Ok... This made me stop and Think...

There are two new posts... This one and one right below it.

I read my Sister's and my Niece's Blogs and they are very poetic in the way they write. I was not blessed with that talent but when I saw these pictures I had to share them in a moment of silence because I fly this airline %90 of the time.

I am very glad that everyone survived this crash in the Hudson even if the plane didn't

03-10-09 Burbank DES Sales Meeting

Well... It was going to be an open week but Scott Sheenhan who is the new director of our division was having a sales meeting in our offices right next to the Burbank Airport.

I was rather flattered that he would want me to come as I am not really in sales other than supporting the actual salesmen that are out there.

I only needed to be there for the Wednesday meeting but Scott asked me at the last minute if I could join them in the afternoon on Tuesday.

I was supposed to fly out of Salt Lake at 1:45PM but I took a chance and went to the Airport at 5:30am to try and fly standby on the 7:15am flight so I could get into Burbank around noon.

Now this is not as bad as it sounds. I fly USAirways almost every time and because I fly so much I have reached Chairman status. There are a few perks that come with this status such as:

1. Seven days before the flight I automatically get upgraded to first class for free if there are seats open... and there are ALWAYS seats open :)

2. If I try to Fly standby I am moved to first on the list unless there is another Charmian with more miles on the list.

3. If I by a ticket that is full price I am guaranteed a seat on the plane even if it is oversold.

So I knew there was a few seats open and therefore knew I would get on the flight.

The meetings were very interesting and I believe we got a great deal done. This means the traveling really begins! :)

I was asked my opinion several times by Scott and the other sales guys and it meant a lot to me that they would think my input was important.


This is the room where we spent both days... the second day we went for 11.5 hours!








We ate a BJ's Brewery and Restaurant and it was very good. From left to right it was Scott Sheehan, Chuck Davidson, Kendall Eckman, Shannon Woolgar, Rich Threadgill, and Jerry Lewis (to the left of Jerry Lewis is Chris Piscatteli (SP).








This Chuck Davidson and Kendall Eckman. Chuck is the Salesman over the Eastern United States and Canada and Kendall is over the Western United States and Canada. I spend most of my time with them and they are a blast to work with!!






Scott made a valiant effort to draw the United States







OK... Not that Valiant!








We ate lunch both days at the little cafe that they had in the business park. Surprisingly it was not that bad!



Ray Brooksby and Richard Threadgill. Ray is in the Stake Presidency where he lives.







Scott and Chris... Scott is seeming to have a little problem with his Pizza!









Chuck and Shannon... Shannon seems to be having an interesting time navigating the sprite bottle







The only sad part of the whole trip is that this is the first time in years I have gone to the LA area and not eaten a Tommy Burger. I have been asked what this is and I will just give the URL... Tommy Burger Just click on the Blue text

03/02/2009 New Jersey Holmdel High School

This week was LONG but a fun one!I headed for Holmdel New Jersey to visit their high school. I do not usually go to high schools but this one is a bit special.

The Video/TV teacher there is a very nice man by the name Roger Benedict. He has been hired by Grass Valley to do some work for us (I can't make it public at this time) and I went to spend three days with him to answer any questions he might have about EDIUS.

I do have to say it was COLD!!!! I was driving to the school in 12 degree weather everyday! :)



This is Roger in his control room. He REALLY loves his work and to tell ya the truth, after watching him work his magic with the kids I am not sure how the school will EVER replace him!!





When I first got there I was very impressed with how he had his classroom setup. The main room was a studio with light riggings, NICE Sony Cameras, a raised platform for the anchor desks, and all of the edit stations. Oh yeah... he also had a green screen on one whole wall.

There is a section of the classroom that has been walled off and a window was placed in the wall so that the kids could see what was happening during the news cast. This little room is the control room and it has a audio mixer, Video switcher, and a Titler (Video Toaster). It is connected to the main classroom by audio... Meaning the kids in the control room could communicate to the studio. It was really close to having every basic of a TV studio. The only thing it didn't have was a master control but then again... you don't need one when you are not switching between a local feed and the network feed :)



This kind of lighting is not seen in most high schools that have a video class... it was quite impressive.







The Cameras were really nice Sony Cameras that had zoom and focus control on the handles of the tripods. If you can see it they also had monitors on the tripods for the teleprompter!






This was part of the control room. Like I said before they had almost everything in here to represent a real working TV studio.







Another view of the control room








This is where the kids sat when they were the talent. Even though the desks don't look like much they look fine with the camera shots they use :)

I got to the school on Tuesday and it was quite the drive from the hotel. I was staying 25 miles from the school (there really wasn't anything around the school) and there was no direct route. It was all back roads so it took an hour to get there each day.

Roger met me at the school's front doors and informed me that we couldn't stay in the building because school had been cancelled. We went to his house and worked from there. He had a question list as thick as a book and we spent 11 hours going over all of those questions.



Roger lives in a town called Keyport... This is his home. He told me that this house was built and lived in before the Civil War.







