Times Square in New York City is one of the most visited places in the world, especially on New Year’s Eve. Millions of people show up to Times Square to celebrate the New Year. And this year I made my way to Times Square to visit before all of the madness would begin.

The day started out cold but with a beautiful sunrise. That sunrise was what helped me get over the fact that I was up at 6:45 AM on a Saturday morning when I didn’t have to go to work. I was up that early because I was scheduled to meet a photographer in Times Square that would take me to see the top of 1 Times Square and the New Year’s Eve Ball. Gotta work those connections!

To get to the city, I took the Metro North rail from Westchester County to Grand Central Station, before hoping on the subway. I arrived at 7:50 AM, and once out of the subway, all I noticed were street closures, barricades and police. Obviously with security being of most concern, the police were out in full force. Surprisingly though, there were very few people in Times Square which made it easy to walk around.

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Because I had some time to kill, I made my way to 45th street and Broadway to take in the scenery and record a video. At that point, I noticed what looked like tourists taking advantage of the road closures by standing in the street and recording video and taking pictures themselves.

Once 8:30 AM hit, I made my way to the top of 1 Times Square. And it was a cool sight to take in.

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When you make it to the top of the building the first thing you notice is the New Year’s Eve Ball and its huge! It weighs more than 11 thousand pounds, has a diameter of 12 feet, and is covered with more than 2,600 Waterford crystals. Here is a link to facts about this year’s ball.

This wasn’t my first time visiting the top of 1 Times Square. I had the opportunity to live produce the New Year’s Eve GMA weather broadcast from this location for a couple of years. It was generally was a fun time but the wind up there could make it a cold time as well.

I remember one particular year I kept making the mistake of walking through the Canada Television Broadcast. Talking about feeling like an idiot. They were positioned right where people had to walk to get to the stairs that would led you into the building. I felt so bad about that. But hey, life happens.

On this visit, along with the ball, I noticed a camera crew and reporter getting ready for a live broadcast with one of the news networks. I made sure I didn’t randomly walk through their shot. Once they were finished, I was able to watch workers test the NYE Ball and take a few pictures.

Around 10:30 AM, I made my way back down to the street, heading for the Levi Store in Times Square. Before I went to see the ball, I spotted a “50% off” sign in the store window and made a note to check it out. I thought to myself, “Yes!!”. OK, I like Levi’s. Don’t judge me. Also, mets shop too!

This is where I ran into some “people traffic” and it was serious. Clearly a lot more people had made there way to the “Crossroads of America” over the 2.5 hours I there. But I was determined to get to the store.

I made it but it was a futile cause as the sale didn’t included the items I actually would have purchased. The struggle was real.

But I made my back out into the crowds and realized that it was probably time for me to get out of dodge before the real crowds moved in.

Here is a link to the video I made of my day in Times Square on New Year’s Eve

Mets like things outside of wx. Hey, we are human! (At least I am) And for me, from working in the media industry, I have gained a great appreciation for the “live performance”. In my opinion, there is nothing better than a great live performance, especially a great live vocal performance. And Hairspray Live! provided several of these great live performances.

Overall, I thought it was a very entertaining and fun live show. Did I like the Live! show better than the Hairspray movie? No, but it was still good.

I thought NBC did a good job with how they produced the show and cast the roles. For instance, Maddie Baillio, the young lady that was cast to play “Tracy Turnblad”, did really good job. Also, I really liked how the network featured local affiliates from around the country. I thought it was a good way to bring more of a local connection to the broadcast. Sometimes it can feel as if the national networks only focus on cities live New York and Los Angeles.

If I had to pick one person who stood out the most from the show, it would be Jennifer Hudson, who played “Motormouth Maybelle”. She was literally amazing, especially during her performance of the song, “I Know Where I’ve Been”.

The performance was powerful! She struck the right emotional tone and notes, and it was a performance that grabbed my attention and was something from which I couldn’t turn away. This is the audio from the live broadcast… https://youtu.be/sJKJjKXEldk.

