Author: John Bollwitt

The first thing you are going to notice is that there is no blip posted today. The power supply for my Powerbook died on me. No access to my digital camera, no access to my photo library, so no blip. I have ordered a replacement. Believe it or not, something so small and vital has to be shipped from Taiwan. Isn’t that just amazing? Seriously, it’s just a wire and a transformer. It makes my laptop go. At this very moment, it’s on an airplane, somewhere over the Pacific ocean.

It’s a big week at the station. We are working like mad to get this new audio console installed by this Saturday night. It’s already been an adventure. In the theory of post-traumatic stress syndrome, there is an event in your life that can cause emotional trauma, leading to things like stress, anxiety, or depression. Further more, you suffer flashbacks. Certain things in everyday life can send you back to those moments that caused the stress in the first place. Every time I bump my head, pinch my finger, get a scrape on my skin, or sneeze uncontrollably from dust, I’m taken back to the days of moving KRUI. I was out of my mind, doing something I had never done before, and put that equipment back together on a wing and a prayer. I also learned a lot. I have a better idea of what I’m doing. I also know what it is that I need not to do.

Last night, I watched Single in Las Vegas. As most reality television shows do, this just made me ill. Sure, it is on the Women’s Entertainment network, and I have really no qualms with watching the said channel. It’s the people on there. Obviously, these programs look for a particular breed of human for these types of shows. In essence, it’s not true reality. At the start, you see one person as a true human being that, by some chance, you can relate to. They suck you in. At this point, as the viewer, you are one of two types. Viewer one is entranced, caught in the lie that they are watching something of merit and value in terms of entertainment. He or she can watch these people and see it as truth or simple entertainment. Like an addict, they’ll tune in next time for more. Viewer type two is able to say, “What the hell is this crap?” He or she is able to understand that there is no reality to this at all. Shaky camera footage, no sound stages, and people looking for a quick fix of fame since they can’t be an actor on stage or screen, perhaps a mid-life crisis of something they never took a chance on and wish they could have when they should really just stick to being a lawyer or doctor. Reality television. Not my bag.

Got my taxes back and will be mailing those in today. The return amount makes me very happy. It’s the one time in the year that I absolutely love the federal government. It’ll be nice to get those return checks back in the mail.

I don’t think that I am cool enough to be called a hick or white trash. My idea of a good time is listening to music, enjoying a good book, watching a hypnotic movie, playing the occasional computer game, perhaps a good game of hockey on TV or in person, and, overall, just feeding my mind. Driving through the country side, all I saw were large, four wheel drive vehicles creating their own version of crop circles in the snow covered fields, and snowmobiles. Passing one gas station, there was a snowmobile at every single pump. Around one corner, a whole herd of snowmobilers, stopped off the side of the road, talking, and laughing. With music playing on my car stereo, I kept on going. Sure, it might be fun to tear through the country side on some thousand dollar plus piece of machinery, but no thanks. I’ll take my inner tube and a hill any day.

Had dinner with my dad tonight. It’s always interesting to hear about life stories of him growing up. Be it either in the middle-of-nowhere Nebraska or Kansas City, it’s always a good conversation. Stories of things I have never heard before. Life lessons of things I have experienced, will experience, and never hope to see the light of day of. I think it is interesting to understand that as you grow older, your parents are not much different from you. The major difference is that they have a lot more life under their belts. All those things that they tell you as a teenager that drive you up the wall is just their way of trying to help you figure the things that they have before it’s too late. Of course, your life is never the same as theirs, and they never have all the answers. You just have to remember that everything in life sounds good in theory, and everyone in this world is human. We all do different, but same things. Some good, some bad. Some funny, and some sad.

Whoa… Anyhow, on a non-deep note, sort of, some one asked me the other day as to what is up with the pictures that I add with my posts. None of them have any real deep meaning, significance, or purpose. They are just images from my everyday life. You are seeing blips of my life. They could be from inside my apartment, at work, things that I pass by, and so on. I don’t claim to be an artist or an expert photographer. You see what I see. That’s all.

