Oh What A Night

Working overnights as I do means that when our overnight desk guy, Russ, takes a week or even a day or two off, they never replace him. So, usually no one is on the desk overnights until at least four a.m. I usually take it on myself to sit at the desk and listen to the scanners. It's not my job. It's not my jurisdiction (different union) but I feel like I need to because I can't stand the fact that we might be missing something.

So as I'm sitting on the desk last night, I hear a call for a house fire. I tell our E.P. that I'm heading out to it because it's a worker. This means that our E.P will have to keep an ear out on the scanners and produce the five a.m. show also.

So I head to the fire.



While here, I find that the fire is a garage on fire. No big deal. Then my phone rings. It's our E.P. calling to tell me that he heard an officer calling "SHOTS FIRED..SHOTS FIRED...MAN DOWN!!!" He tells me it's at E.71st and Mound. That is south from where I'm at and a good ways away. Still in the city of Cleveland though so, off I head.

I arrive at Mound Ave.



To find.....nothing. No activity whatsoever. I drive all around the area looking for anything and don't see a blessed thing. I call back and talk to my E.P. telling him I don't see anything. I ask him if he heard it right and he screams at me...."I KNOW WHAT I HEARD!!" So, I drive around the area some more. I've spent about 15 minutes looking so I call him back again. This time he says he'll call the police and find out.

Then he calls me back twenty minutes later and says, "Ok..E.71st and Superior." So I head there.



Notice where it is? If you need to, go back and look at the first pic. I'll wait.......

Ok, back? It turns out it was E.71st and Myron, not Mound as I was first told. See how close I was to the shooting when I was at the fire? I was at least six blocks or less. And now I was about 45 minutes behind the action.

It turned out to be a good story. A car with some bad guys chase another car, firing at it with an automatic weapon. The bad guys take a turn onto E.71st from Superior and hit a cargo van head on. The bad guys back up and speed off. The car that was shot at turns the same corner and stops in front of the van. Two guys fall out of the car. One is wounded in the head and another is shot in the chest. A cop is coming down E.71st and sees the car shot to hell and the guys laying in the street bleeding profusely.

I just hate being sent on wild goose chases. I didn't miss the story but I could have been there to get the victims and the scene when it was hot.

I was that close. Oh well.

Stuck On You

What is this stuff, you might be asking yourself. Or you may not. Well, I'll tell you. It's glue. Industrial glue to be precise. It leaked from a tanker that had just left the plant where it's made. The driver of the tanker truck pulls into a Speedway station to fuel up. He notices that he's leaking a good amount of the glue from his tank and calls his boss. His boss tells him to return to the plant and they'll take care of it.

So, instead of staying put like any sane person would do, he decided to drive back to the plant and have it looked at, thus putting about another mile and a half of glue down on the road AGAIN.

So, after spreading glue over three miles on a round trip drive and causing a few cars to slide and spin, the company calls the police.

It closed the street for about six hours as the fire department and an enviromental cleanup company tried to get the glue off the street. I'll avoid the obvious pun about it being a sticky situation and just leave it at that.

TAXI !!!

The other day I was sent out to a huge fire at a cab company. They once ran their cabs on propane but they were pretty much converted back to normal gasoline by this time. They still had a few cars in their fleet that ran on propane and they still had a 30,000 gallon tank of the stuff on their property. And the fire was raging out of control.

As I'm headed that way, the desk informs me of the tank and the potential explosion hazard. A half-hearted "watch yourself" echoed in my ear as I arrived on the scene.

I had to park my live truck two blocks away as the Cleveland Fire Department had sealed the area off pretty well. I got out and looked up to see no wires overhead, set the mast heading up and started to pull cable. I ran the cable down the street and around the corner and ran into a mass of people headed towards me. A firefighter is herding people in a mass away from the fire. "Keep moving!! The tank may explode!! Keep moving! " I stop dead in my tracks and wait for the people to go by. The firefighter looks at me, nods his head in a quiet hello and says, " You can keep going..."

Yeah...this thing is going to explode and he tells me that "I can keep going.." Riiiiiiighhhht. So, what do I do like a dumbass with a death wish?? I keep going down the street and set up my shot. Thankfuly the CFD had pretty much isolated the tank from the flames but smaller tanks inside the garage that had propane did set off small explosions that could be heard from about a mile away.

Turns out that the fire was set by an arsonist. There were two homes torched in the surrounding blocks a couple of days before this fire. Looks like we've got a firebug in the area and we'll be busy until they catch the little pyromaniac.

Quote Of The Day

My 5 year old yells to his 4 year old brother while getting ready for their bath...


"HEY JOE!!!! WE'RE NAKED SUPERHEROES!!!!"

Yet Another Fatality

I was sent down to Akron a few days ago to cover a fire. Turns out it was a fatal fire. Seems like careless smoking was to blame. The fire started in a couch on the first floor. Couches don't seem to spontaneously combust that often



An elderly man died. Another person and 5 dogs were able to get out.

If I'm keeping count on the fatal fires, this is at least the sixth this year.

Lovely.

Boy....You Ain't Right

I've been feeling like crap. Absolute crap lately. Run down. No energy for a long time. Irritable....you know, the same feelings all photogs have. So I figured it was just partly because of my job and my schedule of weird hours.

I went to the doctor and he ran a battery of blood work. Turns out my cholesterol is fantastic. Shocked the crap outta me. My blood pressure is right on the money. Again, for a guy my size, those factors were shocking. What wasn't registering right was my thyroid. Seems that my thyroid levels were way low. So I headed off to get an ultra-sound of the little glands. Turns out, like me, they're big and irregular. They're not working correctly. Seems they're trying to work too hard and not accomplishing anything. Sounds like me at work.

Anyways, I thought I was gonna need a nuclear scan of thyroid but my doc said that would be an option if the medication doesn't work. So, now I need to take a thyroid pill of 100 micrograms every day to help me regulate my thyroid.

Turns out that hypothyroidism is a pretty common problem. Estimates put it at 11 million people suffering from it. Many people go living with the problem and don't know it.

Like I said, I ain't right....yet.

Opening Day...

I HATE opening day. I absolutely loathe it. The madness that ensues around the mystique of this time honored tradition just drives me nuts. Things never go right. The plans of the producers who say that they have things all "set up" for the crews in the field, never are set up. It's always up to us to save the show and make up the things as we go along. We always have to grab our own interviews and basically make things work of our own accord.

This morning it just rained and rained on us thus enhancng my love of opening day. I'd much rather be in the stands or watching it at home while drinking a beer. Hell, I'd like to be drinking a beer while working the morning show for opening day. But I guess that is frowned upon by management and the public who get in the way when you drive down the sidewalk on the way back to the station.

As I write this, I am at home watching the Indians beat up upon the Twins but alas, I am currently beerless.

Ah well, there is always next year.

Not My Job....

The other morning my partner in crime/reporter, Jacque, admonished me for not telling her that she had a piece of something green stuck in between her teeth.

I replied that she's a big girl and is responsible for her own teeth.

I told her my only responsibilities for her television appearance were snot and dandruff.

Why Is This Woman Smiling?

Because she no longer works at our station.



Renee, our former 5a.m. show producer has left us for a better job. Her last day was March 17th. I lost my memory stick after I took this photo. I later found it in my wife's computer. So with a really late farewell, we'll miss you Renee.

Now she's one of those PR people....yuck.

Ever Get That Not So Fresh Feeling??

This morning, I covered a bad car accident. Two people ejected from a one car accident. Car flipped a couple of times. One person is probably not making it through the day. A quote was, "They're waiting on an organ to keep him alive.."

But, I'm not really here to blog about that. I'm here to blog about this..



Yes. I am fifteen years old at times. I didn't notice this sign until daylight broke but when I did see it, I knew it was an instant classic. I called back to the station to see if they wanted to use it as a bump shot.

Ok, make that twelve years old at times. Nice end to a long work week.

If anyone needs their beaver cleaned, this is the place apparantly.

Quadruple Fatal Fire

What a way to start a Wednesday. I'm sent to Akron to cover a fire that was tipped to us. The caller stated that they were pulling bodies out of the house. I shot down to Akron and got to the scene. Not a whole lot of damage to the house on the outside but I guess it was enough to kill four people. But I learned THAT later..

I shot the scene and then looked for someone to talk to. No one and I mean absolutely no one would talk. No officials, no neighbors, not anyone. I left thinking it may have been a single fatal. I didn't know the extent of how bad it was until the coroner faxed over a report that four had died...

Man, that sucks. Four members of a family gone.

An Omen??

Ok, this is the sight that greeted me when I was putting gas into my live unit ths morning. I heard the telltale click of a fuel pump shutting off and turned to see the mark of the beast not once but twice, staring at me.

Bad ju-ju....baaaad ju-ju.

