Hold my beer and watch this!

Head over to the new blog!

2007-06-08T09:54:00.001-07:00

I haven't updated "Hold My Beer and Watch This!" here at blogspot, because I moved over to my own server a few months ago! All my videos are available there at the Videos category. The Feedburner feed you know and love uses the new URL, so if you're subscribed through Feedburner or iTunes, you don't need to do anything.

Thanks for watching! Come back soon!

Games Vlog Intro

2006-11-28T20:36:00.000-08:00

Watch Video

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 8 seconds, <500 KB)

This was originally conceived as the intro bit for a new videoblog on board games and card games, titled "Batteries not Required." While I'd still love to do the show, I've come to terms with the fact that I don't currently have the bandwidth in my life to do so.

The stop-motion animation took approximately 4 hours to film, and maybe another 2 or 3 to do the music for. Yes, that's about 7 hours of work for 8 seconds of footage. On the other hand, it was actually kind of soothing, and I listened to an audiobook while I worked.

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Toastmasters Speech 7

2006-11-28T20:26:00.000-08:00

Watch Video

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 11 minutes, 30 MB)

I did this speech a couple of months ago, but only now have gotten around to editing and posting it. To be honest, I was more than a little embarassed by this one. Not only is it not very good, and badly rehearsed, but I'm sure my high school friend who periodically lives there and has devoted most of his professional life to studying Indonesian culture and history will laugh his head off at my inaccuracies and foolishness. For which I can only apologize and point out that, well, this was a researched speech, not a thesis. ;)

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Cat Training Video

2006-11-15T10:13:00.000-08:00

Watch Video

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 5.2 MB)

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Beer in Grand Rapids

2006-08-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Watch Video

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 13 MB, 4:45 minutes)

As you may have guessed, I am fond of beer. A week ago, I was in Grand Rapids, Michigan at the tail end of my book tour, and visiting my dad. We decided on Friday to go out beer tasting, and took the camcorder along for the ride. If you're going to be in Grand Rapids any time soon, check out the pubs we visited and vlog them yourself!

Founder's Brewing Company
648 Monroe Ave. NW
(616) 776-1195

Graydon's Crossing
1223 Plainfield Ave. NE
(616) 726-8260

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Siblings

2006-08-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

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Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 2.5 MB)

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Book Arrivals!

2006-07-29T20:28:00.000-07:00

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Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

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Sunglasses

2006-07-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

Watch Video

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 452 KB)

This is my first successful stop-motion animation videoblog post. One thing I really wish I'd done with the Dummies book was include more on animated videoblogs, but I guess I can do that with articles or perhaps another book (we had to cut pages from the Dummies book as it is).

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I tried doing a stop-motion animation vlog with some toy dinosaurs. It was a phenomenal failure-- I couldn't do anything right. Everything was out of focus. I wound up trashing the whole project, but I was glad I had tried. For one thing, it showed me how things aren't always as easy as I think they will be. For another, it made me go out and learn more about stop-motion animation. I read a website on it, and downloaded a program called Frame Thief that does the single-frame capture necessary to do stop motion animation. After that, I got out a prop (my sunglasses) and some fishing line (to manipulate the prop like a puppet) and set about making my first stop-motion animation video. Added a short audio track of me whistling tunelessly, just to fill the silence.

It's short and completely unplanned, but I think it came out pretty well, don't you?

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On Hold

2006-07-24T19:49:00.000-07:00

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Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, approx. 4 MB)

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Toastmasters Speech #6

2006-07-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

Watch Video

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Toastmasters Speech #5: Straw into Gold

2006-05-26T07:53:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 21 MB)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmasters5.mp4"></a>

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This was a poorly-planned speech I did last week on the fiber arts. I had "speaker's block" until the morning of the speech, so I wasn't as well-prepared as I normally am (as evidenced by the fact that I don't have a practice video to show here). The goal of Speech #4 is to use body language and gesture. I didn't take advantage of the opportunity this topic gave me for doing so, and more to the point, I failed to get the heck out from behind the lectern! My next speech is scheduled for sometime after June 14. Expect more vlogs between now and then, though-- summer's here!

