Say hello to videos!

Take a look above at the menu bar and you'll notice a brand new section for videos! (This post was imported from my wordpress blog, so disregard this post for the most part.) I am still working out a work flow for editing our adventures together, and in the meantime I am uploading raw videos for all to see. I really enjoyed how Vimeo works, and I like that they have HD playback capability. If you have a slow connection, it might be hard to load up the videos in HD, but there is also a standard definition version that you can watch as well. At the moment I only have a few up there, but I hope to have a bunch more soon.

For those who edit video: My work flow problem hinges upon the fact that our camera encodes video in h.264, and all my Apple software is just old enough to not support that format at all. My option at the moment is to convert each and every video to a format that I can edit, edit them together, and then export yet another file to complete a fully edited product. But I think that just sounds so ridiculously over-complicated for something that should be so simple. So if you have any brilliant suggestions you would like to toss my way, feel free. But that is where I currently stand on this.

Videos of our family online

So we've been talking about posting videos of the kids online, and my wife tossed me a question that made me think. Do we want to have videos of the kids accessible to just anybody? It might be one thing to simply put them on my own server, and serve them directly to my blog. But I don't have that capability now. I would resort to a community video site like YouTube, Google, or (my preference) Vimeo. I'm not sure there is any problem with posting them, granted I'm not advertising my home address or personal information.

So I have a question for you. Would you be able to let me know what you think about this? I have a poll added to this entry for your input, and I would love for you to add a comment to this entry giving a little explanation for your vote. If you don't see an option to add a comment to this entry, you probably just need to log in. If you don't have a log in, take a minute to register. You'll find both of those options at the bottom of the right column. If you don't feel like doing either, at least vote. All it takes is two clicks. Thanks!

(This was a feature of the previous blog, sorry, bye bye poll.)

Christmas with the Gioves

Our Christmas started on the Sunday before Christmas when Nana Giove and Aunt Sarah came to celebrate with us through Monday night. We hung out, baked cookies, played games, gave presents and ate a family Christmas Eve dinner.

On Christmas day we ate Jesus' Birthday cake for breakfast, read the nativity story and opened our stockings and presents together. After getting somethings together and getting dressed "to start our day" as Noah says, we headed out to St. Mary's and Riverside Hospital to visit some kids and their families in the hospital. Noah gave them a bag with a gift and some candy in it and then let them pick out a stuffed animal from a bag he carried with him. It was something I think we might start doing as a tradition on Christmas and maybe other holidays throughout the year.

Then we headed to Nana Myrtle and Papa C-Ray's house out on the farm for our Sparenburg extended family Christmas dinner. A family at our church adopted David and I the 1st or 2nd year after we moved here and they always have invited us to all holiday meals and family gatherings. We ate lunch and visited with them until after the kids bed time. There was a gift exchange and lots of game time. David and I played Veggie Tales Dance, Dance, Dance for the first time!

We thank God for the many blessing He has given us. We have been overwhelmed by His goodness again and again, but especially in the last 6 months or so. God is so good!

For anyone who's wondering... we made out pretty well this year!

Noah got an electric train, an electric race car track, and six mini construction vehicles from Santa. Nana Byrne got him a Thomas the Train circus set with Thomas and Percy. Nana Giove got him a Hermie movie called, A Fruitcake Christmas and a little Bible (his first real bible! KJV!) We got him a truck with lots of buttons and noises, and our adopted parents got him a teddy bear backpack.

Frencesca got a leap frog drum and little ponies from us, and a baby doll from Santa. A glow worm, outfit, and dolly from Nana Byrne. A dolly from Nana Giove, and another dolly from the Sparenburgs. Michaela gave Noah and Frencesca an oinking/walking/snorting pig.

Amie Mamma got a night in a hotel with me from my mom (babysitting) and I ($$$). She also got a steak dinner at Tuesdays, and some clothes from me. My mom got her some nice perfume and a NKJV study bible to be our family bible. Her mom got her a professional cake decorating stand. Our adopted parents got us a silver ornament and glass coasters that you can inlay photos in.

