What's so real about reality tv?

Since it's the winter and things are pretty quiet, and I feel like ranting, here's a rant.

As are most, my kids are off school for the holidays. Being typical teenagers, that means they sleep until the crack of noon, text until their thumbs bleed, and watch tv, interrupted by the occasional feeding frenzy and shopping trip. So I get to see a lot of reality tv shows. Well, not "see" really, since my office is on the other side of the house. It's more hear tv. I get regular doses of Joisey Shoaare (Jersey Shore), listen to me whine and look at my butt (Kardashians), and the rest of the "reality show" line-up. They make me long for the sterling dialogue of such epics as Real Chance at Love and My Antonio, but I digress.

So I sat down to watch the Kardashians, recently. OK, so Bruce Jenner, an American Olympic hero, has married into this psycho ward. Does that make him more or less crazy than the rest of them? But it seems that mostly, the children (and yes, I call them children even though most of them appear to be adult aged) complain about each other. And swear. The episode I bleeping saw is one bleeping thing after another bleep! Yes, I know people talk that way. Some days, so do I.

But here's my real beef. They appear to have some money. I believe one of them married a pro basketball player. They were considering a house that costs over $5 million. Some other (maybe it's the same one) has a fragrance collection. And there seems to be some clothing store involved. I didn't get a scorecard so I can't remember. So if they make each other so miserable why do they continue to see each other so frequently? Maybe they even live together. I don't know. The money? Maybe. My guess is they have a contract with whatever network and that they get a bonus if they stay on for the whole season. How do I get a deal like that? I can jump up and down and act like an irrational child for money. So I'm not nearly as photogenic as they are, but neither is Ozzy Osbourne.

And one more thing. Why does everyone end every sentence with "right now?" As in: I'm so mad at you right now! Really? As opposed to "I'm so mad at you last week" or "I'm so mad at you next Tuesday?"

The dark of winter

2009 is nearly a memory, and things are quiet in our corner of the world. We don't typically work New Year's parties, since that's my anniversary.

So what's on tap for 2010? We do a few things to make life easier for us, and better for our clients for the upcoming wedding season. We'll be re-building some cases to make sure our lights arrive at the event in good condition. We'll be replacing all our pinspots with a better model, that's both more durable and more aesthetic. But we still won't be done with them. Instead of using the factory installed lamp, we'll replace them with a better product which produces a more uniform beam. Check out our website for some pictures. And we'll be re-building all the lamp strings we use to light paper lanterns. We're replacing the white cord with a clear cord that will be less visible, making the lanterns seem even more like they're floating in space.

We'll also be purchasing more equipment, as always.

This, of course, on top of working with new clients and working with wedding coordinators and venues. It'll be a busy year and we can't wait.