Sure, I know it's cold in other places too, but humor me if you will. I'll admit it. Got no problem saying it. I hate the frickin' cold.
I've always been a warm weather guy. Probably because of my upbringing in Florida although the fact that until 2009, I never really lived north of Lynchburg, Virginia. I've ranted about this before. I mean heck, we got 22 inches of snow here in Cincinnati this past February and I had more than enough time to ramble on back then.
No, we aren't expecting 22 inches of snow this month in Cincinnati. At least not that I'm aware of. I just don't remember it being this cold, for this long last winter.
It's been below 32 degrees here since, I'm pretty sure, Thanksgiving. Okay, maybe it's been since the 1st of December, but you get my point. It did, briefly pass 32 last Saturday...for about 5 hours...and then it got really cold and snowed...again.
Daisy in the Snow/Courtesy: me
I used to like snow. It was something that I didn't get to see very often growing up. Any chance to see it before moving to Cincinnati was always kind of cool. It's not so cool anymore. I'm pretty sure the only one of us enjoying this right now is Daisy the Wonder Dog. Even though she's 13, she gets in the snow and starts running like she did when she was younger. Yeah, it snowed a couple times when we lived in Atlanta. Not often, but a couple of times...and it accumulated.
It snowed when I lived in Nashville too. I remember being stranded in Bowling Green, KY in 1995 when it snowed almost a foot and the News Car me and intrepid reporter Nick Beres were in died on us. Admittedly, it was kind of fun, we broke down right near a hotel and we found an open steak place right near the hotel. We sat in the hotel room drinking beers and laughing at severe weather coverage the whole night.
Probably the most snow I've ever seen was in January of 2005. Over a foot came down in about 4 hours when we were in Philadelphia for the Eagles/Falcons NFC Championship game. I've never seen anything like it. It was literally a snow downpour.
X-Mas Tree Lot across street/Courtesy: me
I guess it's a good thing I'm semi-retired from working in the field. I don't have to go outside anymore and show people that it's snowing. Or that it's cold. I don't have to stand on a bridge overpass like I did in Nashville in 1998 when it was -10 with the wind chill, doing live shots every 30 minutes. But still it's frickin' cold.
Tonight, while I write this, the low is supposed to be 5. No, that isn't a typo (though I do make a lot of them). Really...5 degrees. With about a 10mph wind. I don't know what it makes the windchill...other than frickin' cold.
Maybe you get used to it over time. Maybe that's why I like the warm weather. A 90 degree day doesn't bother me at all. But I grew up with that. I didn't grow up with this. Heck, most years as a kid, Christmas was a day where we got our presents in the morning and then went outside in shorts and t-shirts to play with them. Don't see that happening this year.
In honor of the Snow...enjoy a rare cut from Styx....Snowblind. Thanks YouTube:
Hey! It's been awhile since I've posted here. Yeah. I know. I'm going to make some lame-ass excuse as to why I haven't kept it up, but really, I can't. It's been almost a month and yeah, I've had a few occasions where I could have posted something. But I didn't.
It's been an interesting last couple of weeks. Nothing incredibly special has been going on, but we've (me and TLB) been busy. Work is taking increasingly larger chunks of my time and when I'm not working, the OnlineSportsGuys site has been taking the remaining time.
Sure, we've done some fun stuff over the last few weeks. We went to an event called "The Rusty Ball" a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. The event is a charity fundraiser put on by a local party band that does '80's cover songs, their name--The Rusty Griswolds. They are pretty good and really popular here. Picture a 500 or so 30-50 year old people with some money, partying in a ballroom at the local convention center. It was goofy as hell, but we had fun.
The Rusty Griswold's
Back to my days off. Monday's have become some work because of the OSG site. I do a radio drop for my friend Gil Tyree (former Sports Director when I was in ATL). Gil does a radio show on VoiceAmericaSports.com on Monday's from 1-2pm. Generally, I try and post as many stories as I can on Monday's so we have stuff to talk about on the show. It's been a lot of fun, Gil and I can talk sports til the cows come home and it's a great promotional opportunity for the Online Sports Guys.
Thanksgiving has come and gone, the weather has gotten colder and it already feels a lot like winter. No, I'm not going to say Christmas, because I'm really not incredibly excited about Christmas this year. This year I'm working and we are a long, long way from family. I've worked the day a few times in the past, but the family was in the same town at the time, so it wasn't a problem to get home. Michelle and I will have fun and make the best out of it, because that's what we do, but it won't be the same. Really, the only thing keeping me from going crazy about it is that if I have to spend a holiday with one person in the world, that one person is already here and we'll be together.
Work has been pretty decent, I'm always busy there. I'm still learning a new job. Well, actually a couple of new jobs. I still have some work to do as a News Writer, but I've gotten better at it. My stuff has been solid, the details have been much better. I just need to get a little more creative. As for the Assignment Desk, that's been a fairly easy transition. There hasn't been a big learning curve, I've gotten much better on keeping up with things. The Web Producer on the weekends part has been tough. Mostly because I have to do it along with the desk and it just physically isn't always possible.
Daisy the Wonder Dog/courtesy-Me
There isn't much else to talk about at the moment. The Wonder Dog is getting really old. She's changed a bit. Her behavior is borderline strange at times. She just kind of lies around during the day, and at night...doesn't leave me alone. She gets into stuff for no apparent reason and is constantly hungry. She's 13 now and physically is in good shape, mentally, not so much.
That's about all I've got at the moment. I'll try and get better about this. Admittedly, it's tough when you spend your whole day at work on the computer to come home and get on the computer. But TLB is out of town and there isn't anything worth a crap on TV, so tonight, I'll crank out a blog. Just to catch up.
Enjoy your appropriate music, in this case, Holiday Road by Lindsay Buckingham, the theme to National Lampoon's Vacation--co-starring--Rusty Griswold:
Before you ask. I don't like any politicians. Republican, Democrat, Tea Party, Green Party, write-in, alien party...none of them. They are all--or at least the people who orchestrate their campaigns are all evil. They are. Think about it.
Sure, back in the 1900's politicians meant something. It was an honorable calling. It was a way to make a difference and help others. Now, it's about one thing. Money.
The basis of our political system is a "Two-Party" system. However, somewhere along the way, the Republican party became the party of narcissism and the Democrats became the party of passive aggressiveness. And I'll say it again. They lie. All of them.
Name me one politician who got someone fired from a job. Yet all we hear is (fill-in the blank....let 5 zillion jobs leave or city-state-or country). No, there is not a single politician who has done that unless they own a particular business that picked up and moved and fired everyone. Though I guess some of them--no--all of them are culpable for a corrupt financial system. But its always the opponent who did it, not the guy who's ad we are watching.
Really, I shouldn't complain too much about political ads, I mean hey, there has been over $4 Billion spent on political ads this year. For my business, that's great money. However, its all dirty. It comes from groups with agendas. And those agendas are not what is best for everyone, its what is best for them. Why not put the $4 billion towards something that would help solve our problems, not add to them?
