Thought I'd Something More to Say

Settling in: Or Back Where We Started

2011-11-15T14:10:00.001-08:00

Mi Casa

Well, we've been back in the Atlanta area for about 5 weeks now and you can say that, yeah, we've started finally settling in.

And yes, in a lot of ways we are living the cliched life.

The house, thankfully, is almost completely unpacked (except for the loft), we've got most everything where it needs to be and we've started buying the stuff we need to finish filling the place out.

It's been nice being busy almost every weekend, but for me, it almost feels a bit like I've stepped back two years.

It hasn't been quite the same as the first couple of months in Cincinnati for a few reasons. Mostly because I've been finding some stuff to keep busy and have been slowly catching up with people that I haven't seen in a while.

Me at Nebraska game

I also got a couple of freelance gigs, which, quite honestly were fun. Sure, it required me to shoot again, but it was with a small camera and very, very light gear. And I did, quite honestly, enjoy it. I got to go to Nebraska for a University of Nebraska game and Lubbock, TX for a Texas Tech game, shooting a segment for a friends production company. We did promotional spots for Texas Pete Hot Sauce (tasty). And I'm pretty sure there is no chance I'd go to either place if it wasn't something like that.

The challenge now is finding regular work. It's been a little different than it was in Cincinnati for several reasons. The biggest: there are jobs here. Not a lot of them, but a few. And I have friends trying to help me get them. And slowly but surely, they are starting to pan out. I just wish they'd pan out a little faster, but most of you who know me realize my ADD gets the best of me sometimes.

I've talked to a couple of people who are interested in bringing me on-board, but they can't do it right now. And it isn't one of those "We don't have an opening, call me when you do" kind of things.

Me at Texas Tech Game

And then there is this. I'm waiting on word when I can start over at CNN working on a freelance basis. No, it isn't full-time, but it is work. And good work. And something I'm really interested in doing.

Really,we've been doing stuff too.

Our second week here, we had to go to Louisiana to see Michelle's mom. It wasn't an "Ideal" trip, but worked out ok. We've been out to dinner several times with friends and we've even gone to see a Foo Fighters concert.

So yeah, we've been pretty busy. That accounts for 3 of our 5 weekends. Two of those being me travelling, one, both of us. And one where we baby sat Michelle's niece.

Now comes the next step, yeah, it's really, really tough sitting at home waiting for something to happen to keep me busy. But yet that is exactly what I'm doing. And no, I'm not stressed over it because I really believe that I will be working regularly again. Soon.

The Forever Move

2011-10-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

Air Mattress--oy, my back

How long has it been now?

I'm not a big fan of moving. For that matter, I'm not sure that I know anyone who is.

On the odd chance you don't know, yes, after a little over 2-years in Cincinnati, The Lovely Bride and I are returning to Georgia. We bought a really cool house in Smyrna and though we announced it a month ago (seems like a year), we are moving in full this week.

There is nothing about moving that is fun. And I should know. Since graduating college in 1988, I've moved 13 times (I had to count), with the current move being number 14. So this is a subject that I know a little something about.

Out of those 14 moves, at least 9 of them I did myself with the help of friends. We don't do that anymore.

Where I wrote this--temporary office

And over the years I've added and subtracted, gained and purged a lot of stuff. When we came to Cincinnati from Atlanta in 2009, we moved from a 2600 sq. ft. house to a 1300 sq. ft. rental house. Since living here we downsized to an 1100 sq. ft. apartment. And now we are moving back to an 1800 sq. ft. house.

But back to the question. Why does it take so long?

Here are my thoughts: First, you have to give notice at your job if you are leaving it. I finished work at the palatial digs of WCPO on Sept. 25th. I gave them notice on the 7th. That is 18 days. And what's worse, I knew I was leaving at the end of August. I just couldn't say anything.

Maybe that is why this seems like such a long process: We've known we were moving for 60-plus days and are just now getting to do it.

Anyway, continuing on my list: You have to find someplace to live. Sometimes that is easy, sometimes it isn't. We were lucky. We are friends with our realtor and she's helped us in no short order; sell 2-condos, buy 2-houses and sell 1-house. She knows us pretty well and what we like. We found a place in a matter of a couple of days. Specifically, in one weekend.

Then there is the move itself, which may be one of the single most stressful things you'll ever do in your life. Yes, it was easier, to an extent, when you did it yourself. It's much more difficult when movers are involved.

We got estimates from 2 sets of movers. And believe it or not, the cost was nearly $2000 different. For the same stuff. To pack and load our stuff, which there is no longer a ton of; and to move it to Georgia.

You then have to schedule them..in advance to do it.

Sept. 2009 the move to Cincy

They came yesterday (Tues. the 4th) to move our stuff and I now sit, writing this in an empty apartment. TLB is cleaning parts of it that I didn't yesterday and we drive down to Georgia tomorrow (6th).

I've never been so ready to be done with something my entire life. No, I don't have a job down in Atlanta (yet), I think it won't take as long as it did here in Cincinnati (6-months). So I'm a little anxious about that. But it's also a lot easier to find something in the town you are living in than from 500+ miles away.

I know, it will all be over soon and we'll be spending our weekend unpacking our stuff and finding out how much we need to fill up the house. I look forward to that.

I guess though I really shouldn't complain too much. It does pale in comparison to the move up to Cincinnati. That one, we knew about at the end of March 2009, we didn't get to move until that September.

Guess this kind of sums it up...and it is one of my favorite songs of all-time:

Maybe I'm Amazed

2011-08-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Best I could do with a camera phone and no zoom

Betcha thought you'd never hear from me again on this blog...did ya? Or am I so predictable that you knew I'd eventually come back.

Ah...it's probably a little of both.

Really, the big reason I'm back is because I wanted to share about a great concert we saw last week (Aug.4th).

We saw Sir Paul McCartney play Great American Ball Park here in Cincinnati.

And yeah, he was every bit as good, or better than advertised.

The video screen

We've all, or at least I think we've all been to big, stadium concerts growing up. For me, it was the "Rock Superbowls." Me, my first big concert was a "Rock Superbowl" in 1983 (I'm old), featuring Journey, Bryan Adams, Sammy Hagar and Aerosmith. It was a drizzly late-summer day in Orlando, Florida and we went to the now Citrus Bowl (former Tangerine Bowl) and sat in the metal bleacher seats for 4 hours.

It was pretty impressive.

But not as impressive as Sir Paul. Think about it. A 69-year-old "Rock Legend". He's put in the time, toured for years and lived the life. Yet he popped up on stage on a 85-degree, humid night in a Red Sport coat ready to entertain.

And entertain he did. For not one, not two, but three hours. No opening act. No sitting down and taking a water break. No intermission. Three hours of non-stop hits from the Beatles, to Wings, to McCartney the solo artist.

Oddly, there was a mix of ages in the crowd. Mostly older, there was a healthy amount of teenagers and twenty year old's too. And they got it.

For me, it was nostalgic and as the Lovely Bride will tell you, I was "Way" into it. So into it that my voice was shot for a day and a half afterwards. For those my age, McCartney's music was stuff we heard as kids and made you think about that time.

Me and the Lovely Bride in our seats..

It was impossible to not smile. And laugh. And sing. We did all of that.

So you are probably asking, why are you giving us a concert review?

And the answer is two reasons: One, because if you are above the age of 30, you must go see him play live if you can. And two, for those of us with bucket lists, it's one more thing that I can now scratch off.

Here's some kinda crappy cellphone video of "Live and Let Die", this was so cool the video doesn't begin to do it justice:

Home Alone

2011-05-19T18:21:00.000-07:00

Me and TLB

10, well, no--actually 11 days on my own. Really, anyone who's known me for a long period of time is probably asking what's the big deal about spending 11 days without the wife? I'm mean, dude, you lived on your own for how long?

Roughly about 18-years. From age 22 through age 40. 1988 through the end of 2005.

And before anyone says "Aw, you're just whipped" (Tom Leonard), it's not quite the same as when you are younger.

Yeah, sure, you can pretty much do whatever you want. You can go out and drink beers and hey, I get to watch more sports in this time period than I will in the next 10-months. But it is different.

Unfortunately, part of it may be because I'm where I am (Cincinnati) and away from the friends I would normally hang out with during this time, and part of it may just be because I'm getting old, but either way, it's just really weird working and then having to come home and take care of both myself and the cat.

And it's not that I don't know how to cook, I actually do...and from what I'm told, I'm fairly good at it. I just don't cook much anymore, Michelle does that.

It's funny when you have all this time to yourself and you are wishing that you didn't have all this time to yourself. Never thought I'd be at that point. I always had work and up until my current job, I worked...a lot. That's not to say I don't now, but it is different.

The Wonder Dog

Heck, I don't know, maybe part of it is missing the dog. For the last 11 years, I had the Wonder Dog with me to keep me company. That's not to say Oliver, the cat, isn't good company, but it is different. Sure, he has his time where he hangs out with me...he is sprawled out on the back of the couch behind me while I write this. But it is not the same, it's different.

Really, I just miss having 'Chelle here with me. I miss what one of my co-workers calls "Sexy married time" or sitting on the couch in gym shorts and t-shirts watching TV together. I'm not whining here, really. Part of her job now includes travel, and I'm down with that. It's usually just a couple of days at a time, which is a little easier, but it's just the way things worked out this time.

I hope this doesn't come off sounding like I'm a whiny bitch. I'm not trying to. I guess I'm just lonely right now. You know, I had to do this for a couple of months in 2009, when she moved here for her job and I had to stay in Atlanta until we sold our house, that was much, much harder than this.

But, hey, between this and the constant love and attention OnlineSportsGuys takes out of my day, combined with work and I'm pretty busy and the day is over before you know it. Time will fly by, and the leftovers will run out, and 'Chelle will be home in less than a week now, so I got that to look forward to.

It's a safe bet, none of the stuff in this clip will happen (of course movie was made in early 80's):

It's not as easy as you'd think...

2011-05-04T18:27:00.000-07:00

Me producing Sunday Sports Special--circa 2005/Courtesy: jon nelson

There are some things that you just know how to do. And because of that, you just assume that everything associated with it will be easy.

It's not that simple.

For anyone who's known me since I've been working in TV, you probably are aware that I produced Sports shows and Sportscasts on and off pretty much since I started in the business.

Sure, there were periods of time where I didn't do it. After all, I was always a Photojournalist too. I shot a lot of video in that time and had more than a few bosses who just assumed that was all I did.

It isn't.

Today (5/4/11), I got to do something I've never done in all my years in TV, I produced a Newscast. You might ask: "Why is that a big deal?" "Didn't you say you've produced Sports shows?".

I did say that and I did produce Sports shows. Heck, I've won awards while doing it. I created or helped create a couple of Sports shows in Atlanta, so, yeah, I know how it's done.

Me and Mark Harmon interviewing Michael Boley/Courtesy: atlfalcons

News is different.

Sports isn't easy to produce, but it's different. I never really believed that until today. Sure, I worked in News off and on throughout my career and have a pretty good grasp of it. But I can safely say...producing a newscast is entirely different than doing Sports.

Why is that?

Sports is fairly straightforward and simple. There is a lot of ad-libbing involved, but you know the content. And you can be a little looser and more flexible with it. That means you don't have to be exact in your timing. For instance, when I did my Sunday Sports Special at WGCL in Atlanta, I always knew that I could go into the show about a minute light. I knew that my anchor, Mark Harmon would make the time up and if we were tight at the end of the show with time...I could tell him to pick up the pace and he would.

News is nothing like that.

When you are producing 30-minutes of a 90-minute news hole, you have to be pretty close to exact in your shows. You have to make sure things are timed to the second. You have to hit your breaks at certain times and you have to put as much content in the show as you possibly can.

Me working at Atlanta Motor Speedway/Courtesy:Me

With a sports show, you can put in a rough time for stories knowing that you don't have to be precise getting in and out of it. News, is completely different. And if you aren't exact, the whole show gets out of whack. If the whole show gets out of whack, then you have to start cutting things.

In a sports show, you can just say, kill a particular story and it isn't that big a deal. As long as the show times out in the end, everyone is happy. News is nothing like that. If you are really heavy it not only impacts the stories in the show, it impacts Weather and Sports. And neither the weather folks nor the sports folks like it when you cut their time. And depending on the people and situation, they may let you know about it.

Having been on the Sports end of it, I don't like cutting their segments. Really, I don't. Though the on-air folks need to know it isn't personal.

Let me give you an example. In Atlanta, when I first started, Sports came after Weather...right after weather. If the weather guys went long, which they on occasion do, it meant condensing the Sports. When it started happening 3-4 times a week, we (me and my anchor) finally had to say something to the News Director (the boss) about it.

The compromise was putting a break between weather and sports. It didn't always mean Sports got all of their time, but it did most of the time.

It was a good feeling today to get back in the chair. It's funny, I was a video photographer for 20-years and only produced for roughly 9 or 10 of those years. I like producing, it's something I took to pretty well and it's something most everyone who knew how I worked figured I'd be decent at. I don't miss the shooting part, heck, I actually have feeling in my shoulder for the first time in the past 5-years. Yeah, it hurts once and awhile, but its mostly depending on the weather or how much I use it.

I do, at times, miss going out on stories and the adventure of being in the field. I always enjoyed that part. But I'm older now. I've done an awful lot. I've been all over the country covering stories and been to most of the biggest events in my generation's lives. I'll always have that, it can't be taken away and the people, places and things I've experienced, most people can only dream of.

And even though I've moved back into News, my heart is and will always be in Sports. It's what I know best and the looseness and spontaneity of it I always enjoyed. Sports people and the people they cover don't generally take themselves quite as seriously as News people do.

But...lift a glass. Enjoy your beer. Me, I've done something not everybody can do, I crossed the streams. I changed flight. If it wasn't official before, it is now, I've become an honest-to-goodness news guy.

It's a little weird, but then again, it's early David Bowie. But it is somewhat appropriate:

Why is everyone a skeptic?

2011-05-02T13:59:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia Daily News Cover on 5/2/11

Today has been a strange day. No, the last few months in some ways have been really weird. It's almost like we are living in a different world then we used to.

So you might be asking: "What the hell are you talking about?" Well, sit down boys and girls...I'm about to answer that question and some of you...might not like what I'm about to say.

The subject of my ire is the rampant skepticism...about pretty much every thing that is going on in people's daily lives and in the world in general.

So the next question would be--"I still don't get your point?"

No, I'm guessing for some of you...you probably don't.

My point is, we (as in all of us) have gone from living our lives looking ahead and optimistic to being incredibly cynical and looking behind to blame and find the conspiracy in pretty much everything in our lives.

Huh?

The best example I can possibly give of what I'm talking about has happened in the past week or so. First, the president has to call a press conference to prove to a reality show host that he was born in the U.S.

Really?

The worst part is, a fairly large segment of the population believed the reality show host rather than the president. Despite the numerous documents revealed that said otherwise.

What part of that strikes you as weird?

I fully realize...and have had discussions with many people about the role of questioning things. It's what I do for a living. And they are right. Some things need to be questioned. But only to the point of rational thought. There are many, many things that we believe without questioning the people that say them. Judges, lawyers and in some cases...people on T.V.

But nobody believes them either. Everyone allegedly "Has an agenda". And what is worse, there are an awful lot of people who believe this. In my business (T.V), we've gone from being the "Trusted Voice" to being the one's "With an agenda". And the reason for that. Because politicians...with an agenda told their followers that. And the followers believe them. So now the media is branded as a group "With an agenda".

And it is so wrong and incorrect it isn't funny. But yet that is what people believe. Pollsters say only 30% or so of the public trust people on T.V. Why is that? Do they really think people doing the news are trying to deceive them? That we make stuff up? Can they offer tangible proof other than their own perception? No.

Where am I going with this?

What I'm getting at has really pissed me the hell off the past few days. It started with the whole Obama versus Donald Trump thing. What was the point? What made me angry is the ass-clown Trump made Obama have to call a press conference to prove Trump was wrong.

It's the whole "Birther" thing. And those "People" are in some cases rational grown up's who are supposed to be reasonably intelligent. To them this was the "Golden Egg" story. They were going to prove he's a "Sham" and "Stole the Presidency". People....shut the hell up...you sound like RACISTS! (Hmmmm....)

The other thing that is pissing me off is now that Osama bin Laden...or Obama bin Laden as some have called him...

It's a story full of twists and turns and ultimately will be the story of 2011. But yet it doesn't seem to be enough that the President, the past 2 presidents, congress, the military, the media, former military, foreign officials and others say Osama is dead. Now the charge is "We gotta see the body". Really.

The government buried the guy at sea. There was a reason for that. And there are pictures, with half the guys face blown off. And officials are contemplating whether or not to release them because they are apparently pretty graphic. And D.N.A tests. And eyewitnesses...quite a few of them.

