Weblog » Archives » February 2007

  • HEAVEN'S NEW ARRIVAL Wayne Byrne called me yesterday to tell me that his wife Barbara Ann has passed away. She has been fighting lung cancer for over a year. So weird, last week she was up and around - they took a tri…

  • I NO LONGER USE GOOGLE, I NOW USE SNAP.COM Try it it's awesome.

  • TEN DAY IMAGES Well today I go into the clinic for my 10 day weigh in. The photo on the left wasn't the start of my exercise/change-in-eating regimen. It was the "enough" moment. People were starting to say that I rem…

  • THE POOL STARTS IN A WEEK Gene from Valley Pool came Wednesday to paint out the outline of the pool placement for the ranch. The blue area is a rough of the drawing but it's also too small, if you can see the swim up s…

  • HELLO FROM BIG WHITE SKI RESORT There is such a terrific group up here from Pictage. They're having a group of top performers in different categories, and they're having a symposium. It has been such a blast up here.…

  • THE POWER OF PRE-VISUALIZATION I made a career in wedding photography by showing people what their albums looked like. Could you imagine how easy it would be to sell someone a swimming pool if they could do this? Anyway…

  • AL GORE WON AN ACADEMY AWARD! could you imagine George Bush winning an oscar? Who would've thought that eight years ago? It almost makes me think - anything is possible... until I imagine George Bush winning an Oscar.…

  • TO THE PHOTOGRAPHER WHO WAS AT THE OSCARS So glad to hear Forrest Whitaker won the best actor award, and not surprised at all. His performance was phenomenal. If you haven't seen "Last King of Scotland" you would be b…

  • WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE I just realized I no longer need my snoreguard. I used to snore so bad that Mel couldn't sleep unless I put in my snoreguard. Dude, I was so fat I snored. I was a snoring fat guy. On January 2, I s…

  • 188.4

  • MISS "I'M ON VIDEO" JESS STRICKLAND'S BIRTHDAY WAS YESTERDAY! SEATTLE - WA: Jessica Strickland is one of my favorite people on this earth. She is so sweet and kind and caring but sometimes a little annoying and distra…

  • RANCH PROGRESS Click here for story and photos.

  • BUSINESS METHODS WORK IN OTHER AREAS OF LIFE TOO A few years ago when we were starting up Pictage, it had super growing pains that were unreal. One day we found ourselves short on cash, and we couldn't make payroll. Me…

  • 189.2 I can't remember when I saw the numbers 1 and 8 side-by-side on the scale. I now weigh in the 180's. Not 202 like I started on January 2. I am completely free of prescription medications. My blood pressure is lo…

  • CHROMEDOMES ARE SOLD OUT I had a mailing about a week ago and we thought we were going to be ok with 1900 chromedomes in the warehouse, but we have zero. Therefore, if you go on the cart and try to buy one, it will say…

  • MY OPINION OF AMERICAN PHOTO'S TOP TEN WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE WORLD It's a solid list of fine shooters. Since "top" is so subjective, remember that it is an opinion. It isn't top 10 high jumpers in the world.…

  • 190.2 - HOLY SMOKES I HAVE LOST NEARLY 12 LBS SINCE JAN! It just keeps melting off! And again, last night I wrote about how "fresh" my skin felt. All over, my skin feels very "aerobicized". My mood elevation is a ne…

  • E-STORES RULE There is nothing like internet e-stores. 24/7 you're getting paid. The more you work at it, the better you do. There's so many ways to crank in revenue if you have that important thing - traffic. Oh ye…

  • WHAT IS IT LIKE TO EARN A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR? I remember when I was listening to Tony Robbin's tapes, and he was talking about the benchmarks he made in his life - making his first million, making his first million…

  • DUDE I'M LAUGHING MY ASS OFF (READ THE HILARIOUS COMMENT BELOW) OK I took assembly tips from "Mills Pride" Cabinets website and used altavista.com/tr to translate it to Chinese, then back again! FREAKIN HILARIOUS! It's…

  • 192.8 - THE SCALE KEEPS GOING DOWN!!!! This morning I woke up because I had an itch on my chest and I woke up because I felt a pectoral with an underlying muscle tone instead of the man boob. I have not seen the numbers…

  • WHAT MATTEO IS GOING TO LOOK LIKE As y'all can probably tell, I have way too much time on my hands. So, with nothing to do I decided to photomerge Nicole and Joe to see what Matteo is going to look like when he grows…

  • MISS LIGHTSPHERE WILL BE AT WPPI THIS YEAR!!! Miss Lightsphere, Tiffany Yoder is coming to WPPI!!! I am so stoked! This makes the gang at we're bringing to WPPI the loudest group ever assembled! Robbie and Lauren are…

  • CANON AND/OR MAC GURU HELP NEEDED Y'all are so helpful I feel like I can rely on this blog to ask questions and an answer will pop up! So here's my question; Is there a software - where I can be tethered with my CANON 5…

