Canada Wins Gold

I slept in late again today, but I was awake in plenty of time to catch the gold medal hockey match between the USA and Canada. I don’t have much interest in the Olympics but I do follow hockey and Olympic-level hockey is quite a spectacle, even on TV.For the most part, it did look like Canada outplayed the US, but the states certainly played hard. Ultimately, the United States managed to tie the game at two with 24 seconds remaining in the 3rd period. Canada scored a few minutes into the overtime period after a furious offensive.After the game, Dad gave me a ride to the station. I had to call in to announce my late arrival since I stayed home to watch the overtime. Things were reasonably quiet although there was a murder this evening. Both the news broadcast and the Final Play went pretty well. I called a cab home after running prompter for morning sports.

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Feb272010

Saturday

Like a lot of Saturdays past, I slept in a good deal later than necessary. I spent most of my pre-work hours watching Olympic Curling on TV and browsing around online.At about 4:30, the family including myself piled in the car. I got dropped off at Fox and Mom, Dad and Andrew went to Aunt Dionne’s birthday party. Work was a bit busier than usual. We were following a couple shootings in the area. The script was all done well before airtime. The newscast went smoothly with the exception of the weather program. The weather computers were giving Nicondra a lot of trouble. She never got an extended forecast graphic on screen and the segment went about a minute over time. Andrea was able to kill enough stuff to save sports for Rob. Only one sports story got dropped at the end.I left thinking I might meet up with my folks after work at the birthday party but I couldn’t reach anyone by phone so I just took a cab home.

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Feb272010

One More Entry for the Month

Yet again I am opening a log post apologizing for the dry spell. I think I will be renaming this feature to “The Log” soon.Nearly two weeks have passed since my last entry and there are a few events worth typing out but life has been reasonably quiet. Work has been reasonably uneventful. I wrote a couple rest-of stories last week but only one made air and it was heavily edited after the fact.A couple weekends ago I went out after work with Andrey and a couple others to go see From Paris with Love. It wasn’t a cinematic masterpiece but it was entertaining. Another night I went out with the same crowd again to a number of places around town. Yesterday I finally got my exam back in my military history class. I got a 74 which is rather pathetic. Later at nine was ballroom. Tonight was the first of four weeks of Jive. I haven’t felt as lost an inept since I first started ballroom. This week I decided to get a new phone with Wi-Fi. I don’t have or desire to pay for a data plan and with Wi-Fi almost everywhere I go I figured a phone with Wi-Fi would keep me happy. I bought a Blackberry Curve 8900 on eBay and quickly found that most of the apps require BIS to do anything online which renders Wi-Fi half useless. I sold the phone through craigslist today and bought a HTC Touch Pro 2, a windows mobile device.

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Feb142010

At Work

I thought I might go out this afternoon and meet up with Krystle who was planning on catching a parade but they didn’t make it downtown until I had to be at work. Jeff gave me a ride to WVUE. I gave him a little tour of the station when we arrived.I didn’t have much to do tonight either. I prompted the news and the Final Play show immediately following. Hall of Famer Rickey Jackson was on to talk about the Saints next season. At 10, I tried calling a cab with no luck. Nicondra agreed to give me a lift to town where I might be able to catch a cab. It’s was a long wait waiting for her friend to show up. Around 10:40 I was able to get United Cab on the phone and not long after one pulled up. Krystle was downtown until just a few minutes before that so I went straight home. Before bed I watched An Affair to Remember.

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Feb132010

Endymion Extravaganza

I had to work at Fox this afternoon. The station was running complete coverage of the Endymion parade and ball at the Superdome. When I arrived a good portion of the staff was there, all dressed up to go to the Endymion party. There wasn’t much to do at the station this afternoon aside from answer the occasional phone call. I was the only PA working like most Saturdays. Our parade coverage went late until 11:30 at which time our news broadcast started.I printed and prompted that show but it was the only actual work I did all night. Like yesterday, it was next to impossible to call a cab. Fortunately, I was able to get a ride with Kim. Her father picked her up and I got dropped off on Poydras in front of the Superdome where I immediately caught a cab home.

