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On Vimeo

After editing this video together, I realized that I’m not even in it. Think of it as supplementary to Dave’s video - his video proves I was really there!  And as a side-note, I’m kinda disappointed with iMovie 08’s lack of video editing.  Apparently that’s going to be addressed in future updates.

Dave just compiled a video of our trip to San Fran from a few months ago. Beware, it’s random, strange, extreme and contains a lot of slow motion videos! I guess that’s what happens when you get together with your old band from college. I can’t wait to get out there again soon. (on Vimeo)

Don, Andrew and I met up with Dave for a Samurai reunion in San Fran this past weekend. We got to do a lot of what I mentioned before, but missed out on the cable cars and La Taqueria. We played a lot of Wii tennis, biked across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, watch Dave rock out at O’Neills Irish Bar with Shantytown, checked out Dave’s office space, and explored Alcatraz. Many videos and pictures were taken (see Dave’s post), so check out the pictures in my Samurai in San Francisco set on Flickr. I loved San Fran, I haven’t been there in years - definitely wouldn’t mind going back there again soon…

In just a few days, I’ll be headed out with the guys for a little Okay Samurai reunion out in San Francisco, where Dave lives. Also, my paper that was due on the Monday after we get back, got pushed to the following Monday. A whole 7 more days to procrastinate! It’s just nice because I won’t have to be worrying about it all weekend. We’ll be out there Thursday night through Sunday, and I can’t wait to get out there. There are so many things to do, but here’s a list of things I really hope we get to do:

• Visit Alcatraz
• Watch Dave perform at O’Neill’s Irish Pub
• Visit Minor Studios‘ office on Fremont
• Rent bikes and ride across the Golden Gate Bridge over to Sausalito or Tiburon
• Wii Sports showdown
• Burritos from La Taqueria the Mission District
• Ride a cable car at Powell St, have a Beard Papa creampuff in the food court

Those last two bullet items, I have no idea anything about, but Dave put it in the list of possible things to do, so we’ll see what happens! You can bet that Dave and I will be taking tons of pictures and videos to document the weekend…

Vimeo | YouTube

So…it’s really late here (1am) and I’ve finally finished mixing the India video that I’ve been promising. It’s my first crack at splicing together video and music, and by no means is it a masterpiece. I worked in a few still pictures (because I didn’t take as many videos as I should have) which leads to the slight discontinuity between some sections of the video. For some odd reason, there’s an audio snafu around 1:45 that’s not in the original file before I uploaded it to Vimeo.

The video is pretty much about traveling by car in Bangalore and traffic, but that’s probably not too disproportionate to how much of the time it felt like we were sitting in it. The final scene is Chris and I braving our lives while crossing the street. I wish I had taken more videos of the food that we ate, and some of the random side streets that we explored. Oh well, I’ll know what to do next time. It was fun, onto the next video. Enjoy…

Music: “Maru-Bihag” by Ravi Shankar

I have been working on compiling all my short video clips from my India trip, but it’s not quite ready yet. I’m not really one to get all creative with movies, but it goes to show how hard it can be to make an entertaining and engaging short video. Dave just uploaded this one, and it’s just about bluebirds, but I can’t stop watching it.

Speaking of uploading, I’m considering converting BACK to Vimeo. About two years ago, I was looking for a place to upload my videos, and it came down to Vimeo or YouTube. Vimeo won somehow, but now compared to YouTube, the quality is better (but what isn’t?), the player controls are less intrusive, unique integration with Flickr, and you get that small niche community feeling of using Vimeo. If you have a Vimeo account, add me as a contact - my profile page is here.

The one problem with using WordPress.com to host my site, is that their security is pretty strict. One restriction is that you can only embed videos from YouTube or Google Video, until recently. If you’re a WordPress.com blogger - you can now use VodPod to embed video from just about any service (as long as it finds the <embed> tags - nerdy)

Hopefully I’ll be finishing up the India video by this weekend, and I’ll post it here and on Vimeo. Until then, enjoy me beating Don in Mariokart with a “Valet”.

Vimeo

The rate of pictures taken per day definitely waned off towards the end of the week of my trip to India, but head on over for the last few pictures that I took.

Bangalore India Trip Set on Flickr.

It’s been five days here in Bangalore, India and I think I’m starting to get in the swing of things. Getting to work each day has been an adventure with the traffic patterns being much different than back in the US. Driving a vehicle on the streets of Bangalore is much like walking in a crowd. There are lines on the streets, but it means nothing. Cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians pass each other inches apart. At first I thought it was much like China, but now that I’ve commuted for five days - I realize that it’s much more chaotic. Thankfully, Chris and I have a driver that comes to pick us up from our hotel each morning at 9am and we get to work at Ecospace Campus (which is 3-4 miles away) in about 45 minutes. He also takes us back to the hotel, or to a restaurant or shopping if we want to.

I’ve never been on a business trip, but I think I like it. Other than missing the comforts of my home, friends and family - I get to experience a country for free. I’ve eaten at very interesting restaurants (Bombay Post, BBQ Nation), drank Kingfisher beer, witness a wedding, play a Sitar, and meet my Indian AOL colleagues. It took much less time to adjust to being in India than I thought. Possibly because Bangalore is a city of technology. If you’re company isn’t represented here already, you’re already late to the game.

This weekend marks the start of Ganesh Chaturthi, or Ganesh Festival, celebrating the birthday of Hindu God Ganesh, which lasts for an odd number of days (usually 1 to 11). Walking around yesterday, there were statues of Ganesh prepared to be displayed this weekend. We still haven’t hit tourist market central, MG Road, but definitely plan on hitting that this weekend.

I have 3.5 days left. Unfortunately we won’t get to travel up to Agra to see the Taj Mahal but there is so much more to see here in Bangalore. Other than that, the training sessions that Chris and I are conducting have been very productive and well received. I’m looking forward to taking advantage of all this city has to offer.

As always, keep checking out the constantly updated set on Flickr: India Trip.