This blog will mostly be an update about what I've been up to in the past month or 2 and contain a ton of pictures. First some random life stuff, then more towards the bottom a full business update.
Workout Routine and Smoothies!
First of all, I've gotten back into a solid workout routine courtesy of http://www.workoutbox.com/! 6 days/wk, 2 hrs/workout like I used to in London. And a sick workout routine goes hand in hand with a (mostly) solid diet. Which in my case means quite a few smoothies. Here's the recipe for my post-workout shake:
-100g Blueberries(I use frozen ones)
-100g Pineapple(I use frozen)
-150g Watermelon
-1 Banana (~100g)
-300ml 2% Milk
-60g Whey Protein Powder Strawberry Flavor
Nutritional Facts:
-640 Calories
-85.5g Carbohydrates
-55.7g Protein
-11.6g Fat
Very healthy and very delicious! A perfect post-workout meal!
Home Cinema Theater
Furthermore, I've got my entire projector setup complete and I got a ton of awesome new blu-rays! I promise to shoot a few proper pictures and even a video of my entire apartment fully furnished and my home cinema in my next blog, but for now here's a few pictures I took a few weeks ago, before the screen arived. Projecting on the wall looks great too though.
Love Lord of the Rings. Gotta do a marathon again at some point!
Waseda University Tour
This past week, I got a tour of Waseda university from an American professor who's been in Japan for well over 30 years! Unfortunately enough it was summer vacation so I didn't get to meet any students, but the prof was a very kind and interesting man and although not as beautiful as the university I saw in Seoul the main campus Waseda campus is quite nice.
The founder's statue
Library
Waseda's iconic tower.
Such peace in Tokyo's city centre!
Best Unagi Ever
Last but not least, I had a few great meals. First of all I went to a very popular Unagi restaurant and had the best Unagi experience of my life:
Unagi is a pretty small meal, but I love it and I need to eat it a lot more often. The world's most renowned Unagi restaurant is walking distance for me and still high on top of my list of must-visit restaurants. Unfortunately enough it's not really a place you go on your own, so if you're reading this and you're interested in going, get in touch!
Great Fish Restaurant with my Landlord
The second one was a great fish restaurant which my landlord took me to. The sushi's rice was cold, which is usually a very bad sign, but in this case it was quite good. What stole the show however, were the starters. I got served some Natto(fermented soy beans) on Tofu and although when asked if there's any Japanese food I don't like, Natto is usually on top of the list, this time I actually liked it! Highlight of the night was the fried fish, which was the best piece of fish I've ever tasted! No pictures were taken unfortunately enough.37 Steakhouse Roppongi
Lastly I went to a friend's favorite steak restaurant in all of Japan(and quite possibly the entire world), 37 Steakhouse in Roppongi.
The Oysters weren't that tasty, but the Prawns were great! Superjuicy!
Awesome salad!
American Prime Beef
Australian 35 days aged
The above 2 and a piece of Australian 21 days aged
Me and 2 friends ended up splitting 3 slices of meat, American Prime, Australian 35 days aged and Australian 21 days aged. I'm not sure if it was the fact I got to taste 3 different kinds of steak or what, but this was quite easily the best steak I've ever had! The seasoning was especially SUPERB! I started off liking the Australian 35 days aged best, but after I finished eating I liked all of them equally. All 3 fantastic pieces of meat!
Unfortunately enough the side dishes(creamed spinach and fries) were very disappointing and very blend, but the steaks were so outstanding, I will definitely return here!
FrankPeelen.com
Business
wise, I've been working on a few projects. As I mentioned in my last
blog, I decided to drop the referral project, but my own personal
website is finally up and running! There's a Japanese version coming
very soon aswell, but for now you can check out the English version
here:
Meishi
aka business cards.
Language Link
Language Link is still progressing sort of on schedule. I had hoped to be able to start actual coding this past week, but hopefully we can finalize the specifications early this next week and get started on the actual coding towards the 2nd half of this week.
