Well, I shot some pictures on my way up here during the day today, and I shot some sunset shots this evening as well.
And I’ve just had the most amazing dinner at a restaurant called Nepanthe.
If you’re ever here at Big Sur, I highly recommend it.
Not cheap, but the food was stunning, and the atmosphere is awesome.
I was sitting outside in the breeze, but they had a huge log fire burning, as well as those gas powered patio heater thingys, so it was nice and warm.
Anyway, seeing as how I don’t do a restaurant critique podcast, that’ll be enough of that.
Here’s a few pics for ya….

So, here I am in Big Sur, three quarters of the way between LA and San Francisco (closer to SF).
The drive here is gorgeous.
Coastal driving that winds around foothills and cliffs. Lots of parts where you have to beware of rock slides and so on.
I’m in a little fleabag motel (why am I thinking of the Bates Motel?) for the night, but it’s ok.
About to head out and shoot some sunset shots.
Won’t post any images just yet.
I’ll log on later this evening after the sun has gone down and upload whatever I’ve got then.

Wow!
What a manic 3 weeks this has been.
I’ve now finished my recording obligations here in Ventura, and have 2 days to kill before my flight home tomorrow night.
I’m sitting in my hotel room, where I’ve been slowly going crazy for the last week.
I don’t think I’ll ever do a 3 week trip again.
It’s just too long without Cath and Max, and I know they’ve been really feeling it, just like I have.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the States, but there’s only so long you want to be living out of a suitcase, eating at restaurants (or worse, take-out) for every meal, only so much of all that you can take.
I can’t wait to get home.
Not sure what I’m going to do today (Friday)…. certainly don’t want to be hanging around Ventura all day. Seen enough of this place in the 2 weeks I’ve been here!
If I had thought about it early enough yesterday, I’d have booked out of the hotel here and headed up to Big Sur, which sadly, we missed in November. I suppose I could head up there today, and drive back tomorrow.
Mmmmm, maybe.
Anyway, so that’s the state of play here in California.
I’ll be back in Sydney at 6am on Monday morning (local time), I’ll have 2 days to recover, and then on Wednesday, I’ll be back at MIX106.5 as one of their Commercial Producers.
Sunday is our 6th wedding anniversary and I’m going to miss it. I pretty much lose that whole day due to the vagaries of the International Date Line.
So, on Tuesday, I would imagine that Cath and I will go out somewhere nice for lunch.
Oh great, ANOTHER bloody restaurant!

Sorry for the delay.
Last night, when I was writing the post-NAB post, I was up against the clock as Starbucks was closing at 10pm, so I didn’t get to publish this post at the same time.
As you’ll see, a bunch of these are shot around a couple of the casinos in Las Vegas.
Then, there’s a bunch of landscape stuff.
Megan (Author Relationship Manager at Lynda) recommended that I take a drive out to the Valley of Fire for some photography. I’m glad I went. It was beautiful. (Quite frankly, I don’t think the images they have on the official website are as good as mine… but that’s just my opinion!)
For those unfamiliar with it, it’s about 50 miles north of Las Vegas, just east of I-15.

Well, what can I say about NAB?
What a head trip!!
For those who have never been, allow me to try and describe the scene.
Imagine a hall that is approximately 300 meters long by about 100 meters wide.
That would be the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre.
The Central Hall would be the same size again.
And wait for it… the South Hall would be the same size as well, except it is 2 stories high!!
So, if my math doesn’t fail me… that’s about 30,000 square meters multiplied by 4 halls, plus probably another 7500 square meters of outdoor exhibits, which would equal something around 127,500 square meters.
I don’t know what that is in acres or hectares, but my feet tell me that it’s a lot!
After 4 days, no matter how much fun you’re having… you’re over it.
It was an absolute blast given that I had never been before, but I can imagine how those people who have been going every year for 30 years might get a bit jaded by it all.
As for stuff to look at?
Wow.
If it is in ANY WAY connected with the electronic media, it was there.
From USB jump drives right through to Bell Helicopter (see the pics).
From suppliers of mic cable to suppliers of satellite dishes.
Like I said at the outset… a total head trip.
I had a great time hanging out at the Lynda booth talking with people who came to have a look.
I also got to meet up with Andrew ‘Daryl’ Gungadoo (a long time BTP and SL listener). He’s posted a pic of the 2 of us on his Facebook page for those of you who are on FB and would like to check it out.
I finally got a chance to take the camera out in the last couple of days in Las Vegas, too.
Details on that in the next post.
But first, some pics from NAB 2008…

I know… I said I would blog regularly so you’d know what I was up to.
Last week was not the smooth week I anticipated, so let me backtrack a little.
Got into LA on the Sunday. That was ok.
On the Monday morning, I met up with one of my Sine Language listeners on the Amtrak at Fullerton Station in southern LA.
We commuted to his place of work, which is one of the MAJOR film studios, where he is VP of Post Production Services. He has asked me to not to name the studio, as they are very protective of their image/brand, so I shall respect that request. And I can’t name HIM, ’cause he’s an industry heavyweight and is well known in those circles.
Anyway, he gave me a guided tour of the studio’s Post facilities, which was just mind blowing for a guy like me who just loves anything to do with audio technology and hardware.
For those who are like me, how does a fully automated mixing console with 192 physical faders which can handle 580 inputs grab ya??
Wow!
It was awesome.
Or how about a server room (where they store their sound effects) which can store over a PETABYTE of data?
Yep, a petabyte.
That’s 1024 Terabytes, kiddies.
Anyway, I saw so much cool stuff there that I’d love to be able to say more about, but….
Then, that evening, I saw Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at the Honda Center in Anaheim.
What can you say? They STILL rock, even though most of them are rapidly approaching 60.
2 and a half hours, with only a ONE MINUTE break between the main set and the encores!!
There are some bands half their age who should take a note.
So, after the gig, I hit the road for Ventura and got in there around 1:30am Tuesday morning.
Rolled in to the Lynda studios around 9:30 only to find a few issues which prevented us from recording anything on that day.
In all honesty, even if we hadn’t had those issues, I’m not sure how effective I’d have been anyway, after the previous couple of days!
So, Wednesday, I got recording in earnest. Finished the title on Saturday around lunchtime. Can’t tell you what it is just yet.
Then, that afternoon, Max (my producer at lynda) and I went and checked out a recording studio in Ventura where we’re going to be shooting some live action stuff next week.
Then, yesterday (Sunday), I drove from Ventura out to Las Vegas… about 6 hours of desert. Not as visually spectacular as I had hoped.
I’ve been here 9 days and haven’t pulled my 7D out of the camera bag yet! Shelton would not be impressed.
Today was day one of NAB.
Woah! What a headtrip!
There’s so much great stuff to see, but there’s all these really gorgeous promotional girls everywhere. It’s very distracting! No, really, it is.
Anyway, so now you’re up to date.
I’m off to grab some dinner.