Toastmasters Speech #4

2006-04-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmasters4.mp4"></a>

I am trying out a couple of ways to post videos, so if you get the annoying "Click to play ActiveX" in Internet Explorer on this video, or if anything else breaks, let me know.

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Vlog Week Day 7: I DARE YOU, HEATH!

2006-04-09T22:18:00.000-07:00

Click the picture to play the video.

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Vlog Week Day 6

2006-04-09T00:18:00.000-07:00

This video was supposed to come out better. In fact, I invested $30 in a page-turning transition, but instead of actually working, it ended up munging everything up (clips and video didn't match), hanging iMovie, and when I had to force quit, the video that recovered was from before I installed the transition, and I decided that, at 12:06 AM heading into Vlog Week Day 7, perhaps it was time to hang it up on Day 6 and let it go.

Kind of annoyed: are there any non-Apple transitions that actually work in iMovie 6?

PS: Spent a lot of time behind the camera today, filming a fish show. Also spent a lot of $$ on new fish. Um.... yeah, I have a problem. On the other hand, I also have very pretty fish.

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Vlogging week day 5

2006-04-08T00:04:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/VlogWeekDay5.mp4"></a>

I wasn't very inspired today. So you get videos and pictures of the local deer in my neighborhood. Last year, we had a family of 5: 3 does and 2 offspring, plus "Buck," the male deer. I have some half-decent sketches of Buck from when he spent the night bedded down in the thistle farm behind our house.

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Vlog Week Day 4

2006-04-06T21:52:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/VlogWeekDay4.mp4"></a>

Well, I'm posting this after having a lot of wine and a few ipuprofen. My back spasmed this evening, and I'm pretty much self-medicating the pain. I don't do this often, and I tend to be careful about it-- I once told my doc that "pain is a message to your body." My doc said "your body knows it's hurt-- take Midol and let me know if it's still hurting in a month." Hahah.

Anyway, this vlog post is about another member of my household who may or may not be in pain right now (studies vary on whether fish feel pain the way we do). She is also being medicated.

My fish, Janice, had a lot of really rough almost-sex (so far as I can tell, it was not a successful mating). She is now isolated from the male (in another zip code, in fact), and hopefully healing up. The meds I have her on are very good at fin repair, but I worry about her tail-- you can see that it's quite red, which means it may become infected. An infected fin is like nothing, but an infected body is potentially lethal. I actually think Janice might be my favorite fish, out of the 9 adults and 100+ babies I currently have.

Yes, Janice is a betta fish-- all my fish are. I have three otos on loan from a friend of mine right now, to clean up algae in one of my tanks, but they are going home on Saturday, at which time I may or may not come home with a new fish. You see, my local betta club is hosting a Regional Betta Show, with an auction to follow. So, yeah, I might end up with another fish or three.

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Week of Vlogging Dangerously: Day 3

2006-04-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmasters3.mp4"></a>

Today's "danger" challenge was to vlog something physically challenging. My use of props in this speech for Toastmasters was tough, because the lectern is slanted and I was afraid of spilling a gallon of water all over!

Click here for the practice reel! There is some comedy in this one, of the slapstick variety. At least I didn't spill the *water* everywhere!

By the way, since a few folks have asked: I got my haircut about a month ago. My outro/ID is from about 3 years ago; I vary my hair length and sometimes color with some regularity.

Coming up later this week: file format poll.

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Week of Vlogging Dangerously Day 2

2006-04-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/VlogWeekDay2.mp4"></a>

Um.... I don't have a lot I can say about this one. It's... I guess it's like a secret.

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The Week of Vlogging Dangerously

2006-04-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/VlogWeekDay1.mp4"></a>

The Week of Vlogging Dangerously, or Vlog Week 2006 has begun!

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videobloggingweek2006

100%

2006-03-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/March282006.mp4"></a>

100% of the book is done:

Release date: July 5, 2006

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Test Post: cestmonlivre

2006-03-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

Re-port of c'est mon livre, to test something out right now.

