Suffocation Danger Exists

Mill Woods Skate Park

Edmonton, Alberta

June 27, 2006

So, sue me. Americans are lawsuit happy. You know it. I know it. Lawyers certainly know it and they never fail to take advantage of it. But, it's certainly not their fault entirely. We citizens never miss a chance to blame someone else for our misfortune or negligence.

One byproduct of our litigiousness is the proliferation of amusing warnings stating the obvious and designed to protect against lawsuits. A recent favorite I found in my hotel room here in Edmonton. The in-room safe is about 14 inches wide and maybe 4 inches high. Comfortable enough to fit a laptop, but very little else. However, just in case, there's a warning on the inside panel that states, very simply, that "Suffocation Danger Exists." And, just as I was about to stick my head in there too. . .

World Cup Mania: We're nearing completion of the World Cup, the most prestigious tournament for the world's most popular sport; soccer. The sport has grown in the U.S. but at a "one-step-forward, two-steps-back" pace.

One recent fact caught my eye that puts into perspective how far behind the world we still are in adopting soccer: about 90 million people watched this year's Super Bowl. It's estimated that 1 billion people worldwide will watch the World Cup final on July 9. Perhaps the rest of the world knows something we don't.

Is the lens cap still on? Day One of shooting our TV commercial here in Edmonton went well. Sort of. Had a 4:45 a.m. start time this morning and we were pretty fried by the time we wrapped around noon. However, we got incredible stuff in the four scenes and things went very well, or so we thought.

Part two of the shoot started at about 5:30 this afternoon and when we arrived we found out that there'd been a problem with ALL the film from this morning and we have to re-shoot EVERYTHING tomorrow. They sent the film to process for the rush dailies and everything was red. Not sure if it was a film problem or a loading problem but it was definitely a big problem.

It's a director's worst nightmare and I wondered aloud if someone on the crew might be sleeping with the fishes tonight. It doesn't happen often but it does happen. So, tomorrow will be a morning re-shoot, then a long break, then an evening shoot for the second commercial that will go into the wee hours Thursday morning to take advantage of the long Edmonton twilight. Should be a long day.

We fly out at noon on Thursday and I'm looking forward to coming home to the family.

An Opening Mumble

The Arts District in Edmonton, Alberta.

10:15 p.m., June 25, 2006

Welcome to the first posting of Midwest Mumblings, a general blog about life on the battlefields of parenthood, middle management and all things Middle America.

As many of my friends will tell you, I'm a late adapter of technology. And, as my best friend will tell you, I often use him as my beta tester for new technology. If it works for Blake, I'll think, perhaps I'll give it a try. Well, of course, Blake has been blogging for several years, so it stands to reason that I'm only now falling in line behind him.

However, what really pushed me into the blogosphere might have been the fact that my 62-year old father, author G.K. Wuori, recently launched his own blog, the Fancy Dancer Coachlight Company. If he can do it, maybe I should too. And, he wrote me in an e-mail one day, a blog could also be a helluva way to keep people updated on happenings with my children; a 2 1/2 year-old boy and a newborn girl.

Another deciding factor was sunshine--the incredible amount of sunshine found in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in the summer. If you've ever spent time in Edmonton in the summer, you'd know that it stays light until about 11 p.m., perfect time to sit in your hotel with your laptop and try to find something interesting to do. So it began, launching one night from a hotel in Edmonton during a six-day TV commercial shoot with our neighbors to the north. But, more about that later.

So, here it is. Check back often. Comment. Share. Keep me motivated to keep posting.