Dodging Orange Barrels

Yesterday here in beautiful downtown Cleveland, a cold front from Canada came through around 3:00am. It caused high winds. Our airport, which is not near downtown Cleveland, reported 40-45 mph winds.

BULLSHIT!!

Those winds were probably 60-65 mph. I was out in them. I'm not a small guy in anyone's eyes and I was getting pushed around pretty well. I went to a spot near our station that had a lot of orange onstruction barrels. I got there just in time to get video of a barrel rolling down the street, hit a curb and fly at least 9 feet in the air.

Behind me I heard metal scraping on concrete. I turn around to see a good sized bus shelter sliding down the sidewalk and stop when it made it to the grass. The wind bent the metal frame of the shelter.

Then I felt like I got shot. I was hit with a piece of flying debris. What it was, I have no idea. All I know is it hurt. The back of my left thigh now has a golfball sized bruise and it's very sore.

Ahh, well at least the weekend is here. And my birthday is Sunday plus the weather promises to be exceptional.

I Don't Even Know Who You Are Anymore...

I just got my gear back after it being used by other phtotgs from my station. Now, I know it's not "my gear". It's the station's and the company that I work for. But you do tend to form a bond with your gear. You get comfortable with it after using it daily. It sometimes becomes a part of you. You rely on it. I feel like that with my camera sometimes. It's your partner. Your wingman, as it were.

I was off for two weeks. I don't know where my camera has been, what it's seen, who has touched it. It's sort of like the Las Vegas slogan: What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Well, I guess I can live with that. I'll need a little time to be reconciled with my camera. We'll be a little aloof with each other at first. I'll play coy, DVCAM will act a little shy. You know how it is when you meet someone again and they should tell you something but they're afraid.

I think that my camera was traumatized a little while I was off. I found it in engineering on a bench with a piece of tape on it saying "OK 9/23/05". What happened to it??? No note. No description. Nothing. Although, I found it with it's cover off and the wireless receiver holder removed and a new bracket attached.

This was her in happier days. Before surgery..





We're getting new batteries, Sony's thin Lithium batteries and the new bracket lets us use the holder with the new batteries. Someone went and had the bracket attached on their own. That's just great. Just one problem. I don't have the new batteries yet. I do have the old Anton Bauer 3 pin batteries that work with the adapter that slides into the Sony "V" for their batteries. My wireless holder doesn't fit the AB adapter now. So, I can't use my reciever. Why?? I can't find the old adapter part that was taken off!!! Bastards!!!!

My camera and it's parts have been mutilated. The unmitigated horror. It's suffering and I along with it.

And, if that weren't enough, when I got to my locker, I found it unlocked. Now, I can forgive a lot of things. But leaving my locker unlocked, when you went and got the key and took my gear out to use it for the day and then didn't bother to lock it back up is just a slap in the face. I'm dusting for fingerprints later.

Then my stick mic was missing. I found it after a search lasting a half an hour. I found it sitting in a live truck. It was all by itself. Apparantly, it saw what happened to the camera and decided to hide. Poor little mic.

At least that's my theory.

I'm back Part II

Well, after two weeks straight of vacation...ya, right. Taking care of my wife whom had gall bladder surgery, running the kids everywhere, dealing with a virus on my desktop and doing a full restore, dealing with my mother-in-law and HER doting ways and a cranky lawn tractor, yeah, my vacation was enjoyable. All I needed was a root canal to make it even more enjoyable. Was supposed to go to the Outer Banks but thanks to the surgery, we had to cancel. Good thing too. Ophelia didn't go to a nunnery so we would have probably had to cut it short.

But, I'm going back to work on Monday. Actually it'll feel good to get away for a little bit. I was able to go to Pittsburgh last Saturday, Sunday and early Monday though. THAT was a great bit of stress relief. Got to watch the Steelers pound the Texans.

Not much to report news wise, as I've been out of the loop. I hope things get back to what I consider "normal" on Monday. You know...fires, accidents, murders, shootings, etc...

Hey, I can hope, can't I???

I'm Back!!

Sorry for not posting more recently. I've been busy and my wife is having gall bladder surgery so I figured that with my time off on vacation, I'd have time to write a little while she recuperates. It's been quite busy here.

The day that started it off was the morning of the United Way Pancake Flip. Yeah, I know. You're all thinking it. Mega-excitement happy funfest for all. (waiting for the sarcasm to die down..) I had just finished stringing cable when my second man gets a phone call. "Well, I'm outta here. Double shooting...probably fatal.", he said as he sped off.

Great. I was looking forward to a blissful time in the live truck. Oh well. So, I go set up quickly and made it in time for our hit. Then we settled down until our next hit. My reporter, Jacque and I made small talk. She flirts with me..shamelessly. Poor girl. It's just the cross I have to bear, I guess...hey..NO LAUGHING!!

My cell rang and our producer informed us that our 5:30am hit was cancelled. Jacque says, "Wooo...easy morning!" My reply, "You just jinxed us.." And I was right. Not two minutes later, the desk calls and tells us to break down and head over to the double shooting. The one my partner, Barry, was sent out to. Seems as soon as Barry and our other morning reporter got to the scene, all the cops started bugging out with lights and sirens to a call for an officer needing assistance. That turned into an police involved shooting.

Jaque and I headed to the first scene and we're the only ones around, besides two officers and a woman in hysterics. Seems that a house was broken into by two people. The owner of the house, a big time marijuana dealer, was home with his girlfriend. The home owner shot one of the robbers and then the second robber shot the home owner. The girlfriend ran into a closet and hid. She called 911 from a closet.

Well, it was a typical crime scene here. Except for all people screaming at each other. Neighbors started fistfights behind the crime scene tape. And various threats of, "We're gonna get him...!!" Seems the neighborhood knew who shot the dealer. Apparantly, the dealer was a "nice" guy in the neighborhood. He was loved. He kept the kids away from the crack dealers and kept three elderly people with groceries when they didn't have enough money for food or medicine.

Ok, sorta nice guy.