Baby Ducks on a Slide

….or…

“Baby Steps: My First Attempt at Posting a Video”

You know, being a 25 year old computer geek with 13 years of heavy PC experience under my virtual belt, one would think that I would already know how to do video blogging.

But alas. I offer up to you my sheer ignorance when it comes to digital videos! I know if I focused my efforts I could learn, but I just never took an interest before. And sadly, my facebook, myspace, and other websites are devoid of digital video content.

In fact, my whole life is sadly devoid of digital video content!

Outside of the few camera phone videos I’ve taken over the years and the 30 second digital camera videos (which I hate doing because it wipes my batteries out terribly fast), my life experience has been recorded on nothing more than the old mini-VHS tapes from our ancient 10 year old JVC camcorder.

This past christmas, with thoughts of Little Jack’s first year dancing in our heads, we purchased for ourselves a new high quality digital video palmcorder, complete with fold out viewer. It records directly to DVD and is very, very user friendly. WHOOHOO!

(Sadly, I haven’t figured out how to transfer scene portions of my dvd onto my harddrive. I know how to rip the whole thing but I dont want to show 30 minute videos! Perhaps that will be my next project?)

Right now though my focus is on learning how to upload my camera phone videos to youtube and then add them to my wordpress blog (which is on my own host – not through wordpress.com). Afterall, in a few months I’ll need to know how to post videos of Little Jack for my family and friends who read this! I better be prepared….

So here goes…

Every year in October, the South Carolina State Fair comes to town. And every year, in the animals section, the “baby ducks on a slide” has always been one of my favorite exibits. The simplicity (and perhaps ironic cruelness) makes this attraction a huge hit with everyone. See, there is this huge metal slide, with surdy ramps on either side. At the top of the slide is a tray of food….and a water fountain. The duckies, being just slightly too short to fully reach the food, stretch as much as possible and then PLOP! They lose their footing and end up sliding down the slide to the pool at the bottom.

None of them stay on tootoo long (the exibit manager is always 2-3 feet away) and there’s a heat lamp at the top. I use to beg my dad to go see them when I was little! Maybe Little Jack will enjoy them one day as much as I always have.