BOO!

Even though I just did a rant about Halloween costumes I actually like Halloween. It's fall and there is a nip in the air, you get to play dress up and act stupid. Well, for me that is a relative term. For all the years in Ohio and knowing people in Athens, Oh I never went to the Ohio University Halloween party. Am I bummed, not to much, I heard it's just wall to wall people and it's hard to get around.

With that said I will tonight get to experience Halloween in Chapel Hill. From what I heard it's Athens light; lots of drunk college students and drag queens, but just not as many. The only thing is I am not going over there for fun, I have to work it.

The one big thing with drunk people is they see a camera and they flock to it, add lights and triple the number of stupid drunk people. It's not very conducive for live TV news. I have heard that we have permission to be on a roof top, but I have to park in an alley, climb a ladder to the top and haul all the equipment up that way. in other works, a lot of work for a few minutes of TV.

If I can get my laptop WiFi to work I'll try and take a few pictures and try to post during the night.

*picture above is from OU and that's ol' Wilson and no that's not a mask.

Halloween Costumes

A few weeks ago I need a to find a lion tamer or Indiana Jones costume for a bit at church. Since it's near Halloween, I though how hard could it be to find this standard costume. After I went to my fifth store and travelling 60 miles I gave up. I have come to the realization that if you want to buy a ready to made costume you are limited to a small selection:

Slutty (insert something here)- First of all don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing hot women in near stripper out fits for Halloween, but for women that's almost it. I was talking to a guy and his comment was in New york all women dress like strippers and the guys like batman. Everything is very short and cut very low. The most prevalent ones seem to be slutty police, slutty fairy tale character and french maid you get the idea. They even have them for young girls. I understand that we objectify women and this only continues the... way we... look at those legs... HOOOT! What was I saying?

Pirate- Ever since the Pirates of the Caribbean movies pirates are VERY popular. The thing is all the costumes are pretty much the same costume, just slightly different. instead of a large hat it's a smaller hat and a black sash. Oooo with this one you get a sword. Come on who wants to walk around as a pirate. You are not Johnny Depp or Orlando Bloom, You know if you go to a party at least one other person will dress the same as you and have the exact same costume or be very close.

Ninja- At The Network we use to joke about who was better pirates or ninjas. It was a running joke that seemed to all over the country because there are just as many ninja outfits. One store had 5 different ninja outfits. I'm still confused about that, how can you have five different black outfits? Which one do you want the one has throwing stars or the one with a bow staff. Do you really want to go out with a black mask on, you'll get hot and start to smell. Pick something else or make it yourself, it has to be less expensive that what these clowns are selling.

Horribly inappropriate costume that one guy will wear and thing it is AWESOME!!!!- Look at the picture to the left, you know he was thinking "Dude this will so rock! I know the chicks will come over and talk and wonder how I made it. Dude I'm going to get some much tail that I won't need this doll by 10! WOOOOOOOH KEG STAND! Other costumes I saw were: Giant Penis, Snake Charmer (can you guess where the snake was?), "poo poo" platter and Wilson's favorite breast inspector. Most of the guys who wear this costumes will be passed out by 11 or trying to hit on the ugly girl at the end of the night and will get shot down, well "except Wilson."

Movie Characters/Action hero- I lumped these into one because they are pretty much the same. A bad spiderman outfit is the same as a bad Napoleon Dynamite wig and glasses. These will usually be characters that are really popular or ones that are a little old. At times I thought of going to a party as Kip, I'd even save my gotee into his sweet 'stache, but that was last year. This would seem a little too dates, but the costume shops had a rack of nothing my Kip and Napoleon. One int resting costume I saw was Shaggy, for 40 bucks you get a green shirt, brown pants and a wig. I have all of those except the wig and I can buy that for 10 bucks in another isle.

Something Dead or evil- You know the usual suspects where: zombies, Frankenstein, Dracula and the devil. Wow it's time for scary movies and you have a giant gash in your neck, aaaah! No Nosferatu don't suck my blood. I guess it is tradition for the time of year.

Annoying Couple Costumes- Oh come on, Raggedy Ann and Andy? Ham and Eggs? I think I just threw up in my mouth a little. Most of the costumes I saw were so sugary sweet that I almost went into a diabetic coma. If you want to be cute you can do it, but don't by a costume make it something interesting. I knew a couple who showed up as a priest and a school girl. Close to horribly inappropriate, but funny in a good way.

