A Calvin Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Calvin household! It's been a fun day from here as we celebrate the day, and the season. Now, I know that every household is different, so heres how it works from our house anyway and the "rules of Christmas".

First off, PRESENTS ARE TO BE OPENED CHRISTMAS DAY... that is what the day is for. It seems like total torture to have kids open presents on Christmas Eve to then turn around and send them to bed, shortly thereafter. Christmas Eve is a time to celebrate the meaning of the holiday, in all of its forms: We finish wrapping gifts, we bake cookies to put out for Santa, we read Christmas stories and then study Luke 2 from the New Testament to make sure the kids understand what we are REALLY doing in all of this. Then, before it gets too late, making for grumpy kids in the morning, the kids go to bed, since as they all know, "Santa doesn't come when the kids are awake!" This gives us plenty of time to get the house ready for Santa's arrival and still get to bed on time ourselves (well, ok... maybe in theory.. there are some of us... ahem.. who procrastinate the wrapping of presents causing us to be up unitl 2 AM on Christmas morning, but I won't mention my... or.. ehhh.. names..)

Next, KIDS DON'T SNEAK UP ON CHRISTMAS MORNING TO PEEK AT THIER GIFTS! In our household, sorry, but there is no pitter patter of little feet on the kitchen floor at 5 AM sneaking in to see what Santa brought. In between our kitchen and family room hangs a large leather belt covered in large jingle bells. The kids know they are to stay in bed, regardless what time they wake up, until they hear the jingle bells ring. Once the bells ring, they are free to get up and trample me in a puff of dust as they rampage towards their loot. This was something that was done in my house as we grew up, and now that I am an adult I see the many benefits. We can control when the kids get up to see what... I can video their first reactions to Santa's arrival and I can make sure all is ready to go before the kids are up. Plus, I have a special place in my heart for that sound of jingle bells and I mentally associate it with the magic of Christmas morning, so I enjoy sharing that with my own crazy crew.

Third, GIFTS ARE OPENED PATIENTLY, ONE AT A TIME, NOT IN A WILD ALL AT ONCE FREE-FOR-ALL. As with everything else, there are rules here, all put in place to increase the fun and enjoyment. Each person takes a gift, whether it is from their Santa pile or from under the tree, and opens that gift while the others watch and support them. This allows the kids to share that opening experience with others from the family. It encourages the joy of giving as you can actually watch the gifts that you have worked to purchase be opened. And instead of having all gifts opened in a blur of flying wrapping paper in 10 minutes, we can still be opening presents at 10 AM.

Fourth, WE ACTUALLY EAT BREAKFAST ON CHRISTMAS MORNING. Now, there is a certain order to all of this: the Santa gifts are opened first, then we take a breakfast break, and then we open up the family gifts. This extends the experience out all the more and gives us a nice meal in the process. Now, my wife may question my definition of breakfast... to her, breakfast means eggs and hash browns, but in my growing up years, Christmas breakfast was always toast, hot chocolate, and cheesecake... yes, cheesecake... for breakfast. I have no idea who's original idea that was, or what would possess my normally health conscious parents to feed us cheesecake at 6 AM, but I never complained and the tradition (at least for me) continues to this day as I take my mid present breather and eat my seriously sweet breakfast.

So how was Christmas this year? Very nice! For me it was a great balance of all my passions: Star Wars, U2, and Disney theme parks. In the Star Wars realm, Galactic Heroes ruled the day, Typically designed for 4 year olds, I began collecting these toys several years back, simply because it was so fun to see how the toy makers would take a creature from the Star Wars universe clearly designed to appeal to adult fanboys, and "cute" it down to appeal to 4 year olds. I have every set ever released, with the exception of 1, and this year, not only did I get the newly released additions of the series, but 4 new that are very hard to find in stores.

Little Calvin also fared well, more entering the digital age. He got his own "kid friendly" digital camera (and is now acting like Mr. Fashion Photographer, taking picture of everything by the dozens. He also got his own computer.. not because I actually bought him one, more because I inherited an older one and fixed it up. But to him, it works, it stores all his pictures, music and can even edit video and it plays al his CD-ROM learning games to he is happy as a clam.

Dawn enjoyed herself, receiving a large framed version of her favorite painting of Christ, and DVDs from one of her favorite shows: Veronica Mars as well as multiple accessories for her phone and iPod. Amanda, added to her collection of frog paraphernalia, while Tyler loaded up on science experiments, a planetarium, magic tricks and has a new bike to enjoy (if it will ever stop raining).

Finally, it was time for the last gift, and I had the honors of opening it this year. On my Christmas list this year, I had indicated that I wanted a Dog. (Now that Little Calvin is no longer afraid of them, I felt it was time). I specifically wanted a Golden Lab, like "Yellow Dog" from the movie "Funny Farm". While I was not expecting to actually get a dog, as I know my wife has many concerns about getting one, I was quite surprised to open the last box and there I found.... my little Golden Lab puppy. They had gotten me my dog!

Now, here I learned an important lesson in life... called "Be specific". I got exactly what I had asked for: A golden Lab Dog that looked like "Yellow Dog". I soon realized, as it was pointed out to me.. that I never requested that it be REAL. They had gotten my exactly what was on my list.. just stuffed. They made a very good point.. and so for the time being I will be very content with Yellow Dog, and just think of how much I will save on dog food and vet bills. He's actually a very low maintenance pet!

So now it is time to go enjoy our newly received treasures and enjoy the holiday! Merry Christmas to all! And to all.... A chimerically fantastic night!

Hau' oli la Hanau Surprise

Surprise! That was the word that I hoped I could successfully utter today. Today is my wife's birthday, yes... two days before Christmas Eve. Due to this fact, she has always mentioned how uneventful her birthdays were growing up, typically with her family just letting her take a pick at a gift already under the Christmas tree. This to me is totally a wrong approach! Birthdays need to be special and completely separate from any other day, with the day spent making lasting memories and doing something unique that makes a person feel special and important (even if that means annoying them). Past readers should remember my passion for birthday celebrations...

For the past several months.. I knew exactly what I wanted to do to celebrate Dawn's birthday this year.. something that I had toyed with doing for the past several years, but never had the time, resources, or finances to pull off: I wanted to throw her a surprise birthday party.... the stereotypical kind where by some means, the birthday girl ends up in a dark room and all her friend pop out of no where to scream Surprise!

So that was the idea... Now.. planning how to pull this off with my ever observant, logical wife, was the tricky part. I suddenly had to get very good at lying and inventing stories off the top of my head.. all for a good purpose, of course!

So with the DVDs done and out of the way, I was finally able to put on my "Evil Calvin Grin", rub my hands together in a scheming way and begin to brainstorm the details. First, I needed a location and that came fairly easy as our friend. the one friend that would happen to be the one that would be "taking her to lunch" that afternoon, happened to own a little cafe in our town. She volunteered the space and we coordinated a date and time and suddenly the party was on.

It was shortly thereafter that I made an interesting observation: I have attended many partiies, both as an invited guest and as hired DJ, but never in my life have I PLANNED a party... been the instigator.. the Inviter. Suddenly I had to learn all the little details that goes into planning such an event: How many are invited, how many will actually attend, mailing invites, planning and coordinating with catering, entertainment, music, decorations, etc. What started as a very simple idea.... as most of mine do... suddenly turned into a giant, time consuming monster. Luckily, I had some good resources in my accomplices.. my partners in crime.. all of us plotting together as to how to really pull this off.

Finally, today arrived. The morning began by my lying that I "Had to go into town to do some last minute shopping, as my work week had been crazy and I hadn't had a chance to go yet". Yea right... Partially true... I hadn't been Christmas shopping during my lunch hours.. I had been birthday party planning. But my Christmas shopping had been done for some time. This seemed perfectly reasonable to her, knowing that I am a notorious procrastinator, so off I went to decorate the cafe.

As it turns out I went with a tropical theme, combining a Hawaiian and Caribbean tropical party into one. And so there I was in the morning, hanging tiki walls, lights, tropical masks, and decorating with lots of bright colors. As the restaurant was completely covered in Christmas decorations, I had to accept a fair amount of Christmas carry over, otherwise I'd be taking down a lot of large scaled items! When Dawn left for "Lunch" that afternoon, Little Calvin and I threw on our Hawaiian shirts and headed over to pick up food and cake.

Soon enough, everything was in place, guests were arriving and mingling and the place was starting to fill up. I found it very odd being a "host" trying to greet everyone and spend time with all of our friends simultaneously. Soon, I got the signal that she was close and everyone headed upstairs to the balcony that surrounded the cafe. As Dawn arrived, the cafe was dark, and appeared empty and quiet. It wasn't until she wandered halfway into the room that we all startled her with our "Surprise!" yell.

Now, was she totally surprised? Not really. She figured out during lunch that this would be a perfect set up for a surprise party and so she began to look for the signs that she felt might come. As she and her friend headed home and her friend said "Oh, I need to swing by the Cafe to pick up some things", she quickly added another mental check to her list. And finally, when she arrived at the cafe and was told to "just come in for a second while I grab some things" instead of the typical "wait here in the car while I grab something" she was pretty sure she had me figured out.. which she did.

