A quiet place to think out loud Who put the filling in the pie in the sky?
Tuesday, January 29, 2002
ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT
OK - before I get started - let me just say that this blog is causing me some trouble. I keep starting dinner and sitting down to write. I then forget all about what's on the stove and just write. Bi-Lo is making out big time on this scam (so are pizza delivery places nearby).
Today was one of those days in the news business that you live for - the ones when you really feel you got to the bottom of a story. We'll see how it all comes out. I feel bad that in our newsroom right now, the good news karma seems to be in one small corner - and the "pain in the ass" karma is in the rest of the room. But I work with very talented people who make it look easy every night.. no matter what they've gone through to get to their live shots. It will all even out.
I rarely go out on Tuesday nights. But tonight, four of us - on different sides of the karma situation today - but all exhausted and a little fried anyway - decided that spending some time together and enjoying a beverage or two (we call it "barley, hops, water and malt" - catchy, huh??) would be a good idea. Call it attitude adjustment. The steam blew off faster than Hurricane Bob touching down (which I now know from the bar room trivia game we played happened in July, 1979). As trivia players - the four news guys were useless.. but probably only because we spent the day at least trying to make the lives of 100,000 people better - or at least more interesting. Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday.
Oh.. and by the way.. in case you're wondering.. midwesterners have the least sex of any Americans. Another piece of trivia -
as long as you don't live in the midwest.
Except playing the part of the "Golden Road" tomorrow will be I-26. Playing the part of Jerry Garcia: several (still living) bureaucrats in suits. And - who would ever guess - the road leads to COLUMBIA. Egad (when was the last time you saw or heard that word).
We're now T-minus 72 hours until air time for this series. It's going very well - almost too well. I realize as I sit here at my desk looking over all we've done - that this is something of a new experience for me. It's an investigation - but there's no bad guy. Maybe that's why it seems easy - the people we're talking to keep saying it's a story that needs to be told. No lawyer telling me that the blue space above me commonly called the sky is, in fact, green. And, if I dare call it blue or imply such a thing on the air (even with the help of a highly trained team of FOUR meteorologists), I will be sued. Very cool.
Our fearless producer is staying one step ahead of all of the phone calls, statistics, people, places and things we're trying to pull together. This story really is his baby - I'm just along for the ride. Except for tomorrow's ride to a place I really don't like (it's like someone got a flat tire once and said - "Let's put the capital here - it's the hottest, dingiest place yet.") - I am actually anxious to see how it all turns out. As we like to say.. "Stay tuned." Actually, we don't say that anymore. It's lacking in its promise of viewer benefit. We could just try my favorite tease ever (from KGO-TV in San Francisco in the 1970's): Lesbian nuns. Film at 11. (Even with video rather than - I think I might still watch.)
As many of you around here know - I spent most of yesterday devoid of thought. It's my remedy for having too many things to think about at once - just shut them all out. And soon, the mind goes blank (I can hear the sarcastic jokes - and I know where you live). It's interesting - nothing comes in.. nothing goes out. I learned this from my father - you can shut out the world around you when you get tired - it's like taking a nap without closing your eyes. Of course, you have to stop sooner or later. So tonight.. I'm allowing only small, uncomplicated things in.. and producing only small.. monosyllabic thoughts (perfect for a news anchor you might say). Tomorrow.. I'll build back up to compound thoughts.. and by Monday.. I can start thinking about all the things I forgot to take care of on my "vacation" - like the dentist appointment I had yesterday at noon (and forgot about since, of course, I wasn't thinking about anything) - for the cavity that still hurts (wonder if I can stop thinking about that.. hmmmm).
The weather outside matches the general state of affairs inside my head right now. Foggy. This isn't a complaint - merely a weather forecast of sorts. It's mostly self induced - not enough sleep, etc.. and I can see partial clearing coming tomorrow after I remedy that sleep thing tonight.
