I'm back

It’s been a most interesting summer for me. Here at OTN I’ve been spending most of my time trying to figure out how high-definition television works. I’ve had some success. Some.

This is complicated stuff here. Codec’s, resolution, memory usage, encoding, file formats and on and on. I’ve blogged about this before so I won’t wear you down with that nonsense again. The good news, I think, is that I decided on a server and a methodology on how to go about producing in high-definition. We’re also going tapeless. Good for the environment and good for the budget, no more tape to buy. Now all we have to do is put the practice in place.

Most of the staff is set but there a few more positions to fill. OTN will be at the SU Job Fair next Friday September 4^th looking for a graphic artist, a program manager, some programming people, a public relations assistant and an editor. So if you’re interested, stop by.

OTN has a new office too. I annexed the conference room next door to me and cut a hole in the wall and doubled our space. More room to grow.

Finally, two more things. If you have read this blog you know I was dealing with some health problems with my daughter at the end of last semester. Well, that problem turned out to be something serious. Fortunately, we had some good doctors and caught it early. My daughter Anita is back on her feet, good as new. We’re grateful and relieved. It was an ordeal I’d rather not do again.

Second, I’m really glad you’re all back. I love the quiet after graduation for about a week. This place isn’t the same without you and I miss that energy you bring to the campus. I’m really looking forward to this year and another attempt to help you bring great student produced programming to SU.

Welcome back!

Summer Vacation

I made a promise, mostly to myself I guess, that I would be more disciplined in meeting my Friday blog deadline. It’s pretty obvious I haven’t done a very good job at doing that.

At the risk of sounding like I’m making excuses, I have some pretty good reasons why I have not been able to scribble down my random thoughts every Friday, reasons that I won’t go into at the moment, but good reasons nonetheless. I have made a decision though, I’m going to take some of the pressure off myself; this will be my last blog until the new school year starts in August. I’m taking the summer off.

But before I go, some thoughts . . . .

We had a really good year here at OTN. I think we raised the bar on some of our shows and incorporated some new programming. Most all the staff that worked here had fun and learned some new things; at least I think they did. I think we created some good opportunities for students to get some good experience and for that I am pleased.

I too had some fun and learned some new things. I taught a course this semester for the first time, “Short Form.” It really kicked my ass, never worked so hard at a course in my life. I hope the students got something out of it.

During the past year I’ve spent a lot of time learning about high-definition television. It’s interesting, different than what we’re currently used to, challenging, mind numbing and complicated. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all so when we start up again this fall I’ll be able to explain all of its applications to the students.

And I’m really looking forward to taking some time off. My wife and I are taking some road trips with our kids. Both my girls are big fans of The Jonas Brothers and David Archuleta so we’re going to seem them perform (in different concerts) in Pittsburgh and Boston. And we have a good friend who turns 50 this year and we’re going to head out to Chicago to help him celebrate that milestone.

Finally, I’ve always encouraged my students to look at their lives and careers with what I call the “lazy eye” approach. I believe it’s important to keep one eye squarely focused on the day-to-day stuff to make sure you’re doing a good job and staying healthy and happy. The other eye needs to be focused down the road to see what’s coming and where you’re going . . . or would like to go. In spite of being a middle aged old fart, I still do that . . . I’m not spending enough time with my music . . . I want to spend more time at home . . . I really like learning and using After Effects and Flash . . . I’m challenged with how to incorporate new media into OTN more effectively . . . I’m not sure that I want to keep up such a rigorous sports freelance schedule . . . I’d really like to work on more video projects for some not for profit groups . . . I’m considering offering my professional services to the Central New York Jazz Foundation, I see that they’re using some video and I think I could make it better . . . I want to create something for the Urban Video Project, I have an idea right now that I think would be a fun piece to do.

So many ideas and so little time.

Have a good summer everyone, I’ll be back in the late summer and hopefully I will have a little more focus on what my “down the road” looks like when I get back.

