This post is about what just happened with one of my models… but keep reading, ’cause it also explains some neat marketing stuff.

What does it say about the world we live in, when you do something nice for a friend, but they have a hard time trusting that there’s no catch?

I’ve been off the grid.  I’m supposed to be working on my book, but the people I’m spending time with have inspired me back to the business side of things. I’m a closet workaholic!

See that image below?  That’s what I’m working on.

A series of Photoshop and Photography DVDs.  I’ll post more about those very soon, this post is about Daniela. Read the rest of this entry »

I was supposed to be heading back from Seattle, dropping Webber off, and then going to Las Vegas with badass babe, Jaime Mintun.  However, things happen…

My friend Elizabeth’s daughter recently had a brain tumor.  I was there for her via phone and texting when she found out that she has to take Gracie to the ER, and it may be fatal.  I was there to cheer her up, and be a shoulder and ear.  But my other friends on her insider group did more.  They hijacked her business, and handled it for her.  Alison flew in from Canada to be ther ein person with EPW.  I’m proud of my cheering up skills, and that I’m a trusted friend, and that I could be there… but I wanted to do more.

Once it was established that Gracie was all right after her brain surgery, I figured what *I* could do other than being funny!  You see, when you hear your kid has to go to the ER, or die, you drop everything to make sure the kid stays alive.  Everything.  Thus, she was at the hospital for about 2 weeks, not taking care of anything else- business, or even the car that got broken into.

Since EPW was not going to have a summer to work on things, as Gracie was going to go to camp…. recovering from surgery had messed up her coordination to where she couldn’t go to camp.  She’s fine now, and better than she’s been in a really really long time.  But EPW has to try and catch up with 2 weeks of unplanned hospital time, and look after the kid… it’s a bit much.  My plan:  Cancel Vegas, Go to San Fran, be the babysitter, so EPW can catch up on her life!  That, and have some personal time.

As far as the race goes, I ended up not going ’cause Jared & Jen were going to pick me up, and their car had blown up on their road trip.  They offered to fly me out there, but last minute tickets seemed insane.  I’d rather go with my friends to Seattle, and spend longer than 3 days there, as I’ve never been before.   As far as races– there’ll be others.  Meanwhile, there’s talk about a Canoe race in Belize in March!

My audio book for today’s journey was “Freakonomics” – it’s fabulous!  Witty and brilliant insight into a great many things.  too many to list actually  But… I”ll have time to write now that I’m here to babysit.  Oh yeah… tonight I get to sleep in a pink room, with pink Princess Sheets!  That’s how you know you’re cool!

I’m back in Austin, after a long trip. I wrote 15 pages so far describing it, but it’s way too personal.  Guess that’ll have to wait until my book comes out, when names are changed to protect people.

What’s the short version?

I left Austin on Tuesday the 4th with a passenger, whom is female, and prefers not to be written about.  We drove 19 hours to Read the rest of this entry »

If you want a quick dose of happiness, rent a roach suit.  I rented a roach suit! Then I wore it to go to the grocery store, and showed up at a few friends’ offices. Here’s my story (Pictures at the bottom)

It was a great day indeed– I refused to go to sleep until I finished this custom Twitter Background for someone, and when I woke up, it was to an e-mail saying how much the work rocked.  Then I got to see my buddy Tex… Well, actually, it’s Dave Bredesen, but I always called him Tex ’cause when I met him, I was living in Florida, and he was living in Austin.

He did always tell me that I’d love Austin, and boy, was he right!  Actually, how we met is entertaining.  It was at Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s get a few things out of the way.

TJ is 17. I am 33. He has dropped out of high school, and is debating college.  I dropped out of college, and debate on a daily basis what do I want to do next.

I have thousands of hours of audio book listening, couchsurfing with industry experts, reading regular books, and attending conferences on an extremely diverse range of topics (I’ve been to Cosmetics conferences, fishing conferences, manufacturing, modeling, photography, and of course, marketing).

One could say that I have an unfair advantage here. But, I’ve earned my network, TJ wants to get introduced to it, and Ideation is a skill that the strengths finder says he has in his top 5, while it is not listed in my top 5.

That being said, there is a beauty in not having the experience that I have.  Kids often have the best ideas, because they haven’t been told that they can’t do stuff yet.  They haven’t had the school and corporate system crush their dreams and creativity yet.  The same is true with TJ.  His younger age has prevented him from having many of the bad experiences I’ve gone through, and he is not as conditioned and set in his ways as I am.  That, and at 17, he has not killed as many brain cells as I have.

I already get paid to dispense my ideas (consult), and make them happen (implement), which is why this isn’t about me.  This is about giving TJ a chance to prove what he can do, and give people an opportunity to see (well.. hear) what strong ideation can do for them.

