I have a lot of catching up to do here on my personal site. It was down while we were moving servers and got pretty much kept getting shoved to the back burner while my time has been pulled away helping with Laura and work in general.
Yes, the site and my personal time have been pretty much off line and off the grid for months. So let’s get you caught up. Say Hello World to Laura
Laura Kiesling, ready to go home with Mom and Dad
Laura was born in February and Neva and I are very lucky to have this happy and healthy bundle of joy that is now four months old. I never could imagine myself as a father before this and now I can’t imagine life without Laura in it. She has my blue eyes and Neva’s good looks 🙂
Laura Kiesling learning to use her hand’s and giving Daddy the WTF Look
But it has not all been a happy go lucky time. Less then a week after Laura was born, Gustav left us due to his cancer. I can say I miss the little fur-ball every day. He had a unique personality.
Gustav before loosing his battle with cancer.
But Gustav was able to make it to meet Laura before the cancer got the best of him.
So yes it has been an insanely stressful spring with the lack of sleep from the joys of being a new dad at the age of 45, losing Gustav and trying to run everything during one of the more intense spring seasons in years. It’s had some ups and downs. Now after taking some time away from focusing on StormChasingVideo.com earlier this spring to focus on the family. Now I have everything settled and finally getting a few hours of sleep a day now that Laura is finally sleeping through the night and I have been able to double up my focus on StormChasingVideo.com and we have had a ton of exciting changes, upgrades and new partnerships.
Right now is pretty much one of the more exciting time’s for me.
5/29/2006 Was out on a local chase today and got in a hail storm in Goodhue County, MN.
5/29/2006 This morning I was out shooting video for TWC’s morning show.
5/28/2006 Still working on the site and still Scuba Diving. Actually I have been getting in a lot of dives. I have more dives in the month of May then I have storm chases. This years chase season has really sucked but it is ok because I have a lot of other projects and the diving. It was pretty fun today and I got 2 dives in at Calhoun. The last dive I made it down to 44 Feet and the water temp was 46F. That was freaking cold considering that the air temp was 96F with record high temps in the Twin Cities today. Ahhhh, no storms to chase, oh well. There are lakes to dive!
Scuba Dive Computer
5/26/2006 Out playing Weather Channel photographer today. It’s hot in Minneapolis so it was time to hit the beach around Harriet. Working a lot on the web site updates. Lots of behind the scenes stuff on the HTML side of thing and making the ASP pages for the site.
5/25/2006 Got some sweet lightning last night at the Air Lake airport in Lakeville, MN as several Helicopters were waiting out the storm. I was able to get some lightning flashes with the choppers on the ground and as they took off right over me.
5/17/2006 I was out shooting video for TWC today.
5/14/2006 Back to working and getting stuff caught up and dropping bad habits. I guess it is fitting that today is a turning point in my life with leaving another bad habit as this is the anniversary of when I quit smoking. What is the other bad habit? Something else that has been stressing me out for the last few months… The good news, while waiting around in limbo, I have once again focused my energy on the web project. This week I will be finishing up site. I should have a good chunk of it done in the next coming days. Why have I not showed it off yet? Its huge and I want to release it all at the same time since I have a ton of other chasers copying everything I do. How can I say that? Simple, when my agents at Conus get phone calls from my competition asking how they can get on board with them, people are copying me, trying to duplicate what I do, how I do business and even the style of shots. So I have to keep the competition guessing but when the new site is released, it is going to make everyone say WTF, it’s huge!
5/12/2006 Out shooting rain video for The Weather Channel again today.
5/11/2006 Did some time lapse video yesterday.
5/10/2006 Out shooting video for The Weather Channel today.
5/9/2006 Today we are suppose to get some more storms but I’m going to be working on code for the new site and taking care of a lot of stuff that is sitting on my desk to get done.
5/8/2006 Ok, spent the day editing and updating stuff while watching the weather. There were some pop up severe thunderstorms around Minneapolis but it was too hard to chase in and see anything worth shooting so I took a break and shot some stock footage. I did get all of the New Orleans aftermath photographs on line. All of the photographs are on the Hurricane Katrina Blog page. Click on the Nine Months Later link on that site.
5/7/2006 Back in Minneapolis.
