Is this Really Necessary?

I don’t usually use this blog to sound off on political topics but I just couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this story on Yahoo.com this morning.

I went to look for it again when I got home from work today but Yahoo.com didn’t have it featured so I grabbed it from ESPN.com.

Apparently, two senators have made separate motions for congressional oversight into the Bowl Championship Series and how they select the national championship in college football every year. One senator from Utah is whining about how the Utah Utes were left out of the NC title game after going through their season undefeated.  Another senator from Texas is motioning to not allow the NCAA to use the term “national championship” unless the outcome of the game results from a playoff.

Two things about this story bother me.

1) Just for clarification, the NCAA does not award an annual national championship in football. That’s why you have the AP National Champion and the BCS National Champion and you’ve never heard of the NCAA National Champion.

2) In the current state of national and global affairs, does Congress really have time for this? This is not the job for which I elected people into political office.

Really?

Sometimes you just have to shake your head and say, “God Bless those idiots”.

Trying Something New

When the career you choose doesn’t choose you, what do you do?

How about trying something new.

At my temporary place of employment, I’ve noticed I’m developing a pattern. My creative juices, which usually fly off the handle for about a week then go dormant for months, have been stoked for weeks like a roaring, late December fire. Something has taken a hold of me recently and that something may just be the door opening on a new career.

During the slow hours at work, I’ve been busy crafting, doodling and coloring on little bits of 3″ x 3″ squares of paper. And everyday I’d come home with two or three new thoughts archived on them. My art is not aimless, rather, I’m outwardly expressing my inner passion for my favorite sports team, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

What started as a sketch grew into a wordmark. I shared it with some of my managers at work and they expressed interest in them as well as seeing more of my work. The wordmark transformed into a design, and then multiple designs. Before long my designs morphed into digital clothing mock-ups. 

I began to let my inner-artist fly and, to my delight, I discovered I’m not afraid of heights. What started out as a way to pass time at work, I continued at home in the late night hours before bedtime. Weeks have passed and my near-obsession with my Ohio State designs has driven me to find a way to take them from the computer screen to real life.

It might be happening right now.

It will still be a while yet but after making some phone calls and talking with friends and networking with contacts in the retail business, I think I may have found a company who is interested in producing my apparel creations! This morning I scheduled an appointment with the owner of an Ohio-based clothing company in about a month to go over my designs and see which ones spark interest.

Who knows what may happen but those of you who know me personally know that I give my all to that which I am most passionate. And if you thought I was nuts about KISS, you’ve not seen the depths of my devotion to Ohio State, her hometown of Columbus, and her scarlet and gray men of the gridiron.

I do well to contain my excitement but it’s hard not to be when I recognize I might be on the path to my new career!

Sometimes trying something new can be painful. Other times it can be exhilerating. The rest of the time, it’s a combination of both.

[p.s. the results from yesterday's experiment would seem to either indicate an opposition to my hypothesis or Cold Stone Creamery isn't as "online anal" as SportClips.]

The Colder the Better

Last Thursday, I posted an entry about how much I enjoy my experience at my local SportClips. Beginning Thursday and continuing for the next two days, my blog received the most hits it has ever gotten. At first I thought it was a coincidence. But when I factor in the ability for the president or CEO of a company to be alerted when their company’s name appears on the web, it could explain the other very large hit day this blog has recorded (think 35-40 different visitors in one day).

With that in mind, I want to conduct a “hit experiment” using this post. Rather than write another ‘look-at-how-much-I-love-this-product” post, I’m just going to write out the company’s name a few times, copy and paste the company logo, provide a link to their website, and tag this post with the company’s name and watch the stats for today and tomorrow. In 24 hours I’ll reveal my findings.

Here goes:

This is the best ice cream in the world.

I love Cold Stone Creamery! Cold Stone Creamery is the best ice cream shop ever! The colder the better!

If you’d like to learn more about Cold Stone Creamery, click here!

A Quick Post-it

Last night I stopped putting it off, faced the inevitable, and did our taxes.