Heck, I don't personally know many actual politicians, I don't hang out with them. Maybe they are good people to have a beer with, but I don't think so. Maybe all the evil horrible things they are saying about each other are true. Though if they are, we all went to hell several years ago.
Really, the problem is more special interest groups. But that's who runs the government these days anyway. Tell me one politician who doesn't make a decision if they like the special interest involved and I'll call bullshit. There no longer are any. Lobbyists control politicians. They didn't always, they do now. If they need something beneficial to them that screws the common folk, you can bet the politician will do what the lobbyist asks.
Things are done politically and that odd place called Washington D.C for one reason and one reason only. Greed. If being a politician wasn't profitable, why would so many rich people want to do it? Poor and what's left of the middle class can't afford to do it. So rich people do. There are many more high paying jobs than that of a politician, look it up. But yet people who make more money as a working professional, give it up to be a politician. Doesn't that strike anyone as odd?
Another politician/Courtesy: preservingmarriage.blogspot.com
I've seen and met a lot of politicians in my career. I can count on one hand the ones that came across as a real person. They live in alternate universe's and do things that most of us never will be able to. They walk around rooms and shake people's hands. But they don't get dirty. The don't change a tire. They don't pick crops. They don't fix appliances. They get wined and dined by lobbyists, while the rest of you struggle to afford dinner out once a week.
Does anyone really think that a politician is going to walk into Congress/Senate/Governors office etc.and they are going to make an instant impact? No. There are too many other politicians involved in the process of running government with too many different agendas. Some will say no, no matter what the opposing party says. Some will say no unless they get a payoff for saying yes. None are doing it in your best interest.
Think about it. Are any of these clowns going to reduce unemployment? No. As much as it sucks, most of the jobs lost in the past few years aren't coming back. They aren't. Really. They aren't.
Over the past 20-years, our "Hero's" the politicians have allowed corporations to do whatever they please. They please to make lots and lots of money...for the CEO. If it means laying off 100 people, making the other worker bees work more so the profit margin will improve for the CEO to get his $50-million bonus...then so be it. And once those jobs leave and the company realizes they can get the work done with less people and make the same amount of money. That's it. They aren't hiring any more.
Will things improve and get better? I don't know. Probably. Eventually, but not in the next two years. It ain't going to happen. Two years ago, a whole new wave of politicians got voted in. They've tried to do things differently to try and jump start a now flawed system. It hasn't worked.
Now we are about to go back in time. We've forgotten who and why the problems were created in the first place. No, nobody wants to actually do anything to fix the problems. Because politicians (ALL OF THEM) aren't affected by it. No, its those of us who work for a living. Those of us who hope to make enough money to take a vacation someplace....or buy a car. Politicians, much like athletes and movie stars who don't need it, don't buy cars, they are given cars to use.
If it sounds like I am being Mr. Narcissism or Mr. Negative, I'm not. I'm being Mr. Realist. It amazes me how some of my friends seem to think that if I or someone else likes one party over the other that we are stupid. Hardly.
Winning a political race is about who screams the loudest. It's not about who's right or who has the best plan. It's who calls the other the worst name. It's about who can cast the opponent in the most evil light. Somewhere along the way the civility of debate, the agreeing to disagree, the idea of doing what's best for those who can't help themselves got lost.
I wish I could motivate myself to go out and "Cast a Vote" that my one "Vote" will make a difference. It won't. Yeah, I said it. It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what's best for me. And that is disappointing. I really want to elect someone to office that will make a difference. I want to vote for someone who is truly in office for the "Right" reasons. But I honestly don't believe that person exists anymore.
On that note, here is the most relevant thought in my rant. Enjoy your Thompson Twins....it is accurate...and should be about these guys. Thanks YouTube:
Okay, I'm going to admit that I've used this forum to bitch about some things. I don't really bitch about everything, though it sometimes seems like it. Really, I'm just voicing things that I think about, things that bother me or things that I'm worried about.
I've said this before and I have no problem saying it again, it's been tough living where we are right now. I don't regret the decision and if it came up, we'd do it again. It's just been tough...because we are so far away.
Both TLB (The Lovely Bride) and I have never lived so far away from friends and family. Yeah, I know, I spent a year and a half in Lynchburg, Virginia...but that was in 1988 and I was fresh out of college and didn't know any better.I don't like touching on this subject very much. It really bothers TLB, she, wrongly, feels that it's her fault we are now in Cincinnati. It isn't. She got promoted to a great job. An opportunity that we had to do for her career. We jumped on it this time...and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
She's going to read this and get upset. Honey, please don't. We did what we had to do. We have to live our lives and do what is best for us, coming up to Cincinnati, though not perfect, is something that we had to do.
Mom-Daisy and Hallie-X-mas 2004/courtesy: me
Like everyone else, my parents have aged. We've always been somewhat close, though I really haven't lived in the same town as them since I graduated from college. Seven years nearby in Atlanta was good, which quite honestly was prompted due to my fathers health issues at the time. They moved from Atlanta after I got married in 2007 which was great for them, TLB and I still saw them 3 or 4 times a year.
Yeah, my friends aren't close by either. But most of them are people that I've met and became friendly with at different places...not all of them have lived where I did. I'm good with that.
Really, I think it started bothering me over the holiday's. TLB, the Wonder Dog and I piled in a car and drove...12+ hours to Wilmington, North Carolina, 3-days before Christmas last year. Sure, the drive sucked, it was all through the mountains, but I wasn't working at the time either.
As you all know, I'm working now. But in typical TV-ness, I'm low on the totem pole, so guess who is working during the holidays--all of them. It's going to be tough. We don't really have anyone here to spend the holidays with and the family won't be able to come see us.
As I write this, I'm lamenting a few things. My mother, just had surgery to remove what was called a "Rather Large" bone spur out of her back. She's had trouble with her back for some time and never really knew why. The problem is, they had to insert 3 screws among other things to stabilize her back.
What is worse is the rehab. It's going to be awhile before she's going to be able to get around, there is a lot of physical therapy ahead. The parents now live in Bluffton, SC. The surgery, was done in Beaufort, about an hour away.
But the part that has me worried is her getting taken care of once she's sent home. My father (the chief) really tries, but he's got his own set of problems. He's been taking a cancer medication to prevent the return of the Non-Hodgkins lymphoma that he had back in 1998. It's been draining on him physically. Well, that and he's 70 now.
Maybe I'm worrying too much and they'll handle everything just fine. No, actually, I'm really hoping that is the case. As much as I want to go down to see them and help, that is neither simple or easy for me to do. Not to say that I couldn't...and I still may, but I don't have to do it immediately.
It's true that you really can't live or plan your life around others, you can't. This too will pass and things will continue moving forward....they always do. But sometimes you lament, sometimes you think about things.
TLB and i will be fine, we've got each other. We are being good residents up here. We have explored things and gone to stuff that people who've lived here all their lives have never done. I just felt like I needed to get this out there. Like I said at the beginning, it's been on my mind for a couple of weeks. One of the reasons that I write this is to get stuff off of my brain so they don't weigh me down, so that's what I did.