That Was An SUV

Had a busy night. The night started off with trying to find a car accident that the local police wouldn't fess up to. I spent a good 20 minutes driving around until I found it. Turned out not to be all that serious. It was an SUV on it's side. Two occupants were transported. Nothing major.

Then on the way into work, I get a call to check out a teen shot in the chest. He was shot in a robbery attempt. I get to the scene and find nothing. Either he wasn't shot, was shot and it wasn't that bad or it didn't happen.

Next, I had to go out and find baby formula with soy in it and buy it. Our EP is a great fan of reporters with props for live shots. So, I plopped down $25 bucks for baby formula. As I'm leaving the store, I get a phone call from the desk to head to a car crash involving a police chase.

This is what I came to find. It was an SUV at one time. It ran into a building, ending the chase. The rescue units are cutting the roof off of it, and off to the side, one person is being put onto a stretcher. Apparantly they were ejected about 15 feet out of the truck.

I get two other people being extracted from the vehicle. Then I run into the bitch cop from hell. She's a young cop and decided to use her super badge powers. I'm a good 50 feet from the scene, in no way interfering with the rescue. I get yelled at to get back...back....BACK!!!!! I point out to her that the public is walking up to the site and she proceeds to tell me to shut up and get BAAAAAACK!!!

So, I walked back another 50 feet and used my extender to get the rest of the extractions. The bitch cop from hell gets in her car and leaves. I look around to see her go and walk back to the original spot I was before.

I finish shooting the scene when the SIU guy comes over to me and tells me he's retiring in June. I'm heartbroken. This man is one of my best police informants. He's what a true media friendly police officer should be. He is also on the bomb squad and SWAT teams. I'm going to miss him. He's always been there for me and given me info that the other stations haven't had. Plus he's a really funny guy and makes some long scenes go faster.

Sorry for not blogging more recently but I've been kind of busy at home. Things should pick up again.

I've Dot Commed Myself

I went and became a dot-com. Newshutr.com. It still sends to this site. But I've been toying with the idea of just going the .com route. That way I can add porn and all kinds of stuff to the site.....


Ok, I didn't buy that when I typed it either.

But you can set your link to www.newshutr.com and it will forward here for now. The future, I'm not sure.

Ahhh..Vacation

Yep..nothing like a vacation. YAWN... I've done nothing but load up my iPod. and I still have 26GB left to fill....

Are there any photog related podcasts ??

Come Back Soon

Today we photographers that blog were sent an e-mail from Kerry "Kazz" DuPont who had set up Kazz's World (In Color). He informed us that he was told to take down his blog by his boss. I'm saddened by this becaue he always had something good to say and it was refreshing to read how things were done on the other side of the world.

I don't know what made Kazz's boss order the blog be stopped but I didn't see anything controversial in it whatsoever.

I hope that Kazz decides to talk to someone in a legal capacity and get his blog back again. It seems to me that he he might have a case. But, then again, I'm no lawyer.

Until then Kerry says he'll check in and comment when he can.

I'm pretty sure I can speak for the photog-blogging brothers and sisters when I say, "Hurry Back Kazz!!! We Miss You!!"

Vacation on tap..

I'm on vacation this upcoming week. I'll probably putz around here and post some things that I haven't had time to, but I'm out of the mix for a week...


Porchville, here I come.

Oooops....

Ooooops....

That's all you can say is ooops..

What else could you say if you were the bus driver picking up a returning professional hockey team and your spatial relationship between the front of the bus and the wing of the jet that said hockey team was on, was just a little bit off??



The Cleveland Barons of the American Hockey League were returning home from a road trip and their charter bus ran into the wing of the jet that was parked there.

Amazing how those jet airliners just leap out in front of you, isn't it??

It was a pretty impressive site in person. Thankfully no one was hurt but it did make you scratch your head and wonder what the hell the bus driver was paying attenton to.

Fire and Rain

Don't you just love busy mornings?? We were out doing traffic reporting because of supposed icy rain that would hamper morning rush hour traffic. It was supposed to hit and cause all kinds of calamity. Well, the freezing rain that was coming showed up around 10:30am which didn't hinder morning rush hour at all. Whenever we get warnings like this, panic ensues and I think of Chicken Little. Apparantly the sky falls a lot around here in winter.

Then right after the "ice storms" were to come through, my reporter and I get a call of a bad fire on the near west side of Cleveland. A boarding house is on fire and there may be people trapped inside. Turns out that we can see the smoke from the fire about 2 miles away. We get there to an inferno. A mentally disabled man died in the fire. The owner of the home, an 80 year old man, was burned over 50 percent of his body.

My day was a good 11 hour day and to quote James Taylor, "I've seen fire and I've seen rain...."

Oh Deer!!

Well, this morning I killed Bambi's mother. Yep. I hit a deer while I was going 65 m.p.h. Luckily I was in my work vehicle which was my 2002 Explorer. Thank God I was driving something substantial or I probably wouldn't be alive today. The doe came out of nowhere and I just caught a quick glance at her before the impact. It was a very hard hit. I hurt my wrist a little with the gripping of the steering wheel.

The whole of my front end is bashed in, my radiator was punctured and both headlights were knocked out. Both quarter panels are crumpled.





But at least I'm alive..

On The Desk

My morning is starting out kind of slow. Our regular desk person, Russ, called off this morning. Since there's no one to call in, I take it upon myself to sit and listen to scanners, lest we miss something overnight.

Soon, I'll be sending myself out to do a live shot about a 1st grader who may have died from meningitis. And the night is still young.

It's 8:15am on a Tuesday...

All apologies to Billy Joel but I couldn't think of a better header.

My cell phone goes off as I'm getting ready to log onto the computer at work . I hate when the phone goes off and I see it's from the desk so close to my shift ending. I answer it, knowing it can't be good.

"Brian, we have sort of a standoff situation going on. US Marshalls and the Joint Fugitive Task Force were serving a warrant. Guy is barricaded in his bathroom. Can you go scope it out?"

I grumble a half-hearted affirmative and head off to pee before leaving. You have to do that. Never know when you'll get the chance at a standoff. I head over to the scene, (first on scene, I may add!) thankfuly the scene is about five minutes away from the station. I see that it's not a full fledged standoff. The SWAT team hasn't brought out MOTHER, the armored vehicle that they use in standoff situations. Only a few members are around and the US Marshalls along with the Cleveland Police are not weapons ready.

And then the neighbrhood wakes up. They all come out and stand behind me asking all inds of questions. I feel like the Today show with all those idiots standing in back of Matt and Katie. I get all the angles from the people. Murder, drugs, it was a chase, etc. I finally turn around and tell the looky-lou's that it was a warrant being served for a Federal Weapons Charge.

After shutting the crowd up, I notice SWAT going heading into the house. They bring a woman out and then they start shaking hands.

The guy wasn't there. The woman that came out was his girfriend. She was asleep and didn't know what was going on until SWAT knocked on her door. Turns out the JFTF and the Marshalls got a tip from an informant and they called SWAT to get this guy. He's vowed not to surrender.

There was no man barricaded in a bathroom. It was all over in 45 minutes. I got a little OT and was able to get home quickly.

So endeth my day with a little excitement.

Happy Presidents Day

Another day of nothing happening. The courts are closed, it's about 9 degrees outside and no one wants to be outside in it. All the bad news, the 5 people shot at a bar, happened over the weekend when I don't work.


Even the fire I checked out today turned out to be nothing.

As Expected...Nothing Happened

Yep, as my last post about the wind warning coming in and battering the North Coast of Ohio said, plans were made for disaster.

And nothing happened. There were three wires down on my shift. Two cable lines and one electric line.

And the winds hit 56 m.p.h.

And as for chicken little, the sky didn't fall or blow away.

Panic Before The Storm

I had just come back from my live shot this morning when I'm accosted by our morning EP. "Hey..we're gonna be busy tomorrow morning. Run and gun..run and gun..we're going to be shooting and feeding. Moving from one place to another and feeding stuff back. " This is accompanied by wild arm gestures and faces. Hoo boy...here we go again.

We're supposed to experience a huge drop in temperature overnight with winds becoming a steady 25 to 35 m.p.h. and possibly gusts up to 70 m.p.h. Today our temperature got up to 60 degrees but tomorrow it will only get to 29. Big temp change but what we'll be looking for is wind damage.

There's nothing worse than a producer that has been programmed to salivate live Pavlov's dog over weather. It's like someone rang a bell.

My fellow photog in the morning, Barry, told our EP that we won't be putting our masts up in high winds. And of course our EP asks, "Why?"

"Beacuse they will snap in the high winds.", said Barry.

"Well...we need to feed video back!!", whined the EP.

"Only way will have to be line of sight and then that's no guarantee either."

"But, we'll need to get video of all the damage.."

