The Good, The Bad, and The Boring

It has been quite a while since I have posted a blog, almost a month and a half or so to be exact. Life has had its moments, to say the least. Some of those moments were great, and unfortunately, some have not been so fantastic. Anywho, this blog is way overdue.

THE GOOD

Since returning from my storm chasing trip early in June, I have been involved in many random things. I was very happy to receive the opportunity to interview for an internship in the meteorology department at Channel 12, or WKRC-Cincinnati. Since my other "summer-help" position at Duke Energy didn't pan out like my father and I expected to, due to the economy or whatever else you would like to blame it on, might as well blame global warming as too, I was going to be unemployed, and less importantly, bored out of my mind. Fortunately, WKRC took me under their wing so to say, and hired me as "Brad the Intern."

I worked with meteorologist John Gumm, but I simply called him John, or if I felt the need, Mr. Gumm. Sometimes I found this awkward, because it reminded me of Bubba Gump, the whole shrimp company in the movie Forrest Gump. So I generally tended to refer to him just as John. He is a great guy, and grew up as a Cincinnati local. He graduated from Glen Este H.S. in Ohio, and then went on to get his degree from Valparaiso in Indiana. His broadcasting jobs have been in Rock Island, IL, New Bern, NC and WWL-TV in New Orleans, LA, before he came back to Cincinnati to work at WKRC. John can be described as his commercials say, "a Pro," which we had numerous times making good fun of in the wee hours of the morning, but most of all a family man. My last week, he was stuck at home on furlough, or unpaid leave to save money, and he was doing home projects such as replacing a ceiling fan and painting. What people fail to realize sometimes is that people on television are no different than themselves, just that they have a different occupation. Although I had limited experience with my meteorological skills, he took me in and taught me the tools of the trade that I will be taking back to Ball State, to hopefully complete a successful audition for Cardinal Vision 57 to do the weather. Anyway, the only bad thing about the whole gig is that John Gumm works the morning news shift.

If you thought your mornings were bad, you probably are more lucky than you think. My schedule, compared to theirs, was an easy one. My Monday mornings were the worst, because I would have to go to bed somewhere around 6pm on Sunday, to get enough sleep to wake up at 2am the following morning to get properly clothed to look good when I started just north of downtown Cincinnati bright and early at 4am, when all of the anchors and other staff arrive. I will be the first to tell you that it wasn't easy, but I eventually adapted to it. Every other day between Tuesday and Friday was slightly easier, with a 4am wake up and a 6am start time.

Each day I would make graphics for John, or whomever was filling in for him, such as the precisioncast, and every once and a while an "explainer" graphic, such as the "Why is it such a cool July," or the "Reds Game Day Forecast." On top of that, I would forecast very similar to the way the meteorologists at Channel 12 would, with an hour-by-hour, a weekly planning forecast, etc. This was something I had really not yet had to experience through Ball State, and this was not the only thing I have learned through the experience.

On top of all of these things, I eventually began to create my own "show," which is every slide with a graphic or information that a broadcast meteorologist would use to tell the weather story on a "green screen" or chroma key to the public during a broadcast. After a while, I even began to tape myself doing the weather on the chroma key. I will be honest, I was no good to begin with. The tapes themselves may never surface, at least not of the first day ha. But, like riding a bicycle, things got progressively better as I got more comfortable with myself, and knowing that the upstairs Engineering Dept., news room, and whoever else was in the station that wanted to, was watching me. At random times, I found myself walking through the news room to grab a cup of coffee, or use the facilities after drinking the said coffee, and I was stopped by a random employee or even the well known names and faces, and complimented on my work, and eventually on my progress. This helped me to progress even quicker in the final weeks, and I must say, the last tape will probably be on my Facebook when I get it, even though it too, was not all that great, but it was an improvement nevertheless.

When I had a small bit of free time, which was sometimes hard to come by, I would venture into the news room, or the studio, and try to talk to and meet new people. It was a great time, but the one person's office that I enjoyed visiting the most was the office that belonged to morning news anchor, John Lomax.

John has been with WKRC "...since the early days of dirt,..." he told me the first time I came knocking on his door. His office is littered with small picture frames, numerous miscellaneous bobble heads, and other belongings. Not only does he do a great job of providing you with up to date news stories, and delivers them to you with a sense of style and comfort a lot of people around here have grown up with, but if you didn't know, I'll be the first to tell you that Mr. Lomax is a very intelligent and trustworthy man. He had no idea who I was on day 1 of my job, but he still offered up conversation and treated me like he had known me for years. When sitting in his "guest chair," in the undersized office he calls his own, we conversed about things such as current events of the country and the world, the television business, and life in general. In return for his endless wisdom, I could only return the favor with the "Squirrel Launcher" and "Hastily made Cleveland Tourism Videos," all of which are on YouTube, and quite hilarious if I do say so myself. He also complained the night I posted pictures of my internship and told me he was mad because I had taken 19 pictures of myself and John Gumm, and left him out to dry so to say. So I took it upon myself to bring the camera back the next morning, which was my last "morning" at WKRC, and we had someone take a picture of us behind the weather desk to John's satisfaction. He was even nice enough to leave me this comment on our picture that I posted on my Facebook, "Brad, stay focused. In spite of the hard times in the business today, by the time you graduate, the broadcast world should be your oyster. Be prepared. There's no substitute for competence." I have not yet come to fully understand this, but I feel as though by the time I graduate with a meteorology degree from Ball State, that I will be able to comprehend and be fully aware and even be able to relate to the message and to the meaning. There aren't good enough words to thank him for his entertainment and advice.

