Year End Wrap-Up (yes, I know)

Christmas was great! Okay, so it has taken me a while, I'm slow, let's move on. Got to see all the family and a few of the friends, exchanged some gifts and ate waaaaayyy too much food. Seriously.

One of the most unique gifts I received was from a coworker and friend, Hal. He managed to get a copy of Vince Dooley's autobiography signed to me from Vince himself! Way cool, it read something along the lines of "Christian, Merry Christmas and GO DAWGS!" with his name signed under it on the inside front page. The guy's not really a big fan of UGA or Vince Dooley (big Bear Bryant guy) so it was doubly nice for him to have gotten that for me.

Got a new Wacom Intuos3 pen tablet also, this one from Sandy Claws. It's basically a tablet with a 6x8 sensor area where you can use a pen/stylus to draw, paint sketch or just use the pen instead of a mouse. Comes with a mouse, too, in case you want to use it. It's a crazy device, no batteries at all, and the pen and mouse are wireless (so I have no idea how that really works). Flip the pen over to write and it acts like an eraser. It's pressure and tilt sensitive, so the things works like a real pen, but on your computer. I've already used it to sketch out some graphics in Illustrator, paint stuff into After Effects and draw out some motion paths as well for short title animations. Screw the mouse, this thing is a lot more comfortable and accurate.

But it's not about the gifts, it's the thought that counts, and over Christmas time I thought a lot about all the great people in my life, my parents and grandparents, all the brothers and sisters I grew up with and stay close with, my wonderful wife, my dog, my job, my house - all the things that I may think about once in a while, but I find myself failing to fully appreciate. I won't lie, I know I take a lot of these things for granted, as if they'll always be there. I'd like to think I can go forward after that sort of contemplation and be more thankful in the future, but life stays so busy that it can be hard to stop and realize who and what has come together to make you who you are.

It was a great year for TradeWind Productions last year. I did an enormous amount of work and added a few new clients along the way. Weddings, beauty pageants, twirling recitals, photo slide shows, VHS and 8mm conversions, consulting....just a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, even though I was able to accomplish a lot and refine some of my skills, I didn't learn nearly enough new stuff. I try to do a little new training for software and practice some shooting concepts every couple of weeks, but last year that became very difficult around May. On top of that, my day job became more complex as I temporarily took on the producer/director position in addition to editing. We brought in dozens of people before we finally found a full-time replacement in November. I could have kept the job and dropped the editing, but honestly...I didn't want the job. I like editing, and I'm much better at post-production anyway. It was just a better idea to hold the job for the best person.

So now I'm working on some other projects and getting ready for the biggest wedding I've booked so far. It will be in February here in Atlanta. They have booked me for just about every service I offer for wedding videography, so I'm very thankful for that. I think they will be very satisfied with the results. I'm going to finish the couple's photo-video slide show a couple of weeks before the wedding and then just do some other work and training (and relaxing) leading up to the big day.

Too many words, not enough substance...I'll work on that for the next post.

How the Clear Channel Grinch Stole My Christmas Music

Unbelievably stupid. Why would a radio station known city-wide for their non-stop Christmas music late November and throughout December every year be switched to a different non-Christmas music format exactly 1 week before Christmas Day?

Lite 94.9 FM, a station with the same format for the last 15+ years, suddenly made the swap to COUNTRY???? music this past Sunday. Seriously, I listen to this station only one time during the year - Christmas - and I'm sure I'm not alone in that regard. The music the rest of the year is an unbearable mix of Michael Bolton, Rod Stewart and similar. Only at Christmas do they manage to attract such a sizable listening audience.

Nat King Cole. Carpenters. Even the ridiculous sounds of Mannheim Steamroller are acceptable listening during Christmas time. This station had it right. Now, they are called "The Bull" or something like that. Ha - lame!

Soooooo...anyway, the million dollar question is this: why not wait til the day after Christmas to switch formats? Maybe they figured if they were going to convert an audience they needed to do it when they knew people were listening, maybe they just didn't care. Still, when your money comes from advertisers as it does in radio, you need an audience. Is a country station going to draw more of an audience than easy listening - or Christmas music during CHRISTMAS? Pop quiz...you're in a doctor's/dentist's office either waiting for your appointment or getting worked on. Do you hear easy listening on the speakers or do you hear country music?

Anyway, that's my rant. There are two other stations in Atlanta that play Christmas music this time of year...104.7 The Fish and B98.5. The Fish plays too much new stuff (well, really just the same old songs poorly "remixed" by otherwise good Christian rock bands) and B98.5 doesn't play nearly enough of the old-old-old stuff (Bing, Nat, etc). I've got a sizeable MP3 collection of songs, that'll have to pull me through.

Thanks Clear Channel! First 96 Rock and the Regular Guys, now Christmas. Bah-humbug.

Outside of that, looks to be a fun Christmas this year. Family in town, wassail, cookies and new socks. Shazzaam!

Fall Fun

Fall isn't exactly my favorite season. Summer is, and I'll take the blazing heat of a Georgia summer over the other seasons combined. With that said, the fall season may be a solid runner up. First of all, there's the football season. I'm mostly a college football guy, but the NFL can be enjoyable. Primarily, it's the fun of actually going over to Athens to see my Dawgs play on Saturdays, or travelling down to Jacksonville, FL for the GA/FL game. At the very least, it's fun to get together with some folks and watch the away games on TV.

There's also a lot of other activity. For all the various festivals and events that go on during the fall months, I can't seem to find too many weekends just staying at home. But it's great...going out and seeing all the people and the colors changing all over the place. Of course, this year fall is turning out to be quite busy for TradeWind business, but the personal/business balance is working out alright.

