See the look on my face? I look like this because A) I took this picture myself with my camera phone and B) because I am editing in Final Cut bay 3. Do not get bay 3 confused with bay 5 which has the tear in the space time continum. Along the wall in bay 3 is where all of our field tapes reside. Everytime I get stuck editing in there, people come in every 5 minutes or so to get a tape. That actually doesn't bother me in the least. Once I get in the zone I wouldn't know it if a 2 ton florescent yellow elephant wearing a fushcia bonnet came in and sucked all the field tapes up through it's trunk. The problem is, everybody who comes in the bay thinks they need to apologize to me for interupting. Sometimes they even knock on the door and say "I'm so sorry!" and then grab the tape they need. I know they are being nice. You see the irony? I wouldn't be interupted if they simply wouldn't apologize for interupting. And the interuption would be doubled if I took the time to politely let everybody who did this know. So I decided to put up a sign:

I know it's blurry (darned 1.7 megapixels and low light), but it says "When entering to grab a tape you won't be disturbing or interupting me so long as you don't knock or say 'sorry for disturbing' me. :) Love, Angie"

I put it up in good humor and the people who know me know that. And, in good humor, this guy here on the left, let's just call him "Lt Col. Garcia of the SGC", knocks and walks in laughing out loud "Oh! SORRY! HAHAHAHHA! I need to grab a tape! HAHA!". He was followed by another fellow photog grabbing field tapes who pulled a similar routine. Oh dear... I'm never editing in bay 3 again! ;) Then there was the other reaction... the people who don't really know me well who really needed to talk to me about graphics or working my days off and so forth. They were walking on egg shells! I signed it with "love" and a smiley! Oh well. So funny. On the plus side of today, I was quite pleased with my final cut pro homage to Sci-fi Friday. My reporter changed a track, and I named the new track, "track: the next generation". Hey, it's the little things... :)

Speaking of the little things... Admit it... Once in a while you all sneak your reflection into your pkg's. :) Okay, I didn't actually use this shot. But it still got some airtime on my blog. :)

And now for a very special blog guest appearance from my friend Eric. I told him I'd put him in my blog... and uhm... here he is! This isn't the photo I took of him today in his bright orange LA County Jail t-shirt. I must remember to hit "save" on my phone after taking a picture.

"You can paint that house a rainbow of colors, rip out the floorboards, replace the shutters, but that's my plastic in the dirt." --John Mayer, 1983

The picture is from 1981, but everytime I see it that John Mayer song, 1983, runs through my head. This is my brother and me playing in our backyard in Kansas. Usually we would just work on digging our hole to China (never did finish the darn thing) or search for burried treasure (found that. of course "treasure" is defined differently when you're 6). For some reason I told him the dirt was makeup and it was extremely important that I put it on him. Soon, he had a mud mask from head to toe. After thoroughly enjoying myself, I then worried I might get in trouble for getting my brother so dirty. So I smeared some mud on myself, too. Dad came outside and asked incredulously "what are you doing!?" and then proceeded to laugh. Mom and Dad were cracking up and took this picture. Anyway, that's the way I remember it. :) Oh, and, uhm, sorry bout that little brother!

Time for me to continue catching up on this season of 24! We were moving when the premiere aired and didn't have tivo hooked up. D'oh! But, I watched the first 2 eps last night and WOW!

We're all moved in to our new place! I'll post pictures of the inside when the inside isn't overflowing with boxes. :)
There was a bit of drama during the move (of course). First, the movers didn't show. So I called the company and they said they would be a couple hours late. I thought that was a bad thing-- until I received the keys to our new pad and walked inside. I was greeted by a myriad of house warming gifts! To the left, meet 'Roachy' the roach. "Welcome home! Be sure and keep the lights down low, roomie!" he said in a squealy voice. To the right you can see "Pee Pee la Floor". Yes, there was dried urine on the floors. "Gross!" I exclaimed. Pee Pee la Floor took offense and made some crack about gaseous clouds around Uranus. Like I've never heard that one before. I'll spare listing you the other cast of characters and just say everything was taken care of, more or less, before the movers showed. Today, 'Mr. Always Running-Toilet' should be replaced.
So, how is Hartman adapting to the new place? She's used to moving. She seems perfectly happy exploring our new home. Then... the neighborhood stray stopped by for a visit... Thus began Hiss Fest 2006! Re-enactment:

As you can see, we no longer have a screened in porch. Heathcliff was able to walk right up to our living room and taunt Hartman. The amount of hissage was unbelievable! It was a hissing tennis match. They hate each other so much they started banging into the glass door, hissing all the while. This has happened 3 times. I may have to invest in a squirt gun... but not before getting this on video first! :)

Now on to work adventures! And this is something you will all find very exciting--- our awesome new chief photog bought me a brand new light kit! Okay, so this is more exciting for me than anybody out there reading about it... I'm moving to special projects starting next week (I do special projects during every ratings period) and I can't wait to put it to good use!

