Figures.

Another example how life likes to shit on me at every opportunity it can. During my cleaning and reorganizing that still continues several weeks later, I found an old watch that I hadn't seen in years! I was thrilled, but the battery was dead.

Lucky for me the jewelry store across the street does watch batteries, so I went over there and paid 15$ to get the batteries replaced.

Not more than 50 feet from the front door, the rubber band breaks. Wasn't cracked or anything, it just.. broke.

Every victory, even the small ones, are quickly turned into defeat. And people wonder why I don't believe in God. (Okay, I might be over reacting and being a drama queen, but still it's a telling indication of how things are going!)

Remember Your Hippopotamus Oath!!

It's a line used by Homer Simpson in an episode where he had a heart attack. He says to Dr. Hibbert, "Well, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger, right?" Dr. Hibbert chuckles as he does and replies, "Heavens no! In fact this has left you weak as a kitten." Hibbert then goes on to pester poor Homer by poking him, taking his nose, things like that. Homer then cries out, "Stop! Remember your hippopotamus oath!"

This is of course in reference to the Hippocratic Oath, which doctors tend to take and in part says 'you shall do no harm.'

Of course this should not be mistaken for 'you shall not hurt your patients.'

Finally, after about 8 months of on again, off again pain, I went to the doctor today to have my shoulder looked at. I go to the University of Oklahoma clinic, since that is where the hospital sent me after my first seizure. My normal doctor wasn't there, but the doctor I had seemed nice.

But of course since OU is a learning school, the first doctor who saw me was an intern (like Zack Graff's character on Scrubs). He had me move my arm and and listened and felt me up... Usual doctor things. He determined that it wasn't damaged or dislocated or anything, just that some of the cartilage was inflamed.

He told me he'd be back with the OU version of Dr. Cox.

When he returned, the overseer doctor wanted to verify his underlings diagnosis. Unlike Dr. Intern, he was a bit more rough with me, bending my arm, purposely, in the directions that it hurt. I don't think getting kicked in the junk would have caused as much pain as that guy did! I wanted to cry out like Homer, but having major pain being inflicted on me seemed to dull my sense of humor.

None the less, when he was done, he agreed with the intern and I was told to just take Advil. So, I will. But if it doesn't get better, I need to go back, which might be impossible. It was very hard to get an appointment. In fact, the next available date with my regular doctor is in October... I think I need to switch to a smaller clinic.

So, what's caused this, you may ask? Well, it started in December, so I blame the wreck. But it may also be from work, since many TV news photographers develop shoulder issues, though not usually so quickly (I have only been doing this for about 6 years).

Of course I will keep you updated, since I really don't have much else to blog about.

Follow Up; Stupidity Reigns...

My own that is. After I finished my rant and I was lying in my bed with CNN rambling on quietly in the background, I had one of those 'D'oh!' moments.

I realized that I can get all my DVC videos onto my computer the same way I did the cardboard man standoff and the few other news stories I have on here.

DVCPro to MiniDV. There is an adapter that allows you to put a MiniDV tape into a DVCPro deck. I have a MiniDV camcorder, and all the necessary cables and software here at home. And of course now I feel like a moron for not thinking of that before.

None the less, I still hate Macs.

Macintosh And Gizmo

I could essentially sum up this entire blog entry in a single sentence.

I hate Macs.

No, let me fix that. I FUCKING hate Macs.

There are hundreds of reasons to hate Macintosh, including the fact that they are nothing but the attention starved little brother to the PC that try so hard to be just as cool as him. But my reason is a little more personal.

As part of what I am calling Operation Clean Sweep, which is an attempted to reorganize my life through both physical cleaning and reorganization of my personal effects, I am trying to turn dozens of Beta and DVCPro tapes into neatly organized DVDs.

So first I put all my Beta stuff on DVCPro. I lucked out as FOX still had a BetaSP deck. SP is quickly becoming extinct, so I am glad I did this while I could! Then came the more difficult task of digitizing the DVCPro tapes and putting the stories on DVD in a file format I could upload or otherwise share.

Here is where Mac comes in. It seemed like a pretty simple task. I would ingest my video into Final Cut Pro, then export it as a file. Rich, our news engineer, who is a Mac nut himself, explained it as a simple 4 step process. I decided tonight after my shift would be the perfect time.

