Weather Observations

Temperatures are in the upper 50’s today which sure is a relief from temperatures below zero. It’s been a rough year so far as we almost broke a record for snow fall in January. It was the first time in my life that I’ve ever felt temperatures so cold. I’m often asked if the weather has been hard to adjust to moving to Cleveland from South Carolina. The answer is YES but not totally in a bad way. Believe it or not, I enjoy the snow tremendously. It’s the cold and cloudy days that are hard to take and they seem to last forever. It’s been great to experience all four seasons. I think Fall is my favorite though Summer is nice too it just seems short. In South Carolina it’s either 100 degrees in the shade or just a little chilly. Today is a nice day in Cleveland. Even though the sun isn’t shining temperatures will be near 60 degrees. We’re expecting snow before weeks end so I guess the saying is true that if you don’t like the weather wait a few minutes and it will change.

Kimberly Gill

Splash Landing

As I watch Diane and Robin on “Good Morning America” talk to the crew of flight 1549 – and the passengers who were on board on that day that the plane splashed into the Hudson River, I have tears in my eyes.  How incredible is this story?

We have now seen incredible pictures and audio tapes of the event.  Now, we see text messages that were hastily sent to loved ones as the plane was going down.  Many of the passengers thought they were going to die.  They all owe their lives to Captain Sully.  And while they all say as much, he’s as humble as they come – not taking an ounce of credit for saving lives – instead, attributing it all to training.

We’ve also now heard about how some of the passengers appreciate life more now than they did before the landing.  Why does it always take something like this?  I’m as guilty as the next person but it’s true that we take things for granted and when a tragedy takes place, we appreciate everyday things and people much more.  I wish I could always have that appreciation but I know that it always tends to fade with time.

Here’s hoping it doesn’t.  What an incredible story all of the people on flight 1549 have to tell.  To me, it’s like seeing Niagara Falls, I can’t ever get enough of it and it’s always incredible.

Any thoughts?  Post them in the comment box below.  Be sure to check out our new GMC page at newsnet5.com as well: http://www.newsnet5.com/gmc/index.html

Accidents

Every morning during the current weather conditions, we talk about accidents all over the viewing area. 

One person we work with told me a story this morning about his commute into work.  He said that an SUV sped past him at about 70 mph.  That SUV then spun on some ice, did a couple of 360s before coming to a stop.  My co-worker passed the SUV as it was stopped.  A few minutes later, the SUV again went flying my co-worker at 70 mph.

It’s true that we get repetitive when we warn people to take is slow on the area roadways – but we do so because of stories like the one above.   For some reason, there are drivers who think that they aren’t the ones who will get in the accident.  Unfortunately, those drivers usually involve other drivers as well – when they do get into accidents.

You don’t need to hear it from me but – SLOW DOWN!  We don’t like to report injuries and death in the morning or on any newscast.

Who likes Boobie?

I sure do.  Daniel “Boobie” Gibson that is.

It’s always great when you meet a guy who’s in the national spotlight and he turns out to be a decent person.  You never know what to expect when you meet a professional athlete (and the media has much to do with this), but I’ve found, more times than not, they’re actually good, normal people.

Did you notice the Boobie bobblehead?

I got the chance to interview Boobie this morning – http://www.newsnet5.com/video/18437071/index.html - and after the interview, he stuck around and took pictures with everyone on the crew and signed autographs.  What a great guy.  We’re lucky to have him in Cleveland.

Monkey Puppet

You may have caught a puppet by the name of Fillup Munkee on Good Morning Cleveland.  The puppet befriended us on our facebook.com page – http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Good-Morning-Cleveland/31240467549 .  From there, we looked at his page and found all sorts of videos.

To make a long story short, we ended up inviting Fillup (and his handler) down to the station for a tour.  Today was the day that Fillup was here.  He is quite a monkey.  Stay tuned in the upcoming days to Good Morning Cleveland – I’m sure we’ll have a new Fillup Munkee video.

