Hello Austin!

I've been here just barely over 24 hours and already there's been two Flaming Dr. Peppers and one "fish couch" involved.

I'm here for the iStockalypse event and to be quite honest, I'm *still* recovering from last week in Ojai, CA (and not in the good happy way either). You'll notice there were no pictures. Pictures would have required going outside and being in somewhat of a Recreational Mode, and that, my friends, didn't happen. I didn't even go out to dinner :(

For seven days straight, I was locked inside a sound booth for hours on end and 16 hour days. If I wasn't in the sound booth, I was at the hotel writing scripts and preparing visuals. I can honestly say, that my first Lynda.com video training recording experience proved to be the most challenging week of my professional life. However, I learned a lot about video training which will make me a much better teacher. I also created a title about working with images that has been needed by the masses for many years. So hip hip hooray! Can't wait till it hits the shelves and starts selling :)



However, for the moment, I'm headed to 6th Street for a cocktail :)

Meeting my very own Guitar Hero

You know, even as I type this I still can't believe it, but yesterday I met Megadeth. M-E-T met. As in made eye contact with, had a conversation with, exchanged laughs with kinda MET. This was merely my second Personal Rock Star Encounter and I'm not exaggerating when I tell you I thought I was going to throw up. No joke. Ask Shawn, he was there (and got some great pictures). The anticipation, the shock because it all came about so suddenly, the fear of possibly not being able to form words (I could only squeak when I met Billy Squire years ago--he had to ask me if was okay), I mean *everything*. I was shaking like a leaf.

As with most things one gets extremely worked up about, it was over at warp speed. When the band took their seats and were ready, Dave Mustaine looked at me like, "Are you going to come over here?" Then he looked into my eyes and said "Hi." I almost went down. I smiled and said "Hi," and somehow goaded my legs into action and walked two steps over to him. My husband Shawn had convinced me it'd be cool/memorable/incredibly geeky to bring along my XBox Guitar Hero II guitar for the band to sign, so I did. Although, I had it in the same carrying case as my real guitar. FYI, I actually received an encore for Hangar 18 at medium difficulty two days after starting to play the game.

:::bows graciously::::

I digress. So I take two steps toward Dave, he's looking at me (obviously he's tired, he seemed a little grumpy which made me even more terrified--and he's just so intense!), and I told him that the band is just amazing, he said thank you, and then I said that I brought my guitar for them to sign. He watches me unzip the case and move the real guitar aside, and haul out the Guitar Hero II. He started laughing, smiled beautifully (see above picture of beautiful smile--I'm responsible for that!) and said he hadn't actually played the game but heard it was a lot of fun. The rest of the band started laughing and smiling and each said it was totally awesome that I played the game and had the guts to bring it. I chatted with Glen Drover (guitar) and we agreed that only a chick could have pulled that off. The bassist, James LoMenzo was especially nice and friendly (he smiled the whole time--he must be new--grin). Shawn Drover, the drummer, definitely wins the award for the Most Brooding Rock Star.

I told them I caught their show in Uncasville, CT earlier in the week, they seemed pleased and asked if I had a good time. I gushed "YES YES YES" and then POOF. It was all over.

I was still shaking two hours later.

What's really weird, is that today I got an email from the Megadeth Fan Club guy, asking if I ever received my club package for 2006 (they were a couple of months late shipping it so I wrote saying I'd never received it). I wrote back and told him that I did, and related the above story and included a link to Shawn's pictures. He writes back saying that he designed the Megadeth MegaFan t-shirt I was wearing and that it was so cool to see his design in the pictures. He also said he was in the process of redesigning Megadeth.com.

:::::gulp--those that know me, know what's coming next::::

I *fired* back an email telling him that I just happened to be chief evangelist for the most fabulous stock imagery company on the planet (iStockphoto) and that if he needed any graphics to let me know. He writes back saying he can't believe I'm with iStock, that he bought a bunch of images for the new site just last week, bla bla.

I'm reading all of this sitting cross-legged in the floor at LAX and I am not believing my eyes. I mean, how weird is this?! Is this The Week of Megadeth, or what? I proceeded to pop some free credits into this guys account in exchange for an iStockphoto logo/link on the Megadeth site. He said he'd let the band know that the "Blonde Guitar Hero Girl" was supplying the band with imagery.

HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!

Sometimes, it really does seem like we live on a very, very small planet.

BTW, while I was hanging out at Vintage Vinyl I bought the new Tool CD which absolutely rocks. My favorite song is The Pot. For some reason, Tool isn't on iTMS yet. I also picked up Megadeth's Live from Buenos Aires DVD which I watched on the plane today. Once in my rental car, I plugged in my Griffin iTrip and bright red nano my loving husband bought for me this past Xmas and listened to Megadeth's new album, United Abominations, for about the 20th time. I so love this band.

It's been a very surreal week!

I get to meet Megadeth!

Well, so much for being able to concentrate on work today. I just got a call from long-time Your Mac Life listener (and iStockphoto exclusive contributor), Charles Silvey. He's arranged for me to meet The Most Amazing Metal Band of All Time tomorrow afternoon!

:::::dances around house:::::

His buddy owns Vintage Vinyl in New Jersey (about an hour and a half from Westport), and he's arranged for me to be their special VIP guest to meet Megadeth during a signing for their new album, United Abominations, tomorrow at 2:00 pm.

:::::dances around house:::::

I can get *two* things signed, plus have a picture made with them!!!

:::::dances around house:::::

WOO HOO!

:::::throws devil horns:::::::

WOOO HOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Gotta go and wash my official Megadeth Fan Club t-shirt :)

Heavy metal heaven!

