Two Boot Camps, One Month, I must be NUTS

I have to tell you, I am begging to wonder if my brain is writing checks my butt can't cash. I got my self into two boot camps this month. The first one starts on Monday. I have signed up for a work out boot camp. This is a 30-day camp that will get me back into working out and loosing weight. I have hit a point where I am not dropping any more weight the past few months, and I just can't seem to get my self in gear to work out like I know I should, so I was looking for something to get me going. I said something about a work out boot camp that I had seen and heard about a long time ago to Leeann on night, did some research online and found one here in Knoxville. I told Leeann about it and said that they meet everyday at 6am. She said that I could not do it. That was a challenge that I could not pass up. So, I put my money down and sign up. Woke up the next morning saying "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO LAST NIGHT!!!!" Too late now, I have paid and have to show up. Everyday at 5:45am. This should be fun.

The other Boot Camp is in Palm Springs, CA. Leeann is going to be a teachers assistant for the lady she took an eBay boot camp from in LA last October. She has done so well, the lady asked her back to be an assistant and in doing so, she asked and hired me to video the boot camp so that she can sell it to others who could not make it to this boot camp. She is also going to sell this on an infomercial she is working on to air in the spring. So there is going to be some very tough work coming my way.

I will keep you all updated as to how the boot camp goes. PRAY FOR ME!!!!!

Busy Week

This has been a busy week so far. I have really gone into full swing with the wedding video business since the bridal fair is over. I put so much work into that event that I am still tired. But, I have to say it again and again, without Leeann and all the work she did, none of it would have come together or looked as good as it did. I am truly blessed to have such a loving and wonderful wife as Leeann. She is my rock and I could not do half the things I do were it not for her faith and belief in me. I am truly the luckiest man in the world to have such a wonderful wife.

The week started off really good with a couple of emails from brides wanting more information and prices. I was so happy and so proud of the work Leeann did on my price sheet. It looked so great and I was able to get it out to some folks and was able to book a wedding from that price sheet. I will get the contract signed this Saturday. That is in addition to a wedding I booked last night for a friend of a friend of ours (thanks Lisa). She signed the contract last night. I gave her a big discount, but it still ended up being the highest paid wedding to date I have done. I have really enjoyed doing this work, I feel the most comfortable and the happiest I have ever been working with weddings.

I thought that I would not be real busy during the day without the typical office job to keep me going. But, running my own business keeps me on my toes. I have to now monitor the web site daily, keep track of incoming emails, out going mail, bank statements and it just goes on and on. I am up every day between 6:30 and 7am. After Katie is off to school, Leeann and I have a set schedule we follow. Monday and Wednesdays are horse days, Tuesday and Thursday are edit days, and Friday, Saturday & Sunday are family and work time. I still edit some at night and help Leeann with eBay stuff as well, but we stay very busy now.

The best thing this past week was finding a great new babysitter to watch Katie. We have not had a babysitter for quite some time and as a result, have not had the time to go out with friends. Well, we are off on a fun evening out with our BEST Friends (I LOVE YOU, MAN) Rick and Lisa. We have so much fun with them. Leeann and Lisa are going to a scrapbook thing next weekend and I get to play daddy day care with Katie, we will have fun I know. I am thinking of taking her to Chuck E. Cheese maybe on Friday night (WHAT AM I THINKING!!!!) and we may go see a movie on Saturday afternoon. Just some good "daddy - daughter" time.

Here is a photo of my booth from the bridal fair, I am so proud of the work that went into it. THANKS TO EVERYONE that helped last weekend.

What a wild couple of weeks

Well, I have gotten past that crazy rooster and have had a crazy couple of weeks. I have been in the planning stages of getting ready for a bridal fair that went off so well yesterday. I have been working so hard, going over every detail, every paper, every flyer, every DVD, you name it, I went over it with a fine tooth comb. I think I was making everyone around me crazy. Leeann was such a great help, she was right there with me the whole way telling me that everything would be just fine. She was right of course (when is she not right about things like this????). But, I was running things through my head so much wanting everything to be just right, just perfect. There is my problem, PERFECT. Nothing is ever perfect, there will always be something to go wrong, some litle bump in the road, but I did not want that to happen Sunday. You know what, it didn't. It was a great day.

