Just A Silly Christmas Video - 2018

I thought 2017 was bad, but this year - professionally speaking - was worse. I'm still out of work. In 2019 I'll probably be driving a bus, or taxi, or performing some menial grocery store job.

I wish I could turn to the national stage for some uplifting developments. Sadly, that's a travesty heading toward a train wreck.

I needed something to lift my spirits and I thought making a silly Christmas video would do the trick.

I took out the old camcorder, filmed the house decorations and sat down to edit. Adding a holiday poem to supplement the video would be a nice touch, I thought, and proceeded to put it together. What I thought would be done by midnight dragged on until almost 2 a.m.

Then it happened. The editor froze, an error message came up and poof, my work was gone.

I spent two days trying to call up the video again, but kept striking out. I researched the Internet; I downloaded different editors; tried to reach some tech support, all to no avail.

Somehow, the files must have became corrupted and wouldn't play. Finally, I deleted everything I filmed and started over. I'll know better next time.

So this is my Christmas tale. I hope you got some amusement out of it. If you click here I hope you'll get an equal amount of amusement from the video.

Merry Christmas!   

Plumbing Feature - Cleaning a Drain

At Home - Under the Kitchen Sink - The Clearing Commenced

If you’re a homeowner or do-it-yourselfer, then you have sat through more than a few YouTube videos trying to get some idea how the professionals do it. 

More often than not I’m sure you come away thinking: “Oh, that makes sense. It shouldn’t be that hard.”

And if you’re like me, when it comes to the actual work, it ends up becoming more difficult than anticipated, and taking a whole lot longer than you thought it would.

Which brings me to another point. Those videos make it appear a lot easier than it is and the job takes a lot longer than you expect. And you never really appreciate how much work goes into the chore because the producer sets the job up to look nice and neat, and effortless.

I appreciate the fact that they’re giving advice, and if you show too much labor, well, it can get boring.

One day, I think last year or the year before, I took on the job of cleaning the kitchen drain after a brand name plumbing company came in and charged over $400 to do the bathroom. After about two hours of work I thought, how many people actually view a do-it-yourself video and see how messy and difficult it really is?

Well folks, after setting up my camcorder, I decided to record my own efforts at doing this smelly, messy job. I was successful at it. The kitchen drain is working as it should (I hope I’m not jinxing myself here). I don’t know why I didn’t put this out sooner – maybe I thought it was more a piece of self-indulgence than a help – but here it is - finally. I can’t say enjoy, but if you’ve considered cleaning the drain yourself, and saving a few hundred dollars, then I hope this helpful.

And no, this is not a product endorsement for Home Depot. I’m sure any similar tool from any plumbing supply store will be just as good, but this is what I used.

Please click here to view my video: Cleaning the Drain - Power Snake.

My Blog Debut on Aartrijk: The Vacation Photo, Then & Now

The fish market in Catania, Sicily

I am doing some freelance work for an insurance branding firm named Aartrijk. While the writing primarily concerns insurance - sales, branding, white papers, etc. - we are asked to periodically produce an off topic blog for the Aartrijk website.

Here is an excerpt of my debut blog piece for Aartrijk and a link to whole piece. I hope you enjoy it and a few of the photos. By the way - I'm open to any freelance or other offers.

My first real vacation was to San Francisco. I flew on TWA (an age indicator) with a connecting flight in St. Louis. After getting stuck there for eight hours because of engine trouble, I arrived at SFO at 2:30 a.m. No cell phone then, I couldn’t reach my friend waiting for me at the airport to tell him about the delay. I got a taxi to his place and he was none too excited to see me that early in the morning.

With my Minolta 35-millimeter SLR camera, I took lots of pictures, well over 300 — all slides. I opted for slides then because I read the colors are so vibrant. I viewed them later with a handheld viewer, but never invested in a slide projector...

Please click here to view the rest of the blog piece.

Portland, 3- in-1 Electric Blower/Vacuum Mulcher, Harbor Freight

In case you're having your own issues with a Portland 3-in-1 electric blower and mulcher, here are a some troubleshooting tips I discovered while using it myself. This is something that was not in the online troubleshooting manual. I hope this is helpful. Purchased at Harbor Freight.

First Article After a Long Hiatus

After a long hiatus from writing I finally have the pleasure of sharing an article I wrote that was recently published in the insurance publication Carrier Management. The piece is about the lack of profitability in commercial auto insurance, but how that situation may be changing.

I hope you enjoy reading my piece, "Commercial Auto: Profitability Issues Remain, But There's Light at the End of Tunnel."