Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Blue Sky!

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

So things have moved very quickly over the last week and a half, but to sum up – I got a temp job at Blue Sky to work on Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. I flew out to New York yesterday, and report to work today. The job will last a couple months and will keep me very busy. I am out here on my own – my wife and kids are staying in California.

So it’s a mix of really, really good news (job at Blue Sky), mixed with no-so-good news (leaving family at home). I think this is what they call “bittersweet”.

Posted in Animation, Family | 1 Comment »

The Santa Photo

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

Went to South Coast Plaza last night with Heather and the kids.  We had planned to go to Disneyland, but the rain forced a change in venue.  Since we’ve learned our lesson about over-promising and under-delivering, Jack had no idea that the original plan had been Disneyland, only that we were going to do something fun.

So we went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, which Jack totally loved (although the moving gorillas kinda freaked him out a bit).  Then we colored a little wooden pull-toy.  South Coast has these stations where you can buy small wooden toys and figures and then use Crayola markers to color them.  So we got Jack one of those, and he spent some time scribbling on it.

Next was the carousel.  For anyone who isn’t from the area, South Coast Plaza has a carousel in one courtyard (called, wait for it…Carousel Court!).  During the holidays, they remove all the regular horses and replace them with reindeer.  At a $1 per ride, it’s well worth it – Jack absolutely loved it.

There’s a Santa station right there in the same area too, but we decided we would walk across the bridge to Crystal Court.  If you get your picture taken with Santa there, you also get a free ride on a small little Christmas train.  Jack loves trains, so it was pretty much a no-brainer.

Yep, that’s my two rugrats with Santa.  I was surprised at how well Ronan did.  He was a little concerned at first, but once the camera’s flash started, he focused on that pretty quick and forgot that mommy and daddy weren’t holding him.

After Jack asked Santa for “A Polar Express train, and an airplane, and some toys”, we took him to the small train for his free ride.  It’s a cool little setup – a small train decorated as Santa’s Express.  The kids get a couple rides around the giant tree that’s in Crystal Court and BAM, it’s a happy, happy night.

Just for comparison’s sake, I’ll have to get my mom to dig out and scan a couple of the santa photos I had taken when Jim and I were kids.  I was looking at them last weekend – it’s amazing how low the standards were for Santas back in the 70’s and early 80’s…

Posted in Family, Holidays | No Comments »

Cripes!

Friday, November 7th, 2008

Man, I promise that I really AM working on a new shot.  It’s just extraordinarily difficult to find solid blocks of time to work on it right now.  I’m watching both our boys during the day now, so that pretty much rules out any time to work on animation from 6am to 8pm.  It’s just not possible to get a solid block of time in there where neither boy needs something or another.  Plus the fact that one of the boys is only a year old….forget it – he requires near constant attention when he’s awake, otherwise I’ll turn around and find him drinking out of the toilet or licking the funky chocolate milk stain on the carpet from when his older brother spilled a full glass….well, nevermind – suffice to say, I don’t get any work done during the day.

That leaves me a few hours each night to try to work on stuff.  And I just don’t have the ability to cut myself out of my family’s life on weekends like I did when I was in school.  It just isn’t possible anymore.

So right now, I feel like the tortoise – plodding along, slow and steady.  I’ll finish the race (ie: get my next job), but I’m not going to be coming in first place like in the old Aesop fable.  Instead, I’ll come in a day late, just (hopefully) not a dollar short.

I’ll get a vid up ASAP with my new shot.  I promise!  :)

Posted in Animation, Bad Jeff! No Biscuit!, Family, Job Search | No Comments »

A Word of Thanks

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

Just wanted to post a quick “Thank You” to everyone at AnimationMentor – Bobby, Carlos, Shawn, Jay, Suzanne, Molly, Michael, Taylor, and a whole bunch of other people who work really, really hard to bring the best possible experience to all the students.

Also, a very big “Thank You” to my mentors in the program: Dave Breaux, Ryan Donoghue, Mike Walling, Sean Sexton, Jed Diffenderfer, and Greg Whittaker. You all contributed in major ways to my success at AM and I am very appreciative of the fact that I got to work with you in the program. Hope to meet you all at some point or another in the real world!

And last, but in no way least, a Thank You so big, writing it down doesn’t even do it justice. My wife, Heather, and 2 sons, Jack and Ronan, have had to bear the brunt of my time in AM. From weeknights where I came home from work, ate dinner, and maybe had an hour to play with Jack before starting on an assignment, to whole weekends where all I did was sit in front of the computer; their patience, understanding, and faith in me have kept me going to the very end. Now that I’ve finished, I’ll be re-aquainting myself with them (ok, that last bit was tongue-in-cheek…and yet, not).

One more Thanks – my mom, dad and brother. They also were a big source of support, and I greatly appreciate it.

Posted in Animation, Animation Mentor, Family | No Comments »

A son is born

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. On October 15, my wife and I welcomed our second son into the world. Little Ronan Weidner was born at 6lbs, 6oz and 20 inches long. He was early by more than a month, and technically a preemie, but he’s doing very, very well.

So a new baby, combined with working on my short film, has kept me waaay too busy. Oh yeah, and my wife got me a Wii for my birthday on October 9th, so my free time (such as it is) goes toward playing the few games I have (Zelda: Twilight Princess and Super Paper Mario). Oh, and Guitar Hero 3 comes out on Sunday…need I say more?

Anyway, this was supposed to be about my son – I’ll post pics someday I’m sure…maybe after I graduate.

Posted in Family | No Comments »

argh!

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

Yes, I’m terrible at maintaining a blog. I know that, if you actually READ this, you know that…

And it’s only going to get worse for the next 3 months.

Class 6 starts this week. The last 3 months of the Animation Mentor program for me. Kinda hard to believe! Also, kind of a relief. I’ve loved every minute of this, but I’m ready to be done. It just takes a lot out of a person to keep up the high level of involvement in work, AM, family, etc. It hasn’t been easy, but it will have been worth it.

Anywho, things are gonna get crazy. I’ll be animating my short film – still without a title, by the way – and I’m a Peer Buddy at AM, which comes with an extra set of responsibilities. It’s cool though – I enjoy helping other students.

Posted in Animation Mentor, Family | 1 Comment »

It’s A. . .

Sunday, June 24th, 2007

BOY!

Went in for my wife’s ultrasound on Friday afternoon, and although the li’l rugrat was curled into a ball at the start of the session, by the end, he had uncurled and was giving us the “money shot”.  That’s right – he’s not quite the exhibitionist that his older brother was, but he’ll hold his own (ahem!).

We haven’t decided on a name quite yet, but we have a couple finalists in the running.  I’ll post more in that regard a bit later.

Posted in Family | 1 Comment »