Parents

Parents, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

My folks went on a cleaning and fixing spree today! - I'm not
complaining. :) ...here my pops is teaching me how to fix the leaky
faucet. We need some more parts so if you use this bathroom only the
hot water works. :)

Less pretty breakfast

Less pretty breakfast, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

:) yummmmm .... Sharkeez breakfast!

Bfast...yummm

I need to eat more and lift some weights to get my weight back up...so I'm starting today...with the eating part at least. ;) I nice little breakfast sandwich at Tre Lune. :) .... I actually think I like the ones at Starbucks better but Tre Lune is my favorite because it's just a cool place.

Wrong direction...

Wrong direction..., originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I guess I didn't eat enough yesterday! I'm gonna eat a big breakfast
right now...it's funny because I didn't eat bfast for years and I
gained weight so maybe I shouldn't eat breakfast...I dunno...

Uhhh...whoaa

Uhhh...whoaa, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

Definitely time to start adding weight again. I was 190 on the tour
and it's funny because I didn't look much different. My face was fat
but otherwise my body distributes the weight pretty well...but I
should be 175 so I gotta change my diet a bit and lift some weights
because this is way too low.

Free Live Training Tomorrow!

Hey Everyone! I just read on OpenSourcePhoto that Jefferson Todd from Moka Design will be offering free live web design training tomorrow morning. He's an expert with Showit and so if you have questions or are in need of someone to help you build your site hit him up!

Click here for more info! or read below...

Rock on!
DJ


-----------------------

Jefferson Todd will be hosting a Q&A session tomorrow (wednesday) for any Showit Sites users or anybody interested in using Showit Sites for their website design.

The session begins at 10am PST (1am EST) and will last at least an hour. The session is limited to 20 users at one time, so be sure to login early or to try every 10 minutes to see if anybody has left.

You can even login using your iPhone or iPod Touch!

The room will be available HERE
10am PST (1pm EST)

MokaDesign.com offers custom design services built on the Showit Sites platform.

Kindle keeps improving

The Kindleis the future of reading and I love the ability to search books for certain words as well as the ability to buy books instantly from anywhere. The Kindle uses cell phone networks to connect you to their store so you can grab a new book anytime you want.

...but what is super cool is that they just opened up auto-syncing of your highlights and notes online and that is sweet b/c before it was kind difficult to go back through on the Kindle interface and see what you had highlighted and it was even harder to share it...but now checkout some of my highlights from probably the best marketing book of all time.

Promise is Awesome!

Click here right now!!!

You have to go checkout my new friend Promise Tangeman! Wow! She's amazing! I'm so inspired by her and I think she probably has the best blog I've ever seen. I can't stop looking at it.

It's like creativity on crack.

There is EVERYTHING. Inspiration - Encouragement - Resources ... and just lots of good stuff!

I really liked her post on how to feel miserable as an artist. I think all of us have felt this way at times and she really nails why.

GO GO GO....stop wasting your time on my blog.

805 Collective and Amy Hinden!

A mistake on my part. Amy Hinden's site was actually made by the great designers at 805 Collective. We all thought it was ours but I guess that's one of the great things about Showit is that your brand is on the forefront and Showit sites display you and your brand first and our technology is invisible. :)

Rock on Amy and 805 Collective. You guys are awesome!

Prayer

My buddy Mike Larson just sent me this awesome quote/prayer from John Maxwell.

"Lord as i get older I would like to be known as available more than a hard worker, compassionate more than competent, content, not driven, generous instead of rich, gentle over being powerful, a listener more than a great communicator, loving vs quick or bright, reliable and not famous, sacrificial instead of successful, self controlled rather than being excited, thoughtful more than gifted, I want to be a foot washer, I want to finish well."

Isn't that great!

Amy Hinden! Sweet Website!

This morning Jasmine Star sent me a link to Amy Hinden's new site and I love it! Checkout Amy's bio section which uses short video clips to make the page very dynamic and engaging! I LOVE it!

Speaking of video! Just today we are releasing our SmugMug and Vimeo video Widgets!!!! YEA! Now you don't have to worry about compressing or uploading or anything simply copy and paste the URL of your video on SmugMug or Vimeo and the video will play lightening fast right on your website! We just changed over Jasmine's video which used to be kinda chunky but checkout how fast it plays now!

Dane Sanders Workshops!

Dane just finished his first of a series of workshops in Houston and it rocked! Look at this awesome crew! Dane is a phenominal photographer and in my book he is also one of the top educators in our industry... and the value he is bringing to these workshops is unmatched and there are a few spots left in a city near you.

Click here and sign up now b/c space is limited.

