Standing on the rocky shore of Goat Island near Cape Porpoise, Maine, I gained a whole new perspective as I flew my little camera drone around this magnificent tower. Here’s my footage. See for yourself.
Goat Island Lighthouse has stood at the edge of the southern Maine coastline for almost two centuries. It wasn’t built to be admired. It was built to be obeyed. Established in 1833 to guard the entrance to Cape Porpoise Harbor, ‘Goat Island Light’ is still an active beacon.
I’ve admired this brick tower for the past five summers during our vacations to the Cape Porpoise coast.
Though Goat Island Lighthouse continues to shine bright at night, the morning sun enhances its beauty and bold elegance.
A Lighthouse, a Kayak, and My Drone
I’ve taken many photos from afar. But this year, I decided it was time to try to capture its rugged strength up close and from the air.
With my preproduction planning complete, I set out in a kayak shortly after first light with my DJI camera drone and headed off to the rocky shore of Goat Island.
As soon as I arrived, I put my little DJI Flip drone in the air and got to work recording short clips. And I’m proud to present my completed video sequence of Goat Island Lighthouse.
My experience capturing these aerial moments was exhilarating. And I’m pleased that my footage benefits from a rousing score I conjured up via Google Flow Music (another remarkable AI-powered creative tool).
Five Summers of Admiring… One Morning of Finally Flying
Creative success is often a team sport. I’d like to thank Kennebunkport Conservation Trust for permission to fly my drone by the lighthouse. And special thanks go to my two friends for accompanying me on my little adventure.
I captured incredible views that few can normally see. I’m still beaming.
Maintaining control of your calendar at work can be harder than you’d think. If you’re looking for ways to help reduce friction in your schedule, here are my suggestions.
Part of an occasional series about solving technology challenges in the workplace *
Does your job involve lots of meetings? Does your daily schedule get regularly consumed by meeting invites? Do you find this interfering with the rest of your work? If so, then it’s time to take a more proactive approach to managing your shared work calendar.
This is something of an art that each of us must ultimately curate for ourselves. And no matter where you are in your career, it requires ongoing attention and perhaps a few reminders.
So, here are my best practices.
Block ‘Focus Time’ for Your Own Work
Everyone usually has a plan regarding what they need to accomplish on a given day or week. But if you leave your calendar wide open, you may find a deluge of meeting invites redirecting your focus away from immediate priorities.
That’s why blocking time for yourself in your shared calendar is critical to maintaining the right balance in how you spend your time.
This is about actively architecting your day to optimize your own output instead of passively responding to a myriad ofother tidal forces that can drain your effectiveness.
Make Yourself Available Too
But if the nature of your job requires ongoing collaboration, then you also need to make yourself sufficiently available for these other meetings. Blocking off too much time can isolate you and frustrate others.
As in many other parts of life, this comes down to finding the right balance. So, it’s important to leave enough availability on your calendar for your colleagues to utilize.
How much time should you leave open? Well, only you can determine that. You’ll quickly discover if it’s not the right amount. Otherwise, you may find colleagues double booking your schedule.
Don’t Get Double Booked
If these double bookings conflict with your own ‘focus time,’ well, that’s easy enough to manage.
But what if they conflict with other important meetings? Well, of course you can’t attend two meetings simultaneously.
So now, you’ve got to figure out how to repair your schedule.
Pro Scheduling Tips
Here are a few more scheduling tips to help optimize your work calendar.
Choose the Best Times for Your Own Meetings All time slots throughout a day are not created equal. If you’ve got your own meetings to schedule, it’s important to pick the times that work best for you. (Everyone has a sense when they’re most effective during the day.)
Avoid Scheduling Meetings at the End of the Day If you can help it, try not to take that very last slot. Sure, it might be the only time that everyone has open. But no one will appreciate this. I recommend you wait a day to find a better option. Everyone will be in better spirits, and that alone can drive a meeting’s success.
Don’t Miss Lunch! If you’re not careful, you can easily find yourself without time to grab a bite to eat. So scheduling time for your own lunch is critical. There’s nothing worse than a mid-afternoon meeting on an empty stomach.
Playing Both Defense and Offense
Yes, you’ve got to protect your calendar for your own priorities. But if work is a team sport, you’ll always want to actively engage with others and satisfy group requirements. So, your success also flows through all those other meetings.
