'The Rick Nash Hat Trick'

1 short-handed goal + 1 power play goal + 1 empty-net goal = "The Rick Nash Hat Trick." I guess it was worth it to go to a hockey game tonight instead of sitting around watching a bunch of crappy bowl games. (Pic: Sweeping the hats off the ice after Rick Nash's 2nd career hat trick.)

Columbus Blue Jackets 4
Edmonton Oilers 2

Irishman video comment page

If you arrived here by following the link from the Aimless video page, please leave a comment about the Irishman on a Dirt Bike video.

Irishman video

Here's a new video. I'll have more to say about it later, and I may make some minor revisions.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Coincidental basketball

This is weird.

Earlier today I noticed that Georgetown and Memphis were playing each other in men's college basketball. I thought that was kind of interesting because Ohio State played both of those teams in the NCAA tournament last season.

Then, five minutes ago, I noticed that Tennessee and Xavier are playing each other, too. That's two more of Ohio State's six NCAA tournament opponents.

By then I was beginning to wonder if Ohio State's other two tournament opponents are also playing each other today, but it quickly occurred to me that Ohio State is playing Florida today in a "rematch" of last season's national championship game, which was probably tipping off at the moment I thought about it.

Not that anyone cares--I don't even care--but that's just kind of weird.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Tape 22

It doesn't feel right to go right into this post after writing the previous one, but I'm going to.

I finally got around to watching some more video yesterday. I began by skipping nearly two hours of conversation with Tim Kenneally, the Irishman I met at a gas station near I-75, Exit 101 in Naples, Florida (the last exit before Alligator Alley). Why did I skip that stuff? Because I'm already pretty sure there is a lot of good stuff there, and there is no reason for me to watch all of it, taking notes, since I already know I'm going to watch it all again when I hook up the camcorder to the computer.

Tape 22 begins with Tim riding off toward Miami on the dirtbike he had already ridden from Miami to California and back. Following Tim's dramatic departure, there's some footage of me talking a bunch of nonsense beside the on-ramp, when all of a sudden a white cargo pulls over behind me.

I had forgotten all about that. I am almost never using the camcorder at the exact moment that someone stops to offer me a ride. (I can't think of any other time that has happened right now, but I haven't spent any time thinking about it yet.)

Anyway, the driver of the white cargo van was Lew Graff.

Once I started watching this part of the tape, I began thinking maybe I'd include some footage of Lew in one of the upcoming videos. Since I have mentioned Lew quite a bit, and because Lew has participated regularly on the Aimless Blog, I figured I should kind of introduce him, even if there ended up being no real interesting footage of him.

Strange thing happened, though. Even though I have less than 15 minutes of footage from my ride with Lew, there IS interesting stuff. While riding with him, I had originally hoped to get some good footage of the Everglades on fire, but it appears that the fires were pretty much under control by then. And I suspect the main reason I didn't keep the camera on Lew much is that the van was very loud. Considering this stuff (and a whole bunch of other factors), I'm very glad I ended up with some good Lew stuff. (Hint to Lew: The good stuff is when you were talking about how you used to work in dorm rooms, and how it helped you pick up on the popular trends among college students.)

Tape 22 has a lot of interesting stuff. It was actually fun watching that tape. I want to wrap this up now, but I hope I'll be able to show you some of this stuff very soon. Keep an eye out.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

A grieving friend

I was about to write a post about the current state of things when I turned on the computer today, only to be sidetracked by an e-mail from my friend Jay. Unfortunately, during a recent surgical operation, Jay's mother suffered a stroke, putting her in a deep coma from which she is unlikely to awaken.

Out of respect for Jay's privacy, I will not reveal anything more about this.

I know at least one Aimless Blog reader has gotten to know Jay a little bit, but there may be others I don't know about. If any of you would like to say anything to Jay, I guess you can either leave a comment here or e-mail him at [His Name] AT docrivs.com. If you would like to call him, contact me for his phone number.

Stay strong, Jay. I love you, dude.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

I'm so stupid

There are four tickets to today's Cleveland Browns game sitting right in front of me. My dad was supposed to use them to entertain a potential client or something like that, but they decided not to go yesterday because the forecast called for really bad weather today.

When I found out the tickets were available, I texted someone I thought might be interested in going to the game, but he couldn't go because he had stuff to do today. With him being unavailable, I pretty much decided I'd just stay home, even though I wanted to go, particularly because of the weather.

Now that the game is on TV, I wish I'd gone, even if I'd gone alone. I mean, have you seen the conditions of this game? With the blizzard conditions, this is one of those games that people will remember for decades.

I'm so stupid for not going.

And I'm not even a Browns fan.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Dumpster Diving video comment page

If you arrived here by following the link from the Aimless video page, please leave a comment about the Dumpster Diving video.

Dumpster diving video

If you've ever been curious to see what the dumpster diving footage in the Quasi-Aimless trailer is all about, here you go. Five minutes of more new video for you. (I uploaded a similar version of this video several months ago, but I don't think I told anyone except Brad.)

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Cop Encounter video comment page

If you arrived here by following the link from the Aimless video page, please leave a comment about the Collier County Sheriff video.

Collier County Sheriff video

Here's a brand new video. It is still a pretty rough edit, and it will probably remain a rough edit, although there are some things I think I can clean up a little.

This is not the most horribly exciting footage I have. In fact, it's not even close. But it provides a glimpse into one of many cop encounters. This particular cop encounter does have some unusual stuff, which becomes more evident in the last minute or so, but mostly this video provides a good representation of the typical Aimless cop encounter.

