Day 213

This morning was a fun-filled and very exciting morning in my life and the life of my company, Under The Line Productions, LLC (my lawyer tells me I have to put that LLC there). We were continuing production on our project for some non-profit services in North City. They are doing some really awesome things. Check out some of their websites. Please. It really is very awesome (but not the awesomosity, keep reading for that)

http://angelbaked.org/

http://www.ngns.org/

http://www.developwithdignity.org/

Ok, so on to the awesome. After shooting some B-Roll of kids building, painting, and destructing a sign, we wanted to get some footage of abandoned buildings. We didn't have to travel far. Just so you know, we were at the corner of Grand and North Market (make sure to check out the "street view"). That's the 'hood if you didn't know.

Anyway, so we go on the East side of Grand, the priest we are working with said we would find what we were looking for there, and we did. As we are driving along in the car shooting out of the open sliding door, a cop passes going the other way. I turn down a road that looks like it will have good material, then I notice the cop following us. Then I keep turning down these streets, totally looking like I have no clue where I am or where I am going. The cop is still following us. We decide to pull over and find out why, though we are pretty sure he is wondering what we are doing there. I'll recreate the conversation as best as I can remember it.

Cop: Are you guys lost?
Us: No, were shooting a video for that church.
Cop: Cause this is a really bad part of town. You will get a pistol in your face and your car stolen really quickly.
Us: Ok.

Then Sean and I decided we better catch up with the cop who was leaving the area quickly, and that we had enough footage for the day.

So, today, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is awesome, because they saved Sean and I from getting pistols suck in our face and Sean's girlfriend's car stolen along with a bunch of borrowed gear. Definitely awesome.

I'm off to my much needed nap. Have a great day!!

Day 213

Good Friday everyone! No, I know it's not Good Friday, but it is a Friday, and it is good, right? So it is A good Friday. But I digress.

I'll just get straight to the awesomes. White Castle breakfast. I was in a parking lot with a White Castle earlier and pretty hungry. Someone told me that their breakfast was good, and I had never tried it, so I gave it a shot. WOW. Well worth it.

I had a sausage, egg and cheese sandwich, of course served on their classic bun, and it was delicious. As soon as I ordered, I remembered the size it would be and wished I had ordered two, but it was still delicious. I do think they should have a package deal though. I'm thinking 2 sandwiches (sausage, egg and cheese; bacon, egg and cheese; or just egg and cheese are their three offerings), an order of hash browns, and a small beverage for $5. The price works out ok and it is just plain easier to order a number whatever instead of listing each thing individually. Maybe I'm just lazy. Oh well.

While you're at it, check out their website, there is some fun stuff to do on there, but it's not working on my current browser (Camino, a wholly seperate awesome browser by Mozilla designed for Macs), but it sure looks like there is fun stuff to do there.

Boo the Ottawa Senators.

Have a great day everyone!!

Day 212

Holy awesome, look at me, posting before (just barely) 6 am! That's because we have a very busy day. This morning I have a networking business meeting, followed by a trip to my church. Then its off to Under The Lines first ever video shoot!!! How awesome is that? Very (it was meant as a rhetorical question, but since you wanted an answer, I gave it to you).

Also awesome? More awesomeness from Haiti. I got through a couple tapes last night doing the digitizing and got to this awesomosity. Enjoy. And there is still one more to come.




Have a great day!!

Day 211

Today I have been digitizing footage from my trip to Haiti, so you will get my last two video blogs soon enough, have no fear. I will also post the video I create for their intended purpose when I get those done.

For an awesomosity today, how about a couple of quick things. One, here is a picture that was in the digital RFT today, and I saw it thanks to Molly's GChat message. Awesome:


Yes, this is written in the "Ballpark Village" hole in the ground. In snow. Very awesome.

Another thing that is awesome is another free Google service. Let me paint a picture for you. Purely hypothetical. You are driving around looking for a Radio Shack so you can buy a Firewire (ieee1394) 4-pin to 6-pin connector so you can digitize footage from a recent mission trip to Haiti you took. As I said, purely hypothetical. So, you know there is a Radio Shack somehwere near your house, you seem to drive by it all the time. But you want to get home as soon as you can without driving all over to look for it. So, you look up Radio Shack on Google on your not iPhone, but Radio Shack doesn't have a mobile friendly site, so you can't search for locations. What are you to do? Call Information? No, that costs too much money. Get out the Yellow Pages you keep under the passenger seat? Not while you're driving. Call Google's free 411 service? Why not give it a shot?

So, you call 1.800.GOOG.411 (1.800.466.4411). You hear an automated operator ask you what you would like to find. You say, "Radio Shack" He says, ok, what city? You say, Saint Louis. Then he lists the 10 closest Radio Shacks. At any point you can say things like, More Information, Details, Connect me, etc. So, you find the one on Hampton, which is close to your hypothetical house, but you're not sure where on Hampton it is. Simply say, Details and it gives you the address. Still don't know where it is? Say Connect, and soon a friendly Radio Shack employee is on the line giving you directions to their lovely store so you can find the overpriced cable you need to work on your video project. How much did all this cost you? Just some minutes from your plan. That's it. How awesome is that? I bet you could even get movie listings from GOOG411. It's like doing a Google search with an automated operator listing it all for you. And the automated operator can actually understand you. And its free. How could it be more awesome?

