2006 World Champions...

THE SAINT LOUIS CARDINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nothing else needs to be said.

When Photogs Party...

...pictures are inevitable.


A little while ago, our good friend and fellow overnight photographer John Farrell was inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) hall of fame for managing to go 25 years without opening fire on random civilians. Of course since he's really only been in news for 10 years, it's been easier.

Anyway, to celebrate this, we (as in me, Sol (13), Peter (5), Joe (8) and Tony (3)) decided to take him out to dinner. After six thousand different attempts to make this happen, last Saturday we finally did it. The gang of us headed out to Hooters on Sahara!

Good times and inappropriate behavior was had by all. It's a good thing that our waitress, Jamie, was a good sport, otherwise it could have been a METRO wet dream, with them arresting the whole lot of us for some sort of disorderly conduct.

It was really fun hanging out with these guys, and I really wish I had taken that night off as I had to quit drinking early in order to be clean and sober for my shift. It would have been a blast to continue the evening with them as I hear some of them got stupid drunk. Too bad we don't have any pictures of that!

You know, when I think about this evening, I wonder... Do any of the other shifts have this kind of friendship among the competing employees? Some times I forget that we're actually competitors, since we've developed this bond and friendship. I don't think that could possibly happen on any other shift.

Why does it happen on overnights? Quite frankly because those who choose the overnights are people of the same ilk. We watch each others backs and we take care of each other. Why? Because there is no one else to do it. Hell, I think that if I was ever in trouble, I'd probably call one of them before I'd call my station, simply because I know they'd be there first to help me out.

I think about wanting to leave this job - leave this city - and I really can't imagine why I'd even consider doing this. The past year and a half has really been the best year and a half in my professional career. I've learned a lot, and I have made great friends like John and the others. Would I make friends like this somewhere else? Maybe. By why risk it?

Going all mushy for a minute but, I love these guys. They aren't just colleagues anymore. They're my friends and it's not something I would trade for the world. I really think that I've – THEY - cemented the fact that I will be here for a while.

John, congratulations on your milestone. Quite honestly though, if you are doing this in another 25 years, I might just have to kill you.

More pictures can be found here. Don't blame me for the size! Tony took them! There is video too, but I don't have the time to ingest it right now.

150K!

Last Saturday I took Unit 6 into a new club. The 150,000 mile club.

When you think about it, that's a lot of news gathering. Granted that only about 8,000 or so of those miles are mine, but still. Eight years worth of ambulance chasing, rough and tumble freeway and surface street acceleration, and driving through deserts, flooded intersections and up interstate shoulders.

The most interesting thing about it is that U6 still drives very well. Granted it doesn't like it when I go from 0 to the speed limit in under a second, but that is the fact of spot news chasing. It's the phrase I used in my video. You have to haul ass without actually hauling ass.

This will probably be U6's last year. If you happen to be at a Las Vegas used car dealer, and see a slightly dinged, 1998 Mercury Mountaineer with the vague outline of a 6 on the real tailgate, don't be scared away. Yeah she's been pushed hard, and those 150,000 miles weren't easy ones, but she's been loved and she'll love you back.

Oh, and if you find any loose change in her, its mine. Please return it.

Mixed Signals....

Sunday morning I arrived on a serious car crash where the fire department spent about an hour extricating a man from his vehicle. They had the roads blocked off, as they thought the crash might go fatal and they had a helicopter coming in to transport the man to the hospital.

So I pull up into a business that was closed and parked in the parking lot. I inadvertently pulled past their perimeter, so I was asked to back up a bit. I complied. It was North Las Vegas, and they are really cool so no biggie.

I back across the parking lot and pull into a parking spot. A cop starts yelling at me. (For the record, it was '300 feet away with loud fire trucks nearby' yelling, not angry yelling.)

"Don't park in the parking lot! Park over there by the NO PARKING sign!"

Who am I to argue with that kind of logic?

