I'm dreaming of a gray Christmas

They’ll find us here here, here in the guest room
where we throw money at each other and cry, oh my

-from "Guest Room" by The National

I almost forgot how often the sky is gray in Minnesota. Over the course of ten days, we probably saw the sun for a total of ten minutes. Not that I mind; sunny days are overrated anyway. It would take a lot more than some gloom to ruin our bi-annual binge of food and family. The backdrop of frosted trees on gray sky was actually welcoming; it looked like home.

I had a hard time saying good-bye this time, knowing that everybody will be six months older the next time we see them and at that time we'll only see each set of family for two or so days until our next visit six months later. And then we'll repeat. The whole time we are there we are saying good-bye. I'm afraid of missing out on things and losing touch and realizing there's nothing to talk about anymore. Moving around the country is such a great experience that is giving me tons of perspective, but I don't want it to last the rest of my life. At a certain point we may have to quit waiting for a logical reason to bring us home.

Thanks to our families for the hospitality and the great gifts. We received some camping gear, a sauteuse pan, gift certificates, continued XM radio service, and the list goes on. One of the things R got me is Twin Peaks on DVD (yay!). I'm going to consume it like a large gourmet cookie: slowly, deliberately, and with immense pleasure.

2008... that's starting to sound like the future. Have a good year, everybody.

2007 holiday letter

Here's a copy the Christmas letter we sent out this year. If you didn't get one, it's either on its way, it got lost in the mail, or we just don't know you well enough. Anyway, this makes for an easy blog entry. Happy holidays, my dear readers. -Jeff

We had a good year, one that was notably less hectic because it didn't involve picking up and moving to a new state for once. Yes, we were able to settle in and enjoy life in Wilmington, and, as usual, we had the opportunities to take a few trips as well. This year we visited Philly, New York City, D.C., Boston, Miami Beach, Chesapeake Bay, Acadia National Park in Maine, Honduras (Raia only), and, of course, sweet home Minnesota. Our position here on the east coast has been the perfect jumping off point for exploring this part of the country, and we're getting some great photos out of the deal!

Jeff has been busy working for [a small software company we don't name in the blog] and has been excited to witness the the company taking off – it has doubled in size since he started and has been signing some big-named clients. He also started his own mini-business, Moon Lake Multimedia, this year. Since he knows very little about how to actually run a business, he's been focusing on the work for now, specifically by shooting and editing short videos for a local magazine's website. The monthly gig has provided Jeff with some valuable practice in the art of videography and the chance to purchase some increasingly professional equipment.

R continues to work at the DuPont central research facility in an ethylene co-polymer semi-works facility. She likes the small team and varied challenges the job presents each day. In early 2008 she will be moving on to a new, undetermined assignment, so change is in the air! In her spare time she has been taking graduate courses at the University of Delaware towards a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, starting with a challenging math course and now a fluid mechanics course. She also practices yoga and coaches an all-girl Lego robotics team on Saturdays.

This year we enjoyed visits from Jeff's parents and our good friend L. If any of you would like to drop in and take a whirlwind tour of the surrounding area our door is always open, despite a chilly draft in the winter :-)

That's it from us. We hope this note finds you well. Have a holly, jolly Christmas!

A new era begins, as soon as I have some free time

Check out the beautiful piece of electronics above. I don't entirely know how to use the thing yet, but I think it's going to produce some fantastic results. If I can be standing behind it when that happens, all the better.

There are way too many things happening this month. December and May are the two months out of the year that never seem to slow down. They are a constant rush of one thing after another. Right now our highest priorities include finishing up our shopping and getting the holiday letter out the door. There have also been a few surprises recently thrown into the mix, like having to sit in an auto shop for four hours on Saturday only to discover I have to drop the car off during the week for an appointment anyway. Maybe I should have bought a new car instead of the new camera. No way -- I love my car (even though I think R secretly wants to trade it in) and I absolutely love the camera! I want to shout it from mountain tops.

We did have time to go out for a nice dinner at 821 Market on Saturday. I've also been slipping in a few minutes of "wasting" time on my computer here and there too; I'm going to be slowly and carefully posting some more clips from the self-proclaimed infamous "Cottage Cheese" video in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for those. Oh yeah, we also watched a couple of movies over the weekend: Superbad, which was super-better-than-I-would-have-guessed, and an interesting, smaller film called Sleuth, which was playing at Theater N. While we're on the topic of entertainment, R and I will be attending a play on Thursday called The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged). It sounds like a fun show.

Work has been hectic again too. I still have a remaining, unscheduled vacation day for this year, but I'm not even sure if I'll be able to use it because there are so many things to do before my scheduled vacation begins. There will be some fun events coming up before the holiday too, like a company happy hour and a team dinner in Philly, so I guess work isn't all bad.

