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Why BYU Went Independent - A Former Player's Perspective |
| First let me say, I am not a sportswriter. In fact, I am not even a writer, I am a photographer and while this is typically a photography blog, I have to say something. BYU Football is in my blood. For those of you who come for the Photography articles, this isn't one of those days, you can skip this post. It is just one man's perspective to shed some light on why BYU's move for Independence was so fulfilling, refreshing and inspiring.
I was a walk-on Fullback for 5 years there (1991,1995-1998) and in terms of who I am today, I give that experience major credit as one of the most fond and treasured of my life, despite the fact that I spent most practices getting beat up. It made me tough, determined and gave me tremendous drive. I am very excited to see this move, even with the risk of catastrophic failure. For my photography friends who are still reading, this is the equivalent of quitting your day job to start a full time photography business without any promise of succes. Scary as h---, and equally as awesome and rewarding, only on a scale thousands of times larger. The stakes are high. So....why did BYU go Independent? The short answers: 1. Money 2. Freedom 3. Exposure Is this so bad? At first glance it sounds greedy, but there are some real reasons why this is a good move. All the haters out there would be thrilled if their teams were in the same situation and did likewise. If this article makes you hate me or BYU more, then please, hate away. You probably work at some 9-5 job and enjoy your employer deciding everything for you, what you do, where you work, how much you make, like to hear about the raise or promotion that will never come, when you can eat lunch or take a potty break. You will never roll the dice like this, so it is hard for you to get how awesome this is and I do not expect you to. BYU will make 5-6 times what they did before and they control their own destiny, schedule and television rights. Will they play for a BCS championship? Nope. Even with a perfect record? Not anytime soon. The awesome part is…they don't care. You gotta love that attitude. In 1996, we went 14-1 and ended up playing in a great Cotton Bowl game. It was one of the most cherished memories playing at BYU and I was grateful for the opportunity. But I also distinctly remember sitting down one Sunday afternoon with my roommate, another BYU Running Back, Chris Stevens, as the BCA Alliance (which became the BCS) offered Texas an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl instead of BYU. We had a better record, we were ranked higher, and the guy on the TV said "Texas is a better fit" which to me meant, "This is our party and we invite whom we like". That didn't sit right with me, but we didn't have a choice. Over the years, I have seen this "we don't really have a choice" answer being played over and over and over, from TV rights, to splitting revenue, to whom BYU played, they never had a choice. The MWC never seemed to want to budge or accommodate BYU on some of these issues, despite being one of the better teams in the league. BYU had to ask itself "…what in the heck are we doing here? This isn't going anywhere. Why is this league controlling every aspect of our finances, exposure and growth?" I can only wonder now what the MWC Commissioner is thinking now that all those wins and potential BCS qualification are walking out the door with BYU. Deserves you right, maybe you should have tried to work with them a little. My guess is BYU got sick of the BS and they are willing to kiss all the promises of a conference championship or national title goodbye for the prospect of freedom. That's beautiful. Long Answers: Why even talk about this? Because whether you love them or hate them, it was down right gutsy. If Utah did the same thing, I would think it would be gutsy too. I'm not a huge fan of Utah to put it mildly. BYU is interested in taking off the handcuffs. While many will argue this was a bad move. Not so, when it all plays out, I believe this will turn into one of the biggest moves BYU has ever made financially as well as for pure exposure. BYU's Athletic Director Tom Holmoe was one of my coaches at BYU when I was a freshman. I have met up with him a few times over the years. He is a very good and very smart man. The guy knows what he is doing and he doubt he would pull the trigger without having something concrete laid out. Tomorrow's press conference will show this. I also want to say I have no inside information and this is just one former player exercising his 1st Amendment rights. Short layman's recap on the saga since I posted the original thread a few days ago, in case you missed it: BYU had plans to go independent (it was quoted as "a done-deal" with non-football sports like basketball and volleyball competing in the WAC. The league BYU currently plays in, the Mountain West, tried to scuttle this by luring 2 WAC schools to the the Mountain West (essentially trying to sabotage the deal so BYU couldn't play there). It almost worked. To make it even juicier, the WAC had a $5 million dollar penalty agreement in place with all WAC schools before Fresno State and Nevada were bribed into the MWC, which meant Fresno State and Nevada would have to have paid this money for leaving early. One of the schools, I believe Fresno, is now claiming it didn't sign the agreement, and even better, it is only in effect if BYU has an agreement with the WAC. Confused yet? Today, BYU announces that they are going independent with it's non-football schools competing in the WCC, a division you, I and no one else has really heard of, but it turns out to be a conference of religious schools such as