Some odds and ends...

Am starting up BrickJournal 9 now, so things are getting busy again for me - as in production busy. THis is different from usual busy, because I focus, which means that I disappear from the local scene while I write, correspond, and otherwisie set up the mag.

But I need to get back to telling about some stuff at teh Billund visit....

On Monday, I was to talk to Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, LEGO CEO for a video interview. At that time, I still hadn't gotten my lost luggage, so I was wearing the same clothes from Sunday...but I did shower. That morningI talked with Jens and Nate (as mentioned earlier) and then chatted briefly over lunch with Nate, Jamie Berard and some other designers.

Jamie is a designer in the Creator team, and he has done the Fast Flyers set and the Cafe Corner set. He's also a really cool person and is easygoing. I sent him a note about my luggage predicament, and he offered some clothes if I needed them.

I also told him about the pending video interview and he suggested borrowing the company video camera - LEGO *does* have video resources on hand. I didn't think about that because, well who let ME borrow their equipment? Then again, they haven't seen me use equipment before, so that may be a good thing.

The discussion was good, and I had some ideas on how to pull this off - and I had to go back to my hotel 30 minutes away by foot - mainly to get my notebook I left and also so I could ask about the luggage. My notes from JEns and Nte's interviews were on various  papers I had in my bag - not good form.

Once I got my notebook, I went to the checkout desk and had them ask about my luggage...and after a few calls, I found out - they were found! And better yet they were ontheir way to teh hotel! The luggage was to come in late afternoon - too late for the interview, but still a great piece of news!

So I packed my bag and headed off to teh corporate office. This is a nice facility, with a large lounge and reception desk. I came in thirty minutes early to ask for the camera and hopefully get it.

However, the receptionist didn't quite understand my English very well, so I explained that I was to meet Jørgen Vig Knudstorp (and had to write his name because my English pronounciation apparently mangled his name beyond recognition) and I was early to see if I could borrow a video camera. The receptionist smiled when she saw the name and thought for a moment, then directed meto a lounge to wait.

There was some movement at the receptionist's desk, and then the glass doors to the Corporate Management opened, and one of the admin assistants greeted me. She expleined that teh receptionist didn't quite understand what I wanted, so I explained it out and what had happened to me. The admin thaought for a moment and told we (with a smile) that she would go to Corporate Communications to see about getting what I wanted. She went to the other side of the lounge to another office.

A few moments later, another woman greets me from the other office - she's from Corporate Communcations and asks me what I need - I just need a camera and tripod - no lights. She goes a different direction and disappears.

When she returns, she has a long bag that is zipped closed. It's long, and I am a little surprised - I had completely forgotten that what they have most likely will be professional-level equipment - far beyond what I am used to using.

The bag held the tripod. A big nice tripod. She went back and returned with a smaller cube shaped bag. Andin it was a camera that was better than mine...she explained that she didn't know how to use it, so I was a bit on my own on figuring it out.

Hm. New tripod, new camera, need to figure it all out in 15 minutes or less.  A typical challenge for me:-)

The camera, after looking all over it, turned out to be a big brother of the camera I have, so while everything was in different places, I could run the cam. Once I found the remote, I was okay - it looked just like the remote to my camera. The tripod was easy too. I took a look at the mic which was connected to a box and a matching boxwith an antenna...wirelss...Nice, but that was a new item to me. I turned them both on and plugged in the reciever tothe cam, but couldn't get it to work. no time to figure it out either. I only had thirty minutes to talk.

By this time there about five minutes left, and Jamie and a friend of his wander into the building, and we meet very briefly - just in time for JVK to open the corporate management office to greet me!

So I got in all the equipment and go to his office and start setting up - he's busy, but also very friendly. And in chatting before the interview,  I found out he's a Train fan. I had forgotten my questions that I was going to ask him, but he had them on hand and gave me a copy (really cool!)

Before I knew it,  the camera was started and in a flash, thirty minutes passed and I got an interview...and I took everything down and returned the camera to the admin assistant - and I owe them a tape:-)

DId I use my questions? Not all of them. Did I ask any hard questions? Not really. I asked questions about him and how he looks at his responsibilities - I wanted a conversation with him about the company, his part in it and community.

I need to edit the video, but assuming the sound is good (which is a question) you will see this online soon!