My purchasing of this camera is truly a turning point for me. I've got some big ideas and lofty ambitions. Most likely my projects will be stretched out over so much time that my passion for them fades a bit before they are complete, but I'm excited to be able to continue contributing my part to the vast digital wasteland that is the Internet, now, possibly, with an improved aesthetic. I've said it before: I want to make something memorable, even if it's only memorable for me. This new camera reignites my passion.

Honduras holiday special

We have a special guest writer on Jeblog today. My wife, R, is taking the reins to record the details about her recent trip to Honduras. Enjoy the read! -Jeff

Early Thanksgiving morning Jeff dropped me off at the Philly airport to begin my long day of travel to Honduras. I arrived in San Pedro Sula that afternoon, cleared customs with no problems and waited for luggage that seemed to be last off the plane. C met me at the airport and together we took Tela Express bus to Tela on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. We arrived after dark following a slow, long ride in the rain on an old, crowded bus. A good conversation with C made the time fly by. We checked into hotel Maya Vista at the top of a hill in Tela. We enjoyed a shrimp dinner at the hotel restaurant with nice ambiance, candles, friendly staff. We hit the hay early in the Azul room of the hotel, excited to see the rest of the town in the morning.

Bright and early we walked to the top of the hotel to check out the view and get the lay of the land. A beautiful view of the ocean and surronding area awaited. The hotel is on top of a hill and is a very tall hotel with many layers, balconies and hammocks to view the ocean from. We walked into Tela and bought some rambutans (or lychees) to eat on the street near the town square. Tela is a busy city with lots of people, cars, trucks and buses about. After some shopping at a small department store we found a tour company that offered guided tours of the national parks and forests the next day. We signed up for a kayak tour of Punto Izopo National park. In the afternoon we took a cab out of the city to the nearby lush and rainforest-y Lancetilla Botanical Gardens (complete with rain and mosquitos). It was a nice walk in the fresh air with lots of beautiful plants. We ate pizza for dinner and went on a long walk across the bridge to see Tela Neuva and then had an early night in.

Early the next morning we met out tour guide, Melvin, and our four travel companions; a couple from Idaho, a Brit and an Aussi. We all piled into a small pick-up truck and travelled down a long, muddy dirt road through a Garifuna village and to the park. Being the rainy season, the road stopped at a river where we were ferried two at a time across by a woman in a dugout canoe. We hiked for 20 minutes down the rest of the road to the river (Rio Platano) and carried the kayaks for the last 100 meters. During the 1-2 hour tour we saw howler monkeys, birds (the Bujaja) and some alligators. Then we had lunch of shrimp, beans, rice and salad at the Guarifuna village on the beach under palm frond huts. We lounged on the beach and waded in the surf until it was time to head back into town on the long, winding mud road. Back at the hotel we showered, changed and headed out to dinner at El Presidente restaurant with a fellow teacher A, her mother and brother who were also staying at the Maya Vista. A good meal with some good people.

The next morning we took the 7:00am Tela Express back to San Pedro Sula. We had baleadas at the main bus terminal and hopped on another bus to La Entrada. The bus was stopped by the police along the way, who zeroed in on the Gringas to ask for passports and that's when I realized I had left mine in Tela in the hotel safe! C finessed the policia and we continued on our way. Once in La Entrada we borrowed a friendly bus driver's cell phone (C's battery was dead) and worked with the Maya Vista to determine the best option was to send the passport to the Hedman Alas main terminal in San Perdo Sula for pick up on Tuesday morning. The ride from La Entrada to Copan, while the shortest distance traveled that day, took the longest with lots of stops to drop off/ pick up more passengers. We arrived in Copan Ruinas that afternoon and went to C's apartment to freshen up before going out to the Mayan ruins. The ruins were impressive, a slice of history. There were many enormas Cieba trees there, the national tree of Honduras and a soul recharger according to Mayan tradition. A lovely walk around the ruins in the cooler mountain air of the Copan region. C cooked a nice spaghetti dinner with the fellow teachers who live upstairs that we enjoyed together. A walk to a nearby ice-cream store for desert topped off a lovely evening in Copan Ruinas. It is a beautiful town in the mountains with cobble stone streets, and many restaurants, cafes, hotels and places that cater to the gringo tourists that flock to the area to see the impressive ruins outside of town.

