Better Luck in 2010

First of all, I hope that everyone had a great Christmas holiday season. The times...they are a changin'...2010 is upon us and quite honestly...just about everyone that I know will be happy to see it come.

((Our new cat Oliver...Courtesy: Me))

2009 you see...wasn't exactly...a stellar year for me, my family or most of my friends. Quite honestly, nothing good happened. Well...maybe a few things, but not a lot of things. The lead into 2009 really wasn't that great either, but it got worse.

I never...never thought a year ago tonight (Dec.31st, 2009), that I would be sitting in my "House"...in Cincinnati, Ohio after working this morning...at Panera Bread. No, my life doesn't suck and honest to goodness, I'm not complaining about it. I just need for my luck to change. I had a great run from 1999 to about the end of 2007. Everything that I did went well. I did all kinds of great things professionally, won a ton of awards, got my dream job and was wildly successful.

It got better...in 2005 I met the woman of my dreams, my wife Michelle...the single greatest thing that I have ever done in my life. She has made me happy on a personal level in ways that before her, I could never imagine. That whole cheesy line from the movie Jerry Maguire "You complete me"...well, as much as I hate to say it...it's true...she completes me. Though I know there are people that would debate this point...I would argue that I truly am..."The Most Happily Married Man in the World".

I laugh as I think back to this day, 10 years ago. I can tell you exactly what I was doing for "Y2K". I spent 12-plus hours in a TV Live Truck with a reporter, Fred Powers, who passed away in 2009. Fred was laughing all day because I was singing "It's the end of the World as we Know it...and I feel fine"...from one of my favorite groups REM. We rang in the New Year with crews from the other TV stations in Atlanta...I brought 2 beers along in a cooler. When I cracked them open at midnight...Fred looked at me like I was crazy, but he drank his and me mine. And we laughed...not just us, but the 0ther 6 media people staked out at the airport when nothing changed...despite the hype that it would.

The other big change has been reconnecting with people on Facebook. I, along with millions of other people never thought there would be anything like this website. I have reconnected with people that I hadn't spoken to in 25 years, it's opened a whole new world to me...and many others...it's definitely a sign of the times.

I really hope that 2010 brings in some better times. I really hope that it will bring me some opportunity to do the things that I truly love to do. I really hope that I get a chance to tell stories, to entertain, to make other people...and myself happy. I really hope for all that and oh...so much more for me, Michelle, Daisy the Wonder Dog...our newest family member Oliver the Cat in 2010. I really, in 2010, hope that all of you...each and every one of you have a better year...a great year...may all the good things that can happen to and for you happen. I really hope that in 2010...you all have a Happy and a Healthy New Year.

Check out Robbie Maddison's crazy motorcycle jump in Las Vegas to usher in 2009. Thanks You Tube:

It's Beginning to Feel Nothing Like Christmas

Before you call me a "Scrooge" or someone who just doesn't get the "Holiday Spirit", you should hear me out. Really. I'm just talking about what is on my mind at the current time. For those of you who read this regularly (all 3 or 4 of you), I know that I have bitched incessantly about the cold...sort of snowy weather, but aside from that...it just flat out, at this very moment...doesn't feel like Christmas.

((The Chief-my dad on Christmas a couple of years ago))

Of course, really it is hard to define what it "Feels" like...at least for me. For the past 10 years, mostly, it just means a chance to participate in "Italian Feast Night". To describe it here, may not do it justice because it truly is "The Biggest Eating Night of the Year".

"Italian Feast Night" is something that my mother started doing about 15 years ago. It just so happened that it coincided with Christmas. Ironically, we are a Jewish family who used to celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah. Now we just do Christmas. As I was saying. My mother used it as an excuse to "Break" with Holiday tradition and do something different. Boy, did she do different. Beginning with the mid-afternoon Antipasto spread...it just doesn't get much better. Mortadella, Cappicola, Genoa Salami, Provolone...mmmmmm, that is just the meat tray. Then you get roasted marinted peppers, marinated artichokes and olives, tomato salad...all done in homeade dressings.

Dinner, at least to me is always a bit anti-climatic. Sure, the spaghetti and meatballs and sausage and peppers are good and the years she made lasagna weren't bad either. But to me, the best part was the Antipasto spread.

Really, I can already begin to smell the garlic. Michelle made the peppers and artichokes already here in Cincinnati. It's killing me not to be able to eat them, but I haven't. I will be good and wait until Friday night and then...lookout.

