Here are some of the photos, way too many more can be found on SmugMug

Well, I give it my best shot. I’m 12 hours away from the trip, and 11 lbs from my goal. But I did lose a full 15 lbs. Maybe I’ll be the first person to ever lose weight on the cruise and come back even closer.

I did however come at just the proper weight to show off my new bathing suit on the cruise. So at least I’ve got that going for me.

For awhile I was taking more photos than I had time to process, and I’m still getting caught up.

These photos are from back in June when I spent the day with Andrew in Chicago at Navy Pier. It was part of the new “one-on-one” program we’ve been trying to institute with each child.

So here are some of those photos, and the rest are on SmugMug.

Normally I have a much higher good to bad ration when shooting, but because there was a lot of experimenting going on, and some of the photos were taken without a tripod to hold it steady, I only ended up with just over 20 that were any good after shooting about 80 different locations. But after all, it was a first attempt.

All processing was done in Aperture using the HDR Efex Pro plug-in (which also works with Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom).

Find this book on Amazon.com

Since Max and Andrew entered early intervention just after their first birthday,  Brenda has always looked for any and all solutions that might help the boys. As time moved forward the focus would change, and of course now the focus is on his diagnoses of being on the spectrum of Autism.

Brenda has read more books than I could have imaged, and frankly I don’t know how or where she finds the time. Some are better than others, and some of the better ones she’s asked me to read, which I have done. More recently, she read a book by Dr. Goldberg titled “The Myth of Autism”. It was the reading of this book that changed the course or our lives this week.

The underlying theme of Dr. Goldberg’s book is that while many more children are diagnosed with Autism these days than 20 years ago, a high percentage of them do not fit the original definition of what Autism is. That in fact, many of these children actually suffer from sickness that in many cases can be cured through his treatment protocol.

Through very careful screening, only children that meet certain criteria are accepted to see him in his LA office. You need to submit complete medical records and a recorded history of events, as well as some specialized blood tests. If you child seems like a good candidate, you’re accepted to make an appointment with the Doctor. We were lucky enough to be accepted and took the first appointment we could get (which was 3 or 4 months later). That time is finally here, and Max sees the good doctor on Wednesday of this week.

While we are not expecting any miracles here, we are cautiously optimistic. We have always believed that while Max did seem to fit some of the definition of Autism,  at times he does not. There are some very specific things that he does (like make good eye contact and initiate play with his siblings) that fly in the face of being Autistic. So while we don’t see this as a cure-all, we feel that from the research that Brenda has done, and from reading the book (we have both read it now) we would be foolish to at least not try this and see where it goes. Max is still very young and we want to use all of his time to our advantage to make him better.

So today Andrew and Sydney are being delivered to their Dearborn Michigan family so they can spend some quality time with the people there that don’t get much time with them, and tomorrow we head off to Los Angeles CA with Max for his very first plane ride. Funny, I didn’t take my first ride until I was 22 years old, and he’s not even 4 years old yet.

If you’re interested in knowing more about Dr. Goldberg and his book, follow the link below. For a very touching look at some parents that have seen their children recovered, watch the video below. It’s this video that first got my attention.

NIDS Website and more about Dr. Goldberg

I just dumped a bunch of footage and photos on him and said “Hey, make me something cool when you have time”. Well, we’ve been busy but he finally finished it while I was traveling and I’m pretty excited about it. My heart still drops when I see it, but at the same time a part of me wants to do it all over again.

Even though I had to work what ended up being a very long day (9am until just after midnight), there were two things that really made my birthday a great day.
First, all of the Facebook and email well wishes from friends and family. On the surface it seems so simple and in some ways impersonal, but psychologically it was a awesome. All day my phone was “dinging” with new messages every time a new message was posted, and it was just nice to know that people took the time to write something.

Second, the crew threw me a mini-birthday party at the end of the night just as I was finishing up and all the shoots were done. My last several birthdays have been on the road, and this was a gift in itself and made me really happy. I always tell people it’s no big deal and not to do anything, but if you’ve ever actually had people do nothing for your birthday, it’s kind of depressing.

Anyway, a big thanks to everybody – especially the on-site crew. Turning a year older today wasn’t so bad after all.

I have not taken as many photos as usual, and most of them are from my iPhone because that’s what I have when I’m out walking in the morning. The rest are on Flickr.

It’s just so gratifying when the plan you had for your life is executed on so perfectly. I finally know what they mean by “living the dream”. It’s all exactly as I dreamed it would be some day.

