Giving Project:Follow up

21 Pairs of Shoes

"Alright Alright, I'll set down the camera, the computer and the phone to make some time."
That's what I had to finally tell myself when I hadn't spent the remaining $800 from the money I won at The Long Beach Giving Project. So its finally been done! I have a little over $200 left, but plenty ideas for that sum. Here's what I did with the most recent $600.
Thanks to team work from my Intern Emily and of course some savvy shoe shopping from my girlfriend Audrey. I was able to help out 2 great organizations inside Long Beach. I found out the greatest need from each shelter and tried to match it.

Here's what I bought:

•21 Pairs of Kids Shoes (either Black or white for their school uniforms, sized to fit each individual child)
•22 Pairs of Boys Socks
•12 Bras (MUCH Needed we were told)
•6 Outfits for little boys up to age 12.
•25 Pairs of boys underwear
•15 Pairs of Women's Panties.

So there you have it, nearly finished with the giving and I'm having fun!
Someone wise once said at dinner tonight... "The happiest people in the world are those that give of themselves" Eddie said that, I think he may have been quoting my mom, because I can't tell you how many times I've heard something similar to that coming from her.
Anyways, I think they are both right.

Individually labeled to the correct size. (Good work Audrey)

Audrey at "New Life Beginners" dropping off the shoes.

Jonathan had to open the door and tell us his little brother was sleeping, so quite down.

Off to the next stop!

Amazing lobby

Goretty is my main contact at the Domestic Violence Resource Center

Big thanks to Audrey Armada,Emily Durand,Justin Rudd from C.A.T for putting the giving project on,Target for giving a 10% discount to the cause and big big thanks to The Domestic Violence Resource Center (Goretty) and the New Life Beginners (Bonnie)

Do you want to chip in to help too?
Here's the #'s:
Domestic Violence Resource Center
562.437.7233

New Life Beginnings Inc.
562.590.1538

Both of which are in downtown Long Beach.

McCain is a pain

McCain and his crew are annoying and immature. They see their campaigns future ending alot sooner then they had hoped. Not only did McCain leave his wife when she was bed ridden, checkout a little more dirt on Mr.McCain the pain.

...only a few news outlets, like the Phoenix New Times in Arizona and the National Journal, have run an Associated Press story reporting McCain's 1998 joke suggesting that Chelsea Clinton was ugly and that Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton were lesbians.

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" McCain said at a GOP fund-raiser in Washington. "Because Janet Reno is her father."

...

If McCain has had trouble keeping his story straight, he has enjoyed a charmed life with the national media. Besides largely ignoring McCain's anger issues, the media have run few details of McCain's bouts with malignant melanoma, a deadly form of cancer that can spread quickly throughout the body, and have rarely cited a litany of inappropriate comments by McCain over the years.

...


A July 5 NewsMax.com article quoted former Sen. Bob Smith, a New Hampshire Republican who served with McCain on the Senate Armed Services Committee, as saying, "I have witnessed incidents where he has used profanity at colleagues and exploded at colleagues . . . He would disagree about something and then explode. It was incidents of irrational behavior. We've all had incidents where we have gotten angry, but I've never seen anyone act like that."

...

Democrat Paul Johnson, the former mayor of Phoenix, saw McCain's temper up close. "His volatility borders in the area of being unstable," Johnson has said. ""Before I let this guy put his finger on the button, I would have to give considerable pause."

"I think he is mentally unstable and not fit to be president," former congressman LeBoutillier said.

Is that who you want running our country for the next term? Naww, I didn't think so... I just wanted to share that with you.

•Who's ready for another 4 years of same old same old?
•What has McCain done positive, besides serve our country well WAY back in the day.
•95% of the time he voted identical to George Bush. So unless you like what Bush has done. Vote Obama '08.
•I'll tell you why I like Obama in a little bit...but for now, I need to strengthen our economy and do some work... then buy some stocks.


Want more info about psycho McCain? HERE

Who Awards the Nobel Peace Prize Anyway?

Have you heard the story about the runner-up for the Nobel Peace Prize?
Irena Sendlerowa
1910-2008: May 12 marked the death of a 98-year-old lady named Irena.