But that's not enough.

No, I had a couple of friends tell me today "We're journalists, we need to see proof". And they are right...to a point. We take police at their word when they describe a crime scene. We weren't necessarily there to see what happened or conduct our own investigation for each crime we report. There has to be a certain level of credibility given to statements and descriptions that were made. We have no choice.

Maybe I'm just ranting about something stupid, but I don't think so. It gets me really pissed off to hear all the crazy accusations and assumptions that are made about things these days. I'm in no way, shape or form saying you should believe everything you hear, you shouldn't.

All I ask is please...PLEASE...think about things before you say something stupid about them. Even if it is just for a few seconds, before you start throwing out random accusations and just plain falsehoods and pass them off as the truth.

I want to believe that most people are capable of rational, logical thought. I don't have to agree with it. That doesn't bother me at all. I like that everyone's opinion can be different. All I want is for there to be a logical, reasonable argument that can be made for your point. And respect that someone else's perception or opinion may be different than yours.

Looking for the worst: Don't be so judgmental

2011-02-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

Mila Kunis/Celebuzz.com

Is it wrong to wonder why we lost all respect for each other? I'm not really saying you and me...although I guess theoretically I could be.

No, my question is more along the lines of why everyone is so angry and quick to criticize and more importantly, so damn quick to judge?

I was thinking about this after watching the Oscar's last night with TLB (The Lovely Bride) in part because of something she brought up. Here we were, sitting on the couch, watching the Pre-Game show (Red Carpet show) before eating dinner and I asked a question. "Why is this all about the fashion?". Her answer "It's the only thing that really counts".

My question is why? Is it that important to line up people to criticize and harangue these multi-millionaire actors and actresses for how they dress for an event? Or for that matter, who are we to judge them for it? And yet we do. I mean, heck, look it the long list of "Experts" who chime in and grade the actresses for what they are wearing. Is that what we've become?

((In the photo--Apparently the dress on Mila Kunis here, was judged a "B-Minus"---what the hell does that mean?))

There are tons of other examples of this. Heck, I experience it at work almost every day. Yeah, sure, I'm a journalist and writer and I get paid to write. But I don't claim to be perfect. I may strive to be perfect, but I'm not.

Writing Class/Courtesy: this.org

And yet the criticism is not only fast, it's nasty. You'd be amazed at the comments we get on my stations website ((www.wcpo.com)). "Who the hell taught you how to write?" "Are you on crack, hell I can do better than you""Are you all 3rd graders with no English skills" "You can't even write a clear freaking sentence".

Hell, when did the people who take the time to comment on websites become the grammar police? And if they are so great at it? Why aren't they professional writers?

But you can't say anything to them. You want to, but you can't. And quite honestly, it's the tone more than anything else that pisses me off. It's okay to point out a mistake, I have no problem with that. Just don't be so damn nasty about it and act like you've never made one. It's the same with the clothing critics...if you know so damn much then why aren't you the greatest designer that ever lived? Until you are..."Shut the fuck up!".

Sorry about the language.

I don't know. Heck, I have no problem admitting that I'm a cynic. But I don't judge everyone else either.

Here's another example. I'm reading a story about the NFL Scouting combine. Oh my GOD! Mark Ingram ran a 4.65 40-yard dash. According to the writers there (and there are way to freakin' many of them), he just killed his draft stock in the NFL.

Mark Ingram at combine/Courtesy: nba.msg.com

Really? How do you figure? One, the kid hasn't played a game yet. Two, how often in a football game is he going to be running 40-yards in a straight line in track shoes and dry-fit clothes on?

Let the kid play football. We'll see.

If you read all the story's from the Todd McShay's and Scout.com's and NFL Network guys, you'd think the only way to judge a football player is by measuring every part of his body, asking him a bunch of bizarre questions to see how he'll respond (the Wonderlic test) and then have him run the 40.

Come on guys, you can't measure heart. You can't put a metric on how bad someone wants to be successful. If you go by the Combine results as the all-mighty, then every 1st Round Draft pick would be the greatest to ever play the game. That folks, ain't happening.

I'm asking a question here, and really, I know it's rhetorical. But when did we become so damn mean? When did we become a nation of back seat quarterbacks? When did those of us who've never done anything, proclaim ourselves "Experts" who can rip and destroy someone who's attempting to do something? I'm all for the "1st Amendment" and "Freedom of Speech", I mean I'm a frickin' Journalist, I live by it.

Sure, when I write a story on the OnlineSportsGuys.com blog, I express my opinion about things. But its just my opinion. And I always put facts or an explainer in there as to why I am saying it, I've worked in and around Sports for well over 20-years, I'm qualified to offer that opinion. If you can give me a good, rational, logical explanation as to why you are judging someone, insulting someone or criticizing someone, you have every right to do it. Just don't hide behind your frickin' computer, be a douchebag and not be willing to back up anything that you say.

There...I feel better now.

If it will make you feel any better, I found this old Santana song from the early 80's...enjoy it:

Beerfest: A sellout crowd and great diversion

2011-02-17T17:59:00.000-08:00

Cincinnati Beerfest/Courtesy: Me

Sometimes the right thing comes up at the right time to take your mind off the other things you are dealing with at the current time. I really needed it this past weekend.

Last weekend, the second weekend in February, was one of those weekends. The Lovely Bride and I didn't do a ton, but we went to one event we'd been looking forward to. Beerfest.

Honestly, the event wasn't the all-out party that you'd think it was. It was the 4th Annual Cincinnati Beerfest, a celebration of the Craft Beer movement.

Most of you reading this are friends of mine and you all know how much of a fan we've become. Look at it like being a wine connoisseur.

I might add at this point, the picture isn't deceiving, the place was absolutely packed. The crowd was estimated at around 6,000. I can't argue with that. And yeah, there was a percentage of them that were there to just get drunk. But, at $30 a head, most were there to try new and exciting flavors of beer.

The Lovely Bride Enjoys/Courtesy: Me

And there were plenty of them. The popular favorites, Dogfish Head, Stone, Rogue, Left Hand, Sierra Nevada and a whole lot more. There also were some smaller breweries that had some pretty good stuff too. I've already found a couple of good local Microbrewers here, Rivertown and Mt.Carmel, this night I found a new one, Elevator Brewing from Columbus, Ohio.

We didn't spend an inordinate amount of time at the event, a couple of hours. And yes, before you ask, I stopped sampling after the 1st hour and nursed a bottle of water the rest of the night. But we had a great time.

Me at Beerfest/Courtesy: TLB

We spent a good 20 minutes just waiting to get in. The reason. The line. General admission ticket holders couldn't get in until 7:30 or an hour after those who paid $60. We were armed though. Armed with a 4 oz. tasting glass and 25 drink tickets, we were good to go.

We started out at the first booth we saw, Dogfish Head. We thought they had a Palo Santo Marrano, but they didn't so we ended up with an India Brown IPA.

We worked the room, Elevator's Porter, a Bell's Stout, Founder's version of an Ale, Left Hand's Milk Stout...all great beers. (If you are wondering, I love me some Stout beer...and some Porters) The other kind of funny thing, each table had, along with their beers, a container of water to wash out your tasting glass with before the pour.

I wonder sometimes if we've just picked up an odd habit or we are onto something. Proof, really is in the pudding. Over the past year, sales of Budweiser and Miller Products are down some 12-percent, while craft beers continue to gain market share. Yeah, I've had my fair share of their products, and didn't think anything about it at the time.

Maybe it's just age. Maybe it's just selectivity, I don't know. I don't really drink to get drunk anymore, I don't need to. I drink beers because I enjoy them. Because I've discovered there are an incredible amount of creatively crafted versions of beer. No, I don't like them all, but there are so many of them, it will take a long, long time before I repeat myself.

Next time you find yourself in a restaurant or bar, go ahead, try something different. Try something that's not the same thing you've tried over and over again, you might come to realize what we have....there's a whole new world out there.

This is what passed for fancy beer when I was a kid...or at least a clip. Enjoy some Bob and Doug McKenzie : (yes, they pre-date "spuds")

How do you say thanks?

2011-02-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

Young Daisy/Courtesy: Me

This is something I never really contemplated writing about, but if I don't do it now, I don't know if I will. It's more a rhetorical question than anything else, but one of those things that when you get to the point where you are thinking about it, you want to know how to do it?

It's not something I've had to do on the level that I am about to. I've had relatives pass away, we've had to put down family dogs before and TLB and I had to say goodbye to her 1st cat, Simon on New Years Eve day a couple of years ago. Heck, when I was 16, my father had to go put down a German Shepard pup (Sam) that we had because she had mental issues when I wasn't around.

That being said, Daisy is different. Daisy the Wonder Dog came into my life as a pup. My sister had adopted her from a pet rescue and tried raising her along with my niece, Jordan. It was too much for her.

When I moved to Atlanta in 1999, Daisy and I spent time together and bonded. At that point, she had ended up with my parents, who lived there at the time. They already had a Golden Retriever, Hallie.

Fast forward to March of 2000 and I'm getting ready to buy a Townhouse when I asked. "If you'd like, I'd be glad to take Daisy in". "She'll have some room in the Townhouse". They said yes.

Sure, she was still pretty destructive when I got her. She ate a pair of my sneakers, a baseball glove and a part of the window sill along with any piece of wood or leather she could find. But she grew out of it. And we bonded. She was brought up right, Crate Training, healthy eating and exercise.

We were inseparable. Sure, I had to leave her with my parents to dog sit when I was traveling for work, which I frequently did in those days. Daze would sit at the window of their house and cry when I left. And come tackle me at a full sprint when I came to pick her up. Always.

It was the greeting when I came home that I'll always remember. It didn't matter if I was gone an hour...or 8 of them, she went crazy when I came home. She was there, smiling, with not 1, but 2 tennis balls in her mouth. And she would proceed to run laps around the couch before pouncing on me.

And then there was the "Moment of Zen". Truth be told, my best friend came up with that. Since Jon and I talk most everyday, most of our conversations were while I was on my way home. And quite often, it would be as I got home to Daze. You had to hear the Zen to understand it. It really sounds like she's saying "Hello" if you listen. It's just really funny to hear it from a dog.

It's the little things you remember the most. When I would stretch out on the couch, she was right there at my feet. If I went in the office to do work, she had to be underneath the desk. Even at night, she had a bed next to mine, she was there when I went to sleep, she was there when I woke up. When she was young, it would involve her paws and face on the bed trying to wake me up, as she got older, it was just sitting there waiting to be pet.

We had some adventures. I took her with me to Panama City on a Scuba Trip in 2004. She was great in the hotel...except when she saw a squirrel near the tree on the other side of the parking lot. She treed it. Couldn't have been prouder. Much later, she would go with us to visit my parents after they moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. We had a crazy trip to Michelle's hometown Lafayette, Lousiana in 2007. Just me and the dog, driving 9 hours in a non-stop rain that ended as severe thunderstorms. But she was always there. And as long as I was there too, she was happy. She even came with me to the 1st ever WGCL Fantasy Football draft in the old Channel 46 shack on Briarcliffe Road. She just hung out, visited and got spoiled, by everyone there.

There is a saying that "The world is their playpen". That's the Wonder Dog in a nutshell. She had a "Stupid Pet Trick", and it made everyone who saw it, laugh.

I think the toughest adjustment that she's had to make, much like Michelle and I, was moving up north. The house we rented when we moved up here was a challenge for her, never mind us. But, it had a backyard, something she had never had. However, the first time I tried to let her out the back door onto the back deck leading to the yard, she just stopped. Stopped and stared "What? You're not coming with me?". I did. But the house was rough on her. Cold. Un-insulated, the winter was rough.

It got worse. She developed allergy issues. Bad allergy issues. We got a cat. Being the friendly dog that she was, she accepted him. And she just rolled with it, like she always does.

It's been really tough this winter. Even more so than last. Last year it snowed. A good amount. And she enjoyed it. She always liked the snow, the once or twice that it snowed in Atlanta, she'd run around like it was a new toy. But this winter has been too much. It's snowed. It's iced. A lot. Even more than the precip, is the cold. It's been horribly cold this winter. It's been tough on me, I can't imagine how hard it's been for her. But she's tried.

It started getting bad a couple of months ago. She was chewing the top part of her legs raw. She was shedding in clumps. But she never complained. Never wavered. We found out in September that she had Thyroid issues. I was giving her pills twice a day and rubbing solution on her legs to keep her from chewing. About...I guess a month ago, she started slowing down. I'm not sure if it was even noticeable then. She didn't greet me at the door with the two-tennis balls in her mouth, she didn't give me...or Michelle the "Moment of Zen". She just kind of wagged her tail, smiled and laid down.

It's been worse the past few weeks. She was spending most of her time in her orthopedic bed, next to where I sleep. She'd get up to eat, but that was about it. Last week, we realized where we were. I took her out to go to the bathroom on a cold, snowy morning. She went, but then laid down in the grass and just stayed there. I picked her up and carried her back to the apartment and we went to the doctor.

He gave her some pills and we did an x-ray and saw something not right. Her heart isn't right. By heart I mean the organ that pumps the blood. Her heart, that was and has always been right.

I struggle with this part, not because I'm sad, but because I want to do what's right. More than anything I don't want her to suffer and I don't want her to be miserable. I owe her that. I don't look back and I'm not going to be upset.

How do you thank a dog for doing what all good dogs do? How do you thank an animal for being your best friend for all these years? How do you thank her for listening to all your problems and always just being happy that you are there and sharing? I don't know if even something like this can do it justice. But I refuse to think anything else.

((Note--We are going to see the Oncologist today 2/9/11 at 4:30pm. My regular vet today said Daisy doesn't have much time left. Michelle and I know this. We are okay with this. We just want to know for sure.))

((2nd Update--Don't know if anyone else is reading this so far after its written, but we had to put Daisy down on Sunday. It wasn't good. She was really struggling and we couldn't bear seeing her like that. Especially since we knew it wasn't going to get better. Honestly, I couldn't really talk much about this until now. I'm still getting used to her not being there when I get up in the morning. The apartment is really quiet. Too quiet, which honestly, is the hardest thing to deal with))

Betcha' Didn't Know....Radio, radio

2011-02-01T13:56:00.000-08:00

The college roomies at my wedding/Courtesy: ???

How many of you know that I did a stint as a radio DJ? Probably a few of you do. Ross, Big Tom, my family and a few others...but not many. Yes, believe it or not, for a few months, many years ago, I was a DJ at WVGS, the student run radio station at Georgia Southern.

There were a few reasons that I did it, despite the fact that I'm incredibly self-conscious about having way-too deep of a voice.

It was during my summer off in I guess it was 1984 or 1985 when I got interested in maybe going the radio route. I spent that summer as an unpaid intern at what was then Y-106, a top-40 radio station in Orlando. It was a lot of fun, despite starting out as the guy who filed records in order. As the summer wore on, they gave me more stuff to do and I ended up working with the promotions department. I got to drive the station custom van to events and bring the giveaway items. You know, the giant party sub, the beer, free stickers--stuff like that. Heck, I even got drafted one time to be a judge at a bikini contest at a local hotel (yes, it was fun).

They must have liked what I was doing because at the end of the summer, the Promotions Director (also a DJ), wanted me to stick around and be his Assistant. But...it didn't pay very much ($9,000-a year), so I declined.

That fall, when I returned to Georgia Southern, I decided to see if that was what I wanted to do, so I signed up to be a DJ at the college station. They accepted me and low and behold, I had a show...every Saturday from 10 a.m until 1 p.m, which left me just enough time to get to the football games, which at that time kicked off at 1:30.

Bears/Falcons 2005 (chicago, it was -2)/thanks: hager

It was pretty fun, I called the show "The Saturday Morning Hangover Shift" and learned how to operate the board and everything pretty fast. The challenge....the music. At that time, my music knowledge wasn't that great, limited pretty much to Classic Rock and the stuff I saw on MTV (back when they played videos). WVGS at the time had a pretty good library of records in back, we could pick pretty much anything we wanted out of there, but had to pull at least 70-percent of our music from a bin in the front of the studio.

I had never heard of most of the music in there; REM, Midnight Oil, Squeeze and other 80's alternative music. But I learned...and learned to like a lot of it. One of the fun things was picking artists and tracks that I wasn't familiar with and playing them on the show to see if I liked them.

I did have a few regulars that I played. I loved the Police...I played a lot of their music during the show. My signoff song--"Walking on the Moon". I played David Bowie's "Young American" a lot too. Mostly it was stuff that I had seen on MTV, they played a lot of New Wave music at the time: Devo, Simple Minds...all kinds of stuff.

