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Things I Think Rock ~ Vintage Camera Bookends
WHAT: Things That Rock   |   WHEN: January 12, 2011
It's been a while since I've done one of these Things I Think Rock posts, and tonight's is just a quickie, but hese beauties just showed up in the mail today much to my excitement, and I felt compelled to tell the internet about them.  Unless you're into photography, cameras, vintagy stuff, bookends, or just plain cool stuff, these may not be of interest to you, but if you fit into one or more of those categories (and hopefully at least that last one), lay your eyes on these babies.


Christmas. Keeps. Coming. A big shout out to Kylie's parents for getting these for me for Christmas.  They ordered them well before the holidays, but they were on back order, so I'd kinda forgotten about them (the bookends, not Kylie's parents), which made today kinda like the 13th day of Christmas.




And for bonus points, one of the bookends has a secret compartment!  Can't wait to hide something in there and completely forget about it.


If you wanna pick up your own set of these bad Johnnies, you can find them at several places for ~$60-70 give or take a few bucks.


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Things I Think Rock ~ Episode 2
WHO: Ryan Southwell, Susan Stripling, Infinet Design   |   WHAT: Things That Rock   |   WHEN: October 19, 2010
Welcome to the 2nd installment of Things I Think Rock.  It's only been been a little over 2 months since I posted the debut entry... usually when I start a series like this it ends up being another year before a 2nd post appears, if at all.  So, by my standards, I'm on fire with this series.  While the first post was about things, this one is dedicated to a few folks who I think do phenomenal work, some of whom I know and others I don't.  So without further adieu, let's get to it, shall we?

Ryan Southwell Films


I don't remember exactly how I stumbled upon Ryan's work, but it took me about 2 seconds to add him to my Google Reader RSS feed.  It use to be that the first words you thought of when someone asked, "Hey, you wanna see my wedding video?" would be yuck, boooring, I'd rather stick a toothpick in my eye, or something worse.  Let's face it, with uncle Ernie's shaky hand capturing nauseating video or long periods of time where seemingly nothing is happening but the bride & groom standing at the alter with audio you can't hear, who could argue that wedding videography wasn't cheesy at best and a total beatdown to watch at worst? 

Well, Ryan Southwell's wedding films are exactly that... short films.  Like, worthy of charging for admission films.  Like, get-your-popcorn-ready films.  This is not your father's wedding video.  And for that matter, he does more than wedding films.  His engagement and special project films are some of the coolest things I've seen.  I can't help but walk away with a smile everytime I watch a film he's posted.  The artistry, emotion and technical execution of his work clearly makes him unique and separates him from the pack, and I always look forward to seeing what's coming next from him.  True story; when I was driving home from Austin earlier this year I saw where he had posted a new video of a soldier returning home from war to see his new baby for the first time, and I pulled my car over and watched the video from the side of the highway on my phone... and yes, I teared up. 

The only downside to Ryan is that he doesn't live in Texas.  Other than through a couple blog/Facebook comments and an email or two, we don't really know each other, but I know enough to be sure that one day, somehow, I'm going to find a way to hire him to create a short film for and of Kylie and me.

You can check out his work at ryansouthwellfilms.com.


Susan Stripling Photography


I've unfortunately never met Susan, and she likely has no idea who I am, but I've really admired her photography work from the first time I saw it.  Her images are just so clean and fresh and in many cases dramatic.  Her composition and post-processing add such impact.  Her work has a quality to it that's hard to describe, but easy to appreciate.  The words that come to mind when I think of her wedding imagery is authentic, sophisticated and, well, 'delicious'. 

And from following her on Twitter, she seems very approachable, down to earth and funny to boot.  I'd love to hear her speak or attend one of her workshops someday. 

You can check out her work at susanstripling.com.


Infinet Design


I've written about Brock and Dave at Infinet Design before, but they're more than worthy of a spot in a "Things I Think Rock" episode.  They created my first custom blog for me back in May of 2008, and I was so happy with the results and the work relationship that it was an easy decision to hire them to bring my new blog + website to life back in August of this year.  They were so patient and helpful in working through my ideas, even when I changed courses part way into the design process.  I could go on and on about these guys, but you can read a bit more on what I wrote about them in the above image.

If you're looking for top notch skills, creativity and customer service in creating a new website and/or blog, consider partnering with Brock and Dave.  It's a bit of an investment, but given the significance of your online presence as a marketing tool, it's an investment I promise you won't regret it.

