Ahhh! I've been so busy this week! Monday and Tuesday Emily, Dan, and I drove around looking at dumpy houses. Dan just got his Real Estate license and has only been in nice houses. These crappers were a real shock to him. We saw two in Sanford and one between UCF and downtown. The Sanford ones were in really bad shape and will not make good investments (they were in bad areas). The other one was also in a hard to sell area (behind a trailer park) and the asking price was about what it is worth. Yesterday and today we are working hard to catch up on our DVD work.

Oh and I have really exciting news! A couple months ago I sent out a press release about my Bradotype images and didn't hear back from anyone. Then my dad was sitting in bed reading Studio Photography & Design magazine (a big national magazine for professional photographers) and he read an article about me and my images! He was just as shocked as I was.

Met with the owner of Emily's gym yesterday. She wants us to make a video series of her nutrition classes. The project seems like it will be a lot of fun to shoot. We're probably going to do it like Good Eats (one of my favorite shows) with different locations to illustrate each topic. The meeting went well and we should begin shooting in a few weeks.

Today I shot pictures of my friend Dan Berger for his website www.dantherealtorman.com. They came out pretty well, but the best picture (of him pointing goofily at the camera) came out blurry. Oh well, we have some other good ones. After the photo shoot, Abe, Dan, Emily and I went canoing on the Wekiva River. I love that place and it sucks that I don't get to go more often. On the way to the spring, Emily went with Abe and they spent half the time in the bushes. We got down there, ate hot dogs and hung out for a while before heading back. She went with me on the way back and we stayed away from the bushes and away from the alligators. It was the first alligator she's seen since living here! Too bad it was only a baby.

Ok, so I am either the biggest nerd ever or the smartest person ever. I installed Linux on my I-pod. Here's the story...

I wanted to be able to record audio on my I-pod. So I looked at the commercial audio recorders on the market and realized that the headphone jack must also double as a line in or mic in. The little devices which allow you to record audio didn't do anything to the hardware of the I-pod, so it must already have the capability. I was searching the internet for a way to access that part of the software, when I stumbled across http://www.ipodlinux.org. This site is a complete resource for installing Linux on the I-pod, which will enable me to record audio, play games and do a ton of other stuff. The installation was quick and easy, but the software isn't perfect. I made a test recording using my headphones as a microphone (yes, headphones and microphones are basically the same thing, but each one is better suited to their particular task). The recording came out great (given my headphones arn't an ideal microphone and I was too lazy to reach under my desk for a real microphone). Score! The software doesn't do so well when it came to playing back the recording though. It froze up. Oh well. I can just get the recordings off my I-pod using my computer.

Stupid Flickr won't let me all any new pictures. I haven't updated my blog in the last few days because I can't load the pictures I want to load. Anyway, Em and I went to the Winter Park Art Festival on Saturday. It was fun, lots of good artists and whatnot, but we were both feeling sick so we didn't stay long. Em was sick all weekend with some kind of head and throat illness. I got it just a little bit on Saturday and Sunday, but it really just made me tired. Sunday we finished shooting a Lifetime Tribute Video we had been shooting since last week. Then we braved illness and planted some new stuff in the garden. Emily has been painting clay pots with really neat designs, so she got some plants to put in them. Mostly flowers and cactuses (don't give me crap, I hate the word cacti). I planted some new basil plants cause the old ones died in the freeze, a strawberry plant, and red hot chili peppers.

I have been working on finishing the Lifetime Tribute Video for Emily's grandma. It is exporting now, but it's going to take another 40 hours or so, because the video is over 4 hours long. The LTV we finished shooting on Sunday is going to be just as long.

Yesterday the coolest thing happened. Emily got the mail and noticed a strange letter from the Washington DC government (the city govt, not the big govt) addressed to me. I let her open it and she found a check for $216! I have no idea how they even found my address, or why they would send me the money, but who cares. My car is getting it's 60,000 mile tune up and the cash will help me pay. Whoo Hoo!

Em and I have been babysitting her friend Katie's dog for the week. He is a golden retriever/corgi mix. Very fun and playful, but sometimes too much so when all the dogs get together.

We've also been doing a lot for the Volusia Asset Co - hard money lending - business. And it's really been paying off. Our responsibilities include going to meetings, passing out fliers, calling clients and potential clients and conducting pre-approval meetings. It's pretty fun because most of the people we have met with are a bit nutty in one way or another. The pay is great. We have helped with a few deals and made as much as $2900 in two hours. Last night Em got a call from a new client who wanted to go to auction. She talked to him for a bit, then called my mom to alert her to the deal and find out if the money was available. Today he bought the house and paid our rent for the next two months. All right!

Em and I went to the Winter Park farmer's market yesterday. It was great, but we got there a bit late, so most of the people were closing up. We were able to get some fresh produce and the amazing olive tapenade that I love. We talked to the tea woman for a while and listened to her explain the intricate difference between the different types of tea pots. Em bought me a cast iron tea set for our anniversary. Super cool. Later we met up with Abe and went with my sister to Bubbalou's Bodacious Bar-B-Que. It was pretty good, but the evening held more significance than just eating. While we were there, Diane called me to say that one of our friends (Barry's ex-girlfriend who we had stayed with in NYC) had died of an overdose. Very sad. She was extremely nice and full of life and energy when I knew her.

