As I write this, I’m watching the first of two episodes of the half hour version of the game show. The man who cuts the FOX Toledo News team’s hair, Matthew Gonzales of Matthew Vincente Salon was holding one of the cases tonight.

Because they make contestants sign a contract promising they won’t reveal what happens until it airs, I don’t know whether he gets selected as an actual contestant or wins any money yet. Even though the show airs on this station. We’ll all find out tomorrow evening at 6  together.

It’s been fun learning some of the behind-the-scenes secrets of how they do the show.

I learned from Matthew that auditions are brutally quick and thorough. They even sent producers to interview his family and friends. A little like an F.B.I. background check.

They put contestants through almost a boot camp of what to say, how to behave, how to open the case, even how to clap properly. They practice closing the little plexiglas box when they indicate “No Deal”. It doesn’t just happen like it appears to when you watch the show.

My favorite insider secret, which we discuss in tonight’s Talk Back interview segment, First at Ten, is the unusual method used to keep the men on the show from sweating through their shirts when they get nervous or excited under the hot studio lights.

Feminine pads under their arms. No kidding.

I was proud of myself yesterday.   I ran the Ryan Serber 8K classic in west Toledo with a couple of co-workers (Michelle Zepeda, and Howard Chen). Since last year I have been an avid runner so it was exciting to actually run a race and do a decent job.

Anyways, besides the feeling of accomplishment, the race is definitely not about me.

Ryan Serber was an anchor/reporter at FOX Toledo for a long time. He died of brain cancer in 2006… I was lucky enough to work with him for a few months.

I remember how great of a writer and speaker he was. It seemed that Ryan could put together a story so quickly, but it was always done so well.
It is fitting that 300+ runners compete in a race every September in Ryan’s name. His wife Carrie told me yesterday that her husband was passionate about running. He even did some marathons during his fight with brain cancer.

I was able to do a story on the race during our Sunday night newscast, check it out!  It’s called, Running for Ryan.

What a busy weekend! I had three Face events, as well as my Grandmother’s 90th birthday party.

Friday night was the Anthony Wayne Youth Foundation’s Party in the Park….Sunday morning took me to Millbury, OH, for the annual Ox Roast….and Sunday afternoon I was at The Appliance Center for its Grand Opening Celebration.

Here’s some fun video from the Millbury parade….It was a blast!

Since I’ve gained ten pounds over the past several months I’m going back to counting calories and working out more frequently.  To be honest, I’m not looking forward to saying “no” to cheese fries, pizza, ice cream…etc….

But I AM ready for the challenge.  Thanks to Allison Brown I have a journal and now I need to head to the grocery store so I can buy all the right foods.

If you have any meal suggestions/recipes please pass them along.  I don’t want to get bored on my journey.  My goal is 10lbs by the end of November or beginning of December.  I’m blogging this so you can keep me in check!

Here we go…wish me luck!

So.. I just got back from Las Vegas a few days ago and boy I did I have a blast.  I went with my homie TDAWG also known as Tiffany Tarpley.   You see we invited more people to go but they couldn’t make it. But I have to say the trip was just fine with the two of us.  Ive been on several trips with my friends, and it always seems the more people that go the more fights there are.  But this way if I wanted to do something, no matter how corny it was, there was no argument what so ever.  Well if Julie Andrews was there, I would have had to drag Tiffany to go see her with me.

But here are the ups and downs about Vegas.

Ups…

I met a really CUTE GUY!

B.E.A.Utiful city.  I love city life, always have.

I saw Michael Jackson, well the real Mike looked soo much BETTER .

There were a lot of friendly people.

The Sushi was GREAT!

and did I mention I met a really cute guy.

Now the downside of VEGAS…

Ok soo.. at one hotel I saw a 10 year old boy at the black jack table and he didn’t get carded!  But we did.  Ok what’s up with that?

There were too many workers out on the streets trying to get people to go see a peep show.  They were passing out cards, but people threw the cards on the ground – leaving little kids to see very disgusting images.

I lost all my money – you can never beat the dealer!! stupid game.

Imperial Palace doesn’t have HBO!

Restaurants only give out ONE napkin – unless you ask for more.

One of the slot machines took my dollar.

Swine Flu

You can never win Keno

The Casinos are way toooo cold.

And Vegas is really SIN CITY!!!  I just couldn’t stop gambling, LORD PLEASE FORGIVE ME!

Well other than that I had a great time.  I don’t think I’ll be back anytime soon. My next big trip is LA BABY!!!