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Feb122010

Covering Friday

I went to work at the doctor’s office around noon today. After a couple hours there, dad took me to WVUE for the evening. I don’t normally work there on Fridays but I agreed to cover a shift for Dannah this evening. The evening proceeded largely without incident. Getting home was a considerable problem. Five parades rolled uptown today and when I was done at midnight it was impossible to get a cab company on the phone. Around 12:30 I reached a new cab company in town, but after a half hour nobody came. I got lucky at one in the morning and flagged one down that was driving down Jefferson Davis parkway.

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Feb112010

Military History Exam

I went to work at the doctor’s office this afternoon and took care of a couple discharge reports. I also got around to making some suggested changes to our initial examination form. At about four, Dad took me down Canal Street so I could catch the Tulane shuttle to campus. I did all the studying I could on the bus and in the classroom well before the exam started at about six.The exam consisted of five essay questions. We were able to select one question from five groups of three. For the most part, I was able to choose questions I had a reasonably firm grasp on the material. I’m not sure how well my answers will be received though. The professor said last week that an “A” answer would be laced with proper names and dates, which I’m not adept and remembering, even when I do study adequately. I did correctly answer the bonus question though.After class I caught the shuttle back to the Tidewater building. Dad worked late tonight and picked me up from there. Later this evening I watched The World’s Fastest Indian.

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Feb102010

Hornets vs. Celtics

I took the day off today intent on studying for an upcoming exam tomorrow. I didn’t accomplish as much as I would have hoped though. I didn’t start reading anything until Rush Limbaugh’s show as over. Early in the afternoon, Mom called to say a professor she works with was trying to unload two tickets for tonight’s Hornets game versus the Boston Celtics.I accepted the tickets and eventually got someone to use the other ticket. I called a cab just before six to get to the arena but it was almost seven when one finally showed up so I was late in arriving. Andrey was waiting at the main gate when I arrived. There was a very healthy crowd there but we didn’t have any trouble walking around and finding our seats. The game was about eight minutes old when we took our seats. At the end of the first quarter, the Hornets led 29-27.The Hornets fell behind in the second. Chris Paul’s replacement Collison limped off the court at halftime but returned in the third apparently fine. Collison alone turned over the ball 10 times in the first two quarters. By halftime, the Celtics led 55-43. The Hornets battled back in the second half and the Celtics weren’t doing well in the free throw department. New Orleans won 95-83.Andrey wanted to catch a movie after the game so we walked back to his car which was parked at the post office and he called David and a couple others. We picked up David and headed out to Elmwood where Patrick and another friend of Andrey’s met us. We saw From Paris with Love, a Luc Besson produced movie featuring John Travolta and Jonathan Meyers. I couldn’t call it cinematic genius but it was a perfect entertaining action flick.We headed back uptown after the movie. Andrey dropped me off and I caught a waiting cab at the Boot. I probably stayed up for a while to watch TV before bed.

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Feb092010

Saints Super Krewe

I went with Dad to the doctor’s office for a few hours this afternoon before heading to the station. Mom and a coworker arrived before we left. They were all going to the parade. When I arrived, we just started our coverage of the Saints victory parade downtown. We had a boatload of people along the route. John and Nancy anchored at Gallier Hall. Also there was our sister company, Horizon Entertainment which has some seven HD cameras and HD satellite production truck on sight to bring us some awesome footage of the passing parade. We had live truck broadcasting further up the route. It wasn’t until close to seven o’clock that the bulk of the parade reached Gallier where our most elaborate equipment was. Management made the call to bump American Idol by one hour and continue coverage from Gallier Hall. The timing of that last hour could not have been much better. The last float with coach Sean Peyton and the Lombardi trophy approached Gallier Hall with 10 minutes left in the hour.We did an evening newscast at nine which was almost entirely a recap of the parade with snippets of footage throughout. Scanners were quiet after the news. I wasn’t feeling very well during the show and afterward. Luckily nothing was going on this evening and Amanda showed up at 11:40 so I didn’t have a problem with leaving a half hour early at midnight. I got a cab in short order and went home to bed.