"I'm not losing a mast and my job because you want me to put a mast up in a high wind.", said Barry.

"I agree, " I said. "We'll go line of site unless the dish on the truck can't take the wind either." And we walked away.

So tomorrow we'll shoot, and drive to a LOS area and feed back, and then drive and shoot and feed, drive, shoot, feed, etc...

While a pool of saliva forms around our producer.

Testing mobile blogging.

Testing mobile blogging.

The National Media = Whining Brats

I'm actually embarassed about the way the the National Media has been acting over this whole Cheney shooting incident. The way they've been whining and bitching about the fact that they weren't alerted first about the incident.

For the love of all that is Holy, the National Media doesn't work for the White House. It's not the White House's responsibility to inform the media about what happened. Last time I checked, David Gregory and the rest of those idiots that sit there and ask the questions, are "journalists". They want information? Fine. Go do some investigating instead of having it spoon fed to you.

If I recall correctly, no one in the country is required to talk to or even report anything to the media. The media does the reporting and investigating. If Armstrong chose to talk to one little local paper and not the National Press, oh well, tough shit National Media. The police don't even have to tell the press anything.

The National Media is acting like a bunch of whining children that didn't get their way. They got scooped by a small town paper and they can't stand it.

This seems to show what the mentality is of the National Press. This exchange is from The Drudge Report. David Gregory acts like a spoiled child who doesn't get his way when he asks a question before the Press Conference had even started:

NBC REPORTER TO WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: 'DON'T BE A JERK'
Tue Feb 14 2006 08:54:18 ET

NBCNEWS chief White House correspondent David Gregory warned President Bush's spokesman on Monday not to be a "jerk!"

The heated exchange came during a press gathering at the White House.

Gregory asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan about the Cheney hunting accident.

'David, hold on, the cameras aren't on right now,' McClellan replied. 'You can do this later.'

'Don't accuse me of trying to pose to the cameras,' Gregory said, voice rising. 'Don't be a jerk to me personally when I'm asking you a serious question.'

'You don't have to yell,' McClellan said.

'I will yell,'' said Gregory, pointing a finger at McCellan at his dais. 'If you want to use that podium to try to take shots at me personally, which I don't appreciate, then I will raise my voice, because that's wrong.'

'Calm down, Dave, calm down,' said McClellan.

'I'll calm down when I feel like calming down,' Gregory said. 'You answer the question.'

'I have answered the question,' said McClellan, who had maintained that the vice president's office was in charge of getting the information out and worked with the ranch owner to do that. 'I'm sorry you're getting all riled up about.'

'I am riled up,' Gregory said, 'because you're not answering the question.'"

END



"You answer the question!!", says David Gregory. Who the hell does he think he is? If David can't play by the set rules of the White House Press Office and wait his turn then David should have his credentials revoked and get a time out.

Sucks To Be Sick

I had to call of work today because I can't keep anything down or anything inside me. In fact, my wife has what I had and ralphed all over the inside of the car this morning. Good thing it's a rental.

Hope to be back tonight for work.

What's That Smell??

Yesterday morning I go to a call of a body in a car. I get to the scene and the body was in the car but the car had caught on fire inside a garage. A windy day pushed the smell of the fire plus burned flesh into my nostrils. Not to mention that I caught a full view of the corpse when a fireman shone his light on the victim for the coroner to take pictures. Blecccch.

My stomach was upset the rest of the day. Put me off food totally.

The Stuff Of Life

It happens once in a lifetime. You meet someone on a story that changes your outlook on life. I met that someone today. His name is Art Goodman. He is small of stature. He is an octagenarian. He has also donated 40 gallons of blood in his life. That is 325 pints. He's saved over 1200 lives.

His first blood donation happened in 1944 on the battlefields of France. He did a direct donation to a fellow soldier whom was wounded very seriously.

He's kept on donating since then. Imagine 40, 1 gallon bottles of milk in your fridge.

That's amazing. And I'm donating tomorrow.

STEELERS WIN!!!!!!

STEELERS WIN!!!

21-10!!!

The Bus gets his Championship and retires!!

And I am very happy indeed!!

Off To Pittsburgh Again...

I'm off to Pittsburgh this weekend.....again!!! I miss my former hometown quite a bit. I consider myself lucky to be able to live close enough that I can just go and drive two hours down the turnpikes and be there.

I'm headed off with the wife to go watch the Super Bowl with friends of ours and no children!!

w00t!!!!


GO STEELERS!!!

MOS Mess

This morning my reporter and I were sent out to get live reaction to President Bush's State of The Union Address. We were sent to Steve's Lunchbox which for reality's sake should be called Steve's Shoebox. This place was tiny, old and slippery with grease.

Oh, I should add, it's inner city and caters to all types, especially the walkers of the street, drinkers of the wine, smokers of the crack and those devoid of housing.

Sure, we're gonna get reaction on the SOTU from a guy who doesn't have a house, let alone a television, a woman who is standing on a street corner, a person who is more interested in drinking or getting high than politics. They all love to be on TV.

How many live sound bites did we get?? One. And that was from the waitress. We were able to get another on tape from a mill worker on their way in for take-out.

Making chicken salad from chicken shit did not happen today. We had horse shit to work with.

Did You Ever

Just have one of those days that exactly NOTHING happened on your shift???

Yeah, me too..

Better luck tomorrow.

Don't Ya Just Love

Getting sent out on wild goose chases?? Being sent out to the car accident that is an hour away and you are driving in blizzard type conditions which adds on about another fifteen minutes in traffic slowdowns. Oh and then add on the fact that it is morning rush hour, so add 20 more minutes onto that.


Well, there wasn't anything showing when I got to the "scene" of the crash. Granted that it was nearby my house so I was able to go home after checking out the scene but still, sometimes the desk doesn't have much sense when they send us out in conditions like that.

Ok, bitch session is over.

My Wife And The Car Accident

Last week, my wife was on her way to meet me at the podiatrist's office when she had a little car accident. She turned left at a light with traffic in front of her to come upon a car stalled in the intersection. The car had no hazard lights on, no brake lights, nothing showing. My wife had a left or right decision. She couldn't go left because of traffic stopped at the light so she turned the wheel right and scraped the other car's right side mirror down the side of our Explorer. She went up oer a curb and hit into the guide wires attached to an electrical pole.

The impact of the Explorer hitting the wire, snapped the top of the pole holding the electric wires. They hung precariously over my wife's car but didn't touch it. She called me in a panic, crying that the cops wouldn't let her leave the car. Telling her that the car was the safest place for her calmed her down a bit.

In a few minutes, the fire dept. showed up and rescued my wife from the car. Thanks to the Pepper Pike Police and Fire Departments.

The guy who was in the car that stalled was driving on an expired license. My wife gets cited for assured clear distance but we're fighting that. Plus the fact that $3200 damage was done to our car.

But all is well otherwise.

Back From Steel Town

Well, I'm back from Pittsburgh and feeling great!!! Well, emotionally that is. I'm on cloud freaking nine right now because of my Steelers are on their way to Detroit for Super Bowl XL.

(Side note to Colonel Corn...HELL NO!! I'm not a Browns fan. I was born in Pittsburgh, and I'll die a Steelers fan. I'd rather eat hot death than be a Browns fan.)

Now physically I'm a wreck. I've got a head cold that is just driving me insane. I'm in bed and feeling lousy. Can't unclog the nose, everything I hear sounds like Charlie Brown's teacher..waaaa waaa wa wa waaa waaaaaaw waa.

I'm going to try and mainline some orange juice and sudafed. I'll be back later to tell the tale of my wife's car accident. She is Ok, btw.

Headed To Steel Town

Well, I'll be away from the blog for a few days. I'm headed to Pittsburgh for a little R&R. Going to see old friends and decompress for a while. I'm also going to watch the Steelers-Broncos game with my friends. I might be able to get online sometimes enough to do a little blogging.

Just a note to stay tuned for my wife's car accident story. Car + electrical pole = broken pole and wires hanging over car.

Ahh...Sidelines

Seeing Colonel Corn post about his beloved Panthers (yawn), made me think about posting about my favorite football team, The Pittsburgh Steelers. I was fortunate enough last Christmas Eve to work for the NFL Network. I was able to stand on the sidelines, unencumbered of a video camera and extra tapes and batteries. I was able to watch the game between the Steelers and the Browns which the Steelers won 41-0.

I was able to snap a few pictures and I thought I'd show the Colonel what a real football team looks like. You know, one that actually plays in a real conference.

Pre-Game


Willie Parker Walks By


Steelers Return From A Touchdown


Charlie Frye Faces His Doom


I can't wait until this Sunday for the Steelers to beat up on the Denver Broncos. Then off to Detroit. I'm sorry to say that I feel for the Colonel that his Panthers will lose in a close game to the Seahawks.