You get a ton of free stuff for signing up and one of the things is a free copy of his excellent book - Fast Track Photographer. This is a solid book so even if you can't make the workshop go buy a copy and read it b/c it will help you define yourself as a businesses person and an artist.

Rock on,
DJ

Virgin is better!

I love Richard Branson. We need more entrepreneurs like him. As all the american airlines continue to plummet into bankruptcy and keep pulling services, they have started charging for water for heaven's sakes, he steps in and creates the best airline our country has ever seen.

I've flown Virgin several times and it's unreal and now they are the first to add internet on every seat. United can't even figure out how to get an electrical plug working in their first class seats.

Good work Sir Richard Branson!

Fix your Blogs Please :)

When I was in Russia they charge by the megabit for internet usage. Other places in the world function similarly and it's usually not a big deal but one thing I noticed is that there wasn't a chance I was gonna visit certain people's blogs who have them setup poorly. What I'm talking about is the blog page that never ends! Ya know those blogs that load and load and load and it's like the last year of this persons life.

If this is you FIX IT!


There's a setting that lets you set how many days to display - set it to seven days max...and if you're one of those people who likes to put 85 pictures in each blog post maybe set it to three days. After that let people use the archive to find what they want.

Home and Clean Shaven

When I got home my first objective was to get this rubbish off my face. :) I had forgotten my toiletries bag here in the U.S. when I left for Russia so I either had to learn how to shave with a blade or let it grow...I let it grow...

Young Life camp in Russia

It's always impossible to properly recap an experience but I have been journaling a lot of the last couple of days so I'll do my best to share.


Anyway, we flew in and then hopped on a bus with 10 or so other YL = Young Life leaders from all over Russia and drove 4 hours out to the Black Sea where this conference was being held. There we met up with 70 other leaders who devote their life to the youth of Russia...and they do this while not even being able to meet their own needs. Did I mention yet that Russia is expensive! Especially Moscow. The three bedroom apt we were staying in would cost between $15k - $20k (US) per month. - rent! Most people live in very beat down apartments outside of the city.

One sweet couple was pregnant and living in an apt with nothing. literally. nothing. Nothing for them and nothing for their new baby but they were plugging away. I've learned that Russia is a very hard place and when their isn't money people keep working without pay for months and months just to keep their jobs for when their is money.

So we got to camp in these little cabins and I was assigned to "Penthouse #2" which is what the sign on the key says which was this room. :) It was great and I can handle just about any living condition as long as it's on the extreme. To steal a line from Bono I'll say that I can live the highlife and the lowlife but not the middle. One of my roomates was "John Blond" who is a stud. He started a YL sports club and to help fund it he and some others started a dance club, a tagging school, and a break dancing club....and all their clubs have become known as the best of the best! They win awards all over Russia for their break dancing and 3000 people visit their club to dance and party without the drugs and sex that is commonplace at these raves. I was really impressed by him.

Each day they would have multiple training sessions. Some led by the Russians and some led by us. They ranged from building committees - fundraising - humor - yearly planning - etc... Gary asked me to share a little bit and I wasn't sure what I would talk on but one of the US leaders said to talk about creativity so I tried to encourage them to use their own unique abilities to find solutions to the problems they were facing. Most of the people who were there are part of the first generation of Russians who haven't had a communist childhood so they are looking at the world around them in new ways but probably don't feel the permission or the freedom to step out and try something new.


...and later that night they showed me just how creative they could be when they put the tightest nylon over my face and made me suck sweetened condensed milk through it!


Also, before each session they'd lead us in worship and wow are they ever talented. I recorded some of the music and I'll put up more videos when I get back to the states.

We got to play soccer while at the camp and it was so fun...but I played really bad. I think I made one good pass but luckily it was caught on video so I figured I'd post it up. :) .... it's a nice outside of the foot ball threading a couple defenders. Unfortunately didn't result in much but we still snuck out a 2-0 win vs. the Russians! Go USA! ;) I had one goal and an assist so I guess it wasn't that bad of a of day.



One afternoon I got to take some of them out for a little photoshoot at the black sea! 7 or 8 of us went and then we nominated a few models. Russia reminds me of the college I went to - Westmont - for every average looking guy there are 9 or 10 beautiful girls. :) Really .... it's phenomenal. It's not a lie what they say about Russian women. They are gorgeous.


So this morning camp ended and everyone said their goodbyes. Here are some more pictures...

Gary has an incredible way with these leaders and they absolutely cherish every second with him. When we were in St. Petersburg we went on a boat right with all of them right before we were leaving town. When we got off the boat we said our sad goodbyes and prayed with them and then hopped in the car to the train station. Seconds before our train pulled away up ran all the leaders to wave and say goodbye a second time! They had run a mile just to let us know how loved we were.

Moscow Stories....

