From April 2012 until the end of November, I was writing fairly regularly on a website called “The Hub Now.” It’s run by a friend out of New York, and it was a great way to keep my writing chops up. I would cover stuff like recaps of “Celebrity Apprentice” and NBC’s “Revolution” along with the occasional one-off story about something happening in pop culture… all written under a pen name.

Somewhere along the way, though, my motivation to continue just waned. It could’ve been the holidays, or it could have been the fact that everybody pretty much stopped writing on the site in the first week of December.

The truth is I’ve been sort of lost for the last year or so. I had pretty much lost my motivation to do just about everything I loved. I don’t like to say it was a full-bore depression, but there’s hardly any other way to describe it.

The inability to score a job interview but once every three months or so really began to grate at me, and I think I just became more and more resigned to the fact that I would just live a life of being Mr. Mom. There’s nothing wrong with that, by the way. Plenty of people do it. Michael Keaton even made a movie about it that nobody liked.

Flickr/rob_rob2001

Still, even as successful as my wife is in her career, I feel way more comfortable being a two-earner family. It’s nice not having to worry whether that slice of pizza you had for lunch will bankrupt you. Perhaps less toppings is the answer. What’s less than “cheese?”

In actuality, though, I find that being lost and pondering my floundering career just fills me with a lot of secondary worry. Yeah, most of it is financial, but constant worry can really put a damper on living your life. It also results in random fits of uncontrollable crying. I’m man enough to admit that I’ve done that more than once in the past four months. I… uh… had something in my eye… repeatedly.

The thing about being lost is that eventually you can find yourself. I owe that almost entirely to the great support I receive from my family. They have stuck by me even when I had completely given up on my job search and living (figuratively). I went to the doctor and sought medical help, and I’ve been trying to slowly get back to the things that make me happy.

I began playing poker again, and I also began working on my pinball machine again. In fact, you’ll notice I imported a bunch of pinball restoration blog posts into this site. I owe a few updates. Actually, I owe quite a few updates on quite a few topics.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever work again, but I’m finding my way off the mysterious island. That black cloud I’ve been sitting in just isn’t healthy.

In the middle of the decade, there was no greater wrestling organization than the WWF. Back then, the World Wrestling Federation – now WWE –had not been fighting with pandas over their name. I think I was in sixth grade when it first caught my eye. There had been this thing called Wrestlemania, and after the success of the first couple of years, it really started picking up steam.

In my neck of the woods, the weekly show was syndicated on one of my local stations. There were dudes dressed up in tights with names like Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, the Iron Shiek, and Hulk Hogan. They always seemed to be angry with one another, and after all the posturing in Mean Gene Okerlund interviews, they would come out to the ring in front of a capacity crowd and beat the crap out of each other.

I was 12, and I had no idea that wrestling was more theatrics than sport. It gradually dawned on me that these guys couldn’t really tour around and hate each other constantly. I mean, if you hate the people you work with, and you’re constantly getting into fights, would you stay with that job? Also, some of the moves seemed like they were designed to distribute the force across the body so as to not actually hurt the other person. I mean, stomping the foot when they hit a dude, landing on the upper back when getting knocked down, choking a dude on the ropes when the rips are under the armpits… it’s clearly fake, right?

What did I know? I was 12. All I knew was that there was a dude named Hulk Hogan who told me to say my prayers and take my vitamins, and I would be able to defeat any challenge that came my way. That was easier said than done for a kid with a giant head and tiny body. I still have a giant head, but my body seems to have caught up.

Regardless, like many wrestling fans my age, I completely idolized Hulk Hogan. He was uber-patriotic. He would carry the flag into the ring. He would fight people who picked on the little guy, and he was like the modern-day Superman without all that flying stuff.

I remember watching these shows and getting so excited if they mentioned Hulk Hogan would appear. The best entrances, though, were the ones where you never expected him to appear. Like this one… (cue it to :45-ish)

When the music starts (“Real American” by Rick Derringer, btw) in the clip, I still get that same feeling I had 25 years ago watching Hulk Hogan come in and beat down some moron.

I don’t remember when I stopped watching wrestling. As I got older, it just wasn’t as important to me anymore. Certainly as the ’90s wore on, wrestling got more and more into story lines and less about wrestling. In fact, I challenge you to watch a WWE show today and find any wrestling within the first 20 minutes. It can’t be done.

