Sunidesus Speaks

The very first time I TD'd by myself (TD: technical director... the person who pushes all the buttons on the switcher) I just about had a panic attack. And that was on a 2 M/E Ross board that was really quite simple.

This is a 3 M/E Grass Valley board that's older than I am! And it doesn't work very well... and you have to use TWO DVE's (they do effects) and a massive router because the board isn't big enough for all the sources that we use.

But... I TD'd an entire show today for the first time. My trainer (Goatee'd TD) was sitting right behind me, but I did it! And I didn't freak out too badly either.

So we're making progress...

And, an added plus... I think my killer headache that I had all day has finally given in to the massive doses of ibuprofen I've been shoving at it.

Just got to work and discovered that there's no 6:30 show! WooHoo! That means I get to sit here and do not a lot for a couple hours.

And there's a Packers game on Fox right now. (Yep, I seem to be well on my way to being converted) They just need a touchdown and they'll be back in it.

Hey Syn! Have you heard this before?

Click "download funny sound"

I think I remember you telling me about something similar to it once, but on the off chance you haven't seen it I'm sending you to it!

I have a question to which I think a certain band geek may know the answer...

Goatee'd TD swears he remembers an instrument from high school band that none of the rest of us can figure out. He says it looked kinda like a clarinet, but it was shorter and a little bit fatter. Like the end of the clarinet got lopped off. It was a woodwind, but every single woodwind instrument that we've come up with he's said no.

Any ideas anyone?

I just talked to one of the teachers at a dance school up in Boston and they have an adult class that sounds wonderful. It's a mix of beginners and advanced, they charge per lesson and it's only $9 per lesson! It's a two hour class which means drinking lots of water and ho boy will I be sweating, but if I can figure out work schedules then I think I can start taking classes again! Wee! The teacher sounded really nice on the phone too. She's Irish so you've got that great accent thing going on which is fun.

OK. I'm excited and I'm babbling, but that just makes me very happy!

Well, I just checked with Goatee'd TD on the mystery instrument. It isn't an oboe or an english horn. So we're back to square one.

What he describes sounds like an oboe, but he keeps saying that's not it.

So no idea!

So are you all ready for the adventure I had last night?

To start off with there was a Patriots game on CBS and we did a live post-game thing afterwords. I wasn't directing it because I've never even seen one done yet so myself (and the new TD who has the same name as me!) just watched so that we'd have some idea of how it works. The show itself was all live, constantly changing, no real plan, and two producers who didn't have a clue what they were doing. And of course that's just a tad on the stressfull side for the crew! Five of us decided to go out and hang out at a bar that's near work for an hour or so before we went home. Unfortunately last call was just before we got there.

On to Plan B...

We'll go over to one of the guy's houses and hang out (Pats/Red Sox Fan). He has a pool table, one of the most amazing arcade emulaters ever, and two very cool dogs. And there was alcohol for those that drink. That was actually a lot of fun. Just hanging out and messing around. I mostly played with the puppies who were a blast. A big friendly "Don't ever stop petting me" golden, and a mut that was just so cute and friendly.

Around 2ish it was getting to be time to go home. Same Name TD and myself had riden there in Goatee'd TD's car since Pats/Red Sox Fan lives a 20ish minute drive from where we were and it was silly for all of us to drive all the way there and then all the way back to get to our respective houses. We were almost back to where we left our cars when It Happened...

We got pulled over.

Not a huge deal, we weren't doing anything wrong, no one had more than one beer and that was at least an hour before. Or so we thought!

Turns out Goatee'd TD's registration was more than a year expired! While we sat waiting for the cop to run the plates Goatee'd TD said that his car was going to get towed. That seemed kind of excessive to me, but he's from here so he knows what the rules are.

The cop came back and forth a couple times and on his second or third trip to our car said that the car's plates had already been re-issued so the car would indeed have to be towed. And now Mr. Goatee is telling us that we're going to have to walk to our cars! From where we were that was probably a good two miles. Which isn't a huge tragedy, but it was probably 2:30 in the morning by this point and at least 10 below zero.

Of course the cop wants Same Name TD and my licenses. And neither of us have gotten Rhode Island stuff yet so now he's got a Wisconsin and a New York license and a car that's registration expired more than a year ago. Yeah. We don't look strange or anything.

After a few more trips between the cars he announces that he will give us a ride to our cars. Hoorah! But first he needs Same Name TD and I to go in his car and give him our current info since the info on our licenses isn't really up to date. I know mine is still my parent's address and everything, nevermind that I've had two addresses since then.

Now I've been in cop cars before, not because I've done anything wrong mind you! He told us to get in the back seat. When Mr. Cop tells you to do something, it's generally a good idea to do it.

I've always thought that the seat in the back of a cop car is the same as the back seat in any other car. Apparently not! It was this hard plastic thing! I gotta say it felt very strange sitting in the cage on these hard seats. You kinda feel like you did something wrong even though you know full well that you didn't.

Meanwhile Goatee'd TD had to get his baby seat out of his car and put it in the trunk of the cruiser that had driven up at some point during the proceedings.

We finally got to our cars, gave Goatee'd TD a ride home and went our seperate ways.

