First Glance Skateboard Deck Commercial

I filmed this video in one day, however the project got kinda pushed off to the side as I waited for an ending slide to be made for it. Eventually I just decided to make my own ending slides just so I could get the video posted. Alex Kuss is an amazing skater, I love watching his switch fs big spin in this video. He recently hurt his foot pretty bad and still tried to skate our the Holiday Hubba Contest and also film for the First Glance Christmas Video. During the filming of the Christmas Video he hurt it more trying to nollie flip the stairs in the dark. I hope his foot gets better soon. I can't wait for him to get back on his board, so we can do some more projects like this.

FG Christmas Video 2013

FG Christmas Skateboard Video Coming soon...

We had about 10 skaters out here to film for the First Glance Skatepark Christmas Skate Video. We filmed for about three and a half hours this time. The Halloween Video was filmed in only one hour. This time I didn't film the whole thing and was actually able to skate in it.

Skating the stairs is hard enough, but imagine doing it with the lights off! The Christmas lights didn't help much but we managed to make it work. I hope to have the video out by Christmas.

Free Try Friday with Isaiah Jones

Isaiah is one of the best skaters that I've seen at First Glance Skatepark. He has amazing control in switch and nollie. I've been wanting him to come out for a Free Try Friday and he finally did and it was amazing.

Free Try Friday with Gary Dean

Free Try Friday with James Amato

I'm trying to do more videos with the skatepark for promotion purposes and also to create a fun community and culture among the skaters that go to our park (First Glance Skatepark). A popular online website The Berrics, features daily videos of professional skateboarders. Now I don't want to try to copy everything they do, but I did take this idea from them, with a slight twist.

The first skateboarder to show up to our park, after he pays $5, we will give him a chance to win his $5 back and skate for free the rest of the night. All he has to do is land the trick we choose for him, first try. If he doesn't make it, we still give him a chance to redeem himself with more tries but doesn't receive his $5 back. This was our first "Free Try Friday".

Tyler Blackert - FS Flip at FG Skatepark

Tyler Blackert skate a lot like myself but better. I'll be thinking of a trick I want to try and then later see him try the same thing. His kickflips and fs flips are probably some of his best looking tricks and are always high.

Jordan Maselli - Airwalk at FG Skatepark

Jordan Maselli does airwalks better then anyone I've ever seen. He extends his legs out super far while doing 2-3 kicks. Most airwalks I see have very lazy extension and are only one kick.

FG Skateboard Decks

We have just received our first order of decks. We will be selling the boards for $35 plus free Jessup grip tape. Our boards are made by South Central Manufacture the same company that makes 5boro skateboards.

First Glance Skatepark Halloween 2013

Nick Welsch - Big Transfer at FG Skatepark

Nick Welsch took many air to ankle compressing lands before rolling away. Then after he did he only wanted to get it better causing more ankle compression from landing straight to his feet into the quarter's wall.

First Glance Skatepark Grand Opening

The park is officially open! First Glance Skatepark isn't just a skatepark. We are helping to develop the skate community of Akron, OH in a positive way. We want to create a park that has a focus on God and bringing skaters together in a positive way. We are going to try to have events each month rather if its a contest or something else.

We had about 40 people show up to the Grand Opening. We gave allowed free entry into the park and gave out free food. We started the events off with a Game of S.K.A.T.E. (like horse in basketball).

Alex Kuss - Winner of Game of S.K.A.T.E.

Next we had my favorite contest which is always the best trick down the stairs. I love to watch people throw themselves down the stairs trying slam after slam to get a trick. We gave them 20min. to try as many times as they would like.

Isaiah Jones - Switch fs 360

Alex Kuss - Hardflip over the hubba

Alex tried this trick many times in the past. He broke three boards in the process but managed to pull it off in the contest within two tries.

The hardest contest to judge was the mini-ramp jam. But in the end it was no doubt that the brothers from Kentucky, would take first and second place. Fifteen years old and his younger brother, who is only seven, amazed everyone at the park with their ramp skating. The younger brother was doing one-foot judos to fakie and airing out of the ramp.

We gave out 6 free boards plus 2 more from Sun Valley Skateshop, along with 7 shirts plus about 14 shirts donated by Acathla Clothing.

First Glance Skate Park Grand Opening

Go Skateboarding Day 2013: Chicago

Four of us from Findlay, Ohio left for Chicago at 8am to head for Chicago. We ended up an hour behind schedule from driving misdirection. Causing us to be an hour late meeting up with my friend, David, in Merrillville. (an hour outside of Chicago)

About 15 min after we got out of our car, the rain started pouring down. The segway tours ended in a halt under the trees. (picture) I've never seen so many segways in my life, but in Chicago it is a very popular thing, especially for tours.

We got some food while we waited for the rain to hault. After it slowed down we headed out to a bike tunnel I remembered so skate under. When we arrived there was already about 30+ skaters there. Without any warm up skating for us, they started a high ollie contest.

I made it to the final round with about 5 other guys. Everyone kept trying except for me and one other guy because they kept cutting us but no one was landing it.. We both patiently waited until the guy running the thing said, "Has anyone not tried it yet? Then the other guy went before me and ollied the six boards stacked on each other his first try. Then I went and made it over, landing on my board but didn't land centered on my board right falling off. 

David won $20 in the long ollie contest. It was between us and one other guy who ended up taking the final win.

Everything dried up soon after skating in the tunnel for a few hours.

Photo: Me

Photo: David Tanner

While skating the Sea Wall there is always a risk of losing your board in the water and Chaz did. His brother CJ climbed down into the polluted water where a dead goose, a hat, boomerang and other garbage collected in the exact spot of Chaz's board.

