Regis and Kelly contest

My co-anchor, Kimberly Gill and I were recently among 20 finalists with a chance to co-host LIVE! With Regis and Kelly.  Unfortunately, even though America spent 650,000 votes picking 10 people – we weren’t among them.

When the announcement was made on their show, at that instant, I was mad.  I slammed my hand down on my desk and said something like, “Dammit!”  But within minutes, I was happy.

Going into the day, I had a weird feeling that I wasn’t going to win the contest – but losing in front of our entire newsroom was hard.  Despite that, I decided to look back on the whole experience and what I found, was that it was a blast!

From the time we had the chance to even become finalists, I had adreneline flowing.  Then, we were announced as being among the 20 finalists and it was truly exciting!  From friends, to family, everyone was talking about it.

Sure, it’s over now, but what fun we had for a few days thinking about what it could have been like going to NYC and co-hosting for a day.  I’m thankful for the opportunity.

Peeping Tom

ESPN reporter, Erin Andrews was recently the victim of a peeping Tom who videotaped her naked in a hotel room – through the peep hole in the door.  Appalling, isn’t it?  What’s maybe more disgusting is that the hotel doesn’t have any sort of security to prevent something like this from happening.

Surely the ESPN crew isn’t staying in some seedy hotel somewhere.  Surely this is a nice hotel with the capability of having security cameras, right?  If this could happen to Andrews, certainly it could happen to anyone.

And who knew that you could see IN those holes in the door?  I didn’t.  Scary.

Thoughts?  E-mail me at kenworthy@wews.com or leave a note below.

Exhausted

I remember when my daughter was about 4 months old.  She got hand, foot and mouth disease.  If you’ve ever had a child with this, you know, it’s not pleasant.  The worst part is that there’s really no cure for it other than time.  So, over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, I got about 9 hours total sleep while she was up in pain for hours on end. 

I’ll never forget going in to work the next day.  I was working as the Sports Director at KWTX in Waco, Texas.  On the drive to work and shortly after I got there, I was having hallucinations.  I later learned that they were from fatigue!

Flash forward to this past weekend.  My daughter turned 7 and my twin boys turned 2.  Just when I thought I could never be as tired as I was the weekend when my daughter was an infant, I was wrong!  A Saturday gathering of neighborhood kids for cupcakes – turned into 10:30 pm or so with neighborhood parents after the kids were in bed.  This was a day before our planned Sunday party with the family.

Planning and preparation are one thing – then going through the festivities – another.  Exhausting is the word that comes to mind.  Ever have those weekends?  I’m sure there are many more to come as my kids are still young.  And looking back, I’ll cherish all of them – but I’m tired!

Pete – kenworthy@wews.com

Seeing Heart Disease

I just watched Good Morning America’s report on what eating unhealthy food does to your arteries.  The reporter ate something like 8,000 calories and more than 180 grams of saturated fat.  She did it with someone else.  The story showed the difference in the blood both before and after eating – it was disgusting, but eye opening.  The blood was clear before and cloudy after.  The reporter’s heartbeat sounded normal before and much quicker after eating the fatty foods.

I realize that I don’t always eat what they were eating and I certainly wouldn’t have deep fried mac n cheese followed by a bacon cheeseburger wrapped in a burrito with a ice cream cookie dessert, but watching that truly made me a believer.

In February, I started going to the gym on a regular basis.  I’ve lost 10 pounds but more importantly, feel like my heart is healthier.  Running for me was the most important.  I have heart disease in my family and for the sake of my wife and 3 kids, want to stay around as long as possible.  The story on GMA certainly helped!

Thoughts?  e-mail me at kenworthy@wews.com or comment below.

Pete

Favorite time of year

No question that spring wins in the favorite time of year category.  It has everything going for it that I love.  Sure the temperatures right now could be a little higher, but you can still get out and golf with weather in the 50s.  You can still play outside with the kids in this weather – and it’s only going to get better.  74 degrees is just about perfect for everything for me.

On top of the weather, it’s a great time sports-wise.  March Madness is wrapping up and baseball is about ready to begin.  It’s hard to find true baseball fans these days, but I was brought up with a scorebook in hand and love the game.  I’d go to the ballpark every day if I could.

Eating right

For probably the 5th or 6th time in my life, I joined a gym again recently.  I figured that the older I get, the more I have to be aware of my fitness – especially with heart attacks in my family. 

Here’s the thing though, while cardio health feels like the right thing to do – we all want visual results.  I’ve lost 5-8 pounds (depending on the day) but can’t really see any difference.  The main problem?  I still like food.  Sure, I’ve cut back on portions but there’s still the snacking.  I love peanut M&Ms and other things that aren’t exactly conducive to losing weight.

I guess the main thing to focus on is that I was eating all of these things BEFORE starting back at the gym so that’s a positive. 

