Category: Personal

It has occurred to me over the past few years that I don’t know what a good day feels like. That is, with allergies, sickness, and the constant pouring of radiation upon me from the sun, I’m in a constant state of dying. I’m not getting more evolved or becoming something greater or more advanced, I’m dying. This isn’t to say that now I’m just distraught or don’t believe I can enjoy my life, but really it’s just a reality that we all have. As the saying goes, there is only two things we are sure of, death and taxes.

This week I was informed I have two ailments: sinusitis and tendinitis. Both of these have done a little number on my body and my wrist and don’t feel very nice in general. Especially sinusitis. Basically that means that I have chronic sinus infections, and if you’ve ever had a sinus infection, they just aren’t fun. Tendinitis on the other hand (no pun intended), means I can’t play guitar, drums, and type all day anymore, or at least as often. So I should make this post short before I get in trouble by my doctor. Simply put, I’ll never know a really good day until I get to heaven. There I will find no pain, no hurt, and no sin to which I can engage. When I mentioned this to someone at church they said, “Yeah, and we don’t know what a bad day feels like either.” How true is that?! The pain and suffering to which hell provides are greater than anything I can probably think of and anything that anyone has ever experienced on this earth. That’s definitely not something I want to be apart of and surely not something anyone should ever want to experience.

Finally, the words of Jonathan Edwards came to mind. His 10th resolutions reads:

Resolved, when I feel pain, to think of the pains of martyrdom, and of hell.

How could he think like that? I’m really not sure. But what I do know is that guy had his priorities in order. No matter how much pain I can experience on this earth, it will never come close to that of martyrdom for my faith and or the pain that hell brings. If you don’t know the Savior Jesus Christ, then please leave me a comment I’m happy to talk with you. You can also read about him in the Bible. Start in the book of John and read about his life, death, and resurrection for your sin. He did this to save you from eternal death and separation from God. To save you from the suffering of hell and provide you eternal life in heaven with Him. Which will be one really long (forever) and really good day.

As I mentioned two blogs ago, Bethany and I flew to Dallas, Texas to help some friends out with some photography and pretty much hang with a bunch of other friends (lots more details about those friends here). The above photos are like a preview of the shots I was able to grab while there.

Of late I have been receiving more phone calls and emails to come photograph events and portraits for people. It’s seriously fantastic! I just find it funny because I haven’t really “advertised myself,” so to speak. Sure, I put a little website up about engagement photos, and I talk to people about my photography, but it’s not something I have business cards and billboards for. Really, it’s something I just enjoy doing, and if I get paid to do that, well, that’s a huge bonus! But the reality is, I have advertised. It’s called Shaycam.com. If you’re reading this then you’ve definitely heard of it and I have been quite impressed by the feedback and response I have gotten from my blog. Just goes to show you how much our little world is changing. At the end of the day, you just can’t beat that “word of mouth” (aka blog) advertising. So thanks everyone for thinking of me when it comes to your photography needs. It’s a huge blessing for me because I love doing it. Maybe I can be a designer by day and photographer by night?

David Beckham in his first start with the L.A. Galaxy. He’s dangerous outside the 18 yard box! Another one for my love of soccer.

Search Youtube for other angles of this goal.

A Flower Girl Waits, originally uploaded by shaycam.

Flew to Dallas this weekend to help photograph a wedding and hang with some friends. I found this one as I was scouring my photos… more to come (soon I hope) !

Pretty stoked about this at the moment…
coming December 21, 2007

As some of you know, I spent nearly four years of my life working for Starbucks. I started there fresh out of high school and worked there the majority of my college days. When I first began with Starbucks I was trained on the history of the company, the culture of the company and why the company was what it was. I was paid better than my friends with minimum wage jobs, had the option of full benefits if I worked more than 20 hours, stock options, 401K, and they even gave me free coffee. For a new college student, the coffee part was probably the best perk! But my time at Starbucks was not just spent relaxing behind the counter. I worked hard. I believed in the vision of the company and what Starbucks stood for in it’s quality and customer service. As a employee it was my aim to grow the company and fulfill my duties regularly. My friends received earfull’s about how great Starbucks was and why you were a fool not to work there, at least as a side job. Yet over the course of those years something changed in the company. Something, at first, I really didn’t understand or could put my finger on. It seemed like they still held their standards in high regard, but at the same time my experience there was not the same. It was no longer fun to go to work… in fact, it wasn’t even fun to go there as a customer. My bosses kept getting weirder and weirder. It didn’t seem to matter whether I worked hard or not, the only concern they had was whether I showed up and if I could make a beverage that was pretty close to the standard. It wasn’t about a culture anymore, or even a work ethic, or even about coffee; it was about drive-thru’s, time limits, and speed. It was about relaxing on the standards and just waiting to clock out. But for me, that experience was about a year ago when I finally left the company to move on with my career. Graphic design and other ventures interested me more than coffee and so that’s the direction I went. Though there was a time when I seriously considered a career with Starbucks, I knew I couldn’t stay there anymore and continue under this new company they had created. So for the past year I have purposely watched Starbucks and the direction they are going. I have seen my stock drop to the lowest it’s been in it’s history, and furthermore I’ve been the recipient of some of the worst service in any retail business. That was until yesterday…

The thing is, I’m a Starbucks fan. I love a good Iced Tea Lemonade and Bethany loves her Caramel Macchiato. We might make our way over there a few times a month to grab our desired beverages and then be on our way. I do my best to keep my comments about the service to myself as I know the teenager behind the counter could care less about me and just wants to talk about his PS3 with his new older buddy, his boss; his boss who just got hired for his experience at McDonald’s. But yesterday was different.

