Something Fishy Going On Again

I love my fish tank.  It brings a calm and peace to my life as I peer into an alien environment created for creatures with gills and colorful scales.  I have a 55 gallon tank and when it’s fully stocked with guppies and neons and assorted tetras it can be better than HD TV.  In 3D even!

The story of the tank goes back to the days in Roswell and my job at KBIM TV.  The year was 1992.  I already had a 10 gallon tank (which was later the home for my Piranha, but that is another story) where my green snake lived.  (it was so cool)  I also had a little goldfish tank with a little goldfish in it.  I didn’t want a dog or a cat since I lived in an upstairs apartment.

I was minding my own business at work one day talking to our receptionist and she asked me if I wanted to buy her 55 gallon tank.  Stand, underground filters, gravel, the whole works for only $75.  What a steal and a deal!  I jumped at it and we agreed.  Her Dad even helped me carry it up the stairs to my apartment.  He even took the heavy end.  (and it was heavy)

I got it all set up and stocked it with fish and it was amazing.  It had (and still has) the best gravel I’ve seen in a fresh water tank.  My son was only 3 years old at the time and he loved it!  Amber did too, and so did I.  :-)

I had the tank for the remaining couple years I lived in Roswell.  I added a dog when I moved into a house.  Popcorn was our “Pet of the Week” one week that we featured on the air after the weather.   I said on TV that I would take her if no one else did, and I did, but again, that is another another story.

Back to the tank.  It traveled well when I moved to Lubbock, Texas and was a source of joy when I bought my first house a couple of years later.  I visited FAO Schwartz in NY, NY and bought some marbles that I added to the tank.  The fish even made the move (and two year stay) to Odessa, Texas after my nearly 10 years in Lubbock.  After Odessa I moved to Tucson and that is when I ran into a problem.  The tank got cracked during transport from Odessa to Tucson.  So, I went without fish for almost a year.  That is until my son came to visit.

Now in high school, one of the first things my son said to me was, “Where is your fish tank?”  I had always had the tank since he could remember and it was noticeably missing.  I missed it too, so I went down to the Wal-Mart and bought a new tank.  I still had all the set-up stuff and it was easy to set it up back up and stock it.  Just like old times!  All was calm and peaceful again in the Shaw household.

Then came my personal Great Depression last year into this one.  Not so much my mood, but my finances.  First one light burned out on the tank, then the other.  Some of the fish were dying (normal attrition) and the remaining were living in the dark except for the natural light coming in from the windows.  I couldn’t afford to replace the lights nor the fish.  This went on for nearly a year until last week.

Finally!  I caught up on my bills and I had some left over cash to replace the lights and stock the tank.  I especially love the guppies.  They are the most colorful and flamboyant of the fish and they breed like crazy.  The little baby guppies serve as live food for the rest of the fish, and the guppies that survive continue to supply even more guppies. It’s wonderful!  In Lubbock I had a pet store owner who used to buy guppies from me.

So there you have it.  Pets and apartment living don’t mix with me very well.  Except for the fish.  They don’t need to be walked and there is no cat box litter smell.  Only peace and love and a glimpse into an alien world full of color and life.  Sigh.

Weather, Man!

Man do I love weather.  It has been a passion and an obsession since I can remember.  It truly is how God made me.  Of course I have a very strong political and “religious” bent too.  I joke that my favorite subjects to discuss are politics and religion and that’s why God gave me such a passion for weather.  So I can relate to people with without offending them.  :-)

My weather fascination started very early.  My folks tell me that I was always talking about it even as a very young child.  I have early memories of unusual weather events when I was a wee lad in Los Angeles.  Severe Thunderstorms one afternoon and ice in the puddles at school one morning.  I was born in L.A. but we moved to Oregon when I was 8.

Growing up in Oregon was great for a weather freak like me.  Numerous storms coming off the ocean and in the 70s that meant lots of surprises in the actual weather compared to the forecast.  Fluctuating snow levels in the Cascades, east winds into Portland combining with overrunning warm air bringing epic ice storms, but not to our house :-( and I could go on about the different weather phenomenon I got to witness first hand.

I had the TV weather down.  KOIN would have the weather on first so I would watch that.  Then I’d switch over to KGW and catch most of their forecast.  Then it was over to KATU to watch the tail end of their weather.  This was especially important on the rare nights when the snow level had a chance to come down to the Willamette Valley Floor.  I remember many a frustrating evening watching it rain while I would stare at the thermometer stuck at 36 degrees trying to will it to come down.

So obviously I was going to go to school to study Meteorology.  I had it all planned out.  Go to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and get a BS in Meteorology and minor in Communications.  They had a TV station on campus.  I had a great score on my ACT and was even accepted into their advanced math program.  I was set.  One big problem.  My drug problem.  I still had some growing up to do and I blew my chance to go to school.

The story doesn’t end there however!  I ended up moving to Roswell, NM a few years later.  At 21 years old I took what I could carry and bought a bus ticket and started re-pursuing my dream to be on Radio and TV.  Math and Science were always my favorite subjects in school so naturally I went into broadcasting.

