Long time no blog...
So much has gone on in my life since the last time I blogged. Since I don't remember the last time I blogged I will just sum up my life as it stands right now.
Professionally: I've been the Production Manager at KSNV-TV for almost a year now. Personally: I've been engaged to the most beautiful, gorgeous, loving and intelligent woman I have ever met. Also working on becoming a first time home buyer.
My life it is a changing but I will be the first to admit sometimes the past influences the present.
The thing that makes me happiest right now is being engaged to Natalie Assadourian. She's an amazing woman and I know not only do I love her with all of my heart but I know she will make me finally realize that potential that I knew I had in me but I've never quite fully reached out and taken complete control of that potential. I now have a new motivation in my life though and it is her.
I used to wonder if there would ever be that person who would love me for me. Who would see through the shyness and soft heart and not only love it but embrace it. The purity of my heart and my soul sometimes seemed like it was a negative about me. I had gotten to the point where I had given up on finding someone. I was going to be the bachelor for life and it was either embrace that fact or find myself a miserably lost person. Well then that all changed for the better.
Another thing that makes me happy is that my friends were starting to settle down as well and either getting married or finding a long term relationship and they were happy. I keep wishing that all my friends are as happy as I am right now.
The only problem with my relationship is the distance. Long distance makes everything hurt that much more. It's hard because you can't just reach out and touch the person you love. You can't just look into their eyes and reassure them that everything is okay. You can't just give them a hug and build them back up. The only thing we have to bridge the gap of 3000 miles is our hearts, our souls, our words, our mental strength and our love. If it weren't for that we'd be done.
I've searched all my life for Natalie Assadourian but for the longest time I didn't know that it was her, I didn't know what she looked like, I didn't know her name, I didn't know where she was, I didn't know a whole hell of a lot... I just knew she was out there. Now that I've found her I look at others that I thought had potential to be the love of my life... boy was I wrong.
People are right, when you stop looking that's when true love finds you. I used to try and force myself to feel something for others just because I thought hey maybe it will all work out... Then with Miss Natalie it all came naturally. Finally I know what it's like to be madly, deeply, truly in love.
Now one of the things I have had to come to grips is that I'm no longer single. (excuse the profanity) The shit I used to get away with no longer flies. What may seem like I'm acting with the best of intentions is no longer cool. So I'm learning slowly and after taking some time to think it through that there are things that I have to change. Well guess what I'm not stuck in my ways and after watching enough Dr. Phil I have that voice ringing in my head of "how's that working for you?"... The answer to the question is it's not working so I drop it. Natalie is the most important thing to me along with my family and my job. So whatever I can do to help make our relationship even stronger than it is then I'm willing to do.
Speaking of strong relationships this is the best advice I will give to anyone willing to listen. You can't build a relationship with a weak foundation. I tried and it failed before and even though my friends told me I was wrong I didn't listen. I hope that thought resonates in people's heads that you have to have a strong foundation to weather any storm that hits your relationship.
I will not speak of my past because honestly giving words to the past feels like I'm giving it power in my life. It has no power anymore... The most powerful thing in my life is the love I have for my future wife Natalie Assadourian.
Another update in my life is me and my future wife planning for a wedding. I know that it will be the wedding of the century for most but for me it will be the wedding of a lifetime What I want is to invite the people that have meant the most to me in life to share the next step of my life. If I were a billionaire I'd invite everyone and their dog to it but instead it's going to be small and intimate. That means I invite the people that mean the most to me. The people that have brought out the best in me.
I am Shawn, I'm growing up, I'm changing for the better. Pretty soon I will be a husband, a father, a home owner, a boss and who knows what else... My life although I have struggled is pretty damn awesome now and once I get my future wife here I will be blowing the roof off this life.
I love you with all my heart Natalie Assadourian, I will never let anything come between us because for me you are PERFECT and I will always love you.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Let me introduce to you....
"It’s Bloggering Time!"
Okay that was my attempt at humor and trying to sound like Thing of the Fantastic Four. #FAIL
The last time that I blogged was when I wrote about remembering my best friend Jennifer Hawkins who died 9 ½ years ago. It is because of her greatness that I am the person that I am today.
I know I’ve found that I sometimes move to fast especially in the case of starting out friendships and even relationships. Reason being that you never know how long you’re going to be on this Earth. With my friend Jen I knew her only for 3 ½ months. As a result some friendships, some relationships have burned out more quickly than they might have if I had let them progress more slowly, more naturally. In this new world where a person is just a Facebook message, a tweet or a text away it’s easy to hit the accelerator to hard and blow up the relationship/friendship like a car engine before it even gets a proper chance to start. I’ve done it a couple of times and I always fear that I might do it again, but I‘d rather move too fast than way too slow or not at all. I never thought I’d meet anyone as great as Jennifer, that was until recently.
It began simply enough with bringing in someone for a simple job interview. The person I thought would become an excellent employee ended up not being an employee or co-worker at all. Long story short things didn’t work out with the employee to be on the professional front but after she left a message that tugged at the heart strings on my work voice mail, something in me told me to not lose that number.
I called (nervously & apprehensively) and like my friend Jennifer we hit it off. Amazingly so… Things came so easy, it came so fast… I could tell early on that she was an amazing person and I was lucky to have her in my life. Then the night came when I took her to the airport, she was supposed to be gone for the weekend… It ended up being a lot more. That weekend passed, and then a week, then many more, a month, now a couple of months… But thanks to this technology age we live in, a text, a Facebook message and then eventually Skype I have been able to hold on to and keep in contact with one of the greatest people I ever met.
It is as a result of technology that my friendship didn’t fizzle out, instead it was given the chance to heat up, it turned into love and into a relationship… Where it goes next, I’m not for sure. I just know I’ve met someone truly amazing and I realize now that everything I have gone through in life has been leading me up to this point.
Before I go to far, I probably should introduce the blogging community to my girlfriend Natalie Assadourian. I know I’m terrible, probably should have introduced her way before now. She’s an amazing writer, videographer, editor, mother, friend, and so much more. Everyone who has ever met her thinks she is amazing and I will definitely agree with them.
I have never met anyone quite like Natalie. She is in a league of her own and I’m truly honored (or honoured as those Canadians write it) to have met her. Never has a girl written an article in a publication about me, she has. We write the chapters of our own story to each other every day. We never go a day without messaging each other on Facebook. We are the best of friends and our hearts grow intertwined more and more everyday. In August I will get to see her in person again when I travel to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the very first time. Until then we have Skype and although the industry professionals in us constantly critique the video quality, our lighting techniques and our shot composition the one thing we never have to worry about is that the other person on the other side of the camera & internet connection is the one that we’ve fallen completely in love with.
In the articles that she writes, she is Industry girl so I guess that makes me Industry guy. It’s never happened to me before that I have ever met someone who has not only the same heart as me, worked in the same industry as me and just completely rocked my world. So I have to assume that it is extremely rare that it happens in this world. I definitely know I truly appreciate her and everything about her. I only hope this thing we got going on between us will last forever. The one thing I can say for sure right now is that Industry Girl has taken my heart with her to Canada and I'm looking forward to the day that we're together again in person...
Okay that was my attempt at humor and trying to sound like Thing of the Fantastic Four. #FAIL
The last time that I blogged was when I wrote about remembering my best friend Jennifer Hawkins who died 9 ½ years ago. It is because of her greatness that I am the person that I am today.
I know I’ve found that I sometimes move to fast especially in the case of starting out friendships and even relationships. Reason being that you never know how long you’re going to be on this Earth. With my friend Jen I knew her only for 3 ½ months. As a result some friendships, some relationships have burned out more quickly than they might have if I had let them progress more slowly, more naturally. In this new world where a person is just a Facebook message, a tweet or a text away it’s easy to hit the accelerator to hard and blow up the relationship/friendship like a car engine before it even gets a proper chance to start. I’ve done it a couple of times and I always fear that I might do it again, but I‘d rather move too fast than way too slow or not at all. I never thought I’d meet anyone as great as Jennifer, that was until recently.
It began simply enough with bringing in someone for a simple job interview. The person I thought would become an excellent employee ended up not being an employee or co-worker at all. Long story short things didn’t work out with the employee to be on the professional front but after she left a message that tugged at the heart strings on my work voice mail, something in me told me to not lose that number.
I called (nervously & apprehensively) and like my friend Jennifer we hit it off. Amazingly so… Things came so easy, it came so fast… I could tell early on that she was an amazing person and I was lucky to have her in my life. Then the night came when I took her to the airport, she was supposed to be gone for the weekend… It ended up being a lot more. That weekend passed, and then a week, then many more, a month, now a couple of months… But thanks to this technology age we live in, a text, a Facebook message and then eventually Skype I have been able to hold on to and keep in contact with one of the greatest people I ever met.
It is as a result of technology that my friendship didn’t fizzle out, instead it was given the chance to heat up, it turned into love and into a relationship… Where it goes next, I’m not for sure. I just know I’ve met someone truly amazing and I realize now that everything I have gone through in life has been leading me up to this point.
Before I go to far, I probably should introduce the blogging community to my girlfriend Natalie Assadourian. I know I’m terrible, probably should have introduced her way before now. She’s an amazing writer, videographer, editor, mother, friend, and so much more. Everyone who has ever met her thinks she is amazing and I will definitely agree with them.
I have never met anyone quite like Natalie. She is in a league of her own and I’m truly honored (or honoured as those Canadians write it) to have met her. Never has a girl written an article in a publication about me, she has. We write the chapters of our own story to each other every day. We never go a day without messaging each other on Facebook. We are the best of friends and our hearts grow intertwined more and more everyday. In August I will get to see her in person again when I travel to Toronto, Ontario, Canada for the very first time. Until then we have Skype and although the industry professionals in us constantly critique the video quality, our lighting techniques and our shot composition the one thing we never have to worry about is that the other person on the other side of the camera & internet connection is the one that we’ve fallen completely in love with.
In the articles that she writes, she is Industry girl so I guess that makes me Industry guy. It’s never happened to me before that I have ever met someone who has not only the same heart as me, worked in the same industry as me and just completely rocked my world. So I have to assume that it is extremely rare that it happens in this world. I definitely know I truly appreciate her and everything about her. I only hope this thing we got going on between us will last forever. The one thing I can say for sure right now is that Industry Girl has taken my heart with her to Canada and I'm looking forward to the day that we're together again in person...
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Remembering Jen-9 years later
On January 12, 2002 I lost my best friend. 9 years later I still think about her all the time. I have said this time and again but I only knew her for 3 months but those were the best 3 months of my life.
I still remember that when Jennifer Hawkins started at KRTV Channel 3, I did my best to avoid talking to her at first. My natural shyness was in full effect at the time. She had just started working in her new town Great Falls, Montana after graduating from Ball State in Indianapolis, IN.
The start of her career was not the way she had pictured it, it was difficult and she was having to make an adjustment to life in a small town. In her first few days she was still working on making new friends and also dealing with having a flat tire in October in Montana.
I first started talking to her as I was walking with her to the studio to shoot ID's and the all important web photo. I made the comment that she had to be the quietest reporter I had ever met because she didn't say a word at first. She replied that I just didn't know her yet and if I did get to know her she would talk my ear off. She was right.
We eventually exchanged numbers and I told her to call my anytime she wanted to go to lunch or see a movie or whatever. I said I was always more than willing to do that. Literally the next day she called me and told me to take her to lunch! I loved it because up until that time I just stayed at home and played video games and watched movies. I never was one for going out and obviously never one to put himself out there.
The friendship always continued to grow from there, she told me that for the meals that we would do like they did in Indianapolis.... we'd take turns paying. So that's what we did and everytime she forgot who's turn it was, I'd always say oh it's my turn.
Our first lunch date was to Bert & Ernie's where after knowing me for all of 30 seconds she told me a secret about an activity that she had done that she knew would probably get her in a little hot water. I told her I would never tell anyone and I didn't. Even when everyone learned of it a month or so down the line. Great Falls is a small town and no secret can last for long there, but a bond made between two friends there can be made for an eternity.
I remember there was a week that I had taken off for vacation and we had made plans for me to come back to work and help her with stuff. Well then my sister and my boss got involved and I was told that I was not allowed to come to work when I was on vacation! Still though I snuck up to work only long enough to take Jennifer out to lunch. I believe Lost Woodsman was one of the places we went once or twice during that week. She loved that place.
She really worked hard to break me out of my shell and I definitely became a different person thanks to her. One of the lessons I still keep in my mind every day was the one she taught me about our co-worker Scott.