In my defense the reason why I had waited this long is that my main w-2 got lost in the mail and, to this day, is still Lord knows where. But I was able to get an electronic version e-mailed to me a few days ago so I could move forward.

Federal and state were a breeze but trying to get our city taxes done on TurboTax was a nightmare. What made it confusing was the amount of times it asked you for the same information. You’d enter in all of the numbers it asked for, the after hitting continue, a new page would pop up with a different heading but asking for the same information. Then, after resigning to enter the same info a second time, it did it again.

So I decided to not fool with it through TurboTax and just do the city taxes myself. I’ll get the proper forms online, print them off, and do them myself.

Like I said other than that, taxes have been a breeze this go round.  Of course I say that now before I’m finished. Great, now I’ve jinxed my evening.

I better stop writing before I get myself further in dutch.

Who’s Lying?

I have two very large pet peeves; whining and lying. And, sadly, I feel like I’m being lied to every Wednesday night.

As you’ve read on this blog, I’m passionate about the culinary arts. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent watching Food Network and Fine Living trying to learn what I could from some of the most notable chefs in America. I’ve even done something I never do for fun; read about chefs and what kitchens are like in restaurants all over the world. And I’ve discovered something in one of those books that leads me to believe someone is not being true to themselves.

Gordon Ramsay, the world's best chef.

“Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen” by Chef Gordon Ramsay is an autobiographical work of some of the most significant events in his life…some good, some horrific. In his book, Chef Ramsay explains the often rocky business relationship he has had with Chef Marco Pierre White, the host of The Chopping Block, a new show airing Wednesday nights on NBC. Knowing the details highlighted in Chef Ramsay’s book, it is pretty clear that he thinks Chef Marco is jealous (Yes, Chef Ramsay wrote the book so the events could/would lean in his favor. Be that as it may, I know Chef Ramsay hates lying more than I do).

Chef Ramsay is known for his loud, often crass and vulgar, tirades in the kitchen. Watch Hell’s Kitchen and you’ll see for yourself. He will explode with frustration when a dish is not prepared or when a chef is not performing to his standards. Chef Ramsay does not hide his passion for perfection and it shows in the volume of Michelin stars his restaurants receive. To date, he has 13 Michelin stars. Chef Marco gave all of his stars back in 1999 opining that Michelin had laxed its standards. I think this has stuck in Chef Marco’s crawl.

The evidence of Chef Marco’s jealousy that exists beyond the pages of Roasting in Hell’s Kitchen, I believe, is evident when watching The Chopping Block. In the first two episodes, Chef Marco has yet to raise his voice to the competitors who are trying to outlast each other in order to win their own restaurant. Chef Marco definitely points out flaws in food preparation, cooking, and presentation, but he doesn’t espouse erupting epitaphs. It’s almost as if he coddles the chefs, doesn’t want to hurt their feelings.

Is that wrong? I’m not a chef so I can’t speak to that. But it seems to me that he is going against his normal tendencies to be the exact opposite of Chef Ramsay. It may not be wrong, but I think he is doing it on purpose. I think he wants to be as loved by America as Chef Ramsay is scrutinized.

And Chef Marco might not be the only one who isn’t who he would have me believe.

On our recent culinary adventure this past weekend, I got to speak with several chefs after dinner service on Friday night. I got to ask them their feelings about what they see on TV. All of them, without exception, said that what you see on Hell’s Kitchen is not realistic. They say that American restaurant kitchen’s don’t look, act, or sound the way Chef Ramsay is conducting his kitchen. Yes, Hell’s Kitchen is a competition so it is going to be somewhat of its own monster. However, when I sit at a table with four chefs and they all have the same answer/opinion, how can I not wonder if the chef I’d most like to meet is not being honest with me?

To quote the Sheriff of Nottingham in Disney’s Robin Hood, “There’s something funny going on around here”.

It certainly goes without stating that this is television and you shouldn’t believe everything you see. However, it still is quite disappointing to think that the world I love so very much is not as it has been revealed to me.

