62 - Run Time

Here is a qick snap from my phone. Jennie, Daisy and I celebrated the warm weather by going for a run.

Weekend Re-Cap

It was a busy weekend once again for the Holladays. Friday night, Jennie and I met up with two of our friends from work, Marina and Katie, and their husbands for some conversation and delicious Lucky's food. It's always nice to spend time with co-workers outside of the building. Expecially so I can catch up with their husbands, who I only usually see about once a year.

Saturday, Jennie, Karyn and I continued to perfect our skiing abilities. The 7:11 Running Club has, at least temporarily, been re-named the 7:11 Ski Club. I'm still probably the worst of everyone, but I'm practicing. I fall a lot, but I'd like to think that it's because I'm being daring and trying to get better. The funny thing is that it never hurts...until about 2 days later. I think I might have fractured a rib last time...kidding...I'm just a wuss. After ski club, we went to Great Lakes Crossing for a delicious food court lunch. After I left for WDIV, J and K keep playing at GLC for a while. I hope you girls had fun!

Sunday, J and I attended our first seminar at the Detroit Film Center. "Film A-Z" was an 8 hour workshop that went over the logistics of creating a film in Michigan. There was a wide variety of people in attendance. Some want to perfect their video skills while others were interesting in funding opportunities and budgeting. I've always been into the idea of shooting on film. I've recorded countless hours of videotape, but film has a different look and takes an entirely different set of skills. It's very mechanical and scientific and I think that draws me as well. Next Saturday, I start my 12 week "Intro to 16mm film production." Awesome!

Step 1: Get The Tree Into The House!

Jennie and I went to Mutch's Christmas Tree Farm today to pick up our Christmas tree.  All I can say is, thank goodness for double doors.  The tree is about 10 feet tall and 6 feet around.  So far, we've managed to get it in the base with minimal damage to the carpet and ceiling.  Also, we have not killed one another yet, another feat!  :)

I am hoping that tomorrow we will be able to get the lights and other goodies on it.  I'm mostly excited about pulling out my 1940s Lionel Train (complete with whistle, smoke and headlight) to put around the base.  We tried getting decorations done outside over the weekend, but found other distractions (see next post!)

MSU Wins!

Here is a photo I forgot to post . J and I went to the MSU/Penn State game last Saturday in East Lansing. It was a little chilly, but fun, none-the-less. It was nice to be back on campus!

Rekindling a Holiday Tradition

Mom, Jeanne and Joanna attempting to recall the steps to making delicious popcorn balls. I just supervised.

You'd Think We Don't Give Them Water!

Ah, Ziggie.  What a character.

Disaster Averted

I have to say that I am surprised...no...shocked at how well our new iMac is handling Final Cut Studio. When we bought it, the iMac was sort of a band-aid to get us through some projects we needed to finish up. However, I am no longer in a hurry to upgrade.

For starters, it's way faster than my 3-year-old G5. The new Intel chips really make it whiz and whir. In addition to the 24" built in screen, it has an DVI output to which I've attached the G5's 20" monitor. When using Final Cut Pro, it serves as a high-definition preview monitor...or a tool bank. With other applications, it's more real estate for whatever.

Listen, PCs are okay. But, Macs are great! If you are in the market for a new computer, get over the fear of learning something new and splurge for an iMac or MacBook. I'll help you set it up.
:)

Emergency Mac

Well, after 3 and a half over-used years, our Power Mac G5 had its first hiccup. Something is causing it not to boot into the operating system. All of the files are on the hard drive, but I probably need to re-format it to make it work. So, we wound up getting a new iMac for our editing needs. More details coming soon...

Bon Voyage, Measel Family!

Dear Erik, Carrie, Lucas, Annabelle, Grandma and Grandpa:

Have a great time at Walt Disney World!

Back To You

With the departure of Studio 60, I was worried that I wouldn't get my fill of simulated television production this season. There seems to be an influx of such shows in recent television seasons (30 Rock, Studio 60.) How many of these shows can network television handle?

Enter a new candidate to the FOX lineup. Back To You, starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton airs Tuesdays and 9pm. Spending a good chunk of my professional career sitting in newsrooms, I have to say it's pretty well done. Of course, it's not totally accurate. For example, the show uses far too many curse words to be a real newroom, and nobody's office is that nice in a small market TV station. But aside from that, it's nice to see Kelsey Grammer back on the small screen.

So, set your TiVo for "Back To You" on FOX!

one of the joys of summer

Ice cream from The Chilly Cow, an Attica original!

Editing: This DVD is Actually Good!

I've been teaching video production for a while. And, over that time, I've seen a lot of bad 'educational' programs on the business. But, there is one saving grace: "The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing." This DVD was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers and is fairly current, when it comes to the films they talk about.