2 week old fry

2006-03-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/2WeekFry.mp4"></a>

The betta fry are doing well, growing a little slowly, but growing nonetheless.

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Toastmasters Speech #2: On Videoblogging

2006-03-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmasters2.mov"></a>

This is my Speech #2 for Toastmasters. The goal of this speech is to improve and demonstrate organizational skills. The first speech was introductory; you can find it posted here.

Afterwards, one of the members of my local Toastmasters group asked a question (we don't usually Q&A our speeches), and I answered him.

The Handout mentioned in this speech is available here (PDF), and here (MS Word). Videobloggers are welcome to use and modify it for other presentations as needed.

And as with my first vlog on this subject, I videotaped myself rehearsing. However, because I rehearsed this speech so many times, I decided to spare you all of the attempts and refinements, and have mixed my practice sessions into this video. It's smaller and shorter, in part because I only mixed up the introduction, and left out all the flailing around to express the body of the speech adequately.

A technical note: I hope all the folks from the Videoblogging Yahoo! Group will take a moment to mock me soundly for ranting about filming a screen and then doing exactly that, in the same week! All I can say in my defense is that the camera was supposed to be zoomed in far enough to keep the TV screen out of the field of view. Boo.

A second technical note: The practice and speech videos were shot on my new Panasonic PV-GS65 camera, which I am now seriously in love with. My husband is lucky this thing doesn't have a butt as cute as his, or I'd leave him for it in a heartbeat!

And a personal note: We have an impromptu speaking session called "Table Topics," in which the best speaker wins a ribbon. I won this week for my 1-2 minute speech on why we do "spring cleaning" in the Spring (because it's easier to throw away 15 lbs. of stuff you got over the holidays than it is to lose the 15 lbs. you gained on your hips-- sadly, I didn't videotape it). Table Topics, being a popular vote competition, tend to be won by humor and rants, both of which I get a lot of practice with and exposure to in videoblogging.

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Radio Silence

2006-03-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/RadioSilence.mp4"></a>

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Obsessive Fish

2006-03-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/ObsessiveFish.mp4"></a>

This is just... weird. I can't even explain it.

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Baby Fish!

2006-03-04T16:50:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/BabyFry.mp4"></a>

The eggs hatched 2 days ago, and there are now a couple hundred baby fish (called "fry") swimming around my tank!

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Mating Bettas

2006-03-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/MatingBettas.mp4"></a>

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Nothing Happened in Davis

2006-02-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/DavisPolice.mp4"></a>

Saturday, February 24, 2006, 1:15 PM. My friend Molly and I were walking down the street in Davis, California, heading for my car, which was parked in front of the Golden 1 Credit Union. As we approached, I noticed a cop car parked very haphazardly on the side street we were on. I looked ahead and saw a uniformed police officer behind a tree, holding what Molly identified as an M-16.

Now, this is not the first time I have encountered a gun. In my experience, guns are an unpredictable factor in life. If you are in a situation in which there is a gun, the chances are you are not in control of the situation. Especially if you're in favor of gun control and don't actually own or use guns.

The point is, when I see a situation in which guns are involved, I slow down and become a lot more cautious, a lot more careful to make sure I remain safe and out of the likely locations of gunplay. I am the kind of person who sees a cop with a gun out and stops before proceeding.

Molly sped up.

The previous weekend, my husband and I had witnesses a police raid in Tracy, California. I was so scared, expecting at any second for the situation to turn into a shoot-out, that I forgot to grab the videocamera. So, Molly and I reached a compromise about half a block away from the police officer, and I pulled out the video camera. The footage here is what happened (or didn't happen) in downtown Davis on Saturday.

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Toastmaster Speech #1

2006-02-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 19 MB, 7 minutes)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Toastmaster1.mp4"></a>

In January, I joined Toastmasters, an organization dedicated to helping people become better public speakers. While I secretly suspect they're actually a cult, just waiting for the opportunity to recruit me, I also welcomed the opportunity to showcase my abilities and improve them.

