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Employment, Financial, Life Choices, Mentoring, Technology

The Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Tournament

The 5th Green at Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage, CA

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.“
– Albert Einstein

If you read my post on “How it all started: My First Unpaid Production Runner Experience in Sports Broadcasting”, this is my first paid job for sports broadcasting. I was directly asked “Do you want to do golf”? Of course I did! But, I had no real idea what that really meant yet, but there was travel and adventure ahead! I kept in touch with the Senior Production Manager at the alphabet company via a pay phone for the entire floor in my dorm, not easy when my peers would tie it up for hours talking to family, friends, boyfriends and girlfriends. I didn’t have email yet, no in-room phone, much less a cell phone (brick) yet. I called between classes during business hours to check in about every week. Most of the time I was leaving voicemails because I didn’t realize at that time that the SPM would be traveling to remote sites, and not at his desk most of the time. So I just kept checking in. Hmmmm, maybe I’ve been forgotten already. I didn’t even hear back from the more junior PM.

Then finally one afternoon, someone picked up the phone. The secretary to the Sports team, she put me through to the junior PM (who is now the VP of Operations at a Giant Baseball network). We spoke for a few minutes setting up a plan of action, and what was expected of me, and how I could plan to “make this work”. I was booked to fly to California to the Nabisco Dinah Shore Golf Tournament during my spring break. I would miss some classes because of it, so I approached all my professors and let them know I wouldn’t be in class the days after spring break and why. All where just fine with it, except for my chemistry teacher since one was a lab day. I made it up though. So, off I went, excited, nervous, what do I pack? OK, a White collared shirt and khakis, no jeans. Pens, paper, and an old school personal handwritten phone book with my family, friend’s, and now business contacts information in it.

My first time on an airplane. A friend drove me to the airport, Trembling with enthusiasm I checked in, checked my bag, I was going to be there for 12 days after all not really knowing most of the 60 person crew. Hours later I landed in California, right on time. As instructed, I picked up a rental car that was set aside for me, and off I went to check into the hotel. Wow! What a beautiful place sunny, warm, expansive, then I looked up at the nearby mountains and there was snow, yes snow on their caps, it was unreal. I got to stay in a five star hotel in Indian Wells, CA! I shared the suite with 4 other young women production assistants. There were 2 beds, a roll-away bed, and a sleeper sofa. Hmmm, that’s 4, since the hotel only allowed 1 roll-away bed, and I was the newest member of this crew, so I just put the cushions from the sleeper sofa on the floor and slept there. I did just that every night, and even when I was a more senior member of the crew in the coming years, I still slept on the sofa cushions on the floor. All was set, we all unpacked and went to the work site.

What a beautiful worksite it was in Rancho Mirage, CA. I GET to “work” here for almost 2 weeks, this is a dream I thought. And, it was.

We took care of the golf carts, helped the tech managers track equipment and cabling, learned more about wiring from some of the Tech Managers, and then the tech records folks came in to onboard the crew and track hours. My first paid Sports Broadcasting job, I was paid $50/day and worked about 16 hours a day, no overtime but I didn’t care. It wasn’t hard work, I started to learn the union rules, and was told to make sure I knew about meal breaks, what was required for them, and to ensure every piece of the contract was fulfilled. The SPM left that to me, and luckily the junior PM was the same one from the NYC marathon so I knew how they operated, at least a little bit by then. I poured over the rules, showed up early, stayed late to ensure all the rules were followed including driving back to 2 other hotels to make sure the crew schedules were posted in-time for the next day.

Socializing. I didn’t go out with the crew of other production assistants after work, they were all a couple years older than me, they went to the bar, I went to the luxurious hotel gym. They did that every night, and so did I. I wasn’t old enough to drink legally, and I didn’t wish to either, but that didn’t win me any friends with some of the staff.

A few days into prepping the event, one of the young female production assistants accused me of stealing her favorite T-Shirts. She went to the SPM and JPM with her accusation. She made sure I was in the production truck when the accusation was announced, I had no idea what she was talking about. But, by this time, I had already proven myself to both managers, and both began to laugh at the statements being made against me. They both said “You don’t know who you’re talking about, she wouldn’t even take a pencil off-site”. Absolutely true.

