SHEESH!

Yesterday, I was totally razzed in the comments. My girlfriends were mocking my sideways video. I am, after all, a 'TV Expert', doncha-know. I know all about TV production and aspect ratios and render codecs and yada, yada, yada. So how could I do something so 'amateur' as turn my video camera sideways?

Well. Now I'm on the defensive thank-you-very-much.

Clearly, my girlfriends missed one key detail - that the video was shot using an iPod. Which naturally has a vertical screen. I didn't turn a 'video camera' sideways, I merely shot using the devices' natural handheld position. And, I admit, in the back of my mind I thought to myself 'Geez, I wonder how this will work?". But then I thought to myself "It's a MAC product! They totally know what they're doing! By even allowing me to record this way, there must be an easy work around! It's a MAC!"

Never ASSUME, because then you make and ASS out of U and ME.

But my girlfriends didn't stop there. They started to suggest things that OF COURSE I had thought of and tried. Which, for a brief moment, was insulting. BUT, this also made me go back and look at what I had tried, and I found a better way. I also regained my trust in Mac products. This was truly a 'human' error.

I still get You Tube errors, but I did successfully rotate the video :-)

So, Dear Grilfriends, I Thank-You.

My readers thank-you too. Behold...a rotated video!

Rhys Blows A Whistle:

Also, here is yesterdays' video, rotated, for good measure...

Rhys Daddy Shoes:

And lastly, for the Grandparents (because it's like - 4.5 minutes long)...

Rhys in the bath at 18.5 months (yesterday):

Test Test, and a Lesson Learned

This past Christmas I was totally spoiled by my family. One gift that was a special surprise, was an iPod Touch from Warren.

The new generation iPod touch has a camera and records video, just like the iPhone. So I've been whipping it out to record little snippits of Rhys - moments that I never would have captured with our 'real' video camera.

Once I finally figured out how to get the footage off my iPod and onto my computer, I realised that shooting vertically wasn't such a good idea. All the video was sideways.

Another tough lesson - it appears that the iPod footage and You Tube don't like each other. It seems like I'm stuck using Blogger's crumby video upload tool. So, this post is basically a test to see if blogger likes the footage. In the preview I'm seeing as I write this, Rhys' head appears to be cut off :-(

One and a Half

Rhys, today you are a year and a half old and I can hardly believe it.

Some days, however, you seem more like a two year old, so I shouldn't be that surprised. I've heard of the 'Terrible Twos' and some moments feel like you're already there.

You've got personality. You've got attitude. You've got preferences. When you decide you like something, you want it all the time. When you learn a new word, you say it all the time. Without a doubt, you are the ruler of our house and I challenge myself everyday to remember that your dad and I are the grown-ups and we are in charge. Because it rarely feels like we are.

I've been reminiscing a lot lately about your newborn days, and how back then I could place you, in my mind, in a perfect little box that contained all my hopes, dreams and expectations for you and who you would grow up to be. You are busting out of that box everyday. Each day reminds me that you are your own little person. I do not control your feelings, your moods or your interests. As much as I'd love to have control over some of those things, at least some of the time, I'm glad I don't, because it's been a lot of fun getting to know you. A movie, a story, a book - they're all more exciting when you don't know what's coming next.

Rhys, you are a clown. And I love you, Bubsy.

(Rhys wearing his mama's new EMU boots. He said 'Booo, Booo!' and, with a bit of a struggle, but the boots on all by himself.)