Here is the appropriate music for the title. Foreigner if you will, thanks YouTube:
Sorry it has been awhile since I've posted here. If you follow these on occasion, when I have time to post...you know that we moved over the past week. That, unfortunately took precedence over this, though I did post a few things to the OSG Sports website.
I made a statement during the move that I think sums up the last couple of weeks pretty well. "Moving is the single most stressful thing you'll ever do in your life". Though I probably should amend that to say one of the three most stressful things you'll ever do in your life".
It's a horrible feeling to have your life in transition, which is exactly what we did. We also made the mistake of doing a lot of it ourselves. There really isn't a good way to do it without having it just plain take over your life for the amount of time it takes you to move.
But I'm back...and I promise that I'll at least crank out one of these, if not more a week. Really, I kind of enjoy this format more than the OSG blog, just because the stories are about my experiences. On the OSG site, it's more Sports, though since I worked in Sports for so long, there are opportunities to throw my own experiences in their too.
Daisy and The Cone of Shame/Courtesy: Me
We've also been dealing with the Wonder Dog's health issues and a health issue of my own. Mine, thankfully was just an infection, but it was a bit scary for a day or two until I made it in to the doctor's office. A nice bottle of Cipromax later and I'm clean and healthy...aside from the strained tendon in my hand and my chronically bad shoulder and ankle. The Wonder Dog is still recovering from some allergy issues and has had to deal with the dreaded "Cone of Shame".
We did get a chance to go to one of our favorite events here in Cincinnati a couple weeks ago. Oktoberfest Zinzinnati was the first real exposure that I got to this city when I moved here slightly over a year ago. Yeah...I've been here a year now. Michelle has been here longer, she had to move in June of 2009, while I stayed in Atlanta until our house their was sold. It sold in September, 2009.
Oktoberfest Zinzinnati 2010/Courtesy: Me
It's kinda strange to think that we've lived here over a year now. It really, at times, feels like I'm on an extended out of town assignment. I'm not. But it feels like it. I don't hate it here, but I'm not a huge fan either. I'm making the best I can out of it. I've been lucky enough to find a place to work that isn't nearly as cutthroat as the station I worked at in Atlanta. The people I work with here have been pretty nice and as far as I know, nobody has thrown me under the bus.
Really, I've lived in enough places now that I can adjust to anything. And I think that I have. Honestly, I don't like the fact that we are far away from our closest friends and family. And I don't like the fact that I haven't gotten to see my best friend in over a year. I'm not thrilled that my family, whom I'm very close to, I haven't been able to see since January. And I don't really know when we'll get to see them again.
But, you adjust. You make the best out of it. You try to have fun. Michelle and I venture out often on the weekends. We do a lot of festivals. We have date night on Saturday's most weeks. We make a concerted effort to go out to dinner someplace we've never been at least once a month.
We aren't moving again...as long as we live here. No. We won't be going through the whole moving in town thing again. The apartment that we have is just fine. Cozy and nice. Not ideal, but it will work....for now.
Here's your blog music accompaniment...enjoy some Ace Frehley...Back in the New York Groove...it sort of fits, even though we aren't talking about New York. Thanks YouTube:
So, I guess you can say that I really have two jobs. The moderate paying one and the low paying one. By day I work in TV. I'm the Weekend Assignment Editor and planner and Weekday Associate producer at a Cincinnati TV station.. I've worked in TV, at 6 different stations in different cities, for what's been my entire professional life.
But, in my free time, most of you probably already know this, I'm a Sports Blogger. Not just me, but some of my friends too. Those who follow us are probably familiar with our blog. OnlineSportsGuys.com. If you aren't you should check us out.
Working full-time is great. It's what most professionals aspire to do. Work for a big company, do your job, don't make any waves and get a paycheck. It's the American Dream...right?
Sure, I know plenty of people who are full-time freelancers and can control their hours and work for themselves, but it's a tough life. You have to make yourself available most of the time and if you say no to a client, that client may never come back to you.
Me, I was always scared of that life. I'm not a sales person and don't feel like I'm very good at selling myself to others...you know, cold calling for clients. But the thought of not being tied to an office and working for someone else also had its appeal.
What I am...or at least I consider myself...is a creative type. I like to tell stories. Granted, I prefer to write them or tell them with visuals, but when push comes to shove, I'm a storyteller.
The blog and production company
What I really would "Like" to do, is what my second job is. The Sports blog.
We've been doing the blog for a couple of years now. We've actually had some success. 200,000-plus unique visitors in 2009 and we are trending about 25% higher than that this year. But we don't make much money from it. Yeah, it pays for itself. And we are making a little bit off of it this year. But not much, probably around $350 for the year total.
I wish we could make more. I really enjoy it. It's fun trying to find stories and beat the big boys. I did that today. Thanks to one of my Facebook friends, I posted a story on a Florida receiver getting arrested. I had it 90 minutes ahead of ESPN.
But, alas. It isn't a precise science. We don't have the resources to staff events. We can't really go cover a beat. Really, all we do is find stories, link to them and discuss them. That's all we can do. We all have real jobs. That's all we have time to do.
The fun, is we don't have to be like traditional media. I can offer my thoughts or opinion on a story and its okay. I can use my insight and 22 years in TV news and sports to give perspective. It's ok to do that.
We have big aspirations. My friends and I have a production company. Not only do we have the blog, we authored a book. Not everyone can say that. We are trying to get production work and have a lot of ideas on how to do it.
But in the meantime, I spend my 40+ hours every week working. I can't really post from there which is tough. I usually take the morning duty. On my off days, my free time is spent looking at websites and papers from all over trying to find something. On work days, it's usually an hour or so, just trying to throw something up there and hope people find us.
I guess maybe it's a dream. Or maybe it's a goal. But to me, it would be pure fun to be a full-time writer, writing about something you enjoy finding stories and talking about them. No, it's not the traditional find a story, get it confirmed and report it facts only thing that the traditional media do. But that is okay. We are reporting about what they are doing. We are offering the insight, thought and opinion they aren't able to.
Either way, it's fun. I wish I had more time to do it like some of the big-time blogs. Heck, one of them, the Big Lead was just sold recently for $7 million. You know, if something like that would ever come up, I think we'd be ok with that.
Enjoy this song, I thought it somewhat fitting...Thanks YouTube:
I didn't get a chance to do this yesterday. Even though my postings have been spotty, I have had a couple of things that I wanted to post. I'm not even going to say that I'm going to make an excuse, I've been working a lot and getting the house ready for a move, but I have had the time.
My father had his 70th birthday yesterday. I'm really happy for him, but for whatever reason, it hadn't dawned on me that he was going to be that old. Also, the day before, my niece, you know, my sisters kid...turned 20.
The Chief (dad), is a piece of work. If you know, or have seen him, he doesn't really pass for 70. That might be why I never thought of him as being that old. Or maybe I was just in denial, because if he's that old, that means I'm old too.
The Chief retired almost two years ago. Not totally by his choice. It's been a struggle for him, he's always worked. Like most of my family, he's got, well, I don't know if I'd call it ADD, but...he doesn't sit still really well. He's slowly going crazy.