During WWII, Irena received permission from the Nazis to work in the Warsaw ghetto as a plumbing/sewer specialist.
She had an ulterior motive...
Being German, she knew the Nazis' plans for the Jews and smuggled infants out in the bottom of the large tool box she carried. Larger children were placed in a burlap sack in the back of her truck. Also in the back was a dog that she had trained to bark each time the Nazi guards allowed her out of the ghetto and back in.
The soldiers, of course, wanted nothing to do with the dog, and its barking covered any noise made by the infants and small children. Irena managed to smuggle out approximately 2,500* children before she was finally caught... on 20 October 1943, she was arrested at her home. She was taken to the notorious Gestapo headquarters in central Warsaw and tortured. During the sessions they broke her legs and feet but she refused to reveal any names.

"I still carry the marks on my body of what those 'German supermen' did to me then. I was sentenced to death" Irena Stated

But her colleagues "managed to foil the plan after they bribed a Polish-speaking German officer with a large backpack full of dollars. On the drive to her execution site the officer knocked her unconscious. He stopped the car and left her bleeding on the roadside...The following day, unaware the execution had not taken place, the German authorities put up posters all over the city announcing she had been shot..."

Irena kept a record of the names of all the children she smuggled out of that Warsaw ghetto and kept them in a glass jar buried under a tree in her back yard.
After the war, she tried to locate any parents who may have survived so she might reunite the child with its family. Most, of course, did not survive the Holocaust, and the vast majority of the surviving children were placed in foster homes or adopted.



Last year Irena was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but she lost to Al Gore, who won the award for presenting a slide show on Global Warming. Heartwarming, isn't it???

Oh Al Gore, its not your fault that you won. You did do a good thing in telling everyone how hot it is outside. Its not your fault that you beat out a women that had her Arms and legs broken to save 2500 helpless little children in the most wretched war of recent memory... Al, if you actually did deserve that award, you would drop that Nobel Peace prize off at the Museum at Auschwitz, dedicate it to Irena and get that burden off your shoulders, who wants to be the person that steals the award from one of the most amazing humans that ever lived? At this point... no one thinks you deserve it. -Sincerely Samuel

MY Question is: Who awards "The Nobel Peace prize"?? They have obviously switched judges since Mother Tereasa,Nelson Mandela and MLK received the award.

In memory of Irena Sendlerowa

* Oscar Schindler saved 1200
*Thanks Rita for bringing this to my attention.

Camping v2

Alright, its only fair I drop some more shots from the WA. camping trip
So here you are!

Camping setup- Orcas Island

Tree Jumping

Jo-Dilly doing some sort of wild jump.

Canoing to the next jump.

65' jump. Now we're talking.

I'm like Uncle Rambo to those kids.

Lippke/Fairbanks family

Campfires are a necessity.

Kaden and I ridin the ferry

My parents

My lady and I.

Glory, my little sis!

Jo-Dilly, he's moving here!!

Ira and I hovering.

Being a Bridesman

I had the honor of being apart of Heather and Eric's wedding. Heather and I have been friends for many many years, shes like my sister, we tell eachother darkest secrets and boost up eachother whenever one of us needs it. We laughed together at how much we've talked about her wedding, even before Eric and her were dating. It was a surreal and amazing day, I'm so happy for them booth!
Here's a quick shot of Heather,Yvonne,Lauren,Erin and I.
I'm still so honored that Heather would pick me to represent her friends and favorites.
Knowing that Heather and Eric are my neighbors make me stoked too! I'm excited to knock on their door for sugar, or butter, you know the neighbor baking necessities.

Love you guys. Mr and Mrs. Eric & Heather Trine

Heather's wedding day!

Photo: Ira Lippke

I'm so behind on my blogs!

This is the Love Family. My parents and siblings are in this shot, before I was born.

I'm about to buckle up and start some serious blogging.
Finally have all photos from SF & Seattle.
Heather and Eric are married.
Olympics are over.
Ralph's leaving for Iraq.
Obama Choose his Running mate.
I Choose a suit.
I have some slick shots from my nite Helicopter shoot.
Oh and Another Rock N' Reconstruct shoot on the way!
My little brother Josiah is moving in with me for a few months while he gets on his southern California feet.
So much to say, so stay tuned(or logged in)!!!

Helicopter Shoot

Another flight. A few hundred more pictures. More desire to become a pilot myself.
Here is what inspires me.
I'm off to the gym to work on my future Pilot's body.
BAM!