I was commenting on the Crown molding and how much wood it took and he told me that it wasn't wood but was plaster. They would put a huge amount of plaster against the ceiling and then shape it. Pretty wild!






I am guessing that somebody did not want to ruin the original walls so when indoor plumbing came along they ran the pipes on the inside of the walls.

About lunchtime on Tuesday Roger took me to one of his favorite sandwich shops and it was really good!

This is where we went for lunch... Doesn't look like a sandwich shop! It really isn't but they make sandwich's there with fresh catch.







I had a flounder sandwich!

The next two days we were in the classroom with his classes and we finished the book of questions and other questions he had about his project. It was a really fun experience.

Here is a couple of more shots of the classroom with the kids in it.

It was a great trip! :)

02-24-09 Portland Cascade Mountian Video Show

This week I went to Portland Or. for the Cascade Mountain Video Show.

This is put on by one of our dealers, Pro Video and Tape Inc.















The difference between this dealer event and others is the venue! Most of these events are held in Hotels but this one is held every year at the World Forestry Center out side of Portland.













This is what it looked like in the morning when I got there



This was really cool looking in person








I flew in on Tuesday, checked into the hotel and then headed for the venue. We could start setting up at 3PM and I got there around 2:45.

At first they had no idea where the stuff for my booth was but the found it quick enough. It is amazing to me how this little cube...












Turned into this booth in a matter of 45 minutes!



This is Kendall Eckman, the salesman that was with me at the event.








This was my position for about 8 hours!








That night we ate at Marie Calendars and I must have gotten some BAD food! We ate around 5PM and at about 2AM I woke up with my stomach hurting so bad I thought I was going to toss my cookies at any moment!

It was so bad I got the trash can and sat it by the bed!! It took me 2 hours to fall back a sleep and the whole next day I was really touchy but not bad


The event, itself, was quite good. We had a steady stream of people there for 6.5 hours. From 9 to 3:30 it was non stop. After 3:30 it was like somebody put the breaks on and it went almost completely dead.



It was full like this all day until it ended all at once... it was a little weird how it went from flood to famine!







We broke down after the show and got done around 6. I would have tried to fly out that night but the airport was about 1.5 hours away in traffic AND to get the direct ticket was a lot more than the hotel for one more night :)



As we were leaving I took a shot of this old logging train they had sitting in front of the building where we were.








That night Kendall and I went to Cheese Cake Factory (He LOVES that place), we relaxed and talked about the event and other things and then we headed off to our hotels.

I got ready for the next days travel and hit the bed pretty early. It snowed in Portland that night and the roads were a little weird going to the airport but nothing I couldn't handle since I have gotten used to driving in Salt Lake during the winter for the last three years. :)

I spent most of the day on the phone with other Grass Valley folks Thursday and Friday.

OHHHHHH.. I forgot! I am getting on the plane to go to Salt Lake and this guy walks on the plane, I look at him and I could swear I know this guy!

I hear a guy walking further back on the plane say "Have a good concert dude!" andten it strikes me... It is Vanilla Ice!!! I about fell of my chair beause I wouldn't havehough that he would be touring with the two songs he had as hits a LONG time ago!

I took a picture with my phone but it didn't even come close to coming out because the light coming in the window behind him washed him out. :)

02-09-09 Vacation at Home... I think!!

I took a week of vacation so that Lorena could go home to Texas and see to some family Business. It wasn't life and death but there were some important things she needed to take care of. If you want to see about her trip just go to http://renasraves.blogspot.com/ and you will see how her trip went. You won't read about the Drama but you can at least see she survived and had a nice time.

I wanted to take this time and rest but that is not in my nature so I decided to take on some projects so that Lorena would have nice surprises when she got home.

The first was the easiest! I got my middle son to shave off the nasty beard and cut his hair.


The before shot!










Here is the after shot :)









The Next project I left to the Kids. The pantry was pretty bad. We couldn't even walk into it and the much of the food was getting past its prime to say the least :)



No before shot as I wouldn't want to be killed by my wife but this after shot looks pretty good!









We had issues with our builder and our closet was never finished so there were boxes and clothes all over the place. It took me 4 days at 5 hours a day to finish it but I hope that in this picture will show that I got it done!

02-01-09 Home Office and Bob's 50th Birthday

This week I was in the Home Office and spent the week in Conference calls about the road map for the Products that I am involved with as well as reviewing the Curriculum that a teacher is writing for us. It is really going to be good because it is an entire year of lessons on Video editing based on our EDIUS product.

The Conference calls were with Scott Sheehan who is the new director of Channel Sales (Sales of our products that are sold through dealers and distributors instead of direct from us). Scott is a good man and has some really good Ideas... i am very excited about what we are going to be doing this year.

This week was also my great friend, Bob Crites's 50th Birthday!! It was on the 5th of Feb. and he was in Atlanta working in our office there and was not able to be home on this big day!

I called Annette who works there and found out where to order a cake for his birthday and she picked it up the next day.



