Yesterday, Sporting Kansas City asked me to come out and watch Chad Johnson, better known as @OchoCinco, tryout for MLS Soccer. Yeah, awesome huh!? (i was excited, i love soccer, i played competitive soccer growing up and i’ve had 2 ACL surgeries b/c of soccer), so I’m a *big* fan of the sport. I posted this video blog to show you what I saw watching @OchoCinco tryout for Sporting KC (formerly known as the Wizards). I also took some pictures and posted them to flickr. Enjoy!

I stopped by the KCPT studios the other day for a meeting. During the tour of the TV station, we went outside under the TV/radio tower …so of course i whipped out my iPhone and took this photo and this short video. This perspective of the tower + metal construction is impressive! I remember walking under it and looking up and saying, “WHOA, this is awesome!” (i just wish i had my nice video camera with me…)

This blog post is a collection of some of the pictures and video from this year’s 6th Annual, 2010 Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was incredible to see all of the unsolicited coverage we received this year from the local media and bloggers. Myself and the entire steering committee continue to be humbled about all the help we’ve received to promote the cause! After all, this keg party just started in our basement!

The Kansas City Star’s INK magazine covered the party:

We were asked to come on the NBC morning show to talk about the party + the toy drive we setup @The Roasterie

A guest who attended the party, shot, edited, and posted a video blog of the night! It was so cool that Leah Stephens aka STELLABELLE did this!

Every year, we’re fortunate enough that we’ve had Zach Cobb donate his free time to take professional pictures for the party. This year, Zach and his business partner Simon, donated their time and services on behalf of their company, Westside Studio. Here are the official party pictures from this year’s party.

Some of our photos were even featured in the LA Guest of a Guest blog:

Last week I had the privilege of presenting to the entire Social Media Club of Kansas City. I shared the story of how myself and my friends took a homegrown, no-budget benefit party from a just dream + an idea …to reality + success. In just 2 years, we’ve thrown two sold-out parties and raised over $25,000 for our favorite local charity, Operation Breakthrough. Myself and my friends dedicate time each year 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.

Below is a video of the presentation I gave that was recorded and live-streamed. In the preso, I discussed how our event is social-media-fueled, and our efforts in promoting the party are purely digital. I also share “stupid simple tips” and lessons that we’ve learned.

I’m still pinching myself, thinking about how much we’ve already accomplished in giving back to Kansas City + Operation Breakthrough. However, the one thing I know is true …the best has yet to come.

…annnnnnd I hope you can make it this year. You are invited.
The party is on December 10th! You can buy tickets online now! (buy soon, it sells out every year!)

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Have you ever been to a rodeo before? This weekend, I went to my FIRST rodeo The American Royal provided me access to this year’s PRCA ProRodeo and gave me free reign to capture whatever was blog worthy. I had no idea what to expect …and I’ve got to say, I had a blast.

Here’s the video blog I cut to share with you what it’s like @the American Royal rodeo:

The bottom-line? Rodeos are FUN! For those with small-n-short attention spans (like me), the competition moves quickly from event to event. You never get too much of 1 thing. Of course, the bull riding at the end, is the most fun to watch. I’d for sure go again with friends and/or my family.

Tickets are cheap too, they start at $17 (which you can get online). This year’s rodeo is the biggest in American Royal history. It’s part of the Gold Tour season for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). Translation? …you’ll see the best riders, ropers and wrestlers in the world. If you’re familiar with the sport, the competitors include: Trevor Brazile, Fred Whitfield, Will Lowe, Shery Cervi, Stran Smith and many others.

Want to see photos? I posted my favorites and the full set and slideshow is posted to my flickr.

Ever wonder what it’s like to go to a NASCAR race? I put together this short video blog to show you what it’s like. Pretty crazy huh?

I shot 1 another video blog “behind the scenes” in the garages’ (Team Chevy invited me and other local bloggers) -AND- I also snapped photos and posted them to my flickr account.

I snapped this photo during the Girl Talk concert here in Kansas City at the Crossroads KC (Grinder’s). The concert was incredibly fun. If you’ve never heard of Girl Talk, don’t let his name throw you off. He’s a fun mashup DJ from Pennsylvania. If you want to see how, check out this behind the scenes video of how he makes cut/edits his music. And make sure you download his latest album (it’s free).

