The Oral Histories of the Purple Foxes

I'm flying to Las Vegas in ten days to work on an incredible video project collecting the oral histories of U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam veterans from HMM-364, a helicopter squadron called the Purple Foxes. My uncle was a pilot in the squadron and he is coordinating the project. I am proud to be a part of it and am looking forward to meeting these gentlemen at their reunion in Mesquite.

I was a Navy man, so I expect to catch a lot of hell from these guys, but as I always tell them, they served in the Department of the Navy, not the Department of the Marine Corps. Of course, I'm just giving them hell. I certainly don't mean any disrespect to fellow service members, much less fellow veterans of a foreign war. It is my honor and privilege to use my knowledge and skills to help these men document their experiences. Several men have responded to my request for copies of personal footage that they may have recorded while in Vietnam. The footage has been digitized and I already have three DVDs of video to watch and log.

The approach this year is very relaxed as it is the first year. I'm using a DSLR with a Zoom H4n to capture video and audio. I am planning to shoot interviews in front of a green screen because we will be collecting over a period of several years and it provides flexibility in post-production for unifying them. The objective right now is to simply get the guys to tell their stories on video and collect it for archival purposes. They will be individually edited and posted online with the permission of the interviewee. From there we will improvise.

As a producer, this is a dream project. A little bit of travel to get out of the studio (or home), a great group of people to work with, interesting stories and easy post-production work. Since I'm not stringing all of these together into an overall story, editing will be quick and painless.

Be sure to check back for updates. I'll be posting more soon.

What I Did When My MacBook Pro Died

Last week, my old MacBook Pro stopped working. It wouldn't power up. After reading many threads, I decided to go ahead and schedule an appointment at the Genius Bar (the service desk at the Apple store). I took it in and after checking it out, the technician showed me a significant bow in the body (and the circuit board inside). The good news is that it is fixable. The bad news is that it will cost about $1200.

After digesting this information, I decided to check out iFixit.com to run my own diagnostics. As I said, it's an old model so the warranty is expired. With no success, I began cannibalizing the components before recycling. I perform backups regularly, so I wasn't stressed about data recovery, but my hard drive was still good so I purchased a portable hard drive enclosure from MicroCenter and gave it to my better half to use as an external drive. It works great and she loves it. I chose a small, stylish enclosure that she could carry in her purse, but you can get a basic one for as low as five dollars.

Once all my files had been transferred to my iMac, I began installing the apps I use for work (Adobe CS5, Apple's iWork, Final Cut...). Luckily, I maintain a folder with most of the DMG files, so installation was quick and painless. I did, however, have to call Adobe and request another activation credit, so I could register another license on my iMac. I did not have to do so for my Apple products. The only thing I had to invest much effort in was finding and replacing my extensions for Google Chrome. Now that I have done that, all of my extensions are bookmarked on Delicious to save me that heartache next time.

The point is... I learned a few things that may help you minimize stress and get back online more quickly:

1. The Genius Bar cost me nothing and was worth the trip. Make the appointment.
2. If the hard drive is good, you can buy an enclosure for less than $10 to recover data.
3. It's very simple to remove your working components (hard drive, memory, processor...). Keep them, sell them, or reuse them.
4. Recycling is easy through Apple or any of the solutions from the EPA site. Do it.
5. Micro Center is where geeks go when they die.

I provided several links in this post to help you find the resources that helped me, but if you still have questions (not technical Qs, as I'm not an engineer) or suggestions, please leave them in a comment.

Why Nonprofits Need Social Media

As an advocate for the hemophilia community, I have a great appreciation for social media and what it can do for nonprofits. Let me begin by establishing that I am specifically talking about community-based nonprofits who exist for the purposes of educating and advocating on behalf of individuals and families affected by medical disorders.

The problem I see most within the hemophilia community is that local associations, and even national ones, seem to be disconnected from the communities they serve. They have newsletters and websites that connect us, but only the National Hemophilia Foundation and Hemophilia Society of Colorado seem to use social media strategy and planning to connect with their communities. Most others have merely created a Facebook page and/or Twitter account, but have no strategy or plan in place. Some have not even made it that far. Regardless of what stage each organization may be at, all must embrace social media if they plan to exist in five years.

Resources are limited, especially in today's weak economy. Many nonprofits are requesting funds from individuals and organizations who receive proposals and requests from several charities. Competition is fierce and those donating will have to make hard decisions. These decisions will likely include the following questions:

Why does this organization exist and who do they serve?


How do they serve this community and how will my funds serve an individual or family?


Are they making the most of each dollar or are they squandering them on unnecessary events?


In order to compete, nonprofits must be able to show that they know and understand the needs of their community, that they can provide products and services designed to help with those needs, and that they have a sustainable plan to do so.

I believe many nonprofits, including my local association, are disconnected from the communities they serve. They do not know or understand the needs of these communities. This is the foundation for failure. For example, if I need a helmet, but you make me a knee pad, that will not help me with what I need. Sure, I may be able to use a knee pad, but what I really need is a helmet. Nonprofits can easily use social media to listen to their communities, to discover what they need and respond with appropriate products and services. Please stop using outdated traditional models to communicate and interact with members.