Past weekends so far have brought a few UGA games, some weekend work, going to the Duluth Fall Festival and seeing family. In particular, my Dad has been off his feet the last month due to complications related to a kidney stone surgery. I haven't been to visit nearly as much as I'd like. He's out of the hospital now for the last week (or two weeks I think) and that's a little more to his liking at least. UGA games haven't been quite as fun without dear ol' Dad though. It was always nice to have that common ground between us, and I'd argue no one in our family understands the emotional rollercoaster that is UGA football nearly as well as my Dad and I do. However, I think he's going to still make the GA/FL trip this year, but probably won't be making it to the game....probably no big deal since WE USUALLY LOSE. But I digress...

Oktoberfest is on tap for this weekend! Woo! Slightly larger group going this year (hahaha...1 more person). And this year, we're getting a cab from our campground into Helen and back. Picking a DD (Andy) last year was no fun for anybody. So, just in time for it to be my turn to DD, we're making sure we get the cabbie. Speaking of Oktoberfest, I probably need to finish packing the gear up...

I reheated some leftover bacon from Sunday in the plastic baggie it was in and had to spend about 10 minutes peeling the "wrapper" off of my bacon this morning. I guess that's why I usually have cereal.

Already got stuff on the list for TradeWind as late as July of next year. Awesome.

Hiring lots of new people at my office lately. When the resumes come in, half the battle is just sorting out those who actually read the job posting and those who clearly did not. Also, there are the ones WITHOUT the requisite resume but with cover letters that begin "I am absolutely the most qualified applicant for the position you are filling. Please respond with some information about the position." I'm dead serious...first, they are CERTAIN that no one else is going to be a better match without 1) knowing any of the other applicants or 2) having a real idea what the position is, while still assuring me that they are the best of whatever we want. I understand being self-promoting and all that, but when I respond to some of these people reminding them that we need a resume, you would think we were asking for their checking account numbers. "No, I'll submit my resume when I have more information about the position." But aren't you already qualified? Isn't the job description really just a description of you, after all? Hahaha, really though, I just say "thank you" and more or less tell them to keep looking and good luck, all that stuff. I can't wait to finish this hiring cycle.

And then there's the new camera. Just picked up the Panasonic DVX100B a few weeks ago. It's a great shot, and it will be nice to no longer need to rent the equipment from everybody. I picked up a nice new fluid head and tripod while I was at it. The best part is that it's all paid for now. Business has been good this year and it was about time I got this stuff anyway. I'll probably be posting something about it soon over at my digital media blog, so check there in a while and read all about it if you like.

That's all for now. I'll probably wait another two months before I post anything again.

Trabajo

Continuing the pseudo-political rantings....

Today I did one of those jobs I don't want to do (or that I'm not willing to do). In fact, it's a job that no American citizens want to do or are willing to do. I spread some pinestraw on my landscaping. In fact, I did it for less than minimum wage. It was hot outside, too (and at only 7:30am).

I made my clothes all dirty, cut my hands (even with gloves on, I guess I'm kinda clumsy), got pinestraw where it ought not be and ruined the time I was planning on surfing the web. Would I do it again? Yep, willingly in fact. Although next time I might pay myself minimum wage.

Looks good though, so I'm obviously now a skilled laborer in such a regard. And it wasn't all that hard really, just time-consuming. So I guess I'm doing my part to fight illegal immigration. Who knew the frontline of battle was in my own backyard?

Maybe next I'll try painting my own house (okay...no).

Had a good weekend, got to see a bunch of old friends and aquaintences at a wedding. The wedding was spectacular really. My friend Loren married her guy Matt down in Your Favorite Town. Her family hired my company to do the wedding videography for the ceremony. It was a lot of fun and I couldn't be happier for Matt and Loren. Woo!

Working on a couple of beauty pagent projects right now, scheduled at the end of August and beginning of September. All being held at the Mall of Georgia, so that's convenient. Trying to get the whole crew together, which may prove difficult. I'm taking producer and editor roles only on this one. We'll see how it goes!

And I'm on Facebook now, which took me long enough. For a while there, I didn't have a *.edu e-mail address, but UGA started offering alumni e-mail accounts, so I'm all set on that now. That will soak up some spare time I bet.

Everyone have a good week!

"Electronic voting machines are a threat to our democracy." - Rep. Cynthia McKinney

I actually laughed...it's 6:30am and I'm laughing at the TV. This lady is such a joke, and she's on the way out.

Threat to our democracy? Hi, I'm the US Constitution...just thought you'd want to know that we aren't a democracy, we're a republic. But then, you probably didn't care. Hey, maybe you didn't know there was a difference! No problem, I get that all the time.

We have bigger threats....federal taxes for one. But wait, you're in favor of that one! And you want to raise taxes on my wife and on me because we're considered "rich" by the tax code. How 'bout them apples!

How about terrorism? Well, that is sort of an old topic, probably nothing new to add to that. So....let's nail it to the voting machines.

There's a Saturday Night Live skit where that dude from Law & Order is doing an insurance commercial and he's trying to get old people freaked out about robot attacks on elderly people - hilarious. Okay, so that's EXACTLY what it sounds like when someone calls electronic voting machines a threat.

The only people who ever talk about the shortcomings of the voting machines are the losers. It's like football...the losing team always talks about all the mistakes the referees made. Call it a heightened sense of awareness, or a true sense of concern. Facts are facts, losers love crying "foul" when it starts to look like things aren't going their way.

If there was any compelling evidence that our nation will fall to pieces because of electronic voting machines I'd love to hear it. Is it possible that the machines are manufactured in Hell and the votes tallied by Satan himself?