Remembering John Ware

This morning, the football coach at Missouri Southern State University passed away, sitting at his desk. He was 46 years old, and he was a great guy.

Coach Ware was the head coach at Truman when I was there, and was still the head coach when I started my career as a sportslady. He, fittingly, looked like a Bulldog-- big and intimidating-- but the man had the patience of a saint with me. Every Thursday during football season, I'd head over to campus, ask him some ridiculously inane questions about that week's game, and he'd always give me great answers... no matter how stupid the question was.

His wife, Melissa, is one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She was the Sports Information Director at Truman, so I worked with her a lot-- sometimes on a daily basis. At one point, I told her that I was considering leaving the TV business, and had thought about maybe pursuing a career in Sports Information. The next day, she started emailing me job postings. At least once a week, she'd email me a couple dozen jobs that she'd seen in trade magazines.

I've already written out a sympathy card for her, though I really didn't know what to say. I guess I never really do. Most of my life, I never really had to deal with death. For the most part, everyone I knew who had passed away was an elderly relative. It's only in the last few years that people I know have died unexpectedly. And I have trouble understanding it.

I'm just kind of babbling now as I try to sort this out.
If you'd like to know more about Coach Ware, you can read about him here.

Wedding Alert!

Cory and I have set a date. Sort of.

Roachmobile

By the way, I had a really disturbing drive home tonight.

Remember, I live in the South, where cockroaches are a fact of live. You can have the nicest, cleanest house on the block and still have roaches here. In the South, any apartment complex worth its salt includes monthly bug spray/extermination as part of your rent. In the South, you don't go out on your patio at night without shoes on. Makes the South sound so appealing, doesn't it?

Anyway, tonight, I was leaving work around midnight or so. I put my key in my car door, open up, and see something move inside my car. Roach. My hair stood up on the back of my neck.

It scrambled into a crease of vinyl next to my gear shift. I hunted for a pen, stuck it in the crease, and wiggled it around in hopes that the offending insect would crawl out and I could squish it with something. Or at least fling it out my car door. No roach to be found.

Here's the dilemma. I could spend the next half hour digging around under the seats of my car, looking in every cubbyhole in my vehicle, trying to find the roach. Or I could just acknowledge that I'll never find it, suck it up, and drive home.

I opt for the latter. It's probably hiding in a little crevasse under the seat or in the floorboard carpeting, and if I'm lucky, I'll inadvertantly squish it.

I close the door, put the key in the ignition, and shift into reverse. The very moment that I move the shift lever, the roach jumps out, scurries across the console, and scrambles under the passenger seat. I squealed. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!

The rest of the drive home, I left the dome light on, so that if the little bastard chose to reveal itself, it wouldn't catch me by surprise. I drove home very fast.

Slang-uage

Want to impress the co-workers? At work on Monday, use a few of these phrases and expressions.

Artsy Fartsy

Ok, I think I'm pretty open-minded. I have an appreciation for modern art. I get Christo.

But what the fark is this???

"...Fascinating Creature of the Wild"

You Are A: Bear Cub!

Bears are strong and independent creatures who roam in the forest in search of food. Bears are usually gentle, but anger one and be prepared for their full fury! You have a bit of a temper -- a classic attribute of bears. Intelligent and resourceful, though lazy at times, you are a fascinating creature of the wild.

You were almost a: Kitten or a Monkey
You are least like a: Bunny or a PuppyWhat Cute Animal Are You?

Quick Hits

First of all, I tried blogging before the finale of Rock Star: INXS last night. I wanted to list our predictions for posterity's sake. But then Blogger ate my damn post. So here's our predictions, a day late:

1) After Suzie was eliminated last week, Cory said "I think they'll pick J.D.-- but Marty will be much more successful in the long term."
2) My prediction: "I predict that if J.D. becomes the new lead singer, I'll never buy another INXS album."

So J.D. won and INXS will never grace my shopping cart again... but Marty got the consolation prize: The band is considering having him as the opening act on their next world tour. Not a bad deal. I'd go to that concert a) to see Marty perform-- and b) to see the look of regret in the band's eyes when they have to take the stage with that psychopath jerkoff J.D.

Second, Cory and I are back in our apartment. It's a total mess. There's crap everywhere. And the chemicals in the fresh paint on our walls made me charf all day yesterday. Not cool.

Third, today (Wednesday) was Cory's birthday. I got him an XM Roady 2-- the cheap XM radio. And I took him out to dinner (Texas Roadhouse, his favorite) and drinks (Buffalo Wild Wings... they're the only place in Columbus that serves Labatt Blue). And I got him an Ice Cream Cake from Bruster's. Am I the best girlfriend fiance in the world or what?

