More Holday Traditions

With the weather being a bit more mild right now, Amy and I decided to keep up the decorating. (Mainly this was Amy's decision. She lives for this!). So we went down to the office and put up a few decorations and Amy worked around the house too.

Then we headed to the Christmas Tree Farm to select the live tree. We go out as a family each year and cut down our tree. This will be the one that we all decorate and Santa will put the gifts under.



We have a nice one this year as you can see!



And the girls even helped us drag it back down the hill! I am sure we will have more pics later as we decorate...but this is where we are now!



It is fun to have these family traditions during the holidays. Thanks to Amy for doing such a great job decorating! It makes the house feel like Christmas!

A Busy Thanksgiving!

As you will notice, this Thanksgiving Day was a busy one for the Hasseman clan. After the race (see below post) we headed to Connie and Chuck's house (Amy's parents) for Thanksgiving. Amy's aunt and uncle Bev and Art were there too. It was a nice time with some fantastic food!

Skylar, Chuck and Art went to work with the animals!



The girls cleaned up the feast and then chatted!



After we got home we decided it was a pretty nice day, so we thought we could try and do some outside Christmas decorations. I usually grumble and growl about this process, but this year it was not too bad. (Props to Jade on taking this picture!).



And then we got into the spirit on the inside of the house as well!



And as you can see I am into the holiday spirit already!



Happy Holidays everyone!

Jason Mitchell at The Yard!

We took the girls to The Yard last night for Dinner to celebrate the Wednesday that feels like a Friday. The Yard is a nice pizza and italian place here in Coshocton...and we met Heather and Chad for the night.

We were pleasantly surprised to find Jason Mitchell performing with his acoustic band. And Jason was nice enough to let me and the girls listen to a brand new tune "Slow and Steady" in his truck. It made the girls night! They even asked Jason to sign their Nintendo DS's...and Jade said "I am SO writing this in my diary!"



So cute. Finally, Jason was nice enough to pose for this picture with the girls. (Thanks to Chad and his new phone for the picture!). They felt like they had backstage passes! Thanks Jason for making them feel special!

If you get a chance to see Jason perform...I highly recommend it!

An Early Morning Turkey Trot

It was a cold, cold morning to do a 5K...but there was a dedicated group of us that made the trip to Granville this morning to do a Turkey Trot! A Big Thanks To Valerie For the Picture!


The back story here is that Shanda (my office manager) told me 3 months ago that she would do a 5K. Little did she know that the next day she would have a training plan and motivational tips on her desk...and a motivator in the office! Three months later, we were there to do it! And better yet, Dustin decided at the last minute to do it too!





So Dustin, Shanda and I met up with Valerie, Krista, Shari, Jennifer, and Brandie and Chris to go for it!

I am proud of all the gang...but of course Miss Shanda! Great job!

The Workout

As we have mentioned, Amy and I have started doing a new workout called P90X. It's 6 to 7 days a week and it is tough.



It's a tough time of year to start a fitness program since the holidays (and parties) are here. But we are giving it a try! Tonight's workout is Plyometrics (or Jump Training). As the trainer Tony Horton says, "It's the mother of all P90X workouts."

Amy and I were doing our best to keep up...and Jade got a couple of shots!



Wish us both luck!

OSU Michigan

What a great party! Phil and Krista were nice enough to host a fantastic party for the OSU/Michigan game. Phil is a huge Michigan fan and the rest of us were...well...not Michigan fans. So I give him a great deal of credit. We had a great time. And we have some shots to capture the fun!

Here is a shot of us cheering a buckeye touchdown!



Here is a nice shot of the hosts!



It was really a nice time! It was great to see everyone and have time to chat with friends!



And here is a shot of Matt and me...just before we headed home!



And finally a shot of our newest judge (someday) with his daughter.



So finally...thanks to Phil and Krista. I appreciate the hospitality! And Go Bucks!

Headlong into Dance

As many of you know, with the school season comes the season of dance. It's a lot of running for sure...but the girls really love it. And I think they get a lot out of it too. Both girls made Elite Dance Force again this year (the competition dance team).

As you may recall Skylar did a duet last year and she and Casey (her partner) had a lot of sucess. We had told her that she would be taking the year off due to the time and money involved. After some discussion (and some math to show her how much more it actually would cost) we came to the conclusion that she would do fundraisers to help. If she showed us that she took that seriously, then we would consider it.

