Tonight, I am emotionally bloated.

So, naturally, as a blogger at heart, I figure the best way to relieve myself is to write and share 2 things with you that have jarred my mental senses.

During the holiday break- I was able to knock-out several items from my official “things I’ve been meaning to do but life is too crazy to do it now so I’ll just get to it later” list (i’m not lying, this is a real list, I have an inbox folder + a dedicated Google Doc for this). On the list was 1 Movie and 1 YouTube video to see. After watching both, I was swiftly hit over the head with the same message, “remember this dude- you can learn from it.” Hence, this blog post is my release to share with you what I learned from both…

1.) “The Movie”
I watched the movie “Up in the Air”, starring George Clooney. Without ruining the movie, I can tell you it’s a story about a man who spends most of his time traveling in airplanes and basks in detachment. He has no close ties to other people, including his family, holds few possessions and makes good money. Movie synopsis aside, it had some powerful underlying life lessons. There were two easy takeaways from the flick I interpreted:

• Your family is a big darn deal- don’t ever forget that- put them first no matter how crazy your life gets.




• Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans (John Lennon). Don’t let it slip by because you’re trying to “organize it” perfectly.

As good as those two are, my favorite souvenir from the movie can be summarized by a recent quote my friend Sam blogged:

• “Everyone needs something to do, something to look forward to and something to love.*”

You might have missed it while reading it, but I placed an “*asterisk” at the end of the quote because I think it requires some elaboration. While all those things are true, I would add this must be genuine and come from your heart. I also acknowledge, this might require some soul searching, experiments, risks and failing [gasp, yes- I said it]. All which take persistence, patience and time.

2.) “The YouTube video”
Ask any geek, anything that comes from the mouth of the living-prophet-on-earth a.k.a. Steve Jobs is almost always brilliant (or at least in our minds it is). Recently, I watched YouTube video of a commencement speech Steve Jobs gave at Standford University back in 2005 (written transcript here). His delivery wasn’t exactly polished, but the message was definitely received. He shares 3 very intimate stories about his own personal life that paints the message, “…pursue your dreams and see the opportunities even when life seems to set you back.”

It’s a 15-minute speech. Watch it. When you have time on your lunch break or you can play it in the background while you’re doing other things. It’s worth your time. There is one quote that resonated above all others:

“Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Watching and listening to the Steve Jobs YouTube video + “Up in the Air” the movie certainly got the juices flowing for my learning’s from 2009 and thinking about my goals for 2010. Both great motivational food for the soul and a potent dose of inspiration. (big thank to Lynds for the title of the bpost)
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Happy Holidays from Florida! I’ve been spending time with Mom + Sis and it’s been great. I snapped a few photo I thought I’d share with you…

I took this while we were at Clearwater Beach here in Florida. It was fun tracking the baby bird- her curiosity and wonderment of the world was captivating. (photo taken with my Canon 40D)

We grabbed a snack after a long day of shopping the day after Christmas- and this Crab Cake Burger was awesome! It had some spiced kick to it with a hint of cheese. I’m not sure how you bake cheese into a crab cake, but this tasted great. (photo taken with my iPhone)

My first time at an IKEA!!!!! This place rocks. Even the way the place is designed is awesome. Wish we had one of these in Kansas City. Also, I noticed IKEA has Helvetica or Comic Sans typeface everywhere on everything. Which makes everything just look clean and organized (although the use of Comic Sans is arguable). (photo taken with my iPhone)
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One year ago, I set a personal goal to “create and shoot more video blogs + try new things with it”. That said, I make it a point to reflect on all my goals frequently- and I wanted to take a look back at my own personal favorite video blogs from 2009. These aren’t necessarily the “most viewed” or the most popular- but these are my personal favorites for 2009.

1.) Video “flip book” = Scott + Allison

This is easily one of my favorite video blogs of all-time. What’s funny about this- is it isn’t actually video footage- rather just a lot of photos I took while taking engagement photos for two of my best friends. The inspiration came when I was sitting down scrolling through the photos. I came to the realization how fun a “flip book” of photos from this one shot was. So I sat down and added a few fade in effects and found the perfect song to go with such a lovely capture of a great scene with Scott and Allison. Again, probably one of my top 3 favorite video blogs I’ve ever put together. It tugs at the heart strings and puts a big fat smile on my face every time I watch it.

2.) “The David Beckham Show” (KC Wizards vs. LA Galaxy) in Kansas City

This was one of the most fun video blogs to shoot of the year. I grew up playing soccer all through high-school and David Beckham was a childhood idol for me. When I look back at this video blog- a little bit of luck a.k.a. fate put me in the right place at the right time to capture the argument in this video blog. I actually was taking a break on the sideline, drinking a Gatorade- when all of a sudden I noticed a fan getting “mouthy” with Beckham. Of course, I ran over, whipped out my Flip Cam and started asking questions. This video blog made the YouTube homepage and had over 100,000 views in 3 days.

