It was six years ago today (we got married!)

On April 15, 1993, I was standing in line at the Bank of A&M in College Station, Texas, to transfer money from savings to checking to cover the check I was writing to the IRS later than afternoon.

Late that night, after packing the Mustang GT with 100 CDs, enough clothes for a one-week drive, and $5,000 in cash, I left for Canada to commit suicide. It wasn’t the IRS, although I have heard of the IRS driving people to death. Rather, it was sexuality—mine—which I couldn’t reconcile with my Mormon (mom) and Catholic (dad) upbringing. Thus, at the age of 38, I was going to choose suicide.

It’s a two-week story of how I wound up in San Diego, but I did…. And I stayed.

On May 26, 1994, I met Jim Frimmer at the Men’s Coming Out Support Group at the San Diego Center for Social Services. It was actually the gay and lesbian center, but even as recently as 1994 you couldn’t have a telephone number listed for anything “gay” or “lesbian.”

At that time I was working as a consultant in Detroit, Michigan. The company provided me with a free trip home once a month, and May 26, 1994, was my first trip home. We had dates on the 27, 28, and 29 before I had to go back to Detroit. After those three dates, we were pretty sure we were committed to each other.

In November 1995, after I had returned to San Diego permanently, we moved in together and commingled our finances and our lives—a common-law marriage, although not recognized as such since it was between two guys.

On July 31, 2004, we got domestic partnered (such an ugly term) when Domestic Partnership came to California.

Then, in May 2008, the California Supreme Court effectively made same-gender marriage legal in California with one of its rulings. Almost immediately, religious political extremists started gathering signatures for a voter referendum on “gay marriage” and succeeded in getting it on the November 2008 ballot. A week before the election, the polls weren’t looking good for same-gender marriage, so I asked Jim to marry me….

….and on October 30, 2008….

WE GOT MARRIED!
(legally)

The referendum passed, which meant that same-gender couples could no longer marry in California. But what about the 17,000 same-gender couples who had married in California between May and November 2008? Well, in May 2009, the California Supreme Court ruled that since those same-gender couples had married legally, their marriages would remain legal.

Religious political extremists sued to have them declared null and void, but they lost. Since that time same-gender marriage has been taking the United States state by state, and it’s only a matter of time before all 50 states recognize the love between two people of the same gender.

So happy anniversary to Jim Frimmer. Thank you for being a significant part of my life for over twenty years.

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My first Photographic Art sale to a Realtor

I had great success in March and April 2014 when I set up my first galleries at Fine Art America. Then, on April 27, I hired Julian Rey Saenz to help me with my Photographic Art. He cataloged thousands of files, uploaded hundreds of files to Fine Art America, and created a database of over 8,000 Realtors to whom we could market Photographic Art as close-of-escrow gifts.

Photographic Art, and thus Julian’s job, had been capitalized for six months. I thought we would easily have appropriate sales at the end of six months to keep the company capitalized into the future as far as we wanted to go. That didn’t happen, and I’m not really sure why. I still have some analysis to do there.

Yesterday, though, I sold my first Photographic Art to Thomas J. Nelson, a La Jolla & San Diego Realtor who is using it as a close-of-escrow gift. Thomas and I have been working together since 2004; I have been doing the home inspections for his buying Clients.

Thomas bought a 48″x6.75″ metal print of San Diego Panorama. Looks like this:

Click on the picture for a huger version, and then visualize that huger version (1200 pixels wide) as a metal print 48″ wide. That’s four feet! It’s going to be awesome!

Total cost, including shipping, was $126.49, and my profit was $23.26. Not much but it will buy half a tank of gasoline. More importantly, though, I have that first sale as a close-of-escrow gift, which allows me to do better marketing, i.e., marketing with a testimonial.

Now if I do some projections with those 8,000 Realtors in my database, all I need for first-year success is 50 Realtors to buy close-of-escrow gifts similar to that just once a month. That would allow me to continue to capitalize the company with ongoing sales, and those ongoing sales would allow me to do some very serious marketing, including keeping a small inventory to use as samples and emergency close-of-escrow gifts.

Julian got a job with one of our city politicians. Maybe after political season is over with, or during the spring when Julian will be playing high school tennis instead of working, I can hire him back and we can have another go at this.

With or without Julian, I can make this work. I’m going to go back to what I was doing in March and April and see what happens for the rest of the year.

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Get it in writing

Back in 1994 I met a Nevada attorney with whom I became good friends. We met in Detroit, Michigan, while working for the same company.

When he started a competing company in 1995, he asked me to come aboard as the CEO. He couldn’t match my current pay, so I didn’t go. At that time in my life, pay was everything.

He kept after me on a regular basis, and I volunteered many weekends to help create the infrastructure for his company. As his company grew, he kept asking me to work for him. I kept telling him that when he could match my salary, I was all his.