That being said, SEO questions , and the like, will not be answered, as TJ had to google what SEO is.  This is about creativity.  If you need ideas- directions to go, personal problems solved, directions for your business, ways of outdoing the competition…. You will get a lot of out this. Kate Buck Jr will be moderating the event.

Ask your questions here in the comment section, and tune in tonight at 11pm EST to http://CouchSurfingRadio.com -  tell any of your friends that are in a bind.

A younger gentleman contacted me that I’d make a good role model.  I love helping, and he did find me on ENTP.org — contacted on FB.  I went with it.  I listened to his stories, gave feedback in full honesty about my past, my experiences, and my answers to difficult questions… even one like “Should I go to college?”

ENTP’s are often the world’s artists…. yes, Seth Gofin’s Linchpin states that art is when you put your gift into what you are doing, so accounting can be art… it’s problem solving, navigating without a map, and working on the edge of the box.  But ENTP’s are the troubled ones that can do anything.  We know we can do anything, and thus we bounce around between anything.

We’re pretty popular in advertising… come up with creative ideas, fight deadlines, show diversity, emphasize with a brand or logo.

I gave all my answers for everything– the lessons I’ve learned in life. These are not the, but give you a sense of some.

Move away from negativity, move towards the positive stuff….. sometimes easier said than done.  This can mean reading a book that bores you, or helping someone without getting anything back.  It can – and ofte does – mean having to fire your friends that are losers.  Yeah… I wrote it… and for your question of “Who is he to judget?” screw what I think… what do you think?  It’s proven…. you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.  Income, fitness, optimisim, negativity, sarcasm, love, success– everything.

So, a loser is someone that’s holding you back.  Someone who’s not taking chances, or willing to pursue their own dreams and goals.  Someone who is fine with settling, and always talks shit about your dreams.  Ditch ‘em, and get mentors; people that inspire you to do better.  People who have already done what you want to do.  Learn from other’s mistakes… it’s much cheaper, trust me.

One thing I’ve learned is that five years from now, most everything that will have changed in your life is who you spend time with, and what books you’ve read (what you’ve learned… I do a lot of audio books / videos).  I was told that everything I said resounded as right…. Others weren’t able to connect on the same level.  Cool, I can help.

The books I suggested were Tim Ferriss’s The 4 Hour Workweek, Dale Carnegie’s Win Friends and Influence People, and Strengths Finder 2.0.

TJ took action, and got all 3 books.  I continue to help when people take action.

He said his strengths were:
Command
Ideation
Futuristic
Strategic
Self-Assurance

Mine are:

Command
Strategic
Futuristic
Activator
Self-Assurance

I’d say it sounds like he chose a role model pretty well.  I’m not talking about what my life’s been, but rather that we’re both ENTPs with 4 out of 5 overlapping strengthsfinder results.

“One day, I would love to meet you and work with you because I have noticed that you do not have Ideation listed as one of your top 5…I feel this is one of my greatest talents and I feel like out of all of them, it is what makes me stand out the most as an individual. I have endless, endless ideas. They come from everything I lay eyes on. If you used your talents and skills to help me launch them…We could make a shitload of money. A shitload. I have ideas for practically anything you can imagine….businesses included. Implementation is difficult for me though, because I have very little resources at the moment, a huge roadblock for all of my ideas is capital. This could be easily overcome if I could tap into your network….What do you think?”

Well… I value my network.  It’s my most priceless posession.  You!  Reading!  Your time and attention, and teh people I couchsurf with, do business with, go on adventure with, call friends…. It’s what I value in life.  So… to just prance into my life and say that you want access to that is balsy.  I encourage it.  Game on.  But ideation?  I don’t feel attacked, but trust me in saying that just ’cause it’s not in my top 5, does not mean that I do not posess the skill.

In fact, ideation is one of my most noticeable skills.  I can come with more uses and solutions for things than most anyone I’ve ever met.  Let’s see what he’s got.  That, and I know what motivates ENTPs    We’re a competitive bunch…. and we both have the self-assurance strength, and futuristic, so of course, we’re both going to think that we’ll win anything.    So, I challenged him…

This Monday at 11pm EST, on my weekly BlogTalkRadio show, Couchsurfing Radio, there will be an idea off!

