To Kenny.

Hey!! Send me your e-mail address. I've seemed to have lost it in the transition from PC to Mac.

Thanks!!

Back From The Dead...For Now

A couple of weeks ago I was playing Baseball on my Xbox360 with my oldest son. The screen froze and I reset the console. Bad things then happened with my 360 mocking me with glee as the three red rings of death (3RROD) appeared. Now I'm sure that this has happened to some of you and you've cursed and thrown things. I couldn't as my seven year-old was at my side. So, I did what any normal male, the age of 39, would do. I wept silently when no one was around.

I bit the bullet and called Microsoft to get the 360 fixed. Long story short, it's going to cost me $99 to fix. Why, because I'm not the original owner of the 360. I got around it so it's not going to cost me, but I'm not going into detail about that (boring and not really necessary).

I look up on the internet on the 3RROD causes and stumble upon The Towel Trick. It's simple, I thought. "Hey..I CAN DO THAT!!!" It involves removing the HD (if you have one), plugging the 360 in and turning it on. Then wrap the 360 in 2 to 3 cotton bath towels, thus making it heat up. Let it slowly cook itself for about 20-25 minutes.

After that span of time, you unwrap and turn it off. Let the 360 cool for around a half-hour. Then, after that time has expired, plug in everything and hold your breath while you press the power button.

And I'll be darned...



IT WORKS!! Albeit a temporary fix, you can get it to work for you and you can play for a while, while waiting for the Microsoft box to arrive so you can send it back and get it repaired.

Some people have reporter it working for about 45 minutes then the 3RROD appears again up to fourteen days of usage, and beyond.

Awwww....GEEEZ!!

I'm upstairs in my "man den", the wife is in the kitchen doing the dishes. My children have taken over the living room because they've set up a vast battlefield with their Army men.

I'm on the computer and I hear my youngest yelling, "FIRE...FIRE...FIRE" very loudly in a stressed out voice.

I run from my seat, down the hallway, downstairs (taking two at a time), where I almost step on a cat passing the bottom of the stairs. I jumped a little over the cat(to keep from killing the poor thing) only to hit the wall across from the stairwell...

My shoulder put a nice round crack in the drywall about 1 1/2 ft in circumference.

My wife looks at me like I'm crazed...

The kids are looking at me like I'm going to kill them...

The children were playing and got into an argument...the youngest was yelling..."LIAR...LIAR....LIAR" at the oldest..

Now I've no idea how to repair drywall..

And I have a sore shoulder...

Drive Through Doughnut Shop

This accident happened last week but I've been too damn lazy to blog about it. I'm on vacation and decided I'd better do something worthwhile while lounging around on the couch, watching the NCAA tournament and seeing my brackets taking a beating.

Two guys in a Ford Focus lost control of their vehicle, hit a curb, went airborne, took out the storefront of the Doughnut and Smoke Shop, landed on their side which killed one man in the car and critically injured the other in the car.



The picture doesn't do the damage to the store justice. Now you might think this is a one in a million happening. But this is the sixth...SIXTH..time this has happened to the store and the owner in twenty seven years. The strange part is, this store is on a straight part of the road. Kind of hard to wreck a car into a building there but people have managed to do it six times in the past.

The car didn't fare very well though.



No word, at least that I know of, if drugs or alcohol were involved. And there was no police chase involved.

It's St. Patrick's Day..

Big Fat Hairy Deal.

Seriously. I've never celebrated SPD. Why? Because I'm not Irish. Why pretend I'm something I'm not? I don't think the idea of drinking green beer is fun. I abhor the thought of wearing green just because...

And what I hate the most is pointing a camera into the midst of a bunch of yelling drunkards that wear shirts that say "Kiss me, I'm Irish" and who couldn't find Ireland on a map if their next beer depended on it.

I guess that's why I like working the overnight shift so much. If I do have to face the "Irish" of this day, there's not a whole lot of drunks at 5:00 a.m. in the morning.

I'll spend the day sleeping (after working, of course) and trying to figure out why my wife's computer isn't printing from the Airport Extreme.

Happy March 17th. Just the 17th. Not that other God forsaken day.

Oh and like the song says...

Give Ireland back to the Irish....JPM.

A Big Thanks

I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Brian, the snow plow driver, who after doing my neighbor's driveway, did my driveway. I did pay him for his time and I overpaid for it but that was my choice because I needed to go get my wife out of the hospital after her surgery.

So, again, I'm very grateful to this one Mr. Plow.

I Know This Is Going To Seem Wrong

But since I'm alone and the kids are at the in-laws for te second straight night, I decided to have a few margaritas while I'm all alone. And I have to tell you that I've noticed that...

1. It's difficult to to type when inebriated on margaritas.

and

2. Using chopsticks when eating Chinese while in said state of inebriation is very difficult and if someone else was here besides the cats and the dog watching me, this would be very embarrassing. But animals don't care and they won't laugh at you.

and

3. Talledega Nights is funnier when you're totally in the bag.

A Waiting Game

Currently, my wife, Elizabeth is in surgery at a local hospital. I'm glad I took my laptop because I discovered they have Wi-Fi available for patients and their families. keeping occupied during the surgery is a must. I don't want to fall asleep in the waiting room and reading magazines from 2003 is torture.

So, I'm able to keep busy and pass the time.

One funny story this morning concerning work. I had to get up early to take my wife to the hospital. My work cell phone rang which is strange because I normally get no reception from the new cell phone carrier my station chose. Anyways, the phone rang at 4:56 a.m. and I answered it. The voice on the other end said, "Brian!!! Where's the truck parked?"

I recognized the voice as Bill, the reporter I usually work with in the mornings. I told him, "Umm, Bill, I'm off this morning. Call Derek." The words, "You're off?" and "Oh Shit!" were heard by me as he hung up.

I turned on the news quickly to see if Bill made his 5:00 a.m hit, which he did but a little hastened to say the least.

Been A Busy Time

Wow. It's been a while, huh? There's been a lot that I've been doing but not enough time to blog about it. It's been a whirlwind of activity the past couple of weeks. Carjackings that turn fatal for the carjacker, apartment fires where six families were awakened by a man who spoke no English. Chasing Obama and Hillary around Cleveland, fighting bitter cold, snow, sleet and freezing rain.

And on top of that, a huge water main break that happened this morning while we were two blocks away from it. The water from the 150 year old pipe, flowed down city streets and onto and over my feet and my reporters feet while doing a live shot. Nothing is better than having soaking wet feet when its 26 degrees outside while having your reporter scramble up a snowbank and become an trapped up there because of eight inches of water on the sidewalk.

And to top it off, home has been a fine and pleasant misery. We've had a septic blockage in our main line and had to deal with all the trials, tribulations and smells that accompany such a problem.

And in the wings, a March snowstorm that is set on dumping up to a foot of snow in some areas this weekend. Plus my wife is having surgery tomorrow morning so it's going to be a less than enjoyable weekend.

I hope that things slow down so I can tend to the blog a little more often and be able to add more images to go along with the posts.