I obviously did not find the costume I needed, I just went to target and bought a white button down shirt and wore a pair of cargo pants and boots. It just seems that these costume stores just crank out low end stuff and pigeon hole people into getting some they might not really want, but it kind of works for them. Seriously, unless you want to be a giant banana, a gorilla, or some form or animal you can usual make the costume and it will look better than the crap in the store. My favorite costume I created was 30's newspaper reporter. I bought a really ugly tie that did not match anything and a fedora, put a note card on it that said "press", put on a nice white shirt, black pants, nice shoes and grabbed a cigar and my 35mm camera. To sell it I usually yelled out "What a scoop!" and take a picture. Everyone knew what I was and I spent 40 bucks (35 on the fedora). People, you just need to be creative.

Can I Get That Filled at CVS?

I finished the second stage of my physical (I still have to go back and find out the results), I peed in a cup, they took some blood, lanced some moles and skin tags, you a fun day. My weight came up again, I actually gained 5 pounds in two weeks and the doctor was not happy. Neither was I, but I'm blaming my parents visit on that. They insisted on feeding us, what was I to say; "No mom, I would not like to go to the Carolina Ale House." "Mom and dad I don't want a tasty key lime pie." Also my addiction has started early, I already ate one pie... in 5 days.

The drugs she put me on has made a little bit of a difference, when I wake up I'm not exhausted. Instead, I'm a little groggy from the valerian root or the muscle relaxer. I'm told I need at least 30 minutes a day of walking, then she throws this out there:

Dr C. You just need to get out and walk. Do you have a dog.

Me NO, don't get me started I want a dog, but the install cost for us is too much.

DR. C. Well, you should get a dog, they make you get out and walk.

Did you read that, for medical reasons I need a dog. I couldn't convince my insurance to give me a Wii or a helper monkey, but I might have a chance with a dog. Think about it, if they give us money for a dog, it will help me stay healthy and I will not have future medical problems. See nearly fool proof, now I need to get the doctor to write it on her prescription notepad and then do a little fancy maneuvering with the paper work and BLAM free dog.

The Pink Eye

I have never worked in a place that has had this many pink eye epidemic. Within the last 5 months we have had at least 3 out breaks. Everywhere I have worked I've seen at least one out break but this is getting ridiculous. I first went through the producers and a couple or reporters then more producers and an editor and now its the producers and sports. I would guess part of the problem is the producers share desks and then they go into the edit bays and it spreads from there.

I'm not a hypochondriac, but I am freaking out over this new cycle. Even though I am now avoiding the edit bays like the plague, I usual the docking station near sports, who am I kidding all the docking stations for the photographer laptops are near sports. Plus, I'm having my usual fall allergy attack and every time my eyes get dry I keep thinking I have pink eye.

I think the biggest reason that I'm freaking out is that I only have 3 hours of sick time left. With the two injuries and my previous allergy attack I can't get sick for the rest of this year. If I do get the pink eye I better get it today, I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and I'm taking Thursday and Friday off. It would suck to have it, but at least I'd only loose 5 hours and not more.

Original?

I've been watching the ALCS on Fox this week and they obviously have a deal with the Transformers Movie, which came out this past Tuesday. I don't have a problem with the movie or the pimping of said movie. Its part of sports now, TBS ran promos for their new show Frank TV every 5 seconds, well it felt like every five seconds.

I have a problem with one of the commercials. I keep hearing the announcer say "It's been call one of the most original movies of the year." WHAT?!?! Original? How can a movie be based off a cartoon/comic books/action figures from the 80s. I keep missing who wrote that, because I want to find that person and smack them in the back of the head. Are we to the point where a movie based off a cartoon considered original? I know just about every movie this summer was a sequel, or at least felt like a movie I'd already seen. Hell, there was a movie based off a musical that was based, get this OFF A MOVIE! Sweet mother of pearl, Hollywood needs a kick in the head.

Edit: After Levy mentioned that he heard original in the commercial I believe he is right. So I have made corrections.

The Curse of the Fat Punter

This past weekend I had such high hopes, yet as all things with sports I was brought crashing back down to reality. I spent $21.95 for the one day ESPN Plus game package so I could see Bowling Green play Miami for what some called the game to decide the MAC East. If BG wins they control their own destiny, if Miami wins, BG now has to have Miami lose two games to have a chance. Well, as you can tell by the first line Bowling Green decided not to show up and got decimated 47-14. There are some fans think we just can’t beat Miami and it didn’t help that Ben Roethlisberger was there. I on the other hand blame the curse, THE CURSE OF THE FAT PUNTER.

Lets take a trip back in time, when Sheryl Crow hit it big with “All I Want to Do,” Aerosmith released the same song three times, but just changed the words and Live was all over the charts with hits from Throwing Copper. Bowling Green was 9-1 and looking for its third MAC championship in four years, all they had to do was take down Central Michigan. To be honest CMU was 8-2 but had one lose in the conference and appeared to be inferior to BG. It’s hard to believe this now, but Gary Blackney was being considered as a replacement for John Cooper at Ohio State, it was being played at Doyt L Perry Stadium and there should be no way we lose. Well CMU was hungry and we overlooked the Chippewas.

It was a close game the score was BG 25 CMU 21 and BG had the momentum, it was 4th and 3 and Central was lined up to punt. When Craig Fischer decided not to punt, but to run. BG forgot to rush the punter all game and Mr. Fischer took off and ran 73 yards untouched for a game changing touchdown. The amazing thing was he was not your normal punter, he was a big boy! I’m no spring chicken, but damn how do you have a punter that looks like a linebacker? Also, he was slow, I mean Bernie Kozar slow. I was a freshman in college, I was attending Ohio University Southern for a year to save a lot of money and get rid of all those freshman classes at the same time. I was planning in going to BG the following year. If it wasn’t for money I probably would have gone my freshman year to BG. I was lying on my parents couch when this happened. I jumped up screaming GET HIM! GET HIM! HOW ARE YOU NOT TACKLING HIM, HE’S BARELY JOGGING! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! That was the breaking point in the game, BG lost and Central Michigan went on to win the MAC and go to a bowl game.

From that point on BG has never won an outright MAC title, the closest we have gotten is a MAC West title, but Mr Roethlisberger clowned us at Doyt L Perry Stadium. That was our first home lose in a couple of years. Prior to the fat punter game Gary Blackney was considered a coach on the rise with a 26-7-2 record, afterward he went 24-43 his last game as coach was a 51-17 lose to the hated rivals Toledo. Gary Blackney has never been a head coach again.

Our next coach is now considered to be a great coach, Urban Meyer, he had a great record at BG 17-6, but never won a MAC title and NEVER I repeat NEVER went to a bowl. I actually think he knew of the fat punter curse, with a chance to win the MAC West we need a win against Toledo to have a shot. While leading he decided to run a fake punt, but alas the curse raises it’s angry fat fingers and the play fails, season over. There were rumors that Urban was going to Michigan State and we were resigned to that idea that he was going to Sparty, but he threw us a curve ball. He told the Sentinel that we was going to sign a new contract with BG. Hoozah cheered the BG fans, but little did we know that Urban Liar was to jump on a plane that same night and sign a new contract with Utah. He then trashes the program calling it second rate and his wife was the one who wanted to move to the mountains. I still have not forgiven him for that. I don’t mind the job change, but how he did it. You don’t give your word, go back on it and then insult your previous boss, just classless Urban.

After that BG did have some success, we did win one MAC West title with our current coach Gregg Brandon, but as I have mentioned, we ran into the buzzsaw known as Ben Roethlisburger. We have won a couple of bowl games, but no MAC titles. Then the curse of the fat punter decided to pull the program back down to craptiude. In 03 and 04 BG goes 20-6 and after that we have gone 6-5 and 4-8. That 4-8 is deceiving we were not that good.

The lowest point in the programs 88 year existence has to be last years lose to Temple. Temple was the laughing stock of 1A football, they had not won a 1A game in 33 tries, we go into Philly and the curse attacks us like Craig Fischer on a bag of donuts, we lose 28-14. Doyt Perry is rolling over in his grave, a once proud program now one of the worst in the nation.

This year there was a lot of indecision on how this team would fair. We switch quarterbacks to start Tyler Sheehan and the falcon faithful are still not for sure what kind of team we have. Then we go to Minnesota and win in overtime 32-31 in all honesty BG had that game won at halftime, but we let the gophers back in it. We lost a good game to Michigan St. We got a couple of wins including a redemption win against Temple and then against Western Kentucky. Now the big challenge, we are playing the #7 Boston College. Lots of falcon fans thought we had a chance, they can’t run the ball and have problems with pass happy teams. BG can’t stop the run and we throw the ball over 50 times a game. Well, fat punter again ruins another chance as we lose and lose bad 55-24.

