celery salt
I hope you enjoy this, and as always, let me know what you think.
Stay Positive
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Tuesday's Recipe-Bacon Topped Chicken
Since I decided to try this whole 2 recipes per week deal, way back last week, it seems like all of the recipes I have in my head have evacuated. Of course, being a man, I don't write most of them down, because you just never know who may bust into my house looking for them! Like that will ever happen although no one on earth knows the bbq sauce recipe but me. To me, and so far only me, it's like the Colonel's 11 herbs and spices or the Coke formula.
So, today I give you one of my tried and try concoctions, it's not hard to do, and you don't have to do it on a bbq, although I really recommend it. If you've got a smoker, give the breasts a good hour smoke.
Bacon Topped Chicken
Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breast-1 per person
Bacon-2 slices per person
BBQ Sauce of your choice-preferably BigSpill's BBQ Sauce
Sliced Cheddar Cheese
BigSpill's Basic Rub-recipe to follow
Sprinkle your chicken liberally with BigSpills Basic Rub on all sides then start cooking your chicken breasts, on the bbq, on the stove, over the fire, however you want to cook. Then, cook your bacon. Once the chicken is just about done, NOT OVERDONE, slather it with bbq sauce on both sides, top with 2 strips of bacon and then sliced cheddar. Make sure you can cover it, so that the cheese has a chance to melt. Remove from heat and serve.
BigSpill's Basic Rub
1.5 T Salt
2 T Garlic Powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 T Black Pepper
1/4 t celery salt
This is not a hard recipe, and it has many many different variations, some of which you probably see here down the road. Pair it with a baked potato, and you're dialed in for a great dinner.
Please let me know what you think of this recipe, or what you think in general in the comments section. Have a great day!
Stay Positive
So, today I give you one of my tried and try concoctions, it's not hard to do, and you don't have to do it on a bbq, although I really recommend it. If you've got a smoker, give the breasts a good hour smoke.
Bacon Topped Chicken
Ingredients:
Boneless chicken breast-1 per person
Bacon-2 slices per person
BBQ Sauce of your choice-preferably BigSpill's BBQ Sauce
Sliced Cheddar Cheese
BigSpill's Basic Rub-recipe to follow
Sprinkle your chicken liberally with BigSpills Basic Rub on all sides then start cooking your chicken breasts, on the bbq, on the stove, over the fire, however you want to cook. Then, cook your bacon. Once the chicken is just about done, NOT OVERDONE, slather it with bbq sauce on both sides, top with 2 strips of bacon and then sliced cheddar. Make sure you can cover it, so that the cheese has a chance to melt. Remove from heat and serve.
BigSpill's Basic Rub
1.5 T Salt
2 T Garlic Powder
1/2 t onion powder
1 T Black Pepper
1/4 t celery salt
This is not a hard recipe, and it has many many different variations, some of which you probably see here down the road. Pair it with a baked potato, and you're dialed in for a great dinner.
Please let me know what you think of this recipe, or what you think in general in the comments section. Have a great day!
Stay Positive
Monday, May 11, 2009
Onward and Upward
Wow, what a great weekend. We started it off with a really nice dinner on Friday night over at Mimi's house (For those of you that don't know her, Mimi is my Grandmother). It was really nice to spend time with the family. Ever since I was a little kid, being together with the whole family has been one of my favorite things to do, and it remains that way today.
On Saturday, Kim had my nose to the grindstone working out in the yard. We got the garden planted, trees trimmed, lawn mowed, dog washed and a bunch of other things done as well. Working in the yard may not be my favorite thing, but I always enjoy seeing the fruits of my/our labor.
Yesterday was, of course, all about the Mom's. We had a great brunch with Mom at Smitty's, I have to recommend the Super Omelet sans gravy. We then we came home to get ready to go to Kim's folks. We had a nice time up there, especially when I got into the AirSoft gun war with Brandon and Luke. Lots of fun.
I think I'm going to start posting recipes to my blog twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursdays. It's going to be for fun, and to hopefully give people an idea for good things to eat. They won't just be about bbq, I'll have things you can cook in the kitchen too. I'm going to try and keep them all original, but on occasion I may have to pass one on that is somebody else's, but just to good to pass up. I'll of course give them credit.