Once I was parked, and the rest of the media pulled up, NLV brought us past the perimeter so we could get good video of the extrication. I’d like to see THAT happen in METRO’s jurisdiction.

My Thoughts On Iraq

I was saddened on Thursday… After the Cardinals win I turned the TV to one of my favorite channels, The Military Channel. One of Discovery’s seven hundred franchise channels. On was a show called ‘Military Showcase’, one of their series, and this one was about Operation Iraqi Freedom.

There were two parts. The Push to Baghdad and A New Era in Baghdad. They were shot by US Marines in a tank division going into Iraq. The first was very interesting. The tank division pushed almost all the way to the Iraqi capital with minimal resistance. They lost only four men, and that was due to a tragic accident caused by fatigue; a tank driver fell asleep and his tank with four crewmen inside drove into a river and inverted.

The second part is actually the sad part. It chronicled the first few days in Baghdad. As the tanks and hummers rolled in, hundreds of Iraqi men, women and children greeted the Americans with waves, food, kisses and flowers. They chanted for joy, cheering their liberators.

Only one thing was missing.

The police.

The Baghdad police didn’t show up till day two, and then there weren’t a lot of them. Looting began almost instantly. The Marines in the tank division couldn’t do anything. The simply could only drive around with the working Iraqi police. American MPs were miles behind; and as a result, Baghdad turned to chaos.

That’s what really made me sad. The day we arrived, we were cheered and loved. Now, three years later, we are shot at; bombed; brave American servicemen are killed on a near daily basis.

What happened?

The general consensus I have been able to find on the internet blames the lack of law and order in those first few days after the regime fell. That helped start the insurgency. But that isn’t all that went wrong.

L. Paul Bremer III, the chief of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S.-run occupation agency, ordered the "De-Baathification of Iraq Society." What’s wrong with that? Because most of the Baathists were BINOs; Baathist in Name Only. Under Saddam, to get a good paying, government job you needed to join the Baath Party. These booted Iraqis were unpaid, and disenfranchised.

The military dissolved the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi National Police. The only policing coming from Coalition military police, furthering the growing feeling that it was not a liberation, but in fact an occupation.

Why were the military and police disbanded? It should have been pretty obvious from the lack of resistance coming into Baghdad that the military wasn’t really that dedicated to Saddam. To top it off, these soldiers and policemen were not paid, furthering their resentment towards the American ‘liberators.’

It saddens me even more now thinking about the fact that at least one of those smiling, dancing Iraqis that I saw, who greeted us with open arms, is now dead because of a botched military strategy. What pisses me off is that it seems that the administration refuses to admit that they really fucked things up. Not just made mistakes, but really fucked up good.

I don’t know if it’s the President’s pride or ego or what that won’t let him acknowledge this and fire Rumsfeld. But regardless, Mr. Rumsfeld and his inadequate planning and his refusal to listen to people who specialize in counter-insurgency type things (I’ll post some links later) is responsible for almost three thousand American deaths, multiple other Coalition deaths, and countless Iraqi deaths.

Sure, President Bush is ultimately responsible, as he is the one who sent our troops in there in the first place, but I honestly feel it’s the SecDef more so, since he’s the one in charge of planning this debacle.

I feel bad, personally, as I supported this war in the beginning. Even after no WMDs were found, I still supported it since Hussein was an all around asshole, and the Iraqi people are – well should have been – better off without him. Now, I don’t. I still support ever man and woman in uniform over there, but I can no longer agree with the decision to invade.

What to do now is the biggest question. Would withdrawing all US troops really be as bad as people make it sound? I don’t think it would be cutting and running as we’ve done almost as much as we can do. We’ve trained a new army and new police force. Neither seems able or willing to take control. US bombing and assaults don’t seem to help any, and short of another invasion with an additional 500,000 troops or so, doesn’t seem like it will help.

Our reputation is already stained. A hasty withdrawal doesn’t really seem like it would hurt us any more in the PR department than this screwed up war did.

