A Long and Lazy Sunday

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

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

Better Luck in 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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