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Feb082010

Monday

Having stayed up rather late last night, I slept in this morning and skipped my shift at the doctor’s office. I caught a cab to WVUE for my 4-12:30 shift this afternoon. We were broadcasting live from the airport this afternoon for the New Orleans Saints arrival from Miami. We had a few people there covering some 15,000 fans who lined Bainbridge Street to greet the team. That coverage ended at four.As one might imagine, the five and nine news shows were swamped with Saints stuff. The late evening passed quietly and I was home before one.

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Feb072010

Black and Gold Super Bowl

Today was the big day. The New Orleans Saints playing in Super Bowl XLIV versus the Indianapolis Colts. As for me, I would be working at WVUE this evening through the game but would be free to watch it in the newsroom.As dad was concerned about possible traffic congestion and having a stop to make, we left early at four. Traffic wasn’t too bad in spite of all that was going on in town. Dad had something to pick up at Rite-Aid on Canal Street. I picked up some drinks, chips, ice and cups to bring to the station. I arrived at WVUE at 4:30. Plenty of people were already at the station. We had no pre-game broadcast but we did have a post game show to do. That was mostly the domain of people above my pay grade. Myself and the other desk personnel were largely free to watch the game which started at 5:30. The game itself, and what a game it was. It certainly didn’t start in fine fashion for the Saints who fell behind 10-0. The Saints answered with two field goals in the second quarter but the Colts had a fine goal line stand preventing the Saints from scoring a touchdown. The second half was the quite something. The Saints opened the half with a successful onside kick and turned it into points. Going into the fourth quarter, the Colts lead 17-16. The Saints scored a touchdown after a good drive in their first possession of the quarter and a successful two point conversion. In the closing minutes of the game, a Peyton Manning pass was intercepted by Tracy Porter and returned for a touchdown. With that, 43 years of waiting came to an end and the Saints won their first Super Bowl. I suspect the Saints have cured global warming.Immediately following the game I had to prompt our post game show although it was all live shots from around the city including Bourbon Street which erupted in celebration, perhaps unlike the city has ever seen. As our post game show aas not going as scripted in any way, shape or form, I was eventually relieved of prompter duties. Around 11, myself and Dannah were dismissed for the evening. By then things were pretty quiet in the newsroom even though we would remain on the air until one. I heard from Andrey who was in the quarter with some friends and went down to meet them. Danna gave me a ride down Canal Street as far as she could before hitting the traffic jam. That put me a couple blocks from the Claiborne overpass. I walked down canal Street and soon saw the most cheerful gridlock of my life. Everyone was honking. Some people were hanging out of their cars, standing of the roofs. It was quite a spectacle.I eventually made my way to Pat O’brien’s where I found Andrey, Patrick, David, Chelsi and another friend of theirs whose name escapes me. They were at Pat O’s waiting for me so we left when I arrived and walked around the quarter a bit. We stopped in a bar called Bourbon Oh! for a little while and wandered around some more. Eventually we made our way back to Chelsi’s car which was parked on Poydras Street. There were still six in our party including myself which made for a tight fit in the small car. Andrey, David, Patrick and myself were dropped off at David’s house. From there we went to Patrick’s place in River Ride so he could go home and Andrey could pick up his car.I wasn’t quite ready for bed yet so David and I headed back into town around three. We first stopped at a gas station and I went in to pee. As I was about to leave I noticed the next day’s paper was in stock. The Monday edition featured the Saints Super Bowl win with “Amen!” topping the page. Below that was a picture of MVP Drew Brees hoisting the Lombardi trophy. I bought six copies. I suspect I will be glad I did in the coming years. Nor David or I wanted to head back to the quarter so we went to Bruno’s and found it closed. Oak and Maple Street were deserted so we headed to a place that had to be open still, Snake and Jake’s. Sure enough there was a crowd there. We stayed for a couple drinks including the obligatory round of Schlitz. Shortly before we left, someone walked in with a couple boxes of cold pizza and proclaimed there was free pizza for whoever wanted it. He also said this was a limited offer… only when the Saints win the Super Bowl.David was kind enough to offer me a ride home. On the way we wanted to stop for something to eat. We waited until we hit General De Gaulle drive to try a place. Rally’s was closed. McDonalds was open but they were only serving sausage biscuits for some reason. We got four… no drinks though. We tried nearby Burger King for that but apparently they were closed. Someone was there to tell us though. We had to wait to get home for that. I finally arrived home around five in the morning and went to bed after quite a day, to say the least.

