old hat

So about 6 months ago my father-in-law decided he wanted to fix up their little guest house they have next door. Initally I didn't think it would be too big of a deal- probably a little repair work, maybe getting rid of some tile work that I did a few years ago, and repainting. That thought vanished pretty quickly once I saw the walls ripped off in the place. And as most projects tend to go, one mess leads to another and before long you're basically starting from scratch.

Happy Friday everyone! Or as I like to call it, Saturday eve. I don't have much planned for this blog and I apologize. It's late and I'm doing some driving down to the Dallas area early in the morning. So that got me to thinking, it's about time for TORNADO season again! I guess technically we're already in the tornado season as many people across the country can attest to. I always get excited for this time of year, but it's not because I want to see a lot of destruction or anything. I just think tornadoes are cool and if they're gonna happen anyway, I might as well be chasing them. Someday we'll have these things figured out and we'll look back and laugh about the times our house blew away while we were in the storm cellar.

Good Friday folks! I was out yesterday for my oldest daughter's field trip, so I thought I'd share some of the highlights.

Hi everyone, long time no talky. We have so many people working here I rarely get to blog these days, but it's good to be back. Today I thought I'd share a little about one of my hobbies and something I'm becoming increasingly passionate about, which is oil painting. We're chalk full of creative folks around here, not just with the great web, video and print pieces we put together daily, but everyone on staff seems to have some great talents they don't get to showcase very often. So I'm using today to go through the process of a few paintings I've done recently. It's not quite as awe-inspiring as one of Geoff's time-lapse videos, but it's fun for me to see the process when something's completed.

Have you ever had a celebrity sighting that wasn't? I was 1-out-2 on celebrity sightings during our many many Old Hat on-location shoots this last year. We DID see Bobby Brown on our layover in Chicago en route to South Bend, Indiana. He was with some lady who wasn't Whitney Houston. It would have been more exciting if she had been there, but I probably would've been seriously disappointed if she didn't act anything like Mya Rudolph's impression of her on SNL:

What's up, everybody?

My name is Dane. I'm a father, jazz musician, designer and intern extraordinaire - but you probably know me through my various interactions with or having to do with the pop machine here at Old Hat HQ. If not, go ahead and get acquainted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNM55hxMDl8

Yeah, that aired on local television.

I wanted to blog today about something I know a lot about. I wanted to provide valuable information for those of you that happen to be working today, but maybe you’re looking for something to read to pass the time before taking off on Thanksgiving break. This might not be either of those things, but this is what I’ve come up with.

Hey folks, Dustin and I are out shooting in the lovely Peoria, Illinois yesterday and today so I thought I'd recap our trip with a few photos. I have to admit Peoria has never been at the top of my list for travel destinations, but I also live in Oklahoma so who am I to complain? So far Peoria has been a good trip. And I only downgrade to "good" because our flight out of Chicago O'Hare once again got messed up (canceled actually), so we had to take a 3-hour charter bus ride into Peoria on Monday night. But I don't fault the city of Peoria for that. I blame big brother Chicago for that one.