Gonzaga, (which you and I have heard of) and others, and they have some great Men's Basketball Teams. Something a lot of non-MWC fans do not understand was that the Mountain West had a stranglehold on the Television Rights of Mountain West (and BYU) games. It also meant the television (and bowl game) revenues were being constantly being split among all MWC schools (even the one's with lousy records), AND BYU couldn't even broadcast their own games (even for non-football sports which didn't have anyone else broadcasting them because of this agreement). It also meant half or more of BYU's games couldn't be watched, anywhere. I know on many occasions BYU asked for some recourse on this problem, and the MWC/Cable companies wouldn't budge. Thats just lame. Something else a lot of non-MWC fans do not understand is that BYU has it's own television company. This isn't a matter of technology or lack of resources, not about being arrogant, being stuck up, or selfish, etc. BYU got tired of being someone else's you know what. If you have ever been employed by a mean boss, you know the feeling. Heck, we all know the feeling. You get sick and tired of busting your butt for a promise that never comes true and you begin to wonder… "Why in the world am I here doing this? How many more lies will I tell myself/listen to before I wake up, get angry and take some chances?" How much was BYU making on this Mountain West agreement? I believe the number was $2 Million dollars. How much money can BYU make now that it can retain it's own broadcasting rights as well as rumored lucrative a partnership with ESPN for a few games? The estimate is between $10-12 Million. With potential revenues from broadcasting other sports (although it won't be nearly as profitable as football) and bowl games (often worth a few million depending on where they land…..is this something that takes a lot of thinking? I also doubt this is the end of this. BYU's brazen move will undoubtedly, embolden other schools to do the same. It may not be soon, but mark my words, give it a few years, if BYU pulls this off, a select few, like the Texas', USC's, even Hawaii with it's unique situation will ask "If BYU can do it….why not us?". If enough schools do this, it is possible that there would be somewhat of an "Independent Alliance" where many of these Indie schools play each other. It opens up some very curious questions: 1. What happens to the BCS if several powerhouse teams also go independent in the next 5-7 years? 2. Why would BYU want to go to a conference such as the Big 12 (or 10 now) unless they could offer more television and bowl money or freedom than they would get as an indie? Im not seeing this. 3. What happens to Fresno State and Nevada if BYU Football and the WAC actually DO have some type of arrangement to play a certain number of games? (We will find this out tomorrow, I am expecting 3-4 WAC opponents on the 2011 schedule). 4. Will BYU partner up to play Notre Dame? What about Army or Navy? Ill be at LES in Prove, Utah this weekend to watch BYU take on Washington. Should be a great game. If you made it to the end of this thread…what do you think about BYU football going Independent? |
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Moving to Maui |
| First of all let me say thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes, emails, text messages, phone calls, offers for meals, etc. I really, truly appreciate it. I find that receiving all of these and hearing from you are all I could ask for and more. It means so much to me.
Being that I have been working my tail off for the last 3 years on creating the whole MIchael The Maven / Michael The Mentor gig, I am happy to say that it is getting to a point where I am starting to see some real results and I feel some of my efforts have paid off. I have taken some pretty huge risks, including quitting school/not getting my phd, staring bankruptcy in the face for 6 months straight right after that and living with friends and/or in hotels for the last 2.5 years. Above all, I feel I have been very, very lucky to have the support of some great friends, and especially you, my supporters. It wouldn't be possible without you. My Dad always said that the ideal career revolves around 3 things: 1. What you do. 2. How much you make. 3. Where you live. He also said that most people typically have at least one of these and occasionally some can get 2. That said, the dream career "trifecta" is extremely elusive, if not impossible to achieve. I am very happy with what I do, I have thought about this many times. I am much happier now than I was in school and believe would be working in the Biotech Industry. I cannot think of anything else I would rather be doing. As far as money goes, I am super lucky in that I do not feel like I need a lot of money to be happy, I am content with what I have now and could be for the rest of my life. I don't have a lot of money, but I also do not have a lot of debt now either- I think this is the key. So- this is it- I am going for it. Starting tomorrow I will start putting everything in motion to move to Maui, and I expect I will arrive there in the second week of September. There isn't a whole lot involved, just stuff like getting my car shipped over, what few possessions I have shipped, and running a bunch of little errands here and there. Sept 1-7 I will be in Idaho with my good friend Warren, and we will drive down to the BYU vs Washington game. I pretty much plan on going from Idaho directly to Maui. What I do know: - Everything as far as "Maven" goes will continue, only I imagine it will get better. I find myself shooting continually when I am on island, and I do not think this will change. I also find in general I am in a better mood on Maui. - Photography Contest(s) will