Setback, Comeback and Playback (video)
New Year's Eve, ten minutes till midnight. All set to capture the fireworks on the horizon. My home office window displays this panoramic view with a charming pond surrounded by two bridges. I love reflections and pictured the rockets bouncing off this surface. I mounted a camera to my laptop and climbed the stairs to the rooftop. Perfect, so far.
Twelve o'clock, New Year, welcome 2008! My neighbors marched outside with their decorative explosives. We waved, wished all the best and I could virtually hear them think "you workaholic, for once - hibernate from that notebook!". They simply must master the art of wishful thinking, because after 30 minutes of spectacle ... poof.
Heck (probably misspelling the first two letters), my laptop ran low on batteries and powered off automatically while I was recording the show. I hoped it got saved, so you'd experience those reflections I enjoyed too on the moment supreme.
Setback: Windows is Shutting Down to Prevent Data Loss, My ***
As soon as my computer resumed, I peeked through my fingers to this alarming message. "Movie Maker failed to save your video". I figured, but still searched for recovery options without any result. Goodbye 2007 and ¡hasta no vista captura!
Unless eBay sells an affordable time machine by now, we can't really travel back to a point in time. 12:35 am. A giant haze spread out like a curtain of firecracker smoke. Oh, I felt disappointed! Moreover, nearly all outdoor celebrators returned home.
Comeback: Stamina to the Rescue (or Deep Fireproof Pockets)
Fortunately, a handful of (with fingers intact) neighbors were still igniting several Roman candles, crackers and rockets. I re-collected my gear, ensured to include the power supply this time and rushed back upstairs to restart filming.
With the adapter plugged in, I recorded the fireworks after-party. Well, better to get your hands on a short video than no footage, nor a New Year's story, right?
Playback: Fireworks Welcoming a Fully Recharged 2008
Despite the fog masked the reflections in the pond eventually, you can still watch the remaining fireworks welcoming our New (+ 45 minutes) Year.
Fireworks video (5 minutes) in Flash. Get your .WMV version here
Hopefully you enjoyed this video and its story behind. If we play back our last year's mental tape, everyone will recall certain setbacks, huge or small. Sure, these require energy, but we learn from them to look and actually move forward again. That is the beauty and essence of comebacks; fully recharged batteries.
Of course, my initial lost video is nothing like the Seattle Space Needle Computer Glitch and still the crowd highly amused themselves. If you love videos of the actual countdown, then you might like Fireworks Around the World. From Panama, a New Year story came from Don Ray. He faced a different camera challenge himself, which reminds me to ask you all for expert advice:
Any suggestions for a reasonable stand-alone video camera?