Some people say things like, “I can eat this cheesesteak because I went to the gym and ran already.”  My problem is, I tend to say, “that cheesesteak just ruined by trip to the gym.”

Comments?  Click on the comment link below or e-mail me at kenworthy@wews.com

Pete

Facebook, Twitter, where does it end?

When a friend first told me about Facebook, I was pretty skeptical about joining.  In fact, I didn’t for well over a year.  Then, when I did create an account, I, like many others, was hooked.  It was incredible to catch up with people who I hadn’t heard from in 15 or 20 years.  To be able to read a little about each person and see pictures of what they and their kids looked like – unbelievable.

But I wonder when enough is enough?  I put plenty of information on my Facebook page, but I’m pretty hard to find.  You either have to be “friends” with one of my “friends” or have gone to school with me at some point.  Many other people put plenty of pictures on their pages, information and other material that they probably wouldn’t want their mothers to see – and yet, these are the people with hundreds, if not thousands of “friends.”

Have we become too secure posting things online?  I’m not sure if that’s a little too paranoid or not – just wondering.  There’s an old adage about not posting anything, texting or e-mailing anything that you wouldn’t want the world to see/read.  I’m not saying I’m innocent of the offense – just that we all should probably be a little more careful.  Right?

Comments?  Click on the comment link below or e-mail me at kenworthy@newsnet5.com

Great place to work

One of our co-workers wrote on her facebook page today that she loves the people she works with.  How about that?  It’s not very often that you get to hear that from someone with whom you work – but it’s refreshing, isn’t it?

I’ve worked at three different stations in my career with various people coming and going and I can honestly say that I’ve never been more pleased with a group of co-workers than I am right now.  From the top to the bottom, the crew that puts together Good Morning Cleveland every day is passionate and puts in a great deal of effort every day.  Maybe I need to tell them that more often.

We’re all pretty worried about what’s going on in this economy and I think that everyone is concerned about their jobs – so why not do what we can?  Give someone a pat on the back.  Tell someone that you appreciate the work that they’re doing.  Praise a co-worker for something that they’ve done everyday.  I know I like it when someone tells me that I’ve done a good job.

Appreciation is effortless.  Try it, you may like it.  I know the other person will.

Comments?  Click on the link below or e-mail me at kenworthy@newsnet5.com

Conjoined Twins

Isn’t this story incredible?  Conjoined twins - separated and reportedly doing well in Pittsburgh.  It always makes me wonder how many other medical miracles are happening all over the country and world that we don’t always hear about.  We’re been covering the Lee girls because they’re from Cleveland, but it’s likely that there are plenty of incredible medical stories out there that we know nothing about.  I love them and can’t get enough of them.

If you know about one locally, let me know in the comment box below, or e-mail me at kenworthy@newsnet5.com

Pete

Buffalo Connection

Before coming to work here at WEWS, I spent four years at WKBW in Buffalo as the morning anchor there.  The people there and friends outside of work were immediately on my mind this morning when I learned about the tragic plane crash in Clarence Center – just outside of Buffalo.

My first thought as I walked into the newsroom this morning and saw “Plane Crash in Buffalo” on the TV – and then later seeing Clarence Center – was that the area where the plane crashed is one of the most upscale of the Buffalo suburbs.  Professional athletes live there – the richest of the rich. 

I then started thinking about my old newsroom in Buffalo.  What must be happening there at 4am?  Glancing across our newsroom, I saw a monitor that was tuned to the ABC affiliate in Buffalo (my old station) and I saw the main anchor team (Keith Radford and Joanna Pasceri) still broadcasting live!  They had apparently been on the air since 11pm Thursday night.  Pasceri and I had spent 2+ years anchoring the morning news together and I thought to myself – she’s a perfect person to be anchoring this type of news – a consummate professional.  I thought about how tired they must be while I watched for a moment.

Then, I began thinking about the fact that I would surely know someone who knew someone on the plane.  Buffalo is such a tight-knit city that it seems like wherever you go, you run into people who already know each other.  Inevitably, I’ll hear a story in the coming days.  A friend of mine from college already contacted me to say that a former colleague of his was on the plane.

That’s when the news becomes reality for many people.  When you can actually put a face to the story.  When it’s not just 50 people killed in a plane – when you actually know someone or know someone who knew someone.  The story is tragic either way – but it becomes real when you can actually identify with it.

While it is horrible that 50 people were killed, it is a miracle that 2 of the 3 people inside the home that was hit, actually survived.  The stories that lie ahead are sure to be sad.  I don’t look forward to hearing them.  Here’s hoping something is learned from whatever caused this tragedy.

Thoughts?  Please leave them in the comment box below or e-mail me at kenworthy@newsnet5.com

Pete