A Pup Named Lucy Lu

OK I took some flack from people thinking I called my dog stupid. I don't think she is stupid and this week I am finding out how smart she is. She has figured out the concept of "catching." We bought a blue squeaky ball and she loves that think. I decided to throw it in the air and next thing I know she caught it! Out of the next 10 times she caught it three which is not too bad, she's a pup and overly excited and forgets to either open her mouth or just close it.

I picked up a treat and wanted to test her catching ability, well come to find out she is just going to wait for the treat to land... after it bounces off her head. So she is making the mental discussion to wait for the treat to land, why do the extra work and try and get it in the air when she can get it off the floor.

Enough on tricks, I think is knows something is up with the move. She has been freaking out ever since the boxes moved into the living room. She wants to know what's in the boxes and must get everything out of them. She's just been off the wall as well, we can't wear her out. She's been up at three AM and then again at five, she just wants to play.

What's In a Baby Name Update

I was going to wait till Thursday for a follow up post, but I am shocked at the number of voters I have had so far. You have to remember, according to Google Analytics I average 23-30 hits a day and so far within less than a week I have had 23 votes! First of all Cash took a big lead and is holding everyone at bay with 13 votes. Second place is Nathan with 6, but that's 6 has mostly been votes from the last three days. Then there is the strange shocker of the list... J Dog. Who is voting J Dog... seriously guys, that's the joke name, I know Boston Stevie voted J Dog to be neutral, but I don't by it, he's trying to pull a Pat Buchanan here and mess everything up.

Since I posted the poll I found out that you can not rig the vote by voting every day, one computer IP one vote. Now if you were to log onto every computer you have access too like, 6 edit bays, then you have 6 votes. I'm not saying Shawn is doing this, but who knows, I can't track that kind of thing. My personal goal for this vote is 100. If we get it there, then I think that should be binding and the laws of the land will back me and we will name Shawn and Melissa's baby whatever wins.

Making Things Better

This was kind of a rough week and Friday was the epitome of that. I was dealing with incompetence and people who's news judgement were, well, not very clear nor good and it was driving me crazy. Oh did I also mention I had to deal with President Bush and I did not find that information out till 3:30 and his "drive by" was at 4:30. I'm not going into the annoyance of the day, all I will say is I got everything done that needed to be done. Was it pretty? No, but it got done.

Shawn could see that everything was taking a toll so he, Mellisa and I went to the Wake Forest Carolina Ale House to have a few adult beverages and some food. I went all out bad with the food, a chili Cheddar cheese burger with fries and they had $2 Killians. After a few drinks (not Mellisa, nobody want baby Cash drunk yet) and some good conversation I went home feeling better.

Yet I knew I was still not where I needed to be. Even though a lot of the house is packed, I had one cigar out for just an occasion. I'm not a smoker, but every once in a while I do enjoy a good cigar. So I when out back and lit my Monticello White and relaxed. It was a perfect night, it was in the low 70s, the crickets were chirping and every once in a while a lighting bug would dance on by. I also put Lucy on the lead and gave her a little late night snack she was so calm I actually let her off the lead and she stayed in the backyard, normally when that happens I have to chase her down.

For an hour I sat out there and just relaxed. That's what was needed and I feel so much better, normally I would be bruiting over Friday till probably Tuesday, but now I am done with it.

Boxed In

We are a week away from moving into our very own house and I can't wait. The new reason is not the fact that we will own this house (well, that's one reason), but I am tired of looking at boxes. Every room I enter there is a box; the kitchen has boxes, the bedroom has boxes, the living room and I am currently typing with a box next too me. They cause me to trip over them and then I can't find things because... it's in a box.

The awful thing is I know we are going to need to go out and buy more boxes. All the crap we have won't make it. I can't stand it, I have to go get more boxes! I'm at my wits end and when this is all over I'm going to stack all the boxes up on the street, make a small jump and go all 70s cop move on those boxes (4:50 into the clip)!

What's In a Name

Friends of the monkey Shawn and Melissa are pregnant and due in October and as we near the birth there has been one small question... what to name their son to be. The current name that has been batted around I believe is Nathaniel, but that name is not the most popular choice. Yes, it is a solid name with many options for him through out his life, but the name of choice within the newsroom is Cash.

As you can tell Shawn is a fan of Mr Johnny Cash, I personally think that's a kick ass name. Early on in life he's not going to get it, but later on that name rocks! He could be anything from musician, power broker or even Ohio State Quarterback. Hell, I'm thinking about changing my name to Cash. Yet Melissa's mother is not happy with the name Cash, so that has forced the name to the underground where I am and I shall get a grass root effort going to name the youngster Cash.