5/6/2006 I went back out to the 9th Ward of New Orleans and Arabia area to document the devastation. I’m sorry but the east side of New Orleans is done. Nothing has changed since the storm. I will put the photos up when I get back to Minneapolis.
5/5/2006 Oh my god, the 9th Ward is gone. It is trashed. Gone. Houses in the road, houses on top of cars, houses on top of houses. It is all but dead with a few squatters living in some of the houses but it is dead. Here are some of the photos I took today. The photographs and new video are only one tenth of one percent of what is here to photograph of the aftermath. Damage is everywhere still and debris is just laying in the street. Some people have take the duty of stepping up to the plate and fixing stuff but a lot of it looks just as it did a month after Katrina I did go back to reshoot the Hellp Photo and shoot a lot of additional footage. All of the photos are now on my Hurricane Katrina Blog page. Go there to see all the aftermath photographs.
Here is the famous bus that I shot video of that has been all over the place, now with flat tires and dry land. Nine Months Later and it is still there.
Stray dogs are everywhere. Here is one that came up to me but I dared not get too close as it was covered in ticks.
The North Robinson Overpass is now a junk yard. Thousands of cars go on for miles just left to rot until someone comes to take them away for scrap.
Lots of Junk Cars
Piles of trash everywhere
In the 9th Ward. Someone wrote HELL then changed it to HELLP, or they can’t spell. But then below that, in the FEMA orange paint they wrote “Me Spell”.
Home Sweet Home, Only In America.
New Orleans Skyline from the lower 9th ward.
5/4/2006 Yeah I know, it has been a while since I updated the blog but only because I have been busy. I’m in New Orleans, LA to do a bunch of Interviews and DVD promo stuff. I was out this afternoon shooting video for The Weather Channel on Canal Street and in the Quarter and this place still looks thrashed. Tomorrow I will be out shooting video in the 9th Ward.
4/29/06 I finished the uploading of all the video to the new server for the on line video catalog. Almost 400 videos going on line soon. Lots of work yet to be done but there going live in the next few weeks.
4/28/06 Out shooting video for The Weather Channel.
4/27/06 Out shooting video for The Weather Channel.
4/22/06 Working on the coding and I got the new toy today. I got my new PD-170 Underwater Camera setup. This thing is so cool but when it is fully loaded it weights over 40 Pounds. I guess it won’t blow around in the hurricanes. Now I’m just like a little kid the week before Christmas because I want to go scuba diving in the lakes but their still too cold for anyone that would want to go with me.
4/21/06 Today I’m working on the coding for the new site. Only a few more gigs left to sort out. I want to have everything working by next Thursday night / Friday morning.
4/20/06 Today I was out playing weather channel photographer again. The slow moving low that dumped over 6 feet of snow in parts of South Dakota is moving over the Minneapolis area and is popping up some showers and cold air funnels.
4/20/2006 Video of people out in the rain in Minneapolis, MN – News footage
4/19/2006 Took a break this afternoon to play in the scuba diving pool up at Going Under dive shop. Just needed a break from all the work and when I get to go diving, I get away from the cell phone. It was pretty cool to float upside down and just relax in the pool.
4/18/06 While I thought it was going to be a nice day off and it was until 5pm. I was out walking around Lake Nokomis while the computers at home were on auto pilot. I noticed some towers going up off in the distance and turned off the music on my Pocket PC and looked at the radar. Wow, we got storms and we were not suppose to have any today. A little faster walk back to my Jeep and I was back out storm chasing. The storms were not that great but it was still cool to go out and see something very close to home with the gas prices so damn high.
4/16/2006 Happy Easter. Today was pretty mellow. I did start the review on the last of the video catalog from the footage over the winter. I am totally caught up again with all the tapes. I think I wore out my DV Cam Deck with all the tapes I have been reviewing. I did start the walks up that I have been planning to do. Minneapolis is the City of Lakes and now that the weather is nice out all the time, I’m spending more and more time at the lakes to walk around the lakes and just relax. Now if they can just warm up so I can go scuba diving!
4/15/2006 I skipped storm chasing this weekend to stay home and have a normal weekend off. The computers are still running on auto pilot to get ready for the new site. Man, this is just going to be huge.
