garyfong1's Xanga

Monday, November 09, 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:34:56 GMT

TODAY

Woke up at around 8am. Checked Bloomberg.com on the status of the USD. It's dropping again (and faster) and gold hit a new record high. Got on Yahoo messenger to check in with other GFI-ers and we did a mad search for my driver's license and credit cards. And we found them yay.

Doing product presentations for Ritz Camera and Digital Darkroom today to train the retailers on our new products, then heading tonight to a meeting with my friends in Jacksonville to present new ideas to my wedding photography peers.

A bit tired but it's all good today. This is like the long tweet haha.

Sunday, November 08, 2009

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:04:22 GMT

GARYFONGINSERBIA.COM

We had such a great time in Serbia, Belgrade and it feels like six months ago, not just a couple of weeks. My friend Srdjan has put up an image gallery of the photos from that event, and the photos are really great memories for us of a wonderful evening. click here to see the images

It is an amazing feeling going to a place in Eastern Europe that I had never been, to be welcomed like an old friend by so many of you.

We are now in Jacksonville, and I will be giving a presentation to my friends here. The event is free, and all of you are invited to come see us!

Jacksonville Marriott
4670 Salisbury Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32256
(904) 296-2222
WHEN: Monday November 9, 7pm
RSVP: email scarlett@scarlettlillian.com to be added to the Evite list

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:37:31 GMT

IMAGES FROM NEW ORLEAN'S FRENCH QUARTER

Boy has this trip been fun. I got to spend a morning with wedding photographers sharing some of my business experience at PartnerCon, and then today we, ok we slept most of the day but we did get out in the afternoon into the Aquarium of the Americas, and then into the French Quarter.

Melissa has never been here before, and I've been here quite a few times, but not since Katrina. There are very few signs that the flood ever occurred, just a few stores and hotels were not open. The French Quarter is completely like I remember it. Here's some photos taken with the Lumix:

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:29:25 GMT

HOW'S THIS - A VIDEO SHOT THROUGH A KALEIDOSCOPE. ON AN IPHONE.

Friday, November 06, 2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:13:28 GMT

NEW ORLEANS

My throat is killing me from laughing so hard! This group of silly peeps - give them some (ok lots) of wine and it's a mess!

We got here to Partnercon just as it was ending, but we feel like we've had such a great trip. There's so many of our friends that we barely saw, or didn't see at all but we've still had such a great time.

This was Jim Collins' first Pictage Partnercon, and it was an amazing success.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:47:22 GMT

JUST FLEW INTO NEW ORLEANS

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:11:21 GMT

I'm doing the "George Bush over Katrina" look.

THESE SHOTS DONE WITH AN IPHONE!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:53:52 GMT

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:41:27 GMT

THESE IMAGES SHOT WITH A LUMIX

My friend Jason Kiefer referred me to the Lumix LX something camera. What I really like is how it zooms out soooo wide. I'm getting really cool interiors with it, and I don't have to yank out the D-SLR. It also goes up to a pretty clean ISO3200.

This is the Skyteam departures lounge in Heathrow. They have complete walls covered with plants, and the fresh air is amazing in here. You feel completely refreshed just sitting in here. I thought it would be tough to beat Virgin's cool lounge, but this one is pretty amazing. I think it beats Virgin's.

Next stop - NEW ORLEANS! Cannot wait to see so many of my friends there!

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:24:24 GMT

TRAINING THE PRODIGIT SALES TEAM IN PARIS

I have a training day tomorrow with our distribution and sales partners, Prodigit here in Paris. It is crunch time for me because although I'm pretty comfortable with my knowledge of french, it is quite a different thing when you are discussing technical terms like lighting principles and product features.

At GFI I've learned so much about expanding worldwide. Learning about so much, and now when I look at the globe, it's different than before. Now I look at areas we cover, and areas we don't. And each of the areas is expanding in market, while Steve in Indiana and his crew at Ecoplastics are busy trying to keep up with demand.

We've recently purchased and are installing new presses at the plastics plant to help trim our turnaround time. We just doubled the size of the factory and we've only owned it a few months. I'm feeling some anxiety, but everybody tells me we are doing ok. We just won't be able to stock our dealers in time for the holiday season, but they will have product, just not enough.

These are good problems to have. It's still hard to absorb that I can go into a place I've never been before, like Belgrade, Serbia, and have an audience that has enthusiasm for what we do. Hard to fathom.

One thing leads to another, and when I took French Immersion and spent the last six years studying french in my spare time, I had no agenda, just to learn it for fun. And now it is coming in so handy.

Here's our french brochure inserts for the new products: