Newsroom Chronicles No. 2

30 years ago yesterday I rebooted my pest management career on Feb 1, 1995. I had worked for Orkin, a nationwide pest management company prior for six months in 1989 before going to work in the newsroom at the Bowling Green Daily News in Bowling Green, Ky., in May of 1990. I worked there as an editorial assistant, staff writer and book reviewer for almost five years. Print journalism was my major course of study when I attended the University of (Ole Miss) in Oxford, Miss., from 1982-1987. However, after several turn of events and circumstances in my life where I pretty much hit a dead end in my newspaper career, it was time for me to move on. I decided to go back to Orkin. After I made a phone call to someone who I knew at the local branch and who apparently still believe in me, he was able to help me get back on. Also, a couple of other people I knew who also worked there, were a big support to me too. But during the first two years, I have to admit, I hated it. I had an ego problem. So I had to learn to shed my ego and so I checked out some self help tapes from our local library and I began to listen to them in my work truck as I drove down the roads and highways of Bowling Green and Southcentral Kentucky to my accounts. Mainly, I came to understand that we “we are not our jobs.” It’s just a label and it’s how we get our money. The real person is on the inside. It’s how we treat other people that really matters in life. So that’s how I learn to be successful in the pest management business which was to be nice to my customers. That’s what customers want the most is for their service person to be somebody they can trust, be nice and be respectful. And of course, take care of their pest issues too. So after 11 years with Orkin, I left there and went to work for Ecolab, a global corporation (commercial accounts only) working in the Bowling Green and Southcentral Kentucky market still. Again, those same principles applied with my customers for those last 15 years with Ecolab. When I retired from my pest management career after 27 years altogether, I worked in the retail world at Walmart for two years and then I tried my hand as a school bus driver for eight months for Warren County Public Schools. Unfortunately, I had to quit abruptly in order to stay home with my wife as her full-time caregiver not long after she was diagnosed with Parkinson's in April of 2024. I have been at home with her 10 months now and I can honestly say it's the toughest job that I have ever had. However, as I look back at all the years in my working career now that I am retired, it was my communication skills that I learned in journalism school at Ole Miss and my five years of work in the newsroom at the Bowling Green Daily News that gave me the confidence to excel in my pest management career with Orkin and Ecolab. Not to mention it was my education and newspaper experience that helped me greatly in that vast unknown and unchartered territory in life that we all experience in our working careers. And somehow by the grace of God, I have been able to find my way to get to this point where time has become my best friend.

"It Is Better To Light A Candle Than Curse The Darkness"-Eleanor Roosevelt

Newsroom Chronicles No. 1

I figured I wrote at least 5,000 obits for the Bowling Green Daily News from 1990-1995. For the first couple of years, I had to

Galen working in the newsroom in the early 90's.

transcribe them over phone from the funeral home while typing them into the computer. Then we advanced to having them faxed to us by the funeral homes with the latest technology at the time. However, at one point, I got to where I was making a lot of mistakes in the obits because of my dyslexia or learning disability. I was on the verge of being fired by the managing editor who had a notorious reputation of giving you hell if you got on his bad side. Needless to say, I got on his bad side. He gave me two weeks to straighten up or be shipped out. I even tried to make a deal with him like they do in politics in Washington, D.C. these days. He told me that he doesn't make deals. He was a former military man and he was strict. Anyway, I buckled down learned to focus on my work and concentration skills while I was at home at night and on the weekends. Mainly, I learned to slow down and read over the copy three times before I sent it on. After two weeks, he called me back into his office stating that I had improved and I was able to keep my job. I also apologized to him about trying to make a deal with him (I don't remember what the deal was about but he accepted my apology. He could be really firm when he had to be. In my case, he was really firm with me. He has passed away now) Instead, I took responsibility for my mistakes. If you are having problems at your job. No. 1.) Be respectful of your boss and take responsibility for your mistakes. Apologize and tell him or her that you will work on improving. Your attitude towards your boss and job is very important. 2.) Slow down and learned to do the job right. 3.) Practice and study your job skill set in order to improve. Practice your job requirements when you are off duty. In other words, practice your job on your own time at home. If you do these steps, you will be able to keep your job.

College Town At Christmas 2024: Making A Gratitude List Does Not Cost You A Dime

 What is free in life?