I wanted to get a much wider tire, so I also had to get different wheels, and if you’re going to get new wheels why not make them nice and shiny!

This is a before photo with the stock wheels/tires.

This week was good, rough, fun, exhausting and creative.

It was a week of personal growth.
It was a week plagued with technical problems.
It was a week that the internet refused to cooperate.
It was a week that I was disappointed in someone.
It was a week that I disappointed someone else.
It is a week that I survived and thrived.

And… I would do it all over again.

Life is a gift that I accept and embrace no matter what.

However, my Mom is ready for her first one and being the nerd son that I am, I told her I would take care of securing on for her. Because we’re actually taking a family trip to MI this weekend to visit, I wanted to be sure I had one with me! I never expected them to sell out as fast as they did on release day, so getting one has been more difficult than expected.

But in the end, diligence paid off and I was one of the few who got one on Tuesday morning at the Apple Store in Oakbrook. And once again, they were sold out by the time I was leaving the store.

I am actually more excited to be taking this to my mom, because I know how excited she is and I just know it’s going to quickly become one of those things she just can’t live without.

I know that I’ve been super busy too, because while I’ve had it since Tuesday morning, it’s still in the shrink wrapped box it came in, untouched.

Location:Dwight D. Eisenhower Expy,Oak Park,United States

It’s a week of on-site translations for a video we did a few weeks ago. It’s being translated into 11 different languages.

Print version here.

Kindle version here.

Audio version here.

I’ll be working all day Saturday and Sunday, and flying home Monday morning.

On the plus side, I think all things considered I kept up quite well. I have no doubt that taking this class was a good choice, and I think what I learned this week alone would have taken me 2 years to learn on my own, if I was able to learn it at all.

I think part of the secret here was having very supportive teachers that would help you past thing road blocks that you were most certain to hit. Instead of banging your head against the wall for hours or days on end, you could raise your hand and not only get the answer, but usually some other insight into the problem and how to avoid it in the future.

Just like when I took a engine rebuilding class back in high school and had an immense appreciation for the fact that a car works at all given all the things that need to be just perfect, I find that every application I look at now on the mac and especially the iPhone looks different to me. I have a new appreciation for what had to happen for the program to run at all, but on the flip side I can also pickup on some very poorly written applications and have some idea of why they are not working quite right.

The overall summary of this week is two fold. First, I know I can do this. I’ve done more this week and understand more than ever before. And second, this is the start of a long journey. Being a programmer (just like being in the video production field) is something you learn and continue to learn as long as you’re doing it. A year from now I won’t be “done learning” how to program and know it all, I will never know it all and never be close to knowing it all. But I will continue to learn it and improve. The good thing is, I love to learn.

The other highlight of my week was meeting Alex Lindsay. He’s been a star in the video production world for many years and I’ve really looked up to him. Aside from running the Pixel Corp and working on Star Wars, he’s just a very talented person that’s also a great teacher. Through his podcasts and articles on the web I’ve learned a lot from him over the years.

There are so many ways that we’re alike in terms of our interests, lives and careers that over the years I’ve started to refer to him as “My brother from another mother” to my wife Brenda (but eventually just shortened it to “my brother”). So needless to say I was excited that he was taking the class as well this week.

While there were not many opportunities to be social outside of the class, I did manage to get a photo with him at the end of the class.

So all is well that ends well. I’m very appreciative that Brenda gave me her blessing to spend the week being the nerd that I am. Whenever I’m gone it’s always harder and she’s always very good about it. My hope is that in years to come the time/money invested here will start paying some dividends back to both of us.

I think the biggest takeaway for me so far is that the question I always had has been answered. I’ve always struggled with knowing for sure if this was something that I had the mental capacity to do. I’ve tried several times by the self-taught book method and would only get so far before I was just plain lost. The combination of what I have previously read over the years, my experience writing databases several years ago and being in a class where things are explained and questions are answered as they come up has given me a new confidence.

So while I know I will not go home being a rockstar programmer, I already feel like I’ve been given a big solid push in the right direction and have a good foundation to build on. I’m very confident that writing software will be part of my long term future.

It might be just a hobby, or maybe a new chapter in life. Time will tell.

In a word… Wow.

The first 2 hours of the class I was concerned that it may be a bit too basic for me. After all I had been reading a lot and what was covered I already knew. But that quickly changed and before I knew it I was having flashbacks to being in HS and was sweating. I could tell the people around me were “getting it” a bit faster and had more experience. I was falling behind and fast!