I always wondered if I'd be like him as I got older. We aren't exactly the same type of personalities, though I would add that's not such a bad thing. We've gotten a lot closer over the last few years, something that makes me very happy.
Sure, we did a lot of stuff over the years. He'd always humor me when I came home when I lived out of town and would go with me to see the Braves...or whatever sporting event I wanted to catch. I know he wasn't a big baseball fan...but he went. And always tried to make the best out of it. Because he knew how much I enjoyed it.
I always wondered what it would be like to be retired, I know it doesn't agree with him. I did get to find out a little bit about not going to work each day...when I wasn't. And yeah, it was a challenge. I can see why the Chief is going a bit stir crazy. Having downtime, when you never really had any, takes some getting used to.
The Chief and my mom are living down in Bluffton, South Carolina these days. It's a far cry from their heyday in Longwood, Florida and for that matter...Atlanta. But they are there for a reason.
As for my niece, I think that's the one that makes me feel really old. I guess I probably don't feel as old as her mom does, but still. The kid is 20. And she is preggers. I can still picuture seeing her when she was just a couple hours old.
Anyway, enough about the fam. I just felt like getting that out there. I know I'm getting old. Heck, I feel it, pretty much every day. From a creaky ankle to a shoulder that gradually tightens up as the day goes. I feel it. I do try, not to think about it. I don't do older stuff. I'm pretty tech savvy. I'm fairly healthy. But I'm not as young as I used to be either.
Hey Chief, told you over the phone, I'll tell you again...Happy Birthday dude...
Me and the Alabama mascot 2007//Courtesy: Eric Hager
This next month (September) is quite possibly the best Sports month of the year. If not, it runs a close second to March. Why would I say this? Let's take a look.
Football season is starting, at all levels. Really this should seal the argument. But in case it doesn't; baseball is hitting the homestretch on their pennant races. Hockey, is getting ready to start their camp...as are basketball teams.
The weather starts cooling for the year. Okay, maybe not in Florida and to a lesser extent Georgia, but definitely in the rest of the world. I learned this last September, when I moved here to the extreme, southernmost part of the Midwest. It does start cooling here at this point of the year.
I'd be lying if I didn't say I miss being an active part of it in some way. I do. I've rambled on about this several times, including on my own blog site here. It's really hard to get it out of your system. Even in the rare period of time when I wasn't shooting Sports, I was still doing High School Football and the News/Sports guy back when News stations routinely sent a crew to big events involving their teams.
But then again, I am older now and it doesn't bother me as much as it would have 10-years ago. Back then, I'd be chomping at the bit to get going. Now, really I look forward to watching.
Georgia vs. Alabama '07/Courtesy: me
I'd also be lying if I said I don't miss Football in the south. I do. It's different down there. Really different. It's a sort of big deal where I am now. The University of Cincinnati is pretty good, but doesn't get much love. They don't have the history of success to draw from. We are about 2-hours from Columbus and Ohio State. Yeah, those here who do follow them don't get the SEC and they never will. It's completely different.
The baseball here has been pretty good and in some respects the folks here are deeply rooted in their Reds. And for the first time in a very long time, they are a very, very good team. It should be a fun late September/early October, when they get into the playoffs. Really, I'm hoping they'll get to play my Braves. That would make me very, very happy.
I'm adjusting to all of this. Still. TLB, while a good football fan, doesn't care much to watch baseball on TV. She doesn't always want to watch football either and wants nothing to do with basektball...though she does love her hockey.
Really though, if you think about it, this time of year is heartily celebrated just about everywhere. The weather really does cool off. We hit the beginnings of fall and the changing of the leaves. A lot of people argue that March is the best month of the year because of March madness and yeah, it could be an interesting debate. But if you want to purely measure it by universal excitement, I'll take September and even October and perfectly happy.
In honor of Sports Fans Delight, enjoy some rapper's delight. Thanks SugarHillGang/YouTube:
This is going to be weird. I've always, as long as I've worked in TV been a part of high school football coverage. Almost always it meant shooting and a lot of times I was the producer as well. I'm not doing that this year.
Covering High School Football was always fun. From the time I started in 1988 (yeah, I'm old), I always was working games. Sometimes, on my own and sometimes with a reporter but always working.
It's funny, I've covered well over 150 college and pro football games in going on 22 years, but high school games were always special. I don't know why, they just were. Maybe it was because you can go wherever you want to on the field. Maybe its because everyone at the game is always happy to see you I don't know.
Me shooting Falcons/Bears game/Courtesy: eric hager
We always made it fun. In Jacksonville, we did a 15-minute show. I was one of 4 photographers and it was always the same 4 of us. We did some crazy stuff in that time (early 90's). The Sports Director, Dan Hicken, would come up with a theme for the night and we had to get something to do with the theme as a highlight.
I'll never forget those times. We did the obvious, ref night, sideline judge night, cheerleader night etc. But the funniest was probably prom night. The station rented tuxedo's for the 4 of us and we had to introduce our own games with a "prom" date. (You had to be there to laugh) We had a recurring character, brought bands in to walk through the studio, all kinds of crazy stuff. Heck, the show open had video of all of us in it...Craziness!
We did games in Nashville, but it wasn't nearly as much fun. In Atlanta, we tried to make it fun. I came up with a tamer version of what we did in Jacksonville, it lasted a couple of years...2003-2006. They actually let us use the helicopter for a couple of games each week. Nothing says cool like landing on a back field at a game in a helicopter and getting an escort into the stadium. It was a blast. Of course the genius' that ran the TV station decided we didn't want to compete and nobody cared about High School football, so the show got cancelled.
Nowadays, I'm still in TV, but I'm not shooting anymore. I'm not Sports producing either. This particular Friday and 2 of the next 3, I'm on the News Assignment desk. Sure, I'll watch. I'll look in and see what we do, but I'm not participating.
I know that I have gone on record saying that I don't miss shooting and for the most part, I really don't. I was unemployed last football season so it didn't really count, I no longer am. It's this time of year that I'm going to have to get past. 20-plus years of being either the main or one of the main Sports shooters and/or producers is hard to put out of my mind. I will. I'll get past it. Right now it just seems weird. I guess after a few weeks and having the feeling in my shoulder will remind me that it is all good, I just have to get through this first week before I can get there.
To wrap things up...enjoy this clip from an old HBO Show...Not Necessarily the News...Thanks YouTube:
Those who have known me a long time know that I enjoy my beer. At a point in my life, it was in mass quantities and I wasn't picky about it. But as I've gotten older....that has changed.
I couldn't really tell you when that changed. But it did. Somewhere along the line, I realized that while immensely popular, really, Budweiser, Miller Lite and Coors all pretty much taste the same...like carbonated, lightly flavored water.
Maybe it was in Nashville. There was a brewpub there that I became enamored with, the Blackstone brewery. It's still there. They had large tanks where they made their own beer. And it had flavor. It tasted good. Really good.