I told her "Skylar if you raise $500 then it will make my decision very easy."

So she (and Jade helped too here) of course raised over $500.



Congratulations to Skylar and Casey who apparently will be in a duet again this year! After all the work, she deserved it.

P90X

It's been a while since I have had a chance to post. And as you know, that usually means more things going on...not less. And yes the Hasseman's have been busy. The girls (and I) are getting ready for their church Christmas Play. Now that I did a play with dad...why not?

And the other big thing we (Amy and I) have started is a fitness program called P90X. Though I promise not to bore you with the details, it is a brutal workout regimine with 12 different discs and a comprehensive nutrition plan. There is actually a "fitness test" that you are supposed to take before you even begin the program! It's nuts!

Anyway, we are three days (this will be 4) into this 90 day program. Wish me luck in my efforts to make a huge leap in this fitness program. Right now I am so sore I just want to curl up into the fetal position and sleep. Ahhh...health!

Amy's Blog

For those of you who don't know, The Coshocton County United Way has a blog and Amy has been doing a great job of keeping it up to date. She is posting new updates from her campaign, with pictures, videos and ideas.

Check it out! And if you have not considered giving to the United Way, now is a great time to do it!

You should add her to the list of blogs you check out...because she has been pretty active in updating it!

Deal or Not a Deal!

What a night at Ridgewood High School on Tuesday night! The Coshocton Chamber/Port Authority and Community Development Fund created the first ever "Deal Or Not a Deal" event in Coshocton County.



This fun event was created in order to raise funds for economic development in our area. And as you might have guessed, Amy was a part of the planning and execution of the event. Don't worry, HMC was there to video the event as well!



The host of the event, Casey Claxon, did a great job. And it was great to see the various banks, pizza shops, and other businesses and organizations come together to help the community.



Thanks to all who were involved. Great job! And if you want to see the whole event, you can check it out following next month's Inside Coshocton!

City Council Decision

Monday Night Amy and I (and Jade) attended a packed City Council meeting. The issue at hand was the re-zoning of the former Washington School location in Coshocton. The council had voted against the resolution to the dismay of many Coshocton City and County residents. There was a vocal opposition to this idea from those living in direct vicinity to the project.

But at City Council Monday there was a strong contingent of those that were FOR the project. In order for a change, someone who voted against the project had to request a re-vote. After a long night of discussion, Tom Grier requested the revote. And after more discussion, the resolution passed 4-3.

There was certainly more drama in the 2 hour meeting than I am mentioning here, but I wanted to give kudos to those with the courage to stand up and change their vote. Though I understand the concerns of the residents in that neighborhood, there seems little doubt that turning away projects like this is "bad business" for economic development in our area.

A Relaxing Weekend...Aand a Screeching Halt!

This weekend, Amy and I got away for some much needed R & R. We made a quick trip to Canton for some shopping, rest, and a great dinner with Matt and Chris Kramer. Chris and Amy were best buddies in college and it was great to reconnect. And Matt and Chris were both at our wedding too...and we remembered some great stories there as well. In addition, after a couple glasses of wine we got Chris's "true" take on tatoos, testosterone, and more! :)

On Saturday Amy and I did some shopping. Sorry for no pictures...but we were so relaxed we didn't even mess with that! We did some shopping together and then we split up. Amy went off to several stores and left me at Borders Book Store. That, my friends, is a win-win! Both of us had a great day...then met back up after a couple of hours.

At any rate, a great day and a 1/2. Neither of us were quite ready to come back on Sunday...but back we came. And on the way back we ran into a scary adventure neither of us anticipated.

On State Route 36 just before Gnadenhutten a gray car pulled out in front of us. It was driving a bit eratic, but I mentally chalked it up to reaching for a phone, or adjusting the radio. The eratic driving got worse quickly though, and soon there was a very near miss with an oncoming car on a bridge! Luckily the oncoming car jerked out of the way at the last second.

Amy and I decided to call 911 as the driving got worse. As Amy was on the phone with the dispatcher, the car would go off the right, then overcompensate and come back into the left lane. For one period of time, the car was in the left lane for nearly 30 full seconds! As we got to Port Washington, the car pulled into a gas station...so we pulled in as well. Amy continued to talk to law enforcement as they did not have anyone close...and we did not want this guy to get away.

