It snowed all day. The roads were extra slippery.  I passed on a  book signing in Hartford at the main library.  Because of my many accidents I don’t drive in bad condtions if I have to.  Next year I will have to overcome this as I must become relentless to sell 100,000 copies of thebook and make the movie.  Kyle worked on sending revised manuscript  to the book printer. This has corrections w/chapter 9. I will do a short run to check for mistakes.

I continued working on investment plan.  George called and had investment return template that I will incorporate on Friday into plan.

Tierney  and I began working on project business plan. We are about 75% done. As we put together the plan it gives me more clarity and accurate time frames to complete the project.  Yesterday I received quite a few positive texts, emails, calls and gifts for my birthday.  It’s crazy because I really don’t celebrate it.  But it’s positive because I know I have some caring, supportive people around…to me that’s worth more than gold. Debbie from Enchanted Destinations probably gave me one of my favotite gifts, a book  called Independent Feature Film Production by Gregory Goodell.  This book is awesome it gives you step by step  direction on how to make an independent film for all size budgets, with contact info. etc. etc.

Happy Birthday to me.  Today and my sister(twin) have another birthday.  Most people get excited about it.  I’ve even heard of someone taking a day off from work. They celebrate their existance on this earth.  I admire that…they truly appreciate the special gift they were given. For me unfortunately I look at it wrong.  I always ask have I done enough? Have I helped enough people? Have I accomplished enough?  Although Iv’e received prestigious awards and have been written up in magazines some people dream about…I’m never satisfied.  That is probably why I don’t have alot of this recognition/awards showcased in my home or office.  I feel like it’s yesterday stuff. In the future I hope to have a more positive attitude about my birthday.  When my family asked me what I wanted today I told them help out w/the Diamond Ruff Project today.  It’s twisted but this is where my heart is right now. In the end this project can help alot of people.  Nonetheless, I’ll be at work today. ..I’m excited we begin on the budget!

Been grindin’ all day.  Kyle began working on tomorrow’s You Tube.  I began solidifying all my data w/Baker and Taylor, my distributor to Barnes and Noble.  Mike came into the office, he wanted me to check out the movie “Heat”, which he said has parts that reminded him of Diamond Ruff.  So I’ll check it out.  Sherri came in and continued the organization of the project.  She believes she has to organize things at Young! Studios.  She is looking at putting in systems for the whole Joe Young Operations, not just the project…she right it’s all connected.  It’s all part of the machine.  She also began writing a small grant for us.  She is definately a worker.

Kyle and I are in office.  He is working on Young! Studios stuff trying to close out outstanding projects for the year.  This will also add new revenue.

Kyle will also be trying to finish breaking the script down to be budgeted.  We thought about farming this out to a consultant.  i believe there is enough information on line  and people we can get advise from that we can do the budget ourselves.  If it’s not perfect when we bring the pros on to help it will be an a format/estmation they can translate easily.  Because of our limited resources we have to do it ourselves.  In the past we hired a lot of consultants.  In the end we found out we can do it just as good if not better at a cheaper cost.  This doesn’t knock the good  and effective consultants who do get results.  I’m dealing w/my experiences.  Plus we have no money now on this project.  We have to carry what we need.

I sent out manuscript for book review in The Hartford Magazine.  Also I am contacting Baker & Taylor to solidify books being sold in Barnes and Noble nationally.

I started off the day practicing comic book style drawing.  It will take a little time to get pretty good at it.

The movie “The Spirit” was just OK last night. I wouldn’t see it again. Kyle and I dozed off a couple times.  The story didn’t engage us.  The graphics and special effects were great though. It had a unique comic book though.  From that we had a couple ideas. Today we plan to see Cadillac Dreams. 

We will go into the office today and try to get ahead in some work.  Monique emailed me from NYC.  She asked me to be Project Manager for this new Guinness World Record Project they are trying to pull off.  They don’t have alot of resources.  But the project helps alot of kids and their working w/an established PR firm who works w/major sponsors.  I am definately considering it.  I twould put me in NYC once a week where there’s alot of important contacts I can expose the Diamond Ruff Project to.  A meeting date of January 5th is set up.  We’ll see what happens.

Kyle will continue to break down the script for budgeting.  My niece Iyesha, my brother Felipes daughter is home from college from Boston.  She is majoring in Fashion Design.  She will come in next week and help out w/some administrative work.

