My oldest son has an incredible memory, even when you don’t think he is listening. When asked to sing a song during testing for entrance into kindergarten, he sang all the verses of Arthur Fhardy’s Yodeling Party, to my embarrassment because he had heard it from me as a joke. Why couldn’t he have sung one of his Sunday school songs that he sings every week, that would have kept me out of trouble. On another occasion, we were waiting in the check out line at Target when we heard a loud noise. He responded by saying loudly "that sounded like a"..., my words, a bodily function of a relative. Once again I was in trouble.
Yesterday he went to the Discovery Center with his class. Last night, as he lay in bed, I asked how his day went. He described all that he had done. He was particularly fascinated by having his height measured. He told me that they used a tape, then he paused and said, “I don’t think they would have enough tape to measure Doug TenNapel”. He’s met Doug once. Whenever we tell stories of giants, he asks about Doug.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Got a Million?
It's not everyday that you see a million+ dollar car. However, if you go to the Crystal Cove Car gathering at about 7:00 AM every Saturday morning, you just may see several of them. I didn't think I would see an original Ford GT40, but there she was. An original 1965. They came on the racing scene in the sixties and cleaned up against the Ferrari's and Jaguars. They later released some for the public. They were called the GT40 because they were only 40 inches high. The new Ford GT is 44 inches tall, Got to see several of those also. But this original was the car of the day for me.
Doodle'n
A rough doodle while in a meeting. Ya know when you are supposed to be listening, but something else is on your mind. Hoisting a mug with Pirates I guess. I good lagarrr from a jarrrr. Wished I could have finished this, however I needed to look up now and then so that one of the symposium speakers would think I was interested. Farrr from it.
Friday, January 27, 2006
Future City
Just working out some concepts. I'm going to try and start posting sketches that won't necessarily go on my web-page.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Hugh Hewitt on Blogging
I’m currently sitting in a faculty symposium listening to Hugh Hewitt lecture on Blogging. These are his twelve important notes on blogging dealing with disasters.
1. Technology for blog site set up is low and accessible (Type.com)
Who should have a blog? Anyone with credibility in a field.
2. Teach people now through repetition where to go for info.
3. Site operators for a consortium have to be trained in information distribution, to screen and evaluate information to put out (accuracy first).
4. Simulation and drills are important.
5. Decision-makers need to know about the Napoleon sergeant. You have to test the understanding of the information that you have transfered to folks below you. Do they have the ability to convey it back to you accurately?
6. If you run anything, you should have your own website.
7. Voice, video, and picture will rule over text.
8. Interactivity: people come up with questions that need answers (Q&As).
9. Stop panic situations through information VERY QUICKLY.
10. Liability for bad information.
11. Language, language: to inform everyone, then you must communicate in all languages.
12. People will come to you for information if your information is good, and you can generate interest and revenues, as well as help people change their behaviors.
sideache@sideache.net
1. Technology for blog site set up is low and accessible (Type.com)
Who should have a blog? Anyone with credibility in a field.
2. Teach people now through repetition where to go for info.
3. Site operators for a consortium have to be trained in information distribution, to screen and evaluate information to put out (accuracy first).
4. Simulation and drills are important.
5. Decision-makers need to know about the Napoleon sergeant. You have to test the understanding of the information that you have transfered to folks below you. Do they have the ability to convey it back to you accurately?
6. If you run anything, you should have your own website.
7. Voice, video, and picture will rule over text.
8. Interactivity: people come up with questions that need answers (Q&As).
9. Stop panic situations through information VERY QUICKLY.
10. Liability for bad information.
11. Language, language: to inform everyone, then you must communicate in all languages.
12. People will come to you for information if your information is good, and you can generate interest and revenues, as well as help people change their behaviors.
sideache@sideache.net
Disney & Pixar: A Done Deal
All of the rumors are now history, the Disney – Pixar deal is complete.
The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) said Tuesday it is buying longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios Inc. (PIXR) for $7.4 billion in a deal that could restore Disney's animation domination while vaulting Pixar CEO Steve Jobs into a powerful role at the media conglomerate.I think Jobs will make a difference, but the key player in all of this in my opinion is John Lasseter.
Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will be become Chief Creative Officer of the animation studios and Principal Creative Adviser at Walt Disney Imagineering, which designs and builds the company's theme parks.This is the exciting news. Lasseter as Chief Creative Officer.
"Now, everyone can focus on what is most important, creating innovative stories, characters and films that delight millions of people around the world."Hear, Hear!! Disney to focus on Story and Character once again.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Family Fun
I had a great weekend with the family. My boys love cars, as I have mentioned before. I told my wife years ago that when we had kids, I would pick up a classic and work on it with them in order to teach them about turning a wrench. My goal was to get it while they were young so that I could work my way through it before they were old enough to lend a hand. Well, I started shopping for a classic this summer. What to get? It had to be a middle fifties to early seventies. When I started looking, my daily driver went to car heaven. So that idea was put on hold.
I ended up buying a new Mini Cooper. My boys loved the new car. That started the ball rolling. We joined a car club that I found on-line. Mini Owners of America Los Angeles. Come to find out, it is one of the largest active car clubs in SoCal and the largest Mini Club in the U.S. The club consists of owners of both classics and new Mini’s. Our first car run had over 100 minis tooling through Long Beach. My boys loved the classics. So instead of a muscle car, we found a classic after a couple months searching, perfect for garage space economy. They are a blast to drive.
We piled into the new Mini this weekend and headed out with about sixty other cars and drove through Palos Verdes and San Pedro. Through the hills and along the coast, it was a beautiful day in southern California. I apologize to those in the rest of the country, I don’t mean to rub it in, but we get to do this all year around. I drove, mom navigated and the boys kept us informed of who we passed and who passed us. These are memories. Next month, we’ll make more memories tooling through the hills above Pasadena. Maybe we’ll break out the 1962 Cooper.
1962 Austin Mini Cooper and 2005 BMW Mini Cooper
Getting started at Ports O Call. We’re the yellow one on the far left.
Moving up into the coastal hills.
I ended up buying a new Mini Cooper. My boys loved the new car. That started the ball rolling. We joined a car club that I found on-line. Mini Owners of America Los Angeles. Come to find out, it is one of the largest active car clubs in SoCal and the largest Mini Club in the U.S. The club consists of owners of both classics and new Mini’s. Our first car run had over 100 minis tooling through Long Beach. My boys loved the classics. So instead of a muscle car, we found a classic after a couple months searching, perfect for garage space economy. They are a blast to drive.
We piled into the new Mini this weekend and headed out with about sixty other cars and drove through Palos Verdes and San Pedro. Through the hills and along the coast, it was a beautiful day in southern California. I apologize to those in the rest of the country, I don’t mean to rub it in, but we get to do this all year around. I drove, mom navigated and the boys kept us informed of who we passed and who passed us. These are memories. Next month, we’ll make more memories tooling through the hills above Pasadena. Maybe we’ll break out the 1962 Cooper.
1962 Austin Mini Cooper and 2005 BMW Mini Cooper
Getting started at Ports O Call. We’re the yellow one on the far left.
Moving up into the coastal hills.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Pixar And Disney, Wedded Bliss?
Reports are flying about that Disney has purchased Pixar.
Job's and mouse ears? We'll have to wait and see. This news can't stay a secret for long.
If only Chicken Little had done better.
LOS ANGELES Jan 19, 2006 — The Walt Disney Co.'s possible acquisition of Pixar Animation Studio could make Pixar CEO Steve Jobs a member of Disney's board and its single largest shareholder, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Job's and mouse ears? We'll have to wait and see. This news can't stay a secret for long.
Both companies declined comment to The Associated Press Thursday. Pixar has made several hit movies, including "Toy Story" and "Finding Nemo." Jobs is its largest shareholder, with more than 60 million shares, or 50.6 percent, according to Pixar's filings with securities regulators last year. At its current share price, his stake is worth about $3.44 billion. Jobs also heads Apple Computer Inc., the maker of the hugely successful iPod music and video player.
"Investors may hope that Mr. Jobs' successful track record at Pixar and Apple will rub off more broadly on Disney," Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research, wrote in a report Thursday.
If only Chicken Little had done better.
