Monthly Archives: March 2014

Every Point on the Map

EPOTM: Next Steps for the Team

Leave a comment

Okay, so we completed our pilot run.  I mentioned we had a few hiccups.

That was probably an understatement.

Going into a project as a novice, I knew there would be corrections.  In order to be completely open about our learning curve, here’s the list:

  1. Problem #1: I ordered an HD camera I thought was a good deal.  The camera was high quality, but didn’t have the capacity to record directly onto a SD card.  It used tapes, and had to be converted to digital files.  This would have cost us a huge amount of time in transferring files.  So, we sent it back.  That mistake cost the project $70 is shipping penalties.  OUCH.
  2. The fix for #1: The first video was shot completely using an iPhone and a condenser mic.  We were actually pretty pleased with the quality, but we may also order a GoPro Hero 4.  I’m not ordering it until I make sure we can get the sound we want, because evidently they don’t have a portal for lapel mics and we’ll need to make sure our condenser mic will work as well as it did on the iPhone.  If we rule that out, we’re back to the drawing board on a larger Sony HD camera again.  I just found that it’s laborious setting up so much equipment, and timing is a key issue.  However, with larger cameras, you can set them on your shoulder and take video while walking without bounces.  You might notice several bounces in our first piece.
  3. Problem #2: Rachel’s first try at the large format film may not have worked.   Continue reading EPOTM: Next Steps for the Team →
27 Hats

Refiner’s Fire

Leave a comment

20140112_134245

Mind if I smoke? I know what you’re thinking. Keep your shirt on; I’m not about light off a Camel, or even produce a vape from a hidden pocket. Keep your shirt on, and your steel toed boots, and your hard hat. Definitely keep your hard hat on.

Allow me to explain. Once upon a time, I was an auditor. I know, it sounds like a career that is exciting, alluring, even seductive. But, trust me, there is nothing seductive about sitting in front of an old style 10-key calculator for hours on end “footing” a big computer printout to see if it really adds up to what it says it adds up to. If you think that makes no sense, you are not alone, but it was 1990, computers were not to be trusted in the realm of automated accounting, and they paid young guys like me to try and validate what was true and what was not.

Getting out of the office was always a welcomed distraction. Accordingly, I looked with excitement at the opportunity to go “inventory” an oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast. A team of several twenty somethings like myself flew into Corpus Christi and went straight to the old Champlain refinery. Before we could enter the refinery and get to work, management at the facility required us to go thru a four hour safety training course. After the course was completed, we had our boots, our heavy tape measures, our clipboards, and our hard hats, complete with fancy little stickers saying we had been “safety training certified”. Oh, and we also knew where all the marked blue safety zones were inside the refinery, just in case there was a fire.

I was assigned to work with two veteran refinery employees, and out to the old truck we went for the start of a 36 hour marathon. This was when the fun began, at least for said veteran employees. Continue reading Refiner’s Fire →

Every Point on the Map, Man Cave

EPOTM: Carney, Oklahoma

Leave a comment

The learning curve was steep.  Our final cut isn’t where I’d like it to be.  But, our first documentation piece for Every Point on the Map has reached the “good enough” standard.  Now, we’re ready to share it with you.

We’re grateful to Assistant Volunteer Fire Chief Robbie Clark, and self-described “rookie” Micheal “June Bug” McCorkle for their time and thoughts.  And, we hope you enjoy this glimpse into the lives of two citizens of Carney, Oklahoma.

[kelly]

If you’d like to read more about Carney, check out THIS LINK written on Carney history from OSU.  To read demographics about the town, and other general information, here is the Wikipedia link.  And, here is a KOCO video of the tornado from last year.

For other Every Point on the Map posts, click here.

