• 9.30.04, 11:09pm - Mixed Messages: Obviously, I'm a John Kerry supporter.  That makes me biased, but I'd like to think if journalism school taught me anything, it's how to critically think and analyze.  With that in mind, here are my (not quite fair and balanced) thoughts about tonight's presidential debate.

I think John Kerry found his voice tonight.  Understand, Kerry is not a "flip-flopper."  I simply think he hasn't been able to clearly lay out his position on the issues--at least not without a spinmeister from the Bush campaign or a Republican-leaning 527 group coming along and distorting the truth about Kerry says.

Tonight, John Kerry made his position on Iraq--which has never changed--clear:  Saddam Hussein was a dangerous man.  He needed to be removed from power, but the way in which the president and his administration removed Saddam was the wrong way to do it.

Kerry voted to give President Bush the authorization to pressure Saddam Hussein out of power using sanctions, dialogue, and--if necessary--force (although that actually depends on how you interpret the language of the resolution). 

John Kerry (and the other senators who voted with him) did NOT authorize an all out war with Iraq.  The United States Senate has not formally declared war on another country since World War II.  That's why people like to use the word "conflict" instead of war.

But make no mistake, President Bush went to war in Iraq without gathering a serious coalition.  He rushed into battle without a legitimate plan for winning the peace.

Does John Kerry think we should withdraw from Iraq right now?  Of course not.  Bush has created a giant mess in Iraq.  John Kerry will work hard (President Bush appreciates hard work) to get us out of it in a responsible manner.

John Kerry will also focus our defense and security efforts where they belong.  The proliferation of nuclear weapons is fast becoming the most dangerous threat to America.  Terrorism remains a problem.  Iraq was not the center of the war on terror before President Bush invaded there.  Now it is.  At the same time, Homeland Security is underfunded and disorganized.  John Kerry wants to change that.

As for how well each candidate did in the debate, Bush may have underperformed according to some people's expectations, but he did pretty much exactly what I expected him to: he repeatedly--and I mean REPEATEDLY--attacked Kerry for being a flip-flopper, and that was about it.

At this moment, I'm listening to a rerun of this evening's O'Reilly Factor that aired live in the hour before the debate.  Newt Gingrich told Bill O'Reilly that Bush would be "calm, pleasant, a little funny at times, and a little sincere at times."  I got none of that from Bush during the debate.  The president came off annoyed, arrogant, and unable to find the right words, which is why repeated the few words he could come up with innumerable times.

Kerry was right on target.  He was clear, concise, thoughtful, intelligent, and determined.  A commander in chief needs to have those traits in order to defend our country without alienating our friends in the world.

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• 9.25.04, 8:43pm - That Went...Wherever I...Did Go:  Kim and I bought a fish today.  It's a red beta (betta? Siamese fighting fish?) named Happy.  I don't know if it's actually that happy.  Just seemed like a good fish name.

I fixed the spelling errors in my previous update.  There were a lot of them.  Sorry, but I couldn't fix the boring nature of the slideshow.

To Andy: You're right, the Vikings weren't "thrashed" by the Eagles.  They just didn't play that well.  At least Minnesota is 2-1.  The Chiefs are a big 0-3 and have to play at Baltimore next week.

Turns out I'm not going to Chicago, but that's OK.  Still looking forward to Durham, N.C.

Oh, and for those who might be interested, I've finally moved into the streamlined, all-Apple world of digital editing at work.  I've got Final Cut Pro HD on a dual-processor G5 and DVD Studio Pro 3.  It's almost too much power for a dude making instructional sports videos, but it's very cool for someone who had been using Media 100 on a G4 with DVD SP 1.5.  I kind of want to find something easy but fun to work on in my spare time, just to develop my skills with the programs.  Anybody have any ideas?

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• 9.22.04, 7:12pm - Adventures in Instructional Sports Videos:  I just got back from a work trip to Arizona, so I thought I'd finally post the pictures I promised from my trip to the Northeast last month.  Thanks to Championship Productions for use of the company digital camera!  (Click on any image to enlarge it.)

