Wednesday, December 07, 2005


Today was an exciting day at work. Air marshals shot and killed an airline passenger who claimed to have a bomb at Miami International Airport. I ended up pulling a double, but it flew by.

Here are my favorite moments from today in no particular order:

-- It was a media circus inside the airport. It was like a gigantic blob o' media hovering around security just waiting for somebody who saw or heard something at the D gates to come out. My reporter and I bought plane tickets and walked right past them all and WENT to the D gates. The exclusive stuff we got at the D gates made the CBS evening news. ;p

--Passengers crowded around me and asked : "What happened?", "Was somebody really shot?", "Why are all the police here?", "Do you know where I can find a book store?", "What is the fastest animal?". The Cheetah. Okay, I made up the part about the Cheetah. But in the midst of all the shooting related questions some guy actually asked me about a book store. Turn around and walk 50 feet, buddy.

--I considered not blogging about this... but I think I will laugh about it years from now when I go back and re-read this silly blog. So I was standing in the airport minding my own business waiting for my reporter to get out of the bathroom... A pilot approaches me.
Pilot: You look way too young to be a reporter.
Me: Yeah, I get that a lot.
Pilot: How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?
Me: I'm 30. (here we go)
Pilot: No! You can't be! You look like you're 18!
Me: (well at least he was closer than mike wallace who thought I was 12)
Pilot: I bet you get carded all the time!
Me: Even for rated R movies.
Pilot (very seriously): Listen to me, I've been flying to Central and South America for years and years. And the women are HOT. I mean THE-WOMEN-ARE-HOT! HOT!!
Me: (oh god. keep smiling. go away strange pilot man.) Uh, huh.
Pilot: Listen, They are so HOT, I don't date gringos anymore. But listen to me, You...You are equal.
Me: uh. Thanks.

Yeah... I am a psycho magnet for those of you who didn't know.

And now for something completely different! Look at how adorable Hartman is eating grass outside the front!

5 comments:

becomingme said...

The story about the miami airport shooting was of particular interest to me as i recently left miami. i kept thinking that it could have been me. i posted about my trip to miami if you are interested--or not. miami is...interesting, absolutely beautiful, and, unfortunately, the ocean was cold.

i must say i chuckled quite a bit about the interaction with the pilot--men are so poetic and really seek to affirm women's personhood and sense of selfl...or not.

Anonymous said...

You never know if a Federal Air Marshal, or FAM, will be on your flight.
You'll always know if there's a Rudy Marshal on your flight!

Lenslinger said...

Hi Angie,

My name is Stewart Pittman, but I write under the name 'Lenslinger'. My colleague Chris Weaver turned me on to your blog and though I've only skimmed it, I've really enjoyed it. When you have a moment please visit my own site, 'Viewfinder BLUES', as I think you'll find we speak the same language...

BeFrank said...

Word gets around quick when a new photog/blogger pops up. Nice work. I'm here by way of Stewart and Chris.

Nice to meet you.

Anonymous said...

angie, that pilot story is a riot. what people talk about during massive crazy exciting wacky crisis times always fascinates me. i'm glad you wrote about it.

(i'm here via amymalkoff, sister in law of you).