Fourth, I spent an entire day last week trying to build a tabletop fountain at the pottery studio. It looked pretty cool. But I screwed up and one big part of it broke off when I went to check on it today. Crap.

Finally, have I mentioned that my mother hates me? I won't get into the details here... but no doubt about it, she hates me.

Rockin' and Rollin'

At this very moment, while I'm slaving away at work, our TiVo is recording the finale of Rock Star: INXS. Marty, MiG, and J.D. are singing for their suppers.

Since the very first episode of the show, I've had a sneaking suspicion that J.D. would win. And that really bums me out, because the guy's a tool.

Honestly, I'm hoping that Marty will win. A month ago, I would never have thought that, but he's really grown on me over the last few weeks. He's a little creepy, but in kind of a cool way. And that damn "Trees" song that he wrote is infectuous. Plus, I love the fact that he lists his occupation as "Musician/Real Estate Appraiser." Huh?

I'm also pretty fond of MiG... though he's a little too nice to be a rock star.

Cory's prediction, made last week when Suzie was eliminated last week: J.D. will win, but Marty will become much more successful in the long run.

My prediction? If J.D. wins, I predict I'll never buy another INXS album.

Refugee Update

Cory and Zoe and I are still "squatting" in a neighboring apartment. The carpets have been extracted, dried, and cleaned (they look better than they did when we moved in). The last we heard, they were going to replace our dining room ceiling, perform any other needed drywalling, then repaint the entire downstairs. If they started on Tuesday, then we'd be able to move back into our apartment by Thursday or Friday.

Only one problem: They didn't start on Tuesday. Or Today. The ceiling and walls are still brown and droopy, and the downstairs still stinks to high heaven. (I needed to use the computer today to print out a couple of resumes, so I'm sitting in the stinky brown apartment right now as I write this.) It may be a while before we can move back. Hopefully, before Cory's birthday next week.

In the meantime, we're camping out in what we've begun calling our "vacation cottage." It's a semi-furnished corporate apartment, so it has a dining room set, a couch, coffee table, two beds, an alarm clock, and two bedroom dressers. It also has all the basic appliances ( a TV in the family room and a microwave in addition to the stove, dishwasher and fridge), running water, electricity, and cable tv. We've brought over a few items of our own.

Zoe (plus food/water bowl, litter box, and tin of catnip)
Two pillows
Two comforters
teddy bear
four towels
Assorted toiletries (I knew that eventually all those little hotel-size bottles of shampoo would come in handy).
Hair dryer and curling iron
electric razor and beard trimmer
two small laundry baskets with clothing (one clean, one dirty)
small (12") tv for bedroom (Something else coming in handy... this TV hasn't been used for the last 8 years)
TiVo.

The TiVo was actually the first thing that Cory moved over there... aside from Zoe. I guess if we ever need to evacuate for an actual emergency, I now know which items we can't live without.

Live Like A Refugee

There's been plenty of discussion in the media world about whether or not it's appropriate to call all of the people displaced by Hurricane Katrina "refugees." You'll now hear most news outlets calling them "evacuees" or something along those lines.

It turns out that I, too, am seeking refuge from floodwaters. Granted, our situation isn't dire like the devastation in the Gulf Coast. But Cory and Zoe and I have been displaced because of a flood... not from torrential rainstorms... or from a storm surge... but from a cracked toilet, which decided on Friday to flood our apartment. A cracked upstairs toilet, no less.

Rather than detailing the entire saga here, I'll simply refer you to Cory's blog, where he's explained the situation in further detail. We're squatting in another apartment in our complex, which is close enough to our own home that our cordless phone still works. So at least we can still call for pizza.

Blogging may be sporadic until we're back in our own apartment (at the very earliest, Monday). Then the damage assesment begins. At least for now, it appears that most of our "good" stuff (computer, TiVo, stereo, etc.) was out of the path of the flood.

Anyway, until we can return to our homes, you may feel free to call us "refugees." We won't be offended.

New Orleans Saints

Every day, as I watch the news, I wish I could do more to help the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Today, I stumbled across this group, and though I can't participate in their cause, I felt the need to give them a plug.



Maybe one of you knows someone who can help. Please, spread the word.

Is it just me...

Or does this happen to you? You're reading headlines and news articles on the internet, and you stumble across a headline that says something like "Schwarzenegger May Veto Gay-Marriage Bill," and you just stare at it blankly, not because you oppose gay marriage, or because you feel that veto power is an abuse ofpublic office, but simply because you can't believe the absurdity of any headline which recognizes that Arnold freaking Schwarzenegger is actually the Governor of California?

Ok. Maybe it is just me.

Isn't That the Sports Guy?

Have I ever mentioned how much I adore Keith Olbermann? Sure, I loved him on Sportscenter, back in the day of "The Big Show." But he transcends prime-time sports highlight shows.