It was the week before Kim went back to school for her final semester, so she was able to go with me.  The trip was divided into two destinations:  Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and Durham, New Hampshire.  To get to the those two places, we first had to go through several other places.  We flew from Des Moines to Atlanta before arriving in Philadelphia late on Day 1.


Day 2 was a free day in Philly.  We started off at Independence Hall.





Directly in front of Independece Hall is a statue of George Washington.



The interior of the building was extraordinarily well preserved.


The picture on the left features the room where the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were signed.  On the right is the room where the United States Supreme Court met during the last decade of the 18th century, when Philadelphia was the country's capital.  The U.S. Congress also met in Independence Hall during that time.

As we were leaving Independence Hall, this SUV drove by.



Every female within a half block radius (including Kim) screamed with delight.  The truck parked just across the street from where it's pictured here, kitty-corner from Independence Hall.  People started unloading equipment from the trailer, so it seems Trading Spaces was shooting in an apartment building there.

After leaving Independence Hall, we ate at Dave and Buster's, a restaurant/video arcade/Chuck E. Cheese-type place with a great Philly Cheesesteak and a nice view of one of the bridges leading to New Jersey.



In the afternoon, we headed to the Benjamin Franklin Science Institute.



Edgar Allan Poe spent six years of his life in Philadelphia, so naturally, the Franklin Institute gift shop has...






Before leaving Philadelphia, we stopped to check out the city's three major sporting venues located just off I-95.



Lincoln Financial Field, site of the Eagles' thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night (sorry, Andy).



Citizen's Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies.



The Wachovia Center, home to the 76ers and the Flyers.

Philadelphia was more fun that I thought it would be, and we didn't even scratch the surface of what there was do there.  I wouldn't mind going back there sometime when I'm on vacation.

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Day 3 was spent shooting in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  One thing we noticed was that some of the trees in the Bethlehem area (also known as the Lehigh Valley) were beginning to lose their leaves (keep in mind this was late August).

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On Day 4, we drove back down to the Philadelphia airport for our flight to Boston.  After going through what seemed like extra tight security, we made our way to our gate.  Just minutes after we sat down there, we heard a huge roar and saw a gigantic plane land right in front of us.  Turns out it was Air Force One.



The president was in the area to visit a Boeing plant.  While I don't really care for the president, you have to admit that his plane is pretty damn cool--and big.

The flight to Philadelphia to Boston was a quick one.  It didn't really seem like there was a place where you couldn't see some part of some city.  I'm pretty sure we flew right over New York City (which I've never been to), but unfortunately it just happened to be cloudy at that point on the trip.

Once we arrived in Boston, we drove up to our hotel in Kittery, Maine, just accross the border from New Hampshire.

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We started Day 5 shooting in Durham, New Hampshire.  Then we drove around Kittery, Maine and found the Atlantic coast.



After that, we found a huge bunch of factory outlet stores.  It was a good thing it was near the end of the day, because I'm pretty sure Kim would have spent hours there if we could have.  We did end up buying waaaay too much at Yummies, a candy store which claims to stock 10,000 pounds of candy.  I'm pretty sure we bought 6,000 pounds of it.

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On Day 6, we drove back to Boston and had a few hours free before we had to fly out.  We spent them looking around downtown and at the "hahbuh".



That afternoon, we flew back to Des Moines via Cincinnati.  It was a pretty good trip overall, with a nice balance between work and leisure time.  I'd definitely like to go back to the same areas sometime in the future.

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Right after the Philadelphia/Boston trip, Kim and I drove down to the Kansas City area to visit some family.  (We would have visited Sean and Sonja, but he was actually back in Des Moines at the time.)  And the Arizona trip from which I just returned included a flight stop in Dallas.  In all, over the past month and a half, I've visited 11 states--3 of which I had never been to before.



The trip to Arizona had a couple of cool highlights as well.  I forgot to bring the digital camera, but I might soon post a (hopefully more brief) description of what I did there.

Up next:  Chicago around the 1st of October.  I probably won't bother posting any pictures from there since Aaron and Andy have both done plenty of that on their own!

Then, in mid-October:  Durham, North Carolina.

Busy, busy, busy.

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