The other challenge was talking on the mic. Those who knew me when I was in Middle and High School will tell you I was kinda quiet. I was. Really. If I wasn't comfortable with the people or things around me, I didn't talk much.

But I had to talk on the radio at some point. And be engergetic...or at least interesting. One show, on a home football gameday, my replacement was late. So I had to stay on the air until they showed. Each break and in between songs, it was "Hey, I'm still here, but really anxious to get to the game....so and so should be here, well, should've been here 20 minutes ago to take you through the day. If so and so is listening, please hurry.

Me and the Vanderbilt Commodore/Courtesy: Eric Hager

The other was on a day where believe it or not, it snowed in Statesboro, Georgia (45-min. West of Savannah). There was a celebration scheduled for our 1-AA Champioship team that afternoon, the EagleFest. Our program director called me during my show and said "Hey, EagleFest is cancelled, make sure you mention it whenever you can". So I did. Every break. In between songs, coming out of songs...probably 75 times in 3 hours.

Anyway, there really isn't a deep seated meaning in this post, I was just thinking about it the other day. I still have a couple of my airchecks, though they are on cassette. I laugh when I think about it. I really had a lot of fun doing it, but I'm glad I went the route that I did.

I always thought I would be either on the radio, a writer or work in TV. And hey, low and behold, that's exactly what I did. It's not everyone that can say they are REALLY living the dream, but to some extent, I really am. Damn happy about it too.

With that in mind, here's your Police--"Walking on the Moon":

Watcha been doin' lately?

2011-01-13T10:44:00.000-08:00

Dear Everyone,

Oliver the Christmas Cat/Courtesy: Me

Hey! I'm back again. Yeah, I guess its kinda lame that I started this out posting almost everyday and now if I'm lucky, I get to this once a month. Sadly, there really isn't much of an excuse. Sure I'm busy, but I'm not that busy. And there has been stuff going on. So it's not like I've got nothing to talk about.

I guess the last time we talked was before Christmas. Wooo...that was a long time ago, wasn't it? Christmas was different this year. Very different. We, of course made the best of it, but it was tough because I had to work. I worked not only Christmas Eve, but had to around and go right back in at 7 the next morning.

Really, it was all worth it when I came home. TLB (The Lovely Bride), made a smaller scale version of a family tradition, "Italian Feast Night". In no short order, we had marinated tomatoes, marinated artichokes, some roasted peppers, some italian cold cuts and cheeses and some wine for starters. Dinner was a really, really big and very tasty lasagna. To say it was tasty would be selling it short, but if you ever want to come visit and try it out, let us know, it'll be one of the best meals you'll ever eat.

It was strange not being with the rest of our family, but there isn't much we can do about that right now. It's been kind of a bummer because both the family and most of our friends haven't been able to make it up here to see us in a long, long time.

Snowy Apartments/Courtesy: Me

New Year's wasn't a whole lot better. I had to work until 5 on New Years Eve...and yes, had to be back at work by 7 the next morning. We did go out though. For a little while anyway. We had dinner over at a friend of Michelle's and hung out for a bit before we headed home around 10. We got comfy and watched Robo Dick Clark until midnight and went to sleep.

Aside from it being perpetually cold here, there really hasn't been too much else going on. I'm still plugging away at work. It's been a bit of a challenge there, or at least it was during December because of vacations and the like. My schedule was really all over the place and had to jump between the desk and writing sometimes in the same day.

Really, I need...no, we need a vacation. Some time off. Even if it's a long weekend that isn't here in Cincinnati. But that isn't so simple. February is already coming up fast and I can't take time off. To go anywhere, we've gotta put the dog at Camp Bow Wow. While she seems to like it there and we like the way they take care of her, it really takes a toll on her. She turned 13 October and really just doesn't do much anymore. Pretty much eats, poops and follows me around the house.

We are, at least as of now, going to take a couple of days in March. My cousin Ilene's youngest kid is getting his Bar Mitzvah in New Jersey and we are going to go. TLB went to the kids older brother getting his a couple of years ago with my parents, I couldn't go. I'm going this time. We're going to take a couple extra days to do some New York stuff for ourselves.

Inside the Museum Center/Courtesy: Me

Really, there isn't much else going on in my oh, so exciting life these days. We haven't even had a lot of "Excellent Adventures" as of late. Oh, we did go visit the Cincinnati Museum Center and I've gotta say, it was surprisingly cool. The whole thing is an old, renovated train depot. There was a lot to see and we spent the better part of a day there checking it out. If you ever come visit us, we'll take you.

Thanks for reading my letter. I really should write them more often, but we all know how much of a slacker I can be. Hopefully I'll get more motivated....or pissed off about something and find an outlet for it by writing it down here.

Talk to you soon,

Phil

Enjoy your Bonnie Raitt, listen to this while reading please:

Damn it's cold!

2010-12-14T17:56:00.000-08:00

Apt. Parking Lot/Courtesy: Me

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:

Holidays and Other Things

2010-11-30T17:42:00.000-08:00

Hockey Night/Courtesy: me

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:

Politicians and elections are a joke.....a bad one at that.

2010-11-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

My name is Phil Cantor and I approved this blog.

Politician/Courtesy: I-Heart-god.com

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:

Long, long way from home....

2010-10-11T14:47:00.000-07:00

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:

We're Back!!!!!

2010-09-28T14:03:00.000-07:00

Downtown Cincinnati/Courtesy: Me

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:

Living a Double Life

2010-09-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Me surfing for News/Courtesy: my mac

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:

A Day Late and Another Year Older....

2010-09-07T17:48:00.000-07:00

The Chief/circa 2004

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...

Hail to the Chief:

Sports Fans Delight...

2010-08-31T17:37:00.000-07:00

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:

No Football Friday's for me...

2010-08-27T10:28:00.000-07:00

Me shooting UT/UGA football

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:

Yes, I am a Beer Snob....

2010-08-19T15:49:00.000-07:00

Beach Brown Tale Ale//Courtesy: Me

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)

Mother, mother ocean....

2010-08-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

Does it get any better?//Courtesy: me

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.

Move it or Lose it!

2010-08-09T14:40:00.000-07:00

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:

The Fine Art of Procrastination

2010-08-02T14:40:00.000-07:00

Daisy says "Get on with it already"

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:

Driving me crazy!

2010-07-26T13:49:00.000-07:00

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):

Annoying people....

2010-07-19T18:37:00.000-07:00

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

Time to pack the boxes...

2010-07-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

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.

Anyway enjoy your Jovi...Thanks You Tube:

Long, long way from home....

2010-07-03T13:59:00.000-07:00

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:

Writing is such sweet sorrow....

2010-06-25T05:44:00.000-07:00

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:

Getting old.....Must Excercise

2010-06-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

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:

The Love of Being Busy...

2010-06-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

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:

Craziness!

2010-06-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

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":

Different Food for Different Folks....

2010-06-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

When you live in an area that is different from the area of which you are from, you sometimes notice differences. Granted, sometimes they are subtle or cultural, but they are all the same still differences.

TLB (The Lovely Bride) and I spent part of a warm, sunny Memorial Day afternoon at the Taste of Cinicnnati food festival. We consider ourselves somewhat enlightened on good, quality food and we expected nothing less at "The Taste".

((Me and a Peroni beer//Courtesy: TLB))

The Taste of Cincinnati is one of the country's oldest "Food" festivals. It's held in the downtown area, spread out along 5th street for about 6-8 blocks.

I guess that I should take the time now to point out that...well...we ain't from this part of the world. Granted, Cincinnati is more Northern Kentucky than a part of Ohio, but either way it is a pretty good distance from most of the world that we were raised in. Much like people in the North tend to mock the Southern lifestyle, that works both ways.

We've been to a couple of "Festivals" on the streets of downtown Cincy and quite honestly, though it was a somewhat strange event, we thoroughly enjoyed the "Oktoberfest Zinzinnati" event back in late September. How can you not love a 6-block long street party to celebrate beer?

So we went to the "Taste" with an open mind, looking for some adventure. We found it. We started at a pizza place. I had a sub with some pretty good Italian cold-cuts, TLB, a slice of their 4-cheese and spinach pizza. Yummm...pretty good stuff.

We made our way down the street noting places and items that sounded interesting. By the time we hit the mid-point of our walk, it was time for something else. Our choice "Bumble-bee stew" from a restaurant called J-Gumbo's. I was a mix of rice, corn, black beans, tomato's and a honey sweet broth. Yes, it was every bit as good as it sounded.

((Sauerkraut balls//Courtesy: TLB))

The next stop came after we finished our 1st lap of the festival. We stopped at a Thai food place (I can't remember the name) and got something called "Golden Delight". It essentially was a dumpling wrapped in a noodle shaped like a pouch and tied at the end. Combined with a spicy-sweet dipping sauce, it was pretty good.

After re-stocking the beer supply at the Blue Moon booth, we rolled on. Our last stop took us to something that we both had been curious about. When at the Oktoberfest event, we noticed that all the German places sold "Sauerkraut Balls". **Note to my friends** please stop snickering here.

We decided it was time to try the "Sauerkraut Balls". Thankfully, they were about what you would think they'd be. Think "hush-puppy" stuffed with Sauerkraut and you'd be pretty spot on.

Needless to say, some of this you would never find in the South. I don't think I am being disparaging in saying this. We've been to the "Taste of Atlanta", it was nothing like this. Well, actually they had a bunch of restaurants serving their foods too, the foods were just a tad bit different.

I won't totally go on record as saying that they have some odd tastes here because there are some really good eating places in town if you know where to look. What I am saying is that it is just different.

The food here is good, it is just mostly fried. It's mostly the heavy stuff, though we've found some awfully good hamburgers in this part of the world.

I'll also add that the beer selection is fantastic too. They have the usual people and places that don't expand there repertoires past Budwater and Millwater Lite, but not nearly as much as they do down south. No, there's some seriously good, deep, wide ranging beer taste's here, something that makes someone like me, who's into the craft beers....very, very happy.

Just because this is a kind of cool song...and there are some latent cultural differences in play too. Enjoy your music fix featuring Sweet singing "Ballroom Blitz". Thanks You Tube:

Winner, Winner....Chicken Dinner!

2010-05-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

I love that line. John Bucigross from the 4-letter (ESPN) uses it all the time. Today, I'm borrowing it.

Finally, my short-term goal has been achieved. I got a full-time job. It's been 8 months since I last worked a 40-hour week, next week I will do it again.

Without a doubt, this was the hardest thing that I've ever had to do. I learned, learned a lot about both the job search and even more about myself.

((The WTLV-TV Rally Dogs, Circa 1992 (media league champs)//Courtesy: Jeff Imperial))

I've always been very goal oriented and that really was helpful. You have to be. The hardest thing for me was the networking. I've said it many times on this blog, job searching is a total different beast than it used to be.

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Cincinnati was to get involved with a couple of networking groups. Through them I met some people who introduced me to a few more people. Will they be long term friends, I don't know, but without them I could never have gotten my name out there like I was able to.

No, I didn't search the "New" textbook way. Though I did apply some of the things that I learned in and through those groups.

I went back to one of those groups this past Tuesday. Mostly to thank Pat Frew, the moderator/creator of the group who extended me an unbelievable amount of courtesy and help.
Pat spent some time in the TV business and is perhaps one of the most connected people in the greater Cincinnati area. I will never be able to thank him enough for his help.

I've always been one who is willing to help others. I always will. I want to know that people that I know don't go through what I did. I don't want them to take a demeaning job like I did for a period of time. I want everyone to find something that they are happy doing. I want, even if the national unemployment rate is hovering around 10%, for the people that I know, the people that I like to be happy. I want John Bucigross to look at them and be able to say "Winner, Winner...Chicken Dinner".

Enjoy your music clip. Cheap Trick doing "I want you to want me!"....

Restlessnessnessness.....

2010-05-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

This is just kind of a random thought that I was wondering about. Ever since I started working again, my days at work go really fast and my days off go really slow. Why is this? It certainly didn't feel that way before I was unemployed.

Maybe I'm just restless. Maybe it is the excitement and newness of working again. Or maybe it is just that I am not spending all of my time when I'm not at work....looking for work. More than likely that is what it is.

((Extreme Close Up of Me//Courtesy: TLB))

The funny thing is I jumped right back into a routine. I started working right before we left to go on a short vacation. When I came back I had to work the next morning and then had 4 days of class once I finished my weekend. That got things moving at more of a normal speed.

Now I sit here anxious to do something on the days off. Granted, I did get some things accomplished today, but it has reeeaaaallly dragged out.

Sure, I posted a couple of stories to the OnlineSportsGuys website, I went to the bank, ran 3 miles, got the people who own the house we are renting to replace our broken microwave and arranged to go take a test. And I still have part of the day left. But Michelle will be home soon, we can have a beer or two, sit down to dinner and watch some TV tonight.

You know, as I write this, I'm beginning to think that it sounds like I am complaining, I am not. I do relish having time off and I am fully aware that I should be careful what I ask for.

This week will be better than last. I have a class tomorrow at the Computer school. Wednesday I have to go to the station and take my writing test (apparently I have to do this so they can promote me to full-time next week).

Before I know it, Friday will be here and I'll go back to work for three days. Next week I have 3 days worth of classes.

I'm about to go back to being a full-time employee. I'm going to have to drop a few of my classes, but not all of them. My time, even though it sounds like I'm complaining I have too much of it, will soon be gone. I relish the thought. I relish the challenge and I'm looking forward to doing much, much more than spending most of my day at the house...sitting in front of the computer.
(yes, I know i won't be able to post as much/that has slowed anyway)

Enjoy your STYX fix: Thanks Vevo and The You Tube

Long Nights...True Stories

2010-05-10T06:27:00.000-07:00

We've finally begun to settle into a bit of a routine up hear in Southern Siberia and that is, I think a good thing.

This weekend I finally got cut loose and was on my own working the Assignment Desk Saturday and Sunday night. I can't say it was the greatest experience I've ever had...because it wasn't. Mind you it wasn't bad and I don't want it to sound like a complaint because I am really quite thankful for the job.

I never really had to work on the Desk much before this. Sure, I filled in on occasion...a shift here, a couple of hours there but never really had to do it regularly.

In some respects, its kind of interesting. You'd be amazed at the wide variety of people who call TV stations, particularly on the weekends.

My favorite thus far is Keith. He calls every Saturday and Sunday night, he's always drunk and he's always being chased by the KKK who are trying to beat him up. The conversation is usually quick, "I'm Keith (I can never understand his last name), I want to report that I'm bein' chased by the kkk and they is tryin' to beat me up". "Hi Keith, Okay, I'll look into it, I've gotta go, thanks for the call".

My other is the guy who wants to know why we aren't investigating the government making us a socialist state. Not "in the process of" for all my crazed republican friends but rather, "already done it". He also calls every weekend. "You do know that we've been taken over by a hostile force don't you?" "Why aren't you investigating them?" and "Don't you want to save Democracy?" . "Well sir, I can't start the investigation myself, but I will pass your concerns on to the I-Team, thanks for calling I've gotta go".

Love it. I learned a long time ago that when you get callers like that, you give them a minute and when they want you to say something...which they always do, you give them a long, run-on sentence that finishes with "I've gotta go" and hang up. Works every time.

Of course there a wide variety of others. I think that a lot of people believe that TV folks work 24-7. I got a call about 10pm this past Sunday..."I need to speak to someone on the I-Team right now". "Well, ma'am, they aren't here tonight, I can send you to their voicemail". "Why aren't they there?". "Well, they usually work during the week". "When should I call?". "Try after 10am on Monday".

There are other weird things that go along with this, most of the job involves either calling people or in a lot of cases police departments and taking calls from people.

This past Saturday, I had to try and get some information on a shooting that I sent a photographer to. He tried, but couldn't get much information. This happened in one of Cincinnati's smaller "Townships" (for those who have never been here, there are hundreds of them, some have their own PD's, some don't). I called the "Township" Police Deparment...not once, but seven times trying to get some information or at least someone who could tell me something. On the 7th try, I finally got a human being. "We can't release anything" "We'll be sending a release to you by no later than 2300 (11pm)". That release...showed up...at 2pm on Sunday.

Really, in some respects it is kind of fun. But it is also kind of sad. I always knew that people randomly called TV stations about pretty much every aspect of their lives, but over time you forget that. I never really understood it and I never really considered that a large view of the audience. It just I guess is a statement on people in general, there are always bad and strange, but I also know that there are plenty of good and normal...they are the ones you don't hear from.

Enjoy one of the truly great Classic Rock Groups...Styx featuring our Fav Tommy Shaw...singing about the "Blue Collar Man". Thanks You Tube:

Back to School....

2010-05-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

I always wondered what it would be like to go back to school.