Yesterday, my story stunk. Literally. It was about a pelican named "stinky". He was rescued and taken to Pelican Harbor in Miami. "It's not so much the pelicans than stink as the fish they eat... well...actually it's not so much the fish as the USED fish." said the pelican harbor man with used fish all over his shoulders. There was 'used fish' everywhere you look. Take a look on the left and you'll see even the bushes were white with "used fish". It was worth wallowing in poo though for the chance to do a great feature story. Well, it would have been worth it anyway if we had actually been able to put the story together and have it air. The breaking news gods had other plans. That really stinks.

So we had to wash our hands and head out to the breaker. In case you didn't know:

For real? I found this in a gas station bathroom. Is there is sombody out there who needs these pictures to properly wash their hands? Notice the pictures never show the hands actually making contact with the water. If you know anybody who walks around with soapy hands...

Oh, here's something funny. Remember in my previous entry I mentioned we interviewed a family from Turkey who didn't get the "we all scream for ice cream" saying? Some random guy in a gas station recognized Dave and said "I really liked your story last night. That family from Turkey was great! There's something different about the way you do reports and I really like it.". Sorry if I've embarrassed you, Dave. But I'm proud and it's neat when other people recognize how talented you are. :)

BREAKING NEWS:

Hartman is bubbling over with cuteness today!

We've been busy moving. We should have internet access as soon as Comcast actually keeps their appointment. I have stories to share about roaches, gas station hand washing techniques and Hiss Fest 2006!

...I hate moving!! :)

The temperature dropped below 70 again in Miami. You know what that means! I get to do another "cold weather" story!
Wait! Don't stop reading yet! I have a fun story to share. A story behind the story. We shot our pkg at the Art Deco festival on South Beach. After shooting our obligatory dog in a sweater shot (which we tied in nicely to the 'Hot Dog' stand. heh)--we noticed a family eating ice cream. Turns out they were from Turkey. They spoke very good english... but, my reporter and I were about to learn just how American a certain ice cream addage is...
When we do a story like this we always try to have fun with it. Make it different. (though i can't resist shooting the doggy in a sweater everytime). Otherwise, we're just eating up 1:30 of the newscast telling the viewers what they already know from the weather guy. So, to get a fun response from the ice cream eating family from Turkey, my reporter said "I scream! You scream! We all scream for ice cream!". The Turkish Dad then says "Oh, okay," he begins issuing orders to his wife and 2 kids to stand next to him "now stand here and I will count to 3. Then we will scream 'ice cream'. Ready? Okay. 1...2...3... ICE CREAM!!". They took the saying literally. They thought we wanted them to look into the camera and shout 'ice cream!' at the top of their lungs. We thanked them and told them good job. hehe. It was a cute moment. And yes... we put it in our story. :)

Now it's time for Hartman's portion of the blog:


Thanks to Christine for pointing out Hartman's talent for album cover impressions.

Today was an okay day... But yesterday was a GOOD day! We did a story on the General Motors Collision Avoidance System. Why was that fun? Was it because they fed us lunch? Hey, I'm easy to please... Free lunch would make my day. As good as the tuna sandwich, potato salad and fresh fruit was-- the highlight was driving a car straight towards another car while trusting that this handy device will activate the brakes for us. On the left you see this little piece of technology--er--it will be little when it's finished in 5 years anyway---right now, however, it takes up the entire trunk. It can actually take control of your brakes if it deems a crash imminent. As Dave was picking up speed and heading straight for the shiny bumper ahead-- I felt like I was back in drivers ed. *flashback* Suddenly I was back in 1988. I was in the car with Mr. Whathisface and 2 other girls. For me, the nerve wracking part was never so much when I was driving-- as when one of the other 2 girls were. Not that I wasn't nervous... but one of the girls reeeeeally couldn't drive. I remember we were headed down the East side of McKay on past the cemetery when the one girl who could not drive suddenly SLAMMED THE BRAKES AND SCREAMED AT THE TOP OF HER LUNGS AND THE OTHER GIRL IN THE CAR SCREAMED AND THE TEACHER WAS GRABBING THE WHEEL THEN--- Finally, the car stopped... She had panicked because there were birds in the road. "Well, i didn't want to hit them!".... Let's just say the teacher made sure that we all understood that birds tend to fly out of the way of vehicles. *back to 2006* Our car kept speeding closer and closer to the other. Dave said he was just a moment away from hitting the brakes, but resisted. The device worked... though I'm sure you all figured that. It would not have been a good day if it hadn't! It waited until the last second it seemed. I guess in the future, cars will drive us around. I think we're a long ways off from that. :)