Super Bowl prediction: Steelers vs. Seahawks

Winner: Pittsburgh Steelers 33 Seahawks 21

More Great E.P. Decisions

Since I posted last about the wonderful idea of our EP here's another one of his lame-brained ideas. It was last July and I was called to relieve the crew that was at a fatal drowning. A group of three guys decided to go fishing in the Cuyahoga River. Since it was in the mid 90 degree area and the humidity as about the same, they decided to go swimming. Even the guy who couldn't swim jumped in and well, you guessed it, he drowned.

So, I relieve our crew that was there waiting for the rescue crews to find the body. Around 2:00 a.m. the divers find the body and bring the victim out. I shoot the interview with the local fire chief and call back to the desk to tell them that the scene is cleared and that the body has been recovered. All the other crews stations have left and the last police vehicles are leaving.

The desk tells this to our EP for the morning show. This is the what I'm told by the desk that the E.P. wants.

Desk: Hey, the E.P. wants you to stay at the scene.

Me: Why? I'm the only one here.

Desk: Well, the E.P. says he doesn't want to miss anything to another station.

Me: ANOTHER STATION?? I'm the only one out here. You did tell him that, right??

Desk: Yes. And he wants you to stay there in case the police or fire come back.

Me: What???? What are they going to come back for?? HE can't be serious!!

Desk: I don't know but that's what the E.P wants you to do. The Live truck will meet you there.

Me: He's an idiotout of his mind but, if he wants it, ok. I can waste an hour and a half.

Desk: Take a nap. I'll call whe the truck is on the way.

Now normally I wouldn't have argued but the fact was that the other editor had called off in the morning and we only had one editor to edit for our morning show. I was supposed to fill in but since I have take home gear, I was sent out to the drowning straight away.

So, as I sat there in an empty parking lot checking my eyelids for leaks, our morning editor had to edit our morning news show by himself.

This is a pattern by our E.P. he's so obsessed with missing something to the competition in this town that he doesn't listen to his crews in the field. Same thing happened at a murder-suicide just a couple of months ago. I went to relieve the crew there. When I got there, the scene was clearing up and all the police and detectives were leaving. No other stations were there. They had left earlier.

Same discussion ensued. Stay there..we can't lose any information to the competition, etc.

Well, if I was sleep deprived, I'm making up for lost sleep with this E.P.

Executive Decisions

This morning for the MLK Holiday, my reporter Jacque, myself, and my partner Barry were sent to the local Marriot where a celebratory breakfast was going to be held. Our executive producer of the morning show wanted us inside the Marriot in their ballroom live...for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast.

At 5 a.m. in the morning..

In an empty ballroom...

With no one around...

No tables set up...

No chairs in place...

With locked doors to the ballroom...

No phones, no lights, no motorcars...oh, sorry, I got sidetracked.

Yeah, you're probably saying to yourself what I said to myself. So, we went live OUTSIDE the Marriot with actual people walking around behind us.

Oh My God!!!

That Colts-Steelers game today just wore me out emotionally. I've never been so upset then so elated.

Go Steelers!!!

Now excuse me, I'm going to go pass out after I throw up...

Ahh..High School

Not much went on today. Did the vacant house fire thing once again. Did the one car accident drive by. And did the man down scene. Drunk guy split his head open thing. BS'ed with the cops for a while. Not much went on.

For my morning shot I was sent to Brooklyn High School. A teacher assigned his 9th grade class the job of researching the porn industry. Yep, he assigned 14 year olds to research porn on the internet and then report eight facts on it.

Didn't go over too well with parents. That's why we were there.

After the shot was over, my reporter, Jacque, says "I need Dunkin Donuts coffee. My treat!" Now, who am I to turn down coffee paid for by a reporter. We go into the DD and Jacque is asked for her order. She can't decide so she tells me to order. I get a small coffee w/cream and sugar. The clerk goes and gets it, brings it back and asks Jaqcue what she'd like. As she says this, the clerk notices the debit card Jacque is holding. The clerk says, "Sorry..we're a cash only store."

Jacque looks at me. I open my wallet and a moth flies out. I'm tapped. I hand my untouched coffee back and the clerk says, "Oh no, you can have it..I'll just wind up dumping it." We walk out as I open up the tab of the coffee cup. "Thanks Jacque!! Your air looks tasty!!", I laughed.

"Shut your mouth and lets find a ATM.", retorted the caffiene deprived reporter.

She got her money and her coffee. I got a good laugh because as she walked into the DD again, on the door was a big sign that said

CASH ONLY

The look on Jacque's face was priceless.

How Many Times??

This morning I was sent out to a homicide. This is the sixth homicide in Cleveland and it is only the 12th of January. Going to be a bloody month. Anyways, I get to the scene and it's not a happy one. Seems that a good samaratin tried to break up a fight and got his throat slashed in the process.

As I'm shooting the scene, a Cleveland cop comes over to me and says, "You were at the E.126th homicide last week weren't you??"

"Yeah, I was."

"Did you see the victim??"

"No?!? What about him??"

"He was half in the house, half out of the window! Shot nine times!!!"

"What?? Nine times?? How??"

"A bunch of people were in the crackhouse and some dude just starts shooting the place up. People just started jumping out of the windows and the second floor. The victim made it halfway out the window when he died."

Jeez. Had I went around the corner of the house I'd have seen him. Glad I didn't.

Amendment To My Resolution, Plus A Foot

I recieved an e-mail today basically strong-arming me into posting to my blog today. I won't reveal the name but it rhymes with Lenslinger. But first I must make an amendment to my News Year Resolution (yes, I meant that). I need to amend that I may not blog over a weekend. Why?? Well, I don't work my weekends unless called in for spot news or the rare fill in spot. So, I'll pretty much have nothing to offer up. Not that I have much to offer up during regular days of the week. So....NYAHHH!!

Now, for my blog. I didn't blog yesterday because well, basically I'm in pain. I've been in pain for a long time but the pain is getting really bad. The problem is my left foot. My left little piggy is aching his way all the way home. Ok, it's not so much my little toe anymore. It's the pain radiating down the left side of my foot right to the arch.

I'm a barefoot person by nature. I love walking barefoot either indoors or outdoors on grass. Well, my affinity for walking barefoot indoors has led me to my predicament. My predicament is, is that I have two boys. And boys love their toys. Boys love to leave their toys out on the floor sometimes. And sometimes their toys are toy tractors. METAL toy tractors. Well, yours truly went walking barefoot across the dimly lit living room carpet one night a few months ago. My muffled scream was more than enough to say, "Hey dumbass, you just kicked a metal toy tractor with your bare foot. Actually, you fool, you jammed the toy up against the wall with your little toe as the jammer. Golly gee!!! Doesn't that hurt??"

In the morning, my little toe was black and blue from the tip of the toe down to the arch. My wife, a R.N. said, "Yup, it's broken. Nice work!" (Well, gee, thanks nurse Rachet.) A steady routine of ice and a wrap was treatment from her and I admit, it seemed to have worked.

Until a month ago where I was at a standoff and stood for a good six hours straight. I came home, went to bed after work and woke up about two hours later with pain shooting down my foot and across my arch. It's been hurting ever since the standoff, a dull ache really until now and I suspect that I may have cracked open a hairline fracture that I suffered originally when I played footsie with the toy tractor. I'll find out on the 19th when I go to the podiatrist.

Now, that being said, I've been asked to fill in occasionally as a studio cameraman for our stations's daily show, Good Company. It's a live show and it is overtime for me. Problem is, it runs an hour. Well, I'm damn near agony after a full day of work and standing still for the most part of an hour. Advil has become my best friend.

So, there is the blog for yesterday and today. Now excuse me, while I hobble off into the bathroom and freebase more Advil.

I Am The Harbinger of Death

Well, this morning was a bloody one for me. Seems wherever I went, I was searching out death. I sat on our assignment desk for the first part of the morning since we didn't have anoyone to cover it. At 2:30am, our executive producer Dave, decided to send me out to Beachwood, a predominently Jewish community, to cruise the local temples for any vigils that may have sprung up pertaining to the health crisis with Israeli PM Ariel Sharon.

When I left, the desk was left un-monitored...more on that to follow. I drove out to Beachwood to find what I thought I'd find....nothing going on.

I called back and told the girl at the desk (finally someone came in) that I didn't find anything.

I came back in time to load up for our morning live shots. I was told to shoot traffic because the weather didn't look good enough for our helicopter to go up. So, I thought, easy day. Nope. I was totally wrong.

I was only 20 minutes into my live shots when I get called to a homicide. Seems that police responded to a call for shots fired. They show up, don't find anything right away. They snoop a little and find a body on a semi-enclosed porch. The body was there for about an hour before the police found it.

