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.