For this blog post, I figured it would be interesting to take a look back at my previous posts on February 1 to document my weather career and see what I was thinking/feeling at each 12-month checkpoint.
February 1 2013
Before I bury the lede too far down this post, I start a new job tomorrow: on-air presenter at The Weather Network. I'm extremely excited about this new opportunity and can't to get started. I will be training full-time for a month and then will start appearing on-air in March.
This is the opportunity for which I've been waiting for years. My goal has always been to have my main paying job to be on-air and then have time to write novels in my spare time (Books 2 and 3 are complete; now begins the very difficult job of getting them published).
This has been a long time coming. I've volunteered for every single on-camera role I've ever had to this point. I've tirelessly worked at improving my skills and building my resume and, now, to be paid to do what I've always wanted to do is an amazing feeling.
My main takeaway from the above? I'm STILL trying to get a second novel published. It's tough sledding!
February 1 2014
I put together a selection of clips from 2014 to commemorate this first anniversary (with hopefully many more to come!)
I was so impressed with my work from my first 12 months of weather that I have, apparently, since deleted the video off of YouTube!
February 1 2015
The highlight of the first month of 2015 was undoubtedly my cross-country sojourn from Calgary back to The Weather Network's headquarters in Oakville. It was the first time I had ever been in Saskatchewan and Manitoba and the ability to see different places and meet new people across Canada was a great experience.
I flew to Calgary on January 10th and returned to Oakville on the afternoon of January 17th. I spent the night in the following cities: Calgary, Saskatoon, Brandon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and Parry Sound (hometown of Bobby Orr).
My favourite moment of the trip was visiting extended family I've never met before in Biggar, Saskatchewan. My paternal grandmother grew up in Biggar (town motto: New York is Big, but this Biggar) and I was able to tour the farm where she grew up and enjoy a home-cooked meal, along with a few potent potables.
That cross-country trip is still the highlight of my The Weather Network. It was an experience I will never forget.
February 1 2016
The new year has also brought a new challenge. I started sports anchor training over the past few weeks and I had my first on-air sports shift in January. My sports anchoring will be sporadic this year as I will be mostly working as a fill-in, in addition to my full-time weather shifts.
I am continuing to add new skills to my media toolkit. And speaking of that toolkit, I've been flexing some more literary muscle recently with the completion of a 15,000-word novella entitled, The Longest Drive.
The story follows the fictional exploits of 25-year-old Mark Madden and his ability, or lack thereof, to navigate life as a professional golfer.
While the sport of choice in The Longest Drive is golf--and how Madden deals with added pressures after winning the U.S. Open and being anointed the Next Big Thing--parallels can easily be drawn from what Madden faces to any professional athlete in any sport in 2016.
This is when I started to add more sports to my broadcasting career (in addition to my sideline reporting for ESPN) and some more writing.
What will the next 12 months bring to my weather broadcasting career?
Here's my Global schedule for February:
Wednesday through Friday - 5 p.m. newscast for Durham, 11 p.m. for Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Fredericton.
Wednesday through Friday - 5 p.m. newscast for Durham, 11 p.m. for Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Fredericton.
Saturday and Sunday - 10 p.m. newscast for Winnipeg, Regina, and Saskatoon and 11 p.m. for Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Fredericton.