What's funny is - sometimes when the part of my brain that I use most often gets a little cloudy.. other parts seem to clear up. I spent a couple of hours last night with a very close friend listening to music and staring at the kaleidoscope images his computer screen makes in time to the music. This is actually round 2 of this particular activity - with several (less than many.. but more than a few) of the songs being repeats from round 1 a couple of weeks ago. I just heard one of the songs again on the radio on the way home. It made me laugh out loud (the woman at the light next to be was very amused by me laughing by myself - so the smiles were spread).
I don't usually spend a lot of time thinking about things like why one person becomes a friend.. or why as a group we choose to do one thing over another. We all so often focus on "what are we going to do?" - that is after all, reality in most of our PDA-assisted lives. Times, places, actitivites, etc. The reality is - as I see it today anyway - the activities you choose with your friends are mostly just excuse to be together. Sitting in a basement throwing caps at a cup can't really be a goal in and of itself, can it? On my vacation recently, I drove two hours to visit one of my best friends on a Sunday night. We had no plans - did nothing except sit in his living room and watch TV.. and it was great night... we're still talking about it in e-mail.
So - here's to many more nights of staring at computer monitors, throwing caps at cups, sitting on the couch or porch (or bar stool) talking about anything and nothing. Here's to my friends... and thanks.
Sing to yourself: I can see clearly now, the rain is gone...
Speaking of being distracted at dinner.. (see below).. I just re-returned from the restaurant because when I opened my wallet, I realized that I walked out with BOTH copies of the charge slip. So, unless I returned with cash, the waiter would get no tip (they just run the card through for the amount of your dinner). Buyer Beware...
Some days are so bizarre... that certain things stick with you. It's especially interesting when everyone around you is having one of "those" days.. and you aren't. I kind of feel bad about having a productive positive day when my friends were wading through pounds of shit just to get their jobs done.
It's also an interesting part of my job - any reporter's job really - that your best days can come out of other people's worst experiences. One of my co-workers (also a friend) and I spent the day trying to find an person to illustrate a particular danger in our area. About 5 o'clock - we found him. We were excited - it had taken all day. Then I made the call to try and set up the interview - and heard a broken man on the other end of the phone. He pretended to be someone else at first - until I explained to him why I was calling. Then he just started telling me how his life was ruined by this particular experience. Tomorrow, we'll go to his house and have him re-live the entire experience for our cameras.
I sat during dinner with a couple of friends - still feeling a little dirty about feeling good about this "score". Let's face it - without him, or someone like him, we have no story. He's why people will care about this problem. Actually, all of a sudden, he's why I care more about this problem. I guess that's a decent reason to feel good about the day. And, of course, his willingness to do this will help us highlight an important problem here.
Now - and how's this for burying the lead - about the "brown liquid." Like I said, today was one of those bizarre days. So, when another of my co-workers walked into the newsroom late this afternoon and said the words I typed above - everyone just stopped what they were doing.. stared for a second.. then burst out laughing. He had just put on a new pot of coffee. That's how bizarre the energy was today - enough tension to make that hilarious.. and ease things up a bit for the last couple of hours.
We do something strange in television.. ok.. a few things. But one of the most interesting is we pretend to work for the camera - so that people will think we work for real. I had one of these promo shoots this morning. I sat and pretended to answer phones, type, walk urgently to a desk (not mine.. because the camera angles here aren't good).. all so that these shots can be edited together into a short (10-15 second spot) that makes it look like I work hard. Interesting for a business that deals in reality...
I do work hard - although it doesn't look nearly as good as that promo will. Today I found out I will be working harder. An investigation that one of my co-workers and I had been proposing for air at the end of February will in fact air - NEXT Thursday and Friday. Excellent. It becomes my sole focus from tomorrow morning until we get it on the air next week. In a way it will be nice to spend a few days working on one thing. On the other hand, I have to keep the other 10 stories we have planned for February "on hold" a little longer. This has gotten harder recently since our competition started emphasizing consumer and investigative stories. I don't think they do as good a job as we do - but they've already stolen a couple of stories from me.. so I spend more time "selling" to people who have a story I want to do - but can't get to for three or four weeks. Don't know if there's an actual point here.. or if I've already made one.