I still remember what the Hulkster taught me, though. He always said that if I applied myself, I could accomplish anything in the world. That’s what Hulkamania was all about… not letting people tell you that you can’t do something… and showing people what hard work and determination can accomplish.

As my kiddo grows up, I try to instill that kind of positive thinking in him. I want him to succeed so bad. I want him to succeed in ways I never did. If a problem ever approaches him in life, I want him to have the confidence to jump from the top rope and knock it on its ass.

I was single at the time, and when I wasn’t busy working or going out on first dates that never turned into seconds, I would sit at home playing this fantasy role-playing game on my Mac.

Back then, there were very few game makers that supported the Mac. Blizzard was a little late to the game, but during early development of “Diablo II,” they figured out an easy way to write the code for the game for a PC and then quickly port it over to a Mac. This allowed for them to release patches for both platforms at exactly the same time, and each platform worked exactly the same (with the same bugs, too).

Again, I had never seen a developer really care much about the Mac users. Back then the marketshare for Macs was pretty small. Once the iPod came on the market, though, users started to see how Macs could be useful in their lives, and marketshare has since improved dramatically. Now, virtually all big name PC game designers port their games over to the Mac. There are few exceptions.

You could safely say that back then, I worshipped the devil – that is, I loved “Diablo II.” Now, 12 years after the release of D2, I’m about to get devil fever again. Blizzard announced that “Diablo III” will be released on May 15. It’s supposed to be the most impressive game ever made, and given what I’ve seen at the Diablo III website, I don’t doubt it.

Here’s the opening cinematic, which features an old character… Deckard Cain.

Photo by donabelandewen@Flickr

Before I write this diatribe, I have to make an admission. I love Damon Lindelof. He’s one of the best writers in Hollywood (LOST, Prometheus, Star Trek 12). He’s uber-talented, and if I were gay, I would be all over him like Rush Limbaugh at the douchebag convention’s all-you-can-eat buffet. So, it’s with love that I write this, and if Damon Lindelof ever reads the rest of this post, I need him to know a few things about me.

1. Despite what I am about to write, I am not an ass-hat.
2. I thought the LOST finale was the perfect way to end the show. Unlike others, I got it.
3. There is no No. 3, but I wanted to just emphasize that I’m not an ass-hat.

People in Hollywood involved with major blockbusters are quick to make everyone working on the project sign non-disclosure agreements, commonly referred to as an NDA. The idea is that if everyone keeps their mouths shut, more people will go see the film to discover whatever the big secret is.

In the case of the next Star Trek sequel, which is set for release in May 2013, everyone working on the film had to sign an NDA. I know this for two reasons. First, the cast and crew is very open about the fact that they signed the NDAs. Second, I’ve independently verified this with a friend who I know is working on the set.

So, about a week ago, this photo is leaked on the Internet. According to MTV.com, the photo shows Zachary Quinto battling Benedict Cumberbatch on the Trek sequel’s set.

Benign enough, right? It’s clearly Quinto as Spock, and barring any real confirmation from anyone, it’s safe to assume that any other big name star is either the villain or a sidekick that moves the narrative along. Let’s guess villain based on this photo of Cumberbatch.

In this case, Cumberbatch has been rumored to play any number of characters from the Trek universe – all of them bad.

Armed with the release of this leaked set photo, producer and writer Lindelof took to Twitter.

The weird thing about that Trek photo is we weren't even shooting. Quinto just really hates Cumberbatch. #IHateLeaks

—
Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) February 25, 2012

On the Red Carpet at the Oscars, Uhura actress Zoe Saldana told a reporter that director J.J. Abrams was “very upset” about the leaked photo.

Aside from someone taking an unauthorized photo and leaking it, why would he be upset? Is the photo leaking some major plot point? If it is, I’m certainly not aware of it because I have no idea what the plot is.

Then yesterday, I was perusing my Twitter feed only to discover this nugget from Damon…

I know sites need to generate traffic, but exploiting a dimwitted PR mistake and using it to justify spoiling a major twist is uncool.

—
Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) March 02, 2012

Originally, I thought he was talking about some other leak from the Star Trek sequel’s set. Given how bent out of shape J.J. Abrams was about some benign photo being published, I started searching. You know what I found? Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Nada.

In fact, it wasn’t until this morning that I just happened to come across a short article that must have been what he was referencing. Apparently AMC accidentally published that a character’s last episode would be featured in the “Walking Dead” season 2 box set, which would be available soon. Of course, a few sites picked up on this little error and are indeed publishing the spoiler.