For the first time in a very long time I was greeted warmly at the counter. A nice twenty-something named Dave was at the register waiting to take our order. I joked with him that I was bit tired on this lazy Sunday afternoon and he joked back that they could take care of that. I ordered the new White Tea Lemonade, and when he asked the size I course said, “Venti!” as if there was another size you could drink. He promptly wrote “WTL” in the drink box on the cup and passed the cup along to the girl who would be completing my drink. Yet while Bethany was ordering hers I noticed that my drink wasn’t being made properly. One of the best parts about being a previous employee is knowing when your drink is not being made to standard. So I quickly remarked, with a louder voice, “Can you just make sure she makes that in the shaker!?.” And this is where the story gets good. Our good man Dave quickly turned to me and said, “Absolutely, that’s way it should be made, that’s the standard!” It was like music to my ears! Then he followed that by saying, “You just got yourself a beverage on us, sorry about that, she should’ve made it correctly.” So we paid for Bethany’s drink and I couldn’t have been happier. Honestly, I couldn’t believe that Dave used the word “standard?” He could’ve said something else, but no, he said “standard.” A word I haven’t heard from a Starbucks employee in a while. But I watched Dave further. He walked over to the girl and re-explained to her that she needs to be making the drinks to standard. He was kind and firm, just as any good Starbucks “partner” (as they are called) should be. But stay with me, it doesn’t end there. Bethany and I received our drinks in under 3 minutes, which is the Starbucks standard, and found our way over to clean table in the lobby. After a few short minutes I noticed our new friend Dave coming around to pick the place up. He wasn’t in a hurry and he wasn’t trying to rush out the door as the next shift-lead was coming to take his place. Dave was actually taking his time, picking up straw wrappers from the ground. He put the used newspapers in the appropriate rack, swept the floor, refilled the condiment bar, fixed the merchandise on the walls, and even walked outside to repeat the process as needed. It was the picture perfect lobby clean up and spot on to standard. I spent the entire time there talking with Bethany about it and how we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. So we enjoyed our beverages for a while and left the place with a smile. Though I didn’t say it out loud there was only one thing left for Dave to do, and that was to clean the windows of the doors which get covered in hand and finger prints. And would you believe it, as Bethany and I were driving away there was Dave outside the door with glass cleaner and paper towels making the glass shine.

You see, Dave is the future of Starbucks. It’s guys like Dave that make my experience more enjoyable, that make Starbucks the “third place” that it was once was. Dave didn’t know I was watching him or even that I had any idea of knowing what he should be doing, but he was just doing his job. He was first taking care of me as a customer, and secondly taking care of the future customers in that store by taking care of the store itself and making sure it’s “like new.” It only took one employee to restore my faith in that company which I never thought could happen. Listen, I don’t know what the future holds for Starbucks, but as long as they keep hiring more Dave’s, my money is with them. So here’s to the future of Starbucks… May my drink be worth every $3.15 I spend on it.

More and more these days the pressures of joining any of a thousand different social networks is bearing upon me. I could choose from the craziness of MySpace, the security of Facebook, or even find something more specific that matches just perfect with my personality. All in all the point is to stay connected with people you may see regularly or maybe don’t see often at all. The concept is good, it’s just the execution that gets sticky at times.

Lately, I have had the joy of watching my wife join Facebook to keep up with some friends that we don’t see often. She created her profile, accepted a few friend requests, and onward into her networking she went. But that was only like a month or so ago. Now her network has grown significantly and people are pouring in to be her friend, “grow her garden,” “hug”, “tickle”, and even take quizzes to see how their personalities line up. Her email inbox poured in with updates from friends who are posting pictures, “writing on her wall,” and even showing updates of her friends who are becoming “friends” with other people. This might be a normal day for some people, but for my wife who just likes to see pictures and read a few short updates, I think it’s been a bit overwhelming. And that’s when I started doing some more thinking…

I have been following the phenomenon of “social networking” for the past few years now. I watch and read the news to see what people are getting into and what they are getting out of and how the culture has been changing due to this new way of staying in touch. In fact, it’s been interesting to watch and see how things turn out. For instance, I read an article about a year and a half ago from the creator of Facebook saying, “I want people to graduate from MySpace and join my community.” And as it turns out, more and more people are doing this. Facebook has grown in it’s popularity, especially in the past 6 months, and now MySpace will probably continue to try and reinvent itself to keep the flame alive. But there’s more to this then just a bunch of business “mumbo jumbo” and I believe it lies deep within the heart of every human being. That is the need for community.

