Disneyworld: Part 2

In my previous entry, I wrote about the first half of our Florida Vacation including the Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios. With so much to report on, I had to break this up a bit.. and so here is the second part of our trip report, starting off with Wednesday.

Wednesday... Day 3: Epcot, my personal favorite of the Disneyworld parks. The day began early as my sister and her family had made reservations for an early morning "Princess Breakfast" over in the Norway pavilion. They also invited Amanda to go along, figuring she could use so more "girl time" after having to endure so many "boy attractions" over the last few days. She gladly joined them and had a wonderful time meeting all matter of princesses.

We joined back up with them after taking advantage of the low morning ride lines for Mission: Space (which the boys loved) and a favorite Test Track (Although I sure do miss the old World of Motion at times). But with the heat rising, one we finished exploring the Seas pavillion and Journey into imagination, we felt it was time to head back for a cool pool soak at the house. We finished off the day with Soarin, Spaceship Earth, and starting through World Showcase with Mexico and Norway. Finally, we finished with the family gathered for my favorite of the nighttime shows: Illuminations with its explosions, and fire.

Thursday: Animal Kingdom. This was a first for me since I was a little kid: I actually got to explore a Disney park that was completely new to me. Unlike all the other parks that I seem to know every little corner of, I have never been to Animal Kingdom so it was rather exciting to me to not really know where I was going, to see things I had never seen before. That said here are my initial thoughts ot the park:

It was far different from what I had mentally pictured. It was much greener and thick with foliage. Being the premier attraction: Kilamanjaro Safaris, a ride through the African savannah, I had pictured lots of wide open spaces in the park. Nope. IT's very green and jungle like almost all the way through, making it very easy to hide areas and attractions. And to add to all the jungle ambiance, a storm moved in in the afternoon DUMPING rain all over us. We finally had to break down and buy some ponchos, otherwise we would have been soaked.

Some highlights: Loved the safari tour.. very well done, The new coaster Expedition Everest was lots of fun as well although it was over in what felt like a blink of an eye. Dinosaur was fun but, although it is built with the same ride track and vehicles as Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland.. the latter is a much better ride.

Just as the rain picked up the hardest we all headed inside for a nice family dinner at the Rainforest cafe. That's where we learned an important lesson: when the family is all covered in ponchos (along with all the other people visiting the parks) suddenly everyone looks the same and it is very easy to think that someone else's kid is your own when doing a head count. Just as we were leaving the park, we re-checked only to discover: No Little Calvin. I high-talied it back to the restaurant and found him. Luckily, he has been trained well. He immediately went to the counter, asked for a manager and reported himself as lost, to which the manager stayed with him until I arrived. The manger complimented him on his handling of the situation, doing the right thing and staying calm under pressure. Although the situation was quickly resolved it scared the heck out of both of us. He still claims he is not going back to Animal Kingdom calling it the "Bad Place". Poor kid. At least we were able to end the day on a fun note, going back to EPCOT to finish World Showcase and enjoy Illuminations one more time.

Day 5: Odds and Ends and Star Wars Weekends. Having now explored all 4 theme parks, in our final day was all about the places we wanted to spend more time. And the morning held a certain treat: Star Wars Weekends. This special Star Wars fan gathering is held each weekend in June. Although some don't believe me, I did not purposefully plan this trip so that I could be there for this, it was just a great bonus that I discovered after our reservations were made (seriously!!!) This event included special Star Wars shows in the park, a character parade, special merchandise, meet and greets with actors and characters from the films, etc.. Lots of fun.

Being on site just as the gates opened we were able to watch Storm Troopers take over the park, then (geek alert) hurried to get in line to get Darth Vaders autograph. As it was we had to wait about 30 minutes. During the first 25 minutes our Darth was full of life, taunting the guests, making menacing lurches, just enjoying hamming up the part he was playing. Just before we got up there, suddenly "Darth Vader" had to "take a break to check on some issues with running the galaxy". It was obvious that this guys 30 minutes of blazing hot suit in the Florida heat was over and it was time to bring on the next guy. But this new Vader (although he looked the same) was not nearly as fun. He'd just stand there and not react to anything. Sure, you'd shove a pen in his hand and he'd sign whatever was given to him, but it was overly obvious that we had gone from an actor just having fun to some guy with a bad attitude forced to deal with people. Even without any dialogue it was amazing how much you could tell just from the suit movements. Being disappointed that we got "no fun" Vader for our encounter, I tried to liven him up a bit. I went up to him after our group photo and said "I have always wondered what there were for" and I began to push the buttons on the front plate of his vader suit. Needless to say, cranky Vader didn't appreciate this much and got quite agitated. I taunted him a bit more, just trying to get more reaction out of him to better match the lively Vader. Oh well, must have gotten a bad phone call while running the galaxy. Proof that even Sith Lords get cranky.

