Sonni Abatta Leaving KDKA

Yesterday, I was listening to Mark Madden on 105.9, WXDX, on my way home after work when I heard a caller state that Sonni Abatta was leaving KDKA TV. When I got home, I did a quick Google, and found two articles on the Pittsburgh Post Gazette which confirmed this. Yes, It's True, It's Damn True, Sonni Abatta's last day on KDKA TV is Friday, July 10th, 2009.

Everyone had a feeling that her talent and looks would lead her out of the Burgh and into a bigger TV market. She was without a doubt the favorite Eye Candy for the male viewers in the Burgh. Good Luck Sonni!

Update 7/8/2009, Rob Owen from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Sonni Abatta will join WOFL, Fox 53 News in Orlando, FL. Mr. Owen states he will have more info from Sonni on why she decided to make this move.

Update 7/10/2009, Rob Owen provides some details from Sonni Abatta about her decision to leave the Burgh for Orlando, FL.

Good News

Good News Today, I still have a job. I spent the weekend sweating bullets, looking up how to file for unemployment, and thinking about what home projects I could work on over the summer. My job responsibilities will be changing, but it will be a while. My director estimated things will start changing 60 days after the other company has joined our Microsoft Active Directory domain. I am relieved, but also know my employment status could change in 3, 6, 9, 12, etc. months. I need to update my resume so I am prepared just in case.

MIA Update

I have been Missing In Action from blogging for almost two months. So, what has been happening? Well, I have been dealing with some health problems since the beginning of May. After attending a Cinco De May party at a neighbor's house, I started having pain in the ball of my foot under my left foot. A lot of standing in old basketball shoes was what triggered the pain. At first, I thought it was Metatarsalgia. I saw a podiatrist last week, and it turns out I actually have a condition called Hallux Rigidus, which is arthritis of the big toe. It can be treated by getting some custom foot orthotics, and luckily my insurance covers it 100%. I sprained my right ankle last November, and it still bothers me, so the podiatrist looked at it also. He believes I had a Level 2 sprain, and I just need to continue with my stretching and strengthening exercises that I have been doing.

On top of all of this, while cutting down a dead tree in my yard three weeks ago, I unknowingly brushed up against a lot of poison ivy plants. It was so bad that I had to get a steroid shot, take Prednisone steroid pills for six days, and now I am on my fourth day of using a topical steroid.

At work today, I was one of about 25 people asked to attend a conference call on Monday at 9:00AM. Problem is there are 75 people across the country with my same position who were not invited to the 9:00AM conference call. All 100 people were asked to attend a conference call at 10:30AM. My company is merging with another company and the feds finally approved the merger. July 1 will be the first day the merged companies will operate as one company. It looks like I am going to be laid off, downsized. The two companies had paychecks on opposite bi-weekly cycles, and are planning to change this to sync the paycheck cycles. I am guessing that my last day will be either July 18 or 25. Considering my years of service and vacation not taken yet, I am estimating 48 weeks of severance pay. It has been a bad Spring for me this year. I am not looking forward to Monday's conference call.

The Real "ThePensblog"

The other morning when my alarm clock radio went off, I was surprised to hear two bloggers from ThePensblog on 102.5 WDVE. Since I was groggy, I could not quite understand everything that was being said. It turns out ThePensblog is a victim of Cybersquatting. Here is the definition of Cybersquatting from Wikipedia:

Cybersquatting (also known as domain squatting), according to the United States federal law known as the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, is registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name with bad faith intent to profit from the goodwill of a trademark belonging to someone else. The cybersquatter then offers to sell the domain to the person or company who owns a trademark contained within the name at an inflated price.

ThePensblog details how this all came about in this blog post.

They refer to the bogus ThePensblog site as Bizzaro Pens Blog, a tribute to an episode of Seinfeld. Out of curiosity, I went to the Bizzaro Pens Blog website, and quite frankly it is so lame. Remember, the site only exists to receive false hits and make a few pennies each time from Google AdSense.

My blog is so, so tiny, I do not think I will ever have to worry about Cybersquatting. I feel bad for the authors of ThePensblog and all of their readers.

Vote Zelienople for X-Men Wolverine Premiere with Hugh Jackman

The Marvel Comics movie “X-Men Origins:Wolverine” is having a contest where the American ZIP code with the most votes before April 17 will host the movie premiere on May 1. Hugh Jackman will attend the premiere.

According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Zelienople was 10 th on the list as of yesterday. The last day to vote is tomorrow, 4/17, and the winning city will be announced Monday.

To vote for Zelienople and the Strand Theater, go to www.x-menorigins.com, enter the site and under navigation on the main page, go to "hometown premiere." Follow the prompts and type in the ZIP code 16063.