40 Minutes of the show will be dedicated to this (Everyone still wants to know what’s up with Jason Moffatt’s cliffhanger about the Maori Healer (here’s a pic of the guy:

One of the Maori Healers at the Longevity Conference

)

The 40 minutes will be split into 8 minute segments… 2 minutes of the person with a question explaining it, then each of us gets 3 minutes.  Part of the 1st 20 minutes will be to decide which questions will be answered.  We could do 5 of these, but I doubt we’ll stay to 3 minutes each   When ideating, it’s easy to get lit up, and want to just keep going on ideas.  If something truly rocks, then we’ll keep it going.  So, we will solve 4 people’s problems.

Leave a comment with anything that you need ideas on. My strengths finder results can be found at this Blog Post on Happiness. Please share this with friends, so we can really solve people’s problems.  I charge a lot of money to do this for your company… so this is your chance to get consulting for free.  What’s not working? What would you like to do?  What’s working and you’d like to improve?  Personal? Business? Social Media? Fitness? Music? Eating? Humor? Connecting? Dude- pick a question, post it as a comment.

Which question would you like to see answered? Comment about that?  We’ll decide based on comments that have been posted by Monday night.  I know what I Can do, and I”m constantly told how helpful it is.  Let’s see what TJ has.  If he kicks ass, maybe someone will want to hire him for his creativity and ideation, which he says is a large value component of who he is.

Leave a comment, and hopefully we can give you just the idea you need.

Is that not an awesome outfit for the airport?

(I’m writing this one on a plane- dumbass (me) didn’t check the flights, just clicked… and ended up getting a flight from the OC to Austin, by flying from California, to Atlanta, and THEN to Austin… nice one)
“Are you gonna make it out to our event?”
“I’m not sure…”
“Well, of course you’d be our VIP guest.”
“I’m pretty booked, and I’m not sure about flight funds right now. You guys need a photographer?”
“I don’t know… you’d have to talk to Larry about that.”

That was the conversation on Skype with one of my awesome couches, Caleb Jennings.

The next day the phone rings, “You’re NOT going to believe this! I woke up at noon, and had a Skype from Larry, ‘Can Ori shoot our event? How much?’ – I hadn’t even talked to him”

I spoke to Larry, we ironed out the details, and it was on.

If that serendipity hadn’t been enough, check this out:
I was supposed to be at a 10 day silent meditation (Vipassana) center during these times. I got put on the waiting list because I waited too long. They called me up the day before, and said I can go… but I was already booked with projects.

My flight was Thursday at 6:30am. That means I need to be at the airport at 5:30am. It’s about a 20 minute drive (there’s no traffic in Austin at 5am), so we figured we’d leave at 5am.

I figured I’d stay up all night, and just sleep on the flight.

At 10pm (CST) on Wednesday, I tweeted that I needed a place to crash, and by 2am I got a text from Angel- compliments of Aron Bender. I now feel like Angel and I are old buddies, even though we barely spent time together. That’s one beautiful aspect of Couch Surfing by the way. (You can see our photo shoot at the bottom of this blog post)

4am… I’m starting to drift off, or display symptoms of what I like to call “Keyboard Head” (’cause you fall down, and your head hits the keyboard, leaving imprints of the keys in your forehead).

“I’ll just take a small nap. It will be fine, ’cause I set my alarm, and Craig set his alarm, and he’s responsible….”
“We’re not going to make it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s 6am.”

Oh crap… guess my alarm didn’t wake me after all. *sigh* Well, no reason to stress. It was $150 for a new ticket to California for the same day. Back to sleep.

Now, instead of arriving at noon, I would arrive at 7:30pm (PT). Angel was fine with that.

This gave me time to ride with Craig to his office, pick up a paycheck for some of the recent web and design projects I did for them, and even do a quick product shoot for them. No problem on making it to the airport on time at 2pm (as compared to 6am).

The Best Part

Angel came and got me. We’ve never met. How would she find me? The traditional approach “I’m wearing a brown and white striped shirt” didn’t seem like it would make it fast enough. Angel joked around that I should be doing jumping jacks between 7:45 and 7:55. I did, and she found me very easily!

I gotta tell you, that was semi embarassing. I was nervous about doing it, being concerned about “What would people think?” and “I’ll look like an asshole”- which are great reasons to do something! In fact, the jumping jacks warmed me up, as the outside air was getting frigid. Most importantly, Angel will never forget me, and I have a funny story now!

We made it home, ate some dinner, I got my ass kicked in Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo WII by her 12 year old, and then Angel and I just sat around until 2am (4am for me) exchanging travel and adventure stories. Angel has been around the world too.

The next day was amazing, and unexpected.

I had no car. Registration for the event begins at 4:30pm. I like being early, and scoping out the scene. The Hilton (where the event woas taking place), was out of the way for Angel, as her job (Massage therapist) is the other direction.

I had Angel drop me off at “The Corner Bakery” – a coffee shop/restaurant that was near her home. There would be internet there.