But we all enjoyed ourselves. Good food, good company with a selection of people from all aspects of life: work, neighbors, church friends and volleyball coaches. She was surprised to find all the tropical touches... the birthday cake written in Hawaiian, the steel drummed background music, and we all had a good time playing "Apples to Apples": a game that I bought almost randomly not realizing it is an uber-popular party game that is selling out like crazy all over the country. I can see why... we had a ball and laughed our heads off.

Now, I just need to figure out what kind of crazy idea to pull off next year!! Bw ha ha! [gets evil Calvin scheming grin and slouches away. rubbing hands together]

Geeking Out

A long Time Ago... In a Galaxy Far, Far Away....

Ten of my favorite words, all put together in a phrase that just defines it all. I started blogging my life adventures after the Star Wars movies had run their course in the theaters, so my absolute love, adoration, and psychotic love of all things Star Wars hasn't really had a change to rear its head in this format.. Yes, I have a Star Wars Shrine in my house filled to the hilt with framed posters, toys and all things Star Wars. Today, my geekiness got to resurface in a way that just hasn't happened since attending the midnight premier of Episode 3 last year.

Today, Little Calvin (whom I rightfully converted into a Star Wars fanatic at birth) and I had a change to just "Geek Out" while taking a mini road trip to Portland to see the exhibit "Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination" at the OMSI Museum (That's the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry for the non-locals). Dawn even had enough guts to go to this geek-fest with us, even though she is not a Star Wars fan and scratches her head in udder confusion whenever Little Calvin and I get into debates on Jedi vs. Sith or the strategies of Republic vs. Separatist troop placement. But since she is a science fan, she hoped she could find something stimulating for her so she could spend time with the family.

Taking a vacation day from work to begin the Christmas break, we left early in the morning to make the two hour trek Northward so that we could be there as they opened and get the lower crowds. But even as the doors opened, the crowds were there, flocking by the dozens to see their favorite Star Wars characters and ships.

First, it was off the ride the Millennium Falcon.. before the lines got too long. Inside one wing of the museum was a full size reproduction of the Falcon's cockpit including the entry hall into it, to make it feel more realistic. Once inside, we were treated to a blast into hyperspace, then a tour of the galaxy from the controls of the great ship. The cockpit felt very close to what was seen in the originals, and while it didn't actually move, once the show got underway it felt like we were rocketing through space, surrounded by the domed front cockpit window. With Little Calvin at the controls, and Dawn and I taking the other seats (holding true to the original, the cockpit only has 4 seats) we sailed though our mission, landing safely back on earth. For Little Calvin, this was the highlight of his day. For me it was just thrilling to sit in what felt just like the Falcon I know and love from the movies. Very well done!

Then it was on to the exhibit. The point of the exhibit was to show off both a large assortment of original Star Wars props, models, costumes, etc. and to show how some of the science found in the films can be brought to reality, thanks to technological innovation. We certainly were not disappointed! Once inside we found costumes including the original Darth Vader, Chewbacca and other wookies, bounty hunters, storm troopers, etc. all displayed. The droids were there: R2, 3P0, Battle droids, Destroyers droids, medical droids... you name it. I found the ship models used in the making of the films to be particularly fascinating. Ships such as the Falcon, Star Destroyers, the Tantive IV, X-wings and Y-wing fighters, all look amazing when studied up close to see the incredible amount of detail included.

While I was busy drooling on myself. mouth gaping open at the sight of all this greatness, Little Calvin and Dawn soon discovered the "science" portion of the exhibit. There they played interactive games to simulate running a farm on a hostile world such as Tatooine (all desert). Then they moved onto discovering how magnetic technology could be used as a transportation system. Working through 3 stations they built a Lego "ship" with magnets that made it float off the ground just like Luke's Landspeeder (which was also on display). They then got to learn how to race that ship magnetically through a course, making it go faster the better the magnets were placed. From there it was onto making robots. After building a core robot from available parts, they could test to see what kinds of wheels worked best for different terrain options, and then they programmed their little droid to successfully maneuver an obstacle course.

Having just spent several hours geeking out, we also watched a Planetarium show about Black Holes (very cool!) and had a nice lunch over looking downtown Portland. Finally, having received our large scale Star Wars fix, we headed back home, making sure to be there in time for the Duck's bowl game. Judging from their pathetic performance against BYU, we should have stayed in Portland a little longer (Did you all TOTALLY FORGET HOW TO PLAY FOOTBALL?!), but so goes college football....

All in all, it was a great day spent as a family, enjoying each other's company, and seeing some really cool things. The show is a traveling show and will move to Los Angeles in April of next year. If you are anywhere close, I'd highly recommend paying a visit!

You can check out some of our photos, by clicking here.

The Dream is... Delayed

Ok, time for a large dose of unwanted reality. I have been struggling for the last few weeks on a decision that somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew was coming like a roaring freight train. But I wanted more than anything to avoid... to just continue on my course and ignore.

The good news: I have had a fairly descent last few weeks of running and marathon training. I have put in a lot of miles. I got to have a nice run in the snow while in Idaho.. and the other night I had a bizarre run where it was so foggy, I couldn't see ANYTHING in front of me... a very strange feeling to not really know where you are in the run or how far you have gone.. or where the cars are! So I have been energized by my runs and where they have taken me.

The bad news: Those runs are only 5 miles a piece, not the 10 -15 that they should be at this stage of the game. And after the run is over, my knees feel... loose, for lack of a better term. Not painful, but instead of feeling like I have a nice strong support system in my legs, with ligaments and muscles holding everything together in my knees, it feels like I just have wobbly bones, with nothing really holding it all together. It feels as though I could take one wrong misstep, and everything will just fall to pieces, leaving my in a heap on the ground. It is the same way my knees felt four years ago, right before I went on a slightly too long run and blew out my right knee in an overuse injury. So I am getting paranoid, as I really don't want to repeat my past mistakes and spend the next 6 months in physical therapy trying to get my knee to move correctly again.

So that means I need to take a break and rest those knees before pushing it any harder. This way, I will prevent the overuse injury and hopefully be better off in my long term running plan in the future. BUT, that also means... gulp.. that after almost 18 months of hard work... I have to admit defeat in that I will not be able to handle the Disneyworld Marathon in 3 weeks.

Now it sucks enough that I wont be able to run the race that I was so looking forward to, but it just doesn't help that I lose all the money invested in it. I lose my entry fee, and I lose my plane tickets, purchased with frequent flier miles that they don't give back if you cancel your ticket. (And what really is logical.. if I call the airlines and CANCEL my free ticket, so that they can resell it and make their money back.. they charge me $100.... $100 to CANCEL. Whereas if I just don't show up to the flight, nothing happens, and the airlines lose money... smart thinking guys! I guess being honest costs money!)

So the dream is not over yet... Just delayed. I am looking at a half marathon here in Oregon on April 29th, giving me 4 more months to prepare without overdoing it on the marathon required 20 mile training runs.

Am I disappointed? Very! I was looking forward to beginning 2007 by accomplishing a lifelong goal and relaxing in one of my favorite places on the planet. And I may very well be grumpy come January 5th, when I was supposed to be flying out, but such is life. We take our hits, we discover realities, we find our limits, we learn from our mistakes... and then we try again.

The marathon is not dead.. just delayed for the time being.

Kitchen Makeover

It's finally done! A few weeks ago, just before the Thanksgiving holidays, my wife approached me with an idea: We need to paint the kitchen.. It's just too boring. Now, she did have a point.. it was one of the few rooms in the house that still had its base white paint on the walls from when it was built 5 and a half years ago. With the exception of some stick on borders that have come and gone over the years, the kitchen is very much like it has always been, while some rooms are already on their third paint job. And so the Kitchen re-paint began.

Now, I have to say, I came out quite lucky in this whole project. My wife wanted to come up with a creative border to line the middle of the kitchen walls, where the counter meets the walls. She had looked in multiple wallpaper stores for a border she liked, but nothing could live up to what she was picturing in her head, and she hates dealing with traditional wallpaper. So I left the design of the new kitchen up to her, and just offered feedback as she worked through different options.

So, as for actual work for me... I moved appliances.. and I painted the base color. Once I finished my job, then she came began on the border.. and the style that she designed took a lot of time, and precise work, so that it wouldn't turn into a mess.

She began prior to the holidays when we finally had a free weekend in between the busy DVD cycles. We had to take time away from the project to make a quick weekend trip to Idaho for Thanksgiving, leaving our kitchen slightly pulled apart and filled with paint cans, brushes and all matters of painting paraphernalia. But once we returned, it was back to the painting business.

This week, she finished all the detailed border work.. and now our kitchen can go back to a normal state. I must say, it looks really nice, and while I had my doubts when hearing the plans, she did great in executing her vision and the kitchen benefits from her hard work and attention to detail. Even the bread box now has the new striped pattern so that it will go with the new kitchen.

