Santa, Stereos and Sickos.. Yup, it's Christmas!

On behalf of the Calvin Clan.... Merry Christmas everyone! First... in response to my Christmas break excitement several days ago.. the break went MOSTLY on schedule. Friday we did spend the afternoon playing video games at Chuck E. Cheese (apparently I misspelled the name in my last post.. it's not Chucky Cheese, as my daughter has been giving me grief). But Tyler continuously complained of a sore throat that just wouldn't stop hurting, forcing us to keep a more watchful eye on him.

By Saturday afternoon as we were getting ready to head to Splash (our indoor water slide, wave pool, aquatic center) it still hadn't let up. We peeked down his throat and were shocked to see his tonsils the size of bowling balls in the back of his throat. No wonder he was uncomfortable... So rather than swimming, he got to head to the always fun doctors office with Dawn while I took Amanda and Little Calvin to the pool. Turns out, he had Strep throat. Ug. Poor kid. That put an end to our boy's late night movie watching fun, as suddenly he had to be sleeping.

But health issues aside, the rest of the break was nice... We celebrated my wife's birthday by going out to eat and seeing Enchanted (very entertaining movie, by the way... if you have grown up watching Disney animated movies, you'll enjoy it) and by gearing up for Santa's big visit on Christmas Eve with some friends joining us for dinner.

That leads us up to today.. Christmas Day! Awaking to the sounds of jingle bells.. watching excited, yet groggy kids stumble out of bed in the early morning darkness, and having it be the one day out of the year I can get away with Cheesecake being a breakfast food. Why my Dad taught me that.. I have no clue.. but it's a great Christmas morning tradition as the rest of the family looks at me with a shudder.

Then on to presents.. first from Santa. I started out thinking I had been very bad this year as I opened a dashboard car stereo install kit.. with nothing inside it. Luckily the actual stereo came later (now I can finally stop having to wear my ipod headphones when I drive!!). For the kids... it was their typical assortment of whatever they have been collecting and obsessing over this past year... Ben 10, magic tricks, High School Musical, etc. So they were all happy.

Eventually we got the the biggie presents... A new high tech sewing machine for Dawn, iPods for the kids (thank you Craig's List!!!) and the latest seasons of my favorite shows Lost and the Office. One gift that really got my attention was a quilt made by my wife. She took a bunch of t-shirts I had from my old college debate team days, from my church mission, and from my old Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt collection and put them together into a nice quilt. It both looks really cool and is a heck of a lot more practical than having a bunch of too small t-shirts taking up my closet space that I refuse to give away for sentimental reasons. All in all.. very cool.

So now we get to take our wrapping paper filled house and return it to normal, take our sugar filled kiddos bouncing off the walls from Christmas candy and new toys and try to wind them down, and then finally relax to some peace and quiet. It's been a fun break.. very busy and I will have lots of fun memories from Christmas this year, but at the same time exhausting. I'm ready for some quiet time! Maybe getting to go back to my office tomorrow isn't such a bad thing... And far away from the crazy stores!!!

Merry Christmas!

Give Me a Break! A Christmas One

Tonight I begin something that I haven't had in ages... an actual Christmas break! Now sure... it's nothing like the 2 weeks that the kids get from school, or the THREE weeks that Dawn gets as paid time off from her job (wrong.. just wrong I say... lucky girl!!) but I really can't complain. Let me explain:

For whatever reason, in a normal year, my company actually gives us less time of for Christmas than for Thanksgiving. For that holiday, we get both Thanksgiving and the following day off, giving us a lovely 4 day weekend. Then for Christmas... one day off. That's it. So let's say that Christmas falls on a Wednesday. We'll work Monday and Tuesday.. then have Christmas day off, then back to work for the rest of the week. Don't get me wrong.. I love my job and don't have any issues with the policy.. it's always just seemed a little odd when you step back and think about it!

