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Weeks on vacation, days on the trail, and sunlight that stretches into the middle of evening. It’s my favorite time of year.  WZPL’s has posted Smiley’s Summer Guide.   All of us on the show had to come up with three things we like about the season.  It’s a pretty interesting mix.  Here’s my portion:

1-We spend a lot of time biking in the summer.  There’s a top secret route we’ve devised that gets us into Zionsville, where Eagle Creek Coffee Company serves a delicious drink they call a mocha frappe, but pretty much tastes like a chocolate milkshake to me.  A really good chocolate milkshake.  We also bike up and down the Monon from Carmel to the Rip, and will sometimes stop and eat at Bazbeaux, or Bub’s, or Three Sisters, or La Piedad, or just get an ice tea at the Monon Coffee Company.

2-Summer always meant a some kind of vacation/trip when I was kid, and it’s still a tradition with us.  We just got back from Niagara Falls, and Canada, where my comedy-loving youngest son joined us in taking in a live performance on the Toronto stage of the famous Second City.  Over the years we’ve taken our kids to the Grand Canyon, the mountains of Colorado a couple of times, (via a narrow gauge railroad train last year) a cabin in Montana, the Atlantic Ocean, Disney World, King’s Island, the whole nine yards.  Many summers ago me and Mrs. Poteet hiked up Pikes Peak, and we also have some great Summer memories of white water rafting and horseback riding while on our getaways.

3-State parks are always a good cheap Summer date.  We really liked the hotel at the Clifty Falls State Park near Madison down by the Ohio River.  Brown County has plenty of trails, and of course nearby Nashville where we usually go at least once a year.  There’s a really cool place in Montgomery County called the Pine Hills Nature Preserve.  It’s got rugged hills and deep gorges carved by two streams.  The pathway over “Devil’s Backbone” is 6 feet wide, with a sheer drop-off on either side.  Good times.  Also:  we finally made it the Indiana Dunes earlier this Summer when I was in the South Bend running a race.  We should have gone earlier.  Beautiful beach, the biggest bunch of fresh water you’re going to see in these parts, and a distant view of Chicago, across Lake Michigan.  We’ll be back.

P.S.–Anything in Summer can be a good thing. I HATE WINTER!

Tags:   · Bazbeaux · brown county · Bub's · clifty falls · disney world · Eagle Creek Coffee Company · grand canyon · indiana dunes · Monon · Niagara Falls · pikes peak · pine hills nature preserve · smiley's summer guide · summer · WZPL · ZionsvilleAdd Your Comment

Good Riddance June! This link will take you to a nice summary of the not-so-nice weather that marked the end of May and start of June around here.

Tags:   June weather1 Comment

My worst blowout, at least non work-related, was in the 80’s on a Chicago expressway.  Roger Penske would have been pleased with my tire changing speed.  Several adjacent lanes of maniacal drivers will really keep you focused.

My latest blowout was less dramatic.  Me and Mrs. P. were within a couple blocks of returning home on the bikes yesterday, and the rear wheel started thumping.  No puncture involved, just wear and tear.  So thanks to “The Bike Line” I’m sporting a new tire.  And some new grease.  “There was a lot of squeaking.”  Hmm.  I thought it was just me. 

I’ve gone hundreds and hundreds of miles on that thing, so I’m not surprised it wore out.  (Uh, I’m talking about the tire again.) 

Oh, and the worst work-related blowout?  Just pick every other job I had in the 80’s.  I was, after all, fired four different times.  And, I might add, for good reason a couple of those times. 

One of my many sins is Pride.  I take some perverse pride in pointing out to you the reader that every place where I was “blown out” eventually asked me back.  And one of the places, WTPI radio, was “fired” by a new format called 107.9 The Track just a couple of years ago. 

P.S.:  I fill in at that “new” 107.9 from time to time.  I hope to outlast that new bike tire, too.

Tags:   107.9 The Track · blown out · blowout · The Bike Line · WTPIAdd Your Comment

There’s a guy I work with at WRTV also named Paul.  Actually there are somewhere around a half dozen people at the station named “Paul.”  It’s an odd statistical imbalance.  I don’t run into a lot of Paul people outside of the building.  Maybe I need to get out more?  Boy, this post is rambling.  I hope we don’t run out of Internet space.  Anyway–one of the Paul people is Paul Montgomery, our Program Director at WRTV, and a swell guy.  He is also a blogger at the indychannel dot com.  Find him here.  He recently asked a bunch of fellow staffers/bloggers for thoughts on songs that remind you of summer.  My contribution to the Summer Songs Top 40 is below.  Read the rest here.  Thanks for your letter; now:  on with the countdown.

Paul Poteet Good Morning Indiana meteorologist/”Off the Cuff” star-I’m a Van Halen fan, and when I hear “Dance The Night Away” from the summer of ‘79 it still brings back happy memories of very long days and very few places I really had to be. (That spells trouble.)

More recently? I eventually got tired of “Hey There Delilah,” but that spells last summer to me on the radio. The CD I listened to most last summer was “Traffic & Weather Together.” No, really. It’s by a band called Fountains Of Wayne. I’ve been a fan for several years. I’m a sucker for power pop with harmonies and clever lyrics and noisy guitars and all that stuff.

Just remember: “Baby we belong together. Like Traffic and Weather. Like Traffic and Weather.” Go on Limewire and look it up if you don’t believe me.

Tags:   Fountains Of Wayne · Paul Montgomery · summer songs · Traffic and WeatherAdd Your Comment

Tom Davis and I have the honor of leading the 7th inning stretch today at Victory Field, as the Indianapolis Indians take on Bisons.  Hopefully, it won’t be a 7th inning retch.  In today’s OTC we received important pre-song training from experienced public singer Grace Trahan.

