At lunch, Trey was asked about his online photo gallery. He explained it was a custom design from SmugMug and how he  incorporated it into his work-flow. A few weeks later, Trey called and asked if I was willing to have SmugMug donate a ticket to Vacation With Vanelli that would be given away at a contest that Trey was holding . I was excited that he thought enough to include me in his contest and SmugMug to do such a generous thing. Trey wanted to introduce me to Markham Bennett, VP of BizDev for SmugMug. He said he felt we both have a lot in common and together we can brainstorm on a few ideas.

That connection with Markham Bennett made me look like a super hero at Photoshop World in Orlando. (By the way, for those who went to PSW, did you notice I wore a different super hero tee-shirt each day?) SmugMug, through the help of Markham, donated 300 camera straps that were given away to attendees that “Found Vanelli” or was caught doing a good deed. He also arranged for me to give away 3 free SmugMug Pro accounts and one fully custom SmugMug Pro account!

Choosing the lucky attendees wasn’t an easy task. In casual conversations, I would ask what type of work they do and how an online portfolio could help them. Little did they know I was vetting them! I had the great pleasure to award 4 very deserving people with a SmugMug Pro account that they can use in their charitable works. I have created a special SmugMug Spotlight section that will announce each of the winners.

Although I got all the credit and hugs, the real credit goes to Scott Kelby for having Photoshop World that lead me to RC, Scott, Trey and now Markham!

Let me start by explaining how it happen. I’ve been behind the eight ball since I came back from “Vacation With Vanelli” in North Carolina and then Photoshop World in Orlando a week later. The back projects caught up with me and I had to take a nap. I receive a text from Terry Reinert Tuesday asking me if I saw the early show. His text was full of excitement and enthusiasm. I couldn’t believe I missed the first show. I watched the second show and called in for a question about the new painting feature.. We’ll I said the question was for a “friend” Fay Sirkis. On a side note Fay is one of today’s most sought after digital artist and she specializes in  Fine Portrait Painting. Now can you see why it was funny? During the show Alan Hess playfully harassed me and Elizabeth “Firgs” Gast started the “Hey the show is missing a Vanelli”. Scott said we are short handed tomorrow why don’t you come over and work security (another inside joke). I thought he was kidding. After  Larry Becker assured me he was serious, I asked Norm DiCrocco and Tom Clark if they could take over my karate class and I took the 163 mile drive to Tampa. It took a group of people to help make this happen and I’m very thankful!

I was greeted with the tradition “Vanelli is in the building lock down alert” from Larry Becker. I made my rounds to say hi to the NAPP staff (I love them!) before I saw the man himself, Scott Kelby. We did our usual joking and he asked if I wanted to do a tutorial. I thought I was just coming for a visit! I had a jump drive with me but no computer. Scott said no problem, we’ll get RC to get you one.  RC Concepcion is the Swiss Army Knife of NAPP. He looked for a windows 7 based machine loaded with CS5. When that was proving to be difficult, he prepared a MAC machine for me. Keep in mind he was downloading the beta, getting the computer ready, arranging for IT to have the video feed set up, ordering food, researching questions and preparing his tutorial for the show. (There’s more in a bit!). I created a few quick tutorials keeping in mind I was on a different platform and well, it’s a live show. Scott assured me if I messed up it would be OK, they would just razz me for the entire show.

We walked to the studio from the office to set up. When we got there, the video crew was ready. I gave a huge hug to Nancy “NAPP News” Masse who was preparing the whole live chat section of the show. Juan (who is also a talented Photog and Photoshop user) did my makeup and I sat down for a sound test. Jason “The Scriv” Scrivner runs a tight ship! Keep in mind, my computer still hasn’t downloaded CS5 and I’m hiding the fact I’m getting nervous. Dave Cross kept us all entertained with his humor and I was amazed at how cool and collective he was. If he were an Italian I would compare him to the king of cool, Dean Martin. Scott showed up 5 minutes before the show and the studio took on a life of its own!