Later that evening after we all returned to the hotel. The young woman who accused me of stealing from her found her favorite T-Shirt in a drawer she forgot she used. She never actually apologized, but we were on ok terms again. I let the whole thing go knowing I did nothing wrong, and also knowing holding onto that kind of grudge would never create a fluid working environment. I never even worried about the accusation, because I knew I didn’t do anything wrong. So, instead of insisting on an apology, and knowing I was “in the right”, I decided to be happy instead. I didn’t need to be right, I knew I was, the bosses knew I was, and all was well in my first dream Golf-tastic job.

Yes, $50/day wasn’t much but, they paid my airfare, car rental, we had gas cards, they fed us meals, we were trusted with petty cash, turning in receipts and change, charging the golf carts, making hundreds of copies (sorry trees), and then making sure all the union rules were followed so work would start and continue on-time throughout the day.

We had one day off during the event, so we went to the pool, ate free apples from the spa, and went to the gym. I was finally really hanging out with all the other production assistants, yes All of them including my accuser, and we had a great, fun, and relaxing day together. It was back to work as usual the next day, but no matter what we had that day together. Thank you Universe!

When it was tournament time we faxed directions to the Execs coming, greeted them at the airport, and made sure everything they needed was in-place when they arrived, and it was. We got to the final day and wrapped, bringing in thousands of yards of tri-ax cable, packed up trailers, then we all departed the next day. “Until the next one, see you soon” was heard over and over again. It was an amazing experience with an amazing group of people. I had already learned so much, and I was thirsty for more. More was to come in many other golf and a multitude of other sporting events which I will share in future posts.

I returned to the University, studying all they way back on the plane so I could make up that chemistry lab, which I got a 98 on, so all was well in the world. I told my broadcasting professors about the experience, and low and behold I made a co-op out of it. By graduation I had gotten paid to work in the industry I wanted to work in and gained 16 credits as well for the experience and writing it all up in a few papers. A win-win!

So, anyone looking to break into broadcasting, I say go for it! Be persistent but not stalker, don’t give up on your dream. Be curious, honest, humble, and willing to take on tasks outside of your “job description”. To this day, I will still be the first one in, last one out, sweep the floor, and take out the garbage whenever I need to, I will never be so “big” that something is below me.

What’s next Football…

Employment, Life Choices, Mentoring

How it all started: My First Unpaid Production Runner Experience in Sports Broadcasting

The New York City Marathon 1989

I am writing with the hope the coming articles will help someone trying to “break-through” in Broadcasting.

Many many years ago I was a Broadcasting major. I was lucky enough to have a young professor at the University that had an “in” at an alphabet company. They needed 30 production runners (a position below production assistant) for the New York City Marathon. So, 20+ of the students in the broadcasting department were picked based on their grade point averages and interest to work the event for no money, just the experience. It was late October, and most of us packed as many people we could into their cars, (I didn’t have one at that time) and went into New York City together. Just 16.8 miles away for this exciting unpaid adventure (again we were there for the experience). We were also told that no one will be hired from this experience, so go in to get the experience, and No expectation of future work. I jumped at the opportunity.

Ok, since the Marathon was in very early November, I’d miss all the Halloween parties, and dressing up, I didn’t care, I knew one day that I’d be working for this company. In fact, when I was 7 years old I pointed out when the theme music, and colors for a certain show’s openings changed. My Mom was astounded that I noticed that, but at the tender age of 7 I said, “I’m going to work there someday”, and I did for 26 years. More on that in another post.

We were all told it’ll take a few long 12-16 hour days to set up, and a very long night / early morning to wrap and tear down. All true. The last runner did end up finishing at 9:37p event night, all broadcasters had gone by then except for a camera crew from the local station to catch the final runner finishing.

Originally, I was assigned to the finish line with some other production runners. I had been to the city many times for Broadway shows and auditions, but I had never driven IN the city prior to this experience, so they thought it was best to give me a “feet on the ground job”, there wasn’t much to do at first except watch them construct the metal framework for the finish line, press boxes, and other tents. Tavern on the Green was there, it was all very exciting to encounter at 18 almost 19 years of age, although I can imagine that participating in any event such as this would be exciting for anyone involved.