Next it was on the the Indiana Jones Stunt Show and the Star Wars parade, which the kids loved. Lots of costumed characters interacting with the fans, just having fun, although I have never had Sand People in my face whooping away. Very cool. Well done.

Afterwards, we were just walking down the street when we happened to bump into a very friendly Jawa, who accommodated us in our photo requests. But then, just behind him, we spotted a Guarmolean Guard, a pig like created that guards Jabba the Hutt. Little Calvin got all excited and run up to try to get a picture. But this character would have no such thing, really playing the "tough guard" role. Little Cal kept getting frustrated,, "I just want a picture!!" But the thing would just march away. Finally Little Calvin had had enough (and quite possible taking a que from my previous Vader playbook) decided to take matters into his own hands by going up and kicking the guard in frustration. Yes.. my son.. kicking the costumed characters. I immediately grabbed him and yanked him away, and the guy was TICKED.. he immediately, quickly marched away waving his hands to get people out of the way. Oops. Needless to say we had a little chat about why you don't kick people, even Star Wars aliens. Lessons learned for both of us.

The second half of the day was spent back where we started: The Magic Kingdom, waiting eternally for The Jungle Cruise (which seemed so anticlimactic after experiencing the real animals the day previous) and many of our other favorite classic attractions. One more story for today's blog: We had just ridden Pirates of the Caribbean and as always, you are let off the ride into a gift shop. Here, we could look at all manner of pirate stuff. We worked our way out of the gift shop and over to a smaller version while we waited for the whole family to catch up. In front of the shop was a whole rack of toy guns and Little Calvin was fascinated by them as he is not allowed to have toy guns in our house (mean parents, I know). So he's running around playing with a little pistol begging for me to buy it for him. Suddenly a little light goes off in his head, he walks into the middle of the gift shop, holds the gun up over his head and yells "NOBODY MOVE! HANDS UP!" Again, I immediately grabbed him, yanking him out of the gift shop. The girl working the counter just rolled her eyes and Little Calvin and I got to have yet another "things you don't do" conversation. That's my boy... committing assault AND holding up a gift shop,,, all in one day.

Soon, (and much to my disliking) the day came to an end, with tours of Mickey and Minnie house, Autopia, the Teacups, Haunted Mansion and finally Space Mountain, our final ride of the Disneyworld vacation. Time to head back to the house not knowing when our family would return to this magic again. But at least we got to leave in style with the boys getting to ride in the front car of the monorail, so that they could learn how to drive it and get their "Junior Monorail Drivers License". The perfect ending to the perfect trip.

Although the trip isn't over yet... Next up: Kennedy Space Center!

Disneyworld: Part 1

It's the happiest place on earth... the place of a million dreams.. and after 18 years of dreaming, 5 years of wondering, 1 year of heavy duty planning (and careful budgeting) my year of a million dreams finally arrived: I finally got my entire family to Disneyworld.

Rewind 18 years. I had just graduated from High School (sheesh, has it been that long?) I was weeks away from starting my 2-year long church mission, and as a graduation present, as kind of a last hurrah of being a kid, my folks gave me (and the rest of our little family) a trip to Disneyworld. And so for a week in August, 1990 we had a ball in the Florida heat, riding rides and making family memories. Sure part of those included rigging a bucket of water on top of my hotel room bathroom, thus drenching the maid as she went in to clean, a little secret that kept my sister and I laughing all day and my folks giving us dirty, questioning looks. But wether the memories were of our childish pranks, or quality time in the parks, or even elevator jumping in Philidelphia (a story for another blog), we had a great time.

Late on the last night of the trip, we were leaving the Magic Kingdom. And for those that have been there, you know that you don't just walk out of the park and jump in your car. You must either take a monorail or boat to get back to the parking lot. To just enjoy the moment and try to make it last forever, we took the boat to enjoy the night air. As my dad and I watched the dark lake float by, our vacation leaving us behind he said something that I took very seriously. He said "I want you to make me a promise. Once you have a family and you decide to bring them here for the first time, promise that you bring us along so we can experience this magic with you again." "No problem, Dad... you'll always be invited." And I had every intention of keeping that promise and filed it away into my memory banks, to make sure it would happen.

Now, fast forward back to last summer. I began to feel old. I suddenly realized that I only had 4 - 5 summers left before my daughter graduated from high school and started her own life. This whole Disneyworld promise I had made way back when hadn't happened yet and unless I made it a major priority, it very well may NOT happen. And that just couldn't be. I had dreamed too long for it to slip by. So right then, I vowed to make this top priority for the next year. During the summer of 2008, I was taking my family to Disneyworld.

I began to plan in secret, saving up from odds and ends, and just before Christmas I made the financial commitment and presented the park tickets to each of my kids and wife on Christmas morning. Meanwhile, my Mom and Dad and my sister and her family began to make plans to join us on our quest. Suddenly, the end of June couldn't have come fast enough. And yet look what happened, I blinked and it arrived.

