Author Archives: skipbensley

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About skipbensley

Unabashed father, AV genius, part time dark knight, foodie, amateur chef, antifascist, volunteer and rabid Boston sports fan.

Pruning back and upping the Karma…

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I was out the other night at a social event visiting with people I had not seen in quite awhile. During my visit, one of the discussions turned to the good people doing the good deeds, doing things for others, being helpful. It also turned to discussing some people who are not being so helpful. I think when you have a large group of people there will be some of those. I grew up in a huge cliche of people in my hometown, then was part of a crew in college and now I am friends with some of the social media folks in Boston. Heck there have been times in my past when I was pretty damn useless. I’d like to think I have improved over the years, but like everyone else I am a constant work in progress. As 2010 comes to an end and 2011 begins I feel the need to “prune back” the social. I want to focus on the people in my life that matter most. I want to focus more on relationships, and not just the facebook kind. Seeing people in person, talking, interacting. I feel the whole social media thing has made me a little lazy. I have been a casual observer but a non participant in lots of peoples lives, I hope to put an end to that. I really want to be a better friend. I also hope to Start up Metrowest Media Makers with Roy Kranz here early on in 2011. Its time we started acting locally to reach globally. I want to make a difference for others in Metrowest. I also want to give more of my time to non profits and help get their message out utilizing video, and or audio visual presentation.

Lastly I want to be an even better Dad, lots of people think I am a great dad. I think I still have lots of work to do.
At the Holiday break, What are you thinking about? What are your plans for 2011?

How can I be a better friend?

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If stumble upon invited you…

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I owe you an apology..

If you received an invite to follow me on stumble upon I apologize. Stumble upon is a great site and it allows you to peruse different websites and for you to suggest them to others. I invited a few friends from facebook and a few from twitter I thought. It appears however the contacts in my address book also got sent messages. This was all done from my stumble upon iphone app. I am not sure how this happened, but if I inconvenienced you in the least I do apologize.

Sometimes I am all thumbs, sometimes I am technology challenged, at all times I remain human.

Respectfully

Skip Bensley

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I am very thankful

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I am very thankful this thanksgiving.
I am thankful for good health and especially for finally quitting smoking.

I am thankful for family, my kids are my strength.
I am thankful that I am busy with work and still find a little time for volunteering.

I am thankful I still don’t look my age, or feel it as yet.
I am thankful for seeing friends and reconnecting with some after 20 plus years.

I am also thankful for the new friends I have made this year, you inspire me.
I am thankful that I still live in the greatest country in the world.

What are you thankful for?

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Goodbye Mr. Moose

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One of my daughters favorite places to eat has suddenly closed its doors. We went there for my birthday in fact this past November 5th and I kissed the moose with my daughter. What we didn’t know was that we were kissing Mr. Moose Good Bye for good, because Bugaboo creek’s corporate entity (CB Holdings) closed 9 restaurants in MA and in RI. It’s sad because she will miss all the moving animals, but it does explain why Timber the evergreen tree had Laryngitis for thelast two years. Good Bye Bugaboo Creek good bye Mr Moose and Timber.

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New iPhone app test

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Greetings and salutations from the bathroom at work. Now apparently I can blog from anywhere. Posterous created this new app for bloggers on the go.

Hope this helps but I promise not to blog while driving to work. You can also add a picture as you blog.

This app could actually very useful.
Pretty cool. Happy Wednesday.

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Somebody handed me a chicken…

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Daddy Meal on the Fly #1
Somebody handed me a rotisserie chicken today that had been in fridge since Sunday. Never opened and refrigerated. I had planned on making my kids pasta but now I had a chicken. I knew I had no gravy at home so I hit the 7/11. They had no gravy, but had Chicken broth and cream of mushroom soup. I suspect the ladies just went aha but the guys are thinking what the F…

So I tore apart the chicken and cubed the breasts, I put the chicken broth and mushroom soup mix on slow boilI opened a can of sweet peas and I also cooked some rice in my rice cooker (but you can use stove top instead if you like.) Toss the cubed chicken and peas into the broth and mushroom concoction and slow cook for about a ½ hour. Bring to boil
then turn it down low so any unneeded water evaporates.

When Rice cooker is done with rice ( about the same ½ hour) spoon rice out and cover with Chicken, Mushroom and peas stuff. It’s ok to accept praise from your kids on this dish but you will feel guilty doing so I know I did.