Scriv gave us the count down and the guys were joking all the way down to the 5 second mark. Then BAM we were live! Did I mention I still didn’t have CS5 download…let alone installed yet? Three minutes into the show, CS5 was finally downloaded. RC must have had an internal clock, he walked over and installed it quick and padded me on the shoulder. I just laugh and took in how calm everyone was. I loaded my image and with one minute to spare, Scott had me do my tutorial! Once I completed my first tutorial, I reminded myself of lessons I learned from my years on the National Karate Circuit.  I stilled myself to soak in the memory of the event and to live in the moment.I saw how everyone was just having fun. Nancy was trying to hold in her laughs as she typed 80 words a minute organizing the live text chat. RC was working on two computers having a blast answering text questions and preparing his tutorials. Scott and Dave bounced off each other as seasoned Host and Co-host. Scoot also included everyone from us to the video crew into the show! It was an incredible experience to be with friends doing what I love.

The second show’s format was a little different. Larry Becker filled in for Scott. RC and Dave came up with a JDI (Just Do It) idea 15 minutes before the show. RC gave me my JDI and Dave pulled from his own JDI library. I’m sure when Thomas Knoll (the creator of Photoshop) watches Dave he says “Wow Photoshop can do that?”. The man knows his stuff!  With Larry being on the show, I remembered what my son Alec said before I left. I told him I was a little nervous and he said just don’t mess up and if Larry is on the show, don’t try to be funny, you can’t compete with that! Larry is the Executive Director of NAPP. One of his many job duties is to organizes great deals for NAPP members. He is a natural born speaker, motivator and teacher. His photography and Photoshop skills are amazing. With so much talent around me, could you understand why I was a little nervous?

On a side note, I now know how the gang feels when I text them during a show. After my distracting experience from Alan Hess, Mike Kubeisy, Kevin McSparron, Dawn Camp, Terry Reinert and Randy Van Duinen, I will limit my pranks. did you notice at one point Scott asked me a question and I couldn’t answer, I just laughed?  MATT KLOSKOWSKI was texting comments like…. “Dude your bombing the show. Just kidding you’re the only good one, the other guys are hacks.” He had me laughing so hard, I had to turn my phone off.  For that, I have arranged another sparring match for him with Superfoot Wallace.

I just want to thank Scott, the crew and you the viewers  for making my experience a memorable one!

Photo credit Juan Alfonso via his android phone

I rushed to get most of my projects done throughout the week. After packing for both events, I high tailed it to Orlando for the banquet that started at 6pm.. My mind was going a mile a minute thinking of the unfinished projects I had. I also dreaded t he 13.5 hour drive ahead of me that was going to start at 2am. I forced my mind to be still and focused on the event and how I wanted to compose the shots.

I set my lighting, dealt with on location dilemmas and made a few last minute flexible changes. I was feeling a bit like Joe McNally! The point I’m making; lots of chaos!
In the mist of all this turmoil, I spotted this couple looking at each other as if they were on their first date. When he spoke, she just smiled and held his arm tight. He was so proud to introduce her to anyone passing by. The banquet was about to start in 30 minutes so the staff didn’t have time to stop and chat. I was rushing myself. Then I thought of a favorite saying I have hanging on my wall.

“There is always music in the forest, but your heart must be quiet to hear it.”

I smiled at the adoring couple and asked his permission to lead his lovely bride of 52 years to my camera. His face gleamed like a little schoolboy. They stayed with me and posed for several shots as I tweaked my lighting. This was my favorite shot of the night.

When I finished the shoot, I torn down my lighting equipment and took the 1 hour drive back to Melbourne to get ready for my trip to North Carolina. Smiling all the way home, I thanked the big guy for giving me the opportunity to capture a moment in time that will live in my memory and now on my wall.

On my way home from work, I picked Alec up from youth group where he attends with his girlfriend Cindy. He asked what we were gonna eat. Told him it was up to him to pick and off we drove.