You maybe in the mother camp and say that name is way too over the top, who are these people rock stars or something? Well consider this, Shawn is a conservative and with a current agreement the child's initials could be NPR also know as National Public Radio. Well, once this was mentioned that set Shawn off and has given more leverage to Cash. On the same hand though, Cash would end up being CPR. The choices are there, an organization that is funded by the government or a method of saving lives.

To help out I have created a poll over to the left there that will run from now till October 1st and I think the readers should decide the name, of course two options were too few so I added my name, well because I rock and my usual sarcastic baby name Englebert. Rock the vote people, the choice is yours.

Tim Russert

Very few times you can walk into a newsroom and find every person gathered around a couple of televisions, the last time I can remember was 9 11. The reasoning why is we are so jaded it takes an event for us to get pulled away from doing our jobs and today we had one of those events, Tim Russert died from a heart attack. He is not a big dog like Tom Brokaw, but he is near the top in recognized news people. When ever NBC has something political he was always there. I believe most people in America knew who he was. They may not have watched Meet the Press or any other news, yet I guess most would say, "Oh yeah that guy."

On occasion I have been to big events where there are national crews there and most of the time I could careless. I never got a chance to be in the same location as Mr Russert, but I would have tried to find out where he was and walk over to see. For someone like me who doesn't get awe struck by celebrities that's pretty big for me. As a journalist I respected his political skills and ability to get answers out of his interviews. As Tom Brokaw said at the end of his special coverage, NBC news will never be the same. I agree, I am sorry that we will no long have a man like Russert, we may never see someone as his ilk again.

What's That Smell

If you have not heard there is a raging forest fire near the coast line in North Carolina. For the most part, I knew about it, but... it's over on the coast, no big deal. Well, until I did a story in Rocky Mount, NC yesterday (one hour eastish of Raleigh). As The Serg and I sat down to eat dinner at Pizza Hut we were asked by the hostess was there a fire near by causing all the smoke. The Serg said it was from the forest fire, because of the slightly cooler front (I'm sorry you can't have a cold front when it's 90) and are now blowing inland.

This made me think a little, how close are we to the fire? Come to find out the fire is less than a two hour drive away. HOLY CRAP! THAT'S RIGHT ON US! Also if we don't get any rain this fire could last for months. I'm now getting a little worried, we are closing on a house and forest fires could be coming. Then on my way to work it looked like early morning fog and it's 3pm! It's smells like Raleigh is having a huge ass barbecue.

The closest I ever came to a forest fire prior to this was when I was a sophomore in high school and there was a fire in Wayne National Forest and while heading to a band competition and we saw smoke and we found out the fire was two ridges over. It never threatened Ironton so it was cool to see, but harmless. Now, I'm worried yet I have a feeling I'm just panicing because we are so close to buying this house. All will be fine... and if it does get close I've already thought out my evacuation plan... Save the dog, the computer, photos... what am I forgetting... Oh yeah and The Wife.

Sharp As a Bowling Ball

I love my dog and she is still young and learning. She has mastered the art of "going" outside, she has sit pretty much down, she can lay and she understands shake. Yet other things she does not quite get like walking on a leash (work in progress) and fetch. But the big trick I've been working on to no avail is something pretty simple, catch a treat when I throw it. Usually she sits there like in the picture and the treat bounces off her nose. After it lands on the floor she goes over and eats it.

The wife gave me the suggestion of "throw it higher." Maybe she doesn't realize that she can catch it, if it's higher it might register in her brain to open her mouth. I loft a treat into the air, it reaches the apex, descends and all I hear is DONK!!! That was the sound of a hard treat meeting her forehead, I laughed and then was worried Lucy was hurt. No she wasn't hurt, she started looking around for the treat. Either my dog is slow or she is too smart, she doesn't have to catch the treat, just pick it off the ground. I'm hoping for too smart.

Wait, Did I Miss a Couple of Months

Due to the fact that The Wife likes to sleep in sub-Arctic temperatures, I have a hard time figuring out what it feels like outside. Well I open the door and was punched in the face and gut by mother nature. Today the Triangle hit a new record high of 100 degrees. Holy mother of crap is that warm, and a month or so too early. I was almost OK with it getting that hot in late July and August, but in early June this is unacceptable. I shouldn't have to feel like taking a shower when I go to get into the car. Then everything in the car is a billion degrees and causing third degree burns on my hands and ass. Something needs to be done, stupid Al Gore and his global warming. Why can't we make him stop it or something!

It's a Done Deal

Today I was forced into helping with a "it's hurricane season" special when I get a call from the mortgage company, I was worried till I heard the words, "what time of day do you want to close." Those were the greatest and scariest words in the world. We are now home owners. We got the house and we sign the papers on the 27th! We have a lot to do over the next few weeks, no more free time for me. I'm either going to be packing or working. Crap we have a lot of stuff.

More Videos

I know I've posted a lot of videos lately and I don't want to turn this into a video posting blog, but I can't pass up the above and below videos. People have too much time on their hands and this is proof and most of the stuff like this on Youtube is crap, yet these are quality items.