It always weird... I get so sucked into overwhelming computer projects, that I just want to take a break from the computer, and do something totally different... go build something.. paint a room. And then I get a few hours into a new project, see the enormity of it, and suddenly start wishing for that computer again. Luckily, all the overwhelming details of this one were in my wife's hands.. and after my day of work, I was able to walk away and let her finish. So it proved to be just the break I needed before getting into the final push to get DVDs done. And again, thanks to her focus and detail, the kitchen looks great!

Now, comes the big question: What room will be next and how long until I come home from work to hear those famous words "Honey, I was thinking...."

Technical Difficulties...

Yes, yes, I do need to blog. What can I say... Like I said a few posts ago, when you are working a full time job, trying to be a good husband and father, producing a film, training for a marathon AND trying to maintain a regular blog... sometimes things just slip away in priority.

Sooooo, good news and bad news... First the good news: The film is officially done. I'll post more about it later, but suffice it to say that it is DONE. I delivered the finished DVDs today. Now, I can finally breathe, sleep, maybe even relax and actually watch a movie other than my own. It was very cool to actually be able to sit down and watch the film in its entirety over the weekend without going "ohhhh, I gotta fix that... oh that audio needs to be tweaked.." and just enjoy it start to finish. It was also cool to deliver the finished DVDs to a VERY eager group today and see them get all excited as they came out of the box. It is sooooo much work to pull off the things that I do, but so worth it at the same time.

Now to the bad news.. as you can tell, by looking at my page.. well, it's a bit bland and all the photos are gone. Do not fear! The Chimerical Cosmos isn't going away or dying! I am in the process of changing my server, and it will be down for a few days while the transfer takes place.

So give me a day or two to breathe again, work out the kinks in the new server and then the Chimerical Cosmos will be back, with all sorts of stories just waiting to be shared.

Happy Halloween!

One of my favorite days of the year is here! I love the fall, the changing leaves, the arrival of the rain (yup, I have become an Oregonian!) and the hanging of Halloween Decorations. I swear, I can spend hours in Wal-mart and Target rifling through their decorations, giggling all the way down the aisles. Halloween... time for my true nature to come out and play for a few weeks. And luckily this year, Little Calvin is getting just as into it as I am, helping and scheming with me for every step... My wife typically ends the month of October with extra strong eyeballs, with the amount of rolling they do this month. Halloween... must be a "boy thing".

Halloween is also the time of many family traditions. For one, On October 1st, the house MUST be decorated (and note to others... putting up decorations prior to October 1st is just tacky, wrong and against the rules of the universe... DON'T DO IT!) For us, this means covering the outside of the house in lights.. Just like at Chirstmas time, but instead of bright white lights, it's little purple ones, casting the place in an eerie glow. Even Little Calvin's outside play structure got the lights treatment, something new for this year. Inside, it's skull candelabras, creepy candles, spooky pictures in place of our normal decorative art, and all manor of decorations, in every corner possible. New this year: "Old Batty" a decorative skeleton, named by Little Calvin after we decided he couldn't name it after his brother, a new series of "bloody hands" decorations, one of which is placed in the rear window of my car, looking like someone covered their hands in thick blood and pressed them to the window (very cool!) and a fog machine, which by the way, does set off the smoke alarms in the house when fired in close proximity to them.. eh... not that I would have discovered first hand... eh.... Anyhoo..

Next, you must go to the pumpkin patch. Luckily, right down the road a few miles we have the world's best pumpkin patch. At the patch we had to spend an hour getting lost in a huge corn maze (see more here) and then taking the horse drawn hay ride out to pick our pumpkins. The rule of thumb in our house: you can only pick a pumpkin that you can actually carry, and no, it doesn't matter how much you beg or cry... you carry your own! This keeps the size of the pumpkin in step with that the kids can actually carve at each age and prevents us from getting overboard in our pumpkin picking as they look a lot bigger sitting on the table at home than sitting in the patch!

Once all the decorations have been hung, pumpkins found and carved, with Halloween drawing close.. it's time for: Halloween lunch! This is typically held on the Sunday falling closest to Halloween. Halloween lunch is something that I do.. simply because I can, because it's cool, because it freaks the kids out and is fun. The concept is simple... cook with ample amounts of food coloring!

Take this year for example... For lunch we had grilled tuna sandwiches and milk. Now, when grilling you simply butter the outside of the bread prior to putting it on the grill. BUT, if you mix that butter with hefty amounts of green food coloring prior to spreading it on the bread... well, then it suddenly looks as though you have a hefty mold problem. Take it one step further... Take your tuna fish mix, and make it a sickly purple color, and you have a GREAT halloween lunch! It taste's perfectly normal.. but boy does it look disgusting! Other things to try... put colors into your Mac and Cheese or Hamburger Helper as it cooks... tapping into that inner artist as you create the sickest possible color combinations. Trust me, it's fun and your kids think you have lost your mind! (Which may be true!)

Now comes the big day! The costumes come out and it's time to have our scary fun! This year, Amanda dressed up as a zombie, tyler as a mummy and Little Calvin as a pirate. Tonight, we went trick or treating and to our church's chili feed/trunck-or-treat party, thus giving us a lot of candy!! It'll take months to get through all of this.

Now comes the depressing part... tomorrow, I have to take it all down as I eagerly await getting it all back out in another 11 months. Oh well, in just a few weeks, I can go "Psycho Clark Griswald" on my house, when it is time to pull out the Christmas decorations.

Happy Halloween!

It's over... early...

Well.... It's over... Our week of travel carefully planned out, hotel reservations made, even car food bought. Everything was ready to go and planned. What was not planned for was the fact that, as I put is last week, Hyde showed up to play tonight, causing us to lose the game, thus officially ending the season. For the first time in 10 years, Marist High School will NOT be going to State.

What does that do for me? I have no clue. I spent the drive home trying to wrap my brain around it. The season has been painstakingly shot... interviews done, with all the players telling the story of the season, sequences edited, and hours and hours put into telling the story of a season... that everyone now wants nothing more than to forget.

During the drive home tonight, entire chunks of the film were mentally chopped off, putting them into cold storage for future years when the team may have better success. I have a plan of attack now worked out, taking the focus of the story off of the playing and moving it to the good times the team had and the relationship of the girls. But will they even want to watch it.. who knows at this point...

I am just sad to see it all end...

Calvin's Ketchup

I'm a bad, bad, bad blogger.... I'll admit it. I let my bog go stale for way too long and for all of those that check in to catch up (hey... ketchp!) on my life, I apologize for the drought of updates. As it turns out, working a full time job, trying to be a good husband and father, producing a documentary film, training for a marathon AND maintaining an active blog, is just a bit too much... and so my blogging has suffered. So here's a quick catchup on my various activities over the last month:

AT THE OFFICE:
It's been an insane month of stress as we work to get our new dealer network up and running in time for our deadline next month. Combine that with some serious decision making times: I received a job offer to take my skills to another company. It was a good company... great future, great benefits and a solid position. But it required me to take just a bit too much of a pay cut to make it work. And so I am staying put and working to re-energize myself with my current job.. to fix that things in my own company that made leaving look so dang attractive. It could be an interesting road to go down, and I'll be curious to see how it all works out.

FILMING/VOLLEYBALL:
It's been a very busy 2 months of filming. As of this writing, I am entering week 10 of filming.. and that means... I have shot ALOT of footage. Most days I am shooting something, games here, interviews there, B-roll in between...I just can't seem to leave the house without my camera. In all, the film is looking good as I start to seriously do some editing. There is one major problem in the whole thing... This is supposed to be my telling of an inspirational sports story.. And the team.. well.. they haven't been playing all that inspirational so far. Now, I don't want that to sound too negative, overall they have done pretty darn well.

Take the first half of the season.. They lost two games, to Pleasant Hill and Junction City. JC also had won all of their games, making them the undefeated leader of the league. As the second half of the season began, we lost yet again to Sisters in our second game with them. This stuck us in a 3 way tie for second place in the league. The only way to get out of this, was to beat both teams that had beaten us during the first cycle.

On October 17th, Pleasant Hill played at our gym.. the first in 2 back to back huge, and insanely important games. Luckily, we prevailed, completing the first half of "mission impossible". The next step was to play JC... AT JC, the still undefeated team in the league that had stomped us pretty hard the first time around.

During the season coaches and players alike made a similar observation: We don't have one volleyball team, we have two: The Jekyll team and the Hyde team. Trying to figure out which team will show up for a game is the tricky part. Obviously at that second Pleasant Hill game, the Jekyll team came to play. And in the season's most amazing night, the Jekyll team also came to play at Junction City, completely unhinging the JC team in every way possible, winning in 3 games. It was THE night of the season so far, the main inspirational point so far.

In typical Jekyll and Hyde fashion however, the Hyde team showed up for the last regular game of the season. You would think that after taking out the undefeated league champs, the girls would be on a roll, but the team that showed up on Monday night at Cottage Grove was anything but. Yes, the team won.... in 5 games.. and barely, and it was NOT pretty. It just gets scary watching the team do that while trying to tell an inspirational story. The film genre says that they should win the big game and continue winning all the way to State.. but that just isn't happening.

To further this, the girls played the first of their "League Playoff" games on Wednesday. Marist and Sisters, now tied for second place (JC still won the league with only one loss) played for league ranking. Sadly, Hyde came.. and this time Hyde lost. Once again, teams in the "sports film genre" are not supposed to lose key play off games.