With the Miami loss it looks like we are playing for second, that’s not even a given any more. I don’t know any more, it appeared that this team was solid and had a chance, but for another year we looking down the barrel of a losing season. Since fat punter the program has had only 5 winning seasons and has a record of 74-71. Yes, I know that is a winning record, but take when you have three 5-6 seasons plus a couple of winning seasons the numbers look better than they are. We need to some how break this curse; one of the ways is to bring in a fat punter of our own. Maybe that will break it. We currently have a fat place kicker (6-1 255lbs), but that has only helped a little and we have started the back slide again. Maybe we need to bring fat punter Craig Ficsher back, tell him we are going to give him an award or something. When he’s on the field, Vince Palko can rush the field and tackle him. I vote for the latter, but for now the curse is here and will not be going away.

Wait, Wasn't This Desert Once a Lake?

The picture to the left is me waking about 50 yards into what use to be Jordan Lake. The picture below and to the right is a picture I took while in the middle of Lake Michie. As you can tell this drought is still here. I've mentioned in the past I am not use to droughts, I've always had to deal with flooding. The worst drought was when the Ohio River I believe was 10 feet below normal, nothing two serious.So this is strange for me to have water restrictions and having to constantly do stories about the drought. I even did a "How is the drought effecting the State Fair" story.

Today was no different, except the governor is freaking out urging water conservation and the city of Durham is not allowing people to water there lawns. If they continue to allow people to water their lawns on Saturdays, they will run out of water around Christmas.

Part of our problem is the extreme heat we've been having. We set a record average temperature for the month of August and we still had 90 degree days in October. The heat has made things bad, but it makes it worse because we have not had any rain.

It's scary how little rain we have had. It's not like we have had rain fore casted, it just doesn't make it here. We've Had two hurricanes turn at the last minute and miss us. The rain that hit the Midwest just vaporized and we got none of it. It's like God is taunting us "Look NC, I'm flooding Ohio and you can't have any." We need rain and lots of it, according to our weather guy we probably need a foot of rain to get back to normal. An average rain we might get and inch made two, so we literally need a hurricane to get back to normal. So a thing that may destroy houses and can kill is what is needed to get us near normal for water. Wow, what a crappy catch 22.

Noooooo!

I know I have not posted for a while and I'm thinking it's because I had a loss. It was very traumatic, My Albino Cory Cat Chi Chi VI died. I know your probably wondering "Why the hell is he upset about a fish dying?" Here's why, I've had that fish longer than I have known The Wife. When I moved to Columbus I set up a fish tank and the one fish my family always buys is an albino cat fish. When I was you we were told that they are great for a tank, they help keep it clean. So we bought one and every time one died, we always got another. We named the first one Chi Chi after one of my dad's coworkers, he had a mustache and it kind of looked like the one on the cory cat.

So the first set of fish one was the cory cat, and then he never died. I moved him from "the ghetto apartment" off of Karl Ave in Columbus to the cheap nicer neighborhood apartment, then I moved into The Wife Condo. He even made the nine hour drive to North Carolina with me (Out of the 9 fish 6 survived the drive, but only 4 lived more than two weeks after that) and then the move to Fried Chicken Dr. He has survived 1 ich attack, 1 for of fin rot, and multiple algae attacks on the tank and one of these attacks lasted for over three months. He never died, he always survived. I thought he was a super fish.

The one thing about albino cory cats is they lay on on the tank floor and have the tendency to look like they are dead. I normally lightly tape the glass or feed the others and he races around the tank like an ADD kid after finding a candy bar, OK like me after I find a candy bar. Then last weekend Chi Chi VI was "playing dead," but my little tricks were not working. I was getting sad because I thought we was dead. I grab the dead fish net and start to scoop him up. He would perk up and try to swim around. I could tell something was up, He was dying. What do I do, make it quick, well quick for me and flush him now, or do I wait and see if it will pass. I choose the latter and two days later he was laying in the middle of the tank and this time he did not move when the net came to scoop him out.

I know he's just a fish and I will probably go out and by a new one, considering I've already bought six others. It's the fact that he has been with me for so long. I'm always moving and nothing seems to be consistent, except for 4 years with a little cory cat named Chi Chi VI. May you rest in peace in that great fish tank in the sky.

All of This Things Are Not Like the Others

DCZ and Levy already did this, but I thought I'd give it ago. Who the hell is Drew Fuller? I look nothing like him, but he's number one. You know what, I always get stopped on the street because people think I'm Sophia Loren or Danny Glover. Two people who almost made the list was Xhibit (51%) and Pamela Anderson (49%).

I Can't Beleive I'm Doing This

My favorite thing about my job is the chance to shoot sports. I love it, it's one of the times in my job where I am happy to do something. For me it's like a reward for all those meetings, stupid stories, the running around and the general stupidness of the news business. With sports, I fell like I'm getting paid to watch a game. Yes, I have a giant camera and belt pack on me and at times have to run up and down the field, but I don't mind too much.

