Real Talk with Tina and Ann
Tina and Ann met as journalists covering a capital murder trial, 15 years ago. Tina has been a tv and radio personality and has three children. Ann has a master's in counseling and has worked in the jail system, was a director of a battered woman's shelter/rape crisis center, worked as an assistant director at a school for children with autism, worked with abused kids and is currently raising her three children who have autism. She also is autistic and was told would not graduate high school, but as you can see, she has accomplished so much more. The duo share their stories of overcoming and interview people who are making it, despite what has happened. This is more than just two moms sharing their lives. This is two women who have overcome some of life's hardest obstacles. Join us every Wednesday as we go through life's journey together. There is purpose in the pain and hope in the journey.
Real Talk with Tina and Ann
From Breaking News to Inner Peace: Emmy Award-Winning Journalist George Noleff
What makes George's story so compelling isn't just his professional evolution but the profound personal transformations that accompanied it. After reaching nearly 400 pounds and receiving a stark health warning, he underwent gastric bypass surgery, losing 140 pounds and regaining control of his health. "I like living," he shares with disarming candor, "I hope I can do it for as long as I can."
The conversation delves into the healing power of nature, with George eloquently describing how water and forests provide sanctuary: "a chance to be at peace, a chance to collect my thoughts, in fact, a chance to not think at all, just to be." His reference to the Japanese practice of forest bathing reveals the science behind what he's always intuitively known—that just ten yards into the woods can immediately lower blood pressure and transform mental clarity.
Throughout his transitions from newsroom to riverbank, through health struggles and family challenges including his daughter's traumatic brain injury, George has maintained a philosophy borrowed from poet Rainer Maria Rilke: "Live the questions now, and perhaps you will gradually live along some distant day into the answer." His authentic approach to life, meeting people where they are without judgment, serves as a powerful reminder that sometimes the only way forward is simply to flow with the current.
Have you considered how embracing rather than fighting life's unexpected turns might transform your own journey? Listen to discover how one man's willingness to pivot created a life where passion and profession beautifully converge.
Welcome to Real Talk with Tina and Anne. I am Tina.
Speaker 2:And I am Anne George. You and I we go way back, way back Right, pretty much all the way to our childhood in high school. You know you've always been someone that I've deeply respected and cared about. I just want to say for our listeners that you are probably one of the ones that I had the most fun with in high school, but that's not the reason that you're on the podcast. You're a highly respected journalist with over 40 years of experience in television and your work has made a lasting impact and fun fact, you actually know someone else on the podcast from your media Cleveland days.
Speaker 3:Tina and I worked together at WEWS in Cleveland the News Channel 5, back in the mid-2010s and had a good time there. I was working as a producer there and MMJ and I believe she was working on the web team there, and we worked in the same newsroom, talked a lot and had a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I'll tell you what lots of good memories there. But I'll tell you, radio and behind the mic is more my thing, not in front of you know. Tv and that whole, just that whole thing. So I'm much more comfortable like this.
Speaker 3:I, you know I've been doing this a variety of different roles over the past 40, whatever 1983 is, I can't do math anymore, folks, sorry about that Off and on, but in front behind you know either producing shows. These days I'm doing a lot more on-camera stuff, comfortable pretty much wherever you want to put me. As long as I'm drawing a paycheck, I'm a happy boy. But right now I'm drawing a paycheck essentially to go fishing and hunting and hiking and eating some crazy food and having a good time, so I can't complain about that.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:You know, I just can't get over this Virginian accent. It just cracks me up. You have just taken that on and you own it.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I'm originally from Akron and my mom like half of Akron is from West Virginia, so I always had a little bit of a twang. My wife is from Virginia, so I'm around it all the time. Even when I wasn't in Virginia I moved down here and I think the accent kind of adopted me as opposed to me adopting it. It just became part of who I am and I'm real comfortable with the folks here and I talk the way I talk. I mean I'm sure if I moved to Minnesota I'd probably get real tool be able to really quick to us. So you know wherever I am. That's the way I talk. This is who you are.
Speaker 2:I just love this. You know there's and there's so many parts to you, george. There's so many layers. Not only do you bring over four decades of experience in media, but you've carved out this unique path that you just kind of touched on on the outdoors as a journalist out there in nature, reporting from water, chasing the catch of the day, you know, hunting and covering everything from Michigan to Texas and wherever they send you, you know, and including agriculture. You've always had this personality to be in the spotlight, from your spot-on John Belushi impression which, by the way, is still the best John Belushi impression that I've ever seen to your work as a highly respected and professional journalist in the newsroom. So that's where I kind of want to start this from you being in the newsroom to now you're being an outdoor journalist. I mean, how in the world did that happen?
Speaker 3:Well, let's backtrack all the way to how I got into TV and journalism. Yeah, it's because I was chasing a girl. I was a political science and economics major in college. I was planning on going to law school and then I was going to go to Congress. I was going to save the world. I'm still working on the save the world part. Never made it to Congress, didn't go to law school. While I was there, I started dating a girl who was a broadcast journalism major. She was always at the campus TV or radio station. I never got to see my girlfriend, so I started hanging out at the campus TV or radio station, just so I could see my girlfriend. Next thing I know I'm doing it for a living Just one of those weird things where one dovetailed the other and it just it worked out. I was. I went to school in DC, went to school at American University, swore I would never go back to Akron because you know, when you're 21 years old, you know everything and you're, you know, high and mighty and above everything.
Speaker 3:Right, I'm not going back to Akron. First job I landed was right back in Akron, at WAKR TV and radio. I'm doing radio, primarily, also working on Channel 23. Spent three years there, ended up going from reporter to producer and assignment editor, which gives you a whole different idea of how news operates. It doesn't just have to be TV. And so I went from being on the air and worrying about one story a day to producing newscasts and worrying about 30 or 40 stories a day and multiple reporters.
Speaker 3:And then left Akron for Toledo, ohio, worked for the ABC affiliate up there. I was there for almost four years and I went from being a producer and assignment manager to being a news director and I oversaw the whole news department. I was the youngest news director at a top 100 market affiliated station in the country. Oh my goodness. Yeah, that was the experience. I was way too young, probably shouldn't have had that job, but I had it, so I did it.
Speaker 3:I left Toledo and went to Baltimore, maryland, as a producer and worked my way up to a managing editor EP spot there, ended up going to DC. Worked in DC for about 10 years in a variety of roles for NBC News, the NBC on there, wrc WUSA, which is the Gannett station, a CBS station, and then finally Retirement Living TV, which was a startup cable operation, and that was a lot of fun. And then the recession hit and kind of hit me kind of hard. I was freelancing technically freelance Freelance is just another word for I'm unemployed but I'll work for you today and I'll work for you tomorrow and I'll just, you know, um, I did that for about a year and a half.
