Sunday Morning Selfie

  Welcome to another edition of Sunday Morning Selfie. This is a blog devoted to healthier living and weight loss thru accountability. My name is Joe Bryant and I am a Broadcaster and media teacher that has battled weight issues most of my adult life. My hope is with the help of this blog and using the tools I get at 30/10 Weight Loss For Life,  2017 will be the year I finally become closer to height weight proportionate.

My Weight and My Commitment to Blogging

The sun is shining and one thing I am noticing about this self reflection business is that it is much easier on dreary, winter days. Last week was Mothers Day and I did not blog, justifying not doing so by thinking “I should spend the morning in servitude to my wife and do chores instead”. This was true and was what I did BUT, the entire idea of this blog was to check in every Sunday to keep me on track with my weight loss. As weather improves and activities become options I am feeling less dedicated to the writing. I am not “super blogger” yet so this can sometimes take the first couple of hours of my Sunday.

 I am wondering as summer approaches if I should dial it back to every other week, once a month OR… is the little guy in my head that makes me wonder those thoughts the same little guy who tells me that he knows where my daughters Oreo cookies are hidden and that I should go eat them all NOW!

  I guess I can just be glad it is almost June and that I am still at it. And the good news is that I now weigh……. drum roll……. 222 pounds!! That is four pounds less than when I blogged and weighed two weeks ago. I started the year at almost 260 so I think I best keep checking in on a regular basis and keep losing. I wanted to be under 200 before Emily graduates on 6/20, exactly one month from now. I don’t see that happening but weighing in at 217 to salute the class on 2017 should be very realistic at this point and I am thankful to 30/10 for guiding me thru the process!

What Am I Smoking ?

That’s a question I have been asked more that once and today the answer is Ribs and Chicken! I am extremely excited to announce that I am the proud owner of a brand new Smoker and I will be testing it out as soon as I am done blogging. 

 I consider myself a bit of a BBQ master but have never owned an actual smoker. With graduation looming I am planning family parties as well as the first annual Bridge Builders BBQ for my student radio crew. I want to be able to cook ribs for several people without chaining myself to a BBQ all day. I am hoping the smoker is the way to go.

For my maiden voyage I am doing baby backs and country style ribs in the same vinegar based brine I usually use. I am also going to rub down a couple of chickens with salt, pepper and possibly a bit of rosemary. Any tips on smoking are appreciated. Here is a photo of my unit and the first batch of pig. This was snapped prior to sweating and brine. If all turns out well I will share my method and please do share yours. I am going with hickory chips for the wood which are soaking now.

Changing Leadership

One thing way different about a student radio station as opposed to a commercial operation is that your staff will constantly be leaving. The goal is to graduate High School and move on to better things. This is awesome for my students but puts me in a tough spot.

This year my Program Director and Operations Manager were both Seniors. One starts working at KZOK as soon as she graduates then goes on to study journalism at SPU (congratulations Leah), and the other is going to WSU to study at the Edward R. Murrow School of Communications, (congratulations Natalie). This leaves a void in leadership and also leads to some strong and conflicting opinions on who my next leaders should be.

I have a big group of Seniors and many have been in the program longer than me. HOWEVER, when I passed out leadership applications last week nobody in the upcoming Senior class filled one out. But I did get applications from young students in my intro class that are hungry to learn more about radio and that take direction from me very well.

 I have been told I should give these Seniors “another chance”, that they “deserve to be the leaders because it is their turn”. There is also some discussion as to why I am asking about grade point average. 

 My question to any teachers or big execs that have to make hiring decisions is what criteria do you use to choose leadership? My thinking is you give it to the ones who want to learn and that do well in most all of their classes. I figure that if you are not taking care of your own business how can I expect you to take care of mine?

However if I go that route I wind up with Sophomores in charge of Seniors which may not be that comfortable for either. My other thinking is that if I start next year with young leadership I won’t be losing them as soon.

I don’t want to make all my oldest and most experienced people mad but I also want leaders that I can count on to set high standards and want to learn how to do radio, possibly as a career. It is a quandary.

  My responsibility as a radio station General Manager is to build a station that sounds great and maybe even makes a few bucks for the owner. (my District). My job as a teacher is to give EVERY student opportunity to excel. I think these two jobs can compliment each other but when people start telling me to pick leaders because they have “put in the time” and “always assumed they would be made PD”, the GM in me loses patience. Any help navigating these new waters of staffing and dealing with teens regarding peer leadership is appreciated.

The sun is shining and my wood chips have been smoking so I will say goodbye for now with a quick congratulations to the Mercer Island High Boy’s Baseball team. After a big win yesterday they are own the way to play for the state title at Safeco Field next weekend! I have several radio students on the team and look forward to sitting at a sunny Safeco next Friday at four pm to cheer them on!

Go Islanders !! Joe