I meet so many people Sunday, brides, wedding planners, other videographers, and there were a few grooms that looked liked they could be anywhere esle that day other than at a bridal fair. But, it was fun. I know that Katie is happy it is over with. I was such a meanie to her the past couple of days. She was only being an 8 year old, but then too, I was grumpy with everyone the last couple of days. But, she loves me and things are back to normal. Well, as normal as things can get around here.

Katie is doing great for the first couple of days in second grade. She loves her teacher, she is a lot like her first grade teacher which is great. She was able to do all of her spelling words tongiht so she got a crazy dance from dad which made her laugh. I love hearing her and Leeann laugh. I think that is the prettiest sound in the world, the two of them laughing together.

Well, I have a lot of video to download and get edited in the next couple of days, want to get this video done as soon as possible. I have a feeling I will be doing a lot more very soon.

CRAZY Rooster

One thing I enjoy doing is going out to the farm and riding Sunny. I know I don't talk about it much on here, in fact, I don't think I have ever talked about it on here. I didn't think I would like riding a horse, but when Leeann started riding, I couldn't resist and just had to jump on and I have been hooked ever since. So hooked in fact, that we got another horse just for Leeann to ride and I just took over with Sunny. She responds to me so well (for the most part) but she is a typical female, has her moments and can be moody at times, but I love being on her.

Tonight and this past Tuesday night, I really enjoyed the ride. I got to ride out in the pasture and out of the arena where I have felt safe. We took a long ride tonight out into the biggest pasture they have out there. I even saw two deer standing at the edge of the woods. I stopped and just watched them, big eyes and all. I thought in that moment, how could anyone want to hurt or harm such a gentle animal? I used to work with someone who would have seen the same two deer and would have said "Give me a gun!" and he would have gone running into the woods to get them. I just thought what a beautiful sight - how can people shoot these creatures?

Anyway, the funniest thing happened to me the past two nights I was out there. There is this crazy rooster out at the farm. His name is Gremlin and he is just that, a little gremlin. Anyway, there must be something about my legs that rooster does not like because he is always attacking my legs when I am there. Well, I have had enough of this and Tuesday night was the last straw.

I was going out to the pasture to get Sunny for my lesson when this crazy rooster snuck up behind me and attacked my legs. I almost kicked him but he ran too fast. I thought that was the end of it. But NNNOOOOOOO!! This rooster just didn't get enough. He charged at me and I spun around and caught him with the halter and lead (rope) I had in my hand. I got him so that I flipped him up in the air, spun him around twice and he landed on his back. Shook him up a bit, but then he tried to charge me again. I will give him credit for persistence, but I was not going to let this little bird win. I stood my ground and did not back down, almost like the shoot out at the OK corral. Well, except it was ME against the crazy rooster!

Well, I won after about 10 minutes of staring him down, he finally backed down. I thought he would get the message, but tonight he proved me wrong. I went to get my saddle to ride and I will be dammed if that little bird was not laying in wait for me. As I went by one of the horse trailers, he came charging out and went after my legs again. I stood my ground and started to go after him. I think that did it. He started to back down and slowly move away. But he kept one eye on me and kept looking over his shoulder like he was going to jump at me at any second. The funniest part of all of this was one of the other roosters there - he started attacking Gremlin while Gremlin was trying to attack me. Seems the other rooster is more "human friendly" and does not like Gremlin attacking humans. Although, according to Mary - Gremlin only does this with me. "GREAT!!!"

Anyway, that has been my week so far. I have got a rough couple of weeks coming up - but potentially full of potential. I have a wedding this Saturday outside of Gatlinburg and then next weekend I have the wedding show - where the anticipated attendance is 1000. I'm one of three Videographers. So my mind is going about 300 mile an hour with all that is going on. I just hope I don't forget something this weekend.

Have a good week. I'm gonna try to.

I was really SCARED......

