X-Ray Results

Well, I had my x-rays last night and I've got a Grade 2 ankle sprain. I guess it could have been worse. I have a partial tear of a ligament and pooled blood on the inside of my foot.

I'm heading back to work tomorrow but walking is very painful. I guess the kids can't go out bike riding anymore. It's too dangerous to my health.

Robots Are Going To Kill Me

Currently I am lying on an air matress in the Carnegie Science Center, in Pittsburgh. I'm here for my son's boy scout sleep over. To my immediate right is an orange industrial robot that has been programmed to shoot a basketball at a hoop.

Every once in a while the robot spins around and extends it's two pronged appendage in all sorts of directions as if it's "looking around" to see what is near it.

I'm sure that it's not happy that it has been retired to a life of free throws when it used to do heavy lifting or precise work that engineers took months to program.

The dance it does is really a facade. It's plotting to kill someone while they're sleeping, in revenge for it's demotion.

I hope I make it through the night.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Well, I Really Did It..

Well, I really did it..

We went out about an hour ago to take/teach the kids bike riding. Their bikes needed air in the tires after a winter not being ridden. We took the training wheels off today.

We(the family and I) went to the local gas station to get air for the tires (.75 cents...ain't that a bitch!!??), so I get the first bike out and set it to the side. I go back to the van to get the second bike out.

Unknown to me, the first bike must have rolled back behind me (training wheels weren't off yet) and when I stepped back, there was a bike in my way.

I stumbled backwards, holding the second bike out to balance myself as I was geting my right foot tangled in the first bike. I awkwardly danced back about three more feet and caught my left foot in a crack between a concrete and blacktop section. I felt a stretch and a pop and then I saw the sky. My wife came out and was aghast.

Now I'm in agony, my left ankle is swelled up to the size of a beefsteak tomato(e) and I've just downed two tylenol with codeine.

Ice and Tylenol 3, elevation for the foot, ibuprofen and muscle relaxers. What more could a guy ask for?

Oh yeah....rear view mirrors.

Well, It's Gone

My Xbox 360 did finally die again. After a couple weeks of good use after I did the Towel Trick to get it running again after the 3 RROD reared it's ugly head.

I sent the 360 off to Texas this morning. Hope I get it or another one back quickly enough.

I'm going to start to get the shakes and sweats....360 withdrawl.

Damn, it's a tough monkey to shake.

What Will I Chase Down Tomorrow Night?

Probably, and this is just a guess, I'll be chasing down the 10th vacant house fire since last Monday. Seems that on Cleveland's east side near the Broadway/Union area, there is an arsonist that is torching vacant homes. Some people need a hobby, huh?

I wish that I didn't have to run out and cover these but it's the unknown factor that makes us run and check the fires out. One never knows when or if the firefighters will find a body in the burning building or worse yet and God forbid, something happen to a firefighter.

Hopefully they'll catch the idiot that is setting these homes on fire.

Yep...

APRIL FOOLS..see..?

In a surprsing announcement, Barak Obama will announce at 11:00 a.m. EST press conference, that he will forgo his bid to become President of the United States and become Hillary Clinton's running mate.

"I've decided that such an ongoing war of words between the Clinton campaign and mine is fruitless and damaging to the Democratic Party", Barak Obama said.

Staffers were stunned by his willingness to become Hillary Clinton's VP running mate...

To Kenny.

Hey!! Send me your e-mail address. I've seemed to have lost it in the transition from PC to Mac.

Thanks!!

Back From The Dead...For Now

A couple of weeks ago I was playing Baseball on my Xbox360 with my oldest son. The screen froze and I reset the console. Bad things then happened with my 360 mocking me with glee as the three red rings of death (3RROD) appeared. Now I'm sure that this has happened to some of you and you've cursed and thrown things. I couldn't as my seven year-old was at my side. So, I did what any normal male, the age of 39, would do. I wept silently when no one was around.

I bit the bullet and called Microsoft to get the 360 fixed. Long story short, it's going to cost me $99 to fix. Why, because I'm not the original owner of the 360. I got around it so it's not going to cost me, but I'm not going into detail about that (boring and not really necessary).

I look up on the internet on the 3RROD causes and stumble upon The Towel Trick. It's simple, I thought. "Hey..I CAN DO THAT!!!" It involves removing the HD (if you have one), plugging the 360 in and turning it on. Then wrap the 360 in 2 to 3 cotton bath towels, thus making it heat up. Let it slowly cook itself for about 20-25 minutes.

After that span of time, you unwrap and turn it off. Let the 360 cool for around a half-hour. Then, after that time has expired, plug in everything and hold your breath while you press the power button.

And I'll be darned...



IT WORKS!! Albeit a temporary fix, you can get it to work for you and you can play for a while, while waiting for the Microsoft box to arrive so you can send it back and get it repaired.

Some people have reporter it working for about 45 minutes then the 3RROD appears again up to fourteen days of usage, and beyond.

Awwww....GEEEZ!!

I'm upstairs in my "man den", the wife is in the kitchen doing the dishes. My children have taken over the living room because they've set up a vast battlefield with their Army men.

