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February 27, 2006
April 18, 1992 - Paper Rolls
This video was shot by my dad back in April of 1992 after a hearty family lunch at The Spaghetti Warehouse. This will be of interest to family, although it is an good example of excellent motion stabilization using iStabilize for the Macintosh if you are into that sort of thing. The stars of the video, in order of apperance, are my nephew Zachary Myers, my ex-brother-in-law Mikol Myers, my cousin Laura Arthur, my eldest daughter Rachel Dickson, me (looking like a total dweeb in glasses), my sister Shelley Myers and my ex-wife Kim Farley. My father Kelly Dickson is featured as a disembodied voice. Cutest Moment: my daughter Rachel dancing to While My Guitar Gently Weeps at about time marker 7:40. The only other interesting detail (to me anyway): all of the music in the background of this video was playing on the stereo when the camera was rolling. However, I "sweetened" the audio track by running it through some denoising algorithms (to eliminate hiss, buzz and hum) then I mixed back in full stereo versions of the songs to closely match the recorded levels. The result is quite nice compared to the original video. Below are links to three digital formats for this video: Windows Media 9, Quicktime 7 (h.264) and a form which is playable on the Apple Video iPods. Windows Media 9 Format19920418_paper_rolls.wmv (Right-click and save the linked file to your hard disk.) Apple Video iPod Format
19920418_paper_rolls.m4v (Right-click and save the linked file to your hard disk. You may need to remove a ".txt" ending from the file name for the video to work properly.) Quicktime 7 Format
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 07:35 AM | Comments (0)
February 19, 2006
Bob Evans vs. Cracker Barrel
After swearing never to return, I again took my family to eat lunch at Bob Evans. Against my better judgment, and perhaps hoping their quality had improved, I ordered a BLT.
When our waitress brought the food, she handed me a rancid concoction of what can only be described as bacon larvae mixed with tomatoes and lettuce. When she saw the look of surprise on my face, she explained with an air of disregard, "It's not my fault. I told the cook that you wanted the bacon crispy." If you are a waitress and you hand me a plate of slime, it is your fault. It was at that moment that she lost her full tip.
As I returned my sandwich to the kitchen, thoughts of Cracker Barrel went through my head. On every visit there, my bacon has been cooked perfectly: crispy but not burned. My replacement bacon was a bit on the burned side but I resigned myself to eating a sub-par BLT (I am so sorry, Stephen Colbert).
When my wife sent back one of her her bacon snails, the manager returned a few minutes later to see if there was anything he could do to make up for the problems. I guess our waitress had had enough responsibility for the day. In the end, my plate was free and Lisa's bacon was free.
The waitress still did not get a tip.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 01:32 PM | Comments (0)
Nebraska Powerball Winner
I just read that the $363 million jackpot was won by some soul in Nebraska. I feel sorry for them. Their life is about to be turned upside down. It will never be the same. If they have children, they will have to remove them from public schooling for fear of kidnapping. If they have good friends, loyalties will be tested to the breaking point. The bank accounts will be well padded, but nothing will stop envious stalkers from making life a living hell.
I didn't even bother to purchase a lottery ticket. I'd rather win a small jackpot -- one where I can slip under the national radar. This poor person won't be able to move anywhere without being tracked by the loonies from all over. I would at least like to be able to move out of state to restore sanity if pushed.
Anyway, sorry about your good and back luck, whomever.
Posted by Nathan Dickson at 09:42 AM | Comments (0)