Well, So Much For That Idea...

My plans to blog and catch up while on my vacation have gone down the toilet. My wife is back in the hospital yet again for the third time in two weeks.

I hope they find what is wrong and fix it fast. She can't take much more of this and neither can my kids or myself.

So, once again, the blog remains idle..

I'll get back to it when I'm able.

UPDATE: My wife is home and had better stay home...!!! Docs discovered an bleeding ulcer, which is healing itself so hopefully no more prods and poking and cutting in the foreseeable future.

An Update..

My wife is back in the hospital. She's been here since this past Sunday and it's been hell for me. Fortunately for me, my in-laws have been watching the kids and getting them off to school while I would go to work and see Elizabeth. Now it seems that she'll be coming home tomorrow.

Now I'm on vacation for two weeks now, so I can catch up on what's been happening while on the job. Not that a whole lot has been happening that is exciting.

Yeah, I know you're all waiting with bated breath.

Wife In The Hospital

My wife had to go into the hospital last night for something called an intussusception. Basically, her intestine telescoped in on itself and started bleeding. She had to have emergency surgery last night around 10:00p.m. She came through it better than the surgeon expected because she had symptoms for 3 days before the hospitalization. The surgeon thought he would find necrotic tissue, but everything was in excellent shape.

This usually occurs in children and is very rare in adults. Surgery is usually required in adults to rectify the problem. She's expected home in three days.

Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

UPDATE: Elizabeth came home on Thursday. She's sore and uncomfortable but she's getting better every day. Thanks for all your kind thoughts and prayers. It helped so much.

Not Much Has Happened Recently

I'm not one to really give to people who panhandle me. My basic deal is I rarely carry any cash on me because I work overnight and I go into some bad places when the situation calls. I've had homeless people, crack heads, drunks, hookers and junkies come up to me for money in my career working overnight but I've never had happen what transpired at a red light in downtown Cleveland a couple of nights ago.

I was headed to a fatal car accident as I left from my station. I came to a red light on Cleveland's main street, East 9th. I rolled up and stopped next to a blue BMW which looked brand new. The guy in the beemer looked kind of ragged. He backed up a little and rolled down his window. "Hey buddy, do you have any change on you? I just woke up and I can't find my wallet and I need to get gas."

Excuse me? I don't think I heard you right? You're driving a BMW, just woke up from presumably being drunk, lost your wallet and you're hitting me up for cash?

This I didn't say. I did tell him, "Sorry, I don't carry cash. I go into some bad areas working in TV and blah, blah, blah..." He nodded his head and drove off.

Look pal, be responsible. Man up, call the wife from your cell phone and let he know what happened. So you have glitter on your face and have stripper smell all over you.

Oh, wait, better yet...call a buddy.

What The...?

Ok, so I'm sitting here on my couch watching the Browns win a very boring football game. My Siamese cat Buckley is pawing at something by my right foot, underneath the couch.

I reach down and find something cold and rubbery, somewhat akin to rubber tubing, so I pull it and it snaps out of my hand. I think, "Eww, what was that?" So, I get a flashlight and check out under the sofa. Pushing my howling Siamese out of the way, I am shocked to find a snake stuck to a piece of duct tape that is holding the upholstery together underneath the sofa (It's an old sectional sofa that belonged to my in-laws and we got it because we didn't want the kids to destroy a totally new sofa, so, we're not rednecks, k?).

I grab the snake, a harmless garden snake, and rip it from the piece of duct tape. It's a pretty brown and green color and I think momentarily that I should keep it for my boys to look at.

Then I think of my wife and what my wife will do when she discovers a snake was in the house. The words quivering mass of jello would describe it nicely. So, sadly, out the door the snake went.

I think I know how the snake made it into the house. My youngest son left his baseball glove sitting in the front yard overnight. This is where I think the snake found a home until my son brought the glove in this afternoon. It crawled out and slithered it's way under my couch and onto the duct tape.

Now the question remains...should I tell my wife about it or let it be my little secret?

I Love My Job....But..

I have to endure two days of seeing my morning anchor, John, in bicycling shorts. Not a pretty sight but it's for a good cause. He's participating in a bike ride across Ohio. It's for the Hope Lodge here in Cleveland that helps cancer patients deal with their disease. Our live shot this morning was the start of the Pan Ohio Bike Ride.

Today was day one of the ride. I shudder in cold fear of what lies ahead for tonight...John in spandex. Ewwww..

Hey, It Works!!

Two cars headed north on E.95th street near Cedar avenue. The car in the rear is shooting at the car out in front. The driver of the front car is hit and crashes his car into a electric pole which causes the electrical wire to snap and fall into the street.

I asked for something to happen and viola!! Maybe I'm onto something here?

Bad thing though, in the darkness, I stepped onto a standpipe that was replacing the block's water supply for the fire hydrants in the area and slipped. I jammed my left leg which is really sore because of a strained hamstring that I suffered playing softball. I had just strained it more. I'm such a clumsy oaf.

I had tears come to my eyes because the pain was so bad. A female Cleveland officer, and not a bad looking one at that, saw me in pain and asked if I was okay. I told her what happened and she called a medic over. I begged off their offers to be checked out and thanked them profusely.

I need to be more careful and watch where I'm stepping in the total darkness.

I Haven't Learned My Lesson

I'm spitting n the face of the news gods again. Bring it. Really. I'm challenging you. Show me your stuff.

Last week was a complete bore fest.

Something needs to happen.

Rats!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been dealing with a complete meltdown of my laptop. It got so corrupted that I had no alternative but to do a full restore. So, you'll have to excuse my lack of enthusiasm in posting to the blog when visions of taking a ball peen hammer to this Gateway supersede my rants and views.

I'll get back to it soon. Just trying to reload everything that I needed to make me a happy camper.

Tragedy Over Phoenix

Video can be seen here.. Please be warned, it's not very pleasant.

My heart goes out to the victims and the victim's families tonight. Two news helicopters in Phoenix, AZ crashed into one another while covering a police chase. Channel 3 and Channel 15 have suffered greatly today. May God bring peace and healing to the people of KNXV and KTVK.

I cannot say anything more. Words fail me.

There Is No News Here

Yesterday my reporter Jacque and I got the call to head to a daycare that had a car go through it. I started praying that there were no children injured because all I could think of was daycare + car into building = massive casualties.

We got the word halfway there that there was only one little girl with a bruise to the leg which was a blessing but we still headed out to the daycare. I mean, really how many times do you get to see a car parked inside a daycare center anyways?

Jacque and I no sooner pull up when a woman with a very bad attitude came over to our truck yelling and I quote, "There is no news here and I don't want you here! No one was injured so you don't have any news to report! Go away."

I asked the lady, who identified herself as the owner of the daycare center, if we were parked on her property. She said that I wasn't on her property and repeated her rant.

As I got out of the live truck, I told her that my reporter would determine what was newsworthy and what wasn't. Then I asked her, if there was nothing to see and there was no news here, then what was that big hole doing in the front of the building?

This lady also tried to prevent people from talking to us about what happened. A lot of things I'll let slide but this is not one of them. I can't tolerate people trying to bully others from their first amendment rights. We told the woman we were trying to interview that she had every right and freedom to talk to us, no matter what the owner of the daycare said, and we told her loud enough for the daycare owner to hear it.

Should I Laugh Or Cry?

They're still killing each other in Cleveland, overnights. Past two days, two more homicides. We're well beyond last years total number and we're only halfway through the year. This morning's homicide was rough because of all the wailing and screaming going on. It would have seemed comical if it wasn't so tragic. Like the Eddie Murphy routine where the aunt falls down the stairs screaming, " Oh LORD..HELP ME JESUS..OH MY GOD, Oh LORD...MY SHOE!!"

It went on like that for about twenty minutes. I hated that my warped mind went to that scene from the Murphy standup routine but it did. I almost wanted to laugh but kept it inside. It's a tragic thing, someone dying but I suppose if you're in this business and you can't find humor in the horror, then you should get out of the news gathering business.

New Addition To The Family

Welcome "Z"!! A 5 year old purebred Australian Cattle Dog. She's a rescue dog from the local shelter here and is just adorable. Loves our kids and is extremely gentle. Loves to "herd" tennis balls.

Make It Stop!!

Five more people shot this morning. I ran all over Cleveland's Fourth police district, chasing down three people shot within minutes of each other. I also was chasing all the police cars when they went chasing the suspects. I found one suspect getting a gunshot residue test on him which I was very lucky to stumble on. And a very nice officer called me over to get a shot of the suspects gun.

