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Another Brick in the Wall

While some of the people I worked with in the past are being elected into the local broadcasting hall of fame, I have also been honored.

I am now officially a "Pit Master."

You see.....4 Rivers BBQ is some of the best BBQ in the state of Florida. They have a deal in which if you eat at their restaurant more than 20 times in a month, you get your name on a brick.

I reached that feat back in June and my brick went up on the wall earlier this week. 

So take that broadcasting hall of fame, I'm now a "Pit Master" and there is nothing you can do about it. 

Of course all this really proves is that I love BBQ and I have no life, but still, my name is on the wall forever.

Or until they close the restaurant down.

The Apple of My E̶y̶e̶ Wrist

Although we ordered it on day 1, it took until last Friday for us to get our hands on our new Apple Watch. 

The Apple Watch was delivered to the FTVLive World Headquarters late last week and we have been wearing the smart watch for the past few days.

So, to give you a few thoughts on what we think about Apple's wearable technology. 

I got the Sport Apple Watch in "space gray" with a size of 42mm. Apple sells two sizes, 38mm and 42mm. I can tell you that the 42mm seems to be the perfect size for guys and the 38mm is better on ladies. 

The watch is very comfortable to wear and is solid. It is much heavier than you expect it to be, but not so heavy that it is uncomfortable. I wore the watch playing golf this weekend and never really noticed that it was on my wrist.

The Apple Watch tracked my steps while on the golf course (actually it tracks your steps all the time) and also monitored my heart rate, which seemed to rise dramatically when I 3 putted. 

There are a number of apps that you can download for the Apple Watch with many, many many more expected as time goes on. We downloaded the CNN app, but soon deleted it after not being very impressed with it.

You can customize the watch face in a number of different ways and we are expecting that it won't be long before you can use your own photos as part of the watch face. Why Apple didn't include that from the get go, we have no idea. 

I answered a number of phone calls from the watch and everyone that I was talking to said it sounded great. I did not talk long on the watch before picking up my phone and having the call automatically transfer to it.

I like the ability to answer the call on my watch, but I'm not going to go full Dick Tracy and keep talking into it for the entire call. 

It is great for texting. You can see your text without having to dig out your phone and replaying is very easy, using voice dictation. 

After a few days wearing our watch, we can say for sure that it is a keeper.

Lastly, we owe a huge "THANK YOU" to those of you that donated a few bucks so why could purchase the watch. It was well worth the buy and I can say that I highly recommend the Apple Watch to anyone looking to buy one.

As the apps come out, FTVLive will keep you updated on the ones that are worth adding and the ones that are not. 

One for the Record Books

2015 has started off as a great year for FTVLive.com.

By January 22nd, FTVLive had our best month ever traffic wise and we still had 9 days left in the month.

Thanks to each one of you for helping to spread the gospel of FTVLive.

Most of all, a big thanks to our AWESOME sponsors that took a chance when FTVLive decided to come out from behind the paywall and become a free site.

We have great plans for 2015 and it is off to an incredible start. 

Thanks to all of you!

Meet FTVLive's Newest Member

You might have to pardon me for the next couple of weeks.

Yesterday, I started fostering a rescue dog that I hope to adopt. Meet Rory, a 4 year old Fox Terrier mix that was thrown out of car and left on the side of a road.

Right now, Rory is trying to learn to get along with the cats at the FTVLive World HQ and if that goes well (it's not so far) then Rory will be in the FTVLive staff full time.

Other than scaring the crap out of the cats, little Rory is a great dog. He loves car rides, going to walks and trying to edit FTVLive with his paws (which he may have less typos than I do).

I really hope and pray that Rory and his new brothers and sisters can get along and that he will become a full time staff member soon.

Day One in the Gym

Yesterday, I told you that I have a goal of getting back into shape, although I will argue that round is a shape, so I'm already in shape.

But, I want to get in better shape and maybe less round. I want to make 2015 a great year on the golf course and to be honest that is the main reason I am working out and dieting.

Yesterday was day one.

I ate a total of 1653 calories and went to the gym both in the morning and then again last night. Surprisingly, I'm not that sore, which means I was in better shape than I thought, or I need to take it up a notch.

I did learn that if you have a girl with a great ass in front of you on the elliptical, you can go for a lot longer on the treadmill. Just a tip to you guys out there.  

Every journey starts with one step.

Yesterday was the first step. 

