The Rise of Conformity

We are wrestling with conformity this week. I am now "queer" in the teen vernacular, because I am taking video for YouTube and publishing this blog. "None of my friends want to see this....." Any creativity out of the norm is not acceptable. Oh well. Surf this out with the rest of the phases, and maybe they will get interested in the cross between technology and creativity that this blog represents.

I finally understand YouTube

I have wondered for years what all the buzz was about re: YouTube. I have now put two very simple movies on YouTube, linked them to the family web page and used it. Developing the movies was actually fun, even though they are simply family movies. When I placed them on YouTube, I thought that no one else would look at them. Both movies have over 10 views in two days. It is very seductive to think "Who is viewing these movies of a birthday and a travel short." In addition, picking random videos to view is fun. It is a small piece of your world or theirs.

The two movies are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvSiuV5nx_4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xXupfn9mo4

No promises on quality.

Death of Books

We are in a fight; a fight for our lives. The death of books is at hand. We fight constantly with our children, especially one of them who shall remain unnamed. We have to pull them away from electronics of all sorts. This includes movies, computers, gamecube, gameboy, PSP, PS2.... The list goes on and on. The electronics is dominating, and simple pastimes (LIKE READING) are going by the wayside.

I know, I know. Many people would say that "You are writing this blog on a computer", "You were just playing internet chess"..... I still find time to read. A good book, a glass of wine, a comfy chair.....

Ok, Rant over. Back to my chess game on Yahoo.........

P.S. - Saw an interesting NYTimes article (via twitter link) that I thought was interesting, as related to my original post.

Soccer at Disney

Help!

We are stuck at Disney, with five children, for Thanksgiving. Thanks for Nickelodeon and ESPN.

At least the Thanksgiving Dinner was better then last year. Last year, at Disney, we had TGI Friday's for Dinner. No offense to the chain, but it sucked to have Thanksgiving there. This year, we at least had dinner with my parents, at a nice seafood place.

I at least understand the attractiveness of Florida. Most of our past visits were made in the Summer. Fun at the beach but very hot (July). Our trip was heaven. 65 degrees, ocean breeze, good books, sunny, Grandma with the kids.