Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - $1 out of allowance for forgetting homework folder
Natalie's worst - have a really busy day tomorrow
Mike's worst - didn't get to use prep period
Nick's worst - didn't get to eat mystery state dish because it had nuts
Seeger's best - presents in the mail
Natalie's best - dad saying "I picked up dinner on the way home
Mike's best - didn't bring home any grading because he's all caught up
Nick's best - found out next week is going to be a pretty easy week for homework

Herbst issues

Saturday morning, Nicklas woke up and realized his Herbst on one side of his mouth was unattached from his top tooth. Yikes! After a call to the emergeny line for Dr. Henderson's office, we were able to schedule an appointment to get it reattached. When I took him in, they asked if we had the screw for the attachment. Um, no. They concluded that he must have swallowed it in his sleep.

Check out this photo. Can you see the rod hanging out?
 

How about this one? He clearly wasn't happy to be hanging out at the orthodontist on a Saturday morning!

When you sign your orthodontist contract, you read all this bolded and underlined text about not eating, drinking, chewing, poking, pulling, prodding your appliance to prevent breakage of any sort. We were told that they will do three repairs free of charge and after that, you have to pay for any repairs. Since we're only in month 1 out of 24, I was worried. Luckily, this incident wasn't Nick's fault so we didn't have to use one of our three strikes. Overall, Nicklas hasn't seemed bothered by his Herbst. Other than having trouble eating the first day and the rod becoming unattached this weekend, it hasn't been a problem. He has to brush his teeth after every meal and this has actually been a good thing. It's helped allieviate his bad breath so I know his teeth are actually cleaner than previously. I'm so thankful that he has his Herbst before getting braces - I think it will make the transition a little bit better. I'm really proud of how well he's doing with the situation.

Seeger's birthday weekend

Seeger's birthday was on Saturday but we spent the weekend celebrating. On Friday, I visited his class to help pass out his birthday cookies.

He was excited when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him. The chocolate chip cookies from Mimi were a hit. A few kids asked me to bring them for his birthday next year. Tatiyana told me that they were better than Iva's birthday cupcakes.

After school, I picked up Seeger and Roberto for their sleepoever. We let Seeger pick the restaurant for his birthday dinner - he chose Mother Bear's.

On Saturday, we had some errands and TKD in the morning. Seeger was very anxious to get home so he could open his presents.

  He received lego sets, bey blades, money, and the game Beat the Parents.

He spent most of the weekend putting together his Ninjago lego sets.

Finally on Sunday evening, he finished two sets. He was a happy boy!

Seeger is learning cursive

Inquiry Project by Nicklas

How to Become a Sports Broadcaster

By Nicklas

Hi and welcome to this very special addition of “Sportscenter”.  And I’m your host Nick Kubat. Let’s get to it. Today I will be telling you a few notes on how to become a sportscaster, do an interview; we’ll get going right after the break.

There is a high demand for sportscasters because of the rise of TV. Because of this the chances of you becoming a sportscaster is greater. To become one of them, you need multiple things. The most important is wisdom.  You also need strong organizational skills along with good grammar, use of the English language, pleasant speaking voice, great verbal skills, the skill to do ad-lib, if necessary, and sometimes, a very outgoing personality.  

One of the biggest things you must do is start early and get a great head start. If you are in middle school or below, join a sport so you can know the game better. You can also do other stuff such as; record yourself on a tape recorder. And my final note to you is that the more you get into it when you are casting, the more likely the fans will get into it.

If you are in high school, join the Drama club and the Debate team to help with your vocal skills. You can also do a piece on your school’s radio show and do commentary for football and basketball games, if possible. And then you can also intern at a local TV station.

 You could also use your wisdom to note that there are 4 kinds of broadcasters.  One of these is called a play-by-play broadcaster.  This is a sportscaster who tells what is going on, play-by-play. The next one is a color commentator who usually knows the most about the sport and is there to “color up” the booth. A sideline reporter doesn’t sit with the play-by-play and color commentator. They are in the locker-room or where the players sit. They do most of the interviews and are the first people told if there is a player injury. The last type is a public announcer. They aren’t on TV, but they give audible updates to those in the stadium who are present at the game. Some example of this would include when the next home game takes place or who just made a shot.