And so, last weekend, from all over the county, the family began to descend on Orlando. My family flew in from Portland, my folks flew from Denver and my sister, her husband and 4 kids drove from San Antonio Texas. And then, FINALLY, we were all there, driving under the big "Welcome to Disneyworld" sign, all cheering away, despite the insanely hot temperatures and extreme humidity. It's Disneyworld.. Who cares!!!

So here is our Disney trip report, for the vacation I thought may never happen:

Day 1: Monday: Magic Kingdom

This was the tired day. The day to deal with huge crowds while getting used to Florida heat, a new time zone, cousins that hadn't seen each other in 4 years, and 2 previous days of traveling. But even with all those conditions, we had a ball. We explored Fantasyland with Pooh and Dumbo, my favorite Haunted Mansion and much more. We also established the plan of attack for the week. We'd go to the parks from their opening until about 2 in the afternoon, then return to our rental house (about 5 minutes from the parks) for our big meal of the day and to either rest or relax in our pool, then return to the parks until the evening fireworks show was over. This makes it so we don't have to pay for park food and gives the kids a nice mental break mid day, so there are no melt downs later in the day.

When we returned for our evening in the park we managed to get on quite a few rides, but, I was without a wife. Poor Dawn's back never quite recovered from the long plane ride and she could barely move on Monday, thus causing her to have to stay back at the house. Poor girl. No Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Carribbean, Autopia, Stitch, TTA or others for her. She was ticked. Not a good time to have a sore back!!

Day 2: Tuesday was Disney's Hollywood Studios, a park that my sons loved due to more thrill rides (and Little Calvin's first major roller coaster: Rockin' Roller Coaster.. he and I in the front two seats as we rocketed away at 60 miles and hour) Also a first for Little Cal.. Fighting the Dark Lord of the Sith. Yup, he got to participate in what is called the "Jedi Training Academy", a show where kids are selected to train with a Jedi Master. Just as they finish their first lesson, Darth Vader himself shows up and each kid gets to fight him. It's a very well done show and so much fun watching your offspring take on movie villians. Just a great bit of Disney magic!!

Other highlights: "The Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show", what they can do with stunt cars is just amazing, convincing my Dad to do the Hollywood Tower of Terror, riding "Toy Story Midway Mania," the resort's newest ride, and an amazing showing of Fantasmic.. great day.

And so for the sake of my eyes and yours, I will end today's blog with a link to our vacation gallery:

But stay tuned for stories from EPCOT Center, Animal Kingdom, Star Wars Weekends with the "Guarmorean Guard incident" (You'll see photos in the gallery, but come back for the story..), the pirate gun incident.. Star Wars weekends, and even the "stranded.. in a gift shop" tale. All coming soon.. to Calvin's Chimerical Cosmos.

DVD Madness

I know.. my blogging has been a little late lately. But for good reason: I have been busy. And I mean BUSY!! My little media production "hobby" that keeps life interesting during the fall sports season, seems to be taking over more and more of my life. The last two months are a testament to that by producing 6 new DVD productions in the last 2 months. Ug. Here's the break down of projects:

1. C-CERT Training DVD for Lane Community College (C-CERT stands for Campus-Community Emergency Response Team). This was fun as I was able to film all kinds of emergency training drills, from folks with all matter of bloody injuries, to a smoke filled house to fire hose training.

2. Universal Nut Crackers: A local company who produces industrial strength nut cracking machines needed some marketing help by producing a video to send out to potential customers.

3. Territorial Elementary: Grades 3 - 5. This was a project done by my wife. Throughout the school year she shot video at Little Calvin's schools performances, assemblies, parties, etc. and then edited everything down onto a DVD for interested parents. Since she did all the filming and editing, I pretty much just acted as an Executive Producer, meaning she'd occasionally need help with some tricky sequences and I'd help out, I'd offer general advice on pacing, help if she couldn't decided between several shots, author DVDs, do the graphic design for the cases and disks, etc. She did 95% of the work and did a fantastic job, but some evenings really got crazy with both of us (and multiple computers running all over the house) as we worked on different project's deadlines some nights.

4. Territorial Elementary: Grades Kindergarten and Second Grade: Same as above. We intended to release just one DVD, but there ended up being so much content, we had to split it into two disks to handle it all.

5. Territorial Elementary: First Grade: This was the third of the disks filmed and edited by Dawn and was a special look at Little Calvin's class, their activities, all the kids and special events throughout the year. The highlight was a 12 minute montage covering all kinds of activities throughout the year that showed the fun times and all the growth. It's a tear-jerker (according to all the parents from the class). Again, my wife did a great job.

