By K.J. Cardinal
Work has been very busy and I think it's fair to say that Pack Network is solely responsible for the lack of blog postings over the past two months.
Anyway, I at least wanted to share a video sample of what I've been doing so you don't think I'm completely slacking. Enjoy!
Showing posts with label PackCast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PackCast. Show all posts
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Friday, November 14, 2008
PackCasts in NJ
By K.J. Cardinal
I know you're all dying to watch a live PackCast, so today's your chance.
Norm and I are down in West Long Branch, N.J. for the 2008 Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Championship. We are broadcasting the two semifinals today, starting at 11 a.m., and you can watch them for free on PackNetwork.com, if you're so inclined.
Given the fact that it's currently raining and Adam is back in Boston for the America East men's soccer title game tomorrow at BU, today's games might not have as many of the bells and whistles that we usually tack onto these games, but it will still be great.
So, tune in anytime between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. if you're looking to kill a little time while at work. Enjoy!
I know you're all dying to watch a live PackCast, so today's your chance.
Norm and I are down in West Long Branch, N.J. for the 2008 Northeast Conference Men's Soccer Championship. We are broadcasting the two semifinals today, starting at 11 a.m., and you can watch them for free on PackNetwork.com, if you're so inclined.
Given the fact that it's currently raining and Adam is back in Boston for the America East men's soccer title game tomorrow at BU, today's games might not have as many of the bells and whistles that we usually tack onto these games, but it will still be great.
So, tune in anytime between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. if you're looking to kill a little time while at work. Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Memorable Memorial Day weekend
By K.J. Cardinal
Another week, another great weekend.
On Wednesday afternoon, I left to go to Atlantic City for the 2008 NEC Baseball Championship with Adam and Norm. Other than getting a camera stolen, we had a great time down in AC.
We produced PackCasts for seven games and did several things that we had never done before. All in all a good week, but the drive home on Saturday night seemed to take forever as I didn't get home until around 1 a.m.
I got to sleep in a little on Sunday morning and then we were off to Ludlow to celebrate JuJu's third birthday. Lisa & Ray threw the party at their house and it was a lot of fun. Lots of kids, sun and beer, so it's a no-brainer of a good time in my book.
With such a busy winter and spring for Pack Network, I can't even remember the last time I was able to make it out to Ludlow to see everyone. All is well, but the biggest difference was how big Kassie's getting.
As you can see above, Kassie really loves "Baby Anna." She reminds me of Andrew so much with her because she's really gentle and sweet and loves to rub her hands. She's so great.
The Atlantic City trip, coupled with a day of drinking beers in the sun, definitely took its toll on me. The picture to the left is from the second nap of the day that I took with Anna...this one around the fire pit.
Yesterday morning we woke up and headed to the Ludlow Memorial Day Parade. It's somewhat of a Malaquias rite of passage and I can't believe that I have never been to it before. I guess that's because for Memorial Day I'm always at some college baseball tournament and never able to make it back in time.
Anyway, it was a momentus day for Anna as it was her first parade. She loved being outdoors, but didn't offer up much reaction to anything that passed by...dancers, marching band, ATVs, a really loud cannon, etc.
After the parade we made our way back to Angie's parent's house for a BBQ. We blew up Anna's small inflatable pool for Anna to play in with Kassie and JuJu.
The water from the hose must have been too cold for Anna because she wasn't too into it, which is unlikely because she loves the water. So, we just took her out and set her on the grass and she had a good old time just picking at the blades of grass and watching JuJu and Kassie have a blast in the water.
We got home late yesterday afternoon and I still feel tired from last week's trip to AC. Working 18 hour days and only getting three hours of sleep a night for four straight days was rough.
A VERY busy winter and spring should make way for a more enjoyable summer, which in turn should mean more blogging. So, hopefully these once a week posts will turn into three or four a week...gotta keep Meme happy :)
Another week, another great weekend.On Wednesday afternoon, I left to go to Atlantic City for the 2008 NEC Baseball Championship with Adam and Norm. Other than getting a camera stolen, we had a great time down in AC.
We produced PackCasts for seven games and did several things that we had never done before. All in all a good week, but the drive home on Saturday night seemed to take forever as I didn't get home until around 1 a.m.
I got to sleep in a little on Sunday morning and then we were off to Ludlow to celebrate JuJu's third birthday. Lisa & Ray threw the party at their house and it was a lot of fun. Lots of kids, sun and beer, so it's a no-brainer of a good time in my book.
