Sweet!

I met with the photographer today. He was super nice and helpful! He gave me way more info than I expected from a potential competitor in just an hour; plus, he bought me lunch (although he did stand me up last week). Everything he said encourages me to move ahead and start on my own. I think I may have even made friends, it will be nice to know more people here. No further plans with him besides possibly getting together over the weekend (he said he gets bored and lonely while editing pictures all day, so he calls friends to come over and hang out). He suggested a couple web groups dedicated to pro-photography (one is in denver). I may be able to find jobs and pointers and whatnot there. He also gave me his secret marketing strategy...free and very productive...sounds good to me! So, I will be focusing on that for a while. Setting up an appointment with the attorney to get the LLC filed is next. Then designing my site, layout, theme, biz cards and all that fun stuff. Then a spending spree-computer software, hardware and camera gear. Then...I need to decide to rent the expensive gear for a while or buy right away. I could easily spend $5k+ on lenses alone (at least their resale value is rediculously high).

Assuming I can get some rest in the next couple days (although I don't feel sick, after 8hrs of rest I still feel lousy) we may go to Vail on Friday. The crazy weather is supposed to clear, it's only 2hrs away and we would like to see it before all of the snow is gone. That's right, snow in mid June! Driving down the main N/S highway you can clearly see lots of the white stuff in the Rockies, just past the foothills. It will also be a good opportunity to find some good driving roads. Julie and & I will be taking a motorcycle class soon! We have already done dirt, this time is street. It's in a parking lot, about 20hrs of instruction and includes a driving and written test. If we pass we can get our licenses with nothing more than $40 to the state licensing people...not the DMV, they're strange here. Please no hate mail regarding this. We know it's dangerous. We're smart and careful and taking a class. I will buy a bike if we like it and feel comfortable; otherwise, it will have been just a fun (hopefully) experiment. If we do go to Vail, there will be pictures posted (hopefully over the weekend). If anyone has been and has advise or suggestions on what to do there in the summer, please let us know!