Every Point on the Map, Red Dirt Dives

Every Point OK Food: Ya-Ya’s in Carney, Oklahoma

1 Comment

_DSC0015Julie Kennedy was wearing an orange and white Chevron print apron her grandmother had made her when she took our order for breakfast.  She welcomed us warmly, accommodated all our special requests, chatted about the restaurant and quickly went about her business.  It was Saturday morning, and Ya-Ya’s Place in Carney, Oklahoma was filling up fast.

It wasn’t long before our order came, and I must say, the food rivaled any breakfast cafe around the area.  The décor was managed with a sense of humor  The kitchen was clean, as was the bathroom.  And, we were checked on during our meal not too many times, and not too few.

_DSC0008

Julie’s husband and child were in one of the booths enjoying their own breakfast.  Her mother-in-law owns the business, and her sister-in-law was cooking that morning.  I think it’s safe to say the entire family is invested in making Ya-Ya’s succeed.  The locals appeared comfortable and were all cleaning their plates as the morning progressed. Continue reading Every Point OK Food: Ya-Ya’s in Carney, Oklahoma →

Every Point on the Map

EPOTM: Pilot Day

6 Comments

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly were all part of our pilot run to Carney, Oklahoma this past Saturday.

Rachel has some beautiful photos, we have some very special video footage, and we’re working diligently to honor the essence of our first “point” on the Oklahoma map.  While those pieces are being polished, however, we thought we’d share this little “behind the scenes” video about Pilot Day.  Enjoy!

[kelly] & Rachel Apple

27 Hats, Uncategorized

It was indeed

Leave a comment

2013-01-10 22.36.31It was 1986. It was a good year. Life was college, and college was life. Some time that year, college life seemed to become a bit too heavy to handle. Classes were hard, my body was tired, and homesickness began to settle in for the first time in a couple of years. It seemed as if Spring Break could not arrive quickly enough. I had endured the flu in the midst of a snowstorm and a torrent of exams just a few days earlier, and it felt like so much more.

As I drove the final leg of a four hundred mile journey home for the break, my trusty 73 Chevy developed a growing and increasingly troublesome vibration in the front end. Then, it happened. It seemed as if the entire front of the car exploded. Upon exiting the vehicle, I found out it threw a tread from the left front tire, denting both my fender and my spirit. And, to add insult to injury, the multi-piece product of American engineering intended to jack the car up did not have all the working pieces in place. I was stranded, indeed.

After briefly considering hitchhiking the final 60 miles home in that era before cell phones, I begrudgingly decided to drive on the flat tire rim until I found a country home surrounded by a fenced yard full of pit bulls and a house full of an even scarier man. But, he let me use his phone (a land line) to call my dad. Continue reading It was indeed →

Every Point on the Map

EPOTM: Doorbells Ringing; Mailboxes Bursting

Leave a comment

photo(1)As a family scientists, I’ve written for – and received, over 1.5 million dollars in federal funding to run theoretical or applied research.  Some scientists reach the hundreds of millions by the time they retire.  There are also, however, new scientists who are just starting their careers and dreaming of their first grant award…and that’s where I come in.

Standing in front of classrooms full of graduate students, I have painstakingly answered questions on what it takes to write a successful grant proposal.  And, during the budgeting information, I ALWAYS tell them this:  “Please…please for the love of all that you cherish, build in some breathing room.  No matter how detailed and accurately you think your budget has been prepared, you will run into surprises.  And, sometimes those surprises are costly.”

I had flashbacks to those classroom sessions when I opened our camera case this morning.  In the case was everything I had ordered and paid for.  One camera; some wires to connect to a computer; one battery.  Wait.  ONE battery?  Oh, this can’t be good…

A few minutes go by while I order a package of back-up batteries and a car charger.  We’re going to be miles from people and plug-ins.  We need a car charger.  I completed my order and went back to the camera case.

A tripod.  I need a tripod.  I KNEW I needed a tripod, but for some reason when I made my list of inventory and sat down to research prices and place all the orders, tripods just didn’t come up.  Cripes. Continue reading EPOTM: Doorbells Ringing; Mailboxes Bursting →