Mark Edwards Uncensored

How To Get Smartphones To Play Audio On Radios Without Bluetooth

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 17:25:00 +0000

My kids have older cars without Bluetooth on their radios, so finding good ways of getting audio from their phones through their car stereo systems has become kind of a quest for me lately. I've bought a couple other devices to do this, one worked reasonably well and one was a dud. Then I found the Roav SmartCharge

Car Kit F2. This is the third device and I must say it's the all-around best one I've used.

The device is compact, and fit well into the car's lighter outlet without taking up a ton of space in the console. Once I plugged in the device, I tuned my radio to find an empty space with no other stations and then used the arrow buttons to tune the device to broadcast on that empty frequency. Then I got the phone and it paired almost instantly. Because the Roav is using Bluetooth 4.2, a voice told me the phone was paired. I started playing a song from Spotify and it sounded GREAT through the car stereo. No distortion, clean quality, no loss of fidelity unlike some other items in this category.

I found some other great features in this device as well. There are 2 USB ports that can be used for charging and they use some kind of technology that can adjust the amount of power sent to a device to maximize charging. I have to say that port charged my phone every bit as fast as when I plug it into AC at home. Very impressive. The top port charges as well and doubles as an input for a USB device like a memory stick to play audio from the device. The Roav delivers really good sound quality on phone calls, but be aware that the microphone is on the left side of the top of the unit. That can make you sound soft to the person calling you if the mic is obstructed or if it's not pointed towards the driver. I saw some comments about problems with callers hearing users of this device, so I made sure I had a clear shot from my mouth to the little hole for the microphone.

One really cool thing about this device is the app you can use with it. it's a free download from the Play Store and it lets you note where you parked your car and using GPS can help guide you back to the parking space. I think that will be especially handy when I'm parked a million miles away from the stores when I'm doing my holiday shopping. When you shut off your engine, the app records where you are via GPS and can help get you to your car by letting you know when you're nearby. The app will also help you find an empty FM channel to play music through.

As I said, there are a lot of devices that will play music and calls through your car stereo by finding an unused frequency. This one seems to do it the best, has tremendous charging capabilities, and an app to go with it. It's a winner in my book.

Roav was kind enough to provide me with the device used for this review.

Playing in the world of Voice Assistants

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 16:50:00 +0000

If you know me, you know I'm a geek and the person who wants to try every new thing first. I've been messing with all the Voice Assistants on the market-Siri, Google Assistant (or whatever they want to call it) Alexa, Cortana, Bixby, and a couple still in development. I know we're at the beginning of the world of Voice Assistants so I'm not quite ready to commit to one platform only to have it blown out of the water by another variant in six months or a year. I learned that lesson from choosing Betamax.

Courtesy 9to5mac.com

I simply despise Siri. I've used it on iPhone, iPad and Mac and the bottom line, at least for me, is that it sucks. Bad responses, problems understanding questions, all the things that make it (still) a second-tier product. Cortana works pretty well on PC, but I haven't seen much in the way of standalone devices for that platform yet.

I love Google's assistant but I love it on my Android phone, not so much as a home assistant. And yes, I've dumped my iPhone and went back to Android with a slick powerhouse from OnePlus and I use the Google Assistant a lot. So that leaves Amazon's Alexa platform.

Call me crazy, but I don't want to invest in an Amazon Echo just yet. I'm not ready to go all in on an ecosystem that might not end up winning the battle of the voice bots, even though I think Amazon is leading the pack right now with the best software and darn good hardware.

I've looked at Amazon's other devices and they seem lacking in features, and their industrial design doesn't do much for me either. Enter the Eufy Genie from the people at Anker, one of my favorite manufacturers of things like power banks and cables. The Eufy Genie is 35 bucks at Amazon, (you can find discounts every once in a while on the Interwebz) and while it doesn't have all the features of a full-size Echo, it looks better than the Echo Dot and will give me a taste of life with a voice assistant waiting for me to utter its name for service.

The Eufy Genie

I've only been messing with the Genie for a few days, but my first impressions of it are very good. It's attractive, small enough to fit almost anywhere, and sounds good. Maybe not as good as the big Echo, but it fills the room with voice or music and that's good enough for me at this point. Being that this device is so inexpensive, it doesn't have Bluetooth or 5 GHz WiFi like its Amazon cousins, but it does have workable 2.4 GHz WiFi with good connectivity and a 3.5 mm audio cable to connect it to other speakers. Also, the power cord is a bit short for my tastes, but that's just me being Mister Pickypants.

I'm impressed that Amazon has made most of Alexa's skills available to a third-party because this device does almost everything Amazon devices can do with a few exceptions. You have to download the Eufy Home app in order to activate the speaker, and once you've done that, you can download the Amazon Alexa app and use it to get the Genie to learn Alexa skills and do most of the things the Amazon devices do.

So now I can ask Alexa, through the Eufy Genie, to play "Free Bird", give me news updates from the sources I choose, and the Cubs score. As Alexa adds new skills, I can use them with this device. That goes for things like home automation as well. The trigger word is still "Alexa" and the experience is very much like using an Echo Dot, but with a smaller footprint and (at least in my opinion) better sound. If Amazon ends up winning the Battle Of The Voice Assistants, I've got another speaker to add to my network. If they don't, I'll have had the chance to use Alexa without investing too much.

The Genie is compact. Here it is against my keyboard.

The Genie gives me an inexpensive, well-made entry into the Alexa ecosystem. It's very hard to see the downside to buying this device if you're unsure about which platform will prevail in the long-term (which may only be a couple of years) or if you just want to dip your toes into the waters of Voice Assistant World.

Eufy provided me with a sample of the Genie for review purposes.

Mark's 2017 Cubs Season Predictions

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 31 Mar 2017 21:09:00 +0000

To Those I've Ignored

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 16:46:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on my Facebook page. Since not everyone sees that page, I wanted to share it here for all to see.

Friends, I want to take a minute to be very serious here. Actual serious, not sarcasm or snark. Not even Cubs ranting.

I try to share the best of my world, things I find interesting, and a laugh or two on Facebook. And in the past, I've tried to wish those I know or are somehow connected with a happy birthday in as special way as I can. I hope it makes you happy, I know I enjoyed looking for a way to celebrate you on YOUR day.

I've failed to do that last part for the last year or so. I've had a horribly difficult year, with a startup company I poured my heart and soul into betraying its employees, going out of business, and leaving really good people in emotional and financial shambles. It's been a distraction to say the least, and I haven't done a good job in helping those whose connection and friendship I appreciate celebrate their special day, let alone maintain normal contact.

As the High Holy Days leave their lessons behind and my own birthday approaches, I look back on the last year and apologize to those I've overlooked or just plain ignored. That was wrong and selfish, no matter what was going on in my life.

Borrowing from C. S. Lewis, “There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” I ask you to accept my most sincere apologies and join me in trying to experience a positive end to this year as well as a great year ahead. The fog is lifting and I'm hoping to put the past and the damage it caused behind and return to a better place in my new natal year. Hopefully, you'll still want to join me on that journey.

If You Have ATT.NET Mail, You Are Part Of The Yahoo Password Disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 21:01:00 +0000

On September 22, Yahoo! announced that some 500 million email accounts had been compromised. If you have email that ends in att.net, you very well might have had your email password and other personal information stolen. Here's what you need to know if you're an att.net customer through the company's DSL service, U-Verse, or other products.

First, some background. It turns out the even though Yahoo! finally got around to letting their users and Verizon, the company getting ready to buy them, know about the breach today, the crime happened in 2014, at least according to Yahoo's official statement:

“We have confirmed that a copy of certain user account information was stolen from the company’s network in late 2014 by what it believes is a state-sponsored actor. The account information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, hashed passwords (the vast majority with bcrypt) and, in some cases, encrypted or unencrypted security questions and answers. The ongoing investigation suggests that stolen information did not include unprotected passwords, payment card data, or bank account information; payment card data and bank account information are not stored in the system that the investigation has found to be affected. Based on the ongoing investigation, Yahoo believes that information associated with at least 500 million user accounts was stolen and the investigation has found no evidence that the state-sponsored actor is currently in Yahoo’s network. Yahoo is working closely with law enforcement on this matter.”

It's all the rage now to blame rogue governments for any kind of data breach, so it's no wonder that Yahoo is using that tactic. Regardless of who stole the att.net information, it's freely available on the Dark Web, and that means your email information, as well as anything you've associated with the account could end up in the hands of Bad Guys.

If you call AT&T to get some help with this problem, a few things will happen. First you'll be told that they don't know for sure if you're information has been compromised. That's true, but if there's even a slight chance that it has been stolen, changing your password is the smart thing to do. You'll also be told that if you change your email password, it will not affect any password information on other AT&T services such as television or wireless that may be associated with your AT&T account. That is a flat-out lie. In most cases, if you change your email password, everything you have connected to AT&T will have its password changed as well. And there's no way around that happening.

cbc.ca

Having all those passwords changed might not be the worst thing in the world. Sometimes refreshing passwords is just good security. However, AT&T won't tell you that once you change your email password, you'll have to change passwords for everything else connected to your AT&T accounts. That means your billing information, any apps that work with your accounts, and other services. It might take an hour or two to fix all the passwords that got changed, so be prepared.

All of that will get you through the first part of the process of trying to protect your email, But what do you do in the long run? Far and away the smartest thing to do is get away from any service running on Yahoo's servers. At some point
AT&T may wise up and change to another email provider, But for now if you want to keep your AT&T address you are stuck with Yahoo. There are dozens of other good free email services out there and unless you rely on your current att.net email address for critical items, you might want to retire it temporarily and use another service.

