Crash, Bang, Wallop!

Okay, I realize I am not a spring chicken any more, but I do still enjoy the change of seasons. I'm still a fan of winter even though my better half cannot stand it. She hates cold weather period. I enjoy the cold and the snow more than I should and the first snow we had should have taught me a lesson. I went out early in the morning to scrape the ice and snow off of my car before work. I wasn't exactly dressed for success but I had just figured I'd finish doing that and then head back into the house and get dressed for work. Well I went out and attempted to walk behind my car and head to the passenger side to scrape the winter elements off of my windows. As I started to turn to come up the passenger side, I went to pivot my foot to make the turn and it turned out to be a patch of ice. OOPS! My feet went flying in the air and when I came down, my knees were the impact point (along with my back which I tried to twist onto as I was coming down and failed miserably) and I ended up lying in the street for about 10 minutes trying to absorb the shock, which transitioned to pain. My knees were on fire, my back felt like it was lying on another street and yet all I could think about was the gal pal saying "I hate Siberia" (her term for where I live... gotta love them there southerners...lol) and reminding me that it's warm in the south. My next thought was of getting up and realizing that I had to scoot away from the ice on the street so that I could force my big butt up and I had to get to work yet. I was able to get back up and realized that I'm not 20 any more as every inch of my body felt like it was beat up. If I was a horse, I think that I would be looking at the glue factory. Still pretty sore but lots of ice and the odd medicine or two and I will be fine. I guess maybe now I'll have some extra time to start writing a little more on here...lol

From Halloween with Love...

We were at a Halloween party at church and yours truly channeling my inner Phil Lynott... My better half while trying to be a punk rock chick, ends up looking like Michonne from the Walking Dead tv show... By the way, the tattoos are not real... hope this finds you all well and in good spirits as we come into the winter time and my favorite time of year... the holidays...

Oh yeah, I do have a blog now don't I ?

Wow! It's been since April... where the heck have I been?

The short answer is that I have been working my backside off trying to keep things happening. My regular daytime job has been nothing short of wacky. We've had lots of upheaval and turmoil... in other words, it's business as usual. On the gal pal front, it's never been better. My future wife and her family came for my birthday and we had a big old whizzbang of a cookout. Plus, my family and a couple of longtime friends stopped by and it made it one of my best birthdays ever. No complaints on my end.

A Spinal Tap Moment

Every once in a while, something will happen when life imitates art. This beauty was straight out of the movie "This Is Spinal Tap" from the 80's. It involved our local college basketball team. They were brought in to my place of employment to shake hands, sign autographs, and take the odd photo or two. I happened to be going in the cafe to get a bite and a diet peach tea. I saw the players waiting around and not sure of what they should do. The entire team was sitting in the cafeteria of my work place. The thing was, that no one had promoted or mentioned that the team was going to be there. So at about 11am, the team is there, all dressed in their warm-ups, ready to schmooze and meet their fans. Well, people were just walking by them as they sat at a table in the cafeteria, waiting for someone... anyone... to come up and get an autograph. 11:30... 12 noon... 12:30... no one is going anywhere near them. There are mutual looks of bewilderment between players and employees, wondering what each other was doing there... finally at one o'clock, they got up and left. In the movie, record label rep Artie Fufkin arranges an in-store appearance by Spinal Tap to celebrate the release of the band's new album and when they make the appearance, NO ONE shows up! In utter shame and embarrassment, Artie begs the band to kick his backside because it was such a disaster. After watching my hometown's college basketball team go through a similar fate.... Somewhere, Artie Fufkin (Paul Shaffer) of Polymer Records, has to be smiling.

Back In The Daze...

Revisiting my childhood. What a whacked out experience that was. How, you ask? Like most things in my life, it's a long story. I was at a mortuary paying respects for the passing of a friend. I get a call from my co-founding partner for Toledo Sports Network. He tells me that one of his camera people cancelled on him and he needed me to step in and help out. I haven't used a television camera in a long time. But he was desperate. So I bail out of the mortuary and headed to the International Boxing Club where they were filming for TV, a card of (wait for it) professional wrestling. I grew up with wrestling when I was a little guy in the 70's and when I walked through the doors, it took me back to 1979… the one and only other time I ever went in that place. But back then, it was known as “Fun Spot” and was a roller skating rink for the youth in the area. The one time I went there was for a church sponsored overnight slumber party for a bunch of goofball teenagers. I was 14 and couldn’t skate to save myself but I risked it for a pretty little 15 year old blonde with fewer zits than me. We skated once (well, I tripped, stumbled and fell) and I think she left the building (and took out a restraining order if I remember correctly... lol) but I digress. It did, however, re-ignite my love of two Saturday morning TV staples… Roller Derby and Rasslin’… Back then, I would jump out of bed to see the likes of Pompero Firpo, The Magnificent Zulu, The Stomper, Bobo Brazil, The Sheik, Bulldog Don Kent, Al Costello, and The Curry’s (Flying Fred and his dad Wild Bull who loved to bite opponent’s ears for some reason) just to name a few. I lived for Saturday mornings when I could live out my dreams of being the next Dr. Big Bill Miller. Instead, I ate myself into becoming the next Haystacks Calhoun. 
I have to admit, shooting video was fun. The wrestling made me wax nostalgic for a few hours and it made me feel young again. Of course, reality set in the next day and I was tired and sore from lugging equipment around all in the name of wrestling. It's not often you have to bail from a mortuary to go have fun but...