While I'm at the homicide, I get a call to head 20 miles east of Cleveland to Mentor, OH for a fire at an industrial park. Luckily, the desk person called one photog who lives a few miles from the fire to shoot it and that she was sending the chopper. Guess the weather was good enough to go up after all.

Then, while I'm still at the homicide, I get a call to head to Parma for a murder/suicide. The desk tells me it happened around 2:41 a.m. It's now 6:10 a.m. (Remember back when I was at the desk, filling in and got sent on a wild goose chase?) If I'd been at the desk I'd have probably have heard the call over the scanner. Well, I got there too late and the scene had been cleared.

So, in a morning that I thought would be a quiet and easy show, I had three dead in the matter of an hour and a half. To make matters worse, I ran over a dead cat with my live truck on the way back to the station. Couldn't avoid it.

So, I'm just going to relax and forget that today ever happened. I'll just etch it into teh internets for posterity.

Busy Night

Ran around a lot tonight. First went to a stabbing. Guy stabbed in the chest..probably not going to make it. Then a house fire which was started by homeless people trying to keep warm. Live beauty shots after that for our morning show and then the breaking news of the resignation of John Collins, the Cleveland Browns president.

I had to deal with Obie, our morning reporter barking at me about that now, the Browns are on their way up.

Right...

41-0 loss to my Steelers and he's giddy as a schoolgirl. Some people never know how bad they really have it. I guess ignorance really is bliss, in his case.

2 Days Into 2006...

Well it is the second day of January 2006 and what am I doing? I'm blogging about my septic system. Yep, over the weekend, it decided to go back up on me and my family. So, we spent a lot of time at my in-laws while we waited for the weekend and holiday to go by so not to get charged double.

Right now, two plumbers are jetting out my lines and running cameras through them. There is a sneaking uspicion I may have aproblem with my leech field. Oh Joy...I may just shit myself curl up into a fetal position and suck my thumb.

Oh, and all I covered overnight was a two car MVA, one person injured. Then I did the live beauty shots for our morning show.

Now, where is my blankie??

Another Resolution I Won't Keep But..

I hereby resolve, this New Year's Day that I, newshutr, will blog every day or every other day. There, I did it.

Now, to keep it.

Rehashing the Christmas Spirit

As I am sick, as is my wife, as both my children are, I have no will to write anything new until I feel better. I will though, bring back something I encountered on a traffic accident I shot last year...

From 12/31/04

This morning, I covered a pretty bad accident that happened in a predominantly African-American area of Cleveland. As I was covering this accident, I was standing near a graffiti covered bus shelter. As I was standing there, I started to read some of the words of wisdom written. This is the one that jumped out at me... Santa Claus is a white-ass honkie bitch!!! How can you argue with logic like that????

To everyone, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!!

Who?? Me??

Last night the wife and myself went out for a date. We left the children at the grandparents and had a night of peace and quiet. We went out to a local restaurant for dinner and since it was a clear night with an almost full moon, it was quite chilly and I wore my embroidered work jacket. It has a small 3 and the call letters on the left side of the chest and a huge 3 with our call letters on the back.

As we're walking out into the foyer of the establishment, the manager asks, "Hey...do you work for channel 3??"

My inner smart ass kicked in and I said, "What gave it away??"

Here's your sign...

Close To Home

I was hoping that my Friday overnight would be uneventful and pass quickly. Well, wishing that just perked up the ears of the news gods and they quickly kiboshed that idea. As I was driving down the main road from my house, I heard the tones from Bainbridge Township fire department go off on my scanner

"Bainbridge Fire....report of a house on fire..8551 Tanglewood Trail...reports that it is fully engulfed."

I live six miles from Bainbridge and I have to pass through it to get to work. So I modestly floored it and drove cautiously over the unplowed roads. I got to the fire within five minutes. I got there before most of the fire and rescue vehicles. When I got out there were two firefighters, one cop, the assistant fire chief and me. The end condo was on fire. The last house in a unit of five.

The fire was just at the peak of the roof and it looked like it might be able to be doused pretty quickly. Well, that's when they discovered the only fire hydrant close enough was frozen solid. They had to call in other neighboring townships for water tankers and pumpers to get water flowing to fight it.



The lack of water made the fire fighting tricky and the best that they could do is keep the fire spreading to the adjacent condo units. They were successful in that endeavor but the end unit was a loss. Everyone was evacuated but the family lost their dog in the blaze.

I owned the story from start to finish. No other station had the fire and flames. Actually, no other station showed up. Even had the live shot all to ourselves.

Here's a link to the package they did on it for the 6 o'clock news that evening. I'm not sure how long the link will be up so try to catch it if you can.

And When I Awoke

Living in what is considered the snow belt of Ohio isn't easy. See, when the wind comes over Lake Erie in a certain direction, and the lake is warm enough, we get something called Lake Effect. Lake effect is a bitch and her name is well...bitch!! Ask the people of Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY what lake effect snow is and if they don't pummel you to death with the bloody stump that used to be your arm, then they'll tell you that it's a bitch, just like I did.

Well, seeing that I'm off on my weekends just made this more special. See, I didn't have to go out in the mess that is lake effect. I could sleep in and wake up to this



Yes, this is two feet of snow. This is actually 2 feet of lake effect snow in one day. Up by the lake, did they get this much?? Noooo. See, lake effect passes over those towns close to the lake for about 6-7 miles and then drops it's load inland.



And it's really beautiful. But it sucks having to walk around in it, drive in it, etc...

When is spring again?

Burning A Few Days

Well, it's December 1st and there is nothing like finding out you have unused vacation days left. So, when I found out that I had 2 single vacation days and one paid personal day to use, I scribbled down my wanted days off. So, I have a wonderful four day weekend to look forward to. I go back to work on Tuesday.

w00t!!

Lot's of Madden 2006 and GUN for the PS2 in my future. Oh....and be a father type authority figure to the kids also.

Priorities and all.

Monday Off To A Bad Start

I was woken up early this morning by my work cell phone going off. "We need you to head to Painesville. There's a fire at a trailer park and they're talking about removing a victim from the trailer."

"Ummm..uh...whazzit? Oh, OK", I stammered and tried unsucessfully to focus on the alarm clock. I tried to turn it off so it wouldn't wake my wife but wound up turning it on by accident. I get dressed in semi darkness and head downstairs. When I get downstairs to brush my teeth, I find I have mismatching socks. Great.

I get to the fire without incident and drive right up to the trailer. I shoot video and no one tries to stop me. I thought the trailer park was private property but no sign was around to be seen so I slipped in behind the fire trucks. I quickly fired off a few minutes of video and got out.

On the way back to the station, I stopped off at Taco Bell because at 1:00a.m. they're still open and a 7-layer burrito would be my lunch. So, on I go back towards Cleveland, pretty happy. I've got my fire video and my 7-layer burrito. Could life get any better??

Nope. That was about as good as my day would get.

I get back to the station, get out of my news unit and step into a pile of mud that had fallen off a previous news unit. Crap. Ok, well, I can live with that and I head into the building. I enter our photog lounge and get ready to ingest my video. I take my Mini-DV tape and put it in the machine...

And hear the groaning and creaking of gears and tape as they're stretched and pulled in opposite directions. A message pops up saying, "Deck in an unknown state."

What state? Delaware? I hit eject and it didn't want to give up the tape. I hit stop and then hit eject again and the machine finally relinquished it's death grip on the mini DV tape.

I slowly pulled the tape out of the slot and along with the case, came about three feet of tape out of the machine. Sadly, my tape was eaten by an apparantly hungrier tape deck.

That has to be the worst sound imaginable.

A Christmas Story..Unfinished

Anyone recognize this house?? Granted, it's dark and the flash didn't work from all the way across the street. It's the house from A Christmas Story. The holiday cult classic starring Darren McGavin and Peter Billingsley. Parts of the movie were shot here in Cleveland and this house was used as the setting for Ralphie's childhood.

The house was put up for sale on E-Bay and was purchased last year by a San Diego man. He wants to make it into a museum about the movie. He needs a lot of work to catch up and renovate it to the movie specs.

Here is the only other identifier that would make this house recognizable as the Christmas Story house.



Yes, the leg lamp in the window. The Major Award, as it was called. That's the only thing that lets you know that this was the house.


We were there for a live shot in the morning to basically say there's a fund-raiser to help with the renovation of the house. Right now, the house is in desperate need of repairs. Believe me, it's old. Built in 1895, the house only has really two rooms that are somewhat refurbished. Bare wires hang out of the walls and the floors are unfinished and need carperting. Walls need painted and papered. A kitchen sink needs to be put in. And while the guy who owns the house was trying to cut a hole in the wall, he cut through the thermostat line.

