Fail Wars

If you long time readers will remember my post on Whale Wars and how I loved whales, believe whaling should be banned now, but that I thought the Sea Shepherds were terrorists.

Well the newest season started last night. It was as predicted, one failure after another.

First on the fail list, they purchased two new (when I say new I mean one was old and broken down) ships. The Ady Gil is a speed demon, made a trip around the world in 60 days in fact. The Bob Barker (named after the gameshow host because he gave the hippies five million dollars) is an old tub. They could have spent that money a bit more wisely and upgraded the engines and hull in the very slow and fragile Steve Irwin for example.

Second up on the fail list, the first time they tried to turn over the newly rebuilt engines on the Bob Barker...it took out the generator and the lights and still didn't start.

Third up, while rushing to meet the Steve Irwin a wave knocked out the radar on the Ady Gil, a mere two days away from their destination. They had to turn around and go back to a port in Africa for repairs.

Fourth, the secret Bob Barker ship was discovered by the Japanese who came into the same harbor they were docked in. This was supposed to be a secret mission and was blown before they even got the engines running.

Fifth, the Steve Irwin was spotted by the air with a Japanese spotter plane that was looking for them, completely blowing their secret cover. Later they were spotted by a much faster chase boat which tailed them and was encroaching upon their position at the end of the show. The Japanese look like they are taking an aggressive stance against the terrorists this season.

Sixth, the first time the Steve Irwin launched a delta boat they were ordered to maintain visual contact with the Steve Irwin, the promptly lost site of the ship and got lost. There had to have been lots of pot smoking going on before they launched the boat as everything failed except the launch of the boat.

Seventh, Paul Watson, if this man had any conviction at all instead of harassing the Nissin Maru (not sure how it is spelled but its the only big whale processing ship the fleet has) he would put everyone on shore and ram his ship into that ship and disable it or sink it completely once and for all. That would fulfill his fondest dream and accomplish his goal in one easy move. Instead he trolls along and talks a big game but does little.

The man is a menace. He should face international charges. He runs his little whale cult and has his followers but he doesn't accomplish anything. If he were a man he would quit endangering his crew needlessly, take control for once, and sink the other ship and accept the consequences of his actions.

I'll continue to watch this show though because I love to see hippie tree huggers fail. There is that in abundance on this show. Let the failing begin!

Six Pound Cat

So there we were last night, rehearsal was winding down. We were at the park and I had finished my Rocky Patel Edge cigar, hadn't caught any fish, and I was ready to head home.

I put on a plug instead of a jig, this pond is usually great for worms which we were out of, so a plug would do. I could cast the plug across the pond if I wanted, that's how good my reel was working last night.

The faster you reel this one in the more motion you get out of it, so I was cranking hard. It got about half way to me and then something took it! I reeled and reeled, it was a good fight! The fish quickly tired out though and I landed him on the dock.

This was a six pound catfish, about nine inches or so. He was fat, big, and had some attitude. He had both treble hooks in his mouth that I had took the needle nose pliers to to free him.

Now that he was free I tossed him back into the pond and rehearsal had finished. Thing 2 came over and tried a couple of casts with my rig. Then we loaded up and went home. It was a nice evening:)

This morning we are taking Thing 1 in to get her tonsils removed. Loaded up with all kinds of popsicles last night to make her recovery smooth and as pain free as possible:)

Is Two A Pattern?

First Joe Sestak and then Andrew Romanoff in Colorado. It appears that the "Chicago Way" of thuggery has unleashed its tentacles of corruption upon the nation.

I seem to recall a solemn vow during the election that this would be the most transparent government ever. Now two allegations of election tampering have arisen. I'll give you X if you drop out of the race.

The Sestak allegations in Pennsylvania last month and now right on its heels a similar situation? All of a sudden we are back to Tiger Woods and all of the women coming out of the woodwork who have had affairs with him.

Who else has the administration made offers to? Could Obama be in some political hot water over this? If there is a direct link back to him, absolutely. Should there be a Ken Starr special prosecutor looking into this pattern of deceit? Absolutely.

I'm sure Mr. Transparency has nothing to hide, right?

Alright now for a more realistic point of view, more than likely November will tell the story on this administration. The Dems are looking to hold ground. The GOP is looking to gain enough seats to render Obama impotent and start undoing the damage this community organizer has done.

I'd say save the money and focus more on elections. The Dems are in a tailspin right now and it's going to implode their party, no matter that they believe the HCB is the greatest thing since, well Obama, America doesn't want it and the polls bear that out. They will hold their own referendum in November and the liberals will come up very very short as America yanks their collars to heel.

Everything Obama has touched has gone bad, every candidate he has campaigned for has lost. I keep saying he is Jimmy Carter the sequel but I think Obama has taken failure to new heights. Jimmy Carter couldn't hope to cause this much damage if he were elected to three terms!

Abandoned

There is just something really weird, sad, and beautiful about a abandoned amusement park. Remember way back when and I blogged about dead malls? Yeah this is sort of the same thing except on a bigger scale.

It started last night when I was finding plans for a Jubilation T. Cornpone statue for Thing 2 to build out of paper machete. I came across the Dogpatch amusement park. I read the history of it and how much it had stacked against it but it worked for a couple of decades anyway, opening in 1968 and closing in 1993.

I saw pictures of what it looked like in 2005 and how overgrown it had become. That lead me to find more abandoned parks. I came across one of the largest parks, Heritage USA. Massive in size and scale. Those of you who are my age or older will remember the plight of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye of PTL fame. This was a quality park, the authors talk about the quality, the design, and that it's been hit by hurricanes and is still in the shape that it's in and hasn't been destroyed...just decaying.

This site gives a few haunting tours of amusement parks that have had better days. It's hard to believe that these ruins were once full of happy people and joy and now sit empty.

Weburbanist is a great site for looking at the beauty in abandoned buildings, parks, ships, well anything people can get into with a camera.

I don't know what really compels me to enjoy these pictures so much. I used to work for a cable company in the early 90's and our headquarters was out of Shamrock, Texas. I'd drive out there quite a bit and it happens that the old Route 66 is still there in places. I drove down it lots of times and there are old abandoned camp sites, art deco gas stations, tons of neon tubes, and roadside attractions. I always wondered what it would have looked like in its prime, at the peak of when it was alive and well.

As long as we have dreamers in the world who are willing to take risks then we will have successes and we will have failures, some mismanaged, some by outside forces, some just die by age. I'm glad they can live on in a way.

Quiet Memorial Day

I decided to hold a small cookout for friends and family. Literally a small cookout with ten people in attendance and five of them were family:) I warmed up the pulled pork, grilled garlic burgers, and bratwursts.

My mom made a spicy black bean dip that was amazing, The Date made a huge dish of macaroni and cheese, also amazing, and Beersnob (and his family) brought over hamburger buns. Court and Teehee joined the fun and we just had a quiet day together.

After we finished eating we decided to go fishing for a little bit. So we headed to a small public pond and met Witchy there with her children and wards. Court caught her first fish, a small bluegill.

The Date caught a couple of fish. I caught none. Thing 2 gave up early. I fought backlash on my reel and replaced the line with a mono filament and even that backlashed a bit.

I worked the tuning to try and get it to stop spinning as fast as it was and used my thumb on the reel constantly. If the timing was off just a fraction though you'd get a bird's nest of line around your reel.

Not a big fan of spinning reels. They are nice and can cast a lot of baits but a bait caster is also very nice and is for heavier baits and heavier fish. Not that that part matters where we are fishing, the bait caster just feels good in my hands though.

Next I might look into one with a magnetic braking system to keep the reel from spinning so fast.

Memorial Day

For all of those out there who plan on enjoying your freedoms today and exercising your liberty give a prayer for those who made it possible with their sacrifices.

Today we are planning on exercising our freedoms by cooking out and having friends over! Traditional food is on the menu, burgers, bratwurst, sides. Nothing fancy.

Please just remember those who came before and are fighting now, remember those they left behind, and remember those who loved this country enough to die for it.

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday. It's nice out.

Didn't get a nap in yesterday after the Guy's Night. I did smoke a pork roast and made pulled pork. Put it on around three thirty and it was finished around ten thirty. It was falling apart tender after seven hours. I was anticipating a longer smoke but it was ready in less than half the estimated time.

It produced enough meat for about fifteen sandwiches. That'll be good for lunch, supper, and a snack later for the whole family.

Now for a lazy Sunday! Hope you enjoy your day too!

Guy's Night Success

So last night around six thirty Jamal invited Mozart, J, Teehee, Beersnob, and I over to his house for a evening of guy fun. Jamal grilled a splendid rib eye steak dinner, served homemade mojitos, and we just had an all around fun time!

Skate was also invited but he had a camping trip to drive to last night and was unable to attend. It was a grand evening of fun and frivolity.

I drove Beersnob home and got to bed around two. As you can tell I'm up and typing before nine. I laid in bed a little bit before getting up so I was probably awake around seven thirty.

Thank you Jamal for a great evening! Thank you my friends for a great time!

Brilliant Or Racist?

I'm a huge fan of Adult Swim, well the cartoon shows anyway not so much the live action shows. Live action shows should not be on a channel devoted to cartoons. That's beside the point though.

This blog is focused on a show that should be on one of the major networks, The Boondocks.

This is not a show for the racially squeamish. It focuses on a black family. There is Grandad, Huey, and Riley. Huey is the level headed scholar. Riley is the thug wannabe. Grandad is the reactionary who feels left out of the civil rights movement even though (in his mind) he was greater than Rosa Parks.

Then there is the surrounding cast, Uncle Ruckus. Grandad's best friend and a black man who believes he's white. Then there is the Dubois family. Tom is a black district attorney while his wife is white and a housewife. Their daughter Jasmine is a friend of Huey.

