All of the obstacles we face in making deadlines, making BIG mistakes, working with lazy people, or submitting to imperfect leadership, can become a weekly training ground for diligence, patience and humility. Or we can play the victim, and keep hoping for the weekend to come and “save us” from our “oh so tragic” lot in life.

But that could be considered the first lesson: your job is not your life. It takes up a lot of your time, but it shouldn’t define you. One thing that makes it easier for me to remember this is to make sure I spend time doing something else I find significant before I go to work. Then when I go, it feels like my job is just a part of my day, rather than the defining factor. On other days when I don’t do that, I’m likely to measure “how my day went” by what I accomplished or what took place in those eight hours, rather than the whole day. No workplace is perfect, so a “good day” can become a precarious pursuit. Something about getting up early adjusts my perspective much more effectively than just doing things after work.

The nature of my profession is largely high-profile. The amount of people giving my work a thumbs up is accepted by the “industry” as the measure of how well I’m doing. I generally disagree, but the hype can be powerful. These circumstances are a prime opportunity for me to remind myself what really matters in life, and to focus my efforts there. I’ve fallen flat on my face focusing on the wrong thing. I’ve kept calm and stayed productive much more often after praying that God would work on me while I work on a project. When things go wrong I immediately check my reaction, and I look up. Things don’t have to go the way we expect or the way we planned in order for us to get what we need. In fact, sometimes things going wrong or flat out failing is exactly what we need. While that’s hard to accept, that very same difficulty is the catalyst for our growth. No one builds muscle without resistance.

These principles are at the center of Dual Caliber Media, my newly launched DJ and video services company. Dual Caliber Media is about bringing quality in both skill and character to these industries. I want there to be a conscious attention to growth as a person and growth in craft. I’m also building mentoring directly into the company culture from the very start. If I’ve watched myself grow from being in the workplace, there’s certainly something that others a couple steps behind me could learn from my experiences building this company. Look out for spotlights of my mentees as Dual Caliber Media grows and see how they grow with me at DualCaliberMedia.com after the site launch.

So what about you? What do you feel like you could be learning from your job?

The ONE Retreat with The Remnant back in October was beyond amazing. The big project I alluded to in my September post was a feature length live action/live acting movie called ONE. It was presented in two parts as the message presentation for the retreat. And it was amazing. We shot and edited the whole thing in a month. And we hardly skimped on the tricks. It was a beast of a project, but more than worth it. Aside from the great reactions we got from the movie we shot for the message presentation, the life change and immediate impact of that weekend was beyond words. Students and volunteers alike, we were really privileged to experience God engaging us all on very personal levels throughout our experiences that weekend.

Before the high of the ONE retreat had even worn off, I was on my way to New York about a week later to support my colleagues at CTV receiving a really presitigious award. The Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) and UNITY: Journalists of Color recognized our station’s news department with an Edward R. Murrow Award for our investigative report series Black White and Shades of Gray, a look into the relationship between the PG county police department and the community over the past 30 years. Specifically our award was a commendation for our commitment to presenting the dynamics of diversity in our community. My contribution was the series intro, supporting graphics, and overall technical supervision. To say the least I was excited just to be involved and to have someone I’ve never met before give a nod to a project I had a real part in bringing together. But they were probably easier to impress than those teenagers the week before

Catch Rochelle aka @RochelleReports from CTV at 2:50.

I turned 25 October 19th! *cheers* Ironically, one of the things I wanted to do for 25 was go to the B&H Superstore in New York and buy something. I’m a geek. I know. So guess what I did before the awards show? Haha. Didn’t buy anything extravagant, just an obscure audio accessory I would rather see in person rather than buy online. But that store really was SUPER. Never seen anything like it.

On a more serious note, I’m really glad to have simply made it to 25. The years between 18-24 are statistically precarious for Black men in America. As much as I tried to stay out of trouble and as much as my parents worked to keep me on the right track, I’ve got friends and schoolmates that didn’t make it this far, and trouble found me enough times to be sure to thank God for still being here.

Going back to The Remnant, a big shift in the ministry’s usual routine was revealed just before Christmas: there would no longer be any Friday night services for Remnant. Instead, the youth ministry at First Baptist Church of Glenarden known as R.E.B.E.L.S. for Life would be teaming up with The Remnant for one huge Friday service aimed at teenagers and college students in the DMV at Glenarden’s amazing new worship center. We call it MERGE.

