Photo-A-Day #2581

Today I got to go on a tour of the YesVideo facility in Santa Clara, CA along with four other bloggers. It was a a very informative tour and I learned so much about their program and how they handle all the media that is sent in to be converted to DVD and BluRay. I was so impressed by how everything is processed from the moment they leave the customer’s hands till they return to them. Every step of the way the original media is barcoded, recorded on security cameras and handled with care.

I brought with me a VHS tape and two 16mm reels. Bill from YesVideo showed me how they processed 16mm film. We opened one of the boxes and discovered that the reel had no film on it whatsoever. It was disappointing but I had not had time to check anything other than the outside of the boxes. The second Reel had less than 10 seconds of film on it but the folks at YesVideo helped put everything together for me so that I could view the film. It was way to short to make into a DVD but I did take the film with me and then shot this image of one frame that I could isolate. I used my macro lens and my iPhone to take the shot. the film is of my mom’s First Communion and I am not sure but I think that my Mom might be in this image. I need to find out from her if I am right.

After our tour of the facility we went out to Dave and Buster’s for lunch and to play some video games, skee-ball and basketball hoops. Lunch was a tasty treat and we had some fun playing all the games. They had games like Infinity Blade, Fruit Ninja and Pac-Man Battle Royale. We had a fun time playing and taking photos and videos while we had our fun.

After our lunch we went to the Malibu Grand Prix for some fast go-karting action. We each had four times through the racetrack and I tried my hardest to be the fastest but I got overly cautious on the turns thinking that I’d probably go too fast and flip over or something. I don’t think there was much chance of that happening but the speed was enjoyable.

After the Grand Prix we walked over to the batting cages and a number of us took some swings at the softballs. After one wild swing and a miss I got into a groove and started connecting with every last ball that came my way, some were even decent hits. I credit video games for my hand eye coordination.

The last adventure for the day was Sky High Sports, an indoor trampoline facility there you can bounce from tramp to tramp and even up onto trampoline walls and also into a foam pit. Word of caution to big guys like me, when you hit that foam you will disappear into it and getting out is no picnic. I hit the foam and sank in like a rock, I could get no purchase on my footing and was unable to get out of the pit. But I sure did have some fun. It was a great day and I met some new friends and had fun experiences. I look forward to seeing everyone again someday.

Disclosure: This post was created in connection with my appointment as an Ambassador for YesVideo. Visit www.facebook.com/yesvideo to join the conversation.