Proof of Concept

randy@letters-to-rachel.memorial

January 26

Dearest Rachel -

I've concluded that there's no way that I'm going to be able to tell you everything about my upcoming trip in so many words; pictures are going to be necessary, and perhaps moving pictures even more so. So between one thing and another, I've decided to put together short video letters to tell you about my upcoming days, complete with scenes in the background – and hopefully in front of me as well, assuming I can figure out how to put together several shots in sequence (and have the time to do so) – that show you where I am and what I'm seeing.

Admittedly, it's a complete 180° turn from my original plans regarding YouTube; I never intended to get in front of the camera. Right from the outset, I wanted to have an animated avatar to represent me, because who would want to look at my face? As it turned out, I concluded that you would want to see me as much as I want to see you, so… here we are.

And here's my first take, as I was walking into the Chicago Fashion Mall late yesterday morning.

As you can tell, I don't have anything prepared to say – which I assume will be the case more often than not on my travels, too, as things are likely to come at me faster than I can come up with something polished – so it's a little awkward and hesitant, with pauses in between phrases. It's the sort of thing you'd expect from a first time in front of the camera, especially since I'm also trying to hold the darn thing steady at the same time.

I also discovered that I can't flip perspectives while I'm recording; either it's on selfie mode or outward mode. I can't go back and forth between them, which was a mildly disappointing discovery. This is one of the reasons why I'm hoping to learn how to take multiple shots and fuse them together going forward – assuming this doesn't take up too much of my time in the evenings while we're cruising from one port to the next (and I still need to get a workout and sleep in at some point).

Still, it all serves as a bit of proof of concept that it can be done. There are a few kinks to work out (and a good thing I tried to do this on land first; the computer I plan to take with me didn't have the Adobe suite loaded onto it, and the Microsoft editing software couldn't read the movie file from my iPhone, so that's been sorted out beforehand), but maybe with a bit of practice, I can make this a little closer to second nature as we go along.

***

All that is in the future, if only by a few weeks. I suspect that, now that I've mentioned it, you might be curious about what's past. After all, while we saw this place from our hotel room once upon a time, but we never got around to checking it out. To be sure, the boys and I visited it a year and a half ago, and while I recall not being all that impressed by it at the time, we didn't go through the entire place; we just went as far as the food court (which was all we wanted). Since Lars and I were there to walk, you can bet we went through every nook and cranny of the place, in order to cover that much more distance.

And cover distance we did; I'm confident we did at least three circuits around the entire place on both floors, and possibly more. Granted, I didn't think to count the number of laps we took, but I'd set the exercise app to record our path, realizing that it would be drawing over itself a number of times as we went around and around the place.

I think it got a little confused…

There is absolutely no way the two of us kept up a pace in excess of four miles an hour throughout our entire trek. To be sure, we didn't find ourselves slowing down and occasionally stopping as much as we do when we're outside, but those pauses wouldn't make this kind of difference in our pace. Besides, I've done four miles an hour on the treadmill, and it was a lot faster and more strenuous than this stroll, I can guarantee you.

I've since heard from Erin that the app gets particularly confused when it's in a confined space – whether surrounded by tall buildings (like during the downtown marathon) or indoors like this. Judging from the occasional forays it depicts us as having done throughout the course of our perambulations, I guess I can see that – although it rather begs the question why.

By contrast, this was the data recorded on the bog-standard "Health" app at the end of the day – a lot more steps (since it includes ALL the walking I did, including our hike to the restaurant across Balmoral Avenue), but a considerably shorter – and considerably more reasonable – distance

All of which says little about the mall itself, I'm afraid. And this is something I can't comment much about, honey. Lars tells me it's a place for the jet-setters to hang out during layovers at O'Hare, and the wares on offer certainly back that up. More than half of the shops on the upper floor are dedicated to selling purses and handbags by one designer or another, leaving me absolutely perplexed as to why anyone would need such a thing costing multiple thousands of dollars (even if, by dint of this being an 'outlet' mall, such things are available at as much as half off their suggested retail price)? If you're trying to impress us peons, we don't know the difference in quality between Vera Bradley or Louis Vuitton (and in my case, I absolutely don't care), and if you're trying to impress fellow rich people with your alleged good taste, the best you're going to do is be considered an equal with them. For my money, if you're being judged 'worthy' within a social group based on what and how much you buy, perhaps you should reconsider who you consider to be friends, frankly.

Bottom line, while you might have found a thing or two here that would catch your eye…

…including a snack kiosk offering various flavors of KitKat like the ones we found in Japan. They're six times what they cost over there, but it beats flying to Tokyo to pick up a bag.

And the gelato shop doesn't make their own; it's flown in regularly from France. Which isn't difficult, when you're located right next to what used to be known as "the busiest airport in the word."

…I don't think much of it would appeal to you – and so much less, once you saw the prices. As Rita Rudner put it, "I don't want anything around my neck that's worth more than it is to someone."

If I ever find 'Megumi,' I hope she thinks the same way.

Anyway, that's most of the story for now; I'll probably have more to relate another time. Until then, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck. I'm going to need it.