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas.  Although I don’t go crazy about it in public…I truly believe in reflecting on the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, someone who gave his life for the betterment of mankind.  That’s serious stuff!!  My kids had a great Christmas.  Paige was especially happy to get a new puppy.  My wife Teressa did all the shopping and really holds the family and  house down.

Kyle really knows me and he gave me the perfect gift “How To Draw the Marvel Way”. The book shows you how to draw comic book characters and comic pages.  In the past I made money drawing cartoons and realistic pencil sketch portraits.  Drawing superheroes is another discipline.  Some basics techniques in drawing are the same, but I need to practice.  Why the book is so important to me is because it will assist me in drawing  out the Diamond Ruff movie storyboards in a comic book style.  I think this look is hot and will bring a new flavor to the movie.  Kyle and I are planning to see the movie “The Spirit” tonight. This movie has a comic style.  Hopefully the movie will give us some technical thoughts and motivation.

Our 1st news coverage of the Diamond Ruff project came out today in Hartford’s Daily Newspaper, The Hartford Courant.  It came out in the book review section.  It talked about the book, the next signing and showed the cover of the book.  This was all coordinated by Debbie of Enchanted Destinations. I really appreciate all of Debbie’s help.

Sherri was on the grind during Christmas, she emailed us some organizational documents.  She has put together a plan for scheduling, staff protocol and projects.  I am impressed wher work. She has already has a full-time and part-time job, but manages time to help us.  She is very organized,hardworking and has good management skills. This  is how she is able to do alot of things at one time.  She also has business degree in business management and quality assurance.  I’m excited to see how she implements all this.  One of my favorite original quotes is ‘To create is to live..but to innovate is to thrive.”

At this point in the project we need people who are about action and focused and not caught up into personalities, where they want to use the project to further their careers through the contacts and educational journey.

Like Sherri says it’s going to be about accountability and not talkability. Actions speak louder than words.  Jesus is a prime example.  Merry Christmas to everyone especially Diamond Ruff Club Members!

Christmas Day.  Took the day off from working in the office.  Kyle and I worked from home. He continued working on breaking down the script to be budgeted. I worked on some Young! Studios paperwork.  We were able to shop a little.  It was the last minute, but we did what we could.  I’m not going to blame the last minute shopping on the project.  We procrastinate every year.  Unfortunately it’s tradition.  Next year I’ll do better.  Maybe we’ll shop December 23rd .

Today was our Diamond Ruff Club Member Christmas Party.  We had about 30 people show up.  There were about 15 youth from our afterschool program and 15 adults.  We announced the club member of the year…based upon committment, recruited most members and was most active in You Tube hits.  Eduardo Fontanez was awarded the crown.  He is  a 15 year old kid who is part of my afterschool program.  Before getting into our program he was always getting into trouble in school and w/the law.  But I believe he has found a sense of belonging here.  Also he gets recognized and feels important.  If you asked me 6 months ago when we started this project who would be the club member of the year I would have said a staff person, or an investor.  So Eduardo getting this honor was inspirational to me.  It let me knows greatness can rise from anywhere and from unexpected places. I hope we can do the same thing w/this Diamond Ruff Project. Have a project/book/movie so compelling and rebellious that it rises to the top.

Today was a difficult day running around trying to put it all together. Janis wasn’t feeling that great today, not feeling well and having to deal w/the overwhelming complexities of this project, nonetheless she wasn’t able to give her all.  But nonetheless she has worked hard for over a year helping to build what we have.  I am humbled and reminded of her importance to this project.  Today makes me work harder so she can benefit for her sacrifice and loyalty.

We had a full office today, Kyle, Tieney, Kyle, Paige, Ebony, and Sherri. Ebony and Paige worked on typing up the investment program. Tierney worked on getting the You Tube distribution to members. Sherri presented the basis of an operational plan for 2009 and also new internship material.  We met and she went over how important our image is and having an on-going recruiting program.  Also she wants to help build a strong team.  I like it because not only is she’s talking she’s presenting a plan.  he key will be seeing how she helps implement it.

Kyle began breaking down the screenplay for budgeting. We know how many scenes there are, how many lines each character has.  How many actors in each scene, props, etc.  Today we talked alot about bringing the project to reality.  What approach to use w/limited resources.

Tomorrow s the DRP Club Member Christmas Party at 5:00pm.  It should be fun.