Now, as much as I love Damon Lindelof in a non-gay way, I was a little upset about him being upset. I sent him a series of Tweets.

As a military PR pro, I’ll tell you there are huge disadvantages to saying nothing to the press. They are going to write about you anyway. It’s best that YOU control the message instead of letting them dig something up.

As you can tell, I’m a little frustrated with the all-or-nothing approach some studios take when making their films. Yes, it’s important to keep certain plot points locked down and to keep cameras off your set to protect those.

Here’s what my not-lover Damon and J.J. don’t seem to understand. Leaving a complete void of any information will not necessarily stop movie blogs or the media from trying to get at your secrets. Still, as a movie producer, there is a way you can feed the hungry lion before it gets so famished that it eats you.

To tame the lion, you have to toss it a few nuggets every now and then so it doesn’t stay hungry. That’s how you deal with the media. The nuggets don’t have to be filet mignon (your greatest secret), but there’s very little lost by saying Benedict Cumberbatch is either “playing the villain” or even something as vague as “playing a pivotal role in the plot of the next Trek film.”

I’m sure that man-crush Damon Lindelof felt a little burned in the past by people posting spoilers to the LOST finale all over the Internet, and maybe that is what’s fueling this complete embargo from the Enterprise. There are always going to be websites that want to publish every little morsel they get. That’s not going to change in the information society we live in today. The best Hollywood producers and corporations can do is ensure they have an answer to the media’s questions when they come knocking. Saying nothing doesn’t do anything but breed animosity and makes it virtually impossible to control your message.

As my new best friend, Damon, has figured out, sometimes Twitter is a great place to find morsels… especially if you’re a pussy.

Thank God @FancyFeast is verified because there are so GODDAMN MANY CATFOOD IMPERSONATORS OUT THERE!!!

—
Damon Lindelof (@DamonLindelof) March 02, 2012

Oasis performs at San Diego's Coors Amphitheatre in 2005. Photo by FreschWill/Flickr

In late January 1998, one of my friends sent an email inviting me to an Oasis show at the Verizon Theatre in Houston. Nowadays, it’s called the “Verizon Wireless Theatre” so as to keep up with advances in technology.

January 27, 1998 3:08:15 PM CST*

Hey Buddy ol’ pal

I have a couple of tickets to see Oasis in concert this coming Sunday, and I might not have anyone to go with. [My girlfriend] might not be able to make it into town this weekend, so I thought I would run it by you.  I won’t find out until Thurs. if she can go or not.

I was rocking the pager back then, so he paged me to confirm that his girlfriend – now wife – was definitely not going to be using her ticket, and I was golden for the Feb. 1 show.

If you remember Oasis, they were the “it” group of the late ’90s. They were routinely called the “modern day Beatles,” and their sound and popularity seemed to support that.

Now, I haven’t been to the Verizon Theatre since 1998, but back then it was a fairly small venue. It was general admission for this show, and most folks preferred to rub up against one another on the floor. I, on the other hand, found some decent seats on the second level. These seats appealed to my sense of not wanting to get fondled by a bunch of random people while getting beer spilled on me. After all, I was unaware that I should have a change of clothes available when drunk people get more of their beer on others than in their mouths. Despite all of these obstacles to enjoyment, the show was terrific.

I bought their CDs and would sing along if I heard them on the radio. Then, something weird happened a couple years later. Oasis fell off the face of the Earth. Two of the original band members departed and were quickly replaced. Yes, the band still released a few more albums over the next decade, but those were always met with mixed reviews. Further, whenever I would hear about Oasis again, it was usually because of an alcohol-fueled fight, cancelled shows or some other incident with the band.

By 2009, Noel and Liam Gallagher had finally had enough of one another, and the brothers split – effectively ending the band. At the end of the day, these guys just couldn’t figure out how to work with each other. The end result: failure.

I’m hard-pressed to call Oasis a failure when it sold more than 70 million albums, but I think the label is accurate. Oasis failed because the two leaders couldn’t figure out how to work together.

I think this analogy also can apply to our current Congress. Republicans and Democrats aren’t willing to give an inch to the other party when it comes to legislation. When both houses of Congress are controlled by one party, this isn’t usually a problem, but when Capitol Hill is split, getting anything accomplished is virtually impossible without compromise.

