Switching to Wordpress

I have decided to begin blogging again. I've lost touch with more than a few of you -- and this is not intentional, believe me.

However, I have opted to switch the service I use to blog. Blogger had a history of, shall we say, doing the smash thing when it came to screen reading software. As it happens, I have friends that use such software, so this blog could at times become unreadable to them.

Therefore, effective immediately, I am now blogging on the NEW Thoughts from Northern Kentucky. That can be found at http://thoughtsfromnky.wordpress.com/. And yes, I will be better at updating more -- it's going to be the place where I dump thoughts I don't exactly know how to say in video format.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Haven't blogged in awhile.

Has it really been that long since I blogged last on here? Wow, I'm a bad blogger haha :)

So, let's catch you all up. I turned 26 on August 19th. It was a great weekend, with fun, family and friends, not necessarily in this order. I even tried my first beer. You see, I'd honestly never drank before. It was just not exactly appealing to me. After one Coors Light, I was done. No more for a year for me. Not till I turn 27, anyway.

I went to Los Angeles, California June 26-29 for the annual Spina Bifida Association conference. Actually, it was Anaheim, but close enough. (Right?) While there, I did not have the fortune to experience a good old California temblor, but little did I know that just last week, Cincinnati would be rocked by a 5.8 quake that hit Virginia! THAT was interesting. And I found out that I hate standby flying. I will NEVER do that again. 12 hours in the terminal at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport just killed my back the day I flew out, and I never fully recovered the rest of that week! I loved L.A., though and if I had a chance, I'd probably move there, if I could get past mentally adjusting to earthquakes! HA!

Other than that, I really have not done much since January, when a personal situation set in motion a series of events that still affect me today, even though the original situation is now over. (Long, run-on sentence, I know.)

Oh, one more HUGE piece of news. In February, I found out I would be an uncle once again. Shaelynn Marie Robbins will be welcomed into the world by my sister, Truly Moses and her boyfriend, Nick Robbins on Tuesday morning! I'll see if I can get a picture up here on the blog Wednesday night, but no promises.

Okay, I think this catches everybody up. I'll check back Tuesday or Wednesday. Happy Labor Day to everyone in the good old United States of America!

-Jeremy

Temporary change

Until twitter gets things together with regards to the apparent spam attacks, I am protecting my tweets. In order to prevent this from wreaking havoc on the blog page, I am removing the normal twitter widget from the blog. I apologize for the minor inconvenience.

Returning to the Blogger Blog-o-sphere

I have returned to Blogger, but with a few things having changed:

1) Some of you may notice that I'm no longer associated, at least as a writer, with Tri-State Media Watch. Due to circumstances that occurred in late January that I have been advised NOT to discuss publicly, I've handed that over to Cindy Detro, a friend of mine from Circleville, Ohio and her boyfriend Jerry Jicha. And it's been moved to the Wordpress platform, which works better for them. (Both Cindy and Jerry are blind, and use screen reader software to do just about anything on a computer.)

2) Slightly related: If I was following you via the FORMER TSMW profile, and I don't follow you on this one, please let me know. (I know of a few of you since you're linked at right and after this post I'll be re-following.)

3) My YouTube posts will return soon, and I may post them here as well.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

So, the YouTube Re-Do

UPDATE Within the Update: I went and looked at what I'm using now. It turns out, no wonder my playback sucks... I'm using ONLY 64 MB of video memory. YIKES. In today's world, obviously, that's unacceptable. So, next week, it's Micro Center for me - and a new Video Card along with 512 MB of RAM.

If you recall, a few weeks back I announced the re-launch of my YouTube channel. An update on that...

It has gone okay. Not great, but okay. Eventually I plan to try to make a little bit of cash off of it...but for now, I'm content limiting it to just a few friends.

But there's been two or three snags.

The first problem is, I'm having issues with my Flip Ultra camera. If you happen to have me as a facebook friend, you know that last Thursday, I turned it on to find pixelation and a green screen. Luckily for me, it's under warranty from the manufacturer, and I am going to be allowed to send it to them for a replacement, as it appears now.

The second problem is, my computer simply is not powerful enough to render High Definition quickly (as in, taking less than 12 hours!). That problem, I plan to partially solve sometime this week. The plan is to get myself some more RAM, raising the RAM I have on the current setup to about a gigabyte. Maybe 2 GB will be in the future, and along with that will be (probably for Christmas) a new video card. But for now, I'll stop at a GB and see where that gets me.

Bottom line, until the new Flip Ultra arrives, there's no way I can do new content. Maybe "WWYT" but not "Adventures of J Mo", production of which has to be suspended until I HAVE that Flip Ultra. :( So, the next "WWYT" MAY arrive Friday morning - but no "Adventures" until at earliest next week.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

What's Up In My World

Hey guys and gals,

Just wanted to give you guys the quick update as to what's on the way on Youtube.com/JMos22 and what's up in my life... here it is in bullet form:

-- New "Adventures of J. Mo" video went live around 5:45 AM yesterday morning. You can click here to watch that.

