78

Golf is an elusive sport. It's one on one---you against the course. Sure you may play with others and you may even play for money at times, but the real game is within yourself. I've been practicing my miserable "short" game in our backyard...chipping the ball to be specific. Practicing a chip with a 56 and 60 degree wedge that goes up in the air and a specific distance (about 15-20 yards) to a target I laid out in the grass...it helps. Today I was on the course, hole #17, drove it a good 275 yards, probably rolled another 50 yards and I had maybe 70 yards to a pin which was ten paces from the front of the green, tucked in the left corner. I hit a pitch shot off of a slight downhill lie with a 60 degree wedge, just as I had practiced it these past few days, the ball bounced twice and went into the hole for an Eagle 2, the guy I was playing with said he never seen a shot like that in person...first Eagle hole out for me on a par four-what a rush-yes, practice, practice, practice.
We're not moving to Fredericksburg, VA. Lovely quaint historic village surrounded by urban sprawl. Literally Fredricksburg is a bedroom community for Washington D.C. Lots of FBI given the proximity to Quantico, lots of Military, lots of Federal Government worker bee types making the two hour commute to downtown D.C. dealing with the white knuckle traffic and the constant road rage...wow, who would want to do this? Everyday? Crazy! I would not have to commute, in fact I would have been on a reverse commute if I had accepted the job. The reason I turned it down is the Housing costs. $300,000 will get you a shack on a piece of dirt in a crapped out neighborhood---the difference between Raleigh and Fredicksburg was mind numbing. It's really too bad, it would have been a great gig with a locally owned group of radio stations, but you cannot pay people small market wages when everything around you screams Washington D.C.---well I guess you can, and there are people who are working there, scratching out a life...I'm done scratching.

Was on the phone the other day with a fellow radio professional who was recently "laid off" and I joked with him about the irony of severance pay. You really cannot accept any new employment unless it is for a whole bunch more money that what you're getting in severance. If you decided to accept a gig with "another company" for less salary, they are quick to pull the plug on severance...sort of a Catch 22. Literally you need to wait until you've exhausted your severance before you can seriously look for a gig---there is no point in turning gigs down and wasting everyone's time. Here's what really KILLS you though. COBRA Insurance payments. If I ever do this again...have the company pay for the COBRA for six months, if not a whole year...1258.42 a month for a Family to maintain health insurance. If you have never coughed blood, you will start to cough it up around the five month mark and when your severance is done it begins to get pinched out of whatever savings you might have, pieces of your lung come up with whatever blood you might have left...not a good idea. Health Insurance costs are unreasonable by any standard...it plain SUCKS!

Here's the score. I've been sitting on my ass for Eight months now. Six of those months I got paid. The last two months has been a real test. Joy is working at a grooming shop in addition to doing her own customers at home. My website is still down and the business has not been marketed to date. I have demos for Talk Radio, Music Radio and am now working on a general VO Demo for Narration and Commercial work. Maybe I can pull some change down doing commercial voiceovers, at least temporarily. Gigs are out there and they've been applied for---some I've turned down, others are still "in process". I told a guy today that stability is important and that I'm not interested in chasing down another radio gig...I'm looking for a four year stay minimum so I can get Connor through High School...this gig looks decent out in Bend, Oregon...worth a look. Good area, good climate, lots of outdoor activities, small town, good schools...real estate is a little inflated but like I said...worth a look.

Radio has changed dramatically. The more I hang out on the outside and look in, the more change I notice, there's a lot more change coming I suspect but that's what keeps it interesting. So can I keep it interesting and look at the Mountains at the same time?

Did I mention that I shot a 78 today?