I was never a great student. Sure, I did pretty well when the spirit moved me...or if I was challenged. But more often than not I cruised by, did well enough to move along...but that was about it.

By now, you are probably tired of reading about me returning to work. I won't go into it, but I will say that part of my plan involves going back to school. No, not to get my masters. Quite honestly in the Journalism field...or more specifically the video world, a Masters Degree doesn't mean anything except that you are probably in debt.

((Computer picture//Courtesy: Clipartguide.com))

No, I am taking courses that would help me in what I do. Or at least something related to what I do. I am trying to get my Web Design certification. Partially because I just think that it would be good stuff to learn and partially because if I am decent at it, I stand a chance of making some money along with redesigning both this site and my production companies sites.

It isn't costing me a fortune and I'm not going to be in debt by taking the classes. Heck, I got a package deal at the Computer School that I'm attending.

The schedule is simple...sort of. I'm taking 17 one or two day courses at 8 hours per day. If you are thinking that is a lot you are right, it is. I'm doing this because the school offered a package deal that allows me to take as many courses as I can for 6 months at a set rate.

The 1st class was this week. Photoshop 1. You might be asking "You are paying for that?". Yeah, I am. I am because it showed me things that I would never know trying to learn the program on my own.

The classes are good. The 8 hours fly by. Rather than just listening to 8 hours of lecture, we are in front of a computer actually working with the software doing training exercises. Really, that is the best way to learn.

I think the last actual class that I took in College was in the fall of 1987. That's a long time ago. A lot of things have changed. Never mind the fact that I'm older, most of the things I want to learn didn't exist. That is what makes it fun though. That is what makes it a challenge. That is what makes this a worthwhile adventure; the chance to learn and the chance to apply what I've learned. It doesn't get much better than that.

In the spirit, enjoy a clip from the 80's classic Rodney Dangerfield movie Back to School. Thanks You Tube:

Waking Up in Vegas....

2010-04-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't say that I haven't been there any more. I have. And I now see why every grown up that I know holds the place in such high regards.

You know it's funny, when we got there it the visual imagery kind of hit me several different ways. On one hand, I just kept harkening back to Stephen King's usage of it in the movie The Stand. On the other hand, the biggest impression that I got was that I stepped into a hybrid of South Beach, Panama City, Adult Disney World and Cancun...kind of all mixed together.

((The strip at night//Courtesy: Me))

Of course I am talking about Las Vegas. In case any of you didn't know, that is where I've been all week. That is why you haven't been subjected to my wonderful blogposts.

It is probably a good thing that I didn't go there until now. Really, had I gone when I was in my early 20's, it wouldn't have been good. Sure, I would have had fun, but I would have been in trouble...bad trouble.

Just walking around, it is obvious. Everything goes. The beer and drink supply...endless. And it's cheap. Inhabitions...forget about them. Publicly doing things you'd never normally do...absolutely.

Since we are a bit older, we had more of a mellow trip. Yeah, there was a good amount of beer drank, but not a ton. Sure, we gambled a bit, but not much. Probably because I lost $40 bucks in about 5 minutes playing Blackjack.

((Me and TLB at the Wynn/Courtesy: Lisa Hart))

But damn! Anything you want to do is there. It isn't cheap. It's ballpark/vacation expensive....everything costs more there. But there is more of it. More food than you can imagine. Frozen Drinks, mixed drinks, cheap beer, imported beer....everything...and oh so much more.

Really, we didn't do much of that. We ate. We ate well. Very well. Gambled a bit and walked...a lot. And oh...we went to check out some Pawn Shop that a TV/Reality show is done in. I didn't get much out of that one, it looked like a smaller version of any generic Pawn Shop you could walk into.

But perhaps my favorite thing....or at least funniest is the handout guys. Mostly they are illegal immigrants or homeless folks trying to make a buck.

What do they do? They stand up and down the sidewalk trying to hand you brochures. Okay, cards or fliers to "Call Girls to your room" or "Girls at xxx Club". It cracks me up because when you are about to walk by, they "clap" the cards together and then try and shove one in your hands.

((Daytime Vegas/Courtesy: Me))

Are they annoying? Sort of. They don't actually stuff them in your hands. They back off if you ignore them...but they are funny never the less.

It probably could have been more fun with more money, but...you do what you can do with what you've got. I really did enjoy the trip. TLB (The Lovely Bride) and I had a lot of fun. Mostly we tried to relax and not think about our world at home...and that was a good thing.

Sure, the flight out sucked. 4 hours in an airplane is tough for me, most planes aren't built for people over 6-feet tall or people with broad shoulders. But it was worth it.

I'd go back. I'd go back in a minute. I'd go back armed with more money. I wouldn't go back for a long period of time because I did learn a lesson. As great a place as Vegas is, no, I wouldn't want to live there and I also wouldn't want to stay longer than the 3 nights that I did.

Enjoy Katy Perry's Waking Up in Vegas...the Unplugged version: Thanks Katy Perry.com/You Tube

When plans come together....

2010-04-20T11:40:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has ever laid out a plan for themselves knows that it isn't easy to say that "I love it when a plan comes together". Unless you are Hannibal Smith of the A-Team.

Despite a very frustrating past 7 months, it appears as though mine is actually working.

The first component was the job. Both me...and TLB (The Lovely Bride) were very unsure as to whether I should be working full...or part-time. Really, up to the point that I got offered my job on the Assignment Desk at WCPO, I wasn't sure which it would be. We had discussions of it being a full-time opportunity and it not. They offered the not, but it was 3 days at a good rate with the opportunity to pick up extra hours.

((Computer Illustration//Courtesy: tonkay.wikispaces.com))

What that allows me to do is something that I've talked about for a long time. I'm going to learn how to design websites. As much as I enjoy the blogspot and posting stories on it is very easy, I want to be able to do a full-fledged site on my own and make it look like I want it to look.

So today, I took the plunge and signed up for some web programming courses at a computer school. I will be learning a bunch of programs; Flash, Dreamweaver and Photoshop. HTML Programming and code so I can put together my own video players and layout for sites.

The reason for this is rather simple. Diversification. If I can do this, which I believe that I will; then I will be able to hopefully branch off and do web design for others. It will also allow me to take on more technical jobs. Jobs that would allow me to create and take videos that I edit and spin them to the internet, things of that nature.

I've preached...over and over about diversifying and knowing as many things as possible and I think this will allow me to do just that. It will allow me the chance to do more and offer more. Even if I do web design as a side-job as a freelancer, it is a couple of hundred extra bucks and I can do it from home.

I feel, strongly, that this is the future. That this is the way to stay relevant and the way to be marketable. Staying strictly within the boundaries of what you utilize and are taught in a Television newsroom isn't enough these days. Those jobs are no longer forever. I know that. Heck, I've known that.

The difference now is perspective. I know what it is like to be on the other side. To be on the other side and realize that your skills don't translate very well because you never had a chance to keep them up-to date. I won't make that mistake...ever again. Hopefully someone else can learn from what I did. Have a plan. Know what will keep you current. Know what it takes to get ahead and have the advantage over someone else. If you don't, they'll do the same thing to you.

Enjoy the original A-Team open...which undoubtedly will be better than the crappy remake: Thanks You Tube

It's all coming back to me....

2010-04-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

You know, as much as we all want to say that we want to retire early, sit around and do nothing for the rest of our lives, we know that you can't...it will make you crazy.

I've done it. Done it since the middle of September...of last year. It hasn't made me totally crazy, for that would imply that I didn't have a level of craziness before then. Rather it has made me itchy, antsy, restless...but more importantly anxious and ready to embark on a new career path.

((Me at my old desk producing//Courtesy: Jon Nelson))

Well, I've now taken my 1st step. By now, most of you reading this know that I took a job as a Weekend Assignment Editor at WCPO-TV here in Cincinnati. Yes,I know that I said I was hoping to stay out of TV, but I can't. Call me Brett Favre or whomever, I couldn't stay away.

I'm quite looking forward to this job...for several reasons. One, it isn't what I've done for most of my career. No, I've spent the better part of the past 21-plus years slinging a camera. Granted, it was a lot of fun and I got access to and covered things that most people dream of being at.

But it was time for a change. The physical toll of what I was doing was rough. My shoulder had been giving me trouble. A strained rotator cuff here, a muscle strain there...I was having a tough time.

I had also peaked. There was no mobility for me as a Carrier of the Camera. Don't get me wrong, I accomplished a lot. I have a closet full of awards and pictures of me at all these cool places. But as a shooter, I would never be more than I already was.

So I set out to change that. Along my winding road, I picked up some good experiences. Yes, I started as a Sports Photographer and Producer and would've been perfectly happy just doing that, but it wasn't that simple. Through that and my other lengthy list of jobs I was involved with a lot of things.

In Jacksonville, my News Director would come to me and say I need a 30-minute show by mid-week. And I would do it. Team up with reporters, come up with stories, shoot them and edit them and arrange and time the show. Did it all.

Same thing in Atlanta. I achieved a career goal by getting there and then being able to run the Sports Department for awhile. By running it I mean doing all of the planning, producing, choosing stories and doing logistical work. It was great experience.

But my time there passed. I was at a highly unstable station and after being one of the very few to survive for 10 years, it was suddenly time to move on.

So the challenge was...what next? That was a tough one. Unfortunately, I was not qualified to do as much as I thought I would be. I hadn't been on the job market in 10 years. Things changed.

I've already chronicled the search so I won't go into that. What I will say is this: I think I'm at the right place right now for me. I am at a good place with what seems to be a good staff. They don't have much turnover, the people on staff have been together there a long time. They are successful and the number #1 in most shows in town.

I spent a couple of hours at the new job today. Not officially, but I had to do some stuff for HR and then I spent some time with my new boss. She walked me through as many of the desk procedures that she could and I asked a ton of questions. At first, I was quiet and a little hesitant, but it only took a few minutes to start getting my groove back. I will be spending my weekend shadowing the person currently working my shift.

Will this be the be-all, end-all for me? I don't know. It's not even a worry right now, I am just happy that I'm back. I'm really looking forward to the opportunity here. If I'm successful, I've been told there will be better opportunities. No, the schedule isn't perfect, but hopefully I can parlay what I have into a better schedule over time. I am going to provide ideas to make things better. I'm going to be a big communicator and more importantly...I'm going to jump head first into my new challenge.

After all, that's what working is all about...isn't it?

In the spirit of getting back in the groove, enjoy some Earth, Wind and Fire: Thanks You Tube

The Cult of Apple

2010-04-14T18:05:00.000-07:00

This is a little off topic for the blog, but I'm just kind of annoyed with everyone's friends at Apple, so consequently, I'm going to rant about it.

Everyone loves Apple these days. And in some respects, they should. They are one of the if not the most innovative company out there. Anyone who has used one of the computers is an instant convert. And geez, everyone has an I-Pod by now, don't they? Or an I-Phone? Or I guess the newest addition to the fleet, the I-Pad.

((Apple I-Mac aluminum//Courtesy: ephoto.wordpress.com))

We've (ok, me) been fans for awhile. I'm on my 3rd I-Pod and was an early convert to I-Tunes. I had the earliest I-Mac as well. I went away from the I-Mac when I bought my Gateway laptop back in 2003.

The Gateway was a custom order and worked for what I needed it to. Along with being my primary computer at home for a couple of years. It also went on the road with me, everywhere. All my work road trips around the country. My scuba diving trips to Nassau. Literally, it went everywhere, was durable and held up to a airplanes, airports and being jammed in a corner in my truck.

My wonderful Gateway died on me about two weeks ago. It didn't die in the literal sense, the hard drive was fine and it had no problem booting up. No, the problem was the monitor, which lit up enough for me to barely see that it booted up.

So, though we are the proud owners of a top-of the line 2009, 27 inch I-Mac, I can't say that I am incredibly happy with the fine folks in Cupertino, California at the moment.

The reason. I-Tunes. Yes, the all-purpose, multi-featured music program used by what seems like almost everyone.

What ticked me off you ask? I had I-Tunes on the old Gateway. Getting your music from an old computer to a new one (we bought a nice HP laptop/couldn't afford a macbook), is roughly akin to pulling a tooth.

Why I ask, does Apple make I-Tunes so easy to use yet virtually impossible to move? Yes...quite possibly the most annoying, difficult thing that you will ever have to do is try and move I-Tunes from one computer to another.

The program inherently balks at the thought. It doesn't want to Synch with your I-Pod. It flashes warning messages that you can't have I-Tunes registered on more than one computer. Okay, great.

Do they think that we want to start our libraries from scratch every time we buy a new computer? I say yes.

The reason: Money. They hope you'll start from scratch and start buying again from their library. Morally wrong, corporately greedy.

Okay....I feel better now. Really I do like their products. Love my little Nano. The I-Mac may be the greatest computer of all time. If we could have afforded it, we would have bought a MacBook Pro, but we couldn't justify it. That's fine. All I ask is for Steve Jobs to be respectful for us common folks, those of us who have drank the kool-aid. We really like your products...really we do...we just don't want to have to re-start from scratch every time we get a new one.

The video that started it all: Thanks You Tube

Back in....

2010-04-09T05:32:00.000-07:00

Well...if you haven't seen my Facebook post yet, I'm back in...albeit a little reluctantly...to the TV News wars. Most of you who read this are friends and family and you know my situation. Left the business back in September, very willingly, to move to Cincinnati with my wife for her job. It was something, I never hesitated to do and would more than willingly do again (she has a really cool job).

Unfortunately, my timing in regards to the national employment situation wasn't good. There were precious few jobs available when I got here. None in TV. I also found out the hard way, that my work didn't really prepare me for work in the Production sector and really didn't qualify me to do much of anything else.

So I struggled. A lot. I had never really had to look very hard for work and it showed. I bitched. I moaned. I compromised. I took a job for something to do, thinking that it would be fun, it was miserable.

I learned. Learned a lot. I learned that the job search these days is totally different than it was the last time I was looking. I learned that it is all about networking, with a little luck thrown in.

Finally after a false alarm in November, when I interviewed for a producer job that I didn't get, something showed up. It was disappointing not to get it...but I made a contact and that contact insisted that I stay in touch for when something else opened up. I did.

Forward to the end of January and I see a story in the local newspaper that my contact is leaving at the end of February. That same day, I look at the station job site and low and behold, there is a job there. At the time it said "Assignment Editor/Associate Producer. Okay, I can do that, it isn't ideal, but I most definitely can do it. Before I applied, I got in touch with my contact who said "Oh, yes, apply" "We've already brought your name up".

Cue the frustrating part. The original listing went from Full-Time Assignment Editor/Associate Producer to Part Time Assignment Editor and then a separate Associate Producer job. I didn't understand or know what to make of it. I wanted to work and nobody else in town had anything.

So I sat. And waited. They asked me to come visit in early February. It was a quick and informal visit. Nothing happened. About a month later "Can you come in for an interview?". So I did. Finally, it was mid-March and I thought something might happen. We spent an hour and they asked me about all kinds of things, stuff that made me think..."OK, maybe we are serious and going to do this".

Finally, after 8+ weeks, I got the call and it was for the Assignment Desk position. It's part-time, not full, but it pays fairly well and there will be opportunities to fill in and pick up extra hours. It isn't perfect. The hours are going to be a sacrifice. I don't like the thought of not being able to see TLB (The Lovely Bride) as much. She travels a lot and isn't home much during the week and I'm not going to be around on Saturday nights to wine and dine her. It bothers me, a lot that I can't, but I don't think that I have a choice. I couldn't continue on the path that I was on and I have to hope that some more options will appear as we go.

It's going to be strange walking back in. When I left TV in September of '09, I was kind of over the job and the business. I didn't want anything to do with it. I think some of that had to do with my frustration with the employer rather than the work. I think that everything changed in mid 2005, when I had to work a 42 out of 44 day stretch (the 2 off-days were when my grandfather passed away). I think it changed when I got to live my dream and run a Sports Department for almost a year and then had to hand it off to someone else and then watch that person destroy everything that I did and try and destroy me. It soured me but I held on. Held on and didn't do anything about it and that was my mistake.

I learned from that experience and will never forget it. Yes, I'm also putting down the camera, but I quite honestly won't miss it. I did so much as a photographer. I went to, shot and documented so many cool things, so many big events, so many great stories; I'm ready for something different. The one thing I did over my career that is paying off is a variety of things. I learned how to produce. I learned how to write. I spent some time on the desk. I edited. I planned and coordinated. I know how to and have done almost every job in the newsroom.

Will I stay with this forever? I don't know. What I do know is that I will be prepared for something else. I will not get caught like I did this time. I was in no way prepared to look for other work when I got here. I know that now. I will be prepared. I will be ready. Most of all I will enjoy the opportunity. Make the most of it. Be ready. Be a sponge and soak up as much new information as I can. Most importantly...I can start moving forward again professionally...because I'm back in.