And quite frankly the notion that the insurgents would hop on planes and fly back here to fight us in Seattle, New York, Detroit, etc. is simply ludicrous.

I’m not under the disillusion that a unilateral and immediate withdrawal is the best option, but when you consider that we’re limited to bad, worse and worst it’s not an option that should be immediately dismissed as it is now.

What ever we do, ‘staying the course’ has failed miserably. The battlefield has changed and so must our tactics. That’s not just me saying that. Several high ranking military officials – both former and current – agree. It seems, in this humble layman’s opinion, that winning this war is no longer possible. All we can do is work not to lose it.

My heart goes out to the families of each and every Coalition soldier, Marine and seaman lost in this war, as well to the innocent Iraqis murdered. My thoughts and best wishes also go out to those still fighting.

A Follow Up Of Sorts...

So for those of you who watched 'A Day in the Life', do you remember how towards the end I was being all sneaky and shit around the cemetery, since I was supposed to try and catch them exhuming a possible murder victim?

I remember trying to be discrete, looking for a place to shoot it without being to noticeable... Trying to be stealthy around the graveyard, not wanting it to look like I was looking for what I was looking for?

Two days later, the coroner sends out a press release saying 'Hey, we're digging up a body! Come watch! We even have special parking for you!'

They were far more tactful about it than I just was, but that was the jist of it.

Anyway, that was a couple of weeks ago. Today I was informed that I will have to go back there as the coroner is going to re-inter the deceased. And the department of side stepping (shoot heavy) has turned into the department of redundancy (shoot heavy, we're going to make a pack out of it).

*sigh*

Positives and negatives. Positives, I get some OT out of this since it starts at 8AM, and I know I won't be done by 9. Negatives? I have to work overtime... And there is the potential I will have to try and get family members to speak to me.

Though you wouldn't think that the coroner would invite us to something if it was going to cause an emotional hub-bub with the family.

Detroit Bound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In what has got to have been the greatest Game 7 I have ever seen, the St. Louis Cardinals have beaten the Mets and will now be heading to Detroit to play in their second World Series in the last five years.

The only thing sweeter than watching Carlos Beltran watching a wicked curve from Cards closer Adam Wainwright was seeing little Yadier Molina jack a two run homer over the left field wall.

Nothing makes me more frisky than a catcher kicking some ass.

Struggling third baseman Scott Rolen hit a hanging change up from Mets starter Oliver Perez over the same wall, but was runjacked by an incredible grab by Mets' outfielder Endy Chavez.

Redbirds' pitching was spectacular tonight, with starter Jeff Suppan allowing only one run on two hits, with two K's. It became a real nail biter though towards the end when in the bottom of the ninth, the Mets got two back to back singles and then a walk off of Adam Wainwright. With the bases loaded, and the Mets slugger at the plate, Wainwright got serious and smoked Beltran to clinch the National League title.

The birds have their work cut out for them against the Tigers, especially if their hitting doesn't improve. But I think both the division and now the league championship series have demonstrated that you can't count them out just yet!

((Pictures from SI Online and STLCardinals.com))

OtakuDispatcher?

Could a career change be in the future for ewink? Not likely, but it's something that I have been considering.

Since my temper tantrum back in August, I've been thinking a lot about my job, my career and the path I am taking. I have grown to appreciate my job a lot more in that time, but I realize it's not something that is going to be able to last forever.

As I have mentioned before, I probably don't have a lot of time left to where I will be able to walk without going through a lot of pain. So I would like to have something else I am skilled enough to do for a living before that happens.

I also realize that I will get burnt out on this job soon. It's inevitable, especially for someone like me who would never be happy going back to shooting press conferences, kitty farms and school openings. I'm a spot news junkie; I love chasing it and I can't see myself doing any general assignment photography.

That said, being around all this tragedy day in and day out really makes you depressed at times. I think the only reason cops can pull it off is because they also get the benefit of yelling at the media.

