Well, it seems like things come and go in groups. This last week has been mostly bad news all around...
We were informed Friday afternoon that the buyer for our rental house cannot get her loan processed. She was pre-qual'd for a 90% loan to value deal, but the banks tightened up on their lending programs in the last week. She has to come up with another 10% in order to proceed with the financing, and she does not have the $$$$$. So, we are back to square one with selling the rental house.
Even though the sale isn't going through, I still worked on moving the wood shop up to our house. I got rid of 2 1/2 truck loads of stuff from our garage. Tracy and I are both pack rats, so we don't do well with getting rid of things. I finally cleared my mind and tore into the stuff in the garage with a vengeance. The kids were amazed... Josh was impressed that we could actually put a car in the garage! The bad new is I cut my right index finger down to the bone on the knuckle. We had some old rustic tools from Tracy's grandfather's house. They have been around for a couple of years, and we don't really have anything to do with them. They are kind of cool looking old, antique, rustic tools, but they had to go. When I was tossing them in the dumpster, a very large pick axe came loose from the wood handle and slid down and smacked into my finger, splitting it open to the bone (kind of a cool thing to look at, really). I thought about going to get stitches, but decided I don't have time for that. Colorado Springs emergency rooms are overrun with uninsured people on the weekends who use it as free primary medical care (it isn't really free... the hospital is required by law to treat them, and then they just never pay the bills). You can't go to the ER in less than four hours here... I had too much to do to spend that amount of time hanging out with a bunch of sick people. I finished unloading the truck, and took care of it myself at home. I had to flush it with warm-hot water for about 20 minutes to clean it out down deep, and then used almost a whole bottle of hydrogen peroxide flushing it out. I packed it with neosporin and pulled the wound tightly together with bandages. I cleaned it again this morning, kind of afraid of what I might find when I took the bandage off. I was quite surprised to see that it was clean and healthy looking, and the wound already had closed. I'm sure it wouldn't take much to break it open again, but I'm being very careful not to hit it on anything. I thought about covering it with some superglue, but I'll save that in case it does open up again for some reason.
Let's see... oh yeah, all five of us have had the stomach bug during the last couple of weeks. It started with Ethan, then I had it, then Jonah, then Tracy and Josh at the same time, and now I have it again. Bummer...
Sales were slower last week at the shop. It was Spring Break and Intellitec was gone. We had sales about $600 less than break even for the week. Not unexpected, but not welcome either. A publication in Britain has a cover story about the 2008 Great Depression in America. I know the economy is touch and go right now for a lot of people. It seems that the economy always gets beat up in the news prior to every presidential election. I don't know if that is what is going on, or if there are some real fundamental issues. I'm guessing that during a recession or depression is not a good time to be doing a new business start up. On the plus side, we are seeing strong sales and we are hovering near the break even point, even with all the doom and gloom news articles about the economy. We'll keep plugging away, and we'll do fine, God willing...
I had to cancel my business bank card due to some fraudulent Ebay transactions that showed up. We don't do Ebay, and we especially don't do Ebay with our business account. I have no idea how anyone got the card information, but the bank is going to refund the money and issue me a new card.
I guess that is enough bad news for today. The good news is that we are a happy family together. I decided long ago that my definition of a successful life is for Tracy, Josh, Jonah, Ethan, and I to all be together. With all of the things we have going on in our lives, that doesn't sound like much of a criteria. I don't view that as setting the standard low. I see that as setting the standard on what is most important. As long as we are together, then we are successful, regardless of all else...
I hope everyone is doing well. Keep us in your prayers, and pray that my finger does not fall off! :)
JD
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Job Scenario
As I mentioned previously, Intel extended my contract for the Water Chemistry Control scope for another quarter, which means I will be there until the end of June as opposed to the end of March. In all, that will be 6 ½ months of this crazy schedule instead of 3 ½ months. The sale of the rental house alleviates a big chunk of financial obligation, but continuing at Intel will allow us to do some things. Our house needs all new windows, and we can use some of my Intel income over the three months to accomplish that. I also need a storage shed/barn at our house to help with the wood working equipment and tools. I got a quote of just over $3200 for a 10’ x 16’ out building (materials only, I would build it). I did a quick construction layout and estimated $1500 to purchase materials and build it myself. I don’t think it would take that long if I use 92 5/8” studs and I have a framing nail gun. I could bang up a building pretty quickly. Tracy also wants to have the exterior of the house painted, and we need a new fence. My Intel $$ would allow us to accomplish all of those things this year.
My scope at Ft Carson has been much more difficult than I expected. I have one project with five buildings and a second project with three buildings. Both are government contract jobs (Army Corps of Engineers), which means the paperwork and red tape is unbelievable. The project start dates were supposed to be staggered so that the overwhelmingly busy times of the two projects would be staggered. Due to design delays, both projects hit at the exact same time. It has been horrible. We have been letting people know that our choices are:
1- Concentrate on one project and do it well, and have the other project team be absolutely livid.
2- Split our time between two projects and make progress on both, but keep no one happy.