In a way, I guess that my beer tastes have developed like people who are into wine. It took me awhile to realize that I wanted quality with what I'm drinking. Even after leaving Nashville, I still didn't stray much outside an occasion Pete's or Canadian beer. Sometime in the past 5 years, that changed. I don't drink for quantity anymore, haven't for a long, long time. Sure, I'll have a couple of beers at a sitting, but if you are drinking the good stuff, 2 or 3 are plenty.
You see, TLB (The Lovely Bride) and I are big craft beer fans. The good stuff. The stuff made mostly by individuals...or smaller companies. They have names like Great Lakes, Dogfish Head, New Belgium and Bells. And the stuff is good. If you drink it, no, taste it while you drink. The beers are really, really good.
Dunedin Brewery tanks/Courtesy: Me
Smooth, flavored with texture. There are multiple types. Me, I'm a dark beer fan, I drink a lot of Porters, Brown Ale's and stouts. TLB loves her wheat beers and IPA's (India Pale Ales). But we are both fans, big fans. We'll go out of our way to visit a restaurant or pub that either makes their own or has a big beer selection.
Today, we went to a place called the Dunedin Brewery. We had lunch...and beer. For me it was a slightly malty, chocolaty brown ale with the name Beach Brown Tale Ale, TLB had a wheat, flavored beer. It was good, really good. You know it was fresh, heck, the tanks were in the restaurant. The burrito that I had with it, wasn't bad either.
Back in October of 2009, we ventured up to Cleveland. We ended up at the Great Lakes Brewpub. Not only did we go eat and have a beer there, we took a tour of the brewery. What a wonderful experience. Very, very cool...and samples afterwords.
Dunedin Brewery/Courtesy: Me
In Atlanta, one of our favorite places to go: Taco Mac. We loved the food, great wings and even greater nachos. But the draw was the beer selection. 200-plus, at least 60 of them on tap, fantastic stuff. Bet you didn't know that the perfect compliment to wings and nachos...Rogue Chocolate Stout beer. Try it, you understand what I'm saying.
I have a couple of friends who have made their own beer. I envy them. I've read up on it, to see if it was something I would be interested in. I'll admit, doing that is a bit over my head. I'll stick to tasting.
The moral of my post I guess is this. For anyone who has never experimented, never had anything more than Bud or Miller, try something new. They are corporate behemoths who are trying to squash the Craft Beer movement. Really, it is true, they are. Their sales are dropping, Craft Beer sales, are growing...through the roof.
If you have the chance, try something different. Break out of the circle. You'd be surprised at the variety of beers out there. You'd be even more surprised, just how good they actually taste.
Check out the trailer to a really cool and somewhat revealing movie, Beer Wars: (We've seen it, very good)
It's good to be back at the beach. Really, I miss it. Probably more than anything about where I grew up, I miss being close to the beach. Granted, we lived about 40 minutes away in Longwood, Florida, but it was a straight shot up I-4, exit at Hwy 44 and make a right...keep going until you hit the beach, New Smyrna Beach.
Water...has always been a part of my life. Heck, I was born in a beach town; Long Beach, New York. My mother has told me stories of how much I enjoyed sloshing along the beaches of Long Island. Loved it. Took to it immediately.
It's never left my life. We lived in Florida throughout my childhood and I was always near the water. Swimming pool, Intercoastal Waterway, the Beach...it didn't matter, I always wanted a part of it.
During my high school years, we always were at New Smyrna Beach. Always. Most of the summer, skip days from school...it didn't matter. The last couple of years in high school, we were there on Memorial and Labor Day weekends too. Stayed at the Islander for the weekend and had a blast.
Scuba Phil/Courtesy: bob mcnamara
The fascination continued. I was always a strong swimmer. Good at it and built for it. Never did it competitively, mostly because I wasn't interested in the hours. I went away to school...it still continued. On a lark, I got my Lifeguard certification for a Phys. Ed. credit at Georgia Southern.
That certification got me one of my favorite, non-TV jobs of all time. Lifeguard at Wet and Wild in Orlando. Loved it. Had a blast. Was in the water every day for 7 hours. Lost 25lbs and ate and drank like a fish. Loved it.
Once I graduated, I didn't get to play as much in the water. I would swim from time to time, when I could find a pool that I didn't have to pay for to be in. But I always came back.
In Jacksonville, I got to live on the beach. Briefly. About a year. But I lived there. I could walk out the door whenever I wanted and run or walk or jump in for a swim. All I had to do...was walk across the street. I miss that.
In 2003 I did something that I had always wanted to try. I got my scuba diving certification. Sure, swimming on top of the water was great, but it paled in comparison to swimming underneath it. My gosh. The quiet. The only noise, the noise of your regulator while you breathe. Everything moves slower. Not slow motion, no...just slower. The fish. They are aware of you, some care...some don't.
Sunset at Indian Rocks Beach/Courtesy: me
In the next two years, I completed over 50 dives. Dove in Panama City. Dove in the Keys. Two trips to Nassau in the Bahamas. Loved it. Heck, I even did the Shark Pool dive in Nassau, watched while the sharks were fed. 25 Reef and nurse sharks, swimming around me, heading towards the food. It was awesome.
I don't get to go to the beach much anymore. I'm stuck living in the Eastern part of the Midwest now. I miss it. We've made a couple of trips to the beach and in fact, I'm sitting a mere 500 feet away from it right now. It's really hard to describe the feeling when I waded out into the Gulf this afternoon. I felt happy. It just kind of felt right. It felt like I was in the right place...where I should be.
I'll enjoy this week in Indian Rocks Beach with the knowledge that at some point, I'll be back. Maybe not here, but somewhere. TLB and I have already talked about this...at length. We both can think of nothing better than spending a chunk of our lives...watching the sun rise...or sun set over the water.
I cannot think of a more appropriate song than this. Enjoy some Jimmy Buffett.
As creepy and scary as the show "Hoarder's" is...in a lot of ways, we all are something like that. No, I know most aren't compulsive-obsessive about it, but we all accumulate stuff. We just don't always realize it.
If you are like me and TLB (The Lovely Bride), you probably have no idea just how much stuff you have...until you are getting ready to move.
Really, if you look around your house right now. No, not at the stuff that's out and you can see. No, look in your basement or attic if you have one. Look in your closets. And then try boxing it up.
On the surface it looks easy. I know when I looked around our house I thought "We've got stuff, but not a ton, this won't be a problem". And its true. We do have a lot of stuff. I'm pretty sure we are like everyone else and have a decent amount of clothes....a lot of which never get worn.
But we also have stuff. 3-plus boxes full of Christmas decorations, 3-plus boxes of video tapes that have 21-years of my work. Paperwork and more importantly dishes. Two sets of them.
Yes, we are borderline foodies, so we have a ton of stuff in the kitchen. All kinds of pots and pans and utensils and stuff that might get used once or twice a year.
We've condensed a lot of stuff. We moved last year (2009) out of a 2600 square foot house and have spent the past year in one half that size. We had to condense. But we have to condense even more. We're moving again. From a 1300 square foot house to a 1100 square foot apartment.
On the good side...the apartment has a lot of storage space. The house doesn't. The bad, we still have to get a storage room.
