Seattle is Great, But Time To Set Sail...

Just left Seattle yesterday on the way to Alaska. We were there for essentially a day and a half and did a few touristy things like hit Pike Place Market... and then took a tour bus out to Mount Rainier for the day. The sights, sounds, (& tastes) in each stop were amazing. It was sensory overload. And that was before we hopped on the cruise ship on Friday afternoon, where sensory overload is by design... Next stop Ketchikan!

I think I took far too many pictures, so I'll save you from sharing them all. But here's a taste of a few I didn't already share on Instagram. (Sorry for all the family selfies, it's rare I can get Lilly to pose for a picture with her parents these days (tween angst) so I take advantage of it when I can).

"Ranger Ron", our Tours Northwest tour guide  :)

2018 Vacation Posts
Seattle | Ketchikan | Juneau | Skagway | Victoria | Seattle II

Outer Banks Photo Dump

Just dropping some photos from the Outer Banks family reunion vacation a few weeks ago for posterity's sake. It wasn't a fishing trip, so don't expect to see any fish pics.

First a few shots from atop the Currituck Lighthouse...

Duck donuts...
We ate a few dozen that week, they never lasted long enough to be photographed...

Got to see our nephew who lives in Philadelphia...
He's grown quite a bit in the past year.

Happened to be "World Fishing Day" so spent a little bit watching a live stream of some tenkara fishing from Japan during some of the down time. Who knew?

Picking shells on the beach...

The entire Kubiak family. These are all of the people from my wife's grandparents' branch of the family tree. I think it was counted we were forty strong that week!

Oh, and on the way home, a stop at South of the Border...

In retrospect, wish I took a few more, (or really a few better) photos. But it's okay. It was a fun time and a nice change of pace from Florida.

Better Late Than Never...

Sunday... was a pretty good day.

I finally got out fishing for the first time in 2018. Wow, that took a long time.

This was the first fish of the year, a pretty undersized and gnarly bass. Not certain if you can see but it's got some sort of wound on its back (underneath all the muck).

Regardless, the weather was really nice (a bit windy, but I'm not complaining), and I brought about a half dozen cookie-cutter bass to hand, with the random bluegill or two thrown in for good measure.

More importantly, Sunday was also Lilly's 12th birthday. And I only bury this at the bottom of the post because I don't think she likes Dad writing about her on the blog much anymore, but man I love this kid so much...

Happy Birthday Lilly!

An Update Of Sorts...

Hey, how's it going... if anybody's still out there...

It's been a little while since my last post. Right before Thanksgiving, I guess. The fact that blog posts reflecting on a recent absence seem to be more and more frequent is not lost on me. The blog's been in a funk for a while, and it's probably because I've been in a funk for a while. I can't tell you when the last time I picked up a fishing rod was... September?  Ugh.

A lonely rod sits unused...

November and December are usually rather tough times for me (& the blog). I work in e-commerce retail, and spend far too much time in front of a computer screen on the weekends, rather than enjoying personal (& family) pursuits.

Plus, I've been dealing with a bum right shoulder for a little bit. I'm not certain how it originally happened, but in the last few weeks, it was causing quite a bit of discomfort. Caused a few sleepless nights and just general daily pain, but with a recent diagnosis and a rehab plan, I think we're on the other side of that now...

However, it isn't all bad in the land of T!... we did have some (non-fishing) fun.

Living in Florida, and with Disney season passes, we did get away one weekend to EPCOT & Magic Kingdom. That was pretty fun, plus the parks are always decorated so nicely for the holidays.

I also spent a weekend in Homestead, Florida at a NASCAR race. I'm not a huge NASCAR fan in that I have a favorite driver or anything, but it's part of my job so I've created a bit of an affinity. NASCAR races are very unique sporting events to attend, if you haven't been to one, it's worth going at least once.

And we did get out to see the new Star Wars! Don't worry, I won't spoil anything, but I think I'm turning into a Star Wars curmudgeon... because... ummm... uhhhh... I didn't really like it...

Don't get me wrong, it certainly had its moments, and it was awesome to see Luke Skywalker back on the big screen, but there were just so many things that left me scratching my head. I'm probably just too invested in the saga...

This weekend, I've got one eye on work, and another trying to get the Winter issue of Tenkara Angler completed. I'm definitely a little behind on the latter, but hoping to get it published before the end of the year. The content is definitely top notch again and should be an enjoyable read.

So with that, I make no promises that I'll be posting again before Christmas. I'm hoping things fall into place, but the way this blogging year went, probably won't be the case. In any event, I truly wish all of you the happiest and healthiest of holiday seasons - looking forward to 2018 full of family, friends, and fish!

My Kid Is Good At Video, I Suck At It

I'm really good persistent at writing a sub-par fishing blog, but I'll be the first one to admit I suck at making videos. My 11-year-old daughter is way better at it than I am.

I used to be somewhat okay finding my way around Microsoft Movie Maker, this probably being my masterpiece (ha!), but somewhere along the line I upgraded or updated my computer, and it disappeared. Oh, and Microsoft doesn't offer it anymore. That kinda sucks. I'm sure I could get a copy on the dark web, whatever the hell that is, but that just sounds too sinister to me, like something Snidely Whiplash would do... (man, that's a dated reference).

Since the only way to improve at creating videos is to try more of it, I'm determined to record some footage (within reason) at this Fall's Tenkara Summit in Colorado. So in the meantime, I'm test driving a few different, basic video editing programs.

I'm currently playing around with a program called "Filmora" that's pretty easy to use, even for a video-for-dummies candidate like me. Cranked out this super quick 0:15 video last night, just to play around with some of the introductory features such as cropping, text & graphic overlays, sound tracks, and transitions.

Whatever... I know it sucks, we can't all be Drew Lookinfishy. It's just a proof of concept sort of test.

So I'm curious, what video software do you use (preferably PC), especially if you're not totally engrossed in online movie making? I'm guessing the Mac folks use iMovie, but heck, I could be wrong. I'd love to read in the comments below...

Exploring Florida - Star Wars Celebration Orlando

There's no fishing in this post. Not even going to pretend. Just a guy geeking out with his family at Star Wars Celebration last weekend. This isn't the first Star Wars themed post here, and definitely won't be the last. Not too much to say, those of you who get it, will get it. Instead, I'll just share some photos: