VIDEO

To put it mildly, we have a lot of video tapes. 534 tapes with an average of 3 movies to a tape. Over 1500 movies. The very first movie we ever taped was Saturn 3 with Farah Fawcett followed by Smokey and the Bandit with Burt Reynolds. Eventually the entire list of movies will appear on my other web site, but I wouldn't look for it before the year 2000. Oh well, that's just around the corner. I'm not really in any hurry to do it as they are already categorized and alphabatized by tape and title on Commodore 128 and printed out so it's no problem looking to find where a certain movie is kept.

The first Super Bowl I have on tape is Super Bowl XV. It's on tape #23. Super Bowl XXXIV is on Tape #535 and there are 18 other Super Bowl games in between on various tape numbers. We have an additional 55 tapes containing an average of four hours of home movies that we have been recording on video tapes since the advent of the video camera. Starting with Christmas 1995 when I got a new videocamera all of our home movies from that time are on Sony MP120 8mm videotape technology. Just started tape #18 there.

Every episode of "I Dream of Jeannie" with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman is covered on 10 more tapes with 10 additional tapes containing "Highway to Heaven" shows. We also have 35 other tapes with a variety of programs. If I had my way I would have every episode of "The Red Skelton Show" but have never had a cable system that offered them. I have several episodes on tape but someday I will have them all. My sister has ordered me a Red Skelton Video Collection for helping with her site.

Adding to the storage problem for tapes are all the Master Tapes. At last count there were about 50 and that doesn't include all of the tapes that were bought for viewing by the grandkids. I can't keep up with what she buys for them because they travel between houses. There are also tapes filled with nothing but cartoons for the kids to watch so that when I am babysitting they can watch cartoons for several weeks and never see the same one twice. We have also been taping music videos from M-TV for about 16 years. I really wasn't sure whether to put that on the Music Page or the Video Page.

At times I have contemplated making a third career as a Videographer but I get more satisfaction out of doing it for fun than I ever would for profit. My first attempt at professional videotaping was in 1982 after a serious illness when I volunteered to tape the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing's Instrument Refresher Course at Hahn Air base, Germany using state of the art equipment. It was very enjoyable and such a success that I also did several other certification briefings for the Wing Consolidated Training Unit. Over the years since then, I have presented many newlyweds with memories of their wedding day, usually as my wedding gift to them. I refuse to videotape bachelor parties though, because it is too difficult to tape and watch at the same time.

Probably my finest hour as a professional videographer came when our friends opened A Car Quest Auto Supply Store and I was selected as the Official Photographer during the building renovation. I was even awarded my own videographer's hat with a large "V" on it so that I wouldn't be mistaken as an electrician, security system technician or phone installer. The best part was the beer was on the house.