Don's Early Light

Complacent, or Contentment?

2010-10-28T14:37:00.000-07:00

I've been struggling with an odd sensation lately... an absence of ambition. One might think depression or anxiety goes with that, but for me, I'm neither depressed nor fidgety (well apart from my normal bouncing knees when I sit). I discovered this as I tried to set some goals that would motivate me. And I found that I think I pretty much have everything I want out of life.

Happily married
I love where I live
I like my career
I have great friends and family
I have a car that I love
I game regularly
...

Sure there are things I'd like to have, but I've just noticed a kind of lack of passion. The things that used to drive me don't anymore. I'm not unhappy about it, it's actually kind of peaceful.

I feel like something's wrong. Something's missing and I don't know what it is. I'm strangely comfortable and content. Maybe it's complacency?

Camille helped me see that I really haven't done anything truly creative (apart from gaming) since we moved to LA. So yeah, no creative movement probably suggests the lack of a particular passion. But you can't just force that, decide to be passionate about something, or create something when you're not really inspired and you're basically okay with that.

Except I guess I'm not because I'm writing about it, and questioning it. It's just the first time in my life I look around and go, you know, things are pretty great. But I'm only 32, that can't mean I'm done. I got a LONG ways to go.

Help me out folks, what do you think?

My next blog post

2010-03-29T22:09:00.000-07:00

Will be way better than this one. I pulled this up as I felt like I had something to say, and then stared at a screen for 2 minutes and realized I really don't.

I have seeds of ideas and reflections that just starting out. I'll disclose them later. Disclose. That's a word I've picked up from my insurance studies.

And who the crap ever thought I'd be studying insurance and securities? I went to PLU and got a degree in Classical Languages because I was going to spank everyone in Biblical Hermeneutics thanks to my ability to read the ancient languages... Ah yes, well that fell through. But my education did give me a rudimentary system of critical thinking and a higher awareness, and a serious amount of close friends that have lasted all this time... Including some professors!

And what have I learned so far, now that I'm almost 32?

When you graduate from High School, you kinda think you know a lot. When you get to college, realize you don't know crap. When you graduate from college, you have a sense of entitlement.Hey, I have a college education. People are supposed to hire me. WRONG! Wait, but I paid all that money. I got great grades. I did everything right... Too bad. The world is not college. You have to pay your dues just like everyone else who didn't go to college.

But in college you learn how to think for yourself, or at least ask good questions. That WILL help. But lose the entitlement stuff. Just accept your lot, take your life by the scruff, and do something about it. Seize opportunities. You could die tomorrow. No really, you could. It sounds like a cop-out, but it happens every day.

But what's the point? Right now, I think the point is to know thyself. Sort out your priorities, and make your life enjoyable. Zombieland had some great things I think apply:

Rule number 1: Cardio. Start exercising, fatass. Or skinnyass. The zombie apocalypse could happen tomorrow, and you'd be food. And as an added benefit of getting in shape to outrun the evils of the world, you actually do feel better and maybe don't hold as many grudges in life because you just kind of work them out. It's similar for dogs. If you exercise your dogs regularly and rigorously, they stop being pains in the ass. Same goes for humans. Thank you Caesar.

Rule number 2: Doubletap. Well that's just common sense.

But one he added later on in the movie, was: Enjoy the small things.

Last night it was windy as heck, and then it rained like crazy. We had the window open in our bedroom. I've had a hard time going to sleep at night. Just with all the studying and the concentrating and the new information racing through my brain... but the sound of the wind howling out there through the trees, sang me right to sleep.

I love where I live.

I also love my wife very much. I don't think I tell her it as much as I should. (I know, we all think that, but again, maybe we outta do something about that). The thing that I think is amazing is how she tolerates me and even supports me. Don't get me wrong, she draws the line and I respect the hell out of that line when it's drawn... but yeah, thanks babe. I'm a handful.

Holiday Rum-inations

2009-12-24T13:24:00.000-08:00

I have a definite lack of rum in my eggnog. It's a problem.

In less than 2 hours I leave for the airport to fly down to Burbank to meet my lovely bride for Christmas Eve. We'll be attending midnight church service tonight, and then figuring out our driving plans for tomorrow. Traffic SHOULD be light on Christmas day, one would think. I think we'll make the best of it.

Well, we did it. We've up and moved from California. Cindy's retaining her job and working remotely, and I am unemployed looking for work. Currently I have three prospects. One is a local VW dealership, that also sells Audi and Porsche. Very nice place, great reputation. If I'm going to sell cars, that's where I want to do it. I'm also pursuing heavily an opportunity with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. I'm setting up an interview with the other financial consultant here in Bellingham for next week. Finally, I also have an opportunity where Dupp works. A sales position just opened up that I definitely fit the bill for. I am continuing to look for opportunities, and I have faith that Cindy and I will be okay, despite the amount of credit card debt we've had to rack up for this move. The credit card debt stresses me out a little. We've been credit card debt free for a while now. But I still feel this was the right move. And I love our new place.

Dead Gentlemen Productions is turning a few new leaves with new projects in the works. We are finally getting to a point where several people are contributing content. We're not totally there yet, but we're definitely stepping in the right direction to spread out the workload. For years we've struggled to answer the question "What is a Dead Gentlemen Productions?" Does it have to be a comedy? Is it feature films? Is it only gaming related? Originally we had set out to be the next Monty Python, or at least our own incarnation of a similar group. Recently I had an epiphany about this question and I'm acting on it. A Dead Gentlemen Production is something that the Dead Gentlemen do together. Whatever it is. It's the group of people who work together that make it special, and it's special and it works because it's those people who are making it together. So rather than genre or whatnot, I've made that the center in determining what project to do, and why it should be done. I feel responsible for a lot of the rifts and disagreements with Ben and Matt because I didn't have this understanding before. I felt obligated to a certain genre, or catering to a particular audience. Both of those foci are incorrect if DGP is ever going to grow beyond their current successes, and I feel like I've alienated some people because of that. I just hope it's not too late. If it is, I think DGP will be looking for a new president. I don't want to run a company that doesn't include the people I want to work with. Kind of leads into my next Rum-ination: purpose.

I still struggle every day trying to find a sense of purpose. I just dug up some old journals of mine and reread them. I had such a strong sense of purpose a decade ago. Even 6 or 7 years ago. This time alone these past few weeks, up here by myself, settling in, sorting things out... it's been a good time for reflection. I've identified that I lack a cause nowadays. Cindy and I had strong causes back in college, just those few years just outside of college. But I think it's faded. Taken for granted unintentionally. We both chose to turn away from becoming ordained pastors because we wanted to be married to each other and not a congregation. I've sought out in some prayer if I or we should be thinking about seminary again, and I still don't feel pulled in that direction. I'm thankful that the church might have lost me as a pastor, but the gained Chris Ode. It's almost like we swapped lives or paths there at one point. Maybe I should ask him what he was going to do before he was called to ministry. :)

I know a few basic things I want out of life. I want to buy a house and plant some effing roots and stop moving every year. I have averaged a move once a year for the past 13 years. I'm sick of it. I also want to start having children in the next couple years. There, I said it.

Think I'll use my plane ride down to Burbank to do some goal setting and some objectives to reach those goals, with timelines. If you don't set goals, you'll never reach them.

Happy Holidays everyone. Merry Christmas. Think of us tomorrow as we make our drive back up to the PNW.

WinterAwesome Stew

2009-12-03T13:52:00.001-08:00

Ingredients:

1 package beef stew meat

1 package ground Italian Sausage (spicy to your own taste, I chose Hot)

1 large chopped yellow onion

16 - 18 garlic cloves (about 12 chopped, the rest whole)

8 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cubed

1 package button mushrooms, halved or quartered

1/3 cup bourbon... okay maybe 1/2 cup :)

32oz Beef Broth
1 package fresh basil

1 package fresh oregano

28oz can whole tomatoes

Salt

Pepper

3 tablespoons cooking oil or olive oil

Directions:

In a large stew pot, heat oil on high. Add chopped onions and chopped garlic and stir for 30-45 seconds or until slightly softened. Add potatoes and stir for about a minute. Salt and pepper the beef and add to the pot. Add ground pepper and salt to taste. Stir until beef is browned on all sides. Add ground Italian sausage. Stir until slightly browned (about 2-3 minutes). Stir in beef broth and tomatoes, crushing the whole tomatoes as you add them, and bring to a boil. Add bourbon and mushrooms, turn down heat, cover, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Chop half of the basil and add to the pot. Add the rest whole. Chop and add oregano to taste. (I used about half the package). Let simmer uncovered. Serve when you can't stand waiting anymore.

And so begins Chapter 5...

2009-11-09T10:55:00.001-08:00

If you've been following Cindy and my Facebook pages, you probably already know the news. We're moving back to Bellingham! The decision came very quickly and unexpectedly, but it mainly boiled down to answering the question: What do we want out of life?

We can't seem to find the answer in LA. We came down here for a huge opportunity through my work. It was going to open a lot of doors, and I would be able to be regularly involved with the Industry. (Entertainment Industry, duh.) We already had Matt and Camille down here. At the time, it was the right decision. I was getting a significant pay raise. Cindy eventually found a really great job.

But we all know that the economy wasn't doing well. The writer's strike happened. Then the actor's negotiations, then really, nothing was happening in Hollywood. It spiraled out into every other industry in the area. It was like an earthquake with an epicenter in Hollywood. Everything was shaken up. Some businesses folded. Some shook off several of their employees in order to survive. Then, I got the shake.

Standing on ground zero, unemployed, none of my movie connections were hiring, and like so many other people like me, I asked: Now what? What am I now going to do with my life? For a career?

With a short stint of unemployment, I got hired with a VW dealership. Learned quickly about the cars, and started selling them. But it sucked up my life. The commute is terrible, and it seems no matter how successful I am in the car business, I still come home feeling empty.

More and more businesses leaving the State. Productions being shot in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico. Anyone in the biz is clamoring over the same positions. And movie distributors are struggling with their identity and business structure, asking how will we be profitable as technologies advance? How do we monetize these new things. Of course, that's if, and I mean IF, they even recognize the threat at all. A large number of distributors seem to be in a huge state of denial.

Production-wise, it seemed we Dead Gentlemen were doing it right the first time... we're just way better at it now, and know how to do more.

On top of all this, Cindy and I want to start on children soon. We asked the question, if we had the opportunity, where would we want to live to do that? Bellingham.

Suddenly, it's like the opportunity machine just turned on. With a leap of faith, we just decided to bite the bullet and make the commitment to moving there. And it is a leap of faith. Not everything is settled. But spiritually we feel pulled back there, we just know it's right. Somehow it will all work out. It's going to be tight. I don't even have employment yet. And there doesn't seem to be much in the way of it up there. But somehow God will provide.

And if confirmation was needed... Jeremy and Katy are having a baby and are making plans to move to the PNW. Matt's Journeyquest is getting off the ground. See his blog post here: The Quest Begins. Ben is up to his eyeballs in projects and opportunities. And I have finally received inspiration for my own project to develop.

Chapter 1: Growing up in Idaho
Chapter 2: The College Years at PLU in Tacoma
Chapter 3: Living and working in the PNW, from Bellingham to Tacoma
Chapter 4: The Big City - Los Angeles
Chapter 5: ??? buying a house and starting a family in Bellingham?

More...

2009-10-04T08:53:00.001-07:00

More pictures from Germany on its way. Haven't had time to compile them.

We're also going to be doing "Best of" pics, and maybe a slideshow with music and either narration or captions to go along with it.

More Germany Pictures

2009-09-25T03:02:00.001-07:00

Germany Photos... In Progress

2009-09-23T08:58:00.001-07:00

In a fog bank...

2009-08-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

Until I found my faith in God, I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I remember in junior high I was looking at being a helicopter pilot. Sounded interesting. Seemed like everyone in my family wanted me to do "something with computers", whatever that meant, and so of course that's exactly what I didn't want to do. Once Faith became a part of my life, it wasn't long when I found a direction, the Calling.

At the time I interpreted that to be a Lutheran minister, and to be more specific, a missionary to Mormons. Ah, young and infantile faith... so judgmental. Well when Wisdom finally made clear that I was being a judgmental douchebag with that line of "mission", I pursued what it meant to be a "person of faith". That quest turned out to be much nobler, and guess what? I made a lot more friends that way too. And all through college, I had it easy. I was going to just go to seminary after I get my BA... and so I might as well study something that will put me leagues ahead of other seminarians when it comes to Biblical translation and Classical contexts: I would major in Classical Languages.

While I was studying Ancient Greek and Latin, that "ham" part of me came out again. What? Did I forget to mention that apparently I love to be the center of attention? Let me digress a bit: Goes back to when I was a little tyke, always smiling for the camera, hogging the limelight. I even would simulate playing in a rock band with cardboard instruments. I even filmed it. In high school, I discovered what I could do with a camcorder, shooting stuff and editing with 2 VCRs connected with RCA cables. In college I got a job with the TV services department, shooting plays and editing school events. I found myself in a group of friends who were actors, writers, creative thinkers, and mostly Lutheran. It was GREAT! I even decided to take a course called "Acting for the non-actor", which is pretty much me. The professor said I had a natural talent and I should try out for the next play. I got in! And it was so much fun.

I found myself totally enamored with acting, directing, putting stuff together... my friends and I even made a little video together when we had the time. I even got to be in front of the camera.

But this wasn't always the creative outlet I had. I used to draw. I wasn't too shabby with charcoal pencils. I used to play the clarinet, and a little bit of the sax...

But I've digressed long enough...

I started out talking about at one point I didn't know what to do with my life. Then I found something. I think I've ended that journey and I'm back feeling like I did in junior high. Why not ministry? What happened with that?
- When I was graduating college, the Church basically told me I couldn't go to seminary until I had less debt. THAT was NOT in the plans. Once that came to a screeching halt, and I had to figure out what to do next, Dead Gentlemen Productions gave me a purpose. I would strive to be a filmmaker. We proceeded to do some great stuff together. I accomplished some things I am very personally proud of. I did good. Also during that time, my home church pastor essentially got booted out of his congregation because the congregation just didn't get along or didn't agree with him... whatever it was, it was lame. Then, the pastor Cindy and I got attached to when we were living in Bellingham also basically got the boot, and I don't care what anyone says, her being a strong woman had a lot to do with it. She really inspired me, and to see the congregation turn on her like that really soured me. When Cindy left seminary to come and start our lives together, she brought with her another thing I hadn't really given much thought to: She left her path of becoming a Lutheran Pastor because she didn't want to be married to me and the church at the same time. That REALLY resonated with me, and still does.

Why not be a filmmaker? Afterall, I am living in Los Angeles now...
-Right now I have no personal inspiration. It's a bit like after I had directed Demon Hunters: Dead Camper Lake, and then had to move back to Idaho, and the guys went on to make The Gamers without me... It's a bit like that now. Not that I take it personally, I just don't have anything I'm inspired to do. Matt's all inspired now with his next awesome project.. which again feels like it did with The Gamers... meaning it's the next hit, the next project that's really going to propel him and anyone along with him, and there's really not a place for me. Not right now. It's not a "poor me" statement. I'm a car salesman. I work 6 days a week. I sleep on my day off...

Back up in the Pacific NorthWest, Ben is getting his big project off the ground too. Which is awesome and will be successful because there's so much positive energy behind it. I again don't really have the capacity to participate. So here I am supporting in the sidelines.

Again, this is all fine, but to turn myself around, I would need a project of my own to be inspired to do. When I moved back from Idaho to Tacoma, I had Revamping Doyle. Right now, I got nothing. And besides, having been down here, and seeing what it takes to be a filmmaker professionally, I don't really think it's what I want as a career. But I do love being in the director's chair, I do love coordinating and collaborating with a great crew and actors, hell I even like at times being the producer/"bossman" type on a project I really believe in, like The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. But I had time to do all that then.

The difference between then and now is that now I don't really have a project I'm personally inspired to do... Starting to feel pretty out of touch with the entertainment industry.

So I've built up my strengths through a variety of roles, jobs, and even career paths. They all culminate to this point. And as I look out into the landscape ahead of me, all I see is fog. All my friends seem far away. My family IS far away. I don't know which direction I'm going. And I don't yet have a reason to take a step forward... and by reason I mean a sense of purpose. A goal. An inspiration. I can always do a job to pay the bills. But I want to work to live, not live to work.

I used to write stanzas, I used to draw. I used to play an instrument. I used to act. I used to create videos. I used to have a radio show (forgot to mention that part). I used to game regularly. Ultimately I know I'm lacking a creative outlet.

Recently I had a conversation with one of my classics professors from college. He suggested I consider the foreign service or the CIA... seriously. It is an interesting time right now, and the idea of eventually becoming a diplomat sounds kind of inspiring. But I'm not quite in touch with what all this means yet, so I'm still doing my homework on this.

