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Michael [mahy-kuhl] – noun
1. A male given name. 2. A witty, charming professional wedding photographer who enjoys movies, exercise, romantic walks on the beach and large pepperoni pizzas.
Maven [may-ven] – noun
1. A connoisseur or trusted expert in a particular field who seeks to pass his knowledge onto others. 2. An intense gatherer of useful information. 3. An individual who demonstrates passion for learning and teaching a specific topic, particularly through a well connected social network.
Thank you for coming to my blog! I update it regularly, so if you ever want to know what I am up to, please come by and take a peek. Feel free to leave your comments below.
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Sprayberry's |
| You know...I really love doing these family shoots.....I would do them every day for the rest of my life if I could. Hmmm...maybe I will....at least Sundays! :) John Evan (the boy) was a little tricky....but Sydney was about as perfect as you could get for a 3 year old. :) |
| I think turning kids upside down helps...I should try this more....either that or throwing them up in the air and catching them. |
| Ive been developing a new series of Photoshop actions I call "Lollipops", this is the first time I have used them in a picture and posted in public. Lollipops allow me to isolate individual hues, such as green or blue and boost them for "pop" without effecting the rest of the image. Ill make these actions available to other photographers once they have completed extensive testing. |
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Technorati |
Technorati Profile
I just signed up with Technorati, which for those of you who dont know tracks blogs. Its a cool idea, and it seems there is much I need to learn about it, but I was wondering if there are any of you who have blogs to put them in below on my comments section so I can look at them and add them to my technorati favorites. It does help with search engine rankings so, if you like mine enough feel free to add me to your technorati favs too. Thanks!
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The Kingdom |
| This was a very intense movie. The last 30 minutes were riveting. There is a lot of violence, so it isnt for everyone. Otherwise one of the better movies Ive seen this year. |
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The :) |
Have you ever noticed in emails and in text messages that sometimes you are unsure of the tone being used by the person who is trying to communicate with you? I am completely worried about my contacts doing the same, which is why when you get an email, letter or text message from me, it usually has a :) in it somewhere. I have also noticed that very subtle changes in pronouns, and adding additional helper text can make a huge difference. Leave as little as possible to interpretation when dealing with these means of communication.
Here are some examples:
1. A wife texts her husband:
When will you be home?
vs.
I cant wait to see you! When will you be home? :)
A businessman emails a client:
There is a problem. Contact me as soon as possible.
vs.
Something has come up, nothing we cant fix though. ;) call me at your earliest convenience.
Parent to child:
I need to talk to you.
vs.
We need to talk sweetie. :)
See what I mean? |
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TaDaList.com |
A very simple, yet great idea. Its a To Do List website. I know it sounds silly, but dang its cool. Its simple, you log in and make your to do list and then you can email or better yet, hook it up to your RSS feed. It takes to-do-lists to the web (for access at anytime, you never lose them!) Neat!
Ta Da List
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Blind Dating 103: Expectations |
First off I would like to say thank you for your comments as well as the flood of emails I have received regarding my blind dating insights. We need to remember a few things when we are discussing blind dating:
1. No one….and I mean no one, knows as much as I do about the dynamics of blind dating. I shudder at the confession. If you were to guess….how many times do you think Michael Andrew has been approached with a potential blind date? If there was a martial art against blind dating, I am the blind monk with a cricket in my hand. You can hate me for it; just remember I am still on your side.
2. Blind dating is a lot like road kill, it starts out as nice warm fuzzy only to be splattered all over the road. Granted it isn’t Fido or Bambi, its more things like hope, self esteem. etc. As ugly as the results are, it’s hard not to look. Everyone loves a good blind date story. Should I share some case studies?
3. I am against blind dating. The whole gist of all these blind dating entries is to end blind dating. Just say no!
4. I repeat, if you absolutely feel that you must introduce two people, do so in a large group setting. It eliminates just about every single possible bad outcome blind dating brings.
One particular reason blind dating never works as one emailer so thoroughly explained, is because of unreasonable expectation levels.
This is tricky stuff when you are trying to “sell” someone to another person they have never met, or seen. (Put Thad’s story here…lol- Thad you wanna share with us?)
The setter upper has to convince both setteruppees that this will be worth their time. So what does she do? She talks them up!
The guy has envisions this woman looks like Pamela Anderson and acts like Mother Teresa, and get this….she is single. Because they are being set up by an “expert” who knows them both so well…sadly…he has an expectation that she will like him no matter what, cook great meals every night for the rest of their lives and rub his feet when he comes home from work.
The girl has expectations that in addition to his Michael Andrew-esque looks, uh…I mean Brad Pitt-like-looks, he is a multi millionaire, loves children, is a former professional athlete, and will serenade her from her lawn at midnight with his smooth strumming guitar and butter like voice. She knows that with the news of this new blind date that her lonely nights are officially over.
The setter upper, for some odd reason, expects to hear her friends humming “Matchmaker Matchmaker” ala Fiddler on the Roof, shower her with praises, and award a small finders fee.
I think my father summed it up best:
“Disappointment is the fruit of expectation.”
Stephen Covey teaches that one of the principles of highly effective people is to under commit and over deliver. What that means is, you want to LOWER expectation levels in all you do, and then EXCEED them in a fabulous manner.
If you absolutely must describe someone, be extremely careful about it. Do not talk them up! Be as vague and general as possible. “Female, single, blond, breathing” are all good.
