The Reason I Heart the Internet

I apologize if I’ve been quiet the past few days. I guess I haven’t really mastered the art of blogging and Twittering consistently while on the road. I know, I probably don’t have to apologize, but I’m Canadian, and that’s what we do.

For those of you who haven’t been following my Twitter posts, my husband and I made a little road trip to Cincinnati this past weekend. Okay, there is nothing LITTLE about a 12 hour drive each way. But we did it, and we sure are glad we did.

The purpose of our little jaunt was to meet up with the group of podcasters who produce “Night of the Living Podcast“. If you are at all in to horror movies you have probably heard of them. If you haven’t, you should definitely subscribe.

A few months ago, my hubby, who has been a fan of the show since the beginning, sent off an email to one of the hosts because he wanted to produce a documentary about them.

He wasn’t really sure what to expect. I mean, imagine some stranger claiming to be a “fan” contacts you, and wants to drive all the way from Canada to film a documentary about you? What would you do?

Well, thankfully, the Night of the Living Podcast crew is just nuts enough to say yes to this sort of request. So off we went.

I heart the Internet. Sure, the technology that allows us to blog, podcast, buy cool stuff, learn anything about anything, conduct business and be more productive is truly amazing. But what is most amazing, what I really love, is the people.

We headed to Cincinnati, unsure of really what to expect when we got there. We knew the “crew” had agreed to be interviewed on camera. We knew they were willing to have us film the recording of one of their shows. We hoped they were willing to contribute to a little extra piece of the film, but weren’t sure. I mean, these people have jobs, lives, and we didn’t want to command too much of their time.

When we arrived, we received the warmest of welcomes. We discovered that all five of them had cleared their entire weekend for us – not just for the filming but because they wanted to show us their city. They took us to eat fabulous food at some of their favourite places. We went to see the X-Files movie with them (of which you will hear their review on this week’s episode of the show) . They welcomed us into their homes. They toured us all over downtown. They affectionately referred to us as “The Canadians” and were really curious about where we were from. Not only did we get a ton of great footage, we had an absolute blast.

Social media is a common thread that runs with anyone who is involved with it. It brings people together and bonds them almost instantly. We know the power of this medium to communicate, and we know the benefits it brings in terms of connecting with people you may otherwise never meet. This was one of the most fun vacations we’ve ever been on, and it’s due in large part to the warm welcome we received, not only by the NOTLP crew, but by all the terrific and friendly people we met in Cincinnati.

Freddy, Amy, Erica, Chisek and Andy – thank you for being such amazing hosts to us this weekend, for being so warm and kind, and for making our faces hurt from laughing so hard. You guys made our trip – and the doc, too. We look forward to seeing you again in Indy!