This weekend, I was driving downtown here in Kansas City this weekend and had to stop in the street to let ELEPHANTS cross the street. Awesome. The Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey were in town performing at the Sprint Center and their afternoon show had just ended. I was lucky enough to run into them walking back the elephants. Pretty neat huh!? (fyi: i posted the set to flickr).

Did you know you can take an elevator to the top of Liberty Memorial? The 360-degree view at the top is incredible!

The Liberty Memorial is easily the most recognizable landmark in Kansas City. It’s part of the National World War I museum, the only American museum solely dedicated to the war. It’s really cheap to go (around $10-$12) and it’s filled with lots of interesting stuff. Most people say you need about 2-3 hours to take it all in at a relaxed pace. If you just want to go up on the tower, it’s really cheap ($4) and only takes a couple minutes. They’re open Tuesday – Sunday, 10AM – 5PM (check the website for all the details).

NOTE: I actually shot this video blog last year, but I just discovered the footage on a camera recently! I didn’t like the clips when I first shot this last year. After stumbling upon it again- when I was clearing HD space, I decided to do a quick edit and post the video. I’m proud of KC and I love this town! So I figured I wanted to pass on the good word of another fun thing you can do here in KC.

Do you remember how good Kansas City Royals were at baseball in the 80′s? How about the amazing KC Chiefs in the 1970s?

I want more than anything to have a hometown winning team again.

People talk about what an exciting time it was to live in this city during those years. Yesterday, was a glimpse of what it would be like to have a winning home team …and a soccer team at that! 52,000+ people watched the KC Wizards beat Manchester United. Sure it may have been their “B” team players (but there were at least 3-4 of their top tier players in the lineup for ManU). Below are a couple of my favorite photos I took with my point-n-shoot Canon S90. You can view the whole slideshow on flickr.

This past weekend, I continued my recent 2010 i-run-in-races obsession new hobby by participating in Brew-to-Brew. I took my camera with me to capture moments of my friends in their running glory. I’ve posted all the picture to my flickr.

So what is Brew-to-Brew? It’s a day long relay running race in which your team runs a combined 43+ miles from Kansas City to Lawrence, Kansas (you run from one beer brewing company to another). I had a blast at this race. It’s much more relaxed than most. I ran the last leg of our team’s relay. 4.6 miles of “remember-the-college-days-gloryness” running into gorgeous Lawrence, over the river and past City Hall

There is one unique thing about this race thing I observed; running is typically a very solo, individual, self-motivated sport. This relay race format, makes it very team focused (which is awesome!) You can’t help but be cheesy supportive to your teammates, yelling and cheering them on during each of their portions of the relay. If you’ve got a group of friends into running- check this out next year, it’s a great time.

I’m awestruck when it snows. Even as a grown adult, I’m captivated by it. This is a short, simple video blog, that I filmed of the snowfall this weekend here in Kansas City (direct link here).

Be sure to increase the “HD” button to see the full details of the video. Or watch it in HD on Vimeo.

Note: this style of video is different than the “event casting” video blogs I film. This is intentional. As part of my goals for 2010, experimenting + learning with this style is what I want to get better at.

I dragged my friends outside for 10-minutes during the snow this weekend to take some quick pictures. I wanted to practice, practice and practice. This is one of the many things a friend of mine, Rebecca Peters has taught me. I’m thankful of her +other great friends who motivate me to get better and better and the things I love to do. The photos I took are on my flickr account.

One of my best friends, Adam, gets serious for a photo.

My roommate, wears these boots- and I like the colors on them- so i wanted to try using them as a focus for a shot.

Self portrait. I’m pretty sure the neighbors thought I was crazy when I was out standing in the snow taking this shot.

It’s been snowing a little super-ridiculously here in Kansas City. And get this;

it was colder here this weekend than it was in Anchorage, Alaska!

Some people really hate the cold and the snow, but all I wanted to do was GO SLEDDING! My best friend Scott and I tore up the slopes hills with our manly plastic purple sleds I was daring enough to grab my flipcam and shot this short-n-sweet vblog. Great footage of the wipe-outs and why my body is extremely sore today (special thanks to my Twitter friends @AngiePedersen @TheKCBigE @ksaim @Jayblondie315 @8Ball_ who reassured me you are never too old to go sledding!)

Fall is absolutely gorgeous in Kansas City. I took these photos walking through the neighborhood on a sunny weekend afternoon. There were a few days in October and November when me and my friends just drove around to check out all the gorgeous trees around the neighborhood.