In all another busy night. TGIF!

Well, I Asked For It....

Total of 11 people shot overnight tonight. One triple homicide, two wounded at one scene. Four others shot outside a bar, one man shot in the head outside another bar and one woman found stabbed to death in her house.

I was sent to the triple homicide. A Cleveland firefighter is accused of shooting five of his neighbors, killing three of them. It may be over a late night fireworks display but signs are pointing to an ongoing bad neighbor situation.

When I arrived at the scene I was by myself (I usually am). I was the only media person there so when I walked up to the tape with the camera, a very upset family member started yelling at me, "Don't even think of bringing that camera here. I'll kick your ass and break that camera!!" Around him, five other people (mildly inebriated), possibly relatives, were heading my way as well.

A police officer stopped the one man and turned him around letting the guy know, "He has a job to do." They all turned away and walked off but to be sure, a police officer was set to shadow me for about twenty minutes while cooler heads prevailed. I never even muttered a word. The camera was down to my side.

I'm still not 100% over being outnumbered 6:1 but I'm grateful to the CPD for diffusing the situation and understanding that I had a right to be there and not turning a blind eye to what might have happened.

Sometimes I hate being the only one on scene when I know I'm going into a bad situation. Like the saying says, "There's safety in numbers..."

Something Please Happen!!

It's been slow. Waaaay too slow. I'm not one to wish bad things upon people but man, you'd thing a little something would happen overnight.

I've checked out a few things but they've not been newsworthy. I know the old saying, "A watched pot never boils.." but it seems that it's been a good while for any kind of spot news lately.

Where's a chicken to sacrifice to the news gods??

Overheard

A co-worker who made a good deal of OT on their financial windfall...

"F*** responsibility!! I'm buying what I want!!"

P.R. People Suck

Why?

1. Driving 35 miles to your live shot at the Outlet Mall at 5 a.m.
2. Setting up and with fifteen minutes to go, no one is showing up.
3. Wondering why security looks at you funny when you tell them you're doing a live shot and expecting a bunch of people.
4. Having your reporter call said P.R. person and the P.R. person sleepily saying the shot is actually tomorrow, which it isn't.
5. The 35 mile drive back to the station listening to a pissed off reporter.

Yes, they do suck.

Images From Stark County

I was involved in the coverage about the missing pregnant mother story in Canton, OH. Admittedly I wasn't neck deep in it because of my shift but I was staking out Bobby Cutts house, at the Stark County Jail and at the Greentown F.D. when the organizing of volunteers became a amazing show of comapssion as close to 2,000 people showed up to search for Jessie Davis.

I had a little down time at the Stark County Jail so, I took some cell phone pictures. Hope they look ok.

I caught this as the sun was coming up.


Our behemoth, I mean our Sat truck.


CBS, CNN and Fox's Sat trucks.


HEY!! Fox News has a canopy. Why don't we have a canopy?


Last one.

He Plays A...WHAT?

WJW-TV Morning anchor, Wayne Dawson accidentaly makes a musical error, much to the chagrin of WJW-TV reporter Kenny Krumpton.

Enjoy the goodness...

Karma Is A Bitch

Last Friday, I covered a drowning in Lake Erie. I didn't blog about it though because was kind of routine, as drownings go. The guy was at a local state park right here on Lake Erie with his girlfriend and dog. We assume that the dog jumped into the water to possibly chase a duck or a goose. The dog wouldn't come out of the water so the guy jumped in to get his dog out.

We really don't know what happened but the guy drowned. Don't know if he even knew how to swim or not. He went into the water and was retrieved about an hour later from Lake Erie buy the Cleveland Fire Department Dive and Rescue team. He was 29 years old. We don't know what happened to the dog.

Fast forward to this morning. We get a report from the CPD about the victim of the drowning. He was a wanted man in Detroit. What was he wanted for?

Murder.

He was even featured on America's Most Wanted for the crime.

Here's the original story from WKYC.com on the drowning.

Karma Is A Bitch.

A Personal Message

To the homeless piece of crap that decided to steal my reporter's purse out of my live truck,please understand that if I see you on the street overnight you will not be a happy person.

Water + Electric Wires = BOOM

I went to this house fire a couple of days ago. Flames were shooting out of the attic and fire crews had a heck of a time getting into the home because of so much trash and stuff that had been pack-ratted in every corner of the home, that the house pretty much was a total loss.



The fire was raging out of control. The flames were high enough that they caught the power lines in front of the home on fire. A snorkel truck that had parked in front of the house had to move across the street to escape the flames and the danger of the burning wires.



I positioned myself across the street in the driveway of an abandoned house. I was shooting the fire when I noticed an old man next to me watching the fire. I also noticed he was standing under a power line that was swaying because it was attached to the lines that were on fire.

I mentioned to the man that I was going to move because of the wire and suggested that he should probably do the same. He followed me and we were out of harm's way of the wire. Just then, the snorkel truck, which by this time had lifted it's ladder, opened up it's snorkel and started dousing the house.

As I was shooting the firemen below, a huge blue flash and a boom rang out. I pulled out wide in time to get the the second flash an a louder boom from the electrical lines in front of the house shorting out. The snorkel was hitting the wires, which by now had their insulation burned off by the fire and were now bare.

After the second boom, the firemen in front of the house scattered and surrounded me and the old man across the street. They were all breathing heavy and some were saying they felt sick. I felt sick also. The shock wave from the explosions went through us all and I'm not surprised that we all didn't have our insides rattled a little from the impact of those shock waves. I felt better about an hour later with a little ginger ale inside me.

Oh, and that wire that the old man was standing under, it came down about 25 minutes later. We all were pretty lucky that night.

So Far The Tally Is...

If you're keeping score at home then the math works out like this for what I've shot this week:

3 Homicides
3 House Fires (one was 1 mile from my house)
2 Police officers arraigned for rape
1 Fatal Motorcycle Accident
1 Child Kidnapping
1 Stabbing

It seems like after Memorial Day, the world goes crazy. Ehh, it keeps me busy overnight.

Ever Wonder??

What your favorite local anchor or reporter looks like in the morning without their makeup on for the air..

Mystery solved..

Nothing Says Fun Like....

Your morning show reporter wearing a Vegas showgirl type headdress.

Yup...class.

Snake Bit

It was a frustrating day today and a wet one. We went to the Akron Zoo for a live shot. It promised to be a fun morning. A Kinkajou, turkey vultures, Lemurs and penguins were on the agenda. Sadly it was not to be. We get down to the Akron Zoo and I call in to establish my shot. I'm told that the Akron receive site is not working. In fact it hasn't worked in months. Crap, that's a new one on me. So, I'm told we're trying all our other sites. The closest is in Canton. Should be hittable and it was, but we're low and the signal isn't good enough for air. I move the truck and try again to all available receive horns. No dice.

So we go to plan B. Shooting look lives and driving far enough north that I could hit a site to feed back our recorded hits. I find a parking lot on a hill high enough to ensure a signal. As I'm rotating to one of our sites my reporter, Jacque, yells "LIGHTNING!!" and runs away from the truck. I drop the mast and join Jacque way far away from the truck until the mast is down.

Off we went again to find a spot that was close enough to a usable site and now free from lightning. Finally we find a spot to establish successfully and feed back only one of our recorded hits because we're in the last half hour of our show. So, as I'm feeding back the turkey vulture look live, it isn't usable do to numerous hits on the tape. I cross my fingers and feed back the kinkajou look live which graciously is sans video hits.

And to top it off, I'm fighting a losing battle with poison ivy or poison oak on my arms. I'm so incredibly uncomfortable and bathed a pale pink from calamine lotion.

My kingdom for some 40 grit sandpaper right now...ARRRRGGGGHHH!!

5am @ Jacobs Field live shot. I love my job!

Accident!!!

My reporter and I were in MVA yesterday returning back from a live shot.We were hit by a teenage driver who wasn't paying attention and pulled out into an intersection while I was driving through it. I swerved left to avoid him but I couldn't go into the other lane due to oncoming traffic. The kid is lucky that he didn't pull out earlier or I'd have T-boned his little Chevy Cavalier with my Econoline van. I have no explanation of why he chose to pull out into the intersection because there was oncoming traffic in the lane he wanted to get into.

But everybody was alright save for the Cavalier which wound up missing it's front bumper, both headlights and damage to its hood and both from quarter panels.

The cop that took the report walks up and says, "Wanting to make your own news??"

Thanks officer...

