Kyle Johnson

I'm still working on the video from Kyle Johnson's recital. I am putting together a single video out of three camera angles and the audio from the Music departments recording system. Overall, I'm quite pleased with the product. It's the most ambitious product I've attempted since being at Bethany.

Thus far I have this single piece complete.

Kyle Johnson plays Batiste from Carl Isaacson on Vimeo.

I think the shifts in view make sense. The sound is much better than I could record with a camera under these circumstances.

I'm glad this system is working to bring the quality of edit I've attained with this piece. It is tedious work. I've come to know the Offertoire better than I ever thought I would. While the visual quality of the piece is marred by the quality of what I can upload before it is converted to flash - and by the quality of the light in Presser Hall - still I'm not entirely ashamed of the work.

Hope you enjoy.

I'm working on a 3 camera shoot for jultide today. The way this piece came together gives me great hope for the jultide visuals.

Death Metal Santas

That's what I'm talking about.

Haven't blogged much. Haven't had much to say that I shouldn't keep to myself. But with this, I just had to post.

Can You Believe It?

Old friend Don Greenwood contacted me - through facebook - with the suggestion that I scan and put online the happy hippy papers I was responsible for when I was an undergraduate. I promised I would, but knew that I had lost the documents.

Found them last night and began to take a look. Eventually I hope that we'll have both the "Period" and the "Augustana Observer" online in this year.

What I discovered as I looked at these publications I saw how arrogant we were back in the day. I couldn't believe it. Augustana opened a planetarium and observatory and we called it "Dr. Nelson's new toy."

We disdained regular headlines. We disdained journalism. Our standards were way beyond low. I couldn't believe me. Once I start getting these things up, you'll see that you can't believe me either.

What saved me, and the publications, were that there were enough genuinely talented people surrounding the chief in order to make the arrogance bearable. You'll see.

Would you look at that

Casually going through the AAA magazine this morning. Because of other plans to take care of emergency roadside assistance, we'll soon be dropping the AAA and losing the magazine. So glad that hasn't happened yet.
There on Page 16, big as life and bigger than Jim Richardson on page 15, is our friend and fellow Rotarian and Bethany alum, Lee Becker. She's working on her painting of the Indian woman squatting beside the road. She's sitting in front of her mammoth painting of an Indian rhino.
How cool is this. It almost makes me want to renew my connection to AAA - but I don't quite have the money.
Congratulations Lee. You deserved the recognition.

The Last Kennedy

Ted Kennedy's passing is, for me, a very personal sort of passing.

I was never as fond of Teddy as I was of his brothers. It was Robert who was my hero, despite his service to the anti-communist congressional committee. Robert's change of heart and his anti-war stance brought me to his cause. His eloquence, tied to that simple "I ask why not."

These were my political heroes. But Teddy was the last of the Kennedys, and his passing marks the passing of a moment of hope. With the Kennedys, despite what we knew about their duplicity, we who were young in the 1960s really felt that there was hope that our country could become what we claimed we were, but had failed to be.

With Obama I felt that hope restored. I still hope for our new President, but it is a hope sobered by the passing of that old guard, the old un-repentant liberal Teddy Kennedy. He will be missed.

Projects

What is it about projects? Why do they always get bigger in the doing than they were in the conceptualizing?

We started, this summer, to do something pretty simple - replace the last three fuses in the basement with breakers, and thus qualify for a lower insurance rate. That became a major basement project involving the removal of ceiling, busting out plaster, and now considering covering the old floor tile with sheet vinyl.

Well, if we're going to do sheet vinyl in the basement, shouldn't we also do a new floor in the bathroom upstairs? And if we're doing a new floor there, shouldn't we replace that old, hardwater stained sink and the crusty faucet? But if we're going to do that, can we get a new sink that will drop into the vanity that's already there?

By the way, how do you skim coat a basement floor? Do I need to remove tile that feels "loose" to the step? What about the bumps and holes? And do I need to skim coat the bathroom floor before I put down new and after I take up the old? And do I need to take up the underlayment as well? How big is this project going to get?

Wait - one piece got smaller! I was afraid that if I took out the old vanity I'd have to chip tile or place tile. Turns out the tile is all in place behind the current vanity. Well that's one bright spot.

But I'm afraid to start - everything I've started this summer has turned bigger - and I'm back to school next Tuesday. As Charlie Brown once said, "Arrrgh!"

Presser Hall Elevator

The elevator is now removed from Presser Hall. All the equipment for the new elevator sits outside waiting to be installed. The doors to the elevator shaft are locked and no one, besides the installation crew from Otis, and a few other select individuals, has access.

But that doesn't mean you can't - well - anyway.

I was talking to one of the installers yesterday. "How's the elevator coming?" "Oh, it has it's ups and downs."

I was talking to Frank Ballew this AM. "Oh no! They took our elevator and gave us the shaft!"

I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself.

Windfarm

Last Sunday, August 2, Kris and I stopped at a Wind farm on highway 14, south of Lincoln. As you hear from the video, the turbines make no noise. The only noise in the video is the sound of the wind itself, and Kris saying, "Hi" at the end.



It was an awesome, eerie sight.

Happy Shopping

More to come, but for now let me just say that the IKEA store in Chicago is going to enable a bit of redecoration at the Isaacson house without breaking the bank. If we had a truck we'd be bringing home a new range. As it is, it's new shades and curtains in one room.

More to come, as I say.

On The Road Again

Off to visit family. All the family, all the time. On Saturday, the end of the first week, we took a walk around Phalen Lake and found the Dragon Festival. Dragon boats and a beautiful new statue.

From Summer 09

The beauty of the statue was matched by the beauty of the day. Sunny, low 80's. The only problem is that the Twin Cities are suffering with an extreme drought. Minnehaha Falls, I hear is totally dry this year. That's really sad and I don't want to see the falls without water.

Apparently the big event of the Dragon festival is the Dragon Boat races, on Sunday. Here's a photo of the Dragon Boat, from the east side of the lake. I've got some video from the West side of the lake I'll post later.

From Summer 09

The best vacation events are those you just happen upon.