Jay Kersting's Blog

On Sunday, November 26, 2006, Kathy and I drove from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Jefferson City, Missouri, to learn more about a job opportunity.  What everyone knows now is that I took that job and now we call Jefferson City our home.  What many don't understand is how we got here.....and why. 

Many who have gotten to know me since we got to Jefferson City wonders what would make me up root my family.  Everyone who knew me in Knoxville probably still wonders why I would leave that area.  The answer is in what lies behind the facade.

Here is the situation that existed for us in Knoxville.  I was working five days a week in a job that had no future, in fact, I later learned how short that future was.  THEN I also worked on weekends doing two different things.  One, I hosted/moderated radio shows for experts in a variety of fields.  My job with that was simple for me, not so easy for others, fill time when there were no calls and redirect things back to the main topic.  I also got to host a show of my own on Sundays.  The other job was to work as a stringer for various radio networks covering Tennessee football and basketball games. 

That weekend work was fun to a point and beneficial toward building up my skills as a show host.  But really, I did it for one key reason.  WE NEEDED THE MONEY!!! 

On the other hand, Kathy had a good job with the University of Tennessee Men's Athletic Department.  She was paid OK but she had decent benefits, as well as some other perks that go along with being in an athletic department.  She also had no room to move up and she worked for a man who was demanding to say the least and thought of as a tyrant by many.

So, the facade of everything in Knoxville being great for the Kerstings was just that, a facade.  OK, a LIE!

Don't get me wrong.  It wasn't bad.  We were able to take our first real family vacation in July 2006.  We went to Walt Disney World and had a great time as a family.

But it was at Walt Disney World that it hit me.  Kathy was working a lot of overtime and I was working seven days a week so that we could take this vacation in order to spend more time with each other.

This was STUPID.  Spending more time away from each other so that we could spend more time together?

Don't misunderstand and don't look at this as a grab for pity, far from it.  Kathy and I did not take on all this extra work JUST for some damned vacation.  We did need the money for other reasons, which is why we didn't quit after the vacation.

So, when an opportunity was presented to us that would allow me to make more money AND have my weekends free (most of the time), we had to come look at it.

As it turns out, here is what happened.  We spent five months split apart, me living in a motorhome, Kathy as a single parent (with a LOT of help from my parents....Kathy said that, not them).  That was the bad....

Now the good.  We have a newer and larger house with a huge garage.  We have family game nights and/or family movie nights at least once a week....usually more often.  We found the pool at Memorial Park, which is like a small version other water parks.  We go to movies as a family more often.  We have been to one, so far, major league baseball game (Royals, of course).  We have visited my younger brother and his family and they have come down to visit us.

So, to those who wonder why I left a place that I called home for nine and a half years to go work at a smaller radio station in a smaller town, now you know why. 

I have Kathy, Alex and Ben here.  This IS home.

Posted by Jay Kersting at 11:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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I would have thought that being in a state capitol, I would be jumping in to a hornet's nest of political activity and possibly even corruption.  Now, I arrived here on December 26, 2006, and so far everything seems mostly above board.  Sure. there is lots of political bickering and grandstanding....even finger pointing.  So far though, I haven't seen anything resembling corruption.

But that does not mean that I don't know what political corruption is.  If you not familiar already, let me just point you in the direction of Knox County, Tennessee. 

To quote Freddy from "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"..."All I can say is WOW!!  Wow Ow WOW!!!  WOW!!!!"

I knew a lot of the players that are mentioned in some of the stories.  Now, I would not say that I was friends with, but friendly with many of them.  If the allegations are true, this is really sad.  If the allegations aren't true, the way things have been handled by those doing the investigations are more than sad.  And I knew some of those folks too. 

The other day a friend asked me when I was going to run for office.  I told him the quick answer of "NEVER!!"  I like watching politics the same way I like watching baseball.  Sit back, enjoy the show, tell folks what is happening, offer commentary....just don't ask me to swing a bat or turn a double play. 

Some have called politics show business for ugly people.  That may be true, but I prefer to call it sports for those with strong verbal dexterity.  OK, so that doesn't sound as good.

The thing about politics these days more than anytime since probably Watergate, is how polarized things have become.  I have said this many times before and I will keep on saying it, too many people place inaccurate political labels on themselves.  More than anything, I hate hearing someone say that they are a Republican or Democrat because their parents were Republicans or Democrats.  I've always felt that it is OK for your family to influence your faith, or lack there of.  But let your ability to process information, your intellect, direct your political views.  Often times, the way you are raised will do that.  But don't let that be the ONLY or even PRIMARY factor.

I'm sure the folks who got involved in these scandals got their political bearings from a variety of sources.  The system is what got them in trouble.  I don't want to get in to that type of system.  Besides, as a confirmed independent, I would never get any group behind me for support.

Support.  That is the term used these days to mean MONEY.  Want to know how these folks in Knox County got in trouble.  It had to do with MONEY.

Remember, it is often said that Money is the Root of All Evil.  This is not true.  Money, in and of itself, is nothing.  A symbol.  That's it.  The longer statement is...The LOVE of Money, Above All Else, Is the Root of All Evil.

But again, while that second statement may be true, it just doesn't sound as good.  Which is why it isn't used.