Don't think so? Take some time to watch this, and you may change your mind.

Insomniac Alert!

Tonight, after the Rock Star:INXS fiasco, Cory and I decided to play a little catchup on our TiVo viewing. We watched three straight hours of Fox's new show "Prison Break." It's pretty good... kind of a "24" feel... very intense.

When we were finished, we flipped over to CBS and the US Open recap show was on. Except it wasn't a recap, because at 1:15 in the morning, Andre Agassi and James Blake were still locked in epic battle.

I'm not a big tennis fan. I usually catch a few matches during Wimbledon, and occasionally if the Williams sisters are playing each other, I'll watch. However, when two American players are battling through a fifth-set tiebreak in the quarterfinals of a Major tournament, I have to watch.

Agassi won, by the way. I love seeing old guys do well (he's four months and two days younger than me).

I've actually seen Andre Agassi play in person, a few months after the Palace of Auburn Hills opened. They hosted a big tennis exhibition, and a lot of the big names were there, including a very young, very long-haired, and very cute Andre Agassi (circa 1988). During one of his matches, a girl actually screamed "Andre, I wanna have your baby!" Swear to God. And no, it wasn't me.

That's the same day that I met Martina Navratalova. And no, she didn't hit on me. Shame on you for even asking.

TiVo Tragedy

For the first time since I bought Cory a TiVo unit for Christmas, we've had a TiVo malfunction. It seriously bummed me out.

As you all know by now, I'm obsessed with the show "Rock Star: INXS." It's on three nights a week, and if either Cory and I are at work when the show's on, we TiVo the episode.

According to our TiVo unit, tonight's episode was supposed to be half an hour. In actuality, it was an hour long. So our TiVo only taped the crappy feel-good, warm-fuzzy first half, and didn't get any of the competitive, ass-kicking second half. And as a result, I have no idea who was eliminated. I don't even know who was in the running for elimination.

I'd like to blame the folks at TiVo, or even the folks at CBS. But I have a feeling it's the folks in the programming department at our local CBS affiliate, who probably just never bothered to update their local listings. I could be wrong... but since they're the competition, I choose to blame them. For now, at least.

Work Woes

I'm not really sure if I should write about this, but what the hell. My boss is pissed at me.

See, we've got this major project due, and Dave and I have been working our asses off on it with very little help... and even less guidance. I should probably add that if any other department were doing this project, there's be a minimum of nine people working on it: Two anchors, two reporters, two videographers, a producer, an executive producer, and a videotape editor. Instead, it's Dave, me, one videographer and one reporter. And the videographer's committment was less than five total hours, including commuting time.

But that's something I've just had to get used to over the last few years. And even though it means that we have to come in on our days off to get everything done, it's also kind of nice to have that much control over the product. Dave and I typically see eye-to-eye, because we both want the same thing... a final product that we can be proud of.

Dave and I have done a lot of these projects together... as many as four per year since I came here. So we know what works and what doesn't. And typically our news directors trust our judgement.

So to make a good final product, we've learned to minimize risk. If we don't think something is going to work... or if we have reason to believe that something could go wrong, we don't make it the major focus of our show. We don't put all our eggs in one basket.

Here's the way Dave and I see it. If the project gets screwed up, we're the ones that look like idiots on air. And since we've gotten virtually no guidance on this project, we had to make some calls that our boss doesn't like. And now he's pissed at us. I came in to bust my butt on my day off, and then I had to deal with that, too. I should have just stayed at home, like a normal person.

So, if I seem a little more stressed than usual lately, that could be the reason why.

But, at least there's some good news... our friend Blaine found his brother! Hooray!

The Kitten of Hope

Tonight at work, our Fox newscast anchor, Deborah, introduced us to the tiniest survivor of Hurricane Katrina.

Deborah spent the better part of a week in Hattiesburg, Miss., helping our our sister station, WDAM, while covering the hurricane. Driving back to C-Town, exhausted both physically and emotionally, Deb and our videographer Henry stopped to eat at a burger joint in Central Mississippi. In the parking lot, cowering alone under a truck, was a five-week old kitten.

Of course, Deborah brought her back to Georgia and named her "Katrina." Unlike her namesake, she's tiny and adorable.

By the way, more photos from the hurricane are surfacing on the web. Newsweek has some devastating pictures from Bay St. Louis, Gulfport and Biloxi here.

Attention C-Town Bloggers
(And bloggers around and about the vicinity)

Our baseball-loving blog-buddy, "Basil," is trying to put together a spur of the moment blogger get-together on Monday (Labor Day) at the Catfish game. He has about 20 tickets to give away.

The game is at 2:00 ET Monday, and even if you're too late to get a ticket from him, it just so happens that since Monday is the final game of the season, tickets are only $1.

