Go Vote! Site of the Year Contest!

Hey Everyone! The voting for the 2008 Site of the Year contest has just started so if you are an OSP member be sure to login and make your pick!

Click here to VOTE!

Also, there were lots and lots of entries so the listing you see was selected by a group of photographers, normal folks and possibly even some super heros ;) ...if you think a certain site should've made the cut then the chances are it wasn't submitted so be sure to encourage them to submit their site next year!

Have fun!
DJ

Imaging USA

Imaging USA, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Imaging USA was a blast! I can't believe how fast it went! Yesterday I
went to the Costa's rocking presentation and connected with some
friends but I didn't have much time to shoot photos so if you have
cool photos or videos you want to share from the show upload them to
SmugMug using this account info...

Username: ppa@davidjay.com
Password: (email me and I'll give it to you)

Imaging USA! Yea!

I'm out in AZ for the Imaging USA show. Professional Photographer sent me a 5d Mark II to do a review on so I'll be doing lots of shooting and uploading all the pictures and video for everyone to download. I haven't uploaded any yet but they will be at this link.

imagingusa.smugmug.com

Sweet! Can't wait to see you all!
DJ

Another incredible morning

Another incredible morning, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I've been getting up for all the sunrises and they just keep getting
better and better. There has been this layer of fog in SB and I love
it because it totally covers the city so it feels like heaven and is
so peaceful.

I'm getting ready to head to AZ for the imaging confernce and I'm
super excited to see my parents and old friends while I'm there!

Here's a quote for you from the Minute of Margin book I posted about
below.

"An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold"

- Chinese Proverb

I wrote a poem

2008 was great!

I had so much fun
and got so much done
it's all on the blog
so the memories will never be gone. :P

I traveled here - there - everywhere!
On the little bus I rode
Having the time of my life
in my typical mode

Adventure after adventure
Always more to be had
I needed a fix
really really bad

I never foresaw the pain
I would see in my own eyes
because I made progress the goal
and results the prize

It's hard to let go
so much was lost
my idea of success
came at too high of a cost

I've learned so many lessons
through my usual route
trial and error - then prayer
seriously devout!

Now I have another chance
as I start the new year
to create something real
another type of career

Lots of work to be done
it's of a new kind
I'm leaving behind the gold
it's now my soul to be mined.

Get Margin!

This past year will probably go down as one of the most transforming years of my life but like most transformations there was a good amount of struggle and pain involved.

It's easy to look at other people's lives and think that because they have this or that they must live this blissful life and I've found myself believing this lie at times. It's never the case and what I've found is that the more I have (of anything) the more problems I have. I'm not scared of these problems. My career is built on creating solutions to problems and that's one of the gifts I've been given.

One of the biggest problems I face and see many people struggling with is the increasing pace of life and the increasing amount of things to do and things to do them with! The temptation is to think that if I just had this or that I'd have more time to enjoy life or be with the people I love but if you were on the Free to Succeed tour you heard me say that the fastest way to create more freedom and fulfillment in our life is actually ELIMINATION!

I'm seeing this truth play out in my business and life right now and how desperately I had been needing this all along. My life was crammed full. There was no space - no true flexibility - no margin and so as more got squeezed in the tension increased exponentially.

My business partner Todd just gave me a book called Margin (Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives) and wow I am so excited about this book. We are giving a version of it "One Minute of Margin" to all of our employees. It takes about ONE minute per day to read the daily thoughts and wow are they right on!

David Jay's free monthly newsletter.

Dude! If you want to be kept up to date with all the latest stuff then enter your email address here!

Email:

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful celebration tonight.

I admit that I'm very excited to wrap up 2008 and God gave me the most beautiful sunset of the year to close it out on. I will show it to you tomorrow but until then I just want to leave off saying thank you for being part of my life in big ways and small ways. Your comments have caused me laughter and at times even tears. This world of the blogosphere is a funny one but I don't need to understand it to appreciate you.

Thank you again and much love and many blessings in 2009.

Cheers,
DJ

Barefoot Memories New Site!!!