Who’s lying? I may never know.

Do I want to know?

*****

That’s it for me this week. I’d like to thank you for making this week the highest traffic week we’ve had yet! Keep visiting and I’ll keep blabbing!

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you Monday!

A Cut Above

Old habits are hard to break.

One of my habits left over from my TV days is I always get my hair cut every two weeks. I know it sounds weird for a guy to maintain his hair but if I didn’t get trims on a regular basis, I would get e-mails from viewers. It’s something I’ve been doing for the better part of 7 years and I just can’t seem to break out of the routine…not that I need to necessarily.

For the most part, I’ve been pretty lucky with my stylists over the years. I usually find someone who loves what they do and loves to tell stories and laugh at my jokes. There have only been two stylists with whom I can’t say I felt connected. One of them I went to only a handful of times.

I tend to get a little nervous when I move to a new city and have to find a new follicle friend. When Amy and I moved to the greater Columbus area, it meant leaving my stylist of two years in Findlay and finding a new hair home. And I’ve found it!

Guys, if you’ve never been to a shop called Sport Clips, make an effort to find one near you for your next cut. The entire place is sports themed with a locker room style lobby area, a parquet hardwood basketball court floor, big screens televisions, sports memorabilia on the walls and for purchase, and smaller TVs at each of the cutting stations so you can watch sports while you get your hair cut. Their slogan says it all, “You Watch Sports, We Cut Hair”.

No having to listen to little old ladies in the chair next to you talking about their latest surgical procedure, this shop is men-focused. You don’t have to say a word, just sit back, relax, and watch the latest game or highlights of the day’s games on the tube.

The stylists won’t bother you with small talk. If you’d rather just watch the game, they won’t make a peep. If you do wanna chat it up, the stylists are up on a lot of the latest sports news like trades, bracket seeds, and off-season shenanigans.

Now, I’m sure some of you might be thinking, ‘you could have been getting treatment like this at a barber shop’. Well, Sport Clips is better than a barber shop. How? My barber growing up always smelled like my dad’s after shave lotion, had three teeth missing, and was not named Lora, Mandy, or Jessica.

If you really wanna pamper yourself, get their M.V.P package. It’s possible pricing could differ depending on your city but at my local shop I get a cut, wash, rinse, hot towel, and neck and shoulder massage all for $21. Recently, they were running a special on M.V.P.s where I bought 6 of them up front and saved $30. Now when I go in, they just stamp my card. All I pay is gratuity.

Some days, like today, after I get my M.V.P. treatment, I go across the street to Cold Stone Creamery and get a bowl of ice cream or a handmade shake. Ah, today is a good day!

So in conclusion, fellas, if you have a Sport Clips nearby, walk in for your next cut. You’ll thank me. If you don’t have a Sport Clips nearby, find one within a reasonable distance and go. You’ll thank me. Ladies, if you wanna do something nice for your man, find a Sport Clips nearby, give him 21 bucks plus cash for a tip, and send him on his way. You’ll both thank me.

This whole ‘getting-my-haircut-every-two-weeks’ habit isn’t such a bad thing after all.

Good Question

In her comment on yesterday’s post, Jamey, of Triple Play fame and a good friend from our college days, asks a pretty good question that I’ve yet to address on here. Her question, “Why did you leave broadcasting?”

I think my decision to leave broadcast meteorology boils down to one word: desire.

I knew I wanted to do something with Science in college. When I found I could merge my love of earth and space science with my God-given gift of gab (a gift which I’m sure many have asked God to revoke) the desire to learn and achieve everything I could to move on to bigger cities and more money was alive and well.

After about six months at WXYZ, my first TV station, I began meteorology school which would make me stay there for the next 4 years.  It was during this time I felt my desire to make TV weather my life long career start to fade.