Pucker Time

Ok, now first off I am going to clarify that this WAS NOT ME THAT DID THIS. I'd like to tell you to go back and re-read the first sentence. I'll wait...

Hmm...la...la..la.. Done? Kewl. We can continue.

I walked out to the garage to unload my gear from my live truck when I happened to look over at another live truck and discover this.



Now this looks like someone placed their tripod on top of the roof of this live truck to get it out of the way. Maybe an engineer fixing something in the back. It may have been a prank on one photog to another. It could have been, but it wasn't.

The truck had just returned from a live shot around eight miles from the station and took a route that was all highway back.

Can you imagine the destruction a tripod falling off the roof of the truck could have caused, especially on a busy highway?

God was looking out for the photog, that is for sure.

I WIsh I'd Known

Tuesday morning I was scheduled to do beauty shots because my reporter had a national story to front back in the studio. So, I decided to go to the East 55th Marina here in Cleveland to get said beauty shots. The view looks back at the skyline of Cleveland and Lake Erie, plus you can get beautiful sunrise shots from there.

I got to the marina at 4:40a.m. after checking out a water main break which gave me just enough time to set up and get a picture on the air for our 5 a.m. show. Our show started and while I was up on the air, a Park Ranger drove by, flashed his brights and drove off.

I was the only person at the marina except for an empty black Ford Taurus that was parked about thirty feet from me. I did about five shots with only the seagull calls matching my IFB for background noise. Around 6:15 a Cleveland Police car came around and he stopped to chat. We B.S.'ed for a few minutes until they called for another shot from me. The officer left and I went back and finished out the show at 7 a.m.

I headed back to the station, only to get sent out to cover a body found in a house. It turned out to be an accidental CO poisoning. I headed back to the station to bump into our 7:30 photog, Shane, ingesting video he'd shot at the East 55th Marina this morning when it was light. There are cops all over his video.

I ask him what he shot at the marina. He tells me a fisherman found a woman who had been assaulted there. I told Shane I was there since a quarter to five in the morning. His jaw dropped and he said they figure that she was laying there since 4 a.m. The Taurus that was there was hers.

The woman had been in shock when a fisherman found her. She stated screaming when he approached and he called 911. She never screamed, moaned or made any type of noise.

She'd been less than 30 feet from me over a little embankment and I'd never seen her. She was laying there needing help and I never knew it.

I'm still upset about it.

Yea For Good People

My friend Nancy got the job she wanted yesterday! I'm so very happy for her and her husband Jeff. They're the Godparents to our kids and thoroughly wonderful people.

Nancy was in a job that she hated. Not because of the job itself but because of her boss. I can certainly understand that feeling....TRUST ME.

But now things are getting better for her and her husband. And it couldn't happen to nicer people.

Don't You Hate...

Getting something for yourself(presumably)to enjoy, only to have it usurped by a family member?

Not that I have all the time in the world to fritter away on my Xbox 360 but I'm highly peeved. I searched high and low for Guitar Hero II(it's a big seller and goes fast), a great game....or so I'm told. I just haven't been able to get close to it all friggin day today.

Reason? My wife has been playing it pretty much non-stop.

While I've been relegated to sitting in front of my laptop. Since the weather sucked today, I couldn't take the boys outside and mess around with them.

It's completely ruined what enjoyment I was hoping to get out of it.

Yeah, I'm petty and pathetic. So what? Can't a guy have some things just to himself?

Crap.

Morning sunrise.

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!

Cryptic, isn't it??

The Smell of....

Another smoky fire. Excuse me, another EXTREMELY smoky fire and I come back to the station reeking of woodsmoke. Yes, it's a smell reminiscent of camping out and it brings back good memories but I smell like I was hoisted on a spit and rotated slowly for hours, but not basted in my own juices.

Wherever I went, I left an stagnant odor. Even being sprayed down with Lysol air freshener didn't help. Earlier, driving back from the fire, I had both windows down in the live truck, trying to blow the stink off of me or at least air out the truck so the next person wouldn't have to tolerate the smell being stuck in the truck through the day. I tried as best as I could but I couldn't take too much of the 20 degree air plowing into my face. When I went to pick up my youngest at his pre-school, his teacher wrinkled her nose and looked at me, her face asking a question without vocalizing it.

As the day wore on and I came home from work, a shower was the first thing on my mind. As the Dial soap started to take some of the smell away, I started to think. Yes I know, a dangerous thing. But getting back to my thoughts, I sort of see what I went through as a badge of honor in my chosen profession. Whom else runs to a fire scene except the emergency workers and us? Lookie Lous do also but aside from their morbidity, we're there next to the fire, police and rescue units doing our job.

It's a smell that regular people hardly ever come back to work smelling like. Maybe that's a good thing. But I guess I'll choose to wear it as a badge of honor for my chosen profession.

I'll still complain about coughing up black crap. That's just annoying.

Captured on Cell Phone

The massacre at Virginia Tech was captured on cell phone video by Virginia Tech grad student Jamal Albarghouti as he was walking to class. He came upon police officers running towards him, drawing their guns and telling him to get down.

You can see the police approaching the building and listen closely, you can hear gunshots. Remarkable video.

How Did You Spend Your Morning

This was supposed to be posted by Blogger Mobile a week ago but for some reason, it keeps being sent to the nether world of the internet.

But, this was how I spent my morning by watching some very good looking young women belly dance and others do a little modern hip-hop dancing.

Hmmmmm, watching women dance at 5 a.m. and getting paid for it?? Like I've said before, sometimes I love my job. I am a very lucky guy sometimes.

This Can't Be Good

I covered a fire on Monday. Pretty basic really, just your run of the mill house fire. Except this was a pretty smoky fire. I got to the scene, took my camera and tripod and headed around the back end of my live truck.

I turn the corner of the truck and look up just in time to see a wall of thick black smoke headed right at me and nowhere to escape. I took a deep breath of fresh air and held it as the smoke enveloped me. My eyes stung and watered as the toxic smoke worked it's way into my nose, eyes and eventually my lungs as I ran out of clean air.

I shot the fire, even got them reviving a dog with oxygen, in between coughing jags but I thought I'd be ok after a few hours. I was blowing black crud out of my nose and coughing up black crap for the rest of the day.

Well, two days later, I'm still coughing up black crap...

That sucks..

How To Tell It's Going To Be An Interesting Day

When you come home and find your wife stranded on the roof of the house because the ladder that she was using collapsed, stranding her there for about 20 minutes..

She was taking down the Christmas lights.

God, I wanted to just walk into the house and pretend I couldn't hear her talking to me....

Zumba

This morning started a week long series of live shots for me and my reporter Jacque on Shaping up for your swimsuit. Basically, we're showing you how to get in shape for your summer swimsuit. We were at a dance studio that has classes in Zumba. It's basically fitness dancing to latin music. It started in Columbia pretty much by accident. You can read more about Zumba, here.

Arriving at the dance studio this morning, we were told that we'd have at least fifteen people for the demonstration. Wonderful, we thought. It's usually a whole lot more people that show up for our live shot demonstrations so we were psyched.

Until they showed up. There were a whole lot of 15, 16 and 17 year old girls plus a few women in their early 30's that would be "Zumbaing". Now normally being a red blooded, heterosexual male you'd think I'd be in Nirvana. Well.....

Let me tell you. I've never seen a cleaner dance floor and better electrical work on the ceiling as I examined the conduit work done by the electricians. I just couldn't look at the young girls. I felt....dirty. The moves that Zumba involves made me realize that if I saw anymore that I'd already seen, I'd be showing up on the next Dateline sting.

I'm not usually a prude but damn, I think I'm getting old too fast for my own good.

And it really, really sucks.

Don't You Just Love...

When the replacement(read: not much experience) for your regular assignment desk person misses a fatal police involved shooting and you don't find out about it until four hours later when the other stations have it at the beginning of their newcasts?

Yep. Makes the whole morning just an enjoyable funfest playing catch-up...

Where's the tequila??

Lookeee Who

Look who showed up in the Boy Scout Found package that we aired repeatedly this morning. Yep, it's our own Chris Weaver from TVPhotogBlog. I really enjoy his blog but something about this picture bothers me. I'm hesitant to say why because I like Chris and I don't want to make him angry.

Oh, to hell with it. It's plain old Weaver just showing off his incredible photog skills. Doesn't it just reek of "Oh, look at me...I'm so good, I don't even need to use the viewfinder."

Win Emmys and see what happens??

(Of course this is all tongue in cheek. I respect Chris a lot. It was just a chance to razz him and a shock to see him actually working...)