Another thing you can do is just dump AT&T email for good. It's pretty easy to export all of your data to other services, forward email from AT&T to your new address, and most likely be safer than you are today when it comes to the security of your personal information. That's what I'm doing, and what I'm advising my family to do as well.

marketingland.com

A lot of things are different in 2016 than they were before. One of them is that nothing online is as secure as you think it is. Yahoo! taking almost 2 years to tell the world about a breach that affected half a billion customers is proof of that. Do business and use services that you trust, is very strong passwords, and change them a couple times a year. You will probably thank yourself the next time you read the story about a huge data breach.

And, sadly, there WILL be a next time.

Two Decades Of Ross

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 19:33:00 +0000

This Post Originally Appeared On Medium August 23, 2016

Twenty years ago today, my son Ross was born. I know it’s not quite a milestone like his 18th birthday when he got to be “legal” or his 21st birthday, but this is an incredibly special day. Not for me, but for one of the most incredible, unstoppable people I’ve ever known.

This guy has been a fighter all his life. My wife and I tried for years to have him, her pregnancy was, to say the least, difficult, and Ross entered the world in truly dramatic fashion as I described to the Chicago Tribune in this column that ran on my first Father’s Day.

“All of a sudden the door flies open and it seems like a hundred people flew into the room and the attending doctor is saying, `OK, we gotta go right now, we gotta take her,’ “

Ross was delivered by vacuum extraction, and I won’t embarrass him by posting a photo of his pointy newborn head for the world (and his future bride and children) to see. But suffice it to say we almost lost him, but he came out fighting and has never stopped.
Ross didn’t grow as large or as fast as most babies, and eventually he was diagnosed with “short stature” and spent over a decade having to be injected with growth hormones every day. At first, my wife or I gave him his shots, but he eventually learned and wanted to do the injections himself, and became as skilled at it as Dr. Doug Ross, and I promise you it’s only a coincidence the he shares that name.

He also has, and will always have, Asperger Syndrome, which is now considered being an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Some call it “high functioning autism”, and the main symptoms Ross presents have to do with social interaction. But he’s worked incredibly hard to overcome his affliction, and has indeed been “high functioning”, taking Honors classes, playing in the high school and college marching bands, getting great grades, and doing an amazing job working part time at a fast food chain, both through his Senior year of High School and now at another location in College. He’s not gregarious, but he gets better at interacting with people every day, and when he’s with his friends, you’d never know how being social can be challenging for him.

Ross started his Sophomore year of college yesterday, and is fascinated by history, so much so that he wants to get a doctorate in the field. He speaks fluent Latin, knows facts about every era of the past, and is a voracious reader and learner. College can be challenging for him, but he handles every part of University life with confidence and grace. Undergraduate study is hard enough, especially at the state’s “Honors University”, but his grades are fantastic and he’s committed himself to do whatever it takes to get his PhD. It’s not going to be easy, but he’s faced adversity more times than I can explain and has come out ahead in every instance. His courage, strength, and refusal to let obstacles deter him are truly remarkable.

I don’t want you to think I’m bragging on my parenting skills or some secrets I’ve learned to create an amazing son. I’m not, and I’ve seen for twenty years how Ross has overcome multiple obstacles all by himself and is becoming an exceptional adult. He’s come a long way from being that pointy head baby, and I have complete confidence that he’ll go on to do whatever he wants to, no matter how big the sacrifice or how hard the battle. He certainly hasn’t stopped, or even slowed down, yet.

Happy birthday Ross. You amaze me every day. I love you and wish I could be with you to celebrate.

Technology That Can Change Lives

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Mar 2016 20:19:00 +0000

I've not made a secret about the fact that I'm visually handicapped. It's been part of my life since birth, I'm not ashamed of it, and I think I've done a pretty good job in a world that was never designed for the disabled. The ONLY thing I can't do is drive a car, which can be challenging at times, but has never stopped me from living a great life, albeit with the challenges of being very nearsighted.

I've always been fascinated with technology, from building crystal radio sets as a kid to seeing the potential of this thing called the Internet back in the early 90's to being at the head of the line with this wacky concept called Social Media a decade ago. One of the things futurists and geeks have always said about technology is that while it could do all kinds of "cool" things, it had the power to change how people live.

I've been fortunate enough to work with a smartphone app that literally can let the blind and partially sighted see. The app is called Aipoly, and there's an article about the app now on Newsweek.com and it will be in their April 8th print edition. The article talks about the app and the kind of work that goes into developing such a revolutionary piece of software. It also shows that the people who predicted all the good things technology could do were indeed right. The same device that you use for Snapchat and Tinder can also have Aipoly, and that's a blessing for thousands, someday maybe millions. Here's the article, hopefully shared with the permission of Newsweek.

TECH & SCIENCE

THE APP THAT HELPS BLIND PEOPLE SEE

BY ANTHONY CUTHBERTSON ON 3/21/16 AT 12:04 PM

TECH & SCIENCE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SMARTPHONES

The first time Mark Edwards used Aipoly Vision, he cried. Edwards, 56 and legally blind since birth, had signed up as an early tester for the smartphone app that claims to help the visually impaired people “see” the world around them. “When it immediately told me what was surrounding me, I was completely overcome with tears of joy,” says Edwards. “That doesn’t happen very often to a middle-aged man.”

Other early users of the app have called it “game changing” and on par with self-driving cars for its potential to transform the lives of blind people. Born out of the Singularity University in California—an institution set up in 2008 at NASA Research Park to produce “exponential technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges”—Aipoly Vision combines recent advances in artificial intelligence with the standard technology found in an iPhone. The neural networks and deep learning algorithms that power it may be complex, but how it works is simple: Users point their phone at any day-to-day object and the app speaks out what it is seeing.

“When we were first coming up with the idea we spoke to 88 blind people and asked what they wanted,” says Marita Cheng, one of the app’s creators. “We found that their biggest frustration was having to ask what things are.” Before Aipoly Vision, a visually impaired person travelling solo had only one option besides asking for help: to rely on apps that use volunteers to help identify things via video calls. But that can be time-consuming. “The thing that’s special about our app is that it’s all done in real time,” Cheng says. “Current methods require an Internet connection and can take anywhere up to two minutes. Our system can recognize three objects per second.” Bringing in a third party—like those volunteer apps do—also isn’t ideal for those who want privacy. But with Aipoly, says Cheng “no one knows what you’re looking at.”

Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week

The version of the app that Edwards is testing is able to identify around 1,000 objects and any color. An update expected to be released by the end of the month will be able to recognize around 5,000 objects. In its current form it can also distinguish between different brands and explain to the user what’s in an image printed or on a screen. What’s more, users can “teach” the app about objects it doesn’t recognize—benefiting both themselves (later on) and other users.

Text recognition is another struggle for blind people, though this has already been largely solved through an app called KNFB Reader. Developed through a partnership between the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Ray Kurzweil (one of the founders of the Singularity University), the KNFB Reader app allows users to listen to an audio readback of printed text. While some have criticized its relatively high cost ($99), the KNFB Reader has proved invaluable in helping blind and visually impaired people carry out tasks like reading menus in restaurants or understanding printed instructions. Aipoly Vision aims to take this one step further. And for free.

Chris Danielsen, a spokesperson for the NFB who has been blind since birth, tells Newsweek that object recognition usually isn’t a problem for blind people if they can touch it. “Where this technology comes in handy is when you don’t know what color something is or when there are items inside a container,” he says. “It can also be useful when you’re in an unfamiliar area, as it could be used to recognize local landmarks, or in an education setting to describe diagrams in textbooks or images without captions.”

While Aipoly’s AI is not yet sophisticated enough to describe the details displayed in a diagram, it is able to understand certain images and communicate them to the user. For example, when shown a cartoon of Superman it is able to understand that the figure is indeed the superhero from the planet Krypton, but the app couldn’t tell you what exactly Superman is doing. And this isn’t its only limitation. The app touts its ability to differentiate between logos of different brands, which is very handy when a user is faced with cans and packets of food or drink that feel identical to each other. Unfortunately, when shown a can of Coca Cola in tests, the app misidentified it as Coors beer, a mistake that could prove dangerous if made in a real world setting.

Despite the limitations—and no money spent on advertising or marketing—the app has already had 35,000 downloads on Apple’s App Store. The limited funding received through grants from competitions has been spent instead on improving the technology and developing new functionality, such as facial recognition, which it hopes to add in future versions of the app.

Something that has come as a surprise to the app’s creators is its popularity in Japan, where there have been over 8,000 downloads since the start of 2016. It turns out that people in Japan—people without visual impairments—are using it to learn English. “It speaks with a proper British accent so people know how to pronounce in English,” says Simon Edwardsson, co-founder of Aipoly. “That’s something we’re going to explore more in the future.”

The app’s creators are also working on ways to give it a more holistic view of the world, so that it can explain not just what an object is, but can also offer context on how the object relates to its surroundings. For Edwards, even in its current form Aipoly Vision has become an essential part of his daily life. It is allowing him to explore the world in a way they never could before. “Walking in town I use it to tell me what’s ahead, be it a traffic light, a sign or a mailbox,” he says. “That’s life changing. I know that sounds grandiose but it really is.”

Why Cardinals Fans Should Root For The Cubs Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 13:30:00 +0000

This post first appeared on Mark's Cubs Worship Pulpit, an official MLB Blog

Well, it’s finally happened. The Cubs are in the playoffs. And while I still think MLB Playoffs Rootability Index this year.
2016 will be the Season Of A Dream for the Cubs, one never knows what the boys have up their sleeves. After all, they did win 97 games, have one of the most exciting rookies in years in Kris Bryant, the big bat of Anthony Rizzo, and the lights-out pitching of Jake Arrieta. That’s why ESPN put the Northsiders at the top of their

The Cubs play the Pittsburgh Pirates Wednesday night in the NL Wild Card Game to see who will go on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLDS. As a rule, Cardinals fans aren’t very fond of the Cubs or anything having to do with the Cubs. And that means many of them will automatically root for the Cubs to lose in any game, especially one that could advance them to face the Cards. But the smart Cardinals fan should rethink that notion, because Baseball’s Best Fans would benefit in a big way from a Cubs/Cards NLDS.

