The Making of Indy: Part 1

Earlier in the summer, as I reported in this post, Little Calvin and I watched the 4th Indiana Jones film. As the credits finished rolling, he looked at me with a smile on his face and said "Dad.. we HAVE to make our own Indiana Jones movie this summer!!!" I pondered this comment for a second and then replied "Yeah.. I think you are right.. that could be fun." And thus, regardless of what Lucasfilm and Speilberg decide to do with the franchise, we are making our own Indiana Jones 5.

Sure.. it might be difficult to explain why Indiana is suddenly 8 years old, why his nemesis, is 11, and where this fits in the whole story, but.. too bad. We are having fun with this and that's what counts for our little family.. ok.. boys.. project. (The girls just roll their eyes, thinking we've gone mad, and there may be some truth to that).

First things first, we need a script, and a MacGuffin (a word to describe the object that Indy seeks) and in this case we decided to return to the series roots with an object with scriptural origins that could (in a fictional sense) have supernatural powers and whose location is still unknown. I hit the scriptures to see what I could find. and eventually found the sword of Laban. Why? We know that it was used in Jerusalem in 600 B.C... We know that it traveled to this side of the world and ended up in South America. We know it was passed down from generation to generation as a symbol of righteousness. We know Mormon had it when he fought his battle before handing it off to Moroni. Now it gets fuzzy. Some reports claim that the sword stayed in the Hill Cumorah, as in the cave where Mormon kept all the records. Some say that Moroni carried it with him ultimately burying it with the plates in up-state New York (in a place ALSO called the Hill Cumorah). But reports differ... Meaning we have plenty of room to fictionally speculate where it could be located at the present time,, and what could happen if some evil, greedy individual were to happen to find it and attempt to remove it from it's current location.

So let's put this into "Indy Speak". Que the "Announcer Voice"

"History tells of a sword.. once used to behead a king.. then passed on to leaders throughout South American History as a symbol of goodness. Legend says the sword is buried deep in a hidden hill, surrounded by gold, claiming that only those who are deemed worthy may possess it, and harness its power"

Sounds pretty Indiana Jonesish if you ask me.. And so "Indiana Jones and the Sword of Cumorah" was born as you can see with the following "teaser posters" to announce the project:

Now to be fair, Little Calvin is very excited about our progress and asked me if I could give him the scoop on this one and our experiences as the cameras started to roll. So, for the full story (and far less wordy than me) and to see photos of our progress, you can visit his blog at http://www.tannersawesomeblog.blogspot.com

The Olympic Trials Surprise!

I have been blogging long lately.. so I'll keep today's update short. The fourth of July this year was one to remember! After a fun walk in the 2008 Butte to Butte (I started and finished the RIGHT race this year) the family headed over to watch the Olympic Trials for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun having such a high profile event in the area, especially as a big Olympics fan. While tickets were just too expensive for us to afford ($800/pass) we decided to just enjoy the atmosphere of the big festival that was set-up around the track. With giant TV screens set up, we could still watch the main events of the day and see who we could meet. Dawn was working at the festival as a CERT Captain and so the plan was for me and Little Calvin to hang out and the festival while she worked, then we'd all find a fireworks show somewhere in town, if not at the trials.

But that's not what happened... Instead, as Little Calvin and I wandered the festival, we went up to a booth to see what they might be giving away (you could get something at almost every booth). When I got to the front, the guy running the booth asked if we were here for the festival only or if we were going to the trials. I said "Yeah.. I wish we were going on, but we're enjoying the atmosphere." He said "I'll tell you what.. you answer a question and I'll give you two free tickets for the day." Needless to say, I was ecstatic, and Dawn just looked at me with her "you've got to be kidding me.. no fair!" look. My "big question" was just a throwaway thing, "Name the host city for the 2008 Olympics".. Ohhh.. toughie. But the guy admitted he had been trying to find someone he felt would appreciate and enjoy the tickets and I guess Little Calvin and I had just the right look.

The trials were great! Many awesome races! Little Cal loved watching the Javelin (the big sticks) and we even got to meet some athletes when Sanya Richards, American record holder in the 400 meters, signed our tickets and took a picture with Little Cal. And our seats.. 10 rows up, about half-way down the straightaway near the finish line. Just perfect.

Luckily, once Dawn's shift was done, she was able to cash in some favors and get into Hayward Field. She wasn't sitting by us, but was at least able to see the event. And when it was all over, we stayed and watch a fantastic fireworks show right there over the track. Just the perfect way to spend a fourth of July.. right before we got yelled at by security for taking our pictures on the track.. oops. Oh well. Great Day!

--------------

The next day, we headed back to the festival to finish exploring. The highlight was watching Little Calvin at the tree climbing booth, learning how to do some rope climbing. He quickly got the hang of it and just had a ball. Since the pictures are both cute and make me proud as a parent to see my kids conquering challenges, I'm posting a few:

Finally from Florida: Kennedy Space

Saturday: Having waved goodbye to my sister and her family, who left to begin the long drive back to Texas, the now smaller family headed east to Kennedy Space Center. We had gone as a family on each of our earlier family trips to Florida and it was nice to see that, while there were some changes, the space center remained very similar to how we remembered it way back when.

A few highlights:
In addition to our regular admission, we took the "NASA Up Close Tour". This two-hour bus tour allowed us to see many of the NASA administration buildings (exciting.. I know) as well as both shuttle launch pads, the shuttle landing area, and the Vehicle Assembly building (insanely giant building).

At the conclusion of the tour, the busses dropped us off at the Saturn Rocket center, a new exhibit featuring a large scale film, a recreation of the control room from the Saturn V launch along with a whole recreation of the launch morning. Finally, we got to see the actual Saturn V rocket itself which is GIANT. Very cool to see!

Once back at the Space Center complex, we rode their shuttle launch simulator. On this ride there are no funky g-forces like EPCOT's Mission Space, but there is a whole lot of shakin' going on. The coolest part was just after lift off. According to the story of the ride, us "trainees" are sitting in a module in the shuttle's cargo bay. Once up "in space", they open up the bay doors so we can see the earth below. In reality, the doors open up to a giant domed IMAX screen playing a film of the rotating earth, a rather cool effect.

After looking through the exhibits, and taking in a 3-D IMAX film, we began sorting through the gift shop for souvenirs. It was right then that a major Florida afternoon thunder storm came barreling through the area. Bringing booming thunder and lightning striking just across the street, security recommended we stay inside to ride out the storm. Plus, we only had a few ponchos and with the rain POURING, we knew we'd be soaked on a long walk to the car. So.... we stayed put. And this storm was not a quickie. I think I studied every item in that gift shop, multiple times. Eventually the rain slowed a bit and my Dad and I decided to make a run for it to get the car. But even so, we were soaked within seconds. Good thing the the day was over.

Sunday was our quiet day. We took my folks to the train station (they have to take trains everywhere..) did some final souvenir shopping at Downtown Disney and spent some family time in the pool back at the house, before packing up to fly back to Oregon on Monday. As much as it pained me to come home.. it was time to leave Florida and return to the real world.

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!