Well, we were directed to split time and keep no one happy, thinking that over time the scope would get completed and things would smooth out once in construction, as opposed to going through the submittal process. Well, one of our projects ended up bogging down. The equipment deals that were structured between our head quarters in Denver and the various equipment vendors were strained due to the project being significantly under bid by the estimators. As a result, baseline, inexpensive equipment was sourced for the project, long before the IFC (issued for construction) design drawings and specifications were issued. Once we started getting information on the equipment, we noted that it did not meet the project specifications or the design criteria. As a result, we have spent countless hours trying to get equipment that meets the project requirements at the lowest cost available. It has been a complete nightmare. Unfortunately, all of this pre-construction work was set in place long ago, before William and I were involved. We inherited a botched project, and the GC could care less about the problems. They just want us to get our equipment, build the building, and do it all on time.
As a result of the problems with one project, the other project has also suffered. It is not as difficult, but will be soon, as we have been directing most of our time and attention to the project with huge problems.
I have been a project manager/project engineer/quality assurance manager/system expert on many projects in the semi-conductor and nuclear industries over 22 years. Regardless of the challenges or problems any project has ever presented, I have always found a way to be successful, and to exceed all expectations. The only way I could see to be successful in this situation at Ft Carson is if I work 50+ hours per project, meaning 100+ hours a week. I don’t have that kind of time available to me, and I’m not willing to put in more than about 50 hours a week total since it is a salary position. The workload has been truly unrealistic, and there are no successful options with the resources available. This is the first time in my life that I can truly say I don’t enjoy my job. I love a good challenge, and I like it when things are difficult, but this situation is impossible. It is not much fun. But, I have never quit a job or a project, ever, and I’m not going to now. After elevating my concerns to our management, and being told to just keep plugging away, I decided to show up at work, be productive, and get as much done as I can during the time that I am here. I recognized that the amount of time I have to put into these projects would not meet the expectations of two separate general contractors and two separate project teams. I decided all I can do is work hard and go home with a clear conscience. I must say, though, that I have never been in a situation like this. “No winning options" is not a good position to be in…
Hope you have more fun at work than I’ve been having lately…
JD
My scope at Ft Carson has been much more difficult than I expected. I have one project with five buildings and a second project with three buildings. Both are government contract jobs (Army Corps of Engineers), which means the paperwork and red tape is unbelievable. The project start dates were supposed to be staggered so that the overwhelmingly busy times of the two projects would be staggered. Due to design delays, both projects hit at the exact same time. It has been horrible. We have been letting people know that our choices are:
1- Concentrate on one project and do it well, and have the other project team be absolutely livid.
2- Split our time between two projects and make progress on both, but keep no one happy.
Well, we were directed to split time and keep no one happy, thinking that over time the scope would get completed and things would smooth out once in construction, as opposed to going through the submittal process. Well, one of our projects ended up bogging down. The equipment deals that were structured between our head quarters in Denver and the various equipment vendors were strained due to the project being significantly under bid by the estimators. As a result, baseline, inexpensive equipment was sourced for the project, long before the IFC (issued for construction) design drawings and specifications were issued. Once we started getting information on the equipment, we noted that it did not meet the project specifications or the design criteria. As a result, we have spent countless hours trying to get equipment that meets the project requirements at the lowest cost available. It has been a complete nightmare. Unfortunately, all of this pre-construction work was set in place long ago, before William and I were involved. We inherited a botched project, and the GC could care less about the problems. They just want us to get our equipment, build the building, and do it all on time.
As a result of the problems with one project, the other project has also suffered. It is not as difficult, but will be soon, as we have been directing most of our time and attention to the project with huge problems.
I have been a project manager/project engineer/quality assurance manager/system expert on many projects in the semi-conductor and nuclear industries over 22 years. Regardless of the challenges or problems any project has ever presented, I have always found a way to be successful, and to exceed all expectations. The only way I could see to be successful in this situation at Ft Carson is if I work 50+ hours per project, meaning 100+ hours a week. I don’t have that kind of time available to me, and I’m not willing to put in more than about 50 hours a week total since it is a salary position. The workload has been truly unrealistic, and there are no successful options with the resources available. This is the first time in my life that I can truly say I don’t enjoy my job. I love a good challenge, and I like it when things are difficult, but this situation is impossible. It is not much fun. But, I have never quit a job or a project, ever, and I’m not going to now. After elevating my concerns to our management, and being told to just keep plugging away, I decided to show up at work, be productive, and get as much done as I can during the time that I am here. I recognized that the amount of time I have to put into these projects would not meet the expectations of two separate general contractors and two separate project teams. I decided all I can do is work hard and go home with a clear conscience. I must say, though, that I have never been in a situation like this. “No winning options" is not a good position to be in…
Hope you have more fun at work than I’ve been having lately…
JD
Just a quick update…
1. Our sales for last week exceeded our break even point, for our full operational budget! That is awesome, considering the current gas prices, housing crunch, and the overall skittish nature of the economy right now. Now we just need to string together a series of weeks meeting or exceeding budget (like, forever!)