Its much better for a person to turn down the opportunity to meet someone new, then for them to be locked into a date they don’t want to be on. If they are truly desperate enough to date someone, they will be willing to meet them in a large public setting, no matter how mild your description is, otherwise they will say no.
The next Blind Dating entry will be: “Setteruppers and their Motivations.” But before I post that…search your feelings and please answer me….Why do people set other people up? I know of at least 4 distinct motivating factors. |
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San Tan Flat and The Dance Gestapo |
| Tonight Mat and his family treated me to dinner at the San Tan Flat, a local open-air restaurant, very western cowboy style theme like atmosphere. After we ordered our food I realized this was the same restaurant I saw on national TV a few months ago because the county was trying to shut it down for….get this….”dancing”. Yes….an actual real Footloose situation…Pinal County has an ordinance against dancing outside (it was written in the 1950’s) so the county decides to fine the owner Dale Bell, $700 every night he allows his customers to dance. (The tab right now is around $200,000 ). They are now trying to put a lien on his property and land. |
| It really seemed like a harmless family restaurant. Kids were running around playing, sitting by the fire and yes...even dancing. |
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Mat and Holly's Family Shoot |
| Had a great shoot this evening with Mat, Holly and their children. Mat is the man responsible for my amazing search engine rankings. We were looking for a good back drop and surprisingly found it in the middle of a busy freeway. We were careful and only left the children unattended for a few minutes at a time. I thought they turned out wonderfully. :) |
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Michael Andrew from long ago.... |
Ive been staying with one of two good friends I have out here in Az. One, Jason Calvi I havent seen for 9 years and he pulls out a shoebox of old pictures. Jason and I worked together at a miniature golf course. (At which I started working when I was 14 years old.)
The Date was November 9th 1994, I had just finished a two year mission in Russia Moscow, and was on a lay over in SF on the way to Maui where my Dad had recently located. Just coming home from Moscow to Maui took 44 hours, this was about 32 into the trip after a flight and layover in Paris. I was exhausted. As I was waiting in SF, I heard someone call my name and Jason Calvi (left) and my other friend Mark Nelson were there looking for me and found me, and I wasnt expecting them. This was the picture Mark's Dad took, who was also my scout leader growing up. In Russia I had lost nearly 50 pounds, and had worn glasses for the last 3 years. It brought back a lot of memories. The picture isnt very good, I had to take a picture of it with my cell phone and transfer, but I thought you would like it. :)
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Blind Dating 102: Key Phrases |
Disclaimer- While Michael Andrew is not a fan or supporter of blind dates....he happens to have extensive knowledge of the subject matter and wishes to pass it on to protect the innocent and defend the naive. Its nothing personal.
In the wonderful world of blind dating, I have come to find a few key phrases that require interpretation for both the setter upper and the setter upee.
"Cute"- as in "she is cute" - This is not a good adjective in the blind dating process. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE is cute in some way or another, especially to their mothers. While dating someone who is "cute" is perfectly acceptable, it is usually better if the setupee is the one designating him or her as cute. If you are trying to set someone up, avoid use of the word "cute".
"Really" - as in "she is really cute" - This is much worse that "cute" alone. It is as if saying the word "really" before cute makes the person "beautiful", yet for some reason the setter upper doesnt use the word "beautiful". The more "really"s you hear before the adjective, the less likely it is to be truth, as in "she is really, really, really cute". Unfortunately, "really" in the world of blind dating means "not" or "this is a lie".
"Beautiful" as in, "she is beautiful". Let me ask you something.... if she was really beautiful....why would anyone need to set her on a blind date? And if she really was beautiful, perhaps there is another reason why she is being set up...I have met a few women who were as crazy as they were beautfiul and they were complete knockouts. Still the whole sanity thing weighs in there somewhere...not sure where. Yes, so beautiful usually means "crazy".
"Sweet" as in "she is such a sweet person". Not sure who coined this phrase....what it really means is "there are occasions when this person is capable of being sweet., though it is usually less than 50% of the time."
"Smart" as in "she is really smart". This means "power hungry" or "likes to argue". Think about it, what man would like to date/marry a woman who was "smarter" than he?
"Amazing" as in "she is the most amazing person I have ever met". Amazing doesnt always mean a negative or positive quality. I have seen some amazingly bad manners, for example.
You are probably wondering which adjectives to use when setting someone up on a blind date. Truthfully, if you think you have a match for a friend, the best way to go about setting them up is to introduce them in a large group setting, let them meet and talk with each other in their own elements, if its there, they will do the rest.
Sometimes this isnt possible, the next best thing would be to show each of the setter upees pictures of the other person. To the set up ees I would say beware of very tight head shots that appear to be more than 5 years old based on the bang formation of the young woman.
If the woman is indeed a knock out, interestingly, there is no attempt at description. The settupper will say "Just wait till you meet her", or "dude....you have no idea" or "I have found your wife" or "you have no clue how lucky you are" or "You are going to be thanking me for the rest of your life" or they will just laugh to themselves and shake their head as if they have the biggest secret in the world (smiling....if they are frowning....its not good).
The one word I have found to be used accurately 95% of the time is "hot" as in good looking "hot". See, if the setter upper says the word "hot" there is very little room for interpretation like cute, sweet, nice, etc. and if the blind date wasnt "hot" the setter upper would be a liar, so yes...."hot" is usually reliable. |
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