To I kind of pained me to tell my station not to change my schedule on Friday nights so that I cam shoot football. Since I came back from my thumb injury we have been rotating Friday nights: one week I'd shoot my normal 3-midnight, then the next week I'd go to a 11-8 and get two hours of overtime to shoot football. I thought that was a pretty good idea. So far ever time I am 11-8 "they" decide to change everything and I don't get to shoot football. A couple weeks ago the airplane hit a building and I was stuck there. I almost understand that. This week, something "kind of" happened with the Duke Lacrosse story. It was nothing more than the three players suing a bunch of people for money and a change to the way Durham polices and prosecuting people. The last part is a biggie, but we had two crews on the story. Also no one was talking, not the city, not Nifong, not the players or their lawyers... anyone. We actually stalked a law professor at UNC to get an interview. So for the second time I was pulled from football to do a thumb sucker/dog lick live shot.

We've had management come up to us lately asking the photographers how they came make things better. The number one complaint was stop jacking around with the schedules and assignments. Obviously, that has not happened. It takes a lot for me to not want to shoot sports, and they finally did it. I'm tired of getting my hopes up for something good and then having them dashed because of poor planning. According to this commenter I'm probably whining again. Whatever, It's the one thing in my job I seek out on a regular basis and to have that carrot dangle in front of me and repeatedly pulled away has left me a little jaded. My chances are slim to get any football for the rest of the year. This is the first time since my first year in news (eight years) that I will only shoot three games, two high school and one college.

I've had a good run, and I just have to except that it's over.

One Pill Makes You Larger

Yesterday I went to the doctor for my pre-physical and so far I am healthy... EAT THAT WORLD! Well, I was told I do need to loss weight, which I already knew. While talking about exercise I mentioned that even though I usually get eight hours sleep I toss and turn all night, and I wake up usually just as sore as the day before and tired, so she prescribed me a muscle relaxer to take at night. It's suppose to relax me or I as I call it knock my ass out so I don't toss and turn as much.

Then I just happen to mention that when I do get a little stress I have the tendency to sweat. The nurse practitioner mentioned I might have a slight tendency to get anxious so she prescribed me another medication for that. I'm suppose to take one when things get a little hectic which in news is every day.... some times twice on Tuesdays, some Thursday, oh Mondays suck... OK all the freaking time. With this pill I'm hopping when things get a little bit too much to handle it will allow me not to over think and keep my head from racing.

I truthfully never though I'd be the person who has to take pills. I know a lot of pills are helpful, but it seems like a lot of people take them as a crutch. Oh I'm taking this for my feet, and this one for anxiety, this one because I get depressed, oh yeah and this one for blood pressure. I hope I'm not falling into that trap and I'm taking pills because the doctor thinks they will help instead of finding another way.

Random Weekend

It was a weird weekend and I wanted to write about a few things, but never got a chance to, so I'm going to do another Random thoughts:

No Way I Could Win

Saturday night The Wife had to work and I was invited over to watch the Ohio State game with Shawn. During the game The Wife called, she asked if she could come over if she got off early enough. I asked and Shawn gave the thumbs up. Now flash forward to around half time, The Wife calls and she is leaving her sit, mentions she's tired and was going to go home and watch the game. I give an OK are your sure response and I thought that was that. Later in the conversation (as OSU is driving down the field) she mentions, "I guess you don't want me to come over." WHAT?!?!?! When she mentioned that she was going home, my response SHOULD have been, "Oh baby, come over here, I want to see you, I can not enjoy this game without you." Stupid me I did not read the signs.

I know woman are hard to figure out alone, and then you have to try and figure what code. I seriously thought she was tired and wanted to go to bed. I get off the phone and Shawn it chuckling a little and asked what happens. I tell him and ask "I can't win this can I?" His response, "Nope, no way out." Woman!

I did get permission to write this, but I could have misread the signs AGAIN, so I might be sleeping on the couch for the rest of the week.

Bad Food
After getting down here, I found out that the Carolina's have their own kind of barbecue and it no where NEAR what you think it is. Instead of being a plate of cooked beef or pork covered in a delicious red sauce, Carolina BBQ is pulled pork that has been simmering in a vinegar based "sauce" and then served on a plate. I've had it enough to almost acquire a taste, The Wife.... not so much.

