Music in My Life.

My wife and I went to Country Stampede in Manhattan, Ks this weekend. I love music, really music from almost any genre. Not all songs, I can't stand some songs, but across the board, I love music.

The whole thing got me thinking about how songs affect my attitude at the moment I listen to them.

"Eye of the Tiger" really amps me up. Makes me wanna take up boxing or just go kick ass at something I want to be successful at.

"Remember the Name" by Fort Minor kinda has the same affect but really makes me do something athletic. (As athletic as I can, he he)

"Austin" by Blake Shelton makes me feel like I should make attempts to be more romantic with my wife.

"Playboys of the Southwestern World" by Blake Shelton really makes me think back about silly things I did with my friends in the past. "My Hometown" by Charlie Robison has the same affect. Great "MEMORY SONGS!!"

"Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis was incredibly popular when we went to Grand Cayman island so every single time I hear it I lose all focus and my mind goes back to the incredible time we had deep sea fishing there.

"Seven Spanish Angels" by Willie Nelson and Ray Charles may be the greatest love story song of all time and it makes me wonder just who all in the world is that important to me and how many people feel that way about me.

"Love Lock down" by Kanye West was the song they played at the end of the last Victorias Secret fashion show on CBS so, well, I pretty much lose focus when it comes on too.

"Old Silver" is a song by Radney Foster that is one of the greatest songs ever written. It makes me wanna live my life so that someone misses me when I am gone.

"Blue Jeans and a Rosary" by Kid Rock is another incredible love song that just makes me really think about my better half and all the quirks I have that she puts up with and all the things I love about her.

"Toes" by Zac Brown Band just makes me smile and wanna be on a beach with a no worries.

There's a ton more songs that have very distinct and direct affects on me the instant I hear them. But my thumbs hurt from typing on my BlackBerry, so...

I would love to hear some examples of how music affects you?

Got any??
Cody Heitschmidt
www.codytalks.com
www.whatsuphutch.com
Sent from my BlackBerry

What happens at our office when the internet goes down.

Video I took late last night when the internet went out at our office.

Silly!!

I think I may have been desitined to "TRY" to be a Storm Chaser.

I am not talking about a meteorologist. I don't really wanna take the time to learn all the science of storms. I wanna spend most of my time doing/learning/reading about other stuff. But, when a big Kansas Thunderstorm is right in front of me, i am truly mystified by it. i mean I seriously have to fight the urge to load the family up in the kick ass 94 Olds and go for a closer.

We have lived in our house for 11 years and been in the storm cellar 4 times total. 2 times in the last 2 weeks, so maybe an extra active storm season is triggering this interest. I don't know. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me and huge thunderstorm clouds are one of her best works.

Here's a video I took from our lawn a few nights ago. Amazing stuff.



Don't worry Mom I am not gonna try to make a Storm Chasing business go and I won't take too big of chances with your Grandkids. :)

My daughters soccer team is having a Garage Sale and Car Wash this weekend.

My Daughter's soccer team is having a Garage Sale and a Car wash this weekend and we would love your support.

The Garage Sale starts tonight at 5:00 at 111 E 37th in Hutch.

It is a huge garage sale with approx 11 families participating.

It will be open from 5:00 -8:00 tonight and from 7:00 - 12:00 tomorrow.

The Car wash is from 12:00-4:00 tomorrow at:

Emanuel Lutheran Church

140 E 30th Ave
Hutchinson, KS 67502-2407

Donations will be accepted at the car wash.

Please spread the word and help the girls out.

I took some storm pics/vids last night.

I am by no means a photographer or videographer and really this isn't that exciting of stuff.

The last pic of after the storm, i was kinda proud of it came out nice.

Really I just thought those of you that have experienced Ks Thunderstorms but now live elsewhere might enjoy them.

This is a pic as the storm was a long ways off but headed our way.

These are 3 videos I took of clouds and some cool lightning:

This is a pic of the Sun coming back out after the storms.



I know... not award winning stuff, but really i have no idea what I am doing.

My family spent about 20 minutes in our storm shelter when the worst of it was right on top of us. Everyone is fine at our house and only some minimal tree damage. Best of luck to all those who suffered worse damage.

Hope you liked the pics/vids.

How/Why I use twitter!?

First off let me run 2 asterisks or disclaimers:

*1. If you don't like/get or just flat out hate twitter, that's cool. It is definitely not for everyone and I can appreciate that. (click here to just laugh at me)

**2. If you are reading on it is important to me that you understand this post is just me sharing how I use twitter. I don't know if my way is a good way or a bad way, I don't care. I sincerely don't care how you use twitter, it is truly a tool to be used 100% at the user's discretion.Even spammers, #dowatchalike , I can always choose to not follow you. (Obviously you gotta follow the law and Twitter's Terms)

Ok so that said....

