The Miss California Schnaniganz

Is it just me or have we heard enough about Miss California and her answer to that crazy question from the Miss USA pageant?

She is becoming the face, a very attractive face of a very ugly debate. That is whether or not same sex couples should have the right to be married or not.

Me personally I don't see an issue with it. The fact is if the shoe was on the other foot and being same sex couples were socially acceptable and being mixed sex couples was the socially unacceptable how would all of the heterosexual people feel about not being allowed to marry. It doesn't matter what you believe, it doesn't matter what you feel is natural.

What matter is what is right... It doesn't hurt anything if they marry. If we can get past mixed race relations then we should be able to get past same sex couples. Remember there were people that didn't believe that different races were natural, the majority at the time thought that people should marry within their own race.

Now as a people we have learned that diversity is what makes us so great. I say let everyone marry whoever they want to. Just because the majority has currently made the laws doesn't mean that the majority is always right.

Let people live their life the way they want to, as long as they are not hurting others. Just because you vote to legalize same sex marriage doesn't mean you have to participate in a same sex marriage.... You can still stick your nose up and act like it doesn't exist. At least you know some where in that heart of yours that you are allowing someone to live their life and be happy.

Isn't that what you would wish for if the roles were reversed?

My Rant: Anchors/Reporters & the idiots who take shots at them...

Tonight is one of those nights when I feel like I need to go on a little bit of my infamous rants...

My rant this time as the title says is about the public's need to comment on anchors and reporters and generally it's to say not so flattering things about them.

Now while I respect anyone's right to say whatever is on their mind, I do believe that people should think before they speak. This includes that people should think before they write... Words are very powerful and if thrown around callously, they can be very destructive.

One of the people that has been receiving a lot of comments lately is one of my co-workers Alicia Jacobs. For those of you who do not know Alicia is a former Miss Nevada USA and Miss United States. She is also the entertainment reporter and KVBC.

Recently while out shooting interviews she came across Holly Madison of Girls Next Door fame. Well I don't know the real story because I wasn't there. But by the sounds of it Holly made a comment about Alicia's attire... Alicia at some point made a comment on her twitter that she felt it wasn't very nice. She also stated that Holly Madison was not a good interview.

Well now this has blown up into a local so called "Cat-Fight".... Well this has lead people to make their comments about the situation either positive or negative. Alicia does have her supporters and I will honestly say that I am one of them.

Alicia has always been a very nice person to me. She has a great ability to socialize with anyone and make you feel extremely comfortable. She is very intelligent so I will trust her when she says someone is not a great interview. I have seen these types of interviews before, the ones when asked an intricate question or even a simple one respond with a one word answer. It's similar to if you are on a date with someone and you can't get more than a one word response from them. It is extremely painful and boring.

So if Alicia says she was a bad interview, and having been a person that has occasionally come across Girls Next Door I will definitely say those girls aren't playing with a full deck of cards. Also for the record since Alicia was formerly a pageant contestant she's dealt with a lot worse than this Holly Madison girl can even think about dishing out. Cut your losses Holly, go back to the old men... They are the only ones that find you charming.

Moving on....

Norm's column (Norm! Vegas Confidential) recently featured some news about the station I work for about our Noon show going to a half an hour program. Well some people took this as an opportunity to take shots at some of my co-workers/friends...

First off they are taking shots at our News Director Deborah Clayton. While I can say I don't work underneath the News Director I will say that she has just started her position. She has not been a News Director before and there is no training manual for how to be a good News Director. Just like I know there is no training manual on how to be a good Production Manager, which I basically was at one point in my career. With these jobs you have to learn on the fly. You have to learn from mistakes and strive to correct them and make sure they don't happen again. There was no person that took her under their wing and said "let me teach you a thing or two about being a News Director"....at least to my knowledge there wasn't because I didn't see it. For me I was fortunate, my former boss Tom Crist used to share knowledge with me from time to time and I'm a better person for it. All I can say is you can't judge a person when they are just starting a position....being a manager is not something that you instantly get over a month, a couple of months, or even a year. It is a position that you learn from everyday and you grow with the position as your employees under you grow with you.