2. Good news / Bad news on the rental house issue. The good news is that we are under contract, the home inspection is complete, and we have come to agreement on what items on the inspection will be corrected by me. That is really great news, actually. The bad news is that we are closing very quickly, one week from tomorrow (April 1). The reason that is bad is because I have an 8’x8’ shed, a 26’x24’ wood working shop, and a 12’ x 25’ garage full of woodworking tools and materials that I have to get out of there before closing. The biggest problem is I have a 12’x25’ space to put all of that into right now. I am going to have to rent a storage unit until we can afford to build a new shop at our house (or at least a storage barn)… The other bad news is that I did not have the time to finish the remodel there. We are selling the house as-is, with remodel materials included, for about $20,000 under market value. I hate giving away $20k in equity, but it has to be that way right now. I could have hired a contractor for about $10k to $12k to finish the work, and paid two or three more months of payments and utilities. That would have resulted in about $5k to $8k gain, as compared to our current contract, but having the house gone and out of our hair is most important. Another good news item… Our next payment was due on 4-1-08, and we are closing on 4-1-08. I thought I had to make this payment, but I was told not to. The pay-off data for closing is calculated without that payment. That is about $1000 that stays with us, instead of going to the mortgage company, literally hours or minutes before closing on a sale!
3. We are still trying to get our staff where we want it to be. One of our recent hires did not work out. Based upon the upbeat nature of the interview, we had great expectations for this person. Unfortunately, it did not go as expected. Tracy and I interviewed a girl who just moved here from Fargo, ND (no, she does not talk funny like they did in the movie). She had a great interview as well, and we hope things work out better with this one. We have implemented our past learning points to cut someone loose after a trial period, as opposed to trying to make a situation better via training and additional effort. It makes things hectic in the short term, but should pay off in the long run if we get a solid staff in place. We will always have turnover, though… that is just the nature of retail customer service work.
Gotta run…
Take care,
JD
2. Good news / Bad news on the rental house issue. The good news is that we are under contract, the home inspection is complete, and we have come to agreement on what items on the inspection will be corrected by me. That is really great news, actually. The bad news is that we are closing very quickly, one week from tomorrow (April 1). The reason that is bad is because I have an 8’x8’ shed, a 26’x24’ wood working shop, and a 12’ x 25’ garage full of woodworking tools and materials that I have to get out of there before closing. The biggest problem is I have a 12’x25’ space to put all of that into right now. I am going to have to rent a storage unit until we can afford to build a new shop at our house (or at least a storage barn)… The other bad news is that I did not have the time to finish the remodel there. We are selling the house as-is, with remodel materials included, for about $20,000 under market value. I hate giving away $20k in equity, but it has to be that way right now. I could have hired a contractor for about $10k to $12k to finish the work, and paid two or three more months of payments and utilities. That would have resulted in about $5k to $8k gain, as compared to our current contract, but having the house gone and out of our hair is most important. Another good news item… Our next payment was due on 4-1-08, and we are closing on 4-1-08. I thought I had to make this payment, but I was told not to. The pay-off data for closing is calculated without that payment. That is about $1000 that stays with us, instead of going to the mortgage company, literally hours or minutes before closing on a sale!
3. We are still trying to get our staff where we want it to be. One of our recent hires did not work out. Based upon the upbeat nature of the interview, we had great expectations for this person. Unfortunately, it did not go as expected. Tracy and I interviewed a girl who just moved here from Fargo, ND (no, she does not talk funny like they did in the movie). She had a great interview as well, and we hope things work out better with this one. We have implemented our past learning points to cut someone loose after a trial period, as opposed to trying to make a situation better via training and additional effort. It makes things hectic in the short term, but should pay off in the long run if we get a solid staff in place. We will always have turnover, though… that is just the nature of retail customer service work.
Gotta run…
Take care,
JD
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Four Days In a Row
This is my fourth day in a row to not be at home...
Sunday... Woke up at Nemo's following Josh's birthday party/sleepover. Got the kids to settle down at 2:00am, and then Jonah and Devin got up at 5:30am. Not much sleep that night. I then made breakfast for 8 growing boys (waffles and bacon). Tracy came over to the shop towards the end of breakfast and we were there until almost 12:00 noon when the last sleep over kid was picked up. We went home, but I had to go back to the shop to work on the Jeep. It would not start a week before, and sat there in front of Nemo's (taking up one of the best parking spots) with a dead battery all week. I got it running, cleaned up the studio following the total destruction of lots of boys, and calculated payroll. Went home just in time to change and head off to Intel...
Monday - I actually got to sleep in a little... the kids had a two hour delay due to a snow storm, so I got to sleep until 7:15am! Dropped the kids off at school at 10:00, then went to Ft Carson. Worked there until 5:45, then went to the shop and finished payroll, including writing the checks and distributing tips. Had to go from there straight to Intel...
Tuesday - Dropped the kids off at school, stopped by Nemo's for coffee, went to Ft Carson and worked until 5:25. I left there and met Tracy, the boys, and Tracy's parents at Fargo's Pizza for Josh's and Jonah's birthday dinners. I left from there and went straight to Intel.
Wednesday - Dropped the kids off at school, stopped by Nemo's for coffee, went to Ft Carson and worked until 5:50pm. Left there and went to the school for Jonah's music event. It is so much fun to see your own kids up on a stage. I had to leave from there and come straight to Intel.
