DANGER BLOG!

6,456 is the number of miles that I have flown between Tuesday and Thursday last week. Houston to an overnight in New York. Back to Houston. Houston to Los Angeles and back to Houston in a day with filming customer videos inbetween all the flights.

We lucked out and flew home from L.A. first class, a nice treat after all that traveling and work. Now I don’t know if you picked this up from my awesome blog title but I’ve never flown first class.

First off we had to run to the gate because we took a detour on the way back to the airport to try In-N-Out Burger which was a worthy risk. But I did miss one of the best parts of flying first class which is looking down your nose at the lowly peons as they brush past you in a huff to get into their teeny coach seats while you stretch out in an extra wide seat while shaking your empty whiskey glass at the flight attendant for a refill. The sounds of the ice cubes clinking the glass rubbing in your superiorness even further.

Secondly, I thought that warm towel thing was just a joke in movies. It’s not. It’s so not. And the towel was so warm. So refreshing.

I rubbed it all over. Aaaaaall over.

Then came the dinner options. Yes, options. Wow. First option was some shrimp pasta thing. Second option was a roast beef sandwich. From what I could see the shrimp pasta thing had no pasta. Which I thought was weird. I got the roast beef. Which was as good as any kind of airline food-first class or coach. But the thing about this meal was that it was served on a tray complete with a table cloth, single serving salt and pepper (in actual shakers) and real honest to goodness silverware. Couldn’t that be used as a weapon for terrorists? 

Lastly the flight attendant kept refilling my glass, (yes glass with an etched Continental Airlines logo) with Coke so I was all hopped up on sugar and caffine all night and kept Ali up all night by talking about everything and everything and everything and everything and well… everything.

Or as Ali would say I say it, “Kawffee Tawk.”

The other morning Ali looked at me all sad and pathetic and asked me to go to H.E.B. on my lunch break to get her a pound of coffee because she was all out. Ali likes the Breakfast Blend, and to her the H.E.B. kind is the best.

As I walked around the plethora of whole bean dispensers looking for Ali’s magic Breakfast Blend beans I noticed a weird middle aged man staring at the bean grinder. Intensely. And at that moment I knew he was going to be trouble.

I found the mystical Breakfast Blend beans and filled up a pound bag and walked to the grinders as far away from the weird dude as possible. But they were for hippy organic coffee only. So that meant I had to go stand next to weirdo goober person.

“Hey. Getting some coffee?” he observed annoyingly.
“Yeah. Looks that way.” I say with as much jerkiness that I can muster.

See, I hate small talk, especially with strangers. I don’t like talking to a lot of people I actually know, why would I want to talk to you, old weird dude?

“I never liked coffee all that much.” He followed up with.

And at that moment, I knew that I had been given the opportunity to screw with this guy.

“I can’t get enough of it,” I said, which is a huge lie because I hate coffee. But hey, any chance to screw with somebody, I jump on it.

“How much does a bag that size last you?” He asked, pointing to the one pound bag in my hand.
“Hmmm. About 2 or 3 days I guess.” (It lasts Ali 2-3 weeks.)
“Wow! You must drink coffee all day long!”

These types of people always find Ali and I. They want nothing to do but talk our ears off and we have no idea how to stop it. Most times I try to ignore them and move on as fast as possibly, but I think from now on I am just going to engage them right back.

And kind of be a dick about it.

(Also, any of you on Tumblr? Add me. http://hellamike.tumblr.com)

#1 I’ve set up a Tumblr. Yes that’s right. a tumblelog. Tumblr is an easy way to share things lile links, quotes, photos, videos and more with friends. It’s very basic. There are no comments (unless you use third party pluggins, which I won’t). To me, it’s going to be a way to share. I hope to see some of you there.

I am going to try and post there once a day, at the very least 4 or 5 times a week. I’m still going to blog here, but there will be where I post the cool things that I see online. 

#2 I’m a big fan of The Houstonist, which is, in their words, “a website about Houston and everything that happens in it.” Almost anything Ali and I do or go to in or around Houston, we found it because of The Houstonist (Discovery Green, Lucky Burger, and on Friday we’re going to Little Big’s gourmet burger joint). There are similar sites for several cities around the country and the world, I highly advise you to check into seeing if your city has one.

They have a Flickr group where members can submit photos to, and each day they feature a photo on the main page. They also use photos for various stories and blogs they post and they used one of my photos in an article about what’s going on around town for Obama’s inauguration. That’s pretty cool.

#3 A few weeks ago I gave my website HellaMike.com a pretty major overhaul. I am still tweaking various pages but I am very happy with the way it all came together. I am also starting on another aspect of my site which I am very excited about. I’m not going to go into too much detail about it right now, but I will let you guys know when it’s live.

#4 I went back out to the Obama mural on Travis and Alabama street in Houston today to get the picture I wasn’t able to get when I first went out there before the election. I thought that’d be a good way to end this blog on the eve of Obama’s inauguration.

"Hope" on Inauguration Eve

You can see the older ones here.

In a totally obvious move, Ali tagged me. Way to be original.

Some of these things you may already know, but it may be new to others. So deal with it.

1. Since I mentioned Ali, I’ll start with her. With us. Ali and I met on the famous internet. We didn’t officially start dating until after we met in person at an event, but we met online nonetheless.

We spent a hard year and a half living half a country away, her in Houston, me in living in New Jersey and also going to school in Connecticut. We got together as often as possible, almost once a month, sometimes a little more time in between. We talked everyday, and all night on IM, and we never went to bed without talking on the phone (thank goodness for in network calling). It was very difficult, but I feel it strengthened our relationship.