go forward as planned- Announcement coming this week on big contest. - Maui Picture Pack 2010? Most Likely. - Lighting Crash Course DVD will be mostly filmed and completed there. - Photography Workshop is in the works…on Maui- it should be AWESOME! Please plan on joining us- I will try to get us a group rate at a resort and keep it affordable for those interested and available. - Looking forward to getting into underwater/scuba diving photography more. - I have some other very specific, very fun goals and business ideas while I am there. I think the gist of it is- the blog should start getting really interesting. - I also know that I will be coming back to the mainland as often as necessary. Maui will be my home base, but even now I have scheduled jobs here in Arizona and other states. I may even have my first directing job coming up, nothing too major or serious- but still a lot of fun and exciting nonetheless. What I do not know: - How long I will stay. - Where I am going to live. This includes what part of Maui, as well as housing accommodations. - If I will be able to "last" there financially. Because my family lives there, we have seen this many, many times, that people come over without a job/plan for a job and figure they can make it by waitressing, or doing manual labor, etc. What normally happens is they work like crazy for a year or 2 and eventually have to leave because everything is so expensive. Last I heard was that 95% of all new businesses on Maui fail in the first year, so the turnover of new comers is staggering. Most people without a job there only manage to get themselves in to a tremendous amount of debt, which I have no intention of doing. It should be interesting, but I am willing to give it a go and give it my best shot. You only live once right? I am looking forward to bringing you along on this journey. |
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Michael's Water Experiment |
| This may seem like a no brainer to many of you, but I've never taken bottled water seriously and haven't had much of a problem drinking tap water for pretty much my whole life. When I was in Haiti, we drank bottled water everyday, and while there were a lot of other things going on with me (like food poisoning and malaria for example) I shed nearly 25 pounds in 3 weeks and never had a problem falling asleep (again for many reasons I am sure). I cannot help but wonder, How much of that weight loss and good sleep came from drinking bottled water?
I have read many articles about all the excess junk that is in tap water and while I doubt it probably doesn't hurt us over the short term...what in the world are all the consequences of drinking tap water that has very low levels of contaminants over extremely long periods of time? The two things that really scare me are the amounts of chlorine and the hormones. This could explain feeling "off" or groggy if you are constantly drinking water contaminated with small amounts of hormones. Do we really know what the effect of this is? Most people are surprised to learn that tap water is usually LOADED with chlorine. One of the first blog articles I ever wrote was a test on Tap Water and there is a higher concentration of chlorine in tap water than in most swimming pools (3-5.0 parts per million). So I decided to try a little test: drink only bottled or filtered water products for a month and see how I feel. It's been a week so far and I must say I feel better in general. I do not like the idea of excess waste with the empty bottles, but I see many water companies are recycling them now. Yes - I am aware that there are a ton of articles claiming both are equally bad, but if one makes me feel better in general, I am going to roll with that. Anyone else have any conclusive information about what is exactly in tap water? |
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How Evan Monsignac Survived |
| You guys remember Evan Monsignac from Haiti, who survived for 27 days buried beneath the rubble? I did a little looking around and found that there have been a few articles written about him, this one I am linking here is the most descriptive. When they brought him in, we all had a hard time believing what we were hearing, but after reading the article, it makes sense and it answers the water source question.
Quite an amazing, determined and extremely lucky man. My heart goes out to him as he is still recovering from his ordeal. How Evan Monsignac Survived 27 Days buried alive |
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Just an Update on Various Things... |
| I know I have been really quiet the last couple weeks, and it may seem like I am not doing much. Truth of the matter is I am working away furiously as usual on a number of different projects. I wish SO BAD I could talk about them, but have to be really careful about what I say on the blog these days. In about 2 weeks expect several announcements on several different products, one of which should be the completion of the Advanced Photography DVD and a Brand New DVD product that has not been discussed, we have already shot and edited about 5 hours of it, it should be about 7-8 hours total. There is definitely an advantage to not discussing new products until they are essentially finished. This gives you an important head start on competition. Rest assured, if it is a good idea, someone will eventually copy you and try to either price cut you, or offer more features. If they know what you are planning and working on, they can "scoop" you- something we referred to in the Genetics Research world as someone taking your idea and doing something with it before you can for whatever reason. I have learned this the hard way- there is a reason Apple and other large companies keep things secret.