Next up they take shots at our anchors... Dana & Kim Wagner, Sue Manteris and Jim Snyder. They say the anchors are boring or they don't like them. Well you know it's one thing to say they're boring but it's another thing to say they don't know what they're talking about. Guess what no one can say that. Their job is to present the NEWS to you....it's not to ENTERTAIN! If they do entertain you it's because they're going the extra mile to do that. Just like your job is probably to flip the burger, or take the french fries out of the friar... It's not to feed the food to the people. If you are going to be an idiot and feel the need to comment on the way our anchors look or the fact that they don't entertain you, then do us all a favor and change the channel to VH1 and watch Rock of Love Bus or maybe put it on E! and watch the Kardashians or Girls Next Door.... Those shows are more your speed.

Now finally one last person people just absolutely feel the need to comment on is Tiffany DeLeon our newest reporter. People have just felt the need to comment on everything and anything about her and that really is a shame. This is someone who has basically just started out in the business and she's learning her job the hard by actually doing it in front of a Top 50 market audience. I am someone who started out in a small market so at least our small town was more receptive of new people starting out and understanding that they all start out rough but eventually they develop into something very special. Right now Tiffany is just starting out and she is extremely gifted and has a lot of potential. That's why she was hired... There might have been other people with more experience but sometimes you have to look at the person that actually wants to be there the most and the person who wants to succeed. She is that kind of person and you give her a year or two and she most likely will be one of the best reporters there is. She is a better person than I am because she actually tolerates all of those idiots who make idiotic comments and judge her off of only a month or two of full-time reporting. It's too bad they will never know how absolutely nice she is and how approachable she is as well. She is one of those people who will talk to anyone and it's an honor and a pleasure to be able to call her a friend.

Now to all these people judging my co-workers and friends I can understand that you are probably just jealous of them and the fact that they are actually attractive enough to be on TV. I'm sure if you had the testicular fortitude you would go out on the street with someone video taping you and see if you can handle it when people come up to you and say how much they think you suck. Of course since you are such cool people then I'm sure you would have no problem telling us where you work so that we can all come in and stop by and tell you what we think about your job performance. Especially when we ordered the burger without cheese and you still managed to fail to get that through your neanderthal brain.

So the next time that you feel the need to make comments about the way someone on TV looks or their reporting skills, maybe you should send us a picture, an e-mail address and let us know where you work. That way we can come and insult the way you look, the fact that you do your job substandard to us and we can just tear into you like a shark into its prey. At least if you had the guts to do that then we would at least respect your opinions and not just take you for a complete moron who doesn't understand us unless we speak monosyllabically to you.

Of course that's just my opinion and this has been my rant.....

The Week that is to be....

Tonight is one of my reflective nights. I am moving in a new direction from the one that I have traveled most of my life. That is a good thing. While I realize that there are always going to be some core elements of myself I can never change, nor would I want to. There are definitely somethings that I have the power to change. So tonight I was just reflecting in my mind on the things that have been said or the people that have come into my life that have stayed with me and moved my life into the direction it has....

They say that words are more powerful than actions...

Some of the words have stuck with me for a lifetime, some of the words that I once deemed hurtful I have now turned into motivational ones....

"Look at Shawn he's starting to get quite a gut"
"Uncle Shawn, you've got a fat belly!"
"It doesn't matter what you eat as long as you work it off."
"You really should do something about that stomach it's not healthy."

Those are some of the lines I think about everytime I go and workout or debate whether I should or not. Of course I have said much more hurtful things to myself than anyone else could. I also am using those poor reflections on myself to finally try and enact change.

I have done something in the past couple of months that I never dreamed I would actually do. That is I have lost weight. This is my own personal success. I have not had any help from a trainer or a dietician or any of that.

I have dug deeper in myself to find a part of me that has been hiding away. It is funny, I thought for the longest time that my body was just a vessel to carry around my soul and my big heart. Then I finally started to realize that only a select few were seeing the greatness of my soul and they definitely weren't seeing how big my heart was because my gut was much bigger!

So I started out with a goal of losing 30 pounds in a 100 days, leading up to the marriage of my co-worker/friend Nicole and her fiance Jacob. Well I will openly admit....I have FAILED.... I will not reach the goal by the time Thursday rolls around.

I had my trials and tribulations with losing the weight... Sometimes it was lack of motivation, sometimes it was procrastination, sometimes it was an injury, sometimes it was illness, sometimes there just wasn't an excuse at all. But through all of this I started to find the time to do it, the reasons to do it...the motivation to do it.