And that was the adventure for the evening! Quite the thing.

Of course last, but not least..... Go Packers!!!!!

You're not supposed to throw an interception in overtime! That's generally a bad idea dude.

How much I love snow?

It's been snowing on and off since very early this morning. Everything's all white and beautiful. I guess it's supposed to snow a bunch on Thursday-ish too. Horrah! We now have the snow to complete the cold.

I have no idea where this list came from originally, but I found it at Laura's place. It's not the AFI list, but beyond that I don't know.

100 movies, bold the one's you've seen...

Found this nifty link in a roundabout way from a link on LA's blog. It's the ACME Chocolate Registry!

Just in case you were wondering what kind of chocolate to get someone, now you can look them up!

It's a common practice in newsrooms to call hospitals or the cop shop to get the condition of people who have been in accidents or for whatever reason are in the hospital.

The guy on the desk tonight managed to get the phone number for the room of this person that was in a car accident and is in the hospital. So he called it. He told the person who answered that he was calling from the news station and he was wondering if they'd be willing to release the condition of what's his name.

The next thing out of his mouth was, "Oh, well what's your condition then?"

He was talking to the person himself. Needless to say the entire newsroom erupted in laughter.

Just when I've got two days off in a row for the first time in almost two months, I think I'm getting sick. My throat has been getting more and more sore as the day goes on and now I've got a headache and I'm just kinda sore all over. Yick!

I'm sick, exhausted, and just found out that the morning director is in the hospital so I have to be in at 3:15 tomorrow morning to learn how to direct the 3 hour morning show. Ack! So much for my two days off.

It's 4 in the morning and I'm stuck at work until 1 this afternoon. I got maybe 45 minutes of sleep last night, I'm sick, and this is the most messed up show I have ever laid eyes on.

And I'm going to have to do it the next three mornings too. I'll have a TD which is good. Normally the morning guy TD's and directs. (INSANE!) The one fun/goofy/good thing is that the TD'll be TD Same Name so that means all three of us with the same name will be working the same shows the next three days. That'll be fun. But beyond that... nothing good about this.

I want to go back to bed.

Halley is showing off pictures of her super cute teddy bears. They're Gund bears, the softest most adorable stuffed animals ever.

And they have a website! Just look at all the different cutie pies. They even have Classic Pooh. And bunnies, and frogs, and of course all kinds of bears. Very cool.

I got home from work Friday around 1 in the afternoon. Between then and noon today I slept for all but about three hours. It felt soooo good! I only got 2 or 3 hours a night all week so the massive sleeping was completely necessary.

I only have to do that morning show one more time (Monday) and then I'm back to nightside, horrah!

I have to say that having a control room full of people who all have the same name was quite fun though! We kept messing with everyone. The guys in the tape room or audio would ask what we were laughing about and we'd say "You have to be a Laura to get it." It was fun. I'll miss that. But I most certainly will not miss sitting in the same place for THREE HOURS without being able to move, or getting up at 2:30 in the morning. But we did have a lot of fun.

I'm mostly just very grateful that I finally got sleep.

I just saw the trailer for Anchorman and I can't wait till I can see the whole thing! It looks absolutely hilarious. Anyone who's ever worked with a full of himself, totally clueless, complete schmuck of an anchor needs to see it. I was rolling on the floor just watching the trailer.

I can breath through my nose again!!!!!

Just thought you'd all like to know.

I just read this quote by Dennis Miller:

"At least I come out upfront and tell people about my politics. He (Peter Jennings) sits there and displays it through subtle poker (expressions) all year long — the raised eyebrows, the arch tone of the voice. We get it that he's liberal. We get it that he doesn't like Bush. Just come out and say it!"

Just now and it cracked me up. He's so right! I like Pete most of the time, but it's blatantly obvious when you watch him how he feels about things. They'll come out of stories and just the look on his face gives it all away. I'm sure he thinks he's not showing anything, but it's quite clear if you watch him for a while.

I actually like Dennis Miller. When he was on Monday Night Football it became something I could tolerate and occasionaly enjoy, as opposed to something I avoid at all costs. I think he's funny and he doesn't play to the lowest common denominator. He's got a brain. I like that.

And this one comes in sand. Set aside 5 minutes of quite time and go watch zand. It's stunning.

Link from Laura

I've been trying to work my way back to my normal blogging routine. I tried to catch up with everyone that I normally read, but that was just too overwhelming for me. So I changed my approach! I started with just a couple blogs, and I've been slowly adding blogs here and there as I feel ready to.

And please, no one get offended if it takes me a while to get to you. I've just been mentally unable to deal with very much lately. I'll get there eventually, but I'm taking it slowly because I don't want to freak myself out again.

At any rate... today I decided to pay Solly a visit. I'm not sure why I waited so long since he always makes me laugh and feel better. And of course while I was there I picked up a meme!

I realize that there's lots of MT plug-ins out there. I've known this for a long time. I'm pretty sure I downloaded one (although I can't remember what it's for, I should check my plug-in directory) I was looking up some info about MT Blacklist since I really need to install it and I came across this site which has TONS of different ones! I'm going to have to play now. I haven't re-designed anything around here since I upgraded to MT, it's about time I start fiddling again.