Scott was one of her friends and to me he was just a co-worker. Scott made my life as a director difficult with his late tapes and crazy rundowns. Well I used to hold on to the anger/frustration with him that I had and would never even give him the time of the day on a day to day basis. Jennifer told me one day that I really needed to give Scott another chance because he was a good guy and he wanted to be my friend. I just needed to give him another chance. Well I never really heeded those words until after she passed. It was at that point I gave Scott another chance or two, we actually even hung out once or twice. He was and is a good guy. The lesson Jen taught me was to give people a NEW chance every day. They may fail but at least you're being the better person and giving them the chance.
The last day I ever saw Jen was a day when we were at work and we had gone to lunch at Burger King of all places. I remember placing the order and she asked for her Whopper Jr. cut in half. I had never heard of this and questioned if you could really ask for that. She told me, yes because she used to work at a Burger King and it's your way right away.
The next day I went in to work, the weekend crew was all a buzz because there was a huge sandstorm on the highway between Showdown Ski resort and Great Falls. There was a 6 to 10 car pileup and the crew was excited for real news. We were trying to get in contact with our crew Dave Gerdrum and Jennifer because they wanted them to stop and get video of it. As I was walking past the newsroom I looked in and saw our news director Joel Lundstad on the phone and then he put his head in his hands.
I went in and he said, "we lost them"... I was confused and then he ellaborated and said that it was Dave & Jen that were killed in the accident. They were crushed between two semi trucks. After that I walked outside of the station and sang "Hero" by Mariah Carey for some reason. Jen was a big fan of Mariah Carey she actually used to sing it in the car. I never really figured out why I sang that song but I think it's because to this day she will always be my best friend and my hero.
I will never forget Jen and I'm happy to say I never had one negative memory of her. She was a great soul and I remember her parents telling me at her funeral how much she had started to love her job. She had thought she would never get it and was trying to figure out what else she could do. Well she came into her own and although not a lot of people won't remember her, she made a lasting impression on me, I will remember her and she'll be in my heart always.
I miss you Jen, I will never forget you.
The Accident Scene
Dave Gerdrum-Photographer
Jennifer (Hinderliter) Hawkins-Reporter
Here is the story as written by the Great Falls Tribune 1-13-02
Sunday, January 13, 2002
KRTV reporter, photographer die in 12-vehicle pileup near Belt
By SONJA LEE
Tribune Staff Writer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A dust storm kicked up by Saturday's 50-plus-mph winds created brown-out conditions near Belt causing a 12-car pileup that killed two people and sent at least four people to the hospital with minor injuries.
KRTV television reporter Jennifer Hawkins, 22, and part-time KRTV photographer David Gerdrum, 48, were killed in the crash, which involved three eastbound and westbound semi-tractor trailers on Highway 87/89 about five miles west of Belt.
Bob Rosipal, Cascade County deputy sheriff's coroner said the accident occurred near the Enger cutoff around 1:20 p.m. when a westbound semi with Missouri license tags slowed down after a dust storm limited visibility to less than 10 feet. Directly behind, the KRTV Suburu Forester apparently was slowing down when it was was rear-ended and pushed into the semi by a second semi driven by Brett Likes of Idaho. At least six additional vehicles, including two trucks pulling horse trailers piled into the westbound truck.
Another accident occurred at the same time in the same stretch of road in the eastbound lane when a pickup truck slowed down because of the dust. A GMC Jimmy hit the pickup from behind and a third big rig barreling down the highway struck the eastbound traffic, Rosipal said. The Jimmy spun around into the westbound traffic, already snarled from the westbound string of accidents, and the pickup went off the road into a shallow ditch.
"It was tremendous. The scene was just a mess," said Rosipal, who has been with the department for the last nine years. "This was the worst accident I have ever been on."
The driver of the Jimmy and his passenger were taken to Benefis East and will be kept overnight for observation, he said. Likes suffered back and neck injuries and cuts and bruises. Likes was listed in fair condition at Benefis and kept overnight. Another unidentified woman involved in the westbound accident also was taken to Benefis with minor injuries.
No citations have issued and the accident still is under investigation by the Highway Patrol.
Firetrucks, ambulances and other rescue crews fought through limited visibility to reach the scene. Emergency personnel requested goggles as winds kicked up thick layers of black dust from a nearby field, where about 75 acres had burned in a fire last summer.
Rosipal said that the dust poured off of several nearby plowed fields, not just the burned area.
"My eyes are trashed," Rosipal said. "And even when we were coming back into Great Falls, it still looked like thunderstorms with all that wind and dirt."
Dirt drifted in behind the snow fence erected on a nearby field of stubble. The windstorm sent dry soil spinning into thick, rolling black clouds visible in Great Falls.
Eastbound traffic was rerouted at the Stockett-Sand Coulee turnoff to Highwood Road through Belt. Westbound traffic also was rerouted through Belt.
The road remained closed for about four hours.
KRTV News Director Joel Lundstad said Hawkins and Gerdrum were returning from a story they had been working on about Eagle Mount at Showdown Ski Area. Both were hard workers and had wonderful personalities that added greatly to the newsroom, he said.
"I don't think of these people as my employees; they were my family," he said.
KRTV opted not to broadcast a news program Saturday, but will resume the newscasts at 5:30 p.m. today, he said.
The wind in the Great Falls area hit its high Saturday -- 61 miles per hour at 12:59 p.m.
Don Herigon, who lives a little more than a mile away from the accident site, said he tried to take a four-wheeler toward the area, but because of the dust he was forced to turn around.
"The wind was terrible," he said. "I've never seen it like this up here."
Rick Becker wasn't home when the accident happened right in front of his property along U.S. Highway 87/89. Becker said he encountered the detours but was able to make his way back home on backroads.
"It looks like a mess out there," he said. "The dirt keeps blowing in, there are all the vehicles and the emergency lights."
Clay Sweeney, who also lives in the area, said there were miles of cars backed up from the scene. And he said he turned around and decided to stay home.
"The wind had to have been pushing 50 miles per hour," said Everett Bumgarner, who also lives in the area.
Skiers 65 miles away at the Showdown Ski area also felt an impact from the accident. Although the weather there didn't include high winds, the traffic snarl near Belt closed roads, stranding Great Falls skiers on the mountain.