Either way, I feel a little isolated by my circumstances, and therefore I also feel like whatever direction I'm drifting towards, it might mean away from the people I've been so close to. That's more than terrifying, and a lot depressing.

I just try and remain open, and trust God to lead me. Send some positive energy my way, and maybe pray for me for some clarity and some inspiration. Thanks.

The Truth About "Cash for Clunkers"

2009-07-27T19:30:00.000-07:00

More like "Cash for A-holes"...

I heard this story on NPR explaining how the new CARS program is going to work, and for the most part, David Shephard from the Detroit News was fairly spot on... except that part at the end.

Click on the link and listen to the story.

As many of you know, I work for a dealer who is participating in the CARS program. Here's how the program works from my understanding:

1. If you have a car you think would qualify to turn over, go to www.cars.gov and plug in your car and see if it qualifies. You can also go to www.fueleconomy.gov.

2. If your car qualifies, according to David Shephard and "other consumer reports", you should then go to a dealer of your choice and select the car you want to buy, but don't mention you have a "clunker" until you have done the deal. This is where I get pissed off.

There IS a reason why car sales people have such a bad reputation. You the consumer go into a car dealership with the expectation that the salesperson is going to try and screw you over. So it's screw them over or get screwed over. The problem is, most customers don't have a CLUE what the car they are trying to buy is worth. Even if they do the research online... a "good deal" is totally subjective. My manager once told me that he's been in the car business for several years. He knows the industry well, he makes deals, he negotiates with the banks, etc. If he were to walk into a Ford dealership or a GMC dealership, he STILL wouldn't know whether or not the deal they offered him was a "good deal".

When it comes right down to it, you, the buyer, have a budget in mind. You walk into a dealership trying to buy a more expensive car than you can afford, and try and get the dealership to cram it into the budget restraits YOU set out for yourself. It has NOTHING to do with the actual value of the car. And it's up to the dealership to decide if they are going to DEVALUE the car for you so that you can take it home. Sometimes that gap is reasonable, most of the time it's not.

There's a famous book out there that teaches you how to buy a car, and in it they tell you if you have a trade-in vehicle, to bring that up after you have settled on the deal. This is smart for the consumer, and both annoying for the dealership as well as USUALLY disappointing to the customer. But the reason why the book recommends it is correct. Many dealership inflate their trade-in value by taking what it's actually worth and adding on some of their profit from the vehicle you want to buy, thereby showing you a "discount" on the vehicle and showing you more for the trade-in. But if you go in, negotiate your "rock bottom price" and then bring up the trade-in, don't be surprised when your POS car is not worth what you think it is.

In fact, we tell a lot of our customers to take their trade-in to CarMax. It's less hassel for us, and CarMax almost always pays more on trade-ins/wholesale transactions than the dealerships will. The reason is, they have access to the markets where YOUR call will likely sell for the highest amount of money, so they're able to pay you a higher dollar amount.

Where most people's disappointment is when they negotiate this "rock bottom deal" with the salesperson, and everyone's happy because the payment is perfect and we're ready to sell/buy the car, and THEN you bring up the trade-in, it's then, we the salespeople get to discover how upside down you are in your current vehicle, and when we roll the substantial negative equity that YOU owe on YOUR car, your payment doubles or raises significantly, and now you want to negotiate the price down back to where it was. Guess what? THERE'S NO ROOM LEFT! YOU JUST NEGOTIATED THE ROCK F*CK!NG BOTTOM PRICE!!!

Okay, but that's trade-ins. You're saying: Don, David Shephard was talking about the CARS program, not trade-ins.

You're right. He was. But he DIDN'T tell you what you need to bring in addition to your POS car you're going to turn in for a rebate, which I was hoping he would have, which would have made this tyraid unnecessary...

If you go into the dealership, after having qualified your car as a legitimate "Clunker" that will get you a rebate, and you wait until AFTER the deal has been negotiated to bring up that you have a qualified clunker to get your CARS rebate, the dealer then is going to ask you for the following:
- Proof that you have owned the car for more than a year (which means two consecutive years of registrations in your name)
- Proof that this clunker has been insured and drivable for more than one year (which means two consecutive years of insurance cards for your clunker car)
- The ORIGINAL title
- A printout of the side-by-side fuel economy comparison between your clunker and the car you want to buy

See, YOU are expecting the dealer to just give you $4,500.00 or $3,500.00 rebate, whichever one you qualify for. And when they ask you for it, you're not going to have it, because who the crap carries that stuff... then you're going to go home disappointed and upset, and thinking that dealership is trying to screw you over, and now you have to hunt for all this BS paperwork so you can get your freaking rebate... when it's actually the effing government not having their crap together in educating people about what it's going to take, and oh by the way, the "quick reference guide" for the dealers is like 80 pages long and you need to be a lawyer to read it. But that's not your concern...

So if you're going to be a douchebag, I mean, a smart, informed consumer, and bring up this CARS rebate program after you've negotiated your "rock bottom deal"... do your homework and bring all the required paperwork and make it easy for the dealership. You've already done all the hard work of negotiating the salesperson's paycheck away (does anyone find it weird that no one negotiates with a waiter their tip? Or with the cook how much they think the food was worth paying for?) at least do US the courtesy of bringing everything you're going to need to make the deal happen.

Oh, and about that "rock bottom price", I say it like that because that's what we always hear in the car industry "What's your rock bottom price"... You're not actually asking for the rock bottom price, you're asking for a starting point to begin your negotiation. You say you want to cut out the back and forth negotiating BS, but in the end you end up doing it anyway because no matter what number the dealer gives you, even if they've awarded you significant savings even in this economy, it's still not good enough because it doesn't fit in your budget. It's not because the dealer is trying to screw you, although at this point you may deserve it... it's because you're on the WRONG CAR.

Don't expect me to devalue my product just because you got a lower price at a different dealer. My car is a 4-door with premium audio, a sunroof, 18" wheels, an ipod adapter and leather seats. You have seen and touched my car, and my manager has given you an aggressive deal because we have taken our best guess as to what we could get away with on the car and what we think you would say yes to. It happens to be the maximum amount we're allowed to sell the car under invoice. Except you call around to other dealers and one gives you a price $1800 lower than the one we gave you. They say it's the same car, but until they give you a VIN number, the managers name, and what the deal is associated with that VIN, WE have NO reason to believe that deal. You're telling me Peter Pan will sell you the same car for $1800 less than what we quoted you, and we worked hard for your business. IT'S NOT THE SAME CAR. And how DARE you ask me to devalue my product because someone else said it costs less and aren't willing to prove it.

You don't negotiate how much you'll pay for groceries, or your cell phone bill, or your new refrigerator you buy at Best Buy...

It's a stupid cycle and both the customer AND the dealers/salespeople are equally to blame.

Find a sales person you like, someone you want to do business with. Do your homework, and by the way, Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds.com does not count as homework. That's a start, but until you get an offer from Kelly Blue Book to buy your trade-in, it doesn't count. They don't buy or sell cars. Your dealer knows the auctions and the market for what they can make a profit from your car, and if you don't like it, take it to CarMax and be done with it. But find a dealership, a salesperson and a manager you like that you want to support, negotiate a fair price for everyone involved, and be prepared.

Being prepared means bring all the necessary documentation you'll need. If you think you're credit's sketchy, bring some pay stubs, 3 months of your most recent bank statements showing income, a recent phone bill or something proving your address. Bring proof of insurance. Bring your driver's license.

Don't be an A-hole. If you're going to screw someone out of their paycheck, make sure you have everything you need to bring to transaction in order to make it happen.

Standing in a sink hole

2009-07-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

There is a lot out of whack in my life. I just read some ramblings from my good friend Kevin on his blog about living a balanced life. Kevin and I have shared similar life philosophies about work and play, relationships, etc. My grandfather has said a couple things that I think sum it up pretty well:

1. Most people work 5 days a week. If you have to, you work 6. If you can't do it in 6, you're not going to do it in 7, so you might as well take a day off.

I've mentioned this next one before:

2. Friends are the currency of life, and I always considered myself a rich man.

And in general, no specific saying here, but something about you might not have a tomorrow, so don't forget to live a little right now.

Well right now I have a serious imbalance in my life. I'm working too much, doing something I don't feel too much reward for doing. I've mentioned before that whatever I do for a career, I just want to make a difference in people's lives, as well as my own. For the better of course.

It's no wonder I was drawn to being a pastor when I was in high school and college. Sure I've thought about trying that path again, but after watching two of my mentors being ousted from their congregations, I think it's caused some serious trust issues with me. Now when I go to a congregation, I always feel like "now what responsibilities are they going to rope me in for?"

Used to be that I would get something out of serving. Being in sales now, however, it's all I do. So it all just feels like more work. Taking out of me, not giving back. And I don't seem to really get much out of church services any more. I don't sing and I don't enjoy singing as a form of worship, which is a draw for most people who go to church. If it were me, it'd go Confession and Absolution, Prayer of the Day, First & Second Lesson and Gospel, Homily, Communion, Offering, Benediction. Boom. Done.

Ramblings of my own I guess.

I wish I had more time to game. I wish my days off weren't all needing to be spent sleeping and catching up on laundry. I hate reading about the great things my wife and friends are doing on the weekend without me, and not being there with them.

My friend Chris Duppenthaler once asked me, "Don, if there was one thing you could make a living at doing, what would it be?"

I still don't have an answer.

He asked another one once, "If you could something of your choice, what would you sell?"

Still I got nothing.

And that's about where I am. Spiritual life is pretty dry. Personal life is pretty dry. Professional life is pretty dry. I feel like I'm missing out on something. I also feel like my career is right in front of me and I can't seem to see it.

I am an Autobot

2009-06-28T23:05:00.001-07:00

I don't know what the whole bad press thing is about. I frankly thought it was better than the first movie.

That said...

What's with the swearing? This is based on a kid's show. Obviously I'm not against swearing in movies, but it just doesn't seem to fit this one. Was odd.

Other than that, I was pretty happy with it. I've already surrendered to the fact that Michael Bay is ruining my childhood memories. So having accepted it, I'm rolling with it and trying to make the best of it. I still hate the design of the robots. But, nothing I can do about that. They got Peter Cullen. They brought in Soundwave, which was my favorite Transformer anyway.

Overall, I was pretty happy with it. Still miss Jazz though. Spoiler alert, they don't bring him back. :(

Typical Michael Bay film. Lots of stuff blowing up. Megan Fox is... well a fox, and he does not sacrifice camera angles in order to show her off. Wow. She is tasty.

I do wish the franchise wasn't just all about General Motors vehicles though. Totally lame. Suppose it covers the spectrum okay though, just... I miss Bumblee being... A BUG! I miss Optimus being that other kind of Semi, the boxie kind...

But whatever. At least I didn't really watch G.I. Joe as a kid, so the movie looks pretty cool to me. It's way lame and far fetched, which is just fine by me. I never got the draw growing up. I mean, I understood it was all about being The Real American Hero... but basically it was playing Army. Plenty of Army movies out there, so the concept seems a bit boring. The new take looks more interesting to me, and that is my own brand of hypocrisy with all my complaints about Transformers and He-Man movies.

Back to Transformers 2. I wouldn't own either movies, but I definitely think they are worth seeing in the theaters. It was a good time, and I never get tired of hearing Optimus Prime. I want an "Optimus Prime for President" bumper sticker.

Face + Brick Wall = Car Sales

2009-06-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

That about sums up my day. I'm not sure I've ever been more agitated in general.

Car sales seems to be perfect for single people, workaholics, or alcoholics, or any combination of those three. It's no wonder so many people have some kind of substance abuse in the car industry. A lot of the managers don't drink, but they smoke like crazy. In fact, most of the people at the dealership smoke.

Oh, and they're mostly conservatives too. Why is it I always find work, working for conservatives? I'll give them one thing, at least they have a job somehow.

I really miss the consultative outside sales life, working from home, and then going out and helping solve people's problems. There are a so many things I could be doing that fit that... why can't I think of one that pays anything?

Plus, it seems like when I'm the busiest at work, that's when everyone outside of my job needs something from me.

I'm spent. I'm frustrated. I'm aggravated. I'm not sleeping well. I don't get much of a day off.

I got no problem working hard for my money. I do have a problem missing out on life as a trade off for it.

Bleh, I need a purge.

UPDATE: Case in point... it's 3:30am. I can't fall back asleep because I'm thinking about that one of my customers that I have been working with through the internet, and then finally came in to get her car appraised (again I might add), MIGHT have bought a car from another salesman at the dealership, behind my back... That part is not bugging me. What bugs me is that 2 out of 3 of my managers knew I was working on it, and no one told me she came in. If I don't get half the deal, I'm going to be very upset. But I'm already disappointed that the managers didn't tell me. This is not how I want to live my life...

Update on E71

2009-06-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

This phone is awesome. I haven't even BEGUN to do all the cool stuff it can do, but what I have used it for works really well. It's incredibly thin too. But I wanted to give an update on how my VOIP is going.

I decided on VoipVoip. It's $6.99 per month to have a phone number people can call you on. All incoming calls are free, and all outgoing calls are 1.9 cents a minute. The bummer thing is that you have to reformat your phone numbers in your address book to: 12225557777, and then if you want to get really spiffy and allow Skype to call out for you (using a different application), you have to put a + in front of the number. Doesn't seem to work if the phone number is formatted (222)555-7777. But that's a minor inconvenience.

It is VERY dependent on a 3G or WiFi connection. Edge will not work. And 3G is not everywhere, despite what the coverage tells you. Often, there is also about a 2 second connection delay when the phone call initializes.

So far, if switching between WiFi and 3G and vice versa, I have to go in and manually change some settings to make it work. But, overall, VoipVoip is very clear, works most of the time, and is a great deal.

It also picks up your ring tones just fine, and makes and receives calls through the normal phone function. Even call waiting works just fine. When you have the voicemail turned on, it actually emails you your voicemail, which is pretty cool.

I dumped Fring in favor of Nimbuzz. I just like the interface better. It seems to be a little slicker with Skype, and it's a great chat program. I can make and receive Skype calls just fine. Most of the time though there is a slight lag when using Skype. A small inconvenience that I'm willing to go through for reducing my phone bill. You can also make Yahoo! calls and GTalk calls.

So far there seems to be NO software solution to make video calls. The phone has the functionality, but you can't freaking use it. It'd be awesome to interface with GTalk Video, Skype, Yahoo, MSN, etc, using a WiFi or 3G connection, but nothing seems to be out there.

Also, I seem to fill up the RAM pretty quickly and end up having to reboot the phone. Not sure what that's all about yet.

Overall, I'm definitely saving some dough. People who use both a data connection and minutes can cut their bill in half doing what I'm doing.

There's my update!

Friggin Fring

2009-05-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

So my brilliant plan to beat the Comm system has kinda' worked.

I have a new cell phone. It's the Nokia E71. Not the new E71x that AT&T is offering. This is the one that's not stripped down.

It's a great phone. Very thin, very powerful. So my plan was, buy an unlocked phone, get a data plan only, and get both unlimited data and unlimited voice for about $40/mo. How? Voice Over IP, or Voip for short. Using programs like Skype, you can make calls out for cheap or free. Basically, if I can minimize my per month cost, and maximize my ability to make and receive calls, and not pay more than $50/month, that's the goal. This means we'll be getting rid of our landline too, once I get this figured out. So then Cindy will have her prepaid phone, and I'll have my phone, and that will be it.

Here's what I have to report. Skype Lite, which is the only version available for this phone, doesn't work. It's really stupid too. It requires you to have a voiceplan to make internet calls. What it does is it dials a local number and then forwards you to whatever number you're trying to call. What's the point?

So now I'm using a program called Fring. It's not terrible, but has some really annoying characteristics. But first, the pluses:
-It works. It hooks up to my Skype account, and on that account I pay $3/month for unlimited calls. So I'm able to use Skype out to make calls using Fring. The calls are crystal clear as well.
-Fring works great as an IM too. Pulls in GTalk, MSN, AOL, Skype, etc. And it pulls all your contacts from your phone too. So that's cool.

Here's where it starts to suck:
- There's a bit of a delay, about 2 seconds or so, in the calls. It's annoying. And it's the same if you're using 3G, Broadband, or WiFi.
- You can't use push button numbers while you're in a call. Meaning, if you are calling something and it says, "for such and such, please press 1". You can't do that using Fring.
- Haven't figured out how to access my Skype voicemail from Fring either.
- You can't just dial a number either. They have to be a contact in your buddy list or in your phone contacts.

---------------

Next, there's a program called Gizmo. It's pretty cool and uses the phone part of your phone to make internet calls. Also pulls from your contacts. You can dial any number. Basically it works like prepaid minutes. You put money on your account, you buy a phone number (one time fee), and then it's basically 3.9 cents per minute. The really crappy part is, it appears you can only use Gizmo if you're hooked up to WiFi. It won't work with 3G or whatever the phone's normal data plan is.

