Montrue Wins

Last week I got the chance to profile Montrue Technologies. The company is one of four competing for an Angel Investment of $160,000. That day when I returned from the interview, I sat down at my desk next to Steven and remember telling him "Montrue is gonna win this thing."

I should've put money on it.

Yesterday, Montrue was named the big winner and got the oversized check.

I grabbed the CEO and founder for a post-win interview like Craig Sager, but not as colorfully dressed. I was hoping that elated victory face and feeling. I asked a couple of questions to try to elicit that response, but didn't get it. He even acknowledged, "You know, Bryan, I don't think I've got what you're looking for..." then went on to talk about how the business was hoping to win but had a plan to fundraise that amount even if it didn't. I told him, maybe it was this focus that won the investors over.

Montrue's leaders look poised for success despite whatever obstacles may get in their way. Anyone who wants to climb on board has the right idea.

Explosive Experiment

A car gets blown up and college kids get school credit.

Watch it here:

What a fun story. If every report I do could have explosions, I'd be a happy reporter.

Cranes and the Coast

Been a good week so far. Monday's story was fun and I enjoyed telling it. The trend kept going right on through the front half of the week.

Tuesday brought some big economic news to the Rogue Valley. One the area's biggest companies, Erickson Air Crane, is going to the biggest financial stage in America: Wall Street. The company designs and builds massive, heavy lift helicopters and is now publicly traded on NASDAQ. Legally, the company cannot make public statements, so I had to work in a completely roundabout way. It was tough, but I think the story turned out great.

Wednesday sent me to California. I profiled another business that could cash in on a $155,000 investment next week. Eco Vision creates sustainable, biodegradable packaging for body care products. The founder started with organic lip balm and body creams, but when the tubes and jars didn't match the sustainable stuff inside, he knew he had to make change. He's the first to make the packaging out of paper, and other companies are buying his packaging. It's a pretty innovative idea that may be catching on in the next few years.

While I was at Crescent City, I stopped by the beach to get video (and took a few moments of zen for myself.) I sent the video back and it was used as the introduction to the long weather hit at 6:00. Enjoy the sights and sounds:

Five Tips For Writing

I found an article with five tips for good writing. Not sure if C.S. Lewis wrote this list or if it was someone else, but I think it's spot on.

It's a class of writing I aim for everyday.

1. Always try to use the language so as to make quite clear what you mean and make sure your sentence couldn’t mean anything else.

2. Always prefer the plain direct word to the long, vague one. Don’t implement promises, but keep them.

3. Never use abstract nouns when concrete ones will do. If you mean “More people died” don’t say “Mortality rose.”

4. In writing. Don’t use adjectives which merely tell us how you want us to feel about the thing you are describing. I mean, instead of telling us a thing was “terrible,” describe it so that we’ll be terrified. Don’t say it was “delightful”; make us say “delightful” when we’ve read the description. You see, all those words (horrifying, wonderful, hideous, exquisite) are only like saying to your readers, “Please will you do my job for me.”

5. Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”; otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.

Montrue Technologies

About a year ago, I covered the story of a local start-up company that made some major achievements. Montrue Technologies has created an iPad app for ER doctors. I remember thinking that this business had a great idea and seemed to have the drive to parlay it into something excellent.

They appear to be on the right track. I covered them again Monday.

They are one of five companies in the running to be awarded a $155,000 investment from Southern Oregon angels (businessmen and women) looking to buy in to a great idea.

I think Montrue's got a great chance at winning the prize money next week.

SMC Indiana

"They have ten acres of destroyed woodland, but they consider themselves incredibly fortunate: all around them are the charred remains of their neighbors' homes, as the practice for the moment is to salvage whatever can be saved in a ruined house and then burn whatever is left to expedite the recovery process."

It might sound like a scene from a fictional post-apocalyptic story, but this is very real and hits close to home for me.

The professor who I travelled to New Orleans and Brazil with at Saint Mary's is continuing the disaster relief effort right now, in Southern Indiana. For more than a weeks, current students and alumni are driving and flying in from across the United States to be part of a recovery team doing speedy week in area laid waste by a swarm of tornadoes just weeks ago.

My friends are going on the trip and they're led by my favorite professor, Shawny Anderson.

Please follow their story for the next week or so at this blog: SMC Indiana

Be sure to get a glimpse into the past at why Shawny's led relief trips in the past, and why this one resonates more personally than any others before.

In the Groove to Move

Helped a buddy move yesterday. Julian had to get out of his two-story townhouse and move to an apartment across town. He got the U-Haul and got most of his and his girlfriend's stuff over earlier in the week, but needed some help with the big stuff.

That's where me and Chris came in. With bulging muscles.

We moved a bunch of cardboard boxes, a queen sized bed, a desk and handful of armchairs, and a washer and dryer.

Most of the stuff was pretty easy, but not the washer and dryer. They were heavy and big and horrible. If we didn't have an appliance dolly, we'd still be moving those things.

After an hour at the old place, we drove crosstown to the new place. Unloading everything took about the same amount of time and we fell into a bit of a move groove.

We were exhausted by the end of it all. Julian pointed to the bed and said, "I could eat a Hot Pocket that big."

We got a week's worth of exercise in a matter of two hours. Of course we needed to replenish all those calories.

Whitney, Julian's girlfriend, cooked us some delicious food and bought pizza. We ate both while watching the Kentucky/Louisville game, which started just ten minutes after we were all done. Perfect timing.

The two of them moved into a familiar apartment, it's right next to co-worker Sarah's. And it's the former home of now-departed, former-NewsWatch-12's Kristin Ketchell. Outside, Sarah and Jessica pretended to be little kids.

We were wiped and happy to be done with the lifting and lugging.

Sunday, I got this text from Julian: "I slept for 14 hours last night. Passed out at eight. So sore today."