Check out the gallery. Troubled Hubble pics are up! Great show, once again. Check them out if they come to a place of rock and roll goodness near you.

13 hours. That’s how long I slept last night. I had a long, busy week and needed some along time to just relax. About ten last night, I sit down to read my book and feed my mind a little bit. Next thing I know, I wake up around one in the morning, put my book away, and go back to sleep. Didn’t wake up again till 11:30 this morning. I haven’t slept that long, straight though, in ages. Dang…

Did you know that there are four straight hours of Law and Order: SVU on Saturday nights? My addiction is getting worse. I’m starting to see more and more episodes that I have already seen. I have resisted the urge to hunt down the posibility of owning multiple seasons of this television series on DVD. There are just too many other things I want to own on DVD to begin that hunt, but I’m still fighting giving in. And now, I’m starting to enjoy Monk. Madness I tells ya!

I am a grunt. By 8 AM this morning, I had cleaned off four cars and one satellite dish of snow. Loaded up the car, set up for the show, and was packed up by 11:15, only to hurry back to get to my freelance gig. That went incredibly well. The professor was an awesome guy, and we spent about a hour afterwards just shooting the breeze about greek mythology, art, New York City, Spain, Germany, family, the station, and so on. We could have talked for ever. Super nice guy. I may have to call him up and discuss Spain some more, as he made the generous offer. Back at the ranch, we are tearing things up, getting ready to drop the new console into the AM control room. That just gets me giddy as all hell. I’m excited! Sounds like a week after tomorrow, Jim and I will tear out the pinto of a board and throw in the nice, new BMW. Yes, I’m a technology nerd, I love my job, and you can eat me.

I will admit, there is something to be said about there being all this freaking snow on the ground and the advantages of having four wheel drive to get through it. I will also say that a front wheel drive Escort is a slap happy of a good time. You wouldn’t think so, but the look of complete dispair as some one watches you fish tail around the corner on a right turn while they are stopped at an intersection, inside of their nice luxury vehicle… I just laugh and laugh. I grew up driving in this stuff. I used to have a lot of friends back in the day that lived out on gravel roads. If I wanted to go hang out with my friends, I had to learn how to handle driving in the snow. And I use that to my advantage. *wink wink, nudge nudge*

The boys from Troubled Hubble will be in town tomorrow night. The show should be a great one. I’m interested to hear how things are going for the troops and when I can get my copy of the new album. I’ll take my camera and catch some pictures for sure. Should be a good night to see some more people that I haven’t in quite some time.

A colleague of mine has a web site completely devoted to his dog. It’s pretty cute. Murph sounds like a really great dog.

It’s been a busy, busy day so far. Have had a lot to do and it doesn’t look like the pace is going to slow anytime soon in the next few months. Jim keeps stacking things onto my plate, and the more I look at them, the more I think, “Piece of cake!” There’s a point where you feel like you are going to buckle under all the pressure that everyone around you puts on your shoulders. I went through it at KRUI. One day, you wake up, all the synapses fire in your brain, and you just get it. I think I hit that point around here. However, it takes a day where your boss isn’t around and you kind of have to save the day. At least that is what everyone else around here expects of you. I’ll be damned, it feels good when you make it look easy.

I have been able to score some freelance work. Well, I’m not too sure if you can call it freelance, but it’s some side work to make a little money. Basically, I’m recording one side of a telephone conversation at the home of a professor here in town. I show up, mic and minidisc in hand, do my thing, send the final product to California, and make a few bucks. I have no idea what I am getting myself into, but now that I’m on their payroll, they’ll call me whenever they need some one in the area to do more work like this. I am completely ok with that!

I have started reading Love Me by Garrison Keillor. I’m only a few chapters or so into it, but I’m already enjoying it. Of course, it’s just not as good as actually hearing him read it in person, but if you are able to understand how this man operates, you can get into it quite nicely. I found myself laughing out load more than once.