So where does that leave us? Depends on how we do... The loss on Wednesday places us third in the league. Our next game is Monday night against.... yet again.. Pleasant Hill... the 4th place team. Assuming we win that game, we will immediately leave on Tuesday morning (Halloween!) for a Wednesday game against Ontario, a lovely 8 hour drive EACH WAY. We'd get back from that game on Thursday in time for one more practice. If we beat Ontario, then we'll leave Friday to drive to Klamath Falls, on the southern end of the State for a Saturday game. Ug. If we lose any of these games... Monday, Wednesday or Saturday... we're done.

MARATHON TRAINING:
10 weeks left to go! Yikes! I am still working towards the big race, but I can't say that I have stayed perfectly on schedule! I spent 2 weeks this month not running (under doctors orders), having gotten bronchitis. Add in the crazy volleyball game schedule, editing nights, and our rainy season hitting and it's made it very difficult to keep on track. But I am doing the best that I can under the circumstances.

I just got my "official race program" in the mail which is both thrilling and scary at the same time as I study the course. I can also feel how sore and "loose" my limbs feel after a strong 10 mile run and my brain starts to over analyze going 26 miles. But I am staying positive, knowing that while 10 weeks may seem like so short of a time, there is a lot I can do in that time!

Soooo, that's the update! Obviously very nuts right now in our house, with lots going on and all of us pulling our hair out. If I can survive all my work deadlines, get the right team to show up so I can continue to tell my inspirational story and if I can keep my body together to survive Marathon training, I may just make it...

Birthday Mayhem

Birthdays this week! Woo-Hoo! Time to be my evil self! It just so happens that this week, 2 of my employees are having birthdays. Now, some people think that birthdays are a time to honor and celebrate others. Nope. Not me. Birthdays are a time to show people you care by going overboard in driving them nuts.

Think about it.. What did you get for your birthday last year? What did you do? Was it just an average birthday, doing typical birthday things? People get into the typical "birthday mode" making every birthday just like the last, and to me, that is just boring. Now imagine this: you come to work only to find every last inch of your desk wrapped in aluminum foil. When this occurs you come to realize that:

A. someone went to a whole heck of a lot of work just for you, and
B. You will remember this for a long time.

I guarantee that 10 years down the road when you celebrate another traditional birthday, you will think back and say "Man, remember that year when all my stuff was encased in foil..." So birthdays are a time to really get people in obnoxious ways that both honor them and annoy them... That's my job.. I'm BIRTHDAY MAN!

Now, I'm not used to having 2 birthday stunts to pull off in a week, so this year was particularly challenging, without breaking the bank. Plus, a year ago, we enacted the "glitter truce" in the office. I had been a big fan of using glitter in my decorating in years past. It so annoyed my co-workers that for my birthday last year.. they dropped the "glitter nuke": bags and BAGS of glitter.... everywhere.. and I do mean everywhere.. in my office. I was literally buried in the stuff and it took me the better part of a work day to shovel out. Heck, I still find pockets of glitter on a daily basis, over a year later. So we all decided the glitter fun was over, and now I had to find a different way to make a mess.

So... Birthday #1.. the "inexpensive" solution, this time for Brian. The idea was: when he went to lunch to cover every last inch of his desk, drawers, computer, floor, walls, ceiling, etc. with post it notes. All I had to do was go to Wal-mart and get the big pack for $5 and then go to town. You'd be amazed how far those things can go! It's was also amazing to see the look on his face when he returned from lunch to find his office in a sea of yellow. Just priceless. Now, in judging my own work, I realized I grossly underestimated the amount of post-its I would need, so the floor, walls and ceiling had to go without..... but still... good fun.

Four days later, its time for birthday #2.. one of my weirder attempts. This one is for Aaron. Just to give you some background, Aaron is the office angry liberal, constantly going off on his political rants that can be quite entertaining. I may not agree with him, but it is fun to hear him get worked up. He is single.. no plans or interest in marriage.. and kids are the last thing from his mind. So what better way to celebrate his birthday.. then with a Baby Shower. I mean, come on, you get birthdays every dang year, but when was the last time he had a baby shower'? I can dare to say... never..

And so there I was at the office, extremely early hanging pastel colored streamers, wrapping his desk in baby wrapping paper, giving his area a generous sprinkling of Baby Powder (for the scent), and covering his desk with diapers, teddy bears, little shoes, diaper genie refills, bottles, etc. (Thanks to Molly who recently had twins!). To top it all off, a giant "It's a Boy" foil balloon, stuck to his desk. Now, Aaron typically takes things in stride, but I think he was a little speechless for once when he saw his office. And that means.. I have done my job!

Now I get to sit back and take a break from birthdays while mentally plotting and scheming for next year. hmmmmmmm. Just the brainstorming I love to do! So Happy Birthday Brian and Aaron.. please don't kill me.

Why Marist Rules!

Ok, I just have to say this.... Marist High School.. rules. Yes, I have been a part of the Marist community for 6 years now, ever since Dawn took over the coaching of the JV volleyball team. Yes, I produced a new Marketing video for the school and am doing ongoing video production for the school. Yes, I have seen the benefits of attending a private christian high school, what with all the crap going on in public schools. But never has this really been truly demonstrated prior to this week.

First, let's go back a week. Last Wednesday... was a tough day. As I blogged about earlier, it was just a very emotional day, very stressful due to the unknowns and just overall, a very rough experience. So, how did my office react to my going through this? With the typical "Oh, that's terrible.. now, I need you to do... blah blah blah". It was about as impersonal as you can get. No real care, no real concern, just another issue to deal with at the office.. and when will you be focused on your job?

Now fast forward to later in the afternoon. About 3:00 I headed over to the school to do some video interviews with volleyball players for my current video project. As always, I checked in at the office and had one of their staff walk me to the class room I use and let me in. The staff member that walked me over.. I had never even met her.. and yet she knew who I was and immediately asked "How is your Mom doing? Do they know if she is safe? Is there anything we can do?"

I was floored. I didn't even know this person and yet their care and concern were nothing like those that I have worked with for years. Then I walked into the gym to talk to the girls and right away, I had a quick hug from Kaycee, one of the senior girls asking if everything was ok. Again, the care and concern from this group was just a very nice gesture and one that I will appreciate for a long time.

But then, they took it a step forward. The next day at our game in LaPine (we won, by the way) the team approached me with an idea.. They wanted to do something cool for the volleyball team at PCHS, as Emily, the girl who was killed, was on the team. Our girls wanted to send a care package and I thought it was a great idea.

On Friday, thanks to the help of Dawn and the coaches, the package was ready, a volleyball, signed by all the girls in the program, cards (also signed by all the girls) a letter to share our condolences, and then we shot a video. All the girls from the 3 teams got together outside in a group. The seniors spoke, and delivered a message of hope and recover to the PCHS team, and some insight on what it may be like playing after loosing a team member. They shared that their hearts and prayers were with them. It was quick, all of a two minute message, but very cool nonetheless.

So today, the package went out.. bound for Colorado and a team that is experiencing a huge trial. For me.. this is totally surreal.. to see the high school that I am now involved with so heavily connecting to the high school I graduated from. It's like my present and past all colliding together... very odd, under the circumstances.

But again, it just impressed me deeply, the care and concern that exists in the whole Marist organization. They are an awesome bunch. Regardless of how the team does this year, and how my video project turn out.. this will be a highlight of the season for me, to see a team come together to do what they can to help strangers so many miles away. This is something that I will keep with me... for a long time.

Small Town No More

Today... the world changed. Most days in life, are normal, forgetful days. Nothing really happens, nothing big to remember, nothing that really changes your perception of how the world works. But every now and then, a day comes along that shakes your core, typically out of the clear blue.. suddenly and without warning thrust into events beyond your wildest imagination. Today was one of those days.

Let me just start by saying this: I grew up in a small town... a very small town. 99% of the people in my own state had never even heard of this small town. I graduated from a small high school, full of opportunity. I knew everyone at the school.. heck, I was student body president of the school my senior year. And for me and the other 400 students of the school, the world was a safe place (except for the times I was caught ditching class, something that is difficult, but not impossible, when your Mom also works at the high school).

Sadly for me, thanks to the events of today.. the whole dang world knows the name of my home town.. and my high school. I grew up in Bailey Colorado. I am a graduate of Platte Canyon High School. Sadly, they don't connect it with a quality education, or a Norman Rockwell upbringing. They connect it with a psycho... entering the school... taking hostages.. sexually molesting them.. and ultimately killing an innocent girl.

The day began normally, rushing out of the house to take Little Calvin to school, dealing with the sometimes crap I deal with at the office. At about 11:30, my wife called my desk, wondering if I had seen the news. She had just happened to have logged onto a news site while eating lunch at her desk, and seen a 4 minute old news story.. very vague in details, but said enough to get her attention: A gunman had entered a high school in Bailey, Colorado and had taken hostages... my high school.. the high school where my mom continues to work to this day. At first, I couldn't really process it, it seemed too weird.. too random.. this couldn't be MY Platte Canyon. But as the news spread, the helicopters swarmed and the news media took over the football field, reality began to click in.

