My bad.

This day totally got away from me.  I enjoy the process of blogging and want to answer to it every day, Monday through Friday, but today just slipped away.  When I fill in for Bob during the 5pm and 6pm and then solo anchor the 10pm, it seems the work day goes by so much faster.  Can’t promise I won’t have a few more of these days, but the least I can do is give you a sneak peak of News-2 At 10.

On the menu:

• Starting tomorrow, area minute clinics will start cranking out flu shots
• Someone walked into Kroger corporate and lifted three laptops
• There’s actually some good news for mortgage brokers
• Starting at midnight, guns are allowed in parks but many parks have “opted out”
• Not one, but two stories about two different puppy mills
• A “That’s Messed Up” you need to see if you use WiFi around the city

See you at 10.

I can’t remember what I did last Tuesday, but as the high school football season cranks up, my mind easily drifts back to games I played nearly 30-years ago.  I swear I can remember specific moments of games like they were yesterday giving me sensory overload, such as:

• The butterflies I had in my stomach from the afternoon pep rally to the opening kickoff
• How cool it was to get your plain helmet finally plastered with the school logo the week before the first game
• Getting my ankles taped
• Putting on that crisp game uniform
• The silent bus ride to the field (our high school didn’t have a home field at the time)
• Eyeing the field lights from a distance
• The smell of the concession stand food as we walked from the bus to the field
• The white chalk that lined the freshly mowed turf
• That unmistakable smell of stickum (If you are under 20, ask your father)
• How we tried to acted tougher in pregame warm-ups than the team on the other side of the field
• The sound of the marching band in the stands during a break in the action
• The P.A. announcer booming through the crackling sound system
• Chewing on the end of my mouthpiece
• The pit in my stomach after we went 3-and-out or when I just threw an interception
•  Trying to avoid eye contact with the head coach when I threw an interception
• How he simply motioned with his finger to come talk to him about it
• Calling the one audible we had in the playbook (quick hit to the Tight End) and having it work for 40-yards
• Scoring on a 75-yard run on the road only to learn my Dad went to gas the car and missed the play
• He never missed another TD of mine.  I didn’t score another one.
• Taking off my jersey the final game of my senior year, realizing it would be the final time I played organized football
• Having my #10 jersey number retired by the school a few months later at an assembly
• It was in honor of my head coach, who also wore #10 for the school 15-years prior, who was retiring from coaching

I miss those game nights perhaps more than anything else in my youth. 

I thought I would play forever and it was over so quickly.

Whenever I would cover a high school game, the sights, sounds and smells would transport me back in time and just hoped the kids I was reporting on, loved the whole process like I did.

You never know, maybe they would get their jersey number retired.

Have a great and safe weekend.

My younger brother has his golden birthday Sunday.

Turns 40 on August 40th.

That’s no misprint.

When Jeff was a tyke, he couldn’t say August 30th.  When asked when his birthday was, he would belt out, “August 40th!”

(Just about now, if I was ever in his will, I’m out of it now).

If you are lucky enough to have siblings- I have two older sisters and Jeff, then you know that at each family gathering, the same stories are told over and over.  Like the August 40th ditty.

Like any loving older brother, I spent much of my youth holding my brother down (he’s six years younger), sitting on his chest with his hands trapped beneath my knees as I dangled spit over his face.  As I like to call it now, a “demented sign of affection.”

Jeff, a wonderful husband and father of two precious girls, called me a couple years ago and we had this exchange:

Jeff:  Well John, my wife Lisa is really mad at you.

Me:  Why?  What did I do?

Jeff:  She’s mad because we have the same genes…

Me:  Go on…

Jeff:  Well, she walked into the living room and Claire had Anna down on the floor, with her hands pinned behind her knees dangling spit near her face!

Ah… a fine family tradition continues.

In all honesty, there’s nothing bad I can say about my brother.

He was well-behaved.  Never gave my parents trouble in high school.  He went to the University of Dayton to get his grades up, graduated from Notre Dame and then spent his first year out of school in the Phoenix area working for the Holy Cross mission helping the homeless find jobs.  I mean geez… what’s there to pick on?  The kid gave me no material.  He took over a three-generation community bank in Bourbonnais, Illinois.  He has a quiet leadership quality about him that works well with his co-workers and community.  Jeff- throw me a bone!!

Turning 40 has him a little freaked but I assured him his best years are ahead of him.  At least they are for me.

So Happy Birthday Jeff. 