While I enjoyed working with just about everyone in the newsroom, I was feeling trapped by my contractual obligation to work at a station I felt I had outgrown. Rather than investing time and energy to become the number one shop in town, WXYZ was more interested in making money. In small town TV, that means hiring recent college graduates to be the station’s main anchors and paying them as little as possible. My vision for the station just didn’t match the management’s vision for station.

I wasn’t sure if my lack of desire was caused by the news business or just my current surroundings. ‘Maybe things are different…are better…at bigger stations’, I thought. So that I could know for sure, I moved up the TV market-ladder as soon as my contract allowed.

WPDQ was world’s away from the station I had left behind. It was a dominant number one station and management wasn’t afraid to spend money to stay that way. It was such a breath of fresh air to walk down the street and be known for working at the number one station! So, for the first couple of months, I was happy in what I was doing. I was again filled with the desire to learn everything I could so I could move on with my TV career.

Sadly, that desire wouldn’t last.

The ever-changing schedule, demanding hours, out of control industry direction, perceived lack of appreciation from higher-ups, czar-like control of vacation time, and overall declining newsroom moral had become unacceptable. I was forcing a lifestyle on Amy and myself that wasn’t conducive to having and raising a family (not saying it’s impossible, just very difficult). It was painfully clear that what I was feeling at WXYZ wasn’t caused by WXYZ, it was caused by news.

I had also come to a startling realization. I hadn’t fallen in love with meteorology, I had fallen in love with the presentation. I desired the performance; the audience. I loved communicating. I wasn’t passionate about weather, I was passionate about broadcasting. To put it another way, the ham was a bigger part of me than the science geek.

All of this made me a very unhappy person. I hated going to work everyday. I dreaded the possibility of severe weather because that usually meant staying extra hours and stressing out because management thought we weren’t “urgent enough” (read = we weren’t overreacting) in our presentations like everyone else in the market television today.

With about a year to go in my contract with WPDQ, I announced to Amy that I wanted to leave news altogether. I expected her to object but she understood completely. Having/raising a family around a happy mom and dad was what we desired, even more than staying with a career that, although I hated, provided fairly well.

After my contract was up, I stayed on with WPDQ (on a handshake) long enough for them to find a replacement. Then, I walked away.

It hasn’t always been an easy decision for us to live with but it has always been the right decision.

[Author's note: The call letters of the television stations have been changed to prevent unnecessary backlash. The feelings expressed are my own and are not endorsed by any television station.]

The Search Continues

Today was the day. Decision day.

After considering the position offered, Amy and I decided to make a decision on Thursday night and let it sit all weekend and see how it felt. That’s exactly what we did; not telling anyone else.

I had Monday off and used that time to play golf with my dad and friends. In between golf and other errands, I found myself pondering the job offer and monitoring how I felt about my ‘undisclosed’ decision.

Today was a back and forth day. Turmoil. Conflict. Stress.

It finally came down to one thing…if I can’t give 100% of my effort and dedication to something then I’m not going to waste time trying to fake it. I have respectfully declined the offer and am refocusing my efforts to continue my search.

I wish the company nothing but the best and am thankful for their interest in what I might bring to them. They deserve to find someone who is truly excited about working for them; not someone who is coasting on fake motivation.

I feel good about my final decision. I only hope that I’m being attentive to God’s will.

So, the search continues. Good luck to the millions who are in the same boat.

Culinary Classic a Big Hit

This past weekend, Amy and I had the pleasure of attending the 2009 Culinary Classic at the Stonewall Resort, a West Virginia gem. Here are some of the highlights.

The weekend event kicked off Friday night with a 20-station “dine around” featuring all of the guest chefs from around the region as well as local producers, brewers, and wine makers. Ignoring the lessons we learned from our last dine around experience, Amy and I decided to have a go at every dish from every food station (there were 16 food stations). That doesn’t sound too challenging on the surface but when you realize that some chefs prepared two or three courses, that 16 quickly becomes 30 different dishes to sample.