The push-to-talk walkie radio was passed to me while the other runners explored Central Park, and went to go eat. There was quite a bit of chatter on the radio, goofing around etc (we were young adults with anonymity with walkie talkies!), I did not participate, I stayed silent until I heard, “finish line” what’s going on over there?”. I thought it was someone joking around as they had been all day, so I answered somewhat sarcastically, “watching the construction team building the press box, and everyone else is eating the catering”. Well, the direct answer to that was, “hand your walkie to another team member, come back to the office and I’ll send you out for supplies, or have you answer the phones.” Uh-oh, I felt I was in a bit of trouble, but I did exactly that, I handed off the walkie talkie, and nervously ran back to office as fast as I could, it was only a few blocks away. By the time I reached the production office, there was only one person in the huge conference room that we were utilizing as Production Central. Someone else was sent to get supplies, so I was tasked with answering the phone. “Whew”, again, I had never driven (yet) in the city so I was relieved.

At the end of a very long table sat a young man. He was wearing a faded wrinkled light blue polo shirt, dirty ripped jeans, and sneakers. He was fuming at his new laptop, and furiously tapping numbers on a large calculator next to the laptop. I asked him if he needed help. He said he was “trying to make some numbers work”. I told him I could help with a simple formula, he didn’t believe me. I said “move over” not knowing who he was yet. I typed in a simple sum formula based on his inputs, and said “there you go”. He looked at the numbers and the total, then began to type furiously on his calculator again. He exclaimed “that’s right!”. I responded “of course it is, and if you need to change any of the numbers in that column of cells the total number at the bottom would reflect the change, no recalculating of the entire sheet”. He of course tested this, and was happily in disbelief, maybe it was relief.

I then learned he was the senior production manager for the entire New York City Marathon for the network. Luckily I didn’t know that beforehand because I more than likely wouldn’t have been so “bold” as to say “move over” to him. He looked up at me and said, “Do you want to do Golf?”. I was elated, and responded “YES” immediately without knowing any other details at the time, just a resounding “YES”. Back to the Marathon for now though.

Some non- New York based production runners were given rental cars (that we shared ) to get to and from the office, run errands for the event, to drive the production managers and coordinators around to meetings, and one very early morning to make sure the Blue Goose (a jib) was delivered to a specific place in Harlem, NY at 4am. I was tasked with ensuring the Blue Goose was delivered to the correct location. No problem, the excitement of knowing this had me up all night anyway. Note: This was before GPS, so I had it all printed out from Mapquest, I was terrified, but up for the challenge. After all was in place, I got lost going back to the office that day, and all I could hear on the other end of the landline phone was laughing. I had to call from a pay phone stall in Harlem at 6am, that a drunk man was passed out in (I was shaking). I flagged down a police car, and they were able to set me in the right direction to get back to the office. It’s was terrifying then, but hilarious now.

The next few days was more of the same, until it was show day. That year, they had me at the start line, it was windy, cold, there was no place to get warm, but I didn’t care, the palpable energy carried us all through. The first smaller specific groups started, the handicap group, then the professionals who were competing, then the humongous general population group final starting gun shot went off. The entire bridge and surrounding earth shook with such force, one would’ve thought it was an earthquake. It was mystifying. My walkie screeching with chatter, I heard, “get back to the Production phase truck parked just outside of Central Park now”. I had learned the route I needed to take, so again, I handed off the walkie talkie, jumped into the car and did just that, I got to the production phase truck.

Inside there were screens in the front, and rows of people, and the senior production manager was in one of the seats. I nervously nodded to him, so he flagged me over to the seat next to his. “Answer the phones, find out who it’s for, who it is, what they need, and let them know”. Ok, I knew what to do. For a few more hours, I was in this space of all men and just me. They were rowdy, cursed like I had never heard before, fought with each other, and finished the broadcast. At the end, I thought that these men were going to kill each other. I had never in my life seen a show of such dramatic passion like that before, I was silent except for answering the phone and shouting out a person’s name letting them know a call was for them, who it was, and why they needed them of course. At the end of the broadcast, all these men stood up, here it is I thought, they’re going to punch each other out, but NO. They jovially said “great show”, and shook hands. “Let’s go get a drink”, and they all walked out laughing. I didn’t understand how they could scream, yell, curse at each other unabashedly, and stomp on the mobile unit floor, then walk out talking civilly together, much less going out to get drinks. But, that’s what happened. I stayed behind to clean up, then returned to the main office to help finish wrapping the event. I was exciting and confounding, but I knew, I was hooked and wanted to do it again, and again and again, and again.