Test mobile blogger.

Week In Review

The week started off with an interesting story. An earthquake shook Northeast Ohio with a 3.6 on the Richer scale. The epicenter was in a little town about twenty miles south of where I live, named Shalersville. We went out to the town next to it, Mantua, and they never felt it either. Made for an interesting live shot because no one felt it there.

Tuesday was a warm weather day. It hit 71 degrees here and for early March in Cleveland, that is remarkable in itself. Nothing spectacular on Tuesday except for bright sunshine, warm weather and driving with the windows down and the radio turned up.

They say that you've never lived until you've held a three week old black bear cub and had a baby camel suck on your hand (ok, maybe they don't...). We did a live shot at the Cleveland Sport and Outdoor show where we played with baby animals and then got a demonstration of lumberjack sports. My reporter tried her hand at axe throwing. It's always dangerous when you give a reporter sharp objects especially ones that can be thrown but my reporter did pretty well.

Thursday was covering damage from an F-0 tornado that touched down in Elyria. Did a little damage. It rained all night, then the temperature dropped. It turned into snow which caused us to have to change our story from damage to traffic conditions. Thing was, the ground temperature was too warm for it to stick to the roads so there really wasn't a problem with rush hour traffic that morning. But we stood by the interstate reporting on the "bad traffic" conditions for three hours.

Friday was good day for a live shot. Since St. Patrick's Day falls on Saturday, we went to an Irish pub and covered them cooking up lots of good Irish food. It's always nice when you're fed on a live shot. Although, the corned beef, cabbage and shepard;s pie I had is not sitting well with my wife today. As much as I hate Paddy's day, It's still good to be fed.

Hopefully I'll have the time to post more on the actual days that things happen next week. It's just been busy with my father-in-law still in the hospital.

My Father In Law

He's a tough old man. He turns 84 today. He's spending his birthday in the hospital, sadly. He's been blacking out and falling recently. He wore a halter monitor for 24 hours and they found that his heart was stopping at times between 2 and 7 seconds. He was at the doctor's office to gt the results when he passed out in front of the doctor.

So, tomorrow, he will get a pacemaker put in to get his heart back to normal again. My FIL is a member of the greatest generation. A paratrooper on D-Day, he won a Silver Star and 2 Bronze Stars. He will not talk about what he did or saw in World War 2. I've talked about his unwillingness to talk about it, even to record it for his grand children. I have to respect his wishes. If it is that terrible, I'm sure he revisits it many more times than he wants to.

So, please, if you read this blog, say an extra prayer for my Father In Law. We're losing our greatest generation quicker each day. And we're forgetting them.

Back To The Grind

I'm heading back to work on Monday. It's been great having the week off but I'm getting antsy and missing the action of work. I did get to head off to Pittsburgh for a two days to visit dear friends of mine. They both help me recharge my batteries plus, being around them makes me feel like I'm back home again.

I can't truthfully say I'm looking forward to getting up at zero dark thirty after sleeping in for most of the week but it's good to get back into the grind.

Oh, one thing I did do on my vacation was buy a new personal car. It's not really new but it damn sure was close to it. It's a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis. It only had 12,493 miles on it. For a 2003. It had to have been driven just in the summer because it's a rear wheel drive car. The title is perfect and it was clean as a whistle. I didn't plan on buying a car but my 98 Exploder that had 217k miles on it started to give up the ghost. The transmission was slipping something awful and I wasn't going to put $1000.00 plus into a vehicle with that many miles on it.



So, now I'm driving an old person's car. So, if you see a 30 something photog driving with his left blinker constantly on and only doing 25 m.p.h., honk in a nice manner. It's me getting into the moment.

Can't Come Soon Enough

I'm still on vacation but as I look out the window and it continues to snow, I feel like sacrificing some small fuzzy animal to the gods that control the seasonal changes here in Northeastern Ohio.

I may need to do this because the stories overnight have been few and far between because of the cold and snow. Now stories usually do tend to drop off during the winter time. People generally don't kill each other as readily as they do in the spring and summer. I guess most of them are two cold to want to kill their fellow man. Not that murder doesn't happen. It just seems to be quite less in the winter.

So, in the sake of the prediction of Punxatawney Phil, please let the spring be an early spring. I want to cover more stories over night.

Yeah, call me selfish.

What A Week

After dealing with a bout of the flu that wiped me out for four days and the specter of mass flooding because of rising temperatures and "heavy" rain melting the snow and ice that are around here (didn't really happen...just a little localized flooding), I really needed this day and the upcoming week off.

I'm on vacation until the week of March 9th.

w00t!!

A Night At The "Still Mill"

I grew up in Pittsburgh which in it's heyday was known as the steel capital of the world. Today however,my hometown is now a technology and medical city. I'd never been in a working steel mill(pronounced still mill to you non-Pittsburgh people) while working in Pittsburgh. I've driven by a few, the closest was the Edgar Thompson works in Braddock, PA but never been inside an actual working mill. Until yesterday.

All this week, I've been shooting these stories, "A Night At....". Basically a take off on the movie A Night At The Museum. We've been showing the things that come alive at night when you are asleep. Last night Obie, my reporter, and I shot at the A.G. Mittal steel mill here in downtown Cleveland.

It was fascinating to say the least. What I didn't expect was to be able to feel the heat radiating off these slabs from so far away. Things are kinda hot at 2000 degrees even when doused with water and being flattened into giant rolls of steel.

Another thing I didn't count on was waking up this morning with aching sinuses and blocked nasal passages. Pardon me for being graphic here, but I've been blowing out black crap today every time I blow my nose. I really don't know how the guys that work these mills can stand it. Maybe they're so used to it by now. God bless them for dealing with it. Lord knows, I couldn't.

I just want to be able to breathe normally again and stop expelling the black crap out my nostrils.

Ever Give A Mast A Bear Hug?

What am I doing in this picture?



I'm pressing the azimuth CCW button, for the dish on our satellite truck, in vain. Our truck operator, Gary, is up on the roof stomping his foot when he wants me to press the button. Why are we doing all of this? We're trying to save a live shot at the Kalahari Water Park that I mentioned in a post recently. Our dish has frozen. It will tilt, but it won't pan at all. It is so cold and windy outside with below zero temperatures for both air temp and wind chill that the dish is refusing to work. In all reality, I couldn't blame it.

We worked on the dish for a good two and a half hours and it wouldn't budge. Gary and I were constantly alternating between outside the truck and inside the truck, trying to thaw ourselves. I felt horrible for Gary who spent most of the time on the top of the truck because he's the shop geek and knows the truck backwards and forwards.

I had brought our tallest masted live truck and I thought while Gary was freezing his ears off, I'd try a desperate live truck shot back to Cleveland from Sandusky. So, as intrepid as I am, I went for it and set up my live truck.

The mast extended fully into the air and I talked to our signal acquisition or sig ack, as we call it, to bring the microwave signal in. I panned, tilted and prayed we could we could get a signal out of Sandusky. Sig ack saw me but we couldn't bring in a strong enough signal that was passable for on air quality.

So, I drop the mast and head to higher ground. By this time, I'm frozen so I set the mast in the up position (yes, I did look up and live), went inside the truck and set the air vents on melt. About three minutes later, I figure the mast should be up so I head outside and look up. The mast is only two sections up and not moving. I hear a psssssssshhhhtttt coming from the mast and I ran my hand over my eyes in frustration. This is air escaping because the seals have constricted because of the cold and the mast has frozen.

I was so fed up at this point, I muttered a few choice four and twelve letter words and climbed up on the top of the truck and grabbed the mast in a bear hug and tried to lift the mast out of it's frozen grip. I couldn't make it budge but I did succeed in covering myself in the grime of northeastern Ohio's finest road salt residue. I couldn't get the mast up to get a signal tuned in. I was left standing there dejected, looking like a human salt lick.

Quick Wrap Up

Snow, snow, snow. It's been piled on us here in Northeastern Ohio. I've got at least 27 inches of snow in my front yard. My neighbor a few doors down used his Bobcat front loader to clear our the driveways on our road. The man is a saint.

Yesterday, I fought 20 m.p.h. winds which were blowing snow so badly that is was a white out my whole entire drive to my live shot about 35 miles away from Cleveland. It was especially fun trying to get a shot tuned in, in such wonderful weather.

Alternating shots outside of the nature center where our shot was located and inside the nature center was an effort in futility. Outside, the camera was functioning well in the cold. But take it inside, it fogged up no matter how much I tried to defog it. I finally would get it to where it looked ok when I'd have to take it outside again. Then back inside..you get the idea.