We waited in the parking lot for nearly 10 minutes before the driver came back out. He pulled back onto 36 and continued west toward Newcomerstown. So we followed at a distance. Again, the driving was crazy. He would go over onto the burm and back into the left lane...all over. Again he was driving for extended periods of time in the left lane as cars continued to come toward us. All the time, we are on the phone with the dispatcher giving a surreal play by play on the phone!

As we approached the 4 lane in Newcomerstown, the driver nearly hit the sign in the median. And in a very real way, Amy and I were rooting for him to do so. That way he would only hurt himself! I have never seen anything like in my life. Then, as the dispatcher is getting Newcomerstown police enrout, he turns to go south on 77! We tell the dispatcher and they let us go...and we are scared stiff for anyone on the road!

Minutes later, we get a call from the dispatcher. They caught him! Amy is near tears and I stop shaking. Thank God! I have never seen anything like that in my life. As Amy said, it was like watching a really bad scary movie that you can't turn off.

So we had a relaxing weekend that came to a screeching halt. But I count my blessings that I didn't see something much, much worse.

Another Big Pancake Day

We had some fresh faces in charge of the Kiwanis Pancake Day this year...and they did a great job! The event this year had a change in scenery as we moved to Roberta's Catering facility along the river. It was a nice change and the attendees seemed to like it.



Dr. Chuck Fornara and Chad Guess (along with a whole committee) worked hard to make sure the event ran smoothly. This is the main Kiwanis fundraiser for the year...so it's important we do it well.

Great job to the gang at Kiwanis! Now check out a great story about the K-Kids involvement in the day. K-Kids is sponsored by Kiwanis and is teaching kids about giving back at an early age. The group is the brainchild of Mindy Fehrman...so props to her for getting it started!

Girls Fundraisers

As many of you know, our girls made Miss Jennifers Elite Dance Force again this year. We are very proud of the hard work they put in on this. This year, Skylar has expressed an interest in doing a duet or a trio. This is not a guarantee thing...they have to try out...but she did do one last year. There is a substantial financial investment...so we told her that if she wanted to try out she needed to get out and work on her fundraisers!



To her credit she has canvassed the neighborhood. But to help her out, check out these great fundraising ideas!

1) Dance A Thon--They have an event this Friday that you can sponsor them for!
2) Candles--They sell these and get a nice profit.
3) Pine Sales--Great for the Holidays!

If you are interested in more details...feel free to email Amy at amy@hassemanmarketing.com! Have a great week!

Campaign Updates!

Wait! Don't go anywhere! Not THAT campaign! I wanted to update you on the the United Way of Coshocton County Campaign. Amy and Libbie have been really busy as their campaign is heating up!

Please take a minute to check out the United Way Blog! Amy has it updated with early results, pictures, and ideas! Check it out!

As I have stated on here several times, I am proud of the work Amy and the United Way are doing in our community. Now that the election is over, I pray that we can get back to the good work of making our community a better place!

Whoever Wins...We All Win!

Like many people I know, I have some relatively strong opinions about the Election coming up tomorrow. But I have come to the conclusion in the last few days that no matter who wins tomorrow, we all win.

Why? Because hopefully as of November 5th, the slimy, negative, divisive, painful ads that portray our potential leaders as pariahs will be over!

I have come to believe that, in nearly any race, neither candidate is likely the anti-christ the opposition is making them out to be. We, as a country, will be okay. On second thought, we will be better once the Election is done!

More Good Work

Another program my wife has implemented at the United Way is this prescription program for those without insurance. Please understand that I recognize my own bias, but this is pretty cool stuff. Check it out!

HOT SPOTS!

We are very excited at Hasseman Marketing about our new HOT SPOTS concept. What is that, you ask? HOT SPOTS is a division where we make creative, fun 30 second ads that small businesses can customize with their information...and promote themselves.

In some areas (not here of course!) production can be an expensive and slow process. So having these spots already created will make this part of getting on TV faster and more cost-effective. And of course it will allow us to market these services all across the country!

Feel free to take a look and let us know what you think. We have a few out on the website and are in the process of creating more!