Okay, headbanging is hard work! I am *so* fracking exhausted. I can barely move my neck or lift my arms (one must work hard for encores!).

Last night Shawn and I went to the Heaven & Hell concert in Uncasville, CT. Shawn wasn't supposed to go, but another friend bailed at the last minute (stomach virus) so he got nominated. Luckily, I had an extra Megadeth concert tee from their Dallas show a few years back (where yet another one of his friends bailed on me--fracking boys, I swear). With the promise of a nice dinner at the Mohegan Sun Casino and a trip to Tim Horton's after the show, Shawn agreed to let me dress him and not to whine too much.

We taped a pretty funny "Trash Talk" episode on both the drive up and back. You can download it from the iTunes Music Store if you'd like. Actually, Shawn took some great pics and video himself. Click this link to visit his page of pictures and video. He got some great quality captures with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ3 (much better than I did!).

The show was *amazing* but Megadeth's set was way too short. The concert opener, Machine Head, sucked in my humble opinion--just a bunch of screaming. Black Sabbath was shockingly good and I was happy to see that age seemingly hasn't slowed them down a bit; they still belt out hard, grinding and gloriously dark metal. Ronnie Dio is such a great match for them and he was wonderfully theatric throughout their whole set. Click this link to see the photo gallery. I was able to capture several videos of the concert with my little Canon PowerShot SD40 (audio quality is terrible, I was right next to the speaker which explains the loss of hearing in my right ear). Click this link to download a great video of Dave Mustaine in action (3.7 mb). Email me if you're interested in seeing the 8 or so others ;)

I also captured a video of Black Sabbath for your viewing pleasure (27.8 mb--it's an entire song).

The Mohegan Sun Arena was really nice and a great venue for a concert. We got great parking in a garage for no extra fee, there are a ton of great (though pricey) restaurants inside, lots of bars, and some fantastic architecture and design (even a floor to ceiling Chihuly installation). It's a great place to go with someone who doesn't *want* to go into the concert with you, as you could easily leave them at the casino which is about 20 steps from the arena entrance.

Godsmack is playing this Sunday. I wish I didn't have to fly to California :(

America on fire

I arrived in Orlando the other day to teach at the CRE8 Conference (otherwise known as the Adobe Acrobat & PDF Conf). During the flight, it looked like half the continent was on fire! Every morning when I leave my room, the air is thick with the smell of smoke. It's very odd and makes me crave roasted marshmallows.

This is a relatively small conference, maybe 400 or so are here. The coolest thing was that Al Gore was our keynote speaker! He talked for about 2 hrs yesterday and it was really a neat experience. He was very funny and truly a good speaker, just as I'd heard. He made jokes about losing the presidential race ("There's winners and losers and that little known third category...") and jokingly bragged about his powers on Apple's board ("In Keynote 3, they took out the ability to make things bounce. I liked that. Now it's back..."). Then he did the environmental talk complete with up to date information on what all these fires are doing to the atmospheric carbon levels. Pretty scary stuff! Everyone was scrambling afterwards to calculate their own personal carbon emmissions.

They've got us at the Disney Coronado Springs Resort, which has some beautiful architecture and a honkin' big lagoon which I pass each day on the way to the convention center (this picture is the little pool right outside my room). The weather has been perfect and warm enough for mini-skirts (thank Thor because I didn't pack any pants!).

More soon... I'm off to teach people how to communicate with imagery :)

A day with the Yankees

Shawn's birthday was coming up fast and I after much searching on the vast Internet ("it's just a series of tubes...") I actually found him an English Bulldog puppy. Unfortunately, I didn't have the guts nor the cold hard cash to actually buy it (I'm a bit of a commitment-phobe, plus Puppies of Westport wanted $3,200 which I thought was steep unless the dog actually makes coffee and performs other such butler services).

In a rare moment of brilliance, I decided to take him to a Yankees game (click the picture to see the whole photo gallery). The tickets were really overpriced but we'd never been and it would be an experience soon not to be repeated (they're building a new stadium). Within two minutes of buying the tickets online and printing the PDF I had to tell him, and he was as excited as I'd hoped. We made a day of it, doing the stadium tour at 1:00 pm, drinking at a pub across the street until batting practice, and then finally settling in for the 7:00 game. We loaded up with Yankees logo gear (it was kind of cold so my sweatshirt purchase was justified!) and had a fantastic time. I got into yelling for Jeter every time he stepped up to bat (he is very handsome, after all) and I joined everyone else in booing (is that a word?) the umpire who made a terrible call at 2nd plate. Unfortunately the Yankees lost but we'll be back--in some slightly cheaper--seats soon.

FYI, I wore my Yankees sweatshirt to the airport the next day and I *swear* people were nicer to me!!!

Visiting Mount Vernon

During a trip to DC this past weekend to do a preso at Washington Apple Pi (a Mac User Group), Shawn and I got to visit Mount Vernon. I'd never visited George Washington's home before and had no idea what to expect; and wow, I was shocked at both how much there was to see and how spectacular it was. Click on the photo above of me in "macro mode" or the beautiful daylily below (both shot with a Canon Rebel XTi) to see the photo gallery. Some of the flowers in this formal garden were planted by George himself!

Over the weekend we stayed at Pat & Ron Faquet's home, whom we've known for many years, and happily they wanted to trot out to George's house with us. This is a shot of them below in Ron's new convertible. If you like the photo effect, be sure to check out this week's tutorial on how to create a "Lensbabies" photo effect. It's really a selective blurring technique that accentuates a certain portion of a photo. Enjoy!