Cardinals fans LOVE stats, so look at these 2015 season matchups:
- Cardinals vs. Pirates 10-9
- Cardinals vs. Cubs 11-8
Sure, it’s a one game swing, but any advantage should be good for the Redbirds, and since it’s a game of inches, that one extra win from the Cubs may make all the difference in the world.
It’s only a five game series, so Cardinals fans only have to drive to Chicago, which is a lot closer than Pittsburgh, to try and buy tickets to the two games in the Windy City and end up watching the action in a Wrigeyville bar. (For what it’s worth, I highly recommend The Cubby Bear, home of many of my brain cells over the years and right across the street from Wrigley Field)
More Cubs fans than Pirates fans will make the trip to Busch Stadium for the same reason. Sure, some might get into the game, but most of them will be crammed into Ballpark Village drinking beer that’s just as expensive as inside the ballpark and maybe even listening to Joe Buck provide between inning commentary, which is punishment for any Cubs fan.
And let’s be real here, St. Louis needs all the tourist money it can get these days. Think of the dough those giddy Cubs fans will drop while they celebrate having their team in the playoffs for the first time since 2008? Tony’s and Mike Shannon’s are gonna be packed, PACKED I tell ya!
Heck, its only a FIVE GAME SERIES. Win 2 at home, knock off the Cubs on the road, and then rest up for whatever suckers the Cardinals face next. Bang, zoom. You get to beat your biggest rivals and then sit at home and watch Frank Cusumano carry on about how easy it’ll be to slaughter whoever dares to face the Mighty Cardinals.
If anyone is going to ruin the Cubs’ chances of getting to the World Series, shouldn’t it be the Cardinals? Beating Pittsburgh would be nice and all that, but what satisfaction do you get from that? Mocking bottles of Heinz Ketchup? Cardinals fans deserve better than that.

So you see, Cardinals fans, there are plenty of reasons for you to toss aside your long standing hatred of the Cubs, at least for one night. Think of it as short-term pain for long-term gain. Don’t you want to see the Cubs humiliated by The Cardinal Way? Wouldn’t you like to take a nice four hour ride to follow your heroes and see them advance to the NLCS by winning game 3 or 4 at what the late Steve Goodman called an “ivy-covered burial ground“? Well, that can’t happen if the Pirates prevail Wednesday night. Face it, Cardinal Nation, if the Cubs win Wednesday night, so do you. If they lose, it’s just another Red October without all the juicy hatred and rivalry the Cubs stir up in you.

I bet Fredbird would even be celebrating a Cards/Cubs NLDS series.

St. Louis, A Tale Of Two Cities, Again

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 18:23:00 +0000

I've been hesitant to write this post for quite a while because I rely on the taxis in St. Louis to get around since I'm visually handicapped. I have no reason whatsoever to think that speaking out, even indirectly, against the taxi companies will affect my ability to get a cab when I need one. I find myself far from the center of the debate I'm going to discuss here, and for a multitude of reasons, I don't see myself taking a leadership position in the quest to get Uber and Lyft to St. Louis. Edward Domain is doing a tremendous job in that area and I support the effort fully. However, I do need taxis often and don't want my personal opinions to get in the way of being able to get to things like doctor's appointments. But as they say, No Guts, No Glory, so here's what's on my mind.

Courtesy Thomas Hawk

St. Louis is two cities, the one real people live in and the one the small group of civic and business leaders think they've created that simply doesn't exist except in their minds. All too often, decisions are made for the latter city, with the needs of people in the real city not taken into account or completely taken for granted. The issue of ridesharing shines a blinding spotlight on the differences between the real St. Louis and the "heavy hitters" perception of the city and St. Louis County.

Using an app to order
a ride via Uber

The region has more than it's share of problems, murder, crime, the economy, the upcoming loss of the St. Louis Rams and more. Leaders, at least some of them, are trying to fight all the problems while they try to promote St. Louis as a great place for tech companies to start or relocate. But one of the problems with bringing tech workers to town, and a long-lasting, unsolved problem of the region that these same leaders choose to ignore, is the horrendous transportation system in the region. If you don't have a car, you're basically screwed. Taxis are expensive and often hard to come by. The public transit system serves only parts of the region, needs to be expanded and enriched, but isn't likely to have that happen for a long time. There will be more cutbacks before there are new light rail lines, BRT, or expanded bus service. One alternative that, for the most part, is working well is for people to use a service where they can order a ride that is often less expensive than a taxi using a smartphone app.

In order to try to address the region's inadequate transportation choices for people who either can't or don't want to drive their own car, Uber and a group of very passionate supporters want to bring the service to STL. And to be clear, when I say "the service", I'm talking about the affordable UberX service where people giving the rides drive their own cars. St. Louis already has "Uber Black", the luxury car/limousine version of Uber. Right now, St. Louis is the largest metropolitan area in the country without Uber, Lyft, or any other form of ridesharing. To say the least, the (and I have no other word for this) battle to bring ridesharing to St. Louis has been a spectacle. The Metropolitan Taxi Commission, about half of whose members own or work for local taxi companies, has steadfastly blocked Uber from coming to the region, throwing up roadblocks every time it seems like a deal is done to license Uber. Just this week, it looked like the Commission was close to coming up with reasonable rules for Uber and Lyft to operate under, but the meeting turned into a melee, complete with police escorting citizens out of the meeting room.

Courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This insightful article by David Nicklaus of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at the Uber situation from a strictly business perspective, and like so many other times progress is impeded in St. Louis, cites local history for valuable lessons that the Powers That Be should be paying attention to. But the entrenched, closed circle of St. Louis political and regulatory leadership keeps on finding ways to ignore both that history and the needs of people in the region.

St. Louis is running out of eyes to blacken (as in from getting punched around over and over). The region should have ridesharing and the regulators who are holding that back should get over themselves and take the public's interests and needs into account. Once we get this embarrassing debacle behind us, maybe we as a region can spend our time and energy dealing with far more serious problems.

The End Of An Era, And The End Of A Genre

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 20 May 2015 22:35:00 +0000

When I started the day, I made a promise on Facebook that I wouldn't post incessantly about the end of David Letterman's Late Show. But I HAD to write at least one thing. For any student of broadcasting, any student of comedy, or anyone who lived through the last 33 years, this is a truly bittersweet day. And for some of us, it's just a little more sad. I won't dwell on all the things you've probably seen on real media outlets, but I wanted to share some personal recollection on David Letterman's talent and influence on my life.

I spent my formative years in Indianapolis, and have a very unique experience of watching a very young David Letterman and a very young Jane Pauley start their careers on local television. Jane was, and still is, a magnificent newsperson but Dave started out a little bit differently. He was the smart ass who was sitting in the back of the room throwing spitballs at the teacher while the teacher was trying to explain the Roman empire. Even as early as the mid 70s, Dave was the guy who was breaking rules and changing the way those of us in our impressionable years molded our personalities. Just listen to the writing and delivery on this rare audio of Dave doing radio bits in 1974, courtesy of Brad Krantz.

People in Indy knew Dave had "something", but most of them didn't know exactly what it was. But it did land him a full time job at WLWI, the then ABC affiliate. Here's a video of some of Dave's local television work, hosting a 4H talkshow, doing the weather, and other middle market television duties in Indianapolis.

You've got to understand, that as a 15 or 16-year-old kid growing up in ultra conservative Indianapolis, seeing this kind of stuff on local television had a huge effect on me. Not only was it incredibly funny, but it proved that you could be sarcastic, sardonic, and silly without being shot at sunrise. I felt that this guy gave me permission to come out of my shell and develop a personality that was uniquely mine without fear of being seen as a freak. Of course, if you talked to my classmates at North Central High School, many still thought of me as a freak and do to this very day. But that's another blog post

After gaining a foothold in television and doing guest comedy bits on legendary Indy radio stations like WNAP, David Letterman somehow found himself becoming a radio talk show host on WNTS, perhaps the worst radio signal in Indianapolis, a daytime station at 1590, WAY at the end of the AM dial. Just to give you an idea of what a potential train wreck the station was, this was their building.

But Dave did amazing radio. There aren't many tapes of his work at WNTS, otherwise I'd post them here. But he was simply hilarious, doing "bits" unlike anything heard on the radio at the time and coining phrases like "homelisteners" to refer to his audience, a term that' morphed into "homeviewers" during his TV career. The son of the owner of WNTS and General Manager of the station was Jeff Smulyan, who has always had a keen eye for talent and broadcasting, and later went on to found (and still runs) Emmis Communications. On a side note, I tried to call into Dave's show often, and hardly got more than a few what I thought were brilliant words out before he'd call me a "snot-nosed kid" and hung up on me with great aplomb. I don't think I ever got past the second sentence, and sadly have never communicated directly with Dave since those days.

At some point, most everyone realizes they've done all they can do in Indianapolis, and Dave was no exception. He got his wife Michelle, loaded up a red pickup truck, and headed to Los Angeles. This is where the well shared stories about David Letterman in just about every media outlet start, and where, in the interest of brevity, I take a pause in the Dave stories.

Fast forward to 1980. With The Gong Show's run finished, I needed a reason to avoid college classes by watching oddball TV shows, and I discovered my childhood hero Dave Letterman had a NETWORK show. None of this cheesy local programming, a real live network show with an audience, Edwin Newman, an actual News God, doing updates, and crazy things that nobody had ever seen on television before. He had semi-regular guest players like Chris Elliott, Edie McClurg as the wonderful Mrs. Marv Mendenhall, and many more. It was absolute genius, and that's why it lasted only four months.