3.) Dancing Badly all over Kansas City …for a good cause.

Many of you know, my friends and I put our blood, sweat and tears into planning the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. This promo video was just plain fun to shoot. Period. I did it all by myself and just used a tripod for the scene shots. It was a blast dancing around the city and asking others if they’d like to dance with a complete stranger, with no music, in public …all for a good cause. Surprisingly, more people were willing to dance than not (although, I got my fair share of “you’re crazy” facial reactions when I asked).

4.) Charity Water: Twestival

I wanted to do my part in promoting a great benefit party earlier this year called Twestival. Donating a video blog to promote the event was I felt the best way to raise awareness and drive attendance. My favorite part about shooting this was I took more of an artistic approach to shooting this video blog. I had a little help from 1 friend of mine- and we were able to concept and storyboard the idea down in 15 minutes. The total shooting time for this was quick too, about 30 minutes. And the edit to publish only took about 1 HR.

5.) Bacon Explosion

2 pounds of thick cut bacon, 2 pounds of Italian sausage = 5000 calories “Bacon Explosion“. This internet meme was popular because of the do-it-yourself blog post “Bacon Explosion” recipe. Shooting a cooking “perspective” video blog was a new type of capture for me. It was a blast tracking the cooking process on video and getting my friend’s priceless reactions when they had a bite to eat.

6.) Tax Day Tea Parties and the “Fairness Doctrine” Debate

Aaron Barnhart from the Kansas City Star reached out to me to shoot this video blog. This was a “KC first” in terms of being a collaboration between an independent blogger/new media type (myself) and the old media (Barnhart, KC Star Newspaper publication). I still feel strongly that old media and new media have the potential to do great things. One could argue, journalists and bloggers are fighting for attention — why not work together?

7.) The Jones Rooftop Pool opening (Downtown KC)

This was the one of many openings of venues I covered as several businesses opened this year in the newly revitalized Downtown Kansas City. This one stands out from the rest because it was such a shock that this rooftop pool existed in KC. While it’s only a pool- when you’re there- you can’t help but think, “Are we in Kansas City?”

8.) Earth Day vBlog: “See how far 1 apple can go!”

Spreading the good word for a good cause can be fun- and when shooting this with my friend Nick, it was a blast running around the Plaza throwing apples at people (well, I guess we just tossed it). There were some outtakes I should post that were hilarious- which included people not actually catching the apples I would throw at them

9.) Blogger gets “Behind the Scenes” @Kansas City Chiefs Football Game

2009 certainly was filled with “press access” opportunities- organizations all around the city reached out for me to come and capture some great events. The Kansas City Chiefs are working hard to reach out and engage their fans by using social media. I felt like a kid on the playground walking freely wherever and capturing the experience. A total rush- in which I met some of NFL football’s greats present and past.

My roommates were busy this evening cooking sugar pecans with nutmeg- a great holiday snack. Two things happened once I caught whiff of the wonderfuly tasty smells coming from our kitchen:

1.) I want to add to my goals for 2010: “Learn to cook and cook frequently.” I’m guilty of not making much of an effort to cook- or even having the attitude want to. That’s gotta change…

2.) I grabbed my camera to capture the wonderful holiday snack- and found out, it’s not easy photographing food. It’s a whole new style that requires you to rethink composition and what to place the priority of focus.

This week, while out to dinner eating pizza with my roommates, we talked about the importance of setting goals and having a mindset with measurable achievements (ok, truth be told- that was the gist of the conversation, we didn’t phrase it exactly like that- with all the fancy corporate buzzwords ).

Anyways, ever since that conversation, I’ve been thinking about what my goals are going to be for 2010. Which in turn has reminded me of a quote I recently posted to Twitter (follow me if you want).

The life hack advice embedded in this quote is important. In my opinion, you should extend yourself by setting goals and having dreams and aspirations in life. However, having confidence in yourself and who you are NOT makes all the difference in the world. This quote is a great reminder of that.
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Something that’s unique at Digital Evolution Group (where I work) is that every year we spread holiday cheer by sending wine …instead of Christmas cards. I took this photo with my iPhone to show you the phrase I came up with for one of the many “hangers” we put on the wine bottles. Cool huh?

(+big shout-out to the one and only friend + graphic designer extraordinaire / goddess = Amanda Dinkel for the idea this year + graphic design. She also is graphic artist for the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party website and logo)

In 2008, the dream, vision and “what if”, became a reality. Not only did we launch the 4th Annual to a full fledged benefit- but we exceeded every goal and expectation we set when we planned the party. Looking back- it was grueling at times, but incredibly fulfilling seeing the outcome and the result. Over $7,000 was raised for Operation Breakthrough in 2008.

Here is the story behind the party (if you don’t know):

The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party began in 2005, as a small holiday gathering hosted by a group of friends (me +2 roommates). While cleaning up in 2007, we decided to turn all of our hard work in to good for others, and raise money for a charity.