I also got a few small opportunities to work with the Chief Meteorologist at WKRC, Tim Hedrick, who bribed me with food to say that he was my favorite meteorologist on live TV, sorry John. Anywho, the whole cast on the evening news, even the majority of the camera crew, is 6 ft. and taller, Tim stands at about 6'3" or so. He told me a lot about the business in our short time spent together, and I suppose he liked me enough to invite me back whenever I could to visit the weather office, and to intern again in the future. He also took a sampling of my weather tapes and said he had a hard time nit-picking away at my work. He said his biggest pet peeve was a persons voice, but that he really liked mine. Things to work on were of course all things that would just take time, such as my hand work, and weather-story telling skills, and just transitioning better. But for the most part, he liked what he saw, and he didn't even see my last day of recording.

Anyway, I recently finished my 150 hours of interning at WKRC, this past Friday the 24th to be exact. It was a great experience, and the knowledge and skills I learned will go a long way to helping me down the road, not only in school but when I eventually try to get into a broadcast meteorology career. Thank you again, John Gumm and WKRC for making that possible this summer.

Moving on, I have made just a bit of money this summer doing other random jobs. I worked the 4th of July weekend with Rozzi's Famous Fireworks of Loveland, Ohio. We shot a show in Troy, Ohio, one of their largest. It was a great time, but honestly, for all the work that goes into a 15 to 20 minute show, it almost doesn't seem worth it. Nevertheless, it was still fun to blow some stuff up, and to get out of the house, something I should really do more often.

I also helped out one night at the Lawrenceburg Speedway, working the "Turn 2 Grill" with my Uncle Greg. That was a good time, although at times, hot, loud and dirty. It was a quick and easy buck or two, and it gave me food and gas money for a few weeks.

Other random things I would like to note before we move into the feared "Bad" category, would include Relay For Life of Dearborn and Ohio counties, and St. Martin's Festival. First off Relay for Life was a scorcher this year. Well, it wasn't unbearable, but it was enough to leave me searching for any available water at some times, and you would often find me with sweat on my brow. But it was a lot of fun, I got to emcee a bit, and enjoy myself for the 24 hours. SIDE NOTE: Sorry, I ran out of pictures for the rest of this blog that fit the story....

St. Martin's festival was filled with good people, good food, and fun. I did work both Saturday and Sunday, but I also snuck away a few times to grab a bite to eat, or to talk to some of the parishioners, some of whom I haven't seen since the previous year's festival. All in all, it wasn't as busy as some would have liked it to be, but the weather was great, and the people that did come out seemed to enjoy themselves. If you haven't ever been out, on Saturday evening, they have an out-of-this-world prime rib dinner, served with a salad bar, baked potato, other sides, fruit, a roll and dessert. It is well worth the money, as a lot of people leave with a to go box, somewhat of a rarity at a church festival. Luckily, since I am broke, I got a free meal for working and helping out. I look forward to it all year round, as it never fails to disappoint and draw a respectable crowd of hungry, and soon after, happy people. Sunday is home to Yorkville's best fried chicken, turtle soup, and fun. I personally like all of the above. I helped out my father at the Big Six wheel. He has been doing it forever it seems now, and it is always a good time. I always tell the kids that show up to "Come on over here so I can take all your Quarters..," and most of the time, to their dismay, I do. I have been working and enjoying myself at this festival for as long as I can remember, from the times where the family, including my Grandma and Grandpa Ritzi, both of whom have passed now, used to sit behind the big oak tree behind the church, and they would give me a few dollars to go and get them some Bars and Bells peelers, and if they were generous, they even let me peel a few and keep the winnings. I have had quite a few good memories from St. Martins and it's festival, memories that won't soon go away.

THE BAD

Unfortunately, not everything this summer has been great. Of course, I didn't come into it at all thinking it would be either. I didn't know I wasn't going to have any source of income, I didn't know the shifter knob on the Red Ranger was going to pop off, and I also had no prior knowledge that this year at Ball State was going to be overshadowed by a dark cloud, the secret of which I'll tell you about in a bit... WARNING: Some language might go beyond the limits of the Pg-13 that I try to keep this blog at, so yea, just a heads up. Oh and if this sounds like complaining, it probably is, so you don't really have to read it, but feel free. I just felt like venting, and punching 4 holes in my wall didn't seem like a good idea. These are my opinions, and if you can respect them as they are, I would appreciate that.