Tomorrow - Thursday is going to be another busy day. I have to get the kids up earlier than usual and get them ready for school. We then are going to Nemo's. I have to pick up 50 servings of decaf coffee for the second graders to try (part of their Civil War experience lessons to have war camp food). I also have to set up the studio for a photography inspiration seminar for 28 people, which is Thursday night from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Then I'll be off to drop the kids at school, then to Ft Carson, then home for a little while (I am hoping) and then off to Intel...
Friday - Up at 6:00 to get the kids off to school, then to Nemo's. I have to set up the studio for a RKMI submittal process training presentation (for Corps of Engineer projects) for eight of our local Project Managers and Project Engineers. This set up includes running a 50' Cat 5 cable from our secure LAN router in the back office to the studio. I then have to set up a multi-port switch for multiple users to log in to RKMI systems remotely. Ironically, this training is geared towards teaching me my job, but I am too busy doing my job to attend the training to learn about how to do my job. Not kidding! I am supposed to attend, but we are under a serious deadline crunch at Ft Carson and I have to take off for work after I get the training set up. I don't go to Intel on Friday nights, but that is our family night at the YMCA to go swimming and/or play racquetball. I then have to finish the editing for three photo shoots I have completed recently. I have a meeting set up with one family, and need to get the other proof collections to those clients quickly as well. Maybe I will get 5 hours of sleep Friday night...
Saturday - All of us up early and off to the shop. I have a meeting with a photo client, then we have to run the shop for the day, go to Sam's club and buy all the stuff we need for the first half of the week, etc, etc. We then close the shop, leave from there and go to church, and get home at about 8:30pm.
Sunday - I absolutely have to start clearing out the wood shop and rental house of all my tools. I honestly don't have room for all of them at our house. I might have to get a storage unit for awhile. I want to build a 12x16' storage barn at our house. I can then move all the bikes, sports equipment, camping gear, etc, etc, etc to the shed and put my wood working equipment in the garage. I have no idea how to get "3 car garage" worth of stuff into "1 car garage" amount of space. It doesn't matter if I know how or not... I have to get it done anyway, as our buyer under contract wants to close in early April. Oh yeah, Sunday is Easter! We will be making Easter eggs and having fun that day too.
Tracy hired a new guy for morning shifts. We interviewed a girl who was interactive, friendly, energetic, cute, fun, etc... We hired her and then found out she is not a morning person. She struggles from 7:30am and finally comes to life a little around 11:00am. Tracy is going to move her to afternoons and have Nicholas be the morning person. He delivers papers at Colorado College and is done with that by 6:00am. He has already been up for a few hours by the time he gets to Nemo's at 7:30. Today was his first day and Tracy said it went very well...
Gotta go do my chemistry work.
I am looking forward to the week being over, although it just rolls right into another very busy week. Blah...
JD
Sunday... Woke up at Nemo's following Josh's birthday party/sleepover. Got the kids to settle down at 2:00am, and then Jonah and Devin got up at 5:30am. Not much sleep that night. I then made breakfast for 8 growing boys (waffles and bacon). Tracy came over to the shop towards the end of breakfast and we were there until almost 12:00 noon when the last sleep over kid was picked up. We went home, but I had to go back to the shop to work on the Jeep. It would not start a week before, and sat there in front of Nemo's (taking up one of the best parking spots) with a dead battery all week. I got it running, cleaned up the studio following the total destruction of lots of boys, and calculated payroll. Went home just in time to change and head off to Intel...
Monday - I actually got to sleep in a little... the kids had a two hour delay due to a snow storm, so I got to sleep until 7:15am! Dropped the kids off at school at 10:00, then went to Ft Carson. Worked there until 5:45, then went to the shop and finished payroll, including writing the checks and distributing tips. Had to go from there straight to Intel...
Tuesday - Dropped the kids off at school, stopped by Nemo's for coffee, went to Ft Carson and worked until 5:25. I left there and met Tracy, the boys, and Tracy's parents at Fargo's Pizza for Josh's and Jonah's birthday dinners. I left from there and went straight to Intel.
Wednesday - Dropped the kids off at school, stopped by Nemo's for coffee, went to Ft Carson and worked until 5:50pm. Left there and went to the school for Jonah's music event. It is so much fun to see your own kids up on a stage. I had to leave from there and come straight to Intel.
Tomorrow - Thursday is going to be another busy day. I have to get the kids up earlier than usual and get them ready for school. We then are going to Nemo's. I have to pick up 50 servings of decaf coffee for the second graders to try (part of their Civil War experience lessons to have war camp food). I also have to set up the studio for a photography inspiration seminar for 28 people, which is Thursday night from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. Then I'll be off to drop the kids at school, then to Ft Carson, then home for a little while (I am hoping) and then off to Intel...