Next came the questions.. Who were the hostages? How many? Who was this guy, what was he doing... and why was he in my school. And most importantly.. what is happening with my Mom? Could she somehow be involved? As news continued to pour in, and speculation ran rampant throughout the media, it was clear that there were no quick answers. I quickly called my sister in Texas.. she didn't believe me at first, but upon turning on CNN, she found herself wrapped up in the drama as well. I called my Dad's desk at his work "Have you heard from Mom, today?" His answer was typical Dad... "No, why would I have?" Upon hearing the news from me, he went into typical "Dad mode".. obviously concerned, but masking it with humor.. a trait passed on to me.. "Wow, cool! That's the biggest story to come out of Bailey in 25 years! I'm sure she'll have some stories when she gets home!". Then I took a chance, and called my Mom's school office phone. No answer. Just as I predicted.

For the next several hours... I watched.. waiting for any substantial news. From my web browser, I had 5 windows open, each from a different website news source, along with streaming media going. Although I was in Oregon.. I became the "news feed and coordinator", refreshing news pages and then fielding calls from my wife, sister and family as we all watched the situation unfold. While all news media were reporting variances.. a few things were consistent: A gunman was in the building, he had taken 6 hostages.. females.. and a standoff was underway.

By mid afternoon, news came across that a few hostages had been released. But soon, news stories starting striking way to close to home, closer than they already were. The news began reporting that one of the hostages could be a teacher.. The hostages were taken out of an English class... something that my mom teaches. And there was still no word from my Mom, something that under the conditions, seemed very odd.

Mid afternoon came, I knew that I needed to leave work to do some video interviews for my film.. something that I really didn't want to reschedule. My wife called to express concern at my continuing to do the interviews and said something that really struck home.. "You could very well be getting some really bad news this afternoon.. is that really were you want to be if that call comes in?" While I had been watching all of this happening, it was the first time I really was struck with the reality of what could be happening. That's when it became time for answers. I needed to know what was going on.. and I needed to know NOW.

I googled the school district office and found the superintendent's phone number. Taking a chance, I called, and to my shock, someone answered. And to all the small town wonder, not only did I know the person answering, but she knew exactly who I was, and remembered me from 16 years ago. She spoke quickly and said "I'm sure you are calling about your Mom, let me assure you she is fine. She is helping with the student evacuation to the elementary school, but is fine." That's all I needed to hear. She was ok, so I was ok, although still concerned for the ongoing crisis.

With my news finally received, I decided to go ahead with the interviews and soon took my late lunch to go interviewing. 45 minutes later as I was heading back to the office, the news came in.. the crisis was over, the gunman was dead, along with a student.

Tonight.. has been tough. Luckily, the situation is over. But there are so many questions left unanswered. As for the student killed.. her name is Emily.. she is one of my Mom's debaters from the school team that my Mom coaches. She is a volleyball player, another thing striking a chord in my life.

It's been a rough day... hopefully in the days to come we can get some answers. Hopefully, I can turn on the news sometime soon and NOT see my little small town in Colorado high school not plastered all over the news. Maybe we will learn why this bastard did what he did.. not that it really matters... he can't undo the hurt that he caused and the fact that today, the world changed.. for me.. for my family.. for my past.. and for my future. My family ended up safe physically, but each of us.. from me in Oregon, to my Sister in Texas, to Mom who has to live with the memories of being in the high school today.. will deal with the scars that will be put on us from today.

Today... My world changed...Thanks a lot.. you selfish bastard!

Rally Time!

It's Thursday.. I'm beat, I'm tired.. I'm exhausted. Why? Because I have just returned from 3 days of travel on a work trip. Although this time I didn't go too far, just up the freeway about an hour to Salem where we had a customer rally.

What's a rally, you ask? Imagine this.... you know when you are traveling down the highway and get stuck behind a slow moving RV, carrying bikes, satellite dishes and all manor of outdoor activities as it moves down the road? Take 800 of those things, combine them all together into one area (in this case, the state fair grounds) and then wine and dine the owners all day... that is a rally.

This week was one of the biggest rallies our company has ever put on, combining 4 different motorhome brands, 800 coaches, and a whole bunch of staff. All said, with over 2,000 people on hand to entertain and feed, putting on a rally can be quite a feat! It can also mean a lot of work hours,, typically for me, easily 18 or 19 hours a day.

At the rallies I seem to wear a lot of hats (as noticed by many of the owners). First, I teach classes: a mobile internet class, a digital photography class, and, oddly enough, a ladies beginning motorhome driving class. This is a fun way to engage with our owners, teach a number of subjects and solicit feedback for my websites. Ladies Driving is quite the beast too. It starts with a classroom session, which I teach. We then divide the ladies up into groups of 4, and put them into a motorhome where they get a chance to drive a course that provides hands on experience with a variety of driving situations. We then finish off the week with a graduation ceremony with certificates to all who successfully complete the course. This time, I am happy to say we got 250 ladies through the course over a 3 day period with only 1 minor mishap (a lady ran over a cone to the point where someone had to crawl under the coach and wedge it out the the chassis frame.) Luckily, my schedule prohibits my being an in-coach instructor (although I have done it for many years), so I just teach the classes, supervise the program and let it go.

The other interesting part of rally life is that of video production. When I'm not teaching classes, I typically have my camera on my shoulder, shooting video footage on any and everything. At the end of the day, after the evening entertainment, I head back to the hotel and edit all this footage into a montage, set to music. The montage is then played on the final night after dinner as a "reminder of all the fun" over the week. (these people love to see themselves on screen!) The shooting and editing takes a lot of time and creative effort, and can be a bit brutal, just in the quick turn around time, but it's always worth it in watching 2,000 some odd people simultaneously reacting to your work.

In the end, a rally is just a place to reconnect with the reality of my job.. a place to rediscover why it is that we do this. I get chance to catch up with so many of our awesome owners, with such great stories, and employees that I haven't seen in ages. It is a reminder to me that we provide a lifestyle for people.. and important lifestyle, one that brings them many great memories. So all those times I have wanted to just say "screw this job... I'm out of here!" can kind of be healed by getting back to what we really do. It is a nice break from the office... I almost don't want to go back!

Some quick rally highlights:
•Teaching my digital Photography class. There was such a huge interest, that every chair was filled, people were standing along the walls, crammed into the doorways, and from my vantage point, filled out into the halls (all I could see out the doors of the conference room were heads). It was a fun seminar, and teaching is one of those things I have always loved. If I ever leave this job, these are the types of moments I will truly miss: connecting with customers in a fun, unique, and popular way.

•Seeing my old friend Miki, again. Miki was part of the family when I joined the company, working 1 cubicle over from me. Somehow we began a practical jokes war, my exploiting her intense fear of spiders. At one rally in Kansas several years ago, I actually had her shrieking in terror one evening after dark, from a carefully placed (and very large) toy spider placed in her rental car. She has since moved on to other opportunities in Arizona, but was back to visit us this week. After greeting with hugs, it was "game on" time yet again as I found a spider encased in an edible sucker gag that I could slip into her jacket.. she wasn't too pleased. But even with all the terrors I put her through, she knows that I think the world of her and it is always fun to have her back around!

Sadly, for me, as my job continues to evolve and change, my opportunities to attend rallies are greatly diminishing, as current management doesn't want me to travel any longer. So for me, I had to cherish all the memories of this rally, in case it is my last.. something that makes me quite sad!

Battling Sisters

Finally, after 2 weeks of practice, and 2 more weeks of preseason games.. it is time for the season to officially begin. And tonight, it began quite well, as the girls faced the unknown rival of Sisters. Due to the massive restructuring of the Oregon School systems, moving from a 4 tiered school size system to a 6 tiered system, many of the leagues were reorganized. For instance, in our league we lost Creswell and Siuslaw, but then picked up Sisters, near Bend.

What this means is that we have a league match up against a team we know little about. This creates uncertaintly.. how good is the team.. how will they affect the league? All unanswered questions.. And so the team headed over the hill in the new Marist bus, complete with a "senior citizens" sign atop the bus, still unchanged from it's previous owner.

Luckily, everything worked out well... the Marist girls came on strong and solid and beat Sisters in 4 games. Sure, Sisters appeared to be a strong team that who will push us hard, but we did prevail in the league opener.

For me personally, the night was.. odd. Working to save gas money, I hitched a ride over the pass with a parent. That meant I got to ride the bus home. Now, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.. I was expecting an old fashioned, uncomfortable school bus. Instead, I got the new "chartered bus" style, with entertainment system, cozy seats, even a bathroom. My how things have changed! But some things just DON'T change.. things like how a bunch of high school girls can talk.. at 900 miles an hour, at 9000 decibals, while sitting only 6 inches from each other. The only real problem.. the windshield wipers stopped working on the way home, going over the pass.. and yes, it was raining. I just sucked myself into my laptop to video edit and tried to not look at the driving...

Preseason.. Painful

I think this photo says it all.. yup... it's been a rough pre-season. I'm going back to something I mentioned last week: the Denver Broncos. When they had a terrible preseason, they had great regular seasons and my only hope is that holds true for our Marist girls as well.