And last but certainly not the least update….. I’ve officially registered my video and DJ services company Dual Caliber Media!!!! Quality in both skill and character! Look out for the website, logo, and spotlights on some amazing people and amazing work coming from Dual Caliber Media! Follow on twitter @DualCaliber!

Enter: UserMatic, from EditGroove. It allows you to create a set of User Profiles that store the presets saved by Final Cut Pro. This means your audio/video settings, windows layout… anything Final Cut saves in its user preferences.

During my 30 day demo with the program, I discovered that there were some things UserMatic could save that Final Cut Pro doesn’t readily indicate as a user preference. I contacted EditGroove to see if they had a comprehensive list of what their software could store from Final Cut, and this is how they broke it down:

Here’s some background information which you might find useful:

The data which is stored in the UserMatic Library are copies of the
files residing at:
~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data
[where '~' is the user's home directory]

This includes the standard files stored by FCP itself, as well as any
Custom settings.

In turn, UserMatic creates a sort of ‘superstructure’ that encompasses
an arbitrarily large number of these data sets.

As for the contents of those directories and files, we set that set of
data aside for when they’re needed next, as-is, and don’t alter them
in any way.

As you noted, one of the files is a standard XML ‘plist’ text file.
The others are files containing data special to FCP, and in
proprietary binary formats. These are what’s known as “opaque”
containers — which effectively means that they contain information
that is “private” to the FCP application itself.

The contents are not documented by Apple — and because they’re not,
they’re also effectively a moving target … always subject to change
across different versions of FCP (and potentially, across different
types of systems).

Thus, it is not possible to provide a definitive listing of the types
of data that they contain — and any attempt at such a list is by
definition, incomplete and subject to inaccuracy.

It is for these various reasons that we make no attempt to document
this information in further detail (i.e., because it’s not under the
control of third parties, and because it’s continually subject to
change).

That’s not to say that such a list might not be useful, of course –
just that it can’t be definitive.

So, for all of the above reasons, we can’t officially “endorse” any
such list. But if you were interested in posting your findings thus
far yourself, we’d certainly be happy to post a link to it (with the
above caveats). [That would also allow the possibility for you to
update it readily later on, if desired.]

I told one of their techs that I was developing my own list of UserMatic’s abilities, and they offered to send me a free license for sharing my work! It’s not much right now, but if you’re interested, you can download and take a look at what I’ve discovered for yourself. Just imagine, whether you’re cutting in HD, one mono and three stereo channels of audio, a different RAID or external drive for every project, you can (pending Apple’s changes) save all those meticulous settings under one Mac account. Check it out below.

I’ll update the file as I learn new things, so bookmark this page and check back frequently!

PDF: Stored Settings Within FCP’s Preference Files

The movie I shot with director Avery Smith had its debut screening last month (late post, I know). Real nice affair at BloomBars in Northwest DC. Lead actors and comedians Tommy Taylor Jr. and Avery himself did some stand up for the standing-room-only crowd, and then we went into the main event.

It was good to hear some hearty, genuine laughs at some of the jokes in the film. Being my first time participating in the production of a comedy, it’s hard to tell what will be funny to the audience when you’ve seen/heard every joke countless times before.

Avery was also kind enough to make a small ceremony out of presenting his cast and crew with DVDs of the film, and a few kinds words about our contributions.

You can get your copy of the film plus some cool features on the DVD at hopesandschemes.com

I really enjoyed this video from Yaves The Street Pastor and Slingshot Media Group. This video fit the vibe of the song so well. It’s not often artists in the Christian rap genre attempt videos for songs this chill, my guess is because they’re harder to make appealing. But this is daringly expressive of the mood. I wish other elements were introduced along with the glass that fit the black and white minimalist vibe, but this was an impeccable use of resources. You can really tell when a video is made a certain way because someone thought a gimmick looked good versus when the artistic direction was for the sake of the song. This was definitely the latter.

I started paying attention to The Street Pastor on the song “Go Harder”. Honestly I’m picky when it comes to the UK accents I like in songs, right down to the track. This to me was a great delivery by Yaves. Find this track and more on his latest mixtape “It’s Pronounced Yah-ves” on the Slingshot Media Group website.