As of this past Friday I had lost 10 pounds. I don't think I have ever lost 10 pounds in my life. I don't know what the final tally will be by Thursday but I'm just hoping to keep the poundage going down. My ultimate goal is to lose all the extra weight by the end of the year... Now if I can actually lose it all earlier that would be really awesome!

I feel better now than I have felt in a long time. I used to heavily depend on others to make me happy. I did not think much of myself and would always notice how great everyone else was and their potential for greatness but never saw those qualities in myself. I am realizing more and more that I can create my own happyness by my own accomplishments. Trust me I still love it when someone else does something nice for me or a moment comes up that will be remembered and treasured forever.

This is the week of the wedding and I will be a groomsmen. I'm just hoping I can represent myself well and give my role the justice it deserves. Thursday is going to be one of those moments that will be remembered and treasured forever.... This will be one of those moments that define a lifetime.... I'm just going to make sure I'm at the best that I can be to truly enjoy every second of it!

Thanks to all who have come into my life..... and for those fortunate enough to still be a part of it just wait you're going to see Shawn finally reach his true potential!

Survivor: The News Industry

After doing a little reflecting tonight I came to the thought that the News Industry at least from what I have experienced of it in my 12 years in the business is really like the reality game called Survivor.

You start off by joining a tv station and there's a pretty good chance that you no nobody there. Sometimes you are lucky and know one person or two but for the most part you don't. You start off your time at your new station trying to get a feel for everyone and figuring out who you should make an alliance with. Sometimes at your station this first alliance that you are in can make you or break you. This alliance might be the one that carries you through for the rest of your time at your station or it might break up leaving you to once again be a person trying to find his place on the island.

In any tv station you have your leaders. They are the ones that dictate the daily events that will take place. You have your hunters, these are the ones that go after that new client or that new story. You have your gatherers, these folks are the ones that try to make sure the station has everything it needs to keep functioning.

Random challenges can act as your reward challenges. If you are successful in completing your task or beating your rivals you receive accolades usually in the form of higher ratings, maybe even awards. Sometimes though if you lose a couple of times too many your own team starts to implode. People start plotting about who to vote off the island. Who's time has come up for their torch to be extinguished.

This is where your alliance is so important. If you made an alliance with the stronger/smarter people then you might just survive the news industry. Sometimes you have to turn on a weaker alliance in order to better your own situation. You suffer the consequences and your old alliance no longer speaks to you, secretly plots against your or just acts as if you are dead to them.

In the end though how you play the game of working in the News Industry is up to you. At the end of the day and the end of your career you have to look yourself in the mirror. Did the decisions you make work out for the best? Are you proud of what you have done? Would you do it all over again?

For me I'm still on the island. I am enjoying my time there and I don't know if I really have Outwitted, Outlasted or Outplayed the competition. In the end even though I have made my fair share of mistakes in the game I have definitely made a lot of great alliances and can look back fondly on all of my time that I have spent in TV so far. Despite the ups and downs I will continue to play the game...

Not every decision I made was for the best. I learned from those times... sometimes it took the mistake happening more than once but eventually I learned. I'm not necessarily proud of what I have done especially early in my career. I have to say though that youth definitely was a factor. With age has come wisdom. As for if I had the chance would I do it all over again? Well if I hadn't done everything that I had done even the bad things who knows if I would have ended up here? So yes there are some things I would have loved to change but overall I'm happy to be where I'm at.

There are some really great people in the TV industry, sometimes you really just have to dig deeper in order to find the really good ones. Sometimes they are diamonds in the rough like myself...it takes a little time and a little work to see us shine.

Sometimes you just have to get people off the island and when they're not playing the game anymore you see that they are really great people. You will always share a bond whether you are still on the island or if you have left and got back to the mainland.... That bond is you were crazy and brave enough to play the game called TV Industry Survivor.... and if you are reading this and you work in TV or worked in TV then you truly are a Survivor. That is something that no one can take away from you!

(Now if this blog truly made no sense to you, then I really do understand and sympathize! There is some hidden comments in here that some might figure out and others might not.... I guess that's why I call the blog "Indirectly to the Point!")