I've also made some minor additions to Language Link's website's wireframes and I've hired a team to build this website. It's a slightly more complicated website than FrankPeelen.com and thus will cost a bit more and take a bit longer, but it should be up and running in 4 weeks. Something which I'm very excited for.
On top of this, Language Link's Facebook page and Twitter page now have professionally designed graphics. You can check them out at:
and
There's not a ton happening on these pages yet, but as the application gets closer to launch there will definitely be a lot more exiciting stuff on LL's social network pages.
Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Last but definitely not least, me and a close friend are working on a very exciting project for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. I can't really say much yet besides the fact that our vision is grand and we plan to make some big things happen in Tokyo leading up to and in 2020!
The Lean Startup
I've also been reading this great book by Eric Ries on his approach to building a company. It has really resonated with me, because it's very scientific and analytical and reminds me of playing poker. I'll definitely be taking a lot of things away from it and can already recommend the book to anyone interested in business, startups and entrepreneurship.
I think that pretty much brings you up to date! Next time I'll post a video of my fully furnished apartment and whatever else I've been up to.
Frank
Alright mate (its john from cardrunners)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wasnt saying 'you HAVE to play poker'. I just think if you have the ability to make money from poker still you should take it. (There doesnt seem to be many other easy ways of making money in life in my experience but you might have a different opinion)
Here's my blog at deucescracked. If you get a spare 30 mins have a read cos I know you used to update about films you've seen on the cr blog.
http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/ralphcifaretto
Like although I havent made any money from it (or made any inroads into the business) thats what i consider myself to be: a screenwriter. The last few blogposts are just some ideas ive had when watching films and they unconsciously feed into my actual writing but you know.
I actually emailed you on cr, maybe ~2 years ago asking you if you were going to make any more live videos for cr.
How this relates to my writing/interest in films is I come from a comedy, drama and film background. I've barely a read a fiction book in my life. It's fortunate that (I've been studying poker for just over 3 years tho have barely played a hand) now I'm at a stage where live play training videos, for me are as rich and interesting as the great novels are for others. Think about all the information densely packed into the actual gameplay, as well as the commentary by the instructor. And I've seen LOADS of Hollywood films but find the vast majority of them a much more passive experience. Poker training videos are so so interesting for me. I wished you'd made more ;)
I'm hoping this interest in poker, training videos (and analysing them in depth) gives me the opportunity to make me some money over the next few years #justthoughtyoumightbeinterested.
Have enjoyed your recent, frequent updates. So keep it up bro
Thanks so much, John! I'm glad you're enjoying them!
ReplyDeleteI read your blogpost and left a little comment about 2 of the movies I've seen. As a screenwriter what are your all time favorite movies?
Unfortunately enough I think making those few videos probably cost me a lot of money. Everyone knew me, noone wanted to play me HU anymore and I think I got paid 400$/video... I would've made more playing poker instead of producing those videos. I guess if you plan to advertise yourself and maybe get a sponsorship deal it's a great opportunity, but you have to keep making videos otherwise better never do it. I did the exact wrong thing... people knew me, but never made enough videos to grow a personal brand and get a deal with a site.
Now I definitely won't make a video again. Again today have worked and done meetings for the past 15 hours and still got some stuff to take care of before bed. I'll play 'some' poker in my spare time, but honestly business is mostly the future for me. I have big plans for Language Link and me and my partner are planning some awesome stuff for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics aswell.
Yo its John again
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment on my blog. I will definitely look into what you said about the Korean films. At some time.
I mean it about updating your blog. As long as you post on cr, so I know you have a new post, I'll be an avid reader so good luck.
PS. If you ever want to do an ongoing gym update in your blogs. I've recently got into light exercise 5-6 days a week but in the next 6 months I'm hoping to move into a flat by myself where i can completely control what food i take in. And want to move it up a notch. So would like to see how others are doing. With their diet and exercise regime.
Thanks John!
ReplyDeleteI'll try and blog something fitness related soon! I'm very much into fitness, so it'll be a fun topic to write about.
If you check out any of the Korean movies let me know what you think of them!