Day one of the mock newscasts is under my belt.

To give you a quick overview of my day - I haven't left the station since 12:30. I've done four shows - two for real and two for practice. I even managed to get an entire block of new news that I wrote myself in at 10:00.

If I could have taken a picture of how many people were crammed into our itty-bitty control room, I would have posted it for your enjoyment. We were packed in there like sardines.

For the most part everyone has a good attitude about the whole thing. Of course there are a few sour pusses who feel like they shouldn't have to do anything to aid in our transition, but since there are far more willing and helpful people than the grumpies it's easy to overlook them.

Actually rebuilding the shows for the new stuff wasn't bad. It was cool to finally get to see everything in action, but I definitely need more practice, as do the members of our production crew.

It took me an hour to redo the noon - partly because it's been so long since I've produced that show. I worked with two other producers on the 5:00, so that didn't take nearly as long.

The run-throughs were a little shaky, but what else do you expect the first time out of the gate? Everyone is still getting a feel for the equipment, and like I mentioned earlier there was quite a crowd in the control room. (I'll try to get a picture tomorrow)

However, with that part of the show taking an hour by myself, I'm still a little nervous about the real deal when it gets here in three weeks. I guess that's what all the practice is for.