I wont be doing another Photoshop Crash Course on CS5 simply because all of the essential skills a beginner would want to know remain the same. The Photoshop Crash Course Training DVD remains, in my opinion my best work as far as training videos go because it covers so much ground so fast. Been also getting a lot of questions on the Android verison of Photographers Contract Maker. The short answer is this: it could happen, we have researched it and it is on the table, but it probably wont be happening anytime soon and in fact, you should plan on it not happening. I know that is heartbreaking for many of you, but there are several reasons, one of which that we do not want to split a product until all the new features are installed, and PCM has many, many more features to install. If we do an Android version now, before the updates, then we have 2 products to upgrade, and we have slowed our workflow down. I am also working really hard this week to crank out another book. I say another because I have written a few, but this will be the first one to be published and I think most of you will enjoy it. I wrote 40 pages just today, and figure by the end of the week I should have a rough draft handy. I think the proof reading and editing will be the hard part. It will be interesting to publish a new book, about a new topic and I think it will help a lot of people out there. I do not intend to talk much more about it until I am finished, just wanted to let you guys know that its coming and in the works. I am pretty much committed to staying in Alabama until it is finished. Sometimes I think I get too much on my plate, I would rather just deal with one or two things at a time, but some things take time...a LOT of time, and while some projects are "marinating" in different phases of development, I cannot help to get something else started. Good things coming, it should be one of my best years. |
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Double Feed - Weak Hand Clear Exercise |
| Are you guys tired of all the guns yet? :)
I have a few videos from class I wanted to share, this is one of them. The scenario is that you are being attacked and your weapon has a double feed (this means there are 2 live rounds competing for a single firing chamber). Here is a pic of a double feed from a non-glock: |
| Racking the slide won't fix it, and in this particular case, you are shooting with your weak hand because you have been shot in your right arm. (We did a ton of weak hand work, especially fixing and dealing with all types of weapons malfunctions). There are lots of little things I am doing in this exercise, and I am also making some mistakes as well, but the idea is that if you do screw up, you keep on going and do not give up. That's good advice for anything you do in life- don't be afraid to try and learn something, make the mistake and get better. |
| I wonder how likely it is, if a semi-automatic pistol owner experiences a basic malfunction in a pressure situation they will just assume the weapon is bad when all it needs is a simple clearing. With the adrenaline going, they pull that trigger and hear a click, how else would they know what to do in that situation unless they were trained? How many variations of that same scenario can be played out as well? How many people in those situations would actually be able to calmly think about that particular problem when bullets are flying? You can't, you have know it by reflex. |
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Tactical Response - Advanced Fighting Pistol Day 2 |
| Another AWESOME day with Tactical Response. The whole experience 4 day experience (2 - 2 Day Courses) was top notch. I really wish I could have taken more pictures, but there was just too much going on to be fumbling with a camera. I will also say, the most interesting exercises we did I as well as all members of the class agreed to not take any pictures of as well as not to discuss with anyone, but they were extremely intense and equally beneficial. What I will say is that if you own a firearm, you owe it to yourself to come to Camden, Tenn and take at minimum the "Fighting Pistol" course. If I were to tell you about some of the things we did, it would absolutely ruin the learning experience as well could put yourself in danger if you were to try to re-create it on your own (bad idea).
The most important lesson we learned today was how to treat a gunshot wound. Think about it, what percentage of gun owners would actually know what to do if they were shot by themselves accidentally or in a violent confrontation? I purchased one of their "blow out" first aid kits and will have one in my car with me from now on. (A typical "first aid" kit just isnt going to do it). It was very basic, but incredibly important information. The next course I take will be the full first aid course. If you are shooting a firearm you need to know first aid. |
| I met some really cool people here, Patrick and Molly were a boyfriend/girlfriend team from Texas. Molly probably showed the most improvement out of all of us, I dont think she had much shooting experience before the class started, but by the end of the day, she was as competent as everyone else and I trusted her judgment with a weapon.