Enjoy one of my all-time favs...Back in Black! Thanks AC/DC-You Tube:

Anticipation...is making me wait!

2010-03-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Well, friends, family and fans I think we touched on this topic about 6 weeks or so ago, but it is again a relevant topic of conversation.

It looks like the drought is over, the semi-retirement is at an end and by this time on Monday, I should be employed.

Granted, it isn't official yet, but the background checks are happening and the references are being called. That unto itself I am taking as a good sign, a sign from the gods or a sign that things are again right with the world.

((Me at the Masters in 2006//Thanks Mark Harmon))

Assuming there aren't any skeletons out there that I'm not aware of or any of my long time friends and associates don't make me out to be the world's biggest liar, I'm going to get a job offer.

Yes, it is with the TV Station that I've been talking to on and off for the past...well pretty much since I've been here in Cincinnati. Yes, they have totally dragged things out, but this time it is serious. I spent almost an hour with them on Thursday and they asked me every question my little brain could have imagined. Surprisingly, though I have been on the proverbial beach since September, I seemed to actually have the right answers. OK, I think I did.

The irony here is that it looks like my days as a Video Photographer may be behind me. I'm not sure that I'll miss them...or carrying around the rock on my shoulder. Yes, it was a lot of fun and I had some unbelievable experiences...for those who haven't kept up, you'd be amazed at some of the big-time national stories, events and games over the past 21 years that yours truly has been at and a part of.

It's been in the makings even before I left Atlanta. My shoulder had started going south and my interest had too. I had been trying...up until the freaks took over...to remake myself as a Producer in Atlanta and almost was successful, but I got the opportunity to do a lot of things before they got in place. Everything from helping the Chief with hiring and equipment and running things to revamping the editing department in 2003 and running the Sports Department in 2005. All of that helped me get where I am about to head.

I did what I would tell anyone to do...if they can in any job: Do as many different things as you can at your job. The more you can do, the more valuable you can be and the more opportunity you'll have. It's true.

I know that TLB (The Lovely Bride) will get on me for jumping the gun and announcing this, but I am very confident that it will happen. I was told..."Assuming you check out, we're going to do this, we just need to decide if it will be full-time or part-time". They also, after I asked...said that "We should have done this 2 weeks ago".

No, I haven't said what I'm going to be doing yet...that would spoil the surprise...wouldn't it? Let's just say that I won't be in the field much any more. I'll be doing some of the things that I had begun getting very good at in Atlanta before the rug was pulled away. It isn't in Sports. I was asked though "If you had to pick which you could do, would it be News or Sports?". I was honest...I said "Sports", but added "I realize that isn't available, I've been in News, done News and am very good at it" "News is a part of Sports and vice-versa, I get that". I'm pretty sure that was the right answer.

Anyway, it is going to be a long, anxious weekend. I was told I would be called on Monday and fully anticipate that I will. I won't get into what happened the rest of the day, it is another story for another day...but it made for a really crazy Thursday afternoon.

For those of you who have been there and supportive, I genuinely thank you from the bottom of my heart, you have helped me get through a very tough time in my life. I promise that on Monday I will report on what I am going to be doing...I can't wait!

In the meantime...here is the most appropriate song I could think of: Anticipation by Carly Simon. Thanks Carlysimon.com and You Tube:

Bizzaro World and The Mustard Covered T-Shirt

2010-03-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

This story is a true life recap of mine and TLB's (The Lovely Bride) adventure this past Saturday night.

The adventure started innocently enough. We are both big hockey fans and since we moved from Atlanta, the Cyclones are the only professional hockey we can go see that isn't 2-plus hours away. They play at the U.S Bank arena in the downtown area where the baseball and football team also have their stadiums. The arena is an older building, it seats maybe 10 or 11-thousand if full and it is the home of the team the locals call...the 'Clones.

((The US Bank Arena in Cincinnati//Courtesy: Me))

We got there a little earlier than we normally would, around 6:30 or so for a 7:30 game, bought our tickets and went in. We decided to take a walk around the concourse since we had some time and it was then that we noticed something a bit weird. There were a lot of odd groups of people together. Families, not with one kid or even two, but with 4 or 5 walking together and pretty much blocking any passage around the concourses.

It was when we finally went to our seats when we realized something wasn't right....well at least to us. We sat in section 102, on the lower bowl, top row. We watched as the 'Clones faithful drifted in 5 and 6 at a time and standing, no, attempting to get into their seats but taking inordinately large amounts of time to do it. That should have been a tip.

((Me and TLB//Courtesy: Me))

It got worse. Just before the start of the game, a group of about 8 slid into the row in front of us. That unto itself wouldn't be so bad, they were obviously handicapped, not in the physical sense, with 2 adult supervisors and were loud...very loud.

They probably wouldn't have been so bad except for two things: One, they stood up anytime the Cyclones got on our side of the arena and Two, they got up and sang at each stop in play...oh...and one of the kids (I'm trying to be pc and polite here) had a plastic coke bottle that he would pound against his head.

((Cyclones Hockey//Courtesy: Me))

That was one of our issues. Another had to do with Hockey etiquette. If you've ever been to a hockey game, there is an informal rule that you wait in the concourse until a stoppage in play to go to your seat. That rule didn't fly at the U.S Bank. There were a few areas where it did, but we weren't sitting there. So we were subjected to a never-ending parade of very large (not tall) people walking up and down the aisle. Mind you we were trying to watch, but it was difficult. What made it worse: We could see other aisles in the arena...none had the flow of traffic ours did.

Okay, we got off to a bad start, TLB was very aggravated and all I could do was shake my head.

So, after the 1st intermission, she wanted a pretzel. Being the gentleman that I am, I got up and bought one, put mustard on it since we both like that and brought it back.

She pulled off a chunk for herself, I pulled off a piece for me to eat with my left hand while holding the remaining piece of pretzel in my right. (This will be important in a minute)

During the intermission at the Cyclones games, the Cyclone mascot skates around the arena and shoots t-shirts into the crowd at various spots. This night, he chose ours. That's when we had our Seinfeld moment. We look at him, he looks at our section and aims high. Not good. He shoots the t-shirt. It flies through the air. It arcs. It spins. I am staring at it in slow motion and thinking "Oh crap!" "It's coming right to me". It did. Mind you, I didn't have a free hand to grab it. I'm watching it hoping...no praying that it dies and lands short, maybe on the kid with the Coke bottle, but no...it didn't. It finally landed...landed right in my lap, right on top of the pretzel, mustard and all. It didn't splatter...much, but the t-shirt, had a nice splotch...right where it landed.

We had to leave our seats and move to an empty upper deck section during the game and that is where it became apparent. We had been to 4 other Cyclones games this year and never had a bad time. We looked out at the crowd and just shook our heads. There was a strange group of people in the arena that night. We don't think they even realized that the Cyclones lost. No, I am convinced now...more than ever...that for a couple of hours on a Saturday night we either stepped into Bizzaro World....or an episode of the Twilight Zone.

((The mustard covered t-shirt//Courtesy: Me))

Check out a clip from an old Twilight Zone episode on aliens...that is what it felt like Saturday night. Thanks You Tube:

Love the Madness....

2010-03-20T12:21:00.001-07:00

I don't know about anyone else, but March is one of my favorite times of the year. Not only is it the end of winter and the return of warmer weather along with the celebration of me getting old; it's also the month when we herald in the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

There really isn't anything like the Tournament in Sports today and that may be what makes it so great. 65 teams and one month to determine the best of the best, what could be better than that?

Heck, even as a kid it was fun to watch. I still to this day can remember watching Bird vs. Magic and Bobby Knight Coaching Indiana with the hideous outfits, the tourney at that time, a field of 48. Now it's the best of 64 (technically 65 with the play-in game). One loss...you are out. And there are always...always upsets. That really is what makes it so great.

((Me on the floor at the ACC Basketball Tournament in 2006/Courtesy: ME))

There were always the Richmond teams of the 80's who would surprise people. Heck, I can remember back in 1987; my Georgia Southern Eagles made the tourney and drew the Number #1 seed, Syracuse...on their home court. Always, always there is an unheard of school that shocks the world.

We were having a party at the apartment I shared with Joe Davis and Ross Norton. Everyone came over...there was lots of music and beverage consumption and Ross' little TV which had the game on. I was watching it with a couple other people and we couldn't believe what we were seeing. At the half, Southern was down by 1. Those of us watching the game at that point had been cheering loudly and the party gradually gravitated towards the TV. By the time we hit the 10 minute mark in the 2nd half, Southern was still in the game...it had been a back and forth battle and we were screaming at each possession. Southern ended up losing to Syracuse by 1...the same Syracuse team that made it to the finals only to lose on a late shot by Indiana.

My point is this, there are few better bonding experiences than watching the Tournament. If you have a school in it, it's fun times. I've had the chance to work the Tournament a few times and it is a little less fun to cover. You can't shoot the games, basically you are stuck in a small cave/feed area where you plug in your recorder and record the clean CBS feed. If you are lucky, there is food and some folks that you know to talk to.

The Final Four is the same way. Lots of media, a slightly larger room to record and an adventure of a weekend. Trust me when I say that is better to watch on TV at home...or at your favorite Sports Bar with friends or fellow supporters.

Either way, it is a truly American event followed by millions. The NCAA is talking about possibly expanding the Tourney to 96 teams. It would be a Horrible, horrible mistake. They don't need any more than they have. You can't make all the people happy all of the time. Of course...really it isn't about that, it's actually about making more money from the rights partners by broadcasting another week of games...but that is a separate story for my Sports Blog.

For your entertainment, here is a mashup of Buzzer beaters from the Tourney. Thanks uncmann and the You Tube:

Damn Good Eating...

2010-03-16T05:48:00.000-07:00

As I've gotten older, my appreciation for a good meal has gotten oh so much better. When I was younger, I ate like a horse and pretty much ate anything that I felt like eating. My metabolism was so fast at one point that I couldn't put on weight if I tried. Sure, it was before the days of calorie counting and fat content and paying attention to the ingredients, but it was a lot more fun because you didn't worry about what was in your food. If you were hungry and saw something that looked appealing...you ate it.

This past Saturday...the day after my birthday, TLB (The Lovely Bride) and I decided we would have my birthday dinner. We had talked about going to a couple of different places and had more or less decided that we'd go to Longhorn for a steak...mostly because we have a $50 gift card to go there.

Over the past several months here in Cincinnati, we've checked out and found some pretty good restaurants. Found a kick-ass panini in Findlay Market, some decent New York Style pizza at Balboa's and a really good burger at the Oakley pub which is within walking distance from the house. But we were also told: "There are good burgers in Cincinnati, you've gotta go to one place though for the best". The best...Terry's Turf Club an extremely odd, small, diner style restaurant near the river.

((Terry's Turf Club//Photo Courtesy: Glenn Hartong/Cincinnati Enquirer))

Truth be told, we had intentions of going at some point but recently the place had been in the news because the Food Network Show Diners, Drive-In's and Dives and host Guy Fieri was going to be taping there. So I told TLB in the afternoon this past Saturday...."Let's go to Terry's".

We also had been told by some friends that if we go, go early, so we showed up a little before 5pm. It was crowded but there wasn't a line...yet. We sat and ordered a beer...they actually have a pretty good choice of Micro Brews (I had a Bell's Amber Ale for those who are into such things) which was a pleasant surprise and perused the menu.

Hamburgers are somewhat of a personal thing for a lot of people. There are very few people who agree on the best. There are some who like fast-food. McDonalds, Wendy's, Five Guys and the like. The opposite end of the spectrum are places like Flip in Atlanta where you get gourmet 5oz burgers with some crazy toppings (Yes, we've eaten there).

Finally, we ordered. For me a burger with everything: Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Grilled Onions and Banana peppers. TLB just got hers with the Cheese lettuce and tomato. We of course got some fries as well...you have to get fries to go with a burger don't you?

((The Burgers//Courtesy: Glenn Hartong/Cincinnati Enquirer))

About 20 minutes and 2 beers later the burgers showed up. I should add that shortly after we seated, the line started...there is room for maybe 50-60 people inside the crazy, neon decorated restaurant which just added to the atmosphere. I might also note that apparently Terry, the proprietor used to own a restaurant called Neon's in Downtown Cincinnati. He took the aforementioned Neon signs and just relocated them to the current location which along with that had 3 large bottle shaped neon lit coolers in corners of the room as well. Plus a nice, but small bar where Terry Carter, the owner himself was tending.

Anyway, the burger showed and looked fairly normal. On a potato bun/roll but already oozing. It's at this point where you would put ketchup or mustard or mayo on it...well anywhere else you would...not here. I grabbed mine and took a bite. Holy crap! A big, thick hunk of ground sirloin cooked just about perfectly. Damn...no need for condiments here! The fries, handcut and just as good.

I've got to say. The place lived up to the hype and then some. I have eaten in some cool places all over the country. I've also eaten at some pretty damn good restaurants. Without a doubt, this is one of the funkiest, trippiest, coolest places both me and TLB have ever or will ever set foot in.

By the way, if you are interested, the episode of Triple D on Terry's will air sometime this summer. They didn't give a date. They actually taped the segment 2 days after we were there. If you want to read the story that the Cincinnati Enquirer did on it...check it out RIGHT HERE

Anyone who finds there way to Cincinnati should make an effort to find and eat at this place...if you do...give us a call...please....we'd be happy to go with you. After all isn't the saying "You can never have enough of a good thing"?

For those unfamiliar with the show, here is a clip from another restaurant that they visited and one that I've eaten at in Tucker, Georgia...Matthew's Cafeteria. Thanks Food Network/You Tube:

Getting Older and lesser things....

2010-03-11T10:13:00.001-08:00

I don't know if I'm just getting cranky or depressed...but I just really am not looking forward to having a birthday tomorrow (friday the 12th). Aside from the fact that it will mean that I've reached the half way point (45), it also means that I have to be nice and happy, upbeat and chipper to everyone for the entire day.

Now granted, I am generally nice to people and I am told...at least by my wife that I'm the most optimistic person that she's ever met. However, I just really...at least for the past couple of days feel neither optimistic nor bright, cheery or sunny.

((Me looking cheerful//Courtesy: Mark Harmon))

Birthday's are supposed to be celebrations and for the 1st quarter or so of your life they are. People fawn all over you, give you stuff and just generally like you for the day. If you are lucky...that is, because you have a really good group of friends and/or family who make it a point to make your day better, then you should consider yourself very fortunate. I'm one of the lucky ones, I do have that...but it really doesn't make me feel a whole lot better at the moment.

When I was younger, I always made it a point to do or buy something significant around my Birthday time. It was something I had hoped to make a tradition. I've done a lot around this week. Bought a car. Bought my first home. Moved from Jacksonville to Nashville. Lots of big "life" events.

I think that the birthday thing was still pretty cool until I hit my 40th. That is supposed to be a big one and well...for me it wasn't. I didn't have the day off from work to go celebrate or anything like it. No, not only was I working, I was out of town working. I was in Greensboro, North Carolina 5 years ago at this time, covering the ACC Basketball Tournament. The tourney itself was pretty cool and I was glad I got to do it. I was there with Main Sports Dude Gil Tyree and we always had a good time traveling for work. It just...at least now looking back on it was kind of depressing. We had dinner at a Carrabba's in Greensboro after working our games and doing a live shot for the 6pm sports and then went back to the hotel and crashed.

Am I depressed? I don't know. Maybe, to some extent. I never thought that I'd be sitting here, essentially un...or underemployed at this point in my life. You know it is kind of strange. For the longest time all I wanted was to have someone to share everything with, my work had defined me and I had a very limited social life but I wanted more. I got more when I met Michelle and I can't thank the Big Guy enough for that. She changed everything for me and in the best way possible. It's just now I'm at the other extreme. Good life away, nothing at work...what so ever.

Will it get better? Maybe. The work thing is kind of dragging the balance in the wrong direction and that really is the source of my malaise. I do really want to enjoy the birthday tomorrow. However I have to go back to the Bread shop where I don't really want to admit to anyone that it is my birthday. Am I ashamed...yeah...I guess that I am.

Michelle and I probably won't do much tomorrow. We are in Cincinnati and really, we don't have anyone else to go celebrate with. She also can't eat meat tomorrow, which is fine, we'll go out and have a nice dinner on Saturday instead. My parents and sister will call tomorrow and it will be nice to talk with them. I won't have much to say because really, I don't have a whole lot going on right now to talk about. I'll make small talk, act happy and upbeat and that will be that. Maybe, if I'm really lucky I'll get a good gift from the Big Guy and get a call from someone about a job. Lord knows I have paid my debts and I've applied to enough now.