I, quite honestly, would like to leave the business before I hate it. It's always nice to leave something with fond memories.

But what to do? I am planning on still going to school next year to uber up my web skills. But what else can I do that I would enjoy?

Considering my desire to become a cop, the only logical step is to become a dispatcher. So I was looking around at different police departments to consider applying for.

Obviously I don't think I'd be welcome in Henderson. METRO is too damn big and quite frankly I don't think I'd be able to deal with the people who call 911 long enough to pass from call taker to dispatcher. North Las Vegas has a 1827 page back ground check I'd have to fill out, documenting my whereabouts since my birth. Too much effort considering the number of places I've lived.

So I decided on the Nevada Highway Patrol. 99.8% of their troopers are very nice, their dispatchers are also a pleasure to talk to and state employees don't have to pay into social security!

So I was chatting with Trooper Honea, their PIO about it. He told me about their relationship with the dispatchers. I've heard of some police departments where the dispatchers and the cops didn't get along. NHP sounds like they get along almost too well!

So I went to the Southern Command and picked up an application. The only problem is the pay. Unfortunately for my first year I'd be stuck between 30K and 44K (that's a pretty steep pay grade!), but by my third year I could be around 53K!

But I currently make mid 30's. I can't afford to take a pay cut, nor am I interested in doing so. Also, I would REALLY miss being out and about. Driving around, being outdoors, having independence... All of that stuff is what really makes my job great.

So here is where I am conflicted. Do I submit the application and refuse to accept any offer (assuming one is made) for less than what I make now, or do just not apply? Do I work more for right now and deal with tomorrow when it comes, or do I put more stock into what will be in the future?

I will NEVER get to $53,000 in three years in this job, barring winning some sort of jackpot. But I don't know if I will get the same kind of enjoyment out of dispatching (although it is a job I will like - I did dispatch at the armored car company I worked at for a few months and I enjoyed it).

See, this is why I need a wife, someone to tell me what to do. There has got to be SOME hot Asian chicks that are willing to settle!

Less ewink!

No, I'm not blogging less. There is just less of me, physically! After a week and a half of Atkins, I am 6 pounds lighter! YAY! Soon as I drop the other 627 pounds I will be gravy!

Mmmm.. Gravy sounds good...

∞ Inches of Rain!!

Just wanted to share some images of why my shoes are STILL wet! I love shooting weather though, and here in the desert where, before Saturday, we'd had less than in inch of rain all year, this is as close to a hurricane as I am going to get!


It started off with a single flooded intersection and some lightning...


Asshole taxi drivers splashed everyone!


Almost me!


It continued with another downpour and another flooded intersection! This one with water spewing out of a manhole! Yummy!


My shoes smelled like poopy getting this shot and they never used it. *sigh*


Morning came, cars got crashed and storms formed over my head within minutes! Clouds were moving all different directions. Back in the Midwest if you see that happens it means you will be soon be interviewing a fat redneck who thought it was a freight train that demolished his trailer.


Not even The Strip was immune! I'm surprised METRO didn't come and chase me away so I wouldn't show all the rain in this paradise!


It started raining harder and harder... People in the CVS I was near were wondering why I was giggling with glee...


Soon LVB was starting to get flooded!


Rain was hitting my face so hard it hurt! I could have sworn it was hail! The winds picked up and were making it semi difficult for me to keep my fat hat on my fat head.


Within three minutes there were white water rapids flowing down the sidewalks, and eventually onto the strip it's self. Before I left, the water - on the street - was up to my ankle.


It was worse elsewhere though. On Decatur the water was nearly to my knee. The drive into the parking lot I was in looked more like a Lake Mead boat ramp then it did a driveway.


Idiots continued to drive through it though!


Idiots like this guy who had to have the fire department come and perform a swift water rescue!


