Gma Vita

Jan 10 2011

Better Late Than Never: Thanksgiving, 2010 Video

“You can put your finger in it. There’s no living creature in there.”
— Lucy, after teaching Wubie and me about limpets and showing us a snail shell

2010.11 Thanksgiving3 from Mike C on Vimeo.

Here’s a video shot by Jill during a Thanksgiving get-together at my mom’s place. It adds a nice glimpse of Lucy just being a kid with her cousins. I’m always thankful when I see how friendly and patient Lucy’s cousins are with her.

They make sure to include her when they can and Lucy gets a kick out of hanging out with “the big kids.”

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid, Time Capsule, Travel • 2 • Tags: , , , ,

Dec 26 2010

Christmas, 2010 (Video)

“I don’t understand why he keeps eating stuff off the floor!”
— Lucy commenting on Wubie’s eating habits

Christmas, 2010 from Mike C on Vimeo.

Here’s a video of our Christmas get-together at my mom’s place yesterday. I’m sure we’ll make another post very soon with pictures. Some notes:

  • Sam and most of the family were able to drive down from Oregon (We missed you, Sammy!)
  • We all got a chance to meet the newest addition to the family
  • Cindy and family made it. Michelle and Mike even made the trip from North Carolina
  • We had a semi-successful video call with Tisa and Jim in Kauai (We’ll be seeing you soon!)
  • Daniel’s under the weather right now, so his dad stayed with him at home. I hope Celia brought you both some food from the get-together
  • The Flemings made the trip from up north. After all these years I can’t believe this was the first time I heard Mike’s stories about playing against Barry Bonds, Greg Jefferies, and Mike Mussina in High School ball.
  • Nicole: thanks for the homemade candy. It’s already gone!
  • Rachel has been doing roller-derby. Remember to wear that helmet!

We hope to see everybody again real soon.

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid, Time Capsule, Video • 3 • Tags: , , , ,

Oct 17 2010

Family History Project: Gma Vita Interview


Daddy: “You know, you don’t have to use all your trains at once.”
Lucy: “Yes, all the trains have to be used at once in the world we live in.”
— a conversation w/ Lucy while playing w/ her train set

Family History Part 1 from Mike C on Vimeo.

“Perfection is the Enemy” is something I often remind myself. I guess it’s a variation on… googling …Voltaire’s “The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good.”

For me, waiting to get something “perfect” or “just right” often equals not doing anything. So I often need to tell myself to chuck that “striving for perfection” stuff out the window and to just try to learn, create, and get better at things on a continual basis (in between goofing off and being lazy, that is.)

So, I finally heeded this advice regarding a long delayed family history project I posted about last week.

Part of this project involves filming short, quick video interviews. My mom, good sport that she is, agreed to sit down with me for the very first interview (with two cameras rolling of course!) This initial video concentrates on her memories of growing up in the Philippines before WWII. I hope to do many more videos.

Some notes from this first shoot:

  • I brought two lights and both bulbs burnt out before I could even use them
  • It was fairly quiet outdoors until we started shooting—that’s when the neighbors started with the firecrackers
  • I’m glad I used my old directional microphone, or the firecrackers would have ruined the shoot
  • With no lighting I was worried about having a dim picture but had the opposite, too bright on my main camera (I toned it down a little in post)
  • I need to learn more everything that has to do with video (shooting, editing, etc)
  • I need to get a better selection of family photos and interview questions
  • http://incompetech.com/: Royalty-free soundtrack music. Cool
  • This video was shot in 1080p/24fps but was outputted to the web at 720p/29.97fps (something else I need to learn about)
  • This was a lot of fun and I learned a lot—what more could I ask for?

By mike • by Mike, Time Capsule, Video • 15 • Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Sep 19 2010

Another Lazy Sunday

“See you later bug! Have fun down the drain!”
— Lucy trash-talking a bug as it’s banished from the house

2010.09.19

Above are some pics that were taken today. Some were taken in the morning when Lucy and I held an impromptu ‘funny faces’ contest. Others were taken later in the day during a visit with Gma Vita, when the girls had a round of croquet and enjoyed some time in the new sunroom.

