Long, long way from home....

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:

Enough already....No more snow!

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:

And the Cycle of Life Continues

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!!!

The Final Countdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the Trailer for the Grinch: Thanks You Tube

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Nothing Left to Lose

Every once and awhile you get an opportunity to do things that would be great to do but you don't necessarily "Have" to do.

Really I should qualify this. I had a job interview today (Hooray!). It was in my field of work, in this case it was for a part-time fill in News Producer job. Those who know me or my background know that I have worked in News for a long time, but I've never really produced a Newscast. I've done plenty of Sports shows. I did a 30-minute live Sunday night Sports show for 2 years in Atlanta and for a couple of years back in the day when I worked in Jacksonville too. I also helped create and produced a College Football Post-game show while in Atlanta. So I have produced a lot of Live TV, just not news.

This also was my 1st "Formal" Job Interview since I've been in Cincinnati. It went very well. Maybe it was just that I had made up my mind that I had "Nothing to Lose", I don't know. But, we had a very nice conversation and I spent about an hour at the TV Station. Maybe it will payoff and I'll get the gig...maybe I won't...but quite honestly, I'm not really worried about it; should something else come up there. They will call me. I'm very sure of it.

What I've discovered here and with some other opportunities that I've had over the past several years is actually pretty simple. Just be yourself. Really, it works. Don't try to be something that you aren't. Like anything else, it comes across if you are faking it. Or if you are "Laying it on too thick". Really, it does.

Am I saying don't "Do your homework on the company?". No. Am I saying don't be robotic and give pre-programmed answers...HELL YES. Just have a conversation, try to be relaxed and smile...a lot. Be curious. Ask a lot of questions. Look like you are interested in what the person you are talking to has to say. Most important of all...listen to what they say.

Yes, it's true that for every conversation, you will get the "What are your strengths and weaknesses"...blah...blah...blah. Use some of things that you've already discussed. Be ready to talk about your greatness, but be humble.

I'm about to repeat myself here as I finish, but it's the most important thing I could ever...EVER stress to anyone who is about to have a job interview. BE YOURSELF. BE CHARMING, BE HAPPY and most importantly HAVE FUN!

Yes, we're going with the obvious here: Everybody have fun tonight...Everybody Wang Chung tonight...Wang Chung Live somewhere in Japan: Thanks You Tube