Speaker 3:That was rough, and then I kind of need to recharge my batteries, I need to get out of DC for a while. So I ended up in Charlottesville, virginia, and I'm a wife for, for the sake of transparency here, I've been married three times. I kind of look at my life in eras of wives, if that makes sense. This was my third wife. I met her in Baltimore. She's from Virginia. She said why don't we move back to Virginia? So I said okay.
Speaker 3:So I ended up in Charlottesville, virginia, and left Charlottesville after about two or three years. I ended up in Cleveland for about four or five, ended up in Toledo for another two as an executive producer and then said I'm done with TV, I'm tired, I'm burned out. You know it happens. And I went to work for Cabela's as a product specialist and retail manager and did that for about two years. And along the way, I mean, things happen that cause you to make decisions. I was happy at Cabela's. I'd still be there today if circumstances had been different. But my wife's father passed away and she said, george, I don't want to miss anymore with my family. My family had passed my brother. He's still in Akron. He goes back and forth between Akron and Houston. But she said I really want to get back to Virginia, I want to get closer to my mom.
Speaker 3:I said, no, that makes sense. So I started looking for jobs and one day I get a see an ad online, for it was a managing editor job is what it was at the station where I am now and I applied. About an hour later I get a phone call. It's the news director from that station. She says George, I don't want to. She goes. I hate when people are not honest with me. That position was posted but it should have been taken down yesterday because we filled that job a couple of days back.
Speaker 3:I don't really have anything for you that you might be interested in a management role? I said, well, what do you have open? She said I have producer jobs open. I said, okay, I'll be interested. So we went back and forth, we worked out a deal and that's how I ended up back in Virginia.
Speaker 3:Here I'm at WFXR Roanoke, virginia. We're owned by Nextstar Media. Nextstar has been one of the best companies I've ever worked for. They've given me the latitude to do a whole lot. They take what I do and they spread it out to a bunch of their different stations. Now how I got into this is even funnier. I came down here as a producer. The person who hired me, unfortunately, was let go very shortly after I got here. They brought an acting news director in. I walked in one day and he calls me and he goes hey, I understand, you have an outdoors background and I did. I'd done some outdoors reporting. I did some freelance work and, of course, I worked at Capellas. I said, yeah. He said we're thinking about starting up an outdoors franchise, you interested? And I said, what would it entail? He said, whatever you want to make it. I'm like, yeah, I'm in, all right. And that took off. It's become one of our more popular segments. My stuff gets picked up all over the country, In fact.
Speaker 3:I have stations that actually request things in their markets. Then they called me and said what do you know about agriculture? I said not a darn thing. They said, great, that's what we want. We want somebody who's going to ask the questions that the average consumer is going to ask a farmer. So I do a segment called On the Farm. I do Outdoors Bound, which is the outdoor segment. I do a segment called Big segment, called big old fish. We just invite people, send their big fish pictures and we scream big old fish. A lot. I mean it's a lot of fun. I'll send you a clip of that, you'll enjoy that. Um, and then on the farm is consumer agriculture. I also do something called my virginia, which is a virginia heritage segment. So it's all features.
Speaker 3:I and I still do hard news. A couple weeks I went out and did a brush fire. A few weeks back I went out and did, unfortunately, a heavy-duty crime story. Keep my hands in the hard news, but I like doing features because you know my stories. With the exception of a fish here or there, no one dies. So you know.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what. You have been everywhere and you, you. It doesn't surprise me that you always rise to the top in every job that you've ever worked, and it always becomes excellent work.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm pretty fortunate that I've been put in the right situation, but I've also had mentors who have have taken me on, I mean all the way back to high school when I needed. I was a big screw off in high school. You knew me as a class clown, annie, yeah, and I was. I mean, I may have been smart, but I was always just, you know, messing around and we had a teacher. I never had her for a class, mrs Jamerson, do you remember her? I don't. Anyway, I was doing my usual stupid stuff in the hall one day and she walked up I mean, you couldn't get away with it as a teacher these days, but she did. She walked up and she grabbed me by the shirt collar and she kind of turned me around and she put her finger in my chest and she knew exactly what she was doing. I had no idea until later. Puts her finger in my chest, she goes you think you're so smart? Everybody talks about how smart you are. Well, you know what. You're just wasting it. You're not so smart after all. And I was like oh, I'm going to show you who's smart.
Speaker 3:And so that was about midway through my junior year and it lit a fire in me and I went from being kind of like a just-get-by student to, you know, an A and B student. I really pushed hard for that and turned it around and that's how I was able to. I got into American kind of probationary. They didn't, they liked my SAT score. I had a couple, a couple of teachers who wrote letters essentially saying he matured over the course of time and so that explains his low GPA. It wasn't anything to be proud of, but you know, they went to bath for me and America says, okay, you got a semester to prove yourself. And here I am.
Speaker 3:I was fortunate to, uh, you know, get into that school and do what I was able to do, and that set me up. I had profs there, I had friends there and then, once I got into the business, I had people who looked out for me. Um, but along the way I also, you know, I ran into a variety of obstacles. I mean, you know, health issues and you know, like I said, I've been divorced twice. You know that ain't easy. It's just a matter of kind of. You know you got to have the mindset that whatever comes down the road is coming and you can't stop it. So you may as well try and make the best of it, no matter what that situation is. Keenan.
Speaker 1:I just had a podcast about this Reverse psychology works for George, okay, and you got to make lemonade from lemons.
Speaker 3:Right, right. Have y'all ever heard of a poet, rainer Maria Rilke? No, he shared his wisdom with a bunch of different younger poets, and there's a quote of his that I kind of have adopted as my motto or mantra, or whatever you want to call it. I'm going to read it to you here. It says be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue.
Speaker 3:Do not now seek the answers which cannot be given you, because you would not be able to live them, and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now, and perhaps you will then, gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. And the first time I read that I was like, yeah, that is it, that's life right there, that's my life and that's. I just think that sums it up. And so when things kind of get a little weird, or you know down, or I don't know what's coming, it's like you know you're going to just have to live into that answer. That's the only solution.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean you just can't fight it. It's going to happen, it's going and you just have to go with it. It's going with the stream, I guess, or going against it, the only stream I guess, are going against it.
Speaker 3:So the only way, the only way out is through, so to speak.
Speaker 2:Oh, we say that all the time on the podcast.