Thanks to all who inquired about my health. Rest assured, I’m feeling quite alive and well.

I got my new John Gorka CD today! He was on the Java House last week. Great guy, awesome musician. If you like the folk, get his album. I felt like I should be saying, “Eat more Gorka,” but perhaps that’s mean.

It’s been a pretty thrilling last 48 hours. The flu finally caught up to me, and I think I lost a couple pounds. Not fun at all. It all started Monday afternoon. I stayed home from the station all day yesterday, taking the day off. It drove me nuts. I hate being sick. There is nothing worse than being stuck inside, in your bed, feeling like crap. Luckily, my parents were in town and stopped by with all sorts of good stuff. People from the station even called to make sure I was alright or if I needed anything. The good news is that I am back on my feet today, but I might leave work early.

You know what’s very interesting about where I work? For starters, I am surrounded by some really great people. They respect the work that I do, and I do the same in return. We all like to give each other a hard time, but when it comes down to it, we know how to get things done and what it takes to get there. The other interesting thing is just the personalities that are around here. There are three people who work here that each speak a second language. And I think one of those three actually can speak a third. It’s kind of crazy. It was just something that struck me this morning as I walked through the building to hear all sorts of different languages surround me. Makes me smile.

I have had people asking about the hair growing process. Yes, I am growing my hair back out. It’s just barely over a half inch long, I think. It’s in that funky stage of growth. I was told some time ago by a friend that if you ever shave your head, it will get really weird on you as it grows back out. This is quite true. I am doing my best to combat it, and thankfully it’s cold enough out still wear stocking hats. I don’t do baseball caps. I forgot to completely dry my hair this morning, as I am used to just a quick pass with the towel and being done. It’s a whole new world!

My aunt Natie went in for surgery today for her tumor. It’s a pretty delicate time right now for the family, but I think everything is going to play out alright. Last I heard, she is out of the operating room and in the ICU. The tumor is believed to be non-cancerous, but lab tests on the removed tissue will give us the final say-so. Grandma is pretty tense, as usual. My mom went down to be with her on a flight this morning. I’ve got my cell phone close to hear of the updates.

I finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday. I have owned it on DVD for about a month and a half now and saw it on VHS over at my friend Deidre’s a long while ago. I seemed to have the time on my hands yesterday. Anyhow, I just had to own it. It makes me realize that I need to increase my collection of movies that has Mr. Depp in them. First on the list, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

You see this little girl? She brings so much happiness into my family. When I go home, there is always a little Josie story. Within the time span of a few months, she lost nearly half of her teeth. Some times, it is very hard to understand what she is saying. Yesterday, she was looking for “swin-dwa-wuh-wuh”. I couldn’t make out what she was asking that I must have asked her to repeat herself about ten times. Finally, I got it. “Cinderella.” She’s precious. I love spending time with my nieces and nephews. Trust me, there will be more entries like this in the future. Very funny, little girl.

It’s snowing today, which is, of course, very pretty. It would be better if I didn’t have to work today. And it would be even better if there was a layer of ice underneath all the snow. Jim made mention that today could be very interesting. Turns out, the FM tower is built to withstand a half-inch of ice and 60mph winds. Forecast calls for two inches of ice today. So, there stands a chance that I could experience my first tower failure. And by failure, I mean collapse. Hmmmm…

I got the pictures of the Burn Disco Burn show up in my gallery. Such an awesome night.

Going to see a show at Gabe’s always results in a total breakdown in planning. I didn’t plan on making it a late night, but my wonderful friends were playing last night. I thought I would pop in, say my hellos, find out how the new album is coming along, have a drink or two, and head home early. Oh no… It was Chris’s birthday. Needless to say, today has been a little rough going at the start. The music was really good at the show. A Is Jump is a great band with a really keen sound. I like what they are doing. I’ve got some pictures from the night, and I hope to post them when I get the time. Maybe after I take a nap, too.

