Grace.....At the end of our day.

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At the end of the day, just before I fall asleep, Grace and I spend a little bit of quiet time together. I am thankful for Grace and the time I have with her.

Let's Talk

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ConversationGod.com has been on my mind a lot. This video is a bit of my heart regarding that new site and a bit about vlogging. I really would just like to be involved in conversation with others. I'd like to talk, to get to know others, to hear about the things you believe and to share what I believe. And, in the end of it all, to have grown, to have been challenged, to have been encouraged to understand other things and people more than I did before, to know that I helped others to understand me and what I stand for better, even if only in a small way, and to have participated in this community with others in a caring way.

I debated whether or not I wanted to share this video. It really may not be necessary for me to say these things at all. But still as I said it. This is a moment when I was thinking. And thinking out loud while the camera was on, so why not share it here.

I look forward very much to the conversation at conversationGod.com and I continue to look forward to the conversations that are occurring all over the vlogosphere. Let's keep talking, let's keep getting to know each other as people, let's keep working together, let's keep encouraging each other, let's keep on being the media, let's keep on remembering that when we subscribe to a feed we are subscribing to people.........

(I mention a convesation from a year ago in this post. That conversation is the first religious conversation I saw in the vlogosphere where people contributed video to discuss some topics Ryanne challenged people to talk about. You can learn more about that conversation by clicking here. Or to learn more about video blogging week click here.)

Tagged:conversationGod

Good and Bad.....A Topic for Conversation.

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(I posted this on my other vlog conversationGod.com. I am looking forward to taking part in this conversation with others regarding things God related. I realized that I originally gave a very general challenge. That is okay and I look forward to hearing peoples opinions in general regarding God and religion but in order to aid the conversation I thought maybe I should begin by narrowing the topic down a bit.)

I'd like to narrow down a topic for discussion. How about good and bad? Where do we get our ideas of good and bad from? Do these things exist? What is good and what is bad? By what is the standard measured? Are there consequences for being a bad person or reward for being good?

Let's talk. Let's continue in this conversation. I thought this might be a good place to start, by discussing good and bad. Visit conversationGod.com to leave a comment or email the link to your video submission to me at conversationGod [at] gmail [dot] com.

Tagged:conversationGod

The First Reaction

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There are many reasons why I video blog. I can't say that I solely videoblog for others. I enjoy video blogging, I think in ways it is recording bits of my history, I enjoy participating in the community of vloggers. With all that said there are people who watch. I hope that people watch. What I don't often get to see is the first reaction. What it is like when people are watching. Comments are great and I really enjoy receiving them and interacting with those who send me comments but over the past week or so I have been blessed to also to be able see and not just read about how my vlog put a smile on someone's face. It makes me feel like what I am doing is that much more valuable. I'd probably vlog even if no one commented or laughed or cried or got mad after seeing a video. I might even do it if no one was watching but me. But that is not the case and I am thankful to know that folks watch and that we can touch each other even from miles away but still from as close as the room where we have our computers.

The first time that I got a chance to see a reaction this week was on Mom's Brag Blog. And the video in this post is the second time I got to see a reaction to one of my vids. It was cool and encouraging and something I am thankful for so I share it with you. I hope you smile. :)

Windows Media File in a pop up window here.

Triple Dog Dare. Videobloggingweek2006 Day 7

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Wow this week has been a lot of fun! I have really enjoyed being stretched to create. More so, though, I have enjoyed seeing this community come alive with excitement over these past few days. It has been such a joy to participate and be a vlogger in the vlogosphere. I am really thankful for this community. It has also been neat to see new vloggers join in this week and get involved. I think it is great that this fun event was able to promote enough buzz if you will to get others to notice video blogging and even get involved in being the media for themselves. This is just great!

Well I have been trying to keep with the daily challenges as posted on the yahoo group. Here is the last day's challenge as given by Stephanie Bryant:

"Vlogging dangerously challenge for Day 7: Dare another videoblogger,
by video, to vlog on a specific theme, topic, or style within the next
2 weeks (we all probably would like a less time-pressure deadline!).
Bonus: accept a dare from other videobloggers. Be sure to watch the
videobloggingweek2006 tag and RSS feed to see who challenged whom!"

--Stephanie

This video is my response. It is something I have been thinking about asking others to engage in for a while now. I look forward to the answers to this dare. One of the things that got me thinking about starting this conversation was the conversation started by Ryanne back in January of 2005. You can see some of those conversations videos here and here and here.

Should you take me up on this vlog challenge/dare I'd like to repost the videos together on this site: conversationGod.blogspot.com.