The conversation went back and forth on where we should go and then Mike Kubeisy called. I took the call and without realizing it, ended up at a Chinese restaurant.  Finishing up the conversation in a the parking lot with Mike, Alec said dad you can’t eat here your still sick. I gave him the “just one more minute” look and told Kubeisy I’d call him later tonight. I apologized to Alec for taking the call and interrupting our conversation. Alec said no problem besides he wasn’t really that hungry he was just trying to figure out what I should eat. He took care of me all weekend when I was sick. He said he can make something at home for us. We drove to Publix, our local grocery store.

Heading into the store I noticed a sushi place. I said hey Alec do you see what I see. The smile on his face told me, “Hey I’m not that hungry but I always have room for sushi!“. He’s been eating it since he was 3 years old. Now here’s where the repayment of the good deed comes in. I said lets go!

I figured this would be a good place we can sit and talk; father son bonding time. Plus I’d be gone for a week teaching a workshop. Now the mystery woman enters the story. We see a woman rushing to the sushi door, we jokingly speed up trying to beat her to the door. She’s there way before us. Standing in line we could see she was stressed out. We both joked with her on how fast she sprinted to the door and she deserves to be seated ahead of us. She looked at us, but no comment. She said to the hostess she has been driving back and forth looking for this place and she was a little flustered.  The hostess turns to us and goes to seat us. Walking  to our table, I said to the hostess she was here before us and she needs to be attended to first. Not really understanding, she motioned the woman and she headed back with us. Alec joked and said sure you can eat with us. The woman said I’m sorry I’ve been driving all night and headed back to the front. It was then we realized she was there for take out.

Alec and I had our usual comedy chat about the events of the day. How he thinks it’s funny the waitress hands us a warm wash cloth with tongs. About 10 minutes later the mystery woman walks back in the door. She walks over to us and apoligied for being rude. She explained she just drove in from Texas and was rushing back to bring her son food. Driving away she said she felt bad so she came back. We assured her she wasn’t rude at all and we understood. She gave me a hug and left.

A man sitting alone in the restaurant (yes we offered him to eat with us too) looked over and said unbelievable, how did you do that! Alec chimed back and said yeah he makes it look easy. Then another woman comes in and sits with the guy. He looks and me and said stay away and laughs. As he’s telling his date the story, Alec said what the heck every has girls coming in for them. I know he was wishing Cindy was coming in the door next!

This was a perfect teachable moment! I was able to share with Alec my favorite quote from Stephen Grellet. I read this when I was his age when my mother was sick with cancer. These are the words I wake up to everyday.

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

Alec witness me apologize to him for what I felt was rude taking a phone during our conversation and now he witness a mystery woman doing the same. Teachable moments are always around us!

Why am I posting on this? Before the call to NAPP, I was on hold for 60 minutes with another customer service representative from a HUGE Corporate America company. She drove me crazy and I couldn’t understand how a company that big had an employee like that. I politely asked to speak with someone else. I made up an excuse stating our personalities are not compatible. Thinking this was a nice way to split the blame. She snapped a rude comment and I was finally transferred to a manager. The manager was a little better.She did confide in me that the reps are under pressure with new rules from Corporate.

This proves a point I have always believed. The attitude of the employees are influence from the top.If the company cares about the employees, in most cases the employees treat the customer with respect and compassion. Now back to NAPP. Not sure people realize it, but the hard working people you see helping at Photoshop World are actual staff members of NAPP. They are from all departments helping to make Photoshop World a success. The sad part is, not all employees can go every year. Being the new kid on the block, Michelle isn’t going this time. Can you imagine her reaction when it’s her turn to go!

Glad I had the opportunity to talk to Michelle!

Now I have upgraded to the HTC Hero from Sprint. I have to say, I love it. I love it so much my son has the Google Moment and I talked Mike “Hollywood” Kubeisy into getting one too!  With thousands of applications to choose from, you know BUMP had to be one of them. So yes, I have installed it on my “droid”

This brings me to my post. I installed another app called aTrackDog. The app finds the newest version for apps that backed-up on the SD card. It tracks new version for backed-up apps, install, delete backed-up apps, export app list for sharing and let’s you browse the top 100 popular apps.