And that’s truly my first event ever in sports.

Charity and Giving, Employment, Life Choices, Mentoring

The Journey Begins

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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“They” say it’s not the destination it’s the journey that matters. My journey has started and stopped so many times, it’s time to not just jump, but leap in, All-In. No shortcuts, taking one step, one minute, one day at a time to climb the mountain that is life. Step by step, one by one, after each 30 days of going through the journey of pivoting, I will write about the journey, and how far I’ve come. The good, the bad, the great, and the ugly, it will all be shared. Please share your triumphs, and tribulations, and your solutions to get through and make a bad situation better. We are striving for positive solutions for even the worst situation.

Today is day one all over again 11.26.22. Let’s do it together. You will never be alone. Chime in, agree, disagree, voice your opinion – respectfully. I want to hear and see it all. It’s time to create the life I want, and YOU can be on this journey with me. My hope is to inspire others to take that first step forward. Always forward, never back.

Come with me friends, feel free to email me, I’ve shared that information, or just leave a comment, I will respond. I have 33 years of Broadcast Television, Production, Operations, Producer, Writer, Engineer, and Technical Production Assistant experience. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I haven’t always liked where I landed, and if you don’t you don’t have to stay stuck, you can pivot too, I will help show you how.

Join Me Friends on this Journey to Fullfillment, Happiness, Freedom, Balance, Food, Friends, (yes Work too), Pitfalls, Set-backs, Taking Risks, Victories, and Dumpster fires (it will happen), it’s all apart of life.

You can only fail if you do not try. And if you try and fail, get up and try again a different way, there’s always another path, we just have to unearth it. Learn from your failures, celebrate your successes.

We’ll do it together. #BetterTogether #Pivot #Career #Health #Wealth #Technology #Food #Friends #Family

Employment

Are You Killing Your Career Before Day 1?

“Humility is the greatest strength of all.”  —Todd Davis 
Are you asking the wrong questions before accepting a new job?
It’s one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Landing that new executive position – one can’t help but feel excitement about a larger paycheck, more influence, joining a company you’re excited to work for, and the ability to do what you love, hopefully making a difference in the world. It’s euphoria.

Until…

For pretty much everyone, fear creeps in, at some point. Imposter Syndrome, failing, being in over your head  – these are all extremely common and natural concerns. The good news is, research shows people who fear failure the most tend to be the highest performers, so, even though they are uncomfortable, your fears will likely help drive your success.

Approximately 50% of new-to-role executives fail within 18 months. Despite an increase in costs associated with recruiting, coaching and training, this statistic hasn’t changed in the last 15 years, if anything, it’s creeping up in the last several years. With Gen X and Millennials assuming executive roles earlier in their careers than executives of past generations – therefore being arguably less prepared, and there being fewer Gen Xers and Millennials overall than Boomers (meaning fewer great leaders are out there) this problem will get worse, not better, in the next 15 years. Each failed executive appointment costs the business twice the leader’s annual salary when factoring in recruiter fees, loss of productivity, morale issues, turnover, and stalled business results. Despite all of this, executives are commonly reporting they do did not feel supported in their new role.

The impact on the executive and his/her family is significantly worse. Emotionally it’s a beating: moving a family geographically, leaving friends, a spouse getting new job, changing kids’ schools, etc. The cost in emotional stress of disrupting the family is staggering; when the position doesn’t work out that cost is exponentially greater.

One misstep actually occurs before Day 1 even arrives. New hires make it harder for themselves by not asking the right questions prior to accepting the job. “People really shy away from the questions that will provide them with answers they need to be successful.” Surface areas such as compensation, holidays and vacation times are important but are too basic. Instead, ask questions that are much more uncomfortable to ask. Questions such as:

  • What have the last three leaders in this role gone on to do?
  • Has anyone failed to be successful in this role, and if so, why?   
  • What are the best leaders in this company doing that others are not?
  • What’s a good way to run into trouble here?
  • What are the attributes of your most successful leaders?
  • What is the history of the team I’d be inheriting?

