Getting Political

On the fence about the upcoming elections? I'm sure that a lot of people are.
And though I won't try to sway you in any way, I will recommend this website, based on its name alone:

www.JohnKerryIsaDoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com

Parenting 101

Ok, time for a brief survey.

Which are the worse parents:

1) The man who packed his son in a carry-on bag.

or.....

2) The parents who took pictures of their 2-year-old smoking pot.

discuss.

The Numbers Are In

For those of you that haven't been subjected to my work-related rants over the last week, the numbers are in. I worked 84 hours last week.

So, as you may imagine, I spent most of Thursday (my first day off in a while) sleeping. It was so nice. I also went to Bed Bath and Beyond and bought a plant stand for our patio, but then I got home and realized that I had to build it. So it's just sitting on the patio in about 50 pieces right now. Just waiting for the motivation.

Far Too Much Responsibility

Ok, so I took a lengthy blogging hiatus. I'm aware. But since I've stopped blogging, nobody else seems to be updating either. Melina hasn't posted in some time, and Kelly hasn't posted since last week's "Field Trip Friday." What's up with that, ladies? I can't carry the load myself!

So Unprofessional...

Yet so funny.

A little backstory. Not so long ago, one of the television stations in Sacramento decided to move their news studio to the mall. Literally. Borrowing a page from "The Today Show," KCRA set their studio up so that there's a big window to the mall right behind the anchors during the noon newscast.

Ridiculous, right?

The news crew at KMAX felt the same way. So one day on "Good Morning Sacramento," they decided to make fun of the competition. On air. Hilarity ensues.

Check it out. KMAX has streaming video of the show on their website.

Finally!

A piece of legislation that we can all get behind.

If You Have A Moment

Take a little time to read this article about former NFL safety Pat Tillman, who died yesterday in combat in Afghanistan.

Tillman gave up his career in the NFL to join the Army Rangers, and trained here at Fort Benning.

Hundreds of soldiers have died overseas over the past several months, but we rarely read about the individuals. Is Pat Tillman special because he was a football player? no. But is he special because he gave up his career making seven-figures a year, so that he could defend his country? Yes.

The attitude is different down here in the South, where I believe people tend to be more patriotic than ambivalent northerners like myself, but where I grew up, kids didn't join the military unless they had no other option. The kids that joined the military were the screw-ups, the ones who couldn't get into college and decided that the military would be better than pumping gas. I don't even recall knowing kids who joined the reserves to help pay for school.

So that may help you understand why I find the story of Pat Tillman so amazing. An honors student at Arizona State, a million-dollar a year football star, putting his promising future on hold because more than anything, he was a patriot.

Surviving Past Hump-Day

I know, for most folks, Wednesday is "hump-day," midway through the work week, when you climb over that proverbial hump and it's just a downhill slide into your weekend.

Thursday was my "hump-day" on my extended work-week, and I'm actually hanging on better than I had expected. It doesn't hurt that there weren't a zillion games to shoot over the last couple of days. Wednesday night, the Alabama high school state baseball playoffs started, and I had a bit of a struggle at first, because there was a 6pm game in Phenix City and a 7pm game in Seale... and I had to anchor the 6pm newscast. Usually, something like that is a recipe for disaster... but luck was on my side and I managed to get to both games by the middle of the fifth inning... and actually got plenty of highlights from both games... including the game-winning home run in one of them.

The other good thing that happened on Wednesday? Dave came in to cover the Tour de Georgia... otherwise my 12-hour day would have been a 16- or 17-hour day. I felt bad for Dave, having to come in right smack-dab in the middle of his vacation, but at least he got to cover something kind of cool, and his story was great. Too bad Lance Armstrong didn't win the Columbus stage (he won the next two stages).

So, as I said, I'm surviving. I only have four more days of being the one-woman sports department... then Dave comes back on Tuesday, and I'm a lowly reporter/weekend anchor again.

Ahhhh, the Life...

...of a "normal" person.

Dave's taking next week off, and of course, we don't have anyone who can help out when he's gone, so I get to work all three newscasts the next ten straight days. So, as a little gift to myself, I took today off. Since Cory works weekdays and I work nights and weekends, It's the first time we've had a day off together since New Year's.

So, Cory and I did fun stuff today. First, a drive to Providence Canyon State Park. The weather was beautiful, sunny and around 80 degrees, so we did a three-mile hike around the canyon. I brought the camera and took about a jillion pictures, so at some point, I may post some of them to this blog. I know, I know... I always say that.

Then, a trip to the drive-in. No, there isn't a real drive-in movie like we had in Missouri. So, we had the next best thing. The Columbus Film Society does an occasional outdoor movie screening in the back lot of the Columbus Museum. You pack a picnic, bring your lawn chairs, and watch a movie under the stars. So, I dragged Cory to see "Harold and Maude," a movie I first saw when I was about 12 or 13 years old (The movie was already 10 years old by that point). If you've never seen it before, I don't even know where to begin describing it... so I won't. Anyway, the screening had it's share of technical glitches, but I think Cory really enjoyed it. Plus, the weather was so amazing, it was just nice to sit under the stars.

