My Past in Shreds

I've spent the last couple of days shredding my life. No I haven't fallen into a bout of depression or anything. I finally decided to clean up my front bedroom/computer room. I can only stand mess for so long, before I get sick of it and make the time to clean it up.
This front room has been accumulating junk and stacks of old bills and receipts for the past several years. Got bad enough that I could hardly walk into the room, couldn't close the closet door, couldn't see the six foot long couch because it was stacked a foot high with papers.
I'm a bit of a pack rat by genetics. My parents were never very good about throwing things out and the same mentality seems to be in my blood. Never know when you might need this or that. Better keep it 'cause it might come in handy later... and a thousand other excuses...all adds up to a big pile of junk that I can't find anything in even if I did need it.
I finally decided that I could really part with that electric bill from 1998 and the cell phone bill from 2002. Went to Office Depot, bought a few bankers boxes and a large paper shredder and set about to attacking the mess.
It's funny how the littlest things mark times in your life both good and bad. I had a couple of big boxes of stuff from my days in support, old ISA sound cards, 10 base-2 BNC network cards, boxes of 3.5" floppy disks (Win95 on floppy anyone?) and a bunch of other junk that is obsolete.
Digging deeper I find artifacts from my days in college, even deeper I find high school year books. Even found old cassette tapes with "mixes" I'd made as a young skateboarding kid.
I pitched a lot of the junk but pulled out a lot of the stuff that had more meaning like a couple of audio tapes when a couple of my friends and I tried to make a punk band in the basement, photographs and yearbooks. Stuff that has real sentimental value and is irreplaceable.
Then I tried to unearth the couch. Literally buried under a foot deep of old bills and paper is a old brown hide-a-bed couch. Decided to filter out all the bank statements, mortgage statements, and other financial documents and file them away in the bankers boxes all neatly organized. Just in case I get audited I suppose. I feed the rest to the shredder.
Into the shredder go old credit card statements, electric and phone bills...tons of shopping receipts and other crap that doesn't serve a purpose any more. Looking through all these papers stirs up more memories. I can mark the highs and lows through my life just my following my paper trail. Feed it all to the shredder. My past in shreds.
This year marks the first year of my adult life that I'm finally debt free. I've paid off my mortgage and credit cards. My vehicle has been paid off for years. I'm finally saving some money. There is something liberating and refreshing about shredding a bunch of old credit card statements and "payment overdue" notices. Feel a bit like the butterfly emerging from the cocoon. Starting new. Re-born.

9 - Teaser Trailer

cool...

Popcorn Friday

Two movies that Meredith worked on years ago doing special FX makeup that we thought for sure would never see the light of day...have finally come to light.

First up is Hallettsville, an almost typical boy haunted by his ancestor's secrets kind of film. Grandmother dies leaving the family lake front property to who doesn't want it because it brings back bad memories. The son decides that the best thing to do with a freaky old house on haunted property is to pack up all his co-eds and run out for a night of drinking and debauchery.
The scariest thing in this was Gary Busey, who wasn't even in a scary role...he's just scary 'cause he's Gary Busey. This was Meredith's first exposure to Gary but would not be her last.
Anyway, rent it if you can find it. It was shot in Austin and Johnson City and crewed by a lot of locals (including Meredith). If you really want to have fun, see if you can get drunker than Gary by the time the credits role.


Next up, the film that almost gave Meredith an ulcer, Exit Speed. Story of an eclectic group travelers on Christmas Eve trying to minimize their carbon footprint and take the bus to BFE, Texas, when their travel is interrupted by a murderous crystaled-out gang of stunt motorcycle riders (they're rampant these days). Deciding that the bus is not running on eco-friendly natural gas and they harass the bus for kicks, fun, women, money and showmanship. Fighting back with cosplay, Mexican ingenuity, and kick ass soccer moms a war ensues.
Meredith did the makeup special effects (and there are a lot of effects). She tackled a lot of last minute director "what if we..." effects.
In any event, she learned a lot on this film:

• She learned that shooting a film in the Texas rainy season is a bad idea.
• Discovered that they manufacturer bug zappers in tennis racket form.
• She experienced first hand how to tell if a lawyer is lying...they opened their mouth.

She did meet a lot of fine people and learn some cool tricks to boot. Not sure if she would do it again, but I doubt she regretted doing it at all.
Overall, not a bad film. If you can find it in the bargain bin at the Super Wal*Mart pick it up. She did a great job on a pretty makeup effects laden film...worth a watch just to go "ewwwww...."

To wet your appetite here's a trailer:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I'm not Irish, but I certainly enjoy a pint of Guinness when I can. Probably more English, Finish, and German with a little French thrown in for taste. But I really enjoy Irish culture, music, drink and food. I had the pleasure of visiting Ireland a few years back for work. I decided that it wasn't often I get to Ireland and extended my trip to cover the weekend to tool around Dublin and see some sites. First stop was the Guinness brewery. The Mecca for Guinness lovers.


I got some culture in by visiting Trinity College and the Book of Kells. I was fascinated by the library there, more than the famous book.
Also stopped by the Oscar Wilde statue Merrion Square.


















Well, we're off to Fiddler's Hearth to have some pints.
Happy St. Patty's Day!

Oldies but Goodies

I decided to dig up a couple of old 48hr film project films I'd edited years ago. Brought back memories of when I had more free time and could do this kind of thing for fun. These were a lot of work, but I met a lot of good people, who I remain good friends with today.
If you are not familiar with these kind of 48 hour film contests, they are a challenge in which you are given 48 hours to write, film and edit a movie. To keep everyone in check, you are required to include several key common elements that each team has to include in the finished film: A character, a line of dialog and a prop. Each team is also assigned a genre. Catch is that you aren't given those key elements until the start of the 48 hours. You are allowed to do some pre-production, such as finding cast and crew, securing locations, and rounding up equipment. But all the creative aspects of the film have to take place in those 48 hours.
I got stuck with editing part or all of these films. Since the editing is the final stop in the process, all eyes are on you to finish on time and the stress piles up. Both of these films were very close calls and just finished with seconds to spare.

Here is "What a Man's Gotta Do" which was our team's entry in the 2004 National Film Challenge.





Here is "The Fantastic Escape" which was done with a lot of the same crew and a large cast. This was the team's entry in the 2005 48 Hour Film Project.

Rocky finds a home

It wasn't long after Rocky's profile went up on the Weim Rescue site that people started asking about him.
The first was an artist from Marfa, TX looking for a companion. He was also looking at three other dogs. He ended up adopting the first dog he looked at. Meredith was actually happy, since Marfa is a long way away and would be less likely that we'd see Rocky at any local Weim events.
The second inquiry was only a few days later. A family from nearby Dripping Springs was interested in meeting him.
The rescue had arranged to have a Meet & Greet event this past Saturday, with the gracious support of Dogadillo, a really cool local pet store. This Meet & Greet allowed interested adopters to see some of the dogs, make donations to support, or to pick up dogs they had arranged to adopt. We had arranged to meet Rocky's adoptive family at the event. The family immediately fell in love with Rocky and he seemed to get along well with their other Weim. After a visit to their home and filling out the paperwork and briefing them on care, Rocky went for a walk with his new family and we left with mixed emotions. Happy he found a new permanent home that will love and care for him and sad because we'll miss having this happy lovable dog around to brighten our lives.
Lucky for us the adopters are close and have promised to bring Rocky to Weim events and meet ups, so we'll get to see him again.
I'd like to give a special thanks to Hip Hounds Doggy Daycare, who understands the importance of fostering rescued dogs and were gracious enough to give us a large discount for Rocky's daycare on the couple of days he was there. They are incredibly cool people and really care for the welfare of our companions. The are located very close to the Round Rock Dell campus and even offer a discount for Dell employees.

On another but similar note. The Weim rescue is in desperate need of donations and foster families. They are close to capacity to the number of dogs they can accept from shelters and other rescue efforts, some of which are "kill" shelters. The recent destruction of hurricane Ike has also increased the need for foster homes in the Houston area. So it is important that they receive donations for the care and shelter of these incredible animals and foster families that can host dogs until they can find their permanent homes. And of course, finding adoptive families for the dogs in the rescue and foster homes.

Rocky!

Meredith got a call a few weeks ago from Weim Rescue Texas, which is the rescue we adopted troy from. They had a recent crisis with a sudden influx of dogs and two litters of surprise puppies from two of the dogs in the rescue. They had a dog in San Antonio that was in need of a foster home and they asked if we could help out. We've been thinking about getting Troy a playmate and this seemed to be a good opportunity to try it out. So after a little discussion we agreed to help out.
So in comes Rocky. Rocky was a stray that was picked up in San Antonio and the the people who found him contacted the rescue. Poor guy had been beat up in a dog fight with a bloody ear that looked like raw hamburger, had a bunch of spots of ringworm on various parts of his body and pretty underweight. He has callouses on his elbows and back legs evidence perhaps that he was kept in a confined space for long time...maybe his whole life.
He had a trip to the vet for a once over and treatment for all the ailments and a little snip-snip of the testicles.
Meredith went and picked him up and she just about had her heart broken. Poor little guy really loves people. Nuzzled right up to her with this pathetic "save me" look. He was a little tipsy from the anesthesia and a bit damp from the bath to kill the ringworm fungus.
For the first week Rocky wasn't eating. We thought at first that it was because of the recent operation or perhaps he was used to eating garbage or hand-outs from strangers.
After a liberal helping of canned wet dog food mixed with the regular dry food (which we soak in water) he's been eating well and putting on a little weight.
Troy seems to get along with him pretty well. Lot's of wrestling and roughhousing with the occasional growl from Troy over Rocky getting to close to his bone (which we promptly take away from him).
We took a trip to the large public dog park. Rocky absolutely loved it. Might possibly have been his first trip ever to a dog park. The next day was his first visit to doggy day care. He was a big hit there with all the staff. The socialization with other dogs has really been good for him.
Everywhere we take him people are interested and think he's a great little lovable dog. A tech at the vet was very interested. Some of the staff at doggy day care really liked him. Even the little kid down the block has practically fallen in love with the little guy.
People always ask if we're going to keep him. We've learned that one dog is plenty for us. Rocky needs a good home with lots of loving.
We have no doubt that he'll get adopted pretty quick. We'll miss him of course, but know that someone out there will really appreciate this loving and adorable companion.