These are questions that will help you determine if you want the role and how to be successful if you do.

Thousands of executive assessments have revealed that when an executive is not successful in a role it almost always traces back to something they did when they first took the role. A few small mistakes or one big mistake, it doesn’t matter which – that’s what people in the organization cannot get past, resulting in isolation and lack of cooperation on business agendas.
Charity and Giving

Do Something Charitable: Unclutter Your Bathroom!

One of the charities I for / work with, Midnight Run is looking for donations.  If you have any unused hotel room shampoo, conditioner, lotion, mouth wash, mini tooth-brushes, etc, we’d appreciate the donation!   If you’re feeling really generous, we package the sets we give out in medium sized Ziploc baggies.
If you’d like to donate miniature sized versions of any of the above – all are welcome.  These lovely people aren’t greedy – they are just down on their luck, and they have to carry anything they take with them all day long (which is why we give out small sized items).
We drive to approximately 6 different scheduled locations in NYC giving food, clothing, and toiletries to the homeless every other Saturday night.
Technology

Nano-Metals

 Nano-Metals:  One green theory is on an upswing in Green Technologies –  it’s not new though, it’s been around for centuries.
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Quick Review of nano-metals
Nano-metal (also called metal nanoparticles) is very attractive and that is because of their size and shape dependent properties. The optical properties (linear and nonlinear) depend on that and they on dominated by something called the collective oscillation of conduction electrons. There are so many ways that you can prepare metal nanoparticles but the most used methods are based on wet chemistry. You can find nanometal being used in medical applications to the weaponry the military use. Nanometals also have a thing called Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) this is what cause the change in colors that we see. For example in the 4th century when the Lycurgus cup was created. The cup changes red when the light is shone inside of the cup and green when reflective light is shone on the outside of it. There are so many methods that you can prepare nanometals and the most popular way is by reducing HAuCI4 (Hydrogen, Gold, Carbon, and Iodine) in a sodium citrate solution that is boiling and then the formation of gold nanoparticles are revealed by a deep red color that look like wine in about 10 min.
Types of nanometal synthesis
The most common types of nano-metal synthesis deal with ‘wet’ methods in which metal nanoparticles are produced in a colloid with an organic material of some sort.
Gold nanoparticles can be produced by either:
1) Reduction of HAuCl4 in a solution of sodium citrate, then boiling it, causing gold nanoparticles to form in a wine-red solution.
2) Mixing HAuCl4 in water, which produces a solution that is subsequently transferred into toluene using tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB), a phase transfer catalyst. Phase transfer catalysts help reactants dissolve in organic (carbon-containing) material where the reactant otherwise couldn’t w/o the PTC. Afterwards, the solution is stirred with sodium borohydride, in the presence of certain alkanes, which bind to the gold in the solution, allowing for the formation of gold nanoparticles.
Synthesis of other metal nanoparticles can possibly be achieved by reducing metal salts in organic solvents such as ethanol, or by variations of the above methods which synthesize gold nanoparticles.
Going Green, Technology

Green Dry Cleaning

Almost everyone owns clothes with that “dry-clean only” label. But traditional dry cleaning requires toxic chemicals that can be environmentally harmful, and we often have to choose between a clean suit and a clean environment. Luckily, there are green alternatives that can reduce the impact of dry cleaning chemicals and other materials. All you need to help mother nature, and yourself, is a few hints and tips.

Here’s how to dry clean your clothes without damaging the environment:

Chemicals.
Traditional dry cleaning machines use a chemical called perchlorethlyene, which contains chlorine and may be harmful to both humans and the environment. Modern machines use less of this chemical, but it is still present.

Alternatives.
“Green” dry cleaners use a newer process that makes use of non-toxic solvents. According to Davis, having your clothes cleaned at these eco-friendly cleaners costs no more than having it done the old toxic way.

Ask questions.
The best way to find and environmentally safe dry-cleaner, says Davis, is to call your local dry cleaning association.

Air out clothes.
If you must use a traditional dry cleaner, make sure to lessen your chances of breathing toxic fumes. When you get home, remove the clothes from the plastic bags and let them air out.

Make requests.
You can also help out the environment by asking your dry cleaner to put more than one garment in a bag, thus reducing your consumption of plastic. Ask if there is a recycling program for the bags, and recycle whenever you can.