You'll probably think the camera is all over the place, but I am actually amazed by how frequently the subject is in the picture. Y'see, I wasn't standing there looking through the camera when I captured this footage. Most of the time I was holding it in one hand or the other, at about waist level, kind of pointing it toward someone or something, having no idea if I was anywhere near my target. Not bad considering.

If you watch this video, I would really appreciate your feedback and criticism. What's good about it? What's bad about it? What do you think should be cut? Yada yada...

Whatever you have to say about it, I'd like to hear. If you are hesitant to criticize because you know me, then comment anonymously.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Duke Fish

This is pretty cool.

Duke Dewey (pic) is a guy I know from Yellow Springs. Before I knew him, he was just a familiar face at Dino's Cappuccinos. I used to see him pretty much every time I went there, and in time we began to acknowledge each other's presence--we'd nod or say hi--whenever our paths crossed.

Eventually Duke initiated a friendly conversation with me, and I learned that he is a drummer. Being a former passionate drummer myself, Duke and I had something in common, so our conversation flowed smoothly. However, in the weeks following that conversation, our weekly interaction devolved back into "Hey, what's up? See ya."

One day several weeks after our conversation, when I popped into Dino's, the tiny room was full of customers, so I had nowhere to sit. Seeing Duke alone at a table for two, I asked him if I could join him. He didn't mind, so I sat across from him and we began a new conversation.

As Duke and I talked drums and drumming, seemingly from out of nowhere he mentioned that he is in the Woodstock movie. Puzzled and curious, I responded, "W-W-Wait a minute... What!?!" I continued, "Are you IN the movie or are you just in the movie?" He then explained that he was the drummer for Country Joe and the Fish. (So he is IN the movie.)

I still didn't know Duke's name at this point, so I asked him. He answered, "Greg, but most people call me Duke." He also told me some of his aliases (or stage names), which include Duke DeGreaze and Dewey DeGreaze.

That was about a year ago.

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About a month ago I saw Duke for the first time since passing through Yellow Springs at the end of Aimless Leg 1. Because Country Joe and the Fish is from San Francisco, I asked him if he made it to San Francisco in September for the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love. He said he didn't go, I think because he was not offered enough money. (Don't go thinking that was some kind of greedy rock star response, because it wasn't. Duke may have been borderline famous nearly 40 years ago, but he has to pay the bills just like everyone else.)

On this day at Dino's there was also a woman and her twentysomething daughter. The daughter didn't know who Duke is, but she had a laptop with her, so Duke and the girl's mother suggested that she visit YouTube and search for "Country Joe and the Fish." She did, and one of the search results brought up a western movie featuring Country Joe and the Fish as a saloon house band called The Crackers. I never knew Duke was in any movies other than Woodstock, so it was cool for me to see the YouTube video.

The movie is called Zachariah and I'd never heard of it. (In fact, I just found out the name of it today.) If you watch the video below, the blonde guy in the bar is a young Don Johnson (pre-Miami Vice).

(I didn't even know this exists, but Duke has a web site. It must be relatively new because I never found it when I googled his name after meeting him.)



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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Coppers

Don't everyone jump at once to comment on the revised trailer. Kinda makes me want to spend hours and hours every day editing more video.

Anyway, so far I have cut the cop video down to just over 10 minutes. It requires a lot more editing than I expected, which won't be obvious by watching it. I may be ready to upload it within a day or two, but I'm not making any promises.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Quasi-Aimless video comment page

If you arrived here by following the link from the Aimless video page, please leave a comment about the Quasi-Aimless trailer.

It's up

Even if you've already watched the Quasi-Aimless trailer, I hope you'll do me a favor and watch Part 1 again (only as far as the "AIMLESS" sign on notebook paper), and then watch my new revision (the whole thing). I'd really appreciate your feedback regarding the new version, even if you are ultra critical of it. Tell me what you think I could do to make it better and stuff like that.

If you have anything to say about it, just leave a comment on this post. I'll provide my own critique in about a week (unless I don't).

Thanks.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Update on video stuff

Since returning home, I've struggled with a severe lack of motivation, which I can't explain. But recently I've managed to get my sorry ass over to my dad's Mac to start working on some video stuff. The Florida cop stuff didn't pull me in very well the other day, so yesterday I decided to make some changes to the Quasi-Aimless trailer.

If you've watched Quasi-Aimless, you probably think the first minute or so of the first video--the part where I tell my story to Jeff--is boring as hell. If you do think it's boring as hell, you are correct. So I've removed all of that stuff and replaced it with just enough text to explain the situation. Also, I've combined Part 1 and Part 2, which is what I originally intended.

Right now I'm trying to convert the Final Cut Express file to a QuickTime movie of high quality but reasonable file size. This is not easy, and it's a hassle because it takes a lot of time to figure out the right settings. I'm on my fifth try right now. The first three attempts each produced unacceptably low quality videos. The fourth attempt produced a fantastic video, but it was 74.3 MB, which is way too big. I think my goal is to end up with something under 40 MB.

I don't know how long it will take me to get it right, but I will upload the new video as soon as I get it all worked out. And when I'm done with that, I'll get my ass working on some new stuff.

Update: At 3:55 EST, I'm almost there. Should be uploaded by tonight sometime.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Evil Peyton Manning

This is really funny, especially if you are familiar with Peyton Manning's public demeanor. I think it is from Saturday Night Live. (Embedding has been disabled for this video, so go here to watch it.)

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.

Redemption?

Beep... Beep... Beep...

Back it on in, Buckeyes!!! All the way to New Orleans.





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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
You can contact me at 614-738-3867.