I got a part time radio gig in the early Summer of 1984.  That turned into a full time radio gig.  First overnights and then evenings and then Music Director.  After two years I jumped over to TV as a Master Control Operator, directing news cut-ins and also voicing, shooting and editing commercials.  From there it was into the News Department at another station as a news photog, then a reporter who shot his own stuff and also backing up the weatherman and then finally the weatherman!

Lots of detail left out in the above story, but God helped make a way for me when I had messed up and didn’t choose the easier way.  After another 8 or 9 years on the morning show in Lubbock, Texas as a weatherman, news anchor and feature reporter my life took another turn.  Through it all I have never ever never stopped loving and studying the weather.

Now here I am in Tucson, Arizona.  I have a web site and morning weather web show dedicated to my weather passion.  I just can’t help but share whether the audience is big or small.  When you have a chance, check out the site.  TucsonWeather.us and tune in to “Coffee and a Forecast” every morning (yes, weekends too) at 5:50 Tucson time for the live recording.  Or you can just catch up with it later when I post it on the site and in the Facebook group Tucson Weather.

Whether it is mud in the Pacific Northwest, Baseball sized hail in Lubbock, or Monsoon storms with amazing lightning in Tucson, I love weather.  I especially love snow and cold!  But that is another blog entry (or two).

Of course I have other passions and other web sites that support those.  There is also a lot of detail left out of the above story.  All fodder for future blog entries.  I better post this and get to work.  “Coffee and a Forecast” airs in less then an hour. :-)

Mash up!

Tears for Fears was always one of my favorites back in my DJ days in the 80s.  (Roswell, New Mexico!)

When a friend of mine posted a video of Andy McKee playing “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” on guitar I knew I had to try to combine it with the Tears for Fears version.

So, here it is.  My first ever attempt at a Mashup.  Not perfect, but I hope you enjoy it.

And I hope it doesn’t get yanked off of YouTube :-)

April Foolin’

In general I'm not big into April Fool's Day.  Those that know me pretty well are usually surprised to hear that.  I tend to be a fun-loving guy who likes to laugh a lot.  I guess it can be surprising when I say that I have a tough time coming up with April Fool's pranks, or jokes, that are good.

Sure, stoopid April Fool's jokes are a dime a dozen.  Usually it's based on a lie that isn't hard to detect as a lie.  Everyone has an uncomfortable laugh and then gets on with the day.  Worse yet is a made up tragic story that causes wailing and sobbing only to be replaced by fists flying when the truth is revealed.

However, I do have one story of a joke that I actually planned out and pulled off that wasn't half bad.  This is that story.

It was years ago in Roswell, New Mexico.  I was the main Weather Anchor on the 6:00 and 10:00 news on KBIM-TV.  I brought my son and daughter to work with me on April Fool's Eve along with the suit and tie that I was going to wear the next night.  I used a photog to shoot the video.  By the 6:00 o'clock news on April Fool's night, I was ready.  I instructed my director to mess with the clipping on the weather wall shortly after I started my weather and then roll tape once I walked off camera.  It worked brilliantly.  Here's what the viewer saw that night in 1993: 

We came out of the commercial and I got 10 or 15 seconds into the weathercast when I started to fade in and out on the air.  I turned to the camera said, "something's not right, I'm gonna go check this out."  I then walked off camera and out the studio door with the camera following behind.  I walked into the control room and up to the "director" and it was my 4 year old son and 10 year old daughter.  My son had the headsets on and my daughter was at the controls of the switcher.  I looked at 'em and said, "I know it's your first time directing and all, but can you please try and get it right?"  They said in unison, "OK Dad.  NOT!"

I then walked back into the studio shaking my head and went on with the weather.

Fun times!  Great team work between a news photog, director, tape op and my kids.  My only regret is I didn't save a copy.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brother Chris!  Seriously.

So, you want to be in TV News

Hilarious video a couple of my friends posted on Facebook.  The lure of bright lights and adoring fans draw so many to the business, but it’s in the trenches of busted equipment, long hours, working every holiday, annoying consultants and small towns that separate those that are truly talented, and driven (and few that are clueless but strikingly beautiful) from the those that thought it was gonna be all fun and flowers.

After you hang in for awhile and make it to a big market (or stay in a smaller one) then you can make a decent living and have folks stop you in the store asking you when it’s going to rain.

Hahaha! I remember getting so embarrassed when my gear would break down while interviewing a Congressman. Or working several Christmas’ in a row. I was poor, but I had a dream and I worked through it. I finally had a house and a nice contract and THEN I left. What is wrong with me?

Don’t answer that!

Make it Real

I had this idea when I was posting YouTube videos on Facebook.  Every song brought me back somewhere.   Different stages, times, events, people in my life.

Songs have that power.  To transport you back to whatever or whomever.  Probably only the sense of smell is a more powerful memory prompter.