First off, I thought that I would have a job with a decent amount of money making potential at Duke Energy in Cincinnati this summer. Unfortunately, due to the economy, or whatever asshole decided to cut back on summer help and move it to a lottery and not a seniority based system, which God only knows how unlucky I am to begin with, I found myself unemployed in this summer of 2009. Yes, I know a lot of people have found themselves in the same situation, so I made the best of it with my internship, which will help me in the future a hell of a lot more than Duke ever will, but I'm still broke as hell. It's sad really, because I'm not the kind of person that doesn't mind borrowing money consistently, without ever knowing when I will be able to pay them back. In fact, it bothers me. But for what it's worth, I almost wish I had gotten the job at Duke this summer, so I could afford books this coming fall, or even money to go out with my friends, which on numerous times I have had to decline because of my money crunch. Yes, I could have gotten a job for a few months at a fast-food chain perhaps, but would that have helped me in the long run? No, probably not, so I will continue to complain about my lack of money.

I also found myself driving down Indiana 48 on my way to WKRC one morning, when to my surprise and disgust, the shifting knob on my red Ford Ranger, aka THE RED RANGER, decided to pop off and fall to the floorboard as I rounded a curve. So I realized that super-gluing it for a second time would yield no satisfactory results, I used some of my limited summer income to purchase a new shifting knob from Auto Zone in Aurora. It just one of those things that you need to spend the money on to fix, but you would have rather not had to fix in the first place.

Ok, for the moment you have all been trying to avoid... Yesterday morning, I woke up to my mother in my room, I suppose doing my laundry. It started off with a "Good Morning," and then went sharply down hill, off a cliff, and into an bottomless abyss with "Me and Dad have been talking,..." Now I have had a few girlfriends in my time, and I figured if it was anything like their line, "We need to talk..." it wasn't going to be good. Well certainly enough, it wasn't good, it was a slap in the goddamn face to say the least. For as much hard work I have put into my dream of becoming a meteorologist and being a successful child, and growing up to be a well rounded citizen, it really did hurt to hear what she had to say next. "Well we have been thinking about some things, and well we really want to get in on this cash for clunkers program, and its such a great deal, we were thinking about getting a new car or truck, but we cannot afford both the new car or truck and your education, so well, we decided that we are going to get the new car/truck and have you pay your own way this year." I thought perhaps for a minute that I was still sleeping, and upon going to the bathroom, brushing my teeth, and slapping myself 3 times, I realized that I was indeed wide awake. I'm sorry, but have they really made a good decision here? They drive two vehicles daily, and they work just fine. My education, going well, passed the first and toughest year, and I'm already broke as hell. And you pick the new car/truck over my future? What the hell is that! As Will Ferrell would say in a deleted scene from the movie Step Brothers, "God fuckin' damnit, do I deserve that?" Well if that doesn't sum it up well enough I don't know what does. She then added casually, just to throw salt in the wound, "Oh, and I have the loan information out there on the table." Ok, so I'm broke, you all know that. I have $5 left in my wallet right now, yea why not go $14K+ in the hole to start off my life as a post-teen. Yes, I know there are a lot of kids out there that pay there own way for college, I'm not denying that, but when your parents promised that if succeeded in school, they would continue to pay the way, and then wake you up one morning with that greedy decision, they might as well have kicked me out while they were at it to turn my room into storage or a new flower room or maybe even add on to it to park their new vehicle in there, why not.

That is why I'm now no further enjoying my stay here in Guilford. I cannot believe that I tried my best and I'm now paying for my education anyway. Now my plans to rent or buy a house with my current roommate and or best friend Brennen, are now up in the air. I am getting a job as soon as possible, if I can find one, to help save for that and or so I can afford books in the spring semester. On top of it, my mom decides to basically tell me I'm a big waste of space at dinner tonight, because I have tried to make the best of my summer and have a bit of fun as well. So we aren't on speaking terms so to say, and I'm still not really happy with my dad either, and I felt the real urge for the first time when I walked out of O'Charleys to pack up and move in with a friend before school started, because honestly I don't really want to look at my parents right now. They really are good people, but when they go around and brag to everybody about how proud they are of me and make a big deal of how successful I am so far, and then tell me they chose a car/truck over me, it just seems like a big fucking joke/slap in the face. Again I apologize for the language.

THE BORING

So, anyway... phew. Now that I have that out of my system just a little bit, I feel slightly better, but I'm still not satisfied. I cannot wait to get back to school, which is something you would have not heard me say back in high school to save my life. I hope the next two weeks go by in a flash, and I find myself in Elliott Hall, having fun in Muncie, and living the dream once more. But for now I leave you with 18 days left of this, which has become a prison so it seems, here in somewhat unexciting, uneventful, un-entertaining, and most of all just boring Guilford. It just goes to show that life, although sometimes is good, really can be a bitch when it wants to be.