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We did some team shooting today (covering each other while we re-loaded or bandaged ourselves). Most of it was introduction to extremely close quarters (meaning the attacker is actually on you) type stuff. Very, VERY important training, especially when you consider the 21 foot rule. If they wanted to, they are probably going to be on you before you can get a clean shot off. I would also say that whatever you are seeing in these images were done under the strict supervision of trained professionals. We always had someone watching what we were doing and had specific safety steps to go through before doing the exercise. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, YOU WILL INJURE YOURSELF. Come take the class! I know I will be back. I have a few videos of some of the exercises I did, but havent been able to upload them for some reason. I will get it worked out soon. |
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Tactical Response - Fighting Pistol Day 2 |
| Things I learned from Fighting Pistol-
For the record, I realize now more than ever that I hope I never have to use a firearm on another person, even in self defense. Its just not something I wish or hope for. Anytime a life is prematurely ended, even in self defense, it is a tragedy. There also is just a ton of baggage that comes with a successful self-defense using a firearm. There could be a police record, possibly of being arrested, prosecuted, hated/hunted by others, emotional stress / trauma, financial loss etc. It is always better to avoid it altogether if you can. I learned that the best weapon to overcome a violent confrontation is not a firearm or the training to use it. The best weapon you have is your brain, to keep yourself alert, constantly assess potential threats, avoid/diffuse bad situations, etc. These are better solutions if possible than shooting someone. On the other hand, I also learned that there are occasions and times when there simply is no other option than to open up on someone. There are perpetrators in the world who will not only kill you, but your family and others if they had the chance. Its not a comfortable thought, but it is very real, has happened and will happen again. I was shocked to learn that over 30 Alumni of "Fighting Pistol" have been in violent confrontations, one, who chose not to carry his firearm with him was murdered in cold blood over a dog. I was amazed to hear of some of the stories of past students who had taken the class and were then thrust into a situation that they would have surely been killed. This is what makes me uncomfortable with not having preparation and a solution to these types of situations. James Yeagar has been inviting me to come take a Fighting Pistol for at least 2 years now, but it wasn't until I was in Port Au Prince, Haiti two months ago that I realized how badly I needed it. My good Haitian/American friend Mathieu and I were coming back from a delivery. It was late, dark, and well known that gangs were on the streets at night. We were driving in our local pickup truck (also called a Tap Tap) and out of no where, a local jumped in the back with us. Mathieu politely asked him to leave as the tap tap was being rented by us. The stranger refused to leave saying it was ok and he needed a ride. He was carrying a bag with him and we had no idea if he was armed, but he was definitely bold. Mathieu asked again, and he refused. We had no way of communicating the situation with our driver without tipping off the stranger. The three of us were looking each other up and down, when Mathieu finally unzipped his backpack which was strapped on his chest and stuck his hand in, as if he was now holding a gun. He then began to stare our unwanted passenger down. The tension was through the roof and my most dominant thought was: "I wish I had a real firearm right now". After a few seconds of huge tension, the stranger finally got spooked and jumped out. I feel we were very lucky that night, especially because Mathiew was not armed. What I am trying to say is that no matter who you are and what you do, no matter how careful you are, you are not immune to danger- sometimes it will find you and jump into your life. I was really impressed with Jay's comments about how most serial killers can spot, select and even groom individuals who believe "it just cant happen to me". It can happen to you. It happens to people like you everyday. So essentially "Fighting Pistol" for me has been, "if I learn it and never need it, there is no loss, if I don't learn it (and prepare accordingly) and need it, it could cost me my life or the life of someone else" and in that sense, it just isn't worth not knowing. One of the most dominant thoughts I have about the course is that it is absolutely insane that there are so many gun owners out there that have absolutely no formal training with their weapons. (Heck, there are surely several thousands who have some training, but not enough). I have been shooting here and there over the years, but the amount of information taught is nearly overwhelming. I do not feel I mastered anything taught, which in turn means I have a ton of work and practice to do. And this is after feeling reasonably comfortable and confident with firearms before the class started. The class taught me I really knew nothing, and now I know just a little more than nothing. I think that EVERYONE who owns a handgun should at absolute minimum take "Fighting Pistol" and if not you are probably better off not even taking the thing out of the holster in a violent confrontation. So many things can go wrong, and the thing that I couldn't get my mind around, was that everyone in the class was making mistakes, no matter how many times Jay and Paul corrected and re-corrected us. Once your adrenaline gets going, you just aren't going to be able to think about it. It has to be a REFLEX. If we were making mistakes after being taught correctly how to do it, how in the world can anyone possibly, reasonably believe they can get it right with no training at all? Its just absurdity. I will also say that everyone in our class showed great improvement. There were some women and older people who