Here is a video that is very typical of what I usually do on these jobs. It’s one of 6 – 8 videos that I will do before the convention is over.

Everything in the video was shot just a day, or sometimes hours before I put it together, and then it plays first thing in the morning the next day. It’s the end result of 2 cameramen, 2 producers, 1 associate producer and myself as the editor (I’m the last one in the chain).

For a quick video tour, click below.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Here is a short little video of him demonstrating his new found skills. Given he’s only 25 months old, it’s pretty amazing. As for Max, he’s doing well too but a little more shy about letting on what he knows.

As much as I like the occasional travel job as a change of pace, change of scenery… there is also a down side. Once I commit to a job I’m pretty much there for the duration, almost no matter what. That can be tough when your family needs you. This was one of those weeks that if I had the option, I would have left the job early or had somebody else take over for me, things that would have been possible had I been working here in Chicago.

We have all been trading colds for the last several weeks, but when I left it looked like the worst of it was behind us. As it turned out, the worst was yet to come. Sydney ended up getting a cold on top of a cold, which is annoying when you’re a adult but very serious when you’re 7 week old baby and unable to be treated with any type of medication. After 3 trips to the doctor throughout the week, Brenda ended up taking her to the hospital on Sunday night after she turned pale and appeared to stop breathing.

Long story short, Sydney is doing better but is still in the hospital and probably will be there until at least Wednesday. She’s improving but her oxygen levels are still dropping too much, especially when she goes to sleep. Brenda is staying with her around the clock and has only come home to pack some clothes and other daily items.

Andrew is home with me today because he’s still pretty sick and has a fever, Max is at daycare (thank god for only having one today!). I’m very sick and so is Brenda. So all in all, it’s just a little slice of “heaven” around here. It sure makes you appreciate the simplicity of just being healthy.

But I am very thankful that we live in a city that has access to great doctors and that Sydney is in great hands. I’m very confident that we’ll all be doing a lot better in the upcoming weeks.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

This is a short video that Brenda took on her phone one of the last days in the hospital. So far my favorite thing about Sydney is how she just stares at you, like you’re the most interesting person in the room. It’s very cute.

This is not the most interesting video, but it’s what I have at the moment.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

It’s with great pleasure and joy in my heart that I introduce to you our newest special gem.

Sydney Etheena Tomchak

Sydney joined us in the outside world at 9:43am this morning (November 27th 2009), and weighs in at a healthy 7 lbs, 4 oz. and measures 20.75 inches. Mom and baby are doing fine and Brenda is now in her room resting up.

We’ve known since the beginning (even before the boys) that if we did have a girl, some part of the name would be Etheena, named after Brenda’s oldest sister Tina who passed away in 2004. Tina’s legal name was Etheena, but friends and family called her Tina for short. The first name is a name that we both really liked after many weeks of throwing names at each other like darts. It was not unusual to just walk into the room and yell out a name, and the other person automatically knew what you were “asking”.

While it’s true that we would have been happy with a boy or girl, we’re extra happy that we have a girl to round out our family. I’ve said right from the beginning that I really wanted to have a “Mini-Brenda”.  And I know how happy Brenda is that she now has a little girl to go shopping with and do all of the girl things that she misses out on with the boys.

Speaking of shopping, we have a little confession to make. We’ve known from the 20 week mark that we were having a girl, but decided to keep it a surprise for everybody else. We just couldn’t wait to find out this time – we were both pretty confident that it was going to be a girl. The day that we found out, we actually went shopping at the mall and Brenda bought her the first outfit. See the video below for our documented trip.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

We have been in love with her for awhile now, so it’s nice to finally meet her!

More updates and plenty of photos in the days to come.

If you didn’t catch it, this is the open to the 24th season of Oprah. They shut down one of the busiest parts of Michigan Avenue to do the show and it was quite the party.

Every time I see this opening number I can’t help but smile, and it sure makes you want to dance!

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Behind the scenes of how they actually did it.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

As with the library clip, this is unedited footage so it’s a bit longer then the 2 minute clips I normally put up. But you might find if you start watching it you can’t stop! TRT is 10 minutes.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

This is a short video that shows them being goofy right after their bath. It’s in low light and was shot by my new iPhone, so the quality is a bit worse then usual. Still fun to watch though.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

She was kind of upset about it since it is an automatic $100 ticket and argued that we should contest the ticket and see if they would let her off on account of her good driving record.

I started thinking and remembered that most of the time now, you can actually go on-line and see a small movie of what happened.

So I said “You know what, you’re right. Let’s go on-line and watch the video of what happened and then we’ll have what we need to fight it”. She turned around and said “What video?”. I explained, and slowly a sly smile appeared on her face.