By mike • by Mike, Relatives • 2 • Tags: , , ,

Aug 16 2010

iChat with Gma

“You look fancy!”
— Lucy commenting on my attire as I leave for work (I’d decided to wear a sport coat)

Over the weekend we set up my mom’s Mac Mini with a camera so she could start doing video chats. We have family throughout California, Oregon, Hawaii, etc., so it’d be great if we could include regular video chats as an additional way to stay in touch with each other.

Setting up the chat was pretty simple. Mom just needs to get a little more familiar with the iChat application itself.

Note: on the video above you can only hear Gma’s side of the conversation and not ours. I think this is because I was using Skype on our iMac to walk Gma through this first video chat. Future video chats will have both sids of the conversation.

Music:

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid, Video • 0 • Tags: , ,

Aug 2 2010

Happy Birthday, Gma Vita!

LUCY: “WAAAAUGH! Wubie bit me!”
MOM: “Let me see that. Oh, I think he broke the skin!”…(continues to inspect the ‘wound’)…“Unless that’s just dirt.”
LUCY: “I think that’s just dirt.”
— Conversation overheard following the latest cat vs grubby kid confrontation

Happy Birthday Song for Gma Vita from Mike C on Vimeo.

We had a get-together at Gma Vita’s place on Saturday to celebrate her birthday. Jill snapped a few pics, which you can view in the slideshow below. She also shot a video of us all singing “Happy Birthday” (see above).

It was great seeing (almost) everybody. The newlyweds, Michael and Michelle made it, especially nice since they’ll be moving to South Carolina next month. Cindy, Patty, Mario, and their families were also able to make the trek over.

Though the covered deck in the backyard is now but a memory and Gma Vita’s sunroom still a work in progress, we managed to make do with the shade provided by the old walnut tree.

Patty and Michael had just gotten back from a visit with Sam and family in Oregon. We were a bit jealous that they got to see the newest addition to the family!

Hopefully, we’ll all be able to get together again soon (including those who were missed this time around).

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, Video • 4 • Tags: , , ,

Mar 6 2010

Better Late Than Never: Christmas, 2009 Video

Christmas, 2009 from Mike C on Vimeo.

I wrote a post for last Christmas that included pictures but never got around to making a video until now. So here it is, a video of our Christmas 2009 get-together with friends and family.

Note: if the video stutters, click on the “HD is On” button so that it changes to “HD is Off.”

Music used:

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid, Time Capsule, Video • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Feb 1 2010

Sunday Get-Together

Here are a few pics from a family get-together we had yesterday at Gma Vita’s place. Lucy always looks forward to these gatherings. She had a lot of fun, shouting, “I’m playing with my cousins!” as she ran to-and-fro.

She’s usually a non-stop blur when she’s around her cousins (yep, even blurrier than usual!) Luckily, we got her to sit still for a bit when we busted out the pies.

Click Here for More Pictures

Family Get-TogetherFamily Get-Together

Family Get-TogetherFamily Get-TogetherFamily Get-Together

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid • 1 • Tags: ,

Sep 30 2009

Visiting Oregon Video

Oregon Visit from Mike C on Vimeo.

We spent Sept 16 – 21 in Oregon. Here’s a (16 minute HD) video of our time there, including a get-together with my brother and his family.

The majority of the video was taken around Corvallis. We didn’t really get any Portland footage this time, so we’ll have to address that the next time we go back.

For more info, check out Jill’s earlier post about our trip.

Music:

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid, Travel, Video • 0 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Aug 23 2009

Visiting Filoli with Gma Vita

Visiting Filoli with Gma Vita from Mike C on Vimeo.

Yesterday we trekked over to Filoli with Gma Vita. It was nice to finally see the place. Though Jill and the kid are frequent visitors, I was a Filoli newbie. The place is pretty impressive (you know, for a bein’ a bunch of flowers).

I especially liked the area near the pond where there were all sorts of flying critters. While there I thought, “this must be heaven for bees—or at the very least a totally awesome Costco.”

In addition to our pond visit, Lucy played tour guide and pointed out some of her favorite things (“tadpoles!”, “fountains!”, “the cafe where you will buy me a cheese stick!”) and I shot the above HD video.

Yep, it was about as relaxing a Saturday as one could imagine, unless you were Wubert who I’m quite certain was treasuring (i.e., sleeping through) his alone time back at home!

Camera Used: Creative Vado HD.

By mike • by Mike, Relatives, The Kid, Video • 1 • Tags: , , ,

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