A Wonderful Weekend

So I spent the weekend in Vegas with Teesa, Bryan, Jesse, Jessica, Samantha and Missy. No, we weren’t here to gamble. We were here for a wedding.

And not just any wedding, but a Gay Wedding! Missy’s older sister Jackie married her partner Andrea on Sunday. It was a beautiful, intimate experience and I had the high honor of taking their wedding photos.

As a general rule, I try to avoid working weddings. They are high stress affairs, and I just don’t like to take that on anymore. But Missy asked me to please do her this favor. I have to admit that I was reluctant to say yes when she asked. It just didn’t appeal to me.

Thankfully, I said yes. And I’m very glad I did. It is such a great honor to be included in what is one of the most intimate and loving occasions that any family experiences.

Both Bride and Broom wore white. Andrea’s dress was gorgeous, and Jackie was very smart in her tuxedo with a vibrant blue tie. They were both beaming during the ceremony and the joy that was felt was amazing.

Thank you Jackie and Andrea for letting my family join yours on this incredibly special day. May your life together be one of joys, happiness, success and LOVE.

New Specs

So, lost my specs a few weeks back. Think it was at Disneyland. That would make it Disneyland 2 – David 0. Seem to lose my specs at the park. Have to remember that when I’m there. Oy.

Bought some new specs tonight. What do you think?

Loving my iPad

Well it’s been over a month now and I have to say it… I love my iPad.

This morning I was waiting in line at the DMV to renew my license. When I got there the line wrapped all the way around the building. So, I dutifully found my place at the back of the line and pulled out my iPad. For the next 40 minutes, while standing in broad daylight, I read the first five chapters of “Moby Dick”.

Yes Virginia, there is a readable screen in the daylight on the iPad.

It was great. Before I knew it I was at the front of the line being given a number to, you guessed it, wait in a different line.

No problem. Out came the trusty iPad, once again. Reading commenced, once again. And once again the time just flew by. With the minor interruption of one DMV employee who wanted a demonstration of the iPad and a brief discussion of what’s possible on it. She was thinking about getting a Kindle, but once she saw the broader usefulness off the iPad she was converted. I imagine she’ll have her iPad by the end of the week.

Yes, there are shortcomings on the device currently. It’s still frustrating that there’s no printing from the device. But Steve Jobs sent an email out to someone yesterday assuring them that printing is coming to the iPad. So I can wait. It is also frustrating that there is no way to pull a Word Doc, or PPT or Excel file from a USB thumb drive. This would be very useful in the field when someone throws you a last minute file to edit and you have no WiFi signal, or additional computer on hand to send the file from. Perhaps this will be corrected in the future too? We’ll see.

But aside from some, “If A happens when I’m in B, then I can’t accomplish C” scenarios the iPad lives up to my expectations and exceeds them in most respects. And those ABC scenarios are not daily occurrences for me, and can usually be avoided with enough careful planning ahead of time.

Anyone else out there with an iPad with some thoughts to share?

Sometimes the past is beautifully present…

A classic steam engine train came through town today. It was breathtaking.

Las Vegas 2010 v3.0

I’m in Vegas for the next two days to attend the NAB Show. This is the big annual show that we attend to see all the video, sound and computer gear in our industry. This year we have Josh and Jessica attending with us. OH! Did I mention that Baby Sean is here too?

Tomorrow is our first day and we will end it at the Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet! We’ll also see Victoria for lunch tomorrow and Rita for lunch on Wednesday. Should be fun!

iPad Day 2

Well with a full day and a half now of playing with my iPad here are some more thoughts on the device.

It’s awesome. Really the screen is simply gorgeous. I just used the Marvel Comics app to read an issue of The Amazing Spiderman and the graphics just popped with vibrant color. It was an incredibly enjoyable way to read a comic. I could even zoom in to get better views of the artwork!

The keyboard is interesting. It’s very responsive and with the big screen still leaves enough space to comfortably see whatever it is you are working on, but learning the optimum hand placement has a taken some time. But not too bad. I’m typing this blog post one the iPad and my speed is only slightly slower than a conventional keyboard. I’m sure with enough practice I will find myself flying along on this keyboard. And if worst comes to worst I have a Bluetooth keyboard that i can sync to the iPad.

Battery life is awesome. I really am getting 10+ hours of continuous use out of it. Incredible.

Wi-Fi is strong and fast, web browsing is great in Safari.

iPad specific apps are really a joy to use. The developers of a lot of these apps have done great things expanding their apps for then extra screen real estate.

Anyway… More later. In the meantime Happy Easter!

Got my iPad

Well I have it. My very own iPad. Bryan and I went down to the Apple store at 5 this morning. First in line. Awesome. More details to come. But first impressions are very good! I love this thing.