And next time I see you, I call a truce on pinning you down.

A good friend of mine and fellow Make-A-Wish Foundation of Middle Tennessee board member authored the article below that was published in the Nashville Chamber of Commerce newsletter.  I thought it was such a good reminder that I asked Ben if I “steal” it for DwyerWire.com.  After he finally called me back after repeated messages, put me on hold as he was answering his other cell phone and then told me an off color joke, he said “no prob.” (Now Ben, you didn’t expect me to give a straight-faced intro to this, did you?)

‘Old‐School’ Business Etiquette
By
Ben Hanback, President
The Hanback Group

On a client call recently, I had to take an elevator up to the top of a building for my scheduled appointment. While lurching up floor by floor, a few things happened in that small space that really made me reflect on how etiquette has virtually vanished in today’s business world. First, two of the people on the elevator proceeded to discuss a co‐worker’s personal problems. Second, when the elevator door opened up on the third floor, two people stormed in without letting the three people out that were getting off. And then, at the same time, the men getting out didn’t hold the door and let the woman out first.

Now before you roll your eyes and call me “old school,” think about this ‐ when was the last time you were in a meeting or presentation and at least one cell phone or beeper didn’t go off? Or when was your inbox not full of chain emails?

I was at a conference a few years ago on workplace stress and the speaker asked everyone in the room (there were probably 200 attendees) to turn their cell phones and pagers up to the “loud” position. You can imagine what happened ‐ over the next five to 10 minutes, the room was full of ringers, songs and beepers. His point was how stressful today’s work environment is, and he easily proved the importance of turning off cell phones during a business meeting. So what’s happened to business etiquette in today’s business‐casual – email –text‐messaging world? Here are some rules of thumb to keep in mind in as you conduct your business and run your company:

Business Dress
My college coach always used to say: “You’ve got to look good getting off the bus.” This is still true, and it’s especially true with first impressions. People want to work with sharp, professional individuals. Even if you’re in a more casual industry such as IT or the music business, you can still present yourself well.

• Stay away from artificial flavors ‐ no heavy cologne or perfume.
• Avoid flashy jewelry or sports watches with business dress.
• If you are ever in doubt, remember, it’s better to be overdressed.
• Update your wardrobe periodically to stay current with changing styles or trends.
• For men, short sleeves are always casual. Rolled‐up sleeves say, “I’m here to repair something!”
• For women, skirts shouldn’t be above the knee and make‐up should stay moderate.

Phone and Fax
I love my cell phone/Blackberry and probably do more business on it than the land line, but everyone has to be reminded of some simple rules:

• Return phone calls by the end of the day – no excuses.
• ALWAYS ask before you put someone on hold and never put someone on hold if you initiated the phone call.
• Make sure to include a fax cover page and call ahead before you send a fax over six pages.
• Don’t even think about taking your cell phone into important meetings. This leaves no room for error – if you have to have it, set it to silent.
• Never leave a voice message much longer than two minutes, and always leave your callback number at the beginning and end of the message.
• If putting someone on speakerphone, always announce who’s in the room before the conversation starts.

Email
Recently, in dealing with a client, I went back and forth on email about attending a Titans game. This happened for almost two days until I realized that the client’s assistant had been checking the emails and responding to me. What if I had typed something inappropriate or off‐color? You never know who is reading or checking a client’s emails. Email is not formal, like a written letter, and it doesn’t disappear when it’s deleted. Email can make you feel like there’s a bond when there isn’t, and should never be used for sensitive messages.

• Respond to all emails within 24 hours. If you anticipate it is going to take longer for you toreply, make sure you have your out‐of‐office messenger turned on.
• Ask permission before including someone on a distribution list. If you are sending an email to a large list, blind‐copy the recipients.
• Always check your address list before hitting send and never forward an off‐color or inappropriate email.
• Don’t use an email to vent. If you are upset, call the person or save the email and re‐read it the next day. Never use all capitals – that’s practically screaming in print.
• We all know if you don’t forward your silly limerick to 20 friends, you will have bad luck the rest of your life, but we don’t care. Never send chain emails to clients, customers or prospects.

Meetings and General Etiquette
A few years ago, I was traveling with one of my sales reps and we were discussing our presentation in the elevator on the way up to our meeting, only to find out that the human resources director to whom we were presenting was riding up with us. Never discuss a client, prospect or meeting until you are back at your office. This includes restrooms!

