Weather...Or Not: July 2011 Entries

Posted:

7/29/11

When next we meet July will be gone. You were much hotter than I feel you needed to be, July. Try to tone it down just a bit for next year, huh?

Hello, August. You see how we just verbally spanked July, didn't you? Just keep that in mind if you think you're going to come in here all blazing hot like July did! Most of my family's birthdays are in your month, August. Let's keep it cool…

"Feedback Friday"!!!

From Angie (7/26/11):

I actually get up early to watch WAND and that started all because of you. Now I watch it because it's an outstanding news program AND I love the Phrase of the Day!

Full disclosure…Angie and I have been friends for a long time, even longer than I have worked here. So when she says it was because of me that she started watching it was out of loyal friendship.

Glad you love the phrase thing, Angie! I have no idea how long we will keep doing it…but it has been fun so far!

From Nannette (7/26/11):

GREG you stay just the way you are, I could all most bet there are more people out here that like the way you do the weather and put a spin to the mornings. Life is too short let the crabby people crawl under the sand and you and the morning team keep running on top where you all belong.

Really, guys…I don't post stuff about complaints to get compliments out of you. I post that stuff to give you an idea of what the job is like…which was the real intent of this blog; to give you a feel for a job that many people find interesting. Having said that…THANKS!

I truly don't get bothered by critical comments, or even mean spirited comments. My Step Father Jerry taught me long ago a phrase by which I still live: He who angers you…conquers you. I simply refuse to allow people to get over on me by being negative and mean. When I get a nasty email I try to glean from it what I can learn and improve, and I let the rest of it slide off to the side. No worries.

From Jim (7/27/11):

I think that Washington DC is a disgrace, insofar that our beautiful national monuments are partly surrounded by slums, in a city of endless crimes other than what the politicians commit. Even in small town USA, there are people working to clean things up, but not in Washington DC. Politicians seem to get elected, and then quickly forget what their jobs actually are: They are soon swept up in the DC chaos, and then (under duress from seniors) start to think I need them to control my entire life including what I eat in restaurants, what I drive, and what guns I may or may not own. It's all preposterous, and sadly unthinkable.

DC would make an issue of a simple flashlight that needs new batteries. After 2 house and senate committee's sat for 3 months, they would eventually conclude to buy 2 new D cells, and also build another billion of attached pork barrel projects. Obama would then say "Let there be light! This will be good for the American people." (He calls us that because he's not one of us)

Sorry if I sound skeptical, but I live in Illinois where the Chicago mob trumps every vote in the southern part of the state.

First thing I would say is I am not sure what you mean about the President not being one of us. The issue of his citizenship has thankfully been put to rest, so I will assume you mean he isn't "common" like the rest of us. I won't disagree with that. As a matter of fact I would add that no national politician is "common" like us. Or at least the vast majority is not. And that is one of our biggest issues, I think.

I actually don't disagree with anything you've said, Jim. That may be a first for us! You may be interested to know that a couple of weeks ago I sent away for my FOID card! I'm pretty stoked about that, and I figured you would dig it, Jim.

From Larry (7/28/11):

Hi Greg,

With all this Budget handling in our State's, and Federal Government spending. President Calvin Coolidge said this Quote best, with handling and spending Money.

"There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no independence quite so important, as living within your means."

Not until then will any person, State, or Government will ever be debt free.

That's a great quote, Larry. If you don't have debt you have no master. Unfortunately the culture of our society for the past few decades has been to go into debt. Our companies carry debt…our citizens carry debt…and our government carries debt. You know who doesn't have debt? The banks that got us strung out on credit. It's shared fault, though. The banks marketed a debt-ridden lifestyle to us to make us feel like debt isn't bad. And the American people bought it hook, line, and sinker. And now the people that have no debt are by far the minority. For myself…I've been working hard to get off the debt cycle, and I will be there soon. Maybe the benefit of this financial crisis will be that more of us realize we can't live like this anymore. I just hope the government figures it out before it is too late.

That's it for this week! I won't be here Monday, but back on Tuesday!