-- New Opinion Show Update: After I recorded that, I sat down to come up with the new opinion show. I have the name (What Were You Thinking with J. Mo). I have the setting (the kitchen table at home). I just don't have the topic for this week or the open to the show ready yet. I'll probably tape weekday mornings before 10 AM. This way I can take advantage of nearly everyone being asleep.

-- Other, personal stuff: For right now, most everything is good. I get my new wheelchair fairly soon. This I am pleased about... as I am ready to get the hell OUT of the old. Wanna know what the new one looks like? Okay but keep in mind this is NOT the exact chair...although pretty close.



This is the A4. It will be able to withstand EVERYTHING life in Cincinnati can throw at it. City, grass, gravel...everything. And did I mention it will be BIGGER than my old one? Yep... bigger in that my frame will fit in ITS frame. YES!!!

So, that is what's up in my world. And by the way - if you have topic ideas for the new "What Were You Thinking" - shoot them to me! I'd love to use a blogger-submitted topic!

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Two New Web Shows

And now for an announcement of something totally different...

I decided this week that I would re-launch my old YouTube channel. I'm doing it in phases. Phase one was the upload of the first episode of my first regular series called "The Adventures of J. Mo". It'll be uploaded at least two times a week.

Phase two is in progress...and involves a total revamp of the channel page itself. I'm trying to work on a design now that will capture what this channel is about...which is my "vlog". I'm no professional - not at videography or photography. But I do my best. I think it's going to be cool.

Phase three involves a second new program that will launch next week. The tentative working title is "The World According to Jeremy". It'll be my opinions on a number of subjects... it could be a local news story, it could be something that happened nationally, or it could just be a random topic. Again, that phase will launch sometime next week, probably on Wednesday.

So, that's my plans. Stay tuned, and keep an eye on my Twitter feed (top right of this page) for updates, including when I post new videos...

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Twitter

I apologize to those who had issues with the twitter authentication.

There were some personal issues that had to be dealt with that resulted in a temporary need to protect tweets. All should be back as it was.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

A quick note

I haven't posted for a month...I know, bad blogger lol...

There's been a lot going on recently. So much that blogging has kinda taken a back seat.

Rest assured this space isn't going anywhere. I will be back to it asap... I just have a lot to deal with.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Happy Birthday Andrew!

This one is really hard to believe - but believe, I have to. Today is my brother Andrew Herald's 19th birthday. Here he is with my niece, Novelei.



Here he is with me while we were on the Carnival Fun Ship Inspiration in 2004.



And I'm not sure when this was taken. I have to believe it's in the last couple years - but I lifted this one off my stepdad's myspace.



Notice that no matter what, in the last few years, his hair hasn't changed one bit. Come to think of it, I think he's had the same hairstyle for the last ten years. Heh.

I'm just kidding of course...he's my brother, he might get on my nerves, but he's family and I love my family.

Happy birthday bro...

Courage + Belief = LIFE

My Morning Show Experiences from the Past

I mentioned in the last post (I'm cranking this out now, so I can go try and get a couple or three hours sleep) that I know how the local TV stations' morning show staff manages to get up and do their jobs in the morning.

I wanted to split this off into its own post, so here we go.

Back in 2000, my bladder exploded and I went into septic shock. I was literally on the edge of death. At the time, the man I trusted when it came to getting my local weather (seeing as I had little to no experience with forecasting myself) was Steve Horstmeyer, who at this time was the morning meteorologist for the CBS station here. That's WKRC-TV 12 in Cincinnati. And for the record, he's now with WXIX 19 which is the FOX network affiliate, still in Cincinnati, and is their chief meteorologist. And I STILL turn to him sometimes - heck, it's hard not to when he has 30+ years of experience!

He comes into this story early on for a reason. Somehow, someway, someone got word to Steve that a fan of his was in the hospital fighting for life. (That would be yours truly. I still don't know who told him.) He came to the hospital to see me. Mind you, he'd just done an 8 hour shift, and I think was headed home, but stopped to see me at Cincinnati Children's. We discussed the weather, and he gave me some weather maps like he uses to predict the weather (these were printed, by the way...and I should say we TRIED to discuss the weather. Remember, I'm fighting for life at that time, on pain meds so that the 5 holes, dozens of staples and stitches I had in my body didn't hurt so bad. So I know I was mostly with it, but sort of not.)

Anyway, later that month I visited the WKRC studios and met Mike Buresh, at the time the station's 4 PM meteorologist (he's now with WTEV-TV in Jacksonville, Florida). Which that was very cool.