Time for a Change

Today, December 9th I'm going to start working hard to be half the man I used to be.

I'm getting into the gym and starting a diet. 

For the first time in years I have joined a gym and plan on using it at least 6 times a week. I figure I need to drop about 15 pounds and would love to make it 20 or 25.

I am going to fully commit to this and that is one of the reasons I am telling you guys about it. I figure if I put it out there, it will look much worse if I fail. 

How serious am I?

I am not going to play another round of golf till February, which will be my longest layoff in 8 years.

I really want to push myself and this is the start. 

Maybe at the end of March I post post a naked selfie on my Twitter account.

Take that Geraldo! 

You Can't Always Get What You Want....

The Rolling Stones sang that, "You can't always get what you want..." and that might be true.

But, I'm hoping with the help of my faithful FTVLive readers, I can get something I really want and NEED.

My iMac desktop computer is almost 5 years old and it's starting to show it's age. I sit in front of my iMac for hours upon hours each day and it is kind of like watching an old friend die. My buddy iMac doesn't have the zip he once had, his screen doesn't look as crisp and quite frankly, sometimes his slow work ability pisses me off.

But, like anyone that has a good friend that just isn't the same as he used to be...I want to dump him and find a new better friend. 

I have already picked out my new buddy, but sadly it is going cost money to be his friend. You know, kind of like Rev. Al Sharpton.

I have my heart set on Apple's new iMac with Retina display. My new friend will cost $2500 and sadly that money is not in the FTVLive budget.

So, I'm hoping that some of you will want to show your appreciation for the work we do, by pitching in for a new desktop computer.

Months ago when I needed I new laptop, the FTVLive community stepped up and helped out. I'm hoping some of you others will do so again. 

Here is a Paypal link for you to securely send a few bucks our way.

You can also stop by the Apple Store and purchase a gift card and send it our way. You can even do an online gift card and send it to our email address (ftvlive@gmail.com) with no postage needed. 

So Much for a Quiet Day

As you know, at the end of last week I was battling a stomach bug or something that had me under the weather.

By Friday night I was feeling better and on Saturday I was hoping to hit the golf course. When I woke up Saturday morning it was raining, so I figured I would take a day trip to Orlando and stop by my favorite store IKEA.

I got down to O-Town around noon and headed into the store. As I was just getting in the store, some guy flies past me like he was in a big hurry. I didn't think it was the sale on table lamps that he was headed to.

Just after that, cops with guns drawn start swarming the store and everyone is ordered to evacuate the building. I hadn't even got a chance to order the Swedish meatballs, before I'm being told to leave the store.

It seems that the cops were looking for Mr. Hurry Guy that I met when I walked into the store. It seems Mr. Hurry had pulled a gun on some guy in a road rage incident.

40 cops or more started searching the store and Mr. Hurry and another guy were brought out in cuffs. 

While police searched the store, I had to sit outside for almost 2 hours while they went through the entire building.

The Orlando news media also showed up. I took this picture of an WFTV Reporter that seems to be so excited to be on the story. 

My quiet day, was anything but.

The good news?

When they opened the store back up, I was first in and was first in line for the meatballs.

So, every cloud does have a silver lining..... 

It Smelled Fishy from the beginning

You may remember a few days ago, I told you that FTVLive was sent email saying he had a big exclusive for us. A Reporter at a southwest station had sent naked pictures to a "viewer" and had been sexting with the said viewer.

The person that sent us the pictures said he wanted to give us the story first. We told you that we passed on the story. The story seemed fishy from the beginning and we knew that if FTVLive ran the story, the Reporter in question was going to have his life wrecked. The entire story just didn't add up and we did not do it.

The emailer then sent along the story to other TV websites, hoping one of them would bite on this bogus story. As we figured, only one TV website did do something on the story and included the Reporter's name.

Today, the emailer posted an apology and said that he made up the entire story. The TV website also posted a small blurb, without the Reporter's name this time, linking to the apology. 

As for the Reporter, sources tell FTVLive that he has been "relieved from work for the time being." A close friend of the Reporter thinks it is likely he will lose his job over this.

FTVLive smelled a rat from the beginning and we passed on the story. But now, a Reporter that is caught in a personal spat with another person is paying the price.

I can only hope that the station sees this for what it was, nothing but revenge and a vendetta and let's the Reporter return to work.

FTVLive is also glad that we saw it for what it was and played no role the ugly crap that just went down.