Finally, in March 1995, he said he could, and would, match my salary. My salary had grown substantially. He was shocked, but I gave him a pay stub as proof. He offered me the job and the salary. I gave two weeks notice and flew from Oakland, California, to Tampa, Florida, to begin my new job.

As his company acquired more Clients—specifically Clients in California and Nevada, he decided to move the company west. Since I was the CEO, I had some input into new headquarters, and we landed in my home town of San Diego.

During all my interactions with him, he kept promising me the world, and he kept delivering….

One of his promises was that if the company survived five years with me as CEO, I would get 5% of the company. As we came upon the four-year anniversary, he announced that he was dating one of our employees in Boston. At 4½ years, he announced his engagement. At 4 years and 11 months, he got married and they went to Europe on a 30-day honeymoon. When they returned, he announced that I was being let go and that his wife was going to be the new CEO. I had no employment contract because I trusted him immensely.

Life has been downhill ever since….

My only satisfaction with that story is that six months after they got married, they got divorced. Interestingly, even though he was an attorney with a net worth far in excess of hers, he had no prenuptial. She got $37 million, half of his net worth, in the divorce settlement.

Moral: Get it in writing.

I reached the pinnacle of my career in 1999-2000, and today I am at the bottom. I’m still trying but not really sure what I’m going to do, or how much longer I’m going to stick around….

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San Diego Historical Landmarks—#4: Presidio of San Diego site, part 1

San Diego Historical Landmark #4 is the site of the Presidio of San Diego.

San Diego Presidio Site
Soldiers, sailors, Indians, and Franciscan missionaries from New Spain occupied the land at Presidio Hill on May 17, 1769 as a military outpost. Two months later, Fr. Junipero Serra established the first San Diego mission on Presidio Hill. Officially proclaimed a Spanish Presidio on January 1, 1774, the fortress was later occupied by a succession of Mexican forces. The Presidio was abandoned in 1837 after San Diego became a pueblo.

Only ruins of the Presidio remain, simple bumps in the ground:

A walk around the surround grounds finds many items of interest, such as a statue of “The Indian” by Arthur Putnam (1873-1930)….

….a statue of “The Padre,” also by Arthur Putnam….

….and a hugemonstergiganticreallyreallybig cross made out of bricks:

Wouldn’t it be neat if we discovered that the bricks are from an old building in the area? Sadly, I could find nothing about the cross other than what is told on a plaque at the base:

In this ancient Indian village of Cosoy
Discovered and named San Miguel by Cabrillo in 1549
Visited and christened San Diego de Alcala by Vizcaino in 1602
Here the first citizen
Fray Junipero Serra
Planted civilization in California
Here he first raised the cross. Here began the first mission.
Here founded the first town, San Diego, July 16, 1769
In memory of him and his works. The Order of Panama 1913.

Just across the street from the ruins of the Presidio is the Junípero Serra Museum, one of the most familiar landmarks in San Diego.

The Junípero Serra Museum is often mistaken for Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá—indeed, for many years, I counted myself among the mistaken.

The Serra Museum was built in 1928-1929 for the purpose of housing the collection of the San Diego Historical Society (now named the San Diego History Center), which was founded in 1928. William Templeton Johnson was the architect and used Spanish Revival architecture to resemble the early missions that once dominated the Southern California landscape.

Following are three pictures from the Museum’s collection of the Museum in 1929:

Architect’s elevation drawing

Project completed

Dedication Day

Prior to the Great Recession, the Museum was open seven days a week. Now, sadly, it is open only on weekends.

There are other markers from the past, and I’m sure I missed some because they are located in strange places, places which probably weren’t so strange many decades ago. An example is this tree, possibly as old as the ruins:

See the crooked gravestone-like marker at the right of the trunk? Obviously I had to go see what it said:

Dedicated in memory of
Father Francisco Palou
Biographer of Fr. Serra

I also discovered a huge statue of a man on a horse:

The plaque on the base is in Spanish:

DONADO A LA CIUDAD DE SAN DIEGO
POR EL SEÑOR LICENSIADO
GUSTAVO DIAZ ORDAZ
PRESIDENTE DE LA REPUBLICA MEXICANA
NOVIEMBRE DE 1970

Wikipedia tells me that Gustavo Diaz Ordaz (1911-1979) was president of Mexico from 1964 to 1970. That, however, doesn’t explain anything about this statue and why it is there. Research for another day….

As I said earlier, the Junípero Serra Museum is open only on Saturdays and Sundays. I went a couple of weeks ago, and in my next posting about San Diego Historical Landmarks, I’ll take you inside the Museum. It’s quite beautiful and should not be missed if you make a trip to Presidio Hill.

The San Diego Presidio Site is also California Registered Historic Landmark #59. Considering that this is where California was founded, what 58 sites could be more important?

For the introductory blog post
to San Diego’s historical landmarks,
click on San Diego’s Historical Landmarks.

For previous posts in the
San Diego Historical Landmarks series,
go here.

 

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2015 Photographic Art Rose Calendar

I think I might have to do more than one rose calendar because I have billions and billions and billions of rose pictures.

