WELCOME TO THE DIRTY SOUTH!

I apologize it's been so long since I've posted. I promise I am saving up many tales to share, but this move has been long, hard, and hectic! I am now in the great state of South Carolina and have completed my first two days at my new job. News is so interesting in different parts of the country. What is crazy is... the underlying importance is still the same. Your viewers are always hard-working people who want to be heard and feel like someone is on their side. It's incredible the comfort a news organization can give to someone... you really do have the power to change people's lives. It sounds so cliche and over-dramatic, but I swear it's true. I will talk to you all soon! My internet doesn't get hooked up until this Saturday, so things will pick up then!

THE POLAR POP STORY

Iceman made reference to "the polar pop story" in his comment on the BIG MOVE. It's one of my many tales that happens to be his favorite, so I thought I would share it with all of you. I love me some polar pops.... you know, the big gas station fountain sodas... "stays cooler longer." At work we would often go on polar pop runs to the gas station to buy a round for the newsroom. I was on one of those runs when I had an interesting experience. Those of you who know me well know I do not appreciate rude people, and often have a way of putting them in their place publicly before I leave the scene of the crime. Here's what happened: I pulled into the gas station parking lot and there are more people there than I've ever seen. There's nowhere to park, every pump is full and I'm pulling through the lot and see one spot.... when the guy behind me whips around from the left and takes it! I had to slam on my breaks to avoid hitting him. So I'm cussing him in my car and then I thought oh whatever, I'll wait for a spot, maybe park next door, whatever. When I finally go inside, I recognize the man who cut me off and he is stocking gum and candy at the gas station, so in one way or another, he worked there! Now if he was some everyday Joe in a hurry, having a bad day, I wouldn't have said anything. But he was an employee who cut off a customer and was sitting on a stool eating a beef stick when I walked in. I was furious... so I asked him did you not see my car in front of you or are you just that much of an ***hole? He said excuse me? So I repeated the question... did you not see my car in front of you or are you just that much of an ***hole? He said I don't know how to answer that. (At this point everyone in the gas station had stopped what they were doing and watched us.) I said... let me make it easier for you... did you see my vehicle in front of yours driving into the gas station? He said yes, I said okay then, I guess you're just a huge ***hole. Then I proceeded to the polar pop counter, filled up the 3 beverages I needed, walked up to the counter to pay... then I thought twice, smiled kindly at the clerk and I said these are on him! Have a great weekend : ) I winked at him on the way out.

I also once bought a rose for a McDonald's drive-thru woman who literally threw ketchup packets through the window of my car. One hit me in the face. I promise you I did nothing to provoke it but she had a manager who was screaming at her in the most demeaning way and she was in tears. I think she took some of her frustration out on me. I figured I could scream or get her fired and make her day worse.... or buy her a rose and give it to her in front of her manager saying how hard it must be to work with a jerk like that. She feels better, he feels guilty, and I feel nice that I just made someone's day better. Everyone wins! I strongly suggest the "rose"tactic as well.

THE BIG MOVE

Well I wrote in my profile I wouldn't be around here forever because of my career. In the news business, if you want to do it long-term, I think it's very important to get experience in a big market, whether you want to stay in a big market or not. Having said that, I am continuing my news producing career in Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina. It's a huge market... Covers 30 counties in both North & South Carolina. It's market 36 (for those of you who don't know about news markets...every city is numbered....New York 1, LA 2, Chicago, 3, etc. Peoria is 117, so this station is a big jump!) My boyfriend, who is also a producer, is making the move as well. We are excited, scared, anxious, nervous... And everything else you can think of. I consider myself very lucky to have started out in Peoria. Not only is this market wonderful to work in, but I work for a station with respectable integrity, morales, and the ability to judge what is newsworthy and what is not... Despite what the other stations do. I couldn't have found a better place to lay a foundation for this business. But now is the time to move, before I have kids and solid attachments here, I need to spread my wings and get that experience and then decide what I want to do with it. Maybe I'll end up back home as a news director someday, who knows? But don't worry, no matter what some people say:

YOU *CAN* HAVE ROOTS AND WINGS.

And Now Is My Time To Fly....!

- Thank you Scott Janz for your post about me leaving HOI. You have been a great friend and business colleague. Scott has helped with a lot of my interactive brainstorming at HOI and I learned a lot from him. Please take some time to read what he wrote on www.scottjanz.com.

- Thanks also to several other local bloggers who were involved with Connected and helped me get a handle on the segment. You guys and gals are all great!

THE DREADED SMOKING BAN

So... January 1st is here... and the state of Illinois is officially smoke-free in public places. There is so much hype about this. I have never heard so many cranky people screaming in a bar before in my life. And just let me say this...there ARE two sides to the story. Although we all lay on one side...let's open our minds and think about it. Smokers say it's our right to smoke, it goes hand and hand with drinking...we're not forcing other people to smoke, it's our freedom and the state has no right to take that away. Non-smokers say it's our right to breathe clean air in a bar. Sure we choose to be in the bar, but we don't choose to breathe in second-hand smoke, which the surgeon general has declared very hazardous to our health. More people are dying every day of second-hand smoke. Well both sides have a point and they're sticking to it. What makes me mad is this: I am hearing a lot of complaining about the loss of freedom from a smoker's point of view. It may be true, but the argument tends to lead toward a more intense ending to which people proclaim things like: "we may as well live in another country because we have no rights here." "We'd be better off being a member of al qaida, where we actually have a say in what's going on." Yes....I heard that directly from someone's mouth last night, and several mouths in one way or another. Well let me tell you something, you may not be able to smoke while you're wasted in a bar running your mouth, complaining as you put your coat on to go outside and smoke in this God-forsaken controlling country, but:
-- If you were living in China, you wouldn't be complaining about lack of freedom. You wouldn't speak your mind at all, because you could be incarcerated or assassinated.
-- Go ahead, and join Al Qaida if you think you have more freedom, a lack of health care in the countries the group operates in would probably kill you before smoking ever could.
-- If America is so bad, why do people risk their lives to get here?
-- Only in the U.S. can someone burn a flag, and it's considered a right of free speech.
-- And by the way... the other "free" countries also have smoking bans. America is the latest rider on that train.
So bitch on smokers, bitch on...but don't play the freedom card...please.