7/28/11

This is a great memo sent out by a financial advisor that seems to have a good grasp on our debt situation. The memo appears to be to his clients, and has apparently caught fire online. It is 13 pages and takes a bit to read, but it is well worth the investment of time. And if you apply it to your own life it could save you some trouble and some money. There are principles in the memo that I've actually been trying to apply to my own financial life for a while now. Here is the link.

Tomorrow is "Feedback Friday". Feel free to send me your thoughts…

7/27/11

So the government is still trying to hash out our budget/financial situation. What seems like common financial sense to the average citizen is apparently not so common sense to our government. You can't continue to spend more than you earn. That is the way that it is in any given household in the country. Yet when you apply that logic to a government it apparently becomes much more difficult. When you factor in the fact that our government can continue to put off paying its debts, plus the fact that the decisions are being made mostly by people that need to be re-elected to keep their jobs, and you have a real mess on your hands.

So how do we grab control back over our system? Even though I tend to listen to conspiracy theory radio and love a good scheme…I really don't think most of our leaders are plotting against us. I don't really feel like it is us against them. It just seems to me that some of these leaders have forgotten what their jobs are. They are supposed to be acting as proper stewards of our country. We elect them to handle our affairs on a mass scale. But instead they have let greed overtake them. They make a lot of money from their salaries, and they get a lot of perks from special interest groups. And in return for those perks they slant their votes based on what those groups need to survive. I think that is it in a nutshell.

Maybe we should lower the salaries for these jobs to make them less attractive to career politicians? Another idea that I think might just work would be to have a 2 term limit for any Congressional seat. If professional politicians are a big part of the problem then you eliminate the ability for people to become career politicians. You serve your one or two terms, as the people allow, and then you go to another job within government or back to the private sector. Unfortunately the people that would make the decision to make these changes are the same people that benefit from not having these restrictions. Funny how that works.

I'm obviously no expert. But those are just some of my thoughts on the matter. As always you are more than welcome to share your thoughts. Hit the feedback section below and the feedback will be posted on Friday.

7/26/11

--We are getting ready to crank up the heat and humidity again this week. It won't be as oppressively hot as last week. But for some of us it will be close! Some of us today will be dealing with the heat index over 100 degrees. By Thursday we will all be dealing with heat indices that high. Of course it is July…and Summer is supposed to be hot. For most of us it is just a mild inconvenience. For others…you actually like this heat, which is cool. But for a section of society this kind of heat is dangerous. So if you know people in that section check up on them once in a while!

--Have you been following this "Phrase of the Day" game we've been playing in the morning? It started as a joke one morning as a way to get people involved in the morning news. But this thing has taken a life of its own. I really only thought we would do it a couple of times and it would lose interest. That just hasn't been the case.

Obviously with something that is this far out of the box you will have people that don't like it. There are people that don't want a crack of humor in their weather or news. And that's fine. We are all different and we all have different preferences. But for whatever reason a few months ago I decided I wouldn't worry about those people that prefer everything to be serious. And you know what? That has allowed me to be more of myself while doing weather. And that has allowed me to enjoy my job much, much more than I ever have. And this "Phrase" game has been a big part of that.

There are even people in this building that don't like what I am doing lately. They would prefer that I just do the weather straight and shut up. They remind me of when Bob Murray would call me after I worked a weekend and tell me that "this isn't the Greg Trumbold comedy hour". I used to let those people stifle me. And it made me stiff on the air. I could tell I was stiff because people would say things to me like "you're so professional on the air". Well I am not very professional in real life. So in a sense I wasn't being true to myself. And these days I would rather be who I am at work, even if it means they decide they don't want me here anymore.

7/25/11

I am starting to become a believer in the theory that our medical community is leading us astray. And I think it is all about money, naturally. If you are taking a medication of any kind you should Google that medication and try to find a natural alternative. There is nothing in most medicines that occurs naturally in our own bodies…and that should probably bother us. It makes sense to me that most maladies we face deal with stress and lifestyle. And it would make sense to me that we can fight these maladies by natural means.