It was a good day though. Why? Because I had a black bear cub nuzzle up against me and lick my hand.

Today, we were at these toboggan chutes in one of Cleveland's Metroparks. It was great. Of course I'm not counting every single time our signal was interrupted by another station's signal.

Plus, the cold. At 5am it was -3 outside with a windchill of -15. I have heavy duty gloves but I needed to have my right hand free to work the zoom and iris on the camera. I put a thinner glove on and did the shot. It worked out well. I was able to operate the cameras controls. But I would up getting a slight frostbite burn on my right hand. My right thumb still throbs and burns.

Tomorrow, barring any huge spot news story, we'll be live at the Kalahari Waterpark Resort in Sandusky, OH.

Hmm...the low is supposed to be 4 above zero tomorrow night. And I'll be inside where it's climate controlled, nice and toasty.

All in the line of duty I guess. I'll take one for the team.

I Didn't Give You Permission!!

It's happened again. Another photog has been assaulted in the field, this time by an off duty Cleveland police officer. One of our photogs, Channel 3 videographer Craig Roberson was shooting a story with his reporter Lydia Esparra on Cleveland school kids behavior at Tower City when they were invited to shoot video inside a store at the mall. Perfectly ok for the store to do.

Two off duty officers saw the crew inside and confirmed that the crew was indeed invited in and that was deemed ok with the officers. A third officer showed up and uttered the above title of this post. He then proceeded to grab the camera and shove it to the ground, damaging the camera and injuring Craig in the process.

Here is the link to the story with video goodness.

Then afterwards a Tower City PR hack shows up and puts her hand over the camera and tells Craig that what happened to him, didn't really happen to him.

Yeah..ok..whatever.

Craig kept his cool through out the whole situation. I have to say that I'm really impressed with his calm demeanor. There is no word on what Craig or the station will do about seeking charges or an apology from the Cleveland Police Department or Tower City.

Lady(ies) In Red

Being sent to shoot a breakfast meeting is usually boring event. It's usually a few speeches, a half hour of down time while breakfast is being served and eaten(which you're usually never given a plate), then the main speaker. Usually something to be sprayed and forgotten. Until yesterday.

All I have to say is 800 women dressed in red.

Hummunna hummunnna hummunna...

Well Let's See

A couple of days ago I'm sent to a car into a building. I get to the scene and there is a car on it's side and about twenty of Cleveland's fire department members around it. They're busy setting up the jaws of life to extract two victims out of the mangled mess of steel, plastic and aluminum.

From what we were hearing on the police radio, they weren't expecting any survivors of this accident. But, lo and behold inside that heap of scrap metal formerly known as a Toyota, were two people. After about twenty minutes, both of the victims are extracted and off to a Level 1 trauma hospital.

I always am amazed at work of any fire department or paramedic unit when they get to an accident. They work so hard and fast to get those people out and save a life. They're in the job of saving lives and damned if they don't do it almost one hundred percent of the time.

Honest

I haven't let the blog go. Just nothing of note to blog about. We got a whole lot of snow today but writing about snow coverage is about as exciting as actually covering snow.

So, when something happens, I'll put it here. Otherwise, I'm sorry for the lack of posts but then again, I've never been all that interesting of a person anyways.

Busy Week Now

It was quite the busy week overnight. I believe I had a total of three dead in two days. A double homicide was the topper to the week. I also had something odd happen to me.

I rolled up to a homicide scene in Cleveland's 6th Police District. They are the nicest and helpful in all of the city. I get out and stand behind the police car blocking th street even though the police tape is about 40 feet down the road. A officer waves me down to him and says, "Dude isn't here anymore. EMS took him but he's dead. He took three to the chest."

Then the lieutenant comes up and asks who is in the car blocking the road. A young cop answers and the lieutenant gives him an order. Then the lieutenant asks me a question.

In my years of shooting, I've been asked to stop shooting, to leave, to back up, to do some physically impossible things also. But I've never been asked what I was asked by a police office at a crime scene.

When the lieutenant gave the young officer orders, he sent him out to go get some coffee which was just across the street. But what floored me and made me smile was the question the Lt. asked me.

"Would you like some also??" was his question to me. I didn't accept but I thanked him profusely.

I'm still a little stunned. That's never happened to me before.

Four Quiet Days

And I'm going out of my mind. So far I've checked out two car accidents. That's it. Just two small car accidents not worth the waste of stored battery power.

I know, I know. Be careful what I wish for. I'll be ready to walk out of the building and the triple three fire will occur or a plane will fall from the sky on a church full of old ladies making pierogies.

I'll take my chances. Let SOMETHING happen overnight tonight!!!

Quiet Night

As for my previous post, there was nothing going on last night. No major accidents, fatal or otherwise. I did drive by a fender bender or two. Even saw a car that was parked up on a jersey barrier...but no fatal accidents or DUI checkpoints that I was sent to. Just a serene night at the station filled with faux Champagne and leftover Taco Bell for breakfast/lunch.

Here's to a quieter 2007...don't mention the Taco Bell. That doesn't count.

New Years Day

I'm working New Years Day. Ok, so I'm working the early morning of NYD. So, I'm anticipating the numerous car accident calls that involve drunk drivers. I'm also anticipating the DUI checkpoint or two to get video of.

So anyways, I hope to you dear readers and fellow photogs, Happy New Year. I wish 2007 to be a wonderful year for you.

Whoops!!!

This morning, I covered a police chase that resulted in the bad guys going to jail and one police car flipping and sending the officers to the hospital in critical condition. We hustled and were first up live at the scene which was great. Afterwards, I was reeling up my cables and stowing the mast on my live truck when a detective from the AIU came over and asked it I had a light he could borrow because they left their high powered light back at the station. I retreived our high powered light gun only to find out it was not charged and wouldn’t work.

After the officer left, I got in my live truck and left the scene. Later on my way home after my shift, I got a call from the desk telling me that a photog from Channel 8 was bringing my tripod back to the station.

OOOPS!!! Apparantly I left my tripod next to a traffic light control box. I just plain brain farted when the officer came over and asked for the light. That hardly ever happens. I think they’d rather eat dirt than ask the media for a favor. That’s what threw me off kilter and I forgot the tripod.

Thank God and thank Mark from Channel 8 for looking out for me..!!

Merry Christmas To All !! Zzzz......

Zzzzzzz...huh, whazzit?? Oh sorry..I fell asleep. You would to if your precious children had waken you up at 4:20 a.m.

Yes. 4:20 a.m.

Screw it...Merry Christmas. I'm headed back to bed..

I Got Mine Today

Yep, I got my fatal holiday fire over with early. It happened around 2 a.m. in East Cleveland this morning. A fire in a vacant apartment building which claimed the life of a homeless man. He and a woman were staying in the place trying to keep warm when a fire started and quickly got out of control. As I was close by the area checking out reports of an MVA, I got there when crews had just started to enter the building. It was just thick smoke but as the smoke became thicker, the air horns on the pumpers blew signaling to the fire fighters inside to evacuate the building. The apartment building was over 100 years old and decrepit.

It didn't take the firemen long to find the victims body and bring it to the front door. It also didn't take the apartment long to become fully involved. I watched the progression from thick smoke to full blown inferno in about an hour. Water issues were hampering the firefighters efforts to contain it to a basic fire.

So, anyone else get their Christmastime fatal fire today?

Stewart Meets His Doppleganger

A few of us bloggers who genuflect in the greatness of one of our own, the end all of photogs that blog, Lenslinger, donated a few bucks to Chris Weaver, another blogging photog who is amongst the great ones as well. Weaver thought up a wonderful surprise for his co-worker and brother videojournalist : Let's get him the War Journalist action figure! He has wanted one for a long time so, what better gift than a mini-me for Christmas? So with a little subterfuge, plotting, planning and the inclusion of their respective wives, this is the outcome.

Merry Christmas Lenslinger.

Bracing For It

They say a storm is coming. They say that we'll get at least a foot of snow. Do I believe it? No. Will we get snow? Sure we will. We Usually do. But the fact that we went into "war" mode about snow once again really has me baffled. You'll never convince me that anything less than a blizzard is cause for wall to wall "team" coverage of snow. Why? Because in winter, it snows here. I know, call the media....err..wait, don't call us. We'll be out covering the flakes calling it the worst snowstorm since '78.