On Friday I had a great brisket sandwich and was craving traditional BBQ. I knew of a place that service really good BBQ, but after we got there, we found out that it was closed. We turn on the GPS and find another place 5 miles away. We get there and I already know it's not going to be what I wanted. We walk in and order some barbecue. When the order came, it was a plate of pulled pork. CRAP! I wanted the other kind of BBQ.

We start to eat and this was the salties food I have ever had, and it tasted horrible. We tried hot sauce, adding more of the vinegar sauce, and we even asked if they had normal BBQ. She brought out the stuff they cook the chicken in and it smelt like a dirty gym sock. We look at each other and just got up paid for a dinner we barely touched. I felt ill for the rest of the day, my stomach was turning over and was burping the salty taste all day.

I will never go back to that place again and I'm not sure I want Carolina barbecue any more.

FREE CHIPOTLE!

Even though I felt sick all day Sunday I knew Monday for lunch I was getting free lunch at Chipotle. For some reason I have business cards. While at The Network I gave out maybe 30 to actual people, but I put about 100 in different fish bowls at restaurants around the state. So when I got new business cards I put one in ever fish bowl I could find. I almost never win, except at Chipotle, this is my second time winning. The last was 25 free burritos and this Monday was just for 10. The only problem was it had to be before noon and it was closer to my house than the station. I found only two people to go with me, Shawn and Melissa, but I was going to order one for The Wife.

I think the greatest tasting burrito is a free burrito. It's so exciting, you go to the cash register and you don't have to give them any money! The three of us enjoyed out free food (FYI we did have to pay for chips and drinks for $2.80), then I got a great idea, I still have to order The Wife's burrito, but I still have 6 free burritos (Where is Levy when you need him!) so I ordered an extra one for dinner tonight. What's better than one free burrito? How about two! I hope I have done Levy proud.

Snake Handlers

I recorded the History Channels special called Hillbilly: The Real Story, it's a special about "mountain folk" of the Appalachian mountains. These people are generally called slow, stupid, and out of touch and this special tries to show the positive side of these people. The reason I wanted to watch is because I grew up on the out skits of Appalachian Mountains and I at times consider myself Appalachian. I grew up in a town with coal piles, a town where the past was iron. Hard working town that sets in Ohio valley. A couple of the places they shot, I had been too, I also did not need the subtitles to understand everyone.

The one part of the special I was hoping they did not go into was the Church of Science or as they more commonly known, snake handlers. Back in the early 1900s George Went Hensley was reading the bible and came across Mark 16:18

they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it
will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they
will get well."

He then saw a snake and picked it up and that was that. I know it probably was a little more complicated than that, but that's a rough idea of how it began. They feel they can pick up poisonous snakes and God will protect them from the snake and it's deadly venom. It doesn't stop there, they will also drink strychnine and arsenic to prove they have God in them. To top it off they will also take fire and run their hands through it.

I've always know about snake handlers, I remember stories that my mom would tell of a church in Ironton that was a snake handling church. In Ohio it is illegal to use snakes for religious services and the church had the police show up multiple times. In a college sociology class at Ohio University Southern I had a professor who did research on snake handlers, he told of story of one church that was told not to bring out the snakes. They had uniform officers in side waiting to arrest the minister if they pulled out any snakes. Well the service started, no snakes, then things started to get hopping and the snakes crate was brought out and dumped on the floor. The officers bolted out the door.

I do not agree with the snake handler's thought on Christianity, but it is interesting that even though there have been deaths, even children have died from snake bites, that the guy featured in the story has been bitten almost 170 times! I guessing he has started to build an immunity towards certain venom, but there has to be some mind over matter there. That same sociology professor told a story where a woman was in a "trance" and he thought "I wish that lady would pick up the fire and use it." She looked at him, went over to the fire brought it over towards him and started to wave her hand through it.

Maybe there is something there, but I'm on the side that they are not looking at the greater picture. They picked one small thing out and based everything on that one aspect, not the whole. I know many people do not know of snake handlers, but those who do usually refer to them as stupid inbred mountain people and for this I don't like the snake handlers. Snake handling has been banned in ever state but one... West Virginia, once I heard that today I just shook my head, it had to be West Virginia, that's all they need is to still have that stigma still alive.

Maybe I am part of the greater problem and look at them as foolish, maybe I need to be more tolerant. I don't know, I just don't want to be in a church and hear, "Bring out the snakes." I will be like the uniformed officers and bolt out the door.