Air, water (sometimes), the ability to walk around in public places or freedom of speech? Now, let's look even more deeper.  With Thanksgiving approaching fast, what do you have gratitude for in your own life this holiday season? Your spouse, your children, your dog, your cat, your home, your cars, your job, your community or your church? What about your freedom to worship in a particular church or having faith in God? How about your local government, leaders, police force or fire department? Or what about our country (America), our national leaders or our military? How about our schools, college and universities across the country? What about our doctors, hospitals and have access to medicine? What about food, grocery stores and retail stores? But remember money is not everything in life (I know. But it sure helps to have a job and money of course). As the old saying goes (which is very true) having lots of money will not buy you happiness, that's for sure. We have all heard stories of people making millions and then losing it all.  Or people who win the lottery and they get the lottery curse loosing it all or something bad happens to them. I think you get the picture.

Yes, having gratitude does not cost us a dime when we begin to do our own inventory of what we are thankful this holiday season.  To be honest, I have had a tough 2024 this year already especially since my wife was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in April.  As her full-time caregiver, I have had to learn to take a daily inventory of my own gratitude list. I always come to the conclusion that I am very blessed.  Oh, I could sit around and feel sorry for myself for many different reasons.  And I have to admit some times I do have bad days just like my wife does.  We are fallible human beings. But that's part of life.  Nothing will ever make you totally happy.  It's the little things in life that make you happy. Nothing is permanent either.  Everything changes sooner or later.  Nothing stays the same. When life throws you a curve ball, you learn to adjust.  It's in our DNA as human beings to learn to adjust and make changes.  We are always adjusting to new things and new situations whether we like it or not.  We learn to make the best of it-one day at a time. We are always striving to find routine in our lives day in and day out.  Routine is the key to what helps us survive in this world.  Just like holiday traditions, It is a time to be together as a family and a community in order to be thankful for what we do have in our own lives.

So with that said, do yourself a favor and do your own gratitude list this season.  Think of what you are thankful for-big or small.  And I bet that you will find that you are blessed like me.  And it will definitely take the burden of stress off your shoulders. God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving as well as Merry Christmas!

My Thoughts On The Homeless in Bowling Green, Ky.

I think the older I get, I have more empathy for the homeless in our city of 80,000 in Bowling Green, Ky. But on the other hand, I have more gratitude and appreciation for what I have too in my life (my home, my family, my dog and my car among other things in my life). It makes me think how lucky I am to have the life I have had at age 62. I think about the homeless in the path of Hurricane Helene down south right now. I hope and pray that they did not get swept away into the Gulf of Mexico. There are ways of helping the homeless in Bowling Green and other towns across America without even leaving your home. You can give to the Salvation Army or Goodwill online. Or give to your local church. I am sure they have a mission to reach out to the homeless. I think two positive things that Bowling Green has going for right now is that a brand new intake center is being built with several agencies involved including law enforcement as a place they can be taken to instead of jail when picked up off the streets. They will be evaluated and then determine what the next step is for them. And the other great thing that has happened recently is that the Salvation Army has remodeled one of their older buildings across the street from their newer one where the homeless can take a shower and wash their clothes. They probably have some other things that the Salvation Army can do to help out at that point also. When you see the Homeless on the street corner holding up a sign or panhandling people for money, don't roll down the window and yell "Get a job!" I admit, I am guilty of that many times through the years. Instead of giving them money to them on the spot, give them food items, bottled water or clothing items according to the season. As far as money goes, give to your favorite charity who has a mission to help the homeless. (Disclaimer: Recognize that there are some people on the street corners posing as homeless. They are not homeless. They treat it like a job and they are scammers. I have been scammed before. That's why the experts who work with homeless or government officials say there are better ways to give to them such as giving online to your favorite charity who help the homeless directly in our community).

Reptile Brains And The Road Ragers In Our Midst

     I have to admit, road ragers make me nervous.