6. My biggie project.. and probably the DVD I am most pleased with so far: The Marist High School Senior Class DVD Tribute. I was approached about potentially producing this video last fall and immediately my head filled with ideas. I asked those who were hiring me for the DVDs that had been produced in years past and when I saw those, I knew I could do better. They were just too cheesy. Too high school silliness. After all the hard work the students go through they needed a video that would salute all that dedication. Something that would both pay tribute, and remind them of the good times. Something that would equally represent all groups, sports and activities, not just the stereotypical "high school things". And so I came up with a mental vision of something that I thought would be appropriate.

It took until early March to negotiate the final deal and I got the thumbs up to begin filming. That left me just over 2 months to film enough to give proper coverage to all the activities and sports. But the big project was what I called the "senior tribute". I found one of the best writers in the class and had her write a "senior statement", a summary of all the class had done and been through, as well as what they learned from this whole high school experience. I then took that statement and broke it into 134 individual parts, one for each senior. (And to give proper credit where credit is due.. this project wouldn't have been nearly the success that it was without the powerhouse script. THANK YOU ABBIE!!!)

Over a period of 3 weeks, I spend my lunch breaks from work on campus filming each senior, one at a time, speaking their parts. This proved to be entertaining as each part ranged from 2 words, to maybe a short sentence. They had no clue what they were talking about, but trusted it would all work out. The trickiest part was tracking down all the seniors that tried to avoid us (one actually attempted to hide in his car), but in the end, we got every last one of the seniors in front of the camera, making it a full class tribute. Luckily I had two fantastic production coordinators to help with all of this (Thanks Molly and Diza!!)

The whole point of this was to have a "main feature" for this DVD that would be handed out to all the graduating seniors. That is what I was hired to do. But my goals were bigger than that. I wanted a video, that when seen by the administration, would suddenly make them say "This is GREAT... We HAVE to show this during the actual graduation ceremony itself!!!" And luckily, that goal was accomplished. Sure it was a little intimidating showing my brain child to a group of 2,500 plus people all at once. But the reaction was great and it made all the editing hours worth while. The next speaker after the video was all choked up as he started and many wiped tears. Making people cry.... good times...

By the time it was all done, the DVD included the tribute segment followed by a montage of their activities from the year, a video showing all the seniors and their baby photos, and fun little segment I put together featuring trivia about the seniors (with them admitting all sorts of past things that no one would have expected them to do), graduation, baccalaureate and grad night highlights.. even some Easter eggs.

All in all, it was a great project that brought back a lot of memories from my own high school experiences. Filming several state championship games, the prom, assemblies, all sorts of stuff, really took me back. And now these seniors have quite the way to remember what a place Marist High School has been. (Not to throw in the sales pitch, but feel free to order one yourself.. just because you don't know anyone is no excuse... Click here to order!)

There is already talk of my doing this again next year and at this point I have no clue what I'll do. Luckily I have 10 months to come up with a creative concept, but right now as I am finally finished with a HUGE project, I need to sleep. I need to exercise as I haven't been running in months. I need to watch my Netflix movies that have been sitting on the TV forever. It's a fun job... it's a very rewarding job, but a very time consuming one.

So, in case you were wondering why I wasn't updating my blog for weeks on end.. you can see I was a bit swamped. But luckily, we leave for Orlando tomorrow and I can put all my insanity behind me for 10 days. That is until the next round of projects begin.

Ten Down

I can't even believe this one: Ten years ago today, my wife and I were married. TEN YEARS!! I swear, it couldn't have been that long. It feels like it could have been maybe three years, but not TEN. And yet, the facts are the facts.. we officially began our lives together on June 13, 1998, making today our 10th anniversary. Wow!

Since it is our anniversary today, and a nice milestone to reach, it is giving me the opportunity to take stock.. to think back over the last 10 years. They say that marriage can be tough. That is true. It hasn't always been fun and games as two very different people with different upbringings and different personalities work to establish a life together in this day and age. But at the same time, it's been a heck of a lot of fun to have my best friend by my side through the good times and the challenges. We have survived alot, yet we can still smile at each other when something funny happens or Little Calvin does something wacky.

One of the things that is so rewarding in a marriage is learning about another person. You don't REALLY learn about them while dating, you learn over the years, and over the experiences. So that said, here is a list of things that I have learned about my wife.. things that I treasure, along with some fun memories that go along with them, for each year of our marriage.

1999 - My wife is a VERY understanding person. Back when we dated, I warned her that for a little while in 1999, I would become one strange person.. when the first new Star Wars film came out. She agreed to marry me anyway, although I question whether or not she knew what she was getting into exactly. She's not a Star Wars fan. When we got married, she had never even seen any of the Star Wars movies (gasp) so it was a little odd to her that her husband would leave home to camp out in a parking lot for 3 days straight just to get movie tickets.

This was back in the day before advanced ticket sales online. If you wanted tickets to the first showing, you had to wait in line. And so, along with hundreds of other crazy Star Wars fanatics, we waited. I don't remember exactly how I got this role, but to make things more interesting, I somehow became the liaison between the fans and the theater management. If the fans waiting for days on end needed something from the theater management, they came to me to make it happen. And likewise, if management needed anything from the fans, they came to me to see that it happened. That also made me the key contact for the press and so I'd spend a chunk of my days doing interviews with various TV and radio stations.