The rescue was lame though. He just jumped out of his car and onto the fire truck. I was expecting helicopters and Baywatch like hot women to run in slow motion and jump on jet skis and head to them. After that they would come to me and complement me on my filming skills and we'd do it on the sidewalk in front of Wal*Mart...

Anyway, sorry they aren't bigger. The pictures that is. Had to go from XD to DVC to MiniDV to Adobe Photoshop. See you all tomorrow!

Working Made Me All Wet........

Well, it did.

Twelve billion inches of rain in seven seconds! I love Las Vegas!

A Trip To The Principal's Office...

Less than two weeks after restarting my blog and I get an email from the news director.

Can you stop by my office in the morning?

I really wish they would just ambush me in the morning. I hate having to go the whole night wondering what the hell I did now! I'm trying to be a bit more civilized in my rantings. I really didn't think I had said anything to anger the powers that be. Oy!

So after sweating the entire night, and praying for some spot news that I could get some really good video of so that management would see it and go 'we can't fire him, he kicks ass!', I trek into the ND's office.

He didn't make me close the door, which I have to say, was a HUGE relief. Door closed, you're probably going to get a paddling.

Apparently a local police department read an old post of mine (( Started Out Like This... Ended Up Like That...)) and was upset about some of the things I wrote in there.

This police department is one of the most difficult ones for the media to work with. Now I will give them a little bit of credit here. This city is pretty much the safest area of the Valley. I am NOT knocking the job they do. They have a low crime rate and hardly ever have a fatal accident, and I believe they have only shot one person so far this year. They are a good police department.

They are NOT a media friendly one. Getting information out of them is very similar to trying to get milk out of a cougar. I've been told to go away... I've been told I have to wait till Monday at 9AM to get information (told this on Saturday morning at 2AM)... And they put up just as big, if not bigger perimeters around other activity. Police will tell you it’s for safety, but that’s nonsense. It’s to control content – to control what the media can see and what they can report.

There are times when they talk to us, or get us information right away, but that is the exception and not the norm. My understanding is that their animosity towards the press stems from a FOX 5 story that was very unflattering to them a few years ago. It was before my time, so I don't know.

What I do know is that I think it was a little bunk for them to call and complain to my news director about my expressing my personal opinion about the over all attitude of the police towards the media in this county (North Las Vegas Police does not apply). They don't like us; they don't want us around, unless they need us.

I don't understand why the police hate the press so much. Here's why.

The police and the press are on the SAME SIDE. The police have the responsibility to protect the people. So does the press. Here is where we clash though. The police are tasked with protecting the people from other people. The press is tasked with protecting the people from the government. The police are an arm of the government, so sometimes we have to go against the police in order to inform the people of what their government is doing.

I can pretty much speak for 95% of the press when I say we don't go to police activity with the thought in the back of our heads 'Man, I hope we catch the cops fucking up so we can bring them down!'

You know, we have the same attitude with the police as the police have with the people.

If you don't do anything wrong, you don't have anything to fear.

But you fuck up, and you're damned right the press is going to jump on it. It's a violation of public trust when the police over step their bounds. It would be a violation of the public trust for the press not to report this. The public tasks both of us with the job of protecting them.

Continuing on, I've had cops I know say things like 'We don't like you guys because you make a big deal out of our mistakes. A criminal beats the crap out of someone you don't say much, but a cop does it and its front page news for months.'

Yes, that's true. Want to know why?

Criminals are the lowest pillar of society. People expect criminals to be all around assholes. Cops are the top tier of society. The people give the police extra powers that regular citizens don't have. With the additional power comes additional responsibility and additional scrutiny. The people expect the police to be above beating the shit out of someone. If you aren’t willing to accept this, then turn in your badge (or don’t apply) and get an office job.

I appreciate the work of the police. But in order to get and keep our respect, you have to give us respect as well. You guys can get angry about what I write, but I suspect the only reason you do so is because it's the truth.

