Last month I made some big changes and things have finally slowed down enough for me to let you know about them. As you can guess from the title of this blog post or you may have gathered from seeing my Foursquare check-ins the past few weeks, I have moved back to San Francisco!!! It was too hard to stay away and although the last 3 years in San Diego were incredible, I just couldn’t shake the desire to come home.

I’m sure a few of your are wondering, “So what does that mean for your job at Sony?” Well, it was a very hard decision to leave Sony Electronics. I had the chance to work with and learn from very talented colleagues. We had an amazing time there, launching new products, planning and pulling off CES (one of the biggest trade shows of the year) and finding ways to constantly be in touch with our consumers via social media. I have a heart full of memorable experiences but like that old Tony Bennett classic goes, I left my Heart in San Francisco. My next adventure has already started, I have just joined a fantastic team spreading the word about Desk.com, a tool to help businesses help their customers better.

So now that I’ve spilled the beans, what’s going on with you? What kind of changes are going on in your life… and can you believe how much stuff I packed in the back of my Mini Cooper!? Some day I’ll tell you all about how the movers lost my editing computer and winter coat. I’ll save that for another blog post as I still have hopes they’ll return my lost box to me soon.

When I brought the clips home and looked at them, I knew the footage was something I wanted to share even though its not the best vantage point. I was lazy about getting up to get some significant shots, but there was still something about that moment that made me decide to polish it up just a bit to share online. Typically I’d upload video into Final Cut Express or Vegas editing software and make something but since I captured such little video I decided to see how the YouTube editor could help for a simple project like this.

The process was simple and straightforward and I’m happy to say, the YouTube editor gave me better results than I expected.

Here’s how it works. First upload your clips as is onto your YouTube channel. They have to be there for you to pull them into the editor. Next click on the link at the top of the My Videos and Playlists section that says Video Editor. You should have a new project started then drag an drop the clips you want to the timeline at the bottom of the page. I put my two clips right next to each other and added some simple transitions. The tab on the top of the video editor that looks like a little bow tie is where your effects and transitions live. There aren’t many, and most are kind of cheesy, but I found a simple fade and wipe and they helped my Zombie video cut together nicely. Finally, I’m a firm believer in adding a soundtrack to your video. It helps so much with the energy and pacing. I found royalty free music directly from the YouTube editor and was pretty impressed with the kinds of music available. I actually love the song that I paired with my video, safe to say I’m pleasantly surprised with that part of the YouTube editor experience.

Thanks to Social Media Club San Diego for the great event! Also big thanks to Richie Edquid for recording the awesome panels to save and share with the world. Check out the Panel Spotlight page for more info on the panelists.

I used a combo of the NEX-VG10 and Handycam to film. Definitely still getting use to using the interchangeable lens camera… I haven’t been filming much so my technique is a little rusty too. Overall, I think the VG10 is best for thoughtful composed shots where you have time and a tripod. Handycam is so fast and easy to use, doesn’t have the depth of field, but still a solid camera for someone like me.

Look for the video blog about the Sony Foodie day coming next week on Sony.com/blog. By the way the camera the foodies are using is the Cyber-shot DSC-WX9.

You know I add video where ever I can and with the tools available today, it’s so easy. Do you use video when you blog? How have you found video to be a useful tool? If you’re not using video on your blog, what’s the hold up? Here’s your chance to ask questions and (hopefully) get some answers from me or my community of bloggers who continue to push the limits with web video.

The most popular part of our “presentation” was a video we showed them of an Auto-tuned Sony commercial. They asked us to play it over and over again, which was fine by me! Kids are hard to keep entertained. I was also surprised when I realized that non of them actually knew or had heard of “social media”. They know about facebook, twitter and youtube, but they had no idea what the words social media meant. Goes to show what social media a bubble we sometimes live in.

The kids got bloggies for the day so they could capture videos of what they did and saw. My friend Michael, who you see in the slideshow below taught them how to easily edit and upload their video on VAIOs. Good times.

My video (above) was with the new Sony Bloggie Touch camera on the walk over for our presentation and below is a slide show with some of the other folks who stopped by to let the kids know about what they do at Sony (also shot with the Bloggie Touch).

Call it lack of time, new priorities or just plain laziness. I haven’t been working out like I should and I’m finally doing something about it. What? Watch the video and see. It’s not earth shattering, but it’s something! If you want to join in, I hope you do. Or if you just have some words of wisdom or encouragement, they’re all welcome here.

I’ll use this post to keep track of what I do and how my workout evolves. My goal is to reach CES 2011 in January, in better shape than I am now. Who’s with me!? By the way, I tried to answer a few questions people had at the end of this video. Thanks for the messages everybody!

There were two stages with music. Here’s one… I still trying to figure out who the performer is.. if you know drop me a comment. I do know it’s one of my favorite songs from the Buena Vista Social Club album.

It’s safe to say this will be a new Halloween tradition for me… and next year.. I’ll be dressing up. Costume suggestions welcome! I hope what every you did for Halloween this year was great. Drop me a comment and let me know how you spent your weekend. Also, if you have more to add about Dia de los Muertos and the traditions, I hope you’ll share.

