Friday, July 25, 2008
Cell phones and popcorn
A couple of weeks ago I became aware of video floating around the internet showing cell phones causing kernals of popcorn to pop. I got curious and decided to try the experiment myself. Here's the results:
-Eric (Dad)
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: cell phone popcorn pop youtube internet
Monday, July 14, 2008
Weddings
Nora and I have been pretty busy with our wedding videography business. We had two weddings a week apart from each other. The last one we did, on Saturday night, was so unique I'm sure we'll never, ever, do another one like it.
The bride and groom met at a performing arts school in Chicago and are both actors, performers, musicians and teachers. All their friends from the school came down to be part of the ceremony. The bridal party had over 20 people in it, there was a choral piece early in the ceremony that had the guests clapping along and finished with a thunderous ovation. A second musical number, during the ceremony, included a girl singing and playing guitar accompanied by a harmonacist (followed by a great deal more applause).
The reception was a riotous affair at the Uptown Theater. Starting with a stage entrance of each of the bridal party couples performing some unusual moves (belly bumps, pantomimed spankings). The toasts were tear-laden and heartfelt -and in many cases drunken and indescribable, and ended with a huge performance of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by about a dozen of the wedding participants. It was awesome.
On Thursday I took Pierce and Anna to the pool (Nora was out for the evening with a friend). Shortly before we arrived, there had been an incident at the pool: an eleven-year old boy had a seizure while in the pool and the guard went in to get him and performed first aid. There was no risk of drowning (the guard acted very quickly), but it had the pool closed down for a short time, and an ambulance, fire engine, and police car all made an appearance. As far as I know, the boy is fine.
I kept our kids on the playground until events settled down (there were more than enough parents and spectators involved already). Anna was fascinated by the whole series of events and had lots of questions about the boy, the gurney (the "rolling table" as she called it), and events in general. While I was reluctant to get into the whole idea of seizures, I tried to explain events as best I could.
We did manage to get about an hour's worth of swimming in once everything calmed down. Pierce, Anna and I played a new game: sharks and minnows -where the minnows try to swim across the pool without getting caught by the shark. Minnows caught (tagged) by the shark also become sharks, until there are no minnows left. Then the last minnow caught becomes the shark for the next round. They loved it and insisted that we play again the next time we went to the pool (its a great way for them to continue to improve their swimming skills).
After baths and the usual bedtime routine, Pierce ended the evening by telling me that he thought I was the best Dad in the world. Wow. Talk about walking on cloud 9.
Pierce had second shining moment this weekend. As I've previously mentioned, Pierce and Anna play great together, and many times the form of play is imaginary stories complete with cars, Princesses, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, horses and more. After awhile, Pierce prefers to have some time alone to play his "stories" without involving Anna. On Saturday morning, I heard Anna politely asking Pierce to play with her -Pierce was deeply involved in some sort of car-based story.
I took a break from making breakfast and asked him to allow her to participate in his story with the understanding that she would follow his lead. Pierce certainly had the option of telling me that he preferred to continue play by himself, but very graciously agreed to have Anna join in. I know he's growing bigger, but he's obviously growing more mature too.
Last for this entry, about a week ago I was waking Anna, and remarked that I thought she had grown at least an inch from the day before. Out of curiousity, I had here stand against her height chart. While she might not have grown overnight, she had grown almost 1. 5 inches since we last measured her in February. As she raced to tell Nora the news, Pierce asked to be measured too. Yup, you guessed it, he's also up about 1.5 inches since February. I'm guessing we'll be buying lots of new clothes this fall when school starts.
-Eric (Dad)
The bride and groom met at a performing arts school in Chicago and are both actors, performers, musicians and teachers. All their friends from the school came down to be part of the ceremony. The bridal party had over 20 people in it, there was a choral piece early in the ceremony that had the guests clapping along and finished with a thunderous ovation. A second musical number, during the ceremony, included a girl singing and playing guitar accompanied by a harmonacist (followed by a great deal more applause).
The reception was a riotous affair at the Uptown Theater. Starting with a stage entrance of each of the bridal party couples performing some unusual moves (belly bumps, pantomimed spankings). The toasts were tear-laden and heartfelt -and in many cases drunken and indescribable, and ended with a huge performance of “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” by about a dozen of the wedding participants. It was awesome.
On Thursday I took Pierce and Anna to the pool (Nora was out for the evening with a friend). Shortly before we arrived, there had been an incident at the pool: an eleven-year old boy had a seizure while in the pool and the guard went in to get him and performed first aid. There was no risk of drowning (the guard acted very quickly), but it had the pool closed down for a short time, and an ambulance, fire engine, and police car all made an appearance. As far as I know, the boy is fine.
I kept our kids on the playground until events settled down (there were more than enough parents and spectators involved already). Anna was fascinated by the whole series of events and had lots of questions about the boy, the gurney (the "rolling table" as she called it), and events in general. While I was reluctant to get into the whole idea of seizures, I tried to explain events as best I could.
We did manage to get about an hour's worth of swimming in once everything calmed down. Pierce, Anna and I played a new game: sharks and minnows -where the minnows try to swim across the pool without getting caught by the shark. Minnows caught (tagged) by the shark also become sharks, until there are no minnows left. Then the last minnow caught becomes the shark for the next round. They loved it and insisted that we play again the next time we went to the pool (its a great way for them to continue to improve their swimming skills).
After baths and the usual bedtime routine, Pierce ended the evening by telling me that he thought I was the best Dad in the world. Wow. Talk about walking on cloud 9.
Pierce had second shining moment this weekend. As I've previously mentioned, Pierce and Anna play great together, and many times the form of play is imaginary stories complete with cars, Princesses, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, horses and more. After awhile, Pierce prefers to have some time alone to play his "stories" without involving Anna. On Saturday morning, I heard Anna politely asking Pierce to play with her -Pierce was deeply involved in some sort of car-based story.
I took a break from making breakfast and asked him to allow her to participate in his story with the understanding that she would follow his lead. Pierce certainly had the option of telling me that he preferred to continue play by himself, but very graciously agreed to have Anna join in. I know he's growing bigger, but he's obviously growing more mature too.
Last for this entry, about a week ago I was waking Anna, and remarked that I thought she had grown at least an inch from the day before. Out of curiousity, I had here stand against her height chart. While she might not have grown overnight, she had grown almost 1. 5 inches since we last measured her in February. As she raced to tell Nora the news, Pierce asked to be measured too. Yup, you guessed it, he's also up about 1.5 inches since February. I'm guessing we'll be buying lots of new clothes this fall when school starts.
-Eric (Dad)
Labels: pool sharks minnows swim seizure aquarius uptown theater unity temple wedding video edited memories
Monday, July 07, 2008
Fourth of July Weekend
I hope everyone had a fun, and safe, holiday weekend. Ours was pretty good; here's the rundown:
Friday
Ahhh, sleeping in -at least Nora and I did. Pierce and Anna were up pretty early.
We went to the pool for several hours (we had perfect weather), then had dinner with Mike and Lizz across the street. Mike smoked Kielbasas, Brisket, and hot dogs for the kids; then we caravanned out to the Great Mall for the Olathe Fireworks. Pierce and Anna are huge fireworks fans, and this year's display did not disappoint. This was the twins first experience with fireworks and Ella took to them immediately. Alex was a little scared at first, but warmed up to them about half-way through the show. Not bad for a couple of 10-month olds.
Of course we got home pretty late. Both kids fell asleep in the car. About 10 minutes into the ride home Anna said she wished she had brought something soft to lay on, and I told her just to put her head back and close her eyes. She was asleep less than a minute later.
Saturday
Nora and I spent a fair amount of the day cleaning house. I'm happy to report that our carpets, stairs and bathrooms are the cleanest they've been in a long time.
After lunch we went to go see the new Pixar flick, Wall-E. Pierce and Anna were lukewarm on the whole idea, but Nora and I were pretty insistent. I think they both liked the movie "OK", but it wasn't one of their favorites. Nora felt much the same way -it didn't live up to her expectations (based on the previews she'd seen). On the other hand, I loved it. Whether anyone else wants to see it again or not, the DVD is definitely going to become part of our collection.
Saturday evening we went to the library. Pierce checked out an armload of books on cars (surprise!), and Anna got several fiction books on horses. We also checked out the movie, The Apple Dumpling Gang (we'd watched the sequel a couple of months ago). Nora and I enjoyed it (Nora doesn't remember seeing it before), but I think Pierce and Anna found it a little slow. Oh well, so much for sharing my childhood memories...
We also checked out Season 2 of the original Superman series with George Reeves. I remember watching the show when it came on in the afternoons. We watched a couple of episodes and Pierce and Anna are definitely fans.
Sunday
Unfortunately, the downside of having a thriving wedding videography business, is that you ultimately have to spend time editing all that video into something watchable. With the exception of some lawn mowing, I spent most of Sunday editing video from the wedding we shot last week. I'm attempting to use some automated software to speed up the process. I got all the video transferred to my computer and organized by content. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of it done. We'll see how much of a "time saver" the software is. I'm cautiously optimistic.
While I did video, Nora and the kids went to the pool for a couple of hours. Pierce and Anna came back brown as berries. This mid-West summer sun just burns right through sun block. Pierce was so excited about a new friend he'd made, he came running into my office buck naked to tell me about it. Apparently there was a three-year old at the pool who likes boats and cars, and the two of them became fast friends.
The highlight of Sunday was in the evening. Sally, one of our neighbors with 13-year old daughter, Natalie, invited Nora and Anna to join them to go see Beauty and the Beast at the our local Theater in the Park. Theater in the Park is an amateur production done under the stars, and is usually a very nice show. All the girls packed picnic dinners and headed out of the house about 6:00 pm. Anna LOVED it. She had vivid descriptions of the story, the set design, everything. Without prompting, she enthusiastically thanked Sally for inviting them to come. Next month's show is "Titanic, the Musical" and I think the whole Lindenberg family will go out for that one.
Taking advantage of the girls absence, Pierce and I went to PowerPlay for the evening. PowerPlay is like a Chuckee Cheese on steroids. It has a dinner buffet, bowling, go-carts, video games, and small amusement park rides.
I was very proud of Pierce. For the first time, he handled his buffet dinner setup by himself; including getting a plate and silverware, serving himself, and getting his meal back to the table without spilling anything. He even went back for seconds, and later on dessert, unaccompanied.
Pierce was able to do a "mini" go-cart by himself with me watching from the sidelines. We played a LOT of racing video games (he's pretty good), and played enough "ticket" games for him to go to the redemption store and pick out a few things for himself. He even bought Anna a pink whistle, which he presented to her on Monday morning (she was very excited).
The only downside of the whole 3-day weekend was how hard it was to get up for work on Monday.
-Eric (Dad)
Friday
Ahhh, sleeping in -at least Nora and I did. Pierce and Anna were up pretty early.
We went to the pool for several hours (we had perfect weather), then had dinner with Mike and Lizz across the street. Mike smoked Kielbasas, Brisket, and hot dogs for the kids; then we caravanned out to the Great Mall for the Olathe Fireworks. Pierce and Anna are huge fireworks fans, and this year's display did not disappoint. This was the twins first experience with fireworks and Ella took to them immediately. Alex was a little scared at first, but warmed up to them about half-way through the show. Not bad for a couple of 10-month olds.
Of course we got home pretty late. Both kids fell asleep in the car. About 10 minutes into the ride home Anna said she wished she had brought something soft to lay on, and I told her just to put her head back and close her eyes. She was asleep less than a minute later.
Saturday
Nora and I spent a fair amount of the day cleaning house. I'm happy to report that our carpets, stairs and bathrooms are the cleanest they've been in a long time.
After lunch we went to go see the new Pixar flick, Wall-E. Pierce and Anna were lukewarm on the whole idea, but Nora and I were pretty insistent. I think they both liked the movie "OK", but it wasn't one of their favorites. Nora felt much the same way -it didn't live up to her expectations (based on the previews she'd seen). On the other hand, I loved it. Whether anyone else wants to see it again or not, the DVD is definitely going to become part of our collection.
Saturday evening we went to the library. Pierce checked out an armload of books on cars (surprise!), and Anna got several fiction books on horses. We also checked out the movie, The Apple Dumpling Gang (we'd watched the sequel a couple of months ago). Nora and I enjoyed it (Nora doesn't remember seeing it before), but I think Pierce and Anna found it a little slow. Oh well, so much for sharing my childhood memories...
We also checked out Season 2 of the original Superman series with George Reeves. I remember watching the show when it came on in the afternoons. We watched a couple of episodes and Pierce and Anna are definitely fans.
Sunday
Unfortunately, the downside of having a thriving wedding videography business, is that you ultimately have to spend time editing all that video into something watchable. With the exception of some lawn mowing, I spent most of Sunday editing video from the wedding we shot last week. I'm attempting to use some automated software to speed up the process. I got all the video transferred to my computer and organized by content. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have most of it done. We'll see how much of a "time saver" the software is. I'm cautiously optimistic.
While I did video, Nora and the kids went to the pool for a couple of hours. Pierce and Anna came back brown as berries. This mid-West summer sun just burns right through sun block. Pierce was so excited about a new friend he'd made, he came running into my office buck naked to tell me about it. Apparently there was a three-year old at the pool who likes boats and cars, and the two of them became fast friends.
The highlight of Sunday was in the evening. Sally, one of our neighbors with 13-year old daughter, Natalie, invited Nora and Anna to join them to go see Beauty and the Beast at the our local Theater in the Park. Theater in the Park is an amateur production done under the stars, and is usually a very nice show. All the girls packed picnic dinners and headed out of the house about 6:00 pm. Anna LOVED it. She had vivid descriptions of the story, the set design, everything. Without prompting, she enthusiastically thanked Sally for inviting them to come. Next month's show is "Titanic, the Musical" and I think the whole Lindenberg family will go out for that one.
Taking advantage of the girls absence, Pierce and I went to PowerPlay for the evening. PowerPlay is like a Chuckee Cheese on steroids. It has a dinner buffet, bowling, go-carts, video games, and small amusement park rides.
I was very proud of Pierce. For the first time, he handled his buffet dinner setup by himself; including getting a plate and silverware, serving himself, and getting his meal back to the table without spilling anything. He even went back for seconds, and later on dessert, unaccompanied.
Pierce was able to do a "mini" go-cart by himself with me watching from the sidelines. We played a LOT of racing video games (he's pretty good), and played enough "ticket" games for him to go to the redemption store and pick out a few things for himself. He even bought Anna a pink whistle, which he presented to her on Monday morning (she was very excited).
The only downside of the whole 3-day weekend was how hard it was to get up for work on Monday.
-Eric (Dad)
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]