Media Vultures

This job is hard. It can be ruthless, full of criticism and it can make you question your morals.

In the past couple of weeks we've reported so many deaths. Not of old people who had fulfilled their life's purpose, but of young people who it seems were cruelly snatched away from the families and friends that love them.

It's those stories I hate the most.

They're hard to write, hard to edit and hard to air.

And if you know the person involved, that makes it all the worse.

We're responsible for telling people's stories, but it sucks that all too often the people whose stories we're telling are no longer in this world.

People will call you a vulture, taking advantage of others' grief just for the sake of a story. But we don't enjoy it. No one wants to be put on death duty. Knocking on the door of a grieving mother/wife/daughter is one of the hardest things any reporter has to do. Invading on their time of mourning isn't something we want to do. It's something we have to do.

And in the end we try to piece together the voices of those who were left behind to tell the story of their lost loved one.

Make no bones about it, this job is tough in that respect.

Happy Halloween!

I Feel Like I'm Walking the Plank on a Sinking Ship

Just assume that everything you're doing or have done is wrong.

That's what it feels like when the boss is back in town.

Even when you have a legitimate reason for doing or not doing what you did or didn't do, it's going to be wrong. Maybe not today or the next day you do it, but you can bet by the time you get into the habit of doing it that it will be wrong.

It's that inconsistency that keeps me feeling like I'm on a sinking ship. We're bailing out the water and just when we get ahead of the flood, BAM! There's another hole and more water comes gushing in.

I love my job, and I love the people I work with, but the captain of our ship wields an unsteady hammer and the holes it leaves are never the captain's fault.

Everybody's Got the Money Blues

I didn't decide to go into journalism to make money. In fact, if money was my goal I'd be nowhere near this field. With that being said, however, I wasn't anticipating just how little I would be making.

I'll be honest, what I make amounts to what most people refer to as pitiful. There are times when I find myself choosing between gas and groceries. Gas most always wins seeing as how I have to get to work somehow to make more money (to pay for my gas).

I live by a budget (or at least I try to), and I don't have a credit card. I don't want credit card debt to compound my student loan debt (roughly one new car), which has been put off until next year because the payments became too much.

My student loan debt is overwhelming. I try not to dwell on it too much to avoid depression. At the very least, I wonder why I went to school in the first place. My job is supposed to pay it off right? Well, it sure doesn't seem like it.

And I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a job that pays more than minimum wage; I have health benefits; I haven't gone hungry yet; and although my car is rarely full I have gas to get to and from work. There are countless others out there who can't claim any of that.

People just like me, or who are worse off than I am or even doing better than me are marching on Wall Street in protest. While I admire that we're finally starting to stand for something, I have to wonder if we know what it is we're standing for or if we're even standing in the right place to begin with. I see videos and I read articles written by protestors, and they're all over the place. With no common direction, how can anything get accomplished?

What is Normal?

Most journalists cannot be classified as normal, myself included.

That's a fact.

We look at the world differently. We're conditioned to be that way.

Most of us are analytical, and sometimes when we're in situations outside of work we find ourselves asking the hard, uncomfortable questions regular people would never even think to ask.

Case in point:

One of my coworkers was talking about a friend of hers who's been having a rough time of it. Another reporter walks into the conversation, hears who it's about and asks, "Did she die?"

Such is our lives.

The Muppets Blog Post

Most of us grew up watching Sesame Street. It's where we learned to count or say our ABCs, and we all felt that those puppets were our friends. Even Oscar with all his grouchiness.

Sesame Street has always served a purpose, and for the most part it's been pretty open minded. It teaches kids how to love one another through all of our differences. And that's something a lot of people don't do nowadays.

Now, the show is introducing a new puppet. Her name is Lily, and she comes from an impoverished family that struggles to get enough to eat.

Lily will be introduced in a one-hour special called 'Growing Hope Against Hunger.' It's sponsored by Walmart and will feature real-life stories of families living in poverty. The goal is to teach kids about famine in a hopeful way.

Right now Lily is only slated to appear in the special, but the show's creators haven't ruled out bringing her back for special appearances.

Sesame Street has addressed various issues since it began back in 1969, including economic insecurity and having parents in the military.

Recently, what with the push for gay rights going on in the country, people have been pushing for Sesame Street to bring Bert and Ernie out of the closet. I'd like them to stay there.

While I support gay rights and am tolerable of their lifestyle, I wouldn't want my three-year-old child learning about homosexuality from Sesame Street. I understand that they will be exposed to it at some point or another, but Sesame Street? That's too much.

And what about all of us who grew up watching Sesame Street believing Bert and Ernie were best friends who were also roommates? Making them homosexual would be like telling all of us that Sesame Street lied.

And let me just say that when I was growing up, I never thought there was something weird about Bert and Ernie's living arrangements. Maybe I was naive, but what three-year-old isn't?

Bringing Bert and Ernie out of the closet is too much. Maybe the creators had some sort of underlying meaning when they dreamed up Bert and Ernie, but maybe just this once it was innocent. But even if it wasn't, children are supposed to be innocent so leave Bert and Ernie's relationship alone.

Pacman the Musical

First there was PacMan the video game. Then there was PacMan the movie. Now, there's PacMan the claymation musical! Enjoy :)

Perks of the Job

I'm not good at making friends.

I'm not the type of person to go out and find people to hang out with. I'm the type of person who bonds with people I interact with on a daily basis, so my coworkers become my friends.

It was the same in college, except I went out a lot more than I do now, which is basically never.

I've talked before about the worst part of my job - having to say goodbye to all of the great people I've been fortunate enough to meet. Well, the best part of my job is definitely all those great people.

The two lovely ladies who helped train me and get me started down this path.

My last station event as the morning producer with my two lovely hosts (plus the chief meteorologist).

My first Friday Night Football season.

Both of these ladies have gone on to bigger and better things, and I miss both of them daily.

One of my favorite reporters, who's also moved on.

I really have no idea what this event was. I'm sure they were feeding us though.

Salsa Night!

Employee appreciation steak dinner with my then-nightside reporter and one of our web producers.

We all had to work on the 4th of July so we (sports director and anchor) decided to play with sparklers on the roof :)

Coworkers past and present celebrating the nuptials of two of our own.

The lovely bride :)

Cheering on the media in our annual softball game benefiting the food bank.

Saying goodbye to our favorite sports guy.

All the people I've been lucky enough to meet in my short time in this profession have added so much to my life. I cherish all of our friendships and know that no matter how many different directions our lives take us in we'll continue to stay in touch and maintain our relationships.

For all the stress and headaches this line of work causes, the people make up for it.