here comes Random Leakage…
♫ here comes Random Leakage…
♫ right down Banal Leakage way…

[sung to the tune of “Here Comes Santa Claus”]

Happy Holidays
Snowy driveway
This is what a foot of snow looks like, dumped overnight – 12/26/08

I hope everyone had a good holiday, regardless of which one(s) you celebrate. I wanted to post this on Christmas Eve, but with a family party to prepare for [I made three cheese scalloped potatoes, a spinach artichoke dip and played bartender all night], the packed schedule of Christmas day and getting a nasty-ass cold/flu like crap on Friday, it took me offline for the most part. But now it’s Saturday, we have an extra foot of snow here in Salt Lake, I’m feeling a bit better and I actually have some time to sit down and do some writing/blogging.

As I get older, Christmas has changed. Instead of hoping for the perfect gift, I’m now giving the perfect gift. Instead of getting all excited for Christmas morning, I’m casually getting up and having a cup of coffee before opening gifts. The holiday still has meaning to me, just more focused on family, and not the religious aspect.

Being non-religious, I spend this time reflecting on everything that’s happened during the first 11.8 months of the year. Then as I try to squeeze in a few days off, I like to make time for family and friends and enjoy the company. But just because I don’t celebrate the religious part of Christmas, I still wish people a “Merry Christmas” without issue. People say it back to me without me becoming offended. For me, there’s no “War on Christmas” Over 95% of all retail establishments are closed this day. People everywhere respect this time with their families. Regardless of anything related to Jesus, Christmas is a time of the year when people should put aside their biases, forced religious views and any elitist mindsets and just let people celebrate the day how they want, even if that means no celebration at all.

Five Questions
question mark

The latest blogging fad…. started by… who knows? This set of 5 Q’s was sent to me by Kapgar.

1. As I’ve stated in my Google Reader Notes, you are ridiculously talented and it makes me ill (just kidding). If you had the ability to bottle up that talent and share it with the world, would you do it or horde it all for yourself? If the former, can I be in on the test marketing?

I could never horde my talent. If I can find the right avenue, I would bottle it up and share it with anyone and everyone. I’m hoping to do more than just videos, as I have some writing that I’d like to post for all the world to judge see. As for test marketing this talent, you’ll be on the list, towards the top.

2. Now that gas prices have gone way down, can we still expect the same quality and frequency from Scooter Sundays that we’ve come to expect? Any hints as to what might be forthcoming in season two?

Regardless of how low or high gas prices go, the scooter is here to stay. The quality of videos and posts will actually go up, at least that’s my plan. Using highly technical and scientific methods [upgrading video production software and hardware], Scooter Sundays will be transformed into a world-wide phenomenon that will over take the global market for….. oh, who am I kidding…. the videos will be a weekly fun-filled multitude of visuals once Scooter Sundays make their grand return at the end of March 2009. The part above about upgrading my video production is true, though. I am moving to Final Cut Express 4.0 this winter, which will allow me to do all sorts of cool effects.

As for any hints into the second season, I share nothing… you will have to wait in anticipation.

3. When the heck are the T-shirts happening????

As the 20 or so millions of Scooter Sunday fans know, t-shirts are a great way to spread the love of all things scooter. I am planning on having T-shirts available to order before the first episode hits.

Also, as Penelope suggested in the comments of this post, there will be a contest to name the scooter. I will post more details on this in the coming weeks and months.

4. What upcoming blogger meetups are you hoping to partake in?

I’ve been to two (2) blogger meetups, both involving Dave from Blogography and myself. [my wife attended the first Dave Lake City, back in April 2008] As for future blogger meetups here locally in Salt Lake, I would like to get together with some local bloggers, which I have yet to meet any. There is one who is very big-time [who I seriously doubt would want to meetup with any of us “small-time bloggers], but other than her, I really don’t know any. I guess that means I need to scour the blog search pages to see who is blogging here in Utah.

Until that happens, I wait for Dave Lake City 3. Oh, and TequilaCon ’09 [Whenever that gets announced]

5. How did you get your start in blogging?

Back in February 2002, I signed up for a Blogger.com account and posted my first entry [I moved and consolidated all of the previous entries to here]. My frequency in blogging was pretty dismal, at best, although I do have a smattering of posts that document parts of my life from 2002 to when I started Banal Leakage in April 2008.

The big push with this blog was to get me started back into writing professionally. Back in the mid-90’s, I did a lot of freelance work for several publications, but various life decisions halted that for a time. My skills have gotten better since I started putting out my words, pictures and videos for all the world to see. I will be adding other places I blog on in the future. But for now, Banal Leakage is my blogging home.

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Want to be part of it? Follow these instructions:
Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

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The End Is Near

This ends another segment of Random Leakage. Watch for my year end post next week. Until then, have fun and be safe.