The other difference is more recent. The past two years, everyone came to my house. Before that it was always at my parents, but they moved to the middle of nowhere North Carolina a couple of years ago. But they, my sister, her husband and kid, sometimes my aunt made the trek to my house. Michelle and I have a big banquet table, we'd line up the seats, pile another table with the food...and go to town. Really, I think the coolest part was probably the fact that I sat at the head of the table. It's hard to describe that feeling...I guess it's almost like a torch being passed, but it really, really meant a lot to me.

So now we prepare to go. We leave in the morning, Wednesday morning. Michelle, Daisy the Wonder Dog and I will pile into my Xterra early in the morning and make an 11-12 hour drive to Leland, North Carolina (near Wilmington). It's then, hopefully, walking into my mom's house, a house that I fully expect and hope will be reeking of garlic will the holiday hit me. Only then will it feel like the end of December. Only then will it feel like it does only one time...one time every year.

Merry Christmas to anyone who reads this along with Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus for the rest of us and any other greeting that would work.

As we finish and probably won't post for a few days, enjoy the Dinner scene from the classic Christmas Vacation: Thanks You Tube

The Final Countdown

Yes, the official countdown to the end of the year has begun. It's the 1st of two weeks in late December where pretty much nothing other than some traveling and a lot of food consumption happens. We've officially hit that week of weeks, the highlight of most children's year...it's Christmas week.

((Imagine Spending your holiday with this guy...not me...the other guy//Photo Courtesy: Eric Hager-yes, I did it again Eric))

For us, we will be part of the traveling masses, piling Michelle, Daisy the Wonder Dog and an Xterra full of gifts onto the highways and heading south for a week of fun at my family's home in North Carolina.

Really, there is a lot to look back on since this came up a year ago. First of all, it ended my streak at 2 of having my entire family come to my house. We did that in Atlanta because it was convenient for everyone and we had a big enough house to support it. It really meant a lot to me, it made me feel like my stature in the family had grown. Now...we are the furthest away (Ohio) so that means we get to come to everyone else.

Quite honestly, I do enjoy this week though it is a little different this year. In years past, I generally was able to manipulate the week so I was on a casual schedule at work. The 10 years that I lived in Atlanta were easier...until 2007 my family was there and I just had to head across town to have dinner and enjoy the day with them. I had some control over my schedule at that point and could usually just give myself the day off. I think I worked Christmas day one time in 2005 and even then I left around 2pm.

Previous to that, in my Television Journey across the Southeast, I was able manipulate the schedule so I had the holiday off. Mostly I had to drive, though one year I had to fly in...piling up and making the hike down the highway and settling in for a couple of days of doing nothing. Not bad work if you can get it.

Michelle and I have already gotten our "Big" gift together, the mighty I-Mac that I currently write this on. I picked up a couple of more things for her...smaller, but stuff she will enjoy. For me, this is a very, very strange time. I've not entered the holiday's in the situation that I am in since I was in school. I'm not sure that I like it, but I guess that I have to deal with it. Hopefully with the year changing in 2 weeks (year end post to come later on), 2010 will bring a lot better luck than 2009 did.

Either way, I still get to enjoy the holiday with the people that I most want to. I am very, very lucky that I can say that. Though we have an 11+ hour drive ahead on Wednesday, I'm really kind of looking forward to it. There still is nothing like holiday's with family and more specifically my mothers Italian Feast night and compared to a lot of people, really I'm very, very blessed and pretty damn proud.

Enjoy one of my favorite Christmas songs of all-time: It's a crappy video someone edited on the You Tube, but Brenda Lee's classic still is great:

A World Without Snow Coverage

Well it's time to act like the Southerner that I am this weekend. Why you ask? Because some significant snow is expected up here in the hinterlands of Ohio. Yes, I know, the Southwest corner of Ohio is really Northern Kentucky, but still 2-3 inches of snow are expected this weekend. No, I'm not freaked out about it...my wife is...I'm just laughing.

((Me shooting Football in Chicago//Courtesy: Eric Hager(does that work Eric?))

I'm laughing because this may actually be the first "Big Snow Event"

that I have ever sat out. Even when I was working in the Sports department, I got sucked into the Vortex...everyone did. For the past 22 years, I worked in TV and for TV...it's like a porn addiction. I hate to make fun of a business that I worked in for so long but geez...you would think that it's never snowed anywhere before...ever...if you watch your local news.