Chaz, "Thanks Bro".

Sick ledge spot we found by following a crowd of skaters.

Small skatepark. Photo: David, Manuel up and back down.

We ran into a couple kids at the skatepark, who asked me for a kingpin for their truck. We ended up giving them an extra complete board that Chaz brought.

Before our day was over we had to get some Chicago pizza. Everything was kinda expensive, but we were starting to get super hungry. So when walking buy this really nice looking pizza restaurant we decided to just check the menu to see what the prices where. The, who I think was the owner, told us that he would sell us a pizza for $5. We noticed that on the menu the prices for the pizzas where $15.

We were then offered free soda and a free 10 inch pizza if we let a guy take some pictures and video of us for some social media advertising. We ended up having a fun time talking to him, while he sat and chatted with us over our dinner. So if your in Chicago don't forget to stop by Bongiorino's Pizza and Italian Restaurant.

Go Skateboarding Day Chicago Events 2013

I'm Engaged

The Question (Self Portrait), originally uploaded by dalenolanjr.

SYME - Amber's Testimony

Amber was a student when I was in Taiwan as a missionary. Its so awesome to see that she has finally accepted Christ as her savior and is now faithfully following him.

Self Portrait - Talking by the Barn

Self Portrait - Talking by the Barn, originally uploaded by dalenolanjr.

Via Flickr:
I took some photos of my girlfriend, Anne Marie and I around their yard. I set the camera with a 10sec timer to take 9 photos at a time.

Self Portrait - Wall Ride

My Sister's Baby

3 Month Old Baby, originally uploaded by dalenolanjr.

My sister asked me to take a picture of a shot she saw that she really liked. We used a black sheet, a lamp, and the light hanging over her dinning room table.

Ohio Lightning Storm

Lightning in Ohio, originally uploaded by dalenolanjr.

I took this photo of the lightning going by while my girlfriend, Anne Marie held the umbrella for me.

My Brother's Wedding

My brother got married and had a beautiful wedding. However sadly the snowstorm prevented all of the Canadians except for her parents and one set of grandparents from coming. She still had an awesome attitude though.

Making Money on Youtube

Youtube has been constantly asking me to monetize (define: to convert your videos into making money) my videos. I kept ignoring it due to the legalities and the tiny 2 cents a month I would be making. However one day I finally decided to monetize my videos. It was very easy to set up an account on Google Adsense. Linking the google account you already own and your bank account.

Google actually will deposit a small amount into your bank account (like 10 cents) to confirm that your bank account is set up right. Within the next month I had earned $10 from one video on my youtube account. To make any money from your videos you need to 100% own all the rights to the video, especially the music. You don't need to own all the rights to the videos on your account, you can pick and choose which ones to monetize.

Just because you monetize your videos doesn't mean you'll make money. If your videos are only getting 100-1,000 views you won't make much at all. The video that makes me almost $10 every month has over 500 comments (30 or more comments a month) and has a total of 113,100 views (10,600 views a month). If only I could double this by getting a second video with similar statistics. Though the best part is, I only had to make this video once, upload it, and now I just sit and watch $10 come in every month from doing nothing more.

There is two types of advertising you can use on your monetized videos.

Overlay in-video ads - the ad is displayed at the bottom of the video.

TrueView in-stream ads. - the ad is played like a commercial before the video is played.

I would suggest using the Overlay in-video ads versus the TrueView in-stream ads. Most people (unless you have a really interesting video) will not take the time to watch your video if they have to watch a commercial before hand. This will limit your views and earnings. while the Overylay in-video ads doesn't disrupt the video as much and allows more users to watch your video because they won't be irritated by a commercial.

Bucket List Finished (mostly)

Not to long after being in Taiwan, Jacob Smith, Anne Marie Lemire, and myself made a bucket list for our time in Taiwan. We completed a lot of the things on the list but still had a lot to go. Most of the things we completed without doing it purposeful. Taiwan was such an amazing experience.

Original Bucket List Post

Crowded Streets

Its been two months since I've been in Taiwan. And I'm beginning to miss it more and more. I miss the crowded streets, the tall buildings, fireworks in the morning, the friends, adventures, and the ministry there. Many times I have dreams about being there again but then I wake up. I don't know what the future has for me, but I would love to someday go back to Asia to stay.

Vicky's Baptism

Vicky left SYME after her first term not realizing why she didn't enjoy partying and he same friends like she used too. When she returned to SYME after a couple months later she realized it was because Jesus Christ had changed her. About 6 months after that she got baptized.

Lighthouse - South Haven, MI

Lighthouse - South Haven, MI, originally uploaded by dalenolanjr.

I went to South Haven to check out the lighthouse and it happened to be a windy day. I wasn't planning on taking photos but I'm glad I brought my camera with.

China/Taiwan Pollution

This video is about China, but in Taiwan it was a similar circumstance. The moment I arrived in Taichung, Taiwan, I notice that my vision distance was significantly reduced. Almost everyday that you look up to see the sky, all you would see is a grey smog, clouds don't exist there. Rarely when that was a good wind that is blown through the sky would clear up forming shapes of clouds. You would notice mountain ranges that you couldn't see before because the pollution was limiting your vision. I have never seen dust collect so quickly before, you constantly have to clean everything. When you wash your clothes if you let them hang dry to long they will be dirty from the dust and pollution. Rarely did I feel like washing my clothes made them much cleaner. This is one of the reason they wear the masks to protect themselves from breathing in all the pollution.

Barn Carnage

I'm was there: "Pretty Sweet"

You can't really see me well with the distortion of the fish eye but I am standing on the right watching Justin Eldridge get his line, while in Taiwan.