As you can see with the title of this post, there’s no way you can spell upset without the letters UT.  For all those readers out there who aren’t from Toledo, that’s UT as in Toledo, not Texas or Tennessee.  Just clarifyin’.

Anyway, this town is definitely still riding a high coming off Toledo’s big win over a Big XII opponent – Colorado.  Not only did the Rockets beat Colorado, they dominated that game.  The Buffaloes truly had no answer for the Rockets offensive attack.  On the flipside, even though Toledo gave up as many points as they did, the score may have been a bit deceiving because the defense did come up with some big plays.

Unfortunately, now they go against a whole different beast entirely when Toledo travels to Cleveland Browns Stadium to take on The Ohio State University.  First off, we’re talking about a Buckeyes team that is hungry to redeem themselves after a loss to USC.  Secondly, this Buckeyes team is definitely a top-ten team, although right now, they sit at #11.

The key to pulling off an upset is for Toledo to somehow contain Terrelle Pryor.  UT head coach Tim Beckman said as much during Monday’s press conference.  He didn’t hesitate when he said it, actually.  I think there are some keys outside of that too, such as stopping Boom Herron because he is a punishing runner.  That UT defensive front seven better fill the gaps and prevent runs averaging 6 yards or more, otherwise Toledo is in trouble.

I do think that Toledo will put up some points against Ohio State, although not at the same clip as they did against Purdue and Colorado.  I don’t expect Toledo to score over 30 points.  My guess is that 20 points would be a very generous expectation, while 13-17 points might be what the Rockets actually get.

This is a big stage for the Rockets to step up.  Stephen Williams and Barry Church will have NFL scouts watching.

But can an upset truly begin and end this week with the letters UT?

Well, in more ways than one, it really depends on what happens in between the beginning and the end.

Election day in Toledo has come and gone. All of the polling I heard about had the winners dead on. Turnout was expected to be light and it was. The results took forever to get, and well that’s pretty much part of the deal.

But the biggest surprise of the night came after work. I made my way to a local grocery store for some milk. I ran into an employee I see quite often. I talked to her about how the election results played out and how our night went on the air.

I asked her if she got out to the polls and she proceeded to tell me that while watching the news late in the evening, she (for the first time that day) realized it was election day. It was too late to vote by the time she realized. Seriously Seriously? (That’s a line I stole from my wife).

HOW COULD PEOPLE NOT KNOW IT WAS ELECTION DAY. I was thinking about it. We have only talked for probably about the last three months about this election. It was on the news just about every night. How could people not know.

I guess I don’t get it because I am in the news business. I am around this stuff all day so I guess I can’t miss it.

So here comes the rhetorical questions of the night: What is worse, not knowing or not voting while knowing?

I’ve seen two bodies in the past four days. Three fatal scenes total.

But it’s not generally the bodies that I’m worried about when I show up at scenes like these.
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This weekend my family and I took a trip to Milwaukee Wisconsin.  All my family lives in Wisconsin, and I usually make the drive by myself, but this time my husband came with me. 

that’s because my grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.  They were not going to do anything to mark the occasion but at last minute invited the extended family to a catered party at a local restaurant.

We all attended a mass where they renewed their wedding vows and then celebrated with food and a games after.  A 60th anniversary is called a “diamond anniversary.”  So the 50 of use played a game of baseball “diamond” trivia.  We were all tested on how well we knew my grandparents.

After being married for 6 years myself, I know how hard marriage can be.  It was great to celebrate the commitment they have made and kept for 60 years.

I returned to the newsroom a little while ago from emceeing the annual meeting of the region’s American Red Cross. The gathering included both blood services and disaster relief.

We gave awards to volunteers, Red Cross employees, even businesses that have offered their support. Some of these people have been volunteering for decades and many had thousands of pints of blood or dozens of CPR classes they’d been responsible for. We heard stories of lives saved, of people responding to a fire or flood at all hours of the day or night.

I was honored to be in the Lourdes College Franciscan Center with such a fine group of people. They spend their time gathering the blood, volunteers and supplies we all need if something terrible happens.

The plaques and recognition were nice, but not nearly what these selfless people deserve.

Here’s one point I took away from a speech tonight that might inspire you, too. We should all find time to learn basic life saving techniques, like CPR. Sure, it’s easy to put it off, easy to tell yourself you’re too busy. But think how terrible it would be if you were at home with a loved one who went into cardiac arrest and you could have saved them if you’d only known what to do.