This house was cold. And to make matters worse, we had five hits at this house to try and come up with things to show. We had to make do with the lamp and stills from the movie. Oh well, when you have to tap dance, right?? It's a shame that we didn't couldn't mention what one of the former cast members, Scott Schwartz who played Flick in the movie, did later in his career.

He did a little acting in porno movies...shhh.

The guy who bought the house also makes the leg lamps as a way to raise money for the refurbishment of the house. If anyone would like to take a look at his site and maybe order one of the lamps for the one that you love, hate or want to get even with, here is his web site.

www.redriderleglamps.com or you can contact Mr. Jones at info@redriderleglamps.com

Also, you can visit his web page for the house at www.achristmasstoryhouse.com

Ok, the last thing I'm going to say is that we had a "leg" up on the competition that morning.

HEY!! NO HECKLING FROM TEH INTERNETS!!!!!

Impressing A Cat

Today we got our newest addition to the family Newshutr. He's a 6 year old Siamese named Buckley. We had just lost our oldest cat, Cleo, to lung cancer. She was 13 and my wife's cat. She had her before she met me. We had Cleo put down and were a two cat family.

They say things happen for a reason. Well, my wife went to work on the day we put Cleo down. The co-worker next to my wife asks her if she knows anyone who would be interested in a Siamese cat. Funny how things work, huh?

Anyways, my wife jumps on the offer and we were delivered a big Siamese cat.

But before we got the cat this morning, while my wife was at work, I was busy redding up (Cleaning for you non-Pittsburgh raised people). I dusted, vaccuumed, washed, folded, spindled and mutliated everything in sight.

All for a cat.

I actually stopped mid-vaccuum and realized what I was doing (this being four hours into the cleaning). I just had to laugh. But I was on a roll and I figured why stop now. Even my kids got into it.

And was Buckley impressed?? He sniffed everything, hissed and growled a few times and generally hid behind the futon for a long time. He did finally come out but it will take a little time for the cats to get to establish thier hierarchy.

Overall, I think he liked my efforts. I did get a Siamese meow and then a deep growl.


I think he appreciated it.

Put Up or Shut up

I will hardly ever, repeat ever talk politics on this blog. I just wanted to post this..

403-3.

The Lightning Live Shot

It was bad weather coming through our fair area of Cleveland a few days ago. Thunderstorms actually, which was a stunner because it's November and we usually get snow here about this time. A warm front came through and with the cold air made quite the storm and with it, a nice light show.

I was called out an hour before my live shot to a house fire. While my reporter and I were driving to the fire, the storm started. Lightning was streaking through the sky but there was minimal rain. High winds also were in abundance.

After driving around looking for the fire and not finding it, we found out we were sent to the wrong area and that we were about seven miles south of the fire. Oh well, no loss. The fire was a vacant house that some homeless were squatting in. Nothing major..no one dead.

We had to hustle back to our live shot because it was the morning after Election Day. Luckily all I needed for a backdrop was a city shot because Cleveland had elected a new mayor. As we were driving to our location, the storm kicked up a notch and lightning criss-crossed the sky.

Of course I didn't put my mast up. I'm dumb, but I ain't stupid. Radar showed the storm moving out fast and the wind and clouds seemed to confirm it. There was talk about us heading back to the station and scrubbing the live. I said, I thought we could wait it out and my EP said told me it was my call.

I had set everything up and I thought we'd wait. And wait we did. We missed our first hit. But it had been about 20 minutes without rain or lightning and we were nearing our 5:30am hit. All I needed to do to get a signal was lift my dish. I had line of sight with my recieve horn so putting my mast in the air was not a problem and since the lightning had stopped.

I got a call just before out hit. Our EP wanted to know if we were going to come back. I told him that we were good to go. No lightning for about 25 minutes and clearing skies. I could even see the stars a little. Which was pretty good since the light from the city usually prevents you from seeing the stars.

My reporter and I set up and were waiting our cues. Then we were on. Our hit was going flawlessly. My reporter reaches her tag and a bolt of lightning shoots between two buildings in the distance. I saw it and puckered a sensitive part of my body. I wasn't the only one that saw it. Our anchors saw it also.

This caused a scene back at the station between one of our anchors and our EP. During the break, a shouting match ensued between them. Apparantly our female anchor was concerned for our safety and felt that our EP was forcing us to do the shot while lightning was about. All was explained that it was my call and we weren't forced to do the shot. We were given ample opportunity to kill the live shot. But given the weather conditions and the lack of lightning for 25 minutes, I felt we were in the clear.

It was the only lightning we saw the rest of the morning. But it scared the crap out of me.

Although, it's nice to know that there is concern for us out in the field.

Quick Update

My son Josh, is out of the hospital. They have him on so many medications for Asthma, it's ridiculous!!

Oh well, at least he's home and on the mend.

Thanks for the well wishes.

Annnnd Once Again...

My oldest son, Joshua, is in the hospital with pneumonia. This is getting ridiculous. The doctors are going to check his auto-immune system to figure out why this keeps happening. This shouldn't be happening to a 5 year old..

Helloooooo Belgium

To the reader(s) of my blog in Belgium, let me say hello and give you my thanks for visiting my site. I posted earlier a few months ago that I guessed I was big in Belgium. Well, I just wanted to say that I appreciate your time here.

And the rest of Europe?? I'm a little dissapointed in you. You're gonna let Belgium get all the thanks??

C'mon...step it up.

Damn...Just Damn

This morning while I'm out with my partner in crime/reporter Jacque, she excitedly grabs my arm and says, "Guess what??? I'm going to New York City tomorrow and Friday!!"

"Great!", I reply. "Vacation??"

"Nope...for work.", she said.

"Why..??", I asked.

"I get to interview Donald Trump, some of the cast of Law & Order and Law & Order SVU!! I'm soooo excited!!"

"Wonderful. So, who's going with you to shoot??", I asked hopefully.

"Ummm..nobody. It's a junket thing. They supply the shooter....sorry", her voice lowered.

So, I sulked the rest of the morning. Yeah, I'm bitter that way.

Oooh...That Smell

This morning, I rolled out to the discovery of a body in a car. When I got to the scene, you could tell what happened. The car had been burned and with it, the body inside. On top of that, the smell of a recently doused fire. That wet smell added to the charred flesh smell is one odor that I would like to erase from my memory banks.


Car and body were in a high drug area and behind an abandoned house. Well, if you're gonna dance with the devil...

Putting Your Hands Where??

Yesterday morning, as I was preparing for our morning live shot, a woman passed by me. She stopped, turned around and said, "May I ask you a question?" She seemed "normal" enough, so I said, "Sure." I thought she'd ask me something related to the TV industry. Boy was I wrong..!!

WOMAN: "If a man comes up behind a woman and starts putting his hands, you know, in inappropriate areas, you think he wants something??"

ME: "Ummm..what?"

W: "If a guy, like you, comes up behind a woman and starts you know, touching a woman on her backside, do you think that he wants something.."

(insert sound of reporter running interference curling into a ball, burying her nose in her notepad and pretending to be busy)

M: "Oh..uh...well..."

W: "Now I'm just saying that they guy might want something. But does the woman..??"

M: "Geez, I dunno. I'm kinda busy here.."

W: "But wait a sec. He might get her all worked up...and she might just you know, want what he's dishing out.."

M: " Wow...I...Umm..look, I don't know what the circumstances are, but sure, I guess possibly. Look, I've got to get back to work. I'm wasting time here...."

W: "Now what if they're both crackheads?? Because they're sure to be crackheads doing this."

M: "Oh..well....sure. That GOES without saying. But then again, I'm just a white boy from the suburbs. What do I know from crackheads? Now if it was meth, and you were talking about tweakers, sure...I'd go along with what you're saying.

W:"See, I knew...."

M:"ButHEYlookitsgettingtimeformetogotoworkthanksforstoppingby!!"

(insert sound of reporter trying not to snort all over her notebook)

I quickly ran to the back of the truck and drug out my AC line. I headed back to the truck and mumbled under my breath to my reporter Jacque, "Thanks for riding shotgun there, partner."

(cue loud snort from Jaque)

Why me?? That's all I want to know. Why me??

Umm...Forget Something??

I was out checking a car into a pole and a pedestrian struck when I hear East Cleveland come over on my scanner. "We need a supervisor here at 2082 Newbury ASAP!!!!", the voice said. East Cleveland isn't the best place to be in the dark, or the daytime for that matter. Lots of violent crime and drug activity.

Well, I call my desk and let them know about it. Our desk calls them and they deny anything going on. So, of course, the desk sends me to check it out. I get to the scene and see four cop cars outside this house. An officer is looking in the front lawn with his flashlight. Shooting or homicide, I think to myself.