Now we're onto this week. As I posted on my Facebook status, I think this is going to be a good one. We're seeing orders pick up at Tough Guy, which is always a good thing, although our traffic was down a little bit this weekend. I never like to see that, but just like anything, it ebbs and flows. I'm actually glad that this swine flu thing is over so I don't have to deal with backorders anymore. We're in the process of adding a bunch of new products that were recommended to us (Thanks Jeff!) and hopefully this week we'll make some real headway on the shirt/logo production. Summer is coming up and we need have the T-Shirts ready for all those construction guys.
We continue to come up with new and interesting ideas, along with ideas from outside sources, to try and find something else we can build on. We know that there is a place for us to do something significant, we just kind of need to pick where we want to go. I think that the bbq line of products is probably going to be the most cost effective endeavor to begin with, so we'll continue to focus on that, but we've got to many good ideas to put them all out to pasture. We've been looking long and hard at financing solutions, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything. With the bbq line (bbq sauce, hawaiian marinade, and rub, to begin), we're really looking at soliciting investors. It would be a pretty low entry point for the investor, and I think there is a really big opportunity. We don't want to focus on the individual consumer, but instead on restaurants, bars, anything that will require a constant need for the product. Consumers may only go through 1-3 bottles of bbq per year, but if we can get into eating establishments, they will use a lot more. Just my thoughts, I could be completely wrong. I could be wrong about everything I've said about business in this blog, but it's me leading me, so I've got to keep on trying until I know for certain I'm right or wrong.
I'm also still looking for a solid job. I really would like to get on with Vancouver Clinic, mainly because of the benefits and I know they treat their employees well. God will take care of me, he always does.
Stay Positive.
On Saturday, Kim had my nose to the grindstone working out in the yard. We got the garden planted, trees trimmed, lawn mowed, dog washed and a bunch of other things done as well. Working in the yard may not be my favorite thing, but I always enjoy seeing the fruits of my/our labor.
Yesterday was, of course, all about the Mom's. We had a great brunch with Mom at Smitty's, I have to recommend the Super Omelet sans gravy. We then we came home to get ready to go to Kim's folks. We had a nice time up there, especially when I got into the AirSoft gun war with Brandon and Luke. Lots of fun.
I think I'm going to start posting recipes to my blog twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursdays. It's going to be for fun, and to hopefully give people an idea for good things to eat. They won't just be about bbq, I'll have things you can cook in the kitchen too. I'm going to try and keep them all original, but on occasion I may have to pass one on that is somebody else's, but just to good to pass up. I'll of course give them credit.
Now we're onto this week. As I posted on my Facebook status, I think this is going to be a good one. We're seeing orders pick up at Tough Guy, which is always a good thing, although our traffic was down a little bit this weekend. I never like to see that, but just like anything, it ebbs and flows. I'm actually glad that this swine flu thing is over so I don't have to deal with backorders anymore. We're in the process of adding a bunch of new products that were recommended to us (Thanks Jeff!) and hopefully this week we'll make some real headway on the shirt/logo production. Summer is coming up and we need have the T-Shirts ready for all those construction guys.
We continue to come up with new and interesting ideas, along with ideas from outside sources, to try and find something else we can build on. We know that there is a place for us to do something significant, we just kind of need to pick where we want to go. I think that the bbq line of products is probably going to be the most cost effective endeavor to begin with, so we'll continue to focus on that, but we've got to many good ideas to put them all out to pasture. We've been looking long and hard at financing solutions, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything. With the bbq line (bbq sauce, hawaiian marinade, and rub, to begin), we're really looking at soliciting investors. It would be a pretty low entry point for the investor, and I think there is a really big opportunity. We don't want to focus on the individual consumer, but instead on restaurants, bars, anything that will require a constant need for the product. Consumers may only go through 1-3 bottles of bbq per year, but if we can get into eating establishments, they will use a lot more. Just my thoughts, I could be completely wrong. I could be wrong about everything I've said about business in this blog, but it's me leading me, so I've got to keep on trying until I know for certain I'm right or wrong.
