Archive for the ‘Diversions’ Category

Reliving the Battle of the Alamo

Monday, March 11th, 2013

I got to spend Sunday afternoon with members of the San Antonio Living History Association, who reenacted the historic battle of the Alamo and showed onlookers what life was like 177 years ago. This was heaven for history buffs.

Daily Diversion: Tedesco munchkins invade Woodlawn Lake Park

Monday, March 26th, 2012

Our wacky kids acting like themselves in public. No ducks were harmed in the making of this video.

Life at a stock show: Winning is bittersweet

Sunday, February 26th, 2012

When you work the weekend shift at a newspaper, you never know what you’re going to cover.

Yesterday I witnessed a shy, hard-working girl named Caeley Cody win a record $112,000 at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo for her grand champion steer, Rabbit.

But winning can be bittersweet.

Daily Diversion: Bracken Bat Cave

Monday, August 29th, 2011

Bracken Bat Cave, home to the largest concentration of mammals on the planet with 20 million Mexican free-tail bats, is opening up to the general public for a brief period.

This is awesome.

A few years ago, Jen and I saw the surreal exodus at dusk. So many bats fly out of the cave to feed, they create their own vortex.

Express-News Photographer Billy Calzada shot a very cool video of the bats in action. Check out the time-lapse photos.

I’m famous! Colbert Report mocks John Tedesco! Wait, what?

Thursday, January 20th, 2011
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word – Disintegration
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> Video Archive

It sounds too good to be true, but did you know there are two John Tedescos roaming around in the world? It’s true!

Good Spock, Bad SpockIf you recently Googled “John Tedesco” and wound up at my blog, you’re probably looking for this Colbert Report episode that made fun of the other John Tedesco, who is a school board member in Wake County, North Carolina.

This is all very confusing and for now I’m going to think of me and the other John Tedesco as the Good Spock/Bad Spock in that one Star Trek episode about an alternate universe. I’m assuming the other John Tedesco is Bad Spock because they both have goatees and a Vulcan death grip.

I will provide a full update when Colbert will inevitably make fun of me at some point in the future.

(Photo credit: Dave Friedel on Flickr)

Daily Diversion: LBJ orders pants

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

Hat tip to Dean Lockwood: “Texas classic. LBJ ordering — explicitly — from Haggar in 1964. Listen for the belch , ‘nuts’ and ‘bung hole.’”

Telling the story of the Texas Legislative session with a creative timelapse video

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

I’m a sucker for timelapse videos so I’m 100 percent biased, but I thought this video by the Texas Tribune was a creative way to give readers a sense of what it’s like in Austin during the first day of the 2011 Texas Legislative session. Cool idea and nice execution by Caleb Bryant Miller and Todd Wiseman.

Daily Diversion: Blizzard Timelapse

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

I’m a sucker for cool time-lapse videos, and this one showing how much snow fell on the East Coast is no exception.

How to take 1,000 pictures of your kid in a week

Friday, November 26th, 2010

So I bought my first DSLR camera, a Canon Rebel T1i, and I’m having an absolute blast taking pictures of Pete with it. This thing is addictive. These are a few Thanksgiving pics I took, which is a fraction of all the pictures I snapped yesterday without even thinking about it.

Why is this so much fun? Why not use a basic point-and-shoot camera? What’s wrong with me? Those are all valid questions. Jen and I own some nice point-and-shoots. But I wanted really good portraits of Pete in natural light and with blurry backgrounds. Our basic cameras didn’t really do a good job at that task — especially indoors, where Pete spends a lot of time learning how to walk and find new hiding places.

When I plunked down $575 for the Canon on Amazon and said to Jen, “Guess what I just bought?” she gave me the arched-eyebrow look, which usually happens after every gadget purchase. When she found out how much the camera cost, she said she was glad we have separate savings accounts.

But we both quickly learned that a good camera with the right lens can be a lot of fun, and we’ve taken a ton of pictures of Pete that we probably couldn’t have taken otherwise. I like this shot Jen took yesterday of me and Pete:

John and Pete

Now I just need a new gadget to store our massive collection of digital photos …

Daily Diversion: Get perfect attendance in school, fly with a stunt pilot

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Here’s one good reason to stay in school. Sweet video by Billy Calzada.