February 2011--Great month for stories

Yes, it is winter in Cleveland.

Everytime we go out to do a 'snow' story or I'm asked to have a crew shoot snow, I keep reminding myself, it's just winter in Cleveland.

But even I must admit, we've been dumped on moreso this year than in years past.

The great thing about modern technology, wkyc.com, facebook, and even twitter is the immediacy of sharing pictures and video. As a member of the wkyc facebook weather warriors page, I upload lots of pictures during snow storms to share what's happening in my neck of the woods. Hopefully, viewers from our entire viewing area are doing the same! We sure do love to see what's happening in your neighborhood, especially if we can not get there ourselves!

Every other week has had a different weather event playing out...one week it's 50's and rain with tremendous thunderstorms (February 26) and then the next we are in the midst of yet another white out, knuckle clenching snow blizzard.....strap your seat belt on folks, we have a little ways to go before winter is officially over!

Another story stemming from our Cleveland winters began when my package delivery was delayed.....simple idea yet quite funny. We got socked yet again toward the end of February.....I was set to receive a PKG on a Thursday and sure enough the darn snow delayed it for 5 days....well, it was not anything that pressing but does make you think about those people that do wait for supplies which help save their lives and help their quality of life. The weather delays can put them in quite a predicament.

As I checked the UPS website everyday, it had this huge message on their homepage that the bad weather may be delaying deliveries ....the 3 main areas that popped up were OHIO, CALIFORNIA, and LIBYA! Cleveland and Libya in the same sentence quite comical and then the comedians on fb had to get into the act and ask me what I had purchased from Libya!

Whether we want to admit this or not, yet another huge story this month was The Cleveland Cavaliers playing the Los Angeles Clippers and winning 126-119. The Cavs seem to beat the great teams....but more importantly was gathering added information to feed to Chris Tye after the game....when the game ended, social media takes over.

It's a hoot to be on facebook and Twitter and see people from literally all over the world commenting on the same story....maybe friends of yours who have scattered but are still Cleveland Sports fans monitoring the game.....and then if you follow big wigs on Twitter...it's awesome to see the likes of who is commenting at the game's conclusion. ESPN, NBA, Ted Williams the Golden Voice, Drew Carey, Josh Cribbs, Ozzie Guillen, just to name a few, all interjected their congratulatory comments to the Cavs' strong game against LA.....and to add a little flavor to Chris Tye's live shot, we fed him the comments we were reading all over the social media world.....

It's very fun to scream something to the producer who relays to the talent in the field and literally minutes later, it's coming out on the air.....it's that 'Broadcast News' moment!

One other big story for me particularly was the death of my Mother's best friend. Mercedes Karpinski Spotts was a real influence in the legal world in Cleveland...but so much more. She helped those who could not help themselves....I honestly can not do justice in a few words here to praise all this woman stood for and did for Cleveland and beyond as a wonderful trailblazer and humanitarian.

Since I was very close to Mercedes, she imparted on her family that I sing her funeral and I was in the loop almost immediately after her passing. In turn, I wrote a story on wkyc.com way ahead of the competition including Cleveland.com. It all came together in memorializing this wonderful woman who established so much of what Cleveland has become.

At Mercedes' funeral, there were judges and other politicians, religious, and pretty much people from all walks of life. Jimmy DiMora showed up at her funeral. No matter what you think of this man, I find this moment very telling and heart warming. This man who is certainly in the spotlight now more than ever chose to honor his friend above what people may say about him ....I'm sure he was uncomfortable but he exemplified (at this moment) what we all should...the right thing above caring what people may say.