Speaker 1:You want to be a regular. We just read that. I read that to my youngest son and his friend today two four-year-olds going on a bear hunt. You know you can't go over it, you can't go under it. You just got to go through it, right, right, I guess. Until you said that I didn't really realize that maybe there's a life lesson in that book.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I know, ann, you've known George for a long time and I know you wanted to talk about him growing up on the lake.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I mean I was going to ask you because you know you did that. Your house was right on the lake, right. You were really into the outdoors from the very beginning, always have, yeah, and I've noticed how often life comes full circle, I mean for Tina or for me even. I took my background in counseling. I blended it with my journalism career and somehow that turned into a mental health podcast and overcoming and navigating life. And it was the same thing for you, because you ended up taking your love for nature and your journalism and they've kind of collided. I guess you could say they've come together and would you say that your passion and your profession have become one in the same.
Speaker 3:Yeah, passion about journalism, even when it wasn't about the outdoors. But now that it is about the outdoors, it's something I embrace. I love coming to work. I this is going to sound crazy, but I think about fishing probably every other second.
Speaker 3:Now that I get to do it for a living. It's just a dream come true. I mean, I couldn't ask for anything better. And you're right, I grew up fishing. I grew up on Rex Lake there in the Portage Lakes outside of Akron Ohio. My father was a passionate outdoorsman. I got it from him. We would fish in the yard. You've been in my backyard, you've been in the backyard of what was in my house. My brother actually lives there now, so you know it was right there on the lake. We could fish, we could swim, we could boat, we could go play in the water. You know there were muskrats, ducks, rabbits, geese.
Speaker 1:There were always something. I know what it's like and Ann does too, like you that being a journalist, it can be hard at times. And you know, I guess I want to know how do you balance the joy of having these two, the profession and your passion combined, without losing the love for the passion side of it?
Speaker 3:Well, that is an obstacle that arises from time to time. I mean it's fun when it's a project. It's not so much fun when it becomes a responsibility. I mean it's fun when it's a project, it's not so much fun when it becomes a responsibility. You kind of have to separate the two. Case in point I did a story a week ago on fly fishing on the New River, which is a river down here, smallmouth Bass, and it's like I get the work out of the way so I got time to play Almost compartmentalize.
Speaker 3:You have to be able to do that, and there are also times when I go on a fishing trip and I leave the camera alone. It's because you need to have that separation, that balance, and there are times when I go on a fishing trip just for myself. The other thing, too, is I step away. I like to read about what I do, I like to take a look at other people's work, because it's more than just about catching fish. It's passion, joy in what you're actually doing, not just what the subject matter is there. The other thing is I tend to be a very competitive person and creative at the same time, and so journalism you're always trying to one up the other guy. You're always trying to one up a competition, so you know it's that's true.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, so it's kind of like I like to win yeah, I know that about you. One of the things remember running into the hall, annie, and we'd race and you got, you'd get mad, though I used to run laps. I was a senior, she she was a sophomore, she was getting ready for track season. We would run laps in the hallway during winter and about once a week we'd race and she does not like to come in second.
Speaker 1:I let you win. Oh, truth comes out.
Speaker 3:She was good, though she knew. Yeah, she beat me a lot of times. So, yeah, I couldn't you know. But yeah, but if when I lost, when she lost, she didn't like that at all, I never liked losing.
Speaker 2:I never. That was just a thing. When I swam it was the same thing. I mean well, I let my kids win, but you know you have to do that.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're nice, I don't do that.
Speaker 2:Not even my four-year-old.
Speaker 1:I'm in it to win it.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, Now that they're a little older, I don't, Because they, you know, you have to learn how to lose too. That's a good thing, you know. But I love that you have given yourself permission to be who you are, no matter where you're at. I mean, you have pivoted many times in your life and I just love the. You know. Maybe you could talk a little bit about giving yourself permission, on being with the flow, like we talked about a little bit ago, and just saying you know what? I'm just going to go with it.
Speaker 3:You have to be willing to accept that mindset. Some people and this is no knock on them, they just have a hard time with it Realize that you're a happier person when you take some time for yourself, when you do some things. That doesn't mean that you ignore anybody else's needs or the responsibilities in your life. If you don't do those little things for yourself, no one else is going to do that, and you find some release. You find you know you're more relaxed and if you do those things you're actually a better person to the other people in your life.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I think you're talking about self-care and I think you're talking about how, when you're in an airplane and they'd say, you know if those masks come down you have. Just watching animals is my thing, it's my jam, it just takes all the stress away, it's just my happy place. I could live outside in a tent, not in our climate per se, but like in Hawaii, maybe you know. If there was a restroom, you know, as long as I had a regular restroom, that would be fine. But I wanted to ask you, what does being on the water offer that no other place can for you? Is it that refuge?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's it Exactly Water, or even just walking into the woods, a chance to be at peace, a chance to kind of collect my thoughts, in fact, a chance to not think at all, just to be, oh, I love that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you just are. That's where you are. There's a practice in Japan called forest bathing. Now it sounds like you're going to the woods to take a bath, but no, you're bathing yourself in the forest and the research has shown that just by taking a 10-yard walk into the woods and stopping has a positive impact on your mental health, on your physical health, because your blood pressure immediately drops. And then, once your blood pressure drops, that has a ripple effect. But then you also become more relaxed, you become more attuned to those things around you, your focus becomes clearer and all it takes is, you know, a few minutes and you get this huge health benefit. Now, I didn't, you know, I didn't know that when I first started going into the woods or onto the water, um, all I knew is I felt good, I felt better. I you know, I may have been having the worst week and I hit the trail or I'd hit the water and suddenly, after an hour-long, two-hour, three-hour-long trip, none of that mattered.
Speaker 1:I felt better. Water is cleansing, nature is cleansing. Yes, it sure is.
Speaker 3:And when I felt better, then I was a better person and I did better things and I did better at my job and I was a better dad and a better husband and just a better all-around person. You know, at the benefits of just, and there again, though, you have to give yourself permission to do that. Getting back to what we were talking about on the other question, so yeah, you get out there, it's solitude, it is a refuge, and I would urge everybody just to take the time, just, even if it means, if you've got a little wood place in your backyard, walk out there and just kind of hang out. Or you got a park, you got some green space. Go do it, see if there's not a difference. I mean, you know what do you got to lose.
Speaker 2:Well, I grew up in the trees, you know I would climb the trees. I loved being in my backyard and it really did make a difference in how I felt. And if I just go out and I connect with the trees for some reason I've even written poetry about trees and just being in their presence and the silence. There's nothing like that kind of a silence.
Speaker 3:Right, right, it's not really silence. I mean, it can be dead quiet, but the sound of your head, the sound inside your head, kind of gets to. It gets to come to the forefront. You get to actually get to hear yourself a little bit.