One radio station after speaking with me, asked an odd question "How's your wife dealing with all of this?" Once they heard that I was a newlywed AND that my wife hadn't even seen the original movies, they decided they had a golden opportunity. Rather than playing the interview with me, they recorded an interview with her.. to get the wife's perspective of her crazy husband. (Click here to hear the interview).

To make a long story short (too late!!) I learned that my wife is one incredibly understanding person. She may not have been able to understand why I was doing what I was doing, in standing in line for 3 days, sleeping in a parking lot, or acting as a leader of the Star Wars geeks, but she knew this was important to me and never questioned me and my sanity. And to me, that is really cool.

2000 - My wife is a VERY patient person. Throughout a good chunk of 2000, my wife was pregnant with Little Calvin and lets just say this was not a fun experience for her. They say that morning sickness goes away after the first trimester. It didn't. In fact, she didn't just have morning sickness, she had all-day everyday sickness. To the point that she had to go to the Doctors office several times a week to get IVs to stay hydrated. Any smell would set her into a fit of sickness, meaning that I could never really cook at home, which made things very challenging. Yet through this long ordeal, I don't remember her complaining about being pregnant. She knew that she was creating a miracle, that it was the right thing to do and that it was part of our creating our family together. And so she patiently waited for that due date to arrive, regardless of what her body was trying to do to her. I know there is no way I could have continued to endure that. And yet she did. I was in awe of her that year and I still am when I remember back as to what she went through.

2001 - My wife is a VERY stubborn person. I know.. some may see that as a negative, but it doesn't have to be. In this case, we began the year investigating the possibility of purchasing our first home. But once we began looking, my wife very quickly decided what she wanted... and she was dead set upon getting it. That meant that several times during the process she had us back out of the current deals. They were leading us down a path she didn't like. In her mind, a decision like buying a home is nowhere to have to settle for something that you don't really want. She felt it would be far better to back out the deals, continue to rent until the right deal with the right home came along. Thanks to that attitude, I found it amazing how much she got for us. By the end, she actually negotiated a deal to have our house built, with all the appliances thrown in, on the lot she wanted, in the neighborhood she wanted and at the price she wanted, even though our builder thought she was nuts. Yet when they said that things couldn't be done and we were just asking for for too much, she'd walk away and they'd come running back with a better deal. Her being stubborn saved us a fortune and got us into a great place where we could have what we needed as a family.

2002 - My wife has the ability to think outside the box. This one is simple.. my wife just thinks of things differently than I do and looks for resources in places I'd never think of. One of my favorite evenings of the year was with our daughter as I took her on a date. To a dance. Now, people that know me, know that me and dancing just don't go together. So this was something I would have never sought out. Yet my wife decided to peruse catalogs of activities that the city was putting on (something that would have never crossed my mind), find a city Father/Daughter dance and encourage me to take Amanda. She helped get us ready and encouraged us to have a great time. And that we did. I surprised myself by attending something I would have never found or thought I'd enjoy. Yet she could see that and was willing to look for opportunities in odd places that created forever memories.

2003 - My wife is very fair. In early 2003, I had to do some work down in the Orlando area for a week. I took advantage of the opportunity and, as a Christmas surprise, gave my wife and Little Calvin tickets to go with me for part of the trip when I had a few free days where we could all go to Disneyworld together. It was a fun trip and insanely inexpensive thanks to frequent flyer miles and my company covering part of my expenses. Yet, due to the timing of the trip Amanda and Tyler, who spend most of their time living with their Mom (my ex-wife) were in school and unable to go with us. Dawn felt bad about that, and worked extra hard that spring putting in a lot of extra hours to work so that there would be money to drive the whole family down to California for Memorial Day weekend so that we could all go to an amusement park together (Great America near San Francisco). It was a big sacrifice and a hectic way to spend a holiday weekend, but she felt it was vital that we do something for the whole family, so we could all have those fun times together.

2004 - My wife is very talented and artistic. I recently covered the whole "painting Little Calvin's wall" into the new Ben 10 theme. But it was in 2004 that she first approached me about turning one whole wall of his room into a mural. To be honest, I was doubtful. I didn't know how it would come out. And yet, she pulled it off and exceeded my expectations. I then learned what a talented person I had married, just wanting her son to have the coolest room around.

2005 - My wife is very sneaky. This also could be thought of as a negative. But it's not. This particular year it was her year to plan our annual anniversary trip and to surprise me with a mysterious weekend away. According to the rules we have established over the years, I wouldn't know when in the year we were going, or where. And she pulled off a great weekend as we visited the San Juan islands in Washington, went on a Killer Whale watching boat trip and had a great time. I just love the look on her face when she shows up at my office and says "Time to go!" It's always fun to watch her pull off that ultimate surprise and the effort she goes through to make it special.