Once the show was over I moved into Edit Bay One with my box of tapes, my freshly purchased DVD-R's, and the desire to complete this as quickly as possible. The problems began as soon as I sat down.

No, I didn't break the chair, but what I did notice - or more accurately fail to notice - was that this tower didn't have a DVD drive. Of course that is impossible because how else would you install the software? I looked all over and noticed a could of sliding doors. I managed to pry one open and see that there was indeed a disc drive behind it.

But there was NO FUCKING BUTTON to open it! I checked all the menus. There was eject, but it was shaded - probably because the drive was empty. I searched and searched. Apples version of My Computer, ironically called 'Finder', didn't even acknowledge that a DVD drive existed. Finally, after about 15 minutes, I declared that the Mac had won, and left Edit Bay One dejected and pissed.

Now I am sure some MacAssHat will tell me that it's simple to open the drive. Fuck you. If it were simple there would be a fucking button on the front that says EJECT on it. My computer has two drives, both of which have buttons on the front of the drive that open the tray regardless of whether or not there is a disc inside.

I wasn't entirely defeated though! I grabbed the keys to our live truck that has a Macbook in it and darted outside. I powered everything on and noticed that there did not seem to be a drive on this one either! WHAT THE FUCK??!! However, I did find it, camouflaged in the front of it. Just a little slit. Like a Mac vagina, kind. I inserted the disc and smiled. The Mac, much like my PC, asked me what I wanted to do with the blank DVD. Well, I had a lot of work ahead of me, so I told it to ignore it for now.

Big mistake.

An hour and a half pass as I ingest all my video into FCP. I take my first video file and set my in and out point and then go to export. Lots of options, most of which included words I don't even think were English. But Rich had told me to do Quicktime, since that would ensure comptability. So I chose that and waited the 2 minutes for it to write the file. I then of course checked to see if it was in my 'burn folder'. It was.

It was 2.8 mother freakin' gigabytes!

Jesus Christ on a fucking pogo stick. That was a 1:47 package. I wouldn't even be able to put another package on the disc!! Screw that! So I messed around and found that FCP won't let you export as anything else unless you use a program called 'Compressor'. So I did and despite the fact I was unable to export to an AVI (I chose MP4), I managed to get some stuff ready to burn.

Here's the fun part. I click on the seemingly to convenient 'Burn' button on the folder. It told me I need to insert a blank DVD. I told it I did, very loudly, probably confusing the drug dealers and hookers in the motel parking lot across the street, but it insisted that I hadn't. Fine, I conceded. I will just eject the disc and reinsert it.

Macbook was having none of that and refused to acknowledge there was even a disc in the drive. Every DVD related program refused to let me eject. Even the DVD Player, which had an eject button, beeped defiantly at me every time I clicked it. And of course, since some fucking Einstein decided not to install an eject button on the front of the drive, my disc was trapped.

At that point I told the Mac exactly what I thought of it, it's bigger sibling in Edit Bay One and that fucking douchebag on the commercial, and deleted my files (after I took 5 minutes using 'Finder' to find them). I then left as if I were to stay I am sure I would have destroyed it and would have certainly been fired and left with a $2,000 bill to replace that piece of shit.

So in the end, I still have a box of DVCPro tapes to move to DVD and no way to do that. Quite frankly I think I would rather go out and rent a DVCPro deck and do it at home than ever deal with a Macintosh again. And be warned. The first person to tell me that Macs are better than PCs... I will hunt you down and punch you so hard in your cock...

I had considered buying a Macbook as my next computer, but not now. I will deal with the viruses and the crashes in exchange for simplicity and the ability to customize. And eject buttons. Whoever thought that there shouldn't be eject buttons... I hope you get AIDS.

But Erin, STFU and tell us about Gizmo! Okay. When I announced to my friends in Vegas that I was leaving the bright lights, glamour and crime of Las Vegas for Tulsa, I was taunted and told that I would now be stuck covering 'cats in trees'. I of course laughed that off. No station covers cats in trees!

My first day I was sent with our Solving Problems photo John to the following story.

I didn't shoot any, I was just there to watch and learn. I may have mentioned this before. But now you can see the video, courtesy of b-roll.net TV.

Fail...

Hardcore, sickening fail.