Now, I really must say, there are reasons why the preseason has been such a struggle. For one, there are times that our own league can be.. well.. not as powerful as others in the volleyball arena. The best way to really challenge the team is to play at both tournaments and teams from other leagues... the good teams. And that is that we did for our 4 preseason games.. we brought in some of the top programs in the state and the team that, this year is out of our league due to state reshuffling, beat us out of last years league championship.

As reported last week, on my birthday, we lost to both LaSalle and North Bend. Then last Thursday, the team was off to the coast to battle Siuslaw, in the hopes of getting revenge from last year. Alas, that revenge didn't come this time and the girls were defeated. Then in one of the weirder scheduling moves, Tuesday's home game was... again... Siuslaw. And again, there were no paybacks from last year as the team went down fighting.

Now, keep in mind, the point of the preseason is really to test the team, to try different people in different positions, and to test different offenses and defenses to find the right one that sticks with the team and proves to be effective. And that is what we have done during these games... lots of tweaking. That's why I am happy to report that by the end of the second match against Siulsaw... the girls looked great! They fought from behind, they tied up the game, ultimately losing it 28-30. And in that comeback, it finally felt like things were starting to come together...

Now, playtime is over.. the regular season kicks in, and there is no more time for messing around. For the next 2 months, the team will be tested repeatedly. And now, as we always say...... GO SPARTANS!

School Starts

I think from the time kids are born, parents always know that it's coming.. the big day when the little ones officially begin their education, starting through the public school system. And that day finally arrived today. Little Calvin's first day in kindergarden.

Luckily for us, it wasn't as traumatic as it is for some. For the last 2 years, he has been attending an outstanding preschool program.. 2 years ago, he'd go 3 times a week and last year it was every day, the hours in school very similar to what he will be doing this year. So to us, it feels like we are just starting up school again for the year. Yet, it is strange too.. somehow it's just different knowing that he is "officially" in school, part of that public school system now.

After spending 2 years in a private, church run preschool, we were very concerned about the whole "public school" idea.. would they continue to offer such organized/learning programs, or would it be a step backwards for him? Luckily, we were able to enroll him in a school other than our regular local school, one that has a reputation for being a high quality program, and a much smaller school, more focused on the kids and what they need. We have never heard a negative remark made about this school and we consider ourselves lucky that he was able to transfer so easily.

One thing we found rather humorous... all summer he has been asking "when do I get to ride the bus?". He asks over and over and he has been SO excited to get on it. Finally the time arrived today. And as he got off the bus, Dawn eagerly asked "How was the bus ride?" to which he replied "Boring."... Ah, the joys of facing reality sometimes....

Birthday Blog

Happy birthday to me! Yeah, I know.. sometimes its hard to admit to becoming a year older. But I'm not afraid of it! So today, I am another year older. Wiser.... well, that is debatable..

I must say that this birthday was one of the more odd birthdays I have had, sImply because of scheduling. There is just a lot going on right now with volleyball, school starting, busy work schedules, film productions, marathon training, etc. So the fact that we were able to carve any time out to celebrate me, was a miracle.

My birthday actually began yesterday (Monday). It was Labor Day, a day off of work... a day home with the kids... a day to not have to film (yeah right... I am filming every day). But this was my best chance to have a few free hours. So in the middle of the day the family treated me to several games of bowling. The kids did great (bumpers always help!) and I... well... I bowled.. eh... oh... ok, I stunk.. But that's not the point. the point is spending quality family time. We then ate lunch at my favorite restaurant, the Olive Garden, before heading to the High School to, of course... do more filming..

Today, however, was my real birthday.. and was rather interesting. Why? Because after a year of vowed paybacks for the birthday madness (and desk trashing) that I have caused to others in the office.. I managed to get through the entire day without a mention of it being my birthday. No one even remembered. Which was highly amusing... and depressing all at the same time.

Due to a crazy volleyball schedule, I did get to spend a large part of my day in the gym. Tonight, it was two preseason games for the girls. One against LaSalle, a team from Portland, who typically gives us a run for our money at State. And North Bend, who last season was the second place team at state. In other words, why start the season with easy wins against other local teams when we can bring in 2 of the top teams to really push us into gear. And that is what they did!

So rather than spend the evening at the movies, or eating cake and ice cream, or wearing party hats.. I spent it in the gym.... filming volleyball games. Now don't get me wrong.. I am not complaining.. I always enjoy the team, I enjoy the games, and I enjoy filming. It was just a different way to spend a birthday. And there were still some surprises to be had. We had just finished the first match of the night and I was heading out of the gym. That's when I got mobbed by the team, all singing happy birthday to me... I instinctively flipped the camera on, but only got the latter half of the song by the time it engaged. They then handed me a bag of birthday presents and a bouquet of flowers... yes, a bouquet of flowers (Little Calvin insisted that I get flowers for my birthday). I don't think I have ever received flowers before... very different experience! And so, I opened my birthday presents there... in the hall outside of the gym: new pirate toys, new ducks shirt, a running head lamp (I'll save that story for another blog) and a speaker system for my iPod. All in all.. very cool.

As for tonight's games.. welllllllll, it's early in the season. And it's better to push ourselves against really tough teams than to find easy teams to play that provide easy victories. That said, we ALMOST beat LaSalle.. most game were within 2 points. And North Bend... well, they have an amazing power hitter that just dominates. They are amazing to watch and I would be surprised to see them quickly ranked number one in the state. They beat us pretty heavily, but again.. this is only the pre-season. At this point I just have to think in Denver Bronco terms. It always seemed while growing up a fan of the Broncos that the years they had an awesome pre-season were the years that they did the worst, and vice-versa, a terrible pre-season gave us a great regular season. I can only hope for the same thing here.

And Thursday night, we are playing Siuslaw in Florence.. the team that beat us out of our League Championship last year. So it will be payback time.

If you'd like to watch my happy birthday serenade, click here for the video.

Jumpin' Jamboree!

After two weeks of intense practices, the competitive volleyball season began tonight with the annual League Jamboree. For those unfamiliar with the world of high school volleyball, allow me to explain this one. At the beginning of each season, most of the teams in the league get together for what amounts to a large scale scrimmage. Each team plays four other teams in the league, but only 1 game a piece. These games do not count in the overall league records. This is simply a way to begin playing other teams, try out different offenses and defenses, see what your players can do in game settings and take a sneak peak at what other teams in the league may have to offer this season.

So tonight we were down in Cottage Grove, watching a lot of volleyball. And as it turned out, we did pretty well. I think the girls would have loved the confidence boost of coming out of Jamboree having beaten all the teams, but that didn't happen today. We had to follow the tradition of the last several years: beat most of the teams, then lose to Pleasant Hill. Oh well, like I said, these games don't count for the season and now the girls wont go into next weeks pre-season games feeling too cocky. Next week.... 3 pre-season games... 3 very tough teams, from all over the state. Here we go!

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Production Update:

Tonight for me, was a nice return to my happy place: running around with a camera on my shoulder, watching games with one eye squinting through a viewfinder, finishing the evening feeling almost as sweaty as some of the girls. I got this very real sense of de' ja vu, almost as if last season had never really ended and I had just been doing this constantly. It certainly didn't feel like 9 months had past since filming the last game of last season.

Jamboree had also finished a busy week of production. I had spent most of the day on Monday shooting interviews.. trying to get all the team members and coaching staff in front of the camera to discuss their pre-season thoughts, goals and plan of attack for the year.

While it was a bit chaotic in the weeks leading up to the shoot, it all (somehow) seemed to come together in time. The backdrop arrived from Utah on time, the portable frame to hold the backdrop was successfully built, my lighting plan came together (after a late Sunday night of testing and trying different solutions, our living room covered in wires and looking more like a sound stage than a living area) and learning the ins and outs of the new sound gear (which works amazingly well!)

Of course, now the real challenge begins: This next week we begin to have games and travel on a regular basis meaning I'll be shooting LOTS of footage during the week, we are 2 weeks into the season and I already have over 4 hours of raw footage to sort through to compress down into just a few minutes of completed film. If I don't start editing now, this will turn into a giant monster and get away from me!!

A Wedding Story....

A hot Saturday in August... Must be time for another wedding! Forget the Wedding Crashers, I sometimes think that if there is a world record for wedding attendance, I would be a prime contender. Why? Not because I have an addiction to wedding cake (although I have tasted some great ones), but because I have a side job as a D.J., and summer time in the D.J. industry means weddings, weddings and more weddings.

Working as a DJ is not something new to me.. I have actually been doing it since age 12 when the local elementary school needed someone to DJ roller skating parties and my Mom was the school's music teacher and volunteered me. That turned into a high school business, then to college radio stations, then to a local company here in Oregon where we were the main DJ's for all the OSU and U of O Fraternity and Sorority parties (nights that I would love to erase from my memory banks! Yikes). Finally I broke out on my own and have been running my own side business for 8 years.

So, Saturday was yet another wedding... but why I am I blogging about this wedding? Because I just had to laugh at the fact that it seems that in all instances in life, there are two sides to every story.. two points of view. One event can be seen completely differently depending on what side you are one. Here are the two points of view I saw this weekend.