2006 - My wife is very creative. This may seem obvious from our past years, but I was reminded of this trait this year. She decided that she wanted to do something really cool and different from my Mom for her birthday. And rather just go shopping and have it over with, she decided to go ultra-time consuming and make her a quilt that featured artwork and handprints from all the grandkids (not just ours but my sisters kids as well). It took a lot of coordination, a lot of sewing, and the calling in of a lot of favors, as she had never tied a quilt before and needed help. But the end result put my Mom into tears and the quilt has become a great source of comfort. See the quilt here >>

2007 - My wife has the sweetest smile. Although I blogged about this ordeal last year, my wife did break her arm back in March of this year while I was on an early morning flight back from the Indiana office. When I arrived in Portland my cell phone rang with the news. Once back in Eugene, I rushed to the ER to see what was going on. The Doctors had just finished reseting her arm through some medieval torture device and she was doped up on some fantastic pain killers. But she still opened her eyes and gave me her little "I'm ok" smile that I just depend on during moments of stress. It taught me that even when going through some terrible ordeal, once I am with her, she will be ok. Who knows, maybe it was the drugs... but to me, she was comforted in seeing me and that just makes a husband feel good. Her smile is priceless to me!

2008 - My wife is very frugal. Yet again, could be considered to be a negative, but this skills helps us out a lot and has saved us a ton! Last summer, my Dad and I decided we'd pursue a different kind of family vacation for 2008 and we began looking into getting the ENTIRE family down to Orlando this coming summer so that we can all go to Disneyworld together. This would be a HUGE undertaking both for scheduling and for finances. Last Christmas we announced to the family our intentions and once Dawn heard our plan, she went straight to work, not in taking a normal approach to the vacation, but taking the "less expensive" route. Thanks to her passion we may be saving thousands when we leave next week thanks to her finding great deals on a rental house for everyone, cheap rental cars and food planning so that we don't have to spend a small fortune on park food. It is this attitude that has allowed us to do a lot of traveling together over the last 10 years, or make some "fun" purchases that we may not have been able to make if I was doing all the planning.

So.. any single guys out there, if you are looking for a smart, understanding, patient, stubborn, artistic, sneaky, fair, talented, frugal, with the sweetest smile and the ability to think outside the box, that girl does exist, but she is taken. So.. you're out of luck! And to my wife.. Happy Anniversary. Thanks for many great memories, for being my best friend, and for putting up with me as a husband. Here's to many, many more!

Visiting the Doctor: Jones that is..

Although this may be common knowledge to most people.. I am really starting to wonder if my brain is in backwards... if I am just a little left of normal (or way left quite possibly.) That's me.. just a freak of nature. I should go and move to the North Pole to live with Rudolph's misfit colony.

Why am I so off base? Let's see.. I collect toys aimed at 4 year olds (Star Wars Galactic Heroes), my favorite breakfast is a piece of cheesecake, I love to wear my socks half on and half off (warming comfort of the sock on my toes, yet bare on the heel.. ahhh), I love eating the film that develops on hot pudding when it sits in the fridge (that one grosses a lot of people out), and I like the new Indiana Jones movie.. Yes.. (gasp!) You heard me correctly, and I will proclaim to the world: I LIKED THE NEW INDIANA JONES MOVIE!!!

At first, I didn't think this was such an oddity. I mean, the movie got descent reviews. Sure there are the critics that just dashed it to pieces, but they did that for each of the 3 previous films, so that can't be an indicator. Little Calvin loved it as well. Yes, he is 7, but still, it was a good time by all at the movies. The audience even applauded at the end of the film, something that just doesn't happen much these days. I came out of the theater happy as a clam, humming the Indiana Jones song, feeling like I had just spent 2 hours with a good friend I hadn't seen in almost 20 years.

I keep very fond memories of the Indiana Jones films: Seeing Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time with my Webelos Scout group. I remember seeing my favorite Indy poster, the Temple of Doom one-sheet with a uber-buff Indy holding a sword and looking all torn to shreds. I couldn't wait to see what would happen to him next.

By the time the Last Crusade came out I was almost through high school, and yet my Dad and I still made it a point to see it together on opening night at Denver's giant "Century 21" theater with a 70mm screen (forget IMAX.. THIS was the way to see a movie with the giant screen and the curtain that would open up to reveal the beginning of the film.. good stuff). We even got our specialty printed tickets for watching it on opening night, something that theaters just never do anymore.. cheapskates..