The Next Chapter: Moving On In Las Vegas

About a week ago I put my status on facebook as "Shawn is moving on..." there were some people that asked about this... What did it mean? Am I really leaving? Do I have a new job someplace?

For me the "is moving on" was referencing the song "I'm Movin' On" by Rascal Flatts. One of the verses is "....I've been trapped in the past for too long, I'm Moving On....." another one is "I've lived in this place and I know all the faces...each one is different but they're always the same. They mean me no harm but it's time that I face it. They'll never allow me to change."

As anyone who has followed this blog or my life well knows, I have had my issues. I am the worlds worst gambler, never won anything near what I have lost. I have what doctor's call a little bit of a weight problem. I used to be quite the drinker and the party person but I think about the consequences of losing control and the heavy drinking is no longer appealing. I have loved and lost, sometimes I just would say when it comes to the game of love I'm eternally lost.

It has reached the point in my life where I realize that I'm not the same person that I was even just a year ago. I have goals that I want to achieve and it seems that right now I keep getting dragged back to trying to be the person I once was. It doesn't feel right, it doesn't feel good.

I feel it's time for me to broaden my horizons. To reach out to those that truly know me best and bring those friends closer to me. There are some friends that I need to just keep at a distance for a while...they are great people but just not right for me at this time. I need to change and I feel like with them around I cannot.

I think I'm also developing a new philosophy for my life at this point. "Living for the moments"....

That philosophy is when you are at an event or doing something with the people that matter the most to you and everything just seems to be going right. Things may have had there up and down swings leading up to the moment, but when you have finally reached the "moment". You realize that everything is perfect. I have recently experienced one of those "perfect moments" and I was so ecstatic it was the greatest feeling I have had in a long time.

So I'm going to start working harder to make sure I have more of those moments or at least give myself a chance to have more opportunities at having another one. Nothing can happen when you keep your trueself locked up and hidden away in a nice sized one bedroom apartment. Life is what's happening outside your door and you're missing out on it.

"I'm moving on....at last I can see. Life has been patienting waiting for me. And I know there's no guarantees but I'm not alone. There comes a time in everyone's life. When all you can see are the years passing by. And I have made up my mind that those days are gone."

The Constants of Partying In Vegas

This weekend I started questioning whether I was simply getting too old for this or what was the deal. The thought comes from the fact that I have become quite understanding of several things that seem to happen everytime we go out drinking in Vegas. So I have made a list of them just for the fun of it and I'm also curious if others would agree that these things are typical happenings when going out in Vegas or other drinking establishments of the world.

So here is my list of the constants when going out in Las Vegas.

A. Someone drinks too much and makes some extremely awkward conversation.
B. The group tab is always bad because people always end up stiffing on the tab.
C. Following up with B. some poor sucker such as myself ends up paying more than they should have had to to cover the tab.
D. Vegas clubs are over priced, over crowded and not really that fun.
E. There is always some macho guy with too much testosterone flowing that wants to start a fight.
F. Some dude always gets too grabby with random females.
G. You can never have a conversation with anyone because the music is too loud.
H. You know you're not cool enough when you have never heard the song playing but everyone else knows all the words.
I. The more the drink costs is directly proportional to how much smaller the drink is than a normal out of the way bar.
J. There is always one creepy old guy who seems to be really out of his element in a mostly younger crowd looking to accidently rub up against someone.
K. The person taking all the pictures doesn't realize how annoying the constant picture flashing is to everyone else until they are not the one taking the pictures!
L. At the end of the night your ears will be ringing so loudly that you probably couldn't hear the smoke detector going off if it was.
M. The person that you hoped to avoid will always find a way of showing up to the gathering.
N. When said person shows up there is never any waiting staff around for you to get another drink quickly.
O. You or one of your friends will always have to apologize for another friend by saying they just drank too much they're not normally like this.
P. There is always some random guy in the bathroom who is a little too chummy.
Q. Girls are never back from the bathroom in less than 10 minutes!
R. When you are in that bathroom you notice that the bathroom attendant has made more money in one night handing out towels than you have made in a whole week of normal work.
S. You never realize how little sleep you are going to get until you have to wake up really early the next morning.
T. Texting random people when drunk always seems like a great idea until the next day when you have to apologize for it.
U. Someone always disappears from the group without anyone noticing until an hour later.
W. A bottle of water generally costs more then a domestic bottle of beer.
X. Each time you go out there will always be something that happens that you could have never seen happening in a million years.
Y. Why did I stay out this late is one of the many questions you ask yourself in the morning.
Y. You know it's bad when there's a line to get out of the place.
Z. The next day you look at all of your receipts and your account balance and wonder was this all seriously worth it?