Nothing Worrisome

It’s Sunday morning and I’d rather be reading my newspaper, sitting in my chair at home and drinking coffee out of my OTN mug. Instead, I’m sitting in the chair I used as a bed last night, drinking coffee from a Styrofoam cup in room 5401 on the fifth floor of the Memorial wing at Crouse Hospital having just endured our sixth visit from a health professional since 6:30 this morning (it’s 8:12am as I start to write this) checking in on my daughter Anita. I guess I shouldn’t use the word “endured” because that makes it sound like they are bothersome or otherwise not welcome. Nothing could be further from the truth. They have all been, since we arrived Thursday evening, thoroughly professional, compassionate and accommodating.

The back-story of why I’m here is that in early March my daughter contracted the flu (no, not that flu) and was out of school for most of the week. Anita is a very healthy kid but the cough, fever and other flu symptoms really floored her. About a week after that she contracted a 24-hour stomach bug. A nasty one, two punch.

Around the same time she developed a swollen lymph gland, which we, her mother and I, determined was just a reaction to the illnesses. No sweat we thought. She exhibited NO other symptoms. She was eating, sleeping and laughing as usual. But a couple of weeks later Anita asks, “Shouldn’t this (pointing to the gland) be going down?”

That first trip to her pediatrician was the start of a many visits to many doctors and many tests. All along the way we were told that her tests indicate “nothing worrisome.” Her blood work showed a healthy kid, no reason for alarm but . . . there was a reason for silent, personal alarm; they could not definitively say what it wasn’t.

Her pediatrician “doesn’t like the way it looks” so we schedule an appointment with an ear, nose and throat doctor. I remember pulling into the parking lot and Anita sees the sign at the new doctor’s office and she says, “Surgeon?” I told her not to fear, they wouldn’t be performing surgery on her there although her pediatrician did prepare me for the possibility that they might do a biopsy.

The first appointment with Dr. Reynders went well in that she reassured me that she was very gentle, smart and thorough. Good traits in a doctor. She ordered a round of antibiotics to see if that might take the gland back to normal but it did nothing. Next step was a fine needle aspiration or FNA. Simply put, a needle is inserted into the infected area and tissue is extracted for examination under a microscope. Ever have a needle inserted into your neck just below the jaw? I haven’t but now my 14-year-old daughter has. The results? Nothing worrisome except this thing is big and isn’t going away.

Next a CT scan and afterwards it showed, again, nothing worrisome. Another round of antibiotics, still nothing. While I was out of town last week Dr. Reynders scheduled what we thought was simply an ultrasound but rather, it was an ultrasound “guided” fine needle aspiration. Second time this kid has had a needle stuck in her neck.

So last Thursday the gland, which has now become very red and scaly, starts to leak a little. A call to the doctor, a visit to Dr. Reynders office and here we sit, in the hospital.

Anita is allowed “nothing by mouth” after midnight because she will likely have a procedure on Friday that will get rid of this thing. Dr. Reynders explains that the gland is “pointing” and that the scans and tests indicate an abscess that needs to be removed. The procedure is short and simple but will require her to be moved to the operating room and placed under anesthesia. Anita is justifiably nervous. We assure her that she won’t feel a thing because there is “nothing worrisome.”

But Dr. Reynders has patients all day Friday and will not be able to do the procedure until later that day or early evening. Anita, who is as skinny as a rail, eats like a horse. No food all day is a real struggle for her. In support, I do not eat until she eats.

Thinking the procedure won’t occur until 7 or so that night, I run home around 4:30 to get our other daughter Rachel and bring her back to the hospital. While I stop at the P&C to get a little cash, my wife calls to let me know they started getting Anita ready. I rush back to the hospital only to find that she’s in the OR getting an anesthetic, being put to sleep so a surgeon can slice that nasty gland into submission and excise it.

While this happens, I wait. And go to a very bad place. What if there is something worrisome in there? I have a little experience with that place and I’d rather not be there, it’s a place I’ve been before with my father. But when it’s your 14-year-old daughter, well, you get the idea.

