Now that our new house is somewhat in order, I thought I’d take a moment and invite you into my home theater room (or as my wife refers to it: my “nerd lair”). It’s definitely not the geek cave that I had in the past, as I’ve decided to only display some of my more useful or favorite items – leaving the real nerdy stuff (action figures, 15 cartons of comics, etc) in my corner of the garage where it probably belongs. This time around, I went for more of a design element, creating my ‘FrankenShelf’ from Ikea’s BESTA line and its high gloss white cabinet doors. This view is only of the media wall, which my 20mm lens makes look way farther away than it is in real life – the reverse angle would show two giant, black recliners where I “sit away the calories playing video games”.
When I’m not locked away in my office writing code and participating in conference calls, I like to sneak out into the studio and see what the rest of the folks are doing. Here’s a few shots that I’ve taken at work lately.
This morning I took a break from my php coding and internet strategery to save the world (yet again). Diego was out sick, so instead I teamed-up with Kai Lan and Dora The Explorer to go on an adventure. We did some counting, organized shapes and colors, and then KILLED THE LAST UNICORN. All of this ended with a cheerful music number, followed by shots of Barenjager.
Ok, not really. Dora and Kai Lan actually came by the Daily Buzz studio this morning to promote their touring Nickelodeon show. We brought in Eliza, so that she could meet her idols. They were super-friendly (as expected) and were accompanied by a large bouncer/stylist. My daughter waved goodbye to them from inside our office as I snapped a final shot of them getting into a towncar – not onto a Pegasus, which is banned from the Full Sail parking lots. It sorta looks like TMZ was following Dora around town, right?
This weekend, while unpacking boxes, I came across one of the many “nerd boxes” (as my wife calls them) containing various “collectibles” (which I like to call them) including my Star Trek dolls. So I decided to grab the entire crew of the U.S.S. Voyager and let my little toddler monster play house with them. I dumped them on the floor in front her, strategically timed to distract her while I assembled a mammoth Ikea entertainment center. It didn’t work, since she ended-up having a million questions about each doll. You know, typical stuff like, “Why don’t they have the same uniforms as the DS9 crew since they were active during the same stardate?” and “Shouldn’t Lieutenant-Commander Tuvok be wearing blue, rather than yellow?” So I had to take time to explain to her that the ship was out-of-contact in the Gamma Quadrant before Starfleet went to war with the Jem’Hadar and switched to the newer uniforms, and that Tuvok was a science officer earlier in his career, but wore yellow because the was a Tactical officer now.
I feel like I’m on vacation. Maybe it’s because, in the midst of all of our intense relocation efforts, we went to DisneyWorld. That’s right, we didn’t last three days before going to the Magic Kingdom (and tomorrow we’re going to SeaWorld). Actually, it’s kinda perfect that we’re taking a little time off as a family. We didn’t get a chance to celebrate our adoption anniversary, and now we also get to celebrate getting pre-approved for a home loan. The house hunting has already begun, and my chances of having a secret lair or ‘man cave” are still pretty good.
I can’t believe that it’s already been a week since our whole moving ordeal and partial cross-country trip! Logistical nightmare. Also, it was surreal to see the urban landscape transform from the Texas South back to “The South”. You know, I probably should have noticed it sooner, as the number of Cracker Barrel restaurants increased significantly, but it was driving past the thirty anti-abortion billboards in Pensacola that made me go, “Oh yeah. This kind of stuff again.” Though, now that we’re in Orlando I’m finding it to be less “The South” and more just “Awesome America”. All in one region we have: palm trees, theme parks, water parks, alligator hunting, nearly every fast food and retail chain, NASA, NASCAR, and Daytona Beach.
America, fuck yeah.
It looks like my new weight loss plan (called, “Just Stop Eating Like a Pig”) will have to be put on hold, as I now freak out every time I see 7-Eleven and can start drinking Slurpees again. And I’m thrilled to have a fridge filled again with gallons of Publix brand Diet Sweet Tea. It’s a gift from the Sucralose Gods.
Eliza loves watching us pack up the house, so much in fact, that she wanted to be part of the action. So I gave her a large wardrobe box to play in (which kept her entertained for about 20 golden minutes), and here’s a few of the shots I snapped while she played.
I’m trying to start posting more of my daily workflow on the blog, but since I don’t really have any shots of me pushing paper or sitting in meetings today, I’ll go with this image from Friday’s promo shoot at Miller Outdoor Theater. On that afternoon I had a chance to play with some wicked, new lighting equipment.
For an impromptu still image (I was shooting video at the time) I think it came out rather well. Though I can’t take too much credit. Between Dominique and my Canon 5DII being awesome, all I had to do was push the button on top of the camera.
Four Rivers Smokehouse
Full Sail 2
NYPD Pizza
Aveda Institute
TrenD