The weather people hunker down and try and pinpoint the exact time of the 1st snowflake and just generally try to look busy, telling people to "Be Prepared" and make it sound like the potential end of the world as we know it. The Assignment Desk is calling all of their crews and putting on a big dry erase board all the stories that will need to be done. The News Director will walk around and look important and make sure that there is Pizza for all of the people in the Newsroom...but forget his frozen field crews. The reporters and photographers just groan...and dig out all of their cold weather gear because they are going to spend the next 48 hours of their lives standing out in it.

My favorite is the "Generic" live shot of downtown or the cityscape where the reporter says "Yes, it's snowing out here right now, you can see it coming down". Thanks moron...I was wondering what that was falling from the sky around my house. Really, I shouldn't mock the reporters, they are doing what they are told to do. Weather coverage becomes "Multiple Team Coverage" and someone always does the "Big Picture" story that states and restates the blatantly obvious...multiple times throughout the day. I had to do this one time in Nashville, standing on a bridge with a reporter in a -10 degree morning, every 30 minutes, walking out to the camera and him saying "It's bitterly cold and the roads are covered with snow, not a lot of people out on the road. Most people are staying home and so should you". Duh...

The other thing that I always found laughable is the "Grocery Store" story. News crews all over the path of the storm will descend on the local Kroger or other Grocery store du jour and show video of people buying milk and bread. I never could figure out why that, but I think that is because I grew up in Hurricane alley...Florida. Milk and bread didn't do you much good down there. If the power goes out, the milk goes bad. Fast.

So here I sit, I do have to work in the morning at my part-time job. But, I can walk there if I needed to, it's a half-mile away. I sit and I laugh. Sure, I'll watch the Local News...if for no other reason than to see what I could be doing and take comfort in knowing that I don't have to do it anymore. I guess there is always that chance that I get back into the TV business, then I would have to do it and you will all be sitting back and laughing at me, but right now I'm not. I don't miss it. I just get to write stories like this looking back at it all and thinking "Damn, I'm glad that's not me".

Enjoy some other goofballs in the snow...Courtesy: The You Tube

The Truth isn't Always True...The Holiday Job Search

You know, really as much as people in the Job Search business think otherwise, there really isn't a whole lot that gets done between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Hell even if you have a job, nothing much gets done in that 6 week period. It's true. Think about it. Wherever you are or whatever you do, think for a minute. Does anyone start a long-term or business defining project in that time? No. Unless you are a retailer planning for a sale...you don't.

Me, I've gotten very little done since Thanksgiving. Part of that is because I started a part-time job and part of it is because there just isn't anything...job wise or really any otherwise that is interesting to sink my teeth into at the moment. I did get Step 1 of my Plan put in place...we have the Mac Computer with Final Cut 4 on it so I can start getting moving on the editing stuff. But I haven't done much writing for the book. I'm 6 chapters in...18 more to go by early February, I need to get to 10 by the end of the year.

((The KY mascot has the Holiday Spirit//Courtesy: Eric Hager))

Granted...and I don't want to sound like a Grinch; there should be more motivation to do things. The Job Networking groups say that "This is the best time to gain the advantage in Networking and in your search"...I don't buy that. How many businesses are "Seriously" looking to make a "Big" hire in mid-December? For that matter...how many people can say they've ever started a job in December. I actually did....many, many years ago. I accepted the job before Thanksgiving but didn't start until the week after.

Should you try to get stuff done during this period. Sure...you should. Will you get anything done around the holiday parties, the Christmas Shopping and the general festive short weeks? Probably not. Either way, enjoy the holiday, fine tune your plan and have a plan of attack...after the New Year starts.

Here is your Grinch fix...Thanks You Tube:

Keeping it real

Reality for some unknown reason means different things to different people. What is perfectly normal to one person makes absolutely no sense to someone else. Of course there are the "Always Grounded" people to whom everything makes sense, there is a rational explanation and can always have a good solution to any problem.

My Grandmother was one of those "Always Grounded" people. I suspect that there are a lot of people who can say that, but since this is my blog and my story for our purposes here, she will be the only one.

((My Grandparents at Christmas Dinner 2004//Courtesy: Me))

I bring this up for a reason. She passed away this past Friday. As with everything that she did, she passed away quietly...on her own terms. And as I write this, my wife and I are getting ready to go to her funeral service.

Nobody has all of the answers to everything, it takes some people longer than others to figure this out, but in time...most do. My Grandmother came pretty damn close to having those answers. Yes, we were close and talked about a lot of things, but no, I didn't ask or talk to her about everything. Maybe I should have because I suspect she would have had a perfectly rational answer for whatever it was that I would have asked.

