Tomorrow is Cyber Monday. It’s coming fast! So now you need to know where to find all the hot deals. The day after Thanksgiving is called “black friday” and it has been a holiday shopping tradition for a long time. You can get amazing deals on all sorts of different products at many retailers.

Now the new(ish) tradition is “Cyber Monday” which is held on the Monday following Thanksgiving. It is similar to black Friday in that the deals are incredible, but only when purchasing online. Some places even offer a cyber week online where you can get great deals all week long.

Go to the websites of all your favorite retailers or online marketplaces (walmart, target, best buy, amazon, k mart, home depot, etc…) to find out if they are offering cyber Monday deals. I bet most of them are.

Have you ever sat there and thought to yourself, “How many people have my name?” If you have ever wanted to know how many people have your name then you are in luck because there are at least two websites that will tell you that information in a matter of seconds. I can’t be sure how accurate they are but they can at least give you some estimate of how popular or unpopular your name is.

Here are two sites that will answer the question of how many people have my name for you…

How Many of Me – Tells you how many people have your first or last name, or both, and some statistics about your name. They also have lists of famous names for you to check out.

Name Statistics – Gives a list of the most common first and last names as well as search function that allows you to see how many people have your name.

They both gave me a different number for how many people have my name but they were both in the same general ball-park, so it does give me a good idea of how popular my name is.

Give it a try!

Here are the first BCS standings for the 2009 NCAA football season…

1. Florida (6-0)

2. Alabama (7-0)

3. Texas (6-0)

4. Boise State (6-0)

5. Cincinnati (6-0)

6. Iowa (7-0)

7. USC (5-1)

8. TCU (6-0)

9. LSU (5-1)

10. Miami, FL (5-1)

11. Oregon (5-1)

12. Georgia Tech (6-1)

13. Penn State (6-1)

14. Virginia Tech (5-2)

15. Oklahoma State (5-1)

16. BYU (6-1)

17. Houston (5-1)

18. Utah (5-1)

19. Ohio State (5-2)

20. Pittsburgh (6-1)

21. Wisconsin (5-2)

22. Arizona (4-2)

23. West Virginia (5-1)

24. South Carolina (5-2)

25. Kansas (5-1)

My favorite team – The Iowa Hawkeyes – come in at #6 in the first BCS standings. Hopefully they keep winning and their BCS ranking rises to possibly playing for a national championship this year!

Every fall the NCAA football teams of the Iowa State Cyclones and the Iowa Hawkeyes play each other in the most important game of any sport in the state of Iowa. We don’t have a NFL football team or any other real professional team in any sport, so this is the biggest game we have to look forward to each year.

It’s a life or death rivalry where you must pick a side whether you like football or not. Friends become enemies, families turn on each other, and the entire state is in utter chaos!

Okay, so I may have exaggerated just a bit above, but really it is pretty close to being like that. Personally, I am a diehard Hawkeyes fan — always have been and always will be.

I wrote this post to show all the ISU fans, who every year try to argue that ISU is better than Iowa, that they are completely crazy!

So, here are some facts for all the Cyclones fans to consider…

* In the three most recent games between the two teams (2008, 2009, 2010) Iowa has won with a combined score of 87-15.

* Iowa has double the wins versus Iowa State in the historical head-to-head series between the two football teams. Right now they lead the all-time series 39-19.

* Iowa has made 284 appearances in the AP poll over 36 seasons, including 112 weeks in the top 10, and appeared in 23 bowl games the past 30 seasons. ISU? Not even close enough to make it worth posting their numbers!

* The Cyclones are 3–7 in bowl games all time. The Hawkeyes have a 14-10-1 record in bowl games. That’s 25 bowls for Iowa, with a winning record, against only 10 bowls for ISU, with a losing record.

* National championships = Iowa 1, ISU 0.

* ISU has only had 91 players ever drafted to the NFL versus 229 NFL players from Iowa.

* Heisman trophy winners = Iowa 1, ISU 0.

* Consensus All-Americans = Iowa 20, ISU 3.

* The Cyclones have over 100 less wins than the Hawks all-time. ISU also has an overall losing record and the Hawks have an overall winning record.

* Kinnick Stadium (Hawks) holds 70,585 people and ranks as one of the 20 largest college owned stadiums in the nation. It’s also consistently ranked one of the top 25 loudest stadiums in the country.

Those are the facts! Nobody can tell me (honestly) that the Cyclones are better than the Hawkeyes. There’s a reason why they call Iowa the “Hawkeye State” folks!

Note: This was last updated on 9/9/11 so depending on when you read it the numbers presented above may have changed a little.

I just finished my first tub of BSN NO-Xplode and here is my review of it so far…

First of all, let me say that I am no rookie to weight lifting or to supplements. I started lifting weights when I was in Junior High School, which is coming up on 20 years, and I bought my first supplement just a few years later, so probably about 17 years ago. That was before Creatine even became popular!

Anyway, I wanted to clear that up in case you were wondering if this NO-Xplode review is from a seasoned veteran or a rookie.

Here are a few of the things I experienced while taking the NO eXplode weightlifting supplement.

Positives:
- Felt pumped and focused while in the gym. Made me want to lift.
- Was immediately able to crank out more sets with higher weight.
- Taste wasn’t bad.

Negatives:
- Became nauseas several times after taking it, even to the point of puking a couple times.
- Positive effects only lasted the first couple weeks. Didn’t notice much after that.
- Taste wasn’t good either.

There were quite a few people who said it gave them headaches and diarrhea in NO-Xplode reviews I read before buying it. However, I didn’t have either of those side effects.

I give it a 6/10 because it did its job at first by making me feel focused and pumped in the gym (although I didn’t exactly “explode” as they say), but it only lasted a couple weeks before I didn’t feel anything after taking it, and several times it made me feel sick.

Do I recommend NO-Xplode?

Overall I would say yes I do but not for anyone looking for a supplement to take on a long-term regular basis. I’d say most people will probably build up a tolerance, or even immunity, to the effects of NO-Xplode after just 1 or 2 tubs so don’t plan on taking it for very long.

One final note I want to add is that I do drink caffeine quite a bit so that might have been part of the reason NO-Xplode didn’t work wonders for me. I can’t say for sure but I am guessing it was at least somewhat responsible for me building a tolerance so quickly.

Alright, that’s my review of NO-Xplode. Take it or leave it!

For more information on bodybuilding supplements and other similar products visit http://www.mpsupplements.com