The weather was so nice out! Cloudless blue sky, a high 60′s, a cool breeze, and plenty of shade from Palm trees (the only downside, the breeze kept knocking small flowers from the trees, and into my hair).

The bench I was on had WiFi reaching it in full strength. I was Facebooking, when Adriana realized that I was in California. We connected, and she figured out that I was in the OC, a few minutes from her job. She was going to meet me for lunch… ‘cept that she already ate lunch, and I wasn’t hungry.

I had already moved inside The Corner Bakery, and gotten a coffee before Adriana showed up. That would be all that I ordered from there. I got a text from Angel (who was supposed to be working until 4pm), asking if I’d like to meet up for lunch at the beach.

How perfect?! I was thinking about what a shame it is that I’m in California, at the OC, and will not be hitting the beach. Here was my opportunity.

Angel showed up, and I introduced her to Adriana (who had to go back to work) — they’ve hung out since then (I would’ve gone with, but my phone broke later in the trip, and I could not call or text).

Angel took me to her favorite beach. We had the most amazing Ahi-Tuna Sandwiches with a Wasabi Mayo sauce, and Pineaple. The view was spectacular, and I spent most of lunch doing the consulting thing, telling her the steps she can use to get many more clients,as well as raise her price.

We then went down the stairs to the beach. The tide was low, and we were walking (barefoot) along the rocks and the sand, checking out crabs, shells, and tidal pools. I even got to play with a sea snaemone (which was kind of creepy– little bugger latches on to your fingers, and tries to eat you).

Angel wanted to show me her other favorite beach, and we drove there… but I wa sgetting antsy about the time.

It was almost 4pm, and I wanted to be punctual.

We got to the Hilton.

“Do you have to go right now, or can you stick around a few minutes?” I wanted to introduce her to some of my other couches who were there– Craig Allen, Caleb Jennings, and Jason Moffatt. I called Craig, and they were at a restaurant near by called 118 Degrees.

118 is a raw food restaurant that’s upscale, and wonderful. When we arrived, our Clan (people attending the Longevity Conference) had taken up a majority of the restaurant.

The food was delightful, and very healthy. I (and most people) had ordered a coconut. The Miso soup was the best I’ve ver had. The various drinks were delicious, and the conversation was a trip. I even videotaped a light-sabre (app) battle between Steve Pavlina and Caleb Jennings, as one was on an iPhone, and one was on an a Droid.

I made sure to get a photo of Craig, Caleb, and Angel — 3 of my couches from across the country (Orange County, Las Vegas, and Austin), in one place. The energy was great- we rearranged the restaurant, and even invited people from other tables to come join us. That was because we’re talking about Twitter technologies, web trends, and marketing, while someone 2 tables away was reading a book on using twitter.

“Come, join us, I have 11,000 followers.”

I was bummed, ’cause Angel couldn’t stay– but she had already gotten a new client because of joining me…. Craig… who reported that his massage on Sunday was absolutely amazing.

The even was packed! I believe there were 500 people in attendance, and many crew. Even the internet broadcast was sold out at 500 seats. Apparently, many people care about living a long time, and David Wolfe is the industry leader.

I put my bags up in Caleb and Adam’s room. I met Adam for the 1st time at 118 Degrees, but he was one of the few people I hung out with this weekend, and before lunch was up, he had already invited me to couchsurf in Vegas. We may be doing a roadtrip to Sedona, AZ.

We checked out Larry’s room, the presidential suite. Don’t you think that it looks like Craig is peeing on the door? (he’s not)

Hanging out is fun, but I take my work seriously… so, surprisingly, I did not make a scene, wear my furry hat, or tell too many jokes (In fact, as we said our goodbye, Larry said “It sucks! We didn’t get to spend more than 2 minutes, and you didn’t get to make me laugh once!” — which is not true, ’cause I did make him laugh once, to get a nice smile from him and his stunningly hot girlfriend, Oksana, as I took their photo).

Small note- Caleb went to his first Burning Man, as did Larry and Oksana, and that’s where I met Larry and Oksana…. That’s how they knew my photography skills are so great, and that my humor so corny, witty, and mildly entertaining.

I was in professional mode. I skipped some meals, I skipped going to Au Lac (which is this amazing Vietnamese / Raw restaurant, where the head chef, Chef Ito, has taken a vow of silence, and has not spoken in 10 years. He would rather communicate what he communicates with words, with his amazing foods) multiple times, while all my friends did go.

I can not emphasize enough the importance of going to events…. they are a great way to learn what’s going on in a particular industry, but more importantly, a great way to meet like-minded individuals that can become friends, or business associates. I did not get to network too much this time, as I was way more concerned about doing a kick-ass job.

