krummefamily

My Blog Network

Here's a rundown on what I'm up to these days.  In addition to the crazy schedule that we have at stashSpace, I'm trying to create and maintain a network of blog in my "off-time", you know, the 8 to 10 hours a week that I'm not eating, sleeping or working (It's 3:30 in the morning right now, but I really wanted to get this post up for the family).

Anyway, I'm not really sure at this point which ones will continue to be regularly maintained.  Some of them (this blog, Fun For a Family, Sailing the Northwest and Start a Fish Tank) are for personal interest, and should probably get a post once a week.  Others are quasi-professional in nature (Online Video Sharing and DV Gadgets) where I am trying to gain a voice in the blogosphere to be able to drive traffic to stashSpace, although they are in no way related other than in content .   And I'm tracking all my activities at a blog called Make Money Online, on which I hope to be able to provide some baseline level of analysis on what works and what doesn't work in terms of making money online.

So here's a brief rundown on each blog:

1. http://www.KrummeFamily.Com
   Wait, that's this blog!  It's my personal family blog.  Does the world really need another personal blog?  In my case, yes.  With the relocation of one of my companies (stashSpace) to the Methow Valley - a remote rural mountain valley in North Central Washington - my family moved ~250 miles away from our closest relatives, and find little time to get across the mountains for visits.  I'm hoping this will be a quick and simple way to keep you all updated on our activities.
   
   In addition, a personal blog is a great general platform to be able to post about anything you might want to write about.  I'm also hoping that my family might just also get more variety in their activities -- you won't want to go to the same place more than twice!
   
   
2. http://www.Online-Video-Sharing.com/
   This is a personal blog about an industry that has been my life for the last 7 years.  My two companies have been involved in online video since 2000, long before anyone ever heard of "User Generated Content".  This blog will include information about Online Video companies, products and services; Video Tips and Tricks; Photo Sharing Tips and Tricks; and Video editing and storage services.
   
   
3. http://www.DVGadgets.com/
   This will be a companion site to Online Video Sharing, where I will primarily post product reviews for items in the Digital Video and Audio space, and the companies behind them.  Consider it the site for that which is "tangible" in audio/video, whereas Online Video Sharing focuses on web-based applications.
   
   
4. http://www.Sailing-the-Northwest.com/
   This is a blog about a long-time hobby of mine - sailing.  Growing up, my family spent 6 weeks each summer on our sailboat, and during my college years I managed a Sailing Club and raced 4-5 days/week over a five year period.  This will be my "hobby" blog.
   
   
5. http://www.FunForAFamily.com/
   This will be the family blog about activities that families can do together. This blog will let the whole family feel like they are part of the process, and will give us some undisturbed, scheduled time each weekend to spend time together. It was Tabitha's brainchild, and she will be driving the content and activities each weekend. In her words, "I'm kind of like your boss, right?"
   
   
6. http://www.lugnut22.com/
   This site will be where I document all my different approaches and track my results and lessons learned through my online blogging.  During the first few months, the blog may be a bit disparate in nature, but after getting these other blogs established and full of content, I will start to compile my various experiences and lessons into month-by-month activities, checklists and approaches to succeeding online.
   
   
7. http://www.StartAFishTank.com/
   This one is more of a lark than anything else.  I've been keeping fish for a long time, and want to be able to impart some of what I've learned to others, and be able to point them in the right direction to what's available online.  Simplicity will be the key. I already have a bunch of content that I had previously prepared for a never-launched site, "Aqua-Pages", so I'll only need to spend a few hours to get this one going, and then will probably only add updates twice a month.
   
   
8. http://blog.stashspace.com/
   This is our corporate blog for StashSpace.com, where we track the latest feature enhancements and bug fixes for our online video sharing and editing product aimed at home videos.  It's a great system for unlocking the video content that is stuck on your videotapes on the shelf, and then sharing it with friends and family.  You can either record video through our website on your own computer, or make it even simpler by sending us your videotapes to digitize for you.  You then can access your video to watch, edit, share and store your video memories from over the years...  I'll be posting some of my movies as soon as I have time to actually work with my own video!

So that's about it.  If you want, subscribe to any of the RSS feeds for the blogs and pass them along to your friends and family.  I'm not sure which ones will continue to grab my attention (other than the StashSpace blog for obvious reasons), but that will probably be determined by the users....

Toulouse Goose - Two New Family Members

About three weeks ago, we added two new members to our family - two Toulouse Geese.  Jean and I have always wanted to have Geese, and are frankly more than a bit surprised that we actually got some.  We've been enjoying their company, and the kids have already named them - Lucy and Ethel.  They are still goslings, although they are growing quite quickly, and have been much happier since we put them in their outside pen.

The Toulouse Goose is actually one of the larger goose breeds reaching 18 to 20 pounds for standard Toulouse, and up to 20 to 26 pounds for the Show Toulouse.  They originated in France near the city of Toulouse, and were originally bred for pate de Fois Gras.  They will have white eggs, but luckily only average about 35 per season (Phew! we have eggs coming out of our ears right now from our chickens -- 18 to 20 every day!).