I’m not willing to lay all the blame on the White House for all the problems in America today. Sure, it’s deserving of some blame, but not all. To me, it seems that a Congress that is unwilling to negotiate in good faith on the most important issues is a key ingredient in the recipe of government failure.

Like Oasis, the two parties are in a position where everything the other says is wrong, and the band (or in this case, Congress) will come to a screeching halt. If we’re not already there, we’re pretty dang close.

I’m not sure who I’m voting for in 2012. I like to take my time to decide who has the best ideas and the best plan before voting. However, if I’ve learned anything from Oasis (aside from all the lyrics to Wonderwall and Champagne Supernova), it’s that doing more of the same won’t lead to effective change.

As for Oasis and Congress, I truly hope the two parties in each can work out their differences in a constructive dialogue. Compromise is the only way to ensure the best in music – and legislation.

* Yes, that was the actual e-mail. I have every email sent to me since 1997 in an archive.

@BradKimberly: Interesting. An old co-worker sent me a msg saying he had a job available for me. Pay: Ridiculous. Location: Afghanistan. Response: Maybe.

Cryptic, right?

Let me give a little background on this. The guy who sent this to me was a contractor I worked with while I was deployed to Baghdad during my Air Force days. He’s a great guy, and he really made working in Baghdad quite bearable during the six months I spent there. So, when he found out about an opportunity, he sent me a message. In fact, about a dozen people have sent me job leads in the past eight months, and I am truly grateful to everyone who has done that.

This job is based in Kabul on a six-month contract. I would be working essentially as a media monitor for the public affairs office there. The living conditions would be pretty nice, and the pay is quite ridiculous. I’m embarrassed to even mention a figure.

After mentioning this job on Twitter (and subsequently Facebook), I started getting a lot of attention from folks who want to know what my decision is on this job. It’s just about what everyone wants to know, and it’s usually the last thing I want to talk about.

If you read my Baghdad blog, which I updated nearly every other day for six months, you know that the deployment was a struggle for me. I was away from my family, and there was the constant fear of getting killed hounding me all the time. It didn’t help that one of my training buddies nearly died in an attack on her convoy.

In fact, that one event freaked me out so much, I started finding different ways of doing business so I didn’t have to put 16+ people at risk for a convoy across the city that never really amounted to much publicity (good or bad). I’m sure it made me look like a coward, but it never really prevented me from completing my mission. I just found a more efficient way to do it while reducing the risk to service members and millions of dollars worth of equipment.

I eventually returned home to my family just in time for Christmas 2009, and I enjoyed a little vacation from work. However, when I returned to the office, I received a tasking order to go to Afghanistan later in 2010. I received this notification on the same day I started back full-time again. My boss was understanding about it, and we deferred the deployment. This didn’t phase anyone at headquarters, because another came in a few weeks later for the same thing.

What I learned was that there were far fewer public affairs officers than there were deployment taskings. I knew that my career would be nothing but endless deployments at the expense of my family. I couldn’t have that, so I put in my paperwork to separate from the Air Force. It was approved, and I left in August 2010.

Fast forward to today. Now that this opportunity to serve my country again has come up, I’m having a little internal struggle as to whether this is the right thing to do. If the deployment tempo was the same today as it was when I first joined the Air Force, I would likely deploy this year for the second time. Surprisingly, my family (including my mom) is supportive of whatever decision I make on this. The money is terrific, and if I didn’t get another job for two years, we would still be okay financially.

I’m not an indecisive person. Anyone who has worked with me (or for me) since 2004 knows that I can quickly evaluate complicated scenarios and come up with the best course of action to take. It appears that this situation is the exception to the rule.

Ultimately, I need to “decide when it’s time to decide.” In other words, I need to set a deadline for myself, or I’ll just keep putting this off.

So, here it is. I’m making my decision by Wednesday, Feb. 22. Do me a favor, though. Although I appreciate comments of support, please don’t ask me what I’ve decided. I need to make a decision free of outside pressure. When I do eventually decide, you’ll hear about it on my Facebook or Twitter after talking with my family.

There is nothing more important to me than family, which is why you can understand a decision like this shouldn’t be rushed.

Commodore 128

Growing up, I had a pretty good idea about what I wanted to do for a career. Where most kids would go into a department store and head directly to the toys section, my mom always knew she could find me in the electronics area.