Speaker 2:Well, if you had your one perfect outdoor day. Where are you, what are you doing and who are you with All?
Speaker 3:right. If I had that, that one day, when I was a kid, we would go up to Quebec. We'd go to a place in Quebec it was a lake called Sand Lake, and my father again, he was the one who instilled this passion for the outdoors. If I could, if I had that one day, I would like to go fishing there with him. Just the memory of my father and the impact he had on my life. He was my teacher, he was my dad, he was my protector, he was such, I mean, he's larger than life. I mean you know, just you know, and you met my dad. He was a nice guy, but there was just, he was a good man and he was a solid individual and he was wise and the time spent with him meant so much then. And if I could have that one day. Oh man, I'm getting kind of choked up talking about stuff.
Speaker 1:I think that's so beautiful and sometimes you know as much as it's sad to see people we love who've passed on, and then to read about people who've died. I feel like one of the things that's so beautiful is reading what people write about them in the obituaries. I just find them, you know, you feel like you really get to know someone and man. You can see how they're missed so much. So I want to know, george, your most outrageous or unexpected experience while on assignment, on assignment of any kind. It doesn't just have to be with the outdoor journalism, any assignment, because boy do I have a doozy.
Speaker 3:There are a handful of them when I was working in Akron, working with a photographer by the name of John Dix, and he and I got sent up to what was then the old Bureau of Criminal Investigation office in Twinsburg. Now we were driving up there and we look over and we see all this smoke coming out of a building. John says I think that place is on fire. I said you know, I think you're right. So we get off the exit there and drive up there and there are no fire trucks or anything around. That's crazy. So this is back in the days before we had 911. This is 1983, 84. I don't remember the exact date.
Speaker 1:I thought you were going to say like 1805. Oh my.
Speaker 3:God, it feels like it sometimes. But anyway he gets on the two-way, calls the station. They call the fire department, send them the address. So I decide I'm going to go let people know that their building is on fire. So I run up this because the smoke was coming from the upstairs and there's like multiple units, oh my gosh. So I run up the steps and as soon as I get to the door I think I could open this door and a fireball could come shooting out and that is not good for anybody. So I reached out.
Speaker 3:I do what you know remember learning about. You know, touch a doorknob if something's on fire. I didn't. The doorknob was cool. So I opened the door up kind of slowly and all this smoke comes out of it, but fortunately no fire. So I go up running back and forth, back and forth, knocking on doors, telling people hey, your building's on fire. How they didn't smell the smoke, I don't know. But as soon as they'd open the door they'd see the smoke. Oh my gosh, what's going on? So they'd grab their stuff and they'd head out.
Speaker 3:Finally I get up to this one door and it's barely cracked open and I push the door open and I look inside and I see a silhouette standing in the smoke. A silhouette standing in the smoke. I said, hey, ma'am, you got to get out of here. Building's on fire. And she goes. I know, and I was like, oh.
Speaker 3:So I walked into the doorway and immediately felt heat all around. I looked up, the ceiling was on fire, the walls up top are on fire, things are smoked out. I walked in and I said ma'am, you got to come in. I'm thinking she's in shock. And I hear another voice, an adult voice, and there's a woman sitting there. She goes we can't. I said sure, you can, come on, let's go. She goes no, we can't because of the baby. I said baby, she goes. It's too cold outside for the baby. I said it's too darn hot in here. I said where's the baby? And all of a sudden I hear I look over the baby laying.
Speaker 3:They got the baby laying in a chair, so I grabbed the baby. I said I don't. Yeah, you all can stay in here, but I'm taking this baby outside. I grabbed the baby, I start walking out the door and these ladies are following me and they're just yelling at me about how we can't go outside because it's too cold outside. And I got outside.
Speaker 3:As soon as I got outside, the fire department pulled up my hand the baby to a firefighter. I said you better check this kid out because he's been sucking smoke for you know god knows how long and these lasers yelling at me and anyway, as it turns out, everybody was okay and this happened to be just a fire, that it was accidental and food on a stove, but that that was one of the weirdest things that ever happened me on the, the job where I went in, and you know that was kind of nuts. Now there have been some other things that have happened where you know, but yeah, that was about the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me that I can talk about. Right, right, right.
Speaker 1:There you go and we have to talk about this one. So Ann and I were covering a capital murder trial one time and we would always you know, you're at the courthouse for so long and I was young and I was engaged at the time and I had a ring on and everything and you'd always just have to eat really in the courthouse, because there's not a whole big gap between testimony. Yeah, we always ate together. And one day the defense attorney was walking downstairs and Ann and I were just sitting there eating and he was like hey, can I talk to you? And I feel like I looked at you, ann, like am I allowed to talk to him? I'm like what in the world could it be? Because I'm not even sitting in the courtroom.
Speaker 1:There was a media room for this particular trial, so that's where I was spending my time. So he asks me if I want to go with him to Cirque de Soleil and I was like I go back. And Ann's like well, what did he want? And I was like Ann, he asked me out on a date. I'm practically married. I'm here covering this capital murder trial and this guy's saying how he has two tickets to Cirque de Soleil and do I want to go? I felt like because I was a young reporter at the time that he thought maybe like money or something was going to win me over and I was appalled. I was so embarrassed. You remember that, ann.
Speaker 2:I absolutely remember that it was hilarious. I was like, and you ended up. You ended up because he that it was hilarious. I was like what? And you ended up because he was consistent. I mean that wasn't the only thing. Yeah, I mean you ended up having to tell him a few things.
Speaker 1:My goodness, that was one of the craziest things I remember, like shouldn't you be focusing on what you're going to be saying next? Not, hey, I've got two tickets to Cirque du Soleil. I was like wow, no, thank you, no means no. So yeah, that was pretty interesting. Well, I know, anne, you want to talk about maybe some personal growth and healing with George next I wanted to get a little bit more personal.
Speaker 2:George, I remember in high school you had this thing and it was either a sucker you always had in your mouth, or I think it was a sucker, not a toothpick. I'm not really sure, but I remember that you actually substituted, if I could say it this way, one vice, a healthier vice, for an unhealthy one, and you know you learned back then how to do that. So I thought that maybe that we could talk a little bit about your health journey and what that struggle has looked like for you.
Speaker 3:Oh man, yeah, Well, I was substituting for cigarettes because I smoked, yeah, and you know, I'd get in the car and light up, I don't know. I was an athlete too, which was kind of weird. I don't know how the heck I was able to sustain. I played football, I wrestled, played baseball, depending on the year in high school, played football for years, but I smoked. I don't know how I was an athlete and smoked at the same time, but I did. I mean, you're young, you're bulletproof, so you don't think anything of it. Young, you're, you know you're bulletproof, so you don't think anything of it. But I continued to smoke up until, uh, actually 2001. And it's one of the biggest regrets I have in life. I wish I never started.
