I kid you not, this showed up at my office today…

Talk about your two worlds unexpectedly becoming one for a few moments as Ghost Rider swung by for a chat.  Thanks David from IT, you made my work day today!

Yes friends, I know I’ve been away from the ole blog for a few weeks, but I had to set a few things right in my life and make some room so I could focus on what’s important.  Family, farm, CR , day job and writing (pretty much in that order).

Okay, no I haven’t been living at Ramseys, a local pub/resturant I’ve loved since college.  In the photo above, that’s me in the mirror sitting at the bar last night waiting for a take out dinner.  A few moments later I was ferrying it back to Katie at the home front where we’ve been watching the television version of This America Life for the last couple nights.  By the way, Ramseys make a killer Buffalo Chicken sandwich, but I digress…

Family time helping Katie in the barn (more on that in a minute), the day job and stuff like that has taken center stage because it needed to and I really wanted it to.  I don’t mean to be the stereotypical guy hitting 40 (and I didn’t see it coming) but my recent birthday has had me reevaluating priorities a little.

Somewhere between the accident, the day job changes and the birthday, I started thinking about what was important, what really mattered and what deserved my time the most.  If something didn’t hit the top five spots on that list, I had to kindly let those people/commitments know they would have to take a back seat, possibly indefinitely.  No disrespect intended (and I had to walk away from a few things I really loved), but I was getting a little tired of living life 24/7 in overdrive 366 days a year (366?  Absolutely!  I know I squeezed in at least one extra day over the last year).

I was missing my wife.  I was missing my barn and my land.  I missed writing.  I was missing reading a book just to read a book.  I was feeling like everything I was doing was half-assed and I refused to continue that way.   I don’t think I’m alone in this reevaluation.  Many of my friends seem to be walking this very same path at this point in their lives.  Maybe it’s contagious.

Okay, enough about this soul searching stuff.  Long story short, I’ve cleaned off my plate, caught up at work, found a balance that allows me to enjoy my home life a bit more and I’m BACK here hanging out at CR full time.

Sweetness…

Here, just for fun, is a photo of Eric Ratcliffe’s comics he grabbed in anticipation of an upcoming Why I Love Comics podcast.  Quite the stack of books and that’s only for one week.  In a bit of exciting news, I’m exceedingly pleased to report that our own Brant Fowler will be joining the show as a third voice reviewing the books.

So how about a little barn tour?  There have been a lot of things happening on that front.  Katie, our friend Kenny and I recently pulled down all but two of the stall doors.  They’re being professionally cleaned up, sandblasted and powder coated black which should really spice the place up.  We’ve recently kicked off a major overhaul of this whole structure.  For those of you who know the barn, you my recognize that there is a wall missing in this photo (on the right)…

We’ve begun pulling out some of the wood and replacing it.  We’re kindof rebuilding the barn form the inside out.  I just love this next nighttime shot of the tractor out back.  Very Halloween feeling, you gotta admit (but in a good fall way rather than the whole Michael Meyers is about to jump out at you way).

Checking in on the horses, they’re slowly recovering.  Each week they seem to get a bit stronger and a bit healthier.  It’s going to be a long haul to full recovery, but they are doing well.

So, here I set at my office taking a brief break to say hello.  The Halloween decorations are out and I’m in a great Friday mood.  I can finally find the time to do what I love.  Life is good!

Here’s hoping your day is a great one and that it’s filled with comic goodness.  I’ll check back in with you soon.

Cheers!

Now this is a video game trailer that makes me want to run out and purchase an Xbox 360…

Here’s the official blurb that ties to the trailer…

“This breathtaking trailer offers an exciting example of the party based combat experienced in the dark brutal fantasy Dragon Age: Origins. In order to defeat the Darkspawn invasion, one must utilize the strengths of each party member and fight as a team against each adversary. If this is done properly, one can slay even ageless dragons. From the Makers of Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Baldurs Gate comes an epic tale of violence, lust, and betrayal. Dragon Age: Origins features a stunning world to explore, complex moral choices, full character customization, and bone-crushing visceral combat.”

Special thanks to Matt Zolman for pointing this out via Twitter (@mattzolman).

Well friends, I’m up in Ohio finishing the rebuild of my mom’s computer this fine morning. Her hard drive went bell up in a bad way and that has me on the road to help. I should be back around the Comic Related community this fine evening. Cheers from the road…

And, just because I can and she MMS texted it to me yesterday, here’s a photo of the beautiful lady Katie…

“The Golden Age of Video” by Ricardo Autobahn

I thought it would be fun this evening to show you what it looks like recording the intro to a podcast.  Here’s a bit of video to go with the audio.  Live from the podcast recording studio…

So last night we officially kicked off the new “video blog” section of A Related Life. More than anything, it was essentially a test to see if I could take the video from recording to editing to YouTube without any major hangups. I think it worked pretty well and an unexpectedly cooperative and not-so-camera-shy cat only added to the fun.

Bones (that’s the cat in the first video) was sitting at my feet just begging to join me. You’ll notice I look down at her at one point and that was all the invitation she needed to jump up. That wasn’t planned at all. Just happened and knowing the cats we have around this place, I’m betting they will add some unexpected edits or chaos to many an upcoming blog or camera shoot. Just ask Brant… They like to jump around.

Initially I really didn’t plan this to be the first blog, but it played well and I just went with it. The computer you see in pieces over my left shoulder is actually my mom’s computer. She had a hard drive fail and I’ve been working to resurrect it for a few days.

The room I’m currently filming in is the same one I used for many of my podcast interviews and rambling audio conversations. This is my computer office. It’s a room in a constant state of evolution and it looks like a video studio may be in it’s evolutionary future. We’ll have to see.

Future updates will play with different backgrounds around the farm. I’ll take you out with the horses, down by the creek and even back near the sunken crater before we’re done. Fear not, it’ll be mostly Comic Related content. In fact, if all goes as planned, video blog #2 (explaining a major change in the format of my long running Related Recap podcast) will be coming your way within the next 24 to 48 hours.

Honestly, I can see these becoming a bit addictive and once the rest of the CR crew gets involved, who knows where this will lead. Oh… Wait… CRTV. Forgot… I did mention that a week or so ago didn’t I. Guess that’s where it’s heading. Have I told you about the radio station I have planned? No? Good! At least I still have a few secrets up my sleeve.

So many cool things lie ahead. Just you wait!!