The Real Bloggers of The Chicago Suburbs

As I sit watching reality TV, I understand it's draw.  After all, I'm watching it aren't I?  I really want to kick myself for watching it, because of why I watch it.  When I tune in, mostly to reruns at off hours I believe that I tune in for the same reason that anyone watching these shows does - these people are train wrecks!  It's not really even entertaining, but yet it's hard to look away in the same way that you can't help but glance over and rubberneck as you pass an accident on the highway.

Real life is definitely compelling and entertaining all on it's own.  There is no need to trump up  or exaggerate drama, relationships, scenarios or to throw in extreme amounts of wealth to be compelling television.  Sure, I see the need that networks have to put on something that people will tune into to satisfy a curiosity about a segment of the population that they haven't experienced, but really, sometimes it feels like dumpster diving.

This is where The Real Bloggers of The Chicago Suburbs come in.

Check it.  Bloggers are a segment of the population that are definitely growing in popularity, but that the masses do no yet understand and have a huge curiosity about.  Only the blogosphere is a pretty remarkable place filled with real people and real relationships that start online.

The perfect candidates for a pilot would be The one and only Suburban Scrawl -Melisa(with 1s), Michelle of Honest and Truly, Dawn Meehan of Because I Said So, Rita aka MegRyansMom, Tracy of Just Another Mommy Blog and of course, myself.

We are all women bloggers in the Chicago suburbs, that met each other online through each others blogs.  We are all from different back rounds, have different views on religion, are in different stages and styles of parenting and have extremely different personalities.  Yet, we are all friends by choice who met each other through blogging.  We have fun together, attend events together, plan lunches together and enjoy each others company immensely.

When we see each other, there is no backstabbing, cat fighting or hair pulling, even though there are few topics that we are in agreement on.  There are home schoolers, alternative schoolers, public schoolers and private schoolers in this group.  Some are green, some are PC and some are anything but.  Yet, we are still friends.

When we get together there is more laughter than you can get at a comedy club.  We play off of each other and with each other in ways that you would not expect such an eclectic group of women to be able to. 

Individually, we are all compelling enough personalities and writers to have garnered our own followings of people who wait with baited excuse the hyperbole  breath to see what we will write about next.  We read each other and comment back and forth.  We attend blogging events and conventions together and always have a great time.

We work together and pitch in when friends fellow bloggers hit hard times and go to the ends of the earth or at least Columbus when someone within the blogging community is in need and wind up featured in The Ladies Home Journal because of it even when we have never met them in person before.

If you ask me, I think that this would be highly compelling television that does not succumb to the least common denominator.  It would be highly entertaining to follow each of our families and how they work and follow the bloggers as we laugh, enjoy and have fun with each other when we get together.

I can guarantee that you would never see a fist fight in the back of a limousine.  Maybe that is a con for Bravo, but it's a Pro for me.  We are a group of compelling women and families, without the need for extra drama.  Life throws us enough of that on it's own, but when we do have drama happen, we band together to help, support and protect each other.

We are bloggers and these are our stories and our community.

Puck Me!

*By reading this post, consider yourself to be signing a Non-disclosure/and or non-compete agreement.  All thoughts, words and ideas listed here are the intellectual property of World of Weasels*

Yesterday I was out at the bar out having drinks with my friend, D, and not surprisingly, a great conversation came about that led to a fantastic idea. 

The conversation centered on, surprise.......hockey.  It was a sports bar after all.  I know that not all of you are hockey fans, but this blog is all about me and if you are here reading this, it is probably because I have entertained you in the past and my quirky little thoughts so trust me a minute before you click away and just let me run with it.

Anywho, for my birthday, Mr. Weasel gave me the gift of Center Ice.  That's a cable channel that shows every single game played in the NHL, live.  Every. Single. Game.  That's pretty cool and I love the gift and you know it's a gift of love because the Mr. isn't into sports and is willing to let me scream at the television for hours at a time while he holds down the fort.  The only thing that I don't like about this gift is that if two games are on simultaneously, I can only watch one and there are no re-runs of games that I may have missed.  Also, there is no pregame coverage and no post game coverage.  The channel turns on just moments before face-off and turns off just moments after the buzzer.

