Michella Dresselhuys, Owner Of Fashion Kiss Takes Care Of Business

        There is something to be said for some one that dives in to the world of an entrepreneur without looking back. At 24 years old, Michella Dresslhuys has the newest store in La Mesa Village and showed me in less then 90 minutes why her store, Fashion Kiss will be a force to be reckoned with.

Angelina, The Star Of Fashion Kiss

        I received an email from the owner inviting me to take photos of her shop, which I did. While I was there we talked about a lot of things including her business, my photography, how to change a light bulb, social media, blogs, eBay and what older women want.

That’s A Sick-Ass Shirt, Yo!

        That title above is what the kid said when he stopped to look at the shirt hanging on the door of Fashion Kiss.

Michella Gives The World Her Mona Lisa Smile

        What impressed me the most about Michella is how she just gets things done. While I was there she demonstrated a sense of urgency and had intensity in her movements. If there is something that’s needs doing, she does it, right then and there. I didn’t ask her to climb a ladder so I could take a picture, she just decided the lights surrounding her new sign needed to be changed right then. Awesome.

Fashion Kiss In La Mesa Village

        This is a store that sells hot, trendy, designer ladies clothes for less than retail, and it’s right here in La Mesa Village! Michella, the owner is fun to be around and her store can save you a trip all the way into downtown or to Fashion Valley. You can buy the fashions of Paris, Milan, New York and Hollywood in right here in La Mesa so by all means head down to the store and see for yourself what sort of entrepreneurial spirit resides in La Mesa.

The Sun Sets Behind The La Mesa Farmer’s Market

        Every Friday from 3-6pm La Mesa has a Farmer’s Market. During this time of year you get the benefits that go along with purchasing and eating fresh produce and being able to be at the Market when the sun goes down… Not a bad way to wrap up a week.

Christmas Lights As Seen Through The Eyes Of A Sony Bloggie MHS-TS10

        Every photo and video in this post was taken or filmed with a Sony Bloggie MHS-TS10 at night during the 2010 Christmas season. Bloggie seems to have a max ISO of 1600. I was ultimately impressed with what this camera can do, especially the video capabilities, with the exception of the slow focusing in low light. Seriously, at full zoom it wouldn’t focus at all until I zoomed out, waited for the focus at then slowly zooming back in. It was very frustrating.

Christmas Video Shot With A Sony Bloggie Touch MHS-TS10

        So what are my impressions of the Sony Bloggie Touch? It takes FOREVER to focus in low light, but it records some damn fine video and photos. It fits in my pocket and powers up in less than two seconds so it is just about always ready to go. Use the photos and the video in this post as your guide. I didn’t include daytime photos in this post because every camera takes great photos with lots of light but only great DSLR’s and video cameras can do the same at night.

The Griswolds In La Mesa

        If you don’t know who the Griswolds are then you should just turn around and walk away from my blog. Seriously, get your ass out of here until you can appreciate what I’m saying… Go watch the “Vacation” movies!

Christmas Eve Mass At La Mesa Christ Lutheran Church

        Christ Lutheran Church of La Mesa held a Christmas Eve mass, as all Christians do, but this particular mass spilled out to the front of the church. With candles in hand, these worshipers sang songs and then enjoyed hot chocolate and cider.

        It’s hard to say why these parishioners lit candles and sang songs out in front of their church instead of inside their church. Some sort of projection of faith would be my best guess, while acting on an impulse to play with fire is a distant second best guess.

And The Choir Says Amen

        For all you photographers out there, this paragraph is for you. I used a Nikon D5000 at 3200 ISO for all the shots in this post. Cranking up the ISO allowed me to keep the shutter speed at 1/30th the entire time. This is a shutter speed right on the cusp of being able to use without a tripod so I made sure to hold my breath and take my time every time I made a photo.

        Let me just come right out and say that I am so glad the large sensors on actual DSLR’s enable me to leave my tripod at home. Those of you that have read my ABOUT ME page know that I hate carrying gear around, so being able to leave the BIGGEST piece of gear (my tripod) at home means I get to do the happy dance.

        Low light photography tends to be lumped into the slow shutter speed box, so I’m here to say , “Ney!” Don’t be scared to up your ISO. I know there’s noise in these photos, but so what? Did you become a photographer to fight the noise of the world or to make great photography? For me, being a photographer is all about telling a story in spite of bad lighting, noise, motion or anything else. Great photographs transcend the digital pixels they are imprinted on.

Wait A Minute, He Kinda Looks Like A Baby

        And so ends this very random collection of photos taken during the Christmas Eve mass at Christ Lutheran Church. Merry Christmas!

Congressman Duncan L. Hunter, Author, Victory in Iraq: How America Won

        Over the last couple months I have been bringing books, two sackfuls at a time to Maxwell’s House Of Books in exchange for store credit. So far, my schlepping of about 70 books has yielded a credit of $38. Yesterday I gobbled up twenty of it so I could own a copy of Duncan L. Hunter‘s new book, Victory In Iraq: How America Won. Why? Because that’s a great title and because Hunter was going to be in La Mesa, at Maxwell’s signing copies. The photo above shows Hunter signing my actual book. After he signed it we chatted for a minute or two and then I was going to be more or less on my way.

Congressman Hunter Laughs With The People

        I scanned book titles as I slowly walked towards the door when a woman noticed my camera, which lead to a brief conversation that ended with her saying what a great photo op this is since the congressman and Chuck Yeager are here. “Yeah, it sure is,” I replied. “We’re very lucky to have… Wait. What?!?”

Photo By Ken Stone - LaMesaPatch.com

        Chuck Yeager, the first human being on the planet to travel faster than the speed of sound, the most famous aviator in the world for over 60 years is in this bookstore right now? What? Turns out, Chuck Yeager and Duncan L. Hunter are old friends so General Yeager just came down to the signing to show his support. Now that is really something and was the icing on the cake for a great day for me because Chuck Yeager is a quintessential American and that is exactly what I was looking for today.