    Actually, I call them "Reptile Brains" because they are not thinking rational by taking high risks and driving extremely dangerously using their vehicle as a 3,000 lbs. weapon.  I have been seriously road raged a couple of times in my 47 year driving career (I have been driving since I was 15 years-old).  Both of them have happened in the last ten years of my life.  The first time that I remember was down in Nashville probably about eight or nine years ago.  My wife and I were going to eat at a restaurant in Madison, Tenn., and my son and his girlfriend were following us in his car. Apparently, I pulled in front of somebody at a red light.  But when I looked into the rearview mirror, I did not see a car coming my way.  I know is that he must have been speeding and because he was on my tail before I knew it. All of sudden, he was honking his horn, cussing me, giving me the finger and edging up to my bumper.  The red light turns green and then he swings around the side of my car and does the same thing.  I just ignored him and kept looking forward trying to stay calm. But my heart began racing and I was trying not to have a panic attack or react.  My wife, fortunately was looking down at her phone and I did not tell her what was going on. That's what I was trained to do in all my years of taking professional driver training courses in my 27 years of working in the pest management industry. Mainly, we were trained to stay calm and not react. Then the road rager pulls in front of me and slams on the breaks a couple of times.  Again, I did not react and stayed calm.  Finally, I guess when he realized that he was not going to get a reaction out of me so he decided to move on.  I was incredibly relieved but shaken up.  I didn't tell my wife about it until we arrived at the restaurant parking lot.  My son pulled in right behind us and jumped out of his car. He was concerned about me and asked if I was okay.  I told him I was but it had shaken me up and he said he understood.  It took me a little while to relax even to eat my meal. My son said that it would have done the same thing to him.

    Then last week basically the same thing happened to me again in Bowling Green.  Except this time, I was slowing down to see where a pothole was so I could report it to the city in order for it to be fixed.  I looked into the rearview mirror and there were no cars behind me.  Again, all of sudden, this particular driver in a car was on my tail, honking his horn, cussing, giving the finger, swerving and trying to go around me. In my neighborhood, drivers have a bad habit of speeding, driving 50 or 60 mph in a 30 mph speed zone.  It's scary sometimes to witness this especially when I am sitting on my front porch or walking the dog on the Greenway. Finally, I pulled off on a side road in order to get home.  If he followed me, I had a Plan B.  I would drive away from my house and start heading toward the police station or call 911 on the way there.  
Thank God, he went on.  I was shaken up again. However, I used my training by remaining calm and not reacting.  That is your best defense when being road raged.  There is a couple of other things that you can do also. (Please watch the video below that I have posted).  Thank you for reading and be safe out there!

The New "Bob Marley: One Love" Movie Is Jamming While Bringing Back Good Memories For His Fans

 Nowadays there's so much to watch on TV. Actually, there's really too much to watch in my opinion. 

We got internet streaming flat

screen TV's with built in apps that have taken the thunder out of me watching my large collection of DVD movies that I have been collecting these last several years.  We have Dish Satellite TV also.  And I am really scratching the surface on that too.  Half of the buttons on the remote, I don't even know how to operate. Lol. To be honest, I think I have gotten too lazy to get up put the DVD's in the machine lately.  It's just much easier to flip on the TV and start pushing buttons on the remote and began chipping away at the tip of the iceberg on the tons and tons shows, documentaries and movies available to watch on the internet streaming TV apps and Dish Satellite TV. 

But every now and then a new movie comes along that is being shown at our local theatre.  And usually if it's a rock music biopic, I am very interested in going to see it.  In this case with this latest biopic, it's a movie about reggae music legend "Bob Marley" which is currently being shown here in Bowling Green. The movie is called, "Bob Marley: One Love." My wife (Patty) and I went to see it last Monday and I thought it was a great movie and really enjoyed it.  And course, I always have to sit on the outside seat in in the theatre just in case I have get up to use the restroom. And we always purchase a large popcorn with butter and a large Pepsi at the concessions stand beforehand that we share together to enjoy our movie with.

I won't spoil the details of movie by talking about what happens or how the movie is portrayed.  However, the movie brought a lot of good memories back to me while watching it. It reminded me when I was in college at Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss., in the early 80's and I was in the Sigma Pi Fraternity.  We played a lot of Bob Marley back in those days at the frat house especially during parties.  Also, Patty and I owned a Bob Marley greatest hits CD and we wore it out playing it over and over in the car in the 90's and 2000's. Especially when we would drive down to Pensacola Beach at the Gulf of Mexico where we go on vacation for several days at the beach.  I thought the movie was well done and I loved the music.  Patty and I have started getting back into Marley's music here at the house on the Amazon Prime Music app on my Android phone with the JBL bluetooth speaker lately I have noticed. 

