Strange Day

My day started in massive pain.  The muscles in my back weren’t happy with me and were inflamed and having spasms.  I ended up having to take a trip to the doctor to diagnose the issue (spasms) and get a recovery plan (drugs, rest, exercise).

I got a prescription for some muscle relaxers and pain killers (some gooood stuff). I was stuck at the doctors office for hours.  I hate going to the doctor, not because of the doctors, but because of the wasted hours.  I was able to catch up on a couple of podcasts though.

After I was home for a bit I got an IM from my friend Caroline who told me she had tickets to tonight’s Dbacks game.  Not just tickets, but tickets in the nice part of the field.  Luckily I hadn’t taken the Vicodin yet so I was still able to drive.  I hopped in my car and met her at Chase Field.  Diane was in a meeting and was planning on meeting us a bit later.

We had awesome seats and the muscle relaxers had allowed me to start moving again.  I had some minor pain but we were in section 207, how could I pass that up??

Here’s a shot of me and Caroline being silly.  We had a blast watching the game, even though we lost, and Diane made it just in time to see the last 3 outs.

This is what I love about life.  You never know what’s coming your way.  From my least favorite thing (waking up in massive pain) to one of my favorite (hanging out with friends at a major league game) – I had no idea either one of these things was in store for me today.

Now I’m chillin’ on the Vicodin and the pain is gone.  I think I’ll sleep great tonight!

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Random Stuff, Sports No Comments » April 2008

Snapshots from the week.

This week we tried to take some micro breaks and give ourselves a mini-vacation.  Here are some snapshots of a couple of outings.

Enjoying the Diamondbacks beat up the Giants at Chase Field.

Diane and our friend Bill.

What a view!

We took a bike ride yesterday and this was shot along the way.

Diane on her bike.

A roadrunner I saw on the trail.  I tried to get closer but… he ran away.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Random Stuff No Comments » April 2008

Mexican Food! Yum!

Yesterday Craig and I ran up to Photomark to buy a few things.  While we were there I was able to play around with the Leica M8.  Wow, what a sweet little camera.  I’m just $8,000 away from owning my own.

After hanging out at Photomark we decided to drive in to Phoenix for some good Mexican food.  We found a place on the NE corner of 16^th Street and McDowell called Hacienda Mexican Food.  We knew it was going to be great when we realized nobody spoke any English.

Craig excited about our Mexican food find.

While we were in the restaurant I decided to play around with my wide angle lens.  We shot a few pics while we ate.

Craig waiting for his food.

A view inside the restaurant.

The food finally arrived and it was tasty!  The salsa was great and they gave us little bowls of alphabet soup as an appetizer.  The soup had been “souped up” a bit and was also pretty good.  We had 2 bowls each.

I loved the fact that our drinks came in glass bottles.  They were cold and delicious.  I can’t wait to go back!

Delicious alphabet soup.

Big Head Mark eating some soup.  I love the distortion of the wide angle lens.

 

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Photography, Random Stuff No Comments » February 2008

Teleprompter?

Yesterday Diane and I were at the studio recording a new episode of Digital Photography 1 on 1.  This episode is heavy on math and technical data and I knew it was going to be rough trying to get through the script.  But then I remembered a little video I saw on YouTube about a low cost teleprompter solution.  Here’s the video:

We didn’t have a mirror so I came up with a different solution.  We hooked up our laptop to our video projector and then set up a softbox just under the video camera.  The softbox acted like a video screen and the setup worked pretty well.  Diane controlled the teleprompter while I read from the script.

Unfortunately I set up the video camera incorrectly so the footage is no good.  We’ll have to re-shoot the video soon.  I think I’m going to build a better teleprompter though because this rough setup really helped out.  I’ll post images and plans when I create my new system.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Photography, Random Stuff No Comments » February 2008

God Shot

The word “God shot” refers to the perfect, devine espresso shot. According to some it is the unreachable utopia, while others claim to be able to pull one or two for every hundred espresso’s they make.

Paolo, the Barista from that espresso bar, pulled me an absolute God shot yesterday.

If you want to know how to create a “God shot” then check out Brandon’s new setup.  Mmmmm.  Good stuff.

New Espresso Gear Trial Run: Take 1 from Brandon Bohling on Vimeo.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Random Stuff No Comments » January 2008

Bucky Starbrite!!!!

