That time of year again, when I look back at how things went in the last year, and then look ahead to what is coming up in the new year. Today, I will focus on the past:

They year started off well with a victory for Obama in Iowa, Sketchfest, and starting work with my friend Laura on a video editing project. I had just come off a confusing time in the previous Nov-Dec, and was energized with a good dedication to getting things done.

Worked with Andrew Felper, Laura Bell, Chris DeRose, and a great cast to get the first We Get To Be Canadians show up off the ground in March. That was very educational to see what it takes to put a show on. A lot of good people came together and put in a lot of hard work for what turned out to be a successful run.

Virginia joined me up in Chicago in April. I am glad that she was able to come up for the last couple of months of her pregnancy. It was a stressful time, but I think that it went well.

I worked on a really great project when I produced the Golden Apple Central Illinois awards show. I really loved the people involved and was so impressed by their dedication to such a worthwhile organization. Education is such an important part of our future, I wish that there was more attention being paid to getting better resources for our teachers and students. This was the first of the awards shows downstate, and I think that it turned out nicely. Virginia’s due date was the day after the awards show, so I was a little worried about being out of town but it all worked out.

Met some really good people in our prenatal class. Virginia still keeps in touch with some of them. I was totally new to the birth experience and felt like I really learned a lot in class. Mary our teacher was a big proponent of natural child birth, which was an important thing to Virginia. If it were up to me, I would have gone with lots, and lots of drugs. Ha.

Wonderful little Joy came just a couple of days after I got back from the Golden Apple awards. Virginia was great all day. I was so proud of how well she did with delivery. Our midwife, Maureen and two Doulas (Jen and Eusebia) were amazing. I am so glad that Virginia was able to come up to Chicago and have those great people involved. I’ll write more about Joy in another post.

Another important thing from the year was Second City. I learned a lot about writing sketches. I will always remember you first writing teacher, Andy Miara. I learned to love writing again after his class. I also made a lot of good friends. Already mentioned, Felper, Laura, and Chris from the Canadians show, but also really enjoyed getting to know Ped, Jud, Doug Jones, Maria and Morgan. I guess the big thing for me was how much I enjoyed improv. I think that can be attributed to having some great teachers, Andy Eninger, Judy Fabjance (get well), Craig Uhlir, and Jackie Stone. Andy and Judy were gently and loving to get us started, Craig kicked us in the ass to get us better, and Jackie brought in the finishing touches to bring a whole show together. Our end of class improv shows were very fun. I was really lucky to be working with such a great group of people. Some where top notch, could go on to be great types, but I think what made it so fun was that even those of us who weren’t the best could still pull together and add to a scene. It was like playing up there. I was a kid again, if just for a little while. Let’s not forget music improv. I actually sang. I don’t know if I will ever be paid to do that, but it was fun.

Then another of the big changes in my life was getting the job working in Doha, Qatar. I have only been here a few months, but I am truly loving it. I get to work with amazing equipment, the faculty is great, the students are wonderful, and am liking my boss and co-workers. It is also giving me a chance to expand my knowledge of equipment. First, I was learning about digital cinema style shooting, then building a TV and radio studio, and now I am learning the ways of Journalism. There is so much to learn. I haven’t felt this excited about work since I first started at WILL.

Leaving WILL and moving to Chicago was my big change for 2007, but I have topped that in the biggest year of changes so far in my life in 2008. Living in a different country, comedy, good friends, and becoming a papa. Not a bad year at all. Don’t know if 2009 will bring as many changes, but I think that it will continue the arc of growth in my life.

I had a good year, and hope you all did, too. Thanks everyone for reading the blog.

Now if you know me you know that I am a dog person. Not really much into cats, but I found this site that has just been cracking me up.

It is called icanhascheezburger.com.

Here is a funny example of the stuff you will find on there:


more animals>

Spent part of the day at the Corniche today. It was beautiful outside. Cool temperatures and a nice breeze. Not too much traffic, but still enough people to do some people watching. It doesn’t feel like Christmas at all. I just got off the phone with my parents and Virginia, and they are getting ready for a big day. There is snow on the ground presents, good food and family. That sounds more like Christmas to me.

I went grocery shopping this evening, and found it amusing that they had a few artificial Christmas trees right next to the bar-be-cue grills. I am thinking about buying a grill to do some outdoor cooking. The weather is so wonderful over here now. It seems like you get great temps at the end of fall through winter and into the beginning of spring. Summer is brutally hot, but it is nice all other times. Thinking back to Illinois I realize how much I hated both the summers, with their heat and humidity, and the winters, with their ice and snow. I missed most of the worst of summer, so I will have to let you know how I feel about it after I have been through the rough part next year.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday season.

Some fiber optic cables got cut in the Mediterranean the last couple of days. It is reeking havoc on internet connections over here in the Mid-East. I am still able to surf the net, but it is really slow. Some sites aren’t loading at all, and some others seem to be unaffected. It is all crazy. There were a couple of cables cut earlier this year by a boat anchor. (Or at least that was the official story). Some people think that it might have something to do with the tapping some of the lines for nefarious reasons. I am sure there are better ways to do that than this, but we all love a good conspiracy.

Ivana and I went down to the electronics stores in downtown Doha today. The city is built on a tradition of Souks, which are markets with small stores carrying similar items. So different parts of town have different things that they specialize in. We went to probably 20 little shops all within a few blocks of each other that all had varying inventories of cables, connectors, audio and video equipment. It has been hard finding some of the small things that you always need when putting equipment together. We found a few places that will provide us with things that we will need in a pinch. There is still a gap in the professional level items. I was hoping to find some local stores that would either have or could order some of the pro stuff that we needed. Right now we are stuck ordering from Dubai or other overseas shops.

I have a feeling that things will be changing soon in the city, and there will be more cinema production. With more production, hopefully there will be more shops to support them. Until that time I guess that we will just have to make due with what we have.

Speaking of making due. Here is a thread about Steven Soderbergh on the RED user group:
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23776

It is pretty inspiring to see creative people just going out and doing their work. Nothing stands in their way.

My co-worker Ivana had an extra ticket to a comedy show so I went out to see some stand-up. They were at a big hotel so it was all foreigners. The hotel bars are the only places that you can drink. It was kind of shocking to hear some of the things that were said here in a Muslim country. I didn’t realize how conditioned I had become to living here.

And it was funny and I laughed a lot.

Since Obama is going to be president, the governor is the one who gets to pick his replacement. So our governor (allegedly) tried to sell the newly vacated Senate seat. Seems like the feds have a different idea. A corrupt politician in Illinois is something that we are used to, but this is going a little to far. Rod was arrested on Monday and everyone is calling for his resignation. Don’t know how it is going to turn out, but I am glad that I am not over there anymore.

I put up some new pictures of Joy on her website. Send me an email if you need the name of the site and the login information.