Morning Mace

Just a quick little story from my wacky life to start your day. It all started simply enough with our morning staff meeting. Like with most companies and work groups, It helps us a great deal to meet first thing in the morning to sort out who is doing what, which projects will go to which people and coordinate timelines. Every one in the business world knows the drill.. but this meeting had an abrupt turn of events!

Once we finish all the normal business, the manager always asks "Are the any By-The-Ways". This is where we bring up any time off requests, last minute changes in schedule, or just random things the whole group needs (or doesn't need) to know. And today.. we were all just a bit wacky, a little out of our minds. It's been a busy week, we have all been hitting the deadlines and working hard. This left us really loopy and very giggly. As simple questions were asked, the barbs and jokes would fly from someone in the room, sending us all into fits of laughter.

Then one of my co-workers, who is just one of the nicest people, cracked about her actually being a criminal and having a record, the thought of which sent us all into a hysterical fit (you just had to be there) but suddenly a light came on above another co-workers head. She immediately started digging through her purse and exclaimed "That reminds me! I have been meaning to ask you all something!" She then proceeds to pull a can of Mace out of her purse. Still laughing uncontrollably about the previous joke, we looked up to hear our manager state in his laughing, but trying to control himself voice "What is that?! Don't you know that stuff is illegal?! (which only got us laughing harder.. the thought of our co-worker with her Mace in her purse)

Then she replied "Really? I have just had this in my purse for years and I don't know if it still works. How do I find out?"

Now came the problem... as we had all been laughing so hard, another co-worker didn't fully understand what she was holding, or the true question. She simply saw it as a generic aerosol can. So she grabbed it and said "That's simple! You just press down here." PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHH! Out spays Mace.

Now for those who may not know. Let's look up the official definition of Mace, the wonder spray once used by women everwhere for self defense: "a chemical compound, prepared for use in aerosol containers, that has the combined effect of a tear gas and a nerve gas, temporarily stunning its victims".  Yup.. we effectively tear gassed ourselves at our own staff meeting. Nice!

Most of us were still laughing out loud over the previous jokes, as well as this sudden and completely random turn of events, while also saying to ourselves "wait, did that just happen as I saw it?" This laughter and shock mechanism managed to delay what should have been our "drop to the floor and cover yout face" reaction and instead, we all just sat there laughing, thinking "wait... what?!". That's when the Mace fumes actually hit us like a ton of bricks.

Fast forward 10 seconds and the whole scene changed. People were running out of the room, mouths covered, coughing like crazy, people crawled under the table to escape the room. Out  into the hall we all poured, some coughing most still laughing. Eyes were watering, tongues stung... nasty stuff.

After I had a chance to collect myself, make sure everyone was ok and there were no serious problems (as I didn't really want to explain to my own wife, the campus health and safety manager, what had happened) I had to figure out what to do. This was a unique situation.. one that called for an attention getting response. So what did I do? I decided to create a public service campaign, to keep us safe for the next time, by making a series of "demotivational posters" to commemorate the event.  The following are actually hanging in or break room, as a constant reminder:

I'm sure my co-workers appreciate it!

Growing up Calvin: The Hot Tub

One thing to know about me… I LOVE hot water, always have! For me, it is the ultimate of relaxation, to just sit back, chill out, and just melt into a large tank of hot water. I seriously think it triggers creativity in my brain as I tend to get some of my best, most creative solutions to things while taking a long soak. A few years back, while doing a video shoot down in Orlando, I remember pacing back and forth in my hotel room, trying to come up with an idea that would connect my whole project together, and nothing was coming to my brain. Finally I gave up and decided to head to the hotel's hot tub for a soak. As soon as I hit that water, it was as if all my creative answers suddenly awakened in my mind and I had new direction.

Even as a kid, a hot tub was the ultimate thing for me… but finding one to get in was quite the challenge. And let me clarify here.. when I say "hot tub" I don't mean a bath tub filled with hot water. Sure, that can be a nice way to relax, but I am talking about full fledged big tubs of hot water, with room to maneuver, with lots of air jets to relax your muscles, sitting outside in the cold, giving you that perfect balance of melting hot in the water, and freezing cold outside for anything not wet. Some friends of ours, a 45 minute drive away, had a hot tub that we'd go to on occasion, and we'd take family trips to Glenwood Springs from time to time. But other than that, I was "hot tub" deprived. I finally decided that when I grew up and became successful, I would know that I had achieved greatness when I had my own deck and my own large hot tub sitting outside of my home. I have yet to get there.. but I can keep dreaming, right?