Friday - Up at 6:00 to get the kids off to school, then to Nemo's. I have to set up the studio for a RKMI submittal process training presentation (for Corps of Engineer projects) for eight of our local Project Managers and Project Engineers. This set up includes running a 50' Cat 5 cable from our secure LAN router in the back office to the studio. I then have to set up a multi-port switch for multiple users to log in to RKMI systems remotely. Ironically, this training is geared towards teaching me my job, but I am too busy doing my job to attend the training to learn about how to do my job. Not kidding! I am supposed to attend, but we are under a serious deadline crunch at Ft Carson and I have to take off for work after I get the training set up. I don't go to Intel on Friday nights, but that is our family night at the YMCA to go swimming and/or play racquetball. I then have to finish the editing for three photo shoots I have completed recently. I have a meeting set up with one family, and need to get the other proof collections to those clients quickly as well. Maybe I will get 5 hours of sleep Friday night...
Saturday - All of us up early and off to the shop. I have a meeting with a photo client, then we have to run the shop for the day, go to Sam's club and buy all the stuff we need for the first half of the week, etc, etc. We then close the shop, leave from there and go to church, and get home at about 8:30pm.
Sunday - I absolutely have to start clearing out the wood shop and rental house of all my tools. I honestly don't have room for all of them at our house. I might have to get a storage unit for awhile. I want to build a 12x16' storage barn at our house. I can then move all the bikes, sports equipment, camping gear, etc, etc, etc to the shed and put my wood working equipment in the garage. I have no idea how to get "3 car garage" worth of stuff into "1 car garage" amount of space. It doesn't matter if I know how or not... I have to get it done anyway, as our buyer under contract wants to close in early April. Oh yeah, Sunday is Easter! We will be making Easter eggs and having fun that day too.
Tracy hired a new guy for morning shifts. We interviewed a girl who was interactive, friendly, energetic, cute, fun, etc... We hired her and then found out she is not a morning person. She struggles from 7:30am and finally comes to life a little around 11:00am. Tracy is going to move her to afternoons and have Nicholas be the morning person. He delivers papers at Colorado College and is done with that by 6:00am. He has already been up for a few hours by the time he gets to Nemo's at 7:30. Today was his first day and Tracy said it went very well...
Gotta go do my chemistry work.
I am looking forward to the week being over, although it just rolls right into another very busy week. Blah...
JD
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
A Great Surprise!
I am a member of NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) and their website includes web hosting for up to 24 images of each member. I finally uploaded some photos to my NAPP portfolio last week (after leaving it empty forever).
I checked out the NAPP website tonight and saw on the front home page that one of my images was selected as "Editor's Choice". Basically, they choose six images out of literally thousands and thousands (probably tens of thousands) and post them on the front page as editor's choices. I was excited to see one of my images there... The funny thing, though, is that this image is natural out of the camera, with no Photoshop work at all! The abstract nature of the photo is achieved by using a very narrow depth of field with the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro lens...
Here is the image they chose (click on it to see a larger version):
Tracy called me today and said the espresso machine steam wands were not working... Yikes! You can't make very many specialty drinks without steam wands. Our La Marzocco Linea 4 Group has separate brewing and steaming boilers, so we were still able to pull espresso shots. I had her check to see if any of the water supply lines were pinched, and to check the pressure gages. They showed that the brew boiler was still operational, but the steaming boiler was the only one down. I was afraid that the element had gone out. You have to turn off the machine and let it cool down (for hours) before being able to work on it. We called Maric and they came and serviced it. Luckily, it was just a sensor and not an element or electrical distribution problem. It is fixed and working like a champ again.
Time Warner contacted Tracy today and asked if we could do 300 breakfast burritos for them. That would be great to sell $1100 worth of burritos in one day, but it will be absolutely horrible to make them all! One person working alone takes about 1 1/2 hours to make 20 burritos (that includes cooking the eggs, sausage, potatoes, and then building them). We would need to have multiple people working on this project to pull it off. We are going to give them pricing and we will see if they go for it...
I am exhausted, and I have my water chemistry control scope to complete. gotta run.
JD
I checked out the NAPP website tonight and saw on the front home page that one of my images was selected as "Editor's Choice". Basically, they choose six images out of literally thousands and thousands (probably tens of thousands) and post them on the front page as editor's choices. I was excited to see one of my images there... The funny thing, though, is that this image is natural out of the camera, with no Photoshop work at all! The abstract nature of the photo is achieved by using a very narrow depth of field with the Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro lens...
Here is the image they chose (click on it to see a larger version):
Tracy called me today and said the espresso machine steam wands were not working... Yikes! You can't make very many specialty drinks without steam wands. Our La Marzocco Linea 4 Group has separate brewing and steaming boilers, so we were still able to pull espresso shots. I had her check to see if any of the water supply lines were pinched, and to check the pressure gages. They showed that the brew boiler was still operational, but the steaming boiler was the only one down. I was afraid that the element had gone out. You have to turn off the machine and let it cool down (for hours) before being able to work on it. We called Maric and they came and serviced it. Luckily, it was just a sensor and not an element or electrical distribution problem. It is fixed and working like a champ again.
Time Warner contacted Tracy today and asked if we could do 300 breakfast burritos for them. That would be great to sell $1100 worth of burritos in one day, but it will be absolutely horrible to make them all! One person working alone takes about 1 1/2 hours to make 20 burritos (that includes cooking the eggs, sausage, potatoes, and then building them). We would need to have multiple people working on this project to pull it off. We are going to give them pricing and we will see if they go for it...
I am exhausted, and I have my water chemistry control scope to complete. gotta run.