A steering committee of 15 volunteers made time to plan this party. We aren’t affiliated with any one organization – we’re just a group of friends who want to give back to our community.

Our goal is to make a positive impact by donating as much money and toys to Operation Breakthrough as possible. Our vision for the Ugly Christmas Sweater Party is to make it the biggest and best annual holiday fundraiser in Kansas City!

Fast forward to 2009 and the planning of the 5th Annual, our second year of being a “real-deal” benefit party. Rather than being intimidated about topping last year’s party- we went full force with ensuring that 2009 was bigger and better. Careful planning to upgrade the party were outlined and executed. The original steering committee was back for the second year and we were more motivated than before. It was incredible to see the us find our stride again- but this year, we found it was far more effective to play to the strengths of each committee member to get stuff done.

Long nights, hard work and careful planning paid off …again. We set the goal of $10,000 and we raised over $16,000 to give back to Operation Breakthrough! Again, in our wildest dreams (and our Excel spreadsheet that had our estimated financial goals) we never even thought it was possible that we could raise this much.

I mentioned this before in a blog post last year- but in planning this party, I have found there’s a lot of people out there that sincerely want to do good in this world- they just don’t have the right opportunity to do it. We, as a group of friends, have made it our mission to do good by planning this party and empower others to have an opportunity to not only do good, but carry the message about Operation Breakthrough.

This party is OUR mark in the world in being the difference.

I have learned so much more than just how to throw a party. These experiences and lessons learned, have truly made us all better people. I still get chills thinking about how a small house party has evolved into something much bigger. We are making a direct impact in the community, right here, in a city we’re all proud of, Kansas City.

I get excited even at just the mere thoughts of what we are capable of accomplishing in the future. While this is our “5th Annual”, it’s still very much only the beginning. The best still has yet to come for The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Stay tuned for 2010. After all, this party is Kansas City’s biggest, wildest, sweateriest bash of the season!
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I thought this capture was a wonderful display of the colors blue. I took this photo with a polarized filter and it made for a great effect with the blues in the water. Check out the larger version of this photo. This was @Table Rock Lake in Missouri.

While sitting in a Starbucks I noticed this great quote in a book for sale. This quote reiterates a simple truth- have the right attitude and maintain a positive mindset.

I’m often intrigued by successful people and individuals who are affecting greater change in the world. A common thread with all these individuals, is they’ve always persevered through the odds, critics, their own failures and difficult circumstances. More importantly, their passion in life is so great- it drives them to have a seemingly unreachable goals or a dreams that challenge the status quo.

This quote encapsulates to me an important point- set goals outside of the bounds of what a realist would do. You have to extend yourself to do this even if you’re a linear thinker who requires rationale for everything. If you don’t- you’re going through life operating with nothing to reach for. Everyone has dreams, no matter the stage in life you’re in (young and old).

Dream and dream big. Have the patience to piece together “the ladder” in what it takes to get you there. Use your passion to follow through with doing what it takes to accomplish that dream.
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I made this video blog to promote a super fun benefit party my friends and I created and throw every year, The Ugly Christmas Sweater Party! We came up with the idea back in 2005 and at last year’s party raised over $7,000 which we donated to Operation Breakthrough.

2008 was the first year my friends and I turned what was just an annual house party into a full-fledged benefit. In addition to smashing our $$$ goal, we raised awareness about Operation Breakthrough and set a solid foundation for the annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. Our vision for the party is to make it the biggest and best annual holiday fundraiser in Kansas City!

Myself and 13 of my friends have made time to plan this party. We aren’t affiliated with any one organization- we just want to give back to our community. [cue Full House cheezy music] …what started as a dream, a vision, a “what if”, is now more than just a reality! It’s a powerful truth that has affirmed our belief that it’s important to have passion, patience and to dream big!

If you want to read more, I’ve blogged about it before here: 5 I’ve learned about planning a benefit party and here: photos + video from last year’s party. AND if you’re in the KC area, come to the party December 11th, you can purchase tickets online at www.kcsweaterparty.com.

FYI, a little “behind the scenes” on the video blog- both that got me choked up when I was filming it:

One of the random people I asked to dance with me in the video- after we finished filming the dance, she asked me why I was doing this. When I then told her about our party, she leaned over and gave me a big hug and had a huge smile on her face. She then told me with a big grin, “My son goes to Operation Breakthrough- thank you for what you and your friends are doing!”.

Also, during the scene when I was dancing in front of Tower Tavern, a couple made a point of it to tell me what a great cause + event we put together. Then they told me they met for the first time at our party …which is now their 1-year anniversary! And they’re going again this year to celebrate

Those two proof points reiterate one of our many goals with this party: affect positive change in our community right here in Kansas City. I still get chills thinking about how much of an impact we’ve already made. I also get excited and extremely motivated knowing how much more we can accomplish. *One thing is for certain, the best has yet to come.*
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