Speech #1 is the "Icebreaker" speech. It's 4-6 minutes long, and the purpose is to get to know the speaker and to establish a baseline for future improvement. It's uncommon in our club to videotape speeches, but it is acceptable, and of course I couldn't try something new without sharing it with you all! Plus, you can get a laugh at how unbelievably self-centered I am in this video.

The audio's weak because the audio on my camcorder is weak (boo). I'm taking suggestions for an inexpensive (<$500) camcorder. Must have good low-light and audio capabilities, and it'd be great if it were lightweight.

Also, my practice speech is available here. It's longer and more rambly than the final one I gave to the Toastmasters meeting, and weighs in at 32 MB, which is why I didn't post it directly.

Edit: I *think* I've fixed the problem with the wrong file being sent with the enclosure. Sorry about that!

Oh, and I should probably mention this, since it harkens back to the early days of this vlog. I bought This Book Will Change Your Life AGAIN! and have done one of the days exercises-- I'll post it as soon as the vlog for that day is ready. I probably won't go back to doing an item every day, but periodically it's nice to go back to one's roots.

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C'est mon livre!

2006-02-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/cestmonlivre.mp4"></a>

This is a very old video-- the first video I posted to the Internet (sorry, Sean, I mistakenly said my beer outro was-- the beer outro was from the first video I posted to a BLOG, 3 years ago).

It's short and choppy, and commemorates the moment in March, 2000, when my husband John and I found my HTML book in a Parisian computer book specialty store. It was a pretty freakin' awesome day, to be honest. It was almost as good as the day I got my first royalty check.

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A day at work

2006-02-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Feb6.mp4"></a>

I've been suffering from technical issues with my vlog lately. Upgraded to iLife 06 and have discovered that, on a 12" Powerbook G4, it's a piece of crap. Can't do anything. I ended up creating this in QuickTime Pro, which I'm less familiar with, and which therefore took longer. Then QT took about 11 hours to convert my <5 minute video from .mov format into iPod-ready format, and in the process it dropped all the text tracks that show the times. This was Not OK.

I've resolved that problem with a great program called iSight, which will now end up in the book because it's so awesome. iSight converted to iPod-ready format in about an hour, and kept the text tracks in tact. Yay!

In addition to these problems, my moblog is temporarily incommunicado because I had to send the camera back to Nokia for a replacement. Multimedia messaging simply didn't work, for no discernable reason. I really hate it when stuff just doesn't work.

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My New Job!

2006-01-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, with h.264 encoding, iPod-ready)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/MyNewJob"></a>

I started a new job today! Hold my beer and watch this for an important announcement!

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Mushroom Day! (size warning)

2006-01-15T21:52:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format) (22 MB!)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Mushrooms.mp4"></a>

Today's video comes with a size and technology warning. The size warning is that it's big: 22 MB. After editing as much as I could, I got it down to just under 8 minutes, but that's a long vlog for me.

And there's a tech note on this one. I used the H.264 codec to create this file. What that means for you is that, if you use a reasonably recent Mac, you'll be able to watch the movie. If you watch on a Windows machine, however, you will need to make sure you have upgraded to QuickTime 7 before you can watch this movie. Unfortunately, that's also going to put iTunes on your machine-- they're bundled together now.

However, I did test this on a Windows XP box with QuickTime 7, and it worked flawlessly. If you had any trouble playing the file, please let me know by leaving a comment and tell me what went wrong (video wouldn't play, but audio did, or no audio, or nothing, or it crashed) as well as what operating system you have (Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT?, Mac OS 9?) and which version of QuickTime you have installed. I honestly won't try to troubleshoot if you have Windows and anything less than QT 7, because I know they don't work together.

If the filesize was just too big for you to download, it'd be nice to know that, too, so I can keep it in mind when I post longer videos. Thanks in advance for any feedback you want to offer!

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How was YOUR day?

