I suppose that's the whole year, huh? Well, then, let's get started.
Week 1.....Just kidding. Actually, in case you're just a little slow, this will be an overview of some of the cool things that happened over the course of this year. Let's jump in our friendly neighborhood TARDIS / Way Back Machine / DeLorean / or any other time traveling device you happen to have and see what happened.
One of the most important things that happened this year was I got an iPhone!! Yes, it seems silly for me to say that, but the iPhone has proven to be a saving grace in a lot of situations. No matter what I happened to do the rest of the year, there was an app for it. And if there wasn't, I probably shouldn't have been doing it in the first place.
Over the course of the year, I also saw several movies, though, as of this writing, I have yet to see Harry Potter. I know, mock me, if you will, but I have been a busy person. Some of my favorites from the year of movies were Kick Ass, Toy Story 3 and The A-Team. If you look through the archives, you'll find reviews for some of these movies and you can even read them, too, if you want.
During the summer, we got a lot of furniture for our house. Unfortunately, we did not get an chesterfield or an ottoman (for those of you who don't get that joke, I am sorry. You really should listen to the song "If I Had a Million Dollars" by the Barenaked Ladies. Go on. Listen right now. Here's the lyrics so you can sing along. There you go. See how funny that was?)
Speaking of Summer, you might have missed the entire month of July having fun, but you could have simply lived vicariously through me as I blogged every day for that entire month. Who knew that I had so many random and strange things happening in my life? I certainly didn't.
Also, in November, I attempted NaNoWriMo once again. However, this year was not as successful as my previous attempt, when I managed to get an entire novel written in the month of November. For some reason, I was completely exhausted and had trouble focusing on finishing the novel on time. I still have the desire to finish the story, but I am not ready to at the moment. It's more of a muse thing. When the time is right, I will continue.
In December I got to go someplace that I never thought I would ever get to visit. It was so unimaginable that I had placed it on a "Bucket List", figuring that it would just be something that I didn't get to do. What is it, you ask? Well, just look at the previous entry and you'll see. And if you're lazy and don't want to look back, I'll tell you. I got to go on a tour of Skywalker Ranch! I know that only a nerd such as myself would truly care or even mention it, but it was so cool and much better than even I could have imagined. It was interesting to step into the beautiful library and to walk the grounds and find stuff to purchase at the Gift Shop.
Now, I know there was something else that happened this year and I can't seem to remember.
Oh yeah! Of course. I became a dad for the very first time (that I know of. LOL. Kidding). Abigail was born September 22 and has been the life of every party that we go to now. "Oh, nice to see you, let's see the baby." / "The baby is so cute!" / "She's a good mix of both of you." Of course, with everyone paying attention to the baby now, it seems like Joanna and I are second fiddle, at best and act more like staff to the baby girl that warms our heart. What's that saying? "Dogs have masters, cats have staff." The same holds true for babies, too, because they need their parents to change them, feed them, burp them and play with them. We're not parents, just staff. No wonder I'm tired.
Well, that's the year, I guess. I'm sure there were hundred of other cool stories I could have told and people that I met, but there is no need to go into that on this blog. You can ask me individually and I might even remember enough of one to respond. If not, oh well. This has been a fun and interesting year and it's only going to get more fun as 2011 begins. I look forward to entertaining you more in the New Year and will once again try to be more consistent with blogging. Who knows, maybe I'll even blog an entire month again. I know that anticipation is killing you already.
Until next time.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away..........
There are no words to express the amount of awesomeness (yes, it's a word) that I felt last week, but I'm certainly going to try. This is a blog, after all, and it's supposed to have words on it.
But first, a little history. As the title suggests, this blog post is more than likely going to involve Star Wars or some aspect of Star Wars. And boy does it ever.
For those of you that know this story - too bad, you have to hear it again. When I was a boy - just 2 1/2 years old - I was taken by my parents to see Star Wars: A New Hope (for those of you keeping track, this was the original movie released in 1977). It was at a drive in, and therefore the screen was large and the volume was loud. And Darth Vader in all his menacing glory was scary.
Fast forward through about a million viewings of Star Wars and its sequels and prequels. In that time, I have come to learn, understand, respect and even admire not only George Lucas as a storyteller, but the vision that he created with Industrial Light and Magic, his special effects company.
