Shortly after Simon was born, I started to think a bit about all of the old video tapes I had and what not, and how I really wanted to get that stuff into computerized form. While it's hard to say what kind of video formats we'll still have around ten years from now, the longevity of tape is something I question even more. The point is that I'd like Simon to see some of this old stuff, of his younger dad, his great grandmother, and frankly all kinds of things he may find silly.
In any case, I busted out the tapes this evening since I was doing installation stuff and otherwise tying up my laptop, and tried to at least get started. With 1999.
I had just bought my first personal DV camera, and I was working at Penton Media. I had the thing out constantly. It started with Thanksgiving, where it seems crazy now to see Stephanie eating meat, and our two would-be bridesmaids joined us. Extraordinary amounts of video were of Cosmo, of course. I also recorded antics around Christmas, including a trip to my childhood church.
Then there was the trip to Darien Lake, where I wanted to ride Superman as a preview of what to expect for Millennium Force. I went with some of the other Cedar Point nerds, including a couple of girls who were on the Magnum crew that year. Aside from my chubby ass and hilariously long hair (no wonder the execs at Penton wouldn't take my word for it that this Internet thing would be huge), I couldn't help but smile at the sheer excitement of it all. We really were at the start of an unprecedented coaster building spurt then.
Also neat was video from the MF construction site, and us driving around on the midways through the park. It's staggering just how different it looks today. I just can't believe how excited I was, and I feel like I may have lost some of that because I've been around so many ride openings. Granted, that ride was the start of something special, but still.
It seems like a lifetime ago, and it was barely ten years. Yet another reminder of how awesome my life has been so far.
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