Catching a Glimpse of (and helping) a Balloon Land Near our Home

I realize that September 11th is a special day in the hearts of Americans, but this past weekend held a different event for me: I was able to experience (and help with?) the semi-planned landing of a hot air balloon about 50 yards behind our house.

Each year, the United Way of Southern Kentucky holds a weekend event (Balloon Classic) with music, food, booths, various kinds of entertainment, and well, more than a few hot air balloons.  As part of the Balloon Classic, there is a hot air balloon race in which teams try to score points in various piloting skills (but still at the whim of the wind), with the winners taking home prizes worth thousands of dollars.

Hot air balloon flying near our home 

So fast forward to this past Sunday morning.  We received a text message from one of our neighbors that balloons were flying just north of us.  Apparently, the race, which began about a mile east of the local airport, was ending near our neighborhood. Heidi and I stood outside with the kids and watched a few bright-colored globes pass just north and west of our house and we got a good glimpse of one that passed overhead.

We thought all had passed and that we were going to continue with our lazy day, but that wasn't the case. Because of the glorious weather, we had the windows open, and soon after sitting down to enjoy our coffee, Heidi and I heard hear the loud sound of a hot air balloon fiercely torching. I walked out the front door, looked around, and saw nothing.  I heard the balloon torch again, so I walked around to the back of the house where I saw a low flying balloon approaching our house and well....

Well, you're just going to have to watch the video below of the balloon coming down, bouncing a bit, and finally resting in the clearing behind our house.

My neighbor and I helped secure the balloon and move it to a safer area where it was deflated and put away.

If you want to support the United Way of Southern Kentucky, you can visit their website: http://www.uwsk.org/ 

Or visit their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/theUWSK

You can get more information about the Balloon Classic on their Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BalloonClassicBG/

Cutting ties with DirecTV (or cable or Dish?) -- Using VPN to view what I want!

So, I posted on Facebook that I had dropped DirecTV and that I was exploring streaming services. I left DirecTV because we were only watching a few channels and paying almost $70.00 for it.  Truthfully, the main reason I got DirecTV was to watch the Dallas Cowboys whose games were not always broadcast locally here in Bowling Green, KY.

I had considered using a VPN to subscribe to the international package of NFL Game Pass as a work-around, but then I found out that I could watch their games much more easily (and cheaply) with Sling.

Sling is a streaming service like HULU, Prime, or Netflix.  But unlike those services,  Sling offers live streaming of many "cable" channels, and in some markets, you can even get local channels. (You can visit their site to see their offerings.) And so, I'm going to subscribe to a VPN service and use a 7-day trial to see if I can get the Dallas market channels.  If I'm successful, then I will be able to watch all the Dallas Cowboys' games for much less than I would have paid for DirecTV plus NFL Sunday Ticket or for NFL Game Pass.  Plus, I get the added benefit of getting some of the channels that I would have watched.

Since that Facebook posting, I have had few questions about VPN.  So here goes my brief explanation of what it is.

VPN stands for Virtual Private Network and is used by corporations and by travelers for security by showing that a machine is located somewhere else. In short, a VPN masks the location of the device being used by making your machine appear to be anywhere that the VPN server is located.

There are various VPN services and all are subscription-based.  Some are more expensive than others and their interface and capabilities vary, but they all accomplish the same thing.  Right now, I'm considering using Private Internet Access VPN because I have a friend who currently uses it, and it will provide me with a low cost trial in the event that I don't like Sling's service or the VPN client.

This weekend I'm going to use Sling's free trial and a month's subscription of the VPN client to see if I can get the Dallas game.  If this works, you could do the same if you live out of the market of a team you wish to see.  So, let's say you're a New York Giants fan (gross) living in Dallas and you want to watch one of their games that is not being broadcast locally, you could make it seem like you are in New York and get the local broadcast of the game.

But if you live in a local broadcast area, you don't need a VPN or Sling to watch those games.  Just get some basic $8.00 rabbit ears.  As long as you have a digital TV, it should work just fine.  If you live in a holler (as they say around here) or farther away from a local broadcast, you may need a powered antenna, which is more costly.  Start with the less expensive antenna and work your way up.  I currently use rabbit ears to watch our local channels: ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, PBS, and a few others.

It's all perfectly legal.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy?  I'll let you know and post an update on this once I've tried the VPN service with Sling.