The Skyroom (tonight)

Shot of the Week (8.20.2008)

When I noticed the neon pink paint on the sidewalk and then quickly noticed these gold shoes about to walk by I set up quickly. I'm happy with how it turned out. I love the colors. I do wonder what the neon paint coding means... any ideas?
Shot with my Canon 5D,28mm lens @ 1.8 iso250.)

Back from SF

San Francisco.

I'm back!
It was a fun weekend.
The road trip was select.
My beautiful girl, her hilarious and fun sister and I drove to SF to visit their aunt and uncle.
I had heard so much about this dynamic duo that I just had to meet them for myself! It was worth the drive, Uncle Phil is a stud (plus a laser scientist) Maggie is quite the cook and host. I look forward to going back.

We spent Saturday downtown SF, ate some legit Chinese food, I bought a suit, shopped at weird spots in the China district, rode the BART and drank Kombucha while walking through San Francisco's misty air.

So back to reality now.
I haven't sorted the pictures yet...so give me a few hours to post those... I'll put them on this post though.

Things to do for the day include but aren't limited too:

•Get Heather and Erics photos printed
•Buy $600 worth of socks, shoes,underware and bras for the women's shelter at Target.
•HairCut at 3:30 (Ceasar Pacheco does it right)
•Car to the shop
•Order a few postcards(A few hundred I mean)
•Finish adjusting a wedding, send it to be uploaded.
•Manage Studio (Albums,emails,Slideshows, Websites,Proof Mags,Postcards,Equipment,ect...)
•Get geared up for tomorrow's helicopter shoot.
•Meeting at 7:30
•Meet up W/Ralph for dinner...my best friend is leaving for Iraq!!?? I hate this war.

Later for now!

Mark Spitz and The Infamous Stache

The best swimmer that ever lived had a mustache (and he didn't wear a swimming cap.) Now that's a Champion!
Mark Spitz has the record for most Gold Medals by one person in a single olympics. He has 7.


Want to know how he did it?
read on....


Iconic Mustache During Olympics

In an era when other swimmers, male and female were shaving body hair, he swam with a mustache. When asked why he initially grew one he stated

"I grew the mustache because a coach in college
said I couldn't grow one."

Spitz said he originally grew the mustache as a form of rebellion against the clean-cut look imposed on him in college. “It took a long time to grow,” he said. It took four months to grow, but Spitz was proud of it, he decided the mustache was a "good-luck piece."

Mark Spitz is quoted as saying,

"When I went to the Olympics, I had every intention of shaving the mustache off, but I realized I was getting so many comments about it--and everybody was talking about it--that I decided to keep it. I had some fun with a Russian coach who asked me if my mustache slowed me down. I said, No, as a matter of fact, it deflects water away from my mouth, allows my rear end to rise and make me bullet shaped in the water, and that's what had allowed me to swim so great. He's translating as fast as he can for the other coaches, and the following year every Russian male swimmer had a mustache."

When he was asked why he shaved it off he responded "well, one - I'm not swimming anymore, two - it started to turn gray, and three - my wife had never seen me, nor my family, without the mustache... I'm happy [without it]."

(Straight from wikipedia, thanks Phelps, Jon Phelps that is.)

I'm all for Michael Phelps breaking the record for most GOLD, but can he do it without the Stache???

USA vs. Greece

Lebron James rising for a dunk against Greece

I'm in love with our USA Men's basketball team. "The Redeem Team" as they've been dubbed are rolling strong to a GOLD medal. Its an exciting time to be a basketball fan.
Last night, (or this morning rather) they took down a very strong Greek team by a score of 91-69. Another game closer to the shiny gold medals.
Dazzling dunks, great shooting and like I said before... an All Star cast... Our guys are just having fun over there.

Next Game: Vs Spain...lets see what you men can do... Kobe vs. Pau. This will be an extremely good game to watch... I'll be watching a Hi-Res replay on nbcolympics.com

Keep it up men!

Kobe Bryant receives and finishes an Alley-oop

Kobe Bryant enjoying another win.

Kobe Bryant making an entrance

Kobe Bryant watching Michael Phelps win another gold.

Lebron James "checking out" the swimmers

The Redeem Team