The above video takes a simple concept, bleeping out a word that is not a curse word to make it sound dirty. A lot of these clips are not funny, but who ever made this did a great job. The song works with the bleeping and makes you believe the song is not about counting.

I found this one on Deadspin.com and if you like hockey then this equals funny. They take the knob hockey board game as the actual players in the NHL. The writing is simple and great. I love the "In the crease, out of the crease." As the goalie is going ballistic.

Wierd Day

So last night I'm still dripping from the rain storm that we had when I hear an interesting comment float through the newsroom... Ted Kennedy is going to Duke University Hospital on Monday. Then 20 minutes later we find out he is already at Duke. I thought nothing of it till I remembered today at 3:00pm that we happen to have Boston Stevie on nightside. Why is that important, well he has 30 years of connection to Boston and knows all the Kennedy minions so of course he's going to be sent out to the hospital.

My fate was sealed, we get to Duke and Boston Stevie can't go 5 feet without running into an old colleague from Boston. It was like he was the mayor of Newsland or something. It was cool to see him around these guys to get a feel for how it was in Boston. Yet, it wasn't cool enough to stop me from sweating my ass of, it's in the 90s and I'm on asphalt. I downed all my water and then the awesomest of all awesomed happened. Firehouse Subs came over and gave all the media free subs and some tea. So of course that made the crappy day a little better. I now love Firehouse Subs, go eat there so I can get more free subs, wait... is that payola now? CRAP!

The bizarre moment f the night happened while we were still trying to pump the hospital for some form of information (on camera) and the PR slag actually made this comment; "It's not in my job description so I'm not going to do it." What do you mean not in your job description! Your job is to deal with us and give us statements, so you might want to rethink things there skippy, or get one of the 12 other PR slags out here and say, "The Kennedy family wishes to not release any information today." That's all, is that so hard... hell give me 50 bucks and I be the offical sound... throw us a bone man!

Cutting the Cable

Since we are buying a house and generally TV sucks in the summer, we are getting rid of the cable. I'm not just taking about the box I'm talkin' the whole sha-bang. For the next three months we are going to save about $80 a month, but we did get Netflix so that takes our savings down to $60 for a total of $180. When you look at it that way, that's a car payment for The Wife. Yet cable gives so much and asks for so little, so now I will have to do things in the morning instead of sitting there and watching TV. I guess I'll walk Lucy more, blog more and get things done around the house. Who knows, maybe I will never go back to cable again, who am I kidding I have to watch Lost next season. Well, I could go satellite?

Ain't No Kinda Man

One of my favorite movies is O Brother Where Art Thou and one of the memorable lines in the film is Delmar talking about getting the family farm back and he says; "You ain't no kind of man, if you ain't got land." Well, The Wife and I are about to get land. That house over in the upper left will hopefully be ours by the end of June. We had the house inspected and the people fixed everything we wanted and even did some of the other stuff as well. Then today we were told by the mortgage guy to go ahead and tell give Fried Chicken Dr our 30 day notice.

I'm a excited about owning something this big, but at the same time... I'm now in charge of taking care of it. When something goes wrong I can't call the super or the property conglomerates, I have to fix it or pay someone too. I have to mow the lawn and take care of the plants and flowers around the yard. As a kid I hated to mow the lawn and on top of it I am allergic to fresh cut grass. With all the bad, I can't wait to move in and create a place of our own.

He's back

Thanks to blogger's post scheduler Gilbert is back up and running. I'm just for some reason I've been getting more traffic lately, I'm hoping to get a little love for the gnome.

Marriage

This past Wednesday was our 2nd wedding anniversary. It's a little amazing that it has been two years already, we have been through a lot. We moved to North Carolina 6 months after the wedding to a place where we only knew two people, that alone could have been disastrous. Yet, we are still together. We were told that the first year was the hardest and to be honest it was very tough. Even though we had been dating for almost three years there were little things we had to figure out, then there was always being around each other and finally finances. For use the finances was the toughest issue, I had a lot of debt and she had just lost her job. There were many a fights, but we still loved each other.

The move down here could have ended it, yet it has worked for us. We were told my family members that we were moving to avoid our problems. For me the move was never about avoidance, it was about a chance to finally get financial secure. I think we have proven that person wrong, look at us we are buying a house. We would never have been able to do that in Columbus. The move also made us closer, we had to, we didn't know anyone else. We have made friends, but we can be comfortable with each other.

I can understand why we have a high divorce rate, but at the same time I wonder if these people actually knew what they were getting into or were they willing to work at the marriage. Who knows, I'm just wonder what the next two years will bring for us.