How kick-ass of a job did I do? More than 4,000 photos! Sure… some of them are blurry (I did not use a flash 98% of the time), and some are of repetitive content, but the event organizers were certainly thrilled! I got all the speakers, all the exhibitors, all the logos, all the standing ovations, all the hugs, the pushups, the book signings, the tastings, the lines out the door for the tonic bar, the folks at the tonic bar making their tonics, the production crew, the giveaways, and of course, people mingling. I was not afraid to cut through the crowd to get the shot I needed. I used my collection of lenses to get closeups when needed, and a wide-fisheye view to show what a sold-out room standing ovation looks like (Larry’s comment when seeing that photo, “Holy crap dude, it looks like there’s 5,000 people here!”– isn’t that the point? ).

I’m jumping around of course.

The days were long. began from 7:30-8:30am. I did not photograph that. I slept. I was pretty tired, as the doors opened at 9am, and the lectures went on until 10:30-11pm. People stayed for the whole thing.

Day number one, one of the first things that were lectured about was the importance of grounding. The short version is that shoes are the most lethal invention that humans have made. Basically, as humans, we’ve done everything we can to block ourselves from the Earth’s energy, which regulates a lot of our biology. We insulate ourselves from the ground by wearing rubber soled shoes most of the day and night. We have windows to block us from the good radiation from the sun (UVB, which helps the skin create Vitamin D), but does not prevent UVA, which causes cancer. Funny enough, until recently, that’s what sunscreen did… block out healthy radiation, but let in the bad stuff. So, by grounding yourself (walking barefoot, amongst other things), you are shielding yourself from solar and electronic radiation. They actually took some blood samples from these 4 ladies, and showed how blood clumps together when it is not grounded… but when you are grounded, blood flows better. They had scientific charts showing all sorts of other things that happen when you are grounded. Let’s say it this way— I want to be grounded! Of course, they sold grounding kits- bed sheets that are interwoven with silver fabric… wristbands… stomach bands… a ground pad for your feet. Many different products that you can use to ground yourself.

There were many speakers who spoke on many topics. Vitamins, Minerals, Probiotics and fermented foods, mushrooms for immunity boosts, the digestive brain vs the cerebral brain, and much more….

Since I was there shooting, I didn’t get to mingle as much as I normally do at events, but I’m cool with that. I feel great about a job well done. The event organizers love the photos, and I do feel a sense of purpose at a job well done.

— writing from the ground now –

Since my phone broke, I couldn’t text people, or call people. I didn’t even have everyone’s numbers! Since I introduced Craig and Angel, I was able to contact her through Craig’s phone on occasion. We decided that after Monday’s Elixir Masters class, I’d get a ride, and we’d do a shoot Monday morning, and then she’d take me to the airport.

The ride I got was from Carlo. Who’s Carlo? He’s my new buddy. We met recently through Facebook / Twitter– he had found me through the LiveOffGroupon contest… he made an entry, saw mine, and was sure I’d win (as was I). We chatted about it a bit, but I can not emphasize how much easier it is to get to know someone in person than over Twitter. Use social media to open doors, but then talk to people on the phone, or meet up with them.

It was really neat… we had a lot in common, and he’s just an interesting fellow. The funny thing was that he’s got this beard, and this long dreaded hair… and he felt a bit odd, as his normally odd looks blended right in at the conference.

If I hadn’t said it– this was the best looking crowd I’ve ever seen at any event… and I attend any events. I suppose it’s ’cause they all do what the speakers say, take good supplements, take a barefoot walk, exercise, watch what they eat…. and of course, now, ground themselves.

Being there certainly inspired me to eat healthier, and exercise some. But it also inspired me to focus on my goals… which are not so much business as they are travel and adventure. I thrive on consulting. I am wired for it. But, exploring new places, doing death-defying things, having new experiences… that’s what really lights me up…. so… I’m looking for travel opportunities that will inspire me. Since I realized that, there’s already talks of me going to document someone’s humanitarian efforts in Uganda. More on that when I know more.

The Elixir Masters workshop was mindblowing. It’s amazing how many herbs people can fit into a smoothie… and they know exactly what each does… you had to see all the things that these people have cured with just a good diet, and herbal drinks. This guy Truth Calkins was constantly citing Doctors, and research, and studies… He owns http://www.erewhonmarket.com/ – where they make these drinks and foods all the time, and of course the supplements and herbs that people need to make this stuff at home. I spoke to Truth, asked how he got started, and it was an amazing story. This wasn’t just a smoothie maker… this was a guy that nearly killed himself (literally) with junk food.