But like Jeff Smulyan before him, Fred Silverman, who was running NBC, saw that there was something amazing about Dave, so, as is well documented in other places, Dave got his own show in the Wasteland of the Vast Wasteland, 12:30AM Eastern. And it was spectacular. You know the story, I won't go into it, but for many years, I never missed the show, watching it in real time even though I had to get up at 3:30AM to produce a radio show for some of that time. It didn't matter, you never knew what a going to happen next on the show, screaming at workers in Rockefeller Center with a bullhorn, jumping into water in an Alka-Seltzer suit, having Jay Thomas throw footballs at a meatball on top of a Christmas tree, it was all off the wall, usually hilarious, and completely different than anything else on TV.

Perhaps my favorite recurring bit on the show, both at NBC and CBS, a the annual visit from Darlene Love and her singing the classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)". After her final performance of the song last year, the Late Show staff put together this supercut of all her performances. I only have two words to describe it, musical magic.

I can't talk about David Letterman and how much he means to me without sharing two personal stories, so please indulge me. My wife and I got to see Late Night With David Letterman tape in the mid 90's, and it was amazing. But perhaps the part I'll remember most was before the show. As things often happened for me in those days, we got our tickets from a staffer on the show who was the friend of a friend, so we sort of had to sneak our way into what was then (and to me will always be) the RCA Building, we went up to the offices and got taken to the 6th floor studio. We were early, so the person who was taking care of us suggested we wait for a while up on the 9th floor in the NBC Commissary and she'd come get us when it was time for warm-up. I'd been to the legendary Commissary before, but my wife hadn't. So we hung out there having a drink with me rambling on about how Johnny Carson made jokes about the place when he was in the building and who I'd seen there in the past. Just then, Hal Gurnee, who was a TV legend in his own right, but was better known as the Director of

Legendary Director Hal Gurnee

Late Night, walked in. If you remember those days, Hal was a part of the show and had become kind of a cult hero. To make a long story short, I can clearly remember Hal's blue shirt and the fact he grabbed a snack and coffee before showtime. It was "a moment", to sit a few tables away from HAL EMMY AWARD FREAKING GURNEE. I can't tell you who was on the show, what jokes Dave told, but I can tell you all about my "brush with greatness" with Hal Gurnee.

One last thing. One of the Executive Producers of the Late Show With David Letterman is a lady named Barbara Gaines. She's been featured on the show on and off over the years in many different ways, but her story is much more significant to the success of the show. She started out as the receptionist on the Morning Show, has been with Letterman through thick and thin, and, as many of the unheralded staff and crew of TV shows are, is not recognized for the tremendous contribution she's made to Dave's career. I found her on Twitter (no, I wasn't stalking her) yesterday and sent a short "thank you" tweet.

.@barbara_gaines1 THANK YOU for being there since the start & for helping bring pure joy to our lives. YOU made a difference!
— Mark Edwards (@markedwards) May 20, 2015

I know this sounds geeky and a little bit creepy to some, but I was stunned to see that she favorited the tweet and followed me. That may not mean much to most people, but it's a true honor to be noticed by one of the unsung heroes of Dave Letterman's magnificent career. Barbara, not that you'll read this, but I'm deeply touched.

I loved Johnny Carson, but only really appreciated his talent and interviewing style towards the end of his career. I feel like I've had some kind of connection to David Letterman most of my life, and I've laughed and learned from him. I believe he's the last of the late night sitting-behind-the-desk-with-a-big-non-functioning-microphone-on-it hosts. Yes, we have Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and those who will follow them, but the guy who set the tone for all of them is Letterman. 33 years on network television is an amazing run, especially with some of the bumps in the road he's endured. But his wit, wisdom, and whimsy have changed the late night talk show genre forever, and we should all be proud that, just as with people like Michael Jordan and other one of a kind megastars, we got to see Dave in his prime. There will never be another David Letterman, and, at least to me, he will be missed.

But that still doesn't make up for hanging up on me so many times.

Flying While Disabled-A Cautionary Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 May 2015 22:06:00 +0000

I have a vision problem. Actually, I'm legally blind. I'm usually able to take care of myself and get around just fine, although I don't see well enough to drive. I've discovered that as air travel and airports get harder for all of us to deal with, I need some help when I fly. The airlines are supposed to provide assistance for disabled passengers, and some do a fine job in that area. Of course, there are exceptions to that, and this is a true story about my latest flying experience. It's not presented for sympathy or pity. I'm sharing because people with a disability should know what to expect when flying, what their rights are, and how to deal with airlines and airports when something goes wrong. This post was updated on August 11, 2015.

Remember when airlines claimed to make travel a "special" experience, even running ads like this on TV?

If you've flown anywhere in the last ten years, you know those days are over and this is what flying is like now.

It isn't pretty. It isn't easy. And it's harder if you have any kind of a disability. Yes, there are laws that provide protection and help for disabled flyers like 14 CFR Part 382, which provides for nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in air travel, but the laws are only as good as the airline employees who have to follow and enforce them. More often than not, the airlines are aware of the laws and do their best to follow them. But when airline employees don't follow the rules, things can go horribly wrong.

I had to fly from St. Louis to Boston on April 28, 2015.

American And US Airways, Together

I bought my ticket on American Airlines, and as it turns out, the flights I was taking were operated by US Airways, the company that recently "merged" with American. As soon as I made the reservation for this trip, I contacted both American Airlines, who I bought the ticket from, and US Airways, who was operating the flights. I let them both know that I am legally blind, would need wheelchair assistance getting to the gate because it's sometimes hard for me to see signs in some airports and would need to sit near the front of the plane because I have problems navigating the aisles and can't see the signs above the rows. When I got to the airport in St. Louis for the first leg of my flight the term SSR (airline talk for Special Service Request) was on my tickets and the people at the US Airways ticket counter knew that I had special needs. The gate agent and flight attendant on that flight were very helpful and made sure that I was able to find my way and get everything I needed. That's the way things are supposed to work under the Air Carrier Access Act.

When I got to Philadelphia, I was quickly taken to my departure gate and I checked in with the gate agent to let them know I was there and had special needs. They found me on the manifest and said they would let me pre-board and take care of me on board. They did let me pre-board, but mispronounced my name so I had to go after a few other people. When I got on the plane, I was unable to introduce myself to the flight attendant because she was looking away from the door doing something in the galley. I always try to identify myself when I get on a plane. However, this time I was not able to. To make a very long story short, I had to go back about four rows behind my seat in order to find an overhead compartment to stow my suitcase as the one above my seat was already taken. During the flight, the flight attendant never approached or acknowledged me as having special needs.

This is when things went wrong, really wrong.

Not my actual bag

When the flight landed in Boston, I let people who were rushing to deplane get off the plane and found a break in the line that I could use to go back and get my suitcase. I got it out of the bin facing towards the back of the airplane. I turned around with the suitcase and tripped on the leg of a seat, which I could not see. I fell on my knees and my hands and it hurt quite a bit on my knees. The flight attendant was probably five rows ahead of me and she did not do anything to help me, didn't even walk towards me or ask if I needed help. When I got myself up, I realized that my leg was bleeding and I told her that she hadn't done her job because I had an SSR and she didn't look out for me. She claimed she never saw an SSR for me. I explained that there was one on my first flight and that the Gate Agent saw it, so she must not have looked very hard. I told her I wanted to speak to the captain about the situation and I wanted her to come off the plane with me so we could reported to the CRO (Complaints Resolution Official) on duty. She refused to leave the plane and when she asked the captain what to do he said he didn't know. In fairness to her, a flight attendant isn't supposed to deplane while passengers are on board, but she didn't even come off to follow up with me or the gate agent once the plane had emptied out.

I walked down the Jetway with my pants covered with blood and my leg bleeding. The gate agent was a CRO and I told him what happened. His immediate response was "what do you want"? I told him I wanted my pants replaced, to fly home on a different airline, and a full refund of my ticket price. According to the ACAA, he had the authority to resolve the problem on the spot, and I wanted to clear things up as soon as I could. the Massport EMTs were called to look over the bleeding knee, examined me, they cleaned it up, and applied a bandage to it. They asked me if I wanted to go to the hospital, and I declined but asked them to file a report of the problem for the record.

My leg and pants after EMT's cleaned me up

The male CRO (whose name tag I couldn't see so I don't have his name) was very helpful in re booking me on another airline for my return home and having a check drawn for $40 to help pay for my pants. (I haven't done anything with the check because the whole situation is still not settled) However, we were not able to agree on the refund of my entire ticket price. He said that the reason that wasn't possible is I was technically still traveling and that a refund couldn't be processed until I returned. On a number of occasions, he said that refund would probably show up on Friday May 1st. Later on, it was made clear to me that a refund would probably be out of the question. I reminded this gentleman and a lady who was helping him named Heleine Delalue that he had agreed to that refund and then he needed to find out who could get it done. They called the station manager, the person who oversees US Airways operations in Boston, and his response was the same, that I would have to deal with Customer Relations after my travels were over to try to get the refund.

I could tell we had done all that we could do, so after about 3 hours of activities after I fell, I was put in a cab and sent to my hotel. Later that night, I received the CRO's report to the airline, posted below.As you can plainly see about halfway down the page, there's a question "Did a violation occur?" The CRO checked "YES", meaning that the airline had violated the ACAA. In other words, he admitted that his company broke the law.

USAirways:American CRO Report 042815 Copy by Mark Edwards

I posted quite liberally on social media about my injury. Here are some of the first posts. You might want to open the Facebook post to see the reaction I got. Sorry the same photo is repeated.