Clark County law enforcement, you want an example of how the police and the press are supposed to work together, watch North Las Vegas Police work. When on a scene, they don't bother us or try to control content. They don't treat us like the enemy just because we have cameras. They quickly get us information so we can properly inform the public (you know, if the police don't talk to us, all we have to go on is what that drunk idiot who 'saw everything' has to say...). They treat us with respect, and return they get the utmost respect from us. Keeping with the spirit of a transparent government, North Las Vegas gets an A+. NHP, you also get a good grade, despite my run in with an NHP trooper who was playing parking nazi and apparently has bad depth perception the other night.

The other cities and the county? Not so much.

A Day In The Life (Video)

TRT: 45:59.

Enjoy! Or don't. Whatever. Interesting facts and tidbits coming tomorrow!

A Day In The Life contains some adult language. Viewer discretion is advised.

(Grumble... Grumble...)

Day In The Life has yet to be processed by Google Videos (saves me bandwidth) and I am heading off to sleep, so the video won't be up till tomorrow. I know you will all be drooling with anticipation...

To encourage viewership, here's a screen capture!



Neither OtakuPhotog nor Erin Winking are responsible if the above is complete bullshit.

Dispatchers Say The Darnest Things!

One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is listening to the dispatch of weird calls. I need to follow John Farrell's 'alleged' example (I say alleged since he 'says' he 'has' funny tapes, but he's never let me listen to him. The bastard!) and start recording everything.

Here's a couple of examples!

DISPATCHER: Subject is 11-10 mary (wanted, misdemeanor warrant) for throwing a deadly missile from a vehicle...

?? Is there actually a man running around Vegas throwing AMRAMs at people? I don't know what scares me more. The fact that this man exists, and the fact that trying to shoot down other cars is only a misdemeanor!

Here's one Tony told me about:

DISPATCHER: Female had a baby in one hand and a 413 (gun) in the other...

?!?! That's scary in more ways than one! It's really NOT a funny situation, but when you hear a dispatcher say it like she was reporting the weather, it makes you laugh.

I will kick Farrell's ass tonight and get him to send me some audio files, for more humorous police chatter!

Also, A Day In The Life is coming TOMORROW (Tuesday)! It's rendering as we speak!! YAY! It's a 46 minute video, which may seem long, however you have to give me credit for being able to condense a nine hour shift into 46 minutes without losing anything.

Per Requests...

More video coming soon! Including an in depth look at the day in a life of an overnight photojournalist! Guest starring Tony and a confused assignment editor!

"TURN THAT GODDAMNED CAMERA OFF!"

Hizzah!

Resume Tapes Online!

Folks, here's a link for you if you are interested in putting your resume tapes online! It's www.rollcue.tv. They host your tape online and can even make dubs and distribute them for you. Pretty nifty service!

The preceeding was NOT a paid advertisement.

Of Course, What Happens?

I complain about having a slow night and what happens? Wednesday night, as I get into the car...

DISPATCH: ...man down in the front yard.
OFFICER: Copy, en route code...
2 minutes pass
OFFICER: Uh, F-D's advising 419.

Homicide at the beginning of my shift. It was domestic related and based on what the police told us, the guy who was dead pretty much had it coming. It's too bad that things had to escalate to the level that they did, though.

I personally will never understand why women stay in abusive relationships. I am sure it's not something that I will ever get, as a man, so don't try to explain it to me as it will only make me angry.

Moving on, after that I went and happily had some Starbucks with Peter and Sol. Afterwards I was told that I would have a shoot later that morning, as well as I live interview.

They didn't tell me who the interview was with, though. Good times. I love going to things that aren't set up!

Alas though, it wasn't all bad. I had time to run home and enjoy a quick bite and some time to think in my second favorite room of the house and then headed up.

When I arrived I said hello to Channel 3 who were doing live shots. The reporter went off and found a judge who was helping with the event.

I love it when that happens.

I watched and waited. As soon as they were done with their hit, I pounced.