His parents were health nuts, and as a child he wasn’t allowed to eat processed foods (smart!). He later made up for that, by piling it on…. he got fat, ran low on energy, and suffered from depression, candida, and all sorts of other things…. he was just waiting to die– actually trying to do it by overeating the worst kind of food. He had also burnt out from being an actor and a graphic designer…. and then realized it was all in the knowledge….

Truth read everything he could… over and over… he cut out his sugars, he ate fermented foods…. let’s say it this way, he’s now 40, and I bet he gets carded for alcohol.

After the Elixir Masters, Carlo dropped me off at Angels. Seth was there, Angel was there, her kids were there….. we had dinner, and then just sat around chatting. I made Seth (Angel’s boyfriend) a website, and demonstrated how easy a WordPress site is to control. It already looks better- he took to it like a fish to water.

The next morning we did our shoot… in a very little bit of time.

I’ve been really productive about catching up on work. Perhaps that healthy food has me thinking more clearly?

—

Crap…. forgot to hit Publish… ’cause I wanted to add the gallery… lots of separate projects, aka.. distractions.  So, here’s the gallery– and I’ve lost a few pounds already by just eating healthy again, jogging a tiny bit, and I feel great.  When I did my 30 day raw, I also made sure to get a full night’s sleep each night (Which is generally not the norm for me).

[View with PicLens]

12►

This is Aron Bender. He’s the one who within 4 hours of seeing my tweet has found me an awesome couch for tonight (who’s not pissed that I had to change my schedule already by 7 hours).

I am moved every time I watch this one.

Great weather for doggie playdate

Elizabeth lost Wookie, whom she had for 12 years. Johnny was grieving the loss.  They were not the only two- Stella lost her lifelong buddy!  I was asked to house sit, so the dog can have some happiness, as I tend to be upbeat and happy.

Over on the other part of town, Craig was now only taking care of one raw-food eating dog, rather than 2.  Maple had gone away in the separation.  Craig was not the only one to notice that… Bentley, the St. Bernard was missing his lifelong playmate.

Dogs are so awesome! They bring us such joy.  They try to cheer us up.  They help us clean the floor when we drop food! Thus, the only right thing to do is to find things to do to cheer them up when they’re down…. you know they try to bring us up when we’re down!

When her (Tito’s Vodka) leash is approached, Stella goes apeshit!  She jumps 4 feet in the air, and starts doing 360′s.  It’s fairly entertaining.  She was happy to get out of the house.

I took her for a small jog, and then in the car, and to meet Bentley.  The 2 of them have been wagging their tail all day long!

Many people are often baffled by “What exactly is it Ori does?” and “How the heck does Ori pay for his journey?” – while these things are written in my book… my book isn’t out yet

I can tell you a bunch of things that I do, but I’ll use someone else’s words. Elizabeth Potts Weinstein wrote this after a short while of consulting with me:

“Ori is brilliant in so many things – photography, graphic design, web design, business strategizing, personal coaching, marketing – but those are just the tools he uses to express his creativity, to solve problems, to do what he really does … which is to pull the unique brand out from inside of you and give you the tools you need to express that brand to the world.

And I’m not talking about *thinking* your way into a brand that you “should” be or a brand you “wish” you could be … here I’m talking about a brand that is the expression of your personality, the uniqueness that you already are. Bringing together all your seemingly disparate passions into sync, figuring out the nexus that pulls everything together!”

I like that description. Everyone says it’s accurate. So, yes, I can do Read the rest of this entry »

Meet Eirene

Just ONE of Eirene's designs.

One of my all time best friends, my business partner, someone I’ve learned from, is of course one of my couches.  David Gonzalez and I have gotten along superbly since we 1st met.  When I couch surfed at his place, I met his daughter Eirene. She’s adorable, smart, and mostly very well behaved.  I’ve gotten to sit in on some of the schooling that David provides her after school.  This kid will go far!  By the way, according to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm states that the involvement parents take in their kids education and life will make a huge difference in the outcome of that kid’s values and success. This story proves that. Read the rest of this entry »

People can be so great! My dad’s been telling me my whole life that everyone is out to screw me (the bad kind), and yet, I keep seeing people do great things for each other! Since my journey has relied heavily on building networks of people, connecting with people, and even the kindness of people, I thought I would go and meet (and get a couch invite from) Keith Ferrazzi, the man who (literally) wrote the book on connecting with people: Never Eat Alone.

Keith’s presentation was great, and he talks about how people connect with people, and everyone wins.  Here’s the ultimate proof.  While signing books (his new book, Who’s Got Your Back, is already a New York Times #1 Bestseller), one attendee, David Goodrich, mentioned to Keith that he would like to someday sing the national anthemn in front of a large crowd at a sports event. The following is what happened immediately after!