I really like twitter. I love the conversation on it. That word, conversation, is really my motto or mission statement on twitter. The concept of conversation is how I make decisions on twitter.

Here's what I do on Twitter.

1. I share: I post thoughts and links about stuff I think is cool, I love when it produces conversation.

2. I communicate, sometimes I kinda look at it as a chat tool. I just carry on conversations with great folks.(seekzpeace)

3. I learn - holy crap there's alot of people way smarter than me on twitter and I like getting smarter.(Unmarketing)

4. I laugh - theres also some really funny people on twitter. (Badbanana)

5. I drop little notes to my wife cause... well... gotta let her know I love her. (tamajama)

6. I just read - I heard that smart people read alot so I look for stuff that keeps my attention long enough to stay focused on. (flawnt)

How do I decide who to follow?

1. I check the profile and web link of every single (not spammers) person that follows me and if they look interesting or smarter than me, I follow and see if they want to communicate. Twitter is not about being a bystnader looking on, to me, so if they don't want to communicate I am likely to unfollow later. If they are a legit news source (breakingnews) or just too funny or interesting to worry about communicating with (abba_ks) I will continue to follow. But mostly if they aren't willing to have a back and forth once in a while. I won't follow. I am very concerned and aware of who I follow. I want to try and catch as much knowledge/entertainment as possible from my friends so I try to keep my timeline from getting overwhelming. Please be aware I know this loses me followers. I know some folks follow me and I don't follow back so they unfollow. I don't care. I don't want to hurt anyones feelings, but being able to keep track of and actually communicate with my friends is way more important to me than my followers number.

2. I also sometimes check my friends "following" lists and see if there is any good follows there. Same rules as above, I follow them and see if they want to be a part of the discussion and if not I am likely to unfollow. But some again are just to smart/funny/interesting to ever stop following.

How do I get people to follow me?

I don't, I just try to be sincere and genuine and participate and thats it. I don't have a ton of followers because of that and that's cool cause I can communicate with them. I respond to every single reply I get, Again, I like the conversation.

If you are just starting out, be patient, but also be picky. Following massive amounts of people in hopes to get followers makes you look like a spammer, be sincere and genuine and it will happen. if you are just starting out, all the people I linked to in this article are great follows. They are a good place to start to get to know some folks.

If you have any questions I will give you answers, they will be answers about how I do it, not facts, just my opinion.

if you want I am here on twitter.

Thanks! Thoughts?

"Nothing counts more than blood... the rest are just strangers,"

The title of this post is a quote from Gene Hackman's character in the movie "Wyatt Earp".

I love the movie and I love Gene Hackman's character (Wyatt's Dad).

But... I kinda disagree with the quote. Not completely but in a way.

Nothing is more important to me than my family and there's should be no doubt about that, but I classify my family in a broader term than "Blood".

Over the years I have developed a few friends through life and many in The Marine Corps that I am just a close to and blindly loyal to as I am to my actual blood family. They know who they are, they know everything I have is their's as well, including my time.

That being said:

This guy right here is a nephew of mine (not blood, but I am as close to his Dad as anyone in the world) and in the last 24 hours he has claimed 2 National Taekwondo Championships and has 2 more that he will go after and... that kicks ass. Proud of you Mason!!

P.S. Mason sometimes calls me "Pretty Boy" in emails and from a distance cause even though he is a National Taekwondo Champion, he's 9 and weighs about 150 lbs less than me and I think I will be able to take him for at least another year or two. I'm gonna get ya Mason.

My response to Levi Henry.

Here's an explanation of what's happened so far.

Then Levi (I think its actually him, but no way to verify) commented on that post. (The one in the first link there)

So... this is my best response. (Just so you know this response is no where near worth $225.00 an hour)

Levi,

I don't want to argue with you. I surely don't want to pay you to argue with you. I will discuss it with you as long as you want to.

Noble of you to claim to turn the other cheek and not argue unless there is $$$ involved, but you did post some links to kep the discussion flowing, so I will address them.

Let me first state this, I have always thought that any cop committing any crime should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

So the 3 links are all to news about Police Officers:

First link here

It's about a cop accused of shooting 2 brothers. I know absolutely nothing about the case other than what I read. If he did it... throw the book at him. It won't make me make a rash generalized judgement of all police officers in the world.