I hope you all have a terrific day. Talk to you tomorrow!

Day 210

So, it is actually Monday when I am writing this. I am attempting to blog into the future and post date my post. I just saw this joke on my iGoogle homepage and it reminded me of every lawyer I have ever met. I will also post something additionally awesome if I remember to post before this post goes out. We'll see tomorrow I suppose. Well, here's the joke.

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb?

Such number as may be deemed necessary to perform the stated task in a timely and efficient manner within the strictures of the following agreement. Whereas the party of the first part, also known as 'the lawyers' and the party of the second part, also known as 'the light bulb' do hereby agree to a transaction wherein the party of the second part (light bulb) shall be removed from the current position as a result of failure to perform previously agreed upon duties, i.e. the lighting, elucidation, and otherwise illumination ofthe area ranging from the front (North) door, through the entryway, terminating at an area just through the primary living area, demarcated by the beginning of the carpet, any spillover illumination being at the option of the party of the second part (light bulb) and not required by the aforementioned agreement between the parties. The aforementioned removal transaction shall include, but not be limited to, the following steps:

1. The party of the first part (lawyer) shall, with or without elevation at his option, by means of a chair, step stool, ladder or any other means of elevation, grasp the party of the second part (light bulb) and rotate the party of the second part (light bulb) in a counter clockwise direction, said direction being non-negotiable. Said grasping and rotation of the party of the second part (light bulb) shall be undertaken by the party of the first part (lawyer) to maintain the structural integrity of the party of the second part (light bulb), notwithstanding the aformentioned failure of the party of the second part (light bulb) to perform the customary and agreed upon duties. The foregoing notwithstanding, however, both parties stipulate that structural failure of the party of the second part (light bulb) may be incidental to the aforementioned failure to perform and in such case the party of the first part (lawyer) shall be held blameless for such structural failure insofar as the non-negotiable directional codicil (counter-clockwise) is observed by the party of the first part (lawyer) throughout.

2. Upon reaching a point where the party of the second part (light bulb) becomes seperated from the party of the third part ('receptacle'), the party of the first part shall have the option of disposing of the party of the second part (light bulb) in a manner consistent with all applicable state, local, and federal statutes.

3. Once seperation and disposal have been achieved, the party of the first part (lawyer) shall have the option of beginning the installation of the party of the fourth part ('new light bulb'). This installation shall occur in a manner consistent with the reverse procedures described in step one of this self same document, being careful to note that the rotation should occur in a clockwise direction, said direction also being non-negotiable and only until the party of the fourth part (new light bulb) becomes snug in the party of the third part (receptacle) and in fact becomes the party of the second part (light bulb).

Note: The above described steps may be performed, at the option of the party of the first part (lawyer), by said party of the first part (lawyer), or by his or her heirs and assigns, or by any and all persons authorized by him or her to do som the objective being to produce a level of illumination in the immediate vicinity of the aforementioned front (North) door consistent with maximisation of ingress and revenue for the party of the fifth part, also known as 'The Firm'.

Day 209

So, today was a very exciting day in the life of Under The Line Productions, LLC. Notice the LLC behind our name? That's because now that we are officially recognized by the Secretary of the State of Missouri office by that name and entity, we have to put it there. Don't worry, we'll do a DBA (doing business as, a.k.a. a ficticious name) soon and eliminate the LLC, just so we dont' have to write it all the time.

So, that happened Friday. Today we called up the IRS to register with them and complete our creation of a business. I was going to make the IRS the awesomosity, because the lady I spoke with was pretty cool, but I'm pretty sure there's a law against calling the IRS awesome. Either way, we now have an EIN (Employer Identification Number) which means that now we can open a business bank account, and most importantly, we can get a business phone account, which means that iPhones will be required (by us, not ATT).

Well, that is what is awesome today for me. I hope you are having an awesome day yourself. Here I am hard at work on my couch, I know it sounds like an anomoly, but trust me, its not.

Day 208

Well, we just drove back from a great weekend at Trout Lodge. I highly recommend it if you need a vacation or are looking for a place to host a conference or something. When we got back into the Saint Louis area, we began to see one of my favorite things of winter. Snow.

Snow is awesome. You can go sledding, make a snowman, make a snowangel, have a snowball fight, build a snowfort, wear only white and hid in plain sight, and of course, the most fun thing about snow, driving in it.

Here is a video that displays how to not drive in snow:




Now, if you want to know how to drive in snow, here are a few tips from me. Drive slow, nowhere is that important to get there in a hurry. Don't stomp the gas or brakes, you will just slide. When you do need to slow down, neutral is your friend. When you are sliding, steer into the slide (so if the front of the car starts sliding to the left, steer right). Those are my basic tips. If you want a hands on lesson, let me know. Here is what www.ehow.com says about driving in snow.

Now, here is a picture of my front yard and street, followed by a picture of me in front of my window. Have a great day!!