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It’s 12:36 in the morning and, per usual, I’m wide awake. Alexis and I went to dinner at Doc’s in Dyer for Valentine’s Day. She ordered wings and brisket with cole slaw and potato salad. It’s enough food for Valentine’s Day meal and tomorrow at court.
“That’s what I do, too. it’s enough for two meals. One today, one tomorrow,” said the owner, a retired physician with children in New York and Columbus, Ohio.
“That’s what I do, too. it’s enough for two meals. One today, one tomorrow,” said the owner, a retired physician with children in New York and Columbus, Ohio.
The good doctor told us this after dinner at the bar. As he and Alexis chatted, I watched the TVs. It’s a Thursday night in February. There was literally no good sports on the six different big screens above the bar. There was a Tulsa 80-57 blowout over Tulane. There was footage of pitchers and catchers arriving for Spring training. On one of the channels, they ran highlights of the Super Bowl between New Orleans and New England. That was weeks ago. On the other TVs, there were sports talk shows.
While all of this crappy sports ran on the TVs overhead, I peaked at my phone. We, WJOB Network, were running a game in video. It was South Suburban College vs. Lincoln Land Community College. That’s junior college basketball. While we chatted with the good doctor, all I could think was – Why in the hell is our local college basketball game not on the TVs in this bar?
I know the answer. Most systems in bars are not equipped yet to run programs on smart TVs. They’re intricate satellite or cable systems, not streaming video. I tried working with a couple of the tech guys at bars where I know the owners and we just couldn’t get it done. None of our hundreds of games of local teams make it on to the TVs in any bar in the Calumet Region. No kidding.
Cold feet standing
still at the stove
waiting for the water
to boil, his wife dead
not 40 days.
What I’m starting to understand is that with streaming video, we’re early. Maybe it’s because we’re an area that has been dominated by steel mills and oil refineries for a hundred years. We’re slow to accept change. Streaming video may be taking the rest of the country by storm. Here, we’re stuck in cable.
There’s other sticking points. I’ve pretty much quit going into large possible advertisers to show them the wonders of streaming video. I sit them our story, and I can see their eyes glaze over. It doesn’t matter that we’ve had more than 6,000,000 views on Facebook Live and now have our own Roku, Amazon and Apple channels. Buyers are often nice middle-aged people who don’t watch TV on Roku or Facebook Live and don’t care to. There is the random buyer who gets it from the start, and it's an exciting moment. But the people who get it around here are outliers.
Sometimes, in life and business, the best thing to do is wait. Just hold tight. Conserve your resources and energy and wait for the trade to unfold. That’s how it went for me in the pits.
Distracted mom
driving away
from a soccer practice
not knowing which way she's
going or why.
Sometimes you gotta just put your trades on and let them unwind. Get out of the way. Sit on the steps of the pit and let everyone else fight it out for a while. You’ve made your trades. You have a position. Let’s see if the market continues to go your way.
Most of the time – almost all of the time – the market saunters back to where you bought your futures and you wind up scratching the trade or even losing money. This was my method. Many traders, once a trade had money in it, would take the profit and go drink.
For whatever reason, I insisted on a waiting game. I don’t know how many times my clerks would come up to me – “aren’t you gonna take some profit on these?”
“Thanks for the input. But stay in your lane, bro.”
Pretty much every time a clerk would say this to me, the market would turn back against the winning trade. I’d scratch or lose money. But every once in a while, the market wouldn’t return to the level where I bought in. It would just keep going up. That’s when real sweetness comes.
It is never – NEVER – a linear process. You always have to wait it out as the market hovers above the area where you bought. This is where we are with streaming video. We have an itty bitty winner on and it keeps threatening to go below where we bought in. We must wait.
High school student
with her cell phone
trying to connect with
other high school students
just as lonely.
I have realized two things with streaming video. - 1. we’re early. 2. it’s time to sit on the edge of the pit. As soon as high school basketball sectionals are over, I plan to pause to see if the itty bitty winner we’ve got going will continue to go our way. Or not.
In the meantime, when Alexis and I got home last night, I ran up to the bedroom and turned on WJOB Network Roku channel. South Suburban was up by five with four minutes left. It’s a great camera angle. One of our guys gets on a ladder above the scorers table. You could see the grit in the face of South Sub coach John Pigatti. One of his guys stole the ball and dribbled the length of the court for a dunk.
“Wow. Is this us?” Alexis asked as she came in the room. “It’s crystal clear. And such a close game.”