One major thing about the movie I will say, Bob Marley and his band members definitely loved their "Ganja" (marijuana) down there in Jamaica. I supposed that was to be expected. He and his family and some of his bandmates were members of the Rastafari religion. The smoking of "cannabis" is part of their religious ceremonies. It is legal for their religion in Jamaica to smoke it but illegal for others on the island. If someone is caught with a small amount of marijuana is not a criminal offense but they do have to pay a fine. And if it's over a certain amount, it is considered a criminal offence. In just about every scene of the movie, Marley and his bandmates had several joints of Ganja lit up and passing it around.  The only thing that I didn't like about the movie, is that I had to go use the restroom and unfortunately I missed the scene where the Rolling Stones met Bob Marley backstage.  Just my luck, right? Lol.  Oh well, I am sure I will catch the movie again next time on a streaming internet channel app or Dish Satellite TV very soon. No doubt.

The Man Who Made Me A Kentucky Colonel: The Late Dr. Lee E. Elias

Every once in a while I think we all come across one of those particularly amazing individuals in our lives.

I met once such man several years ago when I was working for a national corporation here in Bowling Green, Ky., when I was a sales and service professional.  I had met him once before in town prior to him coming work at our place of employment. But I didn't really know him or much about his background. Needless to say when he came to work for us, I got to know him pretty quickly and I witness him "set the woods on fire" as they say in the sales and service industry. As a service professional, he took me into new places that I knew what they look like from the outside but I had never been on the inside of them before. Because of his astonishing connections with people in our community and incredible sales capabilities, he made those things happen.  A lot of those places were government buildings and entities where the general public was not allowed. One such place was the TVA Paradise Fossil Fuel plant in Drakesboro, Ky., in Muhlenberg County. That place was daunting! I was overwhelmed when I entered the gates to service. I had no clue where to go or what to do because that place was humongous. Plus the workers always seemed preoccupied with their work and seemed to be bothered in order to take time help out a third party service person. Another place was a dynamite manufacturing plant in Muhlenberg County also. I had to have a security clearance to get in there plus wear booties on my shoes while I was escorted around because I go into rooms where they had top secret high tech water jet laser cutters and things of that nature. Once there was a scientist from Israel there inspecting products as I was working.  I was always the one man in a uniform driving a white Ford Ranger pickup truck around Bowling Green and Southcentral Kentucky entering these places on a mission.  He was able land some high dollar service accounts and quickly rose to be one of the top sales person in the company. He won all kinds of sales awards in his short career with us.  In the meantime, he helped me make a lot of money during those years he was employed with us I remember.

His name was the late Dr. Lee E. Elias. The following was taken from his obituary in the Bowling Green Daily News. "He was originally from Atlanta and was a highly decorated Marine and Army Vietnam veteran.  He served three tours of combat duty with the 3rd Marine Division in Force Reconnaissance. He later entered the Army as medic in Korea and Hawaii.  Among the many honors head had received was the Soldier's Medal for saving a life at the risk of his own.  He was also Southern Baptist Minister and for many years he ministered to college students on the campus of Baylor University, Texas Christian University and Western Kentucky University."  I remember Dr. Elias fondly and I remember we had several civil debates on being a Protestant vs. being a Catholic since I was a former Baptist and then Catholic convert. But I stood my ground with him and he respected my beliefs about being a Catholic. I also tested my faith too during those conversations. One day he offered to make me a Kentucky Colonel.  He said he had connections with the charitable organization in Louisville since he was a Kentucky Colonel himself and that he knew the Kentucky governor personally. I thanked and then asked him why he wanted to do that for me. He said he respected me and that I was a hard worker for our company. He also said I had helped him achieve his sales goals.  I thanked him again and a few weeks later, I received my certificate in the mail.  I had it framed and it still hangs on my wall in the den at home to this day where I have lived for 25 years now. And proudly tell them world that I am Kentucky Colonel thanks to Dr. Elias.

The last time I saw Dr. Elias was the parking lot of where we worked in 2005.  He had just gotten back from ministering to the people in need in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina had hit down there in Louisiana and along the Gulf Coast. He was a solid man of God and fearless. He was also a highly educated man with a keen sense of intellect and humor.  Apparently, he passed away about four years later in 2009 from complications of an illness that had lingered on for years after the he time he spent in the Vietnam during the war. R.I.P. Dr. Elias. I am sure you are missed by all who knew and loved you.