2006-01-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Quittin.mp4"></a>

Next Tuesday is my last day at my current place of employment. I've worked there for 3 years and 8 months, give or take a little. My commute is 45 minutes to an hour and a half in each direction, depending on traffic, weather, and the asshattery of others. To date, I have been in no car accidents during my commute hours, and have run out of gas only once before, though not related to my commute (my mechanic went joyriding in my hybrid car).

Some days, like today and yesterday, I have a long commute cause of my own stupidity.

See, yesterday I left my purse at work. Stupid #1. I realized it when I'd gone about 40 minutes away from work, and had pulled off the freeway to buy gas. I didn't have enough to get over the hill, and had no money to buy any gas with. I returned to work, got my purse, and stopped at the nearest station, a place which charges, on average, about 30 cents per gallon more than anywhere else in the Bay Area, and which I suspect of being shady in other ways as well. Because I morally object to paying more than $2.60/gallon when I can get it elsewhere for $2.30, I only bought 2.5 gallons of gas.

I drive a hybrid car, so I can go 40 miles on 1 gallon of gas. Unfortunately, I live 40 miles from work. I drove home last night. I drove to work this morning. I put the iPod on and was listening to Penthouse: Bedtime Stories so intently, I forgot to buy gas. Stupid #2.

Wanna know where I'm parked in this videoblog entry? I'm at the exit to Summit Road, which is exactly the halfway point between Santa Cruz and San Jose. In other words, 2.5 gallons of gas took me exactly two and a half trips between work and home.

I really hate it when math works the way it's supposed to.

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Rainy Day

2006-01-02T18:34:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/RainyDay.mp4"></a>

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It's been raining here in Santa Cruz. A lot.

CC license: by-nc-sa [Different from my license for most of my posts.]

OT: Chicken Run!

2005-12-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/ChickenRun.mp4"></a>

This one deserves a little explanation. I am shifting away from the Benrik Book as my content inspiration. I'm not sure what I'll be doing next, but for now, I'm going to focus on people being passionate about something. I enjoyed using The Book for my inspiration, but I needed a break from it. Perhaps I'll go back to it later-- who knows?

My friend Lise is passionate about her new chickens. Shortly after she got them in October, I came by with my videocamera and filmed them. This film is, arguably, funny stuff for sure, because baby chickens are inherently as funny as any episode of Keystone Cops, but without the plot.

Moving forward, my vlog might not be as funny as it used to be for a little while, but I'm finding my voice, and I appreciate you all sticking by while I do.

Also, my web host is having technical difficulties, so I've had to use a backup server temporarily. Be nice to it, please.

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Day 109-110

2005-10-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day109.mp4"></a>

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OT: Looney Labs Demo

2005-10-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/LooneyLabs.mp4"></a>

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At SiliCon 2005, I interviewed Eric Zuckerman (Rabbitsaurus), a Looney Labs demo rabbit, who also gave me a sneak peek at an upcoming Looney Labs game, Just Desserts. Looney also just released Eco Fluxx and will be coming out with Family Fluxx, a family-oriented version of the popular game. While I was there, Eric and his partner were demonstrating how to play UberChrononauts, a two-deck game combining both Chrononauts and Early American Chrononauts.

Disclaimer: I'm also a Looney Labs Demo Rabbit, though, like Eric, I receive no monetary compensation for demoing the games. Just a lot of fun.

Day 101: Become a Chocolate Addict

2005-10-11T20:08:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day101.mp4"></a>

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Bet you've been wondering where I went? OK, OK-- I promise, I won't disappear like that again. Probably. ;) I just was getting burned out and needed a break, I suppose. I've been working really hard and long hours, long commute, plus a lot of other responsibilities have been piling up, and I got overwhelmed. Better now, though. Thanks for the well-wishes and comments-- they really do convince me to keep vlogging!

Day 64: Send $5 to a Stranger

2005-08-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day64.mp4"></a>

Update: My bad! It turns out, you can, indeed, send cash by mail. Surprise to me!