Technorati Tags:videobloggingweek2006, conversationGod

A Vloggercon Promo, Without Using My Camera

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This is a video that was made in response to the day 6 challenge posted on the videoblogging yahoo group. The challenge was to vlog without using your camera. I've had this idea for doing a vloggercon promo for about a week now and this seemed like an opportunity to make that idea come to life and also keep the days challenge. This video is a day late. If you care to hear about my editing issues with this video read below. Or skip my complaining and enjoy the promo.

Clips from these vloggers were included in this clip:

Dave's (90 Seconds of Dave) original video "Transformation" can be found here.
Josh's (JoshLeo.com) original video "The Best Hot Dog in Grand Rapids" can be found here.
Ninja's (AskANinja.com) original video "Ninja Skills" can be found here.
Ryanne's (Ryanne's Video Blog) original video "The Jay and Ryanne Show Episode 2"can be found here. Susan's (Kity Kity's Vlog) original videos from "Kityoke"can be found here.
And David's (David Howell Studios) original video "Video Blogging Week Day 3" can be found here.

These works are all under a creative commons license and in this video will remain under a: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

My editing issues:
Wow, this video a day is tough. Last night I was exporting what I thought would be my completed video and was getting ready to post it then my computer just decided an error was in order and the export would fail. This happened at least one other time. I figured since I had used an new screen capture program that had made video in a different file format from the rest of the videos included in this one that that might be the problem. I went back, compressed them to .mov files and then tried again. This time audio wasn't working. Apparently if I leave gaps between audio clips my program won't pic up when a new one starts. Also for some reason (and this never happened before) the audio also wouldn't export into applelossless so I had to use a different codec. Long story just a bit shorter after about 6 or so export attempts this is the best one. I wish the screen capture quality and audio was better and I am not sure how compatible it'll be but it is what it is and again I have learned a lot from the process. I guess we have all been through the compression woes. Maybe when those new video blogging books come out I'll be able to figure out a better solution.

Windows Media Video here.

Technorati Tag:videobloggingweek2006

videoblogging week day 6

Don't use your camera was the challange. Maybe for me it should have been get your video in on time day. Then maybe just maybe I'd got it done by now. Oh well. I'm almost there. A video made without the use of my camera coming soon. Very soon.

Real Danger

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I did not see a daily theme challenge posted today in the videoblogging group. For the last three days I have tried to keep to following those suggested daily themes that were posted there.
I have been sitting on this video clip for about a month and have wanted to post it since it is some of what I saw at the Homeland Terrorism and Natural Disaster CME Seminar presented by the Moreau Emergency Squad that I attended on March 18. I thought it would fit well with the theme of this videoblogging week. But more importantly I thought it would be something good for us to think on a bit.
The audio you hear in the beginning and near the end of the video is from the 9-11 tapes released by the NYC Fire Department. I listened to some of these audio recordings and watched some other videos about that horrible day on September of 2001 and couldn't believe how much this is still effecting us today, almost 5 years later. The pain, fear, anger, sadness and other feelings came back as I listened to these voices of emergency personnel running into danger while others who could ran away from it. It brought tears to my eyes.
I didn't intend on this really being a 9-11 memorial when I began editing this earlier today. But I guess it has turned into a bit of one. I think we should remember. Remember we were attacked. Remember the lives lost. Remember that day to day there are people in the Emergency Services serving and risking their lives for us. And even remember that the danger still does exist and that it can happen here again.

Windows File Here

The photo at the end is under a attribution, non-commercial license. I found this photo by Genesun Han on his flickr site.
The audio, which is available for download, can be found here on MSNBC.

Technorati Tag:videobloggingweek2006

Happy Un-birthday.......????........DAY 4

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A very happy un-birthday to you. To you. A very happy un-birthday to me. To me. La la la la. La la la...And how much more fun is a party with balloons?? Its tons more fun. Whoo hooo!!!
Well Stephanie sure picked a good one here..huh????
Well I'll keep playing the game. This vid is quite the switch in pace from my last video but really I couldn't stand to loose much more sleep today on something more intricate. My lack of sleep may be obvious from my silliness at the end of this video. Hope you all get some laughs. I know I did, watchin my silly self and thinking: I can't believe I'm gonna put this on the web.
This week has been lots of fun. Very tough at times though too. (I don't know how Ian Mills did it but maybe that is why we haven't seen him since either. Ian, if you're still around, thanks for all the hard work and dedication I feel for you and I have only tried to do this for a couple of days. You are missed.)

(Since this is completely known let me just say I missed posting this video on Thursday. Late again. The time might show Thursday but that is only cause that is when I started to write this post. Oh well.)

Technorati Tag:videobloggingweek2006

Physically Impossible (this post has the audio repaired..I hope)

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(EDIT: This is a reposting of this video. The first post had audio out of synch near the end of the video. I think this is fixed now. Sorry if this doubles up in your aggregated (the old video out of synch and the new one with audio corrected) but I know it can be annoying to watch when the audio is out of synch so I figured I'd fix it.)

