Cape Cantaloupe

We took our bikes down to the beach on Saturday. We parked the car at Cape Henlopen (or, as I call it, Cape Cantaloupe) and biked the trail into Rehoboth with a stop at the outlet mall along the way for some shopping and frozen yogurt. To complete our loop and to fulfill the promise of adventure, we found ourselves on a trail on the way back where bikes are prohibited by law, probably for our own good. We ended up pushing them through a bug-ridden marsh and then, further on, trudging up and down over some major sand dunes for much further than we expected. Upon our successful return to the cape we hit the beach where an immense crowd was slowly being condensed due to a rising tide. The waves were the biggest I have ever boogied. It's a rare case when I back down and have to swim under a wave rather than take it head on, but it happened quite a bit on Saturday. I was still pounded and thrashed repeatedly. After that we drove—the car this time—back to Rehoboth and ate some terrific seafood at Café Zeus. It was a fun, active day. Our training for New Zealand has officially begun.

Recent DVDs watched, with ratings:
Gattaca - 4.5/5
Zodiac - 3.5/5
The Last King of Scotland - 3.5/5
Little Children - 3.5/5
The Queen - 3/5
Shaun of the Dead - 3/5
Derailed – 2.5/5
Deja Vu - 2/5

Good old New Zealand

We've been talking about it for a long time, but a few weeks ago we finally put our money where are mouths are. We purchased tickets to New Zealand! For two weeks in February 2008 we will be hiking, biking, and kayaking (okay, and driving) all around the south island. Until then we are going to be in training because that sounds like quite a work out. One thing is for sure: we need to have a working camera before this trip.

Buzzzzzzzz...

...like a bee, a busy one. Last week was nuts. I put in over 70 hours of work at the office. One day I showed up at 8:15am and didn't leave until 1:30am. Then I drove home and worked some more. The next night, it felt early leaving at 10:30pm. Further complicating things, there was a lot going on at home. R was attending a local conference for a few days and they put her up the swanky Hotel DuPont, despite it being only a few miles from our house. I didn't want to pass up the chance to stay in the 5-star, luxury accommodations, so I joined her there for two nights. There were other surprises last week too, like coming home from work to all of the fire alarms in the house going off at the same time for no reason at all. Then there was the unfortunate news about R's grandpa, as well as the (unrelated) bridge collapse in Minneapolis, both of which weighed heavy on our hearts and minds. With a little finangling, we were able to get R home to Minnesota for the funeral on Friday. I'm glad she was able to attend and say good-bye. I remained here, working away. By Saturday evening I was beyond tired of staring at a computer screen and my body was begging for a bike ride. Hitting the trail (or shoulder of the road, as it was) never felt so good. The cold beer afterwards, too, was appreciated more than usual.

Things have settled down this week, although work is volatile enough to change that in an instant.

Bud Light Film Crew #8

The August video is up: http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

The Starboard is a fun place to shoot. The people actually like us there. That's the biggest difference between this video and the last one--during the shooting of the previous video, we'd walk into the bar and everyone would shout "Miller Lite rules" or yell at me to shut my camera light off or put their hand over my lens. Maybe it's all in the timing; we need to get to the bar after everyone loosens up but before they get so sloppy drunk they forget all their manners. Unless we decide we want to explore the darkness of human nature in a future video, we need to get that right. We did at the Starboard, both times we shot there. It also helps that our host Jeff Reed is some kind of local celebrity at this place. He was in his element.

The strength of this video is the vibrant color we gained from shooting in daylight for the first time. The weakness is that it could use some tightening up in the editing. No matter how much time I have to work on these things, they always seem to get rushed out the door at the last minute.

One more thing... I was unable to use any of the 20 minutes of beer pong footage I shot. Apparently Bud Light doesn’t want to be associated with the game. I'm not sure why. Maybe they chose rock, paper, scissors as their drinking game and Coors got beer pong. All I know is I was forced to leave out some dynamic shots that would have added some action to the video. Maybe they'll make it into the director's cut.

Leslie, 1916 - 2007

R's grandpa died on Monday night at his home in Sartell, MN. He lived a long time and led a good life, but it's still hard to say good-bye, especially for those close to him, such as the women pictured above. R and I were lucky enough to visit him over our 4th of July vacation, and R was able to talk to him on the phone just last Sunday.

Grandpa O. was a Navy veteran; he was an excellent speller; he liked to sing in a barber shop quartet; he gave the benediction at our wedding reception. He was much more than that too. We are sorry to see him go but happy to have had him in our lives for as long as we did.

Come dance this silence down through the morning

Wilmington doesn't draw many big name musical acts. If you want to see a concert around here, it's generally accepted that you need to drive into Philly do so. That's all fine and good--you can't beat the selection offered there--but once in a while it's nice to get from home to the venue in 15 minutes, even if it means your options are somewhat limited. Sunday night we attended an outdoor concert that would have been totally awesome 10+ years ago but was still pretty dang good now. It included the likes of Collective Soul, Live, and Counting Crows. Each of these bands is still putting out music today, but it's an understatement to say it gets less play than their music did in the 90s. They pretty much stuck to the hits on Sunday. There were a few cases where I thought to myself Oh yeah, I forgot all about this song. So I enjoyed the show. And at least we didn't feel like the oldest people in the audience this time.