So, that was my fun day off with Cory. Tomorrow, back to work. The marathon begins. I'll try not to bitch too much about it, but don't be surprised if I don't blog much in the next week or so, you'll understand, right?

Swingin'

Cory and I got up early today to head off to the driving range. As you may remember from a post last fall, my last trip to the driving range was less than stellar. I went alone, and the man that worked there made fun of me... never a good sign.

It's amazing, though. When you show up at the driving range with a 6'5, 280-pound guy, nobody gives you crap.

Anyway, for the first time since Christmas, I finally got a chance to swing my new golf clubs. Last year, I owned exactly three clubs: a driving iron, a pitching wedge, and a putter. Suddenly, I'm legit. Too bad I don't look like it when I actually use the new clubs. I made a complete boob out of myself using my 3-wood and my driver... but I totally rocked when I used my 5-wood.

Thank You, Easter Bunny!

On Wednesday night, when I got home from work, there was a note with the days' mail: You have a package in the aparment office.

Rock on!

I made it to the office Tuesday afternoon, and I had a nice box of goodies from the Easter Bunny. Apparently, he was "hopping late this year." Mostly, it was candy, though there was a very nice stuffed bunny in the box, too.

After all the trouble at work lately, it cheered me up immensely. I'd say that it made my day, but in actuality, it made my month.

Proofread, People!!!

As a teacher, one of the things that frustrated me most was students who would turn in papers that were spell-checked, but not proof-read.

There's a big difference. Consider the time that, at my old station, we titled a person as the "Director of Pubic Safety." A spell-checker would never have caught that. As it stands, our director didn't catch it either.

Well, here's another spectacular example... this one from Grinnell, Iowa.

Government Conspiracy!

President Bush's address tonight is messing up one of the few pleasures I have left... watching "24." (Perhaps the Bush camp scheduled it that way because 24's fictitious President David Palmer would get better approval ratings than Dubya would?)

I tape 24 every week, because I have to work late on Tuesday nights, so the re-scheduling shouldn't be a big deal. But here's the rub: Fox is putting 24 on Sunday this week, opposite the only other show I watch religiously, "Alias."

Until now, I'd always thought having two VCRs was a little silly.

Nice Guys Finish First

I know that I bitch about Cory an awful lot. Today I was complaining because he didn't give me a basket of Easter goodies. Petty? You betcha.
But if there's any question as to why I love Cory, take a moment to read the entry he made to his blog last night.

Always the Critic

First, a food review: Chips Ahoy! White Fudge Chunky are almost too good to be true. If the next time you see me, I'm 300 pounds, you'll know who to blame.

Second, a film review. Cory and I went to see The Fog Of War tonight at the Columbus Film Festival. It was excellent, which I guess explains why it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary last year. However, I have to admit, I like my documentaries to be a little more user-friendly. I've seen several documentaries in the last several years, many of them Oscar-nominees and Oscar-winners. I loved Spellbound, because of its humor and the human drama. I loved Winged Migration because of the amazing photography. I loved Bowling For Columbine for too many reasons to count.

The Fog of War was obviously much more serious, much less user-friendly. It focused completely on former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who by the way, looks damn good for a guy that's pushing 90. I guess one thing I didn't like was the film's dependance on stock footage. The editors did a fantastic job of putting it all together, but much of the footage they used looked staged.

The other thing that really bothered me was the overwhelming influence of the MTV style on film and documentaries. For a century, the jump-cut was a cardinal sin of filmmaking. If you had to edit someone mid-sentence, you covered up the ugly jump-cut with a cut-away shot of other video. Then MTV came along and introduced it's "edgy" style... which is actually nothing more than sheer laziness. Now you see jump cuts on everything except the nightly news. Actually, you see jump-cuts there, too... but it's not stylistic... it's just poor workmanship.

On the one hand, I respect the filmmakers for saying "yeah... we edited his words. Deal with it." It makes them more trustworthy in a way, because they aren't hiding the fact that they edited him mid-sentence. On the other hand, they edited him so much, sometimes four or five times in one single sentence, that it was more than a little distracting.

Seasons Change

Cory's unhealthy obsession with fantasy baseball is going to drive me insane by the time September rolls around. See, I don't really think much about Major League Baseball until the hockey season is over. Don't get me wrong... I love baseball. I just love hockey more. Cory's been sitting here watching the Blues play San Jose, except he keeps flipping the channel to watch "Baseball Tonight."

Here's all I need to know about the baseball season: The Tigers are 4-0. It took them over a month to win four games last year.

More Obligatory Sports Postings

While it is the most wonderful time of the year (see below), we need to have a little moment of silence for the Cottonmouths, who will be leaving the fair fountain city. The team received permission from the ECHL to suspend operations for next season, then move to Florida.