Their neighbor across the street is the rapper Thugnificent and his Lethal Interjection Crew.

The Boondocks is based on the comic strip by Aaron McGruder. Even though he is a raving liberal I respect his voice and his ideas. It is unapologetic satire and pokes fun at nearly everything from politicians to the hip hop culture. Many episodes have been banned from airing because of the controversial matter.

This is a satire that should provoke intelligent discussion on race relations as it is intended but instead tends to be taken at face value and easily offends those who are looking to be offended.

It should challenge viewers to become more aware of racial boundaries while hopefully producing a true color blind society where the people who make their living off from peddling racism disappear. Forever.

It will take a show like this in the mainstream (the reason I feel it should be a show is because our society has become more entertainment driven) to rip off the scabs of politically correct race relations and get to the issues that lie beneath. When the sun shines on those sores they will heal and go away once and for all.

Watch it, it'll challenge you too.

The Upgrade

Yesterday my Windows 7 Ultimate package arrived. I found it on my Cigar Asylum forum from a business owner who had bought too many licenses and wanted to sell this one at a 60% discount. I jumped on it as I knew that my new Adobe Suite upgrade needed W7 to perform at it's best.

Editing, rendering, and exporting should now take roughly half the time it used to under CS2 with CS5 with the W7 platform running it. That means good things if you are an editor:)

I started around six thirty with the W7 install. It took time, around nine it finished. Then I rebooted the PC again and put in the first Adobe DVD. It was much faster and I finished up around a quarter til eleven. Way past my bedtime for sure!

I've noticed a performance boost, something along the lines of a tuned OS running on a dual core system. It hums right along and I've noticed the cpu meter stays around the bottom of the scale, keeping the load on the processors fairly low. That's good too.

I was afraid I'd lose all of my files to start with until I read the upgrade instructions and since I was using Vista Ultimate 64 to begin with this was a simple upgrade instead of a reformat.

I was thrilled about that as I hate reformatting often. Yeah I know it runs like a brand new PC but so does an OS upgrade. It's rocking along right now just fine thank you:)

It's Opilio Season!

On my favorite show, Deadliest Catch it is now Snow Crab or Opilio Crab season. This is the hardest season on the men and gear because it's winter time on the Bearing Sea.

Temperatures stay under freezing for the duration of the trip. Ice forms on every single inch of the ship, pots, and even men. Until they unload their gear they are at serious risk of capsizing as they generally have over one hundred thousand pounds of pots on board, stacked up to thirty feet above the deck.

Its dangerous, freezing, and miserable work. Long long hours, little rest, and harsh conditions are constants over the three to four week season. That's the backdrop of my favorite show.

Opilio season follows King Crab season. King Crabs are giants, massive crab and it takes less of them to fulfill the quota per ship. Opilios are smaller but you usually find more of them per pot than the Kings. It takes more Opilios to fulfill the quota per ship meaning they stay out there longer in the freezing cold.

Memorial Day they are going to have a Deadliest Catch marathon on Discovery. If you have ever thought about watching this show that would be the time. It's amazing at the limits these men can push themselves to in order to obtain their goals and get America the crab it wants to buy.

If you haven't seen it, watch it.

That Was Fun!

Ok so yesterday didn't start off so well. Turns out with the new alarm clock there are three settings, Off, On, and Auto. To turn on the alarm it has to be set to Auto. I had it on Off while thinking it was on On. Make sense? Yeah, me neither.

Anyway this morning the alarm went off like it was supposed to and my day started like it was supposed to:)

Last night The Date, Thing 2, and I went fishing at the park prior to rehearsal which was held at the park. We fished for about an hour before rehearsal started. Then I fished until around eight thirty until rehearsal broke up.

Skate, The Invader, and Witchy came over to the fishing spot and wanted to fish for a bit too. So Skate took Thing 1's pole, baited it, and we fished for a while longer. Nothing was biting but I'd had some nibbles earlier.

Last cast for me, nothing. Last cast for Skate and he was about to reel it in when the bobber moved. It went under a bit and came back up. Then again. Finally the fish took the bait! Skate reeled in his first fish!

A one, one and a half pound catfish! We took pictures and then headed to Braum's to celebrate with ice cream:)

It was a good evening!

Almost Late!

June 15th will be my eighteenth anniversary at my job. I've never been late, not once.

This morning I came close as the alarm on the new alarm clock failed to go off.

I jumped into the shower at three minutes after seven and was out the door at seven fifteen. Lunch in hand and running fast.

I didn't have time to stop for coffee like normal so I got a Mtn. Dew at work.



-- Post From My iPhone

Busy But Productive

Yesterday started off with set call at ten.

That lead into a teen meeting for a fund raiser and a rehearsal schedule for the fund raiser at noon.

Then I came home and mowed the majority of the lawn.

After that Thing 2 was trying to learn how to sew so she texted Grandma (my mom) to show her and twenty minutes later she was here and working away with Thing 2. Which is great as The Things have never really had an active grandparent in their lives until now.

Beersnob texted me to see if I could help him move a table and chairs to his mother in law's place so that was next on the agenda. Followed by getting The Date supper and delivering it to her work.

After that it was time for a premium cigar with Beersnob and some serious talk about the bands of the eighties.

Then it was home where Thing 2 and I watched The Hunchback of Notre Dame with the great Charles Laughton, Maureen O'Hara, and Sir Cedric Hardwick. Such a great movie! It turned into a small marathon for Sir Hardwick as Nicholas Nickleby was up next on TCM. A movie I'd never seen but enjoyable!

Fishing was on the agenda yesterday but alas the wind was blowing too hard and it looks as if the wind will keep us from wet lines today as well. It is blowing very hard out this sunny Sunday morning.

Super Friday

Work was super busy though but it lead to a fast day. I did have a co-worker find me some of the best potato chips made. I was so impressed by them I bought four bags and took them home.

Ok Herr's brand potato chips are incredible. I had him buy me BBQ Baby Back Ribs flavor which taste like ribs! He also got me Kansas City Prime Rib and they are amazing! And then two more mundane flavors in Ragin' Ranch and Pizza. Both are good but the rib flavor and steak flavor are a level above the best potato chip I've had.

Now if they would have Worcestershire flavor! Oh man!

Ok so after work finished up Thing 2 and I headed to the park for some quality fishing time. The little Mexican boy was back and having a great time. He sat by me and fished for quite a while. Thing 2 and I both had our bait stolen a few times so I decided to go to the bait shop and get some smaller hooks. The ones we were using were entirely too big.

We loaded up and headed out, got the new hooks and some glow worms then headed back to fish for awhile. It was a beautiful day out and it was just fun to sit there and watch your bobber dance in the windy waves.

This time though it wasn't long before Thing 2 started yelling, "I got one! I got one!" She reeled in a tiny bluegill for her first fish! We carefully took it off of the hook and turned it loose. She was smiling from ear to ear!

All in all it was a good day:)

It's That Time Of Year

The hunter/gatherer of the cave must be out before dawn while the women folk of the cave are allowed to sleep in as they have no public school cave to attend. This will mean the women folk of the cave will be staying up later and sleeping in later.

Thing 1 will likely not stir until the hunter/gatherer gets back to the cave from a long day hunting and gathering. Such is the cycle of life.

Good news is that rehearsals for Julius Caesar will be headed to the public pond Thing 2 and I have been fishing at lately next week. That means around five thirty we can head to where we've been headed to and fish until rehearsal starts while I can fish until rehearsal is over. How cool is that?

Today is payday Friday. Love those days! Makes the hunting and gathering worth while so the women folk of the cave can not have to worry about the cave payment and only about putting more hieroglyphics on the cave walls:)

Ok, Adobe CS5 arrived yesterday! I looked it over briefly before heading out again. I think I'm going to do a reformat before installing the suite. That might be a project for next weekend, we'll see.

Tornadoes In The Area

Just as I was about to clock out yesterday and go home the sirens start sounding. Everyone in the building headed for the shelter areas until we got the all clear which came about twenty minutes afterward.

There was a large tornado about ten miles south of us. It was headed away from us but still it evoked a mild sense of excitement. I don't believe you can live where we live and not know what a hook echo is or a wall cloud.

We have been taught through hours and hours of TV coverage during tornado season all of the terms associated with a tornado. We can spot a wall cloud, dry line, rain wrapped mesocyclone, and some Doppler radar signatures fairly well not to mention the cloud formations that accompany this kind of weather.

All in all after some rain the weather was fairly calm here last night. I grilled burgers and hot dogs. It was raining at the time but the patio covers the Big Green Egg.

Watched River Monsters last night after the tornado coverage. It's a good show. Fits right in with the recent fishing kick. He was at Lake Illiama in Alaska. It is a lake that is larger than Rhode Island and up to a thousand feet deep. They have their own Loch Ness Monster but it turns out to be a White Sturgeon. These fish get up to eighteen feet long and weigh up to a thousand pounds.

They are also prone to jumping out of the water and scaring people. They have no teeth but their sheer size is damaging to people and boats if they want to investigate something.

We'll see what today holds in store for the weather:)

Stormy Morning:)

There is just something cool about the morning of a storm. It is rumbling up some big noises outside but we are all safe inside our homes. It's nice. So here is an arrangement of odd observations for the morning.

Watched the penultimate episode of Lost last night with The Date so we are caught up with America and anxiously looking forward to the finale on Sunday.

While I enjoy Lost I still find that the best scifi on TV is Stargate: Universe. Yes the Destiny is still my favorite ship, replacing the USS Cygnus from The Black Hole.