About one year later, I found out that the station was set to move their morning show (Steve was still doing weather for it) to new digs downtown at the Fifth Third Center (if you haven't figured it out, it's the corporate HQ of Fifth Third Bancorp), on the ground level with windows overlooking Fountain Square.

From September 3rd of 2001 to 2005, I visited those studios on my days off school. Sometimes in the latter year I stopped by to say a quick hello on my way to Northern Kentucky University. Heh. How's that for sneaking a quick chat with friends in?

It was there at the WKRC downtown studio that I realized that you have to be totally and one hundred percent dedicated to get up at 2 AM (when most people are still in bed), go to work from 4:30 AM to 12:30 PM, go home, do what personal business you have to do, and be in bed by around 4:15 PM to get up and do it all over again the next day. And not just that, but to keep that schedule five days a week, and smile while you do it or at least try not to be negative on the air.

Needless to say, from those 4 years I spent being what I guess you'd call Cincinnati's first and only teenage on-air meteorologist, I know what the men and women working the early shift at all four major stations now do. (At the time, that is - there isn't a teenager in town now doing what I was doing on air over-the-airwaves; security has become a number one concern for most stations and I don't blame them. There is at least one teenager who does webcasts - Trevor Cole of Cincyforecast.com. Trev, I threw ya a free plug buddy.) Even if it was only part time when I was off of school, I realized that yes, I could do it with a) the proper schooling and b) discipline once I did land a job in broadcasting. What I learned was these two points in summary:

1) Be one hundred percent DEDICATED to your job if you're considering an early shift as an on-air personality.
2) Be sure that you have a LOT of caffeinated beverages on hand to keep you awake when you're broadcasting!

So that's my experience as, like I said, Cincinnati's ONLY teenage on-air broadcast weatherman. Those four years I spent around that team were really good years.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Part Media, Part Personal Blog.

It's time for one of those things we like to call an introduction.

The morning show folks at WXIX-TV 19 here in town have started a blog. It's been going awhile now, and I've debated whether to throw this one on here, or on Tri-State Media Watch.

After much careful thought, I've decided it belongs here, mostly because it's good personal insight from some of the hardest working folks in town. Talk about dedication - it takes a LOT of dedication to get up at the crack of 2 AM to go to work. These people have it. (Well, it takes that, AND a load of caffeine. But mostly the dedication.) How I know this...well I'll save that for my next post.

Back to the introduction...you'll read about everything from vacations (like this morning's post from their morning meteorologist) to some favorite hangout spots to some of the cool things that they do for our community.

You can read the FOX 19 Morning News team's blog right here.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Another Year, Another One From Boone County High Gone.

*Sigh*

Where do I start?

Last year, you may remember, one of Boone County's own, Laura Chaney, died suddenly at Western Kentucky University at just 18 years old. I attended the visitation for her on May 15.

Today, I went to yet another visitation, for yet another member of the Boone County High School community, taken very young.

Adam D. Peak, 25, was killed one week ago today by an Improvised Explosive Device while serving in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, had graduated from Boone in 2002, but went to college before enlisting in the Marines. Today was the visitation at Thomas More College in Crestview Hills, Kentucky, from which Adam had graduated in 2006.

By all accounts, including my own, Adam was a fine young man. Nobody had anything bad they could say about him. When I later heard he was enlisting in the Marines, I knew that he'd felt the call to serve his nation.

Little did I know he would die doing just that.

If you'd like to help and you have a Fifth Third Bank branch anywhere near you, you can make a donation to the LCPL Adam Peak Scholarship Fund.

May Adam Daniel Peak rest in peace. And...as a child of a vet... I say "Good job, soldier. Welcome home."

8/30/1984-2/21/2010

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Better Late than Not At All

I'm not sure if many of you saw it, or who among you, my reader base, reads Vanity Fair.

But, an article in the most recent issue about the Creation Museum here in Boone County, KY has sparked a LOT of backlash against its author, A.A. Gill. Let's put the museum aside for this one. I'm not here to debate anybody about spiritual beliefs, whether you have any or not. But I'll be a monkey's uncle if I'll let someone who only saw one little piece of my hometown degrade it and more or less dismiss it. (Note: I'm well aware that he's more or less defended what he wrote - with even more scathing remarks about those of us who chose to step to the defense of our fair city.)

Here, let me quote you some of what he wrote:

"It’s not in the nature of stoic Cincinnatians to boast, which is fortunate, really, for they have meager pickings to boast about. They could, though, if they were the bragging sort, brag about a quaint old optician’s shop that will make you a new pair of spectacles in an hour—by chance I am both shortsighted and had an hour to spare."

Oh, really, Mr. Gill??

I can list about a half dozen places that have some sort of significance in this town, be it artistic (Music Hall, Art Museum, Aronoff Center), historical (Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, several Presidential homes/birthplaces), amusement (Kings Island, The Beach Waterpark, two sports stadiums and I don't know how many places to shop if one desires to do so), what have you. Hell, I'd even brag about some of the best eats in town (Graeter's, Montgomery Inn, LaRosa's).

