Well, I should say OUR first TKD competition, since the whole family competed. We had a good time. Tamilyn received a medal for "Best Kicks" in the Tiny Tigers division. I received a medal for second place in Forms.

The drive was nice - about 3 hours and 30 minutes to get to McPherson from Edmond, OK. We ran into some rain in Kansas, but nothing bad.

I didn't know much about McPherson before this competition - and I still don't. It's a small town with most of the attraction just off of the interstate exit. Now that I know where it is, I'll go back to compete in another TKD competition.

I started running back in the Fall of 2011. My wife runs marathons and half marathons, and she had been trying to get me to run for quite some time. I figured that I'll never do a marathon, but the 5K was doable. When I found out that her dad and brother had started running to train for races, I thought that would be a cool challenge.

I thought the Run Lucky 5K was going to be a rainy, miserable race this year. But the rains stopped in time. The weather was perfect for running at just under 50 degrees and cloudy enough to keep away the sun's heat. Here are my official 5K race results.

Official results:

• Overall finish: 151/606
• Age Division finish: 16/61 (40)
• Gun Time: 25:27
• Pace: 5:06
• Chip Time: 24:37
• Bib #: 1033

I've been a male military spouse (Air Force) for over 15 years and I'm well aware of the many challenges in this way of life. Many of the challenges are serious in nature and I'm glad to connect with others and help tackle the issues.

However, you gotta have something you do that you really enjoy. That's what I'm trying to find out. As a male military spouse, what do you do for fun?

When I make Moody Instrumental Music, sometimes I "sample" or use parts from an existing song or musical piece. My goal in sampling is to take parts from a piece that I love and build a completely different musical piece that leaves the listener saying, "WOW, you got that result from those sampled pieces?!"

The way I do this is by "wrapping" (not rapping) the sample with my own instrumentation. I create different musical patterns with the sampled pieces (called "flipping the sample"). While I flip the samples, I can hear (in my head) all of the instrumentation that I want to wrap the sample pieces in. When i finish the sample flip patterns, I go back and create the instrumentation that I heard (in my head).

In this video, watch how I make a sample flip beat and instrumental music using Propellerhead's Reason software, the Akai MPD32 and the Yamaha DJX MIDI keyboard. This video takes you into my thought process about sampling, "chopping and flipping" samples, and I give you tips on how to make music.

This video catches me on one of my "happier" days, in which my overall "moody-ness" level was low. Plus, I had just finished downing a can of Mountain Dew. So, I'm a bit more animated in this video.

Meet the 2016 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year ® Branch Finalists.

Cast Your Vote for the Branch Winners on February 4