------------------

Some of you might be wondering about SIP. I haven't tried it yet. The whole point for me is to minimize my costs, and SIP just seems to be a way to connect everything... Except that I'll be dumping my landline. Still need to read up on this, but I'm open to suggestions.

If anyone else has any thoughts on how to accomplish my goal, please let me know. It's an interesting quest.

VW it is

2009-05-12T23:31:00.000-07:00

Started the VW gig yesterday. Spent my first day driving cars. That was cool. Kind of got introduced to each car and what makes each one cool. Discovered I REALLY love convertibles. Didn't really know that about myself.

Today, came into my office to discover the small cabinet had been taken, I still don't have a mouse for my computer, and someone took the picture of the his and hers VW bugs side by side leaning towards each other while the guy and the girl kissed. It was cute. Decided I'm going to tell the sales manager if they don't put a cool VW picture up in my office, I'm bringing a Mini Cooper picture to put up.

Also, turns out you need a specific driver license to sell cars. Who knew? So today I had to spend most of a full day at the DMV and the Social Security office, because oh yeah, they need a copy of my social security card, and apparently mine is gone. Had to get a Live Scan too, which is basically digital fingerprinting with a background check. Spendy day, except that Social Security didn't charge me for a replacement card. Hey, ONE perk from the SS office isn't bad.

So, if anyone is considering buying a Prius or any other Hybrid car, please contact me first so I can talk you out of it. Buy a TDI. Turbo Diesel. Way better gas mileage, and several years down the line you won't have to fork out half the value of the vehicle to replace the batteries. Plus, it burns fuel SUPER clean. Seriously, eff the Prius. Buy a Jetta TDI. And buy it from me.

From Mini to VW to... I dunno, I give. You tell me.

2009-05-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Mini passed on me, but they said I was outstanding and would like to consider me for their new store. They decided to go with someone with more auto experience, and I can't really argue with that... having no auto sales experience myself.

Then another ad caught my eye, Volkswagen. So I submitted my resume and they called me back. The next day (Friday) I went in for the interview, and that evening when I got home they again, called me back. They really liked me, like my energy, and thought I might be a good fit. Would I come in on Monday morning to their in-house training program and spend a day learning their sales process? Sure. I'd love to. And that's what I did today.

It was very similar to the Dale Carnegie sales process I already know, just more specific to selling cars. So that was nice and familiar and built confidence. However, the main factor that was mentioned was that our biggest selling advantage in selling is our superior knowledge of our products and inventory, and in-depth study of the competition. *beat*

Well crap. I don't really have either of those things. Yet, and I realize knowledge will come. But it was discouraging to hear, particularly since I'm entering this industry with no auto experience. On the other hand, when I started selling at Revchem, I didn't have an in-depth knowledge of silicones or UV-initiated resins either, so I suppose in that way it's no different.

Overall the day was very enlightening, and I definitely think I could work that process well. So I sat down with the manager again and discussed the position in more detail today. We talked about the commission structure and bonuses, medical/dental all that. Sure working on 100% commission is risky, but it's always a good motivator. That part doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that I have to essentially create my own customer base. The foot traffic at the dealership is very light. So not only am I doing the sales process once they land on the doorstep, but I have to get them IN the door in the first place.

Today I was told to treat this as if I were running my own business. The flipside of course is that I'm working for them as an employee, so I'm not totally on my own.

There is also no formal product knowledge training. There are certifications you have to eventually obtain from VW, but the internet is my friend I guess. I think my main hesitations at this point are concerns over the short term. How to get people in the door. Getting up to speed enough to speak confidently about the vehicles I will be selling. Becoming intimately familiar with the inventory so as to know what cars to select.

I get paid more on unemployment than I do sitting at the dealership learning about the products. So it almost makes more sense to research at home for a week or two, then go work for them. But then I don't want them to hire someone else while I'm learnin' up.

I think more importantly I am stressing about the process of getting the customers in the door in the first place. The main reason I'm attracted to selling cars in the first place is that the customer generally comes to YOU! I don't mind doing the work of generating prospects and leads for myself; that's a vital part of the sales process that any seller worth anything should be able to do for themselves. Just in my experience it's the part that takes the longest.

So, I'm stressing a bit about it. Mainly because I have no other employment prospects on the table. And, I'm starting to stress again about what direction to be looking for employment. Should I concentrate on sales, or should I concentrate on management? Do I even want a management position? What about teaching? Some people think I should pursue teaching Latin... What about that?

I just don't know. My top 5 talents are: Connectedness, Empathy, Individualization, Achiever, Arranger.

Definitely seems to tell the story of someone who's a sales professional, doesn't it? Or clergy, or team leader, or producer, or director, or....

Anyone got any insights?

Mini Me

2009-04-21T15:41:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I landed myself an interview to Nick Alexander Mini, for a sales position. I kid you not. I was looking on Craigslist and saw an ad "What Recession? Mini Coopers Are HOT HOT HOT!!!" Yep, they are hiring 1 sales person. This happens to be the same dealership I bought my Mini at. So not only do I know at least two of the other salesmen then, plus the service manager, but I know the company and can testify first hand.

The interview went really well. I felt very comfortable, and seemed to keep the sales manager interested and talking with me for over an hour and half! It went well enough that he had me do a second interview with the general manager. This gentleman is a big guy, kind of like the owner of the company at my last job. And by big, I mean large stature. I admit, I was a little intimidated. But I think it went okay. We talked about boats a little bit, and leasing climates. I think I held my own okay, but he is clearly a numbers oriented guy. Makes for a great GM.

Anyway they're supposed to get back to me hopefully by the end of this week. Here's hoping!

This would be a pretty ideal place for me. I mean, I love doing sales, and what better product to sell than something I am already so passionate about?! And it's a car that really does create a community.

This week I also started reading, Now Discover Your Strengths, by Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton. When you buy the book, you get an access code to their online test called "Strengths Finder". I bought the upgraded version, and so this is what the results came out to be:

How well do you think these themes describe me?

Connectedness
People who are especially talented in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.

Empathy
People who are especially talented in the Empathy theme can sense the feelings of other people by imagining themselves in others’ lives or others’ situations.

Individualization
People who are especially talented in the Individualization theme are intrigued with the unique qualities of each person. They have a gift for figuring out how people who are different can work together productively.

Achiever
People who are especially talented in the Achiever theme have a great deal of stamina and work hard. They take great satisfaction from being busy and productive.

Arranger
People who are especially talented in the Arranger theme can organize, but they also have a flexibility that complements this ability. They like to figure out how all of the pieces and resources can be arranged for maximum productivity.

Feeling the pinch

2009-04-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm flossing my teeth, like every dentist I've ever had has told me to do, and I get to the spot just between my top two front teeth... and my floss gets stuck. I pull it out, and suddenly I realize that I had a filling there. On the backside, right between my two front teeth (now you have that song in your head).

We don't have dental insurance. And it started to hit me how much this is going to run. I haven't been to a dentist since I moved to LA. That means they're going to want to run X-rays, do a cleaning, fix my filling, and of course discover every horrible thing that's wrong with my teeth. This is where I DO believe in insurance. Too bad, huh?

Recently Cindy's car needed new front brakes. Rotors and pads. $350.
I needed new clothes. Still not quite done yet. So far... $230.
IRS and CA Franchise Office took income tax from us this week... $5600.
Cordy almost had to go to the animal hospital. whew. avoided that.

Our savings is depleting fast, and I have only my second real prospect interview tomorrow. It's a cellular company. They need an inside sales rep. Doesn't look too great though. The website isn't very good, and I have a feeling I'm WAY over qualified. But we'll see tomorrow.

The chocolate thing would be fun, and would be rewarding to help the company grow and to directly affect that... and feeling the dire straits is no better motivator. But the practical side of me craves some kind of stability, and that means someone else giving me a paycheck, paying my income taxes, and preferably paying for my insurances.

I have a fancy resume ready to go, if anyone in the LA area is interested.

gah... why couldn't I have been born with great teeth?

Should I be The Chocolate Guy?

2009-04-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

So I had my second interview with The Chocolate Traveler (click the image above to go to their website). Very interesting company and they definitely could use my help. The drawbacks are steep though.

I'm not an employee. I'm an independent contractor, much like a Mary Kay rep or Tupperware. The upside to this company though is that I don't have to buy my inventory; it's all on consignment.
Being an independent contractor, I'm responsible for all of my own expenses, including insurance, cell phone, fuel, income taxes, etc. So that's a lot of chocolate to sell before you start turning a profit.
So this is all to say that they pretty much won't/can't pay for anything for liability reasons. Just commission. Which is also interesting, because the inventory you're keeping for them, they technically still own.

These types of sales jobs, if you're ambitious and really driven, can be fun and profitable if you stick to it. But, I don't know many people who do it as a full time job. It seems like a good part time job. This could be good for me since I'm trying to also pursue producing/directing professionally.

The company itself is pretty great. I really like the people, the product is high quality, and I definitely see how I could have a direct impact on the company. That itself is pretty exciting. I also like that I'm basically my own boss.

The products are reasonably priced, and the margins are certainly doable.

So now... I guess the question is, how much chocolate makes it worth it?

From Blog to Sermon

2009-03-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

Erik Samuelson is a friend of mine from PLU and I've managed to keep in touch with him since graduation. Recently he informed me that he's been reading my blogs, and asked if he could use my latest one in his next sermon. You see, Erik went on to become a Lutheran Pastor when I could not, and that's a fair trade in my opinion. Not that THAT was part of the equation... "Erik... *cough* *cough*, you go on! I'm... not... gonna make it... *cough*"

Anyway I wanted to share with you what Erik preached today in his congregation in Spokane, WA.

DOWNLOAD SERMON ON MP3

And you can find others of Erik's sermons from Bethlehem Lutheran Church by click on his picture above, or going to the following link:

Erik's Sermon Blog

Thank you my friend. This means a lot, and I'm glad you found what I'm going through as fitting material for what was speaking to you for your homily.

"Crisis on Infinite Dons" or "Why I love BIG LOVE"

2009-03-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start this blog with a big damn apology to all the Mormons I've pissed off, hurt, or otherwise during high school. Well, unless they were just jerks plain and simple, but that has nothing to do with them belonging to the Latter-Day Saints. If there's one thing I've learned over the years about differences in faith, is that I have enough differences in my own religion, let alone someone else's. And why am I bringing this up? Well I've fallen in love with the show Big Love.

For those of you who are ignorant, Big Love is not a representation of what life is like in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The show centers on an offshoot of what is commonly understood to be the Mormon faith. And this offshoot still endorses polygamy. The show's main characters are polygamists, struggling to live a normal life in faith, but neither fitting in with the Latter-Day Saints faith, nor their on polygamist compound. The family is under attack on both sides.

What I love about the show is how universal it is, how relatable (apparently "relatable" is not a word) it is. That despite being polygamists, the issues and values of family, and the strengthened spiritual concept of the family unit as a spiritual unit united for eternity. It's powerful. And you don't even have to belive in the Book of Mormon to identify with that. And what the show has done is made me realize even more how judgmental I was to my LDS peers. I was a dick. A pompous, prudish cock. Don't get me wrong, I'm not racing to the nearest LDS Church to join up. I still got my differences. But my faith has come to a point to a place of enormous inclusion and acceptance, despite differences and concerns. Sometimes I feel like I have more problems and issues with Evangelical Christians than I do with the Latter-Day Saints.

The show also is reminds me of elements of home and growing up in a town, an elementary school, a junior high, and a high school that was majority members of the LDS Church. So it's a sense of familiarity.

Oddly enough, I find that I really don't have a problem with polygamy, so long as it doesn't allow marriage to minors. Frankly I think most people who marry at 18 are seriously making a mistake. But whatever. The only thing I don't like about the idea of polygamy is dirty old men preying on young girls. If that was eradicated, and if people want to marry more than one spouse, then I think I'm okay with that. Morally I mean. Aside from the predatory and misogynist nature of polygamy, one guy marrying several women, or rather as portrayed in the show, a married couple deciding to add another wife to the family... the other problem I have is the financial burden of polygamy.

I mean, if you're going to be a polygamist, you'd better be wealthy, right? I mean, it's one thing being a married couple, and often times in LDS or even Catholic families, the family unit also comes furnished with 4 or more children. Imagine multiplying that by two or three times! or more!

You know what would ensure that to happen, if it was one woman marrying several guys. Right? But when the hell would that ever happen? That's a show I'd like to see. Call it "Three Men and a Lady". One guy's an unemployed artist. The other is a successful businessman. The other is a construction worker downtown. What does SHE do? Can you imagine trying to schedule who's night it is? (I'm laughing my ass off here. This is funny shit. I'm glad I'm writing it down. You're NOT allowed to copy my idea. I get 50% of revenues if you do).

Anyway. If you can financially swing it, everyone's agreeable, and you have the power of faith and family supporting you, and no one is preying on minors or sucking up welfare, then who the hell cares? I think I have more issues with the concept of some woman on welfare who already has 6 children, shelling out 8 babies at once... ON PURPOSE!

But that's a bit of a tangeant from what I was talking about in the first place. To my friends and peers who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, please forgive me.

Now, onto other matters that are on my brain. Like, my professional identity crisis.
I'm struggling with staying strong and collected, and being motivated to kick ass at what I do. I'm struggling with my professional identity. That struggle is mostly centered around me as a film professional, or whether I'm at a turning point to leave all that behind.

So I think about what I love. I love directing. I LOVE the work I did on the Demon Hunters RPG and the Orientation video. I LOVE the work I did on Y Tu Nana Tambien. I felt totally rewarded producing Dorkness Rising. Not at all that I did it alone, or that with DH I did it alone. It's the process, the collaboration, how we (DG) all work together. But if I'm not going to be a film professional, I don't know what to do with my life. I'm back at that place I was at after college graduation when I found out I wouldn't be going to seminary and fully understood that the path I'd been on since my junior year in high school is no longer what I'm going to do with my life. I've been working to eventually be a film professional for nearly 10 years now. I do feel like I'm at a crossroads again. My experience in sales was very rewarding. But I didn't get that feeling that I got when I was behind the camera. Or when I was in front of it trusting Ben or Matt or Nathan behind it.

Cindy says she doesn't relate to the feeling of doing what you love as your profession. She doesn't understand why anyone would want to do their passion as their career, for fear that it would take divide a marriage/family. Or that the passion of the work would fizzle and become just a job. She posed me the question, "Why would it be inferior if you were to get a full time career like you had with Revchem, where you were rewarded and paid well, and then on the side you bought a camera and a mic and some lights and directed your own shorts and posted them up on your website?" It's a good question. For me, i think it's like saying why don't I marry someone I'm not in love with because it will bring stability and you could be happy with it, and maybe on the weekends you could go out with the the person you're really in love with, except you can't touch her.

We men really do define ourselves by our profession, and our self esteem is directly tied to it.

Another way of thinking about the scenario/question Cindy posed is... I think that's not what I want because it takes away the collaboration and working with the people I love to work with. That's part of the joy of it. It's not just the creative expression, it's not just the recognition and appreciate that comes from it, or even if I was getting paid to do it as a career.

I've always struggled with what I wanted to do with my life as a career. Although my childhood is filled with memories with me and my grandmother's camcorder, I never really thought about being a filmmaker as what I wanted to do when I grew up. In grade school, I thought about being a helicopter pilot. In Jr High, I didn't have a clue. Everyone kept telling me "do something with computers. You're good at that." Tells you something about the generation, doesn't it? Then when I came to faith in high school, a path became clear and I latched onto it. Finally something I could do with my life. People saw in me my way with people, and my potential to inspire others, and said I could do that professionally. I got to college on that "I will not be defeated in this" determination, acquiring over $60,000 in student loans to do it. I met you guys. We made a couple movies together. We gamed. My faith grew even stronger as I tore off the garbage of my evangelical faith and got to the meat of Lutheran teaching. I chose a major that I liked, because why would I need to study something that would prepare me for career/professional life? I was going to be a pastor, or maybe even eventually a theologian. I applied for seminary, and got that letter stating, "sorry we can't let you come in. Come back when you have less debt."

As I write this I'm still stunned by it. What had I spent all that money for? The hell am I supposed to do with my life now? So I went back to what I knew. Heating and Cooling. And from there the rest is history. My professional resume is strengthened by my background in the full sales process, which strengthened my human relations skills, and suddenly prepared me for a wide open field of careers. My skill set applies to so damn much it makes my head spin. I'm no longer with Revchem. The hell am I going to do with myself now?

