Maybe Next Year, Chiefs

I have to blame my wife. When I moved to Joplin, I wasn't a Chiefs fan. Even though I've always lived in the Midwest, I was somehow a Seattle Seahawks fan. And at the time, the two teams were rivals, residing in the same division. Heated discussions would occur on the GMFS set, as our producer Kevin and myself would taunt each other on the merits of our team. But then, I married a Chiefs fan, the Seahawks moved to the NFC and slowly I became a Chiefs fan through osmosis. A trip to Arrowhead didn't hurt, with the smell of barbecue and a Chiefs victory.
So naturally on Sunday, I watched with excitement as Kansas City made its first playoff appearance since 2006. As you know, the excitement didn't last long. Baltimore moved the ball at will and the Chiefs seemed more than willing to give the Ravens back the ball when Kansas City's offense was on the field. Sure the halftime score was close, but outside of one big play, the Chiefs were struggling.
Two awful games to close out the season after such a great start. But on the bright side, this was a team that only won 4 games last season. Vaulting into the playoffs was a huge step in the right direction. And that should give Chiefs fans a ray of sunshine for the 2011 season. The schedule will be tougher and teams won't take them for granted, but we've seen improvement on both sides of the ball. I can only hope that one Sunday afternoon, I'll be among the sea of red at Arrowhead.

Song Stuck In Your Head

Food is a favorite topic on the show as I mentioned, but so is the world of entertainment. Movies and music are often discussed during the breaks, although obviously our tastes are very different (Shannon loves her New Kids). However, one of our favorite games involves getting a random song stuck in the other persons head. A catchy tune helps, but sometimes the randomness is the amusing part. Some of the songs that have worked in the past include "Barbie Girl", "Oh Yeah" (the song from Ferris Bueller), "Song of the South"(yes, Alabama) and the theme song from "The Smurfs." I have no idea how the last one cobbled its way into my brain, but it lodged itself there for a couple days. Right now, I've got "Oh Yeah" going through my mind. Any ideas?

Mac & Cheese & Other Thoughts

We love to talk about food on the show, and this morning had another example. Shannon mentioned adding split cherry tomatoes to her mac & cheese, something that I have not tried. In college, I used to make a casserole using mac & cheese, tuna and cream of mushroom soup. It was cheap, filling and didn't taste bad either. Anybody have any other recipe ideas for mac & cheese?

Like I mentioned this morning, I am a shopper that will occasionally read labels. The product I put down last week while shopping... Ramon noodles. Always looking for cheap ideas for lunch, and the thought of the noodles appealed to me. Of course the sodium content scared me away. But really, it's hard to find a soup that doesn't get crazy with the sodium.

Hello Blog!

Hello blog. Sorry, it's been a while. With all the electronic and social media available, we kind of ignored you. While I can't guarantee it won't happen again, we'll try harder in 2011. We apologize.

Okay, so we've decided to revive the blog for the New Year. I realize that we offer show updates on Facebook, but those short blurbs only give us a limited amount of characters. It's not like we're going to rewrite "War and Peace" on this site. It just gives us a platform to explain things you've seen on the show in a bit more detail.

One of the things Good Morning Four States would like to know are your ideas. We've already heard a few in the last week, but we're always interested. When you do a show as long as Shannon and myself, you can sometimes get caught in a rut. So feel free to drop us a line here, on Facebook, or email us.

Speaking of changes, we've made a few in the show and will continue to play with the format. The changes weren't sweeping, but enough to "mix it up." We feel the moves have improved the flow of the show and quickened the pace. Hopefully we'll be able to bring you more news and stories that interest you without losing the personality of the show. Trust us, we have plenty to say.

Hopefully we can stick to our guns and update the blog on a consistent basis. Maybe not daily... baby steps, please.

March Winners & Chocolate Mess

The move has been taking a lot of my time during the day, so I apologize for not posting last week. Working between two buildings is not an easy endeavor, even though our new location is just down the street. Congratulations to Jack Henry and Associates in Monett, the winners of the March lunch from Richard's Hawgwild. We had a fairly good crowd on hand, and this time, Richard brought mashed potatoes. Not to make too big a deal, but mashed potatoes are one of the ultimate comfort foods. I like mine without gravy, which apparently is a big deal.




Terry Hicklin from the Candy House stopped by the show on Friday with some Easter treat ideas. He also thought it would be fun to have Shannon dip marshmallow eggs into chocolate. Seemed like a good idea at the time. However, chocolate would wind up on Shannon's arm, the machine... well, you get the idea. I got crazy with sprinkles later in the segment, which just added to the weight of the eggs.

The Big Move

For the last month or so, we've been fairly immersed into the upcoming move. It has been such a large portion of our job, that we often forget others may not be aware of the situation. So in case you haven't heard, KODE will soon be moving.
Hopefully by the end of April, we will be settled into our new surroundings. The business aspect of the station is already in the building and news has started in that direction. In fact, I'm typing this at my new desk. We're basically putting the news product together in the new building, but broadcasting the actual programs in our old studio.
And while I toss around the word "new", we're moving into the old KSN building. When the tower crashed onto that building, it was decided that the structure would be gutted, then rebuilt with an addition to accommodate the combining of the two newsrooms. The dream is fairly close to being complete, although there are plenty of hours spent training on new equipment. It has been an exhausting month, but also an exciting time as draw closer to having the entire operation under one roof.
We'll try to keep our readers up-to-date and I'll supply photos later.

A Bowl of Chili

Okay, I would have posted all of this on Sunday, but that turned into a lazy day. So I'll use Monday to play catch-up.


Over the weekend, Shannon and I got to judge a chili competition at Sacred Heart Church. This year, we had 13 different samples, each with its own flavor, texture and spice. One chili was so spicy, that I could still taste it 2 samples later, while one used hot dogs as it meat component.

Since Shannon doesn't like beans, they were nice enough to create a couple pots of beanless chili. However, one of the cooks tried to be sneaky, sneaking bean juice into the chili (above photo). Shannon was not fooled, and actually could smell the bean juice, thus not eating the food.

In case you're wondering, Shannon judged most of the food on look and smell, letting a young assistant do the tasting. And the chili that was my favorite didn't win the competition. Maybe next year.