Redeeming creation one byte at a time
Archive for December, 2006
Urbana: We’re here
0I’m going to post more detailed entries this week, but I thought I would kick things off. We’re in St. Louis, and I’m writing this in the lobby of the Renissance Grand. We got through registration and we’re about to go to the orientation dinner for staff/volunteers. It’s weird that in 10 years, Urbana has changed quite a bit. It’s quite a bit bigger and as we passed by the Edward Jones Dome on the way in, it’s a whole different scale than my first experience.
We just got back from our orientation to our job assignments. For the technical end of the site, take a look @ Urbana.org starting tomorrow night. Expect the video to come up about 2 or so hours after the evening session concludes. I’ll be uploading the video and encoding it (along with 3 others); it’ll be in flash format. There will also be mp3s that will be downloadable.
It’ll be some good times; the director of the site bought us some Starbucks giftcards which could be some indication of what this week will look like. I’ve been looking forward to large amounts of caffeine :).
As we look at agencies, there are 17 potential ones we’ll check out at some point during the week. We’ll be scoping those out during our free time.
So tonight, sleep, and we’ll go from there.
News from the day: the next week, a podcast (maybe), and switching over, at least to Urbana coverage.
0Just some brief news from the Juvinall family:
I’m finishing grading from the semester today. Over the next week, I’m taking a brief break from blogging (unless something cool comes up) and catching up on some reading. Specifically, Edward Tufte’s new book and U2byU2. Starting Monday, we’ll be traveling, first to Danville and then on to Urbana @ St. Louis where Melissa and I will be working with Paul Grant on the Urbana.org webcast.
I’m going to bring some of my stuff down and hopefully do a TWiT-style podcast (maybe) that I’ll post up here (it depends on how ambitious I am and what I’m doing). At the very least, Notes… will switch over to Urbana coverage and what we’re doing each day. So, get outside, drink some hot chocolate and I’ll see you all in a week.
Merry Christmas!
Heard at the house part 2
12352 days
Tonight at the house:
“When I grow up, I’m going to be a naked Santa Claus.”
“She’s a Copycock (Peacock)!” When pointing to a lady with a large hat in his picture book.”
Heard at the house – a new catagory
12355 days
Aidan came by work today with MJ to visit for lunch and to go trolling for some of the food to be had (today was the apex, if you will, of food at work) and I mentioned to someone that there really wasn’t a day that he didn’t make us laugh.
Seriously, living with a three year old is like having a stand up comic in Bob the builder pull ups. He understands words and knows meaning but hasn’t quite got the idea of thinking through an action yet; he just talks…alot, and it’s fun to be around.
We just wish we could get some of these things down. This may be spun into another who separate blog, but for now it’s a category.
Our first four things heard at the house:
“Mommy” (with arms crossed above his head) “I’m an ‘X’; you need to put me on the refridgerator”
(while running into the bathroom while I’m doing my thing) “Daddy, I’m watching you peeing! You’re doing a great job! We’re at home!”
After calling him ‘Monkey’ – a pet name for him:
“I’m not a monkey, I’m an Aidan!”
In the midst of an argument in the car between MJ and me:
“Daddy, Mommy, CALM DOWN!”
Random Musing: Why I like being in the 30′s
0Just a random quick musing. I was on Pigeon John’s myspace page just a little bit ago and thought about something. What is it about being in your 30′s that really juices up your creativity?
As I look around at the art I like, I’m seeing alot of people who are in their 30′s who have been working their craft for a while and are turning out some of their best work. Joey Belville, of the Echoing Green, for an example is in the process of creating one of their best CDs – friends that write and work in publishing are getting some excellent work done and I could go on. The last couple of projects I’ve turned out have been some of my best, most complex, work to date, IMO.
Is excellence a function of passion? Do people who enjoy and are passionate at what they do and have done for a while churn out quality? Regardless, it feels good to see people who are at the top of their game that are my age.
Apologies if that sounds too, I don’t know…arrogant?