I agree that we do need to cover it. Put one reporter on it, have them cover it. Put the other reporter on GA. Let it go. It's snow. It's winter. It happens.

All I know is, I'm sure to be sent straight from home to drive all over God's green white earth. to shoot the stuff as it falls to the ground overnight tonight.

To quote Monty Python's Flying Circus, "My nipples explode with delight!!"

/end sarcasm mode.

Found on You Tube

You Tube is amazing. I know that we've all come to that conclusion but what I stumbled across hit home to me this morning. The video below is from the early 1980's. It involves a local Cleveland legend of a reporter, Leon Bibb when he worked at my station,WKYC Channel 3. He's now at WEWS Channel 5 here in Cleveland. I can't identify the voice of the photog but it really a classic example of what our job entails.

This is what we as news videographers and our reporters encounter in a big city. We encounter the public. We get to meet nice gentlemen like the man in the video. So here is the video from YouTube entitled, Get Off My Property!!

Sadly, I've Crossed Over

I am now officially a mini-van owner. I am no longer in control of my life. My life is controlling me. The fact that our family SUV, a 1998 Explorer, is becoming a money pit. It has upward of 215,000 miles on it. The fact that it lasted that long is remarkable in it's own right. It has served us well. Now it is our second car and last resort vehicle. Enjoy Semi-retirement old friend. You've earned it.

We're now driving a 2006 Dodge Caravan. It's not the car we wanted but it's what we could afford and it has 19,000 miles on it. It also has SIRIUS radio with it so we're happy with that too.

I'm no longer Newshutr, cool news videographer. I'm newshutr....soccer-dad.

God, I'm sad right now..

My Real Black Friday

Black Friday. The word strikes fear into my heart. Well, not fear per se. Just a nausea that won't go away. I dislike Black Friday with a passion. The people that line up are just crazy. Their cries of "Hey..put me on TV!!" or "Can I be on TV" get under my skin easier on this day than any other day.

My Black Friday started off with getting stuck in a back up of traffic for 50 minutes. I was sent from my house to a local outlet mall that opened at midnight. I live 15 minutes away from the mall so getting there usually isn't a problem. We were told a few "select" stores would be open at the mall. Well, virtually all the stores were open. People were gridlocked trying to get there. Fifty minutes while in my news unit. I had already started to hate the people surrounding me for trying to shop at midnight.

I got to the mall, found a parking spot luckily and got my video and sound. Heading away from the place I sighed as a wave of relief spread over me. I headed back to the station only to get a call to check out a scene where a nine year old was shot and killed by his 10 year old cousin accidentally. It's not in a good neighborhood for starters. Plus tensions and emotions always run high when a child is shot.

I get to the area and there was no scene. No cops, no tape, no nothing. I tell the desk this and they say it happened at 10 p.m. so there might not be a scene anymore. That upsets me because we have crews available at that time. But maybe they were busy with other stuff.

Getting back to the station, I'm told that I'm live at a mall for more shoppers. Great. My ulcer just formed.

Live shot time comes around and for once things aren't going too badly. No tension, shoppers are very polite for the most part and the Sears store we're at is cooperating fully with us. Life is good...

Until...

Our 6:26 a.m. hit is coming up and I get ready for it. I shoulder my camera, put my eye to the eyepiece and.....my right eyeglass lens pops out and falls to the floor with 10 seconds till our hit. I switch to my left eye but that's horrible because my eyesight is just as bad with that eye. We finish our hit, thankful it was short. I try frantically to find the lens and little screw that holds it in place but I can't find the tiny screw. A woman overheard me say I couldn't find the screw and came over. She hands me her little eyeglass kit complete with screwdriver and extra screws !!! Sadly, none of the screws were the right size but she gave me hope in holiday shoppers. God Bless her. I even tried the old paper clip fix and that didn't work. Damn!

About this time, my reporter needs me to edit and send video back for her next hit. So, off I go into the truck to edit. I'm putting the last edit down when I hear 1:30 to our next hit. I call back and feed forty seconds of video back, punch up my camera, lock the truck and run back into the store with twenty seconds to spare.

After that hit, I head back out to the truck...

and discover that I've locked myself out of my live truck!!! Shit.

Calling the desk, I ask them to call the police and have them bring a slim jim. They were there within three minutes, At least that went my way.

But now, I'm still blind in my dominant eye, I need to do two more shots for our morning show and I'm using my weaker ey to do those. I need to also shoot video after we're done and I need to get my glasses fixed.

Hey, I'm in a mall!! I can get my glasses fixed no problem. Sears has an optical department!! So I head over to it after my shots are over to discover.....

They don't open until 10 a.m.

Ok, no problem....JC Penney has an optical department...

But they don't open until 10 a.m also.

There's an EyeMasters in the mall so I go there...

you sensing a pattern here??? Yup, 10 a.m. !! Fudge...!!!

Ah Hah!!! A Sunglass hut!!! Yes...!! I head there and the girl couldn't have been nicer...or cuter!! She has spare screws and proceeds to try although she's really not allowed to put screws in glasses. Apparently that feat is above Sunglass Hut Employees and says so in their training manual.

She doesn't have the right tiny screw either but I thank her profusely also and head off again. This time I hit a small store that sells chips and pop. I ask if they have eyeglass kits and they say no but they do sell Krazy Glue!! Awesome. I can at least glue the damn lens in!!! So I buy a tube of it and head off to my truck. I pass by a Dakota Watch kiosk. Something told me to ask if they had spare screws. And to my astonishment, they actually had a screw that fit but wasn't long enough to fully close together. Well, heck, I have a screw and a tube of Krazy Glue. I can fix anything!!!

So I carefully take my newfound screw and tube of glue back to the truck and proceed to glue the screw in place while getting a good amount over my fingers and right lens. At least it held!!!!

Praise God. At least I could see relatively well enough to shoot and drive back to the station.

I was able to get a good repair done to my glasses when I got off work and the Krazy Glue removed from the lens.

So, how was your Black Friday?

WKRP Goodness

"As God as my Witness...I thought turkeys could fly!!"

Happy Thanksgiving To All

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here. I've just come back from a great dinner at my in-laws house cooked by my wife.

My morning tomorrow will start at 12:30am chasing down early bird shoppers which will gather outside stores in an outlet mall not far from my home. Then off to a mall where more shoppers will gather to grab bargains galore. To my dismay, we won't be outside a Best Buy or Circuit City. We'll be outside a Sears. Yes, a Sears. That's wonderful. If I need a bargain on Toughskins in a size Husky, I'll be as happy as a pig in well, Toughskins.

Who Is This Man?

Just who is this man behind the shades? His name is Barry and he's the other videographer we have on the morning show. Barry is a great guy to work with. Always makes me laugh and is a really good friend. I appreciate having him on the morning show because he makes it tolerable. He's a class act through and through. I'm glad to call him a friend.




You originally saw him in this picture.



Well actually this was the back of his head..but you get the idea.

Freaking Huge

I took this picture with my camera phone. I've blogged about the I-X Center before but every time I go to the place, I'm awed by just how huge it really is. These are two of our live trucks at the I-X Center last week during our live shot at the Fabulous Food Show.

To All Our Veterans

Happy Veterans Day. As time goes on, we're losing the members of the Greatest Generation. Please remember all of our veterans. This video is a good reminder of just how precious they all are. Please watch it the whole way through because it is very much worth it.

Caption This!

Caption This Picture...the best one will win nothing. Sorry, but I'm cheap.




Oh, by the way on the picture below, see the woman in the red shirt? That 's Jennifer my reporter for the morning. Notice the look on her face? Notice the distance between her and the large snake? Yep..she's not fond of snakes but this was the third time in three weeks she was made to be around them. Have to love morning live shots.



Hey...that should be my mantra!!

The Sky Fell...To Some.

Yep...we did it again. The sky was falling...the skyyyy wassss falllinng..!! Of course it was. Heaven knows that 2"-4" inches of snow in a 24 hour period is enough to scramble the troops, get the animals inside and protect the children for the hideous snow.

Now I know that when I was out looking for snow in the morning, there was about a 1/2 inch covering the ground everywhere I looked but the roads were clear. Didn't matter. Because once again the scare you to death live shot was in full force. We informed people that yes indeed, if you hadn't forgotten, snow does fall from the sky during the winter here in northern Ohio. And you need to go out and face that horrible 1/2" of snow.

Good thing we didn't overreact though.

Priceless

Priceless....just priceless.