So I've been without internet the last couple of days and have logged about 50 miles of walking through this wonderful city...here is a quick catchup... :)

Saturday - Sunday:
We took off from LAX bright and early with the maximum amount of luggage allowed. 3 checked bags and two carryons each! I travel really light but I brought two bags of supplies for the Young Life crews here so it was a new experience to have a couple of monster bags along with my little carryon and my purse ;) to take care of. Here is a picture of me and Katie, the Parsons daughter.


Monday:
The first 24 hours in Russia have been incredible! We got off the plane and stopped by the "Club room" that the Parsons built and ran Young Life in during their 20 years here. We were dropping off tents and supplies for them to use and the current leaders had prepared a lunch for us and what a sweet group they have!





Then we went for a short walking tour in downtown Moscow and went by the KGB building and rumor has it that if you try and walk around this building twice you will never be seen again. I've been learning a lot about Russian history and how back in the day everyone was fighting for control and the extreme measures they took to get it were gnarly.




Then we came to unpack and meet our hosts Beth and Carl who are friends of the Parsons and their apt is in the most famous apt building in Russia - "The House of Tears" and it was named that because during the communist era they used it to house the brightest minds in Russia here but then they'd have people hiding out in the walls listening to everything they were saying and if they ever opposed what the gov't was doing they would disappear...thus calling it the "House of Tears" - it's also called the "House on the embankment"



Tuesday:
This is the view of the Kremlin from the apt and last night they were doing preparation for the Victory Days celebration and they had huge tanks rolling down the street and you can see them in this shot...


In the afternoon we had two sweet experiences! We were out touring the Kremlin and in one of the chapels they were holding a special service so we hungout to see what was going on and out comes the patriarch from the Orthodox church. He's like the Pope for the Orthodox and after security whisked the big wig away I snuck up on the porch and got this guy to pose with me! :) I forgot his name though.

Then Gary took us to meet with Father Alexander which was unreal. He was one of the only priests who refused to partner with the KGB and then stuck his neck out there to try and get the church here to embrace some western ideas but that didn't bring him much popularity! None-the-less his church is thriving in the center of Moscow. He spent all afternoon sharing stories with us about the past 70 years of the church in Russia.




To finish the day we hitup a "banya" which is a russian bath. Wow! I grew up in the locker room playing sports so being around naked dudes doesn't make me uncomfortable but this took it to a whole new level. It was wild. Essentially we had our own little room to hang in and have snacks and drinks and then they'd heat up the room. Now when I say heat it up I mean like to 180+ degrees! When it was almost ready all of us would crowd around this door - butt naked mind you - and when the door opened everyone would run and the room isn't very big so once the seats filled people would stand and even kneel in every available space. I'm not sure if this is a sight you want to imagine but it's one I will certainly never forget. Then this dude would come in with a fan and start waving all the hot air down on to us and then we'd sit around and get these bundles of dry leaves that had been soaked in water and we'd hit each other with them which stimulates the blood cells close to the skin. After that we'd get out and jump into an ice cold tank of freezing water for about two seconds and then go back to our room for some more snacks and rest. We repeated this cycle 4 times before calling it a night.


Wednesday:
We've been trucking around through museums and what-not for most of today but the highlight for me was when I found this lady who makes these Russian hats by hand along with gloves and other goodies so I bought this hat from her!

Thursday:
Today we just flew to Krasnador and we'll be here putting on a Leadership training camp for Young Life leaders across Eastern Europe. The reason I am here is to learn how Gary leads and how he has developed the leaders here. It's amazing to be a part of this and I'm excited to share more whenever I can get back online. :)

Lastly, thank you for all your prayers! The trip has been blessed and I've been praying for many of you too.

Sunset in Russia

Russia has been amazing ... but I've been without the lifeline (internet) :) ... so just this quick picture until I find some more access... Love you all. I shot this right outside the unbelievable apt we are staying in... wow! More to share later...

This is a plane seat?

Wow! United renovated some of their planes over the past two years and I've been waiting to get on one of the new flights and WOW! I can't believe this is an airplane seat!

I hate to leave but I LOVE to go!

In 4 hours I will head to Russia. Wow.

I'm going to spend time with a family who is near and dear to my soul. They've become mentors of mine over the past couple of years and I just want to learn better how they love people and invite others into their world.

I really don't know much about the "plan" for the trip which is fine with me but I have my camera and computer and if I can find a few spots with internet I'll post some pics on this facebook page.

We will be there during "Victory Days" which is crazy so look for some fun pictures from that once I get back!



Also, thanks for all your emails and prayer requests. What an awesome priveledge it is to be praying for you and I've already begun and can't wait to get on the plane to go through the rest. God is sooooo good. Remember that! He will get you through whatever it is you're going through.