I'm also still looking for a solid job. I really would like to get on with Vancouver Clinic, mainly because of the benefits and I know they treat their employees well. God will take care of me, he always does.
Stay Positive.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Good and the Bad
Well, today is one of those good and bad days. First, the bad. I found out that my suppliers are 49,000 units backed up on a respirator that I just sold a bunch of. That's really not good for Tough Guy, we need those, but we'll just have to wait, I guess. This swine flu is a complete joke, it's just like the normal flu, it affects the young and old. If you're in between that, you're just going to get sick. We'll get through it though, we always do.
Now, the good news. Kimberly had her yearly review today and got rave reviews! They told her she is the "backbone" of the department, and whenever there is a problem, people know to go to her. I'm so proud of her, she really is special.
I'm off to try and solve some problems, have fun and stay positive!
Will
Now, the good news. Kimberly had her yearly review today and got rave reviews! They told her she is the "backbone" of the department, and whenever there is a problem, people know to go to her. I'm so proud of her, she really is special.
I'm off to try and solve some problems, have fun and stay positive!
Will
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, May 4, 2009
Weekend
This weekend flew by, just like the rest of them do. Friday night Kim and I just grabbed some dinner and relaxed at home so that we'd be ready for the big shopping adventure on Saturday. We got everything we needed for the birthday party taken care of and then Thad and Trish came over. On Sunday, we went to church and then came home and immediately started preparing for the party. I made a new batch of rub, got 3 racks of ribs on the Traeger, made a new batch of bbq sauce, mowed the lawn and then prepared the chicken so it would be ready to go on the grill. We were expecting everyone at 2, and Kim and I finished all of our stuff at 2 on the dot. We had a great time with all of the family, ate to much and just relaxed.
On the business side, things went well with the change to the new look. My Mom gave us some good ideas for things to change so that it would look better. If anyone knows what looks good on the net, it's Mom. Now that we've got the majority of the remodel done, we really need to focus on our branding, from logo, to shirts to marketing. A lot of the marketing can be done for free, but we need everything to look streamline. We'll get it done, our graphic designer is just waiting on us to get her our ideas, and then she'll be off to the races.
It looks like the swine flu pandemic is causing some issues with suppliers and their customers. Seems that people like to hoard these masks, so one would think the supplier would provide more product. That is not the case, they want to discourage people from this hoarding, so they release just a bit more then what is normal. That makes it hard for people like us to have products for our customers. We'll make it, this swine flu is a joke anyway, it's just the damn flu.
We tossed around the idea last week of submitting my idea to Techcrunch50, but I don't think it's going to happen. Frankly, I think I'm pretty overmatched by these guys. I don't have a degree in computer science and don't know how to code, so I'd have to find a programmer that I know and trust to work for free. That is not an easy task, as I don't know any full fledged programmers. Who knows, we'll see what happens, I've actually got another idea that I think may be even better. That's me, full of ideas, but I just need to figure out how to bring them to fruition.
Stay positive.
Will
On the business side, things went well with the change to the new look. My Mom gave us some good ideas for things to change so that it would look better. If anyone knows what looks good on the net, it's Mom. Now that we've got the majority of the remodel done, we really need to focus on our branding, from logo, to shirts to marketing. A lot of the marketing can be done for free, but we need everything to look streamline. We'll get it done, our graphic designer is just waiting on us to get her our ideas, and then she'll be off to the races.
It looks like the swine flu pandemic is causing some issues with suppliers and their customers. Seems that people like to hoard these masks, so one would think the supplier would provide more product. That is not the case, they want to discourage people from this hoarding, so they release just a bit more then what is normal. That makes it hard for people like us to have products for our customers. We'll make it, this swine flu is a joke anyway, it's just the damn flu.
We tossed around the idea last week of submitting my idea to Techcrunch50, but I don't think it's going to happen. Frankly, I think I'm pretty overmatched by these guys. I don't have a degree in computer science and don't know how to code, so I'd have to find a programmer that I know and trust to work for free. That is not an easy task, as I don't know any full fledged programmers. Who knows, we'll see what happens, I've actually got another idea that I think may be even better. That's me, full of ideas, but I just need to figure out how to bring them to fruition.
Stay positive.
Will
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