So, I found myself with a few spare hours on a Tuesday afternoon and decided to spend some more time playing with iMovie. This is my second attempt. So, the results are in the clip below.
A few thoughts...
1)Obviously, my video is tongue and cheek. But it's kind of inspired by all those high production value clips from Top Gear. Yes, those clips feature exotic cars in exotic locations going really fast. And mine features a 1995 Honda Civic for the most parked in a public park. But, that's kind of the point. It's ironic or something.
2) I really enjoyed making this.
3) It must be extremely frustrating and difficult making movies that actually matter, and have plots and continuity and special effects. My clip is basically a bunch of random shots thrown together, but I found myself obsessing over every little detail as I tried to edit things together the way I wanted. But, between my lack of skill and technology and time, I ended up pretty much compromising on the whole thing. I don't know how the professionals do it in a timely manner. Much respect to them.
Anyway here it is...(click on those arrows in the lower right corner to go full screen)
This was longer than I intended, based on my lack of ability to edit music. My next project will be under two minutes...I promise.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Darts
I've played quite a lot of darts in my time, so I've seen some weird and/or lucky sequences of throws, but we were playing darts with friends last night and some how I threw my third dart and it managed to impale one of my previous darts and just stick there. I'm not sure how one would of officially scored this. We gave it a six. Although, I felt I should have gotten bonus points.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
50th Post and A Reason I Love Seattle
Yes, my 50th blog posting would have to feature beer.And yes, I do see universes in my beer. See, I even took a photo of one for you.
Hmmm...this is my 5oth blog posting...cue the trumpets and confetti!
Does it feel like 50 posts? I didn't think I had this much hot air in me.
I must say I enjoy this whole blogging thing. I've always enjoyed writing. But, most of the writing I've done in the last few years has been work related. Every now and then I'd write something down in a journal, but it usually never made it past a few paragraphs and no one ever read it. So, it's nice to be able to ramble on about random things (in a relaxed grammatical style) that happen in life or interest me (if only me). Being this is the 50th post, it had to reference two things central to this blog and me...beer and Seattle.
In my last entry I mentioned dark beers for the dark and rainy season...well just to prove I'm not alone on this love, check out this great article from the Seattle Times.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/musicnightlife/2010856588_darkbeers22.html
It's about dark beers and places to find them, here in Seattle. I'm quite happy to report that we currently live within less than 15 minutes walking distance to at least 4 of the pubs mentioned in this article. Mecca for beer? Perhaps.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
This Week
Not a lot new going on as of right now. We find ourselves fully entrenched in the post holiday, bleak, wet and dark days of January. I'm coping through the time tested combination of lots of coffee during the day and a dark beer or two during the evenings. And if you can find a dark beer brewed with coffee, well, what more do you need?
Our wedding planning continues to pick up momentum, as it should, since we are only about three months out from the big day. (deep breaths) I've refrained from posting too much about the wedding planning process. Mostly because it would be repeated rants about how the wedding industry is insane and extremely over priced. But since everyone knows that already, I feel I don't need to post about it. However, it is an industry that I feel is ripe for a revolution. So, if anyone has any suggestions on reforming the wedding industry, drop me a line. I'm all ears and have some time to invest.
My part time gig helping produce entertainment for a few college basketball games in December at KeyArena, has turned into a part time gig helping produce entertainment for indoor lacrosse games up at the Comcast Arena in Everett. So, as much as the college basketball games caused me to have flashbacks to my first job, the lacrosse games are causing me to have flashbacks to my second job. Which I'm not entirely sure is a good thing. Somebody stop this ride, I'd like to get off now. Oh and lacrosse is a strange sport.
And finally...here's a picture of a cow...on a California sunny day...
Happy Wednesday to you. It is Wednesday, right?
Our wedding planning continues to pick up momentum, as it should, since we are only about three months out from the big day. (deep breaths) I've refrained from posting too much about the wedding planning process. Mostly because it would be repeated rants about how the wedding industry is insane and extremely over priced. But since everyone knows that already, I feel I don't need to post about it. However, it is an industry that I feel is ripe for a revolution. So, if anyone has any suggestions on reforming the wedding industry, drop me a line. I'm all ears and have some time to invest.
My part time gig helping produce entertainment for a few college basketball games in December at KeyArena, has turned into a part time gig helping produce entertainment for indoor lacrosse games up at the Comcast Arena in Everett. So, as much as the college basketball games caused me to have flashbacks to my first job, the lacrosse games are causing me to have flashbacks to my second job. Which I'm not entirely sure is a good thing. Somebody stop this ride, I'd like to get off now. Oh and lacrosse is a strange sport.
And finally...here's a picture of a cow...on a California sunny day...
Happy Wednesday to you. It is Wednesday, right?
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Looking Back to See Forward
Every now and then in life, we're given an opportunity to go back and experience something again from a totally different perspective. This last December, I had a opportunity to revisit my first job.
