Brainwaves of Sken

First – I have completely missed all posts everywhere for the past week and a half. I have been entirely engrossed in my trip to the NAB conference in Vegas, which is finally done, hooray!

The whole weekend was pretty intense – an incredible number of people at that convention, all walks of life, all adult ages. You can’t tell the difference between a college student on a free exhibition badge and a young director looking to spend a few hundred grand on his next project.

The first two days of training were solely to prep me for the Apple Pro – Final Cut Pro Level One certification exam. I passed! It’s kind of a big deal to me, particularly since three of my new friends in class did not pass, and the instructor says pass rate at conferences is 40%.

We celebrated the end of that training by going to a grungy little british pub, where I had the blandest indian food I’ve ever eaten – which is probably appropriate, come to think of it. Beers all around, and hilarity ensued!

I walked and walked and walked, usually carrying my training books, notebook, and a metric tonne of brochures and free pens. Seriously, pens and lanyards were everywhere, and virtually no other loot to be had this year.

My next three days were ALSO spent training, but class-by-class, and maaaan, my brain filled up by the last day. I learned so much, not just about editing but about workflow and about thinking of the big picture. I’m grateful to have been allowed to go – it’s one of the cool things my job has afforded me.

I was there for the Final Cut Pro User Group Supermeet, which is essentially at 1500-person-strong party with a ton of vendors giving discounts and freebies. This year the vendors were kept to the entrance because Apple took over the entire show (a first), and used it as a sneak preview of the next version of the editing program. They’re dropping the price about 60% to $300, which is a pretty incredible thing. It won’t be out until June, but it is exciting enough that I would consider buying a new editing system just to work with it some more at home.

The flight there was pretty funny, with a cute lesbian flight attendant who did magic tricks like she was passing out food. ;) She made my ring disappear momentarily, but don’t worry, I was still married!

Coming back, I picked up tangerine penguin gummies for consolation prizes for Geek Family Feud at Penguicon, hehe. Lucy picked me up from my redeye flight and took care of me for the day, which was honestly super awesome.

Anyway, I have a lot to think about re: editing and work, and I have a ton to do before Penguicon arrives. I’m just really glad that I didn’t convince the bosses, fly out and study my ass off for nothing!

Oh, and what the certification means is that I can use an apple logo (with the appropriate text) on my business cards and any web sites or resumes I might have. Woohoo!

~ by Skennedy on April 17, 2011.

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