Speaker 3:And I started because I thought you know, as dumb as this sounds and you always hear it, you know I thought that it was what, you know, some of my cool friends were doing. So I wanted to be like them and so I did. And I thought, well, I can always stop, in fact, and and can I tell them that you were my prom date? Yeah, we were friends. Annie and I were friends all through high school. She went to winter formal with him and she was my prom date. But I had this white tuxedo on Maybe we'll show them the picture of the tuxedo Anyway and I had a pack of Marlboro Reds that were right in the front of that front pocket of that tuxedo. I'm like a big idiot, you could see right through the pocket. But I was smoking probably about a pack, pack and a half a day and it went up to about two packs a day as things progressed. But I wish I would have never started. I wish I would have never started. I wish I had never started.
Speaker 3:That was one of the biggest regrets because it led to other issues. Uh, for a long time I was too, didn't have the lung capacity to uh, to exercise the way I probably should have. I was working as a producer and assignmenter so I was pretty sedentary, sat behind a desk most of the day. So on top of the cigarettes I started to gain weight. I went from about 210 to 15 in high school and college, up to almost 400 pounds at one point and smoking and just not living a very healthy lifestyle and eating just poorly. I got kind of it got kind of hairy there and finally I was working in Akron. I'd been carrying all this weight around.
Speaker 3:I quit smoking in 2001, a week before 9-11 happened. How I didn't start smoking, I don't know. That was a good thing. They were happy about that. I couldn't. You know. No matter what I did, the weight stayed on. In fact, it got worse and I just wasn't exercising, wasn't doing anything. I was, you know, working in inside most of the time Couldn't be a very effective father when my kids wanted to play, couldn't be a very effective husband a lot of times because I was either too tired or just, you know, I was out of shape. It was not always the easiest person to be around. And then in uh, it was January of 2013. I had.
Speaker 3:I went to the doctor. I was working at Channel 5 in Cleveland. My doctor was at Akron City Hospital and she said if you keep up like this, my blood sugar was out of control, my weight was out of control, my cholesterol was out of control, my blood pressure was out of control. She said I'll give you maybe a year and a half. She goes. The trajectory is not good. I said what do you suggest? She said I'll give you maybe a year and a half. She goes. The trajectory is not good. I said what do you suggest? She said we're going to have to get aggressive. I said what do you mean by aggressive? I said I've tried every diet under the sun. She goes aggressive. Aggressive, I'm talking about surgery, weight loss surgery and so I had a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
Speaker 3:Here's the thing they don't let you just get it. You don't just walk into the hospital and get this. They run you through a variety of medical tests so they test your lung capacity, heart bones I mean anything physical but they also test you emotionally and they have you go through counseling sessions so that you can they can assess where you are, what might be some of your issues that could be contributing to your weight, to your lack of success when trying to tackle that problem, and come up with strategies for doing something about that once the surgery is done. That journey started in January of 2013. September of 2013, the surgery was performed. 2013,. September of 2013, the surgery was performed.
Speaker 3:Um, they put you on a pretty strict diet for about two months before you even have the surgery, and the reason for that is they want to get rid of a lot of the fat around your liver.
Speaker 3:Uh, because it's easier for them to go in when they do the surgery, but it's also easier on your liver and gallbladder afterward. So I went, I weighed probably about 378 pounds and somewhere in that ballpark in July of 2013, when they put me on the, it's almost like a fasting plan. It's a liquid diet. They give you, you know, two months and I dropped down to about 240, 340. I'm sorry, 340. They give you one last. It's kind of like your last meal. They give you a last meal about a week out from your surgery. Go ahead and eat whatever you want, because this is the last time you're actually going to be able to do something like this. And then I went in for the surgery and within 24 hours after the surgery, my blood sugar had normalized, my cholesterol was on a downward trajectory and my blood pressure had fallen into the normal range After about three months.
Speaker 3:I came off of a variety of medications. I still remain on two, but they are there as protective. One is that they run into an issue with people who've had the surgery having kidney issues. So they have me on a medicine it's technically a blood pressure medicine, but it protects my kidneys and then they have. The other issue is that you can sometimes develop some pancreas issues, so they have me on a medication that essentially boosts my pancreas function, but that's it. I've lost. I now weigh about 230 pounds, so I've lost roughly 140 pounds.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 3:You look great, thank you. Thank you. I'm still not skinny, but I'm a heck of a lot better than I was. My blood pressure is under control, my blood sugar is under control, my cholesterol is under control. I exercise routinely, I'm in my job, I'm constantly up and down riverbanks and through woods and hiking and I just I'm physically active. I'm probably in better shape now than I was in my 30s, and you know how to cook. I do know how to cook.
Speaker 2:Your mom knew how to cook. Your mom did. I mean you definitely got it honestly, and I see all of your cooking pictures and things like that. I mean you know how to do it.
Speaker 3:My mom. Yeah, you're right, I got my fishing passion from my dad. I got my cooking passion from my mom, my mother. We didn't realize this until after she had passed and we were running through her papers. She had always talked about going to cooking school in New Jersey. Her story would make a great book. She just had this kind of wild ride life. But she was working as a domestic and for a family in New Jersey and they sent her to cooking school because they wanted somebody who could cook. What she never said was that it was actually a chef school and she had her certificates in culinary and in pastry, which you know.
Speaker 3:After I realized that, then I realized why she did some of the things she did in the kitchen. I learned from her, you know, and that's part of it. You know I I still, you know I still don't always, um, do what I should eating wise, but I try to counter it elsewhere and there are little tricks I can do in the kitchen that, uh, can dress up a a dish so that you may may not have the caloric impact, so to speak, that you might see otherwise.
Speaker 1:Well, it's probably because you want to be here, the best version of you, and be here for your family.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I like living, I like being alive, I like being a part of this. I hope I can do it for as long as I can. I had a dream. I told my wife she stuck with me for a while. I had a dream that I lived to be 106, you know, fingers crossed, knock on wood I thought I'm going to be a pain in her behind for a long time. But even if I wasn't doing what I was doing, my outlook on things is that you know, we're here to just make the most of it. Have fun. You don't need a lot of money. You don't need. All you need are people that you love and people who love you, and even if they don't, what's the most important thing is you love them.