Surgery is over, Dr. Reynders comes to see us and tells her in graphic detail what the mass looked like, what she did to get it out and her expected outcome. Did I mention that while gentle, smart and thorough she’s also very descriptive? I don’t find that objectionable at all but not sure my wife was all that thrilled with the description of what the abscess looked like. But I digress . . . Dr. Reynders is pleased that she decided to do the procedure in the OR as opposed to bedside because the abscess was a little more invasive that what she thought. The abscess wasn’t all that unusual; the gland was simply doing its job. All in all, it went well, “nothing worrisome.” Right now Anita has a tube in the “cavity” so it can drain and not fill up again. The doctor wants us to stay through to Monday so she can be sure it’ll heal properly. Hopefully we’ll go home tomorrow.

I am really grateful to Dr. Reynders. I am lucky she decided one day to be a doctor. I am fortunate that this community has many caring and deeply committed health professionals. I am appreciative that we have excellent health insurance. I am one lucky person today because of all of those things and mostly, because it doesn’t appear that there is anything “worrisome” with Anita’s outcome.


So here I sit, Sunday morning and now it’s almost 9:20 AM, two more visits by health professionals since I started writing. Poor kid needs some sleep. And I need some coffee.

Viva Las Veags

Next Tuesday I’m going to Las Vegas for the National Association of Broadcasters and Broadcast Educators Association convention. When most people hear “Las Vegas,” they immediately launch into either a squeal of delight or some other affirmation. To which I usually say, “Save it, I hate Las Vegas.”

If NAB or BEA were held in any other city I’d be happy. I don’t gamble. I’m a happily married, middle-aged family man. I don’t do that “other” Las Vegas stuff. And the shows, while I might find one that appeals to me, not sure if you’ve seen this or not but, the ticket prices for those shows are expennnnnsive!

But all that said, I am really looking forward to this trip because I’ll be on a pretty neat shopping trip. I’m going to see the equipment I hope to acquire for Orange Television that will launch us into high-definition television production and deployment. This is a pretty big deal.

Television as we know it has been produced on a 4 by 3 screen since its invention. The move to digital has been slow and steady but only for the last few years. Now, we’re changing to a 16 by 9 format with a huge increase in picture quality through high-definition and going completely digital. I’m also going to be looking at going “tapeless.” What that means is that all production will be acquired, edited and sent out via hard drives or other solid-state technology. Much the same way that VHS tapes were replaced by DVD (and now Blue-Ray), videotape is being replaced by hard drives. This is a seismic shift in television.

The other neat part of this trip is the back end; the Broadcast Educators Association convention will be at the end of the week. BEA is Thursday, Friday and Saturday and each day will be filled with papers, panel discussions on topics of interest for those of us who are in the academic field of broadcasting. It’s also a good chance for me to see what other schools are doing and how we can improve ourselves here at Syracuse. I’m on a panel discussion myself on Saturday morning. I always learn something new and interesting at BEA.

I won’t blog next week but when I get back I’ll fill you in on the details, what I learned and maybe what I’ve decided.

Wish me luck ;)

Think Time

I haven’t been very consistent with my blog this semester. Blogging is on my calendar to do every Friday morning but sometimes, things get in the way.
I like to blog because it forces me to step back and think about things. Thinking time is vastly underrated. We Americans are kind of programmed to keep moving and accomplish tasks so just sitting and thinking is frowned upon. It shouldn’t be.

I do some of my best thinking when I travel because I’m not in a place (work or home) where I can accomplish tasks. Unfortunately I haven’t traveled much lately so I’m down on my thinking time. And I guess I should clarify what “kind” of thinking time I mean.

We all think about stuff. “Gotta clean the garage, pick up the prescriptions at the drug store, fix the gas grill, etc.” That’s pretty normal.