Later that evening Dave and I had take out. Look! My fortune cookie said you're all going to leave comments on my blog! ;)

So those are the highlights from yesterday. The highlight today? I was working alone and met a guy with the worst plumbers crack in the history of plumber crackage. Yeah. Cookie didn't metion anything bout that.

Here's something for all you Stargate fans out there. And I mean die hard fans. You have to be a die hard fan to get this or find it even slightly amusing! I found the funniest video comparing Stargate to StarWars. Now, and I know there will be some eyerolling here, but I've actually thought about their similar character formula. The person who created this video put waaay more thought in it than me! Enjoy! And remember new Stargates on Friday at 8p and 9p eastern on the SciFi channel! Hallowed are the Ori!

And now: an important message from Mr. T

(click on the above picture)

Working weekends for a CBS station during football season rocks! Often, we don't have our first show until 10p. What does that mean for us field crews? Well, for one it means our last show may not go on until midnight because of the game. But it also means---Dinner!

One of my favorite places to go is Boston Market. On the left is the BM we ate at in Margate, FL on Sunday. Why am I telling you all of this? Well, as it turns out, the most... blogable...thing of the day happened in this restaurant.

My reporter/husband came back from restroom, sat down and said "Ooookay. That was wierd.". Imagine walking into a restroom and finding the stall door wide open, with some guy sitting on the pot taking a bm (this time, bm does not stand for boston market). It made for great dinner conversation.

In keeping with the theme of this post I sought out a link to share with you on the history of toilet paper. I've looked it up before and it's really interesting, scary, funny, disgusting...etc In Rome I think it was, they actually used a public sponge on a stick dipped in salt water. In India they used their left hand. While searching for the link I found the site you see on the right. Notice they say "great gifts for christmas and chanukah!". Can you imagine?? Which is more shocking: Finding some dude taking a bm with the stall wide open or opening your christmas or chanukah gift of toilet paper?

And which is worse: using a public sponge on a stick or having to tell people who ask what you do for a living that you are president of Toiletpaperworld.com.

Food for thought...

Ironically, I was headed for a really long press conference held by an attorney.

I know the holidays are over... but wouldn't this make for a great holiday card?

Is this sign really necessary? Who in their right mind would try to pet or hold an alligator?

...nevermind... ;)

Dave and I spent our day off in the Everglades today! I know it's only been a week since Cruisegate '05... I know we swore we'd never get on a boat again without dramamine... but this was an airboat. Nice and smooth. And yes... the theme song to CSI: Miami did keep running through my head.

We saw some killer (stuffed) raccoons!

As adventurous as we are... No, we did not try an order of the snack shop's Gator Nuggets...

We enjoyed shooting pictures of all the wildlife...

And we took care not to be shot...

Later, We donned our coonskin caps (not really)...

...and went out for Sushi (really)! Mmmm.... For all you Miamians, goto Sushi Ko on Bird rd just west of the Palmetto! Best-sushi-ever!

There are plenty more photos of our day on our flickr site! Oh, and in case you forgot...

Hartman is super cute!!

Happy New Year! The photo above is Dave entertaining a crowd of 25,000 at last nights New Years Eve celebration in downtown Miami. You can see me on the left taping him in my super cool Green Lantern t-shirt!




While I was busy editing...



Dave and Waleed were busy making shadow puppets... :)

There was Disco...

There was the longest fireworks show in history...

But most importantly there was Nelly Fat Cat! What a crazy character!





2005 was a good year for us. Here's to all the adventures of 2006!