"We handed out decks of cards to those who didn't want to ski anymore," said Margie Willette, a spokeswoman at the ski area.
By 4 p.m., Montana Highway Patrol advised the ski area that traffic could take the alternative route through Belt to return to Great Falls.
Although dust storms in the area aren't uncommon, a sudden brownout in January is rare, said Jim Brusda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Great Falls.
"There was just no snow cover anymore, and we are in the middle of a drought," Brusda said.
It was a sudden wave that moved through, he said.
The duration of the wind coupled with no moisture and above-freezing temperatures combined to create the conditions, according to the weather service. There has been only .02 inches of moisture this month.
Last summer high winds kicked up a white alkali dust storm, leading to a five-vehicle crash involving three semis and eight people near Sunburst.
The storm conditions with zero-visibility on Interstate 15 a half-mile south of Sunburst.
I still remember that when Jennifer Hawkins started at KRTV Channel 3, I did my best to avoid talking to her at first. My natural shyness was in full effect at the time. She had just started working in her new town Great Falls, Montana after graduating from Ball State in Indianapolis, IN.
The start of her career was not the way she had pictured it, it was difficult and she was having to make an adjustment to life in a small town. In her first few days she was still working on making new friends and also dealing with having a flat tire in October in Montana.
I first started talking to her as I was walking with her to the studio to shoot ID's and the all important web photo. I made the comment that she had to be the quietest reporter I had ever met because she didn't say a word at first. She replied that I just didn't know her yet and if I did get to know her she would talk my ear off. She was right.
We eventually exchanged numbers and I told her to call my anytime she wanted to go to lunch or see a movie or whatever. I said I was always more than willing to do that. Literally the next day she called me and told me to take her to lunch! I loved it because up until that time I just stayed at home and played video games and watched movies. I never was one for going out and obviously never one to put himself out there.
The friendship always continued to grow from there, she told me that for the meals that we would do like they did in Indianapolis.... we'd take turns paying. So that's what we did and everytime she forgot who's turn it was, I'd always say oh it's my turn.
Our first lunch date was to Bert & Ernie's where after knowing me for all of 30 seconds she told me a secret about an activity that she had done that she knew would probably get her in a little hot water. I told her I would never tell anyone and I didn't. Even when everyone learned of it a month or so down the line. Great Falls is a small town and no secret can last for long there, but a bond made between two friends there can be made for an eternity.
I remember there was a week that I had taken off for vacation and we had made plans for me to come back to work and help her with stuff. Well then my sister and my boss got involved and I was told that I was not allowed to come to work when I was on vacation! Still though I snuck up to work only long enough to take Jennifer out to lunch. I believe Lost Woodsman was one of the places we went once or twice during that week. She loved that place.
She really worked hard to break me out of my shell and I definitely became a different person thanks to her. One of the lessons I still keep in my mind every day was the one she taught me about our co-worker Scott.
Scott was one of her friends and to me he was just a co-worker. Scott made my life as a director difficult with his late tapes and crazy rundowns. Well I used to hold on to the anger/frustration with him that I had and would never even give him the time of the day on a day to day basis. Jennifer told me one day that I really needed to give Scott another chance because he was a good guy and he wanted to be my friend. I just needed to give him another chance. Well I never really heeded those words until after she passed. It was at that point I gave Scott another chance or two, we actually even hung out once or twice. He was and is a good guy. The lesson Jen taught me was to give people a NEW chance every day. They may fail but at least you're being the better person and giving them the chance.
The last day I ever saw Jen was a day when we were at work and we had gone to lunch at Burger King of all places. I remember placing the order and she asked for her Whopper Jr. cut in half. I had never heard of this and questioned if you could really ask for that. She told me, yes because she used to work at a Burger King and it's your way right away.
The next day I went in to work, the weekend crew was all a buzz because there was a huge sandstorm on the highway between Showdown Ski resort and Great Falls. There was a 6 to 10 car pileup and the crew was excited for real news. We were trying to get in contact with our crew Dave Gerdrum and Jennifer because they wanted them to stop and get video of it. As I was walking past the newsroom I looked in and saw our news director Joel Lundstad on the phone and then he put his head in his hands.
I went in and he said, "we lost them"... I was confused and then he ellaborated and said that it was Dave & Jen that were killed in the accident. They were crushed between two semi trucks. After that I walked outside of the station and sang "Hero" by Mariah Carey for some reason. Jen was a big fan of Mariah Carey she actually used to sing it in the car. I never really figured out why I sang that song but I think it's because to this day she will always be my best friend and my hero.
I will never forget Jen and I'm happy to say I never had one negative memory of her. She was a great soul and I remember her parents telling me at her funeral how much she had started to love her job. She had thought she would never get it and was trying to figure out what else she could do. Well she came into her own and although not a lot of people won't remember her, she made a lasting impression on me, I will remember her and she'll be in my heart always.
I miss you Jen, I will never forget you.
The Accident Scene
Dave Gerdrum-Photographer
Jennifer (Hinderliter) Hawkins-Reporter
Here is the story as written by the Great Falls Tribune 1-13-02
Sunday, January 13, 2002
KRTV reporter, photographer die in 12-vehicle pileup near Belt
By SONJA LEE
Tribune Staff Writer
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A dust storm kicked up by Saturday's 50-plus-mph winds created brown-out conditions near Belt causing a 12-car pileup that killed two people and sent at least four people to the hospital with minor injuries.
KRTV television reporter Jennifer Hawkins, 22, and part-time KRTV photographer David Gerdrum, 48, were killed in the crash, which involved three eastbound and westbound semi-tractor trailers on Highway 87/89 about five miles west of Belt.
Bob Rosipal, Cascade County deputy sheriff's coroner said the accident occurred near the Enger cutoff around 1:20 p.m. when a westbound semi with Missouri license tags slowed down after a dust storm limited visibility to less than 10 feet. Directly behind, the KRTV Suburu Forester apparently was slowing down when it was was rear-ended and pushed into the semi by a second semi driven by Brett Likes of Idaho. At least six additional vehicles, including two trucks pulling horse trailers piled into the westbound truck.
Another accident occurred at the same time in the same stretch of road in the eastbound lane when a pickup truck slowed down because of the dust. A GMC Jimmy hit the pickup from behind and a third big rig barreling down the highway struck the eastbound traffic, Rosipal said. The Jimmy spun around into the westbound traffic, already snarled from the westbound string of accidents, and the pickup went off the road into a shallow ditch.
