Quest for the Crystal

When watching movies you knew certain events or certain characters were about to make their way into the picture. If you hear "The Imperial March" then Darth Vader was about make his entrance. The playing of "Apollonia" usually means you have missed a good portion of The Godfather.

So imagine my surprise when seven college bands are now begging for votes to win some kind of Crystal. Crystal what I have no idea but when the theme to the Indiana Jones is involved that peaked my interest.

Turns out that one of the seven is the Golden Band from Tigerland. Looks like this Crystal has some cash attached to it. And if memory serves me right there are need of a new band hall. This day and age it's usually cheaper to build a new building than renovate the old one. What I don't understand are the circumstances that go with getting the new facility. I tried to get them into HB1, looks like the veto pen got to them before they got any money. I hope this latest effort works out.

Now on to my next question, where's the Human Juke Box???? I'll try and get them face time as well, did you know?

Clean Up in the News Room

No, no, no. Nobody wasted their drink or knocked their microwave dinner on the newsroom carpet, thank goodness that didn't happen.

It was just another clean up of 1:30 that was scheduled to hit the airwaves across the homes in the Big Raggedy viewing area. But first some backstory.

Call comes into the station that a cable guy, working in his bucket truck, accidentally shocked himself by touching wire. So KN and I rush out and hit the street. It was either this or shoot people putting karaoke bars out of business by playing Rock Star on PS3. I think the guy in the bucket truck getting hit by some serious voltage is the bigger story. We get to scene find out that he was transported to the hospital but will be alright. Now find some people who saw it go down, get the work crews in action, and take care of the hole in newscast.

I was just about sit down and edit the lead until my lovely 10pm producer walks in with the Bat Signal flashing in the sky. She needs me to go a Subway restaurant that caught fire. KN, my reporter, would have to pick up the editing for this one. No prob. I left enough for her to work with. Few good sound bites, couple of nat stabs, throw in some sequences story done.

After shooting the fire, and no the rival sandwich franchise was not involved, the signal goes up again. This time KN needs me. "Rob, I know I did a good job. But I think you can do a better one". Looks like I'm going to have to tighten the story up a little. No fault of her own it was a rush job, story was slated for the 9pm show also. Since I had some time it was no big deal. I watch the version that aired, changed a couple of sequences, added a little more sound at the top, and I was satisfied. Good enough to fill 1:30.

A little fine tweaking never hurt anyone.

A Sure Thing

One thing I've come to embrace during my time in this business is that there are some sure things that will cross your path. There are way too many to name but here are a few. It's a sure thing that you go to a meeting for the the simple fact that your competition is there. You will always find someone that will say something that will leave you scratching you head. And of course...
....there will be spot news minutes before your scheduled news cast. After wrapping up the dangers of stealing electricity from someone's house looks like the Pookster just had to make his long awaited return after the hurricane well ran dry.

Another sure thing is that with the spot news there will be emotion. And it will not be good for you at first. You show up to the scene law enforcement has to keep things under control. Family members want to know what happened and when they get their answer they begin to grieve. That grief then turns to anger and you become the focus of frustration. Mainly because they are going to hell and they don't want this making the evening news. So you must now tread lightly, get what you need, and get out of there. That leads me to another sure thing.

There is always some kind of follow up. Which is why you careful, with the family, the night before so the day crew can to their thing. At least we get the heavy lifting out of the way for them.

Still Kicking....

....for all it's worth. Sorry about the lack of posting. XRAY TED has been giving me an earful. I'm sure the Nubian Princess will also remind be that what the blog is for. Things are slowly getting back to normal at the Big Raggedy. Just wish there was something worth writing about. Maybe the Polisher and I will both find fortune worth scribing over in the blogosphere, did you know?

For the Birds

As Monday continues and the Hurricane Gustav story well runs dry...the beast's insatiable hunger grows louder and louder. With the day crew doing follow ups on debris removal, insurance claims, and people without power complaining that the cost of their generators is getting out of hand. KN and are left with....birds. Not just any birds, humming birds.

Now I know what you might be thinking, how are birds a part of the recovery efforts. To tell you the truth I have no idea. But while making the trek to the eastern part of the parish in ghost like form, like in the Star Wars movies, the Ol' Polisher appears.

