Arts Conference Day 3 & 4 - Wrap Up

Day 3 & 4 of The Arts Conference were mostly "electives" or what they call "breakouts." Katie and I were able to choose which classes we wanted to take. Katie took several "Video Director" classes. I took some leadership classes. Tech Team, you will be hearing more on our classes and the main sessions in the coming weeks. We were also able to tour all the production areas. The picture here is of their storage/scene shop.
Willow Creek Has been around for over 30 years, from their beginnings in a rented theater, to their new auditorium, they have always valued the arts: media, music, drama, etc. It is clear in everything they do, and their church leadership understands this and allocates resources appropriately. Don't think Willow has "everything," because they don't. They still have to prove that any new piece of gear or whatever will add to the value of excellence.
Willow defines excellence as "doing the best with what you have." I will repeat that "doing the best with what you have!" So excellence is relative. We can still grow our excellence without getting more "stuff." We need to work on growing our skill levels in all areas. I am going to help all my volunteers by offering more training opportunities

Arts Conference Day 2

Today we heard from a few speakers, but by far the best was Ralph Winter, producer of the X-Men movies, among other things. Nancy Beach interviewed him about having to work in a team in Hollywood, where Millions of dollars are being spent, and how we can take that home to our teams; to prioritize what will give us the biggest bang for the buck, and then figure out how to do the rest with what we have.
The surprise I wrote about that was unveiled on Tuesday was tickets to a screening of "Superman Returns," which Katie and I have just returned from. It was amazing! I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but there were a LOT OF SURPRISES! I had seen quite a few trailers, and a documentary here in the hotel room, but none of those even hinted at a few sub-plots that were in the movie. You'll have to see for yourself. (And there were no extra scenes after the credits, we waited)

Arts Conference Day 1

The First Day at the Arts Conference was great. The theme this year is "collaboration." Nancy Beach started the conference off with the "Four Phases of Collaboration, " noting key elements to each phase. Session 2 featured Patrick Lencioni, author of "Death By Meeting" and "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team," the latter of which was his topic at the session. He was very entertaining and informative. He included an assessment sheet to find which of the dysfunctions your team suffers from. It was very enlightening.
And of course the highlight of the day was the Delirious Concert last night! It was awesome. They were recording a DVD and CD and gave us order forms to get it at a discount. Katie and I did not sit in a place where we could "be seen" but my friend Mark, who is on staff, was on a stage camera, and he was in the background of a couple shots.
One other surprise was unveiled today, but it doesn't "happen" until tonight, and I will post on it tomorrow.

Day 1 In Chicago

We arrived safely in Chicago on Monday. We were already getting hungry for lunch, so I decided that Katie and I had only one choice for a place to eat Lunch - Tommy's Red Hots for Italian Beef! It was very good.
After lunch, we went on a brief tour of some of my old houses, my grade school, high school, etc.

We kinda saw them out of order, but we went up the street to Glendale Hts., then into the heart of Carol Stream to Western Trails School and 914 Saginaw. Our tour continued on to Glenbard North H.S., then to Balzano's and 507 Nebraska.

Another Anniversary Picture

Here is Another anniversary picture of the two of us.

Our Anniversary Weekend to St. Augustine

Katie and I took a long week, April 28-May 1 for our one year wedding anniversary. I had never been there, but Katie says its one of her favorite places. We saw a lot of cool old buildings, as well as some touristy things, like the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum.

St. Augustine is the oldest continuous settlement in the US. It was founded in 1668 by the Spanish. There is a really old "cathedral" there, and an old Spanish Fort that started original construction in 1671.
There is also this Hotel (that is now a college) built in the 1880's by Henry Flagler. It was one of the first buildings: 1) pre-wired for electricity; 2) with running water, hot and cold 3) and the largest poured concrete structure of the day. It's like 4 or 5 stories. Has hundreds of room. But you can't see the rooms, because now they are girls dorms.

On our way out of St. Augustine, we stopped by the lighthouse and climbed to the top. The view was amazing; we could see all the way back to the fort, and far out into the ocean. It was a little freaky, but we could see for miles and miles and miles.

Maxwell's Big Adventure!

I decided to let our cat, Maxwell outside. I was bar-b-q-ing one day, and decide I'd let maxwell roam around the backyard. He was very cautious, sniffing every blade of grass, slowly getting closer to the back of the yard. He got about three quarters of the way back, on the right towards the tree, and ran at the tree.
He put up his two front paws and started scratching on the tree, like by instinct. Of course, he has no claws. About this time, dinner was done, and we were going to eat outside. We set the table, and I went to get Maxwell. He ran towards the gate, and I cut him off, he dodged.... right under the deck. Katie and I coaxed him and reached for him, and teased him with snacks. Finally, I stood over the edge, while Katie shook his snacks, and when he poked his head out, I grabbed him. We took him in the house, and of course, by now, dinner was a little cold, but I learned not to let Maxwell out anymore.

Hello, I'm Stuart. I always have thoughts and stuff that I'd like to share, and this seems like the place to do it.