I'm not really making a nasty rant here or going off on a subject. No. I'm just kind of making an observation. I can say it because I started moving stuff into storage today. Just 2 trips, but I'm guessing there are at least another 10 or 15 in my future.
We all know that we aren't really "Hoarder's" but I really just wanted to make the 10 or so of you who will read this think. Think about it when you say..."Oh, I want to hang on to that.". "I don't know what I want to do with it yet, I just don't want to get rid of it".
On that note, enjoy today's clip....just because it's legendary...The Jefferson's Opening Theme! Thanks YouTube:
For someone who has accomplished a lot of things in their life, it's sometimes amazing that I get anything done.
It seems like...and I've been told this too, that I am decent at a lot of things but really good at one: Procrastinating.
Yeah, sure, I always get things done and I am obsessively organized, but everyone...including me, wonders how it gets done. To look at my desk, heck at TLB (The Lovely Bride) says, look at my living area, you'd never think anything gets done. But it does. Despite my lack of tidiness, I know exactly where everything is. Despite my forgetfulness about writing down what I need to do and when I need to do it, things always do get done.
Oliver says "Just get it done and stop bothering me"
Today is a prime example of my procrastination skills. I got up around 7, which is normal for me on a day off. I really didn't have anywhere that I had to be. No appointments, no go get at the store moments...nothing. And guess what I got done today? I can't say nothing, because I did do a little, I got our first moving estimate and I posted a couple of stories to the OSG Sports website...but that was about it.
I'm staring at a pretty lengthy list of stuff that needs to be done before we move, really I can't do much until I secure a mover, which I hope to on Tuesday. Once I do that, I can start working down the list. And I will. I keep threatening to start boxing stuff up. Nope. Haven't done much of that yet. TLB wants me to go through the office closet and try and condense. I need to do that, but haven't yet. Although a lot of it is old file tapes and things like that from my TV life. That stuff may go to storage, but ain't getting thrown away.
Oh...and I keep telling myself I need to post some stuff here too, I really haven't been good about keeping up the blog. Sorry.
Sure, I know that I sound like just about everyone else. Yeah...I'm pretty frighteningly normal. I know that. I'm okay with that. Tomorrow is another day. I don't, again have much to do. I do have to take the Wonder Dog to the Vet's office for a shot, but that is about it. Hopefully I'll get some packing in. And the other moving estimate that I want. I can start the rest of the process from there. I do have to get things moving. We go out of town for a week starting the 13th. When we get back. 3 weeks to get packed and moved and while we no longer have an inordinate amount of stuff. We have a decent amount. If it doesn't get started now, those last three weeks may not be so much fun.
In the meantime, enjoy some classic Cars...Moving in Stereo. Thanks You Tube:
Before anyone goes all Fine Young Cannibals on me, listen to my story. I'm going to provide some observations and reason...with some evidence that there really, truly are very...very few good drivers anywhere. Oh...and everyplace you go has a different problem.
We all know that I'm stuck in Ohio right now after living in Atlanta for 10 years. Most probably know that I was raised in beautiful central Florida and since 1988, have lived in no less than 5 different towns.
That alone, should qualify me as the random observer of peculiar driving habits.
It's simple. Really. It is. Here is your breakdown:
Florida (mostly Orlando)- Tough place to drive because its mostly a mix of the elderly and tourists. Neither have their wits about them any more. Yes, the people who are actually from there have an idea of what they are doing...but they are in the minority. By a large margin. You really have to pay attention driving in Florida because you never know what the person in front of you is going to do.
Lynchburg, Virginia - I lived there in 1988-89 while working at a TV station there. Two BIG issues. One...no acceleration lanes for the highway. None. You stop...you get on the highway. That is tough if you've lived anywhere else with major highways. Think about it.
But there is more from Lynchburg. The biggest problem in my time there was the green light stopping. Yes, you read that correctly. People would just randomly stop at intersections when the light was green. No rhyme or reason. They'd just stop. Again, a scary thought if you aren't locked in. I can only imagine the amount of wrecks in this eating food, texting society today.
Jacksonville, Florida - Not horrible drivers, but it is tough on the highways (see above). A few who thought they were on NASCAR tracks, but not too many. Really, I didn't see any major issues there.
Nashville, Tennessee - Them folks in Tennessee ain't right. You can call them the Tennessee Divebombers. What do I mean by that you ask? Well...imagine you are in the right lane getting to exit off of the highway and all of a sudden a car from 4 lanes over, against the wall wants to get off at the same exit. No, there usually isn't that much traffic. The only thing I can figure is either they didn't know they wanted to exit or they just weren't paying attention.
Atlanta, Georgia -Some of the worst traffic in the world. But really, I don't think that people there don't know how to drive. They do. They just don't care. They are crazy. They all think that they are Bill Elliot or Dale Jr. Either that or they are so late due to the traffic and living so far away from work that they just say "Fuck it".
If you've ever sat through rush hour in Atlanta, think about what I'm saying. It makes sense...doesn't it?
Cincinnati, Ohio - Really, here the drivers are just stupid. They have no sense or idea about what they are doing. By the way, you have to lump Northern Kentucky in here too, because if it is possible...Northern Kentucky drivers are stupider. It's like they've come off the side of a mountain to drive or have never left the farm. They don't get simple traffic laws, lane changing or speed limits.
Back to Ohio...the biggest problem I've run into....nobody will change lanes. Ever! They lock into whatever lane they are in and won't move. If they are doing 80 in the right lane, they'll slow down to 55 behind the car in front of them...even if they are the only 2 cars on the road. And they won't pass. They do this in every lane on every road. You could be going 20 in the passing lane and they'll get right behind you and won't go around. EVER!
I don't get this.
Quite honestly, this is just something that has been on my mind for awhile. I'm not sure what made me think about it, though I have a suspicion. I'm really not an angry driver, an aggressive driver or a heavy speeder. I'm not, ask my wife. It is just random observation, stream of thought....and yeah...a slight bit of underlying annoyance.
We'll go with the obvious music choice here...enjoy your Cannibals (Thanks You Tube):
If you've spent time with me, then you know that I'm not a particularly judgmental person. I've been told that I am very open minded and willing to listen to or look for the best in just about everyone.
I had to throw that out the window today. Not permanently, just for today.
You might be asking: What happened today? The answer: I had class today.
For those who don't know, I've been taking computer web design classes which are fairly complicated and very monotonous. A lot of it is learning computer programming code and language...and let me tell you, if you think learning Spanish or French is tough...
((My brain after class//Courtesy: My Mac))
So anyway, today was Web Design/HTML/XHTML and CSS, Level 2 class. One day...8 hours. Not fun...but interesting. Most of the classes have had 5...maybe 6 people in them. Today, we had 10.
I knew we were in trouble, when class member number 10 walked in. Okay, made his entrance.
Picture this guy if you can: 40 or so years old...maybe 5-10 or even 6-feet tall, about 40 pounds overweight. He's wearing a yellow t-shirt that says "Security". Not a big deal unto itself. The issue came when you looked at the head. He had...god's honest truth...a full-fledged, out of date, lead singer of the Clash...or Mr. T...mohawk.