Old Memories That Cause Night Terrors

I was thinking about doing a post about the North Carolina Central/North Carolina A&T game and brawl and the press conference in Greensboro I had to go to. Then while driving back Sports Gal and I started to talk about college. She finally told of a story where a historic journalist turned professor told her "I will pass you, if I never see your face in one of my classes again." From her story, she got behind in the class and the professor was intimidating and stopped going because she was frustrated and couldn't face him. That got me thinking about my worst college moment.

It was my last semester and during finals week I had three hard tests, one 25 page paper, two video projects, a couple other papers and a resume tape. Oh yeah all of this within three days, I know I could have done the papers earlier, but I was... well am a procrastinator so I waited till the last possible minute. It was Wednesday and I was down to my last ever in class college moment, a test in my Telecommunication research class. Oddly enough this was the second time I had to take this class. The first time I just didn't try and got a D, but I needed a C to graduate. I was doing well and thought I might have an outside chance at getting an A, even though I had missed a couple of the last classes to finish other projects I thought I could get a good grade.

I get to the class, sit down and start the test. I don't recognize anything on the papers in front of me. I have not clue what I am suppose to be taking a test on. I struggle through and finally give up and answer as many questions as I could. I walk up to turn the test in and I still remember what the professor said to me. "Do you want me to grade it now so you know what you got?" Even though I can not remember anything of the test I still remember what I said "No, I failed it, I don't want to know that I got a zero."

I didn't get a zero I got a 14.

Yes a 14, that takes great skill to get a score like that, it's so close to zero but it's not and yet I pulled it off. I seriously thought I was not going to graduate, my parents were planning to come up. All my friends were still in college, how could I come back next year and have to take this class for a third time! My sister, who works for Bowling Green, knew I was worried and called the professor and found out that I did not fail the class, I came close. I went from a high B to a low C.

I was relieved, but still to this day I will occasionally wake up from a dream thinking that I never passed that class and that I have been fired because I never graduated. This happened almost 9 years ago and I still get this dream. Will this ever stop? Do I need professional help about this?

I Don't Think That's What They Meant By Drive-Thru

I was in a good mood going into work, I was working 11-8 and then get to shoot football afterwards. I had the MP3 player going and rocking out, then I heard a panicked noise on the two way. "The Chief get back to the station now!" That's not a good thing to hear. Then the chatter picks up on the two-way and it sounds like something really bad happened. Then I hear two key words that made me understand what was going on; restaurant and airplane. Those are two words that never really go together, think about it can you think of any situation where those two words would ever go together and that be a good thing? I still had hope, it sounded like three photographers and at least one reporter were on their way, I must not be going. I get a quarter mile from the station and I get a panicked call and all I could make out from the fast talking desk was Baggins and shire, no wait that's Lord of the Rings I heard reporter and Clayton, I'm going to the story.

Here's what happened, a single engine airplane was having problems and trying to make it to the Johnston County Airport/tire care/video store when it started to sputter, it may have flipped over then when straight into the McCalls BBQ and seafood. Fortunately the restaurant was not open and the staff was fine.

Well, I get the new girl and we work our way to Clayton and after three tries we find a spot for our live truck, I raise the mast and try to tune in, but we can only hit one tower and the other truck is already tuning in and is the live web cam. As with news we ran around for about an hour then had nothing to do. The two reporters on scene called into a conference called and figure out what everyone was doing. That was at 1, I then stood around until 4 and edited our package. I finish and that's when I find out I am not shooting any football tonight. I have to baby sit the plane and building, "just in case the FAA shows up." Due to the fact the closest FAA person was Miami I don't think they will make it by 8.

The only good thing was I got off early enough to see The Wife for a little bit. The bad is my feet are swore and red, my knees won't stop popping. I need to not work on Fridays, this is starting to get ridiculous.

Burnt to a Crisp

Yesterday started out OK, but then I got to work. We did a simple story nothing too hard, but I was not "feeling it" and I shot like ass. Even when we get back to the station I couldn't get into the story. It didn't look bad it was just, a story. I figured out why, I am in the mist of a burn out. Prior to Monday I had worked 11 days in a row, which is tough, but when you add in tornadoes and running the field of a college football game, that makes me a little worn out. I had only Sunday to rest and I did a little, but I needed two to feel human again. I know I'm going to struggle today and there is no real end in sight. I'm being asked to do another 8 or 10 in a row starting in a week. I don't know how to handle that kind of news. I don't get over time because they will "fix my schedule" to make it overtime free. I need a few days off that don't require me to work more than 5 days in a row afterwards. I wish I had enough sick hours to call off.

So, Where's the Burger?