"Senator. You have to get dirty to polish a Turd, did you know?"

Yeah, he's right. Time to channel my inner Jedi powers to pull this one off. I still say this is more of a feature for the Tuma-nator but the run down has been made and we got to fill 1:30. So we go visit a man who has essentially become the Humming Bird Oasis after the storm. One day after "Gus" paid us a visit, a guy going through his usual routine of filling his bird feeder then became the toast of the town, to the birds anyway. Why they've taken a liking to his brand of nectar who knows why they are there and as usual my warped mind is at work.

You talk about some serious polishing today. And as the well continues drys up we may have to become the next Animal Planet network to fill more time. I don't think Tumey is down with that idea.

Jaguar Nation's Next Generation

After dealing with Gustav, and missing his big brother Ike, it was time relax and enjoy ourselves. This time of the year it was time for some football. The Purple and Gold Faithful continued their season. While at the bluff the Jaguar Nation was getting ready for the home opener as well as end a two game losing streak.

While the final warm ups were taking place I met up with my friend Rod McKee, who shoots for the Deuce, and he brings up an interesting observation. "You know this is the first time in history that Southern University sports will be covered by three female reporters". After he mentioned that I realized that he's right. This actually started last year when Emily Turner started working at the Peacock. Earlier this year the Big Raggedy enlisted the talents of Erin Cofiell. A short time before the storms the Deuce brought in Kristen Eargle to handle the duties on the bluff.

For years this beat has traditionally been a male oriented field. I know for Rod he had numerous reporters at his side while putting together the highlight reel for his station. For me I had only one for the last last few years.

This could be just what this market needs. A nice change of pace for the norm. Maybe this year the players will hang around just a little longer after the game, did you know?

Back to Normal???

That's going to be a little difficult to do but it's a vital step to keeping one's sanity. Last night the idea of mental fatigue was tossed around. I can see it's importance. The impact of a hurricane that crippled a region coupled with the threat of another storm can be trying.

Three years ago we experienced just that.

With that in mind we were able to find an expert who deal with mental stress. Her words just kept replaying in my mind, "You have to find some sense of normality in life". Easier said then done but for me things aren't too bad. My family is doing fine, their place didn't take too much damage and they got the ball moving on repairs. Just about all of my co-workers have their power back. So like I said things aren't too bad.

As far as this story, time wasn't standing still so C-Line and I had to move quick. We needed someone affected by the storm. So as we are driving to find a local gas station out of the corner of her eye she sees a lady sweeping. A really nice lady just trying to put things back together that Gustav shook apart. The gears start turning in my warped mind. Let's see interview plus sound of her picking up the pieces. I think we could make something happen with this one. Besides it beats shooting trees on power lines for the last couple of days.

As far as normality goes for me. I took the doctors advice and met up with some of the people at one of my favorite holes in the wall to grab something decent to eat. Now I hope my gym reopens soon to continue training. Oh yeah, I haven't forgotten about you XRAY TED.

One Long Day

Sorry about the lack of posting but it really has been one long day. Hurricane Gustav just turned everything on it's ear. I'm happy to say that me and family were blessed. My mom's house took some roof damage but the power is back on for them. Unfortunately most of the area is still sitting in the dark.

Right now we are just plain exhausted from the wall to wall coverage. From the Big Raggedy to New Iberia we were moving, mainly because we didn't have a choice from all of the wind swirling around. Word of advice, if hurricane force winds are rumbling down the city, try not to be the live camera during the continuous coverage. If you aren't that lucky then keep you head on a swivel you don't know what's flying around, did you know?

Let's Do This

Let's see, few hours of sleep, one hot dog, and a couple of cereal bars. That's about as ready as I'm going to get.

While I was catching those zzzz's, a pool camera was being install to deal with the mass collection of media gathering at the State OEP. This will free me up to deal with the local headaches Gustav is going to bring. Nothing like a little spot news to get the blood flowing for a long day.

Something, or someone, sparked this one. Good thing is no one was there at the time of this. Just so happens BRPD was just driving by saw it and called it in. And with no traffic to slow us down we were able to get in before the area was roped off. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

Surprisingly this was the only major incident overnight. I guess the fear of Gustav has something to do with that. Now to go and top off the tank. Then get ready for the wind & rain that's coming our way.