Firefox 2.0

I just dowloaded the new Firefox 2.0 and let me tell you, it's incredible. For those of you who have downloaded it, you know just how good it is.  For those that haven't or are the old IE 6 holdouts, you don't know what you're missing.  Right now, I'm using the new blogging add-on that you can download as an option when you first install 2.0.  

It's remarkable just how good this browser is and the changes, however subtle are very well done.

I'm pretty sure that IE is going off my laptop for good.

powered by performancing firefox

Memories Of The Circus

Yesterday I did a live shot with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus at the "Q" here in downtown Cleveland. I really had a good time but I can't get over the fact that this is still the circus and that the animals aren't kept in the nicest of conditions. Please understand that I'm NO PETA supporter at all. But the way I saw the elephants being kept and corralled really bothered me. Let me put this out first and foremost...I did NOT see these elephants being abused.

I was just bothered by the way they were being kept. A little sawdust and straw to lay on and the electrical line to keep them away from the cage barrier seemed a bit excessive. Kind of disheartening. But I guess that's why we're the dominant species.

Of course I really don't like the circus much anyways. When I was four my parents took me to the circus and I had a really good time until the elephants walked by. One of them took a dump right in front of me. That started me off on a barrage of power vomiting that I still remember to this day.

Ehh...maybe I'll just tuck that memory deep down inside again for another thirty or so years...

Lots Of Stuff But No Time To Write

Had a busy week but no time to blog about it. Lets just say my week consisted of holding lots of snakes, owls, hawks, falcons, a chinchilla and the obligatory hissing cockroach. I put on TV a lamb's heart, pigs lungs and a cow eyeball. I made snot and almost ate BBQ mealworms.

Ahh...the joys of morning show TV.

Too Damn Early

I was jolted into a depressing realisation when I read Photoguy's latest post CRAP.

Yeah, I second that emotion (apologies to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles).

Crap..

Damn...

Snow is expected in our area tonight...and I'll be on flurry patrol.

Damn.

We Want You To Come....DON'T SHOOT THAT!!

Museums. Great places really. Cleveland has one of the best for art in the country. Their newest show is called Barcelona. It catalogues the art of Barcelona from the 1860's to the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. It features the great artists like Picasso, Dali, Gaudi and Miro. It's only being shown in two North American museums, Cleveland Museum of Art and The Met in New York City. If you're in the area of these two museums or have the time to travel and like Picasso, Dali and others, please see this display. It's remarkable. I was in awe of the Dali pieces. I've always been a big admirer of his.

We get to the museum, run cable up to the second floor and we're told we can't show any of the paintings. We can show the sculptures and some posters but no paintings.

WHAT??? WTF???

Why are we there then? I understand that we don't want to show everything and give the public a free full show, but my God, why ask us to come and show what a remarkable display this museum has put together and then not be able to put it live on TV like we understood we'd be able to.

We run into the same thing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame here in Cleveland. We can show only certain things. We can show a jacket from a tour the the Who did in 1978 but can't show the handwritten lyrics sheets of The Doors for example. And they'd be both in the same display! I understand the copywrite issues and all but why have us there then?

Ahh, yeah...I remember now. Free publicity.

That trumps all.

Say Wha??

Busy morning today. Drunk guy on a charter plane is refused another drink, gets upset and says that he has a bomb. That caused a diversion of the flight to Cleveland where the SWAT team boarded the plane and took the gentleman to a place with a lot of bars.

After that, I was checking out a fire when I get a call to head to a shooting on Cleveland's east side. I get to the scene and among the flashing red and blue lights, the sound of moaning and muffled screaming is coming from inside the house which is the focal point of attraction. Good scene, I think to myself.

I look at the police and they're standing around just bullshitting with each other. No police tape, no detectives putting down evidence placards. But there's still this moaning and screaming going on. I see a cop friend of mine and he walks over and asks, "Slow night?"

"I thought this was a shooting?"

"Nope. A fight. If it was something serious, you know I'd give you a call."

"Then, why all the screaming and moaning??", I asked.

"It's a group home for the deaf and two guys got drunk and a fight broke out. Guy got beat up pretty bad. The dispatcher couldn't understand the 911 call and thought the caller said there was a shooting.."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. Actually we were talking and we think the caller was complaing that someone had been farting a lot and the call was for someone tooting." Then the cops broke up in laughter...

Ahh yes....cop humor.

Time Marches On

I turned 38 yesterday. Blech. I woke up this morning and my knees hurt. My right shoulder hurt and my feet hurt.

I'm shocked I didn't lose a body part in my sleep.

Getting old sucks.

It's.....Uhh..Good To Be Back??

My first day back to work after being off for two straight weeks for vacation and what happens? I get my live truck stuck in an overflow parking lot/grassy field. Yes, my Ford Econoline 350 live truck sank just enough to force me to call AAA and get towed about one hundered feet to semi-dryer land and make a muddy getaway an hour later. An omen of things to come? We'll see.

But then again, some good news. EWINK IS BACK!!!! Yes, he's decided that the cathartic allure of blogging is better for him. And I have to add, it's better for us as well.



Erin, I'm very glad you're back. The photog blogosphere is better with you around.

Did I Say Reality?

Being on my second straight week of vacation, I thought things would be great. Well, for the past two nights, I've woken up out of a deep sleep in a cold sweat. What has been the trouble? Well, thanks for asking. For the past two nights, I've had dreams I've been at work.

Yeah, I know, disturbing.

Anyways, in my dream, I'm either setting up a liveshot or heading out to a story. But things keep happening to me while I'm in the midst of doing those things. I keep getting sidetracked and I never get a chance to get back to what I'm intending to do. I can't get the live together because of a friend walking up and talking to me, or I keep needing more equipment for the shot and the truck keeps getting farther and farther away.

As for the other dream, I'm usually headed out to a fire but each road I take is the wrong road, even though I can see the fire about a block away.

I'm a troubled man, I know but sheesh, you'd think that that the furthest thing from my mind while I'm on vacation would be work.

Anyone reccommend any good psychotropic drugs??

Back To Reality

Well, it's been a wonderful seven days in paradise. Our family trip to Nags Head is finally over. We've made the most of what time we had on the beach. My two sons had a blast making sandcastles, playing pirates and running around with the neighbor's dogs. My wife enjoyed the sun and vegged at the beach. I caught up on some sorely needed sleep, maintained my sanity by not watching anything but football on TV and on one occasion last Saturday evening I got completely hammered out of my skull on a rather tasty beer. Ok, so there were atleast 14 of those tasty beers. I did lose count but my wife's cousin said it was close to twenty.

We're now on the way home to east of Cleveland. We've stopped in Frederick, MD for the night. Tomorrow we'll be home but I need to tell you....

I've got another week and a day off!!!

Yes, I'll have another week off to basically do crap around the house that I haven't had time to do when I'm not at work. I suspect the four acres will need a good mowing. I'll also need to get the furnace ready for the cold weather which basically is next week anyways.

And there will be no news watching then either. I need to keep my sanity intact somehow.

The Beach...

This is what I'm looking at this morning. It sure as hell beats red and blue lights, crying mothers, yellow evidence placards and other assorted scenes that I get on an almost daily doseage.

All You N.C. Photogs...

I'm heading down your way. Well, not really in your area per se, but your state. So, hide your beer. Hoard your women. Cage the dog. Take in the WELCOME MAT. BE AFRAID...BE VERY AFRAID.

God, I can't tell you just how much I'm looking forward to the week I'll be down in Nags Head. We're leaving this Thursday night and driving straight down. Working overnight as I do, I'm doing the night driving. We bought a dual screen car DVD player so that the trip will be silent and the wife and I can actually have an adult conversation for two hours at a time. Unless she puts her damn iPod in and zones out.

I'm glad I have SIRIUS Radio.

Baby Watch

Jackie Smith, my early morning partner in crime is due to pop any day now. Her and her husband Dan are having a boy and they've already named him A.J. Jackie called off today because she felt that "she was close" so I hope that she was correct. She needed the day off anyways. She's been waddling around for a long time now.

I'll update as necessary.

Emmy Update

Well, the even has come and gone. Sorry to say that I didn't win. But my wife looked extra hot tonight, so I wound up a winner anyways.

Maybe next year.

Off To The Emmys

This evening my wife and I are headed to our regional Emmy awards. I despise wearing a tuxedo but hey, when you have to...

I'm nominated for an award so who knows what the evening will hold.

Don't You Just Love..

Reporters that insist that your live shot location be moved in between live hits? Then they go an sit down in the truck while you're tearing your shot down frantically??

Yeah, I love it also...blech.