The Indy movies were just a great source of memories... I even remember playing Indy as a kid. We lived in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at about 8,500 feet. Our backyard wasn't some little fenced number with grass. Nope it was a big expanse on the side of a mountain.. with rocks to climb, even caves. I still remember the look on my Mom's face when I came in late one summer night after playing all day. I was dressed in full Indy garb, and I had even wet my face in just the right areas and powdered it with some nice dirt to give me that perfect Indy light beard. I thought this was pretty cool. My Mom just looked horrified and sent me to the shower. But those back yard adventures in my head.. new relics to find, new swordsman to fight off and new villains to shoot with my stick gun (My mom would let us have toy guns... maybe that's why I am so deranged now).

And so it was with all these memories floating around my head that I walked into the theater with my own son, just slightly younger than I was when I first experienced "The Jones". We came in tired and exhausted.. Little Calvin had been in school all day, then had a Thursday evening soccer game to attend (where he played his best game ever, according to him, from all his pre-Indy excitement). I had purchased my tickets 2 weeks out.. just to make sure our show didn't sell out, thus missing out on our opening day opportunity. I entered the theater a little panicked as, thanks to the soccer game, we could only arrive 30 minutes before show time. I figured on opening day I'd be doomed to have to sit in the front row, or crammed against a side wall. Much to my surprise.. when we walked in (T-minus 25 minutes to show time) we were the only ones in the theater. It did fill up eventually, but it was just surprising to me when compared to other big movies on opening day.

So that all leaves me to the film itself. Like I said, I very much enjoyed the movie. Was it perfect? Of course not.. It did have some typical Indy plot holes and there were a few sequences that I felt were unnecessary.. In other words I think the film would have been perfectly fine without them so I just didn't see their point (my code words for these are "Fridge" and "Tarzan"). But still, most films have those and it was just a good time spent at the theater.

But then I cam into work and began to compare notes with my co-workers. This is where I began to analyze my sanity and movie taste. It seems my co-workers.. every last one of them all stand united: They HATED the film.. they despised it. "George Lucas.. stop destroying my childhood memories.." seemed to be the common thread. Now, I am getting all their little e-mails from others online that seem to also hate it, disagreeing with every concept, picking apart each little plot point. "Why are there jungle cutters if there are already roads.." "Why'd it have to be about aliens..." "why do the good guys and the bad guys have the same goals?" Blah blah blah on and on and on they go...

But it still makes me wonder.. is there something wrong with my brain? If one or two disliked it, that's one thing. But EVERY person in the office, didn't just dislike it.. they can't stop talking about their dislike. So... what does that say about me? Is there something that I am missing? Did I sleep through the suckiness? Is the "recognizing that old Indy stinks" chip missing from my brain? I just don't get it.. and so I'll just accept the fact that I am one weird individual, And I am fine with that.

You know what.. I can't wait to see the film again! And so I'll sit in my empty theater, smiling wide at my whip wielding friend, enjoying myself.. while everyone else sits outside and gripes. Their loss. My gain. Go Indy! Don't wait for another 20 years before coming back for another visit!

Growing Up, Growing Over

It just so happens that my wife is an awesome artist. With busy schedules, jobs, sports, and all the craziness that motherhood brings, she doesn't get a chance to use that artistic skill as much as she might like, but occasionally, she gets the chance to dream big and do something really cool.

One of those cool things is a wall in Little Calvin's room. Being that straight white walls tend to send us loopy.. like being stuck in a cell, we immediately had to start adding some color when it was his baby nursery, and so the wall became turquoise with a slight sponging effect (looked like clouds when it was all said and done). That then led to a full wall sized city mural back in 2004 when Little Calvin was going through his "Transportation phase". Back then he loved any kind of car or train or airplane and was one excited little kid to get his wall painted like a big city.

But fast forward 4 years. He's now almost 8 and he's gotten over the whole transportation thing. Instead of being fascinated by all thing that move on the planet, he has accepted these things as a part of everyday life and moved on.. to space aliens. But what becomes difficult for my wife, who spent a HUGE amount of time painting that city on the wall, is coming to terms with the fact that as he grows up, it must be erased.

So for the past few months, Little Calvin and his mom have been in planning mode, trying to figure out what to put on the wall instead of the city. The answer wasn't hard to find.. it's Little Calvin's constant obsession: Ben 10, the cartoon series about a boy who can turn into a large number of alien super heroes to help fight off the invading evils from other planets.

And so the "Ben 10 Room" began to take shape and the project started to take shape. It included.. replacing all the trains on his shelves with his Star Wars toys, making a new bed spread, new curtains, and finally the new wall. Essentially, everything with a car or train motif had to be replaced.

I think the most painful moment of the project came towards the beginning. WIth all the paint ready to go, the room prepped and ready, I let Little Calvin do the "ceremonies first brushes" to kick off the project. With paint roller in hand, he immediately wiped the truck (painted with a Wiggles logo) out of existence, as a sign of his growing up and moving on.

Many coats of primer and several coats of grey later, the wall looked remarkably different, all signs of city life completely gone. Then it was time for the Ben 10 mural to take shape... A chance for Dawn to have her giant, wall sized palette to work from once again.