When I fly, I usually ask for assistance because I don't see very well. I asked USAirways for the same assistance on...
Posted by Mark Edwards on Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Fell getting off @USAirways plane in #BOS. So much for these pants. Flight Att saw me fall and just stood there. pic.twitter.com/QG0jQF5B5M
— Mark Edwards (@markedwards) April 28, 2015

Trying to get the situation resolved

I received a call from a gentleman in American Airlines customer relations the next day, Wednesday, saying that he had seen my social media posts and wanted to talk about the situation to me. I asked if he was calling because I had filed a complaint at the airport, and he said no, it was only because of my social media activities. I explained to him that the outstanding issue was the fact that I wanted to be reimbursed for the full amount of my plane ticket. He told me that he would have to check into that and we get back to me in the next day or so. I asked him to get back to me by the end of business on May 1st, because I wanted this situation resolved, over and done with. In writing this, it is 3:22PM on May 3rd and I have heard nothing else from American Airlines Customer Relations despite many Facebook posts and tweets to their social media team.

I found out that the flight was actually operated by Republic Airways, I left messages for their senior management on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon I get a call back from Julie Moser, their customer service director and I asked her for the name of the flight attendant. She would not give it to me. She was under the impression that I was ready to file a personal injury lawsuit and I explained to her that I did indeed mention that at the airport because it was an option but I have not decided whether to exercise it or not. She claimed that American Airlines turned my case over to her because of the threat of a lawsuit and that her airline would have to shoulder the burden of that situation. I explained that I had not decided what action I was going to take at that point, but I did want the name of the flight attendant for my records. She said she would get back to her counterpart an American Airlines and see what they can do to get this situation behind us.

I still haven't heard from her. I did try to call her again on Friday, May 1st to follow up but never received a return call. I also called the US Airways disability hotline on May 1st to try to speak to someone and was only able to leave voicemail. American Airlines does not have a telephone contact method as the phone number listed on their website has been disconnected. As a last resort, I left a message with American Airlines' Media Relations department Friday evening. I received a call the next day from a very nice lady in Media Relations, not Customer Relations, who listened to my story and said she couldn't help me, but would talk to someone in Customer Relations and I'd hear back from them "soon". I'm still waiting, just like I have been waiting for the help the American Airlines Twitter team promised early in this situation.

@markedwards It doesn't look good, Mark. We hope you feel better soon. Let us know if we can help.
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 28, 2015

So five days later, I have a huge scab on my knee, a large bruise under it, and while I can bend my leg (which I couldn't do for two days after the fall) a pretty fair amount of pain. And no resolution from US Airways, American Airlines, or Republic Airways.

What to do if you have a disability and have to fly

I thought I did everything I could have to prevent any problems while flying, but even the best preparation can be foiled by bad airline employees, the monopolistic "customer service" practices of the few remaining national airlines, and fate. If you have a disability and need to take a trip by air, I suggest you do these things.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS. The US Department Of Transportation has many resources showing the rights of the disabled. If you don't want quite as much information as that link has, here's a handy guide that puts your rights in simple terms.
LET THEM KNOW BEFORE YOU GO. Call your airline's reservation number or look on their website for Disability Services contact information. Once you've made your reservation and have a record locator, contact the airline and let them know EXACTLY what you need to accommodate your special needs. Don't be afraid to ask for what you really need, most airlines will do whatever they can to make your travel experience as painless as possible.
GET TO THE AIRPORT EARLY AND IDENTIFY YOURSELF. Even if you already have your boarding pass, get in the airline's ticket line in the lobby of the airport. There are usually airline employees roaming the line and you can tell them you have special needs. They'll get you to the right place and right people to help you, or at least they're supposed to.
IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG AT THE AIRPORT, ASK TO SPEAK TO A CRO. The CRO, as mentioned above, has the authority to resolve any problems on the spot. The law requires that at least one CRO be on duty at the airport when their airline is operating. If for some reason the airline can't put you in touch with a CRO, they're violating the law. Ask for the person in charge of the airline's operations at the airport, even if they need to get them on the phone.
IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG ON THE PLANE, TALK TO THE CAPTAIN. Even the "Senior" or "Head" Flight Attendant is just that, a flight attendant. The Captain of the plane has the final word on what is right or wrong and how to resolve a problem. Be strong, many flight attendants don't want their bad decisions overruled by the Captain, but you can consult him if you feel your rights aren't being respected.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO COMPLAIN, AND COMPLAIN LOUDLY.

Once your travel is over, you can discuss any bad experiences you've had with the airline. Most of them have a special Disability Hotline listed on their website for problems. You may have to look hard to find it, but it's there. And if the airline is too slow, unhelpful, or refuses to deal with your issue, file a complaint with the Department Of Transportation. You can do it over the phone, online, or via mail. Your complaint will be investigated, you'll get a full report of the investigation, and if the airline broke any rules, they will be held accountable for the violations. One thing to be aware of is that the airline has 30 days to respond to a complaint once they get it from the Department Of Transportation, and they usually take every nanosecond of that 30 days to respond. Don't expect a quick resolution, but expect a fair resolution by the specialists at the Department Of Transportation. Some of them are disabled themselves, and they really do understand both the laws and what it's like to travel with a disability.
IF ALL ELSE FAILS, SUE. Even if the Department Of Transportation finds that the airline has violated the ACAA or other regulations, they can't award you anything for damages. They CAN fine the airline and use your complaint to establish a pattern of misbehavior. I'm not a lawyer, but using the legal system might be a remedy in some cases, especially when monetary damages or injuries are involved. Don't just go out and file a lawsuit because you feel like it, find a disability rights attorney and discuss the case with her. Then you'll know if it's worth your time and effort to take that route. I might suggest you talk to more than one lawyer to make sure you're getting the best advice and a plan of action you're comfortable with.

Air travel is hard enough these days, and having any kind of disability, small or large, just makes it harder. I pray nothing like what happened to me happens to you, but I hope you can be better prepared for your next air excursion after hearing about my experiences and how to prevent bad things from happening to you when you travel. Please share your tips, comments, or other things you do to travel without incident in the comments below. And if you know someone with a disability or an organization that helps the disables, please share this tale with them. It could make someone's next trip a lot less challenging.

UPDATE AUGUST 11, 2015 The US Department Of Transportation found Republic Airlines violated Section 382.111(e) of the Air Carrier Assistance Act by not properly assisting me after I told them I had a disability. The airline received a formal warning about their illegal conduct, and this event will be taken into account when evaluating the airline's performance, possibly leading to a cease and desist order and/or civil penalties. The DOT issued a report today saying air travel complaints rose in the first half of 2015, and this unfortunate incident was one of the complaints. As of today, I have not settled my dispute with Republic Airlines.

The Next Adventure Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 20:55:00 +0000

Yes, I'm guilty.

Guilty as charged for not updating this blog for over a year. I could give you a million excuses from "I had a nasty paper cut on my pinky and couldn't type" to "The dog ate it", but I won't. I've been working hard and trying to spend time with the family, doing some very interesting projects, and my attention shifted away from this platform. I promise to do better in the future, especially since I have so much to talk about.

So where were we? Life has been quite intense and interesting since I last posted here. In addition to my consultancy, Mark Edwards Worldwide, I've been working on an assignment for the United States Department of Justice for the last six months. I can't go into details about it, but I was working outside of the house and putting in some very long hours. It was a fascinating experience, and I learned a lot. But that all changed last week.

I've accepted the position as Genre Manager/Musical Technical Director at a CÜR Music. The service will be launching later this year, and it will shatter everything you know about streaming music. I've been consulting the company for almost a year now, and they brought me on to help build the tools and systems that will schedule and deliver music to our users as well as to be the "bridge" between the Development Team and the Music CÜR8tors Team to make sure everybody understands what needs to be done to make this service succeed, both with disruptive content and world class technology. The company has some extraordinary bright and forward thinking people behind it and is poised to really shake things up in the streaming music space.

The great thing about this opportunity is that I get to use what I know about music programming, writing computer code, and the online world all at once. And while the company's offices are on the East Coast, I'll be able to do most of my work from home in St. Louis thanks to the miracle of the Interwebz. It's a truly once in a lifetime opportunity to do all the things I love at once and help build what I believe will be a juggernaut of a company in the process.

Another benefit of this job is that I'll be much easier to reach than I've been over the last year or so. If you have my personal e mail, by all means use it. If you don't, my work e mail is medwards@curmusic.com. My phone number remains the same at 77.333.MARKE and I'll be hanging out on Skype most of the time as MarkECubFan. And if you're a FaceTime user, you can now find me at any e mail address you have for me. There are about a dozen other ways to reach me, and you can find all of them on my About.me page.

Again, I am sorry I fell off the grid. It was unavoidable with the projects I was working on. I look forward to being easier to find, catching up with you, and staying in touch in the future. And yes, I'll do my best to post more regularly here on MarkEdwardsUncensored.com.

R.I.P Judy Martin

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 19:51:00 +0000

It seems that I write too many posts about those we've lost, but those who have touched our lives and made the world a better place deserve to be remembered.

Judy Martin

One of those people is Judy Martin, a person I had the pleasure of interviewing a couple of times on the John Tesh Network in 2012. Judy was a TV news anchor, ran the website WorkLifeNation.com, and was one of the most interesting and inspirational people I had the pleasure of interviewing during the all too short life of the long form interview series I did for John.

You can read more about Judy in this story from the New York Daily News. I first heard of the passing of Judy Martin from Susan Steinbrecher, who runs a firm called Steinbrecker and Associates and posted this touching tribute on her website:

I was shocked and saddened yesterday to hear of the sudden passing of someone I truly admired; Emmy award-winning journalist, author, yoga/meditation instructor and well-known work/life balance champion and blogger, Judy Martin.

