Gabriel |
I finally met Gabriel Goldberg from Specialty Publications. SpecPubs is out of LA, and with the city so near by, we were both determined to meet.
It seems like forever since we have known each other via phone and email.
It's funny how you can have friends you have never met, yet Gabriel and I have been what I would think of as “good friends” since he first interviewed me in Unzipped magazine in August of 2000. (Journal Entry 109 )
It's kind of strange to go back and look at this article about my site and the cams. Aaah..the good 'ole days.
Ironically, this week I also finally shut down the cams. I think it is for good, but never say never. A viewer of the site had donated the space and bandwidth, but apparently it was still getting too many hits or too many simultaneous connections and his hosting company shut him down.
Instead of trying to find a new host, I just said, “That's it.”
I started digging through the old camcaps, trying to find images that I could put up as a placeholder until I can find time to re-do the navigation. So strange looking at the old images of me. I was sooo skinny! I looked so young! Damn I need to spend more time at the gym and less time eating double cheeses at Wendy's!
It officially started off my mid-life crisis!
Ready! Set! Panic! ~hehe~
Guess it's about time. Forty draws near.
Ok, back to the cams. It's so hard to believe they were still getting any traffic. I am not on camera very much, and when I am, I'm just sitting at my computer. I can't believe anyone was still tuning in. I thought it was pretty much ready to be phased out- A fad of a bygone era.
I need to re-do the site navigation toolbar without the cam link on them, but I am putting it off for a while until I can find out what to do about the Video project. Another sore spot.
I am still running into problems with the video project. I've given myself a deadline of April 15th, 2005 to get this thing up and running. It's become an embarrassment for me. I think of myself as Mr. Get It Done. My projects may not always be successful, but I usually get them completed. It may end up on the scrap heap before it ever gets launched.
Wow did I get sidetracked!
Back to Gabriel.
He is stepping down from his duties at Specialty Publications, though it sounds like he is still kind of running a portion of the show as a consultant. He's studying advertising and marketing stuff now. Gabriel is also an awesome photographer, and I love talking shop with him.
With him leaving SpecPubs, he has a little more free time to travel. And since I can't seem to get my butt up to LA, he and I made arrangements for him to come down and decompress in San Diego.
Meeting him after all this time was so cool. He was exactly how I thought he would be like. Totally engaging, tall, and incredibly humorous. He walked in the front door and he gave me a big 'ole hug. I had to get up on my tippy-toes. I asked him if I was shorter than he thought I was going to be, but I guess I have given everyone ample warning that the Internet makes me look taller. Besides, I think most people are shorter than Gabriel anyway, so he is used to people being shorter..
We immediately started yakking at each other. Gabriel and I have a lot in common. The biggest similarity we have is that we are both socially lubricated. Uh…we find it easy to talk and chat up about anything with anyone- which always made for long phone conversations.
Gabriel recently had a bit of heart surgery, so he is slowly getting back his aerobic fitness. We planned to do an hour or so of hiking while he was here..
On Saturday we drove over to the hiking location, not so certain how much physical activity he should take on outside of his gym routine. I took him over to the relatively flat trails behind my house to ease him in to it.
There is this really cool spot that is perfect for photo shoots. It's somewhat private and it looks like a Set someone built specifically for photos. I have already used it a half dozen times. It will be one of those overused locations, but finding outdoor space with great vertical spans is always a challenge.
Here is a picture or two of Patrick in that location. Patrick is likely one of SeanCody's most popular models. I didn't think I would get to work with him, cuz typically I am only photographing guys that have not done work for SeanCody, but he is so popular that I thought we should get some nice stills. If you like him, there is a whole spread of him in the Member's Only area. 
Gabriel really liked the outdoor scenery and wished that he had brought his camera. We agreed to come back on Sunday, so he could take some shots.
We hiked around for a bit and Gabriel was doing great. After the hike, we went down to Hillcrest and had lunch at the Chipotle. The weather was amazing and I love sitting out on the patio watching all the cute gay boys walk by.
Gabriel had read in my journal about my new adventures in grilling, so we stopped by the grocery store on the way home and got fixins for a big dinner..
Before dinner, I spent a lot of time showing him some of the photography work I have been doing.
GEEEEEEEEEZ..I have taken a lot of pictures lately. I am pretty sure in the last 6 months somewhere near 20,000 photos. Gabriel never lost interest, and it was great to have a captive audience who really made great critical comments on the photography itself.
We must have spent hours going over this stuff. Dinner time rolled round and I grilled some chicken and Gabriel tackled the bake potato project.
After dinner we watched The Incredibles….I know, I can't believe how many times I have seen this movie! But Gabriel was a big fan and had only seen it in the theatre.
On Sunday we sat down and played with our camera equipment.