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Fatherhood
I love my boys and hope for their best - not in a material way. They give me great joy even though they can frustrate the heck out of me on those rare occasions. I married into a "Leave it to Beaver" family - loving, supportive. My father-in-law is a wonderful man and you couldn't ask for a better mother-in-law. My wife possesses their wonderful qualities. I married waaay above my station. I know families like this exist because of personal experience even though Hollywood would have us believe they are really hiding monsters in the closet. Having said this, I know that no family is perfect.
I would like my boys to think of me as a good father. What makes a good father? A lot of thoughts come to mind. But one thought keeps pushing forward - before anything else - my boys must think of me as a good husband to their mother.
That was kind of a Dr Phil moment - eh -er - I'm off to pull an engine now.
Sideache
sideache@sideache.com
I would like my boys to think of me as a good father. What makes a good father? A lot of thoughts come to mind. But one thought keeps pushing forward - before anything else - my boys must think of me as a good husband to their mother.
That was kind of a Dr Phil moment - eh -er - I'm off to pull an engine now.
Sideache
sideache@sideache.com
Shamelss Self Promotion
I received word that I will have two of my illustrations included in "Painter: The World's Finest Painter Art" published by Ballistic. Painter features 209 images produced by 135 artists worldwide and is the first publication featuring art produced in the digital program Painter. Below is one of the included images - A World War Two Stuart M-5
Sideache
Sideache
Friday, January 20, 2006
I Have a Hope
This past Sunday my wife worked in one of my son’s Sunday school classes, so I attended service alone. Now I have to preface everything else that I say with an admission of bias. I like hymns, old hymns. This doesn’t mean that I don’t like modern choruses. I just don’t care for the ones that repeat over and over and over and over and over and over… you get the idea.
They don’t prepare me for worship. It has the opposite affect. Case in point, a whlie back a friend of mine was standing next to me at a service and we sang a one phrased line that went “I have a hope that will never fade away”. This went on for almost eight minutes. I’m not exaggerating. OK – maybe I am, by one minute. At about the five-minute mark, my friend leans toward me and sings, “I have a song that will never go away”. As I smirked and looked around, I noticed a lot of others looking around too. They had a collective look on their faces that appeared to say, somebody bump the turntable to get this record unstuck. It just seemed to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on – you get the idea.
Sunday we sang another song that seemed to have no end. I looked around and noticed that others were fading after a certain point. I know I may be approaching a sore subject for some, but you have to admit, after a certain point, God must hear me sing, “I have a hope that will never fade away”.
One thing about old hymns, you know they are uniquely for the Church. As I analyze some modern choruses, I notice that they can be sang with equal meaning in a church, in a temple, in a mosque, and in a reading room. Another thing I notice is that many of these songs are focused on me, and about me. I have a hope – I bless you – I, I, me, me. I like choruses and hymns that instruct and inform, the kind that are uniquely for the Church – you know, the big slab of meat songs. Some day I hope we get past this phase of repetition. I have a hope.
sideache@sideache.net
They don’t prepare me for worship. It has the opposite affect. Case in point, a whlie back a friend of mine was standing next to me at a service and we sang a one phrased line that went “I have a hope that will never fade away”. This went on for almost eight minutes. I’m not exaggerating. OK – maybe I am, by one minute. At about the five-minute mark, my friend leans toward me and sings, “I have a song that will never go away”. As I smirked and looked around, I noticed a lot of others looking around too. They had a collective look on their faces that appeared to say, somebody bump the turntable to get this record unstuck. It just seemed to go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on – you get the idea.
Sunday we sang another song that seemed to have no end. I looked around and noticed that others were fading after a certain point. I know I may be approaching a sore subject for some, but you have to admit, after a certain point, God must hear me sing, “I have a hope that will never fade away”.
One thing about old hymns, you know they are uniquely for the Church. As I analyze some modern choruses, I notice that they can be sang with equal meaning in a church, in a temple, in a mosque, and in a reading room. Another thing I notice is that many of these songs are focused on me, and about me. I have a hope – I bless you – I, I, me, me. I like choruses and hymns that instruct and inform, the kind that are uniquely for the Church – you know, the big slab of meat songs. Some day I hope we get past this phase of repetition. I have a hope.
sideache@sideache.net
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