Now the room is done.. painting complete, new curtains and bed spread in place and, as yet another sign of the times, his once hidden desk has now been pulled out, so he has a place to work on his homework.

Sure the kids grown 4 inches in just a few months.. he's now interested in sports, school, his piano and fiddle lessons, etc. But sometimes it's hard to watch those remnants of his childhood start to slip away. He is now "too grown up" for those "little kid things". While part of me is really excited to see these changes as it gives us more things to do together that he can handle, part of me will miss all his little trains, his old fascination with "bing bings" (railroad tracks, thanks to the sound the gates make when the trains go by) and the fun growth that early childhood brings.

Combine this with my daughter getting ready to start high school in a few months, and new found obsession with boys.. (I'll save that for another blog) and suddenly I find myself realizing my family is changing.. growing up.. and growing over their old interests. It's very weird to me, and so I have to try to enjoy each day before they go to sleep, to become a little older by tomorrow.

If you'd like to read Little Calvin's take on the whole new room thing, head over to my wife's new blog (she decided to jump into this blogging world last week), where she's going to let Little Calvin do some guest blogging for her. Click here for her blog.

Word of the Week: MacGyver

This past week I added a new word to my lexicon.. a word that I think will become part of my regular vocabulary as it really is quite useful. Now kids.. can you all say the word "MacGyver".. that's right.. once again.. all together.. "MacGyver". Good. Yes.. as in the 80's TV show.

According to Urban Dictionary, the word has 3 meanings:
1. Someone who can jump-start a truck with a cactus.
2. the ability to use a dorito, some duct tape, and a paper clip to create a time machine.

or the definition that I am currently using:

3. a. To use ingenuity to fix or remedy a problem using only the tools available at hand. b. To jury-rig

The word came in quite handy and a hundred times a day as I spent the week down at the NAB Convention in Las Vegas. The NAB Show is one of the biggest conferences in Vegas each year with approximately 110,000 attendees. NAB stands for the National Association of Broadcasters, but in this day and age "broadcasting" doesn't just mean TV. It means any content that can be distributed. And thus the show has become the premier showcase for technology for all kinds of media production... TV, film, internet broadcasts, etc. Almost any company having anything to do with media production has a booth at the NAB show as it fills every last inch of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and even part of the Hilton Hotel. It takes literally days to walk the show.

And so Dean, our video producer, and I spent a nice 3 days on our feet, looking around and learning how to better our productions. For my main job I was scouting out better ways of distributing video content online for projects I am working on. For my own video production business I was researching out a new camera and DVD duplication gear for upcoming projects. (Fell in love with the Canon XH-Al, by the way... perfect camera for my needs, it's never leaving my side and is so fun to shoot with..)

What became fun was trying to figure out what we could "MacGyver". Obviously, video gear is insanely expensive stuff. So Dean and I would walk around the show, and when we'd find something that caught our attention, we'd carefully research it out, then go into brainstorming mode as to how we could MacGyver it. This could lead to some really strange conversations.

"I'll be we could MacGyver that with a garden hose, some duct tape and rollerblade wheels! It would be better than paying 3 grand!"

"Man, get some PVC, a steering wheel from the junk yard and a couple of q-tips, and we could totally MacGyver that..."

From the viewpoint of the uninitiated, we must have sounded like a pair of Richard Dean Anderson fanboys, constantly going off on our MacGyvering.

But in the grand scheme of things, I ended up with a new camera, and our department ended up with a new Tele-Prompter, Jib and lighting gear.. things that can't really be MacGyvered. That all costs money.. but the amount of money we potentially saved ourselves by carefully figuring out how to MacGyver all sorts of expensive gear.. that will save us thousands and go along ways to helping us to keep our creative edge.

So the question to ask: Do I buy new? Or do I MacGyver it? Fun things to think about.

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SIDE NOTE #1: After spending days walking the conference, we put our new skills and knowledge to the test as we spent a day filming one of our company owned properties in the Vegas area, getting some necessary footage for some future projects.

While running around the golf courses, tennis courts and through this crazy lush oasis in the middle of the Nevada desert, I just had to shake my head and count my blessings that even with the economy taking its hits, I still am blessed with the opportunity to work in a luxury industry. I never know how long it will last, so I just have to do the best I can and savor each of these fun opportunities.

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SIDE NOTE #2: One of the most bizarre things I saw in Vegas (and there are ALOT of bizarre things to see in this city!!) was this:

Yup... While I certainly am a proponent of our second amendment rights.. this just seemed a little too blatant in this day and age. I busted up laughing on the street corner before diving into my pocket for my camera. Of course, maybe that's what the company wants us to do... Genius advertising. Oh, and according to the ad in my hotel room magazine, the company also RENTS the guns on an hourly basis. I can go get myself an AK47 with ammo for an hour.. Lovely... That's just what we need!