More details are on Basil's Blog.

So, spread the word to any bloggers in and around town. Cory and I will be there with bells on. Actually, Cory will have bells on... I'll, of course, have a camera on my shoulder instead.
See you Monday!

A Speck of Hope

Daniella, a NYC-area blogger who I know through mutual acquaintances, is a New Orleans native. And for the last three days, she's been through a harrowing, heart-wrenching ordeal.

First, knowing that her grandparents were stranded in their apartment building.

Then, losing contact, and not knowing anything.

Today, she finally received good news-- her grandparents are at a shelter in Arkansas. She doesn't know many details, she's just happy that they're alive. And really, that's all you can hope for at this point.

Read Daniella's story here.

Katrina Update

Nearly every day, Cory and I discover another way that the hurricane has impacted our friends here in the South. Friday, our producer extraordinare La'Qunta told me that she had finally heard from her cousins, who survived the storm. Unfortunately, they lost everything they had.

Today, we found out that our drinkin' buddy Blaine hasn't heard from his brother since the storm. Jordan lives in New Orleans.

I know that for many of you back home in Michigan and Missouri, this whole ordeal seems about a million miles away. To us, it's far too close. Please keep Blaine and La'Qunta's families in your thoughts.

Voice of Reason

I don't know who this Scott Lynch fellow is, but he crystallized my thoughts rather eloquently.

Worth a Thousand Words

My self-imposed moratorium on Katrina's aftermath lasted about 22 hours-- then I had to watch some MSNBC/CNN, just so I wouldn't feel ignorant about the latest developments. But I limited myself to about an hour of TV-- I wanted to be able to fall asleep tonight, rather than lying in bed, staring at the ceiling for hours.

I've also done a little web-browsing on the topic. Yesterday, Cory linked to these satellite images of the Gulf Coast from NASA. Today, they posted a close-up shot of the levee breach in the 17th street canal and the surrounding neighborhood.

Even more remarkable are these images I just stumbled across. They show an amazing before-and-after comparison if you drag your mouse across the photos.

Highway Interchange
City Park
City Park close-up (Gormley Stadium)
Power Outages along the Gulf Coast

There are also several views of the Superdome and the New Orleans Fairgrounds, but the images are in black-and-white and the photographs aren't as high-quality.

Feeling Sunk?

Next time you feel like you can't sink any lower, and you need a little pick-me-up, check this out:

Cats in Sinks

Oddly enough, it's a bunch of pictures of cats in sinks. But they're darn cute. (Thanks to the Lady Crumpet for the link.)

A Distraction

Much like Kaos, I may need to go on a self-imposed Katrina moratorium. I just can't watch it any more. I can't even imagine what it's like for people like him, who call New Orleans and/or the Gulf Coast their home.

Instead, I'll share my sheer disappointment with the Rockstar: INXS viewers and the band INXS, for giving Ty the boot tonight. Every week, Ty churned out the most amazing performances, and yet the voters continued to stick him in the elimination pool every week. Hey... don't blame me... I voted for him 30 times last night. (ok, ok, I have no life. I admit it. I voted in an online poll 30 times. Sad but true.)

After he was eliminated, Ty said he knew exactly why people didn't vote for him. And while sometimes I roll my eyes when people make accusations of racism, I think this time, he was absolutely right. Cory and I had talked about it last week. People don't want to see a black guy fronting a rock-and-roll band. Especially a white rock-and-roll band. Vocally, he's probably the strongest male performer on the show. And he's a hell of a stage performer, too. Unfortunately, he turned out a mediocre performance of "The One Thing" (my favorite INXS song), and got kicked off the show.

Bummer.

So now I'll have to focus my positive vibes on Suzie (who sang the hell out of "Bohemian Rhapsody" last night), and MiG (who wasn't so great this week, but did a great version of "Baby I Love Your Way" a couple of weeks back).

I'd even be ok with Marty winning. Even though he's vocally the worst on the show, his uber-creepy version of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" proved he's got something. Jordis has a great voice, I just can't get used to the idea of a 22-year-old girl fronting a band of 40-somethings. Plus, she really ganked up Aerosmith's "Dream On" last week. She screwed it up so much, that you can't even link to the performance on the MSN Video website... they have every performance from Week 7 listed except that one.

(To view video of all the performances from the show, click here.)

OK. Let's face it. The only reason I'll actually continue watching the show is in the hopes that JD gets his dreams crushed. He's a tool. Sure, he's talented... but not nearly talented enough to be as cocky as he is. How can I describe him? For those of you who are fans of "The Apprentice," he's Omarossa with leather pants, a Canadian accent and a penis. And all the little teenyboppers that watch the show love him.

He must be stopped.