"It was tremendous. The scene was just a mess," said Rosipal, who has been with the department for the last nine years. "This was the worst accident I have ever been on."
The driver of the Jimmy and his passenger were taken to Benefis East and will be kept overnight for observation, he said. Likes suffered back and neck injuries and cuts and bruises. Likes was listed in fair condition at Benefis and kept overnight. Another unidentified woman involved in the westbound accident also was taken to Benefis with minor injuries.
No citations have issued and the accident still is under investigation by the Highway Patrol.
Firetrucks, ambulances and other rescue crews fought through limited visibility to reach the scene. Emergency personnel requested goggles as winds kicked up thick layers of black dust from a nearby field, where about 75 acres had burned in a fire last summer.
Rosipal said that the dust poured off of several nearby plowed fields, not just the burned area.
"My eyes are trashed," Rosipal said. "And even when we were coming back into Great Falls, it still looked like thunderstorms with all that wind and dirt."
Dirt drifted in behind the snow fence erected on a nearby field of stubble. The windstorm sent dry soil spinning into thick, rolling black clouds visible in Great Falls.
Eastbound traffic was rerouted at the Stockett-Sand Coulee turnoff to Highwood Road through Belt. Westbound traffic also was rerouted through Belt.
The road remained closed for about four hours.
KRTV News Director Joel Lundstad said Hawkins and Gerdrum were returning from a story they had been working on about Eagle Mount at Showdown Ski Area. Both were hard workers and had wonderful personalities that added greatly to the newsroom, he said.
"I don't think of these people as my employees; they were my family," he said.
KRTV opted not to broadcast a news program Saturday, but will resume the newscasts at 5:30 p.m. today, he said.
The wind in the Great Falls area hit its high Saturday -- 61 miles per hour at 12:59 p.m.
Don Herigon, who lives a little more than a mile away from the accident site, said he tried to take a four-wheeler toward the area, but because of the dust he was forced to turn around.
"The wind was terrible," he said. "I've never seen it like this up here."
Rick Becker wasn't home when the accident happened right in front of his property along U.S. Highway 87/89. Becker said he encountered the detours but was able to make his way back home on backroads.
"It looks like a mess out there," he said. "The dirt keeps blowing in, there are all the vehicles and the emergency lights."
Clay Sweeney, who also lives in the area, said there were miles of cars backed up from the scene. And he said he turned around and decided to stay home.
"The wind had to have been pushing 50 miles per hour," said Everett Bumgarner, who also lives in the area.
Skiers 65 miles away at the Showdown Ski area also felt an impact from the accident. Although the weather there didn't include high winds, the traffic snarl near Belt closed roads, stranding Great Falls skiers on the mountain.
"We handed out decks of cards to those who didn't want to ski anymore," said Margie Willette, a spokeswoman at the ski area.
By 4 p.m., Montana Highway Patrol advised the ski area that traffic could take the alternative route through Belt to return to Great Falls.
Although dust storms in the area aren't uncommon, a sudden brownout in January is rare, said Jim Brusda, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Great Falls.
"There was just no snow cover anymore, and we are in the middle of a drought," Brusda said.
It was a sudden wave that moved through, he said.
The duration of the wind coupled with no moisture and above-freezing temperatures combined to create the conditions, according to the weather service. There has been only .02 inches of moisture this month.
Last summer high winds kicked up a white alkali dust storm, leading to a five-vehicle crash involving three semis and eight people near Sunburst.
The storm conditions with zero-visibility on Interstate 15 a half-mile south of Sunburst.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The 2011 Plan & Random Goals
Two days in and this year has already started off in an interesting way for me. There have already been new developments which of course I can’t disclose right now but I can honestly say my world will be changing in 2011, in ways I really hadn’t anticipated until now.
If you have read my blog in the past then you know I have been fighting the weight war for sometime now. Although I will admit when it came to the holiday season I just basically waved the white flag and gave into temptation.
Now as I start my first week of 2011 I will once again resolve to be better than I was before. This brings me to my first plan for 2011.
1. Run in the Ice Breaker Road Race in my hometown of Great Falls, MT.
I have never run 3 miles straight in my life and that’s the race I will be entering myself in. I have until April to be ready for it so if I can’t be ready by then, well lets just say that’s really sad. If I fail to be able to run it, I could at least walk it but I want to do something I’ve never done before in 2011 and that’s number one on the list. I also believe that if I can run 3 miles straight then the next part of my plan for 2011 will be easy.
2. See myself without the gut for the first time that I can remember.
I would absolutely love to see this goal accomplished by Summer. We all know how nice Vegas is in the Spring/Summer I’d like to fully enjoy it without having to worry about whether I look as good as I should. I have never seen myself skinny, it’s been a life long goal but I never put the work in like I should have. I know what I need to do and I’m looking to either have this goal completed early by the time this upcoming season of Biggest Loser is over or it will be complete before my friend Sarah Casey’s wedding in August.
By now you’ve probably figured out I’m not writing these as resolutions… To me resolutions always have the stigma of you say you’re going to do it but then after a week or two you give up and go back to what you were doing before. Well what I was doing before was not working for me and I want to be able to live my life to its fullest. So that’s why I’m stating in this blog this is my plan.
The final thing on my plan for 2011 is a simple concept.
3. Be better off financially at the start of 2012 then I was for the start of 2011.
I made some bad financial decisions in 2010, don’t need to elaborate too much into that. Simply enough friendship shouldn’t be financially beneficial for anyone if it is that’s not friendship, that’s a business relationship. My aunt said it best to me once, “I work too hard for my money just to give it a way.” I've taken that as some really good advice. I would never use someone for money, I’ve learned everyone is not like me.
Okay those 3 things are my plan for 2011. Those things I plan on accomplishing. The next list is random things I want to do or hope to do. I’m not feeling obligated to do it but I’d definitely like to try and do some of them or all of them in 2011. I've only written 25 but I'm sure I will have more random things to add as I think them up.