I'm looking into making pastrami. It's time consuming, more so than bacon as it has to brine for thirty days before being smoked. It'll be a challenge if I pursue it.

Anti-incumbent sentiment has struck again, forcing Arkansas Senator Blanch Lincoln into a primary runoff and forcing Arlen Specter out of office late this year as the eighty year old lost his bid as the Democrat candidate. It was an upset for sure however Rand Paul won the Kentucky primary. He is nearly a Libertarian even though he has an R by his name. He was the underdog in that race and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had endorsed and supported his opponent.

As for President Obama's coattails? They have gone 0-4 thus far in elections as he campaigned for Specter this cycle and previously took losses in Massachusetts, Virginia, and most notably New Jersey. People are afraid of big government and how it will infringe upon their liberties.

D.C. needs a reboot and to be reigned in. We can never begin to start paying off the nation's debt that has been borrowed in our lifetimes leaving the next generations to deal with crippling debt and no matter how much you tax the rich, they don't have enough either. Not to mention if you get above the 50% mark the rich will start to figure out ways to protect their wealth if not just move to countries with lower taxes then who are you going to tax?

We, you, me, everyone, has an ugly amount of debt right now as a nation. We are going to wind up like Greece with our overspending and massive entitlements if we don't cut back the spending.

I would sign a document right now that the government can keep every single penny of what I've paid into social security since I've been in the work force if I'm allowed to keep everything I make from here on out without the government taking it from me. I would put it all into my own retirement package and be far better off than what they claim I would be. I'd rather be in charge of my retirement than let politicians deciding what is best for me.

Ok, off the soap box, I'm getting ready for a rainy day of work:) I hope everyone enjoys today and we are now on the downhill slide towards the weekend!

Universal Happiness

Ok so there Thing 2 and I were, setting up by the small public pond to do a couple of hours of fishing. Thing 2 has been fishing three times and has caught no fish but she has had several nibbles. Her worm was stolen twice last night.

So there we were, getting all baited and ready to fish. Then two Mexican children came up beside us. A young boy and his slightly older sister. The sister walked over to the dock and started fishing with a hand line, a small hook, a bobber, and a third of a worm.

The boy, maybe eight or nine, kept watching me as I carefully handled Thing 2's hook and then my own. I said, "Hello" and he said "No English." He sat beside me, not too close but close enough to watch me fish. I cast it out a couple of times and he watched. Thing 2 was about ten feet away from me and fishing near the dock where his sister was fishing.

I stood up and waved for him to come over. I showed him how to cast with my rod and reel, how to use his thumb to stop the reel from a nasty backlash, and how to reel it back in again.

Then I motioned for him to cast it and walked back to my chair and had a seat in the warm sun. The ducks flew by so close I could reach out and touch them it seemed at times. They'd land in the water and take off again. The little Mexican boy was having a blast, Thing 2 was having a blast, the sister sat earnestly on the dock with her handline, watching her bobber.

Then she pulled up a tiny perch. About the size of her hand and half the size of mine. She ran over to her brother. He took the tiny thing off of the hook and she let it go back into the pond. I just sat there and enjoyed the afternoon. Thing 2 took a nightcrawler over to her and gave it to her for the hook to replace her now eaten worm.

Finally it came around to time to leave and we loaded up and headed to rehearsal, I felt sorry about saying goodbye to such a great afternoon but it was time. It was a good afternoon and even though I couldn't talk to the children we understood each other.

Software Ordered

The next major step in the commercial business was to upgrade my software suite. I use the Adobe Production Premium suite of software and that was accomplished yesterday afternoon.

Thanks to Beersnob we ordered CS5. It should be here within a week or so. The step after that will be upgrading the computer, the final step will be a huge camera upgrade and replace my XL1s as it is the one that will wear out first. It is a workhorse though and has many hours left in it.

Sometime this week I should have to travel to a local town and finish shooting the commercial for the storm shelter company. I talked to them Friday and they were going to try and schedule their crews in for a few hours so we could shoot it. We'll see how it goes, I'd rather do it sooner than later but this is on their time schedule.

The software upgrade was a major step forward for the business. It will streamline my production capabilities. I started watching the Lynda tutorials last night and got maybe a third of the way through the Premiere set.

Next up will be After Effects which is nearly twelve hours in duration so I've got a long way to go.

Somewhat Successful Fishing Trip!

The company, weather, and trip were great. The fishing? Eh, we caught four fish among nine people.

Mr. Germany caught a perch, followed by Beersnob catching a perch, hours later The Date caught a catfish (about six inches) and then later still I caught a one pound bass.

It was fun all around though and accomplished the desired result of getting out for a while. It really helped The Date to get some fresh air and get lakeside even though it was a long walk to where we were fishing. Her ankle is getting better, Thing 2 and I might take her to the local park pond and fish again Monday evening:)

I'm really enjoying fishing after work and before rehearsals. It's a good relaxing way to unwind. The next fishing trip hasn't been planned as of yet but it will be planned very soon and more than likely a few more people will want to join the fun!

I'm looking forward to it!

Fishing!!!!

Yes the girls and I along with a small band of friends are headed to the lake this morning to fish! The storm that was headed our way broke up before reaching us and went right over the top of us!

It should be a clear day and good fishing weather! Yay!!!!

We are headed out shortly!

Better

Yesterday was better on The Date and her very swollen ankle. Still very sore though but better.

After work and after we ate yesterday I took Thing 2 down to a public pond by one of the hospitals and let her fish for real for the first time. She got her first bite and it scared her! She didn't know what to do but it was fun! She got very excited and was smiling super big.

There were lots of people fishing and no one was catching anything so I didn't feel badly at all that we weren't either. She did ask, "How long does it take to catch a fish?" I didn't know what to respond with...

We walked around to the other side of the pond and then saw something swimming in the water. I thought it was a ground squirrel or something like that. Finally we realized it was a baby beaver. Yeah a real life baby beaver swimming amongst the ducks.

Thing 2 ran around to the other side of the pond again to get a closer look to it and it swam over to the side I was on. It was a lot of fun for both of us and we plan on doing it again this afternoon before rehearsal. We got some nightcrawlers last night and I showed Beersnob what kind of gear he should get. So we are all good now and just hoping the weather is nice tomorrow!

It Started After I Got To Work

I was sitting there drinking my coffee when I got a call from The Date. She had fallen off of the front porch and thought she had broken her ankle. I came home as fast as I could go and found her and Thing 2 in the yard.

She couldn't move it hurt so badly. So Thing 2 and I loaded her up in the car and took her to the ER for x-rays. Thankfully they came back negative but the ligaments were torn which caused the intense pain.

She is camped out on the couch and doing better this morning though, even through last night's very loud storm.

No tornadoes but plenty of high winds and rain. I got lots of work done yesterday on the installation video. I just have to edit it together now as I have all the building blocks in place. I'm going to give them two or three versions, each similar but varying lengths so they can decide which they want to show at fairs and trade shows.

Hopefully Saturday will be a nice day, I'm going to need a relaxing day of fishing after this week:)

My Flirtation With Baseball Part Two

So last night before rehearsal I had an idea. I was going to load up Dallas Braden's perfect game from Mother's Day and watch it at rehearsal. There have only been nineteen perfect games in the history of MLB so it's fairly rare to see.

I found it on iTunes and loaded it onto my iPhone. A full game is about one rehearsal so the timing was perfect.

For those who are unaware of what a perfect game is, a pitcher retires twenty seven batters in a row and no one is allowed on base. I believe Mark Buehrle holds the record of most batters retired in a row after throwing a perfect game with forty five.

After the perfect game was watched there were still a few minutes of rehearsal left so I checked the MLB app and found the Dodger's game to see if Vin Scully was calling the game. He was so I was happy.

This experiment will likely not rekindle my former love of baseball as it once was. It might offer a modicum of interest though and the ability to watch a rare game during the season until the playoffs are on. If there is a compelling story during the season though I reserve the right to watch at my leisure.

Saturday is fast approaching! I'm so excited about this fishing trip! Thing 1's reel is loaded correctly now and the line will not spool off when cranked correctly. This is going to be so much fun!

Busy Evening!

It was busy not to mention there was tornadoes in the area. We are completely safe but the OKC area got hammered pretty hard. There was some activity East of us but we missed the whole show except for the super high winds.

I took Thing 2 to the Theatre board meeting, took Thing 1's broken fishing reel back and got a refund, bought her a spinner reel that I'm having problems keeping the line on, and picked up some groceries last night.

Busy.

Saturday had better have nice weather! I'm so excited about taking the girls out fishing! This is going to be so much fun!

All Caught Up

Yesterday The Date and The Things headed over to a college town to watch Jekyll and Hyde. I stayed home and got caught up on Lost, did the dishes, mowed the yard and other Mother's Day things.

Thing 1's new fishing reel doesn't work so I'm taking it to work as I have access to an entire machine shop and guys who fish weekly. Between all of us I think we can get it working so I don't have to take it back to Wal-Mart and exchange it. Saturday is going to be so much fun!

We are all looking forward to this trip and hopefully a sunny, warm day!

Ok my impressions on Lost, I like where the alternate time line is going, it's seemingly bringing in people to say goodbye again from the show. Sort of like when a coach will take the seniors out of a big game one at a time with a couple of minutes left so the audience can applaud them.

The characters get a moment of dialogue and take a bow after a few scenes. I believe the series finale is on May twenty third as a double episode. It'll be huge ratings. It was smart to put it on Sunday night so people will talk about it on Monday instead of on Wednesday. It'll be the only topic of conversation as Lost will pretty much of Sunday night all to itself.