Officer John Schroeder

"OFFICER DOWN!!"

I'm sure these words yelled over a police radio cause every news photog to pause for a second. It caused me to pause and think to what is ahead in the hours and days to come. I prayed to God that the officer was going to make it as I headed to the scene.

Unfortunately, the officer down did turn into a fatality. Officer John Schroeder, a ten year veteran of the Cleveland Police Department, was struck down in the line of duty early Thursday morning. He was hit once under the armpit, where his bulletproof vest offered no protection. It seems the shot that killed him was a "fluke". The suspect/scumbag fired through a closed door with a .357 magnum at the officers who were trying to serve a warrant.

Officer Schroeder leaves behind a wife and a ten month old baby boy.



Rest In Peace, Officer Schroeder. May God bless you, your baby boy, your wife and family and your fellow Police Officers who put their life on the line every day to protect us.

Please visit The Officer Down Memorial Page. Please keep these officers in your thoughts and prayers.

What?? You Actually Believed It?

Did you ever get a press release from a Public Relations person and believe what was written on it? If you do, you're either new in the news business or a very trusting soul. Either way, you're in for a big let down. You aren't going to get what you read about. It's like when a package at the grocery store says "New and Improved!!" so you buy it and then when you get home you notice that they've put less in the box and you've paid more money for less product.

So, where am I going with this? Well recently I was sent to a location for a live shot where we have been before. I wrote about it here. It's the house that was used in the movie, A Christmas Story. Basically, a guy bought the house and was renovating it to look like the house did in the movie. He's looking to turn it into a tourist attraction and museum. Well it has been nine months since we were last there and now, the day has arrived. To quote the press release, "The house used in the popular holiday classic, A Christmas Story has been restored to it's original 1983 movie appearance."

I get to the house to set up the shot and am just stopped in my tracks by what I see. It is incredible. Remarkable. Astounding. I can't find my thesaurus to come up with more words to describe what I saw. So I'll let the pictures I took show you the house in it's glory.






And now, onto the inside. It was just amazing how good it looked. They did a hell of a job.







Yeah, it's a beautiful renovation alright. We were handed chicken shit so we made chicken shit sandwiches and fed it to the public. I can't begin to tell you how upset I was at having to do the live shot here. My reporter felt the same way. I swear, if I'm ever given a press release for a live shot at this house, I'm heading out ASAP and eyeballing it.

And if you ever believe a press release from a PR person again, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.

Are We There Yet???

A total of 190 miles traveled total today, including a trip on the Ohio Turnpike to look for a semi-tractor trailer that was supposedly pulled over with a "suspicious" cargo. It was not to be found however. It was cleared up by the time I got there.

I did come through with fire video of two vacant businesses. Woo Hoo.

Sometimes it's just nice to get out and drive especially when the weather overnight is clear and cool.

What's That Boom?

I had ended my shift without a lunch and headed home. It usually have a forty-five mile drive home. Luckily, traffic is mostly going against me and I get home within an hour. I usually take 480 East to 422 East. I drive this almost every day. As I'm getting on 422 from 480, traffic suddenly comes to a stop in front of me. I hit the brakes and as I do, I hear a muffled "boom" in the distance. I knew it had to be a car accident. I flip on my scanner and as I'm sitting in stuck traffic, I hear the Warrensville Heights dispatcher calling police to a car vs. semi accident. The accident happened pretty much right in front of me.



I hear sirens behind me as all of the drivers try to get over to let the emergency responders get by. A guy in a pickup crossed a grassy median, clipped two cars and hit a semi head on, doing around 70 m.p.h. Witnesses said the pickup literally exploded and the engine flew into the air landing about 50 feet away from the pickup. The driver of the pickup was killed instantly.




I haven't been getting much spot news lately. I was beginning to wonder if people had stopped getting in car accidents, killing each other or starting fires. Ok, not really. I just was in a drought for the spot news. It was refreshing to get into the middle of the action again. Especially when it happens right in front of you.

What's Going On?

We lose Jorge Guapo, Ewink and now Smitty?? What in the world is going on??

Jumpywhatme?Nonotme!!

After spending the whole of Thursday morning at the airport telling people about the foiled terror plot, I felt a little tired and so I went to get a cup of coffee. Luckily, about seventy feet down from one of our plug in boxes is a Starbucks. So, I go over and decide on something with a little kick. Coffee with a double shot of espresso.

As I watch the barista make the coffee and add the second shot, she is asked a question and walks off, leaving my coffee sitting there. Another clerk comes up and asks if that was my coffee. I answered in the affirmative and said it was a double shot.

The second clerk proceeds to add two more shots of espresso to my already caffeine injected brew.

Do I raise a finger to stop her? Nope.

Folks, let me tell you that this was the stupidest move I think I've ever made.

I take back my hazardous waste Venti and proceed to drink it at a moderate pace. It was as if I'd shot it straight into my jugular. A quadruple shot espresso/coffee mix coursing through my veins made me a little, uh...manic hyper. I could feel my eyeballs jumping.

My heart was beating faster than I think it ever did before. And my right hand started shaking with tremors. Only my right hand. My drinking hand. It shook like it wanted to jump off my arm and strangle me for putting it through all that caffeine.

Thank God, I didn't need to shoot off the shoulder because I couldn't have held it still if my life depended on it. I couldn't sit still for the next three hours.

Worst. Experience. Ever.

Overnight Fun

When I worked overnights in Pittsburgh, I was taught something. It wasn't necessariy bad per se. It was a bit juvenile but not evil. The overnight videographer I was filling in for told me about a little trick he knew.

On the north side of Pittsburgh, there was a Brownstone home that was distinguished by two Mustangs parked outside. As for most urban homes, it didn't have a garage so on street parking was the rule. The Mustangs were each different colors. One was pastel yellow and the other one was purple.

It was discovered by accident that the car alarms were triggered by the transmit frequency of our 2-way radios. I was told if I wanted a laugh on a quiet night, I could drive by and just one click of the radio would set off both alarms.

Now to a young kid starting out in TV, this was pure gold entertainment. I'd park the live truck along the park that bordered the home and one click the radio.

WAHH WAHH WAHH WAHHH..you get the idea.

The light in the house would go on and the car alarms would go on for about a minute before being shut off from inside. The light would go off and then I'd wait..

10 minutes later, "click"...WAHH WAHH WAHH WAHH

Same thing..light on, etc..etc.

20 minutes..."click"

This would go on for a good two hours if it was a slow night. What my goal was, was to get the guy to come out of his house and disable the car alarms manually. He'd come out all frustrated and open up the hoods on both cars and pull a wire.

This was especially fun when it was raining or snowing heavily.

Yeah, I know I'm a shit. But when you're young and stupid, things are funnier.

And when you were as stupid as I was back then, the world was a funnier place.

Wildlife

Standoffs. I hate them. Usually we're never allowed near enough to get any good video in he first place. Plus, nine times out of ten these things resolve themselves without bloodshed and the person willingly gives up or isn't in the house to begin with. This morning I found myself on just such a scene.

It's very muggy out and dark. The suburban Cul-de-sac is dimly lit by house lights. I'm standing in the middle of the street about 100 yards from the closest cop as I was asked to stay back. A man was barriaced inside his house after shooting his wife in the foot during an argument and the police are waiting on SWAT to show up. I can't see anything because the road curves off around to the left and the house is on the end of Cul-de-sac. I have to shoot on Hyper-gain to see anything.

I can see the stars when I look up. It's a beautiful sight with no street light glow to obscure the view. It's also very quiet. No real insect noises tonight. Just calm and still tonight. If it wasn't for the police at the end of the street, one would never know anything was going on.

Almost as if on cue in this serene moment, a doe walks out from behind the house I am in front of. She's looking around and then slowly walks across the yard and down into the street. She stops and looks at me. She's about ten feet from me and looking at me. I'm perfectly still because I know any movement will spook her. She looks around and then starts to slowly walk towards me. She gets within three feet and then stops. Her nose was twitching as I guess she was getting my scent. I could see her dark eyes and her ears were on alert. She stood there for about a good minute just looking a me. Then she turned and walked across the rest of the street and into the yard on the opposite of the street.

I've had my share of run-ins with wildlife. I hit a deer recently with my news unit, heading back to work, after covering a fire near my house. I also had a run in with a skunk at a decrepit cemetary casuing me to scream like a girl and punch a hole in the air, when it brushed against my ankles.

This time though, it was a nice encounter with nature. The doe put a smile on my face. It made for a good night.