1. See the ocean
2. Make someone smile everyday
3. Have someone tell me I have inspired them
4. Not get the Nicole Wolf Robotham Award For I Can’t Take You Anywhere.
5. Don’t gamble a single dollar.
6. Limit fast food or ordering out of food to once a month max. (Except for in case of goal #7.)
7. Go to lunch/dinner with any friend who wants to occasionally.
8. Call the family more often.
9. Write a positive Twitter or Facebook message to someone everyday.
10. Have the motto “Fools Rush In” and remember that in life Baby Steps aren’t just for characters in the movie “What About Bob?”
11. Make sure to let friends & loved ones know how much they are appreciated.
12. Visit some place new.
13. Try and learn how to swim again.
14. Work on coordination and maybe some dance skills.
15. Work on being a little more social.
16. Read at least a book a month.
17. Watch a little less TV.
18. Get a new cell phone.
19. Consider buying a house and giving up the apartment life.
20. Hit at least a double in softball.
21. Don’t strike out during the softball season.
22. Care about others but always remember to put myself first.
23. Go out of my comfort zone once in a while.
24. Procrastinate a little less.
25. Keep Moving Forward.
If you have read my blog in the past then you know I have been fighting the weight war for sometime now. Although I will admit when it came to the holiday season I just basically waved the white flag and gave into temptation.
Now as I start my first week of 2011 I will once again resolve to be better than I was before. This brings me to my first plan for 2011.
1. Run in the Ice Breaker Road Race in my hometown of Great Falls, MT.
I have never run 3 miles straight in my life and that’s the race I will be entering myself in. I have until April to be ready for it so if I can’t be ready by then, well lets just say that’s really sad. If I fail to be able to run it, I could at least walk it but I want to do something I’ve never done before in 2011 and that’s number one on the list. I also believe that if I can run 3 miles straight then the next part of my plan for 2011 will be easy.
2. See myself without the gut for the first time that I can remember.
I would absolutely love to see this goal accomplished by Summer. We all know how nice Vegas is in the Spring/Summer I’d like to fully enjoy it without having to worry about whether I look as good as I should. I have never seen myself skinny, it’s been a life long goal but I never put the work in like I should have. I know what I need to do and I’m looking to either have this goal completed early by the time this upcoming season of Biggest Loser is over or it will be complete before my friend Sarah Casey’s wedding in August.
By now you’ve probably figured out I’m not writing these as resolutions… To me resolutions always have the stigma of you say you’re going to do it but then after a week or two you give up and go back to what you were doing before. Well what I was doing before was not working for me and I want to be able to live my life to its fullest. So that’s why I’m stating in this blog this is my plan.
The final thing on my plan for 2011 is a simple concept.
3. Be better off financially at the start of 2012 then I was for the start of 2011.
I made some bad financial decisions in 2010, don’t need to elaborate too much into that. Simply enough friendship shouldn’t be financially beneficial for anyone if it is that’s not friendship, that’s a business relationship. My aunt said it best to me once, “I work too hard for my money just to give it a way.” I've taken that as some really good advice. I would never use someone for money, I’ve learned everyone is not like me.
Okay those 3 things are my plan for 2011. Those things I plan on accomplishing. The next list is random things I want to do or hope to do. I’m not feeling obligated to do it but I’d definitely like to try and do some of them or all of them in 2011. I've only written 25 but I'm sure I will have more random things to add as I think them up.
1. See the ocean
2. Make someone smile everyday
3. Have someone tell me I have inspired them
4. Not get the Nicole Wolf Robotham Award For I Can’t Take You Anywhere.
5. Don’t gamble a single dollar.
6. Limit fast food or ordering out of food to once a month max. (Except for in case of goal #7.)
7. Go to lunch/dinner with any friend who wants to occasionally.
8. Call the family more often.
9. Write a positive Twitter or Facebook message to someone everyday.
10. Have the motto “Fools Rush In” and remember that in life Baby Steps aren’t just for characters in the movie “What About Bob?”
11. Make sure to let friends & loved ones know how much they are appreciated.
12. Visit some place new.
13. Try and learn how to swim again.
14. Work on coordination and maybe some dance skills.
15. Work on being a little more social.
16. Read at least a book a month.
17. Watch a little less TV.
18. Get a new cell phone.
19. Consider buying a house and giving up the apartment life.
20. Hit at least a double in softball.
21. Don’t strike out during the softball season.
22. Care about others but always remember to put myself first.
23. Go out of my comfort zone once in a while.
24. Procrastinate a little less.
25. Keep Moving Forward.
Monday, November 1, 2010
The Power of Positivity
For the longest time I was one of those negative types. I never quite realized it until my sister asked me about it because she was getting e-mails & such asking if I was okay.
Well since then I started to make some changes in my life. I'm now in a much better place. Living a life that is pretty much drama free but tending to be a bit on the slow side as a result.
That's an okay side effect though, it's given me some time to take a step back and re-evaluate where my life is going. I've taken up the mantra that one friend posted "Re-Evaluate then Elevate."
The greatest thing that happened recently was going to a wedding in California for my friend & former co-worker Leslie Munro. The 6 hour drive to CA took me out of my comfort zone & took me to a new place I never had been before. I had a great time and met up with some old familiar faces. Sometimes you don't appreciate how great people are until they're gone. I also met some new faces and people I hope to keep in my life due to the fact that they are great, genuine, quality people. Those kind of people are sometimes hard to find in Las Vegas.
Another good thing I have done recently is making my Twitter account public (@shawndyke) & opening up my true personality to the world. I came to the decision that Twitter could be used to bring a little more positivity to the world. As a result I've reconnected with some old co-workers, made new random friends & even helped out a celebrity (Maria Menounos) stuck in Munich, Germany with an 8 hour layover.
It's an amazing forum and if used the right way can be a very powerful influence on people's lives. I know I personally love reading about what people are doing & commenting on it as well as encouraging people to realize they're true potential. I've also found inspiration from reading the tweets of others. One of my most recent inspirations was when I was having a "direct message" conversation with one of my former co-workers. In that online conversation we spoke more than we had in her entire time in Las Vegas. It's just amazing how online social networking can bring together people who would never meet in real life or people who had met and would just drift apart over time.
Today marks the first day of November and I have big plans for this month. There may not be a lot to write about as in going out partying & making a ton of memories. But this month is going to be remembered as a time when I push myself to the next level.
I have this natural talent for seeing the potential in others and for the longest time I knew that I had the potential to be someone better than I currently am. Now this month I'm going to do everything I can to tap into more of this potential and prove to the world that I'm not just talking the talk....I'll be walking the walk.