4/13/2006 While the computers at home were working on autopilot feeding stuff up to my server, I took off to go chasing in Iowa. I got on the storms south east of Waterloo Iowa and got on the southern most cells in the better dew points. The storms really got going at sunset and produced a very large tornado in Iowa City, Iowa. While talking to the news desk, they told me that someone died in this storm. 2006 is off to a very tragic tornado season and it is not even the month of May. Here are some vid caps of the dash camera footage of the Iowa City, Iowa tornado video.
4/13/2006 Iowa City, Iowa tornado video 14/13/2006 Iowa City, Iowa tornado video 24/13/2006 Iowa City, Iowa tornado video 3
4/12/2006 Busy getting videos ready for the new site. It is all hurry up then wait.
4/10/2006 Out playing weather channel photographer today for the morning show. Wow, we went from winter to summer in Minneapolis in a couple of weeks. This afternoon it was 80F at my home on the south side of town.
4/8/2006 I was at Conus yesterday talking to my agent Chris and he has been sick with the Flu. Well, guess who started coming down with it… Taking the weekend off to rest to fight off the funk.
4/6/2006 Ok still alive. I have been very busy for the last two weeks. Between shooting video for The Weather Channel, storm chasing, and finishing up all the video’s for the site, it has been insane.
Today I was in Kansas and caught the Washington County – Hanover Kansas Tornado. The video is all over the cable news networks tonight and should be all over them tomorrow as well.
4/6/2006 Kansas Tornado
After I get some sleep, I will post the video. Just got home and just chased for 24 hours from Minneapolis to Kansas and back to Minneapolis, I need some sleep.
3/27/2006 Up early this morning shooting for TWC and the weather is pretty nice out. The snow is almost gone here in Minneapolis, MN and I can’t wait to test out the new scuba gear.
3/26/2006 Out shooting for TWC today. Been working on web stuff but back out in the mix today. Today is nice and warm out so it’s nice to get out in the warm weather after a long winter.
3/17/2006 Yesterday was a winter storm, today it was pretty nice out. I was back out shooting for The Weather Channel again today.
3/17/2006 playing weather channel photographer
Also while reviewing yesterdays video, I got some great footage of near mishap at the Minneapolis International Airport. A Northwest Airlines flight was trying to take off as an American Airlines flight was trying to land. Nothing serious happened but I got footage of the United Airlines flight having to do a go around. It is not every day you get to see a 757 at about 200 feet having to go full throttle and go around in the middle of a major snow storm.
3/16/2006 Aviation Winter Weather Video. Airplane Go Around Stock Video.
3/16/2006 Today was another major snow event in the Twin Cities. I was out playing Weather Channel Photographer again today, even though I have been sick for a couple days. Not sure if it is a cold or allergies. But I got in a couple video packages for them of the people in the snow and people stuck in the ditch.
3/16/2006 playing weather channel photographer3/16/2006 playing weather channel photographer
Today was a very busy day. I was out shooting for The Weather Channel this morning and this afternoon. We got hit with over a foot of snow at my place in Burnsville and the average area snowfall was about a foot, some more, some less.
3/11/2006 Back home and working on getting several projects caught up and out of the way. I did get my photographs back from the lab this afternoon from the disposable underwater camera. Click on the thumbnail images to view the larger files of the Crystal River Manatees Scuba trip.
Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs, Swimming with the Manatees Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs, Swimming with the Manatees Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs Crystal River, Florida, Manatee Photographs And of course, I had to add the standard tourist photograph from my hotel room.
3/10/2006 I am on my way home from Florida this evening to get back to work due to a very active weather pattern taking shape for this weekend and next week in the upper Midwest. I wanted to stay and go diving some more but I have to wait 24 hour’s after my last dive before I can fly home so I decided to head back now or miss the whole weather show up north.
I finished up my scuba tests today and got my license to have fun. After I got done at Scuba Quest today I went and and hung out with Brian this afternoon and got some more images of the dive from him yesterday. His video of the dive is just sweet. He got the Manatees to swim right by him a couple of times as they were swimming around the three sisters area. Here are a few more photographs he took of me goofing off.
Crystal River Florida Dive Training Crystal River Florida Dive Training Crystal River Florida Dive Training