They did a wonderful job on the Cake (Picture courtesy of Bob Crites)








The guys at the office took Bob out to eat... I wish I could have been there to see this!



At least wearing this hat here was appropriate! It was really embarrassing when he tried to wear this to NAB last year during the show!!! (Bob... take the price tag off already! We don't care how much it cost!)









I wonder how much they paid this poor young lady to be immortalized in this Picture with this stud of a man!!!










And I can't talk about Bob with out my favorite picture from NAB 2 years ago. Poor Bob is always caught with the camera in the worst of situations.

01-26-09 San Francisco Snader Event

I flew out Tuesday the 27th in the EARLY morning so I could get to the event in time setup. I got into San Fran about 12:30PM and we were not supposed to be able to get into the venue until 3PM but I got a call From Richard Threadgill telling me we can get in anytime.

I checked into the Hotel and then went right over. Setup is always a lot of hurry up and wait. I was through setting up within 30 minutes but I waited around to help Richard and Jerry as much as I could.

This event was for a Major Dealer and lasted two days. There were about 25 companies with booths there so it was a good sized show.




Jerry Lewis and Richard Threadgill at our booth during setup.







I left the venue about an hour before everyone else to find us a place to eat. We ended up at a place called BJ's Brewery. It was pretty good and we ended eating there the next night with the sales guys as well.




BJ's Brewery was only about 300 yards from my Hotel









Myself, Richard Threadgill, and Jerry Lewis at BJ's







The next day at the show I saw two good friends of mine that used to work for Canopus before Grass Valley bought the Company, Kas and Dan May




Kas and Dan May









They had a small rest area in the middle of the show floor and it was quite fun how they did it.



Blow up furniture... Needless to say I did NOT try to sit in them!






There were some cool things at the show like the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. There are three young men that travel around the country and visit schools and they have the kids record original music and then create a music video all within 8 hours. Inside the Bus was a recording studio and a Video Editing suite. It was pretty cool!



A shot of the Bus and some of the equipment they travel with.









They had a full setup for Rock Band 2 and people played it all day for two days! (our booth was VERY close to the bus!)








Jerry Lewis and I jammed out near the end of the show when it was very slow.










Even though not part of the John Lennon Bus this was kinda cool. This company was using smoke as the screen for video and it worked better than I thought it would :)

1-19-09 Dallas Office Trip!

This week I went to the Dallas Grass Valley Office to help our newest TSS (Technical Sales Support) to learn EDIUS a little deeper. He is a really great guy and it is fun to work with him.

I got in on Monday night and Lorena had given me some things her Dad had left on his last visit. He was going to be in Dallas (actually Mesquite) spending the night with his sister and Lorena's Aunt Beth.

Aunt Beth is a absolutely lovely person who is one of my favorite people on earth. I wish we lived around her just so we could see her much more. I hadn't seen her in years and I must say I loved our short visit.




This is Aunt Beth's apartment and from left to right sitting down is Jack Downey (my Dad), Blanton Dawson (Lorena's Dad), and Aunt Renee.

This is My Father-in-Law, Aunt Beth, and Aunt Renee

This is Lorena's Mom and Aunt Beth

The next day I went with My Father to see my Mother. She has slipped away from reality and it is very sad for me. She was one of the few women in the 40's that actually got a college degree and in Chemistry of all things!

Dad can't watch her anymore because she is just to far gone so she is in a home just a short 2 minutes from the house and he goes to see her all of the time.

My Dad and Mom

I got to walk with her also... It felt really wonderful to be with her.

After seeing Mom we went to my sister house where they are re-modeling... way to much fun!

Almost there... Almost there...

We went to see her daughter (my Niece) after lunch

She is about as pregnant as my daughter :)

On Wednesday we started to work at the office. and we spent Wednesday and Thursday working on going a lot deeper into EDIUS and we got a lot of great work done!

This is the building where Grass Valley Dallas is located

This is the very small office where Joel and I worked. It is also shared by the Texas Sales Rep... Thank goodness he wasn't there! We would have NEVER fit!! :)

On Wednesday we went to lunch at a local shop near by called Baker's Ribs

Only in Texas!! This is a Budweiser blowup boot... Only in Texas! hahahahahahaha

I thought this was way funny too! A steam bath from the 1800's

After work on Wednesday I drove up to see Jerry Coslett who has been like a brother to me ever since out freshman year at BYU

I saw this stadium and took this picture because this is a HIGH SCHOOL STADIUM!!! 20 million to build according to the records!

This is Jerry's House... it is absolutely beautiful. In fact... the only thing wrong with it is the neighborhood it is in... I could tell you why but I could write 100's of pages on that alone!!!

This is Jerry... I know... I know... he is not as good looking as me but he is my best friend!

This is Jerry and his wife Kim... There are wonderful people!









The rest of the trip I forgot the Camera! :) I drove right by the New Cowboy Stadium (the tribute to vanity) I got to spend the evening with My Dad and two Sisters because Kristen flew in and that is rare that all of us are together.

On Friday I flew out early in the morning and got home without to much trouble.

It was a good week! :)