PG's Rob Owen Praises Janelle Hall's Shooting Coverage

Rob Owen, TV editor for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, praised WTAE TV weekend morning anchor Janelle Hall for her live coverage of the Stanton Heights shooting last Saturday. "Janelle Hall made the best impression. She handled the live ongoing coverage with a calm, steady tone and managed to avoid repeating herself too often, one of the easiest traps for a news anchor to stumble into in this sort of situation."

Mr. Owen reviewed Saturday's TV coverage of the 3 local TV stations in his Post Gazette Blog, "Tuned In Journal". "Hall was particularly skilled at narrating to fill gaps -- so necessary in breaking news coverage -- with an empathetic but professional demeanor that did not strike me as overly repetitous."

As you know, Janelle Hall is my favorite local TV news anchor. She is not just attractive, but a skilled and talented news anchor.

Thank You Pittsburgh Police

Ashley DiParlo Leaves WTAE and the Burgh

I just found out that last Friday, 3/27/2009, was Ashley DiParlo's last day on WTAE-TV 4. Ashley was WTAE-TV's first "Web Reporter". She hosted the "Plugged In" report and co-hosted the "Links N At" videos. Ashley posted a farewell post on her blog, "The Plugged In" Blog on WTAE and Wordpress. What exactly is a "Web Reporter"? Ashley reported on just about anything that you could find on the web - entertainment, finance, sports, shopping, etc. She did not just report about technology, which was a good strategy to attract and kept viewers. It also helped that Ashley was very cute and had a very pleasant, upbeat, personality. She is best described as a "Sweetheart" - you will see her pic in Websters next to Sweetheart. Why is she leaving? Well, she is getting married, and moving out of the Burgh. Sorry to all the single guys who thought they had a chance. I am hoping the "Boomerang Effect" takes place - a Burgher leaves our great city, then returns a few years later. Yes, I was a Boomerang. I left in my mid 20's and returned to the Burgh in my late 30's. Anyway, Best Wishes to Ashley DiParlo.

Welcome Spring 2009

For the first day of Spring 2009, the high temperature is forecast to be 41 degrees. Lovely. Where have I been the last month? Hibernating of course. More posts to follow. I just upgraded to Internet Explorer version 8, and it will not allow me to log on to www.blogger.com. So, I log on OK to www.blogger.com with Firefox, and it takes me about 3 attempts before I can add an image to this post. Anyway, Happy Spring 2K9 to everyone!

PittGirl Jane Pitt Guest Blogged for SB43

I have been MIA from the blogosphere for the past 2 weeks, and learned today that PittGirl, retired blogger from TheBurghBlog, guest blogged on Have A Good Sandwich during the week preceding SuperBowl 43. I always wondered "What Would PittGirl Say?" about the Steelers and SB43, and now I know. Even though she only made a guest blogger appearance, I was so happy to read her posts. Thank You Jane Pitt!

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year to the Asian community. 2009 is the Year of the Ox.

Goodbye Gil Grissom

Last night was William Peterson's last episode portraying Gil Grissom on CBS's TV show CSI. I have been a fan of CSI for a long time. I started out as a dedicated viewer, and the last few seasons became an occasional viewer. It is sad to see the main character leave, but with Laurence Fishburne taking his place, it should be interesting to see how the show evolves.

2K9

Happy New Year to everyone! I have not posted in about 3 weeks, and this will be my first post of 2009. I am feeling a little stressed out right now. Why? Here are a few reasons:

• I did not have the entire week off between Christmas and New Years, so I spent time traveling back and forth from my house in the North Hills to my mother's house in the South Hills. I am trying to get back into my regular sleep pattern.
  
• I gained a few pounds over the holidays, not too much, but not too little.
• I sprained my right ankle before Thanksgiving and I am still rehabilitating it on my own. It is getting better, but it is a slow process. With the sprained ankle, I have been a little reluctant and lazy to work out.
• I am worried about the economy and the stability of my job. My company downsized at the end of last year and almost every week you hear about another local company announcing job cuts. I am going to work hard on updating my resume this month just in case.

So, are there any positives with the New Year? Sure, it is a good time to reflect on the past year and look forward to improving myself. In a roundabout way, I have "resolutions" to make, but I will not list them here.

Pittsburgh Mills

I took a day off work yesterday to burn some remaining vacation days, shop for a few remaining Christmas gifts, and have the tires rotated on my car. I bought my tires about two years ago from Sears, and tire rotations were included in the price. I usually go to the Sears at Ross Park Mall for my tire rotations, but I decided to try out the Sears at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills. Someone that used to work with me mentioned that Pittsburgh Mills is not that busy, so that is why I decided to try the Sears there. I arrived at the Sears around 9:00AM and to my delight, there were no vehicles in any of the service bays. Quite different from Ross Park mall, which is usually busy. Maybe because it was a weekday instead of the weekend. It only took them about one hour to rotate my tires and change the oil, very quick.