So we both went over to the computer and I typed in the website listed on the notice and entered her license plate and violation number. Up came the following video. Her car is the black one all the way on the right.

You make the call. Did she make a proper and complete stop?

Needless to say, we paid the ticket.

Download QT File

This past weekend we took the boys to the Wheaton Library to visit their children’s area. We found out recently that they had a nice play area and decided to check it out.

Normally I cut down the video to just the highlights, but honestly if I waited for that to happen I wouldn’t have put anything up. So I decided to just put up the raw video that we shot as is, no editing.

We didn’t even realize it, but the boys had outgrown their original car seats, by both weight and body length. So this past weekend we upgraded their travel accommodations to 2 brand new plush seats. They honestly look more comfortable then the seats in the front that we sit in.

Brenda did a lot of research and came up with a seat from Graco called the Nautilus 3-in-1. Although it was more expensive then some of the other options, it had the best reviews on Amazon.com by people who had purchased it.  

The only down side to the new chairs is that we can’t just lift the chairs from the base and carry them in. For example, whenever we would go out to eat we would just carry the chairs in and request a large booth so that we would each sit with one of the boys. Now, not only do we have to carry them in but they have to sit in a high chair. In theory it sounds OK, but they are just too excited and too unrestrained for us to really relax at all. But, like everything else, we’ll adjust. 

Here is a short video of their trip to Chili’s, and their first treat to sitting at the table while being out. 

This week we took the boys in for their first eye exam. We really wouldn’t have thought to do so, but we did for two reasons. On and off we’ve seen Max with one eye slightly out of line with the other. And second, when I went to get my eye exam in October, my doctor (Dr. Dennis Francisco) recommended that even if we suspected no problems at all, that we take both boys in before they are one year old to have their vision tested. 

While children used to get their first vision test when they started grade school, the newer thinking is that the sooner problems are detected in a child’s vision, the better the chances of correcting them. In fact, there is a program called InfantSEE that was started just for this reason. Its purpose is to help make people aware of the risks of waiting too long to get an exam. 

So, we found a doctor in our area that was certified by the InfantSEE program and took them both in on Friday. Andrew checked out to have roughly 20/20 vision and no known problems. As expected, Max did have some issues. For one, the doctor did verify that his right eye occasionally turns inward. With more examination he was able to determine that his left eye was about 20/20, but his right eye was about a +5, give or take a little. This was the cause of the right eye turning in, because of the extra strain it was under when he tried to focus on objects too close to his face.

So Max is farsighted, and almost exactly to the extent that I am. And I know how bad that is because if I take my glasses off, I can see anything. 

The bigger issue is that because one eye is so much better then the other, if he is not treated with vision correction there’s a high likelihood that his one eye will eventually be ignored by the brain, and thus he would have what’s called Amblyopia, also known as a “lazy eye“. Once this happens it’s very difficult to re-train the brain to use both eyes. Not impossible, but a lot harder then just fixing early. 

So Max will need to wear glasses very soon. We have an appointment for him on December 8th to get a more accurate assessment of his actual vision, and then fit him with glasses. 

We suspect he’ll look something like this…

Max?

And on the lighter side…

Before the doctor had entered the room, I captured Max on video being very slap happy with Brenda. It’s hard not to laugh when he’s laughing too. 

Download this video in QT format

In case you missed it, here is the election night speech that Barac Obama made from Chicago’s Grant Park. It gave me goose bumps and more hope for this country then I’ve had in years (let’s say, at least the last 8 years). I can’t wait to see what the future brings.

Normally the videos I post are only a few minutes long, but this is the full speech plus all of the fanfare after, so it’s just over 30 minutes long.

This video pretty much sums up what the week was like, for those who got out of their hotel room. It was the final video that played tonight just before the band started playing. 

We head to the airport at 10am tomorrow, and I should be home no later then 7pm if all goes as scheduled. This is my last trip for the year, and that’s just fine with me. It’s been a great year for travel jobs but a little break for the rest of the year sounds good.

Club Officers of the Wind City Lions Club

Since 1993 I have worked on video projects for the Lions Clubs International Foundation, based here in Oakbrook IL. Projects include convention videos, on-site editing and news magazine shows, always highlighting the good that Lions members do around the world and for their community. Brenda has worked on the same projects since the late 1990’s (it’s good to be young).

While becoming a Lion myself wasn’t anything I had thought much of in the beginning, it’s hard to deny that over the years it just kind of gets into your blood stream and before you know it you’re compelled to help others. For the last several years, many of us that work on the Lions projects have talked about not just joining a club, but starting our own. It took a lot longer then we had expected, but we finally did it. 

One of the main reasons we did it now after all of this time is that the current President of Lions, Al Brandel, offered to sponsored our group and really pushed to get it done during his time in office. He was even kind enough to make a special trip to Chicago to be there for our Charter Night Dinner.