It was tough for her the past few years. My Grandfather passed away in 2005. My mother, her oldest daughter, moved away in 2007. Her youngest daughter, my Aunt, moved in with her in 2007 and basically took on the responsibility for her care. Her middle kid, her son...caused her a lot of consternation. She really loved him and wanted him to be part of the family, her family was very close...but he chose to stay distant, rarely communicating and rarely checking on her and her health. It was tough.

My sister and I were very close to Gram, always were. She and Gramp ended up with us or near us pretty much from about 1980 on. They were always around and always the characters. If ever 2 people were made for each other, it was them. They weren't the same but they were. They fit together like puzzle pieces and really, truly...what could be more perfect than that?

I was around for her too. She told me...a lot...one of the last things she wanted was for me to finally get married and be happy. She got to see that when I got married in 2007. It took a lot for her to be at the ceremony, but she was there, in her wheelchair with a "HUGE" smile on her face. Not only was she there, but everyone that was there came by, visited and talked to her. She told me how much she enjoyed that, how important it was and I told her that it was the same feeling for me.

She was 90 years old when she passed away, 90 good years. No, she wasn't always the "Always Grounded" person, but she always had a plan. She did something that not a lot of people can do these days. She helped raise and nurture a very good, very strong family. As much as some parts of the "Family" say that we are "Odd" we aren't. We are about as normal as they come. We are very grounded, we are tight knit. We keep up with each other and offer each other advice. We do and we know things that only family would know. We know it because that is the way that she molded us. That is the way she nurtured us. That is the way she advised us.

She will be missed but not in a sad way. She got what she wanted and did what she wanted. Really, if you think about it, maybe it's a somewhat simplistic sentiment but really it's what makes you happy and makes you proud...is there anything else more important than that?

Enjoy some Rolling Stones singing "You Can't Always Get What you want". Thanks You Tube

Part Time Work takes a Lot of Time

Hello, I am a slacker. I got into this with the plan of posting something each day that I did in my never ending search for a job. I haven't done a very good job of sticking to that. I even have an excuse. I'm working now. I'm kind of working a lot. A lot more than I thought I would, doing something I never thought that I would.

No, I don't have "Full-Time" hours, but yet I've worked every day since last Thursday and I'm not "Off" until Friday. The thing that I have found out (ok, it's a revelation to me) is that rather than work 8 hour days, I'm working a lot of 5 or 6 hour days, usually starting at 6am. It adds up. Even at the crappy wage that I'm making...it adds up.

((Photo: What I haven't been doing lately...along with not blogging//Courtesy: Me))

Okay, I'll stop bitching now. I did want to share some good news. We finally bought the computer that I wanted...with Video Editing software. We bought a "Very" High-end I-Mac with Final Cut. Editing Software for those who don't know. This is part 1 of my Long-Term plan. I have to get proficient with this software. Quickly. I know how to edit and I know how to edit on a different editing software format...AVID. If I want to do any freelance work in Cincinnati or anywhere else for that matter, I need to get good with Final Cut....Fast.

I've talked before about having a plan so you know I definitely have one. I know what I want to do and I have an idea of what I need to do to get there, I just have to get there. There are several things the computer opens up to me. One of them I may explore once we get up to speed...That's doing Video Blog Posts. I'll have to figure that one out...but I will. Between this blog and my Sports Blog ((http://onlinesportsguys.com)) I will have opportunities to experiment...but really...isn't that the fun part of all of this anyway?

Enjoy a clip from one of the truly great Christmas movies...and something we watch non-stop Christmas Eve and Day...Courtesy: The You Tube

Staying Healthy is Good for Job Searching

Yeah, you heard me right. I'm no doctor and I don't really know psychology all that well, but believe me when I say this; if you want to succeed at something like say- searching for a job, then you need to be in good shape to do it.

The obvious question here is "Can you prove it?". No, not directly. But I can offer living proof that a workout a day will make you feel a whole hell of a lot better about sitting in front of the computer for 6 hours a day looking for work. Don't believe me? Try it yourself.

((Daisy the Wonder Dog works out and so should you))

For me it is pretty simple. I run. I've been running for a couple of years now, but until I moved up here it was mostly on the treadmill. Now granted, anyone who has known me from my days as a Basketball player will tell you that I hated extra running. It's true, I did. But I don't now.

I tried lifting weights, really, I've done weight work off and on for most of the past 12 or 13 years. It did feel pretty good, but I bulked up and couldn't lose any weight. In fact I gained weight, because I thought that it would be "Enough to get me in Shape". It wasn't. Was I strong? Yes. When I got married in April of 2007, I weighed 267 pounds. That...was way, way too much.