It's kind of funny how I just kind of don't really pay attention to the mechanics of the camera. It's like my bike. I ride it, likely at an expert level, yet I don't know how to adjust the brakes, chains or the gears. It's like I just want to enjoy the process and not deal with the nitty gritty. Just so long as it works, I can enjoy the pureness of the activity.
After dorking around with the cameras, we started hiking from my house. Gabriel being more certain of his aerobic capacity.
I filled a backpack with some photo equipment and we headed down to the cool outdoor location.
We snapped a few shots of each other, just goofing around.
I asked Gabriel how he was feeling and if he wanted to tackle some more ambitious trails. He figured he was up for it.
We hiked up Cowles Mountain, which is a challenging climb for anyone who's calves aren't used to walking up hill. I have been hiking with Kitty! quite a bit, and I remembered the first time or two the burn and ache my calves had afterwards.
Gabriel did great. I think he was stoked that he was out and about and really tackling a pretty challenging climb. We stopped occasionally so as not to over tax his ticker, but overall, we made great time. I think I yakked the whole way.
After we got back, we ran over to Subway and had a quick lunch. It was time for him to get back on the road up to LA, and I settled back into the old home routine.
I got an email from Gabriel a couple days later saying how his calves and ankles hurt (oohh..I know that feeling!) and he was not walking too swiftly. He told his parents he went hiking..real hiking, and I think he was pleased that they were surprised that he was taking on challenges so soon after his surgery.
Looks like I have a new friend in Gabriel, and a place to stay when I go up to LA!
As for the rest of the time, just a few tidbits.
I have had a couple days where I didn't have any shoots, so didn't even have to go to work. Sweet!
I've been spending a lot of time retouching images and getting galleries together for the coming months. I don't think visitors realize how much work goes into creating a gallery of images. And with 8-10 galleries a month, I am spending a ton of time at the mouse.
Geez, remember when I had ONE gallery to do a month. It's really assembly line work now.
My tendonitis in my right arm is really really bad right now. I am back to wearing my funky armbands, which normally alleviates the pain in a couple days, but with non-stop mousing, there has been no relief.
It's affecting my workout too. I can't do any bicep or arm workout on my right side. Hell, I can't even lift my backpack.
I guess after 7 months here in San Diego I should go find a doctor. I will get steroid injection and try to ease up on it. I tend to believe that the steroid just masks the pain. I would take the pain relief as card blanche to do MORE work.
Since I am wearing my armband all time, people come up and ask about it. One of them was my next door neighbor. She is a doctor, and spotted me wearing it as we both were dragging our trash cans to the curb. She had to tell me all about her experience own “tennis elbow” drama. She did the steroid thing for a while too, but finally had some surgery, and has had zero trouble since, and highly recommend that I get it. Seems like a big step. I wonder if she is on my insurance plac?
Nahh..I just need to cut back, but with the pace I have set for the site, I don't see how I can slow down.Yick, I don't want the surgery…I won't get a thing done waiting for that to heal. Better slow down.
The House is up for sale, and has only had one couple go look at it. This could be a long haul.
Bill Evans is going to put it on the Lease market, so hopefully I can get some money coming in to cover the expenses. An Open House is in the near future too.
Let's see what else?
Kitty! is driving me crazy. She is in full on needy mode. Normally she just kind of hangs around me napping, but she has been at my heels now for the last three weeks. Following me from room to room riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight next to me. Not sure what's going on with here, but she's become a total shadow.
Her need for kissy smooches has gotten out of control too.
The weather has finally gotten amazing, and at last I get to enjoy some of the mythic San Diego weather everyone raves about. Got a few mtn. bike rides in too, though I blew out three or four spokes on my front wheel the last time I went out. I'm a bad ass!
One last little tidbit. Been listening to the Comedy station on my XM Radio. I have a tough time finding comedians that I like. I tend to like intellectual humor like Paula Poundstone, Ellen DeGenres. So many of the comedians say FUCK and other swear words that I just wince. It's boring. I don't mind an occasional swear word..it means something then.
Otherwise saying fuck every other word is like saying “uh” which can really get annoying in any public speaker.
Have you guys noticed how bad it is? They say “Fuck” Like every three words for some comedians. I don't mind…like Margaret Cho, she will swear, but its used effectively.
Anyway..so many of the comedians I like are women. Guess it's the gay diva boy in me. But I kind of have gotten in to Mitch Fatel. (after Greg Walloch of course!)
Mitch Fatel's early stuff is fun. He talks like this wonderously innocent yet naughty boy, He's been doing some big gigs on the Tonight Show, including live interviews at the Superbowl and various interviews at events like dog shows and leather motorcycle rallies. Check out the streaming vids, and his joke of the day section.
He's got a new CD out, and I think I might get a copy.
Mitch has a sample audio of why he likes muffins here which I think is a great representation of his style and delivery.
Ok, so that's about it for the last couple weeks.
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