June fourth the new season of Whale Wars starts! This season is going to be great! The hippies lose an attack boat and fail more than they have ever failed before! I can't wait for this to start! I don't exactly understand why the Japanese don't use the same tactics on the hippies. They can use the acid, the fouling nets, and harassment if they choose to but don't. Instead they use defensive tactics such as fire hoses, audio, and running away from the hippies in their faster ships.

Ok let me say once again I love whales. I believe that whaling should be banned world wide except for the indigenous tribes in the Arctic who survive for months on one whale at a time. However with that being said it is hilarious to see these hippies accomplish nothing time after time after time. They make the same mistakes over and over again. They just don't learn and I believe the Japanese have filled their "research" quota every time.

What the Japanese are doing should be a crime but it is up to the lawmakers and not a band of pot smoking true believers to take the law into their own hands. The (impotent) UN should step in if they were capable of it and address whaling.

Good Morning

After serving The Date with breakfast in bed I noticed how achy my muscles are today. We worked hard yesterday repainting the Theatre's lobby. That was a job and a half and a mere eight of us were there to make it happen.

It would have been less but we made Thing 1 get dressed and come along to help. She had fun as did we all. It was a good tired after we were done but man were we tired!

Kudos to everyone who showed up and worked the day, everyone else will be in for a real treat when they see the lobby now. It is very different and as I listened to the plans of where it is going to be, I think everyone will like the direction.

Well not everyone as someone will dislike the new direction however I like it and I think it needs to be updated for the next generation of patrons. Yeah, it looks nice and I hope everyone gets behind it:)

Great Shoot!

Yesterday I was up before six am to prepare for the shoot starting at seven. I arrived on the job site about ten till to find my client already there and the work truck with the shelter, and back hoe on its way.

I get out and we chat a minute while the truck is coming down the street. I bring my camera bag and tripod to the garage where the storm shelter will go and assemble everything.

Next up they unload the concrete saw and make lots of noise at seven. Thankfully they had spare ear plugs and gave me a pair. I'm sure the neighbors were less than thrilled but this is the job.

By seven thirty the concrete is cut up and the Ditch Witch back hoe is moved off of the trailer and just outside the garage. It takes out the pieced slabs and easily removes them to the trailer. Then digging commences. This is the longest part of the process, taking around an hour to finish. The bottom of the pit is leveled out and then the shelter is put into place, did I mention it is just now around nine? Less than two hours after the process started the shelter is in the ground.

They are taking their time too as the concrete truck wasn't scheduled to arrive until ten. They tried to get it to come sooner but the driver was booked. So we wait for the truck to arrive.

Once it arrives and starts to pour the process took around an hour before things were packed up and I left just after eleven. It was a super fast process and the shoot was very smooth.

Turns out that this shelter was a door prize from the home show. They had won it! It was every bit the same shelter they had installed day in and day out all over Tornado Alley!

After the shoot I was then free to head home and nap, which I did:) Then I went and picked up Thing 2 from school and we headed to Wal-Mart to stock up on fishing gear for an excursion next weekend! That'll be lots of fun! Skate, Beersnob, Court, The Invader, maybe a handful of others expressed interest in going! Skate has never been fishing before so that'll be great fun! Thing 2 was learning how to cast in the yard last night. That was interesting.

I'm looking forward to it!

Job Day

So I was thinking about how my new clients hadn't called me or anything since the home show, which is why I hadn't blogged about them since.

Then yesterday they call me around noon and tell me they have a job with a home owner who is willing to let us film the job and it starts at seven this morning. So I asked permission for today off and I'll be at the place before seven so I can get set up and have everything shot for them.

This is for the demo DVD they wanted. They haven't given me much information on the commercial yet but it seems when they are ready for us then they'll call even though I requested a week's notice to schedule it. That's alright though, this is a good paying job and it will only take most of the morning. I might be able to get the majority of the video edited early this coming week if not finished.

I'm all ready to hit the road now and get this started but I'm about a half hour away from leaving the house. I'm anxiously looking forward to this job! It's a big one!

Lost's Final Season

With less than a handful of episodes left I have decided to start watching Lost. I purchased the show on iTunes so I could load it up on my phone and take it to work with me and to rehearsal in the evenings.

I watched the first three episodes last night, at this pace I'll be caught up in no time. What they are doing right now is very cool with the split time lines. Granted comic books have done this for a couple of decades now but it is still a unique storytelling device.

It'll be great to see the show wrapped up in a satisfying way. I hope they pull that off instead of the Soprano's nonending ending. Which in hindsight could have been predictable as that show had gone so far downhill it wasn't even funny at that point.

Now I'll be able to watch the ending with The Date and Thing 2, well and the rest of America. She has been begging me to hurry up and watch as she wanted someone to discuss the show with.

If I can see another three episodes tonight and then tomorrow night at rehearsal then I'll be just about there or at least in an easily manageable bite of entertainment.

Well it's Thursday and I'm off to work, today and tomorrow is payday Friday. Always welcome around here. Well I'm off to start that first of a two day sprint into the weekend. You have to get it started if you are ever going to get it done!

Wonderful Tonight

Last night was a great night.

First I got home and rested for a bit, my Mom came over and Thing 2 got dressed for her spring concert at the symphony hall. The Date came home from her penultimate class around six and we then loaded up in the Tahoe and headed for the concert.

It was pretty good. I sat through the winter concert and honestly it was tough to listen to. This one was much improved and pleasant to listen to.

After the concert we headed off to Costello's for fine continental dining! I had the French Peppered Steak, The Date and Mom had the Alfredo, Thing 2 had the Hand Battered Shrimp. Then then loaded up on the desserts and by then it was around nine thirty. Nearing my bedtime for sure!

All in all it was a fabulous evening and one I enjoyed immensely! Far better than just another TV night. Well my TV nights are at an end for a while anyway now as rehearsals for Julius Caesar start tonight with the cast read through. So I'll be taking Thing 2 to rehearsals and assisting when I can as Witchy sees fit.

It'll be a good summer! I hope your summer is just as good as mine is shaping up to be!

May Is Zombie Awareness Month!

Thanks to Skate posting this link on my FB wall I have a great subject for today's blog!

People are urged to wear a gray ribbon to raise awareness of the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse of Doom. It is a solid reminder to everyone to have a plan ready for when either a comet gets too close to the Earth, that government society experiment goes awry, or a zombie plague spreads to everyone by an accidental bite of patient zero.

Your plan should consist of friends who you have to take with you. Each should have a skill of some sort to help aid your odds of survival. Don't discount the value of the goat, sometimes someone just has to be brought along only to be later left behind so you can make your get away.

Stock up on weapons, food, and medicine. Raid any grocery stores you can find. Raid any pharmacies you can find. Pawn shops are great for weapons but if you can find a zombie free Wal-Mart you are golden. You will be able to hold up there for at least two weeks with no problems once it is properly secured. They are also big enough you can send the goat out on gopher errands to lessen the group annoyance with them.

Watch zombie movies. This can't be emphasized enough, you never know when one survivor will do something that will stick in your head and come in handy later on.

Have meetings. Once your group is organized and roles are established keep in regular contact. All groups should have a medical professional of some sort, two or three heavy weapons experts, some light and fast moving people to infuriate the (hopefully Romero version of the zombies instead of the 28 days Later fast and super human running zombies) zombies, people of various fields who can aid in your survival.

Large groups are better as more people mean more people can hunt and forage for food supplies. Protection is easier when larger herds of zombies organize and attack. More weapons being fired mean that more zombies are going down for the last time. It is permissible to patrol old high school grounds in hopes of finding people who annoyed you and "putting them out of their misery" while also working out those inner issues you may have had with that person turned zombie, with a bullet is fine but if you prefer a flame thrower, knock yourself out.

Surviving will depend on your preparation abilities. If you can scrounge food, recognize safe plants to eat, hunt and prepare food, build zombie safe shelters, or drive the group for long periods of time then you have a welcome skill. Handymen, mechanics, electricians, plumbers, all the way up to doctors and nurses are welcome into my group of survivors. If you can make yourself useful and knock off a few zombies while you are at it then come along, you'll live.

And please remember to bring along your goats even if the group disapproves, they'll save your bacon more than once!

Sunday Was Nice!

The weather was amazing, we didn't do much but lounge.

I had a cigar around noon outside in the yard, in the glorious warmth of the sun. Got my laundry done for the week. Made homemade pancake mix for breakfast, a pasta salad for lunch, I have a couple of days worth of leftovers for lunch this week as well!

Spent Saturday evening playing a drinking game at Skate's place with The Invader and Teehee. I drank water so it wasn't quite the same experience for me but we all had fun.
All in all it was a very good weekend:)

I put the Suburban up on Craigslist yesterday. I need to get rid of it now as I need the space to park the Tahoe. I've had several people bite already, we'll see how it goes!

I listed it plenty cheap enough at a mere two hundred fifty dollars. A fair price as they will have to put some work into it. The batteries alone are nearly that price and it has a new starter on it as well. Still they will have to get it started or trailer it out of here. Which I stated in the ad so there won't be any surprises.

That's my weekend wrap up. I hope yours was every bit as good or better!

Jazz Fatality?

So there I was watching the Documentary Channel last night. All of a sudden a documentary comes on about modern day jazz and how the new artists struggle for notoriety and separate themselves from the jazz legends that came before them.

It was a fascinating character study and even more than that a reflection on modern society in our information age.

Now I'm the first person to raise my hand and tell anyone, I don't know jazz, I have no appreciation for jazz, I don't get jazz. Not the masters and not the new guys. What I did understand though is that jazz has changed over the years and that is what the director of the doc was trying to get across.

In today's age jazz is not as relevant as it once was. There really are no legends that have taken the jazz form of music and advanced it to a different plane as the older generation has.