As many of you know, my first job out of college was working in the Game Operations department of the Seattle Sonics and Seattle Storm basketball teams (literally, my dream job). Game Operations is a little heard of field outside of the sports industry. I'd been a sports fan my entire life, but before starting at the Sonics, I'd never heard of the term yet alone a department or career field. Basically, Game Operations is exactly as it sounds. It's organizing and/or executing all the game day set up, breakdown, events and logistics associated with the sporting event. It varies from team to team, but this can include the rather mundane details of making sure the scoreboard is functioning or the correct sponsor signage is hung, to the much more noticeable details of selecting the National Anthem performer or halftime entertainment or pushing the limits of reason by asking a guy in mascot costume, who can't really see or hear, to repel 60 feet from the rafters while holding giant sparklers. When it works, it's exhilarating. When it fails...you just hope it doesn't fail.
I quickly found out that this was quite possibly the funnest job one could ask for (at least for someone who enjoys sports and details and being creative and not sitting behind a desk all day). That's not to say it wasn't extremely hard work and stressful, with long hours and mediocre pay, but the adrenaline rush of a well executed game in front of a sold out arena during a playoff game, is one of the coolest feelings I've ever had.
A photo from "The Bucket" at KeyArena. I never expected to have the opportunity to experience this view one more time.
For two years at the Sonics, and then four more years at the Everett Silvertips, I got to enjoy that adrenaline rush of entertaining people repeatedly. But, eventually the long hours, nights and weekends and mediocre pay burned me out. So, when we moved to San Jose, I took a much more "normal" marketing job, that allowed me to be creative, yet have weekends off. During that same time period the Sonics moved away. And I had in my own mind closed the door on the sports entertainment part of my career. I figured I would never have the opportunity to feel the excitement of entertaining a live crowd again, yet alone do it in Seattle at KeyArena.
And then 2009 happened. And I found myself back in Seattle with no job and looking for ways to reconnect with former coworkers and colleagues to improve my job rescue chances. It was through one of those connections that I was asked to help out with a temporary gig to help run the game ops for two annual college basketball games (The Battle in Seattle & Cougar Hardwood Classic) at KeyArena. So for two days during December, I found myself back in KeyArena helping entertain basketball fans again.
It was a somewhat surreal experience. I hadn't worked an event at KeyArena since August of 2003. To find myself once again walking around backstage and in the catwalk of KeyArena setting up for a basketball game was one giant day of de ja vu.. I could not believe how much everthing was the same. Much of the job and details were the same. And many of the people I was working with were the same. And most importantly the excitement was the same. Of course the one great difference was the fact that this was college basketball and that the Sonics are long gone*.
At one point towards the end of the WSU game, as I was standing in the vomitory watching a close game, taking in the crowd, the atmosphere of 15,000 fans, I was a little overwhelmed with how much it felt exactly the same as it had during my time working at the Sonics. It felt as if time had stood still. It was a view/experience I never thought I'd experience again. Yet, I was back in that experience, even if just briefly. So, I soaked it in.
Maybe, it's the fact that these long months of unemployment have left me feeling useless as of late or that I'm totally lost when it comes to figuring out where my job rescue/career is headed. Rejection sucks. And unemployment is really nothing but a long string of rejections. This was a break from that. I utterly enjoyed those two days back at KeyArena. And it's not to say that I necessarily want to go back into the sports industry, but it was a great opportunity to look back at my career and realize that I've done cool stuff that I've enjoyed, that I have some unique skills. And that it is possible to enjoy what you do. It's something that I needed to be reminded of as I navigate this career void that I find myself in. And most importantly, it was fun.
Like most things Sonics related at KeyArena, this banner no longer hangs from the rafters at KeyArena.
*And about those Sonics.... This was my first time in KeyArena since the Sonics left town. As much as the job and KeyArena was so familiar and unchanged to me on these two recent nights. There was one great void. The Sonics were gone. And most signs that the Sonics ever played in KeyArena have been stripped away. The Sonics banners, including the championship banner of 1979 no longer hang in the rafters. The retired jerseys gone, too. The locker room still contains the familiar green and gold of the Sonics, but the logos have been removed or painted over with Seattle Storm logos or Seattle University logos. The walls on the concourse no longer pay homage to the Sonics teams of years past. On the surface, facing outward to the public, everything Sonics related is gone. But backstage, a few traces remain. If you look close in the darkened corners and the dusty storage areas there are a few reminders. A Sonics logo in the catering area, or a rolled up banner in the corner, just hanging there in the dark unnoticed by those not looking for it. But, that's it. Basketball at KeyArena now belongs to the Storm, Seattle U and the occasional WSU or Gonzaga game.
As many of you know, my first job out of college was working in the Game Operations department of the Seattle Sonics and Seattle Storm basketball teams (literally, my dream job). Game Operations is a little heard of field outside of the sports industry. I'd been a sports fan my entire life, but before starting at the Sonics, I'd never heard of the term yet alone a department or career field. Basically, Game Operations is exactly as it sounds. It's organizing and/or executing all the game day set up, breakdown, events and logistics associated with the sporting event. It varies from team to team, but this can include the rather mundane details of making sure the scoreboard is functioning or the correct sponsor signage is hung, to the much more noticeable details of selecting the National Anthem performer or halftime entertainment or pushing the limits of reason by asking a guy in mascot costume, who can't really see or hear, to repel 60 feet from the rafters while holding giant sparklers. When it works, it's exhilarating. When it fails...you just hope it doesn't fail.
