Side hustles during a #Pandemic

[VIDEO] Only recently during the course of the history of this blog had I ever tried to monetize this place. I never would've imagined that Google Ads would be placed here and probably would've come in handy during those rare times when this blog received some traffic from a variety of sources. I always considered this place a hobby something to be enjoyed for free, but then again it's something that if one chooses is worth making some money off of.

I've been following Timothy J. Ward for a while especially with another one of his YouTube channels the Frugal Travel Guru. Going somewhere shouldn't cost you a lot of money and just think when I started following that channel he went from talking about tips as far as riding the Greyhound Bus to taking little trips overseas. There are some valuable lessons with that.

Due to unforeseen circumstances of the past two months I'm taking a look at one of his vids from last year declaring this year 2020 as the year of the side hustle. Of course what I have to admit in a time of a great economic downturn perhaps it's hard for many to think of a side hustle. However, as so many have lost their jobs due to this pandemic I wonder how many have turned to another way of earning income.

And no I don't mean OnlyFans, I do mean that many of us have a talent that we haven't utilized that's worth making a small income at least until the economic world stabilized. I'm lucky to still be working right now in this downturn, however, now is the time to figure out for myself other ways to make money. Perhaps that means doing what I've always done since my undergrad years which is creating content people enjoy online.

Besides, perhaps you won't be able to earn a fortune however a lot of eyeballs are on the internet right now with so many people stuck at home with all these shelter in place orders.

If you're reading this blog let me know what your sidehustle is...

Virtual Railfan Santa Fe junction

[VIDEO] This new "railcam" began streaming on September 18, 2019 so basically just yesterday. Thankfully this is sponsored and thus for the forseeable future this site will continue to be streamed onto YouTube hopefully.

What's exciting for me about this site is that you will see Amtrak trains here. Of course on most railcams operated by Virtual Railfan you will see a number of trains passing along which will include commuter, passenger, and freight trains.

So going through the Santa Fe Junction located in an area of Kansas City, Missouri (KCMO) known as West Bottom. If you click the link in the brackets to view the video you will see the number of rail lines that pass through at any given time. Kansas City Union Station which is a stop for Amtrak's Southwest Chief (with a decent layover according to the schedule) is said to be directly east of this junction. It's expected to see the Chief coming to and from Chicago and the Missouri River Runner between KCMO & St. Louis, Missouri passing through.

If this railcam has staying power it's probably very likely to be included on my Railcam page although what's shown in the vid itself isn't a regular station stop. We're just seeing all trains pass through.

Neistat's guide to videoblogging

[VIDEO] I've only posted one other Casey Neistat video here on this blog in the and it wasn't that long ago - just last month in fact. That earlier video posted to YouTube on May 20, 2019 shows an expensive NYC apartment high above the city. It was cool to see a unit under construction in a skyscraper. If only someone had done something similar when the former John Hancock Building was first constructed.

Well Neistat I've learned is a very famous YouTuber and perhaps the above video would help those of you who want to be famous YouTubers. Neistat is a self-taught filmmaker and yes there's a video with regards to him stating that he's a high school dropout. I will always encourage young people to stay in school and do very well, however, to do some of the things you want to do in life school isn't always necessary.

For example, if you have a willingness to DIY - do it yourself - to learn on your own you don't have to go to film school. The tools you can use to create your own masterpiece is right in front of you. If you have a computer you can get some inexpensive film editing software. Of course as far as filming start with the camera on your smartphone - iPhone or Android. If you don't want to use your phone find an inexpensive camera that allows you to shoot video.

I've been interesting in doing my own videography for years and I'm still learning. While I only use the iMovie app on my phone which Neistant references in this video, I'm eager to learn other editing software that are on the market. If you want to have an understanding of something it's OK to make mistakes. It's always a learning process....

Semi-related - Videoblogging: A YouTuber's process...

Virtual Railfan LaPlata 360

[VIDEO] If I believe the YouTube page this live cam became active April 25, 2019. You can also access this cam on my railcam page when you see the below image once you press play.

This had been alluded to in earlier videos on Virtual Railfan's YouTube channel where they had planned to place a 360 live video camera on a former railroad embankment east of the LaPlata, Missouri Amtrak station. Having seen the train come and go with the cams at the train station seeing the train from this embankment is a very interesting perspective. It's one I hope you would want to check out also.