When your doctor prescribes a medicine to you does he or she also break down the lifestyle changes you need to make? Or does he or she just give you the script and send you on your way? Furthermore…does the medicine that is prescribed actually cure the issue, or just stop the symptoms? Chances are good that the symptoms are all that are treated by your doctor. And that means you are just being dragged along to the money pit called our pharmaceutical industry along with the rest of us.

I'm no doctor. I'm not telling you to forgo your own doctor. But you sure as Hell should be asking a lot of questions, including why you are being prescribed a certain medicine…and if there is a more natural way to treat what ails you. Just the fact that we haven't really cured a disease since polio is proof to me that the fix is in. Like Chris Rock says in one of his standup bits…"there's no money in the cure".

There is a movie out now called "Food Matters". It deals with natural ways to combat illnesses, and the movie also talks about the cycle that the pharmaceutical industry tries to get us into so they can make money from us being sick. I will give you the link to the website for the movie. Not only will you find information about the movie on the website, but the website also has a wealth of health information on it for your benefit. They don't charge you for this life-changing information, either. You think the pharma industry would give away their information for no charge??

Here is the link. I hope you take a look when you get the chance. There is a better way to live…

7/22/11

--My stuff yesterday went fairly well. I had four shots in my back, and skin was cut. I was awake for the entire procedure and did not lose consciousness. If you are a Gregorian you know what a victory that is! There were several times that I came close to passing out, several times where the tunnel vision started creeping in, and I even broke into a cold sweat once. But as far as I can tell I did not go out. Sure…I closed my eyes a lot and did some breathing techniques. But I took the shots and the sutures and made it awake!

The doctor and his staff were fantastic, and I can not pump them up enough. There is nothing better than a great nurse, and yesterday I met 3 great angels of mercy. Fantastic. It almost makes me want to go back and do it all over again. Heh. Not really, though. I wil be back there on Thursday to have the sutures removed.

--We have a new blog on the website! It's called "The Reel Opinion", and it is done by Gene Reynolds. Gene works behind the scenes on the morning news. He's a good dude and he knows movies. The link to the new blog is on the blog page. Give it a look! This morning he begins with "Captain America". Good stuff.

"Feedback Friday"!

From Phil (7/19/11):

Hey Greg;

About facial hair...ever since 1986 I have had a beard of some sort...always full and NEVER the goatee-type thing many guys sport nowadays. Before 1986, with the exception of about a month...I've had a full beard since 1967. As far as taboos on the subject, I could care less. I scoff at the idiots who think it is a problem.

In television there is a prevailing thought that looks are important. I can't imagine why! Those of us that do our jobs on-camera are subject to the opinions of The Suits. They do have every right to tell us how to wear our hair, clothes, etc. For most of us it even states in our contracts that if our physical look changes for the worse that it can be reason for termination. And here they say no facial hair, at least so far.

It has always disturbed me that what have mostly for me been older white men have so much influence on how I look. If you had seen how some of these bozos in the past dressed and did their hair you would fall over laughing after they suggest to you how to dress and do your hair. The Suit that I deal with now, though, is a good dresser with a sense of style. He doesn't rag me about my hair or my clothes. But he also says no facial hair. He is a good dude, and I respect him. So I don't fight it.

That's it! Have a great weekend!

7/21/11

--I have not checked the legitimacy of this video, but I watched most of it this morning. At the very least it gives a good idea to try to lower your electric bills. Basically the video tells you how to build solar panels for your house on the cheap. So while I will give no claim one way or the other as to whether or not it is accurate I will give you the link so you can check it out for yourself. Feel free to share your thoughts on the matter and I will post it tomorrow for "Feedback Friday". Here is the link.

--Later this morning I am having a procedure that will require me to get a shot or two. If you've been a Gregorian for long you know that it will be an issue for me. Needles and I do not play well together. For those concerned…thanks! It's alright…nothing major happening. It's just something that needs to be taken care of at this point. However…if things go awry I won't be at work tomorrow. But chances are very good that things will go smoothly.