"Hi! I'm Erin with Channel 8! Can we do an interview with you live?"

I am king of interviewee stealing. Beware when you see me lurking, people! I'm too sly. I've mooched in on interviews and no one has noticed till it was over with. I am the ultimate news gathering sonofabitch!

Hey, why should I do any work when someone else will do it for me?

I did go gather a couple of other interviews on my own. Mostly because Channel 3 went home...

The story was on 'Walk Your Kids To School Day.' It's an event to promote safety and I had fun shooting it. I was rather amazed by the number of kids (and parents) who didn't understand a lick of English, but I guess that's just the way things are now a days.

I was given instructions to 'shoot heavy.' I have no fucking clue what that means. My camera is already heavy, as is my body. I assume they meant 'shoot a package.' I really get perturbed when people side step things like that. Just tell me what you want for crying out loud!

Conveniently I finished up in just enough time to get gas, drop off the live truck and load into my car and leave the property at 8:59:59. I am sure it was complete coincidence.

The best part of the day was that there was really no 'down' time. the day paced its self out perfectly. We'll see if Saturday will continue the trend, or if I will go back to ramming my head into a tree in order to stay awake!

Sun Up!

Found this picture on my camera! Took it while driving down Rancho Blvd. Tuesday morning! Hope you like it! The sunrises are about the only positive about Dirty Hidden Vegas!


My cell phone cam doesn't take good sun pictures. I think I need to start carrying my other digital camera with me for that.

Slow Nights Suck Cheese!

While in my line of work having a slow night usually means that everyone in the city made it 9 hours without being tragically killed, I have to admit that I hate it when it's slow.

Tragedy in this town happens, and is going to happen. Las Vegas, away from The Strip, has got to be the most violent, crime ridden city in the United States. At least that is my perspective. So I just wish that when it happens, it happens between 12 midnight and 9 A.M., preferably not when I've stopped at Starbucks or for lunch, and not 15 minutes before I am supposed to be off.

When it's slow it's VERY hard to keep awake, especially when I didn't have a good days sleep to begin with. So in order to keep myself alive (as my producers would murder me if I fell asleep) I chase stupid shit that I would never go to otherwise.

I went to a robbery last night. Quite boring. But it is fun to watch METRO see me pull up and then string up a second line of police tape. I wonder if it frustrates them when I never get out of the car and then drive away 10 minutes later. I hope so.

I then went to a foot pursuit and a car fire and about three minor injury crashes. With all that nonsense that I drove too, but didn't shoot because none of it was newsworthy and certainly wouldn't make air, I still hadn't killed enough time.

So I drove up to North Las Vegas. Yesterday there was a kid with a gun at Mohave High School which led to a foot pursuit, lots of cops with machine guns, and two schools being placed on lockdown.

I heard NLVPD scurrying around, in case he showed back up. So I camped out at the NLV Airport and waited for something to happen. Nothing did, but I did manage to finish one of my manga I am reading.

Even after that it STILL was only 7 A.M. I finally said 'to hell with this' and drove back to the station and camped out in the control room for the rest of my shift. I'm pondering tonight driving out to Red Rock and trying the time lapse function on our new cameras and see if I can get some cool video of stars. If I can I will try and put it onto MiniDV so I can post it here.

STOP IT!

Come on people! Stop searching for

((Image used in order not to increase hits.))

I talk once about

and it haunts me for the rest of my life. Over half of the people who come to OtakuPhotog, according to my MapStats, come looking for


Either that or anime girls.

I have hired an outside public relations firm to take care of this issue for me. After his press conference, please be sure to read about my heroic return to blogging.

I Never Could Follow Through...

Ladies and gentlemen, OtakuPhotog (OP) has returned.

I have various reasons for this, some of which I will go into here.

I guess the main issue is the fact that I miss writing my blog. There have been so many times when I have finished the day and said to myself; 'Damn, that would have made a good blog story!' There is just so much weird stuff that happens that it seems like a disservice to people not to write about it.