I don't think that I'm being greedy asking for that, am I? If somehow, someway some balance can be restored than I think things will be good. Hopefully, by the time that the next birthday comes along, I won't have to pretend to be upbeat, happy or chipper.

Enjoy the Birthday Song. Sung by the Arrogant Worms. Thanks You Tube:

Saturation Bombing

2010-03-05T10:33:00.000-08:00

Early on, when I started doing this, my focus was going to be concentrating on my search for a full-time job. As things progressed and I got less and less successful and some other things were going on in my life, I kind of got away from that. I'm not sitting here and saying that I am going to get back to the mission that I started, but today I'm going to go back to it...a little.

So...its now going on 6 months and counting since I had a full-time job. My last day at WGCL in Atlanta was September 8th. Since then it has been one interesting experience. I don't know if I want to use the word frustrated, though I have been and in some ways, I currently am; rather I would prefer saying...I am more anxious.

By now, I've mentioned ad nauseum about working part-time at the Panera Bread down the street. Yeah, it sucks. Yeah, it is...I'll say it...beneath me. But, I've gotta do something. I've realized this week, having been off for pretty much all of it, that you have to do something in order to interact with people on occasion or you will go crazy (at least I will).

My time this week has been spent pretty much on two things. One, my Sports blog site. I've been generating a ton of content and it has paid off a bit. Traffic is up and we've gotten some attention. The other, applying for jobs. Any jobs. Yeah, I've finally hit that point where I'm trying for just about anything. Dick's Sporting Goods, The Fresh Market, AT&T...anybody that will let me submit a resume'.

I still, believe it or not have a chance at a job here with WCPO, but the process has dragged out for over a month now. As much as I liked the people there and I like their shows, I'm not optimistic. The News Director has been very nice and responsive when I check in with him, but I'm not really confident. He's had too much time to wait out someone else he can hire. I also have a resume' in at WLWT where they are looking for an Assignment Editor. Yes, I am qualified enough to do that and they should have gotten my resume' etc. on Monday...no I haven't heard anything from them despite perhaps writing one of the best cover letters I've ever written. Heck, I even have a DVD and resume at the Fox station for a Promotion Producer/Photographer job. I haven't heard a peep from them either. TV wise, I am running into the "We can't pay you" wall. I had to explain to the folks at WCPO that "I don't need Atlanta money, I just need a full-time job for my sanity".

Honestly, what worries me is that though I've applied for 8 non-TV jobs this week and last, I haven't heard anything from any of them either. I'm very concerned because I'm not really sure where to turn next. Yes, I know that I was involved with the Networking group early on here and perhaps I need to revisit that.

The problem I think in some respects is me. I'm not a "Pushy", "Sell myself" kind of person and that seems to be hurting me. I'm not someone who wants to beg people to help. Is it pride? A little. Is it ego? No, I don't think so. I'm applying for all kinds of work. Is it lack of knowledge? Yeah, probably. I just am not very well equipped to deal with the "Modern" job search techniques. Can I skim the Internet and find potential opportunities? Sure, I'm actually pretty good at that. But...everything that I'm reading...and experiencing is telling me that while I might hit the "Needle in the Haystack" it isn't likely.

Is there a solution? I don't know. There has to be something...or someone willing to take a flyer on me. Really I am a good employee, I always have been. I'm somewhat of a perfectionist and anyone who has ever been around me will tell you whatever it is that I end up doing, I'll be good at. The reason they say is my OCD tendency to have to learn everything possible about whatever it is that I am doing. Surely that...if nothing else makes me someone who somebody wants to hire....right?

For you entertainment enjoy a classic Monty Python sketch on a job interview. Thanks You Tube:

Hanging out on my own...

2010-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

You know its really funny how your perspective and thoughts on things change as you get older and your life situation is different. For 39 years, I was pretty much on my own, doing my own thing just hanging out and having fun. For the past 5 years, I met the woman of my dreams and my soul mate and really, that changed everything.

I'll spare you the details of getting to where we are now. What I'm trying to get it as this: Michelle is away for a full week, I've got the whole house to myself (bachelor week) and really I'd rather have her here than be by myself.

((She isn't gonna like that I posted this picture...but it's us//Courtesy: Me))

There are a couple of my friends (Big Tom) who would say that "I'm whipped""I'm a wimp""No balls" whatever. I don't care. There was a point in my life where I would have loved this opportunity to do whatever I wanted when I wanted, not now.

I do on occasion enjoy cooking dinner and I do that. It's a little less fun when you do it by yourself. Sure, I'm eating a few things that I don't normally eat, but it still sucks just cooking for just me. I would say that I'm sleeping as late as I want since I'm not really working too much, but I'm not. The cat has decided that he wants to play at 5am and then again around 7.

No, I really haven't done much thus far. Sure, I've spent a ton of time on the computer and I've had to do my laundry along with the cooking. Today was probably my big adventure for the week, I went to the movies. I went and saw the movie Avatar in 3D. It was a decent movie storytelling wise, not a "Great" one. However visually it was the most incredible movie that I've ever seen.

I really do miss Michelle when she is gone. She is gone for the week and then is traveling at least 2 days each of the next 2 weeks. Me, I'm still here in Cinci, stuck in a crappy part-time job. I honestly don't hate Cincinnati and don't hate the fact that I had to give up an OK job to come here. I just want to get on track.

It's tough sometimes staying focused. I've been searching for good work for going on 6 months now. I realize that there are a lot of people a lot worse off in that respect and that is fine. It doesn't however help me much.

Heck I don't know, maybe I'm rambling at this point. Maybe I'd be doing more this week if I had the money to do it. I do know that even if I was working more and making more money that I probably wouldn't be doing much more than I am. Its not as much fun doing stuff here without your best friend and mine...won't be back home until Friday.

Enjoy the trailer to the classic movie Bachelor Party (audio is a bit iffy). Thanks You Tube:

Learning is sometimes a Slow Process

2010-02-26T18:05:00.001-08:00

Funny thing about being my age (44 as of the time I write this), the technology involved to do things that just say, oh, 10 years ago has morphed like you'd never believe. There isn't anyone both in the Video business or at home who ever thought that things would change like this.

Those who have known me for the past oh...22 years or so know that my chosen profession is the TV-Video business. I have over the years shot, edited, written and produced stories and full TV shows both by myself and with help and it amazes me as I sit here, just how technically involved it has all become.

((The crew at a UGA Football game (me, Scott Christenberry, Eric Hager, Dwayne Harden and Tony Light in back))

22 years ago, I started working in TV in Lynchburg, Virginia. I shot, edited and produced the Sports at WSET-TV. As a Photographer, I carried in no particular order; a 35lb Ikegami 730 TV Camera which had 3 Tubes in it, a Sony 110 Tape Deck (which felt like a cinder block), a light belt that weighed about 10lbs, cables, mics, tapes and accessories. We shot on Video Tape, 3/4 inch video tape to be exact. A rather large cassette format and tape was scarce enough that we were each given 4 tapes a day for 5 days to shoot on. We edited with 2 rather large editing machines that were linked together by a huge mass of cables.

By the year 2000, I was in Atlanta working for the CBS station, where I was originally given a Sony 300A Camcorder that shot on Beta tapes (yes, similar to THAT Betamax thing from the late 70's). We had rather large Anton Bauer "Brick" batteries that weighed as much as the camera did. However the total weight was down under 20lbs. And we still edited on rather large tape decks.

Forward 5 years. Same station, different equipment. Panasonic DVC-Pro camera (910), the tapes were the size of a small cellphone. The accesories, much smaller, most could be carried in a small equipment pouch. At this point, we are loading the videotapes into a computer, an AVID and airing it out of a server.

Last year...2009, right before I left Atlanta. Carrying a Panasonic P2 Camera with no tape rather 5 memory cards. However, it is about 10lbs heavier. We take the cards and pop them into a reader and they show up on the computer.

What I am getting to is this. I'm now sitting at my desktop computer at home where I just loaded a story that I had on a DVD to You Tube. I popped it into my computer and with some software that I had purchased, loaded the story to a hard drive. I then uploaded it to my YouTube channel (OSGPhil) and there it sits for whoever wants to see it.

If I sound like I am amazed at the process...and progress of the technology, I am. It just never dawned on me when I started this back in 1988 that it would be where it is now. Nothing is done the "Old" way. Everything is on the computer. I basically, could program my channel on YouTube from home...in essence my own TV Channel. I'd have to figure out a way for it to be found, but it's there...much like this blog, for whomever stumbles across it. And oh...it's linked to my Facebook page and Twitter page too.

Maybe I'm just sounding old, but it amazes me that this can be done. I had to learn how to do it, because if I want to stay in my chosen profession, I need to know how to do these things. Sure it makes my head spin sometimes and I am not always doing it the right way. But eventually, I figure it out...sometimes quickly...but most of the time slowly...Yes...Learning can be a VERY slow process.

In the meantime...enjoy this video from the You Tube...it doesn't relate to any of this...I just thought it was funny...and yes, it amazes me that you can find this and take it and post it to a story on the computer.

As a bonus video...enjoy some clips from one of the Greatest Movies Ever...the top 10 quotes from Airplane:

Spring Training...The Best Time of the Year

2010-02-23T06:04:00.000-08:00

For some reason, this year is a little different than years gone by. Well, I guess last year was too, but I wasn't stuck up in Southern Siberia last year either.

Anyway, today's topic is one of the truly great Sports times of the year. No, I'm not talking about Super Bowl week or the NCAA Tournament, though those are both special times. Really, what has me reminiscing all week is baseball's best time of the year: Spring Training.

((1st day BP//Courtesy: Me))

Growing up in Florida, Spring Training was always special. When I was a kid, most baseball teams trained down there. When I was really young, we had the Yankees and Orioles who at the time were in Ft. Lauderdale. As a teenager, there was the Twins in Orlando, Astros in Kissimmee, the Royals in Haines City and the Reds in Tampa. And when I first started in TV, I got to cover the Red Sox in Winter Haven and later in TV, my favorite, covering the Braves at Disney World.

We always went to games when I was a kid. Usually it was with school, but sometimes I could talk the Chief into taking me. One of my favorite memories was as a teenager. For my 14th birthday, we drove to Tampa and saw the Reds and Pirates play in Spring Training. We sat right behind the dugout and talked to the Pirates catcher Edd Ott for pretty much the whole game. He was very funny and we had a good laugh and thoroughly enjoyed it.

((Mark and I posing//Courtesy: Eric Hager))

My other memories which always make me smile were professional. My 1st TV job was in Lynchburg, Virginia and we had a Red Sox Minor League team in town. My boss, the Sports Director, Dennis Carter talked his way into he and I taking a week to go down to Florida with them. We had a blast. For those who remember, it was also the week that Wade Boggs was in the news for some to do with his wife and believe it or not, we saw Barbara Walters at a game sitting with the wife, watching Wade play. Funny stuff.

Perhaps my favorite professional memories though were in Atlanta. We got to go down and spend the first few days of Spring Training with the Braves. One, they were my favorite team since I was old enough to follow baseball and two I was getting paid to be with them for 4 days with all the access I could ever use.

The trips were always simple. Intrepid Sports Anchor Mark Harmon and I would load up the Sports Van and drive 6+hours to Orlando. We'd get there the night before the whole team reported. The next morning, we were up and at 'em, at the Ballpark at 8am. We might wander into the locker room to talk to a couple of the guys but usually we just waited in the dugout. Me and Mark, Sam and Kenny from the NBC station, Eric and Chuck or Bill from the ABC and Blaine and Buck from Fox. We'd sit there and laugh, waiting for everyone to roll in. Chuck would bring a box of donuts for everyone and then it was time to get started.

((The gang eagerly awaiting getting to work//Courtesy: Me))

As it got closer to 9, the guys would start filing into the dugout. Some would come over and say hello, most were just joking, laughing like kids on the 1st day of school. At 9am and 9 exactly, with a crowd in the stands, they'd take the field...well, they'd run out of the dugout and take a lap or so around the field.

I could go on for a long, long time about the traditions. Bobby Cox giving his state of the team, he always wanted to talk before BP and get it over with. He retires after the 2010 season, a good man, the ultimate baseball lifer, he will be missed. He presided over the whole scene from a golf cart. Going out to the bullpen, raised over the right field wall and watching the pitchers. Just seeing the fans roll in on a sunny late winter morning...it is really hard to describe something so visual.

We had traditions. We would all go out as a group to dinner. The Columbia restaurant in Disney Celebration. Usually 6-8 of us together, laughing. We'd always run into a couple of the Braves players. They'd come by and share a laugh and go on to have their dinner. The best dinner was probably my last, in 2007. Bill Hartman, longtime TV Sports Guy in Atlanta was there for the last time. He sat and told stories, things like interviewing Mohammed Ali and old school Georgia stories, we had such a great time just listening.

As I sit here right now typing away on my computer here in Cincinnati, I can't help but smile a bit thinking about those memories. I know that the rest of the guys are there, right now, today, as I type this and I am not. I really miss that but I also know that the cycle of things works like that. You can't do things like that the rest of your life, as much as you might have wanted to, sometimes things change. Though I'm not real happy with the situation I'm in at the moment, I know that too will change, things always do...you just have to be patient, keep plugging away and moving forward...and eventually the good will come back...I know it will.

((Mark and I actually working//Courtesy: Eric Hager))

Here is one of my favorite stories that Mark and I did down there, from 2007. I don't know how it got on the You Tube...but it did. Enjoy it.

Tiger Woods...the Apology Tour

2010-02-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

**Repurposed from my Sports Blog (http:onlinesportsguys.com)***

Ok. So now he is on the record. Tiger Woods basically spoke to the entire world this morning apologizing...repeatedly for what he has done.

The apology, broadcast from PGA Tour HQ in Sawgrass was given in front of a handful of friends, tour officials and sponsors. There was also a camera in the room so it could be broadcast...and broadcast it was by all the over-the air networks and most of the cable networks.

((Tiger speaks his peace//Courtesy: NY Daily News/CNN Screen grab))

Itself, the premise was almost surreal. Here was the one time most popular athlete in the world on a platform trying...in a carefully scripted way to take the 1st step towards regaining his life. Yes, there are going to be a lot of cynics...and tabloid reporters who will say the whole thing was a dog and pony show and a load of crap. They are saying that because they want to be the one to get the "One-on One" interview. Sorry people. It ain't happening. As a professional journalist, sure, it makes me cringe that no reporters were present in the room and no questions were taken. But I can see his side as well. He doesn't need the journalists to get his story out.

There were several key statements in the speech that would lead one to believe that the man realizes the effects of what he's done. We will highlight what we feel are the interesting parts:

-"I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you. I have made you question who I am and how I could have done the things I did. I am embarrassed that I have put you in this position."

-"For all that I have done, I am so sorry."

-"The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame."

-"I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame, I didn't have to go far to find them."

-"I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me."

-"It's hard to admit that I need help, but I do. For 45 days from the end of December to early February, I was in inpatient therapy receiving guidance for the issues I'm facing. I have a long way to go. But I've taken my first steps in the right direction. "

-"I recognize I have brought this on myself, and I know above all I am the one who needs to change. I owe it to my family to become a better person. I owe it to those closest to me to become a better man. That's where my focus will be. "

-"Finally, there are many people in this room, and there are many people at home who believed in me. Today I want to ask for your help. I ask you to find room in your heart to one day believe in me again."

We here at OSG World HQ...well actually the Satellite office feel as though this was a good start. We feel that he said what needed to be said. Would a room full of journalists have jumped at the chance to start asking him questions...sure they would. Did they need to? No, to be really honest, they didn't. When push comes to shove, this is a personal issue. This is not something that needs to be combed through with a fine tooth comb publicly. This should suffice.

Will it be enough to stop the onslaught of tabloid stories? No. Will it stop the endless stream of jokes about it? No. Should it be left alone. Yes. But we know that we live in a society where we feel like we have to know every dirty little secret of the people we admire. Is it our right to know it? Debatable. It really shouldn't matter what they do on their own time. As long as when they are on our time, they do what they are paid to do.

Here is the entire statement...Courtesy CBS News:

Enough already....No more snow!

2010-02-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

I don't know about anyone else, but I think I've had enough of this whole winter thing. It's bad enough that the TLB (The Lovely Bride) and I have been transplanted to this town that isn't quite in the Northeast, isn't quite in the midwest or in the central part of the country, no, we're in Cincinnati where it supposedly snows a little (avg. 22in.), only our 1st winter here...it is snowing...A LOT!