ILM was originally created for Star Wars with George Lucas grabbing various people that were working on special effects during its infancy. Star Wars was the film that sent special effects into the stratosphere. If not for ILM, movies like Avatar would never have been made. In fact, if not for ILM, Pixar and all of their wonderful movies would never have been made either. But that's information for another blog post - if I remember. If not, just go to Wikipedia and look up Pixar or ILM. You'll see. Pixar used to exist as a group of people within ILM. Go look. I'll wait.
And now that you're back from there, I will continue with my adventure. Our friends, Amanda and Marc, used to live in San Francisco. During this time, Marc made a friend named Marshall. In talking to Marshall, Marc discovered that he worked at ILM in San Francisco and offfered Marc a tour of the facility, which he and Amanda eventually did this past year. But here's where it gets interesting.
Marc and Amanda offered us a chance to join them for a few days in San Francisco leading up to an actual tour of Skywalker Ranch. Wait, I thought we were talking about ILM. What's Skywalker Ranch?
Skywalker Ranch is a place that George Lucas created with land he purchased in the late 1970s. It's a lot of land with very little development. But that's not the point. The point is that I have always wanted to go there. It didn't matter that there were just a few buildings there with very little in the way of memorabilia to gawk at. It didn't matter that it was forty minutes north of San Francisco through the mountains and rolling hills. It didn't matter that George Lucas might not be there.
No. It mattered to me because it was the epitome of a place that a Star Wars fan - and a George Lucas fan in general - would want to go. Sure, the ILM tour is fascinating, but where else but the Ranch can you sit in a two story library with a fireplace and large comfy chairs and just "research" for a little while. Where else but the Ranch can you walk from the Main House past Lake Ewok on your way to the Recreation Center to play racquetball, volleyball, tennis or even go for a swim in their lap pool? And, just for fun, there's also a gift shop at the Ranch. Not a very big one, sadly, but a gift shop nonetheless.
Needless to say, as much as I want to visit ILM at some point in the future, I have always wanted to go to Skywalker Ranch. Something about visiting a place where George Lucas has an office and thinks up some of his fantastic visions. A place where Skywalker Sound - the audio engineering branch of Lucasfilm - resides and records everything from movie soundtracks to simple audio recording for films. A place where even though you're out in the middle of nowhere and someplace that has over a hundred employees, you not only feel like you're still in the modern world and yet, you don't see too many people around. On our tour of Skywalker Ranch, we saw very few people until we arrived at the Recreation Center.
Being cold that day, no one was swimming, but we did see people on the tennis court and people in the indoor racquetball court. There were plenty of staff members in the cafe area (we arrived during the standard lunch hour) and even a few people (tourists like us) in the gift shop.
It was a great tour and I know that most people will wonder why I didn't take the ILM tour as well. Well, most importantly was because there just wasn't enough time and I had to choose. Most people would have chosen ILM, but I chose Skywalker Ranch. It was peaceful and if I could, I would have stayed there.
It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I jumped at the chance. If a chance to experience something you like ever comes along - besides ILM, the next place I would love to tour would be New Zealand where they filmed Lord of the Rings - then you should definitely take it. Do what you can. Skip work if necessary. As NIKE says, Just Do It.
Until Next Time.
But first, a little history. As the title suggests, this blog post is more than likely going to involve Star Wars or some aspect of Star Wars. And boy does it ever.
For those of you that know this story - too bad, you have to hear it again. When I was a boy - just 2 1/2 years old - I was taken by my parents to see Star Wars: A New Hope (for those of you keeping track, this was the original movie released in 1977). It was at a drive in, and therefore the screen was large and the volume was loud. And Darth Vader in all his menacing glory was scary.
Fast forward through about a million viewings of Star Wars and its sequels and prequels. In that time, I have come to learn, understand, respect and even admire not only George Lucas as a storyteller, but the vision that he created with Industrial Light and Magic, his special effects company.
ILM was originally created for Star Wars with George Lucas grabbing various people that were working on special effects during its infancy. Star Wars was the film that sent special effects into the stratosphere. If not for ILM, movies like Avatar would never have been made. In fact, if not for ILM, Pixar and all of their wonderful movies would never have been made either. But that's information for another blog post - if I remember. If not, just go to Wikipedia and look up Pixar or ILM. You'll see. Pixar used to exist as a group of people within ILM. Go look. I'll wait.
And now that you're back from there, I will continue with my adventure. Our friends, Amanda and Marc, used to live in San Francisco. During this time, Marc made a friend named Marshall. In talking to Marshall, Marc discovered that he worked at ILM in San Francisco and offfered Marc a tour of the facility, which he and Amanda eventually did this past year. But here's where it gets interesting.