Cindy and I had a talk last night about her feeling threatened by a filmmaking career. That it would take me away from her. That our finances would never be stable again. So a hard serious look at the past 10 years, of enduring bullshit work, bad jobs, a rewarding and strengthening career in sales, company loyalty for 5 years in a industry I could never have predicted I'd be working in: fiberglass and chemicals. But on the side I'm running DG. I came in and saved GDR. (again, not single handedly, but I did what I do, I build a team of amazing people to get it done), I got Paizo to distribute our products. I got GDR on Netflix. I simplified DG's structure and operations so that 1 person could run it fairly easily. I networked with all the major SFX houses in LA. I've begun building relationships with filmmakers that I admire and appreciate. All this so that it would lead to filmmaking being my primary career. And if THAT'S not what I'm going to do...

The hell am I going to do with my life? The sky is the limit, and I am inclined in no other direction. If not this, what then?

I'm not saying I must be a film professional, but right now it seems to be where the feelings are settling. I'm still going to attempt to find employment, and while I'm doing that, I might as well see if I can find a sales career or something that will directly influence my career as a film professional, and vice versa. If I was selling something that the entertainment people needed, which then networks me with professionals that could help me get my entertainment career goals and overall form lasting friendships/relationships. That's ideal. That's going to be tough. But there must be something. Be it selling cameras, editing equipment, entertainment insurance, (although the thought of selling insurance makes my skin crawl).

Or maybe I sell Mini's for a living. How awful would that be? Oh darn, I'm selling something that I'm in love with.

I just thought I'd share these with you who read this. I'd love your feedback. Thanks.

One-Man Douchebag

2009-03-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a video I made today when I was supposed to be doing something responsible, like writing my awesome resume.

My buddy Rian wanted to see me rock out with the mullet wig he sent me as a gag gift. NEVER do that. Here goes:

It's all about me

2009-03-04T16:30:00.000-08:00

Writing and talking about yourself is one of the hardest things to do. We don't like to do it. This is something we really learn when learning how to do sales. Because you HAVE to sell yourself first. And it is difficult to talk about yourself. To think about your own strengths. To know yourself well enough to answer difficult questions people might ask about you.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
What are you good at?
What's your best accomplishment?
What are your top 5 personal qualities? What are examples when you displayed those qualities?
What are your top 5 professional qualities? What are examples when you displayed those?
What do you want out of life?
If you could do anything, what would it be?

First I want to thank Cindi Rice, Paige, Camille, and Christina for helping me and supplying me with tools to start this job hunt seriously.

I think when I'm done with this process, there will be another light bulb moment. I had one of those when I went through the Sales Advantage course. As I put those skills towards finding a new job, and searching myself for what I know about my product (me), I realize how valuable this is to everything I do.

For instance, I also need to write a bio for myself for pitch packages. I'm starting to put together several projects for DG, or just me personally, and I'm finding I have to (or will have to) do a lot of writing about myself, and/or my company.

I NEED to master this process.

-------------------------------------------

Haven't written in a while because I got the crud everyone's been getting. Started with a dry throat, then slight sinus pressure on the ears. Immediately started taking Sudafed which helped a ton. But then for about a day I fevered like crazy. You know, the kind you're all freezing, and then moments later you're roasting. Then everything moved into my lungs and it's been there ever since. Chest congestion and a serious chesty cough. That's been the toughest. Probably have had about 4 days of that so far. Today is much better than yesterday. I'm definitely on the upswing. I can take a full breath now without hacking. Robitussin is my friend.

Having all the down time gave me a few moments to really reflect on what I want to do. Haven't really come to any conclusions, but I have focused down to a few things:

I do really want to start directing again.
I do love doing sales
I am waffling between part time and full time because I'm entertaining the thought of using this opportunity to pursue a career as an independent entertainment professional.

The main question I'm struggling with is: If I don't pursue my entertainment career with any more effort that I'm already doing, what do I want to do?

I was pretty happy working in sales with my last company. I had even resolved that the whole filmmaking thing was perfectly fine being a hobby, and that I was getting enough career satisfaction doing what I was doing. I've recently been in contact with friends I haven't spoken too in a long time, through Facebook. One of the things that keeps coming up is, what happened to me being a pastor? After answering the obvious stuff about the BS of the church not letting me go due to how much debt I had, along with everything else, the truth is I've found other ways of using those gifts people saw in me.

I am great with people. I care and I listen. People say I have a lot of wisdom, particularly for someone my age. Heard that a lot over the years. So it's natural that ministry was the direction to go. Interestingly enough, I think I've been able to affect and influence more people, spirtually or otherwise, by NOT being ordained. Just by living my life. Putting myself in a position to help people become better. Whether it's through a new product or changing their processes so things are more efficient, or putting a scene together, shaping actors' performances, influencing the director's decisions to make a better product, making sure everyone on set is having a great time in the midst of miserable conditions; or even just listening to a guy tell me what a horrible day he's had, asking him questions about it, and just spending the time to form a meaningful connection, and then the next week he places a huge order from me, even if my competition was a lower price.

So unfortunately that doesn't really narrow down what to look for in terms of employment. It seems half of building a resume is doing the work of knowing yourself. The other half is tailoring that to the needs of your prospective employer... which means you need to know who that is. In the sales process, we call that the "Preapproach". Which brings me back to the connundrum of: where to look.

Took a few career surveys, but they weren't much help. I think I need some serious tools that help me evaluate what I want to look for in a job or career.

Wow, I just realized this is only half the work I'll need to do. The other half is the dreaded Cover Letter. But I definitely can't write one of those until I know who or what I am applying for.

You know, it seems like a Cover Letter is awfully similar to a Credibility Statement. I'll be interested to get Christina's take on that.

Ema's Character Sheets

2009-02-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Wizards of the Coast,

I am a huge D&D fan and avid player and supporter of 4th edition D&D, as well as 3.5. You might recognize my work in the film you sponsored, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. I recently went to a website I frequent which has a BRILLIANT setup for creating characters, which I know you discovered as well. This website is now completely dismantled and reads only the following:

I'm sorry to inform you that this site is no more.
Wizards of the Coast asked me to take it down, and I complied.

I'm sorry for all the fans who will miss it - I will miss it, too - but it was the right thing to do.

Time to move on...

Ema.

While I can appreciate your requirements for Ema to take down the 4th Edition character sheets, as it clearly provided an alternative to the character builder you have launched, I don't understand why the previous edition materials had to be taken down.

Ema's Character Sheets was a really great independent site that I used avidly, and it upsets me that I no longer have access to adequate tools to run my campaigns and I have to start all over.

Please allow Ema to put back his 3rd edition material.

Sincerely,

Don Early

Lady in the Water

2009-02-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

It was okay. I can actually say I didn't hate it. I usually hate most of M. Night Shyamalan's movies. Well, except for Sixth Sense, which was awesome. But every movie after that stunk as afar as I'm concerned. Especially The Happening. I love Mark Wahlberg, but what a piece of crap that movie was.

So I'm holding up okay. Went to church this morning. First time we've done that in months. Got to drive the Mini. That's always a good time. Been sleeping okay as well.

Woke up frustrated, thinking about all the work I put in last year just being wasted. It was all going to pay off this year. Their loss I guess. Getting emails from some of my customers who are pretty upset over the ordeal. It's nice to have their support, and who knows, maybe I'll get to work with them in another capacity.

Don't really have an idea where to go from here. This week I'm going to work on my resume, and get set up on the various services. Need to organize the office yet. Keep putting it off. Might be tomorrow, might not. Cindy has the day off, so we may just play.

Discovered we could watch TV Shows on Hulu.com through the Playstation 3. It's not perfect, but works pretty well. Gonna try and see if we can do the same with Netflix. I'm not expecting that to work, but we'll see.

Well, dinner's ready. Time for chow.

Disabled by Flexeril

2009-02-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Muscle-relaxWNeD!!!!

Most of the day yesterday my body just hurt. Felt poised. But literally my left arm hurt all the way into my armpit. My neck was stiff, my was painful, clearly whatever I'm feeling is manifesting itself physically.

So after we got home last night after a test screening of a HI-larious new movie, tentatively called "The Hangover" (they will change the title before it gets released), I took a whole pill of a muscle relaxer I had left over from when I was in physical therapy for my back. The reason I had PT was that my posture was so bad, my neck would go numb, my back and chest muscles were so tightened up. Said it was due to bad posture, lack of exercise, and stress. So they gave me Ambien to sleep, which I'm out of, Flexeril for muslce relaxor, and some kind of super ibuprofin for inflammation.

About 11:30pm last night I felt it start to kick in, which is about right. Takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to kick in. I woke up around 1:15pm, and I am still feeling it.

Next time I'm taking a half a pill. But, I slept amazingly.

I was going to try and accomplish a couple things today, but it's already almost 2pm.

Thanks Cindy and Jackie. It's hard working through the guilt. I decided to take next week for myself too. This week was to emotionally deal with what has happened. I thought I'd bounce back faster, but I'm not.

Next week I plan on sorting out my workspace at home, organizing, putting a sense of order into my life. I think that will help me start to assess what's next. I may even start working on a basic resume just so I have something to do that is working towards the next thing.

Part 2

2009-02-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

So I'm grieving. I have the luxury of sitting in it for a bit and I'm taking advantage of that. I don't want to think about the next step. I get overwhelmed.

What a stupid excuse.

Truth is, I could nail the job process if I really wanted to. I'm choosing not to because I am definitely taking this as a ME vacation, and I feel that I deserve it. As long as I do domestic duties, accomplish a few things, I think that works.

But I do feel overwhelmed. I can't really deny that. When I do start tackling the next step (which will be soon), I know it's going to be tough.

The mornings are the most difficult. I can't sleep in. With Cindy getting up to go to work, I get a screaming hairdryer in my ear. But I used to get up at that time too. I had a purpose. I had things to do. People to go see. Problems to help solve. Now, I lay there next to the screaming hairdryer and wonder what the crap am I going to do today.

Well today I guess I decided to blog. Maybe I'll try and clean the office a bit. Take the dogs for a walk.

Men really are defined by what they do. What they accomplish. What they can say about themselves. At least that's how we define ourselves. Where we derive a large part of our self esteem. I think more than any other time I realize how connected I am to that. It's like retirement. I think men struggle with it more than women. We don't know what to DO with ourselves. Can't do what we used to. For whatever reason. We feel like we should be doing SOMETHING.

So, I'm going to go do something.

Day 4

2009-02-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

On Monday I decided to put off looking for work or even thinking about it until next week. So far, that's working for me. I'm still waking up with a knot in my gut though. The brochure they gave me on "how to survive a lay off" says I'm grieving. I'd say that's pretty accurate. Sure feels like a breakup after a 5 year relationship.

They laid me off. I have it in writing. So at least I can say it wasn't my fault. The brochure says it's natural if I feel anger. Not sure if I feel anger. Think I'm hurt that they didn't even consult with me before they dropped the axe. But that's how it happens, and that's business. I guess relationship doesn't count at the end of the day on Friday.

I almost fought for my job when it happened. I didn't because I had nothing to stand on. If you know my situation, you might disagree with me, or feel that I was betrayed. Unfortunately I cannot say that they did betray me. Here's why:

Yes they uprooted Cindy and me and moved us to Southern California. But it was the Operations Manager at the time that negotiated my pay with me. It was later discovered that the OM didn't consult the Owner about that, and so the Owner got stuck with it. I had successfully negotiated the top pay I could get because it was going to cost so much to move down and Cindy's employment was not set in stone yet. A few months after I moved down, the Owner let the Operations Manager go.

I kicked ass at my job, running the facility in Van Nuys. I was proud of what I did. The 4am mornings really sucked though. But I made it through, I owned all the responsibilities there, and I grew the sales of the house accounts by a lot in those months, even DOUBLING the budget they had set. TWICE. And part of the pay I negotiated with the former Ops Manager was that I would get a similar bonus pay structure as the salesmen because they wanted to grow the business with the house accounts a lot. The Owner was shocked, and I had to prove it to him in writing, which luckily I had.

That made me the highest paid manager in the company apparently. I had no idea. So months after working in SoCal, upper management had decided I needed to move into the field as a salesman in order to justify my pay. Of course it was pitched to me as "We believer there is a lot of business out there that the two salesmen who have been in your territory for ten years aren't calling on. Your mandate is to identify and get that business. Go!"

This time it was the Sales Manager who negotiated my pay. I got to keep my base pay, and then got the standard seller's package. Which is a sweet deal I might add. But before I accepted the position, because I could see the writing on the wall, I asked the Sales Manager, "What happens if I don't find the numbers you think are out there? If I'm busting my butt and doing the work, are you going to let me go?" And he said that they wouldn't let me go if the market didn't support me. That they would give it 2 years and if it didn't work out, they'd find a different place for me in the company.

So I set out to do my new job with practically no guidance and little training. I had some great support from the other salesmen, who knew what kind of position I was in. And none of them thought it was very fair. But I took the challenge.

Then, a few months later, the Sales Manager stabbed the company in the back and decided to leave and compete against us by buying another company. He'd known the Owner for I think over 17 years. They'd been family friends. You want to talk about betrayal. THAT'S betrayal. And again, I think that second part of my arrangement with the Company about what if the market doesn't support me, didn't get communicated with the Owner. And so here I am, a result of what I feared the most when I took the job.

Am I a victim? No. I knew the risks. I'm proud of the work I did. The Owner may have known about my arrangement with the Sales Manager, and even if he did, in light of the strategic decision they made to cut 20% of the workforce at the company, I would not have mattered. The truth is, the company was hemorraging. I know it's not personal. Hell, they let go someone who'd been there way longer than me. But you just want to think that maybe you'd be that special case, where they try and make it work because of your relationship.

Business is business and it doesn't succeed by making acceptions based on relationships if it doesn't directly affect the immediate needs of saving the ship if the ship is sinking.

So what's next?

Unemployed

2009-02-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well the day of the axe finally came. This morning I was laid off. Quite a few people at our company got the same. Trying to cut back, going into survival mode. Really too bad I had to be a casualty of it.

I'm okay though. We're okay. I'm going to take a few days, sort myself out. Having to pursue a new career is awfully overwhelming. I have no idea where to begin yet. I don't have any clue what to start looking for. So I'm going to try and forget about it for a few days, and just sort it out.

Financially we're stable. So no worries there. We were saving for a house, and after my last paycheck, including vacation and my final bonus, we're up to $10k in savings. So now we have that 3.5% down payment... too bad that solid employment is now flushed.

I think that's what has gotten to me most. I was so looking forward to buying a house this year.
Well, I'm sucking it up and realizing that hope will just have to wait a while.

Here's to seeing what happens on my path next.

Bridgette kicked my ass, literally

2008-11-09T18:58:00.001-08:00

Cindy and I just worked out to Bridgette's Bunny Bootcamp. It's 15 minutes of yeah right... oh wait oh my god that's hard... oh hell!

Then we did my back exercises I learned from my physical therapy a couple years ago. I'm now feeling light headed, and way wussy.

Bacon, coffee, and a lawn mower.

2008-11-09T11:37:00.000-08:00

This morning, I don't know what time it was, I was awakened by the incredible smell of bacon and coffee. It reminded me of waking up in Garden Valley at the cabin, the smell of coffee and breakfast downstairs. The excitement of spending time with my family in the morning. I almost thought if I got out of bed, there everyone would be. But sleep came over me and I drifted back off.

I dreamed about dad. It was supposed to be his shop, but it clearly wasn't. I was helping him run the business. I don't remember much else. When I was awakened, this time by the scream of a lawnmower directly outside my bedroom window, my first thought was to call him and see how he was doing. When I fully woke up and realized where I was, and that he was gone, instead of being sad I just felt peaceful.

Turns out Cindy had made bacon (turkey bacon for those of you who are counting calories). Oddly enough there was no coffee, and she was watching The Bucket List. Wonder if the sounds of the movie influenced my dreaming subliminally.

So I came out in the living room, made some coffee and started to watch the movie. So I'm feeling sentimental this morning. I'm thankful that Nathan has moved down here. I think I see him more now that I ever have since we graduated. I'm thankful for Matt and Camille. When you don't have family nearby, it's really great to have a family unit in friends you've known for over 10 years. I'm thankful for Jeremy and Katy. Although we've known them for just over a year, it's like they've always been there. I'm thankful for Matt DeMille and Jessica. I definitely don't see them as much as I'd like, but I'm so proud of Matt for making the jump and coming down here and take on AFI like a Hulk Hogan comeback.

Go with me on that analogy, it makes sense to me. Matt's like the big brother I never had. I'm really proud of him.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and the Vancil's are hosting. Camille said she wasn't comfortable cooking a whole turkey. She'd never done it, and I wasn't about to let Thanksgiving go without a turkey. So I volunteered to cook the turkey. I'm looking forward to it actually. Cindy's a little upset. I think she was looking forward to someone else taking on the main course. I think she'll come around when she smells the awesome cooking in the oven all night. So Grandma, I'm gonna need your stuffing recipe, and a refresher on the turkey. I recall cooking a turkey before, but I don't remember exactly when it was. But I know I can do it, and I want to make it the way we have it at our house.