Puppies and model trains

[VIDEO] I've really enjoyed Jim Zimmerlin's videos of his model train collection. It's probably how I discovered his YouTube channel two years ago. I wouldn't be able to make an offer on his G-Scale model trains especially the Amtrak train he has.

Today he's combined videos of model train with German Shepherd puppies. Animal videos seem to gain traction on YouTube. We love seeing pets and their owners interact. We could be talking about dogs or cats or adult or puppies and it seems there's an audience for it.

For Zimmerlin, his vids on his cruises and his model trains got the traction for his channel. However, time will tell if this video combing puppies and a model train will itself go viral.

Enjoy!

Virtual Railfan cam of the week San Juan Capistrano, California

[VIDEO] You will once again be able to see both Amtrak and commuter trains from San Juan Capistrano, California for at least the next week. It was a demo live cam sometime last year and wrote about it back then. It's cool to see train come through at a nice train station and under that wonderful California sun especially during the day.

Enjoy it while it lasts or do what I should've done purchase a subscription to Virtual Railfan. Who says that their YouTube channel offers the only action as far as live webcam trains running through?

BTW, feel free to enjoy my railcam page which now includes a webcam at the Amtrak station in Barstow, California. All of the webcams represents different legs of the journey between Chicago and Los Angeles on Amtrak's Southwest Chief train.

Piko Clean Machine G-Scale Track Cleaning Locomotive

[VIDEO] Jim Zimmerlin's latest video talking about his new track cleaning locomotive for his G-scale tracks. And he notes the nice letter from the owners of TrainWorld.com and of course the fact that he uses that site to get most of his G-scale products. Now I know where to go for more model trains, and without having to wait for Menard's to have any on sale in their stores during the holiday season. 😛

Jointed rails

[VIDEO] I had to share this video of a model train running over simulated jointed rails. It's a cool effect and just shows how I'm still learning about different aspects of railroading.

I didn't realize that during the course of the past decade, I've been through an area that still has jointed rails. That among other antiquated aspects of railroad technology. Like I said I'm still learning and as you see in the above video you might see some aspects of this along the Raton/Glorieta pass which is the route of Amtrak's Southwest Chief. [VIDEO]

I just feel the need to share the more common video of an Amtrak train doing through New Mexico on jointed rail and this time from the inside. [VIDEO]

Finally, here's a video about jointed rails vs. welded rails. As I figured would be the difference a quieter and smoother ride. I would imagine welded rails are what CTA uses for the L especially when there are opportunities to rehab the infrastructure. [VIDEO]

Virtual Railfan: Amtrak's Southwest Chief back-to-back

[VIDEO] Having been wrestling obsessed over the weekend, I just wanted to share this vid from Virtual Railfan. Two Amtrak Southwest Chief trains back-to-back in LaPlata, Missouri train #4 was very late coming from Los Angeles, it would normally get into LaPlata in the morning. I'm curious what happened although I see it was pulled into the station by a BNSF freight locomotive.

That happened 20 minutes after train #3 pulls out of the LaPlata station near it's regular time. Sometimes (perhaps often) the train is late pulling into LaPlata especially when I'm able to see train #3 at night. I rarely get to see Train #4 it seems I'm more of a night owl when I watch the Virtual Railfan cams on YouTube.

Feel free to check out the Railcam page here.

Champs

While I watch Monday Night Raw and in recognition of Chicago sports teams winning championships since I started this blog I just published tonite a "Champs" page. It's still not in its final form and so as it's now live it will continue to be edited.

I don't consider myself a huge sports fan, however, I followed the championship teams in recent years of both the Chicago Black Hawks and the Chicago Cubs. I was very happy to see the Cubs end their century long world series championship drought in 2016.

In 2005 the White Sox' championship run only recieving a passing mention on the blog at the time, but they were the first Chicago baseball team to bring a world series back to Chicago since 1917.

Hopefully as the Chicago Bulls and Chicago Bears - in addition to the Hawks - have just started their respective seasons here's hoping they play well this season. So far the Bears are at the top of the NFC North division. Though I haven't followed the Hawks and Bulls so far.

Perhaps, this will be the time to follow them and see their progress this season. The Bulls I hadn't followed since the last championship team was broken up in 1998 (and it didn't help when most Bulls teams after that suffered losing seasons). The Hawks failed to get into the NHL postseason last season and the Bears well....