While running errands The Wife thought it would be nice to go to a little 50's style diner. She mentioned they had really good burgers and hot dogs. I'm now hungry for a good old burger so I'm game. We go in and it has everything you think of when you hear 500's style diner: checker board floor, counter, red seat... you know the deal. We look over the menu and I see something interesting, shrimp hamburger. Hmmm shrimp on a hamburger, for some reason that sounds good, but just in case I ask the waitress what a shrimp hamburger is. She mentions shrimp and a bun and that's all I could understand, she was talking kind of fast, but she mentioned it's great.

Well I order one and I was shocked by what I received. It was a bun with some fried shrimp... Where's the burger part? I want a burger! When you put the word burger in a title of something that generally means a beef patty or at least something in patty form (ie veggie burgers). There was nothing of the sorts, look at the picture, it's shrimp on a bun. I call that a shrimp sandwich or a po' boy. I would have asked the waitress about this, but we never saw her until we were done and ready to go.

The sandwich was good, but the non burger aspect made not enjoy the meal. Seriously it's not a chicken burger sandwich, it's a chicken sandwich. I'm still wanting burger, stupid 50's diner.

You'd Get a Butt Minus

For the last week JDOG-17 has been getting phone calls over a commercial that has been airing. It's for Hardee's Carl's Jr new flat buns patty melt. Because of the calls we have now made it an anthem in part of of the news room. I think it's an ingenious commercial and is very creative. Flashy like a music video and is a parade of rap music and the use of a woman's "posterior" in said music. Who ever wrote the lyrics is a genius here is a few lines

I like them flat like a pancake stack

In Anatomy class you'd have a butt minus

stand sideways girl you disappear

Then the choirs of: Flat Buns, I like flat buns, I like the flat ones!

Here is the real comedy of the situation. We have found out that Hardee's/Carl's Jr is not one of out clients! We don't even air the thing, yet some idiots started getting people to call every station and tell them to pull the commercial. Hello idiots, you might want to see which stations are airing it first. Because of your calls, I actually saw the commercial for the first time and now I'm posting it because of you.

I guess people don't like flat buns. They would rather have some junk in the trunk.

Yeah Rain! Wait... Is That a Funnel Cloud?

Finally we got some much needed rain and I knew I would have to be out shooting it. I;m teamed up with Boston Stevie (He wanted it changed from just Boston) and we head out. We get some nasty looking clouds a little rain and head down to Ashboro. Never heard of Ashboro, neither did I till around 4PM. It's 70 miles from Raleigh and I felt like I was back at The Network chasing storms. We get half way there, Siler City, when I see some of the darkest and lowest clouds I had ever seen. We get more video and continue on our way. We listen to the Local number 1 station's radio broadcast and get some important info and Boston Stevie's weather radio keeps mentioning Asboro, we even stop for some food and people keep telling us that a tornado was seen in Ashboro. Well, there was dark clouds and no actual tornado, but we get a weather warning from the Nation Weather Service and a Tornado touched down in Fuquay Varina... and hour and a half back towards Raleigh.

I'd love to just rip the station, but my cover has partially been blown so I won't get into that right now, I will just say it was a long and difficult night that could have been easier, but people thought it would be more fun having us in the dark. I will say this the best line of the night was this "Well Ashboro and Fuqauy are only and inch apart on the map." You can't make that up.

We get to Fuquay just after 8pm and we get lucky, we find four people to talk and have one guy drive us to a tree down over some power lines. Before we left we found a woman who gave us a great interview and mentioned she has never seen wind like the ones we had tonight.

I know we have not had rain in 18 days and the whole area has not had a good rain in over a month, but do we really need tornado's? Just let us have some rain so we get out of this drought.

You Named Your Base What?

Yesterday Boston had to go and do a troop deployment, normally that kind of thing happens at Ft Bragg, but this time it was at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Wait, what was the base name again? Are you kidding me? Seymour Johnson? I know I'm being juvenile but that is just funny. I'd love to have been at the meeting where they named the base.






"Lt. Hammonds, what do you think we should name the base?"

(Snickers) What about (snicker) Seymour Johnson?

Good man, Seymour Johnson it is!

Of course, I couldn't let it go with just the name. "So Boston, you going down to Seymour Johnson." Of course that's when it is revealed that it's near Morehead, NC. Are you kidding? Is this one giant dick joke after another? The best part of the fun is when the two local photographers made this statement, "Until you Yankees can down we never thought of that." That makes it even better for me, for years no one thought anything about the name. It was just Seymour Johnson, not SEYMOUR JOHNSON. I need to grow up and stop laughing at things like this, but I can't.