I love meeting new people. Talking with them. Hearing their stories. Sharing with them in hopes that they'll share back.  Watching the transformations from wary to friendly. From cynical to approachable. From closed to open.
Approaching people is not as hard as it seems and is so incredibly rewarding.
My friend +Mike Shaw and I talk about this a lot.
Stay tuned for something special he approached me about that I think will be meaningful, transformational and wonderful.
In the meantime,
Stay inspired.

Another day, another life changing smile.

Was preparing for a bear of a day and feeling a bit overwhelmed when I literally ran into this happy fellow with the totally infectious smile. He was walking around lower Manhattan busy looking up at all the buildings and taking in the sights and sounds (that most of us take for granted) with the biggest grin. He apologized and I said "Why? your smile just turned my day around." Turns out Kwame has been here for all of three days after arriving from Ghana. He was so happy to be here and couldn't wait to start work tomorrow for his uncle with whom he is staying with the goal of bringing the rest of his family over. 
He said "They will not believe how wonderful it is here and how happy they will be"
I said "so c'mon, let's show them."

Click.

And remember (because it really does need repeating): The bigger the smile you give, the bigger the smile you get.

A Melenistic Leopard posing for me

Lions and tigers are beautiful. Don't get me wrong. But for outright animal magnetism, Leopards gets my vote.

Paying respects to our fallen veterans on Veteran's Day

Today was a day where I got to meet many, many soldiers and hear their amazing stories.

But it's also a day to remember all those brave men and women that have fallen in service to their country. It's the least we can do for those that did the most they could do.

A man brough his pet Bald Eagle to the Celebration today.
Many photographers were clicking away as the bird posed, looking left and right.
The Eagle looked down for a moment and all the shutters stopped.
Except mine.