I'm on the computer and I hear my youngest yelling, "FIRE...FIRE...FIRE" very loudly in a stressed out voice.

I run from my seat, down the hallway, downstairs (taking two at a time), where I almost step on a cat passing the bottom of the stairs. I jumped a little over the cat(to keep from killing the poor thing) only to hit the wall across from the stairwell...

My shoulder put a nice round crack in the drywall about 1 1/2 ft in circumference.

My wife looks at me like I'm crazed...

The kids are looking at me like I'm going to kill them...

The children were playing and got into an argument...the youngest was yelling..."LIAR...LIAR....LIAR" at the oldest..

Now I've no idea how to repair drywall..

And I have a sore shoulder...

Drive Through Doughnut Shop

This accident happened last week but I've been too damn lazy to blog about it. I'm on vacation and decided I'd better do something worthwhile while lounging around on the couch, watching the NCAA tournament and seeing my brackets taking a beating.

Two guys in a Ford Focus lost control of their vehicle, hit a curb, went airborne, took out the storefront of the Doughnut and Smoke Shop, landed on their side which killed one man in the car and critically injured the other in the car.



The picture doesn't do the damage to the store justice. Now you might think this is a one in a million happening. But this is the sixth...SIXTH..time this has happened to the store and the owner in twenty seven years. The strange part is, this store is on a straight part of the road. Kind of hard to wreck a car into a building there but people have managed to do it six times in the past.

The car didn't fare very well though.



No word, at least that I know of, if drugs or alcohol were involved. And there was no police chase involved.

It's St. Patrick's Day..

Big Fat Hairy Deal.

Seriously. I've never celebrated SPD. Why? Because I'm not Irish. Why pretend I'm something I'm not? I don't think the idea of drinking green beer is fun. I abhor the thought of wearing green just because...

And what I hate the most is pointing a camera into the midst of a bunch of yelling drunkards that wear shirts that say "Kiss me, I'm Irish" and who couldn't find Ireland on a map if their next beer depended on it.

I guess that's why I like working the overnight shift so much. If I do have to face the "Irish" of this day, there's not a whole lot of drunks at 5:00 a.m. in the morning.

I'll spend the day sleeping (after working, of course) and trying to figure out why my wife's computer isn't printing from the Airport Extreme.

Happy March 17th. Just the 17th. Not that other God forsaken day.

Oh and like the song says...

Give Ireland back to the Irish....JPM.

A Big Thanks

I'd like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Brian, the snow plow driver, who after doing my neighbor's driveway, did my driveway. I did pay him for his time and I overpaid for it but that was my choice because I needed to go get my wife out of the hospital after her surgery.

So, again, I'm very grateful to this one Mr. Plow.

I Know This Is Going To Seem Wrong

But since I'm alone and the kids are at the in-laws for te second straight night, I decided to have a few margaritas while I'm all alone. And I have to tell you that I've noticed that...

1. It's difficult to to type when inebriated on margaritas.

and

2. Using chopsticks when eating Chinese while in said state of inebriation is very difficult and if someone else was here besides the cats and the dog watching me, this would be very embarrassing. But animals don't care and they won't laugh at you.

and

3. Talledega Nights is funnier when you're totally in the bag.

A Waiting Game

Currently, my wife, Elizabeth is in surgery at a local hospital. I'm glad I took my laptop because I discovered they have Wi-Fi available for patients and their families. keeping occupied during the surgery is a must. I don't want to fall asleep in the waiting room and reading magazines from 2003 is torture.

So, I'm able to keep busy and pass the time.

One funny story this morning concerning work. I had to get up early to take my wife to the hospital. My work cell phone rang which is strange because I normally get no reception from the new cell phone carrier my station chose. Anyways, the phone rang at 4:56 a.m. and I answered it. The voice on the other end said, "Brian!!! Where's the truck parked?"

I recognized the voice as Bill, the reporter I usually work with in the mornings. I told him, "Umm, Bill, I'm off this morning. Call Derek." The words, "You're off?" and "Oh Shit!" were heard by me as he hung up.

I turned on the news quickly to see if Bill made his 5:00 a.m hit, which he did but a little hastened to say the least.

Been A Busy Time

Wow. It's been a while, huh? There's been a lot that I've been doing but not enough time to blog about it. It's been a whirlwind of activity the past couple of weeks. Carjackings that turn fatal for the carjacker, apartment fires where six families were awakened by a man who spoke no English. Chasing Obama and Hillary around Cleveland, fighting bitter cold, snow, sleet and freezing rain.

And on top of that, a huge water main break that happened this morning while we were two blocks away from it. The water from the 150 year old pipe, flowed down city streets and onto and over my feet and my reporters feet while doing a live shot. Nothing is better than having soaking wet feet when its 26 degrees outside while having your reporter scramble up a snowbank and become an trapped up there because of eight inches of water on the sidewalk.

And to top it off, home has been a fine and pleasant misery. We've had a septic blockage in our main line and had to deal with all the trials, tribulations and smells that accompany such a problem.