OT: TV For Cats Part II

2005-08-20T15:35:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/TVforCatsII.mp4"></a>

So, a while ago, I made a short movie of my cat Alladin (the grey stripey "kitten") watching my betta fish Zoot with great intent.

Zoot is over a year old-- I kept him at work until a few weeks ago, when I brought him home in anticipation of various vacations. Normally my attitude towards fish is very blase-- until Zoot, I'd never owned a fish for more than 3 weeks before it died. And Zoot has real personality, when he's not sick or hurt. He's only been sick once since I got him-- a small bout of fungus that he mysteriously developed almost immediately after another office fishkeeper set her betta next to him so they could "flare" at each other.

Well, last night... it was like Jaws: the Revenge. I came home to.... well, you'll see.

It was like walking in on a scene from a horror movie.

Warning: if you are a fish lover or betta keeper, some images in this film may be very disturbing.

OT: Sheehan Vigil

2005-08-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Sheehan.mp4"></a>

Another off-topic post, from my birthday, August 17th. On our way home from dinner, we passed the candlelight vigil. I shot a little bit of video and am posting it. In 24 hours in the tiny mountain town of Ben Lomond, California, they got a remarkable turnout, in my opinion.

Keep up the good fight, folks.

OT: A simple and beautiful thing

2005-08-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/Luddite.mp4"></a>

I come from a family of writers, particularly journalists. My uncle, Kent MacDougall, was a newspaper reporter for many years before teaching journalism at the University of California Berkeley. We care deeply about our craft, the words we use, and the many wonderful things we keep in our writing toolboxes. Including, of course, the physical tools we use to create our work.

OT: Science Museums and Press!

2005-08-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/SundayWeb.mp4"></a>

We went to the Chabot Space Museum on Saturday and the Exploratorium yesterday (Sunday). Today, I discovered that the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about videoblogging, and I was mentioned in it! It's nice when you have an interview with a reporter and it comes out in the newspaper. Anyway, if you found my vlog because of the article and are wondering where the weird, eccentric stuff is, either scan back to the archives, or just subscribe and keep watching-- we'll be back to our irregularly scheduled "programming" in a few days!

The Chronicle article is here!

OT: Visit with my Nephew

2005-08-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

For MiMi: (AVI format, 62 MB)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/ThursWeb.mp4"></a>

We're off-topic and using a different file format this week as I take my nephew Austin on vacation here in California. Yesterday, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Today, we're going Body Boarding! His seventh birthday is on the 23rd, so everyone wish him a Happy Birthday!

The different file format posted today (AVI: see above link) is due to the fact that my mom's computer doesn't have QuickTime installed, and I wanted her and my sister (Austin's mom) to see how we spent our time yesterday).

Day 51: Sightless Day

2005-08-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day51.mp4"></a>

Today's challenge was to go sightless for a day. I couldn't do it for a whole day (I had too much to get done), but I did make dinner without vision.

OT: Space Shuttle to Her Heart

2005-08-08T13:55:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 9.7 MB)

A little bit different entry today-- it's not from The Book but is instead a vlog entry about how a couple of my friends met.

This entry is important not just because I think it's a sweet (if geeky) story, but because this was my first time splicing in a second video with the audio from another clip playing in the background and then get the audio/video to sync back up again when it returns to the first clip. My execution is a little rough, but considering it's my first time getting that to work.... Well, you'll see what I'm talking about if you watch the movie....

Day 48: First Impressions

2005-08-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Today is a little different! Today is INTERACTIVE!!!

Here it is:

First impressions are important. You get a lot of impressions of me on this vlog. Download this form, print it, fill it out, scan it in (or just draw your answers on-screen, but what's the fun in that?) and email it back to me (same username at gmail). OR email a short video (<10 MB please) of you answering the question it asks, which you then give permission for me to use in a collaborative vlog entry.

Click here for the form!