I'm also going to make a surprise. Not saying what it is right now, but it will be fun to make.

All this makes me come back to reality and think about what is really important to me in my life. Matt and Camille are going through a similar reflection right now. They're making some decisions, prioritizing what they want in their life, which also boils down to family. They've made it no secret that they want to start having children very soon. Must be the season, just thinking about family priorities. I've been reflecting on the idea of children. There's even a part of me that wants me to beat Matt and Camille to the punch. It'd be the last thing anyone expected. But the reality is, even though Cindy and I are financially pretty stable (for now), this morning's wakeup call with my neighbor mowing the lawn right outside my bedroom window, and hearing him walking around the outside of my house... well it reminds me that this is not the place I want to start a family. The lack of privacy makes me uneasy, and that's not the kind of energy I want my children to be born into. Of course, those are surface reasons and we have deeper reasons for waiting. Like... a home we can call ours.

So Vancils, go for it. You were the first of us to get married, it only stands to reason you'd be the first to shell out some offspring. Your kids are gonna have crap loads of aunts and uncles.

Guess I'm running out of steam. Looking forward to spending Christmas with the Messlers. I miss my family in Idaho and North Carolina, and I hope next year we can get together somehow.

Everyone stay well. I love you all.

San Fernando Fires

2008-10-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

We're doing fine down here. The fires so far are missing us. I'll keep you informed.

Here's a map of where the fires are:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&layer=t&msa=0&msid=117631292961056724014.00045925b0aa1b3a5d6a4&ll=34.292112,-118.476562&spn=0.19146,0.304184&z=12

Yearbook

2008-10-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

1952

So I found this website, (Thanks Rian), where you can upload your photo and it will make you a yearbook photo from the past.

Check out mine. Think I have a photo that's pretty close to the 1988 one.

1954

1956

1966

1968

1970

1974

1978

1978 (I had 2 looks going on that year)

1980 (The Wolverine Year)

1984

1986

1988 (I actually had a hair style like that once)

I am a bobblehead geek

2008-09-11T21:34:00.001-07:00

So was recently on a podcast to promote Dorkness Rising and the Demon Hunters Roleplaying Game.

You can check out the video here: www.geekscape.net

or

Bobblehead Don

I learned that I nod my head. A lot.

And "absolutely" seems to be a fallback word of mine. Sigh. Well, things to work on I guess.

Enjoy.

Really good day...

2008-09-08T22:16:00.000-07:00

So why did I end up cranky? I did a lot of relatively productive calls today at work. Made some good appointments for the week. Got home. Read some really great stuff for Demon Hunters that we've been kind of working on lately. Matt really cranked out some material in the past few days. So I'm going through that.

Cindy really looks great to me. I dunno, maybe it's her new clothes, or her attitude or something...

Kind of thinking about doing something athletic. Jeremy wants to try an Israeli martial art with me that looks a bit like Wing Tsun kind of fighting, and they used it in some of The Mummy movies. So that could be cool.

So why the frack am I cranky?

Not really a bad mood, but just irritated, or irritable. WTF? Moody man I guess.

Wanna Buy Dorkness Rising?

2008-09-08T07:46:00.001-07:00

Click on the picture above!

Long time no blog

2008-09-07T18:27:00.000-07:00

Been pretty busy keeping up with the Dead Gentlemen news updates and blogs and such so I haven't had much time to update this one.

Not that there's too much to report. Haven't really taken pictures of the new place. We should do that. Dorkness Rising is now available on Netflix, and I just learned you'll be able to buy it at Target.com very soon.

That means that Blockbuster will be soon to follow. Hopefully Hollywood Video, Borders and Best Buy won't be long after that.

The DVD is selling like crazy, which is awesome. And so far the fan response is that it is definitely up to snuff of their expectations, and a lot of people are saying it's so funny they have to pause the DVD to stop laughing before they continue on.

That's pretty high praise. So I've been pretty busy trying to work on the next few things, as well as trying to drum up business for Revchem. Tough market out there.

Well, off to finish making dinner. Grandma, if I can get your username and password I think I can fix your blogs.

Wanna know what's up?

2008-08-21T22:38:00.001-07:00

Go check out Matt's Blog. He's put all the energy down of what's happening so the rest of us don't have to. Thanks Matt.

http://invancible.blogspot.com

Cordy Learns the Treadmill

2008-08-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

New Pics

2008-08-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

NEW PICTURES HERE

Be my Netflix friend

2008-08-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

We have been crazy busy, so sorry for the lack of updates. Want to be my Netflix friend though? Click here:

Be my Netflix Friend

We can see what each other is watching, and make recommendations.

Also, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising is now available on Netflix (well, after August 19th). Rent it, rate it, and review it please!!!

We Moved... Again

2008-07-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

And we have cable! It's awesome.

Pictures to come. Still trying to find the camera. Internet is up. Making progress.

Cindy Leveled up!

2008-07-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to say that I got to post this before she does. Cindy got a raise today. We're pretty stoked. Her employers are VERY happy with her performance and all the work she's doing. I'm very glad they've recognized that. Way to go babe!

It's busy time

2008-07-10T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. I didn't even really leave the house. The Dorkness Rising DVD is progressing nicely. Approved the DVD cover today. Now they're working on the DVD menus. Pretty cool.

Work is finally starting to pick up. Was on the phone most of the day, and worked on quotes, in fact I still got one left to do. I think fruit is starting to bear. Yah!

It's beer o'clock!

Good News

2008-07-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

Apparently I have an exceptionally well bill of health.

My life insurance premium went down after they got the results after my physical. I cost less than Cindy.

So apparently I won't be dying of natural causes. Looks like I'm on schedule for that explosion.

Hope that don't come any time soon.

T-minus...

2008-07-09T17:31:00.000-07:00

So we start moving a week from Friday. Have we started packing? Nope.

Turns out our friend, Matt DeMille, is moving down here at the same time we're moving. Sorry Matt!

Got the Uhaul rented for the weekend. Won't have to do it all in one night, so that's good. Wish we were rich enough that wouldn't have to move. It will be a good move for us though. We'll be able to save for a down payment or something.

Might do another 48 hour film competition. My friend Dom Zook is looking at doing another one and asked me if I wanted another go around. I need the experience, and the dumb bastard keeps letting me direct, so we'll see what happens. This time we have all the time we want to write and develop the script, but it has to be shot and edited in 48 hours.

Hope we get a DP and a sound tech this time around.

Getting ready for Comic Con in San Diego at the end of the month. We're screening the movie there. Hope to have a great turnout. Then a couple weeks later it's off to Gen Con for 4 days of drunken debauchery and no sleep. Actually shouldn't be that intense, got enough people to cover and we can actually go in shifts.

For some reason, Cindy and I aren't sleeping worth crap. That needs to stop. Not sure what that's all about.

Hey Grandma, guess I'm not the only one that doesn't blog every day, huh? :)

Best in LA

2008-07-02T23:02:00.000-07:00

As mentioned before, tonight was the Best in LA awards for the 48 Hour film competition.

No we didn't win. And thank god, there were some damn talented people who deserved to win it.

They created a new category this year, and there was a tie for the win. Best Comedy. Nope, we didn't win that either. That one I think we kind of deserved to tie. The other strong comedy was really awesome. Oh well.

We did win an audience award. Pretty proud of that. AND, our lead actress tied for an honorable mention with another actress for best performance. I have to say I'm pretty proud of that. Not that I take credit for her performance, just that she did a great job and I'm glad someone took notice. And I got to help out with that.

Over all, I think Cindy summed it up. "Well, I think you got what you deserved." Yeah, pretty much.

About the moving I mentioned. Yes we're moving in about three weeks. Trying to save some money on rent. Found a good place actually just down the street from us. Definitely not up to what we've been living in, but you can't beat the rent for what we'll be getting in the area. And we'll save about $700/month. It sickens me that what we're saving, WAS our rent at one point in our lives.

I'd say I'm very happy with things... going back to the film competition. For a guy who doesn't know his way around a camera too well, I managed to competently pull it off. Dom was able to cut it together well. We got great performances and had fun doing it. The script was awesome, thanks to Matt.

And I've learned something... or rather remembered what my goal is as a filmmaker. In some instances tonight, we were up against giants. Hell, most of the films kicked our asses. It was a good humbling experience. I'm not a brilliant director. I don't know that I ever will be. I want to be competent, to be able to do the job I'm hired to do, or however that goes... and I want to have fun doing my job. Directing is not my goal career. It's an important part of it, and I REALLY enjoy it, and I'm getting better at it. Filmmaking is my goal career. Unfortunately, that term is still a little too vague to really make it in this town. You really do have to pick something. It's most likely going to be producing, while I learn and develop my directing skills and career on the side, when the opportunities come along.

I also find that what I want to do as a filmmaker is definitely influenced by who I'm working with. It will be interesting to see how far that takes me.

So, I have a lot to learn, but what I do know can tell a story. Not many budding filmmakers can actually say that, even though they will say it. I know I'm not desperate, because I'm not locked into one specific role and I'm confident in my abilities, my relationships, and my trust in the unknown. I'm not out to prove anything, just to make a living at doing something I love, and spending time with people.

I sleep now.

Commitment

2008-07-01T21:43:00.001-07:00

Really haven't had time to sit down and say anything. I decided I'm just going to write SOMETHING. Cripes, I blog about as much as DG has an update on the website.

Got a brand spanking new iMac about a week or so ago. It's awesome. I'm running both Windows XP AND the Mac operating system at the same time. It's so nice. I'm totally a convert. The main thing I don't like though, is no right-click. WTF? Of course Mac has never had a mouse that really had a right click. Suppose you could always just buy one. I've got a ton of them around here somewhere.

But, I do love the iMac.

So what else... my icons are dying off. George Carlin. Stan Winston. Hoping Sean Connery and Billy Connolly will stick around a while longer.

Got word today that one of my best friends... actually probably one of my first friends ever, Barry Newman, saw me in Vegas when I was there for the GAMA Trade Show. Sounds like he did a double take to confirm it was me. Wished he would have come by and said hi. But the place is a madhouse, so I know how that would have been difficult. Thanks Diane for the tip. Sent a message on his MySpace page. Maybe he'll get back to me.

I hate moving. I know it's the right decision... but I just f*ing HATE moving. I'm dreading it. Cindy said something about stability... yeah, join the club. It ain't just a female thing.

Stress has finally caught up with her. Wondered when it would. We've both been kind of missing our departed relatives lately. Must be the approaching holiday or something... not like we did anything for the 4th... but what else would it be?

Starting to play 4th edition D&D. I gotta say I like it. I do. Wish there was more material. Kinda feels a little dumbed down, but... I think it will be fun.

Delivered the movie to the distributor last week. Dorkness Rising I mean. So that's awesome.

My job. Doing alright. Numbers were way down last month. But I increased my number of calls by at least 25%. Hoping to reach about 50 calls per week. We'll see. Today was a good day of how that could go. Tomorrow I'm going to ride with the most senior salesman with the company, apart from the owner of course. It'll be good to get perspective on how others do it. Good news is though, once the actor's strike is over, there will be plenty of work to go around and my numbers will be a lot better. I just need a good number of customers not directly related to the entertainmnet industry. And the majority of my customers are not, but they're also smaller customers that are being crushed by the downturned economy. Sales is hard work, but it'd be the same story if I were trying to get a movie off the ground... selling. In this economy. So I need to figure out how to do well, because if I can makes significant successes in this time, it'll be awesome when things are better.

Still dreading moving.

Bleh.

A New Dawn, err Don, err... what-the-F-ever

2008-05-11T21:17:00.000-07:00

I am blessed with a wife who listens. When asked what I wanted for my birthday, I honestly couldn't think of anything other than spending time with my friends and family. We had talked about and tried to make plans to fly up to Seattle for my birthday, or specifically Bellingham, but we couldn't pull the finances together. Got a lot planned this year, and I'll be honest, I've been a bit liberal with the spending and the planning of the spending. Me? Right.

So you've all heard the story by now, but yeah, Cindy got Nathan and Jessica to fly down unbeknownst to me. It was fabulous. I really couldn't have gotten a better gift. I just wished there was a way to spend it with my family as well, but it's just a birthday. There are more to come. And, my friends are my surrogate family... but you know what I mean. And I just want to thank all of you who sent me a gift or a card. Thank you all for thinking of me, OH and those who posted on my MySpace. I'm really bad at responding but I got your birthday wishes and it means a lot.

I thought my body was reacting to some kind of subconscious anxiety about turning 30. So I attempted to face that anxiety and dig up some demons. What I did find, well I shared with you all in my last post. Odd thing though, my body hasn't really gotten better. My muscles are achey and tense and stiff, my stomach feels like it's all knotted up, and today my effing Rosacea or whatever skin thing I have has flared up again.

These are symptoms of anxiety for me. Yet, I cannot for the life of me figure out what the heck I'm anxious about. I don't feel emotionally anxious. In fact, I feel pretty blessed. I have my dream car. I live in sunny California. I really like my job. There's some great things happening with DG. My friend Paige just moved down. My house is awesome. Marriage seems fine and the dogs are happy. (I'll double check with Cindy about the marriage thing, but I'm pretty sure she'd have told me by now if something was up). What the crap do I have to be anxious about?

So I'm going to schedule an appointment tomorrow with the doctor and find out what the crap is going on and get a physical and all that. I just got one for the new life insurance we just bought, and everything checked out great. My cholesterol is great (better than Cindy's. ha!) Blood sugar seems fine, doesn't look like I'm on a path to diabetes or anything. I could certainly use more exercise, but couldn't we all.

I'll let you know how all that goes.

Today we went out with Paige down to Venice Beach. It was fun. Check Cindy's blog soon I'm sure she'll post some pictures. Oh yeah, maybe not. Our laptop has crashed. We called tech support and looks like we are still under warranty, so I'm running tests and it looks like the hardware is okay, just might need to reinstall the operating system or something. So Venice Beach was cool and we got to meet some friends of Camille and Matt's who live down there, Ben and Mary. You probably saw pictures of Mary on Cindy's blog when they went on that hike. Someday I'll get invited to one of those. Anyway we're all going roller skating tomorrow night with Ben and Mary and Paige and us. Again, I could use the exercise and hey, we're getting out! It's nice to have a friend like Paige who is a great instigator of getting out and doing something!

On the professional front, I have a trade show in Long Beach and a big sales meeting that coincides with it next week. Should be interesting. The trade show is for the aerospace industry I think, which I don't know much about so it will be a great learning experience. I've set some professional goals. By June 1st, my goal is to be making 10 calls a day. That's a seriously lofty goal, but I'm almost there. It just takes a lot of planning. Okay, so maybe that's a little high, but I'm shooting for 40-50 calls per week. Right now I'm about half that. I've picked up a few things in the past couple months though, and I think I can do it.

I'm also thinking about joining a gym. There's one just down the street from us. Need to find a partner to join with me though. I don't think Cindy and I would work out at the same time of day, otherwise that would be awesome. Wish me well on that.

T-Minus... Whatever

2008-05-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't get very far on this list. I'll post what I have, in no particular order mind you. Here goes:

Mastered forklift driving in a cold storage

Graduated Cum Laude with a self-funded education

Learned Ancient Greek

Went to Scotland by myself and studied at the University of Glasgow for a semester

Co-starred in a play performed at the University of Glasgow

Learned to drink beer (in Scotland)

Woke up several mornings without my pants, and no recollection of how they came off

Woke up in an alcohol rehabilitation clinic in Inverness as apparently I was too drunk to walk.

Slept on the streets of Glasgow, blanketed by my leather trenchcoat. Yes, due to more drunkenness.

Kissed a Greek/Argentine girl

Woke up with a Greek/German girl in my bed one morning, discovered we were both clothed and I was still a virgin.

Stood on the shore of the edge of infinity with my friends at 3am in Tacoma

Watched two of my spiritual mentors and pastors get ousted from their congregations

In my application process to go into the ministry, was told by the church that I had too much debt and to come back when I had less

Decided not to become an ordained minister until God says otherwise

Helped found an independent film company called Dead Gentlemen Productions (DG)

Directed and produced a feature digital movie

Helped create one of DG’s most memorable characters, Silent Jim

Filmed a demon resurrection ritual being performed on an actual alter

Kissed my best friend between takes of said ritual

Produced and managed Dead Gentlemen’s biggest film yet, “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”

Was appointed Manager of Dead Gentlemen Productions

Operated Dead Gentlemen Productions’ online commerce

Initiated, negotiated and closed a distribution deal with the largest gaming publisher in the nation.