Secondly, I got complaints. Complaints from other photogs, complaints from my friends back home... I had no idea so many people (I use the term 'many people' loosely as since I don't really know a whole lot of people, six is many) actually found my triads and discombobulated sentences interesting. Apparently they did. I know that my halting probably nixed a ton of my readers, but I hope to get them back by blogging often and goodly.

Yes, I make up words.

Thirdly, I realize by quitting the blog I allowed my own personal demons to win. I've allowed the issues inside of me to take control of my life far to often. My lack of self confidence keeps me from developing any relationships; my fear of failure keeps me from following through on things that could make my life better...

Well this is one thing that I am not going to let myself take away from, uh, myself.

The blog helped me with my writing. From the time I started the blog through now I have seen an increase of quality in my musings on here. My fiction writing has also improved. I think of the blog as 'personal development' with free feedback from the likes of Lenslinger and Mighty Dyckerson.

I expect a FedEx of poo from Stew now for referring to him in the same sentence as the Mighty One!

Anyway, what about what I said in my last posting?

I cannot have work taking it personally every time that I have a bad day. And regardless of what anyone says, they are going to happen. But like I said in my last post, I can't just write about the good days or the uneventful days. For this to truly be a blog about my job and my life, everything has to be included.

What about that? What's to say the same thing that forced me to halt my blogging before won't happen again?

I've really tried to change the way I think about my job. If you read my MySpace stuff you know that I went through a really quick health scare. My blood pressure was through the roof and I was having some pretty bad chest pains.

The pains seemed to just be a strained chest muscle, but the problem with my blood pressure was real. So I cut back on my caffeine, kept up my non-smoking (even though that right now I am in a temporary relapse), began to eat better and most importantly, I stopped worrying about shit so much.

I try really hard not to let the stressful stuff at work get to me now. I just stopped and took a look at things and realized, the job isn't that important.

I've had some opportunities to get stressed out again. I was sent in the sat truck to Hoover Dam when the highway was closed. It's about a 45 minute drive and we left 35 minutes before our hit (not my fault). Before I would have freaked out, bottomed out the accelerator on the DSNG truck and stressed out trying to make slot.

Instead I just took my time and relaxed. I knew we weren't going to make the slot, so why the hell should I get all worked up about it?

The way I look at it now is, if I am not going to get somewhere on time, or if I am going to miss an interview, why fret over it? I can either miss it and not be stressed out or I can miss it by just a little less and kill myself at 32.

People complaining to me about stuff is brushed off with gentle good humor. Personally, to anyone who has any issues with the way I do my job I say 'sod off.' I've been doing it for over a year and a half, so I must be doing something right otherwise they would have canned me (or worse, moved me to dayside). I'm not saying I don't accept constructive criticism, but there is a difference in that and bitching because I wasn't in a live truck this week; even though I was in one the previous 20 weeks and no one seemed to notice.

To Ron and Matt if you read this... I am not going to purposely do anything to cast a dark light on KLAS. But you have to understand, I am not anonymous and this blog is about working in news. News can, quite frankly, be a bitch. You guys have been doing it far longer than I have, so I am sure you understand. I also understand what I did and I assure you that I will no longer post something like 'Two Hours, Eh?' I'm not saying that I won't post about bad days. I will just make the posts a bit more constructive and not so vindictive sounding.

Anyway, the adventure begins again. To close my first post of the new era of OP, let me tell you a funny antidote.

Tony, the photog from Channel 3 calls me and lets me know that he wants to show me a remote controlled car. I had a shoot I promised one of the anchors I would come and shoot for him at Krave, an 'alternative' night club on The Strip. (Alternative is code for 'gay', by the way.)

Anyway, when I was done I called him and said 'Okay, where can we meet so I can see your toy?'

I then realized that I just walked out of a gay bar and asked another man to see his toy.

Good night! I'll be here all week!


A Utah Sunrise