If you want to go to college to become a sports broadcaster, there are three real options.  First, you could teach yourself.  Although this option would be much cheaper, you also have to be concerned about learning the skill correctly.  You could also attend a traditional broadcasting school, like Syracuse or Penn State, that is known to have a lot of sports casters.  The final option would be to attend a normal four year university.  They offer multiple majors to fit your future career plan.

You may want to note that your first job is probably a local job. You will get from 1-4 minutes on air, and it can take up to six hours to make just one minute of air time. This will help you get a better job in the future if you work hard.

So, that’s what it takes to be a great sportscaster. I will leave you with a quote that a wise caster once said, “It doesn’t matter if 100 stations hate you, if you find the one that wants you, than that’s when it gets important.”

COMMERCIAL BREAK

Welcome back.  I’ve talked to a couple of people on broadcasting and writing. I got an interview in with Indiana Hall of Fame member and sports writer, Tom Kubat, a story of wisdom. I asked him 9 questions. (I had ten but we never got around to the last one.)

“How did you get into journalism?” I asked him to lead off the questions.

His reply was, “I loved sports when I was growing up. When I got to high school I found I wasn’t good enough. I was doing the school newspaper and was taking a few journalism classes. So I went to college at Indiana University to study journalism.”

I asked him the next question, “What was your first paid job and what did you do?”

“Well in high school I [wrote for] the local high school and same in college but those weren’t paid. Right after that the Lafayette Journal & Courier newspaper wanted me. So I started doing high school work there and did a lot of traveling with the lower Purdue teams like Track and Field and the Soccer team. I moved up to Football and Basketball. I stayed as there #1 Purdue guy, doing a couple of NBA and NFL games. Than in 1992 I went to Barcelona, Spain for the Olympics,” was his long reply.

I changed the topic. “What was your wage?”

He thought before replying (this was because he was obviously using his great wisdom).  “Well it varied but was always around $50,000-60,000 a year.”

“Can you tell me what a typical day was like?” I then asked him.

He smiled. He had that wisdom. “No, each day is different because every athlete has a story no matter if it’s background, success, and difficulty. It’s all so neat. To answer your question (which he had already) no I cannot.”

“What were the difficulties of being a sports journalist?” I asked, marking the half-way point of the survey.

“Deadlines,” he answered almost before I ended the question. “Any wise and good journalist will tell you it’s hard to write a good story for a game starting at 8:00 while deadline is at 11:00.”

The next question I asked him was “what were the advantages to being a writer?”

He thought for a bit, I know he was choosing his answer with great wisdom like every good caster should do. When I asked if he heard the question he gave me an “I got to pick one out” kind of look then said, “Well, you grow up watching all these sports stars and think how awesome it would be if you got to meet these people. Being a writer, you have that advantage.” I thought he was done but he continued on. “And traveling with the team took you to interesting places.  The Purdue teams alone took me to 27 different states including both Alaska and Hawaii. So you can just write interesting people and interesting places.” (I didn’t.)

Then I asked him “What were the disadvantages?”

“The only one I could think of,” he said after a moment of wisdom, “is that it has taken away from so much family time. It was, like, rare when I got a day where I could stay and play with my kids or go in the living room and watch a movie with my wife. Any writer would have to give that up if he wants to become good.”

I looked at my sheet; 2 more questions almost done.

Special report: Why ESPN is here just to take your money away By Anonymous While many believe that ESPN is a company that couldn’t want more: they do. While fans find themselves going to it a surprising amount, ESPN just wants your money. ESPN being $4.69 of your monthly bill, is the costliest channel. Example, TNT only cost $1.16 and with ESPN costing $70 to someone who has never watched a sports highlight in your life. All we can do is face it; there is no way to get ESPN out of our faces. If you drop it, you will also lose both ABC family and, the Disney Channel too. So go ahead, while your eyes and mind love watching it’s your wallet that will do all of the suffering for you.

“What would you advice a kid who wanted to become a writer who asked you for advice?” I asked him.

His super long reply to me (which was, as you probably guessed, full of great wisdom) was, “Well I’d tell him or her that they must join a sport and read all about sports. When they get older they should see what they are reading and how the author does what they do to make it interesting. Then, when they figure this out, use this to their advantage and then use it in their writing. Also, if you still enjoy it in high school, you should take some classes in high school to see if you are good at it. If you are and you are having fun then you may have found your career! If not, then I guess you should find something else. There, I can’t help you.”