Luckily this year, Christmas happens to fall on a Tuesday. The company, realizing that if anyone actually worked on Monday probably wouldn't be very focused, decide to give us an extra day off. Woo-hoo! One more vacation day. Plus, now that I have past my company 10 year anniversary, I get an extra week of paid vacation time. Soooo, I am taking any extra day off. That gives me Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off!!! I realize that for most, this isn't that big of a deal... but suddenly I am faced with an actual Christmas break... something I haven't had in years. And I like it!!

So what are my biggie plans for all this time off? Stay home.. play with my kiddos, and have a good time leading up to Christmas day. I'll take the kids to Chucky Cheese, swimming, and to the movies. We'll celebrate Dawn's birthday, watch our list of traditional Christmas movies, see some Christmas lights, play some games, and finally catch up on some DVDs piling up to watch. There's cooking Christmas cookies and my annual Christmas cheesecake (ahhhhhh... cheesecake....) I better go get started... vacationing.. Turns out, there's a lot to do!

Done Done Done Done DONE!

Finally!! After 3 months of work... an insane amount of miles, 30 plus hours of footage shot and several all-nighters during the "final edit" stage... I'm DONE with my latest film. I'm exhausted... I'm ready to fall down.. At the moment, I never want to look at a computer again.. But the DVD's are done done DONE!!

Overall, I am pleased. I mean, I don't do this for the money.. ha... I wish... I do it for the over all creative challenge and because I really do think that, for the girls, these DVDs will be something unique that they'll never get anywhere else, or in any other activity. I mean, how many times has someone crafted a documentary style film about one of your activities? Either that or I am just plain bonkers... My wife actually found a quote by Dave Barry that has become my theme this year: "There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness." That so sums up this project! I even added that quote at the end of my end credits on the film.

All in all, while some things got a little out of hand, the film turned out as I had hoped and the DVDs... grew. Out of the two that I do each fall, one ended up having so much content, I had to turn it into a 2 DVD set, causing a last minute trek around the city, looking for the double disk DVD cases and disks. All together, between the three disks, I ended up with 5 hours of edited content. Ug. I am just getting more tired thinking of it...

But rather than dwelling on the exhausting aspect... Here are some of the highlights:

• It is easy to take for granted that everyone involved with these projects know me and what I do. This year, I discovered this is not always the case as new people join the teams. Early in the season, during a break in the first tournament, I followed the team out into the hallway to film their meeting in between games. By this time, I had been filming each day at practice and now, the first game of this tournament. One of the new players to the team, finally had enough. Just as the team discussion had begun, she said "Wait... ok... Who the heck is this guy, and why is he always following us around with a camera?!" thus causing the rest of the squad to fall down laughing. Having never experienced something like this, she assumed I was some kind of stalker and it freaked her out. Throughout the season this became our little joke, getting plenty of milage.

• Beating Junction City, one of our key rivals and an unbeaten team.. in their gym in front of packed stands... Always enjoyable...

• During the warmups for one game I was filming the team warming up out in the hallway just outside the gym. Some of the girls started to.. overdo their hitting, one accidently hitting a ball a little too hard, into the ceiling, breaking a light fixture, causing all the various pieces to rain down all over the floor, making a huge noise. Oops. Sadly, I was facing the opposite direction and only flipped around when I heard the huge crash, only getting the aftermath on film, instead of the actual hit. We got a lot of dirty looks from school officials that night.

• During interviews with the players, I asked the question "What inspires you as a volleyball player?" There was one answer I honestly didn't expect to get from a high school aged girl. She said "what really inspire me are my parents" and went on to talk about how much she enjoys doing well for them.. to make them proud, and the strength that pride gave to her. WAIT.. these are HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS... what happened to "my parents are stupid".. "I hate my family.." or DJ Jazzy Jeff aka Will Smith's "There's no need to argue.. parents just don't understand" comments. That comment took me by surprise, and just surmised why I enjoy working with this particular group of girls. And yes... I did pop that clip onto my video iPod to show her parents at the next game.. Some things are just good to hear.