Time To Regulate

I just realized how much I love projects. Especially those that involve using tools. On my 25th birthday my Dad bought me some awesome mechanic’s tools. On my 29th birthday my Papa gave me a miter saw and a circular saw. Those were two great birthdays. But, since I no longer have a house and no place to work on my car I haven’t had a reason to use my tools. It’s one of the things I miss.

That all changed when my rear power window wouldn’t roll up. I could tell by the sound that it needed a new regulator. My heart began to palpitate. Not because my window was stuck in the down position but because it was an opportunity to use my tools!

I rushed home. Adrenaline pumping. I took off the door trim and manually finagled the window enough to get it in the up position. The feeling was awesome. I ordered the part and fixed the window myself. The job was easy and exciting because I had all the right tools. I saved about $250 bucks.

Conquering my regulator made me realize not only how much I love my tools but also how much I love learning and a challenge. But, there is one thing I’m confused about.

Why don’t I have this same enthusiasm when it comes to cooking? Perhaps my handicap is due to the fact that I don’t have the right tools such as pots, pans, measuring cups, spices and plates. Cooking can be intimidating when you don’t understand what these things are or how to use them. I just learned what a colander was two weeks ago.  Thanks to my broken window regulator I’m going to make an effort to buy some “tools” for my kitchen. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know if it helps.        Kimberly Gill

Holiday Pictures

We all have holiday pictures either from us as kids or from our own kids.  Aren’t they great?  I love looking back at old pictures of my sister and me growing up – they’re always worth a good laugh.

Now that I’m a parent, I get to take these pictures!  I have plenty of my daughter, when she was 3 or so, screaming on Santa’s lap.  As you can see below, she likes Santa now – it’s her brothers that need some work!

Courtney is happy. Max is not. Tommy is halfway across the room!

Do you have any pictures that tell a great story?  If so, send them in an e-mail to me at kenworthy@newsnet5.com and we’ll try to get them on Good Morning Cleveland.

Otherwise, you can post comments below.

Lessons Learned

By now you know I’m not the best cook. I don’t think I’m a horrible cook it’s just that I don’t cook very often. You’re usually not very good at something you’ve never really tried-right?

I come from a family of great cooks. My younger sister could fry eggs when she was only seven but I didn’t see the need for learning this valuable skill.  Recently, this feeling has changed. I am now far away from all the great cooks in my family and I’d like to start taking better care of myself. My life is changing. I’m getting older and my stomach can’t handle eating double cheeseburgers everyday the way it used too.

Deep down inside I believe I can do anything. Especially when I have the right tools, the instructions right in front of me and a great teacher. It is for those reasons that I thought I’d have no problem making Roasted Red Pepper Cream Soup over the weekend. It was a recipe from Claudia who is one of our Production Technicians and a great cook. We talked about what I was supposed to do and how simple it was to make.

Armed with recipe in hand and a pot I borrowed from Claudia I left work excited. I had planned all day how I would go about making the soup. I would go to the grocery store on Friday, cook it Saturday morning and eat it for the next six days.

After my grocery store visit –all those plans went out the window. I was so excited that I couldn’t wait until Saturday morning like I’d planned. I was like a kid that couldn’t wait until Christmas morning to open her gifts. The anticipation was killing me! “I’ll get a jump start on the soup tonight (which was Friday)”  I thought to myself.  I should have been patient as there were a few questions I wanted to ask Claudia before starting-but I figured, ”I’m a smart girl–I’ll figure it out.”

To shorten what’s already become a terribly long painful story, I figured out a lot about myself after making soup. Number one, I learned that I need some cooking lessons. And number two, I learned some valuable life lessons.

I learned to be patient and ask questions when there’s something you don’t understand . Had I asked ahead of time, I would have known not to use the entire container of chicken stock when I only needed two tablespoons.