With such a busy winter and spring for Pack Network, I can't even remember the last time I was able to make it out to Ludlow to see everyone. All is well, but the biggest difference was how big Kassie's getting.
As you can see above, Kassie really loves "Baby Anna." She reminds me of Andrew so much with her because she's really gentle and sweet and loves to rub her hands. She's so great.
The Atlantic City trip, coupled with a day of drinking beers in the sun, definitely took its toll on me. The picture to the left is from the second nap of the day that I took with Anna...this one around the fire pit.Yesterday morning we woke up and headed to the Ludlow Memorial Day Parade. It's somewhat of a Malaquias rite of passage and I can't believe that I have never been to it before. I guess that's because for Memorial Day I'm always at some college baseball tournament and never able to make it back in time.
Anyway, it was a momentus day for Anna as it was her first parade. She loved being outdoors, but didn't offer up much reaction to anything that passed by...dancers, marching band, ATVs, a really loud cannon, etc.After the parade we made our way back to Angie's parent's house for a BBQ. We blew up Anna's small inflatable pool for Anna to play in with Kassie and JuJu.
The water from the hose must have been too cold for Anna because she wasn't too into it, which is unlikely because she loves the water. So, we just took her out and set her on the grass and she had a good old time just picking at the blades of grass and watching JuJu and Kassie have a blast in the water.We got home late yesterday afternoon and I still feel tired from last week's trip to AC. Working 18 hour days and only getting three hours of sleep a night for four straight days was rough.
A VERY busy winter and spring should make way for a more enjoyable summer, which in turn should mean more blogging. So, hopefully these once a week posts will turn into three or four a week...gotta keep Meme happy :)
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A bad brake in Bingo
By K.J. Cardinal
It's 9:46 a.m. and I am coming to you live from the Sears Auto Center in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City, N.Y. Pack Network was in town for yesterday's America East PackCast at Binghamton University's Events Center.
When we left my house on Friday night I noticed that my brakes appeared to be sticking a little and giving off a slight grinding noise. With a five hour drive in front of us and a later-than-anticipated departure time, Pack Network had to forge ahead with the trip.
We arrived safely at the Howard Johnsons on the Vestal Parkway (one of the worst hotels in America, by the way) around 12:30 a.m., slept for about six hours and then headed right to the Events Center. When we left the hotel for the arena, my brakes had noticeably gotten worse. They were grinding harder and louder and sticking more frequently.
What I should have done was taken the Xterra right to a mechanic to get it checked out, but with a PackCast on the horizon we stayed on course. After the PackCast, we packed up the Xterra and planned to grab a bite to eat before heading home.
As I put the Xterra in drive and started to head out of the Events Center parking lot...things had gotten horribly worse. The grinding was so significant that it took quite a bit of acceleration to even get going and then stopping was loud, choppy and inconsistent.
We still proceeded to head to get some dinner. As we pulled off Vestal Parkway, my brakes were coming and going. Thankfully I was driving slow, but on several occasions my brakes completely cut out...definitely a scary feeling
So, we were forced to get things fixed before the ride home. Being in Binghamton, N.Y. at 5:45 p.m. on a Saturday night, of course nothing was open. We had to get a tow to the Sears and wait for them to 0pen at 9 a.m. this morning to see if they can fix the Xterra.
Norm and Matt got a rental car and headed back to Boston last night as Norm had to work. Adam and I stayed in Bingo for the night. Adam's actually a Binghamton native, so we hung out with some of his old high school buddies last night, crashed at one guys house and now we're both on our dueling laptop and Sprint wireless cards from the waiting room of the Sears at the Oakdale Mall. We're total tools.
Anyway, as I was typing the above, things got progressively worse. The technician, Dwayne, came in to give me an estimate on the work and it's nearly $1K. Sweet! No other place is open today that can fix it, so our options are obviously limited if we want to get home today...which we do.
So, PackCast #8 of 9 was a disaster. Prior to the trip we talked about making the trip into a "Packumentary"...a documentary of the Pack Network trip. Regrettably we did not do so because it would have at least made this unfortunate trip somewhat worth it to have video evidence of this debacle.
Let's hope my next post is from Hudson...I can't take much more of the Southern Tier.