Think green.
Don’t be afraid to talk to your dry cleaner about eco-friendly options, and to take your business elsewhere if you aren’t satisfied. Small actions and decisions add up, and by striving to protect the environment with all our daily choices, we can keep the world healthy for ourselves and for future generations.

Hacking

867-5309

Caller ID Spoofing

A clever, albeit annoying, example of caller ID spoofing recently hit Delaware’s largest city, Wilmington. Caller ID spoofing can range from pesky marketing calls to far more serious confidentiality breaches that could result in identity theft and the associated financial pain — not to mention the laborious chore of clearing your name. Spoofing can even lead to serious bodily harm and death. Let’s start with the pesky phone calls.

For those of you who are too young or not up on all the one-hit wonders of the 80s, there was a little song by Tommy Tutone called Jenny, perhaps more commonly known as 867-5309.  More than 20 years later, Jenny started placing some calls of her own in the wee hours of the morning in Wilmington. Those who answered Jenny’s call were met with a recorded message from a mortgage refinancing company.

Financial

The “F” Bomb

It’s no longer a dirty word and it can save you money.
When home values, investments, lifestyles were flying high it was the economic “f” bomb everyone avoided.
Frugal is no longer the f word, now it’s a way of life.
People have turned to frugal ways of behaving and found it’s actually not so bad.
Yahoo Finance Columnist Laura Rowley, author of Money and Happiness, says one way people are becoming frugal is by “trading down.”
“Trading up was very fashionable a few years ago so from brewed coffee to gourmet coffee from fast food to casual dining now its the opposite. The main reason is people know they can trade down without greatly affecting their lifestyle. Maybe have that coffee once a week instead of three times a week. Maybe use that affordable shampoo like Pantene instead of a luxury salon brand, said Rowley.
Another way is to use pricing power now you have it.
“Consumers can actually walk into an established retailer and negotiate prices. That we hadn’t seen for a really long time a lot of retailers will now match a price you bring in from somebody else. Or you can ask them to throw in something else. I’m going to buy the iPod I want the charger that goes on the wall. Established retailers never did that before but now they are in survival mode,” Rowley said.
Rowley says she negotiated the price of her vacation condo on Key Biscayne
She also sees a more seismic trend.  A “downshift in social spending “… People changing who they hang out with because they can’t keep up with the Jones’.”
I think people are realizing that if they have a reference group that makes a lot more money than they do they have to change their reference group because they just cant afford to keep up with that group. Maybe they kept up with them in the past using easy credit. They can’t do that anymore. You see people starting to look for reference groups of the same income level,” said Rowley.
Rowley says cost-saving basics like coupons, cheaper cell phone plans, programmable thermostats, are good ways to start dealing with the “f” word.
Also do more “free” things that make you happy — like spending time with friends and family.
Those “f” words may not be so scary after all.
“The silver lining is that the economic crisis is gonna help people to face their finances. When you do get control of your money, when you do know where you’re spending is going, when you do know what you’re invested in, you feel more confident you feel more at peace,” Rowley said.
Technology

Military Motion Powered Electronics Goes Commercial

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M2E Power’s push to develop motion-powered electronics for the military. Now M2E is emphasizing the commercial applications for their technology, with a specific goal: revolutionizing cell phone batteries. M2E will announce the development of an external charger later this month that will generate between 300 and 700 percent more energy than current kinetic energy technologies, and may eventually replace cell phone batteries altogether.
M2E’s technology is founded on the Faraday principle, wherein energy is produced from the motion of a magnet passing through a coil. M2E says they have designed a system that will generate between 300 percent and 700 percent more power than kinetic energy technologies currently available.
Their design consists of a tiny coil/magnet generator combined with traditional battery storage that will capture even low frequency kinetic energy, so that most daily human motion will be converted into electricity sufficient to power electronic devices like cell phones, PDAs or MP3 players.
M2E is looking to incorporate their technology into a variety of fields – their web site teases that “The impending impact of MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical Systems) will be both exciting and far ranging” and hints at applications for wind power, automotive power and small generators. M2E also hopes to eventually create motion-powered batteries that rival consumer-sized ones – D, AA and even AAA cells.