I use Androlib to find an app that I like, then I point my droid at the barcode on the screen and scan it. BAM, I have the app on my phone. Very cool stuff!  I’ve had the phone now since November 2009. I didn’t want to write a review until I got to know the phone better. I’ve included the apps that are on my droid, if you have a favorite let me know!

Top Reasons to have ANY smart phone

• all contacts, email and calendar information can be found in one place
• for photographers, you have your portfolio with you at all times
• read RSS feeds
• watch your favorite Photoshop TV episode
• update your web site
• listen to music
• oh yeah make phone calls

My Droid apps

Exported by aTrackDog at 04:41:26 2010/02/12

• Astrid,2.10.2
• Barcode Scanner,3.1
• Bible,1.1.4
• Facebook,1.1.2
• GOALS ToDo Free,1.4.0
• Movies,2.4
• Shazam,1.2
• To Do List,1.1.2
• Where’s My Droid,2.5.1
• 1-800-Flowers,2.6.0
• 10000 Things to Know Lite,1.1.5
• Advanced Task Killer Free,1.7.0
• AP Mobile,2.2
• ASTRO,2.2.4
• aTrackDog,3.11
• Bump,1.06
• Coin Flip,2.3
• Facebook Pro,1.0
• FlightStats Lite,1.0.1
• Google Sky Map,1.3
• IMDb Top 250,0.9.6
• Instant Lyrics Lite,2.5
• Mobile Banking,2.12
• My Lists,1.0.0
• OpenTable,1.1
• Pandora,1.1.2
• Photoshop.com Mobile,1.0.1
• PicSay,1.3.0.2
• PureRSS 1.3,1.3
• ShopSavvy,3.6.1
• SMS Backup,1.1.1
• TripIt,1.0.4
• Wertago,1.31
• yp.com,1.0.1

My only regret, I haven’t talked Larry Becker into getting one yet. Larry would do a full scale review and find hidden features in the phone, so I kinda have an alternative motive!

Pasta Fazool
Serves 6-8 as main meal

16 oz     Ditalini Pasta
2 can     Canellini Beans (use the juice)
6-8     Garlic cloves (or 3-4 tspn. Minced)
2      Large onions (diced)
2     Large tomatoes (diced)
1 Tsp. Basil (fresh or dry)
1 Tsp. Oregano (fresh or dry)
3 Tbsp. Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

·    Lightly brown garlic cloves in Olive Oil, add onions and tomatoes, along with spices.
·    Cook until a light sauce is made.
·    Cook pasta, drain
·    Save water if you desire it soupier
·    Use a dash or two of crushed red hot pepper for added spice
·    Sprinkle cheese
·    Serve with Italian Bread

Chili

2 lbs.  Italian sausage (mild or hot)
1 large Onion (chopped)
1 large Green pepper (diced)
1 28oz. Crushed tomatoes
2 cans Red kidney beans or hot chili beans
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin

·    Brown sausage
·    Mix ingredients
·    Simmer for 30 minutes (low heat)
·    Add red hot sauce if you like spicer

Authentic White Clam Sauce
Serves 4 as main dish

2 cloves Garlic or 1 tsp. minced
2 Tbsp. Olive oil (Extra Virgin)
2 Tbsp. butter
2 (6.5 oz.)cans Snow’s minced or chopped clams, with liquid
1 Tbsp. Parsley, fresh (chopped)
1 Tbsp. Basil, fresh
¼ cup white wine (optional)

·    In medium saucepan over medium heat, sauté garlic in oil and butter
·    Add remaining ingredients and CLAM juice then bring to a boil
·    Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes
·    Serve over hot cooked pasta with grated Parmesan cheese
·    Serve with Italian bread
·    For variation add 1 can whole tomatoes drained and 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves before bringing sauce to a boil.