If you have a sporting event, and would like to hire David, or send him fan mail, e-mail him at: goodrich9@gmail.com or call him at 972.470.0332

Oh… you mean…. you didn’t notice that I’m not writing in a small while?  I do confess that blogging, working on projects, editing video, editing photos, driving from destination to destination, and more … takes a lot of time, so… blogging doesn’t always get the most of my time.  I’m sorry if you think that makes me lazy.  I promise you that my book willl have a lot of the juicy details.  For the record, I TWEET *really often* (remember, Twitter is a real-time, 140 characters at a time, form of communication, that I (or you) can update from their computer, cell phone, or by smoke signal (kidding about the smoke signal.. though, with 140 characters, you probably could pull it off). This makes it VERY easy to blast the web with what I’m doing, thinking, etc…).  The topic says I’m back in the USA… Where’d I go?  Keep reading… I’ll tell you.

My little bro graduated from University of Florida on May 2nd.  I flew down to Florida to  attend his graduation, and of course celebrate.  We celebrated by taking a cruise to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel Belize.  I ate ridiculous amounts of food, did some nice SCUBA diving in Belize, climbed up some waterfalls in Jamaica, and did I mention the insane amounts of food? I mean seriously… ask my family!  For dinner, I’d have about 4 appetizers, 4 entrees, 2 deserts,  And yes, I did work out very hard at the cruise’s gym.

The ship was the Carnival Triumph.  It’s ok.. I’m kind of jaded about Carnival’s ships. So… I’m not going to go into too much details (I was fairly tame on the cruise, as I have much more exciting travels in my CouchSurfing), but I did want to make observation… they had a giant LED-based outdoor theatre screen… so you can lay in a beach chair and watch the news (wtf?? I mean seriously.. what kind of sick a-hole plays the news on the giant screen, w/ massive speakers, so people in New York can hear…. while a few thousand people are on vacation?  Why ruin their vacation?  Forget the outside world, or watch it in your cabin), or a movie.  The movies were not posted well, I thought… so I only caught the tail end of Wall-E (a brilliant movie).  The Irony is that in Wall-E (if you haven’t seen it, skip to the next paragraph, as not to destroy this very clever movie) , all of humanity is living on a cruise ship, and is obese, unmotivated, and controlled by a PA system/tv.  On Carnival’s cruise, there was a smaller population, but a high percent seemed as obese as the ones in Wall-E… and they kept running to the buffets, and were controlled by the ship’s PA system.  Sad, or funny… I can’t decide.

We got back on Mother’s day- which was awesome, ’cause the entire family (Mom, Dad, Barak (Older bro), Itay (younger bro), Me (seriously… why even look in the ()’s… you know who I am!), and Massimo (Barak’s fiancee) was there to start Mother’s day with mom.  Then Barak and Massimo had to get on a flight, and go back to California.

I flew on Tuesday back to Oregon.  I was way more excited about returning to Coos Bay, Oregon, than I was about the entire cruise… as in Coos Bay I’ve got non-stop adventure (seriously.. just today (1st day after landing back), I got surfing lesons, and to go clamming (digging for clams), and got a surfing lesson… I’m camping out in a trailer next to the Dunes, and will be riding 4-wheelers tomorrow, deep sea fishing Friday, getting golf lessons by a pro, riding jet boats… and now the city of Bandon is trying to top Coos Bay by taking me Aerobatics flying, horseback riding, and maybe even riding ou with the coast guard…. will find out about that one soon.

On my 1st flight, I was seated, and this sweet frail old couple (88 & 89 years old – been married for 57 years, and even had a walking stick) asked if I’d mind getting up so they could get to their seats.  I oblidged, and noticed how frail they were, so offered them to lift their suitcases to the overhead bins for them.  They were so happy!  You’d think I was their long-lost son.  I felt pretty great about it, and we conversed  much of the flight.

On the next flight, I was reading, and keeping to myself.. but then, as soon as the plane started its descent… the girl across the aisle from me started drumming her hands nervously, and eyeballing the window, and looking very anxious.

“Do you dislike landings?”

She has not flown in 4 years, and landings definitely make her nervous!

“Excuse me… What do you call a line of bunnies jumping backwords? A receeding hareline!”  — she laughed… fingers stopped drumming..

“What do you call a cow with no legs?”  “Ground Beef” – success… she was totally distracted from the fact that the plane is descending in altitude, and technically, we could crash and die.  I kept going… joke after joke after joke, until we landed!  “See? That wasn’t so bad!  The worst thing about the landing was having to hear all my jokes!”  She was happy, calm, and I was happy as heck to have a practical use fo rmy massive arsenal of jokes.