I speak of CNN and its viewers/readers. As well as those who view FOX News' website.

Here are some facts:








What could very well be a major conflict that could end up causing the United States to deploy forces is going on in Georgia. Something that could cause disruptions to the supply of oil - Georgia has 20 or so thousand cubic meters of oil flowing through it. Something that is an INVASION by the Russian military...

No one cares.

I don't get FOX News channel (though I doubt O'Reilly and the like would ever talk about anything other than liberals) nor MSNBC, but CNN has barely mentioned it. What's been the focus tonight?

John Freakin' Edwards.

And us. Americans... What do we find important? Edwards. Sex changing athletes. Things in the larger scale that do not matter.

I have CNN on right now. Finally, now at 9:30, Anderson Cooper has found some time to talk about the war. And now, 9:35, all done.

Enough of that bitching though. Here's my opinion on the matter.

Between 1994 and 1996, and then again in 1999 into 2000, Russia used their military to attack and destroy separatists in Chechnya. Russia, under the rule of Boris Yeltsin for the first war and Vladimir Putin for the second, exercised their right to maintain their territory. Thousands of soldiers, irregulars and civilians killed.

August 7. Georgia exercised their right to have control over their territory, and launched a military incursion into the self governed, yet not independent (not a single country in the world recognized SO's deceleration of independence - including Russia) region of South Ossetia (SO).

Russia, who had granted the residents Russian passports and citizenship, decided what was acceptable for Russia was not so for Georgia and launched an incursion into SO. This incursion has expanded with, as of the time I am writing this, Russian troops moving outside of SO and into Georgia proper. As well, Russian forces have landed in another breakaway province, Abkhazia. There have been air strikes on Georgian military and civilian targets.

In my opinion, Russia has clearly violated Georgia's sovereignty and internationally recognized borders. Russia must withdraw immediately and unconditionally and an international and neutral peacekeeping force needs to be deployed to SO.

However the likelyhood of that happening is slightly between none and zilch. The UN, which has once again proved what a pointless organization it is, has tried for 4 days to draft a strongly worded resolution telling Russia to stop.

Of course since Russia can veto anything that comes before the security council, it's an exercise in futility. Right now Russia can tell the rest of the world to STFU and do what it wants.

So, what can America do about this?

Some armchair politicos have said Georgia's actions were encouraged by the United States. I doubt that very much. I cannot see the CIA and other military advisers not seeing that this would piss off Russia and egging the Georgians on. Besides, Georgia cannot join NATO if it is annexed by Russia - which to me is what this looks like this is headed for.

Right now it looks like the only thing we can do is what we have been doing. Making frumpy faces and telling Russia to stop. Our military is too over extended and tied up to force Russia out - not to mention that it would draw us into an even bigger war that - god forbid - may turn nuclear.

Europe is in the same state. While they may have the military in place, the EU has never done anything militarily. Also, both Europe and the US needs Russia to help keep Iran in check. Although after the WMDs in Iraq stuff, I don't know how much I believe US intelligence reports that Iran is indeed looking to build nuclear weapons.

What COULD happen is other former Soviet republics, afraid that Russia might come for them next, could supply forces or at least logistics and non-military aid to Georgia. The Ukraine has already barred Russian warships from returning to their Ukrainian ports, so long as Russia continues to occupy Georgia.

All in all, what is happening will impact the United States for the forseeable future. And it would be nice if the media and the public would realize that and stop focusing on nonsense and crap that doesn't affect a single person.

Sucks to be London...

Or Vancouver, though I don't think as many people pay as much attention to the Winter Olympics as they do the summer Olympics.

At any rate, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at London Olympics Organizing Committee's office after they watched the opening ceremonies in Beijing.

"Bloody hell, how are we going to top that?!"
"'Ell if I know. I quit."

It was a SPEC-FUCKING-TACULAR show put on Friday night. Long as hell - I missed the live cast due to my cleaning work so I had to stay up for the replay - but amazing. My only gripe is with NB-freakin'-C for cutting to commercial when they did fireworks.

Also I think I am officially sick of Matt Lauer and Bob Costas.

None the less, props to you, China. Ironically I don't think anyone in China would actually be able to read my blog, due to the Great Firewall.

If you want to see some pictures, check out NBC's Olympics Homepage. While you're there, check out the pictures of Dubya hanging out with Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh. There is a great shot of him checking out Misty's 'hand signals'.