Made friends with the largest names in the hobby game industry

Played D&D regularly with the designers and writers of D&D

Married my best friend

Learned the marine industry from scratch

Became a professional in the fiberglass industry with no formal training

Managed a facility and employees

Promoted, moved to Los Angeles, and then promoted again

Graduated with the championship award from my sales training class

Bought my dream car

Contracted salmonella. Twice.

So far, can’t name one enemy.

Lived on friends’ couches for about 6 months

Was propositioned by 7 hookers in one night

Negotiated and facilitated a role playing game based on DG’s first films, Demon Hunters

Had lunch with Kate Blanchett and her family

Met and hung out with Ken Foree, star of the original Dawn of the Dead

Can call several designers and writers for Dungeons and Dragons (past, present or otherwise) close personal friends.

------------

Well, now I'm starting to feel like I'm boasting. I can say though that after all this time and all that has happened:

My wife is still my bestest friend
My friends are my family
My family are my best friends (that's literal by the way)
My grandfather is still my hero
My regrets don't matter
Next to my wife, my sister, my mother and my grandmother are the most amazing and strongest women in my life
God still believes in me
I love my job
I'm ready for what's next and I'm planning for it

A slight departure for a second. One of my highschool peers died this past week. Quite the athlete. Took care of himself, stayed active, had a very active spiritual life in the Church of Latter Day Saints, and yet a rare cancer came up and that was that. Rendell Wilkinson. He was one of the popular guys in high school. Really well liked. I can't say I knew him well though. Yet his death has made me realize that deep down, I guess that dumb fear of approaching your own time is affecting me. I don't know that I'm actually fearing it, as I am feeling it getting closer, my time that is.

So in order to dispel all that, I'm going to print here for all the world to see what I haven't told many people. Of course my thought is that by recognizing it, then it won't actually happen because I'm consciously and reasonably presenting to everyone who would read this and hold it accountable.

For more than half my life, I've held some kind of belief that my life will end in some kind of explosion/combustion/ball of fire, before I'm 40 years old. This belief started when I had three separate and different dreams where I died in some kind of explosion, and I remember those dreams to this day, and I remember feeling the explosion.

There, I've said it, I've PRINTED it, and I can't take it back. So here's to outliving my life insurance policy, and to seeing just exactly how long I can stretch both sides of my family's longevity. Unfortunately, my teeth regardless do not hold the same life expectancy. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Yes, that's a pun.

F this S in the A. I'm going to bed. Godspeed, and don't get run over.

Viva Lost Wages

2008-04-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Yep, $200 at the Blackjack tables. That's MINUS $200. I was doing well, during the first 20 minutes. I learned 2 things, energy at the table is key. When you think it won't get better, it won't! So don't stick around no matter how much fun the people at the table are.

However, I came back from Vegas on the plus side, so that's good news.

Overall it was a successful trip, and I'll write more about that on my report on the DG website.

That's www.deadgentlemen.com for those of you playing at home.

Still working on my last 10 years synopsis.

Insights I will share though, are that as my birthday approaches, I find myself less interested in video games or the newest gaming books or a new set of dice, or whatever. I actually found myself thinking "I wish I had a shop vac." or "A deck cabinet would be great." or "Someday we should get a patio furniture set."

On the other hand, I was in the same moments also pondering how to fabricate a gaming table out of fiberglass. So I guess I'm not foregone yet.

That about sums it up for now. I'm sure I'll be way more productive starting tomorrow. Yeah right.

Time to go to work!

2008-04-18T08:35:00.000-07:00

I think Matt Vancil once told me this. I think he read it somewhere but it's a perspective I'm trying to hang onto. Someone once calculated that if you took an average human life span and represented it as a span of 24 hours, 30 years old would be 9am, and 65 years old would be I think 5pm.

I'm not exactly sure how all that was calculated since the years to minutes ratio seems a bit off to me, but the poetry in it is what brings inspiration to me. 9am. Time to go to work. 5pm. Quitting time... retirement. So the first 29 years of my life has been hitting the snooze alarm, finally getting out of bed, walking groggily around the house in my underwear, taking a shower, drinking coffee, listening to the news... in other words, getting ready. Getting ready to go to work.

Truth be told I've been in a funk the past week. I'm not sure if it's my diet, lack of exercise, realization I'm turning 30 or whatever emotion I might feel about that, or whatever. Might be all of it. I haven't really explored how I feel about being 30. I have been looking at my present situation however, and realizing where I'm at, and I'm trying to figure out where I'm going.

I've also done that stupid thing of comparing my life to another's and seeing how I measure up. While it's terrible and unfair to yourself to do that, it has actually caused me to appreciate my friends even deeper. I, and the people near and dear to me, have accomplished extraordinary things in our first 30 years. It's truly remarkable. The paths we've all chose has also put it us in very complimentary places for each other.

Ben wrote out something that I thought was inspiring. I'm not going to do it in this blog, but maybe next one. He wrote out a summary of his accomplishments/experiences in the last decade. I think he said he's going to post it up on his blog but he hasn't done it yet.

Ben's Blog

Yesterday I had my ipod on shuffle and Bing Crosby came on and sang "Counting your blessings". I've always loved that song. It's in the movie White Christmas.

When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
I fall asleep counting my blessings

And so on....

And blessings are plentiful in my life. When I graduated from high school, if someone were to tell me that in a little over 10 years I would be selling fiberglass products to the movie industry in Los Angeles while I build my own filmmaking career, I would have told that person they'd be wrong. At that time I was going to be a Lutheran Pastor, going to PLU, then seminary, and then God knows where. Well, God did know, and turns out it wasn't the path of a Lutheran minister. At least not yet.

I am going to do that 10 year synopsis thing that Ben did. I think it would be a good exercise for me to see what exactly I have accomplished and experienced. If you feel so inspired, I would love to read yours as well.

I'm also not fishing for compliments here either. This is purely an exercise for my own benefit and publishing it on my blog is a way for me to keep myself accountable.

Have a great weekend. Maybe I'll have this up before then.

I am the Champion

2008-03-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Winning friends and influencing people, and having a sales advantage. Last night was my final class of the Dale Carnegie course The Sales Advantage.

A very incredible class, the culmination of which we all had to do a 7-minute presentation going through all the steps of the sales process that we had learned in the class. We all graded each other, and the person with the highest score was the champion.

I won!

So I thank all my classmates for the honor. I owe it all to the group experience, and to our lovely instructor, Christina Taggart, who encouraged us, educated us, challenged us, and led us powerfully through the course.

A lot of great things happening this year. It's a great year, 2008. I look forward to more of what comes.

Broke and going home

2008-03-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Talk about a city of excess! I was sensory overloaded in less than 24 hours. I walked probably over 5 miles yesterday.

So we didn't end up going to the Playboy party. We were pretty wiped from the day, and decided to chill out, sit at some tables and play a little poker. Boy was that F'ing stupid. I lost 60 bucks in about an hour. Bastards set me down at a table of freakin experts.

Thus, I reinstate my previous decree about gambling. I don't do it. Casinos do not interest me in the slightest. The "free" drinks are nice, except when you put in perspective you just donated $60 to Las Vegas, you just spent $30 bucks each on those two little rum and cokes you had.

F!

It was an eye opener though. We are going back at the end of April for almost a week. By we I mean Matt, Jeremy and I. It's for a gaming trade show for DG. Anyway, we'll be looking into all those hidden coupons, cheap buffets, and so on... because it took us over an hour last night just to find a restaurant that wasn't an average of $30 a plate!

Where's the glamor in being broke. That's Vegas for you. Makes LA feel laid back and cozy.

It's Vegas!

2008-03-16T15:59:00.001-07:00

Feet hurt. Too tired. But having a ton of fun. The mini handled well getting us out here. Below are some highlights of the day: ARREST ME, PLEASE!!!!!!! She was as bubbly in person as she is on the show. Bridget from "The Girls Next Door". Incidentally, Jeremy and I will be attending the Playboy party tonight. I have to find me some pants though. Well, I have pants, but apparently jeans might not be allowed. God I am a DORK!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dee Snyder:

Dee worked with Midnight Syndicate on a creepy awesome album, which I also picked up so he could freakin sign it. TWISTED SISTER RULES!!!!

Finally, since we're in Vegas, why not get a really freaking LONG Long Island Iced Tea.

That might just ruin me. We'll let you know.

Haunted in Vegas

2008-03-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

In about an hour I leave for Vegas. Supposed to snow along the way in the upper elevations. We'll be driving extra careful in the new Mini. Jeremy and I are going, mainly because I'm going to a trade show in Vegas for the Horror/SFX/Haunted House Rides/Halloween type industry, and I didn't want to go alone.

Looks like a lot of fun. And then in about a month, I'll be coming back for a week for a gaming trade show for the release of our new Demon Hunters Roleplaying Game. That will be really fun and cool.

The week went pretty well. Got adjusted to working in the Mini as my office. I think it's gonna work well. It's very comfortable, and I'm glad that it is actually functional, and not just fun.

Went to go see a new movie, a test screening actually, of an awesome movie that involves LARPing. It was HI-larious! Look for it this summer. Little Big Men.

Welcome to the Family!

2008-03-08T17:38:00.001-08:00

We did it. Wasn't planning on it, but it worked out. This is my new MINI!!!! It's a 2007 Cooper S, with a sunroof and rally lights. I wanted to get the Clubman, but we just couldn't afford it.

It's so freakin fun. I can't believe I have my Mini Cooper S. The CD player even reads MP3's, so I'm covered on totally not having to deal with the crappy radio stations down here.

Feels like a lot of room inside, but not a whole lot of legroom in the back behind me.

The rally lights are kind of interesting. I can say I don't seem many of those on the road. I got them for free though, so at least I didn't have to pay for them. They're essentially glorified high beams, but cool.

I am going to have to get the Bluetooth add-on installed at a later date. Costs the same as an add-on, which is fine. I can also jack in my iPod and listen to my library on that too. Just can't charge it, except I do have a car charger for it should I need that. I'll probably have to get a 12V splitter since I can only find one cigarette lighter jack in the car.

It feels all high tech and geeky inside, so that satisfies a lot of my nerdy desires. The interior is gorgeous, a piano black, black leather seats, really freaking comfortable.

Certainly not a crazy amount of trunk space, but enough to do the job I think. I can always get a rack to put on top, and if I get crazy rich in the next 5 years, I can always swap this out for the newer more awesome or something. Right now, this is about as awesome as I could ever think of. I had no idea I'd be driving that baby home, and we got a good deal. Cindy played the hard ball, and they came down about $4,000, and we came up to meet in the middle, at around $27k including taxes and fees.

Well, that's about all the excitement I can ooze. I feel great and I think this will help me perform in my job because I'm driving in comfort and in something that makes me happy, so I'll be more confident and relaxed in my sales calls. How cool is that?

Yes, he did this to himself.

Electric Mini

2008-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

Well crap! This is the Mini I want, and I can't have it! AAGGGHHH!!!!

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/the_hybrid_mini.php

Mini Me

2008-03-04T18:34:00.001-08:00

Well I don't have a whole lot of excuses. This blog is like the front page of the DG website. Dead.

The good news is, Cindy found a great job, I'm waiting on my bonus, and I'll be ordering my Mini Cooper soon.

It's harder than I thought. There are SO many choices. Do I get the normal Mini or the Mini Cooper S? Do I get it in the Clubman, or do I get a normal sized one? And the most difficult one of all, WHAT FREAKIN' COLOR???

So, I'm attaching some photos of these choices. Maybe you can help me.

Cindy is opposed to me getting the S version. Mainly because it's not as good in gas mileage. But truthfully, by not as good we're talking trading about 4 MPG for 60 extra horses.

The other thing I discovered in my research, is that the Cooper S version is in much higher demand, so it retains it's value far better than the normal Cooper.

Sigh. Think I still like the Clubman though. It's different and cool.

This one here is a Clubman regular style.

This is the Mini Cooper S Clubman in the blue.
I do like the blue, although I like the black roof and trim better.

I test drove the non S version and it seemed to have a lot of pep. But I keep reading that the more you drive it, the more you wish you had the get up and go, to maneuver through traffic or react and have it handle the way you want to.

But I am also wary of getting too excessive. To follow my buying interests, here are the following for any of you Dale Carnegie fans out there:

1. My Dominant Buying Motive is that I want Comfort. This will be both my mobile office and my play car. I spend a lot of time in my car for work and I want to be comfortable in it. I also don't really like driving and so driving a car that is fun to drive is kind of new for me.

2. Must Haves:

Stickshift/Manual Transmission
Sport Seats/Comfy seats
Multifunction Steering Wheel
Car Alarm

3. Other Considerations:

Sunroof
Everything Else. :)

This is the white color with the black roof I like.

So, what it amounts to is: Do I need the extra space in the back that the Clubman will provide? Would I rather trade 9 extra inches of trunk space for more horsepower? I don't think I can afford to build a Clubman S version unfortunately.

Sigh. Too many freakin decisions.

Happy New Year!!

2008-01-02T07:03:00.000-08:00

This post unfortunately won't have pictures, but I'll post some later. Happy New Year everyone! We had a fantastic holiday this year and I wanted to thank everyone for all the wonderful gifts. (some of these warrant pictures, so like I say, I'll post those later). For a great little video on how New Year's Eve went, jump over to Matt and Camille's Blog.

It feels like a lot has happened during the holidays. Both our old housemates got engaged over Christmas (not to each other). So Congrats to Emily and Michael, and Shimmy and Emilie. Yes, two Emilies, and Matt dated them both at one time or another. Michael's the odd man out, but I guess this now makes him the right man in! We're really stoked for all of you!!!

We had a blast gaming in Idaho with my sister and her friends. We got through an entire adventure in one night! It even snowed while we played. I love spending time with my sister when I can. She continually makes me laugh in new ways. It was great to see all my family, to spend time with my mom again, with my grandparents, and to see the extended family on Christmas Eve.

Thanks again to Adam and Julia for meeting us for breakfast. I wish we could have spent more time together but it was great to catch up even for a little bit.

Our Christmas gifts were great and meaningful. The highlight for me was mom's gift of her old wedding band, which fit my ring finger perfectly. Then the next day Cindy gave me a new wedding ring too! Unfortunately it didn't fit. So we went to the jeweler and got mom's ring sized for my right hand ring finger (which is a little bigger than my left hand), but we couldn't get my new wedding ring sized because it would have put it out of shape. When we got home, we looked up the site and found that they didn't make my new ring in a Men's size smaller than a 9. I'm an 8 - 8.5. It's going to work out fine though. We're going to return the ring and if they can't make a ring in my size of the style Cindy picked out, I'll get a duplicate of the ring I had originally lost, but an upgrade to 14k instead of 10k. All of our gifts were great and it seems we did well on the gifts we gave this year too.

I don't really have any resolutions for the new year, but I do have a few hopes and wishes.

That mom and Cindy land great jobs ASAP
That The Gamers: Dorkness Rising gets a great distribution deal ASAP
That Demon Hunters: The Roleplaying Game does well
That Jeremy's real estate business really takes off
That Dead Gentlemen lands at least two great deals/projects this year
That I get to see my family in North Carolina
That Grandma and Grandpa Hall get well soon
That I take up some kind of regular physical activity
Maybe, just maybe, I begin learning the guitar (bass or otherwise)
That I get to do some acting
That I become extremely proficient with a pistol

I'd say that's a good start. Well, got to get back to work. Happy New Year Everyone! If you feel like it, post a comment on some of your New Year's Wishes/Resolutions this year. I'm interested in seeing what you hope 2008 holds for you.

Something

2007-12-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

Don't have much to report. I came down with a cold, but I'm almost over it. I've been trying to kick it before we get on the plane tomorrow, Idaho bound. Gonna take a half day tomorrow. Work's been long hours again. I'll never get used to getting up between the hours of 4am and 5am no matter how many times I do it. Bleh.

I got your gift from Cutco, Grandma, and it's awesome and I'm using it. Thank you!! No, I won't be taking it on the plane. Tomorrow I go pick up Dad's gift. It finally came in. They sent it all the way from North Carolina, and no, it's not another weiner dog.

And yeah, that's about all I got. Felt I should say something, so, there you go.

Idaho Gaming

2007-12-08T10:50:00.000-08:00

So this is more or less for my sister and anyone playing in the D&D adventure I'm running in Idaho around Christmas time.

Character Creation Rules:

Any D&D 3.5 Book is legal if you have it (Except for Miniature's Handbook).

For reference, everything from the Players Handbook, the Dungeon Masters Guide (a great place to find your gear), and other stuff can be found at:

www.d20srd.org

That's if you don't have the books.

Everyone will be 9th level characters.

