Change Of Seasons, A Comparison

Not much new has been going on with me. Just have had a run of bad luck lately with the weather. It seems as though each time I work I get snowed upon. Last Sunday we had a Lake Effect snow, and I had to dig out my car before I could even get in it. I was off until Thursday, and again a Lake Effect hit us again both on Thursday and Friday. Looking at this snow fall, I went retro in my mind. Looking back at some photos I just took a month ago, It is hard to believe how much change came about in such a small amount of time. Here is a photo I took in October.

For comparison, the next one is one I took on 11/21/08 on my way into work. Both are taken from almost the same spot. All leaves are gone, and snow covers all.





The last will show that even when winter hits, there still can be beauty in White.

First Snowfall

This morning, Thursday was our first real snowfall. Although not much was visible in town, when I went outside to find slush on my windshield. In town, Nothing to speak of on the ground. You had to really look in the grass to see the snow until the sun comes out. I was on the highway all the way into NY state up on I-90, but no snow.

As it go to be time to go to work, and I was travelling West on Robison Rd, there was snow covering the whole grass. I got to work, and it was almost up to 50, and snow was melting, but, I can say that we had snow. This is first claim from my family. I know that Meadville got it worse, but I posted first. lol

First Scraping

This morning 10/19/08 was our first frost in the city. When I went outside at ten minutes to 8 this morning, I saw frost on my windshield. It was listed as 34 degrees. So, I went in and turned on the car, and started the defrosters. It sure is a sign that fall has arrived. The trees are now past thier prime for color changing, and the fish are coming upstream to spawn. Brrr, first clue this morning was inside of house temperature was only 59 degrees. No wonder I was so far under my blankets.

Rather than create another blog, I will just change the subject but still add here. Another era is coming to a close. Since we have had trouble at work with our antenna for broadcasting, we have been on reduced power. We were no longer broadcasting digital, and only were getting our programs out over cable television. Well, the repairs are in progress, and the damage was worse that at first expected. We do have a temporary antenna on our tower, and it is about half way up our mast. Although we are giving it full power, we are not broadcasting at full power. We are below 40%. We are back to digital and cable, but, not analog. The complete repairs will take approx two more months to complete. Since this now brings us so close to February, we have applied with the FCC to allow us to discontinue analog broadcasting.

That means that you will need those digital converter boxes or cable or have a television with digital reception tuners, you will no longer see us with the old TV sets with rabbit ears. We will be shutting down our analog transmitters for the last time sometime next week.

End Of An Era

As of Sept 30, 2008. a local landmark has disappeared. Forever it seems when I was growing up, we could always call a phone number 24 hours a day and 7 days a week Holidays included and get this friendly voice giving us our local time and temperature. It was 452-6311. You always could rely on that voice to give you a sense of security. Even when away, if you got a little homesick, you could call it long distance at the area code 814 and get a taste of home. Now, there is a new automated voice saying that Verizon has canceled this service, but they do give the time and current temp.

It is just not the same, and there is no telling how long even this one will stay. It is no where as friendly. I have to admit, anytime I get a phone call at home, and on the other side of the line I hear a computer generated voice, I do not listen any further than that. I hang up. I do not know how many millions of dollars I may have due me, or what a great deal someone will have for me, I will not listen any further. I just hang up. If you cannot make the time to dial me direct, then you must not really want to talk with me.

Maybe this is just MY HANG UP?

We Question and LearN

At work, we suffered a cut back. On Monday morning, we experienced power problems. Our viewing audience really shrank in numbers. This may not be storm related. Just last week, we started to broadcast digital at 20 KW of power. This was to be our new high limit for viewing. Everything was hunky dorry until Monday morning.

It seems that the best power out put we can establish in analog is only about 10% and 40% for digital. We need an outside consultant team to come in and aid us with this one. They cannot arrive locally until no sooner than Friday morning.

Until then, the only people who can see us are the ones who live under our immediate broadcast umbrella, and those on analog cable systems. Normal digital cable as well as digital receivers are currently kaput. So, total number of people paying attention are in the low hundreds. So much for reaching out to the masses.

Our current situation has also angered a politician. he feels that we are denying him equal time for broadcast. He came up to protest his outrage. Hmm, somehow, I do not think he got the concept of us. No wonder why I would never vote for him anyway. More later as this develops, or gets cured.

911 Police....What Is Your Emergency?

Tonight, Friday had a strange ending. As I was exiting work late, it was just shy of 1 AM, I locked up the building and with alarms set, I departed the building. Mind you, the building is now locked, and alarms are set. I exit the front doors, and the key I was issued unlocks a side door. Anyway, as I was walking to my car, I always do a look around of the lot. Recently, all out door lights have been brought up to working order. Well, I espied a jeep in the lot that should not be there. There is a policy stating that if you are going to leave a vehicle in the lot over night, or for the week, you are supposed to notify the Master Control Operators so they know when they depart the building.

After I climb into my car and start it up, I pull over to this jeep. It is one of those small ones like maybe a CJ-5. As I near, i turn on high beams to be able to look into the vehicle. if it is only teenagers parking, you see the heads pop up, and almost instantly, the car starts up as they fumble around in their seats. This time that is not what had happened. I saw a head pop up facing away from me, and immediately it went down, and would not move even though I was less than 10 feet away from it. I did not feel comfortable about approaching this one. So, I just backed away and started out of the lot.

As many of you know where I work, our driveway is not the easiest to find. Our driveway is 2/10ths of a mile back into the woods. I did not like the idea of a possible confrontation back there where no one would either hear or see any thing. Cowardice is the better part of valor. As I got out to Channel 24's lot, I backed into thier drive and called 911. I said it is not an immediate life or death emergency, but I was not comfortable about rousting this individual. After determining that I was in the jurisdiction of the State Police, I was transferred over to them, and gave my report again. They asked what I was driving, and what the other car was. they asked me for the plate number of the other car, and low and behold, I never checked! What an observant person I am. I saw the jeep, and could describe it, but i never looked at the plate.

Anyway, after about 14 minutes, a State Police cruiser with two troupers in it comes in. They ask me if I want to wait to see what they find out, and i did not want the culprit to see my car again, soI said no. They asked about alternate ways out, and I said there were none, and I gave a diagram of the lots, as well as where they could find them. After that, I was on my way. Hopefully, it was just some homeless person looking for a quiet night, but I must admit, it is hard to find our driveway especially after dark. I have had to visit like Wall Mart and I see cars parked over night there all the time. I just wish they would go there instead of our lot. If there is an update, I will post a follow up.

Safe Arrival....Was There Any Doubt

Yesterday, Saturday, Mr Phil and I arrived in Lorain Ohio at just about the time we imagined we would. it was just after the noon hour. Out day started out crappy. I mean that literally! We had to parallel park in a nose in space because of the trailer. Alas, we were under a tree that all the birds used to roost for the night. It is my belief that they took an inordinate amount in pleasure in bird bomb washing the vehicles. What a mess, and thick too!

Once we got on the road and to a gas station, it took me at least 15 t0 20 minutes just to clear the windshields. No Lie! But, I do have to admit that that was the worst of the troubles that we experienced. Thursday night, we stopped earlier than we originally intended because our destination of South bend Indiana was all booked for a Notre Dame home football game. Even the more expensive rooms going up to the 250 a night range were booked. The above pic was taken on our final morning on the road. We departed for Cleveland about 6:30 a.m.

After about an hour, we had stopped to top off the gas tank and enjoy some breakfast. From there, we were on our final push. We arrived like I said just after noon.