I hop out of the car and shoot off the shoulder. The cop goes inside, so I go back to my car to get my tripod. I set it up and shoot b-roll. I get the usual shots when I see an officer exit the house and start to walk over to his car, which was right in front of me. "Fishing for something?", he asked. "Well, what's going on?", I asked him back. He made a motion of his finger across his throat and then points to my camera.

I shut the camera off and walk over to him and he tells me to wait it out. It's not a murder or a shooting, but there is interesting stuff going to come out of that house. I thank him and go back to man my camera.

He wasn't kidding. Out come officers carrying assault rifles, ammo boxes full to overflowing, sawed off shotguns, pistols and the most shocking thing....police uniforms. I take the camera off the tripod again and shoot off the shoulder.

It took them a while to get all the weapons out of the house. I was pushing the time envelope and it was about 20 minutes until our 5am show start. I ran back to my car and rushed away to get the tape back to the station.

Leaving my tripod on the sidewalk....

I get back, ingest the tape, load into a live truck and go out to do traffic pictures(slow morning). When I go to set up the shot...no tripod!! I break out into a cold sweat, realizing that I left it back at the scene. I spend a hellacious two hours on an overpass waiting for the show to end so I can go back to the scene and get my tripod.

The show ended and I tell the desk where I'm headed and why. I get to the former scene and where my tripod once was, is now naked concrete sidewalk.

My tripod is was gone. Oh great. Now I'm in it for about $8000. Yeah, life as I know it, will cease to exist when my supervisor gets in. I called the police station and asked if they might had brought it back with them. Their response, "This is the day shift...I have NO idea what the night shift does.." Wonderful.

Well, to make a long story short, that night I called the night shift and they said they had it.

WHEW!!! I just un-puckered my sphincter. Now I'm off to go get them some logo mugs, shirts, donuts and coffee.

I need to pay them back because they saved my ass big time!!!!

The People I Encounter

Working in TV, you get to meet all types of people. Some interesting, some unique, some odd and some just as strange as the day is long. These following people are the odd and strange variety. Why are they odd and strange?? Because they decided to work in the wonderful world of television. Yes, I count myself as a member in the odd and strange club. NO GURLZ ALLOWD!!!

These two guys are from the Fox affiliate here in Cleveland. The man in the hat is Jimmy. He's a great photog and a really good guy. I've never known him not to have a smile on his face. His partner in crime, Dave, is their morning reporter. Two very good men to know. I'm always happy to see them when I get a chance. This picture was taken at a double murder. Notice the happy faces??



This guy is Bob. Bob works for the ABC affiliate. I see Bob occasionally when I'm out and about. He's another great photog and great guy. His stories and his laugh are his signature. You can always find Bob in a crowd by his laugh. He's a grizzled veteran, as is Jimmy. I wish I knew as much as they've forgotten.



This next character is Obie. Given name Obed. He's one of the reporters I work with in the morning. His trademark is his bow ties. He wears them every day except for one. That special day being April Fools Day. That day he wears a necktie. Obie is a very blessed man. I'm a very lucky man to know him. And even luckier to work with him. How many violin playing reporters do you know?? Check out the link to his site for his CD's and appearances. I think he knows just about everyone in the Cleveland area. One thing though. Never ask him about getting hit by a car when he was a kid. He'll tell you the story...over and over again.



Since everyone else does it, I thought I'd put up the obligatory mast shot also. Although it looks like I put the mast up into tree branches, I didn't. I'd never do THAT...

A Day Filled with Celebrities

Today I had a great opportunity to cover a Battallion of Marines arriving home from Iraq. The Marines of the 3/25th Weapons Co. came home to the Cleveland area this morning. They lost 48 members while in Iraq. 16 at one time.

There at the hangar where the Marines would be dismissed and be swarmed over by their families, was a production company for NBC shooting stories for their show "Three Wishes". Amy Grant whom is the host was there. We were able to have her live on our morning broadcast. I'd met her three other times before when I worked at a Christian TV station in Pittsburgh and shot live performances of her singing. She actually said to me, "I've met you before, right??" I told her when and where. She got a big smile on her face and yours truly got a HUG!!!

Then when I got back to the station from Akron, our production staff was getting ready for their daily hour long show called Good Company. Their guests on the show were John Secada and Louie Anderson. I was able to meet them while they were in our Green Room.

And I just missed out on meeting Lawrence Juber yesterday. For those that don't know about him, he was the lead guitarist for WINGS for about three years.

All that and I didn't have my camera with me.

Gotta remember to carry it..

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.

Katrina's Remnants

Well here in N.E. Ohio, we're under a flood watch from Katrina. It's raining very hard here. She's no longer a tropical anything but just a low front bringing a lot of rain.

I'm gonna get soaking wet. No matter what you wear, no matter how much you prepare, you get wet. Or at least I do.

I'll be out in it telling everyone...."Look...It's raining!!!"

I'll let you all know how dry I kept...

I'm not looking forward to this morning....

Quick Update

I apologize for not posting much, but my wife is in the hospital. She's been there for the past five days and they can't figure out what is wrong.

They thought it was her heart and a heart attack. But that came back negative. Then they looked for bloot clots in her lungs. That was negative also. Now they think she might have a hiatial hernia or an ulcer, or possibly a bad gall-bladder.

They're scoping her tomorrow to look at what is going on inside. I'll keep updated.

Soon, I hope to return to more camera captured mayhem.

What's Going On Recently

Sorry that I haven't posted much. I've been busy. We've had many funerals for the 16 local Marines killed in Iraq. Lots of sadness. Plus we've added a new reporter in the morning. So, we've got two reporters in the morning now and it makes things a little more busy.

Plus we've been down an editor for the week and I'm usually the one that fills in. Nothing interesting happens when you're inside editing. THAT SUCKS..

But, today I particpated in a promotion shoot for our morning show. Yep, I'm going to be in a promo spot. They actually are going to put my ugly mug on TV. Fools..!!

One month until my two weeks off. Not that I'm counting....

I'm Big in Belgium

Just a note to the overseas readers of my blog. Welcome and thanks for reading it. Apparantly, besides my own country, Belgium seems to like me. Thanks to Belgium..!!

Tribulations About Vacation

My wife and I try to take an annual trip to the Outer Banks. My wife went to school at the University of North Carolina. To tell you what a fan of North Carolina we are, that's where we spent our honeymoon. Yup, Chapel Hill.

But the honeymoon is another discussion entirely. Like I said earlier, we try to get to the Outer Banks every year. Well, as usual, we rented a house on the beach well in advance of our trip. I have two weeks off in a row and I plan on doing nothing except taking pictures, surfing the net occasionally and maybe getting a little inebriated after eating lots of seafood.

My wife asked her work for the same two weeks in a row off that I asked for. Shockingly, she was able to get both weeks off. Then this last week, everything fell apart. That line, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans...", never rang truer.

My wife's work tells her that because of a drop off of staffing, that she can't have the third week of September off. She can have the second week off that she requested though. That totally threw our plans into the proverbial toilet. We made the reservation for THAT third week.

Ok, no problem, right?? A frantic search of the web site showed the same house available the week earlier. We called the rental company and explained the problem. Well, no problem on their end. Just send another $260 for the change of date because the move of one week moved us from off-peak to peak season. This also will cost us an extra $600 in rental fees.

So, the wife and I get ready to send the $260 when she gets a call from her work explaining that she will not be able to take that second week off either. Oh Joy!!

I looked at my wife and said, "Well, I'll send you and the boys a postcard from the beach." That did not go over very well. So, we called the rental company, explained the situation and were told that we'd lose our original deposit unless we'd like them to try and sublet the place for the second week. We'd at least get SOME of our original deposit back. Well, some is better than none, so we told them to have at it.

Not 10 minutes later, my wife's work calls her and says, "We've made a big error. You can still have that second week off, but not the third. Sorry if that messed up your plans."

My wife and I are staring at each other opened mouthed while hearing this on the answering machine. What do we do now?? Pay an extra $860 for the first week, lose our deposit, try to get some of it back or just chuck it all and stay at home??

As we're contemplating those options, our phone rings once again. It's my wife's aunt. She lives in North Carolina and she's calling to see if we're available to come down and stay with her at their BEACH HOUSE in Nags Head the second week of September.

The timing of this was nothing but a miracle. My wife's aunt OWNS a house on the beach. They do lease it out on a time share, but on a very limited basis. They're going to be there the whole month and they thought we'd like to come down for a week.

Prayers answered. Just need to sublet the other beach house. Anyone interested??

I'm just waiting for phone to ring once again..

Strip Clubs and Leaky Pipes

Last Friday, I went out to a "gentleman's..." Nahh..can't say that with a straight face. I went to a titty bar with a buddy of mine. We went to toast the departure of a certain person we didn't like. Childish I know, but hey, when you get a chance to drink, do Jager shots and see boobies, you jump. Well, at least I did.