Glenwood Springs Hot Spring, Colorado, 1985

And so, what does a deprived, creative Calvin-like child do, when he is forced to go without his precious hot tub time that he is oh so craving? Simple.. he looks around, and finds a simple solution.

This takes me back to one spring Saturday morning, somewhere in my middle school years of life. As always.. I was bored, my parents were gone to the temple for the day, and my sister and I were home alone (dangerous combination). Suddenly I decided that what we really needed was a hot tub and I was in the mood for a good soak. Sure, there was the whole issue of us not having one, but that didn't stop me. First I needed a list of what a hot tub was, and what its requirements would be. A. It had to be a large body of water, that I could submerge myself in. B. It had to be hot of course, and C. It had to be outside. Sure, I could have just gone and filled up my tub in the bathroom, but that didn't really count. That wasn't a true hot tub. Then there was the matter of the bubble jets, but coming up with a solution for that seemed secondary to just getting a hot tub built.

So, first I needed a container: A big container, capable of holding large amounts of water. I searched the house and only could find one possible solution: my dad had these huge metal barrels out in the drive way that were used to store the family's trash. Yup.. the trash can. Upon opening up the heavy metal lid, there was a horrid odor that hit my nose, but that was just a detail. I carefully removed all the trash from the can, and then grabbed the dish soap and hose and preceded to carefully scrub the can out. Not an easy job, what with years of trash scum coating the sides and bottom of the can, but with some scrubbing with my mom's dish scrubber, it all seemed to come off, at least enough anyway.

After a few minutes of tough scrubbing (I don't remember it taking too long) I maneuvered the can into a flat, level part of the dirt driveway. Now, it just needed water, and HOT water. And so the long tedious process began. I would go into the house, and put every pot I could find on the stove and fill all of them with hot water, heating the water to a boil. In addition, I had cups of water heating in the microwave, and then I'd also start lugging the hot water from the water tap inside in buckets, out to the my barrel in the drive way.

As you can imagine, this took awhile. The biggest challenge was keeping the water hot when it was sitting in the outside Colorado air. So maybe this wouldn't be a "hot" tub by the time it was done, but a warm tub. But still a good endeavor.

At last, my hot tub was complete. All that was left was to hop in my swimming suit, and hoist myself into my hot tub (My sister declined the invitation… go figure). Sure, it took some work, getting into the barrel, there was no ladder, or anything else for that matter that could be rigged up to help me, but I wasn't going to let this stop me. And eventually, there I was, sitting in my hot tub. Mission Accomplished.  Sure, it stunk to high heaven.. years worth of trash build up could not be totally washed off the sides. And then when heated up with lots of hot water… there was a certain odor to it (I wont mention all the "floaties". But I actually made a hot tub for myself!

Now, what goes through your parent's mind when they have just spent a nice morning at the temple, drive home only to find their son sitting in the drive way, soaking in their large trash can, now filled with steaming water (Let alone all the pots and pans in the kitchen from boiling water, and buckets strewn about). Somehow I don't remember them being too pleased that I had pulled this off, and not nearly as enthusiastic about my creative problem solving as I seemed to be. All I remember is once they drove by me, with their collective looks of shock and horror, they didn't let me stay in there very long (maybe 10 seconds). But to me, I had pulled off a great feat. I decided I wanted a hot tub, had none, but came up with a creative solution that gave me the desired end result, without the cost involved.

Interesting to me side note: I found it incredibly frustrating that my folks waited until AFTER I grew up, moved out and moved across the country to then put in a hot tub…. Grrrrrrrr.

Although I look back on that story, (being able to see things from my parents point of view) I can get just a bit disgusted (I was sitting in trash water.. what they heck was I thinking!!!!!) that skill that I practiced that day, has served me very well over the years as a media producer. How many times have I looked at camera shots on tv, said to myself "Ohhh… I have to do something like that", looked at the technology only to discover that it would costs tens of thousands of dollars to buy the camera rigs, then figured out how to pull it off, with the same results using parts obtained from perusing garage sales and thrift stores and a little engineering. I even did a blog post on this art back in 2008, read it here.

