Are You Capturing History?

Are You Capturing History?

You and I have an opportunity to do something no other generation ever had the opportunity to do.

That opportunity is to capture history and make it available to others.

Neither of my parents lived to see their 70th birthday.

The last few years of my Dad’s life were filled with fuzzy recollections of his life with frustration in his voice as he was forgetting details that he wanted to share when I asked him.

I was determined that I would not let that happen a second time, and bought my Mom a cassette recorder with a dozen blank tapes asking her to just start recording anything about herself and her life.

She had good intentions but never got around to it.

So when she died suddenly in 2001, I was left with boxes of her stuff and my Dad’s stuff including photo’s of people I never met, letters (the real hand written ones) and these all sit in a few boxes in my attic.

Technology has changed.

A couple of friends of mine were in the one hour photo processing business a decade or two ago.

They were driven out of business by digital cameras, including the kind I now have on my cellphone.

My laptop has software that allows me to not just edit photo’s but create video’s.  Your computer probably has this bit of tech too.

In this digital world we live in, with access to online photo sharing services like Flicker and Picplz along with video services including you tube we can share these creations as we capture history.

Last week I drove to Michigan where I spent a couple days as an Addy Award Judge for the American Advertising Federation.

After it was over, I decided to capture history.

Not just any history, but some personal family history.

When I was 26, I moved my family to Detroit where we stayed for nearly 8 years, lived in 4 houses, and my kids spent the beginning of their lives.

It has been 19 years since we left.

I decided to capture some family history for my kids and will be writing and producing a video with narration and about 40 photo’s I shot on my trip.

When it’s complete, I’ll give each of my kids their own DVD but I’ll also post it on my youtube channel and feature it on this website under the Really? The Personal ScLoHo category.

I urge you to do the same, in your own unique way.  Use this web world of ours, combined with the technology sitting in front of you to capture history for the next generation.

Bursts of Efficiency

Bursts of Efficiency

Sunday afternoon my wife final told me to stop.

Our weekend was filled with a few projects along with some relaxing time.

It began Saturday with a trip to the bank, actually two banks, a hair cut, a trip to the store, stop at a gas station for a fill-up and a car wash in the morning.

The afternoon included a trip to the roof with my brother in law Tim where we checked out a hole in the roof and devised a temporary cover.

Sunday afternoon included buying smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, batteries, light bulbs, oil for the wife’s car and then installing, filling and what not.

While I was doing those tasks, Kathy was baking bread, preparing dinner and a variety of other household tasks.

Meanwhile Kathy’s other brother, Mike who is also staying with us volunteered to repair the roof, so while he did that, i set up his computer to watch movies with an extra cool sound system as a thank you.

We’re not always this efficient, but I recall as a young parent being out numbered 3 to 2 by our kids and the only way to get things done was to push forward.

If I only had a To Do List, it would have lines crossed off from everything that we accomplished.

Oh, I also changed the cat litter.  That alone gives me hero status in my wife’s eyes.

The 2011 Very Snowflake Christmas Contest

The 2011 Very Snowflake Christmas Contest

It began a few years ago as my wife, Kathy was looking to start a family tradition.

Each year the contest takes a different twist and we get about 4 weeks to prepare.

The simple rules that Kathy announced on Thanksgiving was we had to use the plastic one dimensional snowflake she was giving us, and take a picture of it with a cameraphone and send it to me before the Christmas eve gathering.  No photoshopping allowed and also no pets or cute babies.

Here’s the dozen entries.

 

We had a tie for first place and before I reveal who the two winners were, which ones do you think should have one?
Drop me a note in the comments, and I’ll reveal the answer soon.
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?

Having recently celebrated my 52nd Birthday, I was talking again with my wife Kathy about our lives.

Kathy and I have a lot of opposites in our lives, I was an only child, she has 6 siblings.

She thinks we are polar opposites politically, I think we are closer than she realizes, but we have different views on how to solve some of the political based problems.

We share a love that overcomes the differences, (which make life less boring), and instead focus on our common bonds including our faith, our sense of humor and our support for each other.

So as far as Wise… Wisdom comes with age only if we keep learning.  Curiosity combined with access to the web can make anyone as wise as they want.

Wealthy?  That’s all a matter of perspective.  I work in the world of marketing and advertising.  My primary responsibility is to sell stuff and get paid to do so. I am in a profession that I can always find work.  I walked away from my last job this year after 8 years to move into the web world. While there has been a bit of a learning curve, which I expected, I am never afraid of being unemployed.  And that is significant in this age we live in.

Kathy also has the opportunity to never be unemployed with her experience and credentials in health care, plus she launched her Life Coaching business a few years ago.  Will we be wealthy?  Not compared to some, but we’re not comparing ourselves to the mega-rich.

Health.  This is a subject that each of us need to take personal responsibility for. You can’t really say, “I’m not as fat as ______”, and ignore your own health.

Ignorace is not bliss.

I know that my family has had a history of early deaths and some have lived long lives.

On my Mom’s side, she passed away in 2001 at the age of 68 from a heart attack.  We discovered afterwards that she had heart disease. Her Mom also died from disease, cancer.

On my Dad’s side, both of his parents passed away before I was born and he died at age 67 from cancer.

But an early death, (before age 70) is not inevitable. I have an Uncle Bill on my Mom’s side who is now around 80. My Dad’s oldest brother Uncle Dean and my Aunt Jean are still going strong.  I’m not sure their exact ages, but I’m guessing they will live to be in their 90’s.

So, I’m not exactly sure which steps I will be taking to improve my health, but eating habits is one I will be taking a close look at and making adjustments.

After all, if you’re not Healthy, all the “Wealthy and Wise” is wasted.

(The featured picture today is my first wedding, when I was 6 and a ring bearer along with my cousin Susie as the flower girl at a family wedding.)

The 2011 Very Snowflake Christmas Contest

A Very Snowflake Christmas


It began a couple years ago, as a way to make Christmas fun and unique. Snowflakes, each one is unique and so the tradition was born. In 2006 we had a paper snowflake contest, and each year the competition is turned up a few notches. In 2007 word went out to create a unique snowflake and win a prize. Brandon, Rachael, Josh and Madeline each brought their own creations and the voting resulted in a tie, broken by a debate and the money was handed out.

And so that everyone would be included that visited, Snowflake pajama’s were given out to one and all. Thanks to everyone that came over, called, played, and sang!

Here’s a group shot of the kiddo’s:

This year once again my wife Kathy created a new snowflake contest and in less than a month, we’ll gather and check out all the entries, vote, and someone will walk away with some extra cash!

What unique and special or weird traditions does your family do?