I somehow got that all written, and then I asked him the final question. Some of you could probably guess what it was going to be.  You can hardly interview someone with this much experience without asking.

“Did you like being a sports writer in the long run?” I asked him.

He thought long and hard . I almost didn’t think he was going to answer, but knew he would, he was just using his great wisdom to his advantage. Then, he finally did answer.

“Yes. Despite its ups and its downs I liked it and would recommend it to anyone who likes sports and writing.”

“Thank you for your time,” I said as he walked out of the room.

His last words before leavening were “No problem.”       

I hoped you had a great time this was a special addition of Sportscenter. Now we’ll head out to Yankee Stadium where the Pinstripes are playing the Rays on the first Sunday Night Baseball of July. We will see you later.  This is Nick Kubat saying so long to us in the studio as we pass it over to Terry Franconia and the crew. Guys?   

      

  

Rerun (or final highlight)

As I sprinkled through the text, the reason I think we created sports broadcasting is for wisdom. If you’re like me, and you love sports, what would you do if you couldn’t play? What if you’re too young to coach? Well then, if you like telling stories like me and know too much about sports, then broadcasting and writing may be the job for you! Yet, you need the wisdom to become a caster and get the wisdom to know this stuff. 

Most people don’t know that in order to become a broadcaster, it takes more wisdom than you think it may take. No one can just walk in on the spot and expect themselves to do well.  It takes years of practice and dedication.  Even then, you still don’t know everything you will need to know.  That’s why we need to use our wisdom to get that head start.  And obviously, you need to practice, practice, and practice as much as you can!

So as I said before, there are two main reasons why we created sports broadcasting.  One of these is help those who are watching and listening to increase their sports knowledge.  Although this is important, the more important reason is so that the sportscasters are able to show people their wisdom in a different kind of way.   These broadcasters have more knowledge about sports and players than almost anyone.  In that way, they have more experience than some players.  They are the true wisdom behind sports.

So, it’s my biggest hope that this helped you with how to become a sports broadcaster. If you were thinking of becoming one before, I hope this helped you and told you what you didn’t know beforehand. If you didn’t really want to become one, then I hope you want to become one now. So, as I said before, sports broadcasting wasn’t created just to tell fans their favorite team’s score.  It’s a way for some fans to show their wisdom, only it’s in disguise.  Now I will leave you with this: you must study, study, study so you can have the wisdom that you need to become a great sportscaster.                       

Seeger is EIGHT!

Tomorrow is Seeger's birthday but I likely won't have time to write his birthday post. I thought I'd get a jump on things a day early. Seeger decided to bring his Mimi's chocolate chip cookies to school for his birthday treat. I'll be joining the class as the use the cookies for an Earth Day activity.

After school, Seeger is having his friend Roberto spend the night. We will also go out to dinner at the restaurant of Seeger's choice. He's having trouble deciding and yesterday, he said he wants to go to Cracker Barrel. This morning he said he wants to go Mother Bear's. I think the rest of family is hoping his sticks with Mother Bear's.

I was going through an old external hard drive this morning, checking out it's contents, when I came across some old photos of Seeger in 2005 - when he was 1. I knew right away I needed to share them with you. He was - and still is - such a cutie!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SEEGER!!

I only buy People when I'm in an airport

This is a much better view of DC

I'm currently in DC

Waiting for the Metro.

Best and Worst

Seeger's worst - it's poured down rain all day
Mike's worst - crappy weather
Grammy's worst - day is going fast
Natalie's worst - not getting to go to the Spring Game
Nick's worst - no baseball practice
Seeger's best - the weather is all better
Mike's best - got two whole classes graded today
Grammy's best - playing games and being here
Natalie's best - going to the Farmer's Market and Joann's
Nick's best - getting to play his new Xbox game and getting better at it

Best and Worst

Grammy's worst - crazy drivers on the way to Bloomington, especially in Indianapolis
Natalie's worst - getting to conference 45 minutes early
Mike's worst - Meineke couldn't fit him in today
Seeger's worst - forgot to spend his Club Bucks
Nick's worst - Tigers lost
Grammy's best - coming to Kubatski's for the weekend
Natalie's best - seeing Grammy and yummy dinner
Mike's best - having to the day off
Seeger's best - tomorrow is the weekend and Friday song
Nick's best - bought a new video game and Grammy is buying him a new bike

A Typical Exchange

Vlogging from Spring Break

I took some video during Spring Break and I'm finally getting around to sharing it with you. The first is Seeger and his magnificant sand castle. He was very proud of it.

