Be Jesus with Skin On

I teach approximately 700 students each week in a public school. Since I can't openly share my faith in Christ, I often pray that the students just see something different in me. Every hug, smile, encouragement and high-five that I give is freely given out of my love for Christ. It's not about me. This job isn't just a job. It's my own calling and mission field. It's about taking seriously what He has given me.

Today, a student handed me the sweetest note…

Just by my actions, she felt a connection of a higher calling within us both. I was humbled. I was moved. I felt Jesus in that exact moment. I cried joyful tears. But more than that it was a beautiful reminder to myself "to be Jesus with skin on." 

Hope this encourages you wherever you are or whatever you are doing with what has been given to you. Everything you do does not go unnoticed. God sees it all. And others do too. And sometimes the two collide and both tell you in a special way.

Be faithful in all you do.

-S

As Promised...

This clip was a segment from a news show my group produced called "The Week Ender", for my TV Studio course.

Here's CURRENT NEWS TODAY w/ Todd Davis:

It Ain't Easy

So Sara has requested that I upload my latest Audio project. This assignment was a foley project where all we started with was the video footage of these silly cats with no sound. We were to add music, voice overs, and SFX. This was the end result.



If you were wondering, I made an A. Also, Sara made a few voice-over cameos as all the kittens.

This project has made appreciate all the work that goes into film work and sound production. It is a lot of meticulous work. Most people don't realize that in film and television most of the sound you're hearing is reproduced and not the original sound recorded. In fact, in most movies (especially action movies) it takes nearly two weeks just to produce 10-20 seconds of the sound within the scene. The production work isn't just done by one sound engineer either. It takes numerous engineers to work on the same task. Just try to listen to all the different sounds incorporated within the scenes of the TV shows and movies you watch. Hopefully you'll realize how much work goes into sound production too.

-Todd

Man Bands

I apologize for my lack of participation on this blog. This has been the busiest month of school to date. Though to make up for my absence, I will give you all a taste of what I've been working on. This is a commercial I produced for a TV show we're in the process of creating for an assignment. Enjoy.



I'll post another video soon, involving yours truly. Here's a preview...

-Todd

Where are we?

Life is busy busy! We are both slammed with responsibilities between work, school, activities, wedding...the list goes on and on. I (Sara) have three full weeks of school left and although that number looks glorious, the schoolwork is not. If you see me these days, I'm always in turbo mode. I hate living like that but its something that has to be done right now. I'm always coming and going, writing papers, making phone calls and on top of it all I've finally got into a workout routine which is usually one of the best parts of my day (unless I forget my iPod, then I'm miserable).

The weather has been fairly nice here in the mountains and I'm loving the longer daylight hours. Tomorrow we sign our lease on our new place which we plan to fill you all in with the details soon including some pictures! Thanks for reading our blog and since Todd posted a glimpse into his school projects I'll leave you with my latest one. Not as cool as his by no means, I mean I'm a librarian afterall, what do you expect? It's a tutorial on how to use an aspect of a database for research.

Sorry it's small. Sorry if I bore you. I warned you!

Toot, Toot!

Hope you tuned in yesterday to hear Todd's awesome commercial he made for a class project. I just want to give you a quick view from my perspective. First of all he works in a neat studio on campus that is full of equipment which is totally overwhelming to me. Just imagine buttons everywhere. If you are like me you would love nothing more than to hit them all and see what happens...which is probably not the best idea so if I had to actually use them for a purpose such as making a commercial, I'd freak out. Over the past few weeks I have watched Todd form an idea, write a script (which he hated for a long time--such a perfectionist), and gather sound clips. This process takes hours outside of class. Hardcore dedication. My favorite part of this project was joining in at the studio when Matt and Blake (his roommates) did the voiceovers. Hilarious. Fun fact I learned last night: during the campfire part, Todd is the one actually playing the guitar. Anyways all this to say, Todd is not one to toot his own horn so I did it for him. Can you tell I'm a really proud soon to be wife? He constantly amazes me at his talents! 

I apologize for the extremely cheesy title. Forgive me. It's been a LONG week and I'm a little delirious yet thrilled for some free time without the worry of classes. So how do I begin my break? Cleaning out my closet. Is it weird that the older I get the more fun staying at home on Friday night watching Who's The Boss and cleaning is thrilling to me? My plan is to follow some rules that you can see by clicking here. Pretty reasonable, right? Hope so.