Maybe it's the tiny amount of estrogen that runs through my body talking here, but seriously, buy me a drink before you drop the puck and how about a little after glow.  I want pre-game and post game coverage!  Sure, the main event is great for me, but how about giving a little more and making my experience that much better.  It would make me look forward to our next face-off even more.

If you have Comcast, you get Versus.  They cover sports, complete with some pre and minimal post game coverage, but they only carry certain games.

The other available option is the NHL Network, but they don't cover live games!  They cover game highlights and hockey talk.  Everything NHL, except actual games!

My friend, obviously also a sports fan, feels my pain not only with the NHL, but out of market games in the NFL, too.  I expect the same is true for NBA and MLB.  Don't even get me started on blacked out games in local markets.  Gah, why would you cut off your core fan base?

The conclusion that we came to after our *itch session, is that we need to start our own cable network.  After all, what's the use of complaining if you can't come up with a solution.

A 24 hour network that would cover every NHL game, game highlights, hockey talk not to be confused with coffee talk, and re-run the games that you may have missed earlier in the day or the previous day.  We would call it............

Puck Me!

Seriously, can you think of a better name than that to describe such an NHL #*gasm?

You wouldn't have to subscribe to 3 or 4 different channels to get the coverage that you want as a fan.  You'd have it all in one magical place!  In the off season you would coverage of trades and injuries, post season news and replays of some of the best played games of the season along with going retro and watching Stanley Cup Finals of years past.

I think that D and I are onto something here and this model works for other sport leagues as well.

Now to research game licensing, business plans and funding.

Published!

I have never claimed to be anything other than a talentless hack a talented writer, but even a stopped clock is right on the money twice a day.

In that vein, I want to share with you that someone has thrown this squirrel a nut and that's way better than throwing a squirrel at this nut that a post that I wrote back in August has been published in the SIDS of Illinois news letter.  It's not the only time that this has happened, but seeing that I can't come up with anything to actually write today it is a rare occasion that I publish a piece of actual quality reading, I am linking you up to the post that now lives on in hard copy print.

I think it's worth the click through, but you be the judge.

In My Arms

.....and by the way, today is National De-lurking Day!  That means that all you who secretly read World of Weasels as your guilty little pleasure in life get to step out from the shadows and into the spotlight by leaving a comment and showing yourself and saying, Hi!  After all, I'm glad that you are here!
 

Weasel Flashback!

While fiddling around in the back room of World of Weasels this morning, better known as the archives, I came across a post that I absolutely love.  Actually, it's the video part of it that I love most. 

I thought I would re-share it with those of you who may have missed it the first time.

I am Become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.

Enjoy!

Wolves and Weasels

Weasels love hockey.  If you're a regular around here, you already knew that.  Of course, we are Philadelphia Flyers fans and follow the NHL closely, but it is rare and cost prohibitive that we get to attend a game.  Thanks to the Chicago Wolves and the AHL, we now have a remedy for that.

The AHL is league of professional hockey clubs one level below the NHL (think AAA baseball).  The games are extremely high quality, as much of this league is made up of men still fighting to reach their dream of playing in the NHL.  They play hard and with much heart.  At the same time, you can see these games and root for the home team at family friendly pricing.

This past Saturday the entire Weasel Family was invited to a special social media event to attend a Wolves game and enjoy all the family friendly fun that surrounds it.

Starting 2 hours prior to face-off, the Wolves host a family fun fest (at no charge) for their fans.  They have music, kids games, prizes, photo opportunities, face painting and a visit from their mascot, Skates, to entertain children young and old  before game time.

Young Child (Monkey Weasel)

Not So Young Child (Me)

As the time approached face-off and the players warmed up, so did the crowd.  A fireworks display and laser light show is a great way to introduce the home team and get the crowd fired up:

After every Saturday night home game the players stop outside the locker room to talk to fans and sign auto graphs.  However, at this special event we were lucky enough to meet Wolves forward, Jamie Hunt, during the 2nd period intermission.  Not only is he cute, He was very sweet and gracious.

Jamie Hunt #24 and The Weasels

Jamie Hunt #24 signed my hat as I swooned.

The game was a lot of fun, even though the home team was having a rough night against the Hamilton Bulldogs and with ticket prices starting around $10 and Fan 4-packs (4 tickets, 4 drinks, 4 hot dogs) starting at $63, we will be back for some great hockey and family fun.

*Weasel Family admission for this event was complimentary.  This post/video has not been compensated.