A quote from Judy’s website aptly describes her work as a work/life balance consultant:

Essentially, I teach business professionals the skills they need to take their stress down a notch. To be fully present and harness awareness at work and in business, to cultivate an inner state of calm, clarity and resilience that is completely aligned with their values and highest purpose in the face of an uncertain marketplace. It’s what I call the “exaltation” of the human experience in business.

Judy touched the lives of many. She was approachable, candid, sincere, intelligent, and of course, a truly gifted writer.

Outside of the respect I had for her life-changing work, it was Judy’s palpable warmth that endeared me to her the most. I “met” Judy, virtually, on Twitter back in 2009—but we never actually met in person. Yet we shared such wonderful discussions over the phone, via email – and on Twitter – (I will dearly miss our late evening DM exchanges wherein she would check in on me to see how life was, and to update me on business and personal events). On all of these occasions, she made me feel like we were longtime friends.

Throughout these exchanges, I came to respect and admire her work more and more, and, in 2011, she agreed to be interviewed for my book, Kensho, A Modern Awakening, on the significance of mindfulness and work/life balance. Most recently, after reading the manuscript for my upcoming book, she generously offered to write a testimonial.

About a week ago, Judy DM’d me that she was excited to be working on something new, another book project and she wanted to interview me for it. I was honored, and we both vowed once again that we would try to meet each other in person, someday soon.

Sadly, that “some day” will never come…

I went over to her twitter feed today. For some reason, I wanted to see what that last 140-character communiqué into the world had been. I became overwhelmed with emotion when I saw it:

Judy Martin ‏‪@judymartin8 Jan 31

Living In The Moment – Why Is It So Important And Why Should You Care?‪http://goo.gl/oiyyPT

I clicked on the link and the first thing I saw at the top of the page was this quote:

“The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live It.” ~ Thomas S. Monson

I’m sure Judy would want all of us to be mindful of this message, each and every day that we are blessed with on this earth. I am so grateful to have known her.

RIP Judy Martin 1965-2014

I went to the archives and found my interviews with Judy, done just after Superstorm Sandy demolished part of Long Island, where Judy lived and worked as an anchor and reporter on Long Island's channel 12. We talked about Sandy, work/life balance, and much more. The interviews are below in tribute to Judy Martin.

Sometimes the people the world loses aren't the biggest stars or world leaders, but they do much to change the world. Judy Martin was one of those people. May her memory be a blessing.

In Praise Of The Under Appreciated HR Director

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 18:46:00 +0000

Here's a question for business owners and managers. When was the last time you hugged your HR department?

It occurs to me that the human resource manager, human resource assistants, recruiters or whatever you call the people in your HR department are the unsung heroes of business in 2014. They have to find the right people, train the people, and then retain the people for it as long as possible. With all the talent available these days, that's a very very tall order.

Yes, the government says that the unemployment rate dropped to 6.7% today. Theoretically, that's good news, especially if you ignore the low number of jobs created in December. But it also means that a lot of people have just stopped looking for jobs and left the work force. And that might make the HR department's job a little harder because some of those people could be diamonds in the rough for your company. Perhaps their skill set doesn't exactly line up with what you're looking for, maybe they are over 40 and have had jobs in industries that don't exactly match yours, or maybe they just were honest about how much money they wanted to make when they filled out applications. For whatever reason, they've climbed out of the talent pool and therefore can't be used as human capital.

How important is finding and keeping talent? Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, opened the 2013 event in Davos by asking "Is talentism the new capitalism?". He talked about the importance of talent and how having the right people can provide a huge competitive advantage for any organization. Everyone has the same computer programs, analytic tools, and syndicated data to work with, but the key to making all those things work right is having the right talent to use them, interpret them, and put them to work for your business. And in most companies, finding that talent falls squarely on the shoulders of the overworked and undervalued human resource department.

Many businesses try to help their HR department with this daunting task by

getting them applicant tracking software so they don't have to spend as much time looking at every application that comes in for every opening no matter how big or small it is. We all know how the software works, whether it's Taleo or Kenexa or another vendor's system. The HR person puts in the parameters they are looking for, adds the keywords, presses the button, and the job is posted for all to see. Then the system scans the applications, looks for the best matches, and puts them in a file. The applicants who don't match the qualifications set by the HR department sometimes get a nice rejection letter but tend to go into another file never to be seen again.

Technology is good, and having been a hiring manager I know that often times most of the people applying for a job simply aren't qualified. That's why applicant tracking software was invented, to weed those people out so that the overworked HR department or recruiter can concentrate on the best people based on their keywords.

But technology has its limits. In an ever-changing world where so many people are trying to reinvent themselves or enter a new industry, applicant tracking systems don't see how the skills these candidates bring to the table can match the keywords for the open positions. It's no one's fault, it's just the way computers work and the applicant tracking system is doing the best job you can based on the information it was given. So is the recruiter really getting the very best person for the job? According to the applicant tracking software, they are. But in reality they may not be. And if that perfect person ends up getting noticed by your competitor, your company has lost the opportunity to acquire a valuable piece of human capital. Sometimes, and probably more often than that, the real best person for the job doesn't make it over one of the benchmarks in the ATS and they get thrown out, leaving the company with no idea that they're missing out on a potential superstar.

To try to show this theory in a real world experiment, I applied for a job that I am well-qualified for yesterday after 5 PM. The application was through an applicant tracking system which was nice enough to send me an automated response saying they had gotten my stuff and would consider me for the job. At a little after 11 PM last night, six hours after making the application and most likely while the HR department at this company was far from their desks, I received a rejection letter for the job I just applied for. I can't prove this, but I can bet that my application was never seen by the retina of any human eye. It didn't match the keywords or got bounced for some other reason and the recruiter or HR director at this company will never know that I applied for the job. They lost the chance to at least investigate the acquisition of good human capital. And if I get a similar job at their competition, they lose the never ending battle of having the best people in their company.

I don't envy the role of a recruiter or HR director in this day and age. Too many tasks, too little time, and not enough help makes the job one of the most challenging in any firm. But companies who don't invest in finding the best human capital and looking beyond the applicant tracking systems are likely missing the opportunity to grow a world-class organization. Not having the human touch in the recruiting process could theoretically make the difference between success and failure for a project or an entire company. Setting one parameter unwisely in the ATS can rob a business of the person they need to move forward without them even knowing it because the HR Director or hiring manager will never see the application.

I worked for a decade at Viacom, and the chairman of the company, Sumner Redstone, was well known for saying that his most valuable assets go down the elevator at the end of the day. He knew that it was the people that worked for him that made his brands great. He also knew it was the people that did the work that generated the profits that he and his stockholders enjoyed. Even the strongest brand has to be powered by human capital.

So I go back to the question I opened this post with. When was the last time you

hugged your HR department? What have you done for them to make their jobs a little easier, a lot more productive, and help contribute more to the acquisition of the very best human capital out there? In 2014, it's about the people working in the companies that will decide success or failure. Think about that when you're looking at your HR budget or when you walk past that department in your company. Those people need a hug, and a whole lot more.

Mercer released a report about the importance of human capital. You can find a link to download the Executive Summary here. If you're in HR, you might want to print it and leave it on your boss's chair.

Price-Gouging Pharmacies, Inflexible Insurance, and Healthcare 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 20:39:00 +0000

Normally at this time of the year, people write their end of the year reviews or predictions for the year ahead. I find most of those features slightly more entertaining than guessing how many times Ryan Seacrest has his makeup touched up during his Times Square broadcast on New Year's Eve. So rather than write about what I saw in the last year or what I see ahead, I want to share a true story about healthcare, especially with the Affordable Care Act affecting so many people. There is a lesson here, or at least I hope there is.

Metformin, prescribed 48 million
times a year

I'm a fat guy, and fat guys sometimes get high blood sugar or diabetes. My doctor recently put me on a medication to try and keep my sugar down, along with diet and exercise. I don't mind telling you what the stuff is, it's called Metformin and it's been around forever as a first step in treating cases like mine. No big deal, let's try this stuff for a few months and see if it helps.

I took the prescription to my neighborhood Walgreen's store, got it filled and paid $8.01 for a month's supply using my health insurance. When I tried to get it filled for the third month of the experiment, my insurance company, Express Scripts, refused to pay for the medicine, saying after two fills I HAD to get the drug filled in a 90 day supply via mail order through them. No exceptions, even though you only need 30 days to see if the stuff works, you need to get a 90 day supply and wait for us to mail it to you.

Full disclosure: I've had so many problems with Express Scripts "customer care", website, and mobile app that I've offered to come to work for them or consult to help them improve what is arguably some of the worst "customer care" other than major airlines. Funny, I've never heard back from them.

Walgreen's already had the refill being processed, so I checked with them to see how much it would cost without insurance paying part of the freight. After all, the insurance price for the generic was just over eight bucks,, the pill has been around forever, and it's a generic. How much worse could it be? How about $24.99? You're seeing it right, no insurance and I have to pay more than THREE TIMES the cost of the drug, which I guessing wholesales for about $3.50. Now I know every pharmacy makes most of their money at the "back of the store" on prescriptions, but $25 for something that cost $8 with insurance? I might have to call that price gouging. Wait, I already called it that.

So I took to the interwebz and did some comparison shopping. Turns out

Metformin is an inexpensive drug, so inexpensive that big box stores and other places that offer $4.00 30 day prescriptions have it on their list. So do many grocery stores with pharmacies, and I like to give my business to local companies

when I can, so I had the prescription transferred to Dierbergs, a family-owned St. Louis grocery chain. They're just a few blocks away from Walgreen's, even have a drive though pharmacy, and sell the same exact pill, right down to the manufacturer, for HALF of what I was paying for it using my health insurance and less than ONE SIXTH of what I would have to pay at retail.

