My Last Day at KY3...

...was sort of today...I mean, I work on Saturday morning, but today was my last day to really be in the KY3 newsroom.

Catch me on KSPR September 9th!

Mark your Calendars: Moon Festival!

Thuy Dam, So You Boutique and Bambu owner

My friend, Thuy Dam, owns So You Boutique, but she also owns the Vietnamese restaurant Bambu.

If you haven't eaten there yet, then you should...but definitely consider making a reservation there on September 25th. That's because Bambu is going to celebrate the Moon Festival!

Just like Thanksgiving and Christmas, The Lunar New Year and Moon Festival are the two major celebrations in Asian cultures. The Lunar New Year is more of a holiday for adults, and the Moon Festival is more for children, family reunions, and lovers.

When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. Children carry around beautiful lanterns and sing songs and poems. Lovers spend the romantic evening together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour.

With the full moon, the legends, and poems, you can't help think that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Asians are so fond of the Moon Festival.

The Moon Festival occurs every year on the 15th day of the lunar calendar. This year it falls on September 25th.

Bambu will be sharing this celebration by offering a lantern contest for the kids and displaying the Dragon Dance. Kids can make their lanterns or buy their lanterns at Bambu or local Asian Markets such as Binh-Tay. The winning lantern will receive $50.00. Kids eat free with a paying adult. For more information, call 881-9881.

New everything! New job, new ring...what's next?

Very soon, you'll only find this pic on the wayback machine.

Well, I thought I was supposed to keep this a secret for a few more days, but since the News-Leader scooped me on my own news, then I guess I should tell.

Yes, I am leaving KY3.

Effective September.

I am going over to KSPR--Springfield 33 will be dead by then.

KSPR will have a new and improved look...

...with new graphics, a new website, and new people. New is relative, of course...some oldies are returning as newbies--Joe (KOLR-10) and Christine Daues (once Christine Bielawski, former KY3 city beat reporter) will anchor the nightly news...Kyle Bosch and Natalie Nunn will do the mornings...I will be on the weekends...
as mentioned, again, in eh, the News-Leader.

I will effectively have a social life again! For 4 1/2 years I have woken up at 5 a.m every Saturday and 6 a.m. on every Sunday. It will be a nice change.

So, why leave KY3? Why not?

There were new opportunities awaiting, and I couldn't resist. I have been longing a different schedule and a change of pace for some time now. I knew that I wasn't leaving Springfield any time soon, and this was the best opportunity for change. I had to ask special permission to leave, and I am very grateful for the opportunity.

Being apart of something new is exciting! It will be challenging, but KSPR has no where to go but up. We've got an outstanding news team, plus ABC programming is looking pretty good...

I will miss the KY3 newsroom, but in the end, I'm still working for the same company.

Some bloggers have been cynical about this, but realistically, it will benefit the viewers. KY3 and KSPR are owned/operated by the same company, but right now, the stations will work in two separate newsrooms and under two different news directors.

Competition will be better for the market.

Oh yeah, and I got engaged last Sunday.
The pictures of the ring and my fiance are above.

Stay tuned.

Cara Connelly Makes Her Debut at WBNS

Cara has left Springfield and is already doing great stories in Columbus, Ohio. Her new station is WBNS, the CBS affiliate.

To see her first story on-air click here. It's a story about a Delaware County Commissioner's mobile phone usage.

Cara says things are going really well. It's a great place and the people are nice. I miss her!! And it's already different in the KY3 newsroom with out her.

At least 200 dead, missing in North Korean floods

A lamp stands on the flooded bank of the Taedong-gang River in Pyongyang Tuesday.

By most accounts, at least 200 people are dead or missing since downpours started August 7th.

Here's what the flooding has done, according to the country's official news agency:

• damaged or destroyed more than 30,000 homes for more than 63,000 families.
• ruined tens of thousands of acres of farmland
• destroyed at least 800 public buildings
• destroyed more than 540 bridges and sections of railways

Experts say the North Koreans may have made this flooding worse for themselves because of decades of deforestation. Apparently, the energy-starved residents have used every scrap of wood from the countryside to cook food or heat homes through the bitter winters, leaving large areas of the country vulnerable to flooding and landslides.

And if you remember, serious flooding helped trigger a famine in the mid 1990s. It's guessed that nearly two million North Koreans died from starvation. A decade later the country is still unable to feed all of its 23 million people and depends heavily on outside food aid.

At this time, the inter-Korean summit between South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is still a-go for August 28 to 30th in Pyongyang.

American Defector in North Korea Pt. 1

This is an interesting story of a US man who defected to North Korea in the 1960s. Instead of being killed by the NKs, he wound up being a superstar of sorts. He is the subject of a new documentary. Check it out.

American Defector to North Korea Pt. 2

Part two. Shows more about Joe Dresnok's son and the isolated country.

JUST TRY IT: Cucumber Kimchi (Awesome version)

**SCROLL DOWN FOR THE RECIPE**

I was looking through my blog archives (yes, I said archives), and I noticed that kimchi got a lot of responses...

So here goes a cucumber kimchi recipe that I recently tried and enjoyed. It's really easy to make, and it's not the stuffed cucumber kind. I think you'll like it. Much more similar to the kind of cucumber kimchi you'll get if you eat at Soo's Korean Restaurant, which by the way, is one of my favorite places to eat in Springfield. Oh, and the exact recipe comes from a book called Flavors of Korea.

Oh yeah, and ode to Gregory Holman (if you ever watch his blog, he always puts recipes on-line followed by *awesome version*)

Ingredients:

2 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 to 1 teaspoon Korean red pepper powder or 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne

2 medium seedless cucumbers, peeled an cut lengthwise into thin, 4-inch long slices

1 medium white onion, cut in half, then cut into thin slices

Instructions:

In a large jar, thoroughly mix together the salt, vinegar, sugar, and Korean red pepper powder. Add the cucumber and onion slices, then mix. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before serving.

Bam! Done! Eat it with some sticky rice, and you'll feel awesome. It's refreshing and healthy. Kimchi kicks!

H-O-T-T

Dude, Dave Snider's freakin' hot..in case you didn't know.

This is the a pic from the most recent GO Magazine.

Is he playing air guitar?! What does his wife, Mary Helen, think of that?!

Google me!

I am so excited. Who does't google themselves? If you google my name, it now surpasses my KY3 bio page. This is fairly recent...which seems like a pretty good thing...

Class is finished!!

I am finally finished teaching my summer course at Missouri State. It was truly a neat experience, though I'm not sure I'd do it again.

In case you didn't know, I taught Intro to Journalism this summer, and it was much tougher than I thought it would be. Four days a week...for more than an hour...

Some students were really into journalism, and I think that's refreshing...Others told me they took this class because it was a requirement to take "cooler classes". Sweet.

Most of my students wanted to be print journalists so I didn't have much of an opportunity teaching what I know best. However, I think they'll find that they'll have to deal with video at some point in their careers.

Anyway, I had a few great writers and a lot of potential great writers. It's inspiring to say the least.

Cara Connelly Says Goodbye