After I finished college I moved to Houston to be with Ali. I never imagined myself moving out of Jersey, except to maybe New York, or maybe California, mostly for work reasons. I miss it a ton, but I love Houston, and I wouldn’t change a thing that has happened to Ali and I over the past 4 years.

2. Another thing about Ali and I. We have our dream wedding planned out. Down to just about every minor detail. We know the theme, the colors, how the invitations will be look, the save the date, the music, the venue (for both the ceremony and reception, both are totally bad-ass and totally us),  even the production of the wedding DVD (I am a video editor after all.) EVERYTHING. I don’t want to go into details because we mostly want it to be a surprise.

Oh, also? We’re not engaged yet. We don’t know when this wedding will even happen. Or how we will pay for it. Anyone have an extra $12k laying around?

3. I am a music and movie snob. But I list Metallica as one of my favorite bands (even current stuff) and Field of Dreams as one of my favorite movies. So how seriously can you take me?

I hate just about every song on modern radio, the only thing I can really listen to on the radio for any length of time is classic rock, and then it’s still repetitious and boring. But it’s not just the music for why I hate radio. I also hate what big corporations have done to radio.

To most people I listen to some really odd stuff at times. Bands like Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Secret Chiefs 3, and many others, but I also love a lot of mainstream music, too. Just not pop radio filler bull shit.

Also, I hate Green Day more than Nickelback and Creed. Combined.

4. My wardrobe is very small. Ali has been trying to get me more clothes ever since we started dating, and I have. Just not nearly enough. I only have 2 pairs of jeans, some dress pants in black and khaki and only enough everyday shirts for one week. That means I need to do laundry every week. I do have a lot of dressier shirts, but I really don’t wear them unless we are going out. My work is very casual. I could probably show up in pajamas and no one would say anything. If I had an office job I would definitely dress up more and have more clothes.

My wardrobe has grown over the last four years, and it will continue to grow whenever we have money to blow on it I do, however, have more shoes now, then I’ve ever had at one point in my life. I have sneakers, Sketchers bowling-type shoes (one pair with laces, another that slip on), black dress shoes, brown dress shoes, work boots, and I think that is it. Oh and slippers. I love slippers.

Ali has tried to get me into flip flops, but I hate them. I got a pair for when we went to Mexico, but I hated them. They didn’t stay on my feet at all. I had to make fists with my toes to hold them in place when I walked so I didn’t kick them off and fling them.

5. I’m terrible with money. Terrible. If I have it, I spend it on crap. I’ve gotten better, mostly because we’ve been broke for a while, but  I have been getting better. Ali and I have both clamped down our frivolous spending. I wish I could say we have a savings because of it but it mostly goes to bills, bills, and bills.

Oh, also, bills.

6. I’m stealing one of Ali’s things. We’ve decided that we really don’t want kids. But whenever we see our niece Madeline she almost convinces us to change that decision. She is adorably cute and is a ton of fun. Well, until it’s diaper time. Try being in the same room as one of her shitty diapers. No thanks, kiddo. Uncle Mike is going to sit that one out.

I mean, how can you NOT love this kid: Playing Pbbbt!, baby belches, and cookie munching. More are here.

Ali and I are going to focus on being the best aunt and uncle that we can be to Madeline and all future nieces and nephews. I’m hoping for a nephew next.

7. As you might be able to tell from the above, and an earlier comment, I am a video nut. I am an editor/producer, and not only is it my career, but it is my love, and it’s a hobby that I do a lot. Ali got me a Flip Video camera for my birthday last August, and it goes just about everywhere with us. You never know when I’ll break it out, either.

We make videos every Christmas of us decorating our tree, and I get a lot of messages starting in October/November of people that just can’t wait for it. Whenever we go out for a night on the town, there’s a video. Whenever I get a brilliant new idea for something, there’s a video. Going to a ball game? New video. You get the idea.

My YouTube page gets updated pretty regularly so check it out. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=hella81

So there are my seven things littered with some pimping. Don’t like it? Deal.

I’m not tagging anyone, so do this if you want. If you don’t, I don’t care. I’m over it. And you. Jerk.

Every Christmas that Ali and I have lived together, we have made a Christmas video. It started in 2006, and it is always something our friends and family look forward to each holiday season. So for the new friends (and some new family) I thought I’d take everyone on a little stroll down memory lane.

2006 was Ali and my first Christmas living together. Times were a little harder for us then, work was scarce, money was even scarcer, but we never gave up on each other. We’re little kids on the inside, and it shows even more at Christmas time.

When October and November 2007 rolled around, people began telling us that they couldn’t wait for this years Christmas video. We were blown away by the amount of people who loved the 2006 version, and we happily obliged and made the 2007 video, pulling out ALL the stops.

But that wasn’t the only Christmas video we made in 2007. No, there was a special extra video featuring me, and some of my grinchy ways.

Cut to this year. Dianne was going to be in town, and Ali thought it would be great to cut her in on the fun.

And again this year, we did another extra video. Ali had told me about a story based on The Night Before Christmas. It was the cajun version, which is called The Cajun Night Before Christmas. After watching a few videos on YouTube of the story I decided that I could make a much better video and the wheels started turning. I went all out, took some real pro gear home from work to do this project and I am extremely proud of it. I really hope it catches on and becomes a YouTube hit, if only in Louisiana.

I’m so crazy about these Christmas videos that I think I pretty much have 2009’s Christmas video planned out.

I hope you enjoy these videos as much as Ali and I enjoy making them.

I am working on a super secret Christmas video, and I need the perfect song to open it with. As I was going through classical Christmas songs on the piano on iTunes, Beethoven’s Fur Elise came on, and Ali sang along to it from a McDonald’s commercial from 1986.

That was almost 23 years ago! I have no idea how these things stick with her. Anyway, here is the commercial.