Those who know me well or at least

remember me mumbling something about it, will remember that I was actually born in New York...Long Island to be exact. We moved from there when I was 5 to Florida and I've never really left the Southeast. Yes, I lived in SW Virginia...Lynchburg to be exact for a year and a half while at my 1st TV Job, but aside from that, I've pretty much been raised in the South.

I know that, when I lived in Lynchburg and the 4 years that I lived in Nashville, I saw snow. Not tons of it (well, there was the one big snowstorm in 1995 or 96), but enough that it was kind of a cool "Novelty" kind of thing.

We are now in Snowstorm #4 for 2010 here in Cincinnati. While we haven't quite gotten hammered like the folks in D.C and Maryland, we've gotten our fair share. The storm we are currently riding out...oh...we are around 6 inches and it is still coming down and will be until tomorrow morning.

Do I sound like I'm complaining? Yeah...I guess that I am. I do have some cold weather/snow gear to deal with it. Thank you WGCL for buying me a nice pair of snow boots in 2005 for the Falcons NFC Championship game in Philadelphia where it snowed over a foot in about 4 hours, I don't think I could deal with this without those.

But anyway, I just felt like rambling about this. It has been a bit of a challenge to deal with. I had to shovel my driveway this afternoon when I returned home just so I could park in it. I'm going to have to go out and do it again before the day is over. Our house: because our heating bills are astronomical...the house is set at or around 56 degrees. It just is kind of old having to dress cold...all the time.

Is the snow going to stop? Yeah...eventually, though more is expected this weekend. I guess on the good side, they know how to deal with it here for the most part. Unlike Atlanta where there were people running around buildings throwing there hands up and screaming in panic, nobody here panics. Here they just calmly say "Well, it's snowing, what do we do now?". The roads, despite all of the snow are in fairly good shape. They weren't this morning, but once the snow plow gets to your street, you know it.

Anyway, I'll stop whining now. I know that it was our choice to come up here to the Northern hinterlands and we'd make the same decision if it ever comes up again. It's just an adjustment, albeit a big one. TLB for one absolutely hates this weather, me, I'm not a fan, but I can deal with it. I think the only one who likes it...is Daisy the Wonder Dog.

In honor of the passing of one of Rock's great's Doug Fieger of the Knack...I give you not My Sharona...but rather my favorite Knack song...Enjoy. Thanks You Tube:

Torn...What to do next?

2010-02-11T12:50:00.000-08:00

I am officially torn. And before any of you start cheesing out about that Natalie Imbruglia song from a couple of years ago, this is a little different.

It has been a little over a week now since my last job interview. I was told that they would let me know what they would do one way or another. So far...nothing. Is it unusual for a TV station to take their time on a hire or not follow through on what they said? No, it happens all of the time.

Normally, I probably wouldn't be incredibly concerned about it, but this time is a little different. I want to contact them and find out what is up...but TLB (The Lovely Bride who is an HR person) says that it is a bad idea, I'll sound desperate...even though that is exactly what I am.

In fact, the reason for my worry is this: Two days after the interview, the job posting disappeared. Two days later, 2 part-time and 1 full-time job showed up. I interviewed for an Associate Producer/Assignment Desk job. They suddenly now have a full-time Associate Producer and part-time Desk job plus another part-time AP job available.

Should this worry me, I think so. I thought after the interview things were good and they would take care of me, now I'm not so sure. It sounds an awful lot like they took the original job and made it two positions. I worry because that has actually happened to me before. In 2004, I became the Sports Photographer in Atlanta. By the end of 2004, I was Sports Photographer/Producer and by early 2005, I was Producer/Photographer and running the day-to day Sports operations. New management came and in 2007, it was back to Photographer only and they hired a Producer. I got half of my old job, he got the other.

My point, I guess is this. I don't know what to do. I feel like I should at least make contact with the TV station and see what is up or if they have moved on from me. It would be disappointing...terribly so in fact. But at least I would know. It just is difficult for me, the News Director seemed to like me and was floored at my qualifications for just about any job in the newsroom, but was somewhat concerned about paying me. As much as told him not to worry, it isn't that simple and maybe that is the issue...I don't know.

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of options here where I am. The TV marketplace is almost non-existent. Aside from a couple of jobs at one station, nobody else is hiring...for anything. As for production work...same problem. They use a regular stable of freelancers all whom they'd pull from before they'll talk to me. There are a few odd freelance jobs that fly through town on occasion, but they require gear that I don't have.

I'm at a point where though I appreciate my friends saying "Keep Your Head Up", I am having a really hard time doing it. I never thought that I'd be stuck working part-time at a Panera Bread shop right now. Yeah, I know I was seriously burnt out on the TV thing when I came up here, but I'm well over it. I need to find full-time work....somewhere...anywhere....I've been on the beach 5+ months now...and need some work. If this opportunity doesn't work, I'm not really sure that there is a plan B. Yeah, I'll keep skimming the job ads and starting tomorrow I'm sending out some DVD's even though they will be blind sends. That may or may not work, but I've gotta try something...I'm slowly going crazy and need to do something about it.

Enjoy the Working Man from Rush...perhaps I'll be the Working Man again someday. Thanks You Tube:

What the Saints win means...

2010-02-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

**Re-posted from OnlineSportsGuys.com**

After the New Orleans Saints won the NFC Championship game two weeks ago, I posted a story about the reaction of my wife (The Lovely Bride), a lifelong Saints fan. I spoke about the tear in her eye when the clock struck zero and the game was over. That paled in comparison to the emotions of last night's Super Bowl.

((TLB still can't believe it//Courtesy: My Cellphone))

TLB had gone to great lengths to prepare for the game. Immediately after the NFC Championship game, she ordered the T-Shirt...not only for her, but for me, a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan. TLB had planned for a week to make a big pot of Gumbo, not from a mix or package mind you, no, she was making Gumbo and making it from scratch.

Me, I had to work in the morning. I, however set the tone for the day early. On my way home, I went to Popeye's (closest thing we can get to spicy food in Cincinnati) and got some Chicken and Red Beans and Rice.

So, the day progressed and we for the most part. Ok, me, for the most part avoided the 32 hour long CBS Pregame sponsor fest. She however started in mid-afternoon while trying to put together the Roux, an major ingredient in the Gumbo.

So, we sat down to finally watch the game...well I did. TLB couldn't watch it much early. Had a hard time, not wanting to look up as if she still couldn't believe her Saints were there. By the end of halftime she was ready. When the second half started with an onside kick...she screamed. Yes, TLB knows her football pretty well and like me and most others, were stunned that Sean Payton and the Saints had the balls to make that call.

I guess the realization of what was happening finally sunk in on the Tracy Porter interception return. She jumped from the couch faster than the cat ever could and screamed at the top of her lungs. Mind you it wasn't a "Wooooo!!!!!"...it was "OH MY GAWD, OH MY GAWD, OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!!!!!!". I was both happy and scared, you know, I had that "Oh I hope the neighbors don't think we are fighting and call the cops thought".

As the 2-minute warning quit, TLB turned and had to ask "Can they (the Colts) still come back?", "No dear, it isn't likely". "Sure, we always find a way to lose like that". "Not this time, Payton Manning is good, but even he can't come back from that".

So the game ended and there we sat. After all the late-game yelling, she just sat there, crying, uncontrollably. Couldn't say anything, just cried. After a couple of minutes, TLB finally was able to call her mom in Lafayette, Louisiana and though I couldn't hear her mom, I'm pretty sure that the conversation was like this; "Oh my god!", mom-"Oh, my god", TLB- "Oh, my god, did you see it?", "Oh...oh my god".

Yes, they really did win. No, the earth is still here...at least today. As far as I know, we aren't in an alternate reality and yes, the Cubs haven't won the World Series in almost 100 years...but one of least likely World Champions of all-time are now World Champs. New Orleans and the state of Louisiana have been through a lot. But they are getting better...getting better all the time and now they can say they are getting better and have the best team in Football. Congratulations.

Here is some celeberation from Vimeo

Saints Superbowl Victory Celebration from Cottage Films on Vimeo.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part...

2010-02-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

Okay. So now I sit through the end of a mild snowstorm and now really, really cold temperatures while waiting to hear where my fate lies. It's a little strange, really I haven't felt like this in quite a few years; 1999 to be exact.

For those of you who don't know, I finally got another job interview this past week. Ok, really it wasn't much of an interview, more like a "Get Reacquainted" meeting. I had interviewed with the nice folks at the ABC affiliate here in Cincinnati back in November for a part-time position and I didn't get it. But, I must have made somewhat of an impression because they asked me to stay in touch with them, which I did. I came in on Wednesday and spent about 20 minutes with the News Director, we talked a little about the job and he said he'd be back to me by early next week.

((Me and Intrepid Sports Guy Mark Harmon doing an interview//Courtesy: Atlanta Falcons))

The job this time; a full-time gig. The job would be Weekend Assignment Editor and Weekday Associate Producer. No, it isn't ideal and doesn't totally play to my Storytelling experience nor does it play to my Sports Background. But, right now; beggars can't be choosers. I am working, but it's because I need to do something to keep me sane and have some cash flow. The job is a part-time food prepper at the Panera Bread down the street from my house. Though they really seem to like me there and would love for me to stick around, it isn't exactly a career path that I'd like to stay on.

Some of you who were around me the last year or so before leaving Atlanta are probably asking "Thought you were done with Local TV?". And yeah, at that time I was, though I am really wondering if I just needed to get away from the crappy TV station that I was working at. Granted, I feel a little bit like Brett Favre right now, but at least I know it.

I've already gone on at length about my last two years or so at WGCL in Atlanta. A really bad work environment in a town that I really wanted to stay in. They dumped on me pretty hard and quite honestly, I was never the same after 2005, when I worked 42 out of 44 days trying to keep the Sports Department afloat. The only 2 days I took off were when my Grandfather passed away. It was never totally the same after that stretch of work.

It's really true the absence makes the heart grow fonder. I've been out now since September. No, I still don't care too much for what Local TV has become. Really it has become a somewhat irrelevant parody of its former self. Well, at least in some places it has. Atlanta is a tough market to work in. Most of the time, the TV stations there are comically bad. They think that it is one of the great TV/Media centers of the world; it isn't.

I do like what I have seen so far here in Cincinnati. Does the News here still do lots of goofy, odd things that aren't relevant to most people; sure they do. But, the pace here is a bit slower, the market is older and experienced. They actually have experimented with and tried some interesting things that nobody in Atlanta really had thought of. The quality of the work here for the most part is pretty good. Well shot and told stories, not heavy on the flash, trash and violence that Atlanta lives on.

I hopefully will know something in the next few days about my fate. I'm not really sure what I will do if I don't get this job, there are very...very few openings for anything in this market. I do know that I need to get something in the video or production world and get it soon. As much as the Panera folks have been very nice to me and I like the people that I work with there, I am oh so ready to do something a little more challenging...at least for me. I'm ready to do something in my career field...if only I didn't have to wait so damn long to find out if I get to make a comeback!

Enjoy you obligatory Tom Petty://Thanks Vevo/You Tube:

The Running Man

2010-02-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

This is something for some reason that I have actually put some thought into. Yeah, I know, it is probably because I really don't have a whole hell of a lot else to think about right now. Maybe that is true...I don't know, but this is my blog and I can write about whatever I want.

If any of you are long time, back when I was a kid friends then you knew me when I was a basketball fanatic. I played all the time growing up, anytime that I could. I played in elementary school, middle school and high school and did fairly well for myself. Could have done more, but if you know me, you know I can be a bit headstrong and tend to think that I have the answer to just about everything.

((Me getting ready to run//Courtesy: The Lovely Bride (Michelle))

What I am getting to is this; as much ball as I played, I was never much on conditioning. I played, a lot and was almost always a starter and played most if not all of the game. But I hated conditioning, running in particular. Never saw the point in it. Never understood, even later when it became more popular, why it was such a big deal.

Now I do. I really started running about two years ago. I started mostly on the treadmill. I had lifted weights for a long time and thought that was keeping me in good shape. It wasn't. I got big from lifting. Heck, I was 270 pounds when I got married in April of 2007. But in the Spring of 2008, I got motivated. My parents had given me their treadmill when they moved to Wilmington, North Carolina and I finally started using it.

Now, running on a treadmill isn't quite the same as running on the streets or a track. But it helped, I played softball in the Spring of 2008 as well and the two things helped me lose 30 pounds in about 3 months.

The treadmill is where I did most of my running while in Atlanta. My ankles you see aren't in the greatest shape. I had a very, very bad injury between my Junior and Senior years in High School where I tore all the ligaments and tendons in my right ankle, which left me with bone spurs. Fearing that I couldn't handle running on the street, I stayed on the treadmill. But, the more I ran, the more my endurance built. I went from 2 to 3 to 4 miles in a session and at a fairly good pace.

When we moved to Cincinnati, I didn't have a treadmill to use. We didn't have anywhere to put it in the house we rented. So I had to run on the street and I did. Again, starting around 2 miles, three times a week, I'm up to 3 miles three times a week now. It is a bit of a challenge sometimes, it gets cold here. But, I've bought enough gear that I can run in it. 20 degrees, snow, wind, I've run in it all.

Strangely, I feel weird now when I don't run. I don't now if it is just the exercise or getting a good 30 minutes or so with just me, my thoughts and the I-Pod Nano. But it feels good, the weight is down to 230 and I feel healthy. I'm not bulked up like I was, but my blood pressure has lowered as has my heart rate.

I'm not writing this to be this all-knowing advocate or to preach or anything else like it. I'm writing about this because I am just surprised that I now love doing something that I never much care for before. It's just surprising to me and kind of a good chuckle. Just a random thought, but that I suppose is what writing on your blog is; just writing down whatever comes to mind.

Today's music pick is one of the Greatest Rock songs of all times; Courtesy: Vevo and the You Tube:

Week of Learning

2010-01-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it has been a bit of an interesting week. Really it was more of a learning experience. Nothing overtly special happened, just a couple of interesting items in that checkbook of life kind of thing.

First was that I finally got to take a class on Final Cut Express. I've been wanting to do this for over a month now and I finally did it. When we bought the mighty I-Mac, one of the extras that we bought for it was something called Apple One-to-One. For $99, we can take an individual course with an expert from the Apple store about any program that we have on the computer. I had been looking at various Final Cut courses, all were considerably more than that. There is a website called Lynda.com that will give you a tutorial, but it is difficult to digest.

((Me in my Producing days//Courtesy: Jon Nelson))

Thankfully, I am already able to edit, I just needed to figure out how to do things with the program. The "Expert" spent about 15 minutes showing me what buttons I needed to use to do things...and I was off and running. He didn't have to say much else, I think I asked 3 or 4 more questions, but I got it and got it quickly. Now, I just need to start applying what I learned. No, right now I probably couldn't cut a story on deadline like I used to on AVID, but with some practice, I will.

That leads me up to the other interesting tidbit of the week. There is another job open at the ABC station here in town (Assignment Desk and Associate Producer/not perfect, but I'll do it). As soon as I saw it, I contacted the person I spoke to the last time I was there (the Asst. News Director) and applied. So you are asking yourself, "OK, why was that important, you probably are applying to all kinds of jobs". And you are right, I am. This was interesting because on Friday morning, I found out that my contact is leaving to take a job in West Palm Beach (not an option).

Thankfully, I am smarter than I look. Immediately I sent him a congratulatory e-mail. In the second paragraph, I just played a bit dumb and asked what I should do about the job and who should be my contact. He got back to me about an hour later and said that he no longer is hiring the position, but the News Director was and that I am on their radar for spot. (Yea!) I e-mailed the News Director and hopefully I will hear something from him next week (cross your fingers).

Those are the highlights of the week. Michelle had her Surgery follow up on Friday as well. It went really well. She is cleared to work from home next week and then go to the office the week after. Though I love her with every fiber of my being, I'm kind of happy that they are going to let her go back soon. I have kind of come to enjoy my time here while she is at work, I get more done that way. I still haven't finished the book and my deadline is closing fast. Sunday is probably going to have to be a workday where I get at least 2 chapters written.

Enjoy some Kiss. Thanks You Tube:

Saints Win equals Happy Family

2010-01-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

**Copied from a story I wrote on my other website http://onlinesportsguys.com**

No, I'm not talking about the Chinese Dish "Happy Family", I am talking about mine. My Lovely Bride (heretofore referred to as :TLB), was incredibly anxious pretty much this whole week in anticipation of watching her beloved Saints play in the NFC Championship game.

((Chelle and me at July 4th celebration in Decatur, Ga. 2009))

Why would she be anxious? Well, for starters, she is Louisiana born and bred. She is from Lafayette...about an hour west of Baton Rouge and home of the Ragin' Cajun's. TLB is a "Huge" football fan, particularly if it involves either LSU or the Saints. Which by the way, I don't have any problem with, we all should have wives who love football...it was a pre-requisite for me.