Day 44: Tempt Superstition

2005-08-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day44.mp4"></a>

Day 43: Write a Full Diary of Your Day

2005-07-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day43.mp4"></a>

Day 42: Walk barefoot in the grass

2005-07-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day42.mp4"></a>

Day 41: Apply for a Knighthood

2005-07-30T15:43:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day41.mp4"></a>

OT: Moments of Zen

2005-07-29T09:16:00.000-07:00

A little off-topic post here, while I help Mefeedia test out a new tool in which one can do video quotes.

"This is a fish swimming!" (Quicktime movie quote using Mefeedia. Original movie found at Dailymotion.)

Day 38: Spend Time in a Church

2005-07-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day38.mp4"></a>

Day 36: A day without speaking

2005-07-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day36.mp4"></a>

OT: Creating Art

2005-07-24T08:48:00.000-07:00

Another one from Paris, this time an artistic endeavor outside Notre Dame Cathedral. I fell in love with Notre Dame when we were there-- gorgeous!

Edit: For music permissions reasons, I have removed this video as well as the other ones from France. Sorry. My conscious got the better of me. Aug. 3, 2005

July 16, 2005

2005-07-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

[Off-topic video.]

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 7 MB)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/Video/PotRally.mp4"></a>

This is a video I took at the WAMM rally to legalize medical marijuana in Santa Cruz on July 16, 2005. Santa Cruz has gone head-to-head with the federal government over our right to alleviate suffering with a natural and mostly harmless (and definitely over-penalized) medicine.

Of course, there are all these very normal people at the rally... and then you walk out onto sidewalk and the stoner kids are standing around "Oh, yeah, man... pot.... got some?"

*Sigh*

August 2, 2005: Updated. Replaced music with cc-legal music. Just in case.

Day 28: Your Last Meal

2005-07-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 14 MB)

Okay, I trimmed this down from 13 minutes to under 6, but it's still 14 MB, which means I'm not embedding it into the post, but I am enclosing it in the RSS Feed.

The feedback says "post non-Book stuff, too!" so any day I don't have a book-related video available and I do have another video, I'll post those, too.

Feedback request

2005-07-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

If you read this vlog via the feed, please take a moment to click through and make a comment. I have a couple of thoughts and would like some feedback:

1) I made a video this weekend that was basically a cooking show. It is 13 minutes long, after editing (before editing, it was 35), and weighs in at 35.5 MB. Do you think this is too big to put into an enclosure? I certainly think it's too big for an embedded video, and would link to it with a pic, rather than embed it directly in the blog page, if I post it.

2) I also videotaped a couple of things this weekend that have nothing to do with my journey through the Book. Now, realizing that the answer I get here will differ greatly from the one I get over at my blog on the Book's website (it's basically a mirror of this one, but without RSS), do you want to see unrelated videos? It includes video of friends talking about specific moments in their lives, video from the Harry Potter midnight release party, and video of a Medical Marijuana rally on Saturday, but could in the future involve a wider array of subjects. When I started this vlog, it was with the intention of doing a personal year-long project, and I don't want to move away from that, but at the same time, I enjoyed filming noteworthy things happening and thought about sharing them.

Thanks for sharing your feedback with me-- I appreciate any and all comments, though will delete any with more than 30% of the words consisting of cuss words. ;)

Day 26: What would you be reincarnated as?

2005-07-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day26.mp4" rel="enclosure"></a>

Day 25: I'm Never Going to.....

2005-07-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day25.mp4" rel="enclosure"></a>

Day 20: Poetry Day

2005-07-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format, 11 MB)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day20.mp4" rel="enclosure"></a>

Day 19: Pretend to be a Secret Agent

2005-07-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

Click here for the movie! (MPEG-4 format)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day19.mp4" rel="enclosure"></a>

Obligatory pimpage: I had help on this particular stunt from my good friend and camerawoman Lise Quintana, who hosts a weekly podcast on religion and spirituality over at Junglemonkey. Check her out-- you will NOT be disappointed! Lisa was also my accomplice on Day 5: Out of Order.

Day 18: Kill Something

2005-07-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

Click for movie!

