Off To Disney World!

Tomorrow we're off to Disney World for a week! See you when we get back....with pictures of course.

Ben's Tennis Class

As Ben's basketball class is winding down to a close, he's just starting a tennis class at our tennis center here in town. Last year he took his first tennis class and he really enjoyed it, so we thought we'd try it again. This year so far he seems to be enjoying it just as much. The kids do basic tennis skills and do simple games to enhance the lesson. He really seems to love it, so it might be something to consider pursuing further. When I was a young kid my two sports were soccer and tennis, so he might be the same. We'll see.

"The After Party"

This is a rap video I shot and co-produced when I worked in Fort Collins. A colleague of mine and I teamed up to shoot, edit, and produce this video for a local rap artist named Shawn L. Turner. This was made back in 2000 I think. Shawn L. Turner had the concept in mind, but he needed us to produce the video. After we shot it I think we edited it and re-edited for what seemed like forever. We had this song burned in our brains for weeks when it was all said and done. Anyway after we finished the video Shawn was really pleased with it, and he had plans to then take it down to Denver to show on the air on some of the local rap shows. Then he took the VHS copy we gave him and bolted town. He was billed but he never paid our company so he never got the Beta master copy. So I'm sure he quickly realized a few years later VHS doesn't preserve very well.
Anyway, I lost track of him so I don't know if he ever made it or not. Perhaps he's even under a different stage name these days. Who knows. Anyway, here's the video we made. It's called "The After Party." It's pretty faithful to rap and hip hop I think. If only I could find a young indie rock band to make a video for. That's more my thing.

Cheyenne Animal Shelter

I've been going through my old commercial work from my AT&T Media Services days (late 90's), and I came across these two gems. These two spots were for the Cheyenne Animal Shelter, and I made these back when I was still getting my feet wet in video and television.
They were made to be PSA's and they cost next to nothing, maybe $300 a spot to produce. Really nothing at all. So the first one I produced is the one below. It was very successful, and got a lot of positive feedback in the community (even though it was very depressing). This spot even won me my first Telly Award, so I've always been proud of it. It's simple and straight forward and hits the message straight on. Also, it was this project that opened my eyes to adopting a pet instead of buying one...(thus how we got Glacier.)
Anyway, here's the first spot. And don't worry...the puppy didn't die.

Now after the success of that first ad, the shelter wanted to produce a second one that was...let's say...more uplifting. They loved the first one but they thought it was awfully sad. So I changed it up a bit and produced this funny ad to balance things out. Again, the feedback was very positive and everyone loved it.
(Note to self...it's true what they say about working with animals. DON'T!)

Detroit Auto Show 2010

Yesterday Ben and I drove down to Detroit for a day at the Detroit Auto Show. Auto shows are of course all over the country in every major city, but the Detroit one is the granddaddy of them all. Take it from me...I'm not a car guy at all, but this show is pretty fun to go to. This is the 4th year we've gone, and I was curious if this year's show would be scaled back a bit (thanks to all the government loans over the past year.) The answer is it was scaled back a bit. It was still all "lights and show" but toned down as well. It's funny. My favorite displays are always the foreign car makers. Take Volkswagen for example. You walk up to the VW display and everything is brightly lit with lots of whites and silvers. Think of it like you're walking into an Apple store. You just feel good walking into it. Then when you walk into the Ford or Chevy display it's like walking into Las Vegas. Everything is lit up with disco lights. A totally different vibe.
Anyway, Ben loves running from car to car and crawling inside to push all the buttons. By the end of the afternoon we were pretty tired (and still had a 2 hour drive back home to Midland.) But we had a fun time so it was worth it.

Snowshoe Hike

This past Saturday Ben and I went up to the Nature Center for a snowshoe hike. It was Ben's first try with snowshoes, and he got the hang of it pretty well. He took some tumbles, and it took him a while to get used to them...but he eventually got the hang of it. The weather was actually almost perfect for the hike, (it was in the low 30's with no wind.) The highlight for Ben was seeing all the animal tracks that get left in the snow. We found lots of deer tracks, raccoon tracks, turkey tracks, and all sorts of other tracks. It was fun.

Megan's Gym Class

I mentioned earlier that Ben is taking a basketball class at the community center on Saturday mornings. Well, at the same time Megan has been taking a gymnastics/dance class. This is the second time Jenny has tried out this kind of class with Megan and she seems to be taking to it with a lot more interest. They tumble around, jump on trampolines, and walk on balance beams. She seems to be having fun with it.