Marc and Amanda offered us a chance to join them for a few days in San Francisco leading up to an actual tour of Skywalker Ranch. Wait, I thought we were talking about ILM. What's Skywalker Ranch?
Skywalker Ranch is a place that George Lucas created with land he purchased in the late 1970s. It's a lot of land with very little development. But that's not the point. The point is that I have always wanted to go there. It didn't matter that there were just a few buildings there with very little in the way of memorabilia to gawk at. It didn't matter that it was forty minutes north of San Francisco through the mountains and rolling hills. It didn't matter that George Lucas might not be there.
No. It mattered to me because it was the epitome of a place that a Star Wars fan - and a George Lucas fan in general - would want to go. Sure, the ILM tour is fascinating, but where else but the Ranch can you sit in a two story library with a fireplace and large comfy chairs and just "research" for a little while. Where else but the Ranch can you walk from the Main House past Lake Ewok on your way to the Recreation Center to play racquetball, volleyball, tennis or even go for a swim in their lap pool? And, just for fun, there's also a gift shop at the Ranch. Not a very big one, sadly, but a gift shop nonetheless.
Needless to say, as much as I want to visit ILM at some point in the future, I have always wanted to go to Skywalker Ranch. Something about visiting a place where George Lucas has an office and thinks up some of his fantastic visions. A place where Skywalker Sound - the audio engineering branch of Lucasfilm - resides and records everything from movie soundtracks to simple audio recording for films. A place where even though you're out in the middle of nowhere and someplace that has over a hundred employees, you not only feel like you're still in the modern world and yet, you don't see too many people around. On our tour of Skywalker Ranch, we saw very few people until we arrived at the Recreation Center.
Being cold that day, no one was swimming, but we did see people on the tennis court and people in the indoor racquetball court. There were plenty of staff members in the cafe area (we arrived during the standard lunch hour) and even a few people (tourists like us) in the gift shop.
It was a great tour and I know that most people will wonder why I didn't take the ILM tour as well. Well, most importantly was because there just wasn't enough time and I had to choose. Most people would have chosen ILM, but I chose Skywalker Ranch. It was peaceful and if I could, I would have stayed there.
It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I jumped at the chance. If a chance to experience something you like ever comes along - besides ILM, the next place I would love to tour would be New Zealand where they filmed Lord of the Rings - then you should definitely take it. Do what you can. Skip work if necessary. As NIKE says, Just Do It.
Until Next Time.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Twitterific
For those of you that follow this blog, you will happen to notice my Twitter Feed on the right hand side. Sometimes, it will be days (or weeks) in between Twitter posts. This is mostly because I lead a very normal, boring life that I know you (or the few Twitter followers I have) do not really care about.
When Twitter first arrived in the world, I was thinking, "Who is going to pay attention to people that write 140 characters? Who cares what people are doing all the time?"
Well, my friends, I'm still not at a point where I care enough to constantly update my Twitter feed, but I have found something new on Twitter that gives me the opportunity to add more, at least for now.
In light of the current WikiLeaks scandal (if you haven't heard of it, you haven't even been paying attention to the Internet), some enterprising Star Wars fan decided to create the Twitter hashtag #wookieleaks. Go ahead and search it. Here's a link.
As you'll see, it's just a bunch of Star Wars nerds (like me) that come up with various snide remarks or comments based on various Star Wars events/people/locations or whatever else we Star Wars nerds can think of.
So you might see the Twitter feed a little more active as I can find various Star Wars topics to comment on.
Until next time.
When Twitter first arrived in the world, I was thinking, "Who is going to pay attention to people that write 140 characters? Who cares what people are doing all the time?"
Well, my friends, I'm still not at a point where I care enough to constantly update my Twitter feed, but I have found something new on Twitter that gives me the opportunity to add more, at least for now.
In light of the current WikiLeaks scandal (if you haven't heard of it, you haven't even been paying attention to the Internet), some enterprising Star Wars fan decided to create the Twitter hashtag #wookieleaks. Go ahead and search it. Here's a link.
As you'll see, it's just a bunch of Star Wars nerds (like me) that come up with various snide remarks or comments based on various Star Wars events/people/locations or whatever else we Star Wars nerds can think of.
So you might see the Twitter feed a little more active as I can find various Star Wars topics to comment on.
Until next time.
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