Today Leeann and I took Katie and Leeann's best friend Lisa to Dollywood. We had a blast but man was it HOT up there today. I should really say, down there as Sevierville is south of us. We have been to Dollywood before, but then, anyone who lives in this area has been to Dollywood at least once. We have season passes and the way we figured it, if we go twice in the year we have paid for the passes. This is the third time we have gone to either Dollywood or to Splash Country, so we have more than got our monies worth.

But, we did have a lot of fun. We went to a part of the park I have not been to before, the part with all the good roller coasters. Now let me set the record straight before I tell you what happened. I love roller coasters. I love going to parks and riding roller coasters. Wooden, steel, loops, no loops, doesn't matter, I love roller coasters!!!! Today, not so much. We got there and went to Thunderhead Railroad. This is a wooden roller coaster. I love wooden roller coasters and I have loved them as far back as I can remember. My first wooden coaster was The Beast at Kings Island Ohio. I used to love to go to that park and spend all day riding that coaster. Today, we jumped on Thunderhead Railroad and for the first time in my roller coaster riding life, I was SCARED. This ride crosses over it self 32 times. Up, down, all around. I was actually pushed out of my seat for most of the ride. I was SCARED. Katie on the other hand, loved it. I don't get her sometimes, she loves to go fast, but I was SCARED.

Oh, it gets better. My lovely wife, her best friend and my sweet innocent daughter talked me into going on Mystery Mine. A steel coaster that will give me nightmares for weeks to come. I have never been on a coaster that went STRAIGHT up. I did not misspell, STRAIGHT up. Not once, but TWICE. The second time was STRAIGHT up in a DARK room. Fire, rocks, and a corkscrew and an inverted straight track that leaves you upside down for about 20 feet. My knees were so weak I had a hard time walking down the stairs.

But wait; there is more fear in store for me. We stopped for a drink, and then they (the women in this trip) talked me into riding Timber Tower. Let me see if I draw you a picture, you sit on a seat with others around this big pole painted to look like a log. Your seat, along with everyone else, goes up the pole and starts to spin around. Not that bad, but then the pole starts to swing back and forth while you spin on top of a pole. Now when I say swing, I mean it leans WAY far over. It was so far over that you could look straight down. This is the same ride that several month ago, the ride broke down with 50 people stuck on TOP of the ride for over 6 hours. So you could just picture my joy in getting on this thing in the first place knowing that I could get stuck on top of this thing, but then to see it lean and pitch back and forth so. I just couldn't wait.

We get off this oversized toothpick and I am thinking, maybe we can take it easy for the rest of the day. NOOOOO, it's back to Thunderhead Railroad for one last game of scare the pants off DON.

We did finally leave the park just as it started to rain and we drove to a mountain top area where I am video taping a wedding this weekend, But it was a fun day, a day that we all really needed. I will post some photos later when I get them scanned in. You won't have a hard time finding me in the photo; I am the one screaming my head off.


I WAS SCARED........

Not what I wanted, but.......

I have been waiting for a while to find out about a job I really wanted. It was a job that was overnight, not the best hours, but it would have opened some doors for me to get into some editing among other things. I found out today that I did not get it. I am a bit sad, but you know, after talking to Leeann over the past the couple of days, I am not that sad. We talked about the fact that if I did not get the job that there had to be a reason why I wouldn't get it. She is right. There are other things out there for me. I have been looking at a program to certify me as a Court Videographer, I have been working to get ready for a bridal show in a couple of weeks, I have a wedding to do in two weeks, and we are looking at adding a online store for me on eBay to do some freelance editing. So, there are things for me out there.

BUT, I did have a door open up today. At the same time I was finding out about not getting the job I wanted, the person was also offering me a different job. It is part time for right now, it could allow me to do other things and could lead to a full time position. The part time position would allow me to finish up the court videographer course, keep up with the wedding videos and get the eBay business going. But, on the flip side, it is part time, the pay is not great, and there would be no benefits. So, what would you do?

