Great quote from the movie "Casino Jack"

...mediocrity is where most people live. Mediocrity is the elephant in the room. It's ubiquitous. Mediocrity in your schools. It's in your dreams. It's in your family. And those of us who know this - those of us who understand the disease of the dull - we do something about it. We do more because we have to. The deck was always stacked against us. You're either a big leaguer, or you're a slave clawing your way onto the "C" train.

Building a brand

Sunday, the Chiefs will attempt what hasn't happened in a hefty handful of years.  Going 2-0 to start the season.

They surprised many with their win over San Diego Monday night in the rain.

I hope these new Chiefs are for real.  I'm fascinated by the young draft class and especially Eric Berry because he went to UT where my son is in his final year (fingers crossed).

EB's website proves he is interested in building a professional brand.  That's great. 

I tried and failed once at using the internet as a way to build a professional brand.  (I'll save you the trouble of google-ing it)

I failed because I didn't remain professional enough.

It's a slippery slope but here I am, back again.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Wednesday Eve

It's only Tuesday and already my hair is on fire. 

That's not a bad thing.  It's just a thing.  This is the time of year when news directors who work on a calendar-year-budget try to predict the future and guess how much it will cost to run a newsroom for the next year.  I did not budget correctly in 2010 for two big events (Scott Roeder trial, Chiefs camp in St. Joe).  Both were predictable and I'm challenging myself to do better for 2011.

I'm also challenging myself as a leader to learn (and help my team to learn) how we can improve our response to distributing news and information on "the set, net and cell."  Not as easy as it sounds!

And then there's the personal stuff.  Somehow, I didn't pay close attention to how our company health insurance works.  Son Charlie is a full-time college student (in his fifth year; will graduate next May).  His birthday falls at the wrong time of the year and he got too old (age 23) for the Scripps coverage.  We were faced with a COBRA payment of $550 per month (not in the personal budget) through the end of the year.  I, for one, am happy that the health care reform bill will allow me to cover his medical expenses as of January 1, 2011.  And I'm thankful that the University of Tennessee has a health insurance alternative that costs just $350 for the fall semester that will take care of the minor emergencies.  It's not the best but hopefully Charlie can avoid a catastrophic health crisis for the next four months.

New topic.

So what about those Chiefs!?  I watched last night's game from beginning to end (and what the H happened with the KMBC signal for the first eight minutes?)  I looked for an explanation on their website and Facebook page.  Maybe I missed it?  The station got thrashed in the Twitter universe when the "technical difficulties" slide came up instead of the game.  I watched on ESPN2...and made a mental note that I'd always have a plan B and C if I had such a huge game to broadcast.  (Please, NFL and NBC, please?)

Life lessons.  Gotta love 'em!

Walk a Mile in Their Shoes

Today, I left the office and accompanied Chris Hernandez on his day as a "one man band reporter."  Our story changed as the day progressed.  Later, we met up with Tim Hellhake and the two of them reported live during the 5pm and 6pm newscasts.

Actually, this video only shows what happened in the afternoon.  The morning included an interview with the new CEO of the fire department. 

I learned a great deal today about the MMJ workflow.

I need to go on more "ride-alongs."