A Happy Skate

Man, I am whipped. I spent this past week on the shelf with no voice, and my head snotting up to epic proportions. I didn't leave the house and as much as I don't like spending too much time at home doing nothing, I spent this week just shutting up and resting, trying to get better quickly. Playoffs started this week for the Cherokee hockey team and we're doing a special event this afternoon featuring Gliding Stars. They're a program that teaches special needs kids (and adults) how to skate and then they appear in a show where as a group they participate in some skating routines. It's not Brian Orser or Dorothy Hamill in terms of performance, but these folks give it their all and I try to act like I've seen it all and been there before but my heart just melts when I see these beautiful people struggle and then succeed as they skate (with the help of some amazing volunteers out there with them) on the ice. And it's in a small arena, about 1,500 capacity, but the place is absolutely packed. We're going to film it out there to air on TV next week. I just hope I don't blow it by stuttering or being a big idiot on screen. I want those folks to get the full professional broadcast treatment...

A Scary Skate

You know what? Sometimes real life pops in to help clear the vision that has been clouded up by the joy of love. That's not to say that I don't enjoy looking at life through rose-colored glasses... I do... but sometimes things happen that shake you back to reality and remind you how precious and delicate life really is. For me, this happened a few days ago when I went on the road to broadcast a hockey game in Michigan. As I was setting up my gear to broadcast the game online, I was watching a little bit of the game going on before ours. I then walked out to the lobby to warm up a bit. I then heard loud noise coming from the rink. I thought maybe one of the teams scored a goal. Then sheer panic as I head back toward the rink when out pops a hockey player from the game, an absolute bloody mess. It turns out the young man collided with another player on the ice, and as they fell, the other guy's skate blade inadvertently came across the throat area of this guy and sliced him. Safe to say, he was in sheer panic. The EMT's that were there came and calmed him down and laid him on the floor and he went into shock. Thank the Good Lord that the cut did not include the artery otherwise... well, I'd rather not think about it. So they calm him down about as much as you can calm a guy with his throat cut open and they packed the large wound and were able to stop the bleeding. Once they were able to stabilize him, the ambulance came and off he went to the hospital for emergency surgery. He spent the night in intensive care. Everyone was visibly shaken watching this guy screaming for help. When they were taking him out to the ambulance, the two teams and all the fans gave him a huge ovation. After the game, when usually one team will go congratulate their goaltender and the other team that loses will console theirs and then all head to their respective locker rooms. Not this night. The two teams instead immediately headed to center ice and took a knee and prayed. Yes prayed. Thank the Good Lord above that he is expected to make a full recovery but came within less than an inch of losing his life playing a game he loved. It's scary to realize how delicate life truly is...

We're a Hit...

So since last I commented here on this little wacky corner of the world, I was elated over the fact that my gal pal was willing to spend the rest of our lives putting up with me. Of course when you've got family and friends like I have, who needs enemies? Most of comments have come in the form of smart alec barbs about my freedom disappearing by saying "I do"... Most were the usual stock comments:

"now who's wearing the pants in the relationship?"

"say goodbye to sports..."

"I can't wait to see you two shopping in the mall and you're holding her purse"

"marriage is a 3 ring circus... engagement ring, wedding ring, and suffering"

I just roll my eyes and shake my head and laugh thinking about their attempts to put a scare in me. Well, actually, it's more just them teasing and using humor to congratulate me... They love my gal pal and think that I went way out of my league... That last part is absolutely true. She is way out of my league. But I always tell her that I'm glad that she is missing that one brain cell that allows her to have very discriminating taste in men...lol

It's Official! She said YES!! Oh Yeah, Happy New Year

Well, for all of you that have been waiting... the wait is over. I popped the question to her at church in front of her congregation. The pastor was great and helped me out to set up the proposal near the end of the service. She was completely stunned and didn't know that she had to answer... So I said "yes, no, or maybe"...lol... Then when it dawned on her that I was proposing, she started crying and immediately said yes and hugged me to the point that I didn't think she would ever let go... When my face began to resemble the maroon shirt I was wearing, she finally allowed me to stand back up and I could breathe again. There's no set date yet as we both know that it's going to be an extended engagement. But I wanted her to know that I was in it for keeps. I am forever her big dork! And she is my world...

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