Jazz meant something different for the generation that came before these musicians did, and something different for the musicians before them. It was a reflection of the times and now the times seemed lost to these musicians. They feel that this is their day to shine.

One musician simply said that the past is dead and gone as are the musicians, yeah they were great but we can't play what they did. He also felt that the past generations would be ashamed if the new generations would be playing the same styles as they did then and didn't advance it.

That's an excellent point. I'm positive that Hitchcock would say the same thing about today's filmmakers, a point I regularly make when it comes to sequels and remakes which I loathe. We've see that story before, tell a new one.

What I really see happening though is perhaps jazz falling into a small niche style of music now. Today there are a thousand and one different types of music to choose from, not to mention different types of entertainment competing for your attention.

While jazz was once king of the music world today it might barely register as a blip on the entertainment radar. Within another two or three generations jazz might not even exist.

Perhaps jazz has become a victim of today's celebrity driven pop culture. There really isn't a celebrity spokesman or an American Idol for the jazz genre. While I'm not a fan and really no appreciation for the genre I'd still be sad to see it fade away.

Rib Day

Yes, I'll be smoking three racks of ribs today on the Big Green Egg! It's a good thing I purchased the rib rack as it'll really do it's job today!

Thing 2 will easily eat maybe a full rack herself. She loves ribs! She devours them to the bone and really quickly too. It's insane to watch her eat a rack of ribs.

I might have to thaw out a fourth rack just in case. Nah, I purchased five a while back and I'll just smoke all five today. That'll give everyone plenty to eat:)

Not sure if I'll throw a rub on them or maybe even a simple salt and pepper mix. I'll have to get back to you on how I cook them today.

A Happy Post Today

I've blogged about this man before. He literally is an angel. I've ran his project over and over in my head for months now and I just don't have the capability of putting together this kind of operation.

Yesterday's post had a very spirited debate that followed it on Facebook. Everyone had their say. So evil conservative that I am, knowing I'm greedy, self centered, and loathsome I choose to write about this man again.

Today is about Jorge Munoz. He is one great guy. If you want someone's example to follow, make it this man. If you want to donate to a cause, make it his. He doesn't care who you are or what you do or don't do, he'll feed you.

He makes seven hundred dollars a week driving a bus during the day. He comes home, takes a ten minute break and then starts cooking to make meals until nine thirty. Then he delivers the food to hungry people. According to the video he spends roughly half of his weekly income on food and packaging.



He is not a man of means. He is a man of passion and desires to help his fellow man. He is an incredible example of man's humanity to man. Jorge Munoz, God Bless You Sir.

No Kidding

First and foremost I want to offer my deep affection to my Northern Brother who has turned forty today, it's not bad, not as bad as I was thinking it was going to be after I turned twenty. Miss you and thank you so much for last Summer! You'll never know how much it meant to me at that time.

Now onto our regularly scheduled rant against the Obama regime, as it turns out HHS Secretary and former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius hid this report from the Medicare Actuary about Obamacare raising costs instead of the promised decreasing costs.

No kidding, really? Obamacare is actually going to raise insurance costs?!?! I had no clue that was going to happen

"The reason we were given was that they did not want to influence the vote," says an HHS source. HHhmmmm, didn't want to influence the vote against this terrible Obamagenda of gobbling up or taking over private industry. I read this last night and I really felt physically ill that this was crucial information that would have swayed many votes against this horrible bill.

Want to know what's in the report without clicking over to it to read a lot of legaleze? Here is the link to an article and summary.

Here is the summary of the report that Kathleen Sebelius HID from everyone! I want to make that clear, she HID an important report that would have stopped Obamacare.

Grace-Marie Turner of National Review Online summarizes the report that Sebelius buried until after the Obamacare vote:

1. People losing coverage: About 14 million people will lose their employer coverage by 2019, as smaller employers terminate their plans and workers who currently have employer coverage enroll in Medicaid. Half of all seniors on Medicare Advantage could lose their coverage and the extra benefits the plans offer.

2. Huge fines for companies: Businesses will pay $87 billion in penalties in the first five years after the fines trigger in 2014, partly because they can’t afford to offer expensive, government-mandated coverage and partly because some of their employees will apply for taxpayer-subsidized insurance.

3. Higher costs for consumers: Tens of billions of dollars in new fees and excise taxes will be “passed through to health consumers in the form of higher drug and devices prices and higher premiums,” according to Foster. A separate report shows small businesses will be hit hardest.

4. A program created to fail: The new “CLASS Act” long-term-care insurance program will face “a significant risk of failure,” according to Foster. Indeed, he finds, “there is a very serious risk that the problem of adverse selection will make the CLASS program unsustainable.”

5. Spending increases: Under the new law, national health spending will increase by $311 billion over the coming decade. And instead of bending the federal spending curve down, it will move it upward “by a net total of $251 billion” over the next decade.

6. “Free-riders”: An estimated 23 million people will remain uninsured in 2019, roughly 5 million of whom would be undocumented aliens; the remainder would be the 18 million who decline to get coverage and who will pay the penalty.

7. Spending reductions are fiction: Estimated reductions in the growth rate of health spending “may not be fully achievable” because “Medicare productivity adjustments could become unsustainable even within the next ten years, and over time the reductions in the scope of employer-sponsored health insurance could also become an issue.”

8. You can’t keep your doctor: Fifteen percent of all hospitals, nursing homes, and other providers treating Medicare patients could be operating at a loss by 2019, which will “possibly jeopardize access to care for beneficiaries.” Doctors are threatening to drop out of Medicare because cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates mean they can’t even cover their costs.

9. Coverage but no care: A significant portion of those newly eligible for Medicaid will have trouble finding physicians who will see them, and the increased demand for Medicaid services could be difficult to meet.

This is an objective report by administration actuaries that shows this sweeping legislation has serious, serious problems.

And there’s more: Joint Economic Committee Republicans explain in a new report the impact of a rarely mentioned $14.3 billion per year tax on health insurance, effective in 2014. They find this tax will be mostly passed through to consumers in the form of higher premiums for private coverage. It will cost the typical family of four with job-based coverage an additional $1,000 a year in higher premiums and will fall largely, and inequitably, on small businesses and their employees.

Ok, now that you are awake and hopefully riled up this morning I want to hit you upside the head with this revelation. Obamacare will RATION your health care, this is plainly admitted by Peter Orszag. Google him to find out who he is.

He clearly states that there will be an Independent Payment Advisory Board established to push efficiency over quantity. I was going to add in the world quality as Mr. Orszag uses but everyone knows that that just doesn't exist in a government run program. This will place a panel of bureaucrats between you and your doctor's decision to treat you.

The IPAB will have more power than literally Congress over health care matters and can ONLY be held accountable by a vote of sixty seven votes in the Senate. That's more than a super majority, it is a super super majority. It is difficult enough to reach the sixty vote magic number (well hopefully until November comes around) but sixty seven is improbable in the least.

This bill was evil, it is evil, it must be repealed before it does more damage that can't be undone. The way the Obama regime has railroaded this debate was of Maoist proportions.

If I wasn't loud enough before and got your attention maybe this will wake you up out of your liberal induced Kool-Aid Obamacoma. There is the plan that Congress has set aside for itself and then the plan for you, me, and everyone else: Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green, or Libertarian. We are all in one boat of the non-elite together, remember that. There is the ruling elite and then everyone else and you and I, your neighbor, your friend, your mom and dad are everyone else.

If you were wanting a free ride, Medicare for all, and free health care provided by Obama and his taxes on successful people, think again. Nothing like that exists despite his promises and assurances. Health care costs can be brought down by market forces and be made competitive like any other product if a different path is followed.

The path Obama has set us upon is a path towards financial ruin and the dissolution of our nation if not sovereignty. This man cannot be voted out of office soon enough, we are currently witnessing Jimmy Carter: The Sequel.

Our country is now set upon dangerous ground, ground we have never tread before. It will take the next President eight years to undo the damage that was started in 1913 but escalated to new proportions in the last year. Obama has fulfilled the progressive's dream of Woodrow Wilson, FDR, and LBJ all rolled into one in less than two years.

Wake up America and vote this regime into retirement at every turn.

Half Way

After today we are on the downhill slide of things. Auditions went well last night, the cast list will be up this morning for people to see what parts they get in Julius Caesar.

Thing 2 enjoyed herself and will be at the theatre tonight to go through the script with a resident Shakespeare expert to cut some parts out of the script. That'll take it from a three hour show to a more pleasant two hour show.

There will be mosquitoes at the park in late June, there always are. It's always better to have a shorter show for the comfort of the actors and audience, especially when its outside.

I just read that the Thunder lost to LA last night. I watched the first quarter and saw they went 0-some amazing number from the floor for the first shots of the game. They couldn't get anything to fall and I remember their first point coming from a Durant free throw. The Lakers were on and the Thunder wasn't. They'll get better though as they are the youngest team in the NBA. Durant will develop into the best player with more experience.

They had a world of improvement just over last year by making the playoffs. They'll get a stellar free agent or a solid draft pick and be better next year.

Auditions Last Night

Thing 2 is the intern director for Julius Caesar this year for Shakespeare in the Park. After coming off a teen Shakespeare show as well so it's back to back shows for her!

The show isn't until the end of June so she has lots of time to rehearse as it's my job to take her to and from rehearsal. Shakespeare in the Park is an enjoyable production, its very different from the other shows that I'm involved in.

The show is rehearsed at the theatre then on the show dates, which there are only two or three, the set is loaded up in a truck and hauled to the park and assembled. Then after the show it is torn down and brought back that night. Then repeated the next day until the show run is over.

