Happy Halloween Everyone!

This is Spooky!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I'm having some friends over for a murder mystery tonight which I'm really excited about and my Friend Deyl is crazy with his latest blog post! He'll donate $10 for EVERY blog comment if you watch the video about this organization!!! So go to his blog right now and watch the video and comment about it!

He's involved in this incredible organization called Opportunity International which does microcredit stuff. They are a heavy hitter across the world lending out millions and millions to small entrepreneurs. Most of you who read my blog are entrepreneurs and so you can understand what these other small businesses go through and having an organization like Opportunity International helping them out is literally the difference between life and death a lot of times.

Spooky!
DJ

Photographers needed

My buddy Brad Person has an awesome business shooting newborns right at the hospital. He has also maximized the use of Showit Web! He put up 2500 shows last year! No wonder his business is booming! ;)

He is a great guy and gives a lot of time to NILMDTS and was featured on MSNBC for his work there. I can't watch this video without crying and I know many of you shoot for NILMDTS as well. What a wonderful organization.

CLICK HERE if you're in the Phoenix, Minneapolis or the San Francisco/Mountain View CA area and want to work with some great folks.

Earthquake!

I just experienced my first earthquake and it was pretty cool. There have been a few while I lived here but I've never felt them b/c I've been driving or something... it was a 2.8 and my house was shaking like crazy for just like two seconds and then it stopped and I went back to sleep.

If there was a really big earthquake my car would probably fall and crush me in my sleep b/c my garage is right above me.

You can see on the map A is where the center of the earthquake was and B is my house.

OSP SOUTH!

Hey Everyone!

I'll post up about PhotoPlus tomorrow but first I'm super excited about OSP South! I can't believe it's just two weeks away! I even went and found some pics from 2006 and it got me even more amped to see all of you!


I was talking to my friend Markham from SmugMug and he is hooking up 5 of the contest winners with a FREE account for a year and is hooking up [b]everyone[/b] who comes to OSP South with these really nice camera straps and a 50% discount on the first year of SmugMug! He'll pop onto OSP and share more and feel free to ask him anything you'd like.

Anyway, I just wanted to introduce all of you to him b/c they are gonna be making some big announcements soon regarding a new pro-lab offering as well as some killer customization options that you've all been waiting for.

See you all soon!
DJ

FREE Showit Web Update!

Come see me tomorrow at the Adobe Booth. I'll be presenting at 11:45 and sandwiched between some pretty amazing speakers.

I think I'm the intermission. :)

I'll try and get there early to hang with all of you coming out b/c after that I'm gonna be buzzing around a good bit since I only have one day here.

FREE Showit Web Upgrade!

- Two brand NEW and awesome songs by TJ Hill!
- Two sweet NEW timing templates to go along with them!
- Make Money NOW with Showit Books!

Totally free to offer these books! It's another new feature in Showit Web!
Watch this video to get started offering custom made books in five minutes!
Order books before December 1st to take advantage of the insane low starting price of $29 per book!

Click here to download the FREE UPDATE!

If you haven't bought it yet SAVE $60!!! on a new version of Showit Web if you order in the next 48 hours by using the code "48HOURS" during checkout. Click here to order!


Freedom and Slumber Workshops selling out FAST!

Last year this all inclusive SB workshop event filled up in 6 hours so act fast!!! Space is extremely limited and 7 spots are already gone!

Click here and reserve your spot today!

I can't wait to see many of you in NY!

Bird at the Freedom House

The last week will certainly go down as one of the most difficult weeks in my life. I can't even list out all the things that have happened but it really shows truth to the old saying "when it rains it pours"

Boy oh boy is it pouring.

Those of you who know me have seen that I live kind of an extreme life. I'm an "ALL-IN" sorta person. The good side to that is that when I'm committed to something I won't let anything get in the way of a successful outcome. As Tony Robbins (and Jasmine) point out - there is no "TRY" you are either doing something or you are not. This year I have done many things and I have also not done some things. For each their is a reward to be reaped and a price to pay.

I've realized that I have some wonderful gifts and talents but also some massive shortcomings.

I don't know why I've been given this life or why I'm going through this time of pain leading to a lot of soul searching but what I do know is that there will be an end and at the end of it I will be better and more equipped than I am now.

As I mentioned a few months ago my life has a tendency to mirror itself after my names' sake and so I'll leave you with a quote from him.

"I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, Lord, for you are a faithful God."

Please help me find this guy

* I'm pulling Andre's email from this post but does anybody know who Andre Vandermonde is or where he lives? I think he's from Canada.

Thanks for your help,
DJ

Yesterday's Video Chat was awesome!

Thanks to everyone who logged on and for those of you that missed it you can watch the recording of it here!

Showit Sites LIVE VIDEO CHAT starting at 4pm (pst)

****SEE RECORDING OF THE VIDEO ABOVE****

Check it out here and post your questions below or click here to watch it on uStream.TV. It may also help to click on the button on the bottom right to watch it FULL SCREEN.

