Let's See Some Videos!

Below is a list of the different videos I have posted since this grand adventure began, mostly in the last couple of days. I'm going to put them here in the order of which they were shot.

On May 22, 2012, I set out from Raleigh, NC and headed north, to Washington D.C. I was hoping to catch the Washington Nationals before moving on, but that didn't work out. Instead, I went to the Smithsonian. Here are the videos associated with that trip!



Next I continued to travel north and found the Baltimore Orioles playing at home. This is the footage from that trip.



I had hoped to catch the Phillies at home, but I was disappointed. My next stop (at a high toll price) was Pittsburgh, where before the game I caught a street party in progress, as well as the game. This was the most fun I had by myself on the trip.



Next on the agenda was a trip to Massachusetts. I went on a roundabout trip, trying to avoid tolls, and passed through upper New York State to get there. I picked up my daughter along the way and we spent the night near Boston after watching the Red Sox  play. This was extremely ejoyable for me, as I hadn't seen her in 8 years.



After I dropped her off at her home, I headed south again and into Connecticut, I passed a sign that said 'Providence, and on a whim, I followed it. When I got to Providence, I found the Providence Zoo, and on another whim, I went there.



After spending the night near Providence, I traveled south, and saw a sign for a local park that turned out to be a beach. I shot some very windy footage there. Sorry, no bathing beauties.



I then continued my trek south and caught the New York Mets playing at home. This was the most disappointing ball game for several reasons: First, the Mets lost, the only home team to have done so when I was recording. Second the weather threatened all day long and the crowd was non-existent. And third, Citi Field, where the Mets play, felt like I was thrust into one big commercial. Too many ads and other corporate stuff going on for me to really enjoy myself.



After the game, I spent one of the first nights sleepling in my car at a rest stop. Then I headed back to New York to get a look at the Yankees. I caught the arrest of a man (not included on this list) and video of a couple of homeless cats outside Yankee Stadium, before I took the Yankee Stadium tour. They would not let me use video while on that tour and I was reminded of that several times as I used my video camera to take pictures. For my $20 I got some pictures and a keychain with the Yankees logo.

The game itself was somewhat disappointing. Unlike most other parks there was a steady stream of people going up and down the aisle, blocking my view and the camera when I was shooting. And some of the fans were obnoxious too. This is also the only game where I left early, to make sure I caught my train to where I had parked in Connecticut. Still, I had fun.



When I came out of New York, I headed north again. A friend had invited me to a charity lacrosse game in Massachusetts a few days from then. To kills time before then, I headed into upstate New York again and took in Niagara Falls. There is some very good footage in this, as well as shots of the camera lens getting wet as I walked to a spot under the falls. I enjoyed this immensely!



Then I headed back to Massachusetts and took in the lacrosse game. This was a charity game played between the Leominster High School lacrosse team and the coaches and alumni. It raised money for charity and it is called Kirsten's Game after Kirsten Gorman, the daughter of my friend.



After getting intensely sunburn from being on the field so long, I left and headed southwest. At first I thought I'd hit Cleveland, but they weren't playing at home. They were playing in Cincinnati to the south. So to Cincinnati I went. This game was played during the day and I daresay my sunburn wasn't helped by that. Yet it was an enjoyable game. It was the first game I've attended where I missed the first puitch due to traffic issues.



By this time my money was starting to dry up and I thought about finding work in Cincinnati. I stayed there 10 days, putting in applications and got no real bites. I left there feeling somewhat dejected,

As I said in my last post, I am in Charlotte, NC now and looking for work or other opportunities to use my camcorder. I found the Charlotte library has internet access so good that I could upload all of my videos within 3 days. I took advantage of it. I have no shame in that regard.

I hope you enjoy the videos. Remember to like them, click on the ads and share them if you do like them, because that's how I get paid!

Nikon D5100 16.2MP Digital SLR Camera - Body Only - Digital SLRWith any kind of good luck, I will be heading back to Baltimore at the end of July for Otakon. I need cash to make that work! Please help!

A Curious Twist

I am now in Charlotte, NC, and my money is down to practically nothing. I still have my rental car until July 20th, which is one reason I chose to come to Charlotte. It's reachable to where I have to drop off the rental car.

I am looking for work, but I'm also looking for shelter. In a strange twist of fate, the local shelter wants proof that I am homeless and also wants proof of where my money went before they'll let me in.

I plan to gather that (it's a lot of receipts) and present it to them, but until I can do that, I have been sleeping in my car. A couple of nights I slept at a rest stop, but it's not all that close to Charlotte and it's an 80 mile round trip to get there and back to Charlotte. I don't have that much gas money. So last night I slept in the parking lot of a Wal-mart. I'd heard of people getting away with that before, and I thought I'd try it out.

At first I parked out of the way, and played with my computer for a few of hours (8-11pm) but then I heard a chirping noise behind me and saw what appeared to be a security car roving around the parking lot. I decided to move the car to a different spot and went into the store to pick up some food.

From the different spot I didn't stick out. I was helped by a downpour that lasted a good 15 minutes. To make a long story short (too late!) I spent the rest of the night half asleep, worried that someone would tap on the glass and tell me to move or worse.

It's not a pleasant existence.

Yet for the moment, it will have to do.

One good thing to come out of the whole situation is I went to the Charlotte Library yesterday and to my delight found that they provide incredible upload speeds. I uploaded more videos yesterday than I've ever had time to before! Visit My youtube page for more information!

