Booking trips, whether for business or pleasure, has never been easier.

Like most people, I like to do my vacation planning online, while I’m supposed to be hard at work. It’s pretty easy to look like you’re performing an important task as well; just furrow your brow, get really close to your computer monitor, and start clicking away at the mouse. It’s a foolproof system, unless of course, your job does not involve a computer. Then the whole activity would look pretty foolish and more importantly, you would not actually be booking a trip.

There is a number of quality websites dedicated to finding a number of different trip options in a matter of seconds. Travelocity, CheapoAir, Travelation, Kayak, Orbitz, Lowfares, Priceline, and my personal favourite Expedia – and this has little to do with preferential service, and everything to do with singing out a twangy “dot com”, just like in the commercial, as I type in the web address.

Every once in a while however, flight prices take off and border on the outrageous. Especially, if you are booking on short notice and need to fly on less than 7 days notice. With limited notice, these websites will return flight prices from their search engines, double what they were a few days prior. At this point there’s no need to type harder on the keyboard, throw the mouse or curse the twangy little “dot com” diddy.

It will save a lot of time – and more importantly, money – to pick up the phone and get a little personal.

Call a travel agent.

It may be a little unorthodox in the wonderful world of technology, but actual people can help. Travel agents will have access to flights a typical search engine will not; because if they didn’t, well travel agents just wouldn’t be around anymore.

On 8 days notice my flight to Dallas was about $550. On 7 days notice the exact same flight was $1275. On 6 days notice, after talking in person to the wonderful people at Flight Centre, the flight was $650.

So if you can’t book early, or maybe if you’re just looking for a better deal, just pick up the phone and get a little personal.

Coincidently enough, it’s also pretty easy to look like you’re busy at work while on the phone as well, so it can even still be done while pretending to work.

If you’re not a fan of NASCAR, there’s a good chance you’ve never driven a stock car. There’s also a pretty good chance you don’t like the taste of Budweiser, you probably don’t have a “good” pair of sweatpants or have a buddy with a hyphenated first name ending in Bob; and there are probably no barbeque sauce stains on your wifebeater – that is assuming you own a wifebeater, which you probably don’t.

But all those little extra bonuses that come with being a NASCAR fan will happen with time, trust me and don’t worry.

The first thing you have to do is experience a race. And I mean have to.

Let’s be clear though, I don’t mean experience a race by watching it on television in HD on surround sound; or even going one better by purchasing a ticket and seeing a race in person. (Actually, this might not be a bad second option. The sound of the cars racing past your spot in the crowd is deafening and when the stands shake, you know you’re part of something special. Depending on how fast you acclimatize yourself to the aforementioned taste of Budweiser, will also affect how exciting the live experience is.)

You do not actually have to drive a racecar to appreciate the beauty of the sport, but experiencing a race from inside one of the famous left-turn only vehicles, is a must. And, actually inside the car; not theoretically in the car via a camera strapped to the driver’s helmet and witnessed on HD.

You have to physically get inside the car.

Many speedways across

However, for about the same price as taking a date to dinner and a movie, you could sit in the passenger seat of a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series car for a few laps around the track at speeds in excess of 160 mph, which is roughly 258 km/h. Which is exactly what should happen when you’re in

Climbing into a fire retardant suit and strapping on a helmet in 100 F temperatures, was not exactly a prime selling point; but anything billed as a “Ride of a Lifetime…” is enough to peak my interest. Climbing into the racecar through the passenger window, instantly made it a unique experience, but it was about to get 160 times better.

Reaching speeds that actually force you into the contours of the seat and toss your body as far right as the numerous safety belts allow, is an amazing experience. Reaching speeds that for no explicable reason will make you want to scream, but you can’t because the air is rushing past your mouth faster than the sound comes out, is again pretty amazing.

But what makes it incredible is being in the midst of the pack.

Being surrounded by nine other cars, just inches from the front and back bumpers, and close enough on the side to reach out and touch – if your arm stayed attached while reaching out the window, that is. Traffic so tight, if you were in the city it would not be moving faster than 5 km/h.

The calmness and control of the driver is amazing. The fact that you will somehow walk away from this is amazing.

Coming around the first bend, you’ll instantly reach for your brake pedal – which is imaginary since you’re in the passenger seat – and think that what if this a#$hole in front of me brakes? After the first lap, the sheer terror will fade. For the next two or three laps it will be nothing but pure enjoyment and bliss; and within a couple of days the colour will slowly return to your cheeks.

If you find yourself in a NASCAR city, it’s worth a trip down to the track for the “Ride of a Lifetime…” and it may even make your next Budweiser taste a little better, while adding a bit of dignity to that stain on your wifebeater.

I am an ectomorph by the pure definition of the word. To put it simple it is hard as junk for me to put on weight, it always has been. In high school, I so badly wanted to be starring in the backfield on the football team, however due to my slim build and the fact that I could not put on weight no matter how hard I tried, I was doomed to the life of a split end.

Now as some of you may know, I can add muscle definition with the best of them , but when it comes to building muscle mass it has taken hard-ass work on my part for years and years to actually make good “gains” when building muscle mass.

So for that reason, I decided to test the the perceived notions of a typical workout and opted to drop the typical “so many sets, so many reps” routine. I used a workout regimen that had me in the gym for 2 days a week, 30 minutes a day . I focused on less time in the gym, but maximizing the time in there. For the 30 minutes occupied in the gym, I went only one set per exercise on 5-7 basic multi-joint exercises (i.e. squats, bench press, dips). The difference in going one set rather than 3-4 sets, was I went to failure on the one set, which conditioned my body to release testosterone causing growth. I did a slow cadence on both the upward and downward movements, causing a heck of a lot more resistance .Many people know of this as HIT(High Intensity Training) and it has both its followers and naysayers. The end results….

Being an individual who finds it hard to put on muscle mass,

August 1st(start date) to August 31st(finish date)

Weight- from 174 lbs to 186 lbs.

Chest – from 38 inches to 43 inches

Biceps – from 12.24 inches to 14.75 inches

I also went on a strict diet corresponding with this which was compiled entirely of meats(for pure protein), vegetables(mainly greens) , and lentils(mainly beans). I drank only water and unsweet tea, as well as a protein shake once a day. Aside from this no sugars were in taken aside from the one off day I allotted myself per week in which I allowed myself to consume any food I wanted for 24 hours. Now I’m not going to give away all my secrets on this, but you get the general idea of it.

12 lbs in one month. I gained more muscle in this one month depending on lower output with higher frequency(also allowing my muscles more time to grow) than in my previous 6 years combined. And a total of 4 gym hours contributed to more muscle gain than the previous 5 years(which accumulate roughly 520 gym hours) combined.

Less= more in this case even in the case of body building.

Thanks in advance to Tim Ferris for tipping me off on methods helping lead to this.