Again, I don't judge, but it was a giveaway. No sooner did the guy sit down, then he started asking questions. About everything. And talking about what he did in his other classes and his website.
The problem came in when the guy teaching the class, kept talking to him. He would talk and just go off on tangents. Complete...out in left field tangents. It doesn't bother me when people ask legitimate questions. Questions that they can't answer. It bugs the crap out of me when people hijack rooms and don't shut-up.
I'm hoping I don't have Mr. Mohawk in any other classes. It's hard enough staying focused on the complicated task at hand. It's really...really annoying when you get completely distracted by someone who thinks that nobody else is in the room...or trying to learn something.
There...I feel better now...I got to vent.
The only fitting video I could find is the trailer to Despicable Me...which by the way is a pretty funny movie: Thanks YouTube
Do you know anyone who actually likes moving? I don't. Not that I know a ton of people...I do know a decent amount and I've never heard any of them say that they liked it. I sure don't.
But it comes with the territory. I guess before anyone starts asking, I better add that we are staying in Cincinnati (Southern Siberia)...for now, we are just going to change addresses. We are leaving the 105-year old house we've been living in and moving to an apartment, which will be weird unto itself.
((Moving in 10/1/09//Courtesy: Me))
In my chosen profession, moving has been part of the price of being in it. Lynchburg, Chattanooga, Jacksonville, Nashville, Atlanta and Cincinnati all cities that have been part of my wandering life since 1988. All of them have been fun experiences...and in most cases I moved more than once in some of the cities.
Early on...moving wasn't a huge deal other than the fact that I did it primarily myself. The chief would inevitably come to wherever I was and help as did my grandfather. Of course at that time, I didn't have too much stuff. Hand-me down furniture, a TV, some clothes and a few odds and ends.
Funny thing that happens over time, you accumulate things. I'm no exception to that and by the time I arrived in Atlanta, I had accumulated a pretty good amount of stuff. The initial move to town was aided by my friends Dave and Michael who after helping get the sleeper-sofa that I had owned up 3 flights of stairs said "Dude...we love you, but unless you get rid of that, we'll never help you move again".
Really, unlike Jacksonville, where I lived in 4 apartments in 5 years, I only moved twice in 10-years in Atlanta. Both moves in Atlanta were done with a mover, I'll never move myself again. Of course, I got married in Atlanta and the amount of stuff I now have doubled.
We had a relocation company move us from Atlanta to Cincinnati. That was interesting and forced us to get rid of some stuff. We left a 2600 square foot house in the ATL to come to a 1250 square footer here. The house in Cincy has some good things: A backyard for Daisy....a nice back deck and cool front porch, but it also has a leaky basement, no insulation and only one bathroom.
The thought of going back to an apartment isn't particularly appealing, but it will work for now. Just the idea of not banging my head in the low clearance basement will be an improvement. We can't keep the house cool...or at least the upstairs because there is no insulation in the house...at all. During the winter, we had to keep the heat on 56...to keep the gas/electric bill around $300.
((Winter in Southern Siberia//Courtesy: Me))
So it is back where we started...an apartment. We are going to do some of the moving ourselves since we are just going down the block (less than 1-mile). We'll hire someone to move the big stuff.
By no means is it permanent. We still don't know yet if we are staying here. While the town is decent and I really like my job and the people that I work with...it has been a very tough adjustment. I can't speak for TLB...but I still feel like a visitor here, like I am on a long assignment or something. Maybe that will change...either way, we will probably have to move again around this time next year. Where we go...we will see.
Enjoy today's music...Unto itself an okay song...but possibly one of the coolest things I've ever heard is when 92,000 Auburn and Georgia Football fans sang this in unison at the end of the 3rd quarter in the 2008 game at Auburn's stadium...kinda gave me the chills.
I'm just going to say it. I miss my Braves baseball. Right now, sitting in Southern Siberia (Cincinnati) the city that denies that its southern because its in Ohio, I miss my Braves baseball.
Why can't we go back to the days of the superstation? You, I suppose could argue that if I miss it so much, I should just by the MLB package on DirecTV or MLB.com. And you know what; you are right, I could spend the money, but that would take only part of the pain away.
Even when we lived in Atlanta, we didn't go to a lot of the games. Sure, I would work them from time to time and there was a stretch where I would take my credential and just go and hang out, but that is no longer an option.
((Braves Spring Training//Courtesy: Me))
You see, I grew up on Braves baseball. When I was a kid, we didn't have a Major League team playing in Florida, now there are two. Sure, they came for Spring Training, but that is not quite the same thing. No. The closest thing we had were the Braves. WTBS was on the cable as far back as I can remember and we could on occasion pick up 750 WSB Radio.
My first Major League regular season game. A Braves game. In 1976, we saw the Braves play the Pittsburgh Pirates at Fulton County Stadium. I don't remember much other than they lost and Richie Zisk had a ton of RBI's.
Even as I got older. I would make the pilgrimage. In college, we went once or twice. Got cheap centerfield tickets and made our way around the stadium. The Braves weren't very good back in the 80's (understatement) and you could get away with it because there might have been 5,000 people in a 50,000 seat stadium.
I had to live without them for a year or so when I moved to my 1st job in Virginia, but I came back. My parents moved to Atlanta by 1990 so I always had an excuse to come visit and I would drag the Chief (father) with me. He's not much into baseball, but always humored me.
There were more trips. The drunken Jacksonville sojourn with 3 some friends from work. Seeing my 1st World Series game in 1996. Unfortunately it was the Game 6 that the Braves lost late to the Yankees and ended up losing the series. Heck, I even got to see the Braves play the Cubs...at Wrigley Field (Scratch one off the list).
Once I got to Atlanta, I lived the dream, I got to cover my favorite team. The 1st time that I walked into the locker room, the producer I was with had to punch me in the arm to keep me from drooling. I got to know some of the guys. Good people. Sure, they sort of lived in their own universe, but pretty friendly. I would run into a handful of the guys at the LA Fitness that I was working out in for awhile. They would play pickup basketball. I played a couple of times and we got some good laughs out of it.
Now I'm not anywhere close to Atlanta (7-hours away). Plus I work on the weekends. We get a steady diet of Cincinnati Reds baseball. Yeah, we've been to a few games. The stadium is actually very nice, a comfortable place to go watch baseball. But when the national games are regionalized on TV, we get the Northeast team. Not the Southern team.
We do have tickets to see the Braves when they come here and we are really looking forward to it. I still know a few of the guys on the team and who work for them, but I probably won't get to visit. But I'll be happy. I'll get my Braves fix. I'll see my team play in the town I'm currently located in. Not ideal....but it will do....for now.
Check this out. The Superstation TBS Braves Open from 1986. Pretty Cool eh? Thanks You Tube:
Man, just when I thought that I had become a good writer, I discover that I am struggling to write news.
Granted, news is an entirely different beast. It's a prepositionally challenged, detail oriented, shortened version of storytelling. But it's something that I've dabbled in before with no real problems.