Since I started running in earnest around June of 2007, I've lost 37 pounds. I'm down to 235. Granted, I am 6-5 and can support it, but I look and feel a whole lot better than I did at 267.

Okay, I am rambling here so I'm going to make my point. The point is this. You need some sort of outlet, particularly if you aren't working or you will go insane. You will. Why not start with a good walk or run? Once you shower up afterwords, you'll have the energy to sit there and do what is necessary. You will be more focused, have more energy and just generally feel better about the predicament that you are in. As I am finding out, you need to use every motivational tool that you can find to stay focused on the task at hand. It's hard...very hard to keep your eye on the Prize...but there is no other choice.

Today's video is a....rather odd...parody promo from the folks at CBS and the You Tube:

Eating Poo (I want to stay "G" rated)

By now, I've talked incessantly about taking a part-time job and well, it's not exactly a job that I thought that I would be doing at this point in my life. That reminder was driven home yesterday.

Really, for me the past 2 or so years haven't been great...professionally. My last year, well really 2 years at WGCL-TV in Atlanta really weren't a lot of fun. I got sabotaged professionally by someone who made my bosses think that I was something that I wasn't. Karma bit him in the ass and got him fired, but I still had to try an overcome an image problem that I never quite was able to. Previous to what happened, I had been recognized as one the best at what I did in Atlanta and around the country. That all changed when I got sabotaged, I lost responsibility and access. I had to continue working, but not at what I did best. I had to endure a year and a half of questions: Where have you been? How come you aren't around any more? Because I took the "High Road" I deferred and avoided a direct answer, but it was killing me.

Anyway, so you also know the rest of my story. I left Atlanta in September and have been looking for work since. I've gotten to know some good people here in the Cincinnati area who have tried to help, but I haven't gotten very far with a career track here to this point. Has it been frustrating...Yes. But I'm still plugging away.

In order to do something other than sit in the house all day long, I took a Part-Time job at Panera Bread down the street from the house. I haven't worked in a restaurant since I worked at the Mexican Eagle in 1986 in Statesboro, Ga. to pay for my session of Summer School. The Panera job has been okay, the people are very nice and it is fairly low key. Yesterday as part of my rotation I had to wash dishes, something that I haven't done since I was 16 years old.

Yes, it sucked ass. It was painful for me and brought back some thoughts about what I am doing. I am sure that there are people out there who can understand what I am going through but man, it's tough. I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I would be reduced to this. Through it all, I've been a trooper, I've smiled, I've done my job and I haven't complained. But I'm not sure how long I will be able to do this. I guess what people say about "Doing what you have to do" or "Eating humble pie" is true. I don't totally miss my previous life in TV, but I really miss doing something more becoming of my time and experience. I am growing very tired of "Eating Poo".

Enjoy the Trailer for the Grinch: Thanks You Tube

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Motivation Part 2

OK, so I'm glad that I got yesterday out of my system. I guess that every once and a while that there will be days where you just don't want to deal with anything and Monday morning that was exactly how I felt.

The trick is finding a way to either get over it or get past it and I think that I did that. I admit, I was a bit bummed that I did not get the job at WCPO, not that working weekend overnights producing a show would be anything spectacular, but it would have been something to do and it would have paid a whole lot better than the current part-time job that I have does.

((Photo//Me at the old job Producing the Sunday Sports Show...Circa 2005))

I think I snapped out of it after I went out and ran an errand yesterday and returned to a nice e-mail from one of my Facebook friends who as it turned out has a cousin up here who works for another of the TV Stations. Will it work out? I don't know, but I sent his cousin an e-mail...I'm waiting to see if I actually get a response from him...but hey, it's something.

The other is a potential opportunity with one of the teams here in Cincinnati. The job is a bit different, I don't know that I want to get into detail, yet, but it would be a lot of work and a lot of hours. We will see what happens. The reason that I mention it is that I got on their radar because someone that I met knew someone who worked for the team and would be involved in the hiring process. He introduced me to her, we talked and I sent my information to her, we'll see what happens from there.

I guess that my point today is this. Don't dwell on bad days for very long. You are going to have them. Deal with it and move on. Chances are when you do, something good will happen shortly thereafter. It's weird how it works that way, but I've found, at least for me...that is how it works. Do I think that I will immediately get a job from this? I don't know. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. But opportunities or potential opportunities were created where there were none and really, given the situation...it's all that you can really ask for.

And on that note, enjoy the trailer for the Greatest Christmas Movie Ever: Thanks You Tube