Sorry it's been so long since I posted. I've been tired, plus I've been having "connectivity" issues.
Today is the first day this week that my DSL has worked consistently. After refusing to allow me to sign on for four-days, it suddenly started working last night after I got home from work. Of course, that was after I stopped at K-Mart on the way in to work to buy a 12' long phone cord so I could see if the DSL worked with a phone jack in the room across the hall. Of course, it's a good thing the DSL started working with the current setup, because I later discovered that the 12' long cord isn't long enough. Yes, I are in Mensa. Anyway, it's working now, but it seems to be making some sort of beeping noise that I don't recall hearing before. Hmmm.
Yesterday was a killer at work. The day before Thanksgiving, and I certainly didn't want to be there. We had one nightbeat reporter, and he was working on a story that I didn't particularly care about - something to do with police being out in force on Thanksgiving Eve because there are a lot of people on the roads and it's a big party night.
Anyway, I wrote everything else in the newscast, then finally got around to writing the top story and lead-in for his story around 9 pm. I was also waiting for video from New York of preparations for the Macy's parade. When I called New York, they realized it hadn't been put in the server, so the woman said they would do it.
Well, 9:30 rolls around, and that's when shit starts happening. I hear a call on the scanner - crash involving multiple tractor trailers on Interstate 80 near Lake Harmony. My assignment editor is nowhere to be found, and the photographer I want to send isn't answering my call. It took about five-minutes, but I finally got him on the road, and then the assignment editor came back in.
I went to the graphics department to have the guy start working on a map for the crash story. As I get back into the newsroom at about 9:45, the assignment editor says that police have caught a guy who escaped from custody a couple weeks ago. They caught him in an area where they'd been looking for him earlier in the day, but we didn't put a lot of effort into the story then because they'd looked for him before and come up empty. Anyway, this time it turns out they really did have him, so I quickly wrote a story for the top of our 10pm newscast, then set about changing the 11.
First thing to change - the preshow teez. Put the arrest at the top and drop the Macy's preps since the video STILL wasn't in the server.
Next thing - delete the police patrol story that I waited all day to write, and rework the arrest story that I wrote for 10. Also, make room for the crash story. Notify the director that there will be additional graphics
Next thing - answer a call from a woman who wants to know if, at some point during the day, we ran a story about eight kittens. No clue. No time to look. Please call back. The anchor fielded a call from someone who needed directions to the airport. At 10:20 p.m. on a Wednesday. Get real, people!
Next thing - change the preshow teez again. The Macy's video finally came down, so it's in the show!
Next thing - rework the crash story. The photog on scene just phoned in with updated information. Efforting video.
Finally, it's about 10:30. I have to print the show so the director can mark it before the pre-show teez hits at 10:47.
After the newscast - I stayed for a while to put the story about the arrest on the station's web site. As I was finishing that, a guy called with a question about a story we ran on the Hokey Pokey. The Hokey Pokey! It's past midnight on Thanksgiving Eve. Couldn't that call have waited?
Now you know why I hate people.