You would think that if I could write entire Sports shows, 30-minutes and hour versions, that I wouldn't have any problems. You would think even more so if I told you about the book (which is about to go to print)...but then again, it was a sports book. You would definitely think so if I told you that I've written tons of reporter packages for News....so it is not like I've never done it.
((Writing on the computer//Courtesy: clipartguide.com))
But I'm struggling for some reason. Stylistically, I've adjusted. I get the format. A sentence to set up and then write your voice-over. Yeah, I can do that. I can summarize just about anything in 30 seconds or less. But I've been sloppy.
It's my own fault, I know better. And as someone with a ton of experience, I'm the only one who can make it stop. Still, it's a struggle.
I've never had a problem expressing myself through writing. Never. Even as a kid when I was painfully shy and didn't talk much, I wrote. Wrote about everything and expressed myself well.
All through school and even in college, I was a good writer. Loved essay tests because even if I didn't know the subject that I had to write about well, I could fake my way through it.
Maybe it's the OSG Sports blog. I don't know. The rules don't totally apply there and I can add dashes and doses of humor and opinion.
We will see. It's time for me to make the adjustment and make it soon. I'm expected to write 5-7 stories a day along with doing all of the research for them. The research has been a challenge and very time consuming, but it isn't an excuse. Sure, I had a similar issue when I was learning to shoot, I was wildly inconsistent and I know that. There were days where my stuff was "Holy Crap" good and other days when it was just "Crap". I grew out of it. It took awhile, but I did.
I don't have the luxury of time with it now. No, I didn't get chewed out at work, but I did get a subtle reminder that I need to pick it up. Nothing else I guess, really needs to be said.
So, in the spirit of this being Friday, enjoy some Todd Rundgren. Thanks You Tube:
As much as I like to think that I'm still oh...somewhere south of 30 in age, the fact is, I'm not. When I was younger, I was a pretty decent athlete, moved pretty well for someone 6-5.
Now, I don't move nearly as well as I used to. I'm still trying to stay active without having to dish out money or sign a contract for a health club.
No, I haven't found some folks to play golf with though I have found an ok driving range. I don't, well really, can't play basketball much any more, which isn't such a bad thing. I'd love to find a softball team here, but I haven't.
So in the meantime, I run. I've blogged about running before, so I won't go into too much detail. I was running on a treadmill for a good while and really started running out in the neighborhood for most of the past year and a half.
((See look at the gray in my beard//Courtesy: TLB))
On the good side, I lost some weight. I was in very good condition and just generally felt better. Really, I hoped there wasn't going to be a downside, but it is now showing up. I missed most of the past two weeks due to tendinitis in my left foot and ankle and I'm just trying to get back up to speed.
That is all good, but my foot still hurts after I run as does my right ankle (the one with 2 bone spurs). I'm guessing that means it is time to give in. If I want to try and stay in shape I'm going to have to go to a health club. Running on the pavement, I knew would eventually get to me, I was just hoping that it would take longer.
I hate doing that mostly because I don't want to be tied to a contract. But, I don't want to be out of shape again. I got up to 270lbs when I got married in 2007, I'm down under 230 now and want to stay there.
Maybe it is just age, I don't know. Things don't come as easy and the hurt a lot longer, but the work is necessary. I could just take the lazy way out, particularly since I've been really busy, but I don't want to. I like being in decent shape. I like being able to move. It affects the energy level each day. Really it does.
Enjoy today's music of appropriateness: We have Van Halen....need we say more. Thanks You Tube:
You know...there was a time, not too long ago, where I complained that I was too busy, that I had too much to do and that I just wanted to do nothing. I will never do that again. After being essentially unemployed for 7 months, I'll do every...and anything.
The past two weeks...they've been real busy and quite honestly....I've loved every minute of it. I'm working full-time again and loving every minute of it. I'm learning every day and its a challenge, there isn't much else that I can ask for is there?
((The Wonder Dog has been missing me//Courtesy: TLB))
I'm making the transition into writing news. It's been a bit of a challenge, but I'm getting there. The style and structure of how news is written as opposed to sports is 180 degrees different. There is also a big difference between writing full-fledged packages (stories with reporters voices) and writing anchor voice-overs.
The tough part has been the editing. The workflow for it is totally different than the last place that I worked as is the actual editing program. I'm starting to pick it up and actually cut a package on Friday in less than an hour, which surprised everyone...including me. But I already knew how to edit, I just needed to figure out how to get the program to do what I needed.
I've also been posting stories to the station website (WCPO.com). Needless to say, this has been a little easier to learn since I post here and on the Onlinesportsguys websites. But, its kinda fun to able to say that I am technically a web producer as well.
The other time eater has been school. Yes, that's right...I'm taking classes. Computer Web Design to be specific. I had class this past Monday and Tuesday which were my off days. That's why I've been so busy and haven't been able to post much.
Class has been interesting. I've learned how to use Photoshop and Dreamweaver and some programming language. I get the concepts, I just have to start getting in there and start practicing...though I also need the money to buy the programs (they ain't cheap). But that too will come. I'm patient. I'm not in a hurry. No, I'm actually enjoying the thought of being busy again. You don't really know how much you miss it...until you aren't busy.
With all of the Dreamweaver jokes flying around since I posted on Facebook about taking a class in the program...it's only appropriate that I post the song. Enjoy Gary Wright playing live...Thanks You Tube:
Whew! You know I really never thought that it would be "Big City" crazy living in Cincinnati, but I'll be damned if the city isn't trying to prove me wrong.
Last night (Saturday) at work was one of the strangest shifts that I've worked in my going on 22 years in the News business.
Starting at 2pm yesterday we had: 4-people shot, 2 of whom are dead, a murder-suicide, a 2-alarm house fire and another homicide.
Now I realized that we live in troubled times and all of that and yes, I know that I've been working mostly in Sports over the past 10 years. But geez, the only thing missing was a plane crash (Maybe I shouldn't say that out loud).
((Me at a Reds game//Courtesy: TLB))
I'm hoping that it won't be like that all of the time. Heck, even in Atlanta we didn't have many days like that.
Somehow, even with very limited weekend staffing, we got it all covered. Even with only one reporter and one nightside photographer. The dayside guy was able to keep us going with the stuff in the afternoon, that freed up the night shooter to do the other stuff.
Whatever unsure-ness that I had about being back at at a TV station and not in the field pretty much has now gone away. Between running the dayside desk by myself on Friday and dealing with yesterday, I feel much better.
Now it is on to learning the producing systems. I'm beginning to post stories and video to the website, which is now a very big deal and I'm getting more comfortable writing for news. It is a little more difficult than I thought. Writing my own Sports stories and an occasion News package isn't too difficult, its the breaking news voice overs and the re-writes of poorly written wire stories where it becomes a challenge.
But, as they say...challenges are good. It is a lot more fun to be on the upside of a learning curve than the down side. At least for me...it keeps me involved and pushing forward. Learning is always a challenge and that folks...ain't such a bad thing.
Enjoy your accompanyment music...Ozzie does the "Crazy Train":