After about 11 or 12 beers, Jagermeister shots and numerous lap dances, we staggered back to my buddy's place after a great breakfast of steak and eggs. I fell asleep at around 4:30am on my buddy's couch. I was dreaming that I was in a bar hearing the Cantina song from Star Wars playing in the background when I realized, it was my cell phone. I woke up slowly and answered the phone. Hey..no hangover at least! I never get hangovers, but there might be the first time. never know. Anyways...


My wife is on the phone, "YOUNEEDTOGETHOME.THEREISWATEREVERYWHEREINTHEBASEMENT!
APIPEBURSTANDTHEREISNOWATERINTHEHOUSE!!"

Me: "Ummmm...whazz time is it??"

Wife: "It's six in the morning and you need to come home right away..."

Thus ending my blissful sleep and having to wake my buddy up out of his self induced coma so I could get my car and leave.

Oh, what joy it was when I got home. What a double joy it was to call a plumber on a SATURDAY which was double the service charge.

I'd have rather have gone back to looking at boobies and paying for lap dances. It was a lot cheaper...and much more fun.

A Giant Rooster

I'd forgotten I'd written this. I wrote it a long time ago on photogslounge.net so I decided to post it on my blog as well. Talk about one to remember...

" Well, it seemed like a normal day, morning live shot then head back for a too early lunch. When I get a call from the desk, "Ready for a little spot news?", she asked laughing. Well, sure..any type of spot news can make a day go along faster. The desk says, "Ok..at E.65th and Bessemer Ave. A giant rooster is attacking cars.."

I smack my radio and make sure it's working right. I ask if I heard right, and all I get is "Yep." Ok...off to my truck I head with thoughts of old Japaneese Godzilla movies running through my head. I can see it now, blood, gore, buildings on fire, tanks, army men getting killed and the putrid scent of singed feathers in the air. I get to the scene to find.....NOTHING.

But, on the adjoining street, I find a house on fire with fire trucks just pulling up. I call the desk and tell them no giant rooster, but a house fire. I go to shoot it and bump into two of Cleveland's finest. I tell the cops that I've never done any type of illegal drug and I'm not under the influence of any right now...but I have to ask this, "Did you guys get a call of a giant rooster attacking cars????" Fortunately, instead of hauling me in, they laugh real loud and say, "Yeah, but it wasn't a giant rooster..it was a huge Rottweilier chasing cars. Some drunk coming home saw the dog and called it in as a giant rooster attacking cars."

Well, Ok..at least I got a house fire out of the trip. Then later on that day, I get another assignment to drive out to Aurora, Ohio to the Sea World to shoot the newborn baby penguins. I ask the desk, "What's with all the bird stories..first the giant rooster, now penguins?!?!?!?" The reply..(and it's true).." Well Brian, I guess you're just having a foul day...."

EVERYBODY'S A COMEDIAN!!!

Looking for a Mother

This morning I spent a good bit of time with my reporter and good buddy Vic. He's working the morning shift to fill in for our regular morning reporter, Obie. I really enjoy working with Vic. He's a funny guy, smart, a real quick wit and quite the trivia buff. Oh, and if he reads this, he's also a pretty good man, even though he's a liberal.

Anyways, this morning Vic and I were sent out to chase down the mother of one of the London terrorist bombers. The tip we got turned out to be a dead end. Apparantly she lives here in the Cleveland area and the bomber, Jermaine Maurice Lindsey, a Jamaican born Muslim convert visited her.

This is in itself very disturbing. He might have just been visiting his mother, working up to the final goodbye. But he also could have been meeting with other terrorists, doing recon, making plans for other attacks. It makes you wonder what else was he doing??? Here in Northeastern Ohio, we have a nuclear plant, many bridges, a major metropolitan area vulnerable. Just as many other cities are.

I don't plan on hiding in a hole, changing my life in anyway. But it makes one think and I keep my eyes open a little longer at people now.

Although, the Kinks may have said it best, "Paranoia will destroy ya.."

Elder Abuse (I wish...)

This morning my live shot was in Euclid, OH. The city was having a recall election on their mayor. Apparantly, he ignored a no vote on an issue and proceeded on a project despite the objections of the public. Seems kind of straight forward, right? We've all covered elections. Get b-roll of people going in, sound with voters (supporters and opposition) and b-roll inside the polling place.

My reporter and I asked for permission from the presiding election official for permission to enter the polling place and shoot some video. After a phone call to the county board of elections, our request was granted. The head offical goes inside and tells them that I've been allowed in.

As soon as I stepped into the polling area, you'd have thought the four horsemen of the apocalypse had walked in. An old man, a poll worker, starts screaming, "NO CAMERAS IN THE POLLING AREA !!!!!!!! GET OUT!!! NO CAMERAS...!!!"

This starts off a chorus of other harpies (old women poll workers) reciting his words. I'm trying to explain that the official got permission from the B.O.E. and that I was allowed in. This didn't phase him and he kept repeating and yelling, "NO CAMERAS!!!!"

Another old man gets on a cell phone, "I'M CALLING THE POLICE IF YOU DON'T GET OUT!!!" I told him to go ahead and I started to shoot b-roll. They all start howling at me to stop...

No way.

Finally, the election official comes out and starts telling the poll workers that I was allowed and that he got the permission from the head of the B.O.E. himself. This didn't phase the old man who kept yelling, "I DON'T CARE!! I DON'T CARE!! NO CAMERAS ALLOWED IN!! I DON'T CARE!!"

The official had had enough and yelled back, "HE'S ALLOWED TO BE IN HERE AND I DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF YOU CARE OR NOT!!!" That settled them all down, quick.

When I was ready to leave, I went up and shook the hand of the official and thanked him for his help in the matter. Then, I went directly up to the old man, squeezed his hand hard enough during our handshake to get his attention,and said, "Thanks for protecting the Democratic process from that evil First Amendment..."

And as I left, I swear this is true, I hear the old guy ask, "When will it be on...??" I didn't answer but I did shoot a look in his direction.

I've never wanted to bitch slap someone so much in my life. I don't care if he was close to 70 years old, he needed it.

Old Fart...

A Fuzzy Pink Terrorist

The other day, I did a live shot outside my station in the parking lot. This live consisted of a fuzy pink character named Slider. Slider is the Cleveland Indians mascot. The whole premise of our live that morning was to help promote Dollar Dog Day. Hot dogs at that days ballgame were $1.00.

Let me intoduce Slider:




Slider is around 6 foot tall. When you have a grown man inside a goofy outfit, the man tends to become more animated. Hey it's his job, right???




Well, we planned one of the hits to have Slider throwing hot dogs, fully wrapped in their foil packaging, at the camera. The shot started and Slider started to throw the hot dogs. Ok, throw isn't the right word. Rear back and throw at the speed of a Nolan Ryan fastball is more like it. I was pummelled with dozens of freshly cooked hot dogs, still warm...some hot.

Most of them bounced off the lens.

Some missed me entirely.

Some hit my hands.

Some hit me SQUARE IN THE FACE.

And I came away with a slightly bleeding and swollen lip.

I love my job...ehhh.

The Porn Show....Almost...!!

Did a live shot this morning. Just beauty shots for a Friday, trying to get the perfect sunrise over the city from an overlook. A car pulls about twenty feet behind me and a man and woman get out. Their ages had to be early 20's. They sit in the grass, him first, legs outstretched and then her, in his lap..



They knew I was there, in a clearly marked live truck, with the mast extened and my camera cabled out the back of the truck. My camera was faced away from them and towards the city. I guess they thought they were in the clear for a little huggin, touching and squeezing.

They didn't see the MAST CAMERA..

They didn't see it slowly swing over to their direction....

They certainly didn't hear me call back to the control room to let them know what was going on.

And lastly, I know they didn't hear the editing deck in the truck get up to speed when I pushed play and record...

They started off innocently enough. She sat in his lap..and he started kissing her back. Then his hands went into her lap. She smiled brightly. He must have been well manicured.

Then she leaned back and they started kissing and playing tonsil hockey. They would stop every once in a while, when a jogger ran by. But went back to a lot of kissing.

Then her hands went behind her back and into his crotch. That's when this started to get interesting.

Yep...I'm a perv.

Anyways, Mr. Smooth decides to go back to kissing her back and get a handful. Can't say as I blame him. She has a nice body.

After a while of dialing in radio stations, they laid back and relaxed. Mr. Smooth starts to put the moves on big time and decided to do a little undercover work. His lady love didn't mind the previous PDA's but, this might have been too public. She stood up and helped him up.

Damn...show over.

However, the control room was enthralled as was I. I didn't have a beauty shot taken during that time. I did have the MAST CAM punched up feeding the station.

Ahh, too bad I didn't get to see "fireworks" early for the 4th. But, I'm sure Mr. Smooth was having a good time. And I was stuck at work..