Tuesday, April 09, 2024
Total Eclipse 2024
Thursday, April 04, 2024
#HatofSummer Voting Update #1
Good day everyone! It has been a few weeks and I've let the #OfficialHat2024 voting proceed at its own, slow pace in the first few weeks.
There haven't been lots of votes yet. But we still have almost two full months for that to change.
I say that not to encourage you to sit on your voting hands and wait, but rather to remind you that you can use these upcoming weeks to vote to your heart's content. Many times! Multiple times! It is still very much anyhat's game to win or lose.
The Temperance Row hat has the bulk of the votes to this point. So, if you like that hat, then keep it going. But if you want to see another choice challenge for the crown (no crown options available), then go forth!
Click on this link to be taken to the Google Form for voting: https://forms.gle/qE3MDu2UM6sQLqx69
On that page, you will see the Rules video that I made this year and your four options.
If you would like to see the videos that have been made for the 2024 #HatofSummer campaign, you can visit this year's YouTube playlist.
I will start making more video updates soon, I promise!
Thursday, March 14, 2024
Vote for the 2024 #HatofSummer
You have seen all for hat choices for #OfficialHat2024. (But if you need a refresher on what the four hats are, check out the 2024 #HatofSummer playlist.)
So now you can get busy voting.
Please vote as many times as you want!
Wednesday, March 13, 2024
#HatofSummer Video #4: Anders Erickson
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
#HatofSummer Video #3: Temperance Row Brewing Co.
Here is the third of four choices for the 2024 #HatofSummer.
It's another bit of swag from another local Westerville business--a hat for the Temperance Row Brewing Company, housed within Uptown Deli and Brew.
This is a favorite restaurant of ours. The food is simple, but tasty and I enjoy their locally brewed beers as well. And from a historical point of view, this restaurant is notable for being the first Westerville brewery since the temperance movement hit alcohol sales in the United States back in the early twentieth century.
As you may know, Westerville was a very important headquarters for the temperance movement before and during the Prohibition era in the United States. Westerville once called itself the Dry Capitol of the World. And it mailed information against the sale of alcohol across the globe from this (then) sleep town in central Ohio.
But those days are over. Prohibition ended in the 1930s, but Westerville remained dry until the 2000s. Now there is a museum for the movement in the local public library and information about the Anti-Saloon League. As well as a memorial statue on Main Street outside of City Hall.
But we also have alcohol sales and many good restaurants and wine bars up and down that same Main Street. And if you look, you might see me on a summer weekend with a glass in hand, wearing the Temperance Row Brewing Co. hat--if it wins the most votes, that is.
Watch the video and cast your vote!
Monday, March 11, 2024
Martin Scorsese films that I have seen . . . ranked
In my effort to see more Oscar nominated movies before yesterday's 96th Academy Awards, I sat down with Grace on Saturday and watched Killers of the Flower Moon. And I had feelings about it. And while I'm glad to have watched it, I do not think it was inappropriately snubbed at the ceremony on Sunday. But I'm not a professional movie critic . . . just a guy who's seen an average to less than average amount of films.
Definitely file this in the "Who Asked You?" file.
TOP
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Gangs of New York (2002)
Goodfellas (1990)
Cape Fear (1991)
The Color of Money (1986)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
Taxi Driver (1976)
The Aviator (2004)
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
BOTTOM
#HatofSummer Video #2: Whits Frozen Custard
Sunday, March 10, 2024
#HatofSummer Video 1: Seersucker
Monday, February 26, 2024
#HatofSummer Rules Video
I am not a good content creator strategist.
If I was trying to drive consistent traffic to my blog/YouTube channel, I would create content and then push it live on a regular schedule--similar to how the Disney+ streaming services get you interested in a series and then deliver a new episode week-by-week.
(All this assumes that any content that I make would be sufficiently interesting to drive any traffic anywhere. But this is a hypothetical and not a reflection of what I know is reality.)
But instead, I get excited by ideas and I make them and throw them up by inspiration.
Case in point: I created my #HatofSummer teaser video and put it up on Saturday. And then I got an idea for the #HatofSummer Rules video and I put it together on Sunday and pushed it live.
That alone is not a bad thing.
But I'm not ready to push the rest of the #HatofSummer videos live immediately after. So I promise something and then there is a lag while I get the rest of things together. Because I don't have a critical mass of followers, then attention wanes and lessens any interest in subsequent videos that come.
Oh well.
Here is the rules video that I put together Sunday afternoon. It's not the slickest video you will ever see on YouTube, but I enjoyed making it and I like it. Not that bad for a few hours of work and all done for free.
More #HatofSummer videos will come soon, I promise. And then the real voting can get started.
Saturday, February 24, 2024
#HatofSummer 2024 is Coming Soon!
Thursday, January 25, 2024
Checking In . . . 2024 Style
*pats self on back*
***
ANYWAY . . . my one fan asked me to update WWYG?! and so I will do so. (When you read it, you'll wonder why bother?)
Earlier this morning while doing my morning walk I listened to a podcast that discusses and judges series finale episodes. The show being examined was Mad Men. Was the finale a good one?
Without rewatching/refamiliarizing myself with the show as a whole (which I did watch in real time and did enjoy), I can't form much of an opinion on the finale itself. I don't remember being very polarized with at the time. I'm sure it was of a high quality and well considered--as was almost all of Mad Men itself. (It does goad me to consider making it a rewatch . . . but there are other things that I REALLY SHOULD (have to?) complete first . . .
My point is that listening to Mad Men and the discussion centering around the thesis of the show and the goals of the finale made me think about midlife crises. And it made me wonder if I have had/will have/am having one.
Am I mired in my daily schedule? Do I even want to get out of it? Do I have malaise? And what would/could I even do otherwise? Best to avoid and not think about it! Don't try to fix what ain't broke! Recognize what you've got and don't get distracted by phantoms of what else!
Okay.
Repress.
***
Jay got some good school news last night! Their application for the half-day school curriculum at Fort Hayes was accepted. And they seemed very happy about it. I hope it will be a good academic fit for them and that it helps them explore the career field that they are right now interested in. There will be scheduling challenges to overcome for next year, but I am confident that those can be figured out. And Jay may have to make some changes by dropping a few after school performance things next year to make this work and make the schedule flow. But if it is what they want to do, then I hope it results in good things.
***
Lastly, I've had a few random thoughts about Hat of Summer as the calendar shifted to a new year. It is still many months until we begin the approach to Memorial Day weekend. But if I can get inspired, maybe I can start making the odd video here and there. Uploading them to Private of course. Don't want to make the voting period drag on for too long. But shooting, editing, and banking would be a good use of time when I've got nothing else happening. (I make it sound like it is such an ordeal. The videos--as you know--are incredibly simple. But I am--as you know--of limited skill.)
And I guess that is it for now.
Better than nothing? That is for you to decide.