I took a short lunch and came back early to keep working and by the end of the class I was caught up. I’m used to being the most technical person in the room, but here I’m probably the least educated on the topic. I think it’s been a long time since my brain really felt stressed stretched like this.

But, I have a few hours tonight to brush up on what we did today, and tomorrow I’m getting up early to read ahead in the next few chapters so that I’m as prepared as possible.

We did actually write no less than 3 applications today, and 2 were actually deployed to the iPhone for testing. It was a pretty cool feeling to see your own application loaded onto the phone.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the week. It’s a good class of people, and the two teachers (Aaron and Joe) from Big Nerd Ranch are awesome. I’ve struggled at times when I was reading and typing my own code, but having somebody right there that can look over your shoulder and explain what you did wrong is pretty awesome.

More later this week!

It’s fun to see what things your kids become interested in as they grow up. At the age of 2, it’s pretty simple. Cars, Fire Trucks, and Trains. At least for Andrew. He is obsessed with them all, but Trains is probably in the lead right now. A few months back we took him and Max on a train ride to Chicago and he still works it into a conversation unexpectedly as the mood hits him.

More recently it’s been all about Thomas The Train. He would play with his Thomas The Train set by the bay window, while watching Thomas The Train on TV. I think for me that’s like watching a nerd show on how to build a computer while sitting on the couch on my wireless laptop or iPad. So I understand. The male species can be an easy read.

Because he loves it so much and gets so excited, Brenda and I have wanted to add to his excitement by expanding his train set with more engines, cars and maybe an expansion pack with more tracks. Those are all great, but then we noticed that they actually sell a table specifically for setting up the train. I liked this idea a lot. It would be kind of nice for him (and Max when Andrew allows it) to have the train setup it a place that didn’t get knocked on the floor multiple times a day, sending Andrew into a rage yelling “No Train Sydney, My Train… Time Out Sydney!”.

Anyway, after looking at a few tables and seeing how crappy they were made, especially for the price, I decided to make one myself. A quick google search turned up a link on some very basic plans that I thought I could handle since I’ve been home this month. So one day I had the idea, the next day I was at Home Depot with the Little Sydney picking out lumber. What’s really amazing to me is that I’ve had a top notch woodworking garage for the last 7 years, and never made a single project aside from remodeling the basement. But the first summer after I sell all of the machines, I decide to make something where the machines would have actually be useful!

My original plan was to make the table at a much higher quality, and for less money. In the end, It probably cost me twice as much when you count the glue I had to by, the name tags, clamps that I needed but didn’t already own and the fact that the materials list given on the website actually had 2 extra pieces listed that I didn’t need. But, it is personalized and much better made. My hope is (and I do know this is a long shot) that 20 years for now Andrew is able to give the table to one of his boys (or girls) and adds another name tag to it.

I had an idea to shoot a time-lapse video of building it. I have a camera that’s very easy to mount anywhere that can take a suction cup, and has a very wide angle lens, so it was pretty easy. Looking back at the video now, I’m really glad that I did it (both the table and the video). Hopefully it will be a nice memento for the boys in years to come.

Starting this November Brenda is returning to the work force as a freelance editor. But after 3+ years of not working outside of the house, she was feeling just a bit rusty and apprehensive. Would she spontaneously burst into song in front of the client and sing the Bob the Builder theme song? Would she keep saying to the client “very good” for even the smallest accomplishment? Or even worse, would she start asking those around her if they went poopy in their pants?

To help ease her transition back into the world of non-child speak, we decided to swap jobs for the month of October (actually, it already started today). She would work at the office at a place she’s familiar with, with people that she knows – and I would take over at home being Mr. Mom. That also has the side benefits of giving me more time with the kids that I don’t normally get, and her a break from the kids for a bit.

So we shall see how the month goes, but it seems like a win-win all around.

The first stop was SuperCuts downtown where she met Sherri, the woman that’s been cutting my hair for over 12 years now.

Then we went for a walk outside since we were downtown in Chicago. Sydney told me the sun was a bit bright so we kept the walk short.

Next stop was the Apple store in Oak Brook, where she was clearly just as excited as I was to be there.

On the way home she asked if she could have some ice creatm, so we stopped at DQ for a special treat. She didn’t eat the whole thing so I had to finish it off.

Finally at home, she passed out. I like to call this photo “Creepy Sleepy” because she’s sleeping with her eyes open. She does this all the time.

All in all, it was a great day with my little princess and I can’t wait for our next date together.

Love you daughter.