Second link here

This one is about a Sherriff resigning amid an investigation that he used drug money seized in a drug bust to pay a deputy for overtime and buy a new patrol car. Allegedly He used improper procedures to allocate the money. Again, no mention of a conviction. And really... I guess I would rather he use drug money for legit expenses than tax dollars. But... if he did something wrong (He wasn't convicted according to the article that Levi submitted) throw the book at him. Even this potential travesty of justice won't make me hate all cops. I will keep judging them individually.

Third link here

Now we are getting somewhere. This one is about a Sheriff that was convicted of theft and perjury. He's not a cop anymore. Throw the book at him. Treat him like a convicted criminal, he is. Even this guy though, won't make me hate cops or even pre-judge them before I have a chance to make a decision about them as a individual.

Fourth link here (this ones mine, Levi didnt supply it)

Its a whole CBS news story dedicated to firefighters who set fires. In two of the examples the fires lead to other firefighters dying. It doesn't make me hate all firefighters. I love firefighters. I love the fact the everyday the go to work willing to risk their lives to save mine and my family and friends (same reason I love cops). I won't make snap judgements about them as a group because of what a small group of of assholes (that happend to be employed as firefighters) have done.

Fifth link here (mine)

Its a forum on a fire fighter website. Condemning firefighters who set fires. It doesn't say anywhere we should judge all firefighters for the actions of a few jerks.

Sixth link here (mine)

Its the wikipedia page for the Earth Liberation Front. They are an Environmentalist group that has set loads of fires and caused millions of dollars in damage all over the USA. I don't judge all environmentalist as arsonists. Should I?

Seventh Link (mine)

All white guys rap? Nope... I have no rhythym.

Levi,

My point, as it was back on twitter before you blocked me, is that while you are obviously a successful Progressive in every sense of the word. This mindset of judging all Police Officers based on the actions of few is not very progressive in my opinion. With your knowledge of the Constitution and Bill of Rights I am sure you will at least agree I am entitled to that opinion.

No need for a contract. I can't afford you.

Thanks Ole Buddy.

Please follow @levihenry on twitter.

Last night @levihenry on twitter posted this tweet:

There's no reason to

treat firefighters like crap. They don't violate constitutional rights & save lives. #notcops

about 12 hours ago from TwitterBerry

(I follow Levi on twitter because he's from

Wichita and he converses with some other people I follow and he is a Renewable Energies Buff, which we should all have at least a little interest in.)

So i replied and here is the conversation that followed.

Levi then blocked me so I can't converse or follow him anymore, that part I truly regret, he was someone I enjoyed following.

But folks this type of mindset is so non-progressive that it is IMO the biggest hindrance to progress we have in our country today. We have to learn to take every individual as an individual and quit lumping people together.

Taking the actions of one Cop or one Democrat or one Republican or Rush Limbaugh or one Black man or one Jewish person or one Homosexual and making decisions and judgements concerning the whole group based on that individuals mistakes or evils, is Prejudice, its the exact definition of it. If we got past all of this, we would be better off.

Please, please, please go follow Levi and let me know when he says something cool just so i can smile. Seriously I am not mad a the guy, he doesn't have the power to make me mad, hell I just wanted to to discuss our different opinions with him. I won't have that chance, but I promise he is worth the follow. Click Here.

Putting mistakes behind you? Huh?

I really think we have a lot of cute little catch phrases in this world that people have used and abused so much that the become a part of our society and misconstrued and then completely misunderstood.

The biggest example in my mind right now is "You gotta just put your mistakes behind you!"


This is freaking horrible advice. Take it from a guy who has made WAY more than his share of ridiculous mistakes. The very last thing you wanna do with your mistakes is put them outta sight and behind you.

In my opinion you should write them down and put them on post-it notes and stick them on every surface you look at on a regular basis. Ponder them, go over them again, never ever forget them.

This absolutely does not mean let them become a obstacle. It doesn't mean become consumed with them in a way that prohibits progress or trying again. It doesn't mean let your past slow down your future.

It just means you should absolutely refuse to commit the same action that is a proven mistake twice.

If you have had financial problems in the past and got yourself back right. Don't forget the cause of your problems when the credit card offers start showing up again.

If you know that something you do causes disputes with your spouse, don't forget that, remember it and learn from it and quit doing it.

If you recognize that a certain action at work went wrong and wasn't a good choice. Don't forget and do it again in the future.

If you tried one method of parenting and it backfired, don't do it again, become a better parent.

I know it's just a catchphrase, a corny little quote, but just think how much our politicians must believe the phrase "You gotta just put your mistakes behind you!"

It's bad advice.