Geese imprint the easiest of any waterfowl.  We've already experienced this as Lucy and Ethel follow Jean and Benjamin around the yard all day long while the kids are in school and I'm at work.  As they grow, they will truly believe they are part of our family!  This has caused us to build a permanent (and separate!) pen for the Geese, as they can't be held with other birds.

We have been questioned by some as to why on earth we got geese.  "Don't you know they bite you??" is a common question.  But Toulouse Geese (in addition to being beautifully colored) have a very placid disposition and are quite docile.  I've read that they are relatively quiet, calm and slow-moving birds.  Luckily, they are also quite tolerant of cold, which is handy in our neck of the woods!

We are also hoping that they will serve as "Watch-Geese" for our other chickens (and two turkeys) that roam free during the day.  The Toulouse are not wanderers beyond what they consider their "home" so, we shouldn't need to worry about having to wonder where they went, but they will serve as a good alarm to approaching coyote or other predators.

You can read more about on WikiPedia's entry on Toulouse Geese.

Geni Family Tree Grows to 78 People

Despite the stories I had heard, I was still surprised to see the quick growth to the family tree I started earlier this morning.  Having put in my direct family and Jean's family (a total of 25 people), 9 family members have already joined up and added information to the list. 

My cousing Nedim in Turkey was the first to login and add his family details, and Jessica Hillgrove (Jean's sister) gets the award for adding the first sets of pictures, as well as detailing much of her husband's family, which has already grown through invites to over 20 people as well.

I'll update at the end of the weekend to see how many additional entries there have been.  I have my whole Dad's branch of the family to add, and my mother just found a family tree that I had traced back 4 to 5 generations back in High School.  I'm eager to get some additional information posted online, and hope to hook portions up with other established trees to quickly grow.  What am I hoping for?  I'd like to see 5,000 connections by the end of May... so if you're reading this, please make sure that your information is posted up as soon as possible!

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Update, 4/14: The Tree is now up to 186 people in only two days! And a lot of my cousins (you know who you are!) have not gone in yet to add their kids and spouse's families yet... hopefully we'll continue to see some big growth in the next week...

Online Family Trees with Geni

I had heard stories recently about a company - Geni - that had rocketed from not existing to being worth $100 million in 6 weeks!  It's an online family-tree creator that seems to have hit the right mix of ease-of-use, functionality and viral community building.  Some users reported seeing their family trees grow from 5 people to 500 people in a scant few weeks!

So I had to try it out.  I created the base level of both my and Jean's family tree -- although I still need to add my German cousins to the list -- and came out with 25 people in my initial post.  It's really easy to use, these 25 people only took about 10 minutes to put in this morning, and if you include their email address, you can invite them to include more information about their family (and their spouse's) as well.

Each person that you put into your tree is identified by either a blue (male) or pink (female) box with their name in it.  Each box has an arrow above, below and to the side of it for you to click and choose to add parents, brothers, sisters, husband, wife, son or daughter.

Anyway, I've set up the initial tree, and will update this post with how my numbers are growing if there is significant activity. You can visit the Geni blog for more information on new features and services of this geneology tool.

Let me know how you like it!

Seattle Aquarium Visit

We visited the Seattle Aquarium today, changing our plans from going to the Woodland Park Zoo due to the weather.  Kristi, Emily and Josh joined our family today for the trip as well.  The aquarium was unusually busy today, the line to get in had a wait of over 20 minutes!  Membership does have its privileges... we just showed our card and waltzed in.

It was evident very early on that Ben thought of the Aquarium was a park, and he showed absolutely no interest in seeing any of the fish or doing the touch-tank this time around.  He must have gotten his fill during our last visit.  Ben and I stayed outside as I watched him run up and down the ramp, making friends with every family that came by.  We were also treated to a feeding of the otters that Ben saw up close & personal.

Since I wasn't inside today, I can't tell you much more, but here are some pictures that Jean took:

Jean got some great video of a couple of the exhibits, and I've attached a couple of clips here.  The first clip is of a Seahorse (Jean's favorite):

Here's a short clip of a blowfish swimming around its tank:

And here's a nice mixed Saltwater Aquarium caught on tape. Hopefully our tank will look like this in a couple of years...

Don't forget to support the Seattle Aquarium by becoming a member. There are many member benefits that come with joining the Aquarium, including:

• Year-long unlimited access to the Aquarium (named adults and if applicable children/grandchildren age 18 and under)
• Five one-time use complementary aquarium admission tickets
• 50% admission discount for up to two guests per visit
• 10% discount at the Aquarium gift store.
• Invitations to private member previews of new exhibits, Spring Member Appreciation Celebration, and Behind the Scene Tours
• Subscription to Currents our quarterly newsletter
• Special member rates on Aquarium educational programs, trips, classes & birthday parties
• $1 off parking at the Pike Place Market Parking Garage