        Victory In Iraq: How America Won. I saw that title and knew I had to read that book because books that have something good to say about America are rare these days. It will be refreshing to read an entire book that talks about what America is doing right because it will help me to remember that America is a great country.

        Chuck Yeager became a legend during that romanticized time when America was doing most things right and most people loved our country. I had actually been thinking about what it would take to get Americans to just… Love America again. I started that journey yesterday, first by watching La Mesa firefighters use The Jaws of Life to rescue a woman trapped in a car, then by meeting a former congressmen who’s written a book about American victory in Iraq and by seeing Chuck Yeager, the greatest aviator in the history of the world with my own two eyes. It was a good American day. The photo above shows General Yeager on the left and me on the right. Yep, that’s me in the same room, really just across the table from the true American, Chuck Yeager.

        LaMesaPatch.com also has an article and photos of this event which you may read if you click here.

Car Accident Near University Ave. & La Mesa Blvd

        I happened onto an accident scene where the car was mangled bad enough that the jaws of life had to be used by La Mesa firefighters to extract the driver from the car. It appeared to me the car above was T-boned while pulling out of the Social Security building on University Ave. This is the car’s permanent good side, as you’ll see from the photos below.

Explaining What Is About To Happen

        Something I noticed was that the firefighters did what they could to help shield the driver from view as hundreds of cars drove by (and perhaps from me as well) by standing in front of the window and keeping a tight perimeter around her once she was out of the vehicle and onto the stretcher, which I thought was very thoughtful of them.

The Jaws Of Life Arrive On The Scene

        The firefighters took the jaws right to the hinges of the door and then just pulled the whole thing right off the car, which made it possible to get the driver out, onto a backboard and onto the stretcher.

Firefighters & Paramedics Of La Mesa, CA

        At took less than three minutes to get the door off once they started into it with the jaws of life. It’s good to see first hand just how well trained and efficient these men and women are. La Mesa residents, you can sleep soundly at night thanks to what these super heroes do. Below is a short video of the firefighters going to work on the car with the jaws of life.

Jaws Of Life Rescue By La Mesa Firefighters

Angelique – The Living Music Box At Christmas In The Village – La Mesa

        I was pleasantly surprised to stumble across “Christmas in the Village” on La Mesa Blvd. last night. Tonight (December 11, 2010) is the final night of this 2 day, free event so grab your kids and bring your appetites on down to La Mesa tonight for some Victorian Era decor, fun and food. The photo above shows Zoe Tantrum performing as Angelique: The Living Music Box. This was something I’ve never seen before and was the highlight of the time I spent spent wandering around.

Food And Rides At Christmas In The Village – La Mesa

        I’ve lived 5 minutes away from the pizza joint above, but I’ve never eaten there, which is amazing considering the amount of pizza I’ve eaten since moving to La Mesa. During the Christmas festivities however, San Filippo’s Pizza is serving pizza by the slice for $2. I practically dove through the door when I saw that sign because I was very cold, I had been craving a slice of pepperoni pizza and I wanted to try out the place. They had run out of pepperoni slices when I entered though, and there was a several minute wait that I just didn’t want to hang around for, so I have a reason to return tonight so I can FINALLY sample San Filippo’s Pizza.

Dancing In The Village

        The troupe above were dancing and performing to Christian songs and I would say they seemed to be having the most fun of anyone else there.

Entertaining The Children

        There are about a half dozen “sit-down” things to watch like musical bands, puppet shows, buskers, etc. All of it is free and it’s fun for the whole family. Bring your appetites as well because all the restaurants are open late.

Zoe Tantrum As Angelique – The Living Music Box

        Watching this performer was memorizing, like watching a whirling dervish. Oddly simple, totally original, yet requiring years of patient practice to look beautiful and graceful.

Bucket Brothers At Christmas In The Village – La Mesa

        The Bucket Brothers are a comedy drumming sensation that will make you laugh and will probably have you singing along before you leave. So come down the Christmas in the Village in La Mesa tonight for all the Christmas cheer yo want and all the food you can eat. Below is a video of Angelique – The Living Music Box. Cheers!

Google Street View Car In La Mesa, CA on November 30, 2010

        Google is a government information collection agent that will tell law enforcement officials how you use the internet without a warrant. With cars like what you see above, they are enabling the United States government to know what you do online AND provide them with recent photos of the house that you use the internet from. The car you see above is a tool being used to usher in the police state of America, so I took a picture of it, including the license plate. Can anyone run the plate and tell me who and where it was registered?

La Mesa CA Soap Box Race Cars

        I found a few more photos from the La Mesa Kiwanis sponsored soap box derby I attended last weekend. If you would like to see my first post about the derby, with more photos and commentary, click here.

The First Racer Of The Day

        Kiwanis really does a lot to help bring joy into the lives of kids by making things like a soap box derby race possible. My dad was in Kiwanis when I was growing up so I have fond memories of my family and I enjoying things like spaghetti dinners, Christmas parties where the kids would all get presents and even getting to march in a parade or two, all thanks to Kiwanis.

The Nuts And Bolts Of A Soap box Racer

        Pulleys and cables are the mechanical method for steering and applying the brakes. The brake is a rubber tipped pole that is pressed down onto the road, very similar to how the Flintstones stop their cars.

Soap Box Car Racing Down The Hill

        According to the La Mesa Kiwanis website, there will be another soap box derby in March of 2011 at the same location as this one, in front of La Mesa middle school so come on down and support the kids by cheering them on and purchasing Kiwanis provided hamburgers, hot dogs and sodas.