JD
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Recent Photography
It took me about a week to get that last photography post uploaded...
Since I actually wrote it, I have received my new version of Photoshop CS3, finished building the new computer, loaded Windows XP, CS3, and anti-virus software, etc. I downloaded the images from my last couple of photo-shoots and did edits on one image from each shoot.
I did a family portrait session for a previous co-worker at Intel, and they were also tennants of ours in one of our rental houses. I took quite a few shots of their daughter. She loves to be in front of the camera and really hams it up. I have lots of shots of her smiling, but this straight forward 'serious' image was my personal favorite from the session:
I also did a maternity session for another couple last weekend. Here is a fun detail shot in black and white:
I will post some more examples after I get some more editing finished.
I met a girl today who competes at the national level in 'fitness body building'. It is geared towards a natural, symmetrical, sculpted look, instead of a freakish, steroid induced, super-hero body building look. I offered to do some promotional shots for her, and she would like to do them before she travels out of state for a competition on Tuesday. I am going to try to find an hour or two to take some shots of her tomorrow...
Gotta run...
Take care,
JD
Since I actually wrote it, I have received my new version of Photoshop CS3, finished building the new computer, loaded Windows XP, CS3, and anti-virus software, etc. I downloaded the images from my last couple of photo-shoots and did edits on one image from each shoot.
I did a family portrait session for a previous co-worker at Intel, and they were also tennants of ours in one of our rental houses. I took quite a few shots of their daughter. She loves to be in front of the camera and really hams it up. I have lots of shots of her smiling, but this straight forward 'serious' image was my personal favorite from the session:
I also did a maternity session for another couple last weekend. Here is a fun detail shot in black and white:
I will post some more examples after I get some more editing finished.
I met a girl today who competes at the national level in 'fitness body building'. It is geared towards a natural, symmetrical, sculpted look, instead of a freakish, steroid induced, super-hero body building look. I offered to do some promotional shots for her, and she would like to do them before she travels out of state for a competition on Tuesday. I am going to try to find an hour or two to take some shots of her tomorrow...
Gotta run...
Take care,
JD
Photography Night
OK, today’s post is going to be about photography…
The kids downloaded a virus to my Photoshop machine at home, and now it won’t even boot up. That’s a huge bummer. The same kids (mine) destroyed my Photoshop CS2 installation disk a year or so ago, so I cannot reinstall the software. I am hoping a reformat of the hard drive will get rid of the virus. I have a 10,000 rpm Raptor drive in there for the OS and Photoshop (all image files are stored on separate hard drives in the same computer, as well as on two 500GB external drives). The Raptor drive gives better performance for Photoshop and general computing. I want to salvage it and put it in my new computer I just finished building (AMD dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 256MB 8600GT Video).
Anyway, I ordered an upgrade to Photoshop CS3 and it will be here Monday. I had to restrain myself a little. I wanted to get the entire Creative Suite, to include Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop, Web authoring software, etc, etc. I also wanted to get Lightroom… But, alas, we are in the middle of a business startup and cannot afford such luxuries. I went with the basic CS3 upgrade, used my NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) discount, and will be back in the editing business for $180. It can’t get here soon enough, though. I have two photo shoots to edit already, and I have another shoot on Saturday. The first two are a local church’s staff (formal headshots for their website) and the other is a family portrait session. I am doing a maternity shoot (and it also happens to be their first anniversary, too) on Saturday. I will post some examples of the shots after I get some editing done early next week.
OK, I was reading Scott Kelby’s blog (http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/) this week and he is doing some formal food shots in a studio type setting for his wife’s cookbook. He used a continuous light system with a softbox (lights are on all the time, as opposed to a burst of flash when you press the shutter). Continuous lights (nicknamed “hot lights”) are great for studio work because you get constant feedback as to lighting strength, ratios, shadow placement, catch light placement, etc… They have always been bad for studio settings as well because of the enormous amount of heat they generated. Well, now you can get daylight balanced compact fluorescent lights that emit almost no heat. I followed the link he posted for purchasing the same equipment, and it was approximately $550 for a single light set up (light, stand, and softbox). I researched the actual lamps a little more and found that I could buy the bulbs for about $10 each (this particular set up had five bulbs). So… $50 for bulbs, and a little bit of money for some light fixtures, wiring, switches, and a backer plate and I can make my own for under $100. I think I am going to try it, you know, in all of my spare time. Well, this project might have to wait awhile, but I can do it. We have the technology, and I understand electrical work enough to build it safely. For now, I will continue to use my Alien Bees strobes.
I was looking at another blog called Strobist. This blog is about wireless, off camera flash (instead of studio lighting kits). This guy has done more to help the average photographer understand photographic lighting than anyone else in history. He has an international following, and there are Strobist groups that meet on a regular basis to conduct photographic lighting seminars and photo shoots in every city around the world. Anyway, one of his biggest concepts is knowing how to reverse engineer lighting. He wants people to understand lighting so well that they can look at any photograph and be able to describe the lighting set up without any other information. You should be able to identify how many lights, their location as compared to subject and camera, distance from subject and camera, quality of light (soft, diffused, hard, etc), and on and on. I am proud to say that I get the reverse engineering questions right pretty much every time. If you want to learn about photo lighting, check out his site. Every minute spent there is productive and valuable.