And in the wings, a March snowstorm that is set on dumping up to a foot of snow in some areas this weekend. Plus my wife is having surgery tomorrow morning so it's going to be a less than enjoyable weekend.

I hope that things slow down so I can tend to the blog a little more often and be able to add more images to go along with the posts.

Coackroach 30, Staff 0

This is too funny not to post...

COCKROACH GETS TV STAFF FIRED

Thirty TV station staff have been sacked after a cockroach was seen scuttling across a news reader's desk during a live broadcast.

Disgusted viewers bombarded the station in Turkmenistan with calls saying it had put them off their dinners.

The large brown insect crawled a full lap of the newsdesk on the 9pm news programme, Vatan.

But the appearance of the insect had more far-reaching consequences than viewer complaints.

The country's president, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedo, was told about the incident.

He was so horrified that he fired 30 workers from the station.

The sacked workers included journalists, directors, camera operators, and technical staff.

The country's minister for culture, Gulmurat Muradov, has also ordered an internal investigation.

According to The Guardian, it is not the first time the country's leader has had a run-in with the state news channel.

Former president Saparmurat Niyazov, whose authoritarian eccentricities were world renowned, sacked several executives after drunken technicians failed to screen the new year's address to the nation.

The bulletin eventually aired at 3am.

I find it ironic. Usually management doesn't appear on the air...


Hey!! No heckling in this blog...!!

Ahem..

But this isn't the first time a bug has caused hysteria on a news set..



Even a little gecko gets into the act...



What was it W.C. Fields said? Oh yeah, "Never work with children or animals."

Apple

I'd like to say that those cutsey commercals that have the younger, hipper kid as the Apple and the frumpy bespectacled middle aged man as the PC were the reason that I wanted to get an Apple. That's not the reason though.

My laptop, a Gateway, was three years old and starting to give me error messages and just shutting off anytime it felt like it. Well, now it can go to the senior citizens rest home called, "The Kids' Computer" now.

I got a Mac Book Pro, 15.4", 2.4 GHz laptop. Man, this thing is fast!! Came with a free printer, after the $100 rebate.

I need to get used to the lack of a second button like the PC has. But If that's all I need to get over, it's not a bad switch at all.

Now all I need to do is set up the new printer and the wireless print server whic will probably take all day for me.

Why Is It?

That people feel the need to honk their horns when we're going live with a freeway behind us? We're about 50 feet from the roadway, looking down on it and someone going by at 65 m.p.h. thinks that they're going to get our attention.

What are we supposed to do? Stop our broadcast to say, "Look...!! That person in the white Kia just honked at us!! They're great aren't they folks?"

Pay attention to your driving and lay off the horn, you attention whores.

Mr. Plow...That Name Again Is Mr. Plow.

Why does every man who has a pickup truck and adds a snow plow to the front of it think that he is saving the Earth and democracy in that order. Homer Simpson wannabees totally.

Having a snow plow driver dude with a pickup truck swearing at me for being in his way when he needs to plow a large parking lot, even though I was there for two hours before he showed up was very funny to me. I couldn't move my truck because my mast was up and I had one more live hit to do so I told him to start at the other end and I'd be gone by the time he got to me.

He started swearing at me again.

Go ahead Mr.Plow. Saving the world from snow, communists and Islamic radicals.

Mr. Plow I salute you. Now go plow yourself.

Rain, Rain, Rain

Yesterday here in NE Ohio, our area got about 2-3" of rain. I guess I should be happy that it wasn't snow but truthfully, I'd have been happier with the white stuff instead of the wet stuff.

But we got rain and with that much rain falling you get a lot of water pooling under overpasses. You also get a few people that can't tell when there is a lot of water in front of them and they drive their cars into about three feet of standing water.

I was sent to one of these places where five people decided they could make it through that much water. Each one needed to be pulled out of their cars because they couldn't make it through. I shot my video from the north side of the overpass then realized that I could get much closer if I went to the south end of the scene. I did what any logical person would do. I drove around the area using side streets to get to the other side.

I set up my shot, edited three v.o.'s of various flooding areas that I'd shot that night and fed them back. Then I waited for my reporter to show. About 15 minutes before our hit my phone rings..

"Brian, where are you at?"

"I'm on the south side of the water. Where are you?", I asked.

"I'm on the north end. Can you see when I turn my headlights off and on?"

"Yep, I can see them. But you'll need to come around. The scene is better from this side."

"Ok...but I think I can make it through the water."

"What??!!?!"

"I think I can make it through. It doesn't look that high."

"Um...I don't think you should do that. There's already one SUV that is stuck in the water. Your's won't make it through that.."

"But it doesn't look that deep. I think I can really make it.."

"Famous last words.", I told him. "Go around through the Metro Parks and don't risk it."

I could just see our reporter becoming part of the news story by getting his car stuck in the high water. I know that his car would have flooded and he wouldn't have made it through.

He eventually went around and made the shot but I didn't need the headache of my reporter not making the shot because he thought he could make it through.

Although, it would have made great video....