At least we have memories of all Chicago teams' success in the past.

Virtual Railfan - Barstow, California

[VIDEO] Another live rail cam to follow Amtrak's Southwest Chief. This time on YouTube Virtual Railfan now has a demo cam in Barstow, California. Unfortunately according to the schedule the train arrives in Barstow overnight on the way to Los Angeles and at night perhaps before bed time (at least for me) on the way back to Chicago. Just remember if you look at the Amtrak schedule the times for Barstow will be pacific time.

Just remember a few months ago I shared a live cam also from Virtual Railfan of the Cajon Pass another route the Southwest Chief takes between Los Angeles and Chicago. On occasion you can see that cam on Virtual Railfan's YouTube, however, it might be seen as a cam of the week when it is up. Also bear in mind that with many of these cams you won't only see Amtrak trains you will often see freight trains also.

It's time to look into a subscription to this very exciting site to see all the rail cams they offer beyond the live cams we see on YouTube. Sometimes I wish I can request some cams in urban areas. Perhaps there are some places in the Chicago area where Virtual Railfan can figure out how to place some live cams.

As always feel free to check out my Railcam page. As I wrote this I see it's raining and storming in LaPlata, Missouri.

Another mini-railroad video

[VIDEO] So Jim Zimmerlin visits another mini-railroad this time in Oregon called Train Mountain. Here's his description:

The Guinness world record for the longest miniature railroad is an amazing 2200 acre property in southern Oregon known as Train Mountain. I met up with Tom Watson for a tour of the railway, first from a golf cart, and later from his own gas-powered train. In a two-hour train ride, we only managed to travel on a portion of the layout!

I also got a look at G-Ville, the four acre section of Train Mountain dedicated to G-scale garden trains... and I'm seriously thinking about bringing some of my G scale model trains up to G-Ville to run on their layout.

And check out the metal work shops. If they make these trains from scratch they have a lot more talent than I do. Wouldn't mind taking up that hobby.

Semaphore rail signals

[VIDEO] Thanks to YouTube I know far more about the semaphore signals along a stretch of the Amtrak Southwest Chief route (Glorieta/Raton Pass). These are likely the last of them on any railroad in America - or for those of you who are nitpicky the United States.

This type of railroad signal is what I was referring to with regards to Jim Zimmerlin's video I had shared with you on Friday. If I had my own miniature railway - I titled that post "Big Model Trains" - I would like to have semaphore signals!

Big model trains!

[VIDEO] If I got myself some land anywhere and enough of a lot do something like this I'd like to. Build my own railroad and spent my free time riding around on it using sets like the ones you see above.

Jim Zimmerlin is a man who not only like cruises, he also likes model trains. He owns G-scale model trains and he takes us to the Bitter Creek Western Railroad in San Luis Obispo County in California. It's a very cool video and a very cool layout you see here.

I wonder what they do for railroad signals, because I wouldn't mind installing those old fashioned semaphore signals on such a railroad.

Want to check out the Cajon Pass in California

[VIDEO] Earlier this year I had posted a railcam page that features live webcam footage from La Plata, Missouri and Flagstaff, Arizona. The significance of sharing those webcams is that both are stops on Amtrak's Southwest Chief. The Southwest Chief is a train I'm only taken twice back and forth between Chicago & Los Angeles.

The Cajon Pass is a route that the Southwest Chief would normally traverse into LA. My frame of reference in determining when a train should pass through is via Amtrak's Tracker is through the stop at  San Bernardino. The pass which is an an elevation of 4190 ft. lies between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains

So I don't know if this webcam is permanent as this is labeled as a webcam of the week from Virtual Railfan. I do presume that this webcam is a feature for those who want to pay for a subscription to their service. Although it's cool to see this aspect of the trip as well this is usually a late night run for the Southwest Chief to go through Cajon.

Hope you enjoy while it lasts!

RELATED LINKS

• Amtrak Southwest Chief
• Amtrak train tracker

YouTube channel to watch

[VIDEO] One of the reasons I became interested in model trains again was the many videos on YouTube featuring model trains. Jim Zimmerlin has over 100K subscribers to his channel because he shared videos of his G-scale trains and he's into cruises. Zimmerlin's most recent videos have been about cruise ships he's traveled on or even about to travel on.