I was fascinated by these machines called “computers,” and I would routinely stand in front of a demo area in the store and poke around on a Commodore 64 or Commodore 128. I would program them in BASIC and amaze the adults who would watch me make the screen scroll my name.

BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY    BRAD KIMBERLY     …

So, it’s obvious that I would want to be a computer programmer, right? Not so fast. Yes, I could mess around on these computers for hours at a time (once I got my own), and yes, I became an expert on most things computers. However, I didn’t really have the drive to pursue something so complicated as programming.

I can safely say I went through my first two years of high school without even an idea of what I wanted to study in college. By 11th grade, I knew I wanted to work in television. I had moved to a school with a TV in every classroom, and the school had its own production facility that was generally run by the students. I took classes in television production, and I always watched intently as Channel One came on the classroom TV each day. I ended up studying radio and television production at the University of Houston. Here’s a link to a show I produced and directed in 1997 (28 minutes).

After college, I took a job at a couple of Houston-area television stations. Although the jobs were in my industry, they didn’t exactly cater to my talents. I specialized in studio production and field production, but I was stuck doing something called master control. In an nutshell, I was the guy who would switch between programs and commercials for these stations. There was really no production element involved in this at all.

CNN International Master Control in 2004

I got a little discouraged, I guess, and started looking for another job that would get me into a control room and away from master control. I interviewed for and accepted a job at CNN here in Atlanta as a videojournalist. As a VJ, you’re entry level, but you can use that as a stepping stone to anything you wanted within the company. Still adamant to get myself into a control room, I advanced myself to another master control position, which is the natural progression to a control room job. I even lucked into a schedule where I could do the job I loved most.

I was technical directing a show called “World Report,” which was taped and not live. This particular slot on the master control schedule was unique because it allowed me the training to be a TD without actually being promoted into the position. This was a huge advantage when it came to testing for that next level to be a true technical director punching live news shows. I had taken a couple of TD tests, but there were certainly people who had waited longer than me for that job.

Then… 9/11 happened. Instantly, I lost the off-the-books technical director position I had in favor of programming changes at the network (Thanks, Osama). Over the next several months, I lost my knack for punching a show, and I just couldn’t seem to move up when testing for promotion. I thoroughly believed I had plateaued, and I started looking for other work.

My love of working in television had waned, and I needed to change course.

Me and Tony Shalhoub in 2005

After two years of struggle, I joined the Air Force in 2004 and learned to become a public affairs officer. That’s essentially a government term for “public relations.” They trained me as both a PR pro and a journalist. My dad had served in the Air Force, and it really was a terrific fit for me.

My television background and experience with a major news organization gave me an advantage when it came to writing stories and developing new ways to communicate messages to the public.

I even managed to parlay my knowledge of film production into a couple of gigs as the base liaison to some Hollywood productions. I worked with “Monk,” “24,” “Transformers,” and “Iron Man.” Not all of it was fun and games, of course.

I spent most of 2009 in Baghdad serving as the media operations chief for all detainee operations in Iraq. It was a terrific experience, but spending all that time apart from my family was just a bit too much to bear. When I returned, I already had a tasking on my desk to go to Afghanistan in 2010. I said, “thanks, but no thanks” and put in my paperwork to leave the Air Force.

I got a federal job in DC, which was good, but ultimately I left the position as my wife’s job transferred her to Atlanta.

Since July, I’ve been out of work. I’ve applied to practically everything I can find in public relations, but nothing seems to be panning out. I’m apparently in the sweet spot where I’m overqualified for junior positions and under-qualified for more senior positions. Take a look at my resume for yourself.

I read an article that said if you wanted to get a job where writing is a key component, you better get blogging. In PR, communicating effectively through articles, social media, electronic media and any number of other techniques is critical.

I honestly don’t know if this blog will make a difference when it comes to an employer considering me for a job, but I know for a fact that this is a positive experience for me personally. I’m thrilled that so many of you have talked to me about these recent posts and said you learned something about me you hadn’t ever known.

Thank you! I’m not giving up.

Wheel – KHOU-TV (Channel 11) is looking for 120 college students to try out for a chance to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. Students must be between 18 and 24 years old and able to test in Houston Saturday at 11 a.m. or 3 p.m.

At this point in my life, things were starting to turn around from the academic implosion I was going through at the time. I had met a girl, and I had finally gotten around to asking her out on a first date. That date? Yep, the same Saturday as the “Wheel of Fortune” audition. That’s more of an aside, though.