Yea! Have you seen this amazing new website! Carey Schumacher is one of the incredible photographers I've followed over the years and so I was beyond excited to hear that she was using Showit for her new website! She worked with the stellar designer Nick Haskins from Spilled Milk Designs on this wonderfully unique and truly refreshing website - I love it!


As with all websites I always go to learn about who the person is and YOU MUST click here and watch all these videos of Carey! I clicked on the "Get Some Action" link first ;) but be sure to watch them all!

CLICK HERE and see Barefoot Memories new site!

Tomorrow is New Years Eve! Can you believe that! Tomorrow is also the deadline for our Site of the Year contest that is totally free to enter and there are lots of sweet CASH prizes!

------------------------
First Place:
$1000 + Lifetime subscription to Showit Sites

Second Place:
$500 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Third Place:
$300 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Fourth Place:
$200 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Fifth Place:
$100 + One year subscription to Showit Sites

Cleaning Day

I had a last minute rental this week so I'm in the apartment for a few days which has been really fun because it's forced me to do things differently than I usually do. It's almost like being in a hotel for a few days. First I went out and got a little space heater b/c it's been cold lately and I'm afraid I'll blow something up if I light the pilot on the heater.

Then today I decided to clean the desk area and I really like it. Everything in the apartment is from my old apartment so it's all dark leather and dark wood where-as the house is lighter wood and a more modern feel.

Then I was gonna go shopping but I decided to try and clean my hat before I left. I didn't really know how to do that so I just filled the sink with some hot water and some fruity smelling soap that Crystal had left over in the shower and when I came back my hat smelled really good! How do you usually clean a hat?

...by the way the brown color is not because the hat was so dirty! :P ... it's the dye that was in the hat coming off. lol. Seriously.

Apples, Oranges and snow

Yesterday morning I woke up and had a wonderful morning reading and praying but then I got really hungry and realized that I didn't have any food in the house so I went to the only place open and got the only thing I like at Starbucks - their breakfast sandwich :) .... as I was waiting for them to cook it up I was reading the newspaper there and it seemed that all that was in it was the depressing news about the low retail sales so I put the paper down and tried not to be affected by what I had read but it wasn't until later that day at the Parsons that I really got my thoughts straight.

The Parsons are some of my dearest friends. I met them just over a year ago and have totally fallen in love with their family. If you've met them then you know what I'm talking about. They've spent most of their life in Russia with an organization called Young Life but now they live here and just travel back and forth to Russia a couple of times each year.

They had invited me over for Christmas dinner and it was incredible and during the meal we all found these little questions hidden underneath our plate, which is totally something my mom would've done so I got a kick out of it, and one of the questions was to recall your favorite Christmas memory. The question had been under their grandfathers plate and as he began to share his story big tears welled up in his eyes. He told us of growing up working on a sugar plantation. I can't even begin to imagine the labor involved in what he did but he said on Christmas day the owner would come around in his truck and give everyone an apple and an orange and he recalled looking forward to that day and those treats the entire year. It brings tears to my eyes just remembering him telling the story.

Then they asked me to answer the same question and I did my best to scan back through all the Christmas memories I could remember and I could recall very few gifts that I had gotten and even fewer that I had given but the one Christmas memory that I really loved was when my family decided to hop in the car and go up and have a white Christmas in northern Arizona instead of celebrating in Chandler. We got cozy in a some small hotel room, played in the snow a bit but best of all we were together and enjoying the simple pleasures that God gives us.

This got me thinking how wonderful it is that if we're honest with ourselves we know that we don't need the economy to be great in order to be happy or to live a life full of love and excitement. Deep down we know that money doesn't equal hope and all it takes to change our current state is to remember back to a time when we were truly happy and to be thankful for all we have learned and experienced in the meantime. No matter what has happened or is happening in our life the choice is ours how we let it affect us. So as we get ready for the new year let's commit to letting go of the things we can't control and taking control of the things we can.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Be blessed today!

Time for long underwear.