Well that's my A-Z list of the Constants that happen while going out... I'm sure there are more but I figured 26 would be good enough for now. There are definitely some things on the list that I'm guilty of but I'm just starting to think that I have seen these constants one too many times any maybe my going out days are coming to an end...

Too much time to think...

This week has been a week of battling with my health. I have had a nagging cold that has been annoying me. I'm a horrible person when it comes to being sick because I hate being unable to do whatever I want when I want. I was going to go out to lunch today but had to cancel due to barely feeling able to function. Sunday morning is softball practice. I think I'm not going to make that either.

The only problem with laying around at home trying to recover, it leaves me with way too much time to sit and think. I have been doing my share of watching television...as I think of it.... I'm just trying to clear some space up on the DVR, although then I keep recording more stuff.

One of the shows I watched today was Michael Moore's Sicko. I have watched Michael Moore documentary's before and I always enjoy them. It's simply amazing how screwed up the system can be sometimes. I have been fortunate and not had to rely on the health system for anything more than a broken leg and having to go into get checked out for an upper respiratory infection. God forbid anything serious ever happens because the way our system is setup in the United States you will have to worry more about being in debt the rest of your life rather than actually worrying about getting better. Canada, England, France & even Cuba have Universal Healthcare. Why don't we? The answer seems to be that the healthcare industry buys off all the politicians then they pass laws to benefit them. It is so frustrating how corrupt the system is. I think this is the reason that I don't vote. It doesn't matter who you put in there because no matter what nothing ever changes.

Another movie I watched tonight was The Visitor. This movie was a surprise one for me, I had never heard anything about it. I happened to be going through the on-demand selection and saw the title and thought it might some alien sci-fi number so I figured I would check out the preview. The movie ended up being about this teacher who went to his apartment in New York after being away for several years and finding a couple living there. They turn out to be illegal immigrants and as a result of the teacher finding them and spending time with them eventually one is arrested and detained. You can't help but feel for someone that has come to the United States and has obeyed all of our laws and this is all they know before they get deported back to their former country. You have to especially wonder why they didn't go to a country with better healthcare!

Since I'm finding myself on a bit of a rant about things in life right now, what's the deal with this Chris Brown vs. Rihanna thing? I was raised to know and understand that you never raise your hand to a woman no matter what. Now I've watched a couple movies where the woman was beating the crap out of a guy and that might be reason to defend yourself. Seriously though has anyone seen the size of Rihanna, I don't think she could hurt much of anything. I guess I never will understand why women stay with the guys that beat on them. Of course I will never understand how so many good men in the world including myself are single and girls would rather walk all over us and take advantage of us before heading off to be with one of these pinheads.

Ha ha I'm laughing to myself because I'm thinking about how bitter and angry this blog is sounding and how I was told that I should not be so bitter and angry about the world. I don't know that I would classify myself as angry and bitter. I actually think of myself as a pretty happy person. I just want to understand why the world is the way it is. Especially when things just don't make a damn bit of sense to me.

Maybe it's just me, maybe I just have too much time to think. Just wait though, in a couple of days when I'm feeling good again then I'm going to start taking some action. I've sat back for too long and I'm ready to take my life into my own hands.

I'm finally giving myself permission to let people dislike me, I'm giving myself permission to give up on some people. I'm going to put more effort into the friends that actually show friend like qualities to me and less time to the spoiled little brats who walk around with their stuck up attitudes hoping everyone will notice them because of their attractiveness and ability to charm people to doing whatever they want. It doesn't work on me anymore and I'm going to show you what you missed out on.

I'm a very generous, thoughtful and passionate person. Those who have gotten to truly know me, they know this about me. For those that haven't just sit back and watch because "you ain't seen nothing yet".....

This is my story and I will tell you how this story is going to go.... Oh and I would summarize this all up by saying... I'm not angry and bitter, just very passionate about knowing what I want and knowing that it's time to move on....

Keep moving forward!