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At noon tomorrow, the TV station where I had my first real job after college will go off the air.

Although technically, since the Ohio News Network is a cable news channel, the signal will cease to be carried over the cable wires.

A few weeks ago, the Dispatch Broadcast Group, the company that owns ONN, announced it would be shutting down the channel because of “changing viewer attitudes.”

Despite the fact that rumors of ONN’s shutdown were circulating the day I started in January 2000, the station grew. Still, the decision to close came as a complete surprise. Whatever the reasons behind the shutdown, they were beyond the control of those who worked hard every day to report the news of Ohio.

For almost four years, that was me. It took me a while after graduating to find a job. When I finally landed the job at ONN, I packed up my 1986 Buick Century Limited and drove it out to Ohio (with some help from King Classic). Like pretty much everyone who worked there, I had every non-9-to-5 schedule possible, including weekends and holidays. I worked with a lot of people who were at a similar place in life and who also devoted their lives beyond normal working hours to the place. But by the end of my time there, I realized I didn’t want my life to revolve around TV. Besides, I had worked on enough big stories (September 11, the conflict in Iraq, the 2000 presidential election, some guy who built his own ass kicking machine and many more) in my time there that I felt like I wanted to tell different stories.

I grew a lot at ONN, learning, working and building friendships that I have to this day. I’ll never forget my time there. And I can say that if it weren’t for ONN, I wouldn’t be where I am today (possibly including meeting The Civee and all that other stuff). But for me, I needed a change from TV. And I hope all my former co-workers can recover from the station’s shut down.

When I was there, I worked in the news department. But the most fun I had working there was as an honorary part of the sports department. At the time, ONN was very involved in high school sports. From August through March, the network aired a half-hour show Friday nights at 11:30 carrying scores and highlights from football (in the fall) and basketball (in the winter) games from around the state. If you’ve paid any attention to the Kingdom, you’ll know that I don’t have any use for basketball and I could care less about football. However, my first fall there, I was asked to help work on the show, collecting scores to run in the ticker.

I worked at least four extra hours every Friday, eventually moving on from scores to coordinating satellite feeds and helping with the lower third graphics in the control room. Each Friday from about 11:00 to 11:57 was extremely stressful. But working on the show was fun. As seriously as people take high school sports, the show got very light-hearted, especially in the intro video that opened each show. For the last show of the 2001-2002 season, we decided to do something a little different. The result was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had working:

 

The first three words of this tweet are one of the greatest three-word combinations ever used in the English language:

-from TweetsofOld

Sometime in the next few days, I’m planning a one-man real-life reenactment of this, minus the phone cord:

The Civee’s doctor said it’s looking like the baby will be here this weekend. Now that I’ve typed that, it’ll probably be another two weeks (and I’ve already been blamed for any delay). Either way, The Civee, Hope and I are all ready for the baby.

Becauee of this great Smarch weather we’ve been having, it’s been a lot of fun to be outside.

I’ve gone running, played in the backyard with Hope and one night this week, The Civee, Hope and I even ate dinner outside. I think this is the first winter in Ohio where I haven’t complained about the weather.

Earlier today, and I can’t remember why, I got to thinking about what I can best term as “post-movie weather.” It was this feeling from my younger days (when I had summers free) of exiting a movie theater on a hot summer day. I’d go from one environment, dark and very cool to hot, bright and humid. I think that was the only time I didn’t mind the combination of heat and humidity.

I was probably thinking of post-movie weather because that’s what this past week has felt like compared to the typical winter. Overall, very enjoyable for what’s supposed to be more miserable weather.

I’ll have more time this weekend to spend outside. Although it may not all be enjoyable, as I’ll have to get started with the yard work sometime.

With the weather we’ve been having lately, it seems like winter is over. Unfortunately, due to the laws of karma (or something like that), we’ll probably get below freezing temperatures and feet of snow in late March.

With another child on the way, one of the things The Civee and I have been talking about a lot lately is names.

We’re not planning on finding out the baby’s sex, so we have to come up with two names. We’re pretty sure we have a girl’s name picked out (and no, I won’t share it). But just like last time, we can’t quite agree on a name for a boy. Unfortunately, most of the boys’ names I liked last time around are still on her “definitely not in a million years” list (I also have the same standards for choosing a boy’s name as I did back then).

Still, I’ve been trying to keep an open mind. I’ve been looking at some lists of names, and while nothing has jumped out to me as the perfect name, I’ve seen some possibilities. Many of the lists contain the rankings of the most popular names over the past few years. And while I may like some of the names, the fact that it’s one of the most popular names for boys makes me less likely to choose it.

One particular list, over at familyeducation.com, had some interesting rankings. Take a look at names 24 and 25:

I’m not a huge fan of either name, but it has to be more of a coincidence that those two names are ranked back-to-back. Maybe I should add Jules or Mace to my list of contenders.

Have a great 2012!