Portland...

This is going to be a video I watch on the regular if we end up moving somewhere else. Not until you get close to actually moving away from your city to work in another do you start to wonder if its really worth it. I mean, I love this town. I just wish there were jobs here. Anyhow if you don't live in Portland, don't watch the video, you'll just move here and you wont have a job. If I do move, I will watch it at least once a month...

Back from Baltimore.

I got the opportunity to fly out to Baltimore to interview for a Sr Design job. The team was really cool. And the company is still growing like mad so we'll see. I flew out early thursday morning. It was the first time I flew with SouthWest Airlines and at first I was not excited when I discovered that its a find your own seat airline. They load you in groups of A-B or C and 1-30 and 31-60. When I was flying out my first flight was C and in the 50's or something, which means I was last on the flight, and felt kinda like when your in grade school and as you look at a seat, you quickly look to the people around it and see if its inviting or no eye contact and grumpy. One benefit to losing some weight, is that I fit pretty good in those seats now. My connecting flight It was pretty much middle seats except for the last row next to the bathroom. It was a window seat and I took it.They are comfy seats, roomier than the other airlines. And the staff has great attitudes, pretty quick humor. On my last leg, one of the stewards kept telling me that he wanted to get me a drink because I had the worst seat on the plane, after some understanding that it was on the house, not on him.... I accepted and relaxed in my seat getting ready for Baltimore. I'll cover the flight home here quickly: they flew me back through Salt Lake, and that was a first and now a prefered choice for transfer (Chicago and Detroit sucks). I was in the B's coming home so seating was easy and its my first choice airline now.

When I landed I called the hotel and asked what was the best way to get there. They were too far away for a shuttle so they said for $30+ I can take a cab (UA is reimbursing my travel), Hotel shuttle service and it was $10-$15 bucks or the Light Rail for $1.60. I'm a fan of light rail/subways systems. They take a little longer, but if you have time take it. I always get a better feel for areas by the people that use them and they are often off the interstate so you see areas of Baltimore you'd miss flying by it. Luckily my hotel was 2 blocks off the stop. And it took roughly 15-20 minutes to get from the airport to my stop. I will have to say that south Baltimore is pretty rough. I mean really rough. Where my stop was is right at the Orioles Park, and the Ravens Field. The last time I flew out east I left mid day here and didn't get to my hotel till after midnight. This trip started with me getting up at 4:15 am, but getting to my room by 5 pm was nice. They put me up at the Sheriton Inner Harbor. Pretty cool spot. I unpacked and layed out my material for the interview. I was thinking of hitting the streets to figure out what the area looked like. I saw that they had a pool and opted for the swim and dinner in their Orioles Grill. Pool was pretty much a kiddie pool, but it still felt good. Dinner was decent. I shut down early.

My interview was at 10 and not too far from the hotel. It was pouring rain. I had to remember that we were right on the water, and wet weather is a standard it felt like the oregon coast. I grabbed a cab and drove out to the UA offices. I know that UA is a small company that is growing and coming from Nike I was anxious to see what it looked like. The offices are located in one of the industrial areas of Baltimore. Its right next to a sugar mill (i think thats what you'd call it) Ships from all over drop off raw sugar and they process it there. The air had a sweet smell and at times kinda like caramel. There is a dock right at the building for the boat taxi's. I'm not sure of the history of the building, but its an old red brick building. They are expanding into a building next to it thats connected via sky bridge.

I interviewed with the HR rep, and some PLM's along with two other designers. Everyone is really cool, and working well with the fast pace with all the positive growth. Around noon the Art Director came in and asked if I was hungry, I said that I could eat so we went to a local Pub/Cafe down the street. It was nice to take it out of the office and still talk through where the position can go and what they needed. I'd have to say that it would be a good fit for me and them. We went back and looked over my portfolio's, then I got a tour of the offices. Coming from Nike it felt like the size of one of our sample closets on campus, but I like that everyone is close. Footwear, Hard goods, Advertising and apparel are all close to everyone so the brand comes off pretty tight. I headed back to the hotel around 2:30, took a shower and figured my game plan for the night.

Around 4 I hit the streets. I asked the front desk where I could go and find some shops, I brought the only rain coat I have at the time and it was a packable rain slick in my camping gear. Since losing weight all my jackets are like wearing parachutes. I didn't find any shops, but got a good walk around the buildings which like most city's, around 5 on friday everything is closed. I found a coffee shop and mainly just wanted to go in somewhere and dry off for a minute. Converse for footwear is not the appropriate shoes for this weather, I was soaked from the knee down. I finished my coffee and headed back out into the weather, I couldn't pass up wandering in a city I've never been in. The art director gave me a heads up on a cool restaurant/bar so that became my goal. I found the road that should take me there I didn't even notice on the map that I'd walk through Mt Vernon cultural dist. Going from skyscrapers to old churches and statues in a block. After about 30 minutes of walking I found the pub and had a drink. Its called Brewer's Art. I was getting hungry and off to find some food. I walked a few blocks and found an Irish pub with a good menu. It was still pretty wet and around 9. I'm calling it a night, not too far I found the light rail station. Rode it back to my hotel, stripped off my wet gear, took a hot shower and crashed.

Saturday morning I searched out a starbucks near by. I grabbed my camera and headed out to find it. I walked the Inner Harbor and took some pics. Found the starbucks and headed back to the hotel to pack up and hit the rail back to the airport. The flight home was pretty uneventful and went smooth. I'm a fan of SW Airlines now. I landed around 5:30 and my buddy Jason picked me up (Rae was at a birthday party). Jason and a friend are starting a new business and they were part of a block party down town. I cleaned up and went down to check it out. It was nice to come home, the tree's, the people and my friends makes the thought of moving really difficult. But I need to work, and I need to work in a manner that helps me grow as a designer. Maybe someday I'll be a better freelancer, but for now I look out the comfort an security of a larger company with the insurance and 401K. We'll see how it turns out.

but for now, I'm needed upstairs to wrangle kids and get outside.

To see all the pics go Here.

Out.

back

a month on the road and were back in PDX. We went from Ashland to Pismo. Pismo to Visalia. Visalia to Costa Mesa. Costa Mesa to Temecula. Temecula to Visalia. Visalia to Ashland. Ashland to Bend. Bend to Antelope. Antelope back home. I have pics to prove it... heh. I'll post a run down soon.

Forever and a day.

Well here i am typing again that I'll do better at posting here, and we'll just have to see. News, well I was part of a massive layoff at Nike. I've been looking, searching, rethinking, wondering, stressing, and not giving a crap for 6 weeks now. I've been flowing in and out of those feelings for a while now. Today, well today I'm glad were going to church. Theres another change that has moved back in. Its not the hail mary prayer, "God I need a job...." Its just been that I've been so self involved and trying to figure out what I need to do that keeps me sane and provides for the family, that I've overlooked one of the biggest part of my life. It was before the kids, before my wife, before any resemblance of a career. It is my faith. My Hope. My path. So with this recent change of career choice and change, I'm not starting anything new I'm turning back around and walking with that faith, hope and path in mind. And being mindful of the steps I do take. With that I'm re-opening this blog to do what I started, to online journal my thoughts. Not to think of it as a source of news or info to the world, but something for me. And if your a voyeur, read away. otherwise, I'm typing this for me.


Saturday 28. I got up and wanted to do something with the crew, something outside of the city is what I had in mind. sometimes I feel as if the buildings, streets, sounds of cars and sirens makes me feel boxed in. Even though Portland is pretty open, and lots of tree's, but I feel like where ever I look there are people. So I need to get out once in a while. Rae was in the mood to organize some things so I took the girls and we found a trail in Forest Park. It was a good walk, a gentle climb for about 30 minutes, and we snacked at some spots. Ivy wanted to go home about 2/3rds of the way up, but I talked to her about all the neat things out there and we started finding different plants and things to see then she took off to the end of the trail. Funny thing as we were getting near the top I heard some sort of buzzing, machine like... Off in the distance. As we got near the end of the trail at the top. It was a lawn mower, the trail end was to some guys driveway to a massive house. Which brought me to a screeching halt of the mental nature walk. Usually forest park is pretty excluded and people live on the outskirts, this particular trail was wedged in from the main road to ritchie rich's driveway in the sky.


After naps we loaded up the cooler and headed out to Oxbow park. Its on the Sandy River and a pretty big park. it again is pretty close to the city, about 10 minutes outside of Gresham. But its a pretty drive, and its on the river. We went to play on the river bank and I thought it was running icewater again, but it was tolerable. so much so that we were all wading to the knees and staying in and the girls were almost fully swimming. We worked on a rock wall (horse shoe shaped) in the river for a while, till we got hungry and we were losing our sun. We packed the bbq and food, so we went to one of the campgrounds with a play structure and grabbed a table and started dinner. The girls played then we ate, then we all played. Sun setting and mosquitos got us packing up. Got home around 9ish. kids went down well. It was a nice day.

Want one....I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel

I-Movix SprintCam v3 NAB 2009 showreel from David Coiffier on Vimeo.

Here is the first SprintCam v3 showreel, made for NAB 2009 exhibition.
Mostly 1000FPS shots, made during a recent rugby competition in the Stade de France, Paris.

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