When you reduce friction in your schedule, then you can focus on doing your best work.Said another way, the more you can successfully manage the ‘when,’ the easier it will be to accomplish the ‘what.’
This is a good summer movie that lots of Star Wars fans skipped. Here is why I think so many people didn’t come back for more Mando and Baby Yoda.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” has clearly underperformed at the box office. This is not the way. So, what went wrong?
First off, this is not a bad movie. In many ways, director John Favreau has given us the perfect summer flick. Action-packed. Fun. Great special effects. And the cutest character in a galaxy far, far away.
Plus, it’s fresh “Star Wars” material. We haven’t seen a new movie in over six years.
But with all that is good with it, there’s also this feeling of… been there/seen that.
Nothing New
If there had not been three previous streaming seasons of “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ (2019-2023), I think this movie would have performed much better.
The series had time to provide a deep experience regarding Din Djarin’s backstory. His bounty hunting adventures were only part of the larger narrative, including the Mandalorian people and culture.
But the movie couldn’t simply pick up from where the series left off, because not all movie goers would know (or remember) the previous plot points.
So, the movie was effectively forced to exist as a standalone and otherwise disconnected bounty-hunting adventure. Everything else from the series had to be stripped away.
As a result, Mandalorian fans didn’t get to see anything especially new.
A Razor Crest Isn’t Just Another Ship
Sure, there are a few new characters here, but if you’re a Mando fan, you might be disappointed after watching the movie, because the larger story arc didn’t move forward.
Yes, there were lots of background references to the larger series, but few were allowed enough time to create emotional impact.
Even the moment when (minor spoiler) we see the new Razor Crest, there’s barely a pause in the dialogue as Mando takes this replacement for his previously destroyed ship (season 2, episode 6).
I listened for an emotional surge in the music, but it never came. He admired this particular ship’s restoration, but you wouldn’t otherwise know the importance of Mando flying another Razor Crest.
The ‘Dadalorian’
I’ve read many reviews that said this felt like a few episodes stitched together. Yes, I agree this could easily have been part of a season 4.
But guess what? We didn’t get season 4.
And quite frankly, I was happy to get to watch a few more episodes, so to speak.
And it’s always nice to spend a little more time with Pedro Paskal’s ‘Dadalorian’ and Grogu.
Baby Yoda Rocks
And if you’re a Grogu fan, you’re in luck. Baby Yoda has a lot to do here.
He delighted the row of kids who were sitting in front of me in the theater. But they certainly weren’t old enough to officially be part of the PG-13 crowd.
Which makes you wonder about the target audience for this movie. It’s PG-13 for all the fighting. And G-rated for Grogu. That’s a difficult balance to maintain to satisfy everyone.
The Challenge Turning a Series into a Movie
I think in many ways it just comes down to this: Successfully converting a TV series into a big screen movie with the same cast is often hard to do.
“Firefly” couldn’t get “Serenity” to fly.
Sure, “Star Trek” did it, but it needed two attempts, and “The Wrath of Khan” certainly didn’t play it safe.
Sigourney Weaver Stopped By
Not only did this Mandalorian flick play it safe, it felt like an extended premiere of season 4.
And while that was fine with me, that won’t draw the crowds who will otherwise watch it in a few months (weeks?) on Disney+.
But wait! This movie’s got the great Sigourney Weaver. Hmmm… well, she actually didn’t seem that excited to be there.
Hold on… We’re introduced to not one, but three Hutt characters, including Rotta the Hutt (voiced by Jeremy Allen White), who is Jabba the Hutt’s son. While that’s certainly interesting to some, more giant slug Hutts didn’t fill seats.
Grogu is Sad
Still, this is a solid movie, and I enjoyed seeing it in a theater. But it was just not enough to satisfy the broader fan base. It feels like the entire human race is quickly losing interest in this particular galaxy that’s now almost half a century old.
As a result, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” has already disappeared from my local multiplex on week 3 of its release. (I’m sure that made Grogu cry.)
At this point, can anything save this franchise?
“Star Wars: Starfighter,” directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling is set to launch in theaters on May 28, 2027.
I certainly hope the Force is stronger with this next one.