About 10 years ago I worked on a project called Bucky Starbrite.  I was hired by a company to produce some short inspirational stories for kids.  The theme was stewardship; managing our time, talents, influence, etc. in a way that is wise.

I wanted to create a replica of an old radio show.  I came up with the idea of using a hero, sort of like Johnny Quest.  The hero would travel and do things with a gang and we’d learn from him along the way.  The next thing I did was write up a short script for the first episode.  It was about our hero getting help from a kid who gives up a prized possession.  I pitched my idea to the company and they gave me the green light.

The next thing I did was hire my good friend Travis Hawkins to write and direct the episodes.  Travis took my first script and changed about 90% of it.  He was able to fill in the gaps with a cast of characters and plot out all of the episodes.  He was watching a lot of Space Ghost Coast to Coast during that time so you’ll no doubt hear the influence.

Travis then hired a few others for voice talent.  My good friend Davy Fisher became the voice of Evil Zarkon, another good friend Scott Ross became Bucky Starbrite.  We added David Hammond as The Narrator.  Ami Ross was the voice of Julie.  Travis was the voice of Finster and Doughan and I was Gradoo.  We all chipped in and did other voices as well (kids, computer, etc).

We rented a sound studio and laid down all the voice talent first.  Once that was finished I spent about a week working with the studio tech, Blake, to edit the vocals and add all the sound effects and music.  I found out that there was a problem with the budget and I had to cut out a lot of things that we’d originally planned for the episodes.

One of the big problems with the audio is the fact that Porpy (the P.U.R.P.O.S.E. porpoise) is very underrepresented by the sounds.  Travis came in and did a few porpoise sounds but it’s very easy to miss Porpy as a character.  I wish I had the time and budget to add all the water splashing and porpoise noises we’d planned.

These episodes were lost in time until a couple of weeks ago.  I bought an ION Tape2PC cassette player and transfered them to my PC.  These are from some very old tapes so the quality isn’t terrific.  But I’m happy that I found them and can share some of the craziness with you. 

These are in the order that they were written (I think).  “Captured Bucky” is my favorite and “Lazy Bucky” is one that could have been better. Remember, these were created to be silly so don’t be too critical!

• Disco Bucky.mp3 (5291 KB)
• Captured Bucky.mp3 (5807 KB)
• Scatting Bucky.mp3 (5618 KB)
• Dreaming Bucky.mp3 (6253 KB)
• Lazy Bucky.mp3 (5605 KB)

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Humor, Random Stuff No Comments » January 2008

Brad on Millionare

My friend Brad was recently on Millionaire.  Very cool!!

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Random Stuff No Comments » December 2007

Busted

The cops arrest a drunken idiot.

Today Diane and I had a crazy adventure.  We were headed to lunch and had just pulled out to the main road in our neighborhood.  We immediately noticed that the car in front of us was having issues.  A lady was driving and at first we thought she was talking on her cel phone – she was swerving a bit and her speed was not steady.

After about 30 seconds we realized that she wasn’t on her phone but was very drunk.  This was at about 2:00pm.  She was dodging the curb on one side of the road and then swinging wildly to the other side of the road.  I called 911 right away.

We followed the drunk lady for a few miles while relaying information to the police.  We were following at a distance of about 100 yards.  The lady hit the curb several times and was driving on the wrong side of the road about as many times.  Twice she nearly hit cars coming head-on.  She also had a narrow miss (by about 6 inches) of a parked car.

Luckily a police officer was nearby and stopped her just a few minutes after my call.  When the police stopped her we realized that she was just outside of an elementary school – and school had just let out.  There were kids everywhere.  There is no doubt in my mind she would have killed or injured several children.

The first police officer called for backup and the 911 operator asked that we wait to give a statement to the police.  After the police gave the lady a sobriety test (the lady couldn’t even walk) they arrested her. She was handcuffed and put in the back of one of the cruisers.

When the police officer approached us he said, “Wow, thanks so much.  That lady was wasted!  She had a bottle in her car this big.” He put his hands about a foot apart.  We then realized the “phone” we saw her using was the bottle.  She was swigging as she was driving. I’m glad we were able to help stop this lady. I’m certain she would have really hurt someone.