Community is something every person deals with in their lives. It could be a simple as the community you live in or more personally your community of close friends. It could very well be the community you hang with on Friday nights, or even the community at your workplace. For some it’s the community in the military: Marines with Marines and Air Force with Air Force. For me it lies within my community at my church and the people I fellowship with. But it could be broader in the sense of saying that I am in community with all people who call Jesus Christ their Lord. Needless to say, community lies at the very core of who are. For Christians, like myself, we are called into community with one another by the Scripture. Christians need to meet together, pray together, worship together, and regularly do this because that is what God commands of us. God designed this thing called the Church, which is at it’s heart a community of Believers. And everywhere I go, when I meet a Believer, a fellow brother or sister in Christ, I am encouraged. I’m encouraged and happy to meet them because they share the same faith I do. The same goes for the Marines, who I mentioned earlier. When a Marine walks into a building and meets another Marine, they might be warmly welcomed and given a firm handshake. “Once a Marine, always a Marine” is their motto and it lives on with them wherever they go. As well this could include the local school system. There might be five high schools in an area, but you are proud to be called a “Bulldog” because that’s your school’s mascot and you’re a part of that community. So what’s the point? I’ve pointed out some places you might have community, but maybe no answer to the greater question of “why?” I believe the desire to be in community with others, whether online or in person, or in any way at all, comes from the God of the Bible. We have that desire to be with people and commune with them because that is part of the heart of God. A God who desires that all come to know his Son as their Savior and created a community for faith in Christ to grow. A place where people can get to know Him more and align their lives to His more. A place where the Scripture will be taught and the Church will be edified and continually pursue holiness. Community is where that will happen. No place else. The Church is an eternal community where people will, currently and in the future, live and worship together the God they love.

I wish I could take you back to a conversation Bethany and I were having last week about social networking. One thing we agreed was that people take this stuff way too seriously. Not that you don’t want to be serious in your online ventures, just that this isn’t what community is about. Community isn’t necessarily about how many friends you can have, or how many “walls” you can sign. Community is about people. People that care about the other people. Maybe these social networks are like a game, I don’t know. I just know you won’t find true community in this tangled web.

EvadeTheNoise.com, originally uploaded by shaycam.

Music is something I love. I grew up oldies, got stuck in a country phase, played in a few rock bands, and pretty much listen to everything now. I think Madonna said it best when she said, “Music makes the people come together.” Honestly I wouldn’t normally quote Madonna, but I think she’s right. Music does make the people come together. When I got to church on Sunday we sing. When I go to a concert, other people show up. And when I had an idea for a music review website… it brought some people together as well.

For the past 2 years my friend Abe and I have been working on a website dedicated to our love for albums, concerts, bands, and pretty much anything music. I think the idea popped in my brain when I didn’t want to blog on Shaycam about all the music and bands I love because I didn’t feel it was the purpose of Shaycam. But after a few conversations and a lot of thinking and planning our idea started to come to life. I must give Abe the credit for being the hands of this project as I’m not much of a web designer… I dabble. Abe on the other hand rocks the planet and knows lots of talented people and is highly gifted and talented designer.

So it is with great pleasure that I formally announce the launch of our “other” little space on the web. We hope you enjoy it and as well we hope it will be a resource for you when it comes to all things music. It’s called Evade the Noise and I think you’ll like it.

Hand and Ring, originally uploaded by shaycam.

I think I’ve said before that I’m not really one for posting a ton about the news to Shaycam, but I am finding that the more and more I read, the more I want to write about it.

In a recent article about a girl who lost a legal battle over a chasity ring I was actually surprised by the maturity of a statement the girl made. The girl claims to be a Christian and she has been trying to wear a “purity ring” to signify her abstaining from sex before marriage. Besides the fact that court in the UK (where the school is) ruled against her, I thought her statement was interesting. In her response about how she felt about the ruling she said

I believe the ruling will mean that slowly, over time, people such as school governors, employers, political organizations and others will be allowed to stop Christians from publicly expressing and practicing their faith.

Though we have no way of knowing if this will be true until that time comes, I honestly agree with her. Yeah, this might have happened in the UK where things are a little different then they are here in the U.S., but the point is it’s bound to happen here too. Coming from a teenager I actually thought her foresight was well founded. I’m not going to say whether she is being persecuted or not, but I am going to say that I think this is small but interesting issue and we’ll have to see what the future holds.

A Monument for Monuments, originally uploaded by shaycam.

Well it’s done. My Flickr photo set, complete with captions, is finished. There’s 101 photos for your viewing pleasure, so please go by my Flickr page and check it. We had a great trip back east and this is really just a taste of what are trip consisted of. There’s way too much to see while you’re in D.C. so taking pictures of everything would’ve been impossible for me.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy. Be sure and leave me comments and tell me what you think!

If you don’t have have the link you can click here!