Since living in AZ and trying to find different places to see, I stumbled across this - The Polar Express. They are booked up a couple of years in advanced. But, since we didn't want to wait that long, we were able to snag a ticket AFTER Christmas this year.
After a harrowing trip at high speeds (we had a late start) from Phoenix (less than 1000 feet high) to Williams, AZ (8000 feet high - 3 hour drive done in 2 hours), to the Grand Canyon Train Station. We managed to get there just in time for train to be loading. Unfortunately, we arrived at train car A, and our train was car L - so, a mad dash down to the other end of the train. We were greeted by the nice people who boarded us, and we sat down in our assigned seats. The backs of the chair can be flipped so that you face each other - and I did that for my family.
Couple of toots of the whistle, and off we were. Hot chocolate and cookies were served by cooks and elves. We sang Christmas carols and read thru the book as the train took us to the North Pole.
At the North Pole was Santa pad - all aglow. Then Santa entered our car and gave out jingle bells.
He went from car to car doing such. Then the train turned around and went back to the station.
Neat night - especially for the kids.
Happy New Year everyone! This year start me off with a terrible flu-like cold. Sore throat, acheness, tired, and very much lack of sleep. NYE (New Year Eve - first time I saw this acronym was like couple of days ago) was spend chasing kids, drinking eggnog, and watching the ball drop again, and again, and again, as we celebrated three time zones of changes.
Tired of the after holidays sales, tired of all the new ads for "great new things" in 2008. Email, pownce, and twitter was very quiet during the turnover - at least for the folks I watch.
After seeing all the people that came to S&Z holiday party - all the people they know, I've started to try (futility most likely) to catch up with some of their blogs, video, comments, etc. Good evening Burbank - made it thru all of their shows. Seen all the Tikibar's shows. Saw all of the Scriggity shows. Watch of couple of the IndyMogul stuff.
Very creative people out there!
Couple of more things about me.
It's great to hang out with a bunch of young and hip folks like the members of The MIX. Kinda like being at the right place at the right time. I like to throw my experience in the fray every now and then, but, realistically - I KNOW - when it came to break dancing, throwing a funky beat, creating a work of art, or doing some serious acting and stage play, I would be on the side lines - the viewer, like anyone else.
I have friends who are very driven at what they do. Sometimes I feel like I brought a hand mixer to a "Will it Blend" exhibition. When that happens, I smile, become part of the background, and just count my blessings that I got this close to the action.
Being invited to be the First Blogger is a great accolade, giving to me by the S&Z. Almost feel like it's my turn at the piano after Alicia Keys, Marsha Ball, George Winston, and Liberace just finished, and my song will be two-finger Jingle Bells in the key of C#.
I like photography, and I have taken some great pictures in my time. I like photo-editing, and I am done some pretty neat stuff with Photoshop, and other tools. I like motorcycles, airplanes, fast cars, bling bling, latest electronics, and music.
But, one thing I have absolutely come to grips with is that I don't desire to be the best at anything. I am not that driven. I had the chance to learn tennis from the same coaches that taught Zina Garrison in Houston back in the 80's, but when I saw the dedication that was required to be top in the field, I had to resign. I didn't want to be pro, just get better.
Anyway, this isn't a downer blog, just a cynical one. What I do know is that I am good (very good) at a hell of a lot of things, but not the best at anything. I'm ok with that!
Hello, my name is Derek (MIX username FLYDDW) and I currently live in Phoenix, AZ, but I've lived most of my life in Houston, TX, with a 3 year stay over in NJ. I found Jetsetshow (Now called Epic-FU) while trying to find things to pass time during my long (and sometimes boring) shift as a system administrator. I started first with the Scriggity show, where I think I heard reference to this show. Podcasts weren't a new thing to me, but well done podcasts were.
I've been around computers for a long time - watching it progress from teletype pictures of Snoopy, thru block B/W graphics of the TRS-80, beeps and buzzes of Apple ][ - to the very powerful level of systems today.
About 3-5 years ago, computers got to the point where very creative people started taking computers and tech equipment out of the hands of very big companies, and using them for more personable things. They filmed, starred in, cut, edited, and produced some very quality programs. Having the internet to push all that stuff around outside of mainstream also helped tremendously.
Enter Epic-FU. You can see the work that they put into each show. Zadi and Steve seem to love what do, and it shows. The creativity was outstanding, and they had a unique perspective to everything.