It is like a traveling troupe of actors for a brief time.

I go back for the second round of auditions tonight, I was mainly hanging out with Teehee, Hollywood Actor, and Red. Teehee isn't auditioning but he should, he has a great feel for Shakespeare and can emote the message of his character very well. The Date even wants a non speaking extra part which would be great and make it more of a family affair this season.

One Client

With the potential for maybe six more! I'd say it was a successful showing at the home show even though I was shooting for two clients (I also lined up two PSA's for non-profits) and here is why.

The client we did get wants more than one commercial. In fact they want a demo video shot for a tornado shelter and its installation but also a safe room and its installation! The commercial itself will play in four states!

We are scheduled to start shooting late this week as the owner has to get permission from one of the installation sites first before we shoot. She was very excited about the prospect of having new promotional material shot for the site and for TV and thought the prices were more than reasonable.

That is why I consider the show a success after three days. It would have been a total failure if it weren't for the efforts of Beersnob though. I pretty much stayed at the booth all day while he took flyers, cards, and his personality and walked around to all of the booths and talked to people. That's something I'm just not comfortable with doing. He loved it though and because of his efforts we have as much interest as we do.

We had a celebratory cigar and drink after the show closed and I'd say it was earned.

Now That Was A Day!

I got up at six AM, got all showered, blogged, and ready for breakfast. The Date got up followed by Thing 2. We headed out to meet Beersnob, we were naturally early because the girls were hungry and yet we waited anyway as I knew Beersnob would be about five to ten minutes later than the agreed upon time.

We ate and I came home to take the girls back and get my vendor pass. I arrived back at the booth and Beersnob has already set everything up and is ready for the day. About ten minutes there he gets a call from Mrs. Beersnob about their hot water tank leaking out of the garage and into the driveway. Ironic as that happened to us a very short time ago. So he heads home to take care of that for a short while.

The home show went well. I stayed mostly at the booth as people ignored me in droves. The ShamWow guy is next to me (not Vince Offer but an associate) the other booth is a nonprofit for senior citizens. The ShamWow guy has a long haired chihuahua in the booth with him, very friendly dog who just sits there and adores all of the attention it garners from the passers by.

Just around the corner and a couple of booths down is the county democratic women's association and I kept thinking about how cool it would be to be located next to them. Alas that didn't happen though. Beersnob had a great time walking around and talking to local vendors, he was truly in his element and loved doing it!

He can talk to anyone and have a grand conversation which is one of the many reasons I like him so well. Around one thirty I leave to go to the charity show that Thing 2 has been intern directing for. It went very very well. The cast was on, the crowd was lively and had fun, it was just a great event and hopefully raised a lot of money for the underprivileged youth.

I returned to the show and Beersnob reported how many people he had talked to and laid out the best prospects he had thus far. It was an exciting list of people who might call us and request our services!

We are a niche business and I really wasn't expecting business contacts to stream to the booth. We talked before hand that our business would come from the fact that we'd be walking around and talking to people who could use us.

After the show closed I took The Date a hot fudge sundae for a treat because she had a rough day. Then I came home and fired up the Egg and put on a pork shoulder for lunch today at the show.

We don't have to go in until eleven today so we'll be good and ready for some lunch when we get there. I put it on around seven thirty and pulled it off around midnight while The Date watched McLintock! The Date said it tasted Heavenly and while I do hope I can continue to cook in Heaven I doubt if I can get anything to taste that good:)

Today should be another good day but shorter as the show ends at five. That'll leave me plenty of time to decompress before going to bed and returning to the grind of weekly work tomorrow.

Busy Day Behind And Ahead

Yesterday was busier than I expected and I watched as much of one channel as possible to see my commercial and yet it did not happen. I learned that every single show on that channel during the day is a Judge X show.

Daytime TV sucks. There is nothing on worth watching and if it had not been for the large amount of work, including an unexpected trip to the dump, I would have gone to DVR'd shows.

Alas I watched and watched Judge So and So met out TV justice to people with disagreements. I kept mental notes on the commercials though and I feel that I can do any daytime TV commercial there with the exception of a couple of the more wealthy car dealerships who had some CGI happening. Everything else was simple stills, some stock footage, and an announcer. I feel I have a massive leg up on those announcers though as I have Skate on retainer, his booming voice will be gracing area commercials for a long time to come!

Today will start off with a breakfast before hopping one block over to the expo center for the rest of the day. I'll have Beersnob with me all day for conversation and sales while I'm not much of a talker in person. Now if I were able to type out a sales pitch in real time, that's a different story.

The Date will be there to help us with the customer side of things for a while before heading to a charity event that Thing 2 has been working on for the past two weeks. Thing 2 has been an AD (assistant director in theatre lingo) for the first time for the teem program. Today they will do their well done and well rehearsed show for an event to benefit underprivileged youth.

I'll be getting out of the home show this evening. It'll be a long long day ahead. If I get bored I might blog about weird things I've seen at the show:)

Busy Day On Tap!

I've got to get a DVD of the commercial burned so I can set it on a loop for the home show.
The Date has made some killer flyers for the show so we can pass them out.
I've got to get my brothers truck serviced and then take it to the theatre so we can load up a set and take it to a retirement community for a one off teen show.
I'll have to buy some blank DVDs.
Today is payday so I have to pay my bills online.
Beersnob and I have to get the booth together at three so we'll be set up and ready to go, tomorrow is the big day.
Yeah, a busy day! I'm ready for it though because I took off and I'm prepared to get it all handled!

Earth Day?

Um, who cares?

Look I'm all for conservation, clean water, big trees, and all of that. No one would be against all of that. However in today's day and age the environmental nutcases have taken Earth day too far, especially when they start pushing their agenda to regulate your freedoms with such things as Cap and Trade taxes.

CO2 is good for plants, it is not a pollutant. You exhale CO2, plants convert that to O2 which you breath. The volcano in Iceland has expelled up to 300,000 tonnes per day of CO2, that's a lot and it's natural. It's the Earth expelling that kind of CO2 not man, not you, not me. Just search for it, you'll find lots about how much CO2 it is producing.

Now here is one of my favorite articles about one of the founders of Earth Day, Ira Einhorn. It would seem Mr. Einhorn wasn't a nice, tree hugging guy after all as he killed his girlfriend, Holly Maddux in a jealous rage.

I wanted to link to this article though to give my liberal friends easier access to this article about the Unicorn Killer.

While a lot of people see Earth day as some celebration I see it as a stepping stone by agenda driven politicians to curtail your freedoms. If Cap and Trade were implemented it would be on top of the ending of the Bush tax cuts (which EVERYONE who paid taxes got a big break in their taxes and many on the lower end of the pay scale were taken off of the tax rolls) and on top of the possible VAT which would tax everyone again on products they purchase.

So how many taxes are enough? There will be a definitive answer to that question in November when the people speak up and lend their voice to the discussion. It can't come soon enough for me.

Half Way Through The Week!

It is supposed to be all rainy and thundery the rest of the week now. I mowed the majority of the lawn last night since we likely won't be able to until Sunday.

We are getting ready for the weekend and the home show expo. I traded a booth there for the commercial I shot for them. We will very likely make lots of business contacts there and gain lots of work from being there, well that's the hope anyway.

It has been nice not to have anything to shoot this week, been a super busy run since February and a break is welcome at this point. I'd like to get to the point where I shoot two projects a week though, I can safely handle that and get that amount easily edited.

Once that is rolling I can increase the schedule to what I'm comfortable with until Beersnob gets back home in December. This weekend will be huge for the business and if we get a good response from it then I can better gauge how large of a client base we have to draw from.

I'm excited about the opportunities this business presents!

The New IPhone!

Here it is iPhone lovers! Yeah there is a long story about how this prototype fell into the possession of these guys but they believe it looks, feels, and is legit!

I hope so too! This thing would rock!!!!

Take a look at the video and review about what this baby has on it and I think you'll be as amazed as I am! This will be my next iPhone purchase for sure in a few months when it is officially released!

Busy!

I edited ten interviews and four versions of a commercial spot for the marketing company this past weekend. The interviews were for the Diva show that'll be streaming clips on a site, likely this week.

The marketing company spot will be shown at the local ball park for the duration of baseball season. It was a lot of work, more than I thought actually but I did it! Now I officially have no jobs to do except get materials ready for a booth this coming weekend.

Beersnob will be manning the booth for the most part but I'll be there lots as there will be filming done for next year's commercial. Hopefully we can pick up some jobs and get this business rolling!

I do think since we are the only game in town that will cater to the small company and the needs of the small business that we have a giant advantage over the other company. They have gotten very big and very successful over the years and have the ability to turn away clients now if they don't have the time to do a job. We aren't big, we have experienced a modicum of success, and we do want the small business to come to us so we can sit down and tailor a spot for your business.

I'm excited about the possibilities that lie ahead!

Productive Saturday!

At first I thought we were sunk when it came to the footage I shot on Friday. Turns out it was just the playback head in the camera but the record head is fine! Whew...! Close one!

Here's the story, I borrowed Beersnob's camera and mic set up for the Diva shoot on Friday afternoon/evening. The mic set up is far superior to mine on my camera as it is cabled and not the cam mic. My subjects can walk around with the mic and talk into it and all of the area noise will not bleed onto the tape. Perfect!

We were walking around, they were doing interviews and I was keeping the frame and a rough time schedule to keep within the two minute clip window my clients wanted for this project. Afterward I went home and took Thing 2 to rehearsal for the special teen show.

Long story short there I just didn't get the footage digitized Friday night but as I had until Monday I wasn't sweating it too much. I knew that I'd have the house to myself on Saturday night and that'd be the perfect time to get this job finished.

