I have always wanted to find a program to make cartoons, and now I found a great one - ToonDoo. ToonDoo really makes it easy to import objects, characters and text into your cartoon. It’s done with the latest in Web 2.0 technologies enabling ToonDoo to run in any browser.

The story below actually happened to me. Move your mouse over the cartoon to see the rest. Read the rest of this entry »

My apartment is on the fourth floor of a ten story building. When I first purchased my apartment in 2003, a good friend of mine Jamie from Philadelphia made a very prescient comment. As we were looking out over the beautiful views from my apartment, he said “Wonder what you’ll do when those trees grow a little?” Read the rest of this entry »

I am now 48 years old, and I have just now found one of the greatest pleasures in life. Making a baby laugh. Perhaps it is their innocence, or the true sincerity of the laugh. But it just makes you happy and you almost automatically want to laugh along. We were in one of the nicer Asian restaurants in Rio called Mr. Lam. Solange placed two chopsticks under Teddy’s arms, and he could not stop laughing. I think that we had a better time than all the other people at the restaurant. Read the rest of this entry »

Solange has been dying to have a professional photo shoot with props and lighting. So one day, she snuck out when I was on a conference call and came back with the photos from the shoot. They really turned out great. Of course, the photo studio does not give you digitals but prints. So I had to scan them in, and then make this slide show. I really have to wonder when these photographers will enter the digital age! Hey that’s it! I’m going to open up a photo studio and only use digital technology. Oh well. that’s for another day. Enjoy Teddy’s photo shoot.
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I just learned that Jeff Nassiff passed away two nights ago. He had a long struggle with cancer. Jeff was a colleague of mine at Gateway from the very beginning. I remembered that I had taken a video when Jeff, RJ and Brad came to visit Myrtle Beach in March 2002. I re-edited the video as a tribute to Jeff. Rest in Peace, Jeff. Read the rest of this entry »

The weather is finally clearing up and we decided to take Teddy on a little trip to the beach. Teddy loved the experience playing in the sand and the water the entire time. I pulled out my camera and took a ton of great photos. It was hard to decide which ones to leave out. Teddy is definitely a full fledged beach boy. I can’t wait for him to get a load of the beaches in Rio de Janeiro. Read the rest of this entry »

My father turned 80 on March 27, 2008, and we decided to have a full celebration for him on Saturday March 28, 2008. We all spent the entire day together from lunch to dinner. We are all so busy in our lives that we don’t spend as much time meeting with your loved ones. I put together this video commemorating the occasion. The background music is Kool and the Gang’s Celebrate. I also put in a Ken Burns effect.
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I’ll put this recipe in the category of tasty and fast. The recipe is literally 30 minutes from preparation to food on the table. I like this recipe also because I invented it. It is fashioned around many similar recipes that you can order in most authentic Chinese restaurants. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, you read that right. HD DVD got it right, by bowing out now, because they realized that they are late to market. The concept of a larger optical format delivering higher quality content may have found success 5 years ago. However, in today’s environment, it is virtually a non starter. There are two basic and overpowering reasons why Blu Ray will fail: Read the rest of this entry »

The entire immigration debate in the United States is bordering on ridiculous. It is almost unbelievable that legislation has been passed to build a wall along a small portion of the border between Texas and Mexico. On top of this, the more strident Republican legislators feel that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars should be spent to expel all the illegal immigrants from the country. A witch hunt of a magnitude unparalleled since the Spanish Inquisition.

All of this defies logic for one and simple reason - economics. Here in Myrtle Beach, there is a large and vibrant population of immigrants. Where ever I go, it is just as common to hear Spanish spoken than English. But that is my point. The immigrants are out doing the things that consumers do. They are at Walmart and Best Buy. One observation. Unlike me, immigrants almost always seem to pay cash. Walmart and Best Buy must love that. One day I went to the dentist, and I was the only English speaking patient in the whole place. My humble dentist is raking it in. Read the rest of this entry »