Today Emily and I had a Lifetime Tribute Video shoot in the morning. It went well despite the fact that the interview subject only spoke Spanish. I got to use the limited Spanish I had learned while at LMHS and understood at least some of what he was talking about. Afterward we at lunch at my parent's house to say bye to Lindsey. This evening we have just been taking it easy at home. Emily bought some clay pots and paint at Michael's, so we have spent the last few hours painting and making Matzo Ball Soup. Good stuff.

Emily got back from Canyon Ranch yesterday. She said she had a great time with my mom and sister and the exercising and the nails and the food and the massages and the girly stuff. I would let her tell you about it, but she doesn't like writing in my blog. Instead you can look at a few pictures she took while there...

I spent the last few days being busy with BP DVD stuff. We were pretty swamped in the beginning of the week, now we're just getting that work done. I just finished making all the dubs. Now Em is labeling everything.

Had a pretty busy day today. First appointment was with a woman who survived the Holocaust; I got her number from the Holocaust Center at the JCC and hoped to record her story. I met her at her new residence - a Winter Park retirement home. She had been reluctant to meet and to tell her story on camera, because she doesn't think her experience is as traumatic as some of the other survivors. I told her about our Lifetime Tribute Videos and asked her some questions about her life. She was very open to talking about it off camera and the story was quite interesting.

She grew up in Germany and her family owned department stores. She remembers the rise of anti-semitism and the protests outside of her family's store and home. Her father fled Germany in the middle of the night to live with relatives in New Orleans. Things continued to get worse in the time before she could join him. It was so bad that she couldn't even go outside to walk her dog - she had to give up the dog instead. Nine months later her and the rest of her family joined him in America. Her grandparents were the only ones who stayed behind and they were killed by the Nazis. After talking to me for a while, she agreed to the video interview.

Just before noon I met with a man who owns a local duplication house. He specializes in large volume DVD dubs and gave me some good information about printing labels for DVDs. He uses a special kind of sticky label that will never peal or fade.

I drove straight right to another duplication company who can transfer film to DVD. The owner was a weird freaking guy named Vito. His company seems solid (they've been in business for 25 years) and I trust that he will do a good job with the film, but I'll try to have as little personal involvement as possible. He was all into Christian Rock. He will not dub anything with a bad word. But that's not what made him so weird - he just had a strange manner about him that I can't describe.

I went to the Winter Park farmer's market around 11:00 am. It was great! I hadn't been there in years, so I didn't really know what to expect. There were about 50 booths set up with people selling mostly plants and flowers, but also vegetables and food. I went to one of the vegetable stands first and got everything I would need to make some soup. After purchasing the vegies, I remembered that we were almost out of coffee. I spotted a man selling coffee so I went over to take a look. He had about 15 types packed in gallon plastic bins at the front of his booth. I told him what type of coffee I like and asked him for a recommendation. He told me that all of the coffee was roasted last night (I had never had coffee that fresh) and chose his favorite. It smelled great. I bought a pound. Next I stopped bye a small booth on the far edge of the market where a woman was selling fresh jam. Mmm, I love jam. I picked up some Strawberry and moved right along. Next stop was a man selling fresh herb plants. The basil in our garden has not been doing well, so decided to replace them with some mint (great for tea!). He sold me two plants for three dollars. On my way out, I spotted a woman giving out samples of olive dip on crackers. I tried some and was amazed as it melted in my mouth (so good!). Needless to say, I bought a small jar of the dip and have since finished it (yeah, it didn't even last 24 hours).

I wouldn't have even gone to the market if it weren't for my 12:00 appointment. The meeting was at the client's Winter Park mansion. I have been in some big houses since starting this DVD business, but this was the most extravagant. It was situated on a lake; between the house and the lake was a swimming pool, which overflowed to create a small waterfall. The ceilings were about 18 feet high and the house was decorated with artifacts from the couple's many world travels. Their collection of film, videotape, and photos of family members was the largest I have ever seen. Our job is to consolidate everything into a small collection of DVDs. The job is daunting and will surely span many months. However, both myself and my wallet look forward to getting started.

I've been working on the Big Picture DVD site for a while. Tell me what you think...
http://bpdvd.com

Spent all day Saturday at the real estate investing class. It was very informative and interesting. Andy and Tim (the teachers) talked about everything from how to find a house to how much to spend rehabing it to how to finance it and how to sell it. Sunday we took a bus trip around Pine Hills (a good place to find crappy houses and looked at some real junkers. Actually most of them weren't terrible, just needed a lot of cosmetic work - new paint, carpet, cabinets, etc. The second one we went to was horrible. It smelled like ass, the roof leaked like crazy (there was a swimming pool in the kitchen) the entire kitchen had to be redone and the most depressing thing was that there were lottery tickets all over the floor of the house. Broken dreams...

Yesterday and today we have been very busy. Our new ads came out in the Lifestyle magazines and in Life in Altamonte Springs. The response so far has been good. Hopefully we will actually turn some of these calls into sales. The Lifestyle magazines also had an article about our company. It told the story of us and our company and said that Emily and I are engaged (which of course we arn't). My dad saw the magazine and freaked out because he thought it was true. Ha Ha!

I uploaded a bunch of new pictures from Chicago, Blue Springs, etc. Check um out!