Speaker 2:Well, Ann, I wanted to transition into family and fatherhood questions for George, if that's okay, yeah there's a sensitive topic that I thought maybe we could talk a little bit about right now, if that's okay with you, about your daughter's challenges, if you could share a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:My daughter, rachel. She's my daughter from my first marriage. She's going to be 39 this year. She, back about seven years ago she was visiting a friend, spent the night, was not familiar with the house, thought the door to the bathroom. She had to get up. In the middle of the night, dark, she thought she was opening the door to the bathroom. What she instead opened was the door to the basement. She went down the stairs, hit her head. Unfortunately, she was there for several hours without any assistance. I won't go into the particulars about that, except that she didn't get assistance for about eight hours. When they finally got her to the hospital the hospital was in suburban Toledo Realized that her case was too much for them to handle, so they immediately flew her to the Medical College of Ohio and they did emergency brain surgery and they had to take blood off of her brain. But by that time the blood had caused so much pressure on various parts of her brain that had created a traumatic brain injury.
Speaker 3:Her recovery has been slow. At one point we had a doctor say tell us, he was quite honest with us and I appreciate that. And he said Rachel's recovery is not on a clock, it's on a calendar and he said you could be looking at. You know, a 10 to 15 year recovery period for her to get function back to. And she may never get that function back. She's able to talk now. She goes to therapy, she's able to stand. She has trouble walking. Hopefully we'll get there.
Speaker 3:And one of the biggest regrets I had was I had to leave Toledo to come here. But I had to do that for myself. She was in very good care and I still. I talk to her regularly, I see her as often as I can. I wish I could be there with her more, but I know she's in good hands and I keep tabs on her recovery and the best we can hope for at this point is for her to continue to make her slow progress and hope for a breakthrough. Just keep her alive and strong and keep her comfortable and see these little gains in the hopes that one day there could be a breakthrough that could lead to a big gain. And she's still relatively young. She's 39 years old. There's a whole lot of time there and there's a whole lot of research being done and it would. You know, I'm confident, I'm optimistic that we will overcome this, but it's just where we are right now.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. I'm so sorry, I did not know about that. My goodness, you seem to all of you face it with as much grace as can be expected. So I guess that leads me to then well, how has that changed you, and as a person, and even as a father, or has it not? I imagine it would.
Speaker 3:You worry about your kids a lot more. You know you don't take things for granted. You know she went to a friend's house and that happened. You know I with my son, I I'm talking to him multiple times a day. I keep tabs on him. I get worried if I don't hear back from him right away. You know my stepkids. I try to keep tabs on them as much as I can. I'm very proud of all of them. It makes you, it makes you take a good look at who they are, because who they are is a result of what you did as a parent. But, man, I'll tell you, I worry about them a lot more than I ever did before.
Speaker 2:I understand that, and I'm sure you do too, tina. As a mom of three boys, I mean it's really difficult, and I've got two olders and three littles, and the bigger they get, the bigger the problems, mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:You know, someone once told me the first 10 years is really hard physically on parents. You know they're little, so you're, you know running around and this and that, but then the next 10 years is really hard mentally because, like you said, ann, the problems get bigger and now it's more a mental difficulty for the parent versus a physical exhaustion.
Speaker 2:You know, I found out a lot of the things that my second oldest daughter did later and it's like I'm so glad that I did not know when that was happening Because I, you know, I probably would have been like five steps behind her everywhere she went. But you know, we lived, we made it to adulthood and sometimes it is really difficult to cut that string and to let them be who they need to be. It can be very scary. I'm so sorry that that happened to your daughter.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you, I mean, I appreciate that, I appreciate that, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I know that none of us get where we are alone. We need that support system. I guess who do you credit with helping you believe in yourself along the way of all of these journeys that we've talked about today, professionally, with your passions and as a person and a dad?
Speaker 3:Most recently, and for the past 20 years, it would be my wife. Her name is Kim she. We don't always see eye to eye on things, but I know she's always got my back and there are times when her counsel is what I need most in life. There are times when her smile is what I need most in life. There are times when her smile is what I need most in life. I have a hard time putting what she means to me in words because this is going to sound odd. I knew she was the one because I'd been through two other marriages before. I knew she was the one when, on our first date, I found it easy just to sit and watch a movie on TV with her. It was just as simple as that. I felt comfortable. I didn't feel like I had to be anything different. I felt like I was who I was. I was comfortable in my own skin. I felt accepted, and it has been that way for 20 years.
Speaker 1:I can relate to that with my husband. I knew the moment I met him, honestly truly, that he would be the one. Now we waited five years before we got married, but it was that comfort. I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 3:It was two years for us. We met online. It was one of those. This is funny and then we can get back to some of the other stuff. I got called into work. I didn't want to go to work, I was living my. I was living with with a landlord out in Rockville, maryland. I was working in DC and she had a bad habit. We hit, we each had individual phones. It was me and another guy lived upstairs. She lived downstairs, but if she were upstairs and she heard the phone ring, she'd pick it up. Well, she thought she was doing us a favor and I told her. I said Sarah, do not answer my phone today. I know there's a guy who's going to call out sick at work and I know that I'm going to be one of the first people they call to try to get in to fill a shift.
Speaker 3:It was an overnight shift to produce a Sunday morning newscast. She goes okay and like 10 minutes later the phone rings. I'm in the kitchen she happened to be up the hallway and I hear the phone stop ringing, George, the phone's like, no, no, so I go and I pick up the phone. It's work. Hey, I had a call out. Can you come in. I'm like, okay, I'll come in.
Speaker 3:I went, I got a couple hours of sleep, ended up going in, got the newscast produced. I was in a bad mood because I had to be there. In fact, it was 20 years ago. Today I'm sitting there around two o'clock in the morning, a commercial comes on for eHarmony and I'm like, oh, that's a bunch of crap, that stuff doesn't work.
Speaker 3:And I kept watching and it was a half hour infomercial and so I'm like, well, I'm going to spend they kept talking about their for one week special $11. I'm going to spend $11 on lunch next week. Let's check this out. So I go to the website and I'm there's no way this is going to work. This doesn't work. And I do their test and they say we've got matches for you. And so I pay my $11. And she was the second person I met on ER and so, yeah, thereby proving me wrong, that stuff did work, at least in my case. So that's how we met, had a date the next week. We've been together ever since, with the exception of having to work or one of us having to go see relatives or be out of town for something like that, we've been pretty much had contact with each other almost every day. That's wonderful. It's been fun.
Speaker 3:So third time's a charm, huh yeah now, prior to that, my mom or my dad, my brother's been uh real supportive, he and I, and knows harold and harold. They graduated the same class. Harold and I have different configurations. He was always kind of thin and athletic and I wasn't. Um, he's uh, you know he's, he's kind of thin and athletic and I wasn't. He's kind of a big personality, but in a different way he's a real take charge sort of guy. I look up to him for that because he always seems to have an answer and in reality he and my wife are my best friends. I can still call him. We talk frequently. There's a problem with my sink? I'll call Harold and see what he says. He does the same with me for fishing. So I mean, what the heck that's what friends are for? Exactly, exactly, and so you know that's. You want to know those influences right there that we talked about teachers before, and again my mom and dad. That's beautiful.
