Thursday, March 29, 2007

Karma my friends.

The last 24 hours has not been good for me. At. All. And I'm probably going to have some big decisions to make in the future.

So in turn, I'm asking you to boost the karma of you and me both and do something good.

A scrapbooker I really love is in 1st place in a contest run by Kevin Bacon. He started a website called six degrees, which is a place to find out more about charities that celebrities and others donate to. Anyway, his contest is that people created "badges" on the site that you click on to donate to a charity. And he says the top six money raisers he'll give $10,000 to on top of whatever they were able to raise already. Ali Edwards, an amazing scrapbooker, has a son with autism and started a badge to donate to Autism Speaks. She's already raised more than $30,000 and is currently in first place, but needs help driving to the finish, which is Sat. at midnight. Please donate whatever you can, but a minimum of $10 to her charity to help her help a lot of other people. I've done stories with families and children with autism, and their strength is more than you will ever believe. These children deserve a chance at the life many other children born without their affliction can get.

Anyway, click here and then click on Ali's badge to donate.

For your karma and mine... cause lord knows we all can use a little help sometimes.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

It's that moment...

Between logging and writing.

That's TV speak for... the brief minute we usually get between looking at video and interviews for a story where we copy down word for word what people say and catch those good moments of "natural sound" from the video... and actually writing the story.

On an average night in TV news, that moment is usually less than a minute long because of the deadline.

This afternoon, I'm making it a big longer.

I'm hoping its giving my story time to "breathe" in my brain... kick up some dust in there and come up with some extra creative lines and ways to bring all of you my faithful viewers (right!) to exactly where I was standing for the story.

The reason I have time today is that I shot this story yesterday, and my photographer got some extra time to really think about what we needed. That's because this story, is great without any reporter getting in to screw it up. So today I just spent an hour logging every second of video, looking for the best moments. And now I have to put those together.

Maybe it's not just a creative break... its a little because in that moment, there's always a little fear that the story won't be as great as you want it to be. That you won't do your subject justice, and it won't be as fascinating to the viewers as you think it is. But that's what we do battle with each and every day... and as I said, most of the time I only get a split second to think about it. Today, I have a little bit longer. But does that mean I fail myself even more if it's not great in the end? We'll have to see.

Moment over... back to work... see you at 10 tonight... let me know what you think.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Oh what a beautiful...

Day to be sitting inside at work. :(

I'm so bummed out right now that it's like 80 degrees and I'm sitting at my desk... Hopefully I'll get out the door soon though.

I also realized how badly I need a vacation... even if I'm just staying at home and scrapbooking. Gonna try to put that in the plans in the near future.

Plus... I miss cooking. I don't get to do it much at all anymore because my breaks at night aren't long enough to really make dinner. So the goal is to try and make more dinners on my weekends.

Look at me... I'm trying to be positive!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

It's not quite spring...




Yesterday was a laid-back day... although not quite what I was expecting. Brad and I ran some errands for a while, then went to Governor Nelson State Park to try and enjoy the weather... all the while really hoping for spring. Check out the pictures... we're not quite there yet.

After discovering there were no open restrooms in the park, we headed for home. A little later, we got a surprise phone call from my parents, wanting to come over for dinner... which wasn't exactly in the plan... but we made it work with a restaurant down the road. Didn't get to see "Reign Over Me" like I wanted to this weekend... but hopefully we can work it in another day soon.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Stormy weather...

Not really stormy... not today at least. But God sure gave 'er hell last night. (if that can actually happen...) Lots of lightning and thunder when we were going to bed which I think is really cozy when you're tucked in at home... but we only saw it because we were up really late.

I started reading this new book called "Nineteen Minutes" and couldn't put it down before 1:30am. It's about a school shooting... from many different perspectives... and being peripherally involved in one it's really getting to me emotionally. Certain things she says in the book are so poigniant and just right on... it's hard to believe that an author can get something so right when she hasn't ever been there to experience it. I mean, our jobs as journalists is to take people to a place they couldn't be firsthand... but at least being there myself I know how to explain it... and can use sound and pictures. But she (so far, at least) has gotten things pretty right, and it's making for an interesting reading experience.

In other news... I feel like we're doing OK in going to the gym, although I haven't used my yoga membership as much as I would like to. I just need motivation to get up earlier in the morning sometimes, because thats the only chance I have to go to classes. Its just the battle to get out of bed though, because once I get there I love it. For now though... I'm just doing my best to try and lose some weight. I have too many bridesmaid dresses to wear this summer to have love handles.

Back to that weather... I just love it. Brad and I are both off tomorrow and I hope to enjoy a sunny day downtown or in a park or something. Maybe I can try my hand at posting some photos afterward. We'll have to see how blog-venturous I decide to get. :)

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

I can't boil an egg.

I came to the sad realization that I am much less of a cook than I had ever considered. I never fancied myself a gourmet chef, but I can pretty much make anything from a recipe successfully... and I knew that I didn't have the talent of my mother who can make anything from whatever is in the fridge. But today in a hurry I tried to hard boil two eggs for lunch... and failed.

I even went to some website quickly before I tried to do it (in 15 minutes) and pish-poshed at the fact that it said the eggs needed a total time of more than 30 minutes to cook and cool and everything... my brain saying "what does the internet know about MY eggs..." and that, my friends, was very stupid. The shell wouldn't come off... the yolk broke open and oozed over the counter... it was all I could do to drag my grumbling belly to work. I even went to go sign my tax forms and I was too embarassed to even tell my mom about it.

So now I'm sitting here craving any sort of food that I can get... I might have to take my break early.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Badger Bummer...

So was all excited today because I got to go to Chicago to cover the fan reaction to the Men's bball game...

Except for it's just not as fun when you don't win.

Actually the day was great... warm temps, everyone was in a good mood and we found a "Northwoods" WI bar in the Lincoln park area of Chi-town... it's just too bad the Badgers don't show up for the show sometimes. I'm starting to think I'm bad luck... every time I have to do this the team doesn't win. But at least I worked 11 hours today and got dinner at Chevy's in Schaumburg... yummmm. And the Badger Women's Hockey team won a second straight championship today... sometimes the ladies gotta pull us through.

On a happier note... went to the Dells with Brad's fam Friday night... had a sweet condo and Aaron and Tara came up later to enjoy it with us. Plus I got to shop at the outlet mall... always a bonus for me.

I need to do some scrapbooking though... because I want to start posting some layouts if that is possible. I feel like I've finally found my style groove... my second wedding album is coming together nicely.

That was thoroughly a random grouping of thoughts... blog done. :)

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Step One...

Open the blog.

I've been wanting to do one of these for a very long time... but frankly, I was scared. Worried about what I would call it... what I would post... who would read it, etc. So forgive me if I'm very careful and meticulous about how I do this to start.

I guess I just figured this would be a way to get thoughts out there when I need to. Sometimes I have a hard time with that.

Anyway, I've taken the first step. We'll see how many follow.