Acknowledgments
First, I want to thank my amazing wife Kalebra.
We've been married 16
years
, and just looking at her still makes my
heart skip a beat, and again reminds me how much I adore her, how
genuinely beautiful she is, and how I couldn't live without her.
She's the type of
woman
love songs are written for, and I am,
without a doubt, the luckiest man
alive
to have her as my wife.
Secondly, I want to thank my 9-year-old son
Jordan, who spent many afternoons pulling me away from writing this
book so we could play
Shadow the
Hedgehog
or head to the putt-putt course. God has blessed
our family with so many wonderful gifts, and I can see them all
reflected in his eyes. I'm so proud of him, so thrilled to be his
dad, and I dearly love watching him grow to be such a wonderful
little guy, with such a tender and loving heart. (You're the
greatest, little buddy.)
I also want to thank my
newborn
daughter
Kira
Nicole Kelby for being such a little sweet-ie. My wife and I knew
we were having a baby girl, we just didn't realize that she would
in fact be "the cutest little baby in the whole wide world."
I also want to thank my brother Jeffrey for
being such a positive influence in my life, for always taking the
high road, for always knowing the right thing to say, and just the
right time to say it, and for having so much of our dad in you. I'm
honored to have you as my brother and my friend.
My heartfelt thanks go to the entire team at KW
Media Group, who every day redefine what teamwork and dedication
are all about. They are truly a special
group
of people, who come
together to do some really amazing things (on really scary
deadlines), and they do it with class, poise, and a
can-do
attitude
that is truly
inspiring
. I'm so proud to be working with you
all.
Thanks to my layout and production crew. In
particular, I want to thank my friend and Creative Director Felix
Nelson for his limitless talent, creativity, input, and just for
his flat-out great ideas. Thanks to my in-house editors Kim Doty
and Cindy Snyder who put the techniques through
rigorous
testing
and made sure that I didn't slip any of my famous typos past the
goalie. Also, thanks to Dave Damstra and his amazing crew for
giving the book such a tight, clean layout.
Thanks to my compadre Dave Moser, whose tireless
dedication to creating a quality product makes every project we do
better than the last. Thanks to Jean A. Kendra for her support, and
for keeping a lot of plates in the air while I'm writing these
books. A special thanks to my Executive Assistant Kathy Siler for
all her hard work and dedication, and for showing great restraint
when her Redskins beat my Buccaneers in the playoffs.
Thanks to my Publisher Nancy Ruenzel, and the
incredibly dedicated team at Peachpit/New Riders. You are very
special people doing very special things, and it's a real
honor
to
get to work with people who really just want to make great books.
Also many thanks to the
awesome
Rachel Tiley, Ted Waitt, and to
marketing maverick Scott Cowlin.
I owe a special debt of gratitude to George
Jardine, photographic evangelist at Adobe, for all his help.
Getting detailed information on a Beta version of anything is a
challenge, but George went out of his way
numerous
times, and the
book is better because of it. Also thanks to Kevin Connor and John
Nack at Adobe for their help, and for letting me unload on them
because Beta 1 didn't support music with slide shows.
Also thanks to my "Photoshop Guys" Dave Cross
and Matt Kloskowski, for being such
excellent
sounding
boards
for
the development of this book. You guys are the best!
Thanks to my
friends
at Adobe Systems: Terry
White, Addy Roff, Cari Gushiken, Russell Brady, Jill Nakashima,
Julieanne Kost, and Russell Preston Brown. Gone but not forgotten:
Barbara Rice, Rye Livingston, Bryan Lamkin, and Karen Gauthier.
Thanks to my mentors whose wisdom and
whip-cracking have helped me immeasurably, including John Graden,
Jack Lee, Dave Gales, Judy Farmer, and Douglas Poole.
Also, my personal thanks to Patrick Lor at
iStockphoto.com for enabling me to use some of their wonderful
photography in this book.
Most importantly, I want to thank God, and His
son Jesus Christ, for leading me to the woman of my dreams, for
blessing us with two amazing children, for allowing me to make a
living doing something I truly love, for always being there when I
need Him, for blessing me with a wonderful, fulfilling, and happy
life, and such a warm, loving family to share it with.
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