Play Date with Abby

Last Thursday Megan's friend Abby came over to play for a play date. This is the second time they've gotten together thus far. They really seem to enjoy each other's company, which is no surprise because they almost the same exact age (2 days apart.) It's nice for Megan to have her own friends who aren't Ben's friends and who aren't all boys.

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Last week I took Ben to go see "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel." He of course absolutely loved it...and I of course couldn't stop looking at my watch. Ha!

Anyway...after the movie was over I told him all about the Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon Jenny and I used to watch when we were kids in the 80's. He seemed interested in it so I ordered a DVD of old episodes from Netflix. Since then he's watched it a couple of times and he loves it. It's so funny sometimes watching shows you used to watch as a kid with your children. Brings back a lot of memories.

An afternoon at the Sled Hill

Today Ben and I went to the big sled hill on the outskirts of town. It was actually a decent day for sledding, with sunny skies and temps only in the high 20's. We had a good time. The place was actually packed with people, which makes it kind of difficult at times to avoid crashing into people. We both took a couple of spills, but overall we had fun.

Basketball Jones

We've recently enrolled Ben in a basketball class at the community center. Saturday was his first class, and he was basically a stranger in a strange land (Ha!) but he seemed to enjoy himself. He even made a couple of baskets which he was excited about. He knows basketball is my favorite sport to play, so I think he was giving it a good try. We just want Ben to try a lot of different things and activities. Then maybe someday he'll come across one that really grabs him and he'll want to pursue it more. In a few weeks we'll be signing him up for a tennis class as well. Just trying to keep him active and engaged in these winter months.

Wow! That Was Depressing...

We of course watched the Longhorns last night in the BCS Championship game. Man...that was sad to watch. For those of you who don't follow football Texas quarterback Colt McCoy had to leave the game after only 5 plays, and the backup freshman quarterback struggled all night trying to save the Longhorns hopes at a national title (unsuccessfully of course.)

When I watch the Cowboys and they lose big games I get mad for a bit and then quickly get over it. But when I watch the Longhorns lose big games I have a lot more sympathy in my heart. None of them are paid like NFL players, and they're just there to go to school and play football (most of them at least). Both the media and we fans get so wrapped up sometimes in championships, bragging rights, and whose ranked where in the polls that we all forget these players are still kids.

So I'm just saying I'm still proud of that team last night. They lost the game, but they kept playing until the end and kept pressing on despite Colt's injury. In any sport you watch all the games all season long hoping your favorite team gets a chance to go to its championship. When they do make it and unfortunately lose...well, it's still pretty special.

Megan's New Pre-School

Hey everyone! Announcement time. Megan is now in pre-school! Can you believe it? No...I can't either.

This past Monday was Megan's first day of pre-school. She'll be going three days a week from 9 to 12...Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Her school is called Michelle's Montessori School, and it's actually housed in a local church in our neighborhood. So everyday I drop off Ben at school at 8:35, and then I take Megan to her school by 9. So the schedules work perfectly.

We're looking at this school simply as a "starter school" to help get Megan used to the concept of school...and more importantly for simple socialization. We did this with Ben when he was around this age and it worked out great. What's interesting though is unlike Ben at this age, Megan seems very comfortable with the idea of me leaving her for a few hours as she goes to school. It's been 3 days now and not once has she cried when I left her. However, she did cry the first day when Jenny picked her up...because SHE DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE the school. That was an interesting twist. She likes going up to Ben's school, so I think it's simply a case of her wanting to be like big brother.

Anyway, we've been very happy with the Montessori approach over the years (Ben was in a Montessori school for 3 years) and so this seems like a good fit for Megan right now. We'll probably stick to this schedule for the few months, and then in the fall we might enroll her in the same Montessori school Ben went to. But for now it seems like Megan is really enjoying herself.

Sledding Fun

Sure it's cold here these days. The average high every day is somewhere in the 20's. But for the most part this has been a very "easy" winter so far (knock on wood.) We've really only had a couple of inches of total snowfall so far and only one real major snow storm. That's nothing like last year where we were hammered from November to February. An added plus for us was the entire month of November, which was extremely mild and snow free. So anyway, with what little snow we do have on the ground the kids have been getting out in the snow and doing some sledding when the temperatures aren't that bad. We've been going to a nearby sled hill, which is a perfect size for Megan...and Ben can trek up and down it with no help. There's a bigger sled hill on the outskirts of town, but it can get a little crazy at times with everyone flying down the hill...so for now we're sticking with this smaller one. Hopefully our mild winter will continue. We'll see I guess. I'm still knocking on that wooden desk.