Speaker 1:I've enjoyed this so much. So you know, george, I just want to say I'm going to have to run in, and I know well, george, you're in good hands with Ann, as you know. Yeah, thanks for being on with us. Oh, sure, my pleasure Okay.
Speaker 2:I'll see you guys, you know. I wanted to ask you, george, about your awards and honors that I know that you have received, and talk a little bit about those and what they meant to you.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, of course I'm a competitive guy, so I've won a variety of awards, dating all the way back Ohio United Press International Awards, ohio AP Awards. I won an newscast, uh, major market newscast. Actually, one of the ones I'm most proud of is I was named the top broadcast agriculture reporter in the state of Virginia. Uh, in in 2023.
Speaker 3:And I take a different tack on on agriculture reporting. You know, farmers know where to get the ag report. They don't need me for that, but what they do need me to do is explain their stories to the people who they ultimately serve, and that's the people who they produce or raise food for, and so it's a very consumer agriculture sort of focus and so I take their stories but I put them into context for consumers. I do a lot of stories in that vein and I've had a lot of fun with that. So that one was kind of special to me the Emmy, just because you don't get to win those too often. I've been nominated for others. I won an award for heritage reporting, virginia Associated Press. That was a year ago and that is fun. That's fun for me. And you know I hear a lot of folks say I don't care if I win any awards. You know what I always like that pat on the back. I kind of crave that.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, when you're as competitive as you are, I mean, and you work really hard, so it's really nice to be able to be validated every now and then and say you know what you're good at, what you do.
Speaker 3:Right, right and that's it, you know. You know I'm putting a lot of time 60, 70, 80 hours in a week. Just that's what the job calls for. You know it is nice when you get to go to that awards banquet and, you know, wave a statue around or whatever. There's a little bit of a payoff there. I mean, everybody's got an ego, I got one.
Speaker 2:Hey, there's nothing wrong with that, because you earned it.
Speaker 3:I thank you.
Speaker 2:You know, I wanted to get a little personal here because I had, like we said at the very beginning of the podcast, we've known each other forever, it seems like, and I had a hard time in high school, but you were always there and I want to tell this this part of you you know, kind of paint a picture of who you were then and who I think that you are for our listeners and because we never ran out of things to talk about. You were like you could talk about anything and we would talk for hours and hours. Like you said, just walk in the hallways or whatever, and you never judged me or anybody. You were just as good as friends with the football players as every other clique in the school and we had a very cliquey school. We did, yeah, and you would be friends with those who didn't even have friends. You didn't care what anybody thought of you, you were just friends with everybody.
Speaker 2:And I just have to share this because this is one of my favorite memories and I think you might know what. I just have to share this because you know this is one of my favorite memories and I think you might know what I'm going to share, but one of the things that we like to do is just get in the car and drive, and we would drive and drive and talk and, you know, not even think about anything. And then one day we just happened to look up and there was West Virginia. We were crossing into another state and it was like, okay, you know, we didn't even kind of realize that we had gone that far, turned around, crossed the state line, turned around and went back home.
Speaker 3:I remember that trip I do. We were driving and that's what we were doing. We got in the car and we just talked. And I love talking to you, annie, it was fun, I felt comfortable with you, I felt because you know, as you said, you never judged me, you never, ever thought what I said was dumb or whatever. You just let me be me. And that was cool. I remember that whole trip and thinking, wow, how did? Yeah, how did we get here?
Speaker 2:I know I was like we're in West Virginia it was. It was a great trip.
Speaker 3:I mean it was great just spending time with you and talking, because you were so easy to talk to and I enjoyed talking to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was the same. And you know I tell this because you know you took a person and maybe you didn't realize this because you said, you know you really enjoyed talking to me too, but I was a pretty hurting kid back then and you showed me how to be free, you accepted me and you know that really meant so much to me because you were a leader in the school in school that I felt that everyone kind of looked to. You know you were football team showman, mr Personality. You were funny, like everybody liked you and you proved because you always seem to meet everybody where they were.
Speaker 2:And you did that recently when you met my one son and it was kind of fun because he still well, and he probably will if he ever sees you again he's going to hold you to going fishing because he really wants to go fishing. There you go. Yeah, I mean that's his thing. But you right off the bat and he's not an easy kid to connect with. But he instantly connected with you and talk about what you mentioned earlier.
Speaker 2:Connected with you and talk about what you mentioned earlier. I told him that you were going to be on and he's like oh, you mean the one that whispered in my ear. She was my prompt date and I was like, yeah, that one. So I mean, he just got the biggest kick out of that. So I know that we have a picture somewhere of us that we'll have to post up with this, but it was really funny. But the point of this was that you connected with wife, your family, you know you're fishing, you're cooking, just everything about you are who you are, you're authentically you. You know you don't fake it and that's what's so beautiful about who you are. And I thought maybe you could talk a little bit about meeting people where they are, and maybe it's just natural for you.
Speaker 3:I consider anybody I meet I automatically assume they're my friend and I try not to judge, because we're all weird in our own way. And if you like something and I don't, that's cool, because there are a lot of people who like things that I don't and there are a lot of people who like the same things I do. But it's also a learning experience. I like to learn from people yes, me too and I want to know who you are. I want to. You know, it's not anything conscious. I don't come up and think, well, I'm just not. I'm not going to be judgmental, it's just it's just who you are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just what I am.
Speaker 3:This is what I do. Yeah, I mean, I think that that's just a beautiful thing. If more people could be like that, could you imagine? Yeah, I wish, yeah, yeah, I could. I think we're always secure in our own way and I think that's how that comes out A lot of times.
Speaker 3:People try to represent, or they. They think somebody is judging them, so they're going to judge you first and you can judge me all you want, I don't care, but I can't remember the name of the singer who he said and this kind of resonated with me. He goes I like all of you, I don't hate any of you. For me to hate you, I'd have to get to know you. And if I don't know you, how can I find anything not to like about you? And if I do get to know you, chances are I'm probably going to find something to like about you anyway. So it's just kind of and again, it's not anything conscious, it's just what I do. It's who I am. I'm not looking to prove anything, so you don't have to prove anything to me. Let's just be who we are and enjoy that.