If I was serious about my YouTube channel it would mostly be along the same lines. It would share my interests particularly travel or model trains. I've been trying to find some footage that I had shot on my iPhone of my trip in 2016 to California. Perhaps it's time invest in a real camcorder and then familiarize myself with some video editing equipment.

Of course I have thought about doing videos that were more political in nature, but as it so happens. Politics is important however so are developing hobbies outside of politics. This can include photography, videography and model trains.

Meanwhile I recommend you subscribe to Jim Zimmerlin perhaps after he's done doing videos of cruise ships and his cruises, he'll start posting more about his model trains.

1969 Pontiac Ventura Being Restored

Artistmac from Chicago is back and this is his 2nd video about a classic Pontiac being restored by a local mechanic who specializes in restoring old GM vehicles. An earlier video featured a 1969 Pontiac Firebird 400. He also has shown videos of his 1984 Pontiac Fiero that he has taken to that local mechanic when he needs to fix it up.

Here are his comments with regards to today's GM vehicles:

Take note, GM. 40 years from now, will people be taking the time and energy to restore CTS's, Lucernes and FWD Impalas to their original condition? Doubtful.

Here's a gem from your glorious past, being restored by Chicago mechanic Dave Armstrong. This '69 Ventura (a trim package on the Catalina) spent almost all of its life in Palm Springs. That brown coating you see on the rear undercarriage and differential isn't rust -- it's sand. When it's power-washed, it'll look as clean as the underside from the differential forward.

It's great to see the front end without the fenders, showing off that 428 V8, disc brakes and front suspension in all their glory.

As you can see, that's the original Harrison air conditioning unit. Black Morrokide upholstery and Pontiac 5-spoke mag wheels will complete the picture. It'll be another showpiece, just like his green Firebird 400.

You know this is a guy who's lived a long time and has seen the changes in our automobiles. In addition to his Pontiac Fiero he also has a 1979 Chevrolet Caprice in his garage.

Do you think today's cars will be restored by anyone with the interest to keep today's classics on the road?

In the market for a new camcorder

I got my eye on the Flip camera and decided to check out some of the models at a local Best Buy. The cheapest models is between $150 to $200 and at my rate of wages it seems like the most difficult amount for me to get off of if it was something I wanted.

The main reason that I want one is for something that I can use to shoot video on the go. It would be easier to use than a MiniDV camera which is what I currently own now. At least my time won't be wasted by having to load the camera with a tape before I can press record. At least this camera could fit in a pocket at least if I want to conceal it.

Another reason is that this type of camera is less intimidating that a regular video camera. I Googled and article to find that reason. Really this is key if you were a TV journalist and you're carrying around large expensive TV cameras. However I think this is key even for people who like to record video on the go and find that someone may have a problem with them shooting a video.

For right now at least I'm a long way from making a decision. When that purchase is made, expect the news to be posted here and

Hobbies are fun

YouTube is a wonderful contraption. You see items such as this tribute transmitted on that video sharing website a lot. I can only imagine how much different our world is because there is a warehouse of vids that are stored for our view.

This video is of Ray Glasser of Cleveland, Ohio paying tribute to a dear friend. Glasser's channel is called videoholicreturns. We may already have figured out why he has chosen that handle. I have watched his videos a lot overtime and have seen that he really likes to show off his videos and video equipment.

It's really cool to have had a significant correspondence over the years with someone who shares the same enthusiasm. Indeed very creative about how they present their video correspondence. Of course such activity is probably easier these days as no long do we have to send video via what they call "snail-mail" now.

We have social networking to share our thoughts with the world around us. We have YouTube, Facebook, and run of the mill blogs to share. Although we may have private channels so that we're not sharing everything with everyone. This may even include "snail-mail" at that.

So enjoy this treat and part 2. And enjoy the creativity of these two friends. See their "video letter" intros here & here. I certainly enjoy, but I must admit their inclusion of footage from a high-wire act going awry to the Kennedy assassination to even 9/11 are a bit troublesome. Well just saying, but never to take away from their passion and talent.

Still this is a treat worth sharing.

Videographer Fail

Well this person isn't what you would consider your typical railfan. And this isn't to generalize, however, I'm not sure I would expect a tirade from a person who's hobby is to take video or photos of trains. Also the guy who got into his shot really does need to put his Ipod away!