Have a great weekend!

Listen Up!

Yesterday I finished a commercial spot for my Audio Production class so I figured I'd post it for the world to hear. The spot is for Nature Valley Granola Bars. Enjoy...



I had free rein to choose the product, write the script, and produce the spot in its entirety. My roommates helped me out with the voice over work and the narration is performed by yours truly. The spot could potentially be selected for the BEA Festival of Media Arts Competition where I could win $1,000 and a trip to Vegas for the awards ceremony! I'm quite pleased with the finished product. So there ya go. Feedback is appreciated. Let me know what you think!

-Todd

The Inaugural Post

Hello world, I figured it was about time for me to contribute to this here blog. Though, don't expect me to blog nearly as much as Sara. She is a blogging machine. I foresee a blogpost ratio of 9:1. But I will surely try to keep up.

As Sara had stated in a previous post, she obviously hasn't taken on the greatest surname ever just yet. Though we both felt it'd be appropriate to let the world know what's going on in the few months we have left until marriage (less than 3 months at this point...yowzas!)

So I'm sure most of you are wanting an update on my current collegiate lifestyle. I'm staying very busy finishing up my degree in Electronic Media and Broadcasting, which has been very fulfilling. I've thoroughly enjoyed learning the skills and techniques to record, film, and edit audio and video. It's a great trade to learn and will surely pave the way for a promising career.

Most people assume it's super weird for me to be back in school after a two and a half year hiatus. Though in reality, it's been wonderful to be back in Boone. I love this beautiful town. I'm such a social person it's great to be around so many people so often. Not to mention the great company Sara is as well. I'm so thankful she's up here with me as she pursues her masters degree. We still have a pretty solid network of friends who are still in town, and we've made plenty of new friends as well. So stop assuming it's super weird. I'm in college again! Who wouldn't want to go back to college!?

So there's my introductory blog post. It's great to be blogging again. More blogs to come. I haven't blogged since when I would blog on the band's blog. Phew, that was a whole lot o' "blog"s. "Blog" is a funny weird isn't it. "Blog" can be a verb or a noun. Of course it stands for web log, but I think "blog" could be an onomatopoeia for the sound of throwing up as well. Too far? Perhaps. Go ahead, make the sound for yourself. See...

until next time, folks
-Todd

Old School is Cool

All this week I have been studying for a cataloging test. Yup, cataloging. As in the old fashion way of writing typing on an index card all the information about a book.

Did you know?

...that works such as the Bible, Mother Goose & the Three Bears are called Uniform Title meaning an agreed standard title for the work....
...the author or title on the actual card catalog is described as main entry, not just title/author...
...the info on the back of the title page is called verso...

I could also get into how I have now memorized all the Dewey classification numbers but I'll save you the boredom. Despite how this post sounds, I do love my graduate studies. Except the art of cataloging. We don't get along and all the lingo is weird but I know its something I need to learn therefore I will. However, please take note I have no intentions of ever being a cataloger and these days most cataloging is done via computer anyways.

Technology makes things so much easier and efficient. Even though the process of old fashion cataloging makes me want to pull my hair out, I do have a secret love for it. My dad talks about when he used to go to the library he would have to look in the catalog through the cards to find his book. I can't imagine doing that. Yet still there is something about seeing an old card catalog that warms my heart. Our campus library has started getting rid of these cards and using them as scratch paper. One day I found myself looking at them for at least twenty minutes. Anyways, enough about that, finally my point. Maybe somewhere in your heart you find old card catalogs interesting as well. I have a love for all things antique. That is why today, in the spirit of catalogs I wanted to share something that I found years ago that is a semi-DIY idea.

Thanks to blyberg.net  you can generate your very own card catalog. Confused? Here is the idea: you can write a love note, catalog your old favorite book, special day or gift tag. Here is what I'm thinking: for the call number I want to do something that incorporates our wedding date such as 528.2011 which actually mimics a Dewey call number. For the title (main entry-trying to embed those words in my head for my test, remember) I think I will do something such as The Story of Todd and Sara. Then for description I'll either write a little summary about how we met or maybe I'll write about the wedding day. Possibilities are endless so go give it a try and have some fun with it! Wish I had one made up for you to see but as soon as I do (and framed) I will post about it.

PS: my favorite part is the scribble areas...how cute! Let me know if you try any, I'd love to see them!

Sara