I worked hard today, but I also had a lot of fun. A good combo if you ask me.
I was on a video shoot today for my job.
(I serve as a producer for the videos that my company creates for our conferences. Since I am in charge of the content for the opening session at our four big conferences, I work with our production company, Gary Musick Productions, to make videos that make the program more interesting. The video crew is awesome and so is GMP.)
The most enjoyable video (and most popular by far) is the “Meet the Chairman” video we do every year. This year’s chairman, John Duda, is from St. Louis, so I didn’t have to travel far.
In addition to running an electrical distribution company and spending time with his six kids, John is also part-time farmer. He’s got a couple hundred acres out about an hour from town, and his girls keep him busy. (Girls=cows) Then throw in pond with legendary sized bass, a four-wheeler, a tractor and some exotic “variety pack” chickens, and you’ve got yourself the Duda Farm.
We had started the day at 7 a.m. at John’s company, Butler Supply. For those of you who know me, that was crazy-early! We did John’s interview (I played Barbara Wah-wah) and then captured footage of every part of the business (it’s called b-roll, although the A & B editing decks have disappeared into computer hard drives.)
Then we transitioned to the fun part of the video, which will be a take-off on Green Acres. We imposed on John’s wife, Beth, to play Eva Gabor, and she did a fabulous job. Then we headed out to the farm for the Eddie Albert scenes: John had to ride his tractor and scoop hay with a pitchfork in a navy blue pin-striped suit.
When all the work was done at about 5 p.m., John came riding up in a four-wheeler and offered to let me go for a ride. I’ve never done that before, so I let him take me for a ride instead.
It was really fun. Bumpy. Slightly scary. The wind whips through your hair, and you feel speed. There’s something about a slight bit of danger that equals excitement. When we got to an open field, he got off and let me ride around a bit.
At first, I went slow, but before long, I was cruising along.
It was an accomplishment. Of what, I don’t know. I just know that I felt like I had really done something after I drove that four-wheeler around successfully.
After the four-wheeler ride, this had already catapulted above all other business trips. Perhaps they should add four-wheeler rides to hotels and airports and then work travel would not feel so much like a chore.
But the fun hadn’t ended yet.
John offered to take me fishing at the pond. (I had already informed him of my fishing talent, garnered from many years of fishing with my dad. I can not only tie on my own lures, but I can also put on worms, and take my own fish off the hook. Did I mention I have a fancy, man-reel with the flippy top thing?)
Now that I think about it, I think I had inferred that I’d like to go fishing about five times that day. His employees had told me that they had caught six and eight pound bass in that pond. I had to partake of the bounty!!!
So I put on my heavy-duty Katrina-hurricane work boots, grabbed a pole and a nice looking rapala-ish lure, and we jumped in the truck to fish.
The pond was low. After fishing for five minutes, I was worried that the bass lore was false. No bites!
But I am known for my perseverance as a fisherman. I don’t change the lure 600 times. I just keep casting it and reeling it in. Even if I don’t put the lure in a good spot, I don’t care, I treat it as if it was a good cast.
My perseverance paid off: I caught two bass–both pretty big. I don’t know exactly how big they were because I had no ruler or scale, but I did make John take a photo so I’d have some form of proof.
I’ll post the photo as soon as I get it. It’s awesome.
A special thanks to John and Beth for making this work day worthwhile and special. Thanks also to Gary and Greg for doing an awesome job of videotaping and producing.
It was good day.