Saturday night rolls around and I'm alone in the house so it's working time now. I hook up Beersnob's cam to the pc to digitize the footage and the footage was strewn with pixelated artifacts, making it unwatchable. I panicked almost immediately as a very sick feeling overcame me and my stomach. I want to do the best job I can on projects like this and if something isn't right I do take it personally, it affects me physically, literally.

So I call my client and talk to him a couple of minutes, he reassures me that technical problems happen and if nothing worked right we still had a great practice run for next time.

Instead of just giving up right then and there though I decided if the footage is ruined I'll still edit it for practice anyway. I hook up my camera to the pc and put the tape in. The footage is intact and pristine! As I said earlier the problem isn't with the very important recording head and only the playback portion! I'm thrilled but I'm going to look into getting the head repaired anyway.

I digitized the footage and have six good interviews now and I've got two more to go to finish this project!

Successful Shoot!

The shoot went very well last night! We worked out a couple of bugs and I know that this would be a difficult shoot as it was moving from booth to booth and interviewing people in a big crowd.

Noise wasn't as big of a factor as I had dreaded, the pace was lively, and interviewees had fun! It was a success!

I'll break down the footage into two minutes apiece today and get them formatted into a package for the newspaper to use. This will be a time consuming job but decently easy as well. There just isn't room for a lot of graphics or special effects.

It was a fun shoot and my job will be to have that part come out in the editing!
I'll be starting soon after I rustle up some breakfast.

Finally Friday!

I worked for nearly five hours last night on the local marketing company spot. I got two versions done, there are differences between them but they are minor.

This afternoon I'll embark upon another foray into paid film work as I will be at the local BBQ contest and filming the "Diamond Divas" for a couple of hours. The weather today is supposed to be rainy and as I look at the radar it is basically here already!

We'll be filming inside as I'll have Beersnob's camera and mic this afternoon and I don't want anything in the world to happen to it! So Dry is the word of the day!

I'm going to start around three thirty when I arrive there and then it'll be up to the on screen talent to put on the show that I film. I'm basically just the camera guy and responsible for keeping the frame and editing the piece. I'm kind of glad that I don't have a creative responsibility for this piece right now. We'll see how it evolves over the next few months.

It's Airing!

On local cable channels the commercial is airing! I feel like a massive weight has been lifted from me now that I know I have taken a commercial from nothing but notes to a completed project that airs on TV.

It's really a pretty nice feeling and I know that my skills will get better over time as more clients come to have commercials made for them. Tonight will be full of working on the Marketing company spot in Premiere Pro as I just don't have the skill yet to accomplish their vision as they laid out to me in After Effects.

I tried everything I knew how to do to find a mentor to ask questions to but no one seems to have any kind of professional level skill with the program sadly. I went through the Lynda tutorials and while it was excellent and helped me get a great grasp on the program what was required in this spot wasn't anything they covered.

In a few months I'll be able to pull it off but now, well I'm not there yet. I need more practice to make it work well.

Alright if you are tired of this type of stuff, scroll down a little bit more and read about the squirrel adventure at work yesterday! It was a double post day and in case you missed it, it was fun!

The Great Squirrel Hunt

So there I was in my shop working away when Bub, ling time readers will recall him from a previous story, opened the door and called me, my coworker, and our supervisor to his office to search for a squirrel that was allegedly under Bub's desk.

After a thorough search of the area we concluded that Bub had been hallucinating as no squirrel had been located.

The teasing commenced.

While we all knew that it was possible for a squirrel to find it's way into the building and possible that said squirrel could find it's way to Bub's office and hide under his desk it was simply more fun to tease Bub.

I mean where is the fun in upholding a search for a possible squirrel and be serious about it?

Lunch time came and still no squirrel. I cane to my area to find Bub in our office and again talk of the squirrel came up as the teasing started again. Good natured and Bub was laughing as well:)

I decided to fill up my water bottle from the drinking fountain in the hall when what do I see? A squirrel dashing back and forth down the long hallway searching for a way out!

I yelled for all of my colleagues to join me in the hall to witness the found and not imaginary squirrel. The task quickly dawned on us, "how do we safely remove the squirrel from the building without injuring us or it?"

I ran down the hallway shutting doors to cut off escape from the furry invader and by the time I got the big door open it had changed course to the opposite end of the hall. Squirrels being simple minded can't see a massive opening behind them and three coworkers in front of it trying their best to get it to run back to the huge open door.

Instead it runs right by them as they all leap out of the way like little girls of the ferocious beast, a baby squirrel. Yes dear readers, it was a baby squirrel.

The chase commenced to head into another shop with a small crack under the door. This surprised everyone in the shop as they quickly joined in containing the baby squirrel.

The baby squirrel darted behind some cabinets and we gently moved them out and a fearless squirrel hunter with a cardboard box stood at one end while I stood at the other to direct the squirreling into the box.

I made noise, the squirrel went as planned into the box and we closed the top slowly as not to startle the ferocious beast.

We then returned it safely to the outside world as a very smug Bub enjoyed not being crazy.


-- Post From My iPhone

My Flirtation With Baseball

I'm not a fan, used to be before the 1993 strike/lockout. It's hard to choose a sympathetic side when everyone is a millionaire and they are arguing over being paid more at the expense of the fans who actually buy the tickets.

Over the years I've caught the occasional game now and then, mostly post season or if there was a compelling storyline like rooting against Barry Bonds or the Cubs. Bonds I didn't like because he clearly wasn't living in denial so much as he was living on another planet apart from the truth, the Cubs because my co-worker loves them and it's my natural contrary attitude to root against something he wants out of good humor.

My main problem is that in baseball they have swept so many problems under the rug for attendance numbers...which they wouldn't have had problems with if they didn't stop the game in '93.

Yes the game is hard to watch as there isn't a lot happening at the time. We as a country are more accustomed to watching faster moving sports. Our country has been so successful over the decades of manufacturing entertainment that we have more options to have our free time filled than anyone ever in the history of the planet.

Baseball was once the national past time, now due to the dominance of the NFL it is going the way of a relic in the wake of the years of the steroid scandal. It'll still be relevant, not saying that it belongs in a museum of sports we used to play, I'm only talking about the once high position of relevance it held as our national sport and how the baton was handed to the NFL without the MLB noticing it had lost ground.

While in the NFL practically any team has a chance any year to be a contender if they make the right off season moves and has a good draft. In the MLB a lot of teams are eliminated from post season play by the first of June.

Regardless I decided to give a former flame another look. I purchased the MLB iPhone app so I can listen to games. Yesterday I listened to the Dodger's home opener, mainly because I like listening to Vin Scully call a game. The guy is a legend and can paint a picture of what's happening in the game like no other. This is possibly his last season so I am going to try to catch more games he calls this season.

I'm not a Dodger's fan, not a fan of any team really but I do favor the AL over the NL, yes I know that the Dodger's are a NL team but the AL doesn't have a Vin Scully.

This might last a week or it might last all season, reigniting a former love, time will tell.

It Returns Tonight!

The best reality show of all time is back starting tonight!
The Deadliest Catch!

I've been a fan of this show since Discovery did a documentary episode on it called The Deadliest Season, it served as a spring board for the current show.

Deadliest Catch documents the lives and struggles of crab fishermen on the Bering Sea in Winter. Frequently ships become disabled due to the horrible conditions around them. Men stay up for thirty hours at a time or longer to finish a string, nerves are shot, and the weather is always below freezing.

They start with king crab season and then when that ends it is time for snow or opilio crab season which is worse weather wise as the pack ice comes south into the crab grounds.

My dad loved this show. After a new episode aired we would discuss it the next day. You long time readers will recall the time I almost called his number a few days after he had passed last year after the night's new episode. I caught myself before it rang though.

This season will have a more melancholy tone as Captain Phil Harris of the Cornelia Marie died a few months after my dad did. The fleet will continue to go out with the Hansen brothers with the Northwestern, the Hillstrand Brothers and the Time Bandit, Harris's sons with the Cornelia Marie, and Keith and Mouse with the Wizard.

Yes, this is one of the only shows I watch as it airs instead of a season at a time like most others.

If you haven't seen it, watch it.

Good Weekend!

Yesterday I got a lot of Lynda watched, I've still got three chapters left in After Effects Essentials. After that I move onto their advanced course which is about four hours long after the six hour long Essentials course.

I'm getting there and I feel more confident now than I was before about this program. Yesterday I made lasagna and for supper I grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob. The Date and I enjoyed them:) Thing 2 thought I said corn dogs and didn't want to pick corn out of her braces.

The Date did a spectacular job of cleaning up the patio ala spring cleaning and our neighbor brought over his bobcat and a ton of dirt and leveled out the low parts of our back yard.

Well my restful weekend is over with and now it's time to earn the rent for another week. Day one is up to bat and day two is on deck.

Surprised!

So there I was, about to go have a quiet drink with The Date and a couple of friends at The Blue Note after a somewhat busy day of dad stuff.

I did notice Filmmaker friend Chris's car in the parking lot but I've seen others like it so I thought, eh, not him since he doesn't drink. I knew that J and T were going to be there and I saw T's car. I walked in and a lot of my closest and dearest friends yelled, "Surprise!"

I was genuinely taken aback and it did scare me a bit! They did their jobs perfectly! Jamal was the lookout who was giving, Red, Hollywood Actor, J, T, and Filmmaker friend Chris the signal. After a few minutes Skate and The Invader showed up followed by Teehee, and later still by Beersnob, and Mrs. Beersnob.

I got hugs all around, wonderful birthday wishes, and had a wonderful time! I honestly thought my 40th was done and over with after the water heater incident. I was good with that as I don't particularly like attention much less the center of attention.