• For men, always let women off an elevator first and hold the door open when entering a building.
• For both men and women, don’t get on an elevator until all people have exited, and never hold a personal conversation in a public arena.
• If planning a meeting, make sure all attendees know the time, subject and other participants, and send the agenda prior to the meeting.
• If sitting, always stand when introduced and shake hands firmly and look the person directly in the eye.

To increase your etiquette knowledge, many colleges and business schools offer actual etiquette classes, and there are great articles and books on the topic. So shine those shoes, save that cologne for Saturday night, set that cell phone to silent, and get ready to impress your clients.

So, folks…. what did you think?

As I left the runnnig store Saturday, something stayed with me…

One of the clerks mentioned that some women joggers have been bothered at Percy Warner Park.  News-2 looked into today and reporter Lori Mitchell turned a couple of stories for our early newscasts.

But what stuck with me is a comment the clerk added, “You know, it’s those ipods that put people at such risk.”

I’ve been thinking about it and ya know what, he’s right.  I listen to my ipod and I am completely oblivious to my surroundings.  I don’t hear anyone come up behind me.  Bad things could happen to me but I wouldn’t have any time to react. 

Back in the 80′s and 90′s, running with music meant carrying a cumbersome AM-FM and/or cassette contraption.  The head phones were spongy and didn’t fit into your ears as much as lay on top of them.  Today it’s an ultra-light ipod with “buds” that slip into your ear, blocking out all other noise.

I would make the simple suggestion that people run with one “bud” in and the other laying on the outside of your ear canal.  Give yourself a chance to hear somebody coming up behind you.  Even if it’s just a bike rider that wants to say, “On the left.”  The running store clerking mentioned that the one thing all the “Belmont grabber” victims had in common was they were all wearing ipods.  None of the women were assaulted but…

I had to take a chill pill.

I stopped by the East Nashville post office and found myself about seventh in line.  There was a lady at one of the counters just wearing out the postal employee.  Question after question about how much it would be to send a package.  From every one’s body language, shifting our weight from foot to foot, patience was running low.

And then it dawned on me to let the lady take all the time she wants.  Her questions were legitimate.  She simply wanted to find the best value shipping a package.  She arrived at the post office before I did and deserved to have all her questions answered.  It’s simply not worth having my blood pressure go up because I had to spend a few extra minutes in line.  If I don’t like it, then I should arrive when the post offic opens and be first in line.

Too often people get bent over waiting in line, especially when someone in front of them is taking a little time to get through check-out. 

So that’s my newest little way to take unwanted stress out of my life. 

How about we all try it?

Rambling notes as I watch the first half the Cowboys-Titans preseason game…

First Quarter:

New stadium reminds me of a little guy in his 70′s driving a red corvette… Nick Harper is REALLY good when he’s healthy… Tony Romo does nothing for me, but can hit receives WHEN he has the time.  Then again, that’s his job…  I like how Troy Aikman isn’t a homer for the Cowboys… whenever I see a shot of Wade Phillips it reminds me of his reaction after the Music City Miracle… If the Titans were scheming, that 3rd & 8 would have resulted in Romo on his back.  Good throw though.  Gotta give credit when it’s due…  RB Javon Ringer’s cutback move on his long return shows he has very good vision, a must if you are going to make it in this league… No first down and just 3 points after the long return?!   Bironas makes a 46-yarder look like an extra point…

Second Quarter:

Every play Cortland Finnigan makes is another reminder about how 32 teams passed on him for the first six rounds of the draft.  The draft sure ain’t an exact science, is it?… Cowboys have had it 20 of the first 24 minutes and it’s just a 7-3 game?…  Can the Titans possibly string four offensive plays together??!!… No first downs yet (ouch)…  If your name was Tuff Harris, wouldn’t you want your parents to have spelled your first name Tough?… Just looked it up in the media guide.  Real name is Chester David “Tuff” Harris… Hooray!  The Titans have their  first down (just before the 2-minute warning)… Ringer apparently has velcrofor hands…  and he can slither through a hole too! (penalty brings back the TD)… Good pass blocking on the Collins-Gage TD…  A real downer to give up a TD with one-second to go in the half…

Among the items on the News-2 at 10 menu:

* High school football kicks off tonight.  We’ll show you some of the pageantry and what it means to a school’s budget.

 * The proposed convention center project takes a baby step forward but the project still has its critics.

* A woman finds a unique way to help out an area animal shelter.