While no dish disappointed, we did had a few favorites. My favorite was the pulled duck taco dish prepared by Christian Borden, Executive Chef of Detroit’s Atlas Global Bistro. I’m not usually one to order duck off the menu but I am so glad I tried these tacos! The tortillas were authentic; handmade back in Detroit. The duck flavor was present in the taco but was perfectly pared with a fresh pineapple and cranberry salsa. They were crispy, crunchy, and packed huge flavor for something the size of three bites.

Amy had two favorites. She also loved the duck tacos but couldn’t have a clear number one choice because of the crab cakes we had as our first appetizer. She is a pushover for crab cakes anyhow but these were just right! Made with premium crab meat, Chef Steve Mengel from The Greenbrier Resort knew to let the meat be the star so he didn’t over load it with other, competing flavors. No globs of mayonnaise, no handfuls of dices veggies, just a simple crab cake served on a bed of micro-greens and a fresh, clean sauce.

Needless to say, Amy had to practically roll me out of the ballroom when it was all over. A good sign for all of the chefs’ hard work and a tip of the cap to their creations!

Saturday was my day to earn my keep. I was to emcee all of the cooking demonstrations, seminars, and the throw down competition that headlined the late morning and all of the afternoon.

My favorite demo would likely be working with the newly promoted Paco Aceves, Executive Chef of Stonewall Resort. He came to Stonewall after serving as Executive Chef at Bridge Road Bistro in South Charleston, WV. I had met Chef Paco before at the Castiron Cookoffs and have seen his work in action so it was great to hear of his arrival to the resort! For his demonstration, Chef Paco made a New Appalachian Mufeletta. Hearing that word brought me back to my years in Covington, Louisiana; in a region where mufelettas were created and remain very popular.

The throw-down competition was immediately after lunch and it was a blast after the first ten minutes or so. During that time, the competing chefs (Chef Nemat Odeh, Executive Chef of Canaan Valley Resort and Chef Jay Mahoney Executive Chef of Pierpont Community and Technical College in Fairmont, WV) and their sous chefs looked over the ingredients and planned their three course menu. Then, they had one hour to prepare and present their dishes to three judges who had been selected from the audience.

This is where my years as a Cast Iron Cookoff emcee came in handy. I was to call the play-by-play from both kitchens during the battle and it was so much fun! The chefs were so gracious allowing me to ask them questions all throughout the throw-down while they were hard at work and every minute counted.

Here are some pictures of the event.

The Throw-down held in Stonewall's Grand Lobby

Between the competitor's kitchens

Crunch time for Chef Nemat Odeh

The crown jewel of the weekend was the four-course wine paring that took place in the ballroom. We had chilled prawn, quail, lamb, and the most decedent chocolate dessert man has ever known. We were overjoyed to have Chef Christian Borden and his family sharing a table with us. I found it especially handy to have Chef Borden nearby when different courses were introduced. His input was free flowing and I tried so hard to take mental notes as he shared his take on the dish.

Sadly, the Borden’s fun was cut a little short when one of their boys came down sick Saturday night. They had to take him to a doctor Sunday morning and we hope that everything is fine now so they can enjoy the rest of their spring break vacation in Sandusky this week!

So, there was our weekend, save for the travel back home. I love relaxing getaways and our trips to Stonewall Resort are always just that! We clocked some much-needed library time, made an appearance at the pool and hot tub, and even took a few small walks around the hotel (to work off the calories).

We can never get enough of Stonewall nor our good friend, Chef Dale Hawkins and we look forward to our next event…whatever that may be!

Hog Heaven

In just about an hour, Amy and I will be putting peddle to the metal towards another fantastic culinary weekend getaway! We are so blessed to have the friends we do back in West Virginia who just so happen to host some delicious shindigs!

While I’m excited about the whole weekend, I think I’m most excited about emceeing an event I’ve never been to before. I don’t know what to expect but I do know that Amy and I will have fun discovering what the occasion has to offer. And if 20 of the regions top chefs means anything (which it should) this event will have just about everything!

Maybe when we get back, I’ll post a few pictures of the event.

Take care and, until we meet again, have a great weekend!

See you on Monday ~