28 point buy where each ability starts at 8 and you buy your ability points up, using a total of 28 points to spend. The ability point values are as follows:

9 - 1 point
10 - 2 points
11 - 3 points
12 - 4 points
13 - 5 points
14 - 6 points
15 - 8 points
16 - 10 points
17 - 13 points
18 - 16 points

OR roll 6 sets of 4d6, dropping the lowest die in each set

Bonus feat every odd level (instead of every 3rd level)
Ability boosts are normal (1 point into 1 ability every 4 levels)

Usually it helps to figure out what kind of character you want to play first. When you don't know what the options are, think of a movie character or something like that to help come up with a concept, and I can help you build it.

Angie has my email address, and I'll see if I can't get the forums to work for you.

Holiday

2007-11-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone. I'm so damned thankful it's a holiday right now. It couldn't have come at a better time. I'm exhausted. These constant 13-14 hour days have been killing me. As soon as we finish building all the racks inside and organize everything to where they're going to go, I think I can stop working so much.

I've had to come in so early because we're in a new building with new restrictions, and if the guys don't have proper guidance, it takes forever to get the trucks out of the yard and on the road to make deliveries. We're getting there though.

Today i slept about as long as I worked yesterday. Felt great.

So Cindy put up a Christmas list, which means I should probably do the same.

When in doubt, D&D Miniatures are never a bad idea. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, just plug in D&D Miniatures at Amazon.com. In fact, most of my ideas can be found at Amazon.com
Anything from my Amazon.com wish list. I just updated it.
Guitar Hero: Rock of the 80's
Any of the following Ian Fleming James Bond Novels (my collection somehow dwindled)

Casino Royale
Dr. No
For Your Eyes Only
Moonraker
Thunderball
The Spy Who Loved Me
The Man with the Golden Gun

Alternatively, just a new set of ALL of the Ian Fleming James Bond Novels (my partial collection are some pretty ratty paperbacks)
Any James Bond Novel by John Gardner (Except Never Send Flowers)
Any of the following James Bond DVDs:

Diamonds are Forever
Live and Let Die
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
For Your Eyes Only
The Man With the Golden Gun
A View to a Kill
The Spy Who Loved Me
Living Daylights

A Cutco Pocket Knife
A pair of size 12 running shoes
Apples to Apples game (it's a card/board game)
Neat coffee mugs
A subscription to GameFly

Well, I think that's plenty. I'm also TOTALLY happy with gift certificates to places like:

Amazon.com
Starbucks
Best Buy (one just opened down the street from us)
Macy's or some other clothes store that's nearby. I think I need to get some button down shirts, but I don't know my sizes.
Target

Okay, it's time to hop in the show and get ready to have Thanksgiving with friends. Happy Turkey Day everyone!

Guitar Hero Video

2007-11-11T13:33:00.001-08:00

This was Cindy, me, Jeremy and Katie all weekend.

I can't believe we did this ALL day

2007-11-11T12:52:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about this game, I thought it was like that other interactive game, Dance Dance Revolution. You know, that game where you look like a big douche standing in front of a TV, stomping on a stupid game mat trying to mimic something that resembles a Britney Spears video. Guitar Hero is a game that comes with a controller that looks like a toy guitar. See below:
People have been going nuts over this game. So on Friday, our friend Rian Bosak was in town so everyone came over to hang out at our place. Jeremy and Katie are our new friends that Rian introduced us to. We introduced them to D&D, and Friday, they introduced us to Guitar Hero. I was reluctant at first, but I'll admit I was curious.

Jeremy had Guitar Hero 1 and 2. Turns out Guitar Hero is way more fun because if you have two of these guitar controllers, one person can play lead guitar while the other player can play the bass line. And the music selection is really awesome. I went through the tutorial on Guitar Hero II, and then Jeremy and I gave it a whirl. I think my first song was Motley Crue's "Shout at the Devil". HOLY CRAP was it fun!

So Jeremy and I are rocking out and Cindy comes in and sees us. She watches for like 30 seconds and says "Oooh! I wanna try!" I was stunned. Cindy does not really play video games. Except SpyHunter, which she kicks my ass at.

She picked it up really fast, and before long, we were all swapping turns rocking out. Then someone said that Target was having a sale on Guitar Hero III, which included TWO guitar controllers all for $99.00!

Yep, by noon the next day, Guitar Hero III was ours. It would have been sooner, but we were up late the night before rocking out to the other Guitar Hero games.

Heh, I can actually hear Cindy in the living room right now playing the game as I write this blog. She's playing the game BY HERSELF!

This game is a great party game. You can take turns two by two, with different songs and different difficulties. It's definitely a game that gets more fun while drinking too of course!

And we played Guitar Hero III ALL DAY yesterday. I think we ended around 8pm, watched a movie, and then played a little more before everyone took off.

Here's a video of just how ridiculous it is, but don't be fooled, if you ever find a controller in your hand, you too will fall to the temptation to rock out.

The move is over

2007-11-04T17:09:00.000-08:00

Now the fun begins. We just finished this week moving my entire facility at work to a new location. The facility is much bigger, but there's no yard and they're being very strict on storing flammables, which is bad because that's what we sell primarly: Flammables!

Now comes the the fun part of unpacking, sorting, finding things, setting up the office, etc. It feels like I'm in a perpetual state of moving. Some day, I'd like to not move for a long time.

It was a really long week. Worked a 14 hour and then a 15 hour day Thursday and Friday respectively. Made up for it though this weekend. I pretty much slept the whole weekend. I'm not going to bust myself next week. I'll put in my day, and call it good.

SoCal is on Fire

2007-10-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

But we're not. We in the San Fernando Valley are just starting to see smoke in the clouds. It's very warm outside. 91 Degrees right now. I sent drivers today through what I thought were trouble spots, but the roads were clear and they actually got back early today. So we seem to be doing well so far. I'll keep you posted.

I guess I'm moving Saturday... maybe?

2007-10-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

So I get a call today from the guy who has my job over at our headquarters plant in Bloomington, CA. "How soon can you have those surfboard blanks loaded onto that trailer over there so we can get that out of your hair for your potential move on Saturday?" ...

...

What?

So I've known since I took this job that we were going to have to move our facility to a new location. Our lease was expiring at the end of October and we weren't renewing it. That was in June. It's now October 22. Last I heard over a week ago we still hadn't signed papers for a new location. In fact, I didn't even know for sure which location it was until I talked to the bossman at 5:30pm tonight.

Our warehouse also has a store, and sure it's been slow but we do get a fair amount of walk-in business. Part of my job is to grow that walk-in business. Here it is, less than a week away, and none of our customers know we're moving.

Had I not called, and had my counterpart not informed me, I may still not have known until tomorrow? Wednesday?

Well, as stressed out about that as I am right now, I can say I'm up to the challenge and we're going to make it as smooth as possible, but holy wow.

sigh.

In other news, Matt and I have started working on a fun project together. We're going through and watching an amazing list of crappy movies. Why? Well I can't leak everything, but let's just say it's a long time guilty pleasure with the two of us.

In case you're interested, here's the list. If you're bored, look them up on IMDb.

The crossed out ones are movies that we thought at first applied to what we're doing, but decided that they didn't fit. The BOLD titles are the ones we've finished watching. Yeah, it's gonna be great. I feel bad for our wives.

Amazons (1986)
~~Amazons in the Temple of Gold (a.k.a. Golden Temple Amazons; 1986)~~
The Arena (a.k.a. Naked Warriors; 1974)
Ator, the Fighting Eagle (1982)
The Blade Master (a.k.a. Ator II; 1984)
Iron Warrior (a.k.a. Ator III; 1987)
Quest for the Mighty Sword (a.k.a. Ator IV; a.k.a The Hobgoblin; 1990)
~~Barbarella: Queen of the Galaxy (1968)~~
Barbarian (a.k.a. Barbarian: The Last Great Warrior King; 2003)
Barbarian Queen (1985)
Barbarian Queen II: The Empress Strikes Back (1989)
The Barbarians (a.k.a. The Barbarian Brothers; 1987)
The Beastmaster (1982)
~~Beastmaster II: Through the Portal of Time (1991)~~
Beastmaster: The Eye of Braxus (a.k.a Beastmaster III; 1996)
Circle of Iron (1978)
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Conan the Destroyer (1984)
Conquest (1983)
Darkest Knight (2002)
Darkest Knight II: Rise of the Kingdom (2003)
Darkest Knight III: The Ultimate Sword (2004)
Deathstalker (1983)
Deathstalker II: Duel of the Titans (1987)
Deathstalker III: Deathstalker and the Warriors from Hell (1988)
Deathstalker IV: Match of the Titans (1990)
Fire and Ice (animated; 1983)
Gor (a.k.a. John Norman's Gor; 1988)
Outlaw of Gor (1989)
Hawk the Slayer (1981)
Hercules/The Adventures of Hercules (double feature; 1983)
~~Highlander (1986)~~
Hundra (1983)
Ironmaster (1983)
Krull (1983)
Kull the Conqueror (1997)
Ladyhawke (1985)
~~Legend (1985)~~
Merlin and the Sword (1982)
Prisoners of the Lost Universe (1983)
Red Sonja (1985)
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
Sinbad of the Seven Seas (1989)
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974)
Sorceress (1982)
Stormquest (1987)
The Magic Sword (1962)
The Seven Magnificent Gladiators (1985)
The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
Thor the Conqueror (1982)
War Gods of Babylon & War Goddess (double feature; 1975)
The Warrior and the Sorceress (1984)
Warrior Queen (1987)
Wizards (animated; 1977)
Wizards of the Demon Sword (1992)
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985)
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom II (1989)
Yor, Hunter from the Future (1983)

Nutless Wonder

2007-09-22T23:46:00.000-07:00

Well I would have posted a picture but Cindy made off with the camera on her girly weekend trip. Seumas did a lot better today. He was walking around, even trotting sometimes.

Didn't sleep very well last night of course. Seumas stayed in the bed with Cindy and I and that usually results in not sleeping well. It's particularly difficult when you have to prevent the little bastard from licking his wound, while also trying to be unconscious.

The wound is a little pink, but not bloody. His poor little scrotum looks a bit like an overripe cherry which I have to say kind of horrifies me. He used to have those two proud testicles which he displayed so unabashedly. Had to put his lamp shade on him a couple times today to keep him from messing with his wound. He's definitely loving the soft food that Cindy got him. Helps with giving him his antibiotic pill too.

I can tell he's going to bounce back really fast though. Already he's climbing steps. Yesterday I had to pick him up. He got his peanut butter filled bone today that Cindy got this morning and of course within a half hour, both Cordy and Seumas had their bone totally gutted.

Matt came over and I taught him how to play D&D miniatures, during which he promptly kicked my ass. It's an odd game for me. It's the one I continually lose and still can't wait to play it again. After that we had food and beer and rum and bad movies and it was much fun.

Tonight will probably be yet another crappy night's sleep, but with Cindy gone for the night, the dogs are sleeping in the bed. I'm a sucker like that.

We're under attack!!!!

2007-09-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

I slept awful last night. Went to bed at 9pm. Boohoo, right? Well, I read for a bit and fell asleep pretty quickly. I don't even remember Cindy coming to bed. That's right, I beat HER to bed. Unheard of.

The next thing I remember, I wake up hearing the transients outside digging through all the neighborhood recycling bins for cans and bottles. I mean, I feel sorry for them and all, and I'd gladly donate any and all recyclables to them so they can get a little cash, but the feeling that a stranger is outside your house rummaging through your former stuff in the middle of the night is not settling. You wonder if they're going to get curious and start walking around your yard or something. Not a safe feeling.

I roll over and ask Cindy if she'd locked the doors before going to bed, and she mumbled that she did.

Good enough. Slipped back into unconsciousness.

Sort of. The next few hours, we are plagued by helicopters swarming the airspace above our neighborhood. Know what that probably means? Police, looking for someone. In your neighborhood, in the middle of the night!

Somewhere in all that I had the following dream:

Cindy and I were at my grandma's house in Boise, but we were the only one's there. There was a homeless guy who knocked on the door. I asked him what he wanted and he wanted to know if he could take his shower for the month.

I told him that we were in the middle of something and said sorry... but he wouldn't go away. He was much larger than me, and in the argument that ensued (in the middle of which I told Cindy to call 911), he attacked me and I ended up putting him on the ground punching him in the neck, yet still getting my ass kicked.

I woke up right around there, and wouldn't you know it, it was 5am. Time to get up. I snoozed a bit more, but it was restless.

Been in a rotten mood all morning. Feeling better now, but WHAT THE CRAP!

My wife made me do this

2007-09-08T10:43:00.001-07:00

GenCon Indy 2007

2007-08-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this is Nathan and me? So, GenCon went well. For those of you who don't know what GenCon is, it's the largest gaming convention in the country that doesn't largely involve video games. This is role-playing games, like Dungeons and Dragons, collectible card games, like Magic: The Gathering, and all the board games and miniature gaming stuff. Yeah, it's awesome.

What you are seeing above is a piece done by Jason Engle, for the Demon Hunters Role-Playing Game, which will be coming out this fall by Margaret Weis Productions. That's right, the folks who brought you the Serenity Role-playing Game and the new Battlestar Galactica Role-playing game, licensed Dead Gentlemen's Demon Hunters property to do a new role-playing game. So far, the feedback is that it's one of the hilarious good times in role-playing to be had. I co-directed the DVD that will be packaged with the game, and we played it at the booth throughout the con. In the Spring, Ben and I directed the Demon Hunters: Brotherhood Orientation Video, which makes the Demon Hunters RPG the first role-playing game ever to have video content packaged with it. We're nominated for an award for next year already!

The video gathered a crowd like the old days when our movie The Gamers was still new. It was refreshing to see that we could still draw a crowd.

In attendance from our group was also Cindy, Steve Wolbrecht, Chris Duppenthaler, Jen & Dave Page, and Chris and Sarah Ode. We had a blast hanging out with our friends at Margaret Weis Productions.

You can click HERE for more GenCon pictures.

We had a screening of The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, which was packed. That was even on a Friday afternoon at 4pm, when people were running games and whatnot! There was even a panel for Monte Cook that people had to skip out on (Sorry Monte).

We were also invited as special guests to Tracy Hickman's Killer Breakfast, which is this Improvisational show he does, running a game with people from the audience as players, and killing their characters in creative ways. It's really a spectacular and entertaining show. And HUMBLING! We were invited along with people like Ed Greenwood and even Gary Gygax (Co-creator of D&D)!!!

I died in the first 30 seconds at the table when he asked "why are you here?" to which I bent over to the microphone replied in my deepest voice, "I'm Johnny Cash". Apparently that was explanation enough for him, and I was going to answer every question with a Johnny Cash song, but my improv wasn't up to snuff and was dead in a matter of moments.

Well, that's about all I can say for now on the trip. Of course promptly upon returning I got some kind of head cold that laid me out. I went to bed at 6:30pm last night. My sinus still kind of feel like they want to implode. Everyone at the office is getting it too, and I know it's not because of me since people I haven't seen in person in over two months are coming down with the same symptoms on the other side of the city.

Ick.

Allergisick

2007-08-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Either my allergies are crazy or I came down with something, but holy crap do I feel awful. I left LA for GenCon on Wednesday the 15th with a bad sore throat. When I got to Indy, the sore throat was gone and I felt great.

Came back from Indy on Monday, and within hours I was under the weather again. Ug. Went home at noon today from work because I couldn't concentrate. Not good when you're trying to be a good leader.

Going to be spending a lot of time with a Kleenex box and OTC drugs. When my mind is more coherent, I'll post an update on how the convention went. In short, it was awesome. Very reassuring that we can still draw a constant crowd at the booth. Unfortunately sales were down to about half this year. Oh well. That's what happens when you don't have anything new to sell.

Haven't gotten the numbers from the other booth yet. Well, Ta for now.

Knott's in my throat

2007-08-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, to celebrate Camille's birthday we all went to Knott's Berry Farm. You can tell I'm not from around here, because when I first heard that's what we were doing I thought to myself "Why the F are we going to a jam factory? How is that all 'Happy Birthday'? Does Camille have a jam fetish I don't know about?"

So yeah, besides jam, they have big roller coasters. One of which scared the piss out of both Cindy and I. We got the picture, but I don't have a scanner so I can't share it. However, I can share the pictures we did take.

Here's us just getting into the theme park when it's 100 degrees outside and all we want is something cool to drink. If you look behind me, you'll find a stand full of ice cold refreshments THAT WE COULDN'T BUY BECAUSE THE DAMNED TWIT'S CASH REGISTER WAS BROKE or something. She wouldn't even accept exact change.

I thought I'd record my demeanor about the whole situation for the rest of you. I'm sure you appreciate it.

Here we are trying to figure out what kind of jam they sell... Oh, and that's our new married couple friends, Katy and Jeremy. They now play D&D with us. They're hooked, and it's my fault. :)

Here's Jeremy and I chillin on the river raft ride that only lasted about 30 seconds after standing in line for about a half an hour.

