I’ve Survived

They should make a reality show about summer band and a week of teacher inservice. It would be pure entertainment. The good news is, I’ve survived one of the busiest weeks of the year…with some speed bumps along the way.

What’s been going on with me, you ask? Well, about 15 hour work days for the last week and a half is all I’ve been doing. I’m exhausted, I miss my family, and I still have work to do this weekend to be ready for school. ARRGHHHH!

I have about 30 hours of shows to watch on my TIVO. I have a lawn that is about two feet tall. My car is a biohazard. One of the TV’s in the house needs new cable. I haven’t run in a week. My oldest daughter wants to play and go swimming with me. My youngest daughter probably doesn’t even know who I am. But, I’m not complaining.

So, here’s to the first day of school, and all the joys that accompany it. How many days ’til summer ’08?

Keep it Real On Camera

What is it about a camera that brings out the best in people?

I have noticed this lately as I have been carrying a camera around a lot more than usual in order to keep a work-related website updated with pics, vids, etc.   People working try so much harder when they are being recorded.  I’ve heard of businesses dropping cameras in the workplace to increase productivity and always thought it to be a bit of an intrusion.  I can definitely see how it works, though.

Keep in mind, I do teach teenagers all day.  But, still.  These kids try so much harder when they think they are being filmed.  As a bonus, they LOVE being filmed.

Adults are the complete opposite.  Pull out a video camera and watch the “over 30’s” run like the plague is chasing them.

I start acting weird too when a think a camera is watching.  The problem is, these days you can’t go anywhere without a camera watching your every move.  If you live in a reasonably sized town, there’s probably a pretty good record of you driving to work everyday from traffic cameras.  I know the camera in a hallway at work has caught me pulling a wedgie out on the way to lunch.  So I say, go ahead and pick that nose.  Scratch what you need to scratch.  Just keep it real on camera.

When it rains…

As you may have read earlier, I am currently away from home on a work-related trip. My wife decided not to stay home by herself with the new baby and our three-year-old, so she packed everyone up (including the dog) and went to her parent’s house.

Before I get going, allow me to backup for a bit. We just had her birthday ($), our anniversary ($), a new air conditioner ($), and a new grass trimmer ($). Now you have sufficient background info to muster up some sympathy for me.

Back to story…..

On the way to her parents’ house, with two kids and the dog, my wife notices an odd sound coming from the tires. Yes, flat. My wife has never changed a tire in her life (and probably never will) so she proceeds to call a wrecker ($) to come pick everybody up. The wrecker gladly arrives in about twenty minutes and tows everyone to the nearest NTB. (National Tire & Battery) They patch up the tire ($) and get ready to bring the car out of the garage, but the engine will not start. Luckily, she was at the right place to buy a new battery ($).

Not enough for you? Right after getting the battery, she noticed the gas tank was empty and had to fill ‘er up. ($). She would have had to buy gas anyway, but throw me a freakin’ bone!

CNN + YouTube?

I don’t get this. In case some of you don’t keep up with current events, the big news today was that CNN was hosting a presidential debate and the questions would be asked by “regular folks” via YouTube. CNN has been billing this as the chance we’ve all been waiting for to ask the questions we want to ask of our Presidential Wanna-Be’s. WHAT? And who do you think gets to pick which questions of all the thousands submitted actually get asked? Maybe the YouTube users could vote on the questions! Forget about it.

CNN picked all the questions.

Sure, they may have been asked by someone besides the regular moderator, but CNN still filtered the questions they (and likely the participating parties) wanted asked.

This idea grew from frustration among voters that the debates are staged. Each participant gets a list of questions that are going to be asked so they have plenty of time to formulate the answer that will offend the fewest number of voters. I don’t know if the candidates got any info on the topics to be discussed before the debates, but I suspect they did not go in totally blind.

My solution? Why can’t the candidates just ask each other questions like they used to? Now THAT, I would watch. I want to see a REAL debate. Let ’em just go at it and see who comes out on top. Our President needs to be verbally nimble and witty. This format would be a true test of how bulletproof a candidate is.

Nobody would know what to expect, which is exactly why it will never happen.

The Routine

My brother has referred to it in his blog. The baby routine: eat, sleep, poop. It’s not always in that order. Sometimes the little one likes to mix it up on us. You know, to keep us on our toes. Last night was the first night one of us stayed up with her. The hospital kept her in the nursery overnight for two days and nana kept her for the two nights following. My wife decided to take the first shift so that I could be fully rested to deal with our older child who has not slowed down at all. She proudly refers to the new addition as “my baby” and has made herself in charge of seeing that the baby has a steady supply of stuffed animals to sleep with.

Everyone is doing great so far. Today, the older daughter is going to a friend’s house to play and checks the clock every ten minutes to see if it’s time to go yet.

In other news, (yes there are other things going on in the world besides our new baby) I was watching TBS the other day and something happened that caused me a great deal of anxiety. Right in the middle of one of their shows, this remote appears on the screen and pauses the action. The show I was enjoying gets moved to the background and I’m forced to watch a commercial with Bill Engvall. This just confirmed my opinion that he is one of the most annoying men on television. Then, he “unpauses” the show I was watching so that the end of the scene could continue.

All of the TIVO owners out there should be terrified of this development. If this idea catches on, gone are the days of skipping through the commercials, because you’ll never know when one is going to pop up. I understand they have to make their money, and I deal with other things that are annoying like the bottom 1/3 of the screen being filled with advertisements during a show. The Turner family of networks (which TBS is a part of) is notorious for those ads. Many of them even have their own little scenes WITH THEIR OWN AUDIO happening at the bottom of the show you are trying to watch.

This new intervention, however, completely screws with the integrity of the show one is enjoying. Directors work hard to pace action, the delivery of punchlines, etc. What’s the point when a commercial is going to be stuffed into the show at random intervals.

I did write an email to TBS and would encourage you to do the same if this new attempt at getting to the TIVO crowd annoys you.

By the time my new baby is grown up, free TV will be dead with advertisements and we’ll all be buying programs from Apple on ITUNES. When that happens, brace yourself for the END OF THE WORLD!!!