OK - so I stole that off a bumper sticker. Still - today, I sat down to begin organizing the stuff that will become my 2001 tax return. The first thing I did is have my trusty computer print out a list of everything I spent last year. Wow - nothing like being hit over the head with your own priorities. Perhaps I will make a couple of New Year's resolutions after all...
Over the next couple of weeks, this pile of papers will turn into another pile of papers which I will mail to my accountant.. who will, in short order, turn them into two copies of a third set of papers which I will sign and mail to the IRS along with another piece of paper I like to call a check. I will curse, then file the first, second and my copy of the third set of papers away in a drawer and vow to be more organized this year. Perhaps if paper became a deduction, we could all save some money.
This week, the IRS announced it was going to start doing more line-by-line audits. They say, they're doing it to gather information about how people cheat on taxes. So, 2,000 people at random will be subject to an extensive line-by-line audit. They'll each pay an average $1,000 to have an accountant represent them during the audit. So, in effect, they'll foot the bill for this IRS information gathering process. Here's an idea: How about they PAY for information like the rest of us. Or, at the very least, they reimburse the people in that group who did nothing wrong on their returns.. for the trouble. Make sense?
In case you can't tell - I had some time on my hands today. Fridays are my Sundays.. the day when I don't do anything unless I want to. Today, apparently, there was little I wanted to do. I did some cleaning, some reading, some errands, and some lying around in between each of those tasks. Tonight, I will drink some beer with my friends, then do more lying around (hopefully with my eyes firmly closed).
When I was in grad school, we'd occasionally run down the hill to the beach between morning and afternoon classes. Then, over lunch, we'd discuss (at length) whether or not to put shoes back on before going back inside. Often, we'd choose "not". (I hear they made some new rules after we graduated). There should always be at least one day of the week when your most important decision involves something as inconsequential as whether or not to wear shoes.. or where you will have a drink that night. It may not sound like much on paper (or on a computer screen), but it's about the best day of the week.
This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2
days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who
will, in the future, likely think before she speaks.
What happens when you predict snow but don't get
any....
True story... a female news anchor who, the day after it
was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the
weatherman and asked "So Bob, where's that 8 inches
you promised me last night?"
Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the
crew did too they were laughing so hard!
In our 6pm newscast tonight, you will find stories about first-time home buyers in a local county who were bilked out of millions of dollars by the people they trusted to help them buy their homes; and more reaction to allegations that a couple who had adopted dozens of kids decided to beat, starve and ignore them rather than hug, feed and love them. Since one of my co-workers has already expounded on the trust issue - I'll take a different approach: blame.
Don't get me wrong - this isn't "someone should have known." I've met the parents of those kids - I thought they were role models. (You can discuss my skills as an investigative reporter at your leisure). This is: someone DID know.. and it still happened. A doctor, a teacher, a neighbor, a social worker: somewhere along the line.. someone KNEW. In the case of the home buyers - MANY people knew.. for years. This isn't some isolated scam. This is a pre-meditated plan to ruin people's financial lives for profit. It doesn't just happen in one place.. it happens everywhere. It could be stopped in one minute. If everyone who knows about the problem (especially the lawyers and bankers who pretend it doesn't exist - or like to deflect the blame back on the victims) just STOPPED.. it would go away. It would take less time than you spent reading this paragraph.
The point is this - people like to think the most important four letter word in the English language is love. It's not. It's RELY. Children rely on their parents for love (and food, clothing, shelter, not being thrown down staircases, etc.). People rely on mortgage brokers and lawyers to help them sort through the largest financial transaction they'll make in their lives. It's one thing to have the person you rely on betray you. It's very easy to say someone should have known. There's a special place in hell for the people who did know - and let it happen.
Once in a while, I get a whole day to plan things. The best part (in case you missed the headline) is I put NOTHING on my face (except for the occasional hand rubbing a temple) all day. If you work in TV, you know how cool this is.
