So, I don't post on here very often

But I still get a ton of hits... Yes, I'm still a'writing. In fact, I have a completed novel nobody wants to buy, as usual, but most of my time is now spent being a graphic artist. Yes, I'm the same Matt Dinniman from Etsy and Fab.com. You can see some of my stuff at http://collageorama.etsy.com

URL Shorteners are cool

I was bored, so I decided to see how many URL shorteners I can stack to get to this post. So far:

http://bit.ly/13tNOy

goes to

http://dwarfurl.com/5dea9

goes to

http://doiop.com/firefliesinthecloud

goes to

http://is.gd/vu07

Which goes to

http://shiveredsky.blogspot.com/2009/04/url-shorteners-are-cool.html
(Here)

I've finally found my way to Twitter

I know, I know I'm a trend whore. But if it's good enough for Oprah, then I guess it's good enough for me.

Twitter.

When Can I expect My IRS Refund Check or Direct Deposit?

Every year, I do my taxes, e-file them then spend five minutes searching around trying to find the stupid link to the chart that tells you when you get your money.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, look no more. That link is here. (It's a pdf)

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition hits Tucson...

...and I'm a television star! Woohoo!

So, that television show my lovely spouse hates just rolled into town. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Not only have they descended upon Tucson, but they've descended upon my parent's neighborhood. Both my parents and Meredyth's dad live in the same neighborhood in Tucson's foothills, and just a few houses down from both of them lives a family whose house is at this very moment in the process of being rebuilt for Sunday night television.

All pictures in this post were taken by me. You can click on them to make them bigger.

The house

If you don't know what Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is, I can sum it up with a haiku:

Sappy sob story
They live in a crappy house
Ty takes off his shirt

The whole process takes six days, and my parent's neighborhood is currently on day 3. The whole street is cordoned off and guarded by roving security. Producers and stars on segways roll around and talk into walkie talkies. Trailers are set up on the street. Giant, football-stadium-like lights are raised, and for 24/7 the whole property is destroyed and rebuilt by an army of volunteers who yell a lot.

I was a bit surprised they chose a family in this neighborhood because it seems most families on the show tend to be pretty poor. Both parents are lawyers, and it's a *very* nice neighborhood with 1/2 million dollar homes. But the house was supposedly falling apart and one of the daughters has a rare blood disease, so I guess it all evens out.

Anyway, the people being my parent's neighbors and all, I signed up to volunteer. Since I had a decent-sized camera, I was chosen to be an extra in a scene they were filming. The scene involves a fashion runway setup in front of the old house with models and some of the show personalities walking the runway wearing clothes made out crap from the house.

I was a paparazzo. I still had to wear the blue shirt and red hardhat, but that was my character.

The Catwalk. The dude standing there is the director.

My job was to make my camera flash as much as possible and to not piss off the host of the show, Ty Pennington. The catwalk was surrounded by people and photographers, and some of us, myself included, actually stood on the platform with Ty Pennington and Ed Sanders, another host of the show, whilst taking pictures.

I'm extremely jaded by the whole magic of television process. Every "spontaneous" scene was done many times, even when you see people walking down the street in a parade cheering, or Ty running into the house to start destroying crap. They do it twice, then they do it again, only they pretend to cheer and remain completely silent. Also, Mr. Pennington wears an earpiece, and he's fed what to say into it, including all his witty jabs. *sigh* My television has been lying to me all these years.

We did the whole fashion show segment--which will probably take up 20 seconds of screen time when the show airs in March--several times, including twice with the cheering crowd gone, so everything was completely silent except Ty and Ed making their commentary and the click of our cameras.

Notice the cameras on me

So, I'm famous now. I did such a brilliant job they offered to fire that Ty Pennington dude and put me up as his replacement, but he started crying, so I declined. You owe me one, Ty!

Assuming they don't cut the segment completely, I'll definitely be on television--my torso and camera at least--when it airs.

I'm going to have to start getting pedicures and destroying hotel rooms.

Here is a flickr set with more exciting pictures all taken by me. Also here's a youtube video by someone else that was made during the filming of this. I'm one of the putzes on stage.

(On a side note, I learned after all this had happened... When my son was 6 months old, my mother was watching him and took him for a walk with her dog. They were attacked by a pit bull and a chow who messed up my mom's dog pretty good. It was their family--the people getting the new house--whose dogs attacked. If I had known that at the time, I probably never would've volunteered. To be fair, they put the dogs under the needle and paid the vet bills, but still! Hmmmph.)