The kind of thinking I haven’t had much time to do lately is bigger picture stuff especially here at OTN. I’m trying to gather a lot of information about high definition television so I can move OTN to producing and deploying high definition content. While that might sound simple, it’s not, especially for a non-techie like me. I really have to buckle down and wrap my head around codec’s, bit rates, file management and workflow, budgets, physical layouts of how this gets positioned here in the office to name just a few things.

And you know, we are constantly being asked to divert our attention somewhere that robs us of that think time. I delete between 350 and 400 emails every week. A lot of them are junk but many require me to respond. That’s a lot of email.

If it sounds like I’m complaining, I guess I am. I like think time. I want think time. I have to get better at making think time a priority. I also like blogging and I apologize for not being more consistent this semester. I promise to do better.

They got your back

I was in New York City last week as I took ten students on the Newhouse Benchmark trip. We visited CNN, Atlas Media Corp., Guiding Light (the soap opera), NBC, ESPN at Madison Square Garden, CBS Sports and the Late Show with David Letterman. At each stop we were given a tour and with the exception of ESPN, all the people who hosted us were graduates of Syracuse University. A sidebar, there were SU grads on the crew at the ESPN compound; they just weren’t part of the tour.

Enough has been written about this wretched economy but if the participation of our graduates is any indication, Newhouse students will be well taken care of. I was both impressed and gratified at the support, kind words and genuine interest all our tour guides had with our group of ten.

“Let me know what I can do for you.”
“Feel free to email me with questions.”
“Things are tough but I’ll do what I can to help.”

Just a few of the comments I heard.

I was also so proud to see some of our very recent grads doing so well. Liz Morrison as Production Coordinator for Atlas Media Corp and Jay Bungay is an editor for “Guiding Light.” They’ve both been out of school for only two years.

I was also tickled to see my old colleague Bob Matina again. Bob is the studio director for CBS Sports. If you’ve watched the “NCAA Selection Show” or the “NFL Today” you’ve seen Bob’s work. Bob is a ’78 grad and he and I worked together at WCNY-TV in the early 80’s. When I called him to ask if we could visit him he was only too happy to oblige.

Say what you want about the plusses and minuses about Newhouse but one thing you simply can not say is that the people who leave here and go on to work in the business do not care about you. They want to help and are almost always willing to do what they can to pave the way for you.

Things are tough but compassion and support are in big supply out there if you are part of the Orange Nation.

What's in your future?

People aren’t buying cars. They’re not taking big flat-screen TV’s home either. Furniture or appliances? Fuggedaboutit.

So what are we consuming?

Food and entertainment. Attendance at the movies is up. People are also staying home and watching TV. What we do in television is still in demand.

Kind of nice to know.

As we try and navigate our way through these tricky economic waters it’s worth putting these experiences into our memory banks. When things turn around you’ll want to bring them back to remind yourself of what bad times were so you can appreciate the good times. But you’ll also want to make sure you have what I call “split vision.”

Split vision is the act of being focused on two different parts of your professional life. The present and the future. The present is pretty obvious: work hard, be on time, add value to your job and be seen as a valuable contributing member of your organization. Hopefully you are part of the group that’s adding to the bottom line. Literally.

The future part is a little trickier. It requires you to look at where you are, what skills you have, what you like to do and are good at and see what kind of changes you need to make to stay current with your industry. Or, look ahead to see what kind of changes you need to make to head in a completely different direction with your career. You need to do this, the future thing, every day and you need to be prepared to make changes that might be looked at as a sacrifice on your part or the part of your family.

My old boss at a company I worked at used to say something I liked. He said, “The Univisions (the name of our company) road ahead is always under construction.”

So what we do is in demand and the people who can bring a lot to the table in their work places will be better off than those who can’t. Are you a good writer? Can you shoot and edit? Can you light well? How about web skills? Any competence in After Effects, Photoshop or Flash? Do you know how to encode video to the web? Ever done any voice-over or on-camera work?

These days will end and things will turn around. Will you be ready for the next difficult economy?