I also learned to pace myself.  I should have made sure all three onions were cut before I turned the stove on to saute them. By the time I was done cutting the onions all the oil burned out of the pot–so I burned the onions. I also should have peeled the onions before I cut them.

Lastly, I learned not to give up. In life there are times when you might burn the onions but keep trying.  That’s what I did this weekend. After ruining the first batch of soup I returned to the grocery store Saturday morning bought all the ingredients again and made a near perfect batch of Roasted Red Pepper Cream Soup. I am very proud of my accomplishment and I look forward to cooking something again very soon. I’ve included some photographs of my experience. The recipe is also below if you want to try it. I’d love to hear your comments.

If you have a recipe that’s not too advanced that you’d like to share,  feel free to email it to me at gill@newsnet5.com. I promise to peel the onions first.

Until next time,

Kimberly Gill

Breaking News

If you saw our noon newscast on Thursday (12/4), what you saw is not an every day occurance in the business.  What you saw was actually – breaking news.

Former Ravenna police chief, Michael Swartout, had been holed up in his home for 38 hours by the time we were going on the air at noon.  He had shot a gun toward his adult son and was now holding police at bay, threatening a “conflict” if anyone came inside.

At noon, there was nothing to indicate that the “standoff” would be coming to an end – but it did.

At about 12:30, we strayed from our scripted copy to show that there was significant police movement outside the home on Lakewood Road.  We spent a couple of minutes recapping what had taken place over the last couple of days and then went back to our scripts.

Within about five minutes or so, we got word that Swartout was coming out of his home.  Here’s where things got tricky.  We had to decide fairly quickly whether or not we wanted to take that video live.

1. We knew that Swartout had threatened a ‘conflict’ if anyone came into his home.

2. We knew that he has numerous weapons inside his home

We decided to take it live and I now know that if a gun was seen, we were going to get out of it. 

Right as we took the live video, Lee Jordan and I were holding our collective breaths.  Lee was actually describing the scene at the time, but it looked like Swartout had something in his coat or was holding something.  What we all feared is that he had a gun and was going to pull it out.  What would happen next wouldn’t be something that we wanted to see – nor would it be something that we would want to show on live TV.

Fortunately, he walked over to a law enforcement officer and surrendered peacefully.

It can get pretty tricky when dealing with situations like this.  Our top priority though is to the viewer – we want to bring as much accurate information as we can – but we don’t want to show a man being killed by police on the air.

Breaking news is a part of the business that still gets my blood going.  I love it when events are happening live and we have very little time to prepare – I think it makes for very compelling television.  When you have people all around you who are prepared for anything, it makes your job a whole lot easier.

Thanks to everyone who helped out yesterday.

Pete

Thanksgiving Memories

I told this story this morning on the air but it’s a favorite in my family.

In 1998, my wife and I had been married for a little over a year.  It was the first Thanksgiving that we had to spend without any other family as I was working in Texas and was actually working the holiday and the day after.  In any case, we had no idea what we were getting into.

We handled the basics okay – mashed potatoes, a can of cranberry sauce (I don’t like the berries), green bean casserole (love the little crunchies on top – but then came the turkey.

Neither of us knew how to make a turkey – though we had bought the bird and were ready for the task.  In 1998, the internet was very new and it wasn’t easy to just log on and find out how to cook a turkey.  So, my wife, Julie, decided she should call her mom.  The conversation went something like this:

Julie: “Hi mom.  Pete and I are about to cook the turkey for our Thanksgiving meal and we don’t know what to do.”

Mother in Law: “Well, how big is the turkey?”

Julie: ”It’s about a foot.”

It’s a story that was not only funny at the time, but is one that’s continuously told at every Thanksgiving gathering since. 

Do you have any unique holiday stories?  I’d love to hear and share them.  Go ahead and click on the comments link below, to share.

Thanks,

Pete – kenworthy@newsnet5.com