Anyway, we decided earlier in the week that we would watch the game, starting out at Buffalo Wild Wings about a mile or so from the house. We'd watch the first half from there, eating wings...well boneless wings and having a couple of beers. Second half, we'd head home and watch from the comfort of our living room couch. Unfortunately here in Cincinnati, there wasn't a ton of interest in the game. The crowd at Wild Wings had some Saints fan, but the place basically had emptied out after the Indianapolis game ended. That did make it easier to sit down though.

TLB was well behaved at the restaurant, showing restraint and mildly cheering when her beloved Saints did something good and making fun of Brett Favre with me when they didn't. The first half didn't determine much, we paid our check and headed home.

Now, once we got home and the second half started...it was on. TLB was on everything. When the Saints scored...huge high pitched squeals of delight. When they couldn't recover the multiple Vikings fumbles...she shouted "JUST FALL ON IT!!!!!". It was quite a sight and all I could do to keep from laughing.

I actually did something pretty cool during the second half of the game. I had my laptop computer fired up and was on Twitter (follow me at osgphil). I am following a bunch of the National Sports Writers and other Sports Guys and it was really interesting reading there observations...actually in a lot of cases it was pretty damn funny, I highly recommend it. We really enjoyed hearing the commentary about Favre.

So, the yelling and screaming at the TV continued into overtime, though not before I got tackled myself when Favre threw his late game INT. It didn't end until the game did. When it did, that is when I realized just how significant the Saints win was. They are a team that an entire state identifies with. With all that they have been through, all they have suffered and as bad over the years as they have been, the people of Louisiana identify with them. They live with them, they die with them. Good, bad they are always behind them. It really hit me there at the end and made me realize all of this when I looked over at TLB and she was crying.

Check out this video made driving around after the Game on Bourbon Street: Thanks You Tube

Hey, Hey we're the Monkees!

2010-01-20T13:43:00.001-08:00

I've been kind of dwelling on this topic for a little while and was thinking of a good time to unleash it.

Of course you are probably wondering what the hell I am talking about. Well, really it is pretty simple, though it may not make sense to everyone. I'm talking about a group of my friends in Atlanta, the guys that I worked closely with for 9 of my 10 years in Atlanta, I'm talking about the Sports Photographers.

((Pictured Back

Row L-R; Blaine, Kenny, Me and Eric. Front; Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith and Mike Thomas-the 5th Beatle))

The obvious question is "So what?". Yeah, I know, I just wanted to write about Eric Hager, Kenny Price and Blaine Kummet because I kind of miss those guys. Mind you, they didn't work at the same TV station that I did in Atlanta, but we were close. We didn't necessarily talk every day or every other day. Sometimes we didn't see each other for a couple of weeks at a time, but when we did, we were inseparable. We called ourselves "The Monkeys", which was also the source of a rather lengthy comedy routine. Once we broke into it, the whole room started laughing.

We covered every big event im

aginable. Georgia and Georgia Tech Football, the Falcons, the Braves, the Thrashers and the Hawks. We all had a great relationship with the teams and even some of the players started to get to know us and share in the laughter. Mostly because we were always laughing. Laughing and trying to make everyone else laugh. We were having fun because we were doing the job that every guy wants, covering all of the major sports.

((Pictured: The Falcons Video Crew, Eric, Kenny, Me and Mr. and Mrs. Bootsy Collins))

I think the most fun that we had was

every year in February. Late February was when Spring Training started and we all would head down to the Disney Sports Complex for a couple of days to cover the first few days. I would have to say it was my favorite trip out of all of them...and we went a lot of places during that time period.

((Pictured: Intrepid Sports Anchor Mark Harmon and I interviewing Jeff Francoeur//Courtesy: Eric Hager))

It was my favorite for the little things. The best was always "Family Night" which meant dinner at the Columbia restaurant in the Disney Celebration complex. We would go, reporters in tow and share laughs, a little sangria and some good Cuban food. Inevitably, some of the Braves players would come in, see us and get a laugh saying "You guys are all friends?, What's with that?" We would say hi, talk to them a bit and continue laughing.

My other favorite thing, mascot photos. The other guys wouldn't do it, but Eric and I always did. It was actually his idea, he had been doing it long before we met, but when we did, he found his partner in crime. We always at some point during the game would find the other teams mascot and get a photo. Those who have seen my gallery, know that I have a pretty good collection. Eric's collection dwarfs mine.

It's funny now to thing back and realize how much that we fed off of each other. Of course we weren't always there together, Eric always missed the Georgia/Georgia Tech game for vacation. Kenny didn't do much Georgia Football, his station kept him busy with the Falcons during football season. Blaine was always busy with High School stuff. Me, I tried to do them all and maybe that was my problem. During that stretch, I worked...pretty much all of the time, but it was the only way we could keep up with everyone else.

((Photo: Me with Albert and Alberta Gator//Courtesy: Eric Hager))

I'm not really sure what is prompting me to write this. Maybe because of where I am at the moment. I don't know.

I do know that even had I stayed in Atlanta, we weren't going to get to work together any more. The last few months before I left, I had been phased out of Sports. In fact after I left, the station phased out the Sports department, completely.

What I do know is that I am forever in those guys debt. They left me with memories of a lifetime. They left me knowing that I really did accomplish one of my biggest goals in life which was to run a Sports Department in Atlanta. I didn't get to do it for very long, but I did get to do it.

I left Atlanta, probably for good in September of 2009. The Monkees got back together, one last time the day before I left. Well, Kenny couldn't make it, but everyone else did including the Anchors from two of the other Sports Departments in town. I never really got a chance to tell Eric and Blaine...and even Kenny who wasn't there how much that meant to me. It really let me know that I did make an impression and that I would be remembered for doing some good things. The most important thing...is I left with some friends that I will always remember.

This is what I always think of when I think of these guys...of course...the Monkees Theme: the song fits. Thanks You Tube:

Here I sit!

2010-01-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

So, I've spent say...oh...the past 21 years or so in a business where it is all about deadlines and deadline pressure. Yet, as I sit here writing this blog post, I fully realize that I need to be cranking out chapters for the book that I am a part of writing, yet I am really having a tough time getting motivated to do it. So here I sit.

((Me drinking a beer in Belize//Courtesy: Michelle)

For those of us who went to college, I have a theory. The theory is that you never lose the procrastinate until the time of the test mindset. Heck, even professionally despite working on deadline most of the time I did it. You can ask just about anyone who worked with me. When I needed to be fast, I was. Nobody could be more efficient. But...when I had time. I took it. All of it. And...here I sit.

I always wondered about this phenomenon, why not just me...but almost everyone that I know practices it. I mean really. I know "What" I need to do. I know "How Long" it takes me to do it. I even have a plan mapped out to get it done without having to cram it all in at the end.

And yet here I sit on the mighty I-Mac with Oliver the Cat behind me crashed out on the dog's bed putting off doing the work that I need to do.

The book, really is pretty simple. It's a project that my friend Jon got and is sharing with the rest of the Production Company. He gets the author title, we get to be non-titled authors in the acknowledgements (which is fine).

For those who don't know. Yes, I have and have had a production company...OSG Sports Media for over a year now. We don't have a lengthy list of production work that we have done, really we have the Onlinesportsguys.com website...and the book.

The book is even about a subject that I know well. "100 Things that every Georgia Football fan should know and see before they die". I covered Georgia Football for 10 years. I know the coaches, players, fans and administrators pretty well. But yet here I sit.

Heck, I have done some of the work. I've written 15 Chapters so far. Not bad. But...I have 19 more to go. Originally we started with 25 Chapters spread between 4 of us. One had to drop out and we each had to pick up his work. Me, I've got 34 to do.

They aren't hard. Really. Two pages on a word document. A lot of mine are things that I've either been to or know the history about. If I put my mind to it...700+ words in about 30-45 minutes. And yeah, I type pretty fast for a dude. But yet here I sit.

So you are probably asking ('cause I am)...Why if you have work to do on a rainy, cold Sunday...are you sitting here writing this instead? Good question. A question that I don't know if I can answer. Maybe it's the same reason when I was in school I never did my homework until Sunday night. Maybe because I like writing on my blog. Heck...maybe I'm just slowly watching my Twitter Feed (osgphil-look me up) for a story for the OSG Website (That is what I did Wednesday instead of writing for the book). Heck...I don't know. But yet here I sit.

Perhaps this bolt of wisdom from Mr. T will help me. Thanks You Tube!

And the Cycle of Life Continues

2010-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm back after a couple of days spent at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati eating really bad food and sleeping Monday night in a reclining chair (my back handled it pretty well). Michelle's surgery went extraordinarily well and we are back home where she is resting comfortably and way ahead of schedule in terms of what I would expect.

So, things move forward and even though they slowed for two days, it is time to get back to the order of things now. It's time for me to get back to skimming through the job ads. Time to write some more for the book. I have 15 of my 26 assigned chapters done, and like the other guys who are working on it, now have to pick up 8 more. But that will be this afternoon's work.

It's a beautiful, if a bit chilly day here in Cincinnati. The snow has finally begun to melt. As I sit here on the mighty I-Mac, Daisy the Wonder Dog is sunning herself on her doggie bed here in the office. Michelle is typing away on her phone in the bedroom with the cat sprawled out next to her and my mom is down in the den watching TV and doing crosswords, I feel kind of bad because there isn't much she can do besides offer moral support...and make coffee since I'm not particularly good at that.

No, things are moving back towards the middle, normal...or at least I hope so. As I told the Chief (my father) yesterday, one of the toughest things for me to deal with up here in Cinci is that I haven't been able to get into a fairly normal routine. Every couple of weeks it seems like something is going on that changes it. I know, especially after my last year or so in Atlanta, that you shouldn't stay too regimented in terms of your day or even your life anywhere, but for me it brings some comfort and consistency. It is a good part of the reason I haven't felt comfortable here yet. Until I find what I am looking for...at least professionally...I am not sure that I will ever get comfortable.

Sorry for the short post...I will update more frequently from here on in. In the meantime...enjoy today's video...it's for all of you in the Sports Biz...I will put this on Onlinesportsguys.com as well....I give you...Courtesy of the You Tube...THE LT SLIDE!!!

A Long and Lazy Sunday

2010-01-10T12:52:00.000-08:00

Other than the fact that I really haven't posted anything for half of the week, I don't have a very good reason for posting anything today. As I sit here in the Global HQ in cold-ass, snowy Cincinnati with the Wonder Dog on the floor behind the office chair, I am sitting here wondering, "What if needed to say something about nothing in particular but you were struggling to find something to say?".

Confusing yes, but really, that is an exaggeration or at least a lame-ass attempt at humor. I do really have something to say...always.

((Chelle and I watching the Thrashers//Courtesy: Me))

True, today has been relatively normal...though cold. My parents arrived from North Carolina this morning and will be visiting for a couple of days. (They are napping right now) The reason they are here is that they came to help and support us over the next few days.

For those of you who don't know, Michelle is having some surgery done tomorrow (Monday). It's a preventative procedure and apparently one that at some point in time in their lives, all women have. Obviously, she is nervous as hell, we have to be at the hospital at 5am tomorrow for a scheduled 7:30am procedure that is expected to last 4 hours.

For me, I'm sort of nervous, but in a different way. I realize that is something that needs to be done...and quite honestly, I'm a little relieved that it is being done here in Cincinnati. Though Cinci isn't the "Big City" that Atlanta is, the hospitals and the medical treatment here seems to be about 15 years ahead of Atlanta.

The challenge will come on Tuesday. Michelle will be laid up for about 4 weeks from this. The first week or so, she won't be able to do much other than lay in bed and watch TV. My job will be to take care of her, though my mother will be hanging out for a few days to help. Quite honestly, I don't really know what to expect. I've never really had to deal with this type of thing before. I'm reasonably certain that the procedure and everything will be fine, I'm just not sure how to play Nurse-maid.

Anyway, I just wanted to get this out there, it has kind of been on my mind the past few days. I don't anticipate sleeping much tonight...or tomorrow. I will spend the night with Michelle at the hospital and I am very, very thankful that my folks are here and they will take care of Daisy the Wonder Dog and Oliver the recovering from his own surgery cat.

In the meantime, enjoy one of our classic music favorites: Thanks You Tube!

Life on the Other Side

2010-01-07T08:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I am sitting here and watching a steady snowfall here in the Cincinnati area which I never thought that I would live and to be real honest, it's a bit on the depressing side. Really, I never thought I would be sitting here on the computer just kind of writing about it, yet that is exactly what I am doing.

In an early post I rattled on about not having

to cover it and feeling sympathy for many of my friends who are stuck doing just that. I also rattle on about how bizarrely people in my former business act when it comes to stuff like this.

((The front yard//Courtesy: Me))

Safe to say, I can only imagine what it is like right now. As it was stated in the most excellent TV News Blog by Doug Richards...Live Apartment Fire, "It's the only thing local news has left to offer". Unfortunately, it's true. Most of the relevant things in life that I want to know about can be found right here on the internet. However, the one thing the internet still can't provide is a live picture from your hometown.

That being said, I kind of miss the rush, though there was always dread and foreboding mixed in with that. Quite honestly I would prefer to be covering it because it would mean that I am not in my current predicament. It's very odd just kind of sitting in the office at my house watching it come down and cover the cars and the driveway and the yard and heck, even the house.

What is funny is watching both me and Michelle walk outside with cameras taking pictures of all of it. It's not like neither of us have ever seen snow before, though I've probably seen it a bit more than she has. Actually the one who likes this the most is probably the dog. For whatever reason, she would run around outside in the snow as long as she could (she's 12 and wouldn't last long).

((Michelle in front of her car//Courtesy: Me))

So anyway, to those of you who read this in a Southern location, remember that this too will pass. It's snow. For my friends in Georgia, yeah, I know, it's a chance for the TV Folks to predict the end of the world as we know it. Strangely, this has happened before and it will happen again. To my friends in "The Sunshine State". Yeah, I miss living down there. I miss the weather of my youth where we could wear shorts during Christmas week. We never had to deal with this. Maybe someday I'll get to come back...I just hope that if I do, it's timed out so I don't have to deal with a Snowy winter.

In the meantime, enjoy some more Snow Bloopers: Thanks You Tube

Re-finding Motivation

2010-01-04T06:52:00.000-08:00

Is it safe to say that the holiday season is now officially over? Unfortunately, it now means...for some...going back to work and for others it means that it is time to get re-energized, re-motivated and re-invigorated and try to find some work.

The question that I have is how? Having never gone through the holidays in the position that I am currently in, I am trying to figure out the answer to that question. It wasn't hard to get motivated when I first got here nor was it hard to stay motivated for a good, long while after I got settled in.

((Me looking like I do when I am on the computer//Courtesy: Phil's I-Mac))

But now as I sit here with the Wonder Dog asleep next to my chair, I really don't know what to exactly do next. I spent a lot of time in the fall trying to get involved with some Networking groups, which was interesting and they did give me some background and perspective, but I am starting to wonder what else the groups here can offer me. There are not many (met 2) people from my line of work involved with the groups and they really didn't have much to offer in the way of help. I've already decided that I want to stay if not in my chosen field, at least something pretty closely related. I really think that even if I could manage to get some freelance work that I could over time make that work and I don't know how much the Networking group would help me there.

The other part of the problem is time. My time is somewhat consumed on the days that I work my part-time job. I generally work from 5:30am until 1 or 2 in the afternoon, which is great because I get some money out of it, but by the time I get home, eat some lunch and get organized, Michelle gets home and I don't get much else accomplished. Granted, I still have 3 or so days a week to get my searching done, but the Networking group that I mentioned in the above paragraph meets on Monday mornings and I am beginning to think though I am occasionally off on Monday, I can better spend my time here, on the computer looking for stuff as opposed to 3-plus hours with the group. On top of that, one of the projects I started before leaving Atlanta, co-authoring a book needs to be finished...soon so that is taking some time as well.

Is there a solution to the problem I stated before I started rambling? I don't know. There has to be some sort of middle ground and that really is what I am wrestling with. I am very much a creature of habit who likes to get into a bit of a routine in terms of what I do, when I do it and how I do it and since arriving in Cincinnati, I have been completely unable to do that. I am trying to figure out a way to at least cobble together some projects that I can make some money off of. Ultimately, I really just want to get back to doing what it is that I do best. I'm not very picky as to whom I work for or where I work for them, I just want to not have to do what I have been doing right now.

Enjoy a motivational speech...from Gene Hackman in the classic movie Hoosiers: Thanks You Tube

Better Luck in 2010

2009-12-31T15:45:00.001-08:00

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

2009-12-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

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

2009-12-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

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: