Are Yew a TWiT?

It's Thanksgiving and I am very thankful for many things. Second, for my daughter Hannah who was born today. (She celebrates her 8th birthday which will be featured in a future post). And First for my husband whom I could not have had Hannah in the first place. But besides being a great husband and loving sacrificial father, he is also an amazing photographer who's pictures give my posts that extra 'sparkle'. Since I am a visual learner, I appreciate pictures to help enhance my understanding of the words.

This post features not only my husband's pictures but his words also. Yes.. I am thankful that I did not have to write this post. My 2nd guest blogger! Yay!!

So enjoy his pictures and his words! And comment if you can!! MamaCez

Patrick, Amos, and I hanging out with our Moms

My brother-in-law and I were having a discussion about the 99%/occupy movement. There are the obvious arguments in favor of and in opposition of both their methods and their ideology. My brother- in-law brought up a good point that I hadn’t really thought of before. The movement’s main point of contention is the inequality in the accumulation of wealth in America. Yet both the 1% and the 99% will eventually die, and neither group can bring their wealth with them. Rather than focus on building wealth that is only temporal, we should be focusing on what brings true contentment: building relationships. Building a relationship with God. Building a relationship with family. Building a relationship with friends. During this Thanksgiving season, I choose to remember the relationships that God has given me, and to be thankful for them.

Watching Saturday morning cartoons when we lived in their house temporarily

I like to say that I’ve been friends with Patrick and Amos even before we were born. That’s because our parents were college friends in Texas. Both of our dads went to seminary in Dallas so we also share a childhood commonality of growing up as a pastor’s kid. As God ordained it, our family left Texas for a ministry opportunity in Southeast Asia, and their family went to the East Coast. After a few years, both our families ended up in Petlauma where we went to grade school, junior high, and high school together.

Enjoying a summer day at the county fair

We went our separate ways after high school, but we always stayed in touch. We supported each other through college and starting our careers. We made road trips to visit each other wherever we needed to go, whether it was to SoCal, NorCal, or even across the border to British Columbia. We were groomsmen in each others’ weddings. We celebrated the births of each of our kids.

Visitng Amos in Canada

 

Doing our best Heisman pose at the 49ers training facility

Recently, our unofficial tradition is to visit each other on Thanksgiving day. All of our parents still live in Petaluma, so while 2 out of 3 of us have moved away (Amos moved away but then came back), we still return to the same home town to see our parents. Unfortunately, this will be the first year I remember where we will not be seeing each other on Thanksgiving day, as they have plans elsewhere. Since we can’t hang out this Thanksgiving, I thought it would be appropriate to remember our friendship and give thanks for it.

Newlywed or engaged couples

I cherish lifelong friends like Patrick and Amos. Their loyalty is without peer. I know they would never betray me. I trust them like they are my own family. I covet their counsel and their prayer. I appreciate their company and conversation. I enjoy our adventures together, from snow trips to geek outs. Which brings me to the title of this post: Are Yew a TWiT?

Thanksgiving in Petaluma, 2008

As some of you may know, Leo Laporte is one of, if not the most well known celebrity in the tech/online industry. He was an early pioneer in podcasting and tech related TV shows, laying the groundwork for these industries developing into viable businesses. All three of us listen and/or watch many of Leo’s shows, including the flagship “This Week in Tech” or TWiT. It just so happens that Leo runs all of the TWiT Network shows from his studio in Petaluma. Naturally, the three of us would talk about meeting up in Petaluma to go watch a live recording of TWiT. This talk would go on for several years, until finally we were able to find a common time in our schedules and make travel arrangements.

However, it was a little bittersweet for all of us, as the day we were going was not the day that TWiT was recording. Nor were any of Leo’s other shows going to be recording that day. In fact, it was his day off so he wasn’t even expected in the studio at all! Aw maaan... Oh well, at least we’ll get to check out the studio itself, and we get to hang out with each other. Either way it still beats working.