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day18.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

You may be wondering what happened to the last 5 days. Well, I declared this weekend to be a "No Politics Weekend" in frustration and disgust. Unfortunately, the assignment for the Book on Monday (July 4th, Independence Day) was "surreptitiously give people the finger") and since this would require me going out in the holiday crowds and basically flipping off a bunch of patriotic Americans, I decided that would violate the "no politics" rule for the weekend, no matter how much fun it might have been.

For those of you keeping score at home, however, rest assured that I made full advantage of the flip-off license today during my commute home-- a commute time that was doubled by asshattery traffic and some jerk-off who was not only using a cell phone while driving, but taking notes while he swerved everywhere and stopped in the middle of rush hour traffic.

Day 13: Dear Mass Murderer...

2005-07-01T22:29:00.000-07:00

(Click for movie!)

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day13.mp4" rel="enclosure"></a>

Day 10: Meet Jonas Janssson

2005-06-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day10.mp4" rel="enclosure"></a>

Click for movie!

Day 9: Do something before breakfast

2005-06-27T06:47:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day9.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Day 8: Give up an addiction for a day

2005-06-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day8.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Day 7: Pleasure Yourself in the Afternoon

2005-06-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day7.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Day 6: First line of my novel

2005-06-25T04:05:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day6.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Clicky (same movie).

Day 5: Out of Order!

2005-06-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day5.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Day Four: World Coloring In Day

2005-06-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day4.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Not all days are full of throwing away meaningless crap...

Today is "World Coloring In Day." Today, I took out the world map and colored it in:

Green for countries I've been to already (I know, Alaska is not a country, but it's huge and separated from the US and I've never been to it).

Blue for countries I plan to go to in the next year (France is Day 205, so I colored it both green and blue!)

Yellow for countries I want to go to....
I spent a long time on that one. Partly because it was hard to read the map, but also because.... there are a lot of terrifying places in the world right now. In my lifetime, they may be desired destinations, but right now? As interested as I am in the world around me, do I really want to see it that much?

Red is for countries I never want to go to. I used question marks because, again.... perhaps things will change, and all the "istan" countries and the oil-laden quagmire of the Middle East and certain parts of mob-run Africa will actually turn out to be nice places to visit in the future. But right now? Today.... I don't know.

Today was a hard assignment. Have you ever looked at a map and crossed something out, denied its existence in your future world plans? I felt like a little part of me was crying-- ashamed to not want to go "there," and yet also acknowledging the need for security, my own need for there to be a relative state of peace around me, especially when I travel. I felt like I was making a great denial, but because I had not been, I did not even know what I was denying.

Day Three: Something I Like

2005-06-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day3.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

A little explanation for this short clip: Day Three in This Book Will Change Your Life is "Throw away something you like." I actually like the loofah pictured-- it's a good combination of scratchy and soft, and takes soap really well. It was a gift from one of my best friends, in congratulations on my marathon last October. However, its all-natural composition has left it vulnerable to mildew and mold and so, while I like it very much, I don't mind throwing it away.

Day Two: Love of my Life

2005-06-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day2.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Day One: My Middle Name

2005-06-19T11:57:00.000-07:00

<a href="http://www.mortaine.com/HoldMyBeer/Day1.mp4" rel="enclosure"> Click for movie!</a>

Also available in .mov format and scaled smaller size (.5 MB).

Who is this crazy woman?

2005-06-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

I'm a thirty year old Californian who likes to try new things. Yesterday, I bought a book titled This Book Will Change Your Life. I bought two copies-- one for me, one for a friend.

Yesterday I also tried the video feature of my digital camera and discovered that it can take eleven whole seconds of video on my little 16 MB card. Wow. Sure hope Amazon.com sends me the larger reader I ordered six weeks ago soon....

Anyway, combine two great things, and what do you get? A Video Blog of changing my life. Well, mostly a video blog of me doing a bunch of strange, funny, random things that don't necessarily serve any purpose.

Today, I am starting with Day One, even though it's almost exactly six months "off" from how the book usually goes. I don't care. Day One, here I come.