So, here is my first entry.  Scorpions, “Make it Real”

 

I was traveling across the Arizona desert, almost to my destination of Roswell, NM when someone on the bus asked me if I wanted to trade.  My Queen, “News of the World” cassette for his Scorpions, “Animal Magnetism” cassette.  I am still fully convinced I got the better end of that deal!

I started listening and I heard “Make it Real” and it really spoke to my heart.  See, I had left Oregon with only the possessions I could carry to pursue a dream of broadcasting.  I was gonna make it real for reals!  I had taken my last check, sold a typewriter my Mom had given me and bought a one way ticket to Roswell, NM.

Just a week before my friend and I were fishing.  He was gonna go to Roswell and wanted to know if I wanted to go.  I had never heard of it.  No one had as far as I knew!  It was before the alien stuff was widely known.  I asked him how big it was and if they had any radio and TV stations.  50,000 people and yes, both radio and TV.  I was in!

At the time I was a part time dishwasher barely making my rent.  A promising student in school, I smoked too much pot to realize that I could actually go to college.  I did know, however, that I could start a radio and TV career with a little talent in a small market.  And that is what I aimed to do.

Off on an adventure, as 21 year olds are prone to do.  It worked out just as planned.  However, with all plans, it didn’t look or unfold the way I pictured it.  So many life lessons along the way.  The subject of so many other songs.

I did get a job a few months later as a part time DJ.  That led to a full time gig and eventually, Music Director.  Then into TV and finally a weatherman.

Now I am faced again with a dream, or a hint of one.  Will I sell out and chase it like I did way back in 1984?  It feels different.  I have a car payment and debt and I’m old.  Then there is the dream part.   What is it I want to do when I grow up since I have already reached those goals of DJ and Weatherman?

I’m gonna play the song again and see if the song helps me to find the courage to really be what I think God wants me to be. I made it real once, maybe God wants to make it real in my life again!

New Mexico/Texas Storm Now…

The storm that left 5″ of snow on Mt. Lemmon and even a dusting on Tombstone has now moved into Far West Texas.  El Paso has had a couple of inches of snow from the storm as the vigorous upper level low combines with more moisture and some cooler air.  The Sun isn’t quite up yet in El Paso, but here are some web cams to check this morning before it all melts.  The roads look wet, so the snow has marginal sticking power in El Paso even though they do have a Winter Storm Warning.

Meanwhile in Roswell, NM (my old stomping grounds) it’s snowing right now with a Winter Weather Advisory in effect.  They are expecting “Generally 2-4″ of snow..”  Here’s a nice web cam on the Pecos River in Carlsbad, NM with which to watch the snow coming down.

Lubbock, where I also lived for years, is expecting 1-3″ of snow with some sleet and rain mixed in today.  Yes, I am jealous!

The good news is (for snow lovers like me) El Nino Winters are generally cooler and snowier for places like Roswell, Lubbock, El Paso and even Tucson.  We’re just getting warmed up… er started.

Update 6:24 a.m. MST: The El Paso cams I have linked are somewhat of a bust with images from last night that aren’t updating.  However, the Carlsbad “Brad Light’s Cam” camera is GREAT!  Here’s a shot I just captured.  Snow in Carlsbad!

Update 6:42 a.m. MST: Here is a link to webcams in Midland, Odessa, Notrees and Hobbs.  Snow in Hobbs and a dusting in Notrees.  Also, a friend of mine on Facebook, Jessica Armstrong, says it has started to snow in Lubbock near 50th and Quaker.

Update 8:07 a.m. MST:  Snow sticking in Lubbock.  Courtesy KCBD First Alert DigitalTower Cam:

Blue Shadows

This song reminds me of my first TV job.  I think it was 1986 or 1987.  One of those.  I was hired at KOBR-TV in Roswell, NM as a Master Control Operator.  I started in 1986 after working two years in radio at KBIM-TV.  Anyway, I would switch the evening shift which included Johnny Carson and Late Night with David Letterman.  I would record musical acts and comedians that came on the shows.  Somewhere (maybe) I have an old VHS tape with Bill Mahr’s first appearance on Carson.  Also pre Seinfeld Show Seinfeld on Letterman.  On Friday nights we aired music videos.  I’m blanking on the name of the show, but I remember a lot of Bartles and Jaymes commercials!  and, this video.  I never saw Three Amigos, but I liked this.  Still do.

Update: I Googled it. It was Friday Night Videos. Duh!

Roswell Gus Macker

Gus Maker 3-on-3 Basketball came to Roswell, New Mexico in the 1980′s. At KBIM TV we had a media team in the Maker. There were hundreds of teams coming in to town from all over to brave the heat for 3-on-3 basketball glory! It had great economic impact on Roswell. Hey, teams gotta eat!

Snowkids

Taken in Roswell, New Mexico in late 1992 (I think). The kids came over to my small place on Kentucky Ave. and we made a snowman. Michael’s mittens got soaked and he managed without them after that. Great job kids!

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