So now Brenda and I are members of the Chicago Windy City Lions Club, along with 40 other friends and colleagues. Below is a video that we created for the charter night dinner to introducer our group to the people that were there. You may see a few people that you recognize. 

For more information on the group, visit our new website at www.windycitylions.org.

The most fun thing is watching them play together. It’s not really demonstrated in this video, but there are times when they chase each other around and then when one of them corners the other they look at each other and laugh!

They’re exhausting, but fun! And we love them both.

Andrew had his long scheduled MRI today. This time I was in town and was able to go with Brenda to help out, and Brenda’s sister Toni came over to watch Max while we were there.

Although we won’t have the results for a few days yet, Andrew did great. Even though he was tired and hungry (because we couldn’t feed him or let him sleep) he was in a really good mood and playful most of the time. And after it was over he woke up and was back to his normal self. So as far as these things go, it went very well. The whole process from leaving the house to getting back home took about 4 hours.

This clip is on the longer side, so I split it into two parts. Part 1 is for today, Part 2 tomorrow. 

Does Jim actually do it?  You’ll have to find out for yourself.  

I actually was not part of this little excursion, but Brian went along and recorded it with his little digital camera. The quality is a bit low, but it’s still good enough to make your stomach turn. 

Going up.

Coming down.

It’s been a busy week, hence slow posting. 

Our Nanny Rachel unexpectedly needed some time off to deal with some personal issues so that thew our schedules out of whack a little. Because Brenda is working on a big project in the city for the next several months we wanted to be sure that her missing the time didn’t cause problems with our client, who has been very patient and understanding. 

We also both joined a local health club (again). It’s been years since either of us have belonged but I think it’s the right time for both of us. For Brenda it works out great because they actually have a babysitting service that allows you to work out for up to 2 hours, and it’s included in the membership price. For me I’ll get more use in the winter when it’s too cold to run outside. Right now I still prefer to getup early and run 3-4 days a week. 

Business is picking up and the fall could be very busy for us. It’s too early to tell, but from what our clients are saying there’s plenty of work coming down the road. We’re always the last stop for any project so we normally see others get busy before we do. The last few weeks have been slower then usual so we’ve used that time to get long needed things done around the office, as well as do some upgrades that will help us with the work load. 

And finally, we’re making good progress launching our new business, TimeLine Creative. We’re close to having the website done, a logo designed and business card created. I have a commission based sales person who is very enthusiastic and has a lot of leads already, and we are going to do a free video for somebody in the next month or so that will be used as our “Your Baby Story” video demo on the site. I have a very good feeling about this business, and the best part is it will take a lot less of my personal time once it’s up and running. It’s being designed from the ground up to NOT revolve around me. 

The boys are doing just great and they seem to be more fun each and every day. They’re just so full of personality and life I feel like I could spend all day sitting on the floor with them. They genuinely seem to get excited to see each other and I feel like they really enjoy seeing me when I get home now too. In the past they seemed to not really notice either way, but now they get all excited and start smiling. We’re hoping to get some updated photos soon of them, it’s just been very busy. 

So in a nutshell, that’s what’s been going on. I hope to have some new photos up soon, and I have a few more video clips coming. 

Have a great rest of the week!

The last video that we edited turned out OK, and we made our deadline with plenty of time to spare. The last 30 seconds are so is always a rush to cut, and you have to make sure you leave just enough room for the last shots, but not too much space that you have hoes to cover in the video. This is my 3rd year doing this job and it’s one that I really enjoy.

Joining me this time are my coworkers, Jeff and Scott. 

I’m stuck here late, I’m pretty much done except for an hour long render, and almost another hour to layoff and check tapes. So, what kind of fun can you have when left to your own devices? I’ve watched it 3 times and I still laugh each time. I hope you do too. 

I’m pretty sure this is not the last one I do. 

Because I have not been feeling well since getting back from the Thailand trip, we decided not to make the trip to MI this year for the annual family reunion. I think we made the right call even though we were both disappointed that we didn’t go. The boys were really looking forward to it, it’s all they’ve been talking about. 

So, instead we took a much shorter trip down to Chicago’s Millennium Park and walked around with the boys and just hung out on the grass for awhile. 

There are more photos here of Andrew only because Max was still sound asleep in the stroller when we stopped. By the time he was awake they were both ready to eat so we didn’t have time to get more photos of him. 

Here’s a short movie clip as well of them playing in the grass for the first time. 

Tomorrow morning I’m planning on getting up early (instead of sleeping late again) and going to the convention center to see the last few played on the big screen, as well as take some behind the scenes stills. I’m excited because most of the time I’m still editing and can’t make it to the convention center before the job is over.

I have to edit 6 videos total before the end of the week.