Time for long underwear., originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Today I weighed myself again and I was like whoa. That's really low. I
think I need to start eating more now that I'm working out and running
because I have/had a really high metabolism and I think it's starting
to kick in again.

I also busted out the long underwear today. I feel invincible when I
wear long underwear. I feel like i could go anywhere and it's really
cold out so I put them on.

Happy Christmas Eve! I'm going to our church service tonight with my
friends the Parsons and then I'm gonna have Christmas dinner with them
as well. I'm excited! Hopefully I'll see some of you tonight!

I am getting FIT

I haven't been this weight in a long time. I've been running and working out and eating healthier food. I'm seeing more and more how everything is connected and I can't neglect certain areas of my life and expect them not to affect other areas.

With the world in the state that it is in I think we need to be getting into the best shape of our life. We need to be getting more physically fit and that's really the easiest and also more spiritually fit and more emotionally and intellectually fit as well. The end of the year is a good time to think about this past year and how we did in these areas. I know I did really poorly in most of them and I got fat (in a lot of ways) and I got lazy and obviously these weren't what I had hoped for but the important thing is that I can see the results. They weren't the results I wanted but they were results I can learn from and change so that this next year is better.

What is an easy thing that you can start doing today to begin disciplining and developing your mind, body and soul. Might be as simply as committing to reading for few minutes each day....or doing 20 pushups. Don't start HUGE or you'll never stick with it but pick something and commit to doing it every day!

Beating the sun!

Beating the sun!, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I've been getting up early in the morning to spend time reading,
praying, and just being silent and the sunrises have just been
incredible. What a great example of God's artistry!

Don't miss this!

Did you all see this! The Bebbs just launched their newest project with a Showit Site! They have been recording some killer videos with their 5d and mixing it with photos and WOW WOW WOW! I just ordered one for me! I can't wait to see this!

Click here to watch this and preorder a DVD because the special they are running is almost done.

Sweeeeeeeet!
DJ

I ate this

I ate this, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

And now I'm waiting for the consequences. :) I get sick after I eat
chicken but I haven't tried it recently and this was a bit healthier
chicken from Trader Joes with less of the steroids and stuff in it so
we will see what happens. :)

Get together

Thank you so much for all your love and support. I've been reading every post, comment, and email and I can't thank you enough for sharing with me in this time.

When we go through rough times it is life saving to know that we have people we can talk to about it. I have the most wonderful friends and people around me who care about me and help me through the crap I go through but I realize that not everybody has that and it scares me to think about what they do when they have drama in their life...because regardless of the degree of our troubles when we're in the midst of drama in our life - it's very real and our hearts hurt deeply.

A couple of years ago I read this article in the USA Today and I still have the actual article but it gave some shocking statistics that have probably gotten worse. 25% of Americans have nobody they can confide in. This is heartbreaking. We need each other. We need close friends and we need to spend more time together and less time typing to each other.

Make it a priority this week to get together with somebody in your life who is having a rough time. We all know of somebody and just love on them. Things escalate this time of year and to be alone and hurting can really crush people and you have no idea how you could change their life by simply being with them and sharing in some of their pain.

Christmas Spirit!

Hey Everyone! I'm sure you noticed that my blog has changed a little bit and the reason is because we just launched an insanely cool feature inside of Showit Sites where you can have your blog or ordering page or anything else pop up right inside of your site! To see how it works click here and go to my website and then click on the "Blog" button in upper right!

When you go to my website you will also see that I made a few additions to show my Christmas spirit! lol...

Lots of others did some cool stuff with their sites as well. Like checkout what Playbox Studio did by using Showit Sites to add some snow fallign onto their homepage! So cool!

...and Nick Haskins from ShowitSitesDesigns added some cool tree ornaments to his site to give it some flair!

...and Studio 190 added a little ornament too. :) I love it.

Max is a stellar photographer

One of my business partners Max is an incredible artist in the music world but has recently started doing rocking photography! Checkout this cover shot he just did! ... and he even explains how he got the image from start to finish and it was really cool to see all the different things he did.

Click here to checkout how he got this cool image!