Another Good Read for Slide Presenters

Here’s a very good site with 10 tips for creating better slideshows. Please read it and make your audience happy!

Garr Reynolds/Presentations.

The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint

This is a must read for anyone who is giving presentations out there in the world. The post is written by Guy Kawasaki… this man is someone you should really listen to.

As a slideshow Operator/Designer myself for many years in a few thousand settings for several hundred clients… I can’t stress enough how much thought should really go into someone’s presentation slides. Have a read and make your audience happy!

How to Change the World: The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint.

A Fun “Read” To Get Through Hump-Day

I happened upon this page today… It’s a collection of images of some of The Most Ironic Signs Of All Time. It’s definitely worth your time to visit and have a good laugh on a Wednesday (Hump-Day). Enjoy the chuckle!

And for that matter…

With today’s wide usage of cell phone cameras and pocket cams, don’t forget to be on the lookout for real life-ridiculousness! Capture stuff like this on your cameras too and share it with the world! Remember to always be on the lookout and make sure you share it with me!

Star Trek Fragrance – Tiberius Cologne

This has to be one of the greatest things… EVER.

Amazon.com: Star Trek Fragrance – Tiberius Cologne: Toys & Games.

Ahhh the workweek

Obama Signs Health Care Bill

Well it’s finally done. The President has signed this bill into law. Now we get to figure out just how the hell this thing really works.

I’m not happy with the entirety of this bill, for sure. But I’m not 100% opposed to the ideas that drove it’s creation. I honestly hope that this helps and solves a lot of problems for a lot of people. But I worry about the cost. I worry about the forceful nature of the government mandating I purchase health insurance.

We’ll see how this all plays out. We do still have the Senate running through it too.

Not looking to start any insane debates here, but what are your thoughts?

Apple Seeking to Stimulate Mac Development With $99 Mac Dev Program – Mac Rumors

This is good news for us who are moving into software development.

Hooray!

Apple Seeking to Stimulate Mac Development With $99 Mac Dev Program – Mac Rumors.

Pushing Forward

So 2010 is shaping up to be a big year for me.

In January I set some pretty lofty goals for myself. Some of those goals I am not sure I’ll be able to meet, but the attempt is really what’s important here.

To this end, I have spent the last couple of weeks really evaluating a lot of my life’s daily schedules. Particularly I’ve been re-evaluating the worth of working for the Surf Soccer Club on a daily basis.

I have spent 6 of the last 9 years parking cars, picking up trash and enforcing the Polo Club rules for the Surf Soccer Club. It’s been a great job, one that helped get me through my studies at Palomar, gave me the freedom to shoot “What’s The Vig?” and helped nurse my entire family through the economic downturn last year. In short, I am very thankful for the opportunity I’ve had working for the club.

But it’s time to move on. I have big dreams and big ambitions and as I approach my 35th birthday I am realizing that my time is increasingly worth something to me. I’ve come to realize that any time I spend not pushing forward on my dream is, for me, wasted time. I don’t want to be working on anything anymore that doesn’t meet one of the following criteria:

• Stimulate my creativity
• Advance my career/company
• Increase my knowledge/experience

Those three items are my main criteria for deciding if something is worth my time. You’ll note that money is not part of my criteria. This is important. I do not want to work just to make money. To me, if I am pursuing the things that stimulate me and make me happy I know the money will follow.

This is a big step. It’s kind of scary, but I know it’s the right choice for me. I’ve already lined up a bunch of freelance work in the A/V business, Dawson Digital’s video production and graphics business has been growing steadily over the past 6 months and our software company is just about to launch. It’s exciting times around here and I want to give it my all. It’s time to step up and make things happen!

Baby Sean’s First Video

Baby Sean’s First Video!

Sean Murphy William Davis

Hello world. Say hello to my newest nephew, Sean Murphy William Davis.

He was born on Feb. 24, 2010 at 3:49 AM. He was 7lb 10oz, and was 19 inches long.

He’s cute as a bug and his parents did a wonderful job bringing him into this world. I’m sure they are going to be a wonderful family!

Working in Palm Desert

Well, Bryan and I are up in Palm Desert this week working with IMS Audio Visual on the eTail West conference.

I enjoy working with the boys from IMS. They are good guys. Nice to work with.

Bryan is here working, even though his wife (my sister) is at home ready to pop with their first child. Hopefully she won’t go into labor while we are here. She’s acutally due on the 7th of March. So we are assuming we have another week, although, we all know Teesa would prefer to have the kid sooner than later at this point.

This is an interesting conference to be working at this point. With Apadapa Labs getting ready to launch we are quickly preparing to become a company with actual products to sell. Not just services. So the sessions here on email marketing and online data collecting are extremely relevant and interesting.

It’s coming…

Apadapa Labs

Oh yeah.

Cop Out : Looking Better with the Red Band Trailer

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