So while the story is admittedly gross (and totally Calvin-like), this one I can at least pull the life lesson from. Now off to find a hot tub.. I could use a good soak!

The Lost Link

 A quick post today, just to share this article written by Carlton Cuse for today's New York Times, as it is something that I really connected with.

First, I am in no way comparing myself to Carlton Cuse, Executive Producer of Lost. He has obtained a level of success with Lost over the years that I could only dream of as a media producer. He helped to create an AMAZING show that captured my imagination and kept me captivated for years. (Yes, I even loved the finale last spring!!!) I just create small audience films, nothing mainstream.

But as a creative person, whether you are creating a major world-wide TV show, or a small little film that is watched by 100 people, tackling a large project that you are personally inspired by, competing that project and then sitting back and going "Now what?" is a common feeling. Its a feeling I could identify with well.

So, if you have a minute and would like to explore what happens in the mind of creative folk after a large project, this could be an interesting read. It was for me, as it showed me that whether you are working on big time successes, or small little projects, the creative roller coaster of a mental process is still the same.

Thanks Carlton, for being a creative inspiration and giving me 6 great years of Lost! Best of luck in your future endeavors!

Click here to read the article

2010: At A Glance

A quick note today… Just to kick my new blogging habits off. Typically when I go for a long time without maintaining my blog, I try to do a big post to catch everyone up on what is going on in life and show how busy things have been for us. This was my original plan for this post. But when I started writing, I realized… I just barely did all this, when I typed up the family Christmas letter just a few weeks ago. So, rather than rewording that letter, or posting the text, I am simply going to add a link here and if you would like you can download a copy of our annual newsletter and read about the many things we are doing.

Click here to download the PDF

In addition, You can actually watch all of our various activities in my 2010 recap video that I do each year. Because this is something that is just for my family and our own memories, I do use normal music in these videos, something that Youtube frowns upon, so I have it stored on my own server. Rather than having the nice embedded video right on the blog you will have to click to see it, but its a fun way to catch up with all of our various events through the year.

Click here to watch the 2010 video recap

It was a busy 2010.. And with any luck, 2011 will be busy too! I don't like to be bored or have nothing to do!! Something tells me, there wont be a problem!

The Better Record

Last week in my seminary class, I presented an interesting lesson. The topic of the day was D&C section 69, where John Whitmer was commanded to begin keeping a record of the history of the church. We discussed the importance of keeping records and the fact that the Lord commands us to keep our own personal records of our lives. Not just the day to day events, but our stories, our feelings and everything that makes us who we are.

I then tied the subject back into 3 Nephi from last year and a little story that is quite amusing to me. Its a tiny little story, but to me, it says a lot. Its in 3 Nephi 23: 7 - 14. Whats happening here is that the Resurrected Christ is visiting the people in Central America, teaching them. He called out to his prophet Nephi and asked him to bring him the record kept up until that time. Nephi did as he was asked. Christ looked through it and discovered that some of the things that he had asked him to write, had not been written down. Then comes the very simple, but profound verse 12 "And it came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been written."

DOH! What is going through Nephi's mind at that moment?! Christ, the Lord, had asked him to do something and he suddenly realized he had not bothered to do it. That can't be a good thing. And what do you say? "Uhhhhh… sorry, I got distracted there…" That's just not a fun place to find yourself in.

So that brings us back to today. We have been asked by the Lord to keep our own personal records. At some point the Second Coming will take place, and the Lord will return to the Earth. And when he comes to me and says "Remember that personal record that I asked you to keep? Where is that, I'd like to see it," what exactly am I going to say? "Ummmmmm…. yeah, sorry I got so busy editing DVDs that I kind of stopped writing". "Ummmmmm, I was really busy.." That's just not going to fly and I am going to have the same realization that Nephi did.

And so, as the teacher of this class, I can't be a hypocrite.. I can't expect my class to seriously get on the keeping of their records if I am not willing to do the same. I need to lead and set the example or I can't expect them to follow. So I am committing here and now, to keep my record, in the form of my blog, more current. There are so many stories that I keep planning on telling, many events that Facebook and Twitters little update tabs can't contain. I need to stop making excuses and get back to writing. And so I will.

2011 will be a good year at Calvin's Cosmos. That's my commitment, so check back often.

As Darth Vader says on the Robot Chicken parody… "I'm bringing it back!!!"

It's my record… and it needs to be better!