* A local family has a new sidewalk but every time it rains, their front yard turns into a lake.  Calling Andy Cordan…

Let’s start light on this Friday AM.  Someone emailed this joke to me.  I called Dad and told him it over the phone and he roared.  Both my Mom and Dad have had their fair share of doctor visits in the last few years and they both say they can relate.  Can you?

A sweet grandmother telephoned  St. Joseph ’s Hospital. She timidly
asked,
        ‘Is it possible to speak to someone who can tell me how a patient
is doing?’

        The operator said, ‘I’ll be glad to help, dear. What’s the name
and room number?’

        The grandmother in her weak, tremulous voice said, ‘Norma Findlay
Room 302.’

        The operator replied, ‘Let me place you on hold while I check with
her nurse. After a few minutes, the operator returned to the phone
and said,
        ‘Oh, I have good news. Her nurse just told me that Norma is doing
very well. Her blood pressure is fine; her blood work just came
back as normal, and her physician, Dr. Cohen, has scheduled her to
be discharged on Tuesday.’

        The grandmother said, ‘Thank you. That’s wonderful! I was so worried!
      &nbsp ; God bless you for the good news.’

        The operator replied, ‘You’re more than welcome. Is Norma your
daughter?’

        The grandmother said, ‘No, I’m Norma Findlay in 302. No one tells
me jack.’

(I changed the last word to make it PG instead of R)

Gotta say that my last few visits with doctors have been good experiences.

Please don’t read into this as some indictment on the healthcare system.  It’s just a simple joke.

Back in the evening with a preview of News-2 at 10.

1 in 195,249,054.  The odds of winning Powerball.

That’s why I’m back at work today.

The last few weeks some News-2 employees have each contributed $2 to a Powerball pool for the Wednesday and Friday drawings.  It’s grown from a handful of people to close to 40.  We had more than 70 tickets in play. 

No dice.

But a cool thing is happening with every ticket ripped into confetti.

What I have noticed when the collection envelope is passed around is I’m reconnecting with colleagues in our two-story building.  People who I haven’t talked to in months are suddenly back on my radar, and I’m back on theirs.  It’s not that we don’t like each other but if don’t make a conscience effort to have paths cross, they don’t.  Because of this silly twice-weekly ritual of forking over a couple of bucks to keep microscopic dreams of fortune alive, there’s cameraderie I haven’t seen here in awhile.  There has been a time or two I haven’t been around for the collection and someone covered for me and I’ve done the same for others.  Our “honor system” is a tattered envelope with the money stuff in it with names scratched down on the back of it.

And heck, it’s just four-dollars a week (hey… that’s 20-bucks a month… 240-dollars a year??!!).

(And let me stop right here by stating, this isn’t an entry promoting the lottery.  It’s simply about a life experience.)

So each person’s cut would have been just more than $7,000,000 before taxes.  Would I buy a ticket by myself for a $7-Million dollar jackpot?  No way!  Isn’t it funny that I wouldn’t bother with that but I love being part of a group that would have had the same payoff?

So our growing group hasn’t won yet.

In a small way, I feel like I already have.

Oh, the winning ticket came from a store in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina near the nation’s largest Army base.  Sure hope a soldier or soldier’s family won it.

Today’s entry is something I wrote a few months ago, hoping that I would be able to revive DwyerWire and one day go public with it.  Today is as good as any.  After you read it, hope you can share any “brushes with greatness.”

My road trip to Bloomington

It’s not good to meet your heroes, we’re told.  They will disappoint you .

Met John Mellencamp the other day.  I’m an even bigger fan.

Silly, but I always believed our paths would cross.  A local TV “head” always seems to “know somebody” that can get them tickets to a sold-out show or a chance meeting with a big-name star that passes through the area.  I’ve had a few “near misses” with Mellencamp but the years were adding up and it still hadn’t happened.

Until my friend Timmy called.

Timmy and I worked together for several years in a past TV life.  He now works for a Country Music TV Channeland his assignment was to road trip to Bloomington to interview Mellencamp and Karen Fairchild.  Karen is with the rising Country group “Little Big Town”.  They sang a duet on the song “A Ride Back Home” from his “Life Death Love and Freedom” CD.

 

The video shoot took place at Beck Chapel in the heart of the Indiana University campus.  It’s a quaint place that couldn’t hold more than 50 people.  Tim’s assignment, (along with his newly appointed “associate producer”) was to monitor a freelance crew videotaping the making of the video and then sit Karen and John down for a few questions.