Sigh.

The owners are pretty cool guys. They really didn't want to move the team. But you can only lose half a million dollars a season for so many years before it starts to suck.

There are a few thousand die-hard hockey fans in this town, and I think we'll probably have a hockey team next year... just in a smaller, less competitive league. On the one hand, I think that's great, because it'll keep costs down and keep the fans happy. The Snakes have struggled since joining the ECHL.

On the other hand, I've really enjoyed seeing guys like Mike Bishai get their start in pro hockey.

I guess when it comes right down to it, I'll just be happy if there's any pro hockey here next year... otherwise the withdrawl will be horrible. I'll have to start going to youth hockey games just to get my fix.

Obligatory Sports Posting

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The NHL playoffs!!!
Don't know if you watched any of tonight's Red Wings win over the Nashville Predators, don't know if you even care. I only got to watch a tiny bit of it on my dinner break tonight.

However, Robert Lang scored one of the most amazing goals I've ever seen. More important, Dave Lewis finally got his first playoff win as a head coach. Nice work, boys!

If I Can Make It There...

Take the quiz: "Which American City Are You?"

New York
You're competitive, you like to take it straight to the fight. You gotta have it all or die trying.

Hit And Run

Funny. You get hit by a car going 80 miles an hour, and you get killed. But you get hit by a baseball going 80 miles an hour, and you just get an enormous bruise.

Today, I was shooting a local high school baseball game from my usual spot, a folding chair behind the backstop. Because I have to shoot through a chain-link fence, I have to pull my chair up very close to the backstop and lean forward to get the fence out of the picture as much as possible. I'm not exactly pressed up against the backstop, but I'm just inches away from it.

So, the pitcher throws an inside fastball, and the batter foul-tips it back to the backstop. To exactly where my right knee is. Now, my knee is about an inch or two behind the fence, but a 80 mile an hour foul tip tends to force the chain-link back a little. It hit me on the leg, just on the side of my knee. It hurt. Quite a bit. Not quite enough for me to swear loudly in front of dozens of parents, but close. Ten minutes later, it still hurt. Three innings later, it still hurt. So, I get back to the van, pull up the leg of my pants to take a peek, and I have a round bruise about four inches in diameter. The center of it isn't black and blue yet, because it's too swollen.

Here's the sad part. I get hit by the pitch, it hurts like a bitch, and the first thought that comes to mind?

Woah... If that thing had hit me just an inch higher and two inches to the right, it might have shattered my kneecap. Damn. I would have gotten at least a week or two off of work with a shattered kneecap!

Just my luck. A painful injury and I'm not even going on the Disabled List.

Busted!

Anyone else out there a fan of Mythbusters? It's a fantastic show. Adam and Jamie are nerdy-yet-cool scientists on a mission to debunk urban legends. One of my favorite episodes was the one where they created a raft out of raincoats and rubber cement and tried to escape from Alcatraz. Good stuff.

Grrrrr...

I came home from work last night, filled with bloggy goodness, ready to blog my little heart out. I turned on the TV for a little company... and the cable was out. Damn.

Turned on the computer, and (no surprise here) the cable modem was out. Double Damn.

Of course, now I can't remember what I wanted to write about. I was excited about blogging because it was the first night that I've gotten home from work before 2:00 a.m. See, now that we're doing the FOX newscast every night, I have to stay late the night before to get my work done for the next day's 6pm show. That way, I can start working on the 10pm show before 6pm... a necessity since I don't have time to do it after the 6pm show, because I'm generally out shooting video of a game (or eating dinner... which I haven't quite figured out how to fit into my schedule yet).

The first FOX shows looked pretty good... Considering all the potential problems lurking. Two hours before the newscast, I still didn't have the capability to put C.G.s into the show (In other words, I couldn't put any words on the screen. For sports, that translates into no scores.) We got that little kink worked out in the nick of time, but there are still plenty of other bumps in the road. As one co-worker said, "The show wasn't nearly as much of a train wreck as I thought it would be."

News Flash

A pregnant woman in England got a Happy Meal at McDonald's, and ended up completely disgusted. Apparently, it had nothing to do with the crappy quality of the food, or the high fat content... but instead, because she found a tooth in her burger.

By the way, it's good to see pregnant women taking advantage of all the nutritional opportunities out there.

Equal Opportunity

As Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes can tell you, White Men Can't Jump. However, Chicks can dunk.

Say Cheese!

Cory will be smiling for pictures a lot more in the future... He got his braces off yesterday!!! Of course, of our oh-so-observant journalist co-workers, only one (Cheryl) noticed that he doesn't have a metal mouth any more.

Blogging Lite

Very tired tonight. In fact, I was so tired coming home from work, I blew through a red light. And yet, now that I'm home, I've gotten my "second wind," and I cant seem to go to bed yet. What's wrong with me?

A Cautionary Note

If you're considering breast implants, you may want to check your doctor's credentials.