We all hung out until midnight at least so this lasted a good four hours!

In other news Prom Night happened successfully. Thing 1 actually got home before curfew. Thing 2 had a school function to attend in another town so I dropped her off and picked her up for that.

And that was my day!

Prom Night

I don't think I'll survive today. It is prom night for Thing 1. I've got some dad things to do, I think. If not then I'll have to support The Date in her efforts to make this Thing 1's best prom ever.

Everything is going well right now. Tomorrow I'll be working on a spot for the marketing company. It'll be playing at the ball park in town for all of the baseball games.

To start the day out right we are heading to a breakfast restaurant, not IHOP, and going to have a nice breakfast:)

Friday!

Payday Friday in fact! I'm glad, it's been a long week. I need a weekend to recharge a bit.

Work has been weird, it's goes from busy to slow to busy again. Hopefully it'll smooth out to a steady pace again soon. I can handle a steady pace, I know what to expect and can plan it out. It's when you don't know what's going to happen is when things get off track.

Regardless it's Friday now and no work for two days. That's what I'm excited about!
I am guessing my commercials are going to work as I've uploaded one of them to the channel's FTP site according to their guidelines and I don't know about the other one. They didn't have a FTP site, so I gave my client a DVD. I don't have the means to distribute it another way.

I asked the ad-reps at the channel to contact me if there was a problem and that was two days ago and they haven't so it must be great:)

It's All Good

Last night I finally got to play my evening of celebratory WoW!
In the midst of my glorious fun I knocked over my cup of water, spilling it onto my iPhone.

I dried it off and turned it on. It worked fine but after a while I noticed that I couldn't hear the text message sounds. I tried the iPod feature and it wouldn't play unless I had the headphones on in which it played great.

So I got a bag of dry Minute Rice, stuck the iPhone in there and left it over night. I Anxiously turned it on this morning only to find...IT WORKED PERFECTLY AGAIN!

Yay iPhone! Yay Minute Rice!

Just after ten o'clock I hit level sixty two with my warrior. I'm happy about that as I have eighteen levels to go until level eighty which is the cap until the expansion comes out later this year.

One Busy Day

Yes I'll get this out of the way first, it was my bday. Yes I'm another year older. The Date tried as hard as she could to make the day special and it was! She made a great cake for me, all chocolate, all the way through!

I went to work but I was going to take off at noon so that I could drop off the new DVD proof of the commercial I've been working on. You can see it here. Skate does a great job of narrating this spot!

The second part of the plan was to play WoW in celebration of my first commercial that was going to air very soon on TV.

Alas it was not to be. The Date texted that the carbon monoxide detector had been going off in the morning. I was sure that it was the high gusting winds catching the hot water tank's flu system from the right direction and forcing it back down. We are talking about forty mile per hour gusts too.

I got home but she had gone to class already so I check the hot water tank out and found that it needed replaced badly. So my new project for the day was to replace it. I called my brother and he got me a good deal at a warehouse supply store on a new tank. He is a licensed plumber so he gets discounted prices on his supplies. The general public can't walk in and buy things but he can, it's that kind of place.

So I'm off to get his truck to pick up the new tank. I switch vehicles, pick up the tank and head home. My brother's best friend and someone who has helped me out more times than I can count, Fat Plummer (his X-Box 360 ID) comes over after he gets off of work and for the next four hours we change the tank out.

We size up the old tank, and get it drained which took the longest. Then we head to get the supplies to replace the tank with. The actual tank changing didn't take long, maybe an hour at most. By the time we were done it was nine thirty and I just wanted to do nothing but rest.

So that was my day:) Thank you again to my love, The Date for her valiant efforts to make the day special for me:) It was, we are safe from deadly carbon monoxide now and the tank will last us for another six to ten years:)

Now I Think I'm Finished!

I took the DVD proof over to my client yesterday at lunch. I was going to wait until after work but it was killing me whether she was going to like it or hate it. Turns out she liked it and after a couple of tweaks that she wanted I'll be bringing her another DVD proof today.

That should finish this project once she looks at the new proof and approves it.

If the most difficult project is the first one then it should be smooth sailing from here. This has been a nightmare project. Last night I even had to get a new DVD burner as mine quit working. I don't know why, it just wouldn't read anything anymore.

Nevertheless that problem was overcome and now I shall spend the evening playing WoW before starting to work on the new project tomorrow evening.

Everything is working out, sometimes the road can be a bit bumpy but it's working anyway!

Finished!

I'll take the proofs over to her after work and she can tear into them. She forgot to send me a sponsor's logo so she emailed it to me while I was there picking up the tropical music she picked out. I gave her a frame by frame breakdown of what this commercial looks like and why I did what I did. She wanted a ton of information in thirty seconds, I mean a ton.

The commercial from last year used a steady background and placed the information all around it, they used small pictures, I'm using individual backgrounds and the pictures are full screen. There isn't as much information being thrown at you at a time but you can turn the volume off and get the full message. The sponsor's logos are much bigger than last year's commercial and the main thing she wanted highlighted has three individual title cards.

I saw a commercial that a California firm had done for her recently and she explained how she didn't like it. I thought it was pretty good, the graphics were clean and sharp, the backgrounds were bright, it was a nice commercial other than a gaff that had the same picture on the screen twice.

I came home, nearly ready for a heart attack when The Date told me that it wouldn't matter what I'd do for any commercial she wanted she wouldn't like it and would find something bad about it. Oddly enough that made me feel better.

This will be a commercial that after a year of doing this, I'll look back on and see how crude it is. My skills will grow and I'll get better so I know I've got a lot of room for improvement.

Thank you Skate for doing the voice over. It was golden! Your tones shall grace many future commercials in this area:)

Almost Completed

The commercial that has given me some restless night, inspired my normally calm stomach to start aerobics, and tap danced on my last good nerve is 95% finished.

I need to call Skate later to do the voice over track and the client is looking for ukulele music for the final seconds. I felt like the world had been lifted off of my shoulders as I put the final clip into place. I felt so good that Beersnob and I went outside and enjoyed a victory cigar. If I hadn't completed it then it would have been a nerve calming cigar but nonetheless it was a victory cigar.

I plan on having another victory cigar when she accepts the commercial sometime this week.

Happy Easter! The most important holiday of the year for any believing Christian and the close of Holy Week. Death itself was conquered and as believers we were given real hope. That life is meaningful and just the beginning. That there is a structure to the universe and not chaos. We are not left in the hands of random chance but in those of a kind and loving God.

He is Risen!:)

My Day With Lynda

Yes Lynda.com is on my slate today.
I subscribed to Lynda after work yesterday. I went through nine chapters of Essential After Effects tutorials before bed. I've got another thirteen chapters to get through today before moving onto the advanced tutorials.

Lynda is a software learning site. They teach you complex software titles in a relatively short amount of time for twenty five dollars per month. A bargain compared to the slower progress in a classroom.

However fast this may be and yes it will get me through the current commercials I'm doing I still would prefer a mentor I can learn from and ask questions to. There are lots of projects out there that I might have to do that just aren't covered here.

I want to get better at this program, upgrade it and master the next version as well. I'm going to be a great editor and I'm going to make this business work. Beersnob is back in town as he safely arrived home Thursday. He will be assisting soon and I want to be able to get him up to speed on what and how to edit.

That will be the biggest help to me, to have two people who are capable of taking a client's request, shooting it, editing it, and giving back a finished, polished product that they will love.

So no World of Warcraft today unless I finish the Expo commercial. I'm using that as a reward system for myself. Business before pleasure. After I deliver a solid commercial to my client then I'll treat myself with a few quests with the guild, Skate, Teehee, Bobo, and the others.

A Strong Possibility

Starting on the sixteenth my little business could wind up with a full time gig every two weeks.

This is a show that will be going around to area businesses and will be around a half hour of shooting time plus editing and time to set up and strike the equipment. It will be labor intensive for the first couple of shows and then the bugs will be worked out and we'll have a good produced show on my end.

I'll have a filmed intro and everything. It's really pretty cool because it'll probably be the job that pays for the next upgrade I need to get and that's Adobe software.

After that it'll be camera and then a new powerhouse PC.

The Expo commercial should be finished this weekend and I'll have that off of my plate. That's the most nerve wracking commercial I've ever done because they requested a ton of information and themes to go into a thirty second spot and it's going to be publicly viewed. I'll get used to it but for right now it is killing my last good nerve.

A Quarter Done

Amazingly 2010 is now officially one quarter finished. How has that happened?
I'm still getting used to writing the date starting with a "1" instead of a "0", I know I've got an entire decade to get it right before I change the "1" to a "2" though.

I guess the decade is now officially one fortieth finished, that sounds a little bit better.

Yesterday really felt more like Summer than Spring. It was quite possibly ninety, I know the last time I looked at a thermometer it was eighty eight. Two weeks ago it was snowing and now it's Summer. One thing is for sure, we will soon be having some massive thunder storms soon. Tornado season is upon us!

I shot the final footage I needed last night for the first real commercial I've ever done last night. I'm very nervous about this but promised the client that it would not be a clone of last year's commercial which she has grown to love. I explained I had watched the old commercial literally and without exaggeration a hundred times by now and there is way too much information being thrown at the viewer to comprehend in thirty seconds.

This one will be slower paced, a little information at a time, and if the viewer turns the volume down the point will still get across. That's the kind of commercials I want to make. I hate watching them and that's one of the main reasons I like watching a season of a show at a time either on DVD or DVR when you can skip the commercials.

Ironic huh? I'm now trying to make the same thing I don't like to watch. It's alright though I think I've got a handle on them for the most part and will get my skills in the software up to par in a very short amount of time!