The Ford Fiesta is NOT a Festiva!

When we tell everyone about the new Ford Fiesta, they think we're talking about the Festiva. We don't want you to make the same mistake.

On the left you will find the stunning Ford Fiesta -- on the right is a ratty old Festiva. (Hood scoop gives it a few points.) No comparison!



Just wanted to make that clear.

Gearing up for Mission #4

It's taken us a while to get back in the groove after vacation. Even after working non-stop, we still haven't put a dent in all the things we have to accomplish. And August is almost over! Where on earth did Summer go?

We usually take a trip to Lake Michigan at least once a year. Not so this year. We hope to make it in the next month or two, but time and $$ aren't on our side. This has definitely been a lean year for us -- probably for many of you too. It helps to have free gas for six months. Not to mention the added bonus of FUN on the road. (Seriously, we can't get out of this car without huge grins on our faces!) We hope September and October go by a little slower. We're not looking forward to saying goodbye to the Fiesta. How we wish we had the freedom to drive all over the US, but I guess that's a mission for other agents.

Tomorrow we hit our 4th mission for Social Activism month. We're lending our Fiesta to the Friends of the Brighton Library. We'll be hauling donated books and documenting our adventure. Should be lots of fun.

Haven't taken too many photos lately, but we have a ton of footage we need to edit from the past few weeks. Videos in the works: a few more NASCAR shorts, power-shifting the Fiesta, happy test drivers, fun at the country fair, and more.

We're Back!

Wow, sorry we've been gone for a while. Vacation was great, thanks for asking!

We've got a few new videos up our sleeves, but won't be able to get them up until next week. In the meantime, enjoy a few photos from our jaunt to good ol' Missouri. (Just click the photo below)

NASCAR Video #1

Well, folks, it's finally here, the first NASCAR video in our series. We took our Mac to the Mac store for diagnosis (one great thing about buying a Mac -- tech support is FREE!) and found that the problem was not with our external hard drive. It was a corrupted iPhoto library. Anyone using a Mac knows that the default for importing clips from a digital video camera like a Webbie or Flip is to dump them into iPhoto. You can bypass this, but we didn't since we were using iMovie. Unfortunately, this was where all the hang-ups occurred. We simply pointed iMovie to a new (and empty) iPhoto library and we were off a running. A free solution!

The Film Fund will be an ongoing thing for us personally, since we realize we'll reach the glass ceiling of iMovie eventually. But for now, the crisis has been averted. Thanks to everyone who helped us out: friends, family, social media acquaintances, and Fiesta Movement agents. You all are awesome!

So without further ado, sit back and enjoy our feature presentation:



More videos to come -- full length driver interviews and a tribute to the NASCAR experience.

On Our Way

Thanks to the few of you who have generously donated your time, advice, and a few bucks to our Film Fund so far. We can't thank you enough. We've never asked for help before, and we felt uncomfortable doing so, but it's nice to know there are those out there who will lend a hand when we're struggling.

We're on our way to finding a solution, but no luck yet. Joel no longer thinks our external drive is the problem since it meets all the requirements of Final Cut Express and iMovie. He thinks the problem is our iMac itself, so we'll be taking it to the Mac store tomorrow for diagnosis.

Meanwhile, Mandy's job requires a lot of photo-editing, and she's reduced to working on our 5-year-old laptop. The small screen doesn't yield very professional results. And video editing? Forget about it. We can't even watch YouTube videos on this slug. We're short on money and time, but we've got an abundance of stress. Anyone want some free stress?

Hope to have some good news for you next week. Perhaps even a video or two, and some new photos.

The Film Fund

As you can see, we still haven't posted any videos from our NASCAR event last month. We're really bummed about it, but there is good reason. Or bad reason. However you want to look at it.

First, we had to finish our June mission, which was our trip to Ford Safety Labs. Once that was hammered out, Mandy got to work on the first NASCAR video. After 5 hours of sound and film editing, she decided to take a break. When she came back to iMovie, all editing had been lost. Why? No particular reason. iMovie's "automatic save" feature must have decided to take a break too, resulting in a colossal automatic fail. Mandy took to the couch and drowned her sorrows with repeat showings of The Next Food Network Star, Ruffles, ranch dip, and Mountain Dew.

Fast forward two days later when Mandy gives it another go. Remembering all the fancy editing she did earlier that week, she gives her computer an old fashioned restart, just for good measure, and she's off. The video is looking better than ever. 4 hours into the project, she closes and reopens iMovie to make sure the automatic save is working properly. Glory, glory, it is! So another 4 hours go by and editing is coming to an end. The video is almost finished. She closes and reopens iMovie again because the program is starting to bog down. This is where the hair-pulling begins.

When iMovie restarts, the project has unbelievably and undeniably reverted back to the day before. Even though Mandy made sure the program was saving mid-edit, iMovie went the extra mile and did something miraculous: un-saving what it had previously saved. How is that even possible?

With two full days of work wasted, Mandy tries not to give in to madness. 4th of July weekend was a nice diversion, even though there was much more Food Network Star, Ruffles, ranch dip, and Mountain Dew, but now we're back to the work week. Film editing must be accomplished this month. Mission #3 is fast approaching, besides all the wonderful NASCAR footage waiting to be shown to the world.

We know that Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere are the answers, but where do we find an extra grand lying around the house? We've checked the sofa cushions and under the seats in the Fiesta. No luck. Joel's grandparents used to sew cash into their drapes, but they haven't blessed our curtains.

We did, however, install Final Cut Express. More failure there. Seems both FCE and iMovie have problems using our external hard drive. This week we'll be trying to find time to move photos and music onto the external so our film editing software can use the internal drive. Lots of folks seem to think this should clear up a lot of bugs. Here's hoping.

In the meantime, we've decided to create a Film Fund. We'll be pestering friends and family to donate a few bucks to the cause as we try to scrimp and save for a new Mac and possibly even some professional editing software. Whether or not this Film Fund will succeed, we have no idea. But we do know that our current set up is hindering our creative aspirations. If you'd like to donate, or give any sage advice, please email us: joelandmandy at mac.com

Thanks in advance!

Mandy's 2 Cents

Mandy came across a heated debate about the ethics of the Ford Fiesta Movement. Of course she had to put in her two cents. Read her comments here:

The Name Game

Well, we have a winner! The name chosen by popular vote is Pepper. As in, hot chili. Perhaps her full name could be Pepper Weasley, to please everyone. The third child of Hermione and Ron? Okay, we won't go there. But we will post this Ron and Hermione fan vid. Check it out for a chuckle!



Thanks for voting and keep coming back to check on Pepper. You never know where she's going to take us!

We Won!

Thanks to everyone that viewed/rated/commented on our video--we're extremely grateful. We're excited to start catering videos to YOU and not just the Ford application folks. (Even though we really enjoyed doing that too!) Looking forward to celebrating with the other 99 agents!

Enjoy our application entry one last time.