Well, I haven’t had any time to do any photography for fun, and I can’t edit any photos until Monday anyway. So, I am going to post a few photos from my galleries just for fun. Some of these are straight photography, and others are Photoshopped. You can see more of my photography here: www.pbase.com/jdanderson
Click on any image to see a larger version:
...and one of Starbucks going down in flames!!
The kids downloaded a virus to my Photoshop machine at home, and now it won’t even boot up. That’s a huge bummer. The same kids (mine) destroyed my Photoshop CS2 installation disk a year or so ago, so I cannot reinstall the software. I am hoping a reformat of the hard drive will get rid of the virus. I have a 10,000 rpm Raptor drive in there for the OS and Photoshop (all image files are stored on separate hard drives in the same computer, as well as on two 500GB external drives). The Raptor drive gives better performance for Photoshop and general computing. I want to salvage it and put it in my new computer I just finished building (AMD dual core, 4 GB of RAM, 256MB 8600GT Video).
Anyway, I ordered an upgrade to Photoshop CS3 and it will be here Monday. I had to restrain myself a little. I wanted to get the entire Creative Suite, to include Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop, Web authoring software, etc, etc. I also wanted to get Lightroom… But, alas, we are in the middle of a business startup and cannot afford such luxuries. I went with the basic CS3 upgrade, used my NAPP (National Association of Photoshop Professionals) discount, and will be back in the editing business for $180. It can’t get here soon enough, though. I have two photo shoots to edit already, and I have another shoot on Saturday. The first two are a local church’s staff (formal headshots for their website) and the other is a family portrait session. I am doing a maternity shoot (and it also happens to be their first anniversary, too) on Saturday. I will post some examples of the shots after I get some editing done early next week.
OK, I was reading Scott Kelby’s blog (http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/) this week and he is doing some formal food shots in a studio type setting for his wife’s cookbook. He used a continuous light system with a softbox (lights are on all the time, as opposed to a burst of flash when you press the shutter). Continuous lights (nicknamed “hot lights”) are great for studio work because you get constant feedback as to lighting strength, ratios, shadow placement, catch light placement, etc… They have always been bad for studio settings as well because of the enormous amount of heat they generated. Well, now you can get daylight balanced compact fluorescent lights that emit almost no heat. I followed the link he posted for purchasing the same equipment, and it was approximately $550 for a single light set up (light, stand, and softbox). I researched the actual lamps a little more and found that I could buy the bulbs for about $10 each (this particular set up had five bulbs). So… $50 for bulbs, and a little bit of money for some light fixtures, wiring, switches, and a backer plate and I can make my own for under $100. I think I am going to try it, you know, in all of my spare time. Well, this project might have to wait awhile, but I can do it. We have the technology, and I understand electrical work enough to build it safely. For now, I will continue to use my Alien Bees strobes.
I was looking at another blog called Strobist. This blog is about wireless, off camera flash (instead of studio lighting kits). This guy has done more to help the average photographer understand photographic lighting than anyone else in history. He has an international following, and there are Strobist groups that meet on a regular basis to conduct photographic lighting seminars and photo shoots in every city around the world. Anyway, one of his biggest concepts is knowing how to reverse engineer lighting. He wants people to understand lighting so well that they can look at any photograph and be able to describe the lighting set up without any other information. You should be able to identify how many lights, their location as compared to subject and camera, distance from subject and camera, quality of light (soft, diffused, hard, etc), and on and on. I am proud to say that I get the reverse engineering questions right pretty much every time. If you want to learn about photo lighting, check out his site. Every minute spent there is productive and valuable.
Well, I haven’t had any time to do any photography for fun, and I can’t edit any photos until Monday anyway. So, I am going to post a few photos from my galleries just for fun. Some of these are straight photography, and others are Photoshopped. You can see more of my photography here: www.pbase.com/jdanderson
Click on any image to see a larger version:
...and one of Starbucks going down in flames!!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Moving in the cold…
Well, I finally had to empty out the extra 1200 sq ft storefront that we used for storage during construction. We kept all of our left over construction materials in that space, as well as extra tables, bar stools, chairs, and all sorts of extraneous things. Essentially, a 1000 sq ft area was full of stuff…
I had a 30 yard dumpster delivered on Thursday, and had planned to start working on the space Friday. Instead, I went to the YMCA with Tracy and the kids (our new Friday night routine). I played racquetball, worked out a little, ran a mile on the track, swam with the kids, swam laps (side stroke, free style, and back stroke), and then swam with the kids some more. Saturday was the nicest day yet… It was in the mid-70’s, and set new records for warm temps. I was not able to work on the storage space, though. I got to the shop with the kids at 9:00am and helped Tracy for awhile. I then set up for a photo shoot and completed a portrait session for a family. I then worked in the shop while Tracy ran to Sam’s Club, and then closed the shop. We left from Nemo’s and went straight to church, then home Saturday night.