Remember that as we enter the start of Year Two of the 2008 Presidential Election.  At least baseball only has 162 games, two rounds of playoffs and a World Series.  Spring Training starts in late February or early March and the whole thing it wraps up by November.  Anyone NOT understand why I like baseball better?

Posted by Jay Kersting at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

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Alright, where to begin.  Yes, it has been a while since I have posted.

I will skip some of the comments on the stupidity of culture and the obsession with pop culture...save this one comment.

I did travel six hours to see The Police at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY.  First, I have wanted to see them since the Synchronicity tour in 1983-1984, but was too young to do so.  Second, it was a chance to see some of my friends and former co-workers that I did not really get to see much before I moved.  And third, as it turned out, I got to see my niece Zari and his parents (Sorry T & S, you are simply Zari's parents now.  Get used to it!).  It was worth the trip, worth money, etc.

Since that time, back at home here in Jefferson City it has been and continues to be HOT!!!  That has caused a bit of a problem with our yard.

We have an automatic sprinkler system.  The system has six zones and timers and setting for all kinds of different things.  Well, it is HOT and HUMID, but not wet..as in no rain.  So, I struggled to figure out the proper way to set up the sprinkler system.  Thought I had it right.  And again.  And again.  And again.  Never did.  So, I did some things to run it manually.

Then I got the $87 water bill.

The grass is brown and the sprinkler is off.  Didn't want to cut the grass anyway.

I will figure it out and get it running properly.  Oh, and YES, I did read the book.  It does a fine job explaining the thing......if you understand JapLish.

In other news, August 1st gave a scare to our household.  That bridge collapse in Minneapolis.  For those of you just tuning in, Kathy and I met in St. Paul, Minnesota, and lived in that metro area for three years.  We worked in the northern suburb of Roseville and lived in the southern suburb of Burnsville.  If you look at a map you could see several ways for us to commute.  The most common one took us over that I-35W bridge.  We knew that bridge.  I remember Kathy driving me home on that bridge after a dentist's appointment.  (This is a vivid memory because my lips were numb and she told me to shut up because I sounded like some idiot cartoon character....or something to that effect.  Now that we have been married for 12 years, she doesn't feel the need to qualify those requests.)

In any case, we followed that story closely and called all of the friends up there we could.  Finally heard back from one.  Everyone that we know is OK.  I still spent days scouring the websites for the names.....just to be sure.

Registering the boys for school was an interesting task.  For Ben, so far it has been seamless.  For Alex, a funny little thing happened on the way to the Nurse's office.  You see, Alex was born in 1995.  Apparently, the shot record shows that he had his MMR and Chickenpox vaccines in December 1986.  Modern medicine is amazing, but not that good.  Not only did his mother and not meet by then, we were in different states with NO overlap in our lifetimes.  Not even at the same place for vacation at the same time.  Yes, it was an error, but since the records are now in STORAGE in Knoxville, this was a bit of a problem.  The doctor's office has YET to get this corrected and back to us, but we had enough information to get through this problem. 

The rest of the process was long and tedious...sort of the way I recall Freshman Orientation at CMSU.  Actually, it wasn't bad at Thomas Jefferson Middle School.  Everything in Warrensburg, Missouri, is long and tedious.  Even IF it involves beer.  It was long because we are new to the district and I have no damned clue what the hell we are doing.  Who is his doctor?  Right now, the attending at the ER qualifies.  We will pick one soon enough.  You know, stuff like that.

What else....Kathy and I had birthdays.  Yippie....whatever.  We bought me a bike.  Went for a ride, got eight houses away and the chain snapped.  Returned it for a different model...to the tune of SIXTY bucks more.  Screwed up the brakes once, but fixed that easily.  So far, so good since that point.  Need to ride some.  I volunteered for a media race to coincide with the Tour of Missouri bike race.  I know I will lose since I have not ridden a bike on a regular basis since I was a sophomore in high school.  Don't care, just want to have fun.  Sort of like my media hockey appearances.  I can't skate, but I had fun flopping and falling on the ice.

Kathy finally got something she has apparently wanted for a long time (but only told me late last year).  A jewelry armoire.  I told her that she will now have room for stuff of NO value on her dresser.  It is a neat little furniture piece and I think she is happy with it.  She might have gotten it years ago....had I known.  But she thinks I am hard to buy for.  I drop hints ALL THE TIME. She only remembers the EXPENSIVE ones. 

Who doesn't want all of the new stuff in Popular Mechanics?  Let me rephrase that, what man doesn't want all of the new stuff in Popular Mechanics. 

Ben's birthday will be TEN on the 13th!!!  Hard to believe that our youngest is getting into the double digits.  Doesn't seem that long ago that I drove 90+ MPH down I-75 in a non-air conditioned 1990 Ford Festiva wearing a wool suit.  How I made it to Erlanger Hospital from the Cedar Bluff area in an hour and ten minutes with a closed interstate (that Dave Foulk told me about on the newly renamed WNOX AM 990) due to a diesel tanker being overturned at Lovell Road, when I didn't know my way around town yet is still amazing to me.  Nope, I will never forget that day. 

I will possibly be able to make more updates once the boys start school on the 20th.  In the mean time, I will let Dean Morgan call me out on the air for how horrible I am about updating.  (He updates his nearly daily....show off!!)

Take care and keep in touch....if you want.

Posted by Jay Kersting at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

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