I quickly found out that this was quite possibly the funnest job one could ask for (at least for someone who enjoys sports and details and being creative and not sitting behind a desk all day). That's not to say it wasn't extremely hard work and stressful, with long hours and mediocre pay, but the adrenaline rush of a well executed game in front of a sold out arena during a playoff game, is one of the coolest feelings I've ever had.
A photo from "The Bucket" at KeyArena. I never expected to have the opportunity to experience this view one more time.For two years at the Sonics, and then four more years at the Everett Silvertips, I got to enjoy that adrenaline rush of entertaining people repeatedly. But, eventually the long hours, nights and weekends and mediocre pay burned me out. So, when we moved to San Jose, I took a much more "normal" marketing job, that allowed me to be creative, yet have weekends off. During that same time period the Sonics moved away. And I had in my own mind closed the door on the sports entertainment part of my career. I figured I would never have the opportunity to feel the excitement of entertaining a live crowd again, yet alone do it in Seattle at KeyArena.
And then 2009 happened. And I found myself back in Seattle with no job and looking for ways to reconnect with former coworkers and colleagues to improve my job rescue chances. It was through one of those connections that I was asked to help out with a temporary gig to help run the game ops for two annual college basketball games (The Battle in Seattle & Cougar Hardwood Classic) at KeyArena. So for two days during December, I found myself back in KeyArena helping entertain basketball fans again.
It was a somewhat surreal experience. I hadn't worked an event at KeyArena since August of 2003. To find myself once again walking around backstage and in the catwalk of KeyArena setting up for a basketball game was one giant day of de ja vu.. I could not believe how much everthing was the same. Much of the job and details were the same. And many of the people I was working with were the same. And most importantly the excitement was the same. Of course the one great difference was the fact that this was college basketball and that the Sonics are long gone*.
At one point towards the end of the WSU game, as I was standing in the vomitory watching a close game, taking in the crowd, the atmosphere of 15,000 fans, I was a little overwhelmed with how much it felt exactly the same as it had during my time working at the Sonics. It felt as if time had stood still. It was a view/experience I never thought I'd experience again. Yet, I was back in that experience, even if just briefly. So, I soaked it in.
Maybe, it's the fact that these long months of unemployment have left me feeling useless as of late or that I'm totally lost when it comes to figuring out where my job rescue/career is headed. Rejection sucks. And unemployment is really nothing but a long string of rejections. This was a break from that. I utterly enjoyed those two days back at KeyArena. And it's not to say that I necessarily want to go back into the sports industry, but it was a great opportunity to look back at my career and realize that I've done cool stuff that I've enjoyed, that I have some unique skills. And that it is possible to enjoy what you do. It's something that I needed to be reminded of as I navigate this career void that I find myself in. And most importantly, it was fun.
Like most things Sonics related at KeyArena, this banner no longer hangs from the rafters at KeyArena. *And about those Sonics.... This was my first time in KeyArena since the Sonics left town. As much as the job and KeyArena was so familiar and unchanged to me on these two recent nights. There was one great void. The Sonics were gone. And most signs that the Sonics ever played in KeyArena have been stripped away. The Sonics banners, including the championship banner of 1979 no longer hang in the rafters. The retired jerseys gone, too. The locker room still contains the familiar green and gold of the Sonics, but the logos have been removed or painted over with Seattle Storm logos or Seattle University logos. The walls on the concourse no longer pay homage to the Sonics teams of years past. On the surface, facing outward to the public, everything Sonics related is gone. But backstage, a few traces remain. If you look close in the darkened corners and the dusty storage areas there are a few reminders. A Sonics logo in the catering area, or a rolled up banner in the corner, just hanging there in the dark unnoticed by those not looking for it. But, that's it. Basketball at KeyArena now belongs to the Storm, Seattle U and the occasional WSU or Gonzaga game.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Welcome 2010!
Happy New Year to everyone! I hope wherever you may find yourself in this adventure that we call life, that the start of a 2010 finds you well and energized to begin the next chapter of whatever life is going to throw at all of us. Exciting, isn't it?
2009 , like most years, was a learning experience. With many highs and lows. But, I'm glad to see it go. I feel good about 2010. Just looking ahead, this year will bring many milestones. April brings our wedding, which we're getting pretty excited about. April will also bring the birth of my second nephew, which is also very exciting. In addition, a number of friends will also welcome new additions to their families during early 2010. And of course I'm hoping to get my career back on track asap. And those are just the things I know about, I'm sure there are many surprises on the horizon. But, I know I'm going to live and love everyday, no matter what the year gives us. I wish everyone safe and happy travels through 2010. Enjoy the ride!
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