It's 9:46 a.m. and I am coming to you live from the Sears Auto Center in the Oakdale Mall in Johnson City, N.Y. Pack Network was in town for yesterday's America East PackCast at Binghamton University's Events Center.
When we left my house on Friday night I noticed that my brakes appeared to be sticking a little and giving off a slight grinding noise. With a five hour drive in front of us and a later-than-anticipated departure time, Pack Network had to forge ahead with the trip.
We arrived safely at the Howard Johnsons on the Vestal Parkway (one of the worst hotels in America, by the way) around 12:30 a.m., slept for about six hours and then headed right to the Events Center. When we left the hotel for the arena, my brakes had noticeably gotten worse. They were grinding harder and louder and sticking more frequently.
What I should have done was taken the Xterra right to a mechanic to get it checked out, but with a PackCast on the horizon we stayed on course. After the PackCast, we packed up the Xterra and planned to grab a bite to eat before heading home.
As I put the Xterra in drive and started to head out of the Events Center parking lot...things had gotten horribly worse. The grinding was so significant that it took quite a bit of acceleration to even get going and then stopping was loud, choppy and inconsistent.
We still proceeded to head to get some dinner. As we pulled off Vestal Parkway, my brakes were coming and going. Thankfully I was driving slow, but on several occasions my brakes completely cut out...definitely a scary feeling
So, we were forced to get things fixed before the ride home. Being in Binghamton, N.Y. at 5:45 p.m. on a Saturday night, of course nothing was open. We had to get a tow to the Sears and wait for them to 0pen at 9 a.m. this morning to see if they can fix the Xterra.
Norm and Matt got a rental car and headed back to Boston last night as Norm had to work. Adam and I stayed in Bingo for the night. Adam's actually a Binghamton native, so we hung out with some of his old high school buddies last night, crashed at one guys house and now we're both on our dueling laptop and Sprint wireless cards from the waiting room of the Sears at the Oakdale Mall. We're total tools.
Anyway, as I was typing the above, things got progressively worse. The technician, Dwayne, came in to give me an estimate on the work and it's nearly $1K. Sweet! No other place is open today that can fix it, so our options are obviously limited if we want to get home today...which we do.
So, PackCast #8 of 9 was a disaster. Prior to the trip we talked about making the trip into a "Packumentary"...a documentary of the Pack Network trip. Regrettably we did not do so because it would have at least made this unfortunate trip somewhat worth it to have video evidence of this debacle.
Let's hope my next post is from Hudson...I can't take much more of the Southern Tier.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Pack Network Premiere
By K.J. Cardinal
Yesterday was a very big day for me both personally and professionally. First off, Anna turned three months and is doing amazing. Not to downplay a milestone in the life of the cutest little girl ever (she's actually deadlocked for that title with Angie's niece JuJu), but yesterday was an even bigger day for Pack Network.
As most of you know, Pack Network is the new company that I started along with Adam Polgreen. Yesterday we had our first official PackCast production, which is an enhanced online video production, for America East.
What this really means is that we try to replicate a true television broadcast, but only distribute the production online. We have been providing online video streaming all year for most home events at UNH, Northeastern and UMBC, but not at this caliber. At those games we have trained staff and students run a scaled down version of our PackCast, which is still a notch above the current industry standard.
Yesterday's broadcast featured a five-camera shoot with dedicated announcers, a "Fox Box" scoreboard, on-screen graphics, tons of in-games notes, instant replays and commercials. We experienced a few technical difficulties along the way, but overall yesterday's production was a great success for it being our first real PackCast.
Things were so hectic before and during the game that Adam and I didn't really get a chance to enjoy what was going on, but now, a day later, I can say that yesterday's production was probably the proudest moment of my professional life.
It was so amazing to have our A Team of Pack Network staff members - Adam, me, Matt Fuller (the stats guru) and Norm Harnick (our ace cameraman) - on hand to pull off the broadcast. Matt & Norm have been the staple staffers that get what we're doing and are really irreplaceable for us.
What made yesterday even more special was the on-air talent that we had. Eric Frede, who most of you probably know from NESN or when he got his start back in the day at WMUR in N.H., was our play-by-play announcer. Just to hear Eric call one of our games and for him to say "Pack Network" during a "PackCast" was a real treat. He's a consummate professional, an amazing announcer and a generous friend. Pam Roecker was our color analyst.