Frosty has made his return to the airwaves. The guy just can’t stay away from KRUI. And yes, The Bomb is back. Two hours of funk. And it’s good funk, too! I tuned in the other night to hear him come on the air. I called him up, and a little over a hour later, we were out for drinks. Hunted down Todd Brommelkamp, played some strange dice game(very well, I might add), and closed down the bar. I have a feeling that I’ll be hanging out with Frosty and Todd a lot more in the future.

I got some unfortunate news that put quite the damper on the weekend. Roman Haag passed away. He is the grandfather to my neighborhood friends from the days of being a child. He was a wonderful, kind individual with a pure heart. Many days were spent over at Mark, Chris, and Brian’s house with their grandparents left to watch over us. His health appears to have been failing him for some time, but a stroke last week left him in a battle he couldn’t win. I lost my grandfather about a year and a half ago, so I can understand the pain of loss. I hope to make it to the funeral, weather depending.

In the midst of all these interesting times, I have rediscovered my passion for hunting down music. And actually, I have made a rediscovery of my enjoyment of emo. I don’t know why, but it’s good stuff. I also find myself falling in love with Beth Orten. I listen to her voice, and it makes me swoon. I might have to start posting my top five favorite songs of the moment somewhere on here. I know, that’s totally High Fidelity, but maybe that’s why my mom said she can see me when she watched that movie. Who knows…

I don’t know how to express the saddness that has come into my heart. It happens time and time again, and this time is no different. My favorite, commercial, independent radio station in the world has been sold. WOXY has given into the pressure. Forever will it be gone from the greater Cinncinati air waves. The station, equipment, and frequency is being dismantled by a corporation in Texas. They vow to stay alive on the internet via webcast, which is how I have always listened to them, but seeing the last of a truly dying breed of radio to fall victim to this “way the world works” is absolute heartbreak. Have you ever seen “Rain Man”? Yeah, this is that radio station. In a dream, this is the station that I would work for in a flash.

I haven’t been feeling too well in the past few days. I know of a few folks who have come down with colds and flu-like illnesses, so perhaps my time has come. I took half the day off yesterday, got some much needed sleep, and then ran back into the flames at work. We have so much to do. For every step forward we take, in terms of the technical side of this place, other problems creep up that cause us to take a couples steps back. Frustrating? Yeah, but we’ll get it done.

It’s so cold, and I know I am whining. The kicker is that the head meteorologist of the National Weather Service stopped by today. She said six to ten inches of snow on Monday. Wonderful!… I can’t wait. Although, I do need to get my inner tube back from Grant. I can’t let that much snow go to waste.

I got my official letter of promotion yesterday. I signed it and handed my life over. Professional and Scientific: misc. I’m not too sure how I feel about that title. Technically, I’m still the assistant engineer around here, but the other is my official title as labeled through the system. This basically means that they are able to get me, legally, to do whatever they think that I am qualified to handle. I have a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. However, I have to make sure that I keep my wits and not allow myself to get spread out into a bunch of different areas. I like playing with the buttons, wires, and computers in the tech room… for now…

It is horribly cold outside. It’s the type of cold that takes seconds to chill you to the bone, give you frost bite in a matter of minutes, and make the snot in your nose ice over in a flash. Of course, it’s the exact opposite in my apartment, where I wear no more than a t-shirt and shorts when home. It’s like coming back home from Japan all over again, every single morning. Just try going from a blazing hot, Asian summer to an Iowa fall. That is what it seriously feels like every single morning for me. A really hot apartment to the frigid, harsh winter cold. Oddly enough, I haven’t had a cold this entire winter, knock on wood.

Alright… It’s time to confess to an addiction that I realized that I have as of last night. Law and Order: SVU… I love that show! I noticed last night that when I got home, I quickly turn on the TV to see the second episode this week that I have already seen. I think that it is at that point when you know you are an avid, addicted fan of a television show. I know that I am this way with other shows like The Simpsons, Futurama, and other programs that other people find too “immature” for their tastes, as if I really care what you think of my TV habits. Anyhow, it was just one of those moments of clarity. I’m a Law and Order: SVU freak.