Big things are in the works for December. I'm hoping to debut a new & improved me. I'm coming out of my shell and going to take myself from being completely behind the scenes to quite possibly becoming a scene stealer!
Well since then I started to make some changes in my life. I'm now in a much better place. Living a life that is pretty much drama free but tending to be a bit on the slow side as a result.
That's an okay side effect though, it's given me some time to take a step back and re-evaluate where my life is going. I've taken up the mantra that one friend posted "Re-Evaluate then Elevate."
The greatest thing that happened recently was going to a wedding in California for my friend & former co-worker Leslie Munro. The 6 hour drive to CA took me out of my comfort zone & took me to a new place I never had been before. I had a great time and met up with some old familiar faces. Sometimes you don't appreciate how great people are until they're gone. I also met some new faces and people I hope to keep in my life due to the fact that they are great, genuine, quality people. Those kind of people are sometimes hard to find in Las Vegas.
Another good thing I have done recently is making my Twitter account public (@shawndyke) & opening up my true personality to the world. I came to the decision that Twitter could be used to bring a little more positivity to the world. As a result I've reconnected with some old co-workers, made new random friends & even helped out a celebrity (Maria Menounos) stuck in Munich, Germany with an 8 hour layover.
It's an amazing forum and if used the right way can be a very powerful influence on people's lives. I know I personally love reading about what people are doing & commenting on it as well as encouraging people to realize they're true potential. I've also found inspiration from reading the tweets of others. One of my most recent inspirations was when I was having a "direct message" conversation with one of my former co-workers. In that online conversation we spoke more than we had in her entire time in Las Vegas. It's just amazing how online social networking can bring together people who would never meet in real life or people who had met and would just drift apart over time.
Today marks the first day of November and I have big plans for this month. There may not be a lot to write about as in going out partying & making a ton of memories. But this month is going to be remembered as a time when I push myself to the next level.
I have this natural talent for seeing the potential in others and for the longest time I knew that I had the potential to be someone better than I currently am. Now this month I'm going to do everything I can to tap into more of this potential and prove to the world that I'm not just talking the talk....I'll be walking the walk.
Big things are in the works for December. I'm hoping to debut a new & improved me. I'm coming out of my shell and going to take myself from being completely behind the scenes to quite possibly becoming a scene stealer!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Powering Through...and the Inspiration of Friends
As I continue my little self evolution I've come to realize that last week I had a weekend where I probably came close to rock bottom for a little while there.
The thing that had started was all that previous week I had been working out after work, I had kept on seeing results of losing a little bit here & there. Well then on Saturday morning I got on the scale & saw that I had regained it all somehow. Now I've watched on Biggest Loser & have seen that sometimes your body will do that where for whatever reason it will just retain some weight.
Well instead of thinking about that & staying positive I just took the weekend & treated myself like crap. The coup de grace was mixing a combo of 3 Monster Drinks & probably about a half or more of a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka. It was fun for awhile but then after all was said & done I realized that I had just made myself self destruct once more.
So as I started this past Monday I made the decision until the day of October 15th rolls around I'm no longer drinking alcohol, energy drinks or Starbucks. The reason for this is that alcohol never really solves any problem but only goes to create more for me. I usually only drink while being a social creature but even then drinking like a crazy person usually leads me to eat a bunch of garbage that I don't really need. As for the energy drinks & Starbucks, it came down to the calories... I can't justify putting 200-400 calories in my body on a daily basis unneccesarily. It's really counter productive.
So this whole week I've been free of all 3 for the first time in I don't know how long. I've managed to take off about 4 pounds & I'm making progress at the gym so that's all that matters to me right now.
The other thing I'm going to start working on is trying to be a much more positive person... I've watched enough TV lately & I started to realize that people that are negative really annoy me & I will change the channel and try to keep them out of my life. Just like I had to end one "friendship" in the past week. I had to explain to the person that she's a great person but just not great for me. Reason being every time I talked to her she was complaining about something, whether it was work, her husband, her family or her general life situation. Now I understand that we all have our points in life when we are down, trust me I know I've written more than my fair share of those things but at some point you have to say enough is enough & find the positive in your life.
So as I've said before I'm inspired by my friends... One of my friends has a b/f that's currently deployed to Afghanistan for a year. But every time I talk to her & every time I see her she's a very out going & up beat person. Yeah every once in a while she has moments when she misses him but I think that's only to be expected.
Another friend was put on a shift where she never saw her husband but after a discussion about how they could make it work she seems to be happy now or at least doing her best to make it work.
One of my other friends always comes to work and he's extremely positive & in fact his whole family is positive. They have to be 3 of the greatest people I have ever met and each one individually is special enough to light up a room. I love it though when you get all 3 of them together because they blow the roof off a place.
One of my friends moved from Vegas to Florida & is now headed off to my hometown of Great Falls, Montana. She told me about the fact that at one point she didn't treat herself well but now she's moving on with her life & taking it in a new positive direction and I couldn't be happier for her.
Another friend, well I call her a friend, technically I'm just a follower of hers on Twitter but she's a friend of a friend and as they say, any friend of yours is a friend of mine! She had a really rough week but in the end she spent time with some of her great friends & she's bounced back perfectly fine.
That's what we all need to do. Just surround ourselves with the best people, people that are positive and want to see us succeed just as much as they want themselves to succeed. People that don't use you & abuse you but push you & inspire you. Yet when you feel like you're falling down they're there to grab your hand & lift you back up to where you need to be.
Those were just a few of my great friends stories. I know I probably don't tell them enough how much I appreciate each & everyone of them but I truly do.
Everyone has a story but how many of those stories are mostly positive? My story has had it's ups & downs but I'm working hard to make myself like my great friends who just see the best in everything. That's why I'm always there for all of my friends as much as I can be and the friends of friends on occasion. But even I have to have my limits & know that I can't help everyone, some people just need to figure things out for themselves. You can point them in the right direction but it's their choice if they want to go that way.
Negativity is like an anchor, either you need to just pull it up and start your ship moving on a new adventure or you can continue to let it drag you down and hold you back.
Well I say "Anchors aweigh!" This adventure, this chapter of my life has just begun. I'm excited for what the future will bring even though I'm not quite sure what that will be!