It's something of an oxymoron to plan news. But as we get close to our next ratings period (the month of February), thiings will get more and more planned. I set up eight stories today. It was supposed to be nine. The one I forgot - is the one I'm supposed to shoot tomorrow. DOH!
This is also the third blog I've started since yesterday morning. I resolve to actually finish this one. I almost published the unfinished ones - but deleted them instead. Don't like to be reminded of unfinished work...
It's my first week back from vacation - and I'm still trying to get through the "blahs." I usually feel this way for about a week after I've done something I really liked - especially with a lot of people I really like. There are also some decisions I have to make soon - things like what do I do next with my life, where should I live,etc. Nothing serious - just questions with many conflicting answers. The problem is - the answers are more mutually exclusive than just simply conflicting. I know what I want.. but Thing A and Thing B are on opposite sides of the country... and Thing C is only possible if I somehow manage to I align A & B. I just remembered why I hated algebra so much. So, sometime soon, I have to figure out whether A or B is more important.. because I have a hunch.. that the one I don't pick.. will be gone forever... or at least for a long time.
Here's the visual: when you sit on the top of the hill watching the sunset over the ocean, the water looks to be one color near the shore.. and another off at the horizon. There's also that middle area where you're not quite sure which color it is.
You've heard of sleep walking.. this is just an expanded version. I am quite convinced that I never actually woke up yesterday. This despite the fact that I got out of bed, drove, shopped for food, ate some of said food, TAUGHT A COLLEGE CLASS and attempted to clean the house before crawling very happily back into bed. There wasn't a significant brain wave between the out of bed/into bed parts.
It's all good - after one night of dinner and late-night talking with good friends to end a vacation.. a long day of travel.. and a night spent helping a friend celebrate his birthday (the word blur seems to have a particular significance).. I needed to Sleep.
We interrupt this program....
Ok.. apparently as I was waxing on about how awake and alert I am... I forgot that I started heating an oiled pan to make an omlette. The smoke detector reminded me. Maybe I need a nap... (The omlette by the way - was fine. The pan is scowling at me from a private corner of the stove).
I'll work on re-focusing (re ??) my thoughts... stay tuned...
I'm pretty sure I'm awake now. I notice, for example, the open window and the breeze flowing through it.
That, in my business, is a cliche. It pre-dates "Breaking News" as the cliche du jour. A somewhat rhetorical question for those of you who work in this business: If a crew has the time to shoot.. track.. and edit a package.. is it still breaking news?
If an anchor reads that a plane "crashes into a building" (eventhough it happened hours ago) does that somehow make it more immediate? The answer in LA appears to be "yes" on both counts. That's disturbing because this has always been where I want to work. I always hoped I could work here when I am experienced enough to deserve it. Seems a lot of the (very attractive) reporters here are much younger than me. One tonight didn't seem entirely sure which political party the Governor belonged to... and couldn't carry a two-minute story about the President's visit here - opting instead to just string sound-bite and audience applause one over and over. The whole premise of the story - a boost to the economy and recognition of Latino-owned businesses went largely unnoticed during her story. Oh well.
Back in the South - they're readying for more snow and ice. Tomorrow here - we could be dealing with wind chills in the Upper 60's.. a few hours in the sun makes all that TV stuff seem much less relevant. :)
I'm doing now - what I did so well for years. Sitting in the den.. with the door open.. watching the snow storm back east. Difference is - now I live THERE.. and am vacationing HERE. Anyway, it's fun watching it on TV with sand on my feet from walking on the beach. It's supposed to get warmer for the week I'm here and I plan to spend a lot of time on that beach. This vacation I will be focusing on three things: BEACH, BOOKS and BURRITOS. I plan to spend a lot of time with all three (sometimes all three at the same time!)
Otherwise - New Year's Eve was fun.. stayed up until 5:30am with friends. Drank a lot.. (not too much.. but enough to have fun).. and could really use some sleep. I think I will take advantage of the time difference and go to bed very early tonight..... mmmmm... sleep (now I'm repeating myself).