Wasted

The one thing I can not stand is having my time wasted, so when I go into work and do my job and at then end of the day have nothing to show for it on air... I generally get all pissy and make the normal snide comments. Tonight I was pissy and was tossing out snide comments.

I had an easy night, I only shot one story and it was about Mike Farrell (BJ from MASH) was in town to talk about MASH and promote his new book. I know the story is sooo hard hitting, my thinking is, it's local and could be a kicker. I get to Quail Ridge Books, a locally owned bookstore, and the place is packed. The owner gets up to start everything off and she acknowledged that my station was there and I even had 10 people, or so, ask when it will air. I give the standard, 11pm baring cat in a tree line and I'm off.

I didn't get an interview because Mr Farrell showed up later than expected (for interviews not the event, just in case he ever google's himself and sees this story), so the odds of me getting interview is slim and also he's not going to get done signing till after 9 at the latest. I have some nice video, I cut it and put it in the show. around 10:30 the web producer comes over and asks if I can send him a copy of my video because he can't get it from the show. I look at him strange and he realizes that I did not know my story was cut. I go nuts, my story was cut because I didn't get an interview and somehow the story is less relevant without the interview, so instead puppies and tigers were shown. I'm not making this up, a story about a dalmatian and a tiger from god knows where is in the show instead of a local bookstore with a star from a famous show.

I keep hearing how we are suppose to be hyper local, but I never understand it when we do things like this. I kept hearing it went to the web, but we are still in broadcast and why are we not hyper local there. Some may say at least I got paid, I know, but at least I'm trying to make my product better and that is why I am upset. I get paid to take pretty pictures and I want the world, well OK the Triangle to see them. I shouldn't post this, but I don't care, the person I'm upset doesn't read my blog so who cares... I need a drink

Weezer

Living in the musical void known as Raleigh I have to rely on people like King Tom to keep me informed on the comings and goings of music. Thanks to Tom I learned that Weezer has a new album due out on June 3rd. I tell you want, from the two songs I have heard I am hooked and I already pre-ordered the album on iTunes.

Weezer is one of two to three bands that I listened to in high school that are still around. With the current carp thats out there I would think bands like Weezer would have died out years ago, instead they keep coming back with new music that is relevant. I currently work in an office where the staff is somehow younger than I am... on average of about 5 years. So when I hear the buzz about Weezer from them it's a little shocking. It just goes to shows you the power of the Weezer, good old classic rock n roll for the masses, yet not made for the masses.

The video above is for the single Pork and Beans, only a few bands can pull of this concept video of grabbing all the web memes and combining them into a video that isn't annoying. I was some what shocked that they got people from these youtube videos into the video. Well, probably not too shocked, they probably need what ever money the Weez threw at them. Just a great video that was not overly complex and yet creative.

Sick

Yesterday was a long day and my allergies were kicking up. I was feeling pretty crappy, but then this morning I had officially a allergy cold. If you do not suffer from allergies, an allergy cold is a lot like a normal cold, except your not contagious and for me it can cause dizziness and falling down. I should have called off of work today, but I was stupid an went in anyways (stupid 1.5 days of sick time remaining). From what I've been told I look like the walking dead, and better yet, we had spot news and since I'm working about quarter speed, that causes problems. I just want to go home and sleep.

Their Like Seasons But More Suck

For those not in the TV business let me give you a little insight into the world of television news. Four times a year companies like Nielson find out how many people are watching different shows. From there the sales staff can figure out how much to charge, the more people the more money. We in the business call these four month sweeps. You can tell when it is sweeps because there are always new episodes of your favorite shows. In news a lot of times you see those "You will die if you don't watch tonight's 11pm show!" or "Did you know you can contact 9 different forms of the plague from eating out? We'll tell you which restraints will kill you." You have all seen those stories.

The month of May is a HUGE sweeps month and we went all out and I somehow got tapped to do one of the series. The concept my three part series is that kids are giving out too much info on Facebook. So we set up a couple of accounts with two of our reporters and these accounts had actual photos of two people that are in their early 30s, so it's not like we tricked them. The reporters set out and invited a lot of kids and within three days had over 100 friends.

You can watch the videos to find out what happened, I'm just happy they are over. In a normally I will churn out one story and for the most part move on to another the next day. Not on this bad boy, we worked for over a week on it. We interview three kids and their parents and the Attorney General of North Carolina. I cracked out my light kit ever time and I think most of the lighting is really good. You can hopefully tell I put some work into it. Then we spent one whole day in a studio with a jib camera so we could get some great flying shots. Then I spent 5 days editing. I never take that long to edit, but when lawyers are involved it takes a lot longer. I would finish one piece, send it off and then legal could have problems with it so we would fight over what needed to be changed and then I would most likely change everything.

By the end I was numb, I blame these stories for a lack of posting this month. I think they are two pretty good stories and hopefully someone gets something out of it. I hope I get out of doing a sweeps story in July.