My Hometown of Connersville Indiana

What started as an assignment for an audio/video class soon began to take on more meaning to me than just another assignment.  I was given the task to create a video montage of my choice which had to include music, and I was required to align the video somewhat to match the beat of the music.  You know to get that nice flow we all like when we watch shows!

After racking my brain to figure out what my video was going to consist of, I started thinking of videos that has kinda "stuck in my head" for various reasons.  I decided to match this particular assignment with one of these "stuck in my head" videos.  The videos I kept recalling are the ones I remember seeing in high school.  You know, the amazing sports montage video that included awesome highlights where you get choked up because our home team won the battle against a tough competitor and the team was overflowing with comradery, or the end of the school year videos, where it looked back upon the good, bad and just plain craziness that happened since the first day of school.

Having chosen the basic idea(s) of how I wanted my video to be presented to my audience, I immediately thought that I would make a video of my hometown, kinda like a tribute to my roots!  

I come from a small farm town (Connersville, IN) of approximate 14,000 people and for the most part everyone is friendly.  Of course, you have the few bad seeds that try to ruin the whole crop, but I believe there is more good than bad, and I feel more people in the community want to see our little town succeed than to fail. 

Anyway, as I was coming up with ideas for video clips I would always think back to the things that made me who I am today and portray them in a way that the audience could identify with.  Btw, my intended audience is the typical midwesterner that is familiar with "genuine, hard working, appreciative people who hold on to old fashioned values."  

The more I filmed, the more I began to appreciate the simpler things in life.  For example, watching cows graze in an open field, while weather beaten barns, rusted windmills and worn out tractors and trucks abused by the land sit on display in the background.  The strong bond of local farmers who come together and help each other out to bring in the crops before the weather turns cold.  Watching the early morning sunrise as the fog and dew dissipates back into the atmosphere. The absolute stunning beauty and sounds of water flowing down the river as a fisherman catches and releases a fish back into the gently flowing rapids.  And lastly, I cannot forget the sheer generosity and abundance of people willing to stop and wave to a person they may have never met before.

All of the examples above are part of my life in one way or another, and I will never let that part of me fade away.  Just like memories, I hope this video lives on to show how small town life can still be a thing of beauty!

I hope you enjoy!

To Add or Not To Add (house expansion part 1)

My wife and I have lived in our house for nearly 10 years and it has gotten to the point where we are at a crossroads on whether to put the house up for sale, buy an older home and renovate, buy a new/newer home, buy some land and build a new home, or build an addition onto our existing home and continue living in the same place.  Oh where to begin?  
At this time, we have agreed to the addition on our existing house, and we spend countless hours pouring over magazines, websites, etc. gathering ideas and images based on what we believe will make us happy for the years to come. What started as a conversation to add "what I thought" was a nice quaint "sunroom" off the back of our house has now developed into a full blown great room addition with vaulted ceilings and a wood burning fireplace.  Just off of this new "great room" will be a large brick paver patio and then off of the paver patio will sit an in ground pool.  I almost forgot to mention,  we are also wanting to reconfigure our existing kitchen and dining room, add additional cabinetry, buy new appliances and countertops, oh, and we will need to replace all of the flooring throughout too!  Woohoo!!

Having said that, we started the week of 4/22/2013 by getting quotes from 3 different contractors and are currently awaiting the frightening results of said quotes.  I think a cool mil will easily take care of all the expenses, now just to find that money tree with the cool mil!  On a positive note, I consider myself to be pretty handy when it comes to building or renovating so I look forward to getting my hands dirty all while reducing or eliminating some of the contractors pricing.

I will leave this post with one of my favorite pics of our backyard and it may never look like this again...to be continued!

Christening of the Kayak

Oh man!  It's been a long time since I've blogged about anything and I have so many things I would like to blog about, but I believe I will start off by talking about one of my most recent purchases.

After researching, comparing, and reading review after review after review, I finally decided to take the plunge and purchase a kayak.  A couple buddies of mine have had kayaks for several years and last year was the first time I actually went down a river in a kayak.  I've been down our local Whitewater River a few times in the past, but it was on an inner tube or a canoe, and nothing compares to being in your own kayak.  I must say it was a great time being outside, in the heart of nature, and floating down the river in my very own "borrowed" kayak.  I had such a great time kayaking with my friends that I knew this was going to be a great way to enjoy the upcoming summers for years to come.

Like I said earlier, after searching and reading reviews for what seemed like an eternity, I set my eyes on the Ascend FS10 kayak sold at Bass Pro Shops.  Once I got my wife's stamp of approval, she joined me on the excursion to BassPro to pick up the newest addition of summer fun!

Here it is, in all of it's glory!!

Beginner's Tip:  When strapping down to the top of a truck using ratchet straps as pictured above, be prepared to listen to a loud, overbearing, obnoxious noise made by the wind hitting the straps making them hum as if one was continually driving on the rumble strips on the side of an interstate. Having said that, if you can put it in the bed of a truck, DO IT!!!  Yes, I have a truck bed!  Yes, I could have put it in the bed! Yes, I could have pulled over only about a thousand times to put it in the bed!  Did I?  You guessed it...Nope!  Being bullheaded is inherited right?

Sooooo, after driving over an hour back to the house from Bass Pro and listening to the ungodly sounds of my brand new purchase, I was getting more and more excited about my first trip on my very own kayak.

Finally the day had come to take the kayak out on its first body of water.  My wife and I met up with a few of our friends, loaded up the trailer with kayaks and we made our way to another friend's pond!  We were all so excited to finally get on the water, especially since it was beginning of spring and we finally had some decent weather to enjoy.  My wife, not really the outdoorsy type, even joined in and took her first kayak ride, and I must admit she picked it up pretty quickly!  I even think she enjoyed it, even though she denies it.

Back to the story, I was giddy with excitement as I climbed into my kayak and pushed away from the bank.  My first thought, "the stability in this is freakin awesome!" next, "the seat in this is freakin comfortable!" next, being 6' 3" "the leg room in this is freakin grrreaaaat!"...  After the first couple minutes sitting in the kayak and paddling, I was extremely pleased with my purchase, and it validated all the research I poured into finding this well built kayak.

Since that day of taking it off the water, I was already planning and thinking of the next time I would be out in it again.  Well my friends, this past weekend 4/27/2013, was that time and I went prepared!  The Ascend FS10 is an angler's kayak, so I packed a couple fishing poles, my tackle bag, and a cooler with some ice cold beers and headed back to the same pond with my good friend for a few hours of relaxing, uninterrupted fishing from our kayaks.

It didn't take long and I caught my first fish from this beloved beast of buoyancy!   I believe I officially christened the kayak the moment I reeled that first fish inside of my very own kayak.  Hence, "christening the kayak"  The fish wasn't large, it didn't weigh a lot, nor did it put up a strenuous fight, but it was a great to be spending time with my good friend on our kayaks, BS'ing, fishing, and tippin back a few cold ones!

Look closely you might be able to find my Trophy-Sized Crappie!