This past Saturday we didn’t know what to do with the boys. The weather wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. We had spent the previous weekend at the mall since the weather was so nasty, but didn’t feel like being indoors again.

We left on Saturday at 10am, went to see a movie, checked into a nice hotel downtown, had lunch and then just relaxed in the room and ordered room service. We didn’t return until Sunday at 1pm and then spent the rest of the days with the boys at the park.

Probably the greatest fear I’ve had for as long as I can remember is speaking to a group of people (large or small). Just being that center of attention with all eyes on you has always caused me very deep discomfort. In fact, when I had speech class in high school I would actually skip class on the days that I was supposed to speak. No surprise, I failed the class.

However, I’ve also wanted to start teaching – either one-on-one or maybe at a local college, and being afraid to talk to people does not go well with that goal. So early last year I decided I would at least make an attempt to get past the fear enough to do a single presentation. After that I could decide if I wanted to pursue it or not.

So last November I was scheduled to do a presentation to a group of editors that are part of the Chicago Final Cut Pro User Group , but due to a scheduling mixup I got bumped until January of this year. The presentation was on two things. First, how to find creative inspiration when you have no idea what you want to create, and second to break down of a project I did last year to show how I used the inspiration of a movie open to influence my own project.

Because of the help of my colleague and friend Jeff Carrion, I was able to refine my skills during a rehearsal at the office. Jeff gave me great feedback and what he liked and where he thought I should make changes. And with the help of my good friend Noeleen McGrath, who is herself a media coach, I was able to get feedback both before and after the presentation on how I can improve. She provided me a detailed list after the presentation with very specific things I need to work on. I feel very luck to have somebody like her available to help me out.

The result? For a first time out, I did pretty good. There are plenty of things I want to change for next time, but I did what I set out to do, which is to do my first presentation. The feedback I’ve received from people at the meeting has been good, and I would day there’s a good chance I’ll do more in the future for other groups as well.

If you would like to see the presentation, you can find it on my professional blog SuiteTake.com.

For the second time this year, I was interviewed on an industry podcast that I listen to every week. This has been a big year for just doing the things that usually freak me out and bring me to my knees. I was interviewed earlier this year about something else on the same show, but I think I actually did a better job this time. If you’re interested in hearing my 5 minute interview, check out the link on my industry related blog. 

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On Saturday we decided to try again getting some photos of the boys as well as an updated family photo. They boys were GREAT and just seemed to love not only being outside, but playing with leaves (a new experience for them). 

You can see the best of them on SmugMug.

Over the years I have received many questions like “What is a good camera to buy?” or “What computer would you recommend?”, or even “Why do you always look so handsome?”. OK, not the last question but you get the idea. People ask me because I’m a nerd, and I’m always reading reviews and tech articles. I’m always glad to help because I know what it’s like to need that kind of help in other areas of my life, and I know it can really be a big help. 

I’ve always said if I got a dollar for each product I sold I would have a nice little piggy bank. Well now it’s possible for me to do that by having an affiliate store with Amazon.com

Here’s how it works. If I send you a link to a product as an answer to a question you asked me, the link will be to Amazon.com (as it usually was in the past) but will be coded with a special number that gives me credit for any the purchase you make. The price for you is exactly the same, but I’ll get a small percentage of what you purchase. 

In addition, there is a new page on this site (Tom’s Recommendations) that has some of the things people most commonly ask me about. In most cases they’re things that I currently own and really like.

I don’t really care if you buy it from Amazon.com or not, but in case you do it will be nice that Amazon.com pays me a small fee for sending you there. 

Going up.

Coming down.

Photo courtesy of Lucy in London. You can see more of her work on flickr.

At this time next week I’ll be in the air on my way to Beijing China for an 8 day trip. The flight is 18 hours (not so good) but it is a direct flight, so at least that’s on our side. 

This week I’ll be in high gear to prepare for the trip. I have not really thought much about it until now, knowing I had blocked out time this week to take care of everything. It’s not just preparing for the trip itself, but also making sure the edit system is in tip-top shape. As with every trip I do, the system will be setup and taken through a test run at the office to make sure everything is running well, as well as to make sure I have all of the various adaptors, cables and other small pieces needed. 

Unlike most trips, I’m also limited on what I can take, and how many bags. Between the edit system and my personal suitcase, I can only bring 3 cases. So I have slim down and only take what I need without leaving anything important behind. 

Here are a few photos, and you can find the rest of them on Flickr. 

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. 

Not much. But here it is anyway.

I really enjoy having them sit like this while watching TV.