On to more pressing things. We had a long trip home yesterday from Leeann's mom's house. Katie woke up Sunday a bit cranky, but that is not unusual. As the morning wore on, she kept saying that her stomach hurt. We should have known that she was not feeling good when she did not eat any of her favorite breakfast, PANCAKES. We pushed on anyway and boy was that the wrong thing. We pulled into mom's drive way and was getting ready to get out of the truck when Katie just.... let's say "Let it fly". We got her and the truck cleaned up and headed home. The day before the truck started making a strange noise from the front left wheel. So, we hit the road, with a truck making funny noises and an 8-year-old getting sick every couple of hours or so. We were able to get her home and to Children’s Hospital. Found out she was the 38th child there with a stomach bug. They gave her some meds to make her feel better. We were there for a couple of hours, which was not bad.

We then took the truck to CarMax so they could have it first thing this morning. They got it in and found out the front wheel bearings were going bad. What is so funny is that about half way home yesterday Leeann looked at me and said she thought it could be the wheel bearings. I had a car a long time ago that had bad wheel bearing and I remember the noise they made, so I didn't think it could be the wheel bearings. BOY WAS I WROING. I have to give it to her, she can hear a sound in a car and can pretty much hit the nail on the hear as to what is wrong with the car. She is good.

More the come later.

LET IT FLY!!!!!!

It has been over a month since my last post, but even that post was not really me. I wrote it, but there was so much I wanted to say, but was not able to. Now, I am able to open up and as they say, LET IT FLY!!!!!

If you did not know, I work for Scripps Networks (HGTV, DIY, Food Network, GAC) and was so unhappy that it was not even funny. I worked (HINT) in Network Operations. That ment I was responsible for putting the shows you watch on the air. There were some really good and fun days. I meet some very nice people, but the bad days far out weighed the good. The standards for the department were set so high that things were either 100% right or 100% wrong. Black or White, no gray area to work in. I always felt like I was walking on eggshells. I always did my best and gave my all. I have always done that, pay me some good money and I will work for you as hard as I can. But, I never felt that I was very welcomed in to the place. Most of the people I worked with were either young (mid 20's) or had been working in television for 10 or more years. I have only been working in TV for the past 4 years. Maybe people didn't like me, or maybe they didn't like the fact that I had the same job they had and they had worked longer to get to the same point. I don't know, but I will say this. They need some help there.

They have 4 supervisors that monitor each shift. 3 of them are great guys, really know what they are doing and are not afraid to jump in and help when help is needed. But, the one female supervisor they have has to be one of the worst people I have ever worked with. There is only one reason that this person is a supervisor, EEOC. She is a black female, looks good for your EEOC if you have a minorty in a position of supervison. One of the 3 guys who are supervisors is black and he does a great job and I really liked working for him. It was just her as a person that I did not like. She could have been white and been the same person and I still would not have liked her because I am not prejudice. No one there likes her, no one trust her, no one belives she knows what she is doing. She doesn't know what she is doing. I could go on for the better part of an hour just on her, but that will come later.


About 5 months ago, I started getting chest pains, stomach problems, an overall sense of panic. Leeann talked me into going to see our doctor and she put me on medical leave and suggested that i see a mental health specialist. I have been seeing a great clinical social worker, Susan. She has shown me that I have the power to make things better, that I could make it better if I wanted. Then this past Wed, I got a call from our so called Human Resources wanting me to come in for a meeting. To make a long story short, they fired me because i had run out of FMLA coverage and I had did not have a hard date for a return to work. I am not sad or upset. Not in the least. I am so Happy. I just wanted to end it on my terms and my way. I wanted to leave a letter with them telling them why I didn't want to come back to work. But I feel like a 3,000 pound weight is off my back. I am so happy. I have a couple of things lined up and I am waiting on a offer for a job that I think would be fun and could open some doors for me that I want to follow. I will just have to wait.

This weekend we are in NC to see Leeann's mother and grandmother. But, most of all we are here to see her cousin who is home from Kuwait for a couple of months. It is nice to see them again, but I will go into more later, It just feels good to be able open up again. So LET IT FLY!!!!!