First, there was the point of view of the bride and the groom and the wedding guests. To them, they attended a wedding. At the wedding, there was a DJ who acted very professionally, he had a nice sound system, he was clear in his announcements, he played lots of great music that kept the guests dancing late into the evening.. pretty much a no problem type of night as far as the music went.

Now, there's my perspective... Very different from everyone else! First, the unload... I am a DJ... I have a lot of VERY heavy sound gear. When I arrived at the wedding, which I had been told ahead of time was outside, I soon discovered that when they said outside, they meant up the side of a friggin mountain. So there I am in the parking lot, looking up the side of the mountain I am about to climb multiple times, lugging heavy speakers, subwoofers, amp cases, etc. Needless to say, by the time I got all that stuff unloaded and set up, I was a sweaty wreck. I had just enough time to get myself to a point where I LOOKED non sweaty and changed into my dress clothes, before guests arrived, wondering who that sweaty freak was standing behind the speakers.

The ceremony went fine, and soon all the guests headed up to dinner. That's when a potentially huge problem hit. Out of the blue, while standing there, queuing up the next song, I felt a "snap" on my waist, and my pants suddenly loosen. I looked down only to realize that the snap on my tuxedo pants had broken... off... Suddenly a wave of panic set in... these were my pants.. my tux pants... and tux pants have no belt loops. Then came the frustration.. "What?! Why are my pants breaking.. I am training for a marathon.. I have actually LOST quite a bit of weight.. not gaining.. why in the world are my pants breaking?!" But that didn't solve the problem.. bottom line was that at any point in time, my zipper, the one thing holding my pants in place, could slip putting me instantly in my skivvies in front of a large wedding audience.

Soon, the wedding coordinator came to check in and make sure I was doing alright. She asked if I would like some food, to which I replied "sure!" A few minutes later she came down and brought me a giant plate of pulled pork with barbecue sauce... mmmmmmm! I quickly dove in. Unfortunately, that big old plate of meat also brought out something else hungry... lots and lots of bees. Suddenly they were everywhere. And that brought on a huge challenge.. to stand there... queue up music, look professional, act as if there is nothing wrong, meanwhile swatting off dozens of bees fighting me for my dinner without getting stung. I soon wolfed down what I could and then frisbee'd my plate away, taking the bees along with it. Whew...

It didn't take long however to realize that hills, pants and bees not withstanding, I had much bigger problems brewing... problems that I had never had to deal with in all my years as a DJ. Now, keep in mind.. I am performing so to speak.. I am picking songs, one after another in an order that I feel the group will connect with. I can't ever venture too far from my table. I can't up and leave for periods of time. Also remember that I am outside, on the side of a hill.. somewhat away from the rest of the world, yet surrounded by people. And while that pulled pork was a wonderful thing to my taste buds... boy howdy.. my tummy just didn't agree with having it there. There really is nothing like knowing that you can't leave a place and that you are constantly being watched and evaluated, while feeling your stomach churn and gurgle inside. Now, I have no clue how this happened, but I quickly grabbed my bag, riffled through it and out of some freak miracle of nature... found 2 Peptos inside it. Luckily.. they saved the day and again, from everyone else's perspective nothing out of the ordinary was happening to the DJ.

By the time I had gotten to my last great challenge of the evening.. moths.. everywhere.. swarming my head... thanks to two large lit globes serving as decorations just above my head, I was beginning to think that I was facing the plaques of Moses.

So this is why when the evening was said and done, I had to laugh to myself about how differently things look to different people. To the bride and the groom, the DJ was professional and did a good job. To me, it was one oddball issue after another. Now, don't get me wrong, it turned out to be a very lovely wedding... great people.. great atmosphere.. no one called the cops on me for cranking tunes at 20,000 decibels over the hills of South Eugene.. but boy did it have some interesting times for me!

Oh, and by the way... in case you are wondering... my pants zipper did eventually give out on me.. just as I had finished lugging all that stuff down the hill, and was just getting into the van to drive home.. I think someone was watching out for me!!!

Shooting Begins!

Ok, enough build up already... let's get this season going! Let's get this party started! After working like crazy for the last 2 weeks trying to get ready to go, it is finally time for the 2006 season to begin, which means for me, it's finally time to grab the camera again and start shooting!

Today was the first official day of practice, and the beginning of the notorious week known as "Daily Doubles", meaning there are 2 practices each day, and they tend to be the tough, conditioning type of practices that coincide with the start of the season... perfect for getting great footage! With so much potential for good shots, there was no way I could try to squeeze shooting into my normal work schedule, so I took the day off from my regular job, cashing in a vacation day I needed to use anyway so I didn't loose it.

So how did it go? I think very well! At least the footage shot today seems to look good. This gives me some hope as other parts of the film project have had some... eh.. setbacks over the weekend. I found a glitch in the backdrop that was being painted last week. Sadly, that was discovered AFTER it had been mailed on Saturday as I was looking over the final photos taken of it being produced. And so it has to be re-done and resent from Utah. If all goes well, it will arrive JUST in time for the first set of interviews. Then tonight, the boys and I finally had the chance to build the portable frame that would hold the backdrop only to discover some flaws in its design. But late tonight, my neighbor and I had re-architected it, coming up with a solution that should be done mid-week. (Good thing Friday's interview shoot got pushed back to Monday!!!)

So, at least the project is finally started, my first hour of footage is "in the can" as they say. I'll continue to shoot as much of daily doubles as my schedule allows, spend next Monday shooting the early season interviews, and then start editing by mid-next week. It's late, I am totally exhasuted.. been a very busy day, and there are many more to come.

Ahhhhh... I love this time of year! Go Spartans!

Party in the Stars

Goodbye 5, hello 6! It's Little Calvin's birthday weekend and he's celebrating in style! Ok, his birthday isn't "officially" until Tuesday, but since Saturday was his big party with all of his friends, he is deeming himself 6. Close enough...

A few months back, we asked the little guy where he would like to have his birthday party this year. He knew pretty quickly where he wanted to go: the Science Factory, the local planetarium and science museum that sits right next to Autzen Stadium (Go Ducks!). It turns out that the planetarium has quite the setup for birthday parties... they provide a private back room for the activities, a schedule of events, access to all of the museums activities, and a planetarium show for all the kids and their parents and families. And so, the Science Factory it was!

Saturday was the big party day, Little Calvin waking up first thing in the morning with a huge smile on his face (As I was putting him to bed Friday night, he looked at me and said "I have been waiting for this day for soooooooo long!). We drove over to the planetarium mid-day... just in time for Pizza. That's when I discovered he definitely is not lacking in friends! When we combined his friends from school, his play friends, his siblings and his friends from church... there was quite the little crew of science explorers running amok in the museum!

But I think they all had a good time.. I know we did. We played, ate birthday pizza (yes, we put the candles in the pizza to avoid the mess of cake) and watched the stars in the planetarium. By the end of it all, we were tired and over stimulated. But it was a fun day that I think he will remember for quite some time!

If you'd like to take a quick look at the festivities, click here to watch our party highlights video. It is in Quicktime 7 format, so you'll need the plugin if you don't already have it.

Moving Right Along

Whew! What a week it's been! There's a lot going on in the Calvin household.. sure I say that all the time, but once vacation is over, things really kick into high gear. As promised, I will be using this blog to, among other things, track my progress on my latest film project, kicked off last week. I am happy to report that a lot has been done in the last 10 days, and yet there is much more to be done over the next week.

During the last week, much of the graphic design for the project has been completed and approved. In addition, my wife came up with the perfect idea for how to open the film and now the opening sequence has been planned and is scheduled to shoot on the 28th. She also has been a huge help in music planning and research, spending quite a few hours on-line looking into possible songs for certain parts of the project.

Another challenge has been finding just the right place to shoot interviews. These interviews will help to chart the progress of the season for all involved. Last year, these were all done in the open gym, but then proved to be difficult to schedule let alone trying to clean up the audio from the interviews to something usable with all the ball bouncing sounds and light hums. So this year, I needed something that would work better.

I found what should be a good filming place last week and over the next week, I'll begin "setting up shop" there. But what film looks good shot against a blank, brick wall? Not mine! And so began the process of creating a backdrop for this "set". I researched several options for this and finally found the answer, thanks to my friend Brent and the Utah State University Theater Department. They are creating the perfect back drop for us that will include the team logo for the year. Painting will continue on this through the end of the week, but as of today.. it is coming along nicely:

Meanwhile, here in Oregon, I am tackling the other issues: How to hang the backdrop, how to light the room, how to mic the room to get the best audio, camera placement to get the right effects, etc. (There's a lot more to it than just throwing a camera on a tripod and hitting the button), while starting to do camera and sound tests.

Cameras officially start to roll on Monday, so there is little time left to get things done, but all in all, I am getting there, and getting really excited to see so many things begin to really come together.