BLAST From the Past! Standoff.

Yo!

I am in the process of cleaning, part of which involves taking my old tapes that I have sitting around and converting them to QT so I can store them on my computer.

Anyway, as I find stuff I like, I will post it as a BLAST from the Past!

My first one is by far my favorite story I have ever done. This was from back in Springfield. I was dispatched to a neighborhood on the southeast side where people had reported a man in army fatigues holding an M-16 (or MP5 or whatever it is the Army shoots people with).

Springfield police arrive and sure enough, they see the man standing in a doorway! Well to make along story short, they get the sheriff's office, and their long guns and start yelling at the guy. A different man comes out and is taken into custody. He explains that he is an Army recruiter and the man they saw was a cardboard cutout he put in his doorway to advertise!

Police and deputies move in and sure enough... It was a cardboard army dude.

I love it.

Here's the video.

Cardboard Man Standoff!

Faith?

As I complete my third or forth (I honestly cannot remember which) week of editing, I have come to determine that my station must have incredible faith in me.

A lot of people assume that since I was a photographer who edited my own work, I would be able to slip into an editors position quite well. But there are differences between editing a package and editing 263 VO/SOTs.

First, when it comes to editing your own work, you already have an advantage as you know exactly what you shot. You already have stuff in mind to use and you can already picture what most of your pack is going to look like. Of course this is all blown to hell when your reporter hands you a script that was not even closely written to the video. In fact the script has several specific references to things that you did not shoot. But you can still make it work by just saying 'fuck it' and using your cool, irrelevant shots anyway.

Second, you have track to work with. When you edit a VO for an anchor to read, you need to go over the script several times - and try to remember how the anchor reads despite it being over a year since you watched a newscast - to try and make sure all the video and cuts match what the anchor will be saying. With track, you just listen and make the cut when necessary!

Of course you can always say 'fuck it' and just put whatever video where ever, but then you have anchors and producers yelling at you and news directors jabbing you with sharp sticks.

Thirdly, if you don't like something, or you think something needs to be added, with a pack you can go to your reporter and demand they add it. Reporters are afraid of photographers since we have both the raw tapes and access to YouTube. Producers do not fear editors. If I were to go to a producer and tell them I didn't like something, they would laugh loudly at me, then burn me with their cigarette or maul me with their dog. Neither of those are very pleasant.

In this case the best option is to say 'fuck it' and remain in your editing stall.

Anyway, the faith my station has in me is astronomical. My very first day of editing, I was put on the noon show.

Alone.

Just me.

No one else.

Only Erin.

In fact, throughout my week, I edit four shows by myself. To be fair, the noon show does have a number of re racks from the morning show, but there is still a LOT of shit for me to cut. I arrive at 10, do a few of the things that are ready, then wait till 11:30 when I get 374,098,312 scripts.

Somehow I have managed to pull it off. Except one day that was fraught with breaking news and video that was sent to me unedited... I missed two teases that day. It broke my heart to fail, but I quickly remembered the two words that make everything better.

'Fuck it.'

I mean what can you do?

I tend to surprise myself with my own inability to really do this job well. Let me further qualify that by being a little self righteous and say that I have not had one other job - ever - that I did not do adequately or better. But to be quit honest, I suck at this!

The show today was written quickly and well by the producer and the anchor helping out. Scripts were coming off the printer early and I got the incredibly complicated open to edit in record time.

Yet I still found myself racing to get stuff sent to the server before it aired. I completed the 9PM show around 9:30, which quite frankly is asinine. I attribute some of that to the fact the show was very VO heavy, some had to be edited from raw tapes, some from archive, and some were national stories that had to be re-edited. (On a related note, fuck you Fox News Edge Affiliates and your VO/SOT/VO/SOT/VO/SOT format. Bastards. Send all the VO first, then all the SOTs!!!!!)

Regardless, It still sticks in my craw that it took me so goddamned long to finish.

So to remedy this, I think I am going to take more of a 'zen' approach to editing. Find a 'zone' and see if I can get myself in it. I will no longer edit the stories. I will be the stories. I will not allow the faith management has placed in me to be in error.

In fact, I will become the best editor ever.

Either that or I will just say 'fuck it.' Haven't decided which yet.