The Galleria Mall was designed differently that other malls I have been to. Ross Park Mall, The Mall at Robinson, South Hills Village, Century III, Monroeville Mall, all have the same look to them. (Yes, I actually have shopped at all of these malls. Strange for a guy, right?) The Galleria is a one story mall, so it was difficult to compare the size to a two story mall. It had many of the same anchor stores like Sears, JCPenney, and Macy's. Inside, there were alternating areas of carpeted floor, and wood flooring. Benches and sitting areas were artistic, colorful and geometric at the same time. Outside of the mall had a lot of restaurants and big box stores like Lowes, Walmart, etc. It reminded me of the whole Robinson shopping area without the traffic. If you live in the area, everything that you could possibly need is there, all in one place. I am not sure if I will visit again, but it was a nice change of pace.

Janelle Hall Dance Video

I have to thank Janelle Hall for getting me out of my writer's block with this blog. Sure, I have a couple of excuses: the Thanksgiving Holiday, a business trip out of town for a week, and a sprained ankle. Or me just being lazy.

A charity event called "Dancing With The Celebrities of Pittsburgh" took place this weekend. The 3 major TV stations each had a few of their TV news anchors participating. To my delight and viewing pleasure, WTAE posted a video clip of Janelle Hall's dance. As I have mentioned before in previous posts, Janelle Hall is my favorite female TV news anchor in Pittsburgh. She is tall, attractive, and I absolutely love her bubbly on-air personality. Janelle sometimes will guest news anchor on WDVE in the morning and here she shows more of her appealing personality on the radio. Some will argue that KDKA's Sonni Abatta is hotter, but not me.

Trib Writer Bashes Blogging

Mike Seate, Columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribrune Review, wrote a column in Tuesday's edition titled "Mourn not for end of pointless blogging". Mr. Seate tries to explain the difference between a paid writer like himself versus an average "Joe the Blogger". I blog, but not everyday, so I am not obsessed with blogging. I disagree with Mr. Seate. I will not bash him here, but simply say he really does not understand what blogging is all about.

Goodbye and Best Wishes to PittGirl and TheBurghBlog

Today is one of the saddest days in Pittsburgh, the Blogosphere, and the Pittsburgh Blogosphere. Anonymous blogger PittGirl, has shutdown her popular blog, TheBurghBlog. Both the PostGazette and PopCityMedia reveal in e-mails from PittGirl, that her identity had been compromised, which could have resulted in her losing her job. Sadly, PittGirl had no choice but to shut down her blog.

I will definitely miss TheBurghBlog. PittGirl's posts always put a smile on my face. She has done so much for Pittsburgh, bloggers, and Pittsburgh Bloggers. Although PittGirl joked about everything Pittsburgh, she did it because she truly loves everything Pittsburgh. She inspired everyday Joe/Joe-ette The Plumbers to blog, and unknowingly united people as minions/fans. PittGirl, Thank You and Best Wishes.

Winter Weather Hyping

We had snow flurries since Sunday, and it looks like the local TV stations are doing their best to hype up the Winter Weather forecasts. Here are some tricks I saw this evening watching TV and the local news:

• Multi-day accumulation totals - if the accumulation amount for one day is too small, provide an accumulation today for more than one day. This increases the accumulation total, but you have to remember it is spread over several days, not one day.
• 30 second commercial teasers - always play 30 second teaser commercials hinting at impending doom, school closings, etc, but don't really tell the whole story yet. Tell the viewer they have to wait for the next scheduled newscast.
• Live report from the snowiest place in the area outside of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh is located in Allegheny County. If the snow forecast for Allegheny County is too small, have a reporter travel outside of Allegheny County (at least an hour drive) and broadcast a live report of the "horrible" conditions.
• Report accumulation totals from an untreated surface like an empty parking lot - To make it look worse than it really is, have the live broadcast with a reporter showing the accumulation total from an untreated surface like an empty parking lot. An untreated surface will have more snow that a treated, well traveled road.

Hyping up the winter weather is one of my pet peeves with the local media. Just think how bad it will be when a real snow storm hits.

Mark Cuban Charged with Insider Trading

Mark Cuban, Pittsburgh native from Mt. Lebanon, entrepreneur millionaire, and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading. Pittsburgh sports fans will remember that Mark Cuban was supposedly interested in buying the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Pittsburgh Pirates. You will also remember that Cuban was a lot of talk and no action. Everyone has a blog these days, and Mark Cuban responds to the allegations on his blog.

Hello Old Man Winter

The average temperature this time of year is still supposed to be in the 50's, but here we are in the mid 30's. I have been slowing introducing winter clothes out of storage - long sleeve shirts, sweats, gloves, hats, etc. Another sure sign of winter is breaking out my Under Armour Coldgear for workouts in the basement.