It’s 4:!5am.  I have a few radio shows, a cold (thanks flying on a plane!  Is it Swine Flu?  Should I commit suicide now?), 4-wheeling, eating fresh-crab (the seafood here in Coos Bay is so fresh and amazing (hooray Coastal cities), so… I must climb to the top bunk now, and sleep!

So, I’m an award winning photographer, but I get bored with repetition… so, I no longer offer Photography full time. Only when I’m interested, for exotic events, if it helps someone a lot, if I feel like it, or the pay’s good. Being on the road is a great way to stay motivated with the camera, as everything’s always changing- the people, the weather, the terrain, the wildlife, and more… so, when I stayed with Dave Gonzalez in Austin, I realized it was Valentine’s day. I had been photographing his family for the 2 days prior… so… I asked him about his & his wife’s song… and put it all to music… Enjoy! p.s. my favorite are the family portraits with the sledge hammer & butcher knife Read the rest of this entry »

1,200 miles… a dog… high-def video…  a knitting kit.. and one last surprise…  what else could a mother ask for?

I gotta admit… I was slightly motivated by an ex of mine inviting me for one last romp (as I’m taking off on a long friggin trip tomorrow…. more details on that excursion in a future post) if I come see her… but that wasn’t my only motivator to come down for the weekend… It was Mom’s birthday (I’d tell you her age, but I hear that’s rude).  I invited my little brother to join in on the surprise visit, but he couldn’t make it… so.. the plan was Read the rest of this entry »

I helped save Sam The Poodle’s life earlier in the year… now I’m being asked if I can save a human life… “It’s only $2,000,000.00″. My trip is departing in late January, and I’m in the middle of hectic non-stop getting ready. I barely have time to handle my own projects when I get this text: Read the rest of this entry »

Wow! It’s almost 2009. We’ve come so far! We’ve invented the wheel, harnessed fire, created language, learned to spread information (1st tablets, then papyrus, then the printing press, then telegraph, then radio, then tv, then internet), invented the car, and various flying machines… and with this progression, we were basically able to do anything. It wasn’t only technology and medicine that progressed with the spread of information, it was also human and civil rights.

So, here we are… living in a day and age where women can join the army, or have corporate jobs. A day and age where the black man is free to own his own land… oh yeah, we’re a little past that, now he can run for president! So… if everyone has all these rights, and we live in the land of opportunity, why can gay people not get married? Face it folk, the gays aren’t going away! Read the rest of this entry »

Isn’t he cute? I haven’t done video editing in a while. This was worth losing sleep over. We’re almost at half way– it looks like Sam’s going to get his surgery!

My new friend Kristin just found out 1 week ago that her very best friend in the world, Sam The Poodle, has a medical condition, that if untreated will kill him. Sam is one year old, and her very best friend in the world!

PLEASE, go to his new site and make a donation. Every penny helps!
www.SavingSamThePoodle.com
I donated my resources to make a website to try and save his life. The procedure has to be done within the next two weeks, or Sam will start having seizures, and then die. It’s a special procedure that has to be done at the University, and it costs $2,500. People have already begun to donate, and every cent helps!

PLEASE, go to his new site and make a donation. Every penny helps!
www.SavingSamThePoodle.com

Some sick people out there say “Why bother? Why not just put him to sleep, and get a new dog?” These individuals would probably not donate a kidney to save their child’s life. Some people think a dog is just a dog. Some people are not dog people. Even if you’re one of these people , you can still help! After donating a photo shoot for the cause, I made some coffee mugs, a mouse pad, and a beer stein that are all cute and amusing. You can buy those, and that will send a few dollars towards the cause.

PLEASE, go to his new site and make a donation. Every penny helps!
www.SavingSamThePoodle.com

Kristin is so heart broken, and I don’t think she could stand losing this sweet soul that won’t go to sleep unless he’s on her pillow with his legs up in the air.
As a special bonus, anyone who donates over $10 will receive a Sam The Poodle screen saver that’s not available for sale anywhere! A $40 value! You’ll have many incredible photos to cheer you up and make you and your friends say “awwwwwwwwww!”

A second bonus, anyone who donates more than a dollar can know that they helped save a life! You can know that you’ve actually done something incredibly important!
FREE GOOD KARMA WITH EVERY DONATION!

Please please please! I beg of you, repost this, or e-mail it to everyone you know! This is extremely time-sensitive

Summary: Ori & Angela wake up at the glamorous Allegro hotel in Chicago, see the craziest things from the front lines, and show you many photos of this unique event.
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