I actually didn't get sunburned. Although, Katy got soaked. It was nice to have some cool water nearby though, after not being able to buy the obviously cold and refreshing beverages that just teased you as you walked in the gate. I mean that's just evil, people!

And speaking of evil, let me introduce you to Ghost Rider. This is one of the largest wooden roller coasters in the world. It's also one scary S.O.B. This is a ride that when you get off of it, you hurt. It shakes, rattles, and rolls you all over hell and back. I wish I could show you the picture, we both thought we were going to die.

I'm sure it's supposed to be safe and no one has died yet. But wow, let me just say, it's a real trip.

Unfortunately, I think it turns out that Knott's Berry Farm is also in one of the more polluted areas of LA. So either the fact that I was screaming at the top of my lungs, combined with the fact that there's a bunch of screaming kids around, or the pollution, or all of the above... well, what I'm trying to say is that I ended up with an inflamed sore throat for the past few days. I blame Ghost Rider.

Well, tomorrow I leave for GenCon in Indianapolis. So, a sore throat just in time to talk all day to a huge constant crowd. When did fun get so hard on me?

The Don Whisperer

2007-07-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

I'm a lazy git. Well, when I'm not working I am. I guess maybe just evenings and weekends when I sleep all the time. Am I working too hard? Am I expending everything I have to offer my new life here in LA at Revchem Plastics?

Truth is, I think I'm actually not lazy per se, as I am inactive. In my old job at Revchem in Tacoma, I was a lot more active. I was running around, pulling orders, carrying heavy things, unloading trucks. I was support for the operations there. Here, I'm the leader of the operations. I have two employees who do all the things I did in Tacoma. So I sit in my chair at work, I talk on the phone a lot, and work out logistical problems, I deal with personnel issues, and then wonder why my back hurts, my body is sore, and I'm sleepy all the time.

The blood, it does not flow... as much. Cindy to the rescue, or something like that. So my darling wife has found new zeal in life through that show "The Dog Whisperer" starring Cesar Milan. She checked out his book Cesar's Way, and over the course of about a week she read it cover to cover. Suddenly, the dogs HAVE to be walked every night, and I feel like a jerk because I'm too tired to go with her. One evening she really wanted me to go with her and I was really not in the mood, and needless to say the air was pensive for a while. All the sudden she wants to do all these new things, and it's starting to impose on me.

Well practicing what Cesar was teaching her, she stayed calm and assertive, and when I was done with my tantrum, I followed our new pack leader. Turns out not only do the dogs need daily exercise and discipline and affection, so does the husband. I began to read the damn book. You know what, the guy makes a lot of sense. His approach is easy, natural, and improves relationships not just with dogs, but with other people. Well, actually, it also improves your relationship with yourself. You begin to understand what kind of role you want in life, and that you are the one who gets to choose what that is, as pack leader. Now it is up to me to also be a pack leader for our dogs. I can't let Cindy be the only authority figure for those two little sausages.

Then, as you probably read on Cindy's blog, the two of us watched the entire disc of "The Dog Whisperer" she got from Netflix. Every single problem the people were having with their dogs was a direct result of not being in control and being dominant over their dogs. Many of examples Cesar used to help the people understand what kind of role they had to take up were examples from their work, or as a parent. If you are calm and in control and provide clear boundaries, you will get the results you want. Allow too much freedom, and there's chaos and you are no longer in control.

I too Seumas for a walk one night using the new leash technique I'd just learned. I took the chain leash, and latched it to itself so it became a choker leash. I put the leash high up on Seumas' neck, just under his jaw, and led him around. We didn't move until he was relaxed and submitted to me going first. Then, with slight corrections which involved a slight tug upward on the leash bringing Seumas' head up, instead of nose to the ground, he was no longer darting in front choking himself to death trying to drag me. In less than a minute he was trotting beside me relaxed and happy as I practiced good posture pulling my shoulders back and filling myself with confidence. It's amazing how much easier it is to breathe when you're not slouching like I am right now as I write this.

Ahem. Okay, corrected.

Suddenly several things clicked into place. I needed this exercise just as much as the dogs. I need to take better care of my body. Just because I'm skinny doesn't mean I'm healthy. So did I go with Cindy tonight to walk the dogs? No, I was too tired and didn't feel like it. Am I going to challenge myself to walk the dogs when I don't feel like it. I'm going to try real hard.

Because like correcting bad behaviors in your dogs, you have to make those corrections before they escalate. If you can be observant enough to correct those tendencies at level 1, instead of trying to arduously try and bring it down from level 10, success will come quickly. This carries over to a lot of areas where there needs to be authority structures. At work it carries over for me as the new boss, where I have to demonstrate my authority, yes even dominance over my employees. I've been a bit soft in my authority there. Some of the personnel issues (preexisting mind you) were allowed to flourish even though I was taking corrective measures. Demonstrating and demanding the respect that is needed to be a good leader requires, REQUIRES not domination but assertiveness and being collected and in control. You're not always going to be calm, you're not always going to be in control, but if you can roll with it in the moment, even more respect will be gained. And then you give respect back when the behavior you observe is what you want. Now of course this only works at one level with humans. On top of that, you have language to deal with. That's a whole other topic. The words you choose to say your piece.

Now that I've digressed, back to me being lazy. (correcting my posture again) Change is hard. Rest is still needed, but so is exercise.

Next, I might reflect on biodiesel and Volkswagons, versus a MiniCooper. In the meantime, here's a little Google search for you: Make your own biodiesel at home!

Saturday morning irritations

2007-07-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

Why can't a husband and wife have the same sleeping patterns? Why can't the dogs stay unconscious as long as I do? Why does EVERYONE in my house except me need to wake up at 6am on a SATURDAY!

Okay, it's now 10:45am, and I'm awake and had enough sleep to catch up. In fact, I've even been up for a half an hour. But what a chore it was just to get caught up! Dogs barking, people outside honking (at 6:30am!), Cindy in and out of bed. At least we don't have a TV in our room, she used to watch TV at 6am on a Saturday in bed while I "slept".

Yep, I'm irritable this morning. Not because of all that (partly but not entirely), I'm actually pissed about a ticket I got in the mail yesterday. Ran a red light. They got pictures, one of which has my goofy face on it. Sneaky bastards! But the worst part is, it's for $381.00!!! For the love of Stan!

It's clear I did it. I don't remember doing it, but they sent me proof. Can't really argue with it. You know, everyone in this damn town runs red lights while attempting to turn left at an intersection. It's because there's no damn left turn arrows. So in a line of cars attempting to turn left in a busy intersection, only two or three get to go through because of the shear line of cars going straight on the opposite side of traffic. So when am I going to get a ticket in the mail for trying to turn left? Was I turning left in this instance... admittedly, no. Sure I deserve the ticket, and $381 is going to prevent me from doing it again. Welcome to California.

Okay, back to my Saturday morning rant. Also, Cindy has a cell phone. When she leaves the house, does she:
1. Take it with her?
2. Turn it on?
3. Answer it if it is on?

The answer: NO! So I don't know where the flip she is. Don't know when she's coming back. I was going to head to the store and pick up some groceries, like milk. I needs my milk. But I can't do that if that's one of her errands this morning. Sometimes it is. Maybe I should call her, OH WAIT, I ALREADY DID AND IT WENT TO VOICEMAIL!

This is a lesson to anyone who does this. Take your phone with you, OR, leave a note on the whiteboard by the door for your significant other to know where you are.

I sound like a parent. It's probably because I worked a hella long week (averaging 12 hours a day lately), as usual since I didn't arrange the kitchen I dont' know where anything is. I'm hungry, but I'm too busy making excuses and complaining to do anything about it.

And how do I add other peoples' blogs to that sidebar thingee? I tried to figure that out once, and I couldn't do it. It's as frustrating as trying to learn how to use MySpace, which I dislike incredibly. Not really sure why, maybe because it's not very intuitive, yet everyone at least 10 years younger than me understands how to make it order pizza! (not really but you get my point) I am techie savvy! Grumble. I feel old.

At least, we have plans to game today. That will make things better. Crap, I suppose I'd better prepare the session. But after I eat. If we can afford to after my $381 blunder!!

I am a boob.

More Than Meets The Eye

2007-07-08T20:39:00.000-07:00

So we went and saw the big Michael Bay movie, Transformers. Most of you probably know how big Transformers were to my childhood, so this movie was a big deal for me. And several months before the buzz even started, I began to see disappointment.

First, Michael Bay was to direct it. This is the same guy who directed Armageddon. I rest my case. However, hope was rekindled when I recently watched The Island, which he also directed, and I liked very much.

Second, Bumblebee was going to be a Camaro, not the original VW bug that he was in the cartoon. Still yellow, but still... I was hoping for the new Beetle, or even a Mini Cooper, but nope, it's a Camaro.

Third, I finally got a look at the designs for the new movie robots, and they were definitely weird. Plus, Optimus Prime was not the same kind of Semi as he was in the series, and that kind of cheesed me.

Now you probably think that I hated the movie now having seen it. You couldn't be more wrong. You have to remember, this is Michael Bay. That means, hi speed chases, big explosions, and shrapnel heading towards the camera. So do you think VW Bug if you're going to have a hi speed chase. Not so much. I actually got over that one real quick.

Also, the original voice of Optimus Prime, from the original TV cartoon, was brought on to voice Optimus Prime in the movie. That made ALL the difference for me.

Still not crazy about the new designs of the robots. To many pieces, to many sharp angles and well, overall it's hard to know what you're looking at. But it definitely looks alien.

The movie has some really hilarious moments, some really intense action, and some really touching moments.

This long time Transformer fan was going to be a big opponent of the film, but it's a huge blast. You should go see it, it's worth every penny the spent, which was a lot. I'm looking forward to the sequel. Now if Hasbro would just make some decent quality toys out of this, it'd be even cooler. But they'll sell a ton just the same. Oh well.

This movie was more than meets the eye. Go see it, because I wants to see a sequel or three, and you best damned be sure I wants to see some Constructicons. Sorry for the spoiler, but no constructicons in this movie. They had a LOT to cover, and they did a great job with it.

LA Moments

2007-06-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Recently, we decided to file Seumas under "S".

Okay, had to get that bit of cuteness out of the way. So I just finished my first four weeks at Revchem and I thought I'd share what I've been up to. Besides trying to stay afloat, some really cool things have happened.

About a week ago, I got to visit the set at Universal Studios of the new movie National Treasure 2. I haven't even seen the first one, but now I'm going to have to rent it. It's one thing to see cool looking sets on your "behind the scenes" features on your DVDs; it's quite another to actually see it in person. I wish I could have taken pictures, but I didn't want to press it. I had the ability with the camera on my phone, but as I said... didn't want to be rude. So you'll have to do with my recounting of the experience.

The first set piece I visited was around 50ft high, built on top of a steel pool. The set was meant to be flooded with water. It looked like the inside of an underground cavern with Mayan ruins built into it. All of the stonework was literally styrofoam with a fiberglass facing. It was incredible. To actually see fiberglass work as a MAJOR part of the set. Everywhere you looked, it was fiberglass.
To back up a bit, you might be asking WHY I was on the set in the first place. One of Revchem Plastics' salesmen asked me to come along with him to meet some of our big customers in the movie industry. Revchem is one of only two companies in the LA that supply fiberglass products to the movie business. We apparently have about a 60% hold on the market as well. So I road along with Jeff the seller. As you can imagine, security's pretty tight around the studios, so I had to surrender my drivers license (newly acquired CA drivers license I might add) so they could check me out. Eventually a series of calls were made, and they gave me a permit to get in. From there, the world was ours.
After driving through old western towns, a small lake village with a giant fiberglass shark hanging over the water upside down from it's teeth, and survived helicopter explosions and various fire eruptions, we arrived at the fiberglass shop we were going to so we could drop some resin off and meet some folks.

What was surprising to me was that it pretty much looked like any other glass shop I've been in. They could have been building boats or hardtops for all I knew, so it was encouraging that the scene was familiar to me and I understood what they were doing. From there I was introduced to a very nice Korean gentleman who was the man we were there to see. He was very kind to show us around and let me see the various things they were working on, and then took time out of his day to show us around the sets for about an hour.

Okay, back to the outdoor set. It was rigged like a stage. Scaffolding on the side. Lights around the top. They had just finished shooting the day before, so they were striking the set. (Apparently after the Art Director/Production Designer takes what he/she wants, they pretty much chop everything up and throw it away.) They shot most of that scene at night, and apparently there were a lot of explosions and whatnot. That must have been really neat to watch. Just behind this set, was a big concrete pit in which they were going to fill with water and submerge a set into it with a crane. The set was sitting next to the pit, and looked like a big odd shaped wooden box. But if you went around to one end of it, you saw inside looked like underground caves and temple stonework like that you'd see in a Mayan Temple or something. All fiberglass inside of course.

On to the next set. Got in the car and drove to a big building. Inside was an enormous underground cavern with temples of gold carved into the side, and one golden temple right in the middle. Apparently the thing just gets flooded with water. The set was about as big as a football field. Probably also 50ft high. We walked around and saw a few smaller mini sets, tunnels that the actors had to crawl through. They made those sets out of latex. Smelled like a room full of halloween masks. But making it out of latex allowed the actors to crawl through and not scrape themselves up. Looked EXACTLY like the fiberglass sets. Got to pick up a 2 foot latex rock and throw it at Jeff. Again, styrofoam covered with latex. Pretty amazing.

Off to another building, where they had big rock spires with a rope swing across it. Behind the physical set the actors had to work across was of course the blue screen for special effects, digitally putting in the background.

Quite a bit bigger scale than I'm used to. It was truly an amazing experience to see that this is what people can do for a living, and the incredible things they can make out of fiberglass.

Also, Danny Roebuck walked into my store about two weeks ago and bought some stuff. He's been working on a few museum displays of old movie monsters and props and such. If you're not sure who he is, you might have seen him on Lost, or Boston Legal. A while back there was also an HBO movie called "The Late Shift" which was about Jay Leno and David Letterman's struggle to get Johnny Carson's place on the Tonight Show. Danny played Jay Leno.
He was a really nice guy and we got to talking about Dead Gentlemen and The Gamers. He was really interested in The Gamers and thought the concept was really unique. That he hadn't seen anything like it. We exchanged email and phone numbers. So yeah, the schmoozing has begun.

In Dead Gentlemen news, we got our new trailer up for the movie The Gamers: Dorkness Rising. You can view it by going to: www.deadgentlemen.com or www.the-gamers.com. The front page of the Dead Gentlemen site also shows you where you can download the trailer instead of just watching it from the website.

We're also plugging away at the new Demon Hunters RPG. Jimmy McMichael's been writing some really great stuff.

Speaking of RPG, Matt, Camille and Cindy and I are starting our first D&D campaign together. It's Camille's first time gaming, so hopefully we'll get her hooked. She's already on the whole Warcraft thing. Even I'm not up on that. But that's my own lameness. Tried City of Heroes, and I'm sort of getting into it. Right now it's more fun to create the character than it is to actually play the game. Not sure if that's supposed to happen.

OH. I almost forgot. We got an amazing deal off craig's list on a 42" HD TV for $600!!! We bought a new stand and everything for it, and we've been pretty much lazing around watching movies and playing the playstation on our new huge TV. Here's a picture:

Oh, and Cordy says Hi!

It's Wednesday

2007-06-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

And I'm a tired meatsack. I'll write something meaningful later.

Wee!

It has begun

2007-06-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

I was putting this off until we finally had technology in our house that we paid for. While stealing WiFi from the neighbors makes do, you have to deal with the hassel of instability. Well, with the WiFi I mean. Unstable neighbors are an entirely different matter. Luckily, I'm not aware of any yet.

The weather has been fabulous. Not too hot during the day, maybe 80 degrees at the high. Drops down to the low 50s at night. Perfect.

The new job at Revchem is going to be great. I feel really good about it. I've started cleaning up and simplifying some of the operational procedures, and established a rapport with my staff right away. Is it going to be an easy job? Not even close. There are many incredible challenges I'm going to have to take on, and that's exciting to me. Because I do feel challenged professionally. It's a great feeling.

At home we started putting up our framed art, and sorting through the remaining boxes. All that's left is the back part of the house: the office, the den, and the spare bedroom. We have one pallet left at Revchem that I think I'm going to need to have it delivered to my home. It's got some heavy stuff that I'd need help lowering out of the back of my truck if I were to just load it all in my truck. I may still do that, and see who I could recruit. At any rate, I'll take some more pictures soon and put them up on Flickr. By the way, if you haven't seen them yet, you can view my photos on Flickr at:

www.flickr.com/photos/56262315@N00/

W00t.