(POST STRETCH UPDATE)
Here’s the Indianapolis Indians video feed of this crucial moment in baseball history:

Tags:   Indianapolis IndiansAdd Your Comment

Four days on GOOD MORNING INDIANA, and the radio.  Three episodes of OFF THE CUFF.  If you missed any Moustache Mania, now’s your chance to catch up on CUFF.

1. Re-live the initial shock.
2. Shave it for a rainy day. 
3. The viewers/streamers speak.

Tags:   moustache · Off The CuffAdd Your Comment

The Cell Phone Show has it Maid (In The Mist) In The Shade. On vacation, and off mic, from Niagara Falls.

Tags:   Cell Phone Show · Niagara Falls · Paul Poteet · summer vacationAdd Your Comment

The Cell Phone Show hits the road, with aerial coverage of Niagara Falls not provided by the Goodyear Blimp.

Tags:   Cell Phone Show · Niagara Falls · Paul Poteet · summer vacationAdd Your Comment

The unfortunate part about being multi-media is that there are many ways for people to reach me to tell me this ridiculous mustache looks…uh…ridiculous.  They are responding through polls at the indychannel, WMDH radio, and via emails from the Cuff mailbox, the Good Morning Indiana mailbox, the “weather” mailbox at indychannel, paul@paulpoteet.com, my indychannel email…oh, I could go on.  But most of the negative comments are at least tactful and constructive.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to a darkened closet to cry alone. 

Tags:   indychannel.com · mustache · WMDHAdd Your Comment

So I decide to relax my rules regarding personal grooming while on vacation.  That’s what time off is for, right?  My mustache remained today on WRTV and Off The Cuff.  Response is, uh, mixed.  No, it’s 70/30-ish negative.  Maybe 80/20.  Go to the Indychannel’s home page to vote.  They are also taking a poll over at wmdh.com.  MDH posted a revealing behind-the-scenes, behind-the-wheel photo I took yesterday while at a traffic light.  Look at it and tell me you don’t think “Ron Burgandy.”  I dare you.

Tags:   · indychannel · Off The Cuff · Paul Poteet mustache · Ron Burgundy · WMDHAdd Your Comment

We left town for a week just as floods were ravaging (floods always Ravage in News-speak, just like fires always Blaze.) southern Indiana.  Sure enough, the last 10-15 minutes of drive back home last night featured a nasty thunderstorm.  Flipped the radio dial to 87.7fm to hear Channel 6, and Kevin Gregory was on with an update.  For all I know, he may have never stopped since the weekend before.  (Prime time programs now are considered to be interrupting HIM.)  I hope he brought a change of clothes.  And I hope you found a way to help those you know, or more likely, those you don’t know, in the places that flooded. 

I got a newsletter in the pile of vacation mail from the Lutheran Service Club.   They’ve invited me to speak to their (largely) south-side Indianapolis group before, but they also do good things for the community.  (That’s a joke.  Is this blog on?)  They found a way to help that involved donating un–used food from another event they were producing.  (A pitch-in!) (Or do you say potluck?)

The weather may be unpredictable, but the reaction isn’t.  I was happy and not at all surprised to login while on vacation and find that both my Indy radio and tv homes were doing telethons/radiothons for those affected by the flooding.   That’s so baseball, hot dogs, apple pies…American.  Niagara Falls and Toronto were fun, but it’s good to be home.

Tags:   back home again in Indiana · Flooding1 Comment

How about a break?  A Flash Back instead of a Flash Flood?  I’m no Ryan Seacrest (first of all, I use my real name) but I did snag WZPL’s Dave Smiley back stage at the Music Mill for about a minute of mindless banter a few weeks ago during his 6th Anniversary Party/Concert.

Tags:   Cell Phone Show · Dave Smiley · Indianapolis · Music Mill · Paul Poteet · WZPLAdd Your Comment

My television home base is putting on a telethon for flood victims.  Watch RTV6 Tuesday night at 7:30 to help.  Details here.  The article gives locations where you can drop off your cash both in Indy and Columbus.  If none of that works for you, just go to the Indiana Red Cross and donate online.  (You’re already online anyway!)  We’re sorta offline this week on vacation, but sadly saw the latest on cable news this morning while treadmilling.  Hoosiers probably feel like they’re on a weather treadmill, but my brief look at the weather this morning revealed at least 2 and a half days that were dry.  Here’s hoping, and praying, and doing!  Give some money to the cause.  And thanks.

UPDATE:  I’ve been emailed about the all day fundraising event being sponsored by my flagship family of Indianapolis radio stations.  I’m outta town this week, and not nearly as plugged in as usual.  So, I stand (lounge) corrected, and by all means visit the websites of WZPL, NewsTalk 1430, and 107.9 The Track for more info.  Thanks again!

Tags:   Flooding · Red CrossAdd Your Comment

Flooding rains are responsible for at least two deaths in the southern half of Indiana. It’s the worst flooding I can remember in my many years in the area, and I hope the forecast for Monday is totally wrong, and we won’t see any more storms.  The indychannel has the latest on evacuations and shelters, along with slide shows and videos here, and Columbus radio station WCSI has updated information here. 

Tags:   Indiana flooding · WCSIAdd Your Comment

Steve Morris of 106.9 WXXC has promised that his morning show is REALLY starting this week, after a few months of Dress Rehersals. (Steve, can I take off that dress now?) If he really wants to bring the “A” game, he should do something about his weatherman.

Tags:   Steve Morris · WXXCAdd Your Comment