It’s important to state right here that the “Forrest Gump” line about a box of chocolates is appropriate;
“You never know watcha gonna get.”   Big stars can be more fickle than a chameleon walking by a stained glass window.

What I got was one of the most memorable afternoons of my life.

I was doing my job very well of simply watching the shooting of the video and staying invisible until a woman approached me, stuck out her hand and said,

“Hi, I’m Elaine.”  I replied, “Hi, I’m John Dwyer with the Country Music TV Channel.”

Actually, I only said that in my head multiple times on the 5-hour ride home.  What I really said was,
“Uh, Hiya… I’m uh, John… here with my friend… I mean the guy over there.”

I’m sure Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp has met plenty of guys that thought they had “game” and choked but it’s probably been awhile since a guy dribbled the ball of his foot as clumsily as I did.  I picture her turning her back and smirking with a “yeah, I still got it” grin every time I replay my response.

A watched John and Karen “lip sync” the song no less than 20 times.  After a half-dozen takes, the camera and lights would be reconfigured for another angle.  During the breaks, Karen would grab her sweater and a bottled water or coffee and flirt with her super cool husband Jimi Westbrook (also a member of “Little Big Town”).  John would walk outside for a smoke, an assistant always making sure he had his shades.  Mellencamp’s custom three-piece black tuxedo with an ecru big-collared buttoned-down shirt looked crisp.  Not once did he raise his voice or cop an attitude.  (Although he did jokingly flip Karen “the finger” while she was goofing around with a digital camera and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t eerily similar to the infamous Johnny Cash picture taken some 50-years ago).

John’s longtime friends, who just happen to be members of his band; Mike Wanchic, Dane Clark and John Gunnell, would gather in the back of the chapel between filming sessions and shoot the breeze,  I would bounce in and out of the chit-chat but couldn’t help but to gravitate toward Mike.  He was the first person in the chapel when Tim and I walked in and he greeted us with genuine openness.  Of course, it could have been that he was just looking for a distraction since his wife was in labor.  I blew my invisible cover when I asked him a few questions about how he and John met.  Turns out they go back 31-years.  So many great short stories he rattled off… for another time.

The shoot finally wrapped up.  Indianapolis media grabbed John and Karen throughout the filming breaks.  John’s manager, Randy Hoffman, kept assuring us that we would get time with them.  Randy is a real pro and treated us as if we were much more important than what we were.  He told us to move from the chapel to a conference room in the building next door for the interview.

Once the camera and lighting were set up, I was given my responsibility.  I held a mini-camera about three-feet from John and Karen to give editors another option when splicing the feature together.  Timmy sat down and immediately put Karen and John at ease with relevant, thoughtful questions.  Among Timmy’s strengths; he knows music and he doesn’t give a rats about being a star or coming off like a know it all.  He just wants the finished product to be good.

So I sat there with this camera perched between my knees and I’m listened to Karen and John explain how the union was born, but it’s clear early on that John is in a reflective mood.  Timmy peppered him with questions about being a mentor and when he thought “he made it” and John opens up about specific songs and time frames in his life that a Mellencamp fan would find fascinating.  I soaked it all in and before I knew it, 25-minutes had gone by.

Right after Mellencamp stood up and took his microphone off, I reached out my hand to say thanks.  He gave me a firm hand shake while his other arm gave me a hard tap on the shoulder.  A “guy’s guy” kind of gesture.  He walked over to one of the walls that was covered with stenciled portraits of, I suspect, Indiana University donors.  He stared at them and said, “These are really impressive.”  Hoping to somehow engage in small talk,  I stood next to him and asked what he specifically admired about them.  He said the lines were so distinctive that they almost had to be traced and went off on a brief tangent about how great painters such as Renoir were masters at this.  He said matter of factly, “You know I paint some.”  I  said, “Yeah, I knew that” (and about 5-million other things about you).  I thanked him again he walked out of the room.

Thousands of pictures, hours of videotape and film were taken that day.  Not one contains a picture of him and me.  I just couldn’t bring myself to raise my cellphone camera or the small digital in my coat pocket.  I didn’t want to be “that guy” that has special access and steps over a line (just like I’ve never asked a Titan for a picture or an autograph while on assignment).

So no evidence that I was at the video shoot that day.  I’m okay with that.  Just know when you see the video on country music TV in a few months, there’s a lifelong Mellencamp fan that was there that day; invisible but gathering indelible memories.

Thanks Timmy.