Just Another Day…

Tag: Tom

  • Facing Your Fear Head On

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    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.

  • Tom Interviewed on Podcast Last Week

    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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  • New Family Photos


    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.

  • Tom’s Amazon.com Store

    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. 

  • Up and Down the Wall

    Although we could have walked up to the wall, I’m glad we didn’t. It was a pretty long walk, and even once you’re on the wall it’s a lot of walking and at times on very steep angles. So, we took a cable car up on one side, walked a couple of hours to the other side and took a toboggan ride down. Both of which I recorded on video. 

    Going up.

    [qt:/blog/video/GreatWall_GoingUp.mov /blog/video/GreatWall_GoingUp.jpg /blog/video/GreatWall_GoingUp.mov 600 337]

    Coming down.

    [qt:/blog/video/GreatWall_ComingDown.mov /blog/video/GreatWall_ComingDown.jpg /blog/video/GreatWall_ComingDown.mov 600 337]