We were able to stand quite close to the stage, and I would have had a great photo for you, but we are having some difficulties with our camera these days. The thing has been turning on and off with a mind of its own, quickly wearing down the batteries. We might be in the market for a new one soon. If anybody has any recommendations for a decent camera, let me know. I'm feeling lost without one.

Minnesota dreamin'

This photo comes courtesy of my mother-in-law. She took it during our recent visit to Minnesota. I think she really captured the essence of the trip : )

We were on the go again last weekend. We drove down to Virginia for a reunion with R's extended family and spent Saturday night in a hotel there. It was a good time.

It turns out I'm not feeling particularly wordy tonight. I might see about going downstairs and falling asleep on the couch.

Minnesota eating tour 2007

Two weeks ago I had my busiest, most stressful week of the year. Last week I had my most laid-back and relaxing one. Together, they balanced out to an average two-week period that I need to get you caught up on. Time is a factor as I write this, so forgive me if it gets a little sloppy.

The cause of my stress was, of course, my job. I was expecting a busy week, but I never saw the extent of the overtime hours and flat out mental exertion coming. At 5:30 on Monday evening, my boss gave me a week's worth of work to do... and he needed it done that night. Well, getting it done that night was impossible, but I did finish by Wednesday evening after working on it for pretty much two days straight, taking breaks only for dinner, commuting, and a few hours of sleep. I was telling myself I would take it easy for the rest of the week, but Thursday and Friday were frantic, full days of work as well.

Needless to say I needed a vacation. It started out strong with a four-course dinner at the grand opening of a Wilmington restaurant called The Exchange. We met some friends from Out & About magazine there and had a great meal of gazpacho, salad, steak (salmon for R), and a French toast dessert. I had a beer with the first course and a glass of wine specially paired with each of the others. What a way to end a tough week. I recommend the place.

We got home late that night, packed for our trip, and slept for three hours before catching a flight out of Philly. We were in Duluth by early afternoon. My parents picked us up and took us to their place on the Range. That night we attended my 10-year high school reunion. I enjoyed seeing my old classmates again, some of whom I hadn't seen in the full 10 years. It was as interesting as expected, but I was more than happy to leave at the end of the night. We went back to my parents' and crashed into bed like a train off the tracks.

The next day we ate a turkey dinner with my grandparents and also stopped by my cousin's house to see his and his wife's new baby. That night and the next day we hung out with my parents and ate some more -- my parents' famous South Americans, dinner at the Wandering Pines, fresh walleye prepared by my talented mom, and various other snacks and desserts. The weather was poor, but we still managed to play some ladder ball, go for a pontoon boat ride, and soak in the hot tub. The relaxing had begun.

On Monday night we headed west for my father-in-law's house, where we woke up on all three mornings to massive breakfasts. There was also a wild rice meatloaf dinner comsumed at Itasca State Park's Douglas Lodge that was quite memorable. It was a good visit. I was able to relive my youth with my cool 11-year-old brother-in-law by taking the Super Mario World by storm. The two of us also took a spin on a carnival ride called The Orbiter on the night of the 4th that had me hanging on tighter than I like to admit. The rides were set up in Bemidji, the town we visited to see some fireworks. Our time with R's pop, bro, and sis also included a mosquito-y hike to a fire tower, an afternoon at the beach, and many fierce games of croquet.

The third leg of our trip was spent at R's mom and step dad's house. By this time in the week, the weather was perfect, and we made use of it on the lake, swimming and sailing. The eating continued as well -- think shrimp, grilled steaks, good beer, and tons of summery finger food. We made a trip down to Sartell to visit R's grandparents (and eat a pizza) and also spent an afternoon back on the lake with R's extended family. Good times and good people.

We spent our last night in Duluth catching up with my older brother and his wife. He was nice enough to wake up at 3:30 on Sunday morning to drive us to the airport. The return trip was pleasantly uneventful. It felt really good to get back here early enough on Sunday to do the laundry, buy groceries, and even take an afternoon nap before beginning another busy week.

Recurring themes of the vacation: food, relaxation, and family (like, but not quite like, the loons above). Thanks to all of our accomodating hosts!

Bud Light Film Crew #7

Sorry I'm a little late with posting this month's video. I've been vacationing in Minnesota for the last week. We'll be back on Sunday. I'll try to report about the trip some time after that.

The lighting in the video looks better this time. However, there are still some problems with the overall flow... I also had to stretch my cover shots rather thin... and I was a bit rushed when I made the graphics... but I'm not going to write about those things because R wants me to remain positive on here. Let's just say the video is a fine addition to my catalogue. At least this time I can take credit for all of the mistakes since I was able to do the shooting and editing myself. I must say, I continue to get quite a kick out of working on these things.

I need to get back to my vacation. Check out the video here:
http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/