  • I AM SO EXCITED RIGHT NOW I can't tell you what's going on but in about a month or so I'll tell ya! Anyway, Mel did the funniest freaking video today regarding this topic and I can't wait to spring it on you because it'…

  • MORE DIET NOTES Just want to make notes so in the future I can search back to this entry. Note the word "diet" in the subject heading? Anyway, today I started to experience what they were talking about with respect t…

  • THE BREACH - GREAT MOVIE Huge career boost for both Ryan Phillippe and Chris Cooper. Chris Cooper was incredible - he was amazing to watch. I've been a fan of his for a while he's got the beadiest psycho eyes. I think…

  • NICOLE SAID I WOULD MAKE HER LOOK DUMB, SO HERE YA GO!

  • NICOLE'S BABY MATTEO!!! We have so many fond memories of Nicole. We always sit around and go, "remember the time .... " (e.g. remember the time that Nic asked if Columbus OH was named Columbus because Christopher Colum…

  • I COULD'VE BOUGHT THIS INSTEAD FOR THE SAME AMOUNT

    I am a super bargain hunter. When I bought the HMS Kelowna, I got an incredible deal on it - which is why I bought it. Then I put together a spreadsheet and figured out how to get it to pay for itself by doing yacht…

  • HOLY SMOKES!!! 193!!! YESTERDAY WAS 194.2! SO AWESOME. I haven't seen a flat 193 in a LONG TIME. I had a hard plateau at 197 - Mel said it's because I had huge legs from tennis and skiing and bike racing but I know…

  • HOMES OF THE BILLIONAIRES (CLICK HERE) FORBES.com had a cool article on homes of the richest people in the world. It's unbelievable what people can do with limitless wealth. Here's an interesting statistic about the d…

  • GARY WHIPS UP PESTO CHICKEN YUMMM DISCOVERY BAY - CANADA: I've been cooking and I have probably cooked a handful of times in the last 10 years. I never knew it could be fun. It's fun experimenting and playing with the…

  • I HAVE A BIG SECRET

    And to those of you who know anything about it, this is a reminder again to not even hint at what I am up to. This is very important. Don't discuss the subject matter, don't give any hints, don't say anything where anyb…

  • WHAT HAPPENED TO THIS MESSAGE BOARD?

    There is a forum that was really popular with wedding photographers. Since I'm no longer a wedding photographer I am no longer a member of the forum. But I have a lot of friends that are on the verge of becoming famous…

  • ANOTHER SHOCKING DAY AT THE WEIGHT SCALE! 194.4. Haven't seen this number in a long time! Rabbit took some "before" photos of me: My happiest, most satisfied days are weight loss days, so I can understand how people…

  • STRETCHING AND GROWING DJ just emailed Mel and asked if I would be interested in doing some lectures with him in France. He just did a lecture in Paris for Planchecontact, and in France these vocational seminars are ac…

  • THE DIET IS WORKING!!!!!! I'm now 7lbs down. I haven't hit 195.4 in years! (I have a REALLY solid baseline weight!) All of the un-medically supervised diet and exercise got five pounds off and since I started the HGH…

  • WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT POST? This thing really is my journal (well there's another super private one I keep) but this one is awesome and I try to convey my thoughts and feelings as accurate as I can. Then sometimes I thi…

  • DETOX, DAY ONE This whole day was fine until tonight. Meals have to be spaced five hours apart, and I was doing great all day until the third meal. Like they said, I would feel some chills, have very low energy, be ki…

  • THIS JUST IN FROM CNN

    Home prices dropped in the most widespread decline EVER. This is even before the mortgage resets which will kick in - mid 2007. My bet is it will take about six months before this ripples through, and then banks wi…

  • LOOK WHAT HAPPENED SINCE MY LAST POST IN OCTOBER. It was $573/ounce in October. A kruggerand now sells for $690. That's a 20% increase in only four months. If you do a "search" in my "research" button above left, and…

  • TODAY BEGINS DETOX WEEK This first week, I've heard that the mixtures of fruits and vegetables will be heavy in detoxification. Using a combination of fatty oils found in raw seeds, raw fruits and vegetables, etc. it's…

  • WHAT AN AWESOME VALENTINE'S DAY Last night was so beautiful. We got all dressed up and went to Kelowna's finest restaurant, "Fresco". I arranged a floral bouquet out of two dozen roses (yellow and pale peach) and boug…

  • 33LBS LEFT TO GO! I mean, I probably am fine by some standards but I went to a clinic to see what my optimum weight is, and they said -33. I have been on this diet and fitness kick lately, using the same principles I wo…

  • HELLO FROM BIG WHITE SKI RESORT! Today we were so bummed because the Becksteads left :( We had such an awesome time with them - they are pretty close to delivering the new baby and we were wondering if she was going to…

  • SOMEBODY ASKED HOW GARY'S EYE SURGERY WENT: GF's eye doctor was Dr Shealy in Ft. Wayne Indiana - here's his website: http://www.shealyeye.com

  • JANEY TRIES THE NUNCHAKU STICKS DISCOVERY BAY, CANADA - Lauren brought me some nunchaku sticks because I was going to do a little instructional video explaining that when you use the nunchucks in real combat you don't do…

  • AMY AND JANEY ARE HERE!!!!

