Summer Vacation

I made a promise, mostly to myself I guess, that I would be more disciplined in meeting my Friday blog deadline. It’s pretty obvious I haven’t done a very good job at doing that.

At the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses, I have some pretty good reasons why I have not been able to scribble down my random thoughts every Friday, reasons that I won’t go into at the moment, but good reasons nonetheless. I have made a decision though, I’m going to take some of the pressure off myself; this will be my last blog until the new school year starts in August. I’m taking the summer off.

But before I go, some thoughts . . . .

We had a really good year here at OTN. I think we raised the bar on some of our shows and incorporated some new programming. Most all the staff that worked here had fun and learned some new things; at least I think they did. I think we created some good opportunities for students to get some good experience and for that I am pleased.

I too had some fun and learned some new things. I taught a course this semester for the first time, “Short Form.” It really kicked my ass, never worked so hard at a course in my life. I hope the students got something out of it.

During the past year I’ve spent a lot of time learning about high-definition television. It’s interesting, different than what we’re currently used to, challenging, mind numbing and complicated. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all so when we start up again this fall I’ll be able to explain all of its applications to the students.

And I’m really looking forward to taking some time off. My wife and I are taking some road trips with our kids. Both my girls are big fans of The Jonas Brothers and David Archuleta so we’re going to seem them perform (in different concerts) in Pittsburgh and Boston. And we have a good friend who turns 50 this year and we’re going to head out to Chicago to help him celebrate that milestone.

Finally, I’ve always encouraged my students to look at their lives and careers with what I call the “lazy eye” approach. I believe it’s important to keep one eye squarely focused on the day-to-day stuff to make sure you’re doing a good job and staying healthy and happy. The other eye needs to be focused down the road to see what’s coming and where you’re going . . . or would like to go. In spite of being a middle aged old fart, I still do that . . . I’m not spending enough time with my music . . . I want to spend more time at home . . . I really like learning and using After Effects and Flash . . . I’m challenged with how to incorporate new media into OTN more effectively . . . I’m not sure that I want to keep up such a rigorous sports freelance schedule . . . I’d really like to work on more video projects for some not for profit groups . . . I’m considering offering my professional services to the Central New York Jazz Foundation, I see that they’re using some video and I think I could make it better . . . I want to create something for the Urban Video Project, I have an idea right now that I think would be a fun piece to do.

So many ideas and so little time.

Have a good summer everyone, I’ll be back in the late summer and hopefully I will have a little more focus on what my “down the road” looks like when I get back.