Our present to ourselves was a new camcorder to take video of the kids (an Aiptek A-HD.) I got a gift card from a gift exchange at work (thanks Brian) with which I bought The Pillars Of The Earth, which is an amazing board game. I also got a harmonica in the key of c, and what could be described as a whittling starter set from Nana Byrne. My mom got me The Children of Húrin by J.R.R.Tolkein, which I can't wait to read!

A day or two after our festivities we received an overwhelming blessing in the mail. It was a letter addressed to us, and with a return address of... us. We thought this was weird, but we opened it anyway. Inside was a note explaining that someone (the writer of the note) had been blessed and wanted to bless us with some extra cash. Further instructions mentioned that we should use the money however we want. What a blessing! God is so good! To whomever sent us such a gift (if you happen to be reading this), many thanks. May God richly bless you and yours.

We have a bunch of video and photos to get up on here, so stay tuned! We hope your Christmas and New Year was full of cheer and good memories!

Early Christmas Present

My NY buddy Dave turned me on to the Aiptek A-HD a while ago after purchasing one of his own. I just got my work bonus last week, and we decided to go out and get it. I have been amazed by it, and am truly happy with the purchase. There are a few main features that I love: It records directly to an SD card in MOV format, it's small and lightweight (fits into your pocket), and the 720P HI-DEF quality is wonderful considering the price of the camera! The only complaint is that you can't use an off camera mic while shooting video, and the on camera mic isn't the greatest. I just updated the firmware which addresses this problem, and got a few tips from Dave about post audio fixes. I am confident that with those measures taken, that audio quality will hardly be a noticeable distraction to most of my shooting conditions. With that said, check out the first video shot with the camera:

White Elephants

So today was our annual work pot-luck, which started at 9:30am and lasted all day. This year we actually played a few games, as well as participated in a white elephant gift exchange. I made out pretty well this time, and I saw what I believe were the best white elephant gifts I have ever seen. Here's a list of the top three:

1. A nut cracker shaped like a squirrel, where cranking the tail up and down operates his mouth.
2. A hot dog bun steamer circa 1960
3. "Poolar Bear - A Sub-Zero Poopin' Hero"

Now let me just say: Oh my gosh. How cool is that? I got something that was pretty awesome myself. He called it the band starter kit, and it is quite literally that. It was a pair of drumsticks, two packages of acoustic steel strings, a Newtek beanie, a sure-lock guitar strap, a Jim Dunlop string winder, and (drum roll please) a stage light. I'm not sure what kind of light it is or anything, but it might be very awesome considering I was hoping to invest in some photography lights. I'll keep you posted on what I find. Have a great weekend!

Santa takes a visit to Wal-Mart

I was in Wal-Mart getting some supplies for our sick kiddo and mama, when a voice came over the intercom announcing that, "Santa is here." I told Noah, and also told him that I might get in trouble for bringing him without mama or nana. I figured I would at least see how long the line was. As we walked over to see the jolly old man, there was not a soul there, we were first! I plopped Frencesca down on his knee first, and then Noah who really felt that the situation was questionable. He really didn't say much until he saw that Santa had a candy cane for him in his hands. "Thank you sata" he said as he joyfully enjoyed the candy cane in the car on the way home. I thought we might take another trip in to see him with when he is in the area again, but I couldn't resist as we were right there in the same building as him! I figured that nana and mama would understand.

Fun at the doctors

So Amie told me a pretty funny story and I thought I would share it. She had to get some blood work done today, and we weren't able to get a babysitter. So Amie brought the kids to the appointment with her. She was feeling quite dizzy on her way into the appointment, and upon getting to the examination room set Frencesca down. She must have been unsure of herself because she immediately fell and bonked her head on the floor. Amie was picking her up and comforting her when she heard Noah say, "mama dirty." She turned around to see Noah covered in red, and lip stick in his hands. She had no idea where he got that shade of red lip stick, but there he was, red cheeks and all. No sooner than she tried taking care of him did he touch Frencesca and gave her red streaks of lip stick on her head as well. Of course the nurse walked in at that moment, gasped in horror to what she deducted as blood on Frencesca's head! I guess she had known or saw her fall, and assumed it was blood. Amie must have had a fun time explaining it all to her!