Here's the lesson, one that will get more and more important as Big Pharma, doctors, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers try to figure our how to make more money in the new world of Obamacare. These people are not your friends. They don't stay up nights figuring out ways to save you money on the services and medicines you need. They have no guilt about charging you $25 for a drug you can get down the street for $4. Forget the commercials with the caring, fatherly doctor or pharmacist making people happy. Those people are actors, and they're doing a mighty fine job of playing the part of someone who gives a damn about you.

Healthcare, and especially the pharmaceutical industry is BIG business. Don't just take what your insurance company or pharmacy says as gospel. Take a little time to make sure you're not being taken advantage of and overpaying for the things you need, whether it's Metformin or (G-d forbid) a mastectomy. Get a second opinion, check to see if you can get the same medicine or service for less, and sometimes that means not using your insurance at all and taking advantage of a better deal. You'll be healthier, happier, and have more money in your pocket.

Mark Edwards Worldwide Returns

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 05 Oct 2013 17:00:00 +0000

This post was originally published on the Mark Edwards Worldwide Blog on October 3, 2013.

I wanted you to know about a decision I've made. As I see the digital media landscape unfolding and the opportunities to create a myriad of highly effective content growing, I'm returning to working with selected clients at the consultancy I've run since 2007, Mark Edwards Worldwide. This move will allow me to maximize my time and efficiency while sharing the things I've learned about the digital, social media, and new technology spaces with clients who really want to succeed in those worlds. It gives me great pleasure to say that TeshMedia is on the client list so I'll be able to continue to work with John and his team going forward.

After working for a year and a half as Senior Vice President of Content Development with John Tesh and the TeshMedia Group, we've accomplished a lot, more than doubling our online audience, growing website visits and conversions, and starting a video version of John's Intelligence For Your Life brand.

I've had the chance to implement countless online and social media programs, develop and fine tune best practices, learn an astonishing amount about online video and TV production, and help contribute to the continued success of the John Tesh Radio Show. It's been the most rewarding professional experience of my career, and I know the things I've learned working with John and his gifted team will help me immensely. You can see many of the fruits of our labors at the new IntelligenceForYourLife.com and in our new mobile apps.

I'm always on the lookout for the next opportunity, whether it be in a consulting, project, or full time capacity, so please keep me in mind for anything you might know about and feel free to share my contact information with your network.

I'd like to thank John and the TeshMedia family for a wonderful experience and thank you for your friendship and support. Let's stay in touch and do great things together. You can find me here and get all my contact info at http://about.me/markedwards.

The Cubs Have Crossed The Red, um, YELLOW Line

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

This blog item is reposted from my official Major League Baseball Blog.

I haven't posted about the Cubs all this season for one simple reason. They stink. The owners stink, the players try their best but overall they stink, and it's been a horrible season. I haven't even gotten the chance to get up to the Friendly Confines Of Wrigley Field for a game due to work commitments.

But when I woke up this morning and saw this story in what we used to call the World's Greatest Newspaper, my blood went into boiling mode and I simply had to chime in with my thoughts.

Courtesy Chicago Tribune

chicagotribune.com

Anheuser-Busch new Cubs exclusive beer sponsor

Large beer sign to go up in Wrigley Field's right-field bleachers
By Josh Noel and Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune reporters

10:09 PM CDT, September 6, 2013

The Cubs announced a deal Friday to make Anheuser-Busch their exclusive beer sponsor in 2014 and beyond, and they plan to install a 650-square-foot Budweiser sign in the right-field bleachers.

That's bad news for Old Style, which has had an affiliation with the team for more than 60 years, as well as for Wrigleyville rooftop owners opposed to installing a large sign that could obstruct some views.

A source said the Cubs will install a mock-up of the sign when the team goes on the road next week. While it's questionable whether construction on the $300 million ballpark renovation plan will begin this offseason as planned, the Cubs have the go-ahead to install the sign either way.

"Absolutely," Cubs spokesman Julian Green said. "We could potentially put up the sign by 2014 (before construction begins). … We have the approval to put up a left-field video board and a right-field sign, and with Anheuser-Busch as our exclusive marketing partner, we can do it by opening day."

The Cubs are running out of time to start the first phase of their Wrigley renovation plan, which is expected to take place over five offseasons. They had hoped to begin construction Sept. 26, the day after the Cubs' final home game.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said during a radio broadcast of Thursday's playoff game of the franchise's Double-A Tennessee affiliate that the heavy construction likely would have to wait until after next season. He did say, though, that fans would start seeing some changes in 2014 and more in 2015.

Green said Friday that Ricketts' comment doesn't mean the Cubs are resigned to begin the major parts of the project after the 2014 season, but that several hurdles remain before they can start, and time is running short. They originally planned to finish an expansion of the home clubhouse before next season, which now appears unlikely.

Green said the "rooftop issue" still needs to be resolved before the ballpark renovation and work on a proposed $200 million hotel on Clark Street, across from Wrigley, can begin. The Cubs want assurances from rooftop owners they won't sue over the contract they signed with the team in 2004 providing the Cubs with 17 percent of their revenue.

"We're still talking to the rooftop owners to come to a resolution," Green said. "Basically the (Ricketts) family is not comfortable making a $500 million investment with the threat of a lawsuit hanging over their heads."

But the beer sign and the video board can be installed without the permission of the rooftop owners, and both could be up during the 2014 season, the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field.

As for the exclusive beer sponsorship, Cubs fans can expect to see Goose Island flowing at the ballpark in 2014. Brewery spokeswoman Ana Serafin said it had not been determined which Anheuser-Busch brands would be available, or in what quantity, but suggested the brewery's "Chicago-influenced beers" would be obvious candidates.

Goose Island, which regained the beer contract this summer at the Pitchfork Music Festival, experimented with a pair of brews made just for the weekend-long fest. Though a considerably larger investment, would Goose Island consider a Wrigley-only exclusive too?

"A-B is being really supportive of our creativity," Serafin said. "If we come back and tell them we want to create XYZ crazy beer and it would be perfect for baseball, they would listen. But we don't know yet how creative we can get."

For Old Style lovers and traditionalists who drink it only at Wrigley, hope springs eternal. Green said the team and its concessions management partner, Levy Restaurants, might choose to continue serving Old Style in 2014.

The Anheuser-Busch deal is a marketing agreement only. Budweiser will maintain naming rights throughout the stadium, but that doesn't mean Budweiser products will be served exclusively at Wrigley, which would be illegal.

Still, the agreement gives Budweiser ample muscle when it comes time to set the Wrigley Field beer menu for 2014 and beyond. It appears likely vendors no longer will be selling Old Style in the aisles after 2013.

Whether the deal signals a seismic shift in Wrigley's beer offerings is yet to be seen, but smaller craft breweries such as Revolution Brewing don't sound optimistic.

"Sounds like a lot of dollars changed hands, and we just don't do anything like that to sell beer," Revolution founder Josh Deth said in an email. "We let the malt, hops and yeast do the talking, not the Benjamins. We're hopeful the Cubs and Levy will want to pour actual craft beer made in Chicago. And I think the fans are too."

WHAT?

I don't drink a lot of beer, I'm a Maker's Mark guy myself, but as long as I've been pure brewed Old Style at Wrigley Field. Just like eating a hot dog at a ballpark tastes different, drinking an Old Style at Wrigley made it taste better, way better. It's part of the Cubs Experience, but now it looks like it may go the way of Frosty Malts and Ron Santo Pizza.
able to drink, I've enjoyed a

I understand times change, but Old Style has managed to stay in business for many years, partly because of the loyalty of Cubs fans, the Cubs organization, and the association the brand has enjoyed with the Cubs for as long as I can remember. Hardly anything beats sitting in the stands at Wrigley, even the Budweiser Bleachers, enjoying a semi-cold Old Style and seeing Starlin Castro blow a routine force out. But it looks like that may not be happening in the future.

Tom Ricketts and Cubs Management have done a lot to make me and other Cubs fans angry since they bought the club. I won't list everything here, and don't get me started on the Wrigley Field renovation plans. But this time they've crossed the Red, um YELLOW LINE when it comes to how they run the club and the kind of fan experience they give us.

So what can we do in answer to this unprovoked attack on the Cubs Experience? Sadly, not much. Send an email to fanservices@cubs.com and tell them what you think, although they probably won't answer you back. Anheuser-Busch InBev is allegedly headquartered here in St. Louis, and I know people down at "The Brewery" who will be getting calls and emails from me all next week. You could appeal to Kevin Feehan, the guy in charge of selling Budweiser in Chicago, to let the Old Style pour, but even if you could get him to respond, he'd probably blame someone in San Paulo or Brussels, the REAL homes of A-B, for the decision.

That leaves one final avenue of appeal, Levy Restaurants, who handles food service at Wrigley Field, and might actually have the power to keep the pure brewed Old Style flowing at the ballpark. Their phone number is (773) 975-3606 and you should join me in calling them during weekday business hours or contact them on the Interwebz and (NICELY) demand your Old Style. They're also on Facebook and Twitter if you feel inclined to follow then and send them a NICE message about this abhorrent situation. Don't act like a Chicago policeman and be all pushy and mean, ask them NICELY to keep Old Style at Wrigley Field. Who knows, it might actually work. And monkeys could fly out of my butt.

Some things, like the Cubs having a winning season, are an uphill battle. Getting Old Style in Wrigley Field might be one too. But I leave you with the encouraging words of Cub Fan John Belushi as you join me on the quest to keep at least ONE Wrigley Field tradition alive. WHO'S WITH ME?

Budweiser Logo Coming to Wrigley's Right-Field Sign (adage.com)
Cubs Drop Old Style (wgntv.com)
Tom Ricketts says quick fix not in cards for Cubs (suntimes.com)

If This Video Doesn't Stop You From Texting While Driving, You Are Not Human

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Aug 2013 21:57:00 +0000

I don't have a lot to say about this, because sometimes a video will tell a story in a way that I could never attempt to. This is one of those videos.