Judge for yourself and let me know what you think. And if you haven’t had a chance to see the full show, I recommend checking it out. Here is a link to the Hairspray Live! broadcast … https://youtu.be/AIS3MNimO98

For most mets, their interest in wx began with a specific wx event. Two of the big examples from the past 30 years include the Blizzard of 1993 in the Northeast and Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

For me, I don’t believe my interest in wx came from one specific event, but I do remember growing up in the Midwest and living through some pretty intense winter storms. Many of these storms would drop 10 to 20 inches of snow, bring dangerously cold conditions and leave most people stranded in their homes for days.

In general, wx in the Midwest can be pretty intense. This region of United States can have intense blizzards in the Winter and sweltering heat waves in the Summer. During the Spring and Fall, strong thunderstorms and tornadoes can be a serious threat. The wx can also be quite nice. Temperatures comfortably in the 70s and 80s in the summer, beautiful cool and crisp days in the Fall and Spring, and a few mild days in the Winter.

If I were to put a year on when I noticed my interest in wx, it would have been around 1998, or age 12. At that time, I would visit my grandparents a lot and find myself watching The Weather Channel (TWC), especially when severe weather was occurring. For most of my childhood, outside of the local newscast, TWC was the main venue to get wx news.

A long with TWC, I would watch a NASA cable channel that provided a live feed of Earth from space. The narrator on this channel would point out wild fires that were visibility across other parts of the world, as well as hurricanes and severe wx systems visible from space.

I would also watch local news for wx coverage. I remember 1998 being a big year for wx as there was a very strong El Nino occurring. For those who don’t know, an El Nino represents the warm phase of the El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which is an oscillation of the atmospheric and ocean temperatures of the tropical Pacific Ocean, west of South America. This oscillation can affect global weather patterns, and for the Midwest, El Ninos typically mean milder winters for the region. Every Chicago tv met covered the El Nino and its impact on our weather.

It wasn’t until I entered high school and was forced to seriously consider what I wanted to do for a career that I decided on a career as a met. And I thought I could be a good met. I enjoyed math, physics and chemistry. I was a good public speaker and generally enjoyed people. These were important skills needed to become a met, especially a broadcast met. That decision eventually led me to where I am today.

When I first went away to college, and even early in my professional career, a lot of people would say, “you sound like you are from the South.”

Well, I am not from the South. I am originally from the Midwest, growing up in the suburb of Maywood, Illinois, a 10- to 15-minute drive from downtown Chicago.

Maywood is currently a low to middle income village that is mostly known for producing several professional athletes. These athletes include: Current LA Clippers Coach and retired NBA player Doc Rivers, retired NBA player Michael Finley, current NBA player Shannon Brown, former NBA player Stephen Hunter, Olympic hurdler medalist Greg Foster, Olympic swimming medalist Jackie LaVine, and current NFL player Sergio Brown, to name a few.

Other famous or notable people that were either born or spent time in Maywood include: BET co-founder Sheila Johnson, Black Panther Leader Fred Hampton, NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan, actor Dennis Franz, and folk singer and songwriter John Prine, to name a few.

One of the most interesting facts about Maywood is that the Underground Railroad went right through the village. A house that once stood at the southeast corner of 1st Avenue and Lake Street served as a place where runaway slaves could find refuge as they made their way north along the Des Plains River. On this site now stands a McDonalds restaurant, but inside the restaurant, you will find pictures and information that document the history of this site. You will also find an outdoor commemoration of the site.

And my “southern sound,” for me at least, was due to growing up with my family and others with southern roots. Many of my childhood friends had relatives and family members in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Even my great grandmother used to pick cotton in the south before moving north. This fact is represented in the population history of Chicago and its suburbs, with a lot of African-Americans migrating from the South to the urban areas of the Midwest, as well as to urban areas of the West and Northeast, roughly from 1910 to 1970. This migration was known as the Great Migration.

You will find a lot of this information online about Maywood, its history, its pros, its cons, but for me, Maywood is more than just facts and statistics. Its a place I will always call home, a place where I have good memories and bad ones, and its a place that helped shape and mold me into the person I am today.

 

 

 

Hello again!

One of the things I think will be helpful to anyone reading this blog is clarification of terminology used in blog posts. Below you find a list that will likely grow over time but I hope will be helpful and useful to readers.

Met – Meteorologist. For the purpose of this blog, met will be shorthand for meteorologist

Wx – Weather. It is common knowledge among meteorologists and weather enthusiasts that wx is shorthand for weather

Broadcast Met – Broadcast Meteorologist