• Towards the end of the season, as my editing time began to grow by leaps and bounds, I knew that my editing schedule would prevent me from spending as much time with Little Calvin as I would like. So I came up with an interesting idea, as he has his own laptop and is learning Apple's iMovie. I gave him one of my little cameras and the instructions to film a game.. not like I would, but to film whatever he found interesting. Then he would take the footage, edit it himself and create one of the DVD bonus features: Volleyball.. from a 7 year-olds perspective. This way, when I got stuck having to edit while he was still awake, he could just edit his own project and we could work on them together.

The night he was to film his game, by pure coincidence, we ended up in matching clothes... Jeans and our black volleyball team shirts. So there we were running around together.. me with the big camera and him with the little camera, filming the game in matching shirts.. We got a lot of smiles that night. And his little bonus feature turned out great.. even with his little tour of the concession stand and almost filming in the bathroom..

• Finally, I must admit, after imagining a film, working out each sequence, filming, editing, etc.. it is a very surreal experience to actually watch the film with an audience and see their reaction. What I discovered this year is that it is even more surreal to not only watch, but closely listen to people's reactions as it is discussed. Once the main film was done, I set up two recording sessions to record two audio commentary tracks for the DVD, one with the 4 seniors, and one with the coaches. The seniors thought this was great, being able to see the film before the rest of the team as well, as "force everyone to listen to our crazy stories". For me... it was just wacky to both watch and listen to each comment, each reaction to some of my favorite shots. While it was a lot of work to get the film to the point of recording those commentaries, it was very rewarding being able to do it.

There are so many more fun memories: long bus rides, our trip to State in Klamath Falls, and many gray hairs thanks to close games. But again.. it is now done, done DONE!! It's time to take some time off... finally watch my Netflix movie that has been sitting on my TV since the third week of August, and actually try to get back to normal sleep again. Then, once January hits.. my camera will start to roll again, with another film on tap to shoot.

That fine line between hobby and mental illness? I think I am waaaaay over into the mental illness side. I swear... I must be nuts...

And Thus... The 36th Year Begins

It happened a mere 36 years ago: I entered the world with a loud wail, and thus.. Big Calvin's wacky life began. I guess that means.. today is my birthday. Yikes. I must be getting old. How else can I explain all the grey hair. And no, I can't keep blaming the ladies beginners motorhome driving classes. I'm just plain getting older.

Birthday number 36 began quite uneventfully. It was a "work day", as my birthday can't seem to fall on a weekend every year. Oh well... must make a living. As I chronicled last year, my coworkers and I have a lot of fun.. decorating each other's work space for each others birthday. Last year, my team chose to really surprise me, not do anything for my birthday and wait for several weeks, just until I figured they forgot. Then Blam... they nuked my office with glitter. So this year, I entered with great trepidation, fearful of what I may find. (As it so happened, I took yesterday afternoon off to film volleyball and so my office was left, unguarded). I peeked around the corner into my department, and.. from a distance. It appeared all was well. No decorating. No hoopla. I assumed I was free and clear, let out a sigh of relief, continued towards my door, and that's when I saw.... her..

It was Hilary Clinton... And she was everywhere. Oh Joy...

Yup. My lovely co-workers had plastered my office walls with giant print outs of (oh please no..) Mrs. Power wannabe herself... Hilary. And what better way to start my birthday. When these two came in, I just had to shake my head. Creative? Yes! Annoying to look at all day, until I had time to pull it down? YES!!!! I think I need therapy after having to stare at her smiling face all day. Ug.

After work, it was time for the family celebration. With as much is going on right now as the volleyball season starts up, it is usually difficult to do too much to celebrate my birthday, but this year my day fell on a non-game night, so it was a bit easier to plan. I assumed we'd be spending a quiet evening at home. My wife had spent a frustrating day dealing with irritating car mechanics and claimed to "not have time to get my birthday dinner cooked, so we'd just have to go out to eat". I was fine with that and we headed out.