Everybody was talking about snow starting at about midnight. I went out at 7:30 to get Dunkin Donuts for the kids (Sunday tradition) and there was no snow in sight. When I left for the shop at 8:30, it was blowing 40 mph and snowing sideways so hard that I couldn’t see very far. I spent from 9:00am to almost 6:00pm throwing construction debris into a 30 yard dumpster. I took leftover materials (wood flooring, slate flooring, paint, slate tile sealer, base molding, door trim, stainless steel sinks, light fixtures, chairs, tables, etc, etc to our house and put them in storage in the shed. There were other items that I took to the wood shop, and picked up remodeling debris to take back to the dumpster. It was a horrible day to be outside moving things. Oh well, it is done now…
I really enjoyed doing the photo shoot on Saturday. I got some really great shots (I’ll post some when I have a chance to do some edits). Two more customers noticed my equipment set up in the studio and are interested in sessions. One couple is having a baby in a month and wants to do photos of their baby every six to eight weeks during the first year. Their wedding anniversary is next week, so I told them I would do a free anniversary and maternity session if they book the year’s worth of baby photos! Done deal… They are coming in Saturday.
I want to build a solid portfolio for the studio and start marketing. I decided that I would rather build my portfolio with hand selected subjects rather than just going through my archives and finding the best photos. I have seen people out and about that were extremely photogenic. I’m going to get some cards made up offering a free photo session and a free 8x10 print to give out to people like that. As a result, I will build a portfolio with models of my choosing. My hope is that they will take their free 8x10 and order some additional prints, but that is not necessary. Getting a solid portfolio together is most important.
There are internal rumors that Intel is going to keep Fab23 here in Colorado Springs open via a joint venture with another Flash semiconductor company. As a result, they officially extended my contract to the end of Q2 (June 30, 2008), with rumors that I will be extended until the end of the year. This scenario would be very difficult to continue for that long, but I’ll see what happens. I prayed for a solution for our finances, and God just keeps providing. I’m not sure we can handle this demanding schedule as a family for that long, though. It is nice to know the opportunity is there, but this is going to take some thought and discussion…
Today I am going to Nemo’s after work and completing payroll, along with a few other admin tasks. I need to be there through close in case Megan needs help. She is pretty sharp, and she did the closing training Saturday, so I don’t expect her to have any problems.
Take care,
JD
I had a 30 yard dumpster delivered on Thursday, and had planned to start working on the space Friday. Instead, I went to the YMCA with Tracy and the kids (our new Friday night routine). I played racquetball, worked out a little, ran a mile on the track, swam with the kids, swam laps (side stroke, free style, and back stroke), and then swam with the kids some more. Saturday was the nicest day yet… It was in the mid-70’s, and set new records for warm temps. I was not able to work on the storage space, though. I got to the shop with the kids at 9:00am and helped Tracy for awhile. I then set up for a photo shoot and completed a portrait session for a family. I then worked in the shop while Tracy ran to Sam’s Club, and then closed the shop. We left from Nemo’s and went straight to church, then home Saturday night.
Everybody was talking about snow starting at about midnight. I went out at 7:30 to get Dunkin Donuts for the kids (Sunday tradition) and there was no snow in sight. When I left for the shop at 8:30, it was blowing 40 mph and snowing sideways so hard that I couldn’t see very far. I spent from 9:00am to almost 6:00pm throwing construction debris into a 30 yard dumpster. I took leftover materials (wood flooring, slate flooring, paint, slate tile sealer, base molding, door trim, stainless steel sinks, light fixtures, chairs, tables, etc, etc to our house and put them in storage in the shed. There were other items that I took to the wood shop, and picked up remodeling debris to take back to the dumpster. It was a horrible day to be outside moving things. Oh well, it is done now…
I really enjoyed doing the photo shoot on Saturday. I got some really great shots (I’ll post some when I have a chance to do some edits). Two more customers noticed my equipment set up in the studio and are interested in sessions. One couple is having a baby in a month and wants to do photos of their baby every six to eight weeks during the first year. Their wedding anniversary is next week, so I told them I would do a free anniversary and maternity session if they book the year’s worth of baby photos! Done deal… They are coming in Saturday.
I want to build a solid portfolio for the studio and start marketing. I decided that I would rather build my portfolio with hand selected subjects rather than just going through my archives and finding the best photos. I have seen people out and about that were extremely photogenic. I’m going to get some cards made up offering a free photo session and a free 8x10 print to give out to people like that. As a result, I will build a portfolio with models of my choosing. My hope is that they will take their free 8x10 and order some additional prints, but that is not necessary. Getting a solid portfolio together is most important.
There are internal rumors that Intel is going to keep Fab23 here in Colorado Springs open via a joint venture with another Flash semiconductor company. As a result, they officially extended my contract to the end of Q2 (June 30, 2008), with rumors that I will be extended until the end of the year. This scenario would be very difficult to continue for that long, but I’ll see what happens. I prayed for a solution for our finances, and God just keeps providing. I’m not sure we can handle this demanding schedule as a family for that long, though. It is nice to know the opportunity is there, but this is going to take some thought and discussion…
Today I am going to Nemo’s after work and completing payroll, along with a few other admin tasks. I need to be there through close in case Megan needs help. She is pretty sharp, and she did the closing training Saturday, so I don’t expect her to have any problems.
Take care,
JD
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