I called the number, and before the end of the day, I got a call back from KHOU. She said I had been one of the 120 students selected to audition for the show, and I needed to show up to a local hotel Saturday morning for the 11 a.m. audition.

I remember being super nervous about the audition. I had watched a couple episodes of the show between getting the call and heading to the audition, and thankfully, the rules had not changed much in the two decades the show had been on the air. I familiarized myself with some of the new puzzle types such as “Fill in the Blank,” and felt pretty confident. Still nervous, yet confident.

When I got to the hotel, I checked in at a table and was led to a room where the audition would take place. I’m not lying to you when I say I nearly passed out. There were about 200 people in the room. I was part of a cattle call. Moooo.

The audition process was pretty simple. The contestant coordinators played a mock game, and each person from the front row to the back introduced themselves and could pick one or two letters for the puzzle. A few puzzles occurred ahead of me, and by the time it got to me, I figured life would be better if I could just solve the puzzle as quickly as possible. Yes, I solved it. Some folks stood up and called out stupid letters like Q and X.

The next phase was the written test. There were about 16 puzzles in various states of not-solved, and all I had to do was fill in the blanks for the puzzles I could figure out. As I recall, we only had five minutes to complete it. My strategy was simple: answer the ones I immediately figured out (several) and then use the remaining time to ponder the ones left over. One of the puzzles on the test was:

People: _AN _AL_N

We watched a video while the tests were graded, and when it was over, the contestant coordinators called out 12 names for a final round of auditioning. I was one of the 12, and that’s when I realized I had a high probability of getting on the show.

They took our picture (remember Polaroids?), and we played a final round. I honestly can’t remember if I solved it. Anyway, the audition ended, and they said that if we were selected, we would receive a letter within two weeks. I received mine within the week. I would be appearing on the show, and my name would be in the contestant pool. When it was my turn to go, I would get a call about two weeks in advance. Interesting tidbit: my mother appeared on two episodes of “Card Sharks” with Bob Eubanks in August 1987.

Months passed. The spring semester ended followed by the summer semester and the winter semester. Finally, over winter break, I received a phone call in my dorm room. It was a nice woman named Jackie, one of the contestant coordinators, and she asked me if I was interested in appearing on the show for a January taping. Like I was going to say “no.” Of course, I accepted, and I scheduled a flight to Phoenix. That’s where the shows were taping for that week.

My girlfriend and I flew off to Phoenix on a Friday night, and I proudly had one of my best hair days the next day – shooting day. Here’s how it works for game shows. You shoot five episodes in a single day, and you swap out audiences a couple of times. I was on the second episode to be shot. I made quick work of the first round as you can see in this sneak peek. Sorry for the quality. This tape has been in storage for 15 years.

I knew the next two puzzles but never had a chance to solve them. The third contestant ended up catching about $30,000 in cash and prizes in a single round. There was little chance of catching up at that point. I figured I just needed to solve one more puzzle, and I would be happy. Let me tell you… when it came to solving puzzles, I delivered.

I came away with $4,100 cash, and I didn’t have to pay a dime in taxes on it. I had no steady job in 1997, and my winnings did not come anywhere close to becoming taxable income. Over the summer, I continued to take courses and work on special projects for the university. My “Wheel of Fortune” check covered more than enough of my tuition.

Although winning the cash was great, it’s not the thing I remember most about the experience. When we hit the first commercial break after solving my first puzzle, the late, great Charlie O’Donnell put his hand on my shoulder and said to me, “Brad, why in the hell would you want to get into this business?” It was such a great encounter with one of my TV heroes, and it was the most illuminating 10 seconds of my life in 1997.

I was in the television business because it was the only thing I could do well at the time. I had dreams of becoming an announcer or an actor, and although I’ve had a little experience at some of that, my forte was working behind the scenes. I worked in TV in some form or another from 1992 until 2004. I moved on to other things since, but I’ll always have fond memories of this experience. By the way, I never bought a vowel.

My first year of college was probably one of the most difficult times in my life. As desperate as I was to leave my parents and find my own way in the world, I had some trouble adjusting to living away from home. I met a few really cool folks that first year, and they are still friendships I value today. However, I’ll be the first to admit that I was really lost academically.

