I finally got to see JD play and it wasn't his best performance but most of it was bad luck.  His team committed two errors in the first inning and they were down 3-0 early. Later in the game, there was an inning where every ground ball was finding a hole through the infield.  Just one of those days.  He didn't get a decision but the team eventually lost the game late.  He has one more start and his season will be over as the team will not make the playoffs.  There is always next year.

I spent Saturday getting the yard cut and some mulch down before the rain came in.  I still need at least one more yard of mulch to finish up but that will have to wait until later this week as the next couple nights we have clients in the afternoon and evening.

Yesterday I spent time learning how to record audio on my new Zoom H6 audio recorder.  I intend to use it to record sound for my DSLR videos.  My next audio purchase will be a Sennheiser wireless lav mic set up so I can rig a person up and record audio from them wirelessly to the audio recorder.

Well, shortly after yesterday morning's post, my day went to hell in a hand basket.  I received an email from our tax preparer that the IRS rejected our electronic submission of our tax return because some ASSHOLE had already filed a return using my social security number.  I hate thieves.  Honestly, if I found the person who did it, and it were a guy, I'd cut his balls off.  Seriously.

So, on a day that I had a big report due at work and a  photo shoot in the afternoon, I had to find time to go to the tax preparer's office to get a copy of my return to mail in along with an affidavit to submit saying I was a victim of identity theft, then get it signed by Jodi, who didn't get off work until 6:00pm and get it post marked by midnight.  My photo shoot ended near 8pm so I headed home, had Jodi sign, got copies of our drivers licenses to submit with it to prove who we were and then ran downtown at 9:30pm to find that the PO closed at 9pm.  I was just going to put them in the mail box when a worker leaving, and who was heading to another site, said she would take them for me so they would get postmarked on the 15th.  I guess it really didn't matter too much as we were getting a refund but I didn't want the ASSHOLE to prevent me from meeting my obligation.

This is all because Anthem got hacked and since they are affiliated with Blue Cross and we have BC insurance, they got my SSN.  I guess I'll be joining a class action lawsuit in the near future.  I had to call and put an initial fraud alert on my credit report and then run my credit report to see if there was any suspicious activity.  Fortunately there has not been but I'm sure my SSN is being sold multiple times to ASSHOLES around the globe.

We could prevent ASSHOLES from doing this if we would just implement a flat tax.  We could do away with the IRS and all of this theft and fraud by ASSHOLES.  Lucky me gets two years of free credit monitoring and credit repair services if needed.  Big deal. 

Did I mention these people are ASSHOLES?


ASSHOLES! 

We have four photo shoots scheduled in the next 6 days.  The last minute procrastinators are in panic mode and as always, we will get them what they need, by their deadline.  Maybe we should raise our prices for April/May sessions!  :)

Weather permitting, I am going to get to see JD pitch for the first time this year on Friday.  I'm having to leave work early that day to do it but it may be my only remaining chance to see him this season.  He informed us yesterday that he has already signed his scholarship paperwork for next year so all of his college costs are covered for next year as well.  Woot!

We just submitted an order for 10,000 magazines that detail the senior portrait experience with us and will be distributed at area high schools we are targeting.  It's an investment in building brand recognition and getting information to students in the schools where our studio may not be well known, yet.  We are primarily going after the schools in districts where the students come from more wealthy families. 

Wow!  We went to our tax preparer thinking we would owe several thousand in income tax.  Turns out we are getting a pretty big refund.  We re-invested quite heavily in the business with the new dressing room, bought some gear and spent quite a bit on marketing and that certainly helped.  It was quite a surprise to hear that when you are expecting to pay.  I would have been quite happy to hear that we were break even. 

JD pitched well on Saturday, going 6 innings while striking out 5 and allowing one earned run.  Unfortunately, he was removed from the game with the score tied 1-1 and the relief pitcher who started the seventh loaded the bases and then plunked the hitter, forcing in the winning run.  JD gets another no decision and the team was swept in the three game series.  His tricep in his throwing arm has been bothering him, a recurrence of the tendinitis that has been limiting him the last few years. 

This afternoon, Jodi and I have an appointment with our tax preparer to see what we owe the Feds.  Yippee!  The write-offs will greatly reduce what we owe but it's still going to sting.  Gotta support the 47% out there who don't have to pay anything at all I guess.

We have three photo shoots scheduled in the next 8 days and we have hundreds of images from our photo conference to go through which will keep us busy at least until the end of this month.  We're getting ready to send an order to our printer for 10,000 twelve page booklets that we will be distributing at the affluent high schools in our area as well as mailing some to the seniors we have addresses for.  Jodi did a great job designing it and I wrote all of the verbiage for it so it was a good team effort.

Jodi and I had a great time in St. Louis the past 4 days.  We are both a little worn out but it was an awesome experience for the both of us and we can't wait for next year's event.

We left before dawn on Monday morning and arrived downtown around 10:15am, which gave us time to park and get to the hotel lobby which was the meeting place for the group shoot I had set up.  The event I created was prior to the start of the conference the following day but we wound up with 20 photographers and 6 models.  I divided us all up into groups and we went our separate ways, meeting up every half hour or so to swap models.  It was a fun shoot as we shot around Busch Stadium, the old Courthouse and some city buildings.  We finished on the roof of a parking garage and used the Gateway Arch as a backdrop. 

Later that day, after we registered and checked in to our hotel, we went to Forest Park and joined another photo shoot at the Jewel Box. There, we photographed about 6 more models before heading back to Union Station and spending some time socializing in the bar and eating Imo's Pizza.  We met a photographer from Tennessee earlier that day and spent quite a bit of time with him throughout the conference.   I shared with him some of our successes and gave him some ideas to consider incorporating.  He said one of the ideas I gave him was worth the entire trip to St. Louis for him. 

The next morning was the kickoff of the conference and it was an inspiring two hours of fun and information.  We then headed out to our first classes of the day. I went to a studio lighting class and Jodi went to a photo retouching class to see if she could pick up on anything new.  She did and was glad she went. 

We spent the balance of that day and the next shooting, going to the trade show and even got up early on our departure day to photograph more models after the conference had ended.  We were able to pull out of the hotel parking lot around 10:30am and headed West. We stopped at my mother's house for a visit, taking her a Lion's Choice roast beef sandwich, which she had not ever had and she liked it.  I opted for my White Castle lunch and it was mighty tasty. My brother Doug stopped by while we were there and we had a short visit with him prior to him heading out to run his errands.  After leaving my mom's, we went to meet Jodi's step dad who had Jayson's Easter presents for us to take home.  A new Molina shirt and some candy found their way home with us and Jayson enjoyed getting them.

All in all it was a great trip and the images we were able to get are going to be fantastic.  I found  it awesome to work with models, who moved at every click of the shutter versus having to instruct them what to do like we have to do with our seniors.  I also decided on about $8000 worth of new gear for the studio, thanks to the trade show!  At this time, Jodi has only approved about $2500 of it so I'll be working on her a bit as these next few months pass.  The video class I took has inspired me to really dig in and learn how to shot and edit video.  Big things coming ahead for us. 

Only a couple more days and I'll have 7 days off work to relax, get some work done and do some learning.  St. Louis is going to be a blast as we get to learn and shoot for the better part of 3 full days.  The weather could be a bit iffy it appears but we will make do with what we are given.

A real vacation will be here soon.  We are going to get to go to Las Vegas for the first time, revisit Sedona and the Grand Canyon and then head over to San Diego for a few days.  It should be a fun and relaxing time for all of us.