--I was listening to "Coast to Coast A.M." this morning on the way to work. There was a guy on talking about a probe that NASA sent out a couple of years ago to go to an asteroid that holds our interest. Apparently for a while now NASA has been releasing a picture a week of this asteroid. Bottom line…this guy says that this asteroid could very well be a chunk of debris from a planet on which a level 2 civilization once lived. The images so far seem to be showing some geometric structures that do not naturally manifest on their own. I haven't seen the pictures and I don't know anything about this probe or the asteroid. But this dude says that he firmly believes that in the coming months as the probe gets closer to the asteroid and sets up its orbit around the asteroid that the pictures and information that we get will revolutionize EVERYTHING about our world. He even suggests that we could find technology on that rock that will lead us to a clean, unlimited energy source. It was interesting…and I am sure if you went to the C2C website you could find it.

7/20/11

--Today is going to be ridiculous. Actual air temperatures in the upper 90's, and at times the heat index could be around 120 degrees. So enjoy that if heat is your thing! If you do dig it you'll be happy to know that tomorrow will be just as miserably hot.

--Saturday afternoon around 3 I am going to be at Spanky's Bar in Mattoon slinging drinks for a St. Jude's benefit. If you are in the area and need a drink around that time stop in and say hello!

--Friday morning during the news I am trying to get some special guests lined up. There is a show starting at the Lincoln Theater in Decatur called "Miss Saigon", and a couple of the characters may help me do the weather at some point Friday morning. Should be…interesting! The Lincoln Theater has had some good stuff lately. And I love that they are trying to do some Broadway shows with local talent. It's good for the community. With some of the decisions the "city" has made lately (read: DEAD FISH) it's nice that there are some people that "get it".

--I remembered to shave this morning! When I got home yesterday I was told that shaving is probably a good idea. No one from work said anything. But since the opinion at home is more important than the opinion at work…I will likely keep shaving!!

7/19/11

--So is it hot enough for you? I know people that love this weather. It's always funny when your job is to deliver the weather. People always tell me what they think of the weather. It doesn't bother me. It comes with the territory. But because of it I know that no matter what the weather is doing there is someone that LOVES it! That is the biggest reason I try not to put my own slant on it by saying a particular kind of weather is good or bad. Occasionally I will give my own opinion, but most of the time I am quick to also mention that I know people that love it. Just goes to show you that even though biologically we are all the same…we are very much different on the "inside".

--I forgot to shave this morning. I'm not sure how that happened. But on the way to work I noticed that my face felt different. I don't think it will be so bad around 6 this morning. But by 9 my 5 o'clock shadow will be full blown. Personally I would love to try facial hair on-air. But The Suits tend to frown on it. Frankly I think that is an outdated notion. My facial hair grows in pretty well and pretty fast. I think if I was given a couple of weeks to get something going it would look great. So far, though, I have found no one willing to give me permission to try. (Yes…for stuff like that we have to get permission.) Something tells me that HD is a game changer for stuff like facial hair. And while I very well could be wrong…I think the facial hair taboo is an old school thing. And it is one I would love to break. Younger people don't care…and I am here to bring in younger people.

--It's day 2 without Tara Barrett. She was my favorite morning co-worker. Scotty is probably number 2 on that list. I think it helps that she had just been gone for a couple of months on maternity leave…so we are kind of used to her not being around already. And frankly in this business people come and go all the time. So you do grow a tolerance to people leaving all the time. But every once in a while you get attached to someone and it hurts when they leave. Marcus and Mikaela were like that with me. And so is Tara Barrett. At least Tara lives pretty close to me, and we do plan to get together once in a while. Her husband is an awesome dude, and I think we will have fun with them.

--I am trying to work out this morning situation to get more blogging done again. I wasn't trying to sound cranky yesterday morning. But sometimes this stuff in the morning that we do before the news is frustratingly frustrating!

7/18/11

So here is the deal with the blog lately. We are doing some upgrades to a system or two, and because of the upgrades the stuff we have to do before the morning news takes much, much longer than it used to. The extra time it takes to do this other stuff is taking away my blog time. For those of you that used to hit the blog first thing in the morning I apologize. But for now there isn't much I can do about it. So from here on out I will try to get a blog update on any given morning. But the days of an every morning blog update might very well be over.