The next morning, bright and early, we headed off to school. I was a helper in C's second grade class at the Mayatan School. The children were full of energy and excited to show Miss R things they had found on a nature hike. They were able to practice their English skills on me and I was impressed with their enthusiasm. They were learning about how to add three numbers, the verb "to have" and different animal habitats. I met some of the other teachers C works with, they were all very friendly, some from the US and some native Spanish speakers too. The school is very open with two or so classrooms in each building separated by open grassy-courtyard areas. There were flowers around the edges of the buildings and C's building is up on a small hill overlooking the rest of the school. The children ate lunch at a small cafeteria that served baleadas and other foods I did not recognize but looked tasty. After school that day C and I took the motorcycle to the hot springs, about 27km outside of town along a mountain road into the forest. The hot springs were divided into a two parts, one was more expensive than the other, and we chose the spendy option, which was beautiful! We were first led on a tour of the expansive grounds and all 20 or so different soaking options. There were multiple huts with chairs and tables to enjoy a picnic and two swinging bridges, many stepping stone crossings, terraced pools with paths through the jungle leading to each area. We found a pool suitably cool for the baby and stayed there until it got dark. I tried out one additional pool that was much hotter but did not seem to have a bottom (that I could find any way!). Then it was back to Copan in the dark, out for dinner at a local place where they (sometimes) carry the food (or drinks) on their heads and then home to bed.

I had a very early wake-up call, at 4:00am to catch the Hedman Alas bus back to San Pedro Sula to claim my passport and catch a plane back to the U.S. The bus ride was uneventful (I slept) and I arrived in San Pedro by 8:30am. Thank goodness my passport was there, as specified and I was able to buy an ticket to the airport from the terminal. I did not have C with me, so communication was difficult as I speak little to no Spanish but I managed. I got to the airport about 5 hours early and spend time there before flying back to Miami and then to Philly, arriving back in Delaware at 2:30am. And I did make it work the next day! I had a good trip and was glad to be home.

For more pictures of the trip, go here.

Bud Light Film Crew #12

http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/

I probably should have cut this month's video shorter, but since it's going to be the last one I do for a while, I wanted to make it a little extra mega. So ends a full year of Bud Light videos; my next project will be to compile them on a DVD and shelf 'em. I'd like to say the videos improved a great deal over the course of the year, but honestly I think the first one remains one of the best. #4 is probably my favorite, however, just because of the sheer energy and craziness of the St. Patrick's day party that we managed to capture. #6 is easily the worst of the collection, but I blame that on the fact that I didn't personally shoot it (I'm pretty arrogant when it comes to this stuff, aren't I?). #8 and #11 are solid videos, especially in their revised/extended forms (now available on YouTube). Speaking of YouTube, #3 is the most watched of my videos on that site, with 1,155 views, probably because it comes up on searches for the Rock/Paper/Scissors Bud Light commercial that aired during last year's SuperBowl. We don't have a way of counting the number of video views on the Out & About website, but the guys there tell me the Bud Light page is relatively popular.

I'm looking forward to having a few months off from the monthly assignment. My new camera is in the mail! I'm going to need some time to learn how to use it. I'm also going to be switching to a newer version of Adobe Premiere for editing, and there might be a learning curve attached to that as well. All in all, my palette will be expanding in 2008. There will hopefully be some opportunities for commercial work, so that I can finish paying for this camera, but what I'm really looking forward to is doing something more creative -- something that tells a story, something that is, maybe, nice to look at.

T'giving

Hello, friends and family. Happy Thanksgiving 2007 to you. This was a rather unusual one for me as it is the first one I've spent alone. But please don't feel sorry for me. It was my own choice, and I don't have any regrets. I did get to see my lovely wife for a little bit this morning when I drove her to airport (at 3:30 am!). As I alluded in my last entry, she is visiting her sister, who is five months pregnant and living in the country of Honduras. R and I are looking forward to becoming an aunt and uncle to this new person when he or she arrives. It was sweet of R to make the trip down there to check in on her sis and to hand-deliver a big pregnancy care package. She's also hoping to find some time for the beach and to possibly see some Mayan ruins. R is adventurous like that. I'm more the type who likes to relax at home... as if you didn't know that already. The idea of eating my mom's turkey dinner today was appealing too, but I just couldn't deal with the hassle of travel right now. We'll be in Minnesota for a week at the end of December, and I'm sure I'll eat enough then to make up for missing this one.

My meal today was a steak off the grill, a salad, a potato, and some cranberries (see, I got into the spirit). I also enjoyed a jog, some editing time, and a movie. I've got a series of movies lined up for the next few nights that know R doesn't mind missing. Tonight, it was the ultra-bloody 300. Tomorrow, it's the widely-considered-scariest-movie-of-all-time, The Exorcist, which I somehow never managed to see up until this point of my life. And finally, on Saturday, I'm thinking it's gonna be Fire Walk With Me because I'm jonesing for some Twin Peaks but holding out until Christmas for the new DVD box set. Plus, it's going to sound killer on our new sound system.