The acclaimed writer, director, and producer Werner Herzog was commissioned to produce this documentary about what is politely called "Distracted Driving" for the "It Can Wait" campaign sponsored by AT&T. The film is called "From One Second To The Next". You just have to watch it to understand how powerful and heartbreaking the message is.

Watch this. Watch it with your family. Watch it with your kids if they're of driving age or will be driving soon. But take the 35 minutes to REALLY watch this.

I'm a huge fan of technology, and I use it all the time. But I also know texting, and even walking and texting or talking on the phone, kills. If you or your family or friends have any doubts about why you texts, phone calls, checking your e mail or whatever can wait, you shouldn't after watching this film.

And if you still don't get it, you not only don't have a heart, you haven't got much of a brain.

My Tax Day Wish For You

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:30:00 +0000

I Think I'm Hurt, Or Should I Be Honored?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:25:00 +0000

My 15 year old son told me he saw a clip from the TV show "Family Guy" that had a character that looked like me in it. I found that kind of interesting, so I checked it out. He tells me the guy on the right hand side of the second row looked "Just like you, dad". Here it is:

The National Association For The Advancement Of FAT People? REALLY?

I think I'm hurt. Or I should send Seth McFarlane a bill for the use of my image and description without the consent of the Commissioner Of Major League Baseball or something like that?

Mark's Presentation At The 2013 NAB Show

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:46:00 +0000

Thanks to those who came to see the session I spoke at during the NAB show in Las Vegas. The session was called "The Digital Mindset, How Stations Are Making Money With Digital" and was produced in cooperation with the Radio Advertising Bureau.

As promised, here are the slides from my part of the presentation.

Please don't hesitate to reach out to me at MarkE@TeshMedia.com if you have any questions or comments on the presentation.

Thanks to the NAB and RAB for having me on the panel!

HEAD FOR THE HILLS-THE SNOW IS COMING!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:56:00 +0000

Watch Falling Snow Sign (Photo credits: www.mysafetysign.com)

Yes, I'm being kind of sarcastic. Maybe more than kind of sarcastic.

The St. Louis area is under a Winter Storm Warning for a storm that will hit us Thursday midday and end Thursday night. I just saw a weatherman on TV call tomorrow "a really rotten Thursday". Schools are closing for tomorrow, and it's only about 6:30 Wednesday night. REALLY?

When you look at the official forecast map from the National Weather Service, it doesn't look like it's going to be quite the mess the TV people are warning us of. And when I scan some of the geeked out raw weather data, it's not that much different than the photo below.

I'm not sure 1-3 inches of snow and sleet, which is what the NWS is still calling for, should create the panic in the minds of the TV weatherpeople and the citizenry of the St. Louis metropolitan area, but everyone seems to be freaking out in a big way. If you're in a place like Kansas City and they're predicting 10 to 12 inches of snow, THEN you freak out. 1-3, not so much.

So the grocery stores are jammed, people are buying their milk, bread, and eggs so they can have french toast while they're snowbound, Sears sent me an e mail telling me it was going to snow and I should run right in and buy a snow blower, and my kids tell me there's no reason to do their homework because they KNOW they won't have school tomorrow. UPDATE: My kids' school district is closing school tomorrow due to the threat of icy conditions in the afternoon.

Maybe it's my Chicago roots, maybe it's my cynicism that my friends who do the weather around here are blowing this up so they can seem really important and grow their ratings, or perhaps I'm just delusional and we'll all be paralyzed by the storm tomorrow. Regardless, I'm still not buying it.

I'll be posting video updates on the storm throughout the day tomorrow. Check my Facebook page, my 15 second video updates on Tout, and other outposts on the Interwebz for updates. Unless the storm completely immobilizes me and those around me.

Happy World Radio Day

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:38:00 +0000

Photograph of a young girl listening to the radio during the Great Depression. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While it's being mostly overlooked by United States broadcasters, today is the UN's World Radio Day. Not being able to find much from American radio operators or industry trade organizations about the day, I present a program from the BBC World Service talking about World Radio Day, the importance of radio (which I absolutely agree with) and sharing some great moments in radio history. Just click here to hear this extraordinary program.

Even thought I've migrated to the world of Content Creation and New Media, radio is still my first love and it saddens me that American radio operators haven't taken the opportunity to really embrace World Radio Day and remind people how important a role radio STILL plays in their everyday life.

ZOMG, I'm The Father Of THREE Teenagers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:59:00 +0000

This is a post from my Daddy Diaries column, featured at tesh.com.

Last weekend, my youngest son turned 13. That means that I am now the father of three teenage boys: a 13-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 16-year-old. If you were hearing this, instead of reading it, there would be a dramatic music sound inserted right here, kind of like dum dum dummmmmmmmmm.

Now, before I forget, the picture that accompanies this post is not of my actual children. I have this thing about Web privacy, so these are models pretending to be my actual children. In my opinion, my actual children are much cuter than these models, although no less threatening. That being said, my three teenage boys have three different personalities and each comes with their own set of challenges.

I knew the day would come that I would be seen as a geezer and have older kids. I’m still trying to process watching them grow and become young adults because it seems like I held each them in just one hand only a few days ago.

The youngest son is an incredible movie fanatic – much like a very young, but just as feisty, Roger Ebert. His favorite part about turning 13 is that he’s now able to see a PG-13 movie on his own. I thought that he’d be all fired up to get his own Facebook page instead, but he's busy watching movies on his tablet, analyzing the composition of each and every shot as if he were Christopher Nolan.

The 15-year-old suffers from “middle child syndrome" at times, but is pretty well adjusted for the most part. He lives for music, plays five instruments, is an accomplished Boy Scout, all the while managing to be a total chick magnet. Each of those things provides unique challenges on their own, but roll it all together and it can be quite a ball of fire to deal with on a daily basis. He also seems to suffer some sort of video game fixation – notice I did not say the word addiction – and would probably spend every waking moment with a PlayStation remote in his hand, if he wasn't so busy doing all the other things in his life.

Then there is the oldest boy. He’s 16-years-old and a sophomore in high school. Seriously, when did my baby become a sophomore in high school? And now he’s old enough to drive? When did my bundle of joy become hairier than I am? Honestly, it's kind of freaking me out. When I think about how much all of my kids have grown and wonder how they got to be teenagers, it certainly has me thinking about how time flies.

The 13-year-old’s birthday was a pretty jarring moment in many ways. But just as I was becoming a little more comfortable with him becoming a teenager, I got a kick in the face when the mail came yesterday. My oldest son, who still has two-and-a-half years left in high school, received his first college recruiting letter yesterday. He scored highly on some standardized test. And since the testing company sold a list of high achievers to colleges, I'm guessing they are all going to start courting kids like him. I realized it’s actually a good thing. Since I'll have three in college at the same time, it might be advantageous to have a few scholarships to help everybody out.

But the kick in the face part is that this letter, that first "Get to know us!" letter from an institute of higher learning, came from MY ALMA MATER! Yes, the place where I misspent my college years seems interested in having my son follow in my footsteps and attend their school. I've already told him that won’t happen – mostly because I don't want him finding any remnants of my time on campus that might tarnish his glowing admiration of me. Assuming he glowingly admires me. The letter also makes me question the value of a degree from an institution that would have my son as a student, after my less than spectacular tenure there. But that’s another story.

It seems like the days of being challenged by changing diapers and teething pains were only weeks ago. As I look forward to the adventures that lie ahead as the father of three teenagers, I sort of wish I still had diapers to change. Dealing with those types of messes might be easier than dealing with the challenges ahead.

Farewell To The Past, High Hopes For The Future

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 19:33:00 +0000

As I sit looking at the clock and the under twelve hours left in 2012, I'm struck at how much this has been a year of change for me, and just about everyone around me. While change can be daunting, frightening, and unnerving, I welcome and embrace it and am very happy about the changes I've experienced in the last year.

It would be presumptuous and egotistical to go over every event of the year that's about to end. Some of those recollections would take me to a very dark place, and others of them will only make me seem like a braggart. Suffice it to say that I started the year unemployed, stayed that way for longer than I ever have, and was blessed with a truly incredible job opportunity in June. I have a great feeling of professional satisfaction, inner peace, and much less stress than I have had in a very long time, and for all of that I am grateful.

I'm also grateful for my friends, the few dozen people who I can honestly call my REAL friends. Those who have supported, encouraged, and comforted me in the bad times and celebrated with me in the good times. I've learned who my true friends are and gained new respect for the value of friendship. I can't begin to name all of these "Real Friends" individually, but I do hope you are reading this and you know who you are. You've been my invaluable support network, seen me through some of the lowest points in my life, and given me strength to go on. For that, I think you with every fiber of my being.

I'm grateful for the opportunities that lie ahead. Working with John Tesh in the new world of content creation and social media is perhaps the most exciting and challenging job I've had. Leaving the radio industry after 37 years was difficult in some ways, but incredibly easy as I look at the future of content and media and see the changes in the business I've loved for as long as I can remember. Being able to continue to raise my family in St. Louis is a blessing, and I don't know of a better place for my family to flourish.

For the first New Year's Eve in a very long time, I can honestly say that life is good. I'll be sad for a moment at Midnight when Dick Clark isn't there to bring in another year, but I'll be happy, excited, and invigorated as I spend that moment with the people I love and think about the amazing things that await me and those who are important to me in 2013.

As the New Year approaches, I leave you with my very best wishes for a healthy, happy, prosperous 2013 and with these words:

A happy New Year! Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye

When this New Year in time shall end

Let it be said I've played the friend,

Have lived and loved and labored here,

And made of it a happy year.

~Edgar Guest

Mark Edwards Uncensored

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St. Louis, A Tale Of Two Cities, Again

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