We sat on the edge of the bed and watched what was quite possibly the best college game in America last night at any level. Up three at the end, Coach Pigatti chose to foul instead of risking a three. South Sub won by two.
“It looks like a real college game,” Alexis said. “Why couldn’t we watch this game at the bar at Doc’s? Those other games sucked.”
Good question, honey. I’ll get back to you after I sit on the edge of the pit. For now, Happy Valentine’s Day.
I give you my
heart and my soul,
my pretty Valentine.
Do what you wish with them.
Be gentle. Love.
While all of this crappy sports ran on the TVs overhead, I peaked at my phone. We, WJOB Network, were running a game in video. It was South Suburban College vs. Lincoln Land Community College. That’s junior college basketball. While we chatted with the good doctor, all I could think was – Why in the hell is our local college basketball game not on the TVs in this bar?
I know the answer. Most systems in bars are not equipped yet to run programs on smart TVs. They’re intricate satellite or cable systems, not streaming video. I tried working with a couple of the tech guys at bars where I know the owners and we just couldn’t get it done. None of our hundreds of games of local teams make it on to the TVs in any bar in the Calumet Region. No kidding.
Cold feet standing
still at the stove
waiting for the water
to boil, his wife dead
not 40 days.
What I’m starting to understand is that with streaming video, we’re early. Maybe it’s because we’re an area that has been dominated by steel mills and oil refineries for a hundred years. We’re slow to accept change. Streaming video may be taking the rest of the country by storm. Here, we’re stuck in cable.
There’s other sticking points. I’ve pretty much quit going into large possible advertisers to show them the wonders of streaming video. I sit them our story, and I can see their eyes glaze over. It doesn’t matter that we’ve had more than 6,000,000 views on Facebook Live and now have our own Roku, Amazon and Apple channels. Buyers are often nice middle-aged people who don’t watch TV on Roku or Facebook Live and don’t care to. There is the random buyer who gets it from the start, and it's an exciting moment. But the people who get it around here are outliers.
Sometimes, in life and business, the best thing to do is wait. Just hold tight. Conserve your resources and energy and wait for the trade to unfold. That’s how it went for me in the pits.
Distracted mom
driving away
from a soccer practice
not knowing which way she's
going or why.
Sometimes you gotta just put your trades on and let them unwind. Get out of the way. Sit on the steps of the pit and let everyone else fight it out for a while. You’ve made your trades. You have a position. Let’s see if the market continues to go your way.
Most of the time – almost all of the time – the market saunters back to where you bought your futures and you wind up scratching the trade or even losing money. This was my method. Many traders, once a trade had money in it, would take the profit and go drink.
For whatever reason, I insisted on a waiting game. I don’t know how many times my clerks would come up to me – “aren’t you gonna take some profit on these?”
“Thanks for the input. But stay in your lane, bro.”
Pretty much every time a clerk would say this to me, the market would turn back against the winning trade. I’d scratch or lose money. But every once in a while, the market wouldn’t return to the level where I bought in. It would just keep going up. That’s when real sweetness comes.
It is never – NEVER – a linear process. You always have to wait it out as the market hovers above the area where you bought. This is where we are with streaming video. We have an itty bitty winner on and it keeps threatening to go below where we bought in. We must wait.
High school student
with her cell phone
trying to connect with
other high school students
just as lonely.
I have realized two things with streaming video. - 1. we’re early. 2. it’s time to sit on the edge of the pit. As soon as high school basketball sectionals are over, I plan to pause to see if the itty bitty winner we’ve got going will continue to go our way. Or not.
In the meantime, when Alexis and I got home last night, I ran up to the bedroom and turned on WJOB Network Roku channel. South Suburban was up by five with four minutes left. It’s a great camera angle. One of our guys gets on a ladder above the scorers table. You could see the grit in the face of South Sub coach John Pigatti. One of his guys stole the ball and dribbled the length of the court for a dunk.
“Wow. Is this us?” Alexis asked as she came in the room. “It’s crystal clear. And such a close game.”
We sat on the edge of the bed and watched what was quite possibly the best college game in America last night at any level. Up three at the end, Coach Pigatti chose to foul instead of risking a three. South Sub won by two.
“It looks like a real college game,” Alexis said. “Why couldn’t we watch this game at the bar at Doc’s? Those other games sucked.”
Good question, honey. I’ll get back to you after I sit on the edge of the pit. For now, Happy Valentine’s Day.
I give you my
heart and my soul,
my pretty Valentine.
Do what you wish with them.
Be gentle. Love.
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