Speaking of electronics, I am dedicating some effort this week to purchasing a new video camera. This is not an easy task for me since the camera I want is worth more than the current value of my car. All of the money I made from my video work during the last year (14 paid gigs in total) amounts to a little over half the cost. Not only that: buying a camera will end up snowballing into a bunch of other expenses -- a new case, a new wide-angle lens, an extra battery, etc -- all of which are of a professional grade and thus more expensive than I am used to. If I keep up the video work, a new camera should eventually pay for itself, but I still have to wonder if this particular one is more than I need right now. Am I ready to make the jump to HD, even though my current computer won't even be capable of editing it? (I'll have to shoot in standard definition mode until I upgrade -- oh yeah, there's another thing to buy, a new computer.) Even in standard definition though, with 3 CCDs, this camera will shoot better looking footage than I'm shooting now. It's like the difference between using a point-and-shoot versus an SLR in the world of still cameras. The harsh reality of the situation is, if I want to be taken seriously as a videographer, the Sony Handycam I've been using has got to go (or at least become my backup).

I should be thinking about gift ideas for everybody else, not myself. I can't believe the Christmas season is already here. I'm dreading the crowds this year; mall traffic is especially horrendous in Delaware. The lack of sales tax here draws people from all of the neighboring states. I'll make it my goal to do as much shopping as possible online.

Man, this is more than I was planning to write. I guess being alone today has left me loquacious. I have to remember the week is not done yet -- I need to work tomorrow. Time for bedo.

Another awesomely average weekend

The weekend has come and gone. This was another one spent in and around the area. Maybe you aren't interested in reading about an average weekend, so skip this if you want. I personally like to have a record of this stuff, and for that reason I will continue.

On Friday night we attended a surprise 30th birthday party for a friend, Chris, who you might know from his appearances as a host of four of the Bud Light videos. The party was a good time. I spent part of it shooting video that I will be editing down as a gift for the dude. Chris has done a lot for me upon moving to Wilmington, including getting me the connections I have with Out & About magazine. He does IT work for a few different companies and organizations around town, so he might throw me some additional web video work in the future. I look forward to the opportunities.

After Frisbee on Saturday, R and I drove up to Philly to visit Calumet Photographic, where I drooled over the video camera I've had my eye on, and Ikea, where we picked up some shelves and things for the house. We also went to a unique Mexican restaurant called Xochitl (pronounced so-cheet), which, as the name implies, didn't serve your typical tacos and burritos -- R ate cactus and I had steak. We followed dinner up with Blades of Glory on DVD at home, with sleep grabbing us about half way through.

On Sunday we spent a good chunk of time assembling our new shelves and re-organizing the living room. R also made some butternut squash soup that was really tasty, especially on the cool fall day that it was. Before we knew it, night was upon us. I've always had a love-hate relationship with Sunday nights: I enjoy our typical frozen pizza dinner when we get each other caught up from our respective phone calls to the 'rents, but I hate to see the weekend end as another long week looms. Oh well, at least I don't need to deal with Sunday night homework anymore. R, however, is not so lucky. Did I ever mention she's taking graduate courses in engineering at the University of Delaware? That's keeping her busy.

Coming up soon on Jeblog:

• R visits her pregnant sister in Honduras, leaving me to my own devices for six days.
• The first segment in a possible series of late-night written ramblings called "Zomething Different."
• The final Bud Light Film Crew video before I take at least few months off from them. And it's going to be about dodgeball.
• Plans for new video work I will doing during the aforementioned few months off.
• A 2007 year-in-review post.
• More weekend recaps.

With the lid off

A good friend / former roommate visited us over the weekend. He was in Tennessee for work and decided to take the 8-hour drive on over to Wilmington to kill some time when he had a few extra days. On Saturday night we went out to the Iron Hill for dinner and drinks, and on Sunday we showed him around Philly, with stops at the usual historic tourist sites. There was time for a little Super Nintendo in there too. We've been known to like to battle it out Mario-style once in a while. It was a good weekend. Meeting new people gets old; I enjoyed seeing a familiar face and having a history with somebody again. R gets along with the guy too since we all roomed together at one point post-college. I'm glad he made the trip over. Here's to you, L.

Bud Light Film Crew #11 - Censored

The shoot for the November video was our wildest one yet. It took place at the tailgating event before a University of Delaware football game, and the college kids there were wasted. There were times when they erupted into melee, spraying beer everywhere, throwing full cans in the air, dousing their friends. One gentleman took his pants off and attempted to get on camera. Everybody was willing to chug a beer... for a free beer. Unfortunately (and understandably), Bud Light and the university do not want to be associated with over-consumption, so my first cut, which included some of the craziness (but purposely not all of it), was rejected. I had to remove 20 seconds, perhaps the heart of the video, in order to appease the censors. That was painful for me. I have decided to restore some of the footage in the version that will be on my compilation DVD and possibly on YouTube after a while. Watch out for it. Until then, you can see the censored version here:

http://www.budlightfilmcrew.com/