I more or less just did that, as a matter of fact - but chances are, if you've spent more than 1 day here, you know what's here to do and see.

I take issue with the fact that Mr. Gill, along with Paul Bettany, only spent ONE DAY here - heck, maybe not even THAT, got ONE QUOTE from ONE PERSON, and called their observations good.

My friends, they hadn't even STARTED to look around! You can't judge a book by its cover - and you can't judge a place by talking to one person.

No, you need to go to SEVERAL areas of town, not just one or two. Hell, spend a whole WEEK here.

In almost 25 years, I'll be honest... my opinion of this town has changed more than once. Are there things I'd change? Sure - decrease the crime rate and make sure people like myself can get around when 23" of snow falls in 16 days, and I'd be a happy man. Have I wanted to move away? Sure - but in the end, I'd become homesick and I know it. As the Rehab song says, "This town is my home/it's deep in my soul".

You know what? There isn't a perfect place on this planet. I'd like to think Cincinnati is pretty damn close to it, however. Where else can you see a Broadway play on Monday, have some drinks on a Wednesday night, go to a concert or some big event on Friday, and then go to a charity event the next night, and see a lot of the same people while doing it all?? I guarantee you won't find that in New York City. (And by the way, Mr. Gill, some people from the New York Times came here not all that long ago. They sure as hell found a lot of positives about Cincinnati... and they spent 36 hours here!)

The next time a magazine editor like Mr. Gill, or even Mr. Gill himself come back to town, I'd love to see him spend more than one day in Cincinnati. I guarantee you his opinion would change pretty damned quick.

Just one 24 year old NATIVE CINCINNATIAN's opinion.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Prayers for Cliff

Cliff of WIXY's Gone Bananas fame is asking for prayers on a possible lead on employment. Here's what he posted in its entirety:

I have already shared this on Facebook, so I thought I would share this here.

The place in which I applied in Medina yesterday, called me this afternoon, asking to set up a job interview this coming Monday at 10:30am, Eastern time.

I need prayers, well wishes, and guidance for this.

Please lift him up... they really need this to go well!

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Wow... snowstorm!

What a MESS!

Yesterday I was in Dayton, Ohio. The snow was NUTS up there, they received 10" as of 4 PM this afternoon and I have about 6" here in Florence. I am transferring a few pictures from my cell phone to my computer and I'll share them shortly.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

In Which I DON'T Do What My Head Wants Me To

I just got home from church. It is in that spirit that I write this blog to a former gf of mine.

S (yes, that's what I'm calling her) broke up with me today, saying she didn't want to cause trauma to her little girl. I place no blame on this little girl (she's TWO). I wanted to write a blog in which I basically screamed, hooped and hollared against S and the fact that I didn't see the breakup coming.

But I won't.

Instead, I will take the high road and wish her the best of luck with her future.

I'm proud to say that even though I'm still angry over how it happened...I was raised better than that.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

I Received a 2009 Top Banana!

Cliff has graciously awarded me my second Top Banana! Here's what Cliff has to say about me...

Now I have to head south and cross the Ohio River and give the I'm Blogging on the Web Near Cincinnati Top Banana. This one goes to Jeremy of Personal Thoughts/Observations fame. Jeremy is a good prayer partner and a fellow media geek. He has had his share of challenges, but faces them with a healthy attitude.

The Top Banana Awards are designed to do two things:

A) Show Cliff's appreciation for the friendship his blogging friends provide, and
B) Introduce the bloggers to new friends.

So, with that, I accept the award and encourage you folks to visit Cliff, and see the other awards he's given out to other bloggers!

Courage + Belief = LIFE

Pray for Cliff

Cliff of WIXY's Gone Bananas fame just received a layoff notice this morning. He and his wonderful wife do not need this at all, not after two lousy years.

Makes my knee problems pale in comparison.

Keep Cliff and Kathy in your prayers.

Courage + Belief = LIFE

An Update on Last Week's Prayer Request

This is an update to the prayer request I posted last week.

Alicia's uncle has improved, albeit slightly. He had his breathing tube removed yesterday. She says his vital signs are holding steady and he's breathing and talking. (UPDATE 9:08 AM: He's also able to eat, she tells me in an email this morning.) He's still got a very damaged heart and is still on the heart transplant list right now. Continue to pray for Bill Shults and for all of Alicia's family, as you have been doing.

Also, pray for me...I have messed up my right leg but we're not sure how bad yet. I took a headfirst tumble down a flight of stairs downtown yesterday.

Oh, and happy New Year... Good riddance 2009. (Never thought I'd be so glad to see 2009 go...)

Courage + Belief = LIFE