It was really good and the 14 year old boy had thirds…

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I survived my first group exercise class.

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When you try and get in shape you measure your progress. You find a benchmark and you compare where you are and where you want to be. It makes little difference how far off in the vast outer reaches of space that might be, but you try and sometimes you do stupid stuff.
Taking a class with an instructor with negative body fat is stupid stuff.  Trying to burn fat and see out of ones glasses is also stupid stuff.  Its like I become my own hot house yoga thing. Well it’s hot damn it. 

Taking off the glasses was good but then I was blind and the girls around me kept stealing my hand weights. I started with 6 and ended with 2 which was a moral victory of sorts. It’s kind of like golf with my friend Phil. We start off with 4 balls and he ends up with 11.
My celebration however, is that I survived it, I may not have done all the exercises but I didn’t leave in the middle and I didn’t throw up either. Lisa maybe a negative bodyfat tazmanian she devil, but I survived it.  So what if it took me three hours to raise my arms to get
my fingers to move to write this blog post.

Baby steps. 

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It’s not personal it’s just business.

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There is big flap on the internet about Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana. It would not be a big deal to me except my 7 year old loves Miley and has me dial in the Disney Channel when in my car.  

Parent groups are up in arms over how sexual 17 year old Miley has gotten in her latest video. Hello Parents,  this is called the disney backlash. It happens when a music artist wants to evolve away from Disney and jump to top 40. It’s not personal it’s business. In fact this time Disney has been pushing Selena Gomez songs so the transition might not be that startling to some my daughters age.

People / parents  need to realize that kids grow up. Heck I have acknowledge this even if I have trouble with it. Sadly their heroes grow older also, just faster. The artists need to evolve as artists and go on to the next level. We will call it the Brittney zone. Miley needs to make the money while she can. 
This means it’s time to slut it up sadly. Its sad that society almost demands this.  It’s also sad that this trickles down to the next artist, then the next artist and so on.  They hit that darn Disney wall and cross over into the Britney zone.

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My podcamp 2010 experience, the magic of now.

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I really enjoyed this years version of Podcampboston, and It’s taken me a week to sort my feelings. It was a very good experience but it felt different. I think there is something different about hosting an un-conference in a building that is the pinnacle of convention in the Microsoft Nerd center. The Umass campus felt well like a campus, we went to learn and it felt scholarly if thats a word. It was my first podcamp then but it felt like we were going to camp. I also stayed in town last year so it almost felt like a vacation of sorts.
This year I hosted return of the Video suspects. A group I put together made up of friends, Boston Media makers and people I knew in the online video business. Our presentation last year was new way for us to share information about stuff we knew about in video. This years presentation went even better I thought. We also finished closer to on time before the walls literally came tumbling down.

When I signed up for a topic in July, my topic was too verbose for google docs and I was given 2 slots. I thank the organizers for this for the 2nd session went even better. “the visual suspects” turned to the audience for questions and we sourced topics, pictures and graphics live using google search, we were all working together and sharing on the fly and that was really cool, that was the magic I suppose of NOW ?
I am thankful again to Organizers Christopher Penn, and especially Michelle Wolverton for putting the event together again. You guys rock. Steve Sherlock should also be commended for being the smoothest as glass registration paul revere hat wearing dude ever.

If you wish to see a video of the visual suspects first presentation please see http://brilliantvideoproductions.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/the-return-of-the-visual-suspects-at-pcb5-4/)

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Taking back the body…

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A friend commented that I seem focused on fitness today on my facebook page. I am. I realized that in order to meet my grandkids some changes were in order. Good by Five guys hello veggies and hummus.

I recently joined a gym, after looking at a few places I joined focused on fitness on wethersfield road in Natick. The Owner is Andrew Provost and he’s been in athletics almost all his life. I figure if he can’t help me get back into less oblate shape then who can? His website is at http://www.focusedonfitness.com/ and he also has a fitness blog at http://focusedonfitnesswithandyprovost.blogspot.com/

I like the gym so far, and the people are all pretty friendly and always say hello. Andy also gives you a key so you can come in and workout whenever. He has given me tips and when I feel I am ready he will be assisting me with personal training. There are also group sessions and classes, but right now its about getting started again.

I am greatful I found this place, I once belonged to Golds gym but I am not really the muscle man type. I also went to another personal trainer but he seemed more interested in playing with fart machines then personal training.

Focused on fitness is a great fit for me. Now if I can just lose the 30 pounds I have set as my goal by next week…

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