Here’s the first one:

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Current list of calendar subjects:

Birds – done
Little Cats I – done
Little Cats II
Big Cats
Dogs
Wildlife Variety I
Wildlife Variety II
Sunrises & Sunsets
Orchids – done
Roses I – done
Roses II
Roses III
Hibiscus
Flower Variety I – done
Flower Variety II
Scenes from San Diego County
Railroads & Trains
Great houses (idea provided by a reader)
Stamps (pictures will be framed like stamps)

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2015 Photographic Art calendars—Flower Variety

Here is my first Flower Variety calendar:

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I thought I was only going to make one Flower Variety calendar but I simply have too many favorites, way more than 12. So I’m sure there will be a second Flower Variety calendar, and possibly even a third.

Current list of calendar subjects:

Birds – done
Little Cats I – done
Little Cats II
Big Cats
Dogs
Wildlife Variety I
Wildlife Variety II
Sunrises & Sunsets
Orchids – done
Roses
Hibiscus
Flower Variety I – done
Flower Variety II
Scenes from San Diego County
Railroads & Trains
Great houses (idea provided by a reader)
Stamps (pictures will be framed like stamps)

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2015 Photographic Art calendars—Little Cats

I made a calendar today featuring little cats, but I have so many great pictures of little cats that I’m thinking of doing one of two things: (1) make several calendars featuring little cats, or (2) letting people choose which 12 pictures of the little ones they want on their calendar. I’ll have to think more on #2 and figure out a way to make it easy to choose. I’ve found throughout life that if you give people too many choices, they just leave. Anyways….

Here’s my calendar featuring little cats:

 

Surprisingly, I haven’t found enough good pictures of butterflies to make a butterfly calendar. I know I have enough; it’s just a question of finding which directory they have been misfiled in….

Current list of calendar subjects:

Birds
Butterflies
Little cats
Big cats
Dogs
All other wildlife
Sunrises & sunsets
Orchids
Roses
Hibiscus
All other flowers
Scenes from San Diego County
Railroads & Trains
Great houses (idea provided by a reader)
Stamps (pictures will be framed like stamps)
More little cats

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Someone’s missing from Photographic Art

Sadly, Julian Rey Saenz is no longer with Photographic Art by Russel Ray Photos.

I had capitalized the company as a full-time enterprise for six months, and Julian was working 20-24 hours a week.

We couldn’t get the company to grow as fast as I wanted it to, so I have taken it to a part-time enterprise, which meant that Julian’s job was eliminated.

Of course, I need to find something that will pay the bills. I don’t know what that’s going to be right now. I just know that it can’t be home inspections because my 59-year-old knees and shoulders just don’t like crawling around under houses and up in attics anymore. The money I make from home inspections is being spent on aspirin and Ibuprofen to alleviate the pain. Hmmm. Maybe I should buy stock in the pain-killer manufacturers……..

I have every confidence that Julian will find his next great job very quickly. In my 48-year business career with 33 companies—most of them startups—and over 1,100 people hired, I would put Julian at the very top, number one with a star.

Never did I have to explain anything to Julian more than once. He has one of the best memories I have ever witnessed, is an extraordinarily good typist, and knows his way around computers, software, and the Internet. For those few things which he did not know, he learned very quickly, and his contributions were always clear and professional.

Thank you, Julian, for all that you did, and helped me do, and for simply being the AWESOME person you are.

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I think I like freeway art!

The first time I saw a freeway being built incorporating “public art,” I thought that the expense for incorporating the public art might better be spent on feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and healing the sick.

When I was in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago, I saw some beautiful public art being incorporated. Looked like this:

Apparently there are two major reasons for incorporating public art into the freeway structure, both of them having to do with graffiti.

First, it is more difficult for criminals to scrawl their graffiti on the surface when it isn’t smooth.

Second, apparently vandalizing public art is a more serious crime than vandalizing public property, so criminals who scrawl graffiti on this public art get put away for a much longer time with a bigger ding in their bank account.

Hmmm. I think I like freeway art!

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She was the sweetest docent ever!

If you made a request for a calendar page or a stamp and you have not received yours yet, have no fear. Demand was greater than I expected! I’m still working through them, so bear with me.

If you haven’t requested a calendar page or a stamp, why not? They are

For instructions on making a request, see these posts:

Free calendar page, any month, any year

Free stuff for my loyal readers

To see an actual sample of calendar pages created for readers, go here: 2015 Photographic art digital calendars are on their way

Meanwhile….

Here is Photographic Art of a little sweetie from a home inspection a couple of days ago:

The property I was inspecting had four structures on it. She met me at the front door of the first one, and then walked me through it, out the back door to the next one, and on and on. Once we finished mapping out the structures and the interior rooms, she determined that her job was done and she went outside and sat there by the fence until I finished. As I gathered up my tools and ladders, she got up to say goodbye and went back inside.

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