The poster and trailer for the project I shot, Hopes and Schemes, have just been released. The director, Avery “Byword” Smith posted the video today on YouTube and has had the poster up on Facebook for a few weeks now. Check out Pyramerica.com for some good laughs, and visit BywordSmith.com to learn more about the comedian and new director. Leave a comment on YouTube too!

But it goes a little further than that. It’s the feeling that going back to work means walking in the building, and leaving my dreams at the door. And I know me. Some people might hang up their dreams Sunday night, others leave them next to their bed Monday morning. But for me, I carry mine right to the door. And for me, it’s because I’m so… close.

I shouldn’t feel this way right? I mean, unlike most of my colleagues, not only am I working, but I’m working extremely close to my field and career path of choice. I get to mess with cameras, direct programs, edit projects, and develop graphics every single day. But the longing kicks in when I’m reminded that those more interesting things I have to do are also accompanied by the mundane.

In my own (fake) little world, none of the boring things exist. I’ve either taught someone else to do them, or a computer takes care of it. Because outside of the 9-5, after the “employee” chapter of my life is closed, all I wanna do is dream, and then make it happen.

But this is just impatience speaking, and I know it. Once again unlike most of my colleagues, I’m also very much on pace to exit the 9 to 5 world and do my own thing. I hope to freelance free time, keeping my current employer as a client. But I want to be free to get up and go when I’m ready, make the rules, and make my money. If I didn’t have the kind of job I have now none of this would be possible, which is why I took it, over the jobs that would pay more but require my nights and weekends. In the few years I and my friends have spent in the workplace, I’ve seen what that does to people’s dreams. They get home, no energy, no desire, no fire left in them. They gave the best of their days and hours to someone else, and their dreams never got to benefit from it themselves. I really hope and pray that that’s not where my friends are headed; that they really do have a practical plan for getting back to what they love to do.

There’s nothing more tragic to me than a life unlived. A life in reach to attain, but never realized. But for me right now it’s about loving the ordinary from an extraordinary perspective. I see deeply every day how what I’m doing in and outside of work is preparing me for what is to come, and that excites me. For that, I thank God. I’m not in there dead inside. I’m just preparing to live.

Transcript of the above video for the reading-types:

Let me tell you guys what I’ve been up to lately. I’ve been talking with my dude Rogers (he’s a writer). I’ve been talking to him about doing a web series as my next project. I’d really like to see what he could come up with and I told him I’d shoot it, you know, I’d do the visual end of it. The premise that he came up with: a Christian small group in which the members of that group are each connected in different ways, related to their different struggles or vices or sins that they’re dealing with in their own lives, but they don’t know it, and each thing is revealed as the story goes on.

Kind of just an idea of what we’re aiming at: you have the ministry leader, the small group leader, who is leading some sort of double lifestyle and that somehow is enabling or funding the drug addiction of another member.

What we need for this right now, while we’re just in this design stage is are ideas. Testimonies, little snippets of things, stories maybe you’ve heard…and that’s where we’re really looking for you guys to give some input.

Email me (deandre@deandrevidale.com), hit me on facebook (facebook.com/deandre.vidale), hit me on my Twitter (@JoyisWar), we’ll take it from there, and we’ll see what comes out of it! Aiight? Thanks!

The title of the film is Hopes and Schemes. It’s a short comedy narrative about pyramid schemes and one man’s hilarious experience with them. My production role was primarily to be the shooter, and at times a technical advisor to the Director/Editor. The editing is complete and now it’s going into mixing. It may be completed in time for the DC Film Festival in the Spring. I’ll keep you posted.

Entries coming soon:

1. We’re Not on Capitol Hill Anymore, Toto (new church adventures)

2. Adam’s Essentials: Work and a Wife

Oh and if this wasn’t enough of an entry for you, or even if it was, go check out my man Adam Taylor’s blog. He’s getting ready to move to Ethiopia indefinitely to serve the country’s street children population. Definitely a life worth telling about. Oh and this has nothing to do with my second upcoming entry. I mean, you could’ve guessed that, right?

Love is patient! (1 Cor 13:4) Live in Love yall! (1 John 4:16)