We're Back!!!!!

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

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....

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: