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Giving my bride the night off

Kari’s getting a break tonight and has gotten out with friends. Glad to let her be the one to be out for a change. The kids now are in bed and I’m free to do a little work on the accounts. So much to do and April is going to be wide open. Enjoy the time out tonight, honey, I love you.

The News In Dallas Friday Night

I’ve had the four and five o’clock news on tonight. First there was a story about men having babies. Instead of watching, we turned the channel over to Channel 5. Then back to KTVT Channel 11 to see a mannequin demonstration about how a woman had to cut a nipple ring off by TSA. Now why do we need a demonstration of that on TV? Tracy Rowlett, what the heck is that doing on the news hour?

Saturday Morning in March

I hope you are enjoying the zaniness of March Madness. What a special time of the year. I don’t watch basketball until March and the NCAA Tournament, but it is always spectacular. This year is shaping up to meet all expectations.

Kari and I’ve done a lot of work in the backyard garden this past week. Things really are shaping up into something special, nice and refined. It’s really becoming a special, relaxing environment in which to enter.

Much to do today. Have to get food for the family for Sunday. And then I’m back to building in the backyard.

I’m also trying to find balance between life here at home and work. April is shaping up to be like February, with several trips in the works–trips to New Orleans, Chicago, DC, Houston and San Antonio. And those are just the ones I know about in advance.

I’m really excited about the level of confidence I’m developing in building wood projects around the house. It’s a great feeling to be able to look at an area of the yard that needs something special, to have the vision of what it might could be, and then go get the materials to make it happen. The fun becomes in building it. And then seeing it all become reality. And it’s even more enjoyable when the kids get involved and learn from the experience.

Try, Try Again

Well, I guess this requires more tinkering.  I am having good luck, however, ripping from HandBrake and saving as a MP4.  From there, I can convert to an AVI format using Quicktime, and Final Cut Express pulls it right on it, skipping the whole iMovie in iLife08 completely.

Ripping DVD to a Mac

Okay, here’s the new system I’m adopting for importing video to then use in Final Cut Express.  I’m using Handbreak to take the video off of the DVD.  It’s being imported as an AVI file with as much clear definition as possible.  From there, the files will pull directly into FCE. If you go a different route, such as saving them as an MP4, you then have to open them in Quicktime, then import them (each) into iMovie.  Once in iMovie, if you’re switching to 16:9 from 4:3, you then have to edit down the piece, crop it so that you get the head room you desire, then export it to a .mov for Quicktime.  I’ve found I also have to redo it in Quicktime so that I can get rid of the interlacing, etc.  Needless to say, this whole process takes a hell of a long time.  With this AVI process, I think I’m going to cut that by almost 2/3s. And the quality should be as good.

If you are taking One-To-One and you are legitimately importing video from DVD using Handbrake, don’t expect the good fokes at The Apple Store to help you too much with the importing.  Since it’s third-party software and their managers are nervous about their employees telling you how to copy DVDs, (anti-piracy concerns, which are legit–I really have video that I have the rights to…) they’re kinda antsy about telling you very much about it.

So, using HandBrake, load the DVD, fix the Format setting to AVI file, and the Codecs setting can be on MPEG-4 Video/ MP3 AUDIO.  I’ve left the frame rat the same as source, and attempting to see what average bitrate looks like at 1500.

You can also go down into Picture Settings and affect the aspect ratio, I’ve set the Deinterlace to Fast.  Right now it’s converting a 25 minute video clip and it’s only taken about 15 minutes to do, which again, is much faster than the multi-step process I’ve been having to follow.

Yosemite

My dream of the day is to just pack up everything and find a way to move all to the mountains of Yosemite.  I wish life were that simple.  If only things in my life had shaped up differently.  Can’t believe there was a time in my life when I was there and would have rather stayed in the Valley at home.  Thank goodness none of our seven are as dense as I was then.

It would just be so good to find a place there, retire to it, and find happiness in the waning days there in those incredible mountains.  Life and the pace of it would be so much different.  If only.

Rain, rain and more rain. Finally.

Well, I had postulated that it would not be a good idea to take any of the local TV weather fokes with me anytime soon to Vegas. Since Saturday, they’ve been saying it would rain in Dallas beginning Sunday p.m.  Well, Tuesday a.m. it’s finally started. And boy has it.  I don’t know that we need a bunch of rain, but it is nice to see.  Hopefully will knock down some of the pollen that’s been bugging many of us of late.

Had my video class this morning.  Very helpful tips.  Trying to use some of them as I rework some elements of an important project I’m working on.  Going to try some new formats as well and see if they work as well or better in Final Cut Express.

What a fabulous weekend, week with the girls

It was a good week for the girls and the lady at our house. I got some great time in with each of the girls. And Kari got some good time to herself. This weekend I did a lot to work on Kari’s Paradise and got some good time in with the twins Saturday as we worked to construct miniature picket fencing for the backyard. The girls each learned about leveling and using a power drill. Good life skills for each of them.

Sunday we worked to construct a faux old-fashioned well in the backyard. Still have work to do. The kids all are still wondering how we’re going to get water out of it… Ah, the magic of construction. Pictures to come soon.

I miss Yosemite Blues

I just checked the virtual Yosemite site. It’s snowing atop Half Dome. Looks like the snow in the Valley has melted, but coming down still high up. We heard from our friend David Sunday. He says they’ve had 10 feet of snow since we left in December. Ten feet. The waterfalls late this spring will be incredibly forceful. I wish we could make another trip then. Not sure what the calendar holds. It’s been a busy three months and the next four or five promise to be just as busy.

Oh to be there now though. Oh to be there.

What are some parents thinking?

Some of the ladies here in the office this morning were talking about the Devil being on the loose.  Here is an example of him roaring like that lion he’s described to be:  Mom throws her two boys of overpass into traffic.  CPS, please keep these kids from their mom.