Portland is Awesome

I had a great weekend in Portland. I went out there to meet with OnOne Software which has some really cool pieces of software and we are looking into some ways to collaborate. My friends Dan and Whitney Harlacher hosted me in their beautiful home and we played some vicious games of Xbox and there is a game where you race cows! I was pretty good at that one (although Whitney waxed Dan and I both) and I was really bad at racing actual cars.

Dan is OnOne's Senior Product Manager and Whitney runs Bliss Studios there in Portland. I also got to see my old friend Kevin Meyers and one of my first assistant's ever Lindsay Beall! It was such a good trip!

Right before I left I got to hang with the Boudiour Divas here at the Freedom House! I think they are gonna do one of their workshops here so stay tuned for that!


This is gonna be a great week! We're planning another LIVE cast so stay tuned for details on that. We'll probably do it on Tuesday evening this time.

Exciting new updates!

We just added in another Style Group as well as a bunch of killer new features!

INCLUDING the much requested FORMS! YEA!

Click here to see the new "Slimline" Style Group and checkout the forms too! You can click here and go directly to the contact form with Showit Sites "deep linking" technology.

Don't forget to add the ShowitFast Blog to your list so you get all the updates first:

Checkout the new "add pages" functionality which makes adding pages super easy.


We also added in:

- Lock a layer in place! Woohoo!
- Stand alone video options for finish by fading, looping or jumping to a page
- Auto save and recovery of the auto save file after an unexpected quit
- Add Page Layout Wizard for easily adding single pages
- Option for background image to fit inside the height or width of a page
- Option to tile a background graphic
- Home page indicator and right click to set home page in the pages list
- Improved combo boxes and numeric sliders
- Text background and border color
- Single line text
- Import Showit Web

I'm headed up to Portland today just for a quick two day trip. I'm really really tempted to go see the Bebbs up in Canada but I don't think I can. They are unreal photographers up there and if you're looking for an awesome workshop to go to signup for their fast. It's in less than a month and you can get more info here.

Joan Sherwood Bike Commuting!

My friend Joan Sherwood from Professional Photographer magazine has been doing the amazing thing of bike commuting! She's done over 1000 miles since she started and I love this! We all can do something to help the earth and to help ourselves.

Joan accomplished a bunch of things by biking:

1. Saved the Earth
2. Saved money on Gas
3. Helped cut down on crazy Atlanta traffic
4. Got her day started right with some exercise
5. Tested out her new camera!

So CLICK HERE and go to her blog and give her some props for doing this!

Best part of the Debate!

Mike Colon

Mike Colon, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I'm here at the Mike Colon talk in Santa Barbara and its been awesome!
I'm really excited because they just opened up Lightroom so I think
he's getting ready to do a software demo and talk through some
workflow stuff.

Great weekend

Yesterday was homecoming for Westmont and it was fun to go out and watch the guys pull out another victory in the last ten minutes. This time they won on a penalty and the last game I watched they won with three minutes left after a ball deflected of one of the other teams defenders resulting in an own goal! Seems like luck is on their side! At the game I saw 7 couples who's weddings I had shot! Crazy!

I even got out there and kicked it around a bit with the alumni which was fun.
Then last night I had a bunch of friends over for another game of Cashflow. This game is so good for gaining a better understanding of money and how to get out of the "Rat Race" so if you've never played it find somebody who has it or buy a copy and starting moving towards financial literacy.

Right now I see lots of finger pointing about the economy and this and that but what we all need to do is to take responsibility over our future and there is no way we are gonna get out of this mess if we don't start educating ourselves in this area.

WARNING FOR ADULT EYES ONLY

So after seeing these I'm thinking we need to make a 2009 calendar and sell it on the e-store. This is my buddy Brett who is one of the smokin' hot developers for Showit. So yesterday when Jasmine Star was up here she took some pictures of him and dang.

Feel free to use these as the background on your computer.

CLICK HERE to see more on Jasmine Star's blog!


Ladies...sorry to disappoint but this hunk is taken

Sites LIVE Q&A was rocking!

Here is the video from today's live chat and there were a total of 464 that logged in! So fun! We're definitely doing more of this! I had a blast and I am posting a string of all the comments and questions in the box below. :)

Showit Sites LIVE Chat!

It may be helpful to watch this in FULL SCREEN MODE which you can do by clicking on the little button in the bottom right of the video. :)

and go to this URL for more commenting options

Great times at home!

A couple of days ago my friends Bobby and Lindsay Earle and Josh Newton (doesn't blog so no link love ;) cruised and hung out for the day. It was amazing. We just chilled and worked and slept and then had some good Thai food. It was one of those days that you wish wouldn't end. I love these guys because they are the nicest guys but also totally willing to stand up for what they believe is right.

We had some good "man time" outside exterminating a very dangerous spider that could harm babies and children so it had to go.

UStreamin

Great time UStreaming! Over 500 people hopped on to watch this trial run live and we're excited to do our next episode next week!

Click here to watch it.