The brick wall at the entry to TWiT Studios

So on the schedule were a couple of lesser known podcasts that would be recording during our visit. When we got to the studio, Brian, one of the interns, welcomed us and showed us where the important rooms were, namely the restroom and the break room, where he offered us beer and soda. Despite the fact that he went to our rival high school, Brian seemed to be a very nice fellow. We also met Tony, one of the production guys, who remembered Patrick (I was very impressed with this) from a TWiT related photowalk in Vegas. Brian brought out some chairs for us so we could sit at the edge of the set and watch the show that was about to start recording. He told us that he would give us a complete tour of the studios after the show was over.  Sarah Lane was on the set getting ready. One of my friends (who shall remain unnamed) started fawning over her, asking/telling me “did you know that’s Sarah Lane? She’s the host of iPad Today. She’s famous! I can’t believe we’re sitting right here across from her!” Don’t worry wife of unnamed friend, you’re much prettier, friendlier, and you know how to grow vegetables way better than Sarah Lane! During the show, we see Leo walk into his office behind the set. What’s he doing here? He looks a little disheveled, with bed head, glasses on, and half his shirt untucked. Maybe he was just trying to sneak in and out of the office without anyone seeing him.

With Sarah Lane on the set of "The Social Hour"

After the show ended, we got to sit on the set with Sarah and introduce ourselves. It was quite a big moment for one of us. Brian returned and showed us around the studios. There are three main sets, plus a mini set for the HAM radio show, and plus Leo’s office which is a recreation of his old TWiT Cottage set. All the sets are furnished with this sort of retro/sci-fi motif, kind of like Flash Gordon. Very subtle yet cool looking. We took a peek at the edit bays, and then Brian took us downstairs to the basement, which is mostly for storage, but it also houses the server rooms that run all the studio’s technical operations. While we were in the server room, Leo walks in while giving a tour to a couple of folks we didn’t recognize. Investors maybe? Friends? It seemed pretty casual so we sort of piggyback ourselves to his tour, listening to him talk and asking him questions. Leo loves to talk and didn’t mind us attaching ourselves to his tour. Patrick works in the TV recording industry so they talk a little bit of shop while the rest of us pretend to understand what they’re saying. Leo shows us around the rest of the basement, and then takes us back upstairs to his office and the rest of the studio. In his office, we finally introduce ourselves to him, and he gets a kick out of us growing up in Petaluma and still keeping in touch. Well, it helps that two of us are brothers. This whole time Leo is showing off all the cool stuff they have, like the boxes that control video switching, the perfectly balanced camera boom/jib that they built, and the main control station that can spin around to face the different sets. Leo shows us the fancy iPad interface that can control the camera inputs. A minute later one of the production guys comes over to fix what Leo just did and didn’t even know he did. Of course Leo takes it all in stride. He seems to be a very generous and genuine individual who loves his work. Doesn’t take himself too seriously.

The brains behind TWiT

Leo showing off the iPad interface

Later on, we bumped into Alex Lindsay, co-host of Mac Break Weekly and This Week in Photography. He shares office space with TWiT, running a company named Pixel Corps that does a lot of video and still photography. He was very gracious with his time, chatting with us at length (similar thing with Patrick and him talking shop while Amos and I nodded and smiled) and showing us the set they were putting together for a local political debate.

Recording "Tech News Today"

 So despite what we thought was going to be somewhat of a bittersweet experience, it turned out much better than we expected, and probably even better that we could have planned. If we had shown up for the regular recording of TWiT, things would have been much different. One, Leo would have other guests on the show, so he wouldn’t have had time to entertain audience members. And Two, even if he did have time to entertain audience members, there’s usually a decent crowd that shows up for TWiT. We wouldn’t have gotten anywhere near the personal attention that he gave us. So all in all it was a great experience geeking out at the TWiT Studios, and I couldn’t have asked for better company to experience this with. Here’s to Yew, Patrick and Amos!

WIth Leo in his office