Speaker 2:I just saw this TikTok I'm into TikTok and it was like this this dad was asking he had a picture of all these kids and he just said, you know which one is? And you know, they were just kind of cartoony, not really you know real, but and he was a young boy and he said to him so which one of these kids are ugly, which one of them is pretty, which one of them is mean, which one is nice, and that kind of stuff. And every single one, he was like, well, they're all pretty, they're all nice. I don't know if they're mean, you know, and that kind of thing. And his dad was so proud of him because that's the way he saw them, you know, and if we really could and it is a different time, but I remembered with you that you were genuinely open and friendly to every single person and it didn't matter who they were, where they came from, what walk of life, what they look like or anything. You were just a beautiful human. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always saw you as that guy who could be the most successful in school, you know, and I was really impressed that you did go to DC to go to college and I would listen to you talk about everything. You talk about me not being judgmental about your views or anything. I mean, I just saw you as so smart so I was just like you could just spout off anything and everything and I was just like, wow, he is so smart so, and I did miss our conversations after you left, but I also knew that you were bound for greatness. So I have to be honest, though, when I saw you were no longer in the newsroom and here you were, in the middle of the lake, literally, I was like I mean, this is so, george, this is just so cool. So what could be next for George, do you know, is this? It Is this where you land.
Speaker 3:There's always the possibility that, working in this business, I could end up somewhere else. I really like it here in Roanoke. From what I do, it's pretty centrally located. Up Um, from what I do, it's pretty centrally located. Uh, again, I'm doing stuff for stations in DC and um, all over the mid Atlantic and in the South. Ideally I stay here, but uh, you know, who knows, I don't know. I uh, in addition to what I do here, I've been thinking about getting into some documentary uh film production. Actually, uh, dabbled in writing. I've been thinking about getting into some documentary film production.
Speaker 2:Actually dabbled in writing. I'm a poet.
Speaker 3:I write poetry. Oh, that's great, it's been published. But I'm writing more, and I mean everybody has that dream. I mean you've written a book. You know what that's like? I have not yet. I need to sometimes feel like I have the need to do that. I need to sometimes feel like I have the need to do that. Here's working. Doing these fishing stories has taken me to some really beautiful places and I'm trying to find a way to capture that beauty. Were you familiar with, like Parts Unknown, the late great Anthony Bourdain, when he would use food as the thread?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:To introduce you to people and places. I would like to do that with fishing or the outdoors. You learn about a place. Fishing is the ticket, but once you're there you get to learn about these people and their unique cultures and customs and the place. That's great. But getting there, talking about it and actually formulating an action plan and all that is still down the road a little bit, but it might happen. So I'll keep you in the loop on that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really love that you have another passion, from what I understand, poker.
Speaker 3:I played poker semi-professionally for a number of years. Poker is the kind of game and I was pretty good at it. I won a few things here and there, and I started back in the mid-90s. Poker is the kind of game where you can execute what you need to do perfectly and still lose. And when poker paid the bills after the recession hit, I was lucky if I could work seven days a month.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 3:So it's just the need for I was freelancing and full-time journalism. Jobs got cut because advertising dollars got cut. So I was living in Baltimore, Maryland, working in DC when I could freelancing and I would run up to Atlantic city and play in select tournaments or play cash games. I did all right. But you can't.
Speaker 3:There's an old saying in poker scared money can't play, scared money can't play Okay. And if what that means is if you're sitting at the table and you're scared to do what you know is the correct thing in a certain situation, then you probably shouldn't be sitting at the table. And when it came down to okay, the correct play in this situation is to push all in. What I have, essentially, is next week's groceries and electric and water bill sitting in front of me, and if I push all in, there's a chance I could lose it all. Now I could double up and that would be a good thing, but I could still make the correct play with three aces in my hand and if the guy sitting across from me you know who's wanting me to call with an all-in bet has a full house, I'm done.
Speaker 3:So I had to walk away from it. I still play for fun, but I can't, I couldn't take the gut wrenching anymore, okay and uh, you know, but, but you learn from it. You learn sometimes you got to take risks and you learn when you should walk away from something because it's just not right for you, right, so I'll still play. I'll I'll play in friendly tournaments. I look back on it fondly.
Speaker 2:Hey, that's what it's all about, right? It's all part of the journey. We take things with us along the way. So I mean, and that's what kind of makes it fun, and you've got great memories from it too.
Speaker 3:I got to see some cool places. I mean I got to go to Atlantic City. I got to go to casinos on the Gulf Coast. I got to go to casinos in Nevada. I got to go to casinos all over the place and stay and meet some cool people. I mean there's a certain honor amongst poker players. Sure, we're all trying to lie to each other to get each other's money at the table, but away from it they're pretty cool people and they will help you if you need help, and they're honest in that regard.
Speaker 2:It's all part of meeting people, meeting all kinds of different people from all walks of life. Right, I've watched those poker shows every now and then and it's really interesting.
Speaker 3:There's so much that goes into it.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's psychology, but there's also math and I thought I was terrible at math until I actually realized that I wasn't, and that was because I was sitting at a poker table. Because you're making multiple calculations every hand that you're in, you're trying to read people. You have to be part psychologist, part sociologist, part mathematician. You're looking at what other people do and you pick up what are called tells. It's a good life experience. It's not for everybody, um. But yeah, I walked away because I just needed to.
Speaker 2:What I get out of this interview with you is that you follow your heart, you know, you follow your passion and you're never bored. You are never bored.
Speaker 3:No, I'm not. I'm always doing something. I'm always fine, you know, but that's, that's also a state of mind. I mean, I do get bored from time to time, but I try not to let myself.
Speaker 2:Things are always churning up here too, so yeah, I was going to say how could you get bored in that mind?
Speaker 3:Yeah, Right, I'm just getting lost up here. That's the problem.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's so funny. Well, I really appreciate you being on here today, George. This has been really great. You know, I mean, most of the time if I'm interviewing people, it's people that I don't really know, and so this is really great that I got to actually revisit a time in my life.
Speaker 3:Well, same here. You're a dear friend. I love you dearly. We have known each other for decades. You still look like you're 18 years old. You're still gorgeous. So you know, whatever you're doing, keep doing it, because it's working.
Speaker 2:I, on the other hand, I got to get some hair color, I think. You're still George, you haven't changed at all. I mean, yes, you have some gray hair now yes, you do, but you're still that George that I knew and accidentally ended up in West Virginia with yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, I appreciate you having me on. I appreciate it very much. It's been a blast, it's been a lot of fun, thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, we're going to end it here and I just want to thank everybody for listening and, as usual on Real Talk with Tina and Anne, there is purpose in the pain and there is always hope in the journey. So we really thank you again for listening and we will see you again next time. Thanks y'all.