  • THREE WEEKS FROM MOVE-IN We are so close to moving in! About 3-1/2 weeks until we are in. It still looks like a mess but all we are waiting for is flooring, moulding, appliance installation, granite countertops and c…

  • "THE SECRET" ON OPRAH WINFREY Today the topic was "The Secret". The premise sounds bold, "In this astonishing program are ALL the resources you will ever need to understand and live The Secret. For the first time in h…

  • WHAT DO Y'ALL THINK OF ANGELA? I've been running around doing things so I gave Angela the password for this blog, so she can directly update whatever is going on. Is she doing a good job? She seems kind of annoyed and…

  • A MESSAGE FROM ANGELA VIRTUAL REPORTING FROM THE PARAMOUNT THEATER KELOWNA, BC

  • AND NOW A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR CANCER RESEARCH click here to read more!

  • A NEW MESSAGE FROM MY HOT SPOKESMODEL If you would like to use this technology - it's instantaneous download CLICK HERE

  • TOUCH HER NOSE WITH YOUR CURSOR If you would like to use this technology - it's instantaneous download CLICK HERE

  • WATCHING THE SUPERBOWL IN CANADA We're having a superbowl party at Discobay. We're watching it on HDTV and it's awesome. It's so cute watching canadians watch football - while they are bigtime hockey fans, they don'…

  • THE SUPERBOWL I was wondering if Prince was really playing. You can't really wave the guitar around like that and play, so I looked around on Google and found that there's a real controversy if Prince actually plays. T…

  • SIDNEY SHELDON WAS A VERY NICE MAN I photographed his daughter's wedding at their spectacular home and did headshots for some of his books and his daughter Mary's books. I was referred to them by the actress Lee Remick…

  • EVER WONDER WHAT IT IS LIKE TO GET HIT BY A HOCKEY PLAYER AT 50MPH? Tonight at Prospera Place Arena was Kelowna vs. Vancouver. We had floor seats which is a really wild experience because these guys slam into the glass…

  • LAND ROVER RANKED DEAD LAST IN QUALITY BY A HUGE MARGIN BY JD POWERS. DEAD LAST KELOWNA, B.C. - Dead last by a huge margin for quality. I'm not surprised. I have honestly had my Rover towed into the dealership 16 tim…

  • WHAT'S IT LIKE TO GET DRUNK? That is one thing I'll never really know. I don't drink. Not because I have a problem with people who drink, it's just that I am asian and some of us are missing the enzyme spinning to the…

  • THE NEATRECEIPTS SCANNER HAS NOW DROPPED TO $170.95 Now that the new Macs are Intel/Windows - it opens up a whole bunch of apps that were previously unavailable to Macs. One of which is the "Neatreceipts" scanner. I s…

  • CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW SITE MARISA Those of you who frequent this blog or have seen us at trade shows have seen this girl on the right pitch our products like none other. Keats introduced her to us and she immediat…

  • A WEDDING AT MY WOODLAKE BEACH HOUSE At Becker's WPPI party last year, this couple came up to me and said - hey guess what, we are shooting a wedding at one of your lake homes in Kelowna. What a small world!I was reall…

  • HERE IS THE FAKE BRIDE'S PHOTO AND MYSPACE LINK By now everybody knows that the whacky bride who hacked her hair off was a fake. Well actually on Good Morning America she said she really did cut her real hair off - but…

  • CAN SOMEBODY CHECK THIS SITE FOR ACCURACY? I believe this is Korean - we're trying to Internationalize the e-store and using babelfish to do a quick and easy conversion. I can check the french and spanish sites, but no…

  • WE... ARE THE CHAMPIONS.. MY FRE-HENDS... OF THE WORLD *(reviews from England and Norway) I just got this news from bbjimports.com - our UK distributor for the Lightsphere. The Professional Photographer magazine in th…

  • ANSWER: I AM NO DIFFERENT THAN MY BLOG My friends sometimes go through this thing illustrated on the right. I have to tell you it feels really strange. I was at the bank two days ago in Seattle and the banker came up,…

  • SIMPLE BUNNY MINUTE KELOWNA, B.C. CANADA - Rabbit discovered that Ben the bunny enjoys chewing on human hair. Though he is quite rascally around the house and is hard to catch, she found that if she waved her hair aroun…

  • AMAZING STUDY RESULTS ABOUT STRETCHING BEFORE EXERCISE -Scientific study reveals that stretching before exercise does not reduce injuries Over an 11 week study consisting of 60,000 total hours comparing two groups of pa…