You can see more of their work and find more information at infinetdesign.com.


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Things I Think Rock ~ Buckeyes, Smoothies & Tervis Tumblers
WHO: Me & The Goods   |   WHAT: Things That Rock   |   WHEN: August 8, 2010   |   WHERE: Dining Room Table
With the new site being launched, I've got a little more free time on my hands now, so I thought I'd start a little segment called "Things I Think Rock".  These posts will be related to photography things (artists I enjoy, equipment/gadgets I dig, killer services/solutions, etc.) and non-photography things that I think, well, rock. 

Really I was just hanging out in the kitchen yesterday makin' myself a smoothie when the perfect trifecta serendipitously melded into a single, glorious object of awesomenicity right in front of my eyes... that's when I knew there was no better time to start this new segment.  I mean, c'mon, a 3-for-1 in the first episode?  Seriously?  It was meant to be.

And so, in this inaugural Things I Think Rock post, I give you Ohio State, smoothies, and Tervis Tumblers.  It's a lot to take in, I know.  Take a second to wrap your head around those 3 crazy three things.  There you go.  Are we ready to move on with the rest of this post now?  Good.



The first thing on my list today is Ohio State.  I won't take much time to cover this because anyone that's been following the blog for very long knows I think Ohio State is the 9th Wonder of the World.  There's a lot of worthy competitors battling it out for the 8th spot, so I skipped that one altogether and went for the 9th.  Genius, I know... arguably only an OSU alumni would've thought of such a strategy.

Having graduated from Ohio State, some may call me biased.  To those people I say get your own Things You Think Rock segment.  A Buckeye I will be until my time is up on this earth... no matter how many times we go to the college football national championship game only to get pummeled by [insert any SEC team here].  Some say that's embarassing.  I say I'd rather they keep making it to the championship and losing then never making it there at all.  Just ask the 1990's Buffalo Bills.  Who's with me?

In all seriousness (if I can muster any), being a member of the Buckeye family is a pretty cool gig.  It's amazing that I can be literally anywhere in the world (it's happened in China and Europe) and when I say "O-H!" to another stranger wearing Buckeye paraphernalia, if they're true Buckeye alumni or fans, I get an "I-O!" shout out in return.  Guess I'm glad I didn't go to Mississippi State or some other univerity with a long name I can only sometimes spell.  Can you imagine?  "M-I-S-S-I!"... "S-S-I-P-P-I!"  Ridiculous.



Next up is the smoothie.  There's not a lot of things I'm good at making in the kitchen, but I make a pretty mean smoothie if I do say so myself.  And there's nothing better than a sweet, fruity, mostly-good-for-you, semi-frozen smoothie treat on a hot summer day... unless I'm near that snow cone place down the street; that's pretty good, too.  I digress, though.  What's my recipe, you ask?  Here's my favorite concoction:

1 handful frozen strawberries
1 handful frozen raspberry/blackberry/blueberry mixture
1 6oz container of raspberry pomegranate yogurt
1 half of a banana
1 cup (maybe a little more) apple juice.

Pay attention, here's the tricky part.  Slap it all together in the blender, crank it on high, and in about 2 minutes you'll have heaven in a cup.  You can thank me later.



And finally, the 3rd spot in this segment of Things I Think Rock is occupied by the Tervis Tumbler.  The next time someone asks me that pie in the sky question about "If you could have dinner with any one person in the world, dead or alive, who would you choose?", I'm not wasting my answer on the usual supspects like Abe Lincoln, Elvis Presley, Michael Jordan or Fabio.  I'm pushing the boundaries and choosing 2 people - Frank Cotter and G Howlett Davis, the 2 guys who invented these molded plastic miracles that keep your cold drinks colder (and no glass sweating!) and your hot drinks hotter.  BTW, if you're wondering how they came up with the name "Tervis Tumbler", they combined the last 3 letters of their last names.  Now go on out and claim a Trivial Pursuit pie wedge with your new piece of knowledge.  Again, you can thank me later.

Kylie and i have recently started running out of room in the cupboard that holds the glasses in the kitchen as we've recently been building quite the collection of "M", "K", Colts and Buckeyes tumblers.  If you ever stop by the house, especially if you're bearing gifts, we'll treat you to the Tervis experience.


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