So, if you are interested in editing, I highly recommend this DVD. It's still kind of 'educational', but that's not all bad.

"Falling" Back Into The Blogging Routine

Welcome to the first day of Fall...my favorite season. College football, apple pie, cider, donuts, crisp air, leaves...what's not to love!

So, as you know, I am not the world's best blogger. I embraced the blogging revolution early on, but with all the stuff I try to tackle everyday, something has gotta give. There are actually two things...blogging and MySpace. Followed by any sort of cleaning.

What's more, I am always looking for significant dates to tie my accomplishments to. I'm not sure why, but I want to remember momentous occasions in my life, like a return to blogging. For example, this past July 7th (07/07/07), I re-dedicated myself to the notion of being greener and living healthier. And, by golly, I've been doing a pretty good job so far with recycling (I'm trying to recycle all paper and plastic in my class, and do most quizzes and tests in a digital format,) buying organic food (have you read the crap they put in some foods???) and exercising (lost 20 pounds to date.)

So, since today is the first day of Fall, which happens to be my favorite season, I'm re-dedicating myself to blogging. I know you are all relieved!

:)

First Tank of E85

Dear ABBA: We'll Have to Catch Up Next Summer...

I've learned something over the past couple of days. It's always good to have a "Plan B," but it's even better to have a "Plan C" and "Plan D" ready...just in case. The following is the story of Jennie and my Scandinavian adventure, French style!

First, let me take you back a few days to Saturday morning. After an early 4am wake-up call, we left the John Knox Center and headed to the Geneva Airport. As you no doubt already know, Jennie and I were planning on leaving Geneva and bound for Stockholm, Sweden--via Paris. We would then head west to Oslo, Norway before coming back home this Thursday.

Well, when it rains, it pours, and the sprinkles started early Saturday. We got to the Geneva airport easy enough, but once we cleared customs and got to the gate, we saw that our flight was delayed about one half-hour. Now, we could have managed with a half-hour delay, but not 8 of them! That's right. The delay process continued until we were eventually 4 hours late for our EasyJet flight to Paris. Because we were flying multiple carriers, this was not good news.

Once we got into Paris, it was becoming obvious that our plans were beginning to crumble. We were supposed to fly into Paris (Orly airport) and from there take a bus to another airport to catch the Scandinavian Airlines flight to Stockholm. That was an awful lot of ground for us to cover and we decided that--with the delay--we would either just make it, or try like hell to make it and wind up missing the flight...and busting our tails to do so.

After Skyping everyone and their uncle, trying to figure out a "Plan-B" to Sweden, we finally decided that a couple of days in Paris with an early return to the USA would be fine with us. Otherwise, we were looking at a couple of thousand dollars to make it to the home of Ikea, Saab and ABBA.

So, after exhausting all options, we decided on Paris. And, forget the economy hotels, Jennie convinced me that we might as well live large. It was decided that $700 a night might be a little too much, be we found a very nice hotel for much less money. Getting there was our only challenge. I’d say that, between the two of us, we had about 200 pounds of luggage. For some reason (I think it was lack of sleep), we decided public transportation would be the best way into town. WRONG! We had way too much luggage and by the time we reached the Eiffel Tower, we were searching for the nearest taxi.

Le Hotel Pont Royal is a wonderful place. The rooms are decent sized by European standards, but the location and staff were great. We were about a 3 minute walk from the Louvre and Musee D’Orsay.

On Saturday, we took a little nap before heading out for Le Tour Eiffel. It was a nice walk along the Seine River. The lines for the lifts to the top were very long. So, we decided to hoof it up the 670 steps to the mid-section of the Tower. The views were stunning, the weather perfect. A little ice cream in our tummies, and it was time for bed.

After sleeping in until 11am, we got up, had a nice lunch and headed to The Louvre for a few hours. From there, we hiked through the Jardin de Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde, where I promptly purchased a Crepe (from the place I got my first Crepe in 1998!)

It was Sunday, but Jennie and I thought a stroll up the Champs Elysees was in order. Surprisingly, several shops were open. We weren’t used to doing anything on Sunday in Geneva. Just about everything is closed.

At the Arc de Triomphe, we added another 287 stairs to the top for another perspective of Paris.

Jennie and I woke up early this morning and ran from our hotel to Notre Dame and back before taking a taxi to the airport. At present, we're sitting in the Newark International Airport. We board our flight in about an hour. I think both of us are disappointed that our Scandinavian adventure had to be called off, but we had a great time in Paris and coming home early is not so bad either. We both have a lot to do before school starts in a couple of weeks.


I can't wait to catch up on sleep tonight!