became very proficient by the end of the second day. Not perfect, but I remember watching the oldest guy in our class shoot and move to cover and I was thinking "If I was a bad guy, I wouldn't want anything to do with him". It's crazy how much of it is mental and muscle memory. I imagine it will take thousands of reps of drawing and shooting to finally master everything to the point where you do not have to think about it anymore, and this is what you need if you plan to carry a weapon in self defense. If you are going to carry, you absolutely must master the use of the weapon, not in thinking, but in reflex. Some other things I learned from the class- - I am convinced now more than ever that Glocks are the only way to go, specifically the G19 or 17. We were very rough on them and they were extremely reliable. - I have SO much to work on, I am seeing some improvement in my grip, but my biggest weakness is maintaining correct sight lock. - I feel obligated to learn gunshot first aid now. EMT crews cannot arrive to the scene of a shooting until police have first ok'd it. What this means is, if someone has been shot, they can bleed out because the ambulance wasnt able to get there in time. - Carrying a weapon means there is greater responsibility, a need to exercise greater caution, judgment, pre-planning, preparation (in many ways), it is not a license to be careless or reckless. - I think one the most favorite things I learned was how to protect yourself and fire at point blank range (essentially having someone right in your face grabbing for your gun). I am proud to say I emptied an entire clip into the perp without even blinking, retreated and reloaded no problemo. (it was probably the only think I did right all day). - I am very grateful to James, Jay and Paul for the outstanding class they have offered and highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to get excellent firearms training with their handguns. Tomorrow starts Advanced Fighting Pistol- It wraps up on Friday. I will try to get some more shots, but it is tough to do so when I am trying to learn what is going on. Our instructor has taken some images of us and I hope he has a few good ones I can share with you all soon! |
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Tactical Response - Fighting Pistol Day 1 |
| Had a pretty good first day of training at Tactical Response's Fighting Pistol Class. Its been a while since Ive done any serious shooting, but I think I shot more rounds today than I have in my whole life. Most of it seems to focus on muscle memory, making the correct motions, over and over and over without thinking about it, but at the same time being safe about it. I wish I was able to get more pictures, but for one, my instructor asked that I not take any pictures of him for security reasons (understandable) and for two, there is so much going on, that if you are not paying attention (like being busy taking pictures), you are going to miss something important. I had to grab these two real quick between exercises. Hopefully the instructor will let me have some of the ones he took of me.
Cool things I learned: - The correct way to draw your weapon, what to do, how to move, before firing - What to do with my non-drawing hand (if you are not careful you can shoot yourself in the hand) - Where and when to move my finger - What trigger reset is, and how to take advantage of it - Shooting One Handed with either hand - Correcting Weapon Malfunctions - Fighting from my back, kneeling, sitting - Picking up a weapon from the ground and firing - Proper technique of reloading, when and how - Correct way to aim. There were a few times I felt the "zone" come in with the aiming, but it only lasted a few seconds each time. Things I need to work on: 1. Definitely the way I am holding the Glock. Its hard to explain, but I definitely am not nailing it. My fingers are in slightly different positions each time and I am putting this down as something I need to correct asap. Ill be practicing tonight. 2. Muscle Memory- Even though I know what to do, can see the instructor doing it, I still am managing to screw things up. 3. Slowing down- Without question, I unload faster than the other 16 students in the class, and even when I am thinking to slow down, I am not slowing down. Its driving me crazy. Especially with shooting, its so important to get your technique down before going "fast" Things I did well: - Overcame the "blinking" problem. I'm pretty comfortable shooting now without blinking at all. (Its a reflex to blink on every shot if you are not aware of it). - I bought a "Lulu" reloader. Wow...if you have ever loaded a few magazines bare handed...you are going to LOVE this. (They run about $30) but essentially allow you to push the next round down before inserting another. It will save your hands big time. I can feel blisters forming on my thumb and index finger. It was a very interesting class and I can see I have a lot to practice and work on. |
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Happy Easter! |
| I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Easter and give you all a quick update. Ive been on the road again the last few days, and have also needed a break, this time without the whole malaria thing. I'm spending Easter with some very good friends in Haleyville, Alabama (home of 911)- I am going to try really hard not to do anything work related today.
-- The first major update for Photographers Contract Maker is in the final testing phase. This means all the new features have been added, and we are polishing it up and making sure everything looks and works correctly. -- The next App is about 2 weeks away, it is extremely nice! --The Canon T2i DVD is complete, we are waiting on the final green light from our disk making company. I will be heading up to Camden, Tennessee in about a week to take a pistol combat training course from Tactical Response. Ive been meaning to do this for some time now (2 years) and am excited to be finally going. Ill be heading back to Arizona shortly after. Have a great Easter Sunday! |
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© 2010 Michael Andrew Photography, All rights reserved. Blog by infinet design |