That is all for now!

30 Days Down, 30 to Go!

I have now reached the halfway point in my car rental. I have 30 days to go. In reflecting how I spent the first 30 days, I have to say from my perspective that it was not all wasted. I've been places I've only dreamed of going, found some unexpected laughter, and some frustration as well.

I rented a car for the first 60 days rather than buy one outright because I wanted to see two things: Did I have the stamina tom do what I wanted to do, and is the idea feasible, in the sense of whether I can make enough money to survive?

Let's answer the first question first. In the last 30 days I have driven over 4,000 miles, going from North Carolina, to Washington D.C. to Baltimore, to Pennsylvania, to Massachusetts, to Connecticut and New York, back to Massachusetts and now in Ohio.

Over that time I have attended 6 baseball games, been to a zoo in Connecticut, went to Niagara Falls and attended a charity lacrosse game. Most of my time has been spent driving.

I have stayed in at least 11 different motels. Some better than others, but they were all relatively cheap.

I have spent 4 nights in my car. A crowded, uncomfortable situation.

In all this I have this to say about my injuries: They have slowed me down. They have made it difficult to climb stairs, and there were many stairs along the way. Stairs in subways, stairs in ballparks, stairs everywhere. Every time I climbed a stair, I came out exhausted.

Yet I recovered. My stamina is just fine.

I stayed in too many hotels along the way, and that has drained what was once a fair amount of money.

If I had to do the vehicle part all over, I would have bought the cheap van and lived out of that as much as possible.

One regret.

In terms of the business and making money goes: I once told a friend (the one who invited me to the lacrosse game) that all it would take would be one video going viral and I'd be set. Alas, that has not happened, for several reasons.

First, while I have been shooting a lot of video, I can't find an internet connection that will let me upload it fast. I have tens of hours of video sitting on my computer, waiting to make it to youtube, and I spend hours uploading one 5 minute video.

This is the most frustrating part of the whole trip. I even tried getting a mobile hotspot, thinking it would be faster on the upload that standard motel wifi. It it, but just slightly. And it's expensive. For me to upload an HD video, would take my entire allotment of bandwidth.

I plan to return the mobile hotspot.

So I have uploaded some video, and some of it may even entertain you, But they get very few hits on youtube, and even if they get hits, youtube can decide they won't put ads on it, and I make no money. I still have yet to understand why they won't put on on the lacrosse video, but my email to them get answered in a cryptic fashion.

So the bottom line is, I haven't uploaded the video that will go viral - yet. Maybe I haven't even shot it yet. I have made little money from the video and it's not enough at the moment to justify the costs.

What I'm looking for at this time is a partner who can help me cover costs. I'm also looking for someone (could be the same someone) who will travel with me and be the outgoing part of the team. Someone to line up interviews for my 'Two Minutes With..." segment. I haven't had the nerve to ask anyone if I could interview them. I've preferred to be the passive person who records life as it happens.

It's not working.

So while I am in Cincinnati at the moment, I am looking for work or for whatever comes next in the business. If you want to help, call me at 919-906-3445.

It Doesn't Fit!

I have begun my travels across the country, having been to 3 different ball games and several other events. In the week and a half I have been on the road, I have stayed in a hotel all but 1 night, something that will have to change or money will run out before my rental car lease.

As I have stated in previous blogs, I have been injured both on my right knee and my right arm. I have encountered a number of difficulties because of that.

First, the motel rooms where I stay usually have a desk where I can put my laptop and work on editing video or playing Warcraft. The tables are often so high off the ground that my right arm aches when I try to use the mouse. And last night I stayed in a motel in Groton, CT, where the table and chair was so close to the bed that I had real problems getting in.

Baseball parks are guilty of not leaving enough room with their seats too. Wednesday I went to a Boston Red Sox game and had issues. First, I got the row number wrong and was told row 2 started where I thought row 1 would be. I thought that was just as well, because I didn't have enough space in the row to comfortably sit with my right leg that can't bend all the way when sitting. But then the seat I moved to, while more comfortable for my leg, was at almost the same level as row 1, which had a number of folding chairs directly in front of me, and they were mostly full. I could not see home plate because of two guys sitting in those folding chairs directly in my way.

Anther issue with Fenway is there are no escalators and because I went in the wrong gate, I had to climb the stairs leading up the Green Monster and then back down to get to my seat. That is not a short climb, and I have to take them one step at a time.

My car is almost as bad. It's a Ford Focus, a subcompact, and getting in and out of the car with my bum right knee is difficult at best and never easy. I have to pull myself up and out and I have to hop when getting out of the car so that my knee doesn't have to bend.

This is one reason I wanted to buy a van.

The bottom line is, though I having a tremendous amount of fun, it's not all fun, and if I had to do it all over again, I would have bought that van. But I don't have enough money now and what I do have has to go toward gas (don't buy gas in CT) and the nickel and dime stuff that will empty my wallet all together too soon.

Want to help?

Watch my videos: http://www.youtube.com/MikeFoxWoW
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Click on Like the videos (if you like them) and then click on the ads. I'll try to make them short and to the point and entertaining to boot!

You can also visit my web site at http://www.mikesnewshangout.com. Click on the  ads there. Clicking on ads gets me a little bit of money for each click. Enough clicks and I have a working budget for August. Not enough, then I'm going to settle someplace and find work. But I won't have nearly as much fun!

Seriously, I'm working hard every day to find interesting things to record. If you want that to continue, you have to help me.