Unfortunately also...I can no longer blog from home. Apparently Internet Explorer 9 isn't compatible with the system we use to handle our website. So when I try to blog from a computer outside of the station that uses IE 9 the website tells me that it isn't happening. I would recommend hitting the Facebook fan page and liking it if you want to keep up with what would ordinarily be on the blog!

7/15/11

Next week I will probably expound on Tara Barrett leaving the morning show. It is bittersweet. Professionally it is sad to see her leave because in anyone's job it is rare to be able to work with someone that really is a friend. But personally it is fantastic that she will be able to stay at home with her little Callie. Today I am still on my little "blog holiday". The morning couldn't pass, though, without acknowledging the moment.

7/14/11

Some of you have inquired about the status of the blog this week. Don't sweat it. I just needed a little bit of a blogging break. I will likely get back on the blog next week. Sometimes a brother just has to step away for a bit! Meanwhile...hit the B. Lime link above because they are only online now and adding new stuff every day. Then hit my Mom's Mary Kay link and get some stuff from her. And finally...hit the Facebook link and join my Facebook fan page if you haven't already!

7/7/11

--There is still a link at the top of this blog to B. Lime, The Green Store. However…there has been a significant change to B. Lime. Wendi the owner has decided to close down the physical store. You can still buy their fantastic products. But going forward the store will only be online. I believe the overhead from having a physical store, plus the fact that she has a 1 ½ year old at home, make this an easy decision. So now when you want to shop B. Lime all you have to do is hit the link above and you're in the store!

--There is a new link at the top of the blog this morning. This one is to my Mom's Mary Kay website. Mary Kay is a company that carries men's and women's products, make up, perfume, cologne, etc. My Mom is a consultant. So if you are in the market for such things hit the link and check out what she can do for you. It's something she is doing on the side for fun and product, but the truth is that she is great at it and is busier than she planned!

I was looking over her site the other day. They really do provide everything. Here is the link. And like I said from now on the link will be at the top of the blog, in between B. Lime and the link for my Facebook fan page.

--It's a short week for me. If we get any feedback it will be in tomorrow's blog! And of course later this morning you can come back here to watch this morning's "Phrase of the Day"...after our Web Dude Cody updates the video.

7/6/11

--As always I have to be honest with you…going on vacation is dangerous for my career. Every time I come back I realize how nice it would be to never work again!

--We really had a great time on this trip. I'm grateful to the station for letting me have the time off. They certainly did not have to let me leave when they did, for reasons that The Suits know. Or in this case I should say The Suit! And sure…for this trip I probably would have just quit had I been told no…it certainly made it easier to let me go! (Wow…did I just type that??)

Most years I try to go to California with my Dad to see family out there for the Fourth. We spend time in Laguna Niguel and Dana Point. Our family has a boat and we go out on the ocean. This year we ended up boating through a HUGE school of dolphins. We even ended up seeing the tail of what we think was a blue whale…the largest animal on the planet, and a rare thing to see. It was very, very cool.

There's an annual party put on by friends that we go to that is always a blast. They have an ocean-side view that is truly breathtaking. And one of their neighbors is Bob Gunton and his wife. Bob Gunton is the fella that played the warden in "The Shawshank Redemption". Usually we try to sneak peeks across the way to see if we could see him. A couple of years ago we saw him taking out his trash! Well this year Faye and I ended up sitting next to him and his wife at the table for dinner. They seemed like nice people. We did not really talk to him much. Mostly they talked to our hosts about association business in their housing area. It was pretty boring, frankly!

The weekend always ends on the 4^th with a huge dock party on "B" dock where all of these people have their boats. It really was a fantastic time. It's always good to come home…but would it be bad for me to say that I could do the vacation routine every day from here on out??

--So Tara Barrett came back yesterday! It will be nice to work with her again for a while. I wanted to be around for her first day back…and would have been had she kept to the original plan! But she ended up pushing her return back a bit which put her first day at the end of my already planned vacation. How rude! (Nah…I'm only joking. It's not really about me, afterall!)