Ironically enough.. we went to the same place I threw my wife's surprise birthday party last year, a local restaurant owned by a friend of ours. And, as I suddenly figured out as we pulled up.. this wasn't a "oh let's just go to dinner" this was a planned event. She had pulled off a birthday surprise.

And so for the next 2 hours, we ate a nice (and delicious) Italian dinner with some of our close friends from the area. Being that it was the middle of the week, it was a small group, but very fun.. with some friends using excuses like.. oh.... PHD dissertation deadlines.. and bible study classes (Priorities.. people!!! Sheesh!!). Our friend Pam cooked us a great, multiple coarse meal. Little Calvin and some of his friends dressed as waiters and served the meal, doing a great job (and were even tipped).

In all, a very nice time and a great surprise... even with the Oregon Duck with a Beaver colored noose around it's neck gift... (You'll PAY for that.. you know who you are!!!)

By the time we got home, I had just enough time to open gifts (New Oregon Ducks shirt, Casino Royale, Star Wars Risk and new Pirate toys for my office) and then get Little Calvin off to bed.

Sooo, Happy Birthday to me. Lets see what year 36 holds...

Production Prep

It is that time of year again... Time to begin another film project as the fall sports season gears up. What does that mean for me? A few things:

First, life is about to get VERY hectic. In a few short weeks, the volleyball game schedule will kick in, putting us out of the house and on the road (whether its a home game or away, it's still a lot of driving time!) almost every other night. One night well be here in Eugene, two nights later over the pass in Bend, or Cottage Grove, or over to the coast... Let's just say that we'll easily log several thousand miles during the course of the season. If it wasn't for my video involvement with the team, heck, I would barely see my wife between now and mid-November.

Second, I will get to spend much of the next few months in my "happy place", with a large camera firmly attached to my shoulder, chasing around the action of the team both on and off the court. While the shooting times are fairly straight forward, its the times away from the court that make for a very busy lifestyle. Take the last two weeks (and on-going for the next several) for example... Although shooting doesn't officially begin until Tuesday, I had to:

• Pull out last years video backdrop and repaint it to reflect this years production style. (Little Calvin eagerly helped with this one..)
• Begin to establish music lists of songs we have collected over the last year for possible use.
• Storyboard the scenes I have mentally put together over the last year and begin penciling these onto the calendar so there is time to get everything shot
• Pull all the video gear (spread out amongst many storage boxes) to make sure everything works
• Establish and practice new lighting designs to get this year's desired effects done correctly
• Begin graphic design for the team's t-shirts, sweatshirts, and eventually the DVD covers (although that will be much later in the season before those are finalized)
• Practice set ups and take downs of the gear to get back into the flow of doing this quickly. Many days, I leave the office for lunch break, drive to the campus, set up my gear, do an interview, take everything back down and get back to work.. all in under an hour, so as not to get busted at my regular job. This requires speed, coordination and great timing, all of which has to be practiced.
• Coordinate space on campus to shoot all this stuff including the ideas new to this year's production
• Play with the new "toys", to learn their tricks. For instance this year, I am adding a dolly track system to my gear that I'll be using for shooting some of the "more-specialized" sequences. The tracks and dolly system are all currently being custom built for me so I can begin shooting with them in the next week, but getting their set up down and actually filming with them will take some work!

This last weekend was the "final prep" weekend. This was my chance to get everything out, lighting and sound tested and the newly painted backdrop in place. I am sure my wife loves this, as I turn our living room into a studio... lights here.. backdrop there.. wires all over the floors, computers and software boxes strewn about.