Take a look at the clip below to get a feel for the type of broadcasts that we are doing. This clip is also going to be a commercial that we run in the PackCasts. I'm not going to spoil the finish, but we were fortunate enough to get one of the best women's basketball games that I've ever seen...and I've seen a lot of women's hoops.
Lastly, not to make this sound like my Emmy Award acceptance speech, but I definitely want to take a minute to publicly thank some folks for their help in getting Pack Network to where it is right now:
- Matt Bourque: thanks for your support in anything and everything I do professionally and personally
- Eric: I can't thank you enough for jumping on board to help us out and take our broadcasts to the next level
- Mom & Dad: your undying support for everything I do is something I can never thank you enough for
- Angie: your belief and support in Pack Network from the beginning still drives me every day and I couldn't ask for a better wife
America East PackCast Schedule
Sunday, January 13: WBB - Maine at Albany, 2 p.m.
Saturday, January 26: WBB - Boston U. at UNH, 12 p.m.
Saturday, February 2: MBB - UMBC at Vermont, 1 p.m.
Sunday, February 10: WBB - Stony Brook at Vermont, 1 p.m.
Wednesday, February 13: WBB - Hartford at Vermont, 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 16: WBB - UMBC at Binghamton, 2 p.m.
Log on to www.AmericaEast.com at game time to watch the PackCasts for free.
Yesterday was a very big day for me both personally and professionally. First off, Anna turned three months and is doing amazing. Not to downplay a milestone in the life of the cutest little girl ever (she's actually deadlocked for that title with Angie's niece JuJu), but yesterday was an even bigger day for Pack Network.As most of you know, Pack Network is the new company that I started along with Adam Polgreen. Yesterday we had our first official PackCast production, which is an enhanced online video production, for America East.
What this really means is that we try to replicate a true television broadcast, but only distribute the production online. We have been providing online video streaming all year for most home events at UNH, Northeastern and UMBC, but not at this caliber. At those games we have trained staff and students run a scaled down version of our PackCast, which is still a notch above the current industry standard.
Yesterday's broadcast featured a five-camera shoot with dedicated announcers, a "Fox Box" scoreboard, on-screen graphics, tons of in-games notes, instant replays and commercials. We experienced a few technical difficulties along the way, but overall yesterday's production was a great success for it being our first real PackCast.
Things were so hectic before and during the game that Adam and I didn't really get a chance to enjoy what was going on, but now, a day later, I can say that yesterday's production was probably the proudest moment of my professional life.
It was so amazing to have our A Team of Pack Network staff members - Adam, me, Matt Fuller (the stats guru) and Norm Harnick (our ace cameraman) - on hand to pull off the broadcast. Matt & Norm have been the staple staffers that get what we're doing and are really irreplaceable for us.
What made yesterday even more special was the on-air talent that we had. Eric Frede, who most of you probably know from NESN or when he got his start back in the day at WMUR in N.H., was our play-by-play announcer. Just to hear Eric call one of our games and for him to say "Pack Network" during a "PackCast" was a real treat. He's a consummate professional, an amazing announcer and a generous friend. Pam Roecker was our color analyst.
Take a look at the clip below to get a feel for the type of broadcasts that we are doing. This clip is also going to be a commercial that we run in the PackCasts. I'm not going to spoil the finish, but we were fortunate enough to get one of the best women's basketball games that I've ever seen...and I've seen a lot of women's hoops.
Lastly, not to make this sound like my Emmy Award acceptance speech, but I definitely want to take a minute to publicly thank some folks for their help in getting Pack Network to where it is right now:
- Matt Bourque: thanks for your support in anything and everything I do professionally and personally
- Eric: I can't thank you enough for jumping on board to help us out and take our broadcasts to the next level
- Mom & Dad: your undying support for everything I do is something I can never thank you enough for
- Angie: your belief and support in Pack Network from the beginning still drives me every day and I couldn't ask for a better wife
America East PackCast Schedule
Sunday, January 13: WBB - Maine at Albany, 2 p.m.
Saturday, January 26: WBB - Boston U. at UNH, 12 p.m.
Saturday, February 2: MBB - UMBC at Vermont, 1 p.m.
Sunday, February 10: WBB - Stony Brook at Vermont, 1 p.m.
Wednesday, February 13: WBB - Hartford at Vermont, 7 p.m.
Saturday, February 16: WBB - UMBC at Binghamton, 2 p.m.
Log on to www.AmericaEast.com at game time to watch the PackCasts for free.
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