The photo and video in this blog post were taken with the Sony Bloggie and Nex-3 cameras.

For anyone wondering, the soundtrack of this unboxing is a song called Aahun Aahun from a Hindi film called Love Aaj Kal. Great movie, and like I said in the video, I really did watch it 4 times over the weekend.

While I wasn’t sitting in front of my television this weekend watching Love Aaj Kal, I was up to some other Halloween inspired fun. The slideshow below is from the Dia De Los Muertos alter making class I took with my friend @JenBoydSD. Jen has clued me in to many fun things to do here in San Diego. We took this workshop at a store called Back From Tomboctou. It’s a fun place to find Mexican folk art and to learn about it too.

About two years ago I saw my first Roomba and I have had it on my wish list ever since. So when I saw this iRobot Roomba 550 on sale at Costco, I knew it was time. Even more, my schedule has been the busiest it’s ever been and even if I wanted to clean the floors (which I don’t) I don’t have the time. So, Roomba to the rescue. I don’t have to do anything, but make sure it’s charged, there are no loose things that could get caught in it on the floor and I press a button. Roomba roams around and finds dirt and cleans it. It’s so wonderful. It really is. I’ve had it for just a week and so far, my floors are the cleanest they’ve ever been. I’ve heard some complaints about Roomba not picking up dust on hardwood, but I haven’t experienced that problem at all.

I hope you enjoy the unboxing video. Of course I had to score it with some Bhangra music and if you made it all the way to the end of the video, you’ll have seen a little bhangra dancing by my new iRobot!

I went to my first Comic-Con this year and it was nothing short of amazing. If Comic-Con happened more often in San Diego, I would love it here. In fact, I vote for there to be mini Comic-Cons here every month. For anyone who hasn’t heard of the biggest show in San Diego, it is the mother of all comic conventions that has exploded beyond comics to all things pop culture. Super-fans show up in costume of the comic, movie or sci-fi character that they adore. You’ll see some of that in my slideshow. You’ll also see pictures of many friends. Lots of people were in town which is probably why I loved this weekend so much. It was great to meet several tweeters in real life for the first time and also see friends from out of town.

My Comic-Con started on Friday night with the Tweethouse party on the USS Midway Museum. Spending the evening on a giant aircraft carrier, with DJ, fireworks and more is a great way to kick off the weekend. Saturday I was able to attend a panel called Celebrate the Web thanks to my friend Rob Gokee. Rob and I have been friends on Twitter for ages but this was the first time we met in real life. Rob has written a book called In the Belly of the Fail Whale: How Twitter Changed My Life in One Year. (I love that title)

Sunday was my only day at the convention center to see the real show and I was lucky to be right next to the area where the cast of Glee came through to sign autographs! Yes, I’m a fangirl of the show and although the area was totally crowded, I got a few pictures of some of the cast. The Sony booth was next door so of course spent some time there. If you see the photos of me posing in front of the green screen I was getting a 3D Resident Evil photo made of me next to Milla Jovovich with our guns drawn.

By the way the photographs in my Flickr album were taken with the Sony NEX-3. I borrowed it for a few days and am having a blast with it. If you want to know more about the camera check out the YouTube video I did with the product team.

This video is from the last time I was in India in 2008, a trip I took with my dear friend Liz. This was before I started blogging and the first time I really picked up a camera to start capturing stories myself.

We traveled to the far western city of Jaisalmer, a remote desert city close to the India – Pakistan border known for a huge fort where, within the walls, a functioning town still exists.

From the beginning, this trip was an adventure starting with a 19 hour train trip that had no food, no real stops, and we had 3rd class tickets. (I’ll save this story for another time). In any case this video is on was of one of  the incredible moments we had on this trip. The gentleman playing the music wandered over to us and just started playing. There are a lot of street musicians in India, just trying to make a few dollars… it’s kind of amazing to know that is how they get by. At the end of the video he explains that the instrument is an “algoza” and it is very popular in Rajisthan. It has both male and female sounds, which explains why it’s two flutes in one instrument.

I hope you enjoy the video. I can’t believe I’m just editing it now after having it on my drive for 2 years! Yes I’ll be taking a camera with me again and look forward to showing you India 2010.

I can’t get over the shock that I haven’t posted anything to this blog in nearly 2 months. Where have I been? We’ll, the honest to God truth is… I’ve been working at Sony Electronics. It’s not an excuse, I know.. but it is a fact. As blogging and social media have become my full time career, I’m finding myself online  most of my waking hours – but as any of you who are connected to me on Facebook or twitter may have noticed, I’m not in any of those places as much as I use to be and I’m certainly not posting on my own blog here.

I have found great wisdom from friends here so I’m going to try something unusual today. A typical blog post from me is about sharing something I’ve seen or learned, but today I was hoping you guys might share with me. I’d like to bring some balance back into my life.  Many of you have families and full time careers. You are deep into the world of social media but you’re able to maintain, life, work, love and in some cases more than one blog! How do you balance it all? What are some tips you can share with me especially for getting all the things demanded of you done? I have to tell you, I’m having the time of my life…I am having so much fun! But I know I can do better and I want to find time to be present here again. Any advice?