Finally, it all came together in my test run. And who better to put in front of the camera for this first trial but Little Calvin. There's nothing like attempting to keep a 6 year old (7 on Wednesday.. yikes) occupied and holding still while sitting on a stool in front of lights, microphones and T.V. monitors (as he makes funny faces to himself in the monitors as I fix a focusing issue). But eventually I got everything worked out.. and a rather bizarre interview done with my son, as he filled me in on his favorite movies, the challenges of designing a theme park, along with cameos from his two pet gerbils. (Click below to see the results, or, if the video doesn't come up, click here to access it directly)

But, I think it is all coming together. As I have attempted to analyze in past blogs..this is the most crazy, hectic and insane time of year.. and yet I thrive on this.. loving every minute.

The season is beginning.. so for the first time this season, I can now say.. Go Spartans!

Vacation Report: 2007

It is time to sleep! It is time to recover! It is time for a vacation!! Oh wait.. that's right I am just getting back from my vacation. Ok, so I need a vacation... to recover from my vacation!

In case you are wondering about my absence from the blog, well, I have been on our annual family vacation to the Oregon Coast. This is the trip where my folks come out from Colorado and we all rent a beach house somewhere on the Oregon Coast to relax and have fun in. This year, after several years in the Pacific City area, we did something different and headed to the south coast, a place where none of us have been (and that includes me, an Oregon Coast lover who has lived here for 13 years... pathetic).

So this year, Bandon was our home base, with a great, two-story ocean front beach house overlooking the rocky beaches of the area. Highlights from this years vacation included:

A speed boat trip up the Rogue River. Beginning in Gold Beach Oregon we boarded Jerry's River Jets and headed east up the river. For those of you who have never had the opportunity to take one of these trips.. I highly recommend them! The speed boats do go quite fast, rocketing their way up river, in some places appearing only inches deep. In some stretches of water, the captain will actually spin the boat in circles, making for a fun (and wet) quick thrill!

The captains also know the rivers very well and provide area history and ample wildlife sightings. In our trip we saw deer, ducks, beavers (notice I say ducks BEFORE beavers...), a bald eagle actually pulling a fish from the water, and even a bear munching on some berries.

As we reach the midpoint of the journey, the boat stops for dinner as we picked from several restaurants. We chose the all you can eat, home cooked buffet. The food was outstanding and at the end of the meal, we all had to almost be rolled back down to the docks in wheel barrows from our over eating, and dessert bar trips.

Finally, as the sun dropped below the coast line in a spectacular sunset, we arrived back at the coast, a little sun burned, wind blown, wet and still full of dinner.

The other major trip of the week was down south to the California Redwoods. This was a first for the family, all of us having wanted to visit, but never taking the opportunity. After spending several hours in the van, we eagerly got out at a sign pointing to a "Big Tree". This made me smile... like they have to point out the big trees in this forest. Yeah.. Ok.

Well, they actually had a point here. This was one BIIIIIIGGGGG tree, my kids looked like tiny smurfs standing in front of the beast.

Also in the Redwoods was the "Lady Bird Johnson" trail, where the park was dedicated years ago. This was close to filming locations for "Return of the Jedi" thus dooming my kids to all my stories and comments and trivia about the little planet of Endor and its Ewok inhabitants.

And speaking of movie locations, we also visited locations from Jurassic Park: The Lost World. Most interesting was the "Fern Canyon", a thin yet deep canyon where both sides of the canyon are totally covered in ferns.

It is a strange, yet pretty site to hike through. (Movie fans will remember watching some poor hiker get chased and eaten by the Packies in the Lost World, filmed in this spot) After a day of hiking, it was time to head North again, back to the beach house.

The rest of the time was spent doing the simple things the family loves: building with sand on the beach, hiking, exploring light houses, roasting marshmallows on a beach fire, and card games lasting way too late in the evening. And after all were in bed, I finally had my few free minutes each night to finish getting through the final Harry Potter book.

And thus concluded yet another family trip. Now it's time to get back to work and all the realities of life. Now.. is it nap time. I have to recover from my vacation!