The thing that had started was all that previous week I had been working out after work, I had kept on seeing results of losing a little bit here & there. Well then on Saturday morning I got on the scale & saw that I had regained it all somehow. Now I've watched on Biggest Loser & have seen that sometimes your body will do that where for whatever reason it will just retain some weight.
Well instead of thinking about that & staying positive I just took the weekend & treated myself like crap. The coup de grace was mixing a combo of 3 Monster Drinks & probably about a half or more of a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka. It was fun for awhile but then after all was said & done I realized that I had just made myself self destruct once more.
So as I started this past Monday I made the decision until the day of October 15th rolls around I'm no longer drinking alcohol, energy drinks or Starbucks. The reason for this is that alcohol never really solves any problem but only goes to create more for me. I usually only drink while being a social creature but even then drinking like a crazy person usually leads me to eat a bunch of garbage that I don't really need. As for the energy drinks & Starbucks, it came down to the calories... I can't justify putting 200-400 calories in my body on a daily basis unneccesarily. It's really counter productive.
So this whole week I've been free of all 3 for the first time in I don't know how long. I've managed to take off about 4 pounds & I'm making progress at the gym so that's all that matters to me right now.
The other thing I'm going to start working on is trying to be a much more positive person... I've watched enough TV lately & I started to realize that people that are negative really annoy me & I will change the channel and try to keep them out of my life. Just like I had to end one "friendship" in the past week. I had to explain to the person that she's a great person but just not great for me. Reason being every time I talked to her she was complaining about something, whether it was work, her husband, her family or her general life situation. Now I understand that we all have our points in life when we are down, trust me I know I've written more than my fair share of those things but at some point you have to say enough is enough & find the positive in your life.
So as I've said before I'm inspired by my friends... One of my friends has a b/f that's currently deployed to Afghanistan for a year. But every time I talk to her & every time I see her she's a very out going & up beat person. Yeah every once in a while she has moments when she misses him but I think that's only to be expected.
Another friend was put on a shift where she never saw her husband but after a discussion about how they could make it work she seems to be happy now or at least doing her best to make it work.
One of my other friends always comes to work and he's extremely positive & in fact his whole family is positive. They have to be 3 of the greatest people I have ever met and each one individually is special enough to light up a room. I love it though when you get all 3 of them together because they blow the roof off a place.
One of my friends moved from Vegas to Florida & is now headed off to my hometown of Great Falls, Montana. She told me about the fact that at one point she didn't treat herself well but now she's moving on with her life & taking it in a new positive direction and I couldn't be happier for her.
Another friend, well I call her a friend, technically I'm just a follower of hers on Twitter but she's a friend of a friend and as they say, any friend of yours is a friend of mine! She had a really rough week but in the end she spent time with some of her great friends & she's bounced back perfectly fine.
That's what we all need to do. Just surround ourselves with the best people, people that are positive and want to see us succeed just as much as they want themselves to succeed. People that don't use you & abuse you but push you & inspire you. Yet when you feel like you're falling down they're there to grab your hand & lift you back up to where you need to be.
Those were just a few of my great friends stories. I know I probably don't tell them enough how much I appreciate each & everyone of them but I truly do.
Everyone has a story but how many of those stories are mostly positive? My story has had it's ups & downs but I'm working hard to make myself like my great friends who just see the best in everything. That's why I'm always there for all of my friends as much as I can be and the friends of friends on occasion. But even I have to have my limits & know that I can't help everyone, some people just need to figure things out for themselves. You can point them in the right direction but it's their choice if they want to go that way.
Negativity is like an anchor, either you need to just pull it up and start your ship moving on a new adventure or you can continue to let it drag you down and hold you back.
Well I say "Anchors aweigh!" This adventure, this chapter of my life has just begun. I'm excited for what the future will bring even though I'm not quite sure what that will be!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Self Ultimatum: Put Up or Shut Up
This is my blog update to make it known publically what I've been letting people know privately.
I've thought about it, I've talked about it & I've written about it.... Well now it's time for me to put up or shut up. By the end of this year at the least I will weigh under 200 pounds for the first time since I don't know when. My real goal will be to be between 180 & 190 by the end of the year.
If I'm not below 200 pounds by the end of the year though I might be thinking about it, but I won't be talking about it or writing about it anymore. Eventually a person starts to sound like a broken record repeating the same thing over & over and not doing anything about it.
I've made an ultimatum with myself to get this done by the end of the year. I can only watch myself self destruct for so long.
Since I have made the ultimatum about not talking about it if I fail, I'm going to say that I will not fail. I'm not saying what I normally say, "I don't plan on failing" or "I'm going to do my best to not fail." I'm saying I won't fail. I know I can do this & I know with perseverence I can do it.
I just got done with my first post work workout & this is only the first of many more to come. I know what has caused me to fail in the past & I will not let those things be an excuse for me failing again.
Anyways this is a brief blog but I just wanted everyone to know where I stand right now. I'm not the best of gamblers so take this betting advice with a grain of salt. I'd say put money on me completing the goal because I haven't been this determined to do anything before...
Day 1 of Putting Up or Shutting Up: COMPLETE
I've thought about it, I've talked about it & I've written about it.... Well now it's time for me to put up or shut up. By the end of this year at the least I will weigh under 200 pounds for the first time since I don't know when. My real goal will be to be between 180 & 190 by the end of the year.
If I'm not below 200 pounds by the end of the year though I might be thinking about it, but I won't be talking about it or writing about it anymore. Eventually a person starts to sound like a broken record repeating the same thing over & over and not doing anything about it.
I've made an ultimatum with myself to get this done by the end of the year. I can only watch myself self destruct for so long.
Since I have made the ultimatum about not talking about it if I fail, I'm going to say that I will not fail. I'm not saying what I normally say, "I don't plan on failing" or "I'm going to do my best to not fail." I'm saying I won't fail. I know I can do this & I know with perseverence I can do it.
I just got done with my first post work workout & this is only the first of many more to come. I know what has caused me to fail in the past & I will not let those things be an excuse for me failing again.
Anyways this is a brief blog but I just wanted everyone to know where I stand right now. I'm not the best of gamblers so take this betting advice with a grain of salt. I'd say put money on me completing the goal because I haven't been this determined to do anything before...
Day 1 of Putting Up or Shutting Up: COMPLETE
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