The Fast and the Furriest

I can't wait for another four weeks...

I am still somewhat tired and a little stressed out. Although the past few days have been somewhat easier than usual. I have been on sweeps patrol (stories that will be promoted and will air during July) and get to take my time to actually get some good stories shot.

We just went over the hurricane plan for the station, and we are as prepared as we can be. We have a secondary location set in case we have to evacuate (we are about 10 miles from my place, which is near the gulf, which means we could sustain some damage if one approaches) and we have accommodations when we are stranded from the Cape. My only hope (fingers crossed, knock on wood, salt over right shoulder, ect.) is that it doesn't have during my two planned trips this year in August and October. If I have to fly back, however, I am getting money to off set my airline ticket price if it needs to change.

The other big news is that we are expanding another half an hour at night. Meaning:

a) we are now competing with the big boys

and

b) I get to work later in the evening.

My schedule changes a little bit, more than likely have to come in a half an hour to an hour later. But if I have to sub at Mona's, it's a problem. I won't get there until midnight and that isn't good.

The good news is that we have a new dj, which is taking pressure off the rest of us. He is good with the computer, but needs time to get comfortable with the mic. But it took me a little while to get comfortable too.

Something interesting for all you "Saved by the Bell" fans out there. If you haven't already noticed, Dustin Diamond, aka Screech, needs your help to save his house:

http://www.getdshirts.com/

I am ordering a shirt in the next coming week, just because it will be fun to have an autographed t-shirt from him. I get bragging rights. *lol*

One of the reporters had commented we use the phase "In your Kennel" whenever we do an animal story. Since I did quite a few in the past few weeks, I wouldn't disagree.

We did a story on drifting over the weekend, which was pretty cool. I got to see a prototype of the Mach-5 race car that was going to be in the "Speed Racer" movie. No time to take a picture, as it started to rain and lightning hard as soon as we were done shooting. "Go speed photog, go speed photog..."

Laters.

Hold it together, Tornado apart

And the hits keep on coming...

After what was suppose to be a slow day (just a sweeps shoot that isn't airing until next month) I was sent to a stand off which was over by the time I got there, then I was sent to a tornado zone. I had to travel about an hour to a neighborhood that was hit by it, and it was interesting to see certain homes saved while others were opened like a can of baked beans. I had to hurry back to the station to get the video on the air, and was immediately sent back to help a reporter do a story for the morning show. I did an 11 1/2 hr. day that day, but we were number 1 in the market. And I got compliments from everybody, including the station manger, which means more ammo for my salary negotiations.

That's it for now.

The Rain should stay on the plain

If you haven't seen, I updated my previous post with a picture of where the incident happened. Helps to picture what people were trying to fall into. People last night were trying to find another shopping cart. No dice.

It's been raining all week, or should I saying pouring. And no drainage here makes it a mess. I have to worry about my camera as moisture tends to effect it. No bad news so far, but the hurricane season has started.

I just got some pics done and wanted to share a few....

The new set. All shiny and fancy.



Ft. Myers beach--too bad it wasn't sunny. I will try to get some good shots this week.




I took this after the infamous Lehigh fire. The dried up dead plant looks like something. I have a guess, but you can have your own as well. It is interesting to look at.





That's about it. Will update later this week.

-MarQ

Just perfect timing

Ugh!!!

What a week so far. It was plagued with me always being late to my dj gig due to breaking news and live shots. The good news is that they were okay with it, as a lot of news people are or have been dj-ing there over the years. My news shift on Sunday did end with something cool though.

We were doing a live shot about the weather, and I was packing up when two young ladies were taking off thier clothes and went into the water with only thier bras and thongs on. When I got finished and was about to leave, I said "Nice seeing you ladies." No pics or video, sorry. I was on the job.

Found a beautiful beach today to go when I have company over. It's called Lover's Key, and it's not cluttered by buildings, and has nice white sandy beaches. It was featured on the Travel channel several times, and it's a great place to go when you are down here. Shell collector's haven as well.

I have come to learn that there are a lot of crazy people down here. We had one in IHOP a few weeks ago. A group of us had went, and this guy keep stuffing napkins in his ears and apoligizing. He had a suitcase and what looked like a full diper on the table. He started acting strange--going into the kitchen and lying on the floor. The sheriff's office were called in to escort him out.

Another happened this weekend, when me and my reporter stopped in a restaurant for a pizza. This guy was ranting about "We are all one community" and singing very poorly. I do feel for these guys, as these guys do have problems, and need help.

Later on this week, I will have to tell you about the infamous cart incident from a few weeks ago.

See ya.

DJ up up and away

I am in the middle of a long dj-ing session this week. Two of the dj's are on vacation, so I have to fill in all week. The good news is that this will pay for my trip to Montana in August. The bad news is that I am was the only nighttime photog for a few days. Which meant I was probably going live--which meant I would be extreme late to dj. I however dodged the bullets and was able to be only an hour late, which the bar peeps understand. Besides, the 10 o'clock hour is usually slow.

There are little pet peives you get when you dj karaoke as well. People not seeing the signs that say "No Drinks on stage" and when you tell them, they have a tendancy to forget. Also the ones who say the songs I'm playing sucks without suggesting something they want to hear. But besides that, it's a cool gig. The slow times are slow, but it was pretty good tips the past few days.

That's about it. Laters.

Dog Day Evening

I am feeling better and although nothing has been resolved yet, I am sure things will work out between me and the station.

I just got a new haircut which is going over well with the peeps at work. What ultimately prompted me to get it was when one of my co-workers who came back from maternity leave said I looked "scary." I was told by two peeps that I should grow my hair long about 6 weeks ago, so I let it grow even more. But I think I look a lot better now.

The past few days has been all about the dogs. The first one was a follow-up story on this dog who was dragged by its own behind a car. The owner says it was an accident, but a lot of people think that he should pay heavily for not paying attention to his pet.

We went to a dog park for interviews and obviously there were strong onpinions in one direction. We decided to do a stand up with one of the dogs. As some one who has done this many times, it's always unprecictable. This time was hilarious, as one time the dog kissed the reporter, another time the dog kissed my camera lense, and yet another the dog tried to get away from my reporter, which this was a big dog and my reporter is very slender. I made a quick montage on my save tape for a year end party.

Yesterday it was about greyhounds. A fire had happened a year ago at the dog track here and several dog died, as well as some suffering from burns and smoke inhilation. But this isn't the worst part of the story. The trainers don't take care of their dogs well, as toes have been amputated rather than treated, they would be depribed food, and trainers would bang on the cages and make the dogs train long hours. I myself was a fan of dog racing until now. The state doesn't regulate it well, and consider greyhounds livestock rather than pets. This means that you can't report abuse of a greyhound. It makes me sick.

That's it for now.