The second two videos were taken at Nick's request while we were at Busch Gardens. He especially loves elephants.

Random Thought Thursday

1. When I was in college, I was hanging out with some guy friends one night (one lived with me for the summer) and they found out I'd never heard of the movie, Deliverance. They immediately went to the video store to rent it so I could watch it. What a freaky movie.

2. I have Dueling Banjos on my iPod and I love it when Seeger starts dancing to the music. He's so innocent now but some day he's going to find out where the music comes from.

3. When the boys are running low on lunch money credit, the school usually sends an automated message to alert me. Except they recently changes systems so I didn't get a message this month. Yesterday both boys went through the lunch line, picked out their food, and when they reached the cashier, their food was taken away and they were served a peanut butter sandwich. Both were bummed, especially Seeger, because it was Salisbury steak day and he REALLY wanted it. I feel horrible about it and I'm sure it's embarrassing to them.

4. I've done my taxes on two different websites. One says I owe $829 and the other says I owe $1041. I'm not happy with either option.

5. There's a new app out called Scene Tap and it was just implemented in Bloomington. It's advertised as letting users know where the party is. Basically you can see how full a bar it, the percent of male to female ratio, and the average age of the patrons. The app has been implemented in Chicago, Austin, and now Bloomington. How does it know this information? The app creators have installed cameras at the entrance to the bars. The cameras use facial recognition technology that detects sex and age of people. Creepy.

6. We've finally gotten a hold of Nick's allergies. The red puffy eyes are gone and he's not sneezing anymore. His nose is still a little stuffed up but it's much better than it's been.

7. I'm looking forward to bathing suits and sunscreen and boat rides and lake swimming.

8. I follow a blogger that often mentions the titles of books she's reading. I've collected her titles and put them in the queue in my account at the public library. Four of the six requested books became available at the same time so I either have a lot of reading to do or I'm not going to get through them all.

9. The local library charges for overdue books. I'm not used to this and it's a little annoying. On a positive note, they have a drive through window so when books are available, it's easy to pick them up. It helps that the public library is only eight blocks from my office. (In case you are wondering, the campus library is one block from my office.)

10. Last weekend, we hosted a cookout with some friends. It was nice to be entertaining again, something we don't do nearly as often as when we lived in Lafayette. We also had a visit from some of our Michigan relatives. Aunt Judy, cousins Laura and Tony and their kids, Emily and Ethan stopped by to see our house. We took them on a tour of campus so we could show it off to Emily who is in high school and wants to study Journalism. She's definitely interested in coming to IU and she's planning to sign up for the high school journalism camp this summer. After the tour, I asked her what she thought and she said, "It was even better than I expected." Score one for IU!

For Carmen

The giraffe printed shoes.

Real World

Apparently casting for Real World 28 is taking place in Bloomington today.

I can't believe there have been 28 seasons. I'm so old.

Current Shots

I wanted to share a few photos taken in recent days. On Friday, I snapped a shot of Nicklas at the peak of his allergies. He's still pretty miserable though the $300 I spent on Rx's seem to be taking the edge off a bit. Do you like his shirt? My friend - who is a huge Kentucky fan - bought it for him. It's nice that she has a sense of humor!

I mentioned Thursday that I wore giraffe print shoes to work. On Friday, I wore shoes with polka dots. I thought I better post of photo for Carmen.

On Saturday, Seeger and I went to his art show at IU to see his work on display.

And a photo from yesterday.... The Polack took Nicklas to his baseball practice and I stayed home with Seeger. He had a sandwich, yogurt, watermelon, and string cheese and he was still hungry. So I heated up some spaghetti and meatballs for him. What a messy face.

Colorful Living

The Polack spent most of his spring break painting the house. He finished the living room and my sewing room (both had a few walls already painted from his efforts over Christmas break) and he completed the kitchen and hallway to our garage (which was really banged up from moving). To celebrate, we had some friends over for a cookout on Saturday. I snapped a few photos before everyone arrived.