Studying and I never really got along, and even though I always grasped concepts during lectures and understood them, my recall was terrible at test time. Over the course of those first two semesters I dropped an english composition class (twice) before I had a chance to fail it. I missed my health final, and despite convincing the instructor to let me take it anyway, I failed the course. The rest of my grades were unremarkable.

I knew very well that I would need to take summer classes to make up for my shortcomings in the first year. There was no way I would ask my parents to foot the bill for that since it was my mistake that caused me to be three classes behind. I was going to need a job.

I remember looking in the classifieds section of the campus newspaper for part-time work, but nothing ever really interested me. I was a Radio/Television major who didn’t want to be a waiter for Applebee’s. One day, I ran across an ad for a place called “Big Time Studios,” and I called the number. Big Time was essentially a booth set up at Six Flags Astroworld (may it rest in peace) and other theme parks where guests could make a music video by lip-syncing in front of a green screen. Sadly, this is how I learned all the words to “Whoomp, There It Is” by Tag Team.

Through a series of unexpected events, I ended up being the supervisor. I really didn’t know the first thing about being in charge of people. This job was the first time I ever had to fire someone, and honestly, I was strong-armed into firing these people. It was a huge stressor, and it didn’t help me keep up with my studies. I did eventually get through a couple of the courses that summer… barely enough to get by. By the end of the summer season, the owner told me he planned to close the video shop. So, it was at this point I learned the first rule of surviving failure.

RULE #1: Sometimes you just have to know when to quit and try something else.

Fortunately, I was given the opportunity to transfer to another division at Astroworld, and I chose Rides. I had made a lot of friends across the park while working the video studio, and I didn’t want to leave them behind. I took a massive pay cut to transfer. Legally, they couldn’t pay me less than my new pay rate, but at least I wouldn’t lose these new friends. I worked all the way until the end of the season… the exact time I was placed on academic suspension. My grades took a backseat to making my own money and this newfangled thing called the Internet.

RULE #2: Asking can get you everything.

I received the notice of academic suspension with my grades. I would be forced to sit out the Spring 1995 semester and go back home to my parents. That’s when I learned of a little-known loophole in the university’s suspension policy. If I could get the dean of the School of Communication (that’s what my degree fell under) to agree to let me re-enroll, I could pick up where I left off. I spoke to this man, and despite having no incentive to let me stay, he agreed to waive the mandatory spring vacation. He became my hero. Here’s a plug, and yes, he’s related to Brent.

RULE #3: Nearly losing everything is a huge motivator to succeed.

I strategically chose my classes for the spring and made sure I had a good balance of difficult and easy classes. I took as many classes as I could during the summer sessions while balancing my job at Astroworld. I made up those courses I had not completed, and my grades slowly started to rise. By late the next year, I was off academic probation and even managed to score Dean’s List soon after.

I eventually quit that job at Astroworld in 1996 after getting promoted, demoted, promoted twice and transferred once. Although I had spent three seasons there and learned valuable lessons in leadership, it was time to move on and truly focus on graduating. I had learned the greatest lesson of all.

RULE #4: Keep your eye on the ball.

Although making money and friends is important, it can’t be the only thing. I lost sight of my goals in life, and I nearly crashed and burned before figuring out how to prioritize… how to keep my eye on the big picture and reach those goals.

Since graduating from college (only one semester late), I’ve had a highly successful career in the television industry, film, journalism and public relations. Some of that experience I gained while serving in the Air Force, which is probably the best job I’ve ever had.

When I go back and look at my college transcript, it’s easy to think of my college career as a failure. On the contrary, I see that transcript as one of the greatest success stories in my life.

I’ve survived failure, and even though life regularly deals me steep valleys with those peaks, I know I can do it again if I have to.

I won’t repost the whole thing here, but below is an excerpt.

From The Toronto Star website:

Top 15 fake facts without Wikipedia

What to do when Wikipedia blacks out for 24 hours? Make up your own facts, of course.

Twitter has been furiously updating with users’ sarcastic, silly, and sometimes seemingly real fake facts — using hashtags like #factswithoutwikipedia and #daywithoutwikipedia — while the English-language website is down in protest against anti-piracy law.

Here is a look at our Top 15 favourites:
*SNIP*

• Rock band Rush predicted the end of civilization when their Canadian calendar only went up to 2112. (From @BradKimberly)

Believe it or not, I had to explain this joke to my wife. I guess she’s not a Rush fan.