Please, please don’t drink and drive!  If you see someone who has been drinking and thinking about getting into a car – do whatever it takes to stop them. It’s just senseless.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Random Stuff No Comments » December 2007

Bump In The Road

There is a bump on Ray Road.  It has no hidden agenda.  It harbors no ill feelings toward anyone.  It doesn’t think about those passing over it day after day. It’s not doing anything differently today than it has for the past few years.  It’s just a bump, an aberration on the asphalt. This bump has changed lives.

May 14, 2007 and the 2002 Honda CBR hit the bump. The same bump that this same Honda had traveled over many times.  But May 14 was different. What was different?  I don’t know.  Same rider, same bike, same bump; different day. Front tire wobbling handlebars slamming back and forth. Bike tumbling.  Rider thrown.  The asphalt catching the rider. Slashed fingers, broken ribs, broken shoulder blade, fractured knee, skin torn.  Mom and child in stroller safe on sidewalk. Indian music playing on iPod. Panic, calm, confusion, wonder.  Rider off bike but now carried in a helicopter.

I wish I could have a chat with that bump in the road. I’d like to have a Q&A session with it.  I’d ask it what it had against my friend Bill. Why Bill, why not kick a bicyclist off his ride resulting in less damage, not the months of rehab Bill had after his crash.  Would the bump blame the front tire? Would the bump even care?  I doubt it.

I’d like to have a chat with the snow outside of Winter Park, Colorado. In 1988 my friend Davy and I were driving along a mountain pass and our car lost traction and we began sliding toward a steep decent.  Certainly we would have been injured if not killed.  But the tires and the snow had a conversation.  The snow let the tires grip and our car stopped.  We’d been given a reprieve.

I’d also like to have an interview with the cancer cells that killed my dog Sammy last year. I’d like to hurt those cells; beat them with a heavy phone book and make them suffer. Waterboard them. I’d get answers out of them.  But those cells are tough, I doubt they would give up any answers or tell me anything that the bump couldn’t.  Which is absolutely nothing. 

Maybe Sammy’s cancer cells would tell me to chat with the malaria that suddenly killed my friend Jan in 1992. Perhaps the Malaria would have me check in with the malaria pills Jan had stopped taking weeks after her return from Africa. The pills would cry that they could have saved her.  They would have done it if they could. If only…

These bumps in the road are frustrating.  They are out there everywhere.  You can’t see them coming until you’ve hit them.  Sure you’d do things differently if you could.  You’d drive a different route, you’d take the pills, you’d get a better vet, you’d slow down.  But you didn’t. And you can’t go back.  Damage done.

Last night we had another bump in life’s road. A trip to the emergency vet to see what was happening to Luka.  He was feverish, drooling constantly, eyes watering, discolored tongue, acting funny.  Renal failure? Valley fever?  What was the problem?  We did not know.  The vet told us to come right in and we did.

Luka had his checkup.  The vet checked his mouth, took his temperature, took blood.  We waited an hour for the verdict.  We were called into examining room no. 1 for the results.  This was the exact same room where Sammy had died just a year earlier.  Luka was sitting in the exact place where Sammy died when the vet entered the room to tell us the results.

We were fortunate. Luka is fine.  No internal problems.  He had a problem with his mouth that caused the tongue discoloration and drooling. The problem was minor.  On the way home I started thinking about the bump on Ray Road and decided that the bump does have something to say.  If it could talk it would tell us something.

Cherish life. Cherish those you love. Do those things you intend to do.  Don’t waste your time. Don’t get distracted. Pet your dog.

Thanks for the insight Bump.  Perhaps next time you could just give us a gentle reminder instead of tossing my friend over the handlebars or killing my dog.  Jerk.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Dogumentary, Events, Luka, Motorcycles, Random Stuff No Comments » December 2007

Breaking Up

A few months ago Diane and I were hanging out at the local Sonic eating some ice cream.  We were listening to NPR while chomping down on our banana splits.  This American Life had a segment about writing a break-up song.  It was very funny.  Even Phil Collins made an appearance.

Later they asked their web audience to re-mix or perform the song.  Over 100 people sent in their version of the song.  It’s very interesting.

First listen to Episode 339: Break Up.  Then check out the song winners.  It’s time well spent.

Posted by Mark Wallace Posted in: Music, Random Stuff No Comments » November 2007

« Previous Entries