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Feb062010

Mayoral Election

I slept in this morning and woke up around 11. I fooled around on the computer for a while, mopped the kitchen and cleaned myself up to go vote. New Orleans is electing a new mayor tonight along with city council races, a new assessor, coroner and some judge positions. With Mardi Gras parades potentially being a problem, Dad and I left a bit early for me to get to work on time for five. I picked up some dinner from Five Happiness on the way although an hour after I arrived, a lot of pizza showed up. With the impending Super Bowl and tonight’s election, WVUE decided to do a lot of news coverage tonight. We scheduled an hour of Saints stuff at seven to be followed by three hours of election coverage. Finally we would have our standard half house news broadcast at 11.Unfortunately, we were preempting a NASCAR race, the Budweiser Shootout. The station was bombarded with complaint calls today in addition to the scores of e-mail we have received over the last few days. Since Fox 8’s viewing area extends far beyond Orleans parish, we had a lot of viewers on the Northshore and even Jefferson parish who were indignant.The polls closed at eight and we began our election coverage. John and Nancy were in studio with a political science professor from Tulane. We assigned a number of people to collect vote totals from 28 predetermined precincts decided by a gentleman we hired to act as an election analyst in the newsroom. It only took 10-15 minutes for the outcome of the mayor’s race to be apparent. The results we collected early showed vast support among black as well as white voters for Mitch Landrieu. We called the race on air at about 8:30. Landrieu got over 60% of the vote, more than enough to avoid a runoff election. Most of the other races were reasonably clear-cut early on. The only real drama was for the Council at Large seats. The two top candidates in the field were to be elected. Arnie Fielkow placed first. Jackie Clarkson, the other incumbent edged out Cynthia Willard-Lewis by about 1,500 votes in a tight battle for second place.Between reporting on the returns we had several live shots to go to with look lives thrown in as well. We were live from the Landrieu and Georges campaign headquarters. Our special coverage continued until about 11 when we started a regular half hour news broadcast which wrapped our election stuff and presented other news of the day, like tomorrow’s Black and Gold Super Bowl.

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Feb052010

Friday Off

Like a few Friday’s past, I took the day off. I got some laundry done but I didn’t really do any school work like I should have. I have a written exam next Thursday which I will need to seriously study for if I want to do well. I watched Caprica this evening.

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Feb042010

No Dancing

It was wet outside throughout the day today. Dad and I made it to the doctor’s office sometime around noon. I got a couple reports ready and shortly before five Dad drove me down Canal Street to catch the shuttle. I either missed it or it was running late. Dad ended up giving me a ride to campus which was a bit of work for Dad with the wet streets and rain. I didn’t get to campus as early as I usually do so I went right to Hebert for my history class this evening. Tonight’s lecture was concerned with World War I as it related to the American Expeditionary Force. Class was dismissed at around eight o’clock.Ballroom dancing was moved to Tuesday this week because there was a special swing dancing event at Reily. I wasn’t in the mood to go to that tonight. Before heading home, I stopped by the library to check out some books. I’m planning on writing a research paper on chemical weapons in the United States for this military history class so I picked up some reference material on that. I caught a cab home from the Boot. I think I watched some TV before heading to bed.

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February 2010

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