Hours and hours later this is the result. For me, this is definitely the most important video I have done on my vlog to date. It was conceived, filmed, and edited over the last day and a half or so. In part, it is in response to the challenge to vlog something that is physically challenging for me to do. But it is also a piece of my heart and a passion that I have. It speaks of a Subject most important to me. I learned a lot more about my editing software (I think I want a Mac), filming, editing and even about myself through the process. I know there is much room for improvement but I look forward to that. I am enjoying this whole process, though, at times, it has been tough.

Enjoy this. And please feel free to comment and communicate your thoughts about this video's message, content, composition or anything else. Any of your thoughts would be welcomed and appreciated.

Technorati Tag:videobloggingweek2006

I'm super tired. I must sleep. Technical Difficulties are Rough.

So I have literally been working on this video for the past 7 hours. The last 2 or three have been mostly attempts to render and export my video. Unfortunately after waiting for two exports both files had audio that was for some reason not complete. The audio would cut out about 1/4 way through the video.
I am exporting again as we speak but having a tough time staying awake. I really should sleep. It won't be good if I am driving truck tomorrow exhausted.
So goodnight. I am so sorry that I did not get this video posted as I wanted to today. I tried to play the game of same day shooting and posting and tried to do a higher quality vid today and it just turned out to be too much. I fell short of my own standard today. Well hopefully tomorrow it'll be up, that is if the audio issue is corrected.
Thanks.
Happy Video Blogging Week 2006!

PS
(the third attempt at export just finished while I was typing this entry and there is still missing audio, I'm not sure why this is but I have a guess.) I will not give up on this video. It has the most important message I'll share with you this week. For now though I must get some rest.

Not the real video for today.

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I have worked very hard all afternoon in attempt to get a video filmed and edited for today. I have not finished editing (though I am close). I'll have the video I was working on for today up before I go to bed. In the meanwhile enjoy this filler video while you wait. No titles, No editing, just compressed and published.
Happy Videoblogging Week (aka no sleep til vlog week)
I'm really enjoying this whole event. MUCHO FUN! Little sleep though.

technorati tag:videobloggingweek2006

In My Closet (dangerous and secret)

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I learned that the suggested theme for the day was vlog a secret and this was one I wanted to share; so tonight I put this together, tacky title pages from premiere elements and all. I hope you enjoy learning about one of my secrets and maybe you will want to have the same secret too.

I have decided (at least for the moment) to discontinue my making of windows media files. Instead I am going to post a link to a flash file. Most people (about 95% or so from what I hear) should be able to view this file. So if for some reason you can't view the QuickTime file you can view the flash file here: In My Closet Flash Video.
If someone out there was really loving the Windows Media files let me know. We'll see what I can do. If you have any comments regarding these flash videos let me know too (good or bad)

Here is a verse I thought of today while making all these fun posts:
"A joyful heart is good medicine, But a broken spirit dries up bones" Proverbs 17:22

Technorati tag:
videobloggingweek2006

Dirty Pants (Video Blogging Week Excitement)

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I have to decided to post two vids on this day since the first one was kinda just an intro and used footage I already had. I may not always stick to new footage but here is some I shot today.
This is a little dangerous 1. because I am posting twice today, and 2. cause my dress in this post is not typical of how I would normally make myself known. But this is completely known and this is video blogging week themed with vlogging dangerously so here goes.
The file size is large I am thinking it may be because of the audio I added but I can't seem to compress it down just yet.
Windows Media Link: here.

tagged: videobloggingweek2006

Heart Thumpin'

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So this is the first of this week's videos for me. I shot this at a conference that I attended for EMS workers. (I am a volunteer EMT). The conference was about terrorism, how EMS can better respond and learning from things like 9/11. There may be one more video from this conference, later this week. We'll see how I do coming up with content for a daily post as I go.

I can't believe how long it takes me to edit and post even a short video like this. Hopefully this week I'll learn to cut that time down some and yet continue to improve on quality of my editing and videos, I'm still learning and enjoying this vlogging and the vlogosphere community.

Happy Video Blogging Week 2006

And for you windows media player users....you are still not forgotten....click here for your link to the video.....and please consider getting quick time. Thanks.


Tagged:videobloggingweek2006

Video Blogging Week 2006

This week is video blogging week. That's right April 3rd - April 9th at least one video will be posted each day. (Keep your fingers crossed. No, really. I am gonna post daily).
Go ahead, get involved. You know you wanna. Post a video every day and then tag it. If you wanna watch the videos posted for video blogging week 2006 go to the technorati tag:
"videobloggingweek2006"
Find some more info here at the videobloggingweek blogspot.
Happy Vlogging!
I'm looking forward to this week of creating and watching. Yeah vlogosphere!