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Marathon Update: 20 weeks to go and my training is still on schedule.. I haven't missed a workout yet, even with the huge milage increase that came last week. All the work I did to get ready for this stage seems to be paying off as my body seems to be taking all the miles in stride (pun intended). Sure, I am a bit sore, that is normal, but not in the pain that I was in when I attempted this a few years ago. Plus, I am finally at the point where the long runs just feel good again. I can go run and not focus on the fact that I am running.. (I am too busy previewing possible film music on my ipod and mentally planning out the sequences that could be shot.) Granted I am knocking on the wood of my desk right now.. in hopes that typing this will not send my into injury mode on tonight's run. But as of now, things are going well.

Here I go Again: Pre-Production Begins!

Ok, insanity... here we go again! Vacation is over and now its time to get back to work. But not just my day job. Now it's time to thrive on chaos. It's time to throw away my sleep schedule and add a new challenge to the next few months. Normally, I work hard to be a good husband, dad and web development manger at work. Now I get to try to add a new title: Film Producer. As of this last Monday, I am officially starting the pre-production phase of another documentary film, once again following the Marist High School Volleyball Team, documenting the season, and providing a "behind the scenes" style look at the athletes, their stories, and their season both on and off the court. There is much to do in the next 2 weeks before cameras officially roll, but as I have said before... this is the place I love to be. Sure, it can be complex, tiring, and stressful but I seem to thrive on that. Remember this blog?

The workload began Monday evening as I worked up proposals and began committing my mental ideas and scope to paper. Last night, we began planning out travel schedules (as we will be on the road a lot this year!!) and looking to see which teams we play when to know when certain pieces will fall into place. Today, I spent my lunch break checking out possible shooting locations and working out some logistics for where and how to shoot some sequences. And what does the next two weeks hold for me? Where do I begin? Graphic design needs to be done, some sequences will need storyboarding before shooting begins, schedules need to be worked out and typed up so people know what is going on, music is being researched, shooting backdrops have to be created, production budgets carefully reviewed, new shotgun mics need to be obtained, initial advertising will be created so people know about the film and why I am shooting footage, camera and audio tests performed.. the list goes on and on... and like I said.. I have 2 weeks to have as much ready to go as possible.

The biggest trick to this whole thing is having the ability to have my two brains. First, there is my "Day Job" brain. This brain pops into place 30 seconds away from the office parking lot and stays firmly in place until lunch time when I switch the work brain off and start up the "producer" brain as I run my lunch time errands, typically researching out various things for the film. Then in the afternoons, my work brain goes back in for another 4 hours of solid focus before being removed as I drive out of the parking lot. This whole idea helps be to make sure that while sitting at my desk, I am staying focused on my job so that I can continue to do well there, but the second I leave, it's the film I am thinking about. This gives me 8 hours a day to use my work brain, and 16 hours a day to work on my film. Sleep? Trust me, once I get into the hard core editing phase... there is no sleep, because even when nodding off for the night, your brain continues to edit sequences.. it's really quite bizarre.

And so my journey of chaos begins... and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am. I love this stuff, and while looking at a project like this from the beginning, things can look a bit daunting and scary, knowing all that I will need to do over the next 4 months, I look forward to seeing how it all comes out. And I look forward to taking the vision that I have in my head for this next film and making it a reality.

Over the next few months, I will probably be writing about this project quite a bit, keeping everyone up to speed on how things are going and whether or not I am keeping my sanity. As the volleyball season gets underway, I will also update on the team and how they are doing as well. Go Spartans!

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On a separate topic: Further adding to my new chaos schedule... Monday began yet another phase of life for me. After spending almost a year just trying to "get back into basic shape", it's time to kick of my "official" marathon training routine. The schedule I use is out of Runner's World magazine and is designed for people that want to successfully finish their first marathon. It's a 22 week schedule, which means.. it starts this week, bumping my weekly milage from 15 miles to 20 miles. So not only am I now starting a new film, I am also "officially" beginning to train for my marathon. What a busy and FAST 22 weeks these will be! January 7th will be here before I know it!! Yikes!

On Vacation!

I haven't blogged for awhile... I know, I know... bad blogger, bad! So why have I not been blogging? Because I have been on VACATION! Finally, some much needed time to relax with my family, some time to get out of the office and stresses of work, and time to kick back and enjoy some of the simple pleasures that life has to offer.

This year, I did something really different... I actually took a vacation. Now, that may sound redundant.. let me explain. For as long as I can remember of my adult life I have never really left my office. Thanks to the internet age, I can connect to the internet anywhere... I always have my cell phone with me and I am in constant communication with work, regardless of my physical location. But this time, I left it behind. Never once logged onto the internet.. turned my cell phone off and never checked it.. I got truly away.. and discovered how nice it is to, as one of my all time favorite songs is named, "Enjoy the Silence".

Now it wasn't all silence.. not by a long shot as I had my parents visiting from Colorado and all 3 kids demanding of my attention. But still a very nice time. As tradition holds in the Calvin household, my folks come out for a week and we all go rent a beach house on the Oregon Coast. This year we were off to the Tierra Del Mar community of Pacific City, a wonderful little community, right on the ocean, with miles of sandy quiet beaches and little traffic as it is off of the highway and most travelers probably never know its there or how to get to it. With the amazing cliffs of Cape Kiwanda to the south and the Oregon Sand Dunes to the North, we had great scenery and lots of calm.

So here is how the vacation played out... day by day as I enjoyed my "unplugged" time:

Saturday: with my folks having arrived the evening prior, after an insanely long drive from Colorado, we worked to keep the day low-key. The family girls went to go see "RV" while the boys took a bike ride down the Willamette River and went to the planetarium. Later, we all met together and hiked Mt. Pisgah to enjoy the views of our little city.

Sunday: We all went to church in the morning, as usual. Today was a special occasion as Amanda has recently turned 12. Today she officially made the move from the Primary program (the organization for kids ages 3 - 11) to the Young Woman's program (the organization for girls ages 12 - 18). Gulp! She was recognized in our main meetings and proudly got her primary graduation certificate. After church we celebrated birthdays. Since my folks only see the kids once a year, they celebrate birthdays all together so all the kids got to open presents. My folks got to open their presents too and my Mom tearily accepted the quilt that Dawn put together with squares created by all their grandkids. Then, a huge traditional Sunday meal followed by evening rocket launching in the park (Ty had to use his newly received rocket engines!)

Monday: Travel to the coast day. With a lot going on, we had to split up.. Dawn and Amanda attended the Marist volleyball camp and I went with the rest of the crew to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinville. There sits the Spruce Goose, the GIANT plane built by Howard Hughes, an SR-71blackbird, a moon lander and dozens of other amazing aircraft. We all met up at the beach house in time to Bar-B-Q and fly kites on the beach.

Tuesday: Beach day. Today we slept in, and played on the beach.. built sand castles, went on a hike and just enjoyed the beach house. After dinner we did another family tradition of playing the card game "Spoons", and yes, as always it turned extremely violent. Perfect family fun!

Wednesday: Today we headed to Devils Lake in Lincoln City where we rented a large Pontoon boat and spent the day exploring the lake and having a middle of the lake picnic. Then we went to Depoe Bay to shop at the Pirate Store.. a favorite spot of Little Calvins.

Thursday: Today it was too windy to hit the beach, so we stayed inside, playing cards, Dread Pirate (an AWESOME, but lengthy board game). Then it was off to the Tillamook Cheese Factory, to indulge in ice cream and Squeaky cheese!

Friday: Today was the long day.. as in long drive. We drove to Astoria to enjoy the sights of the Northern Coast. We went to the Maritime Museum (an awesome, incredibly well-done museum, highly recommended!) followed by the Astoria Column. Then it was off to explore the World War 2 bunkers of Fort Stevens, and dinner in Tillamook.

Saturday: One last beach day. This was the day of the annual family sand sculpture contest, where I typically way over do it and end up sore for days for digging up too much sand. This year was no exception! In the afternoon, the family went to the Lincoln City Sand Sculpting contest, while I stayed back and finished my sculpture and designed a treasure hunt for the boys. Since they are in full pirate mode this summer, I decided to stage a scenario where a bottle washes up to shore with a treasure map inside. After finding it, they go off in search of buried treasure, following a map all over the beach and surrounding area. Ultimately they found the buried treasure, after digging in several wrong spots, but were glad to see that pirates bury M&Ms. (yes, I had to bury an actual chest in the sand.. rather fun actually.) Saturday night was one of my favorite time of the trip.. the whole family out on the beach, enjoying the twilight times, with a beach fire roaring next to us, playing catch with the baseball gloves, throwing a frisbee until things turned silly/violent, roasting marshmellows for Smores.. just.... fun family times. The ones I'll always cherish.

Sunday: clean up, say our good byes and then drive home and try to get used to normal life again. Unfortunately, "normal life" hit way too fast as the transmission failed in our van as we pulled up the the house and will have to be replaced this week. Its always nice to have to spend thousands of dollars on car repairs the week following vacation, but oh well. Such is life.

Now its time for regular life... the next 4 months will be out of control busy.. I'll explain more later, but this week, watching sunsets from the balcony, playing in the sand, and just enjoying being with my wife, kids and folks, was priceless! Let's go again!

For a closer look at our vacation and some of our activities, click here to see our trip photo gallery.