Friday is ice cream day at the station!
Today has been a rough day. I know the shooting happened clear
across the country from where my station is, but that’s all we’ve
covered.
From how our local police departments are prepared for similar situations … to whether movie-goers are changing their plans to see The Dark Knight Rises … and even revisiting the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama history, which happened in our viewing area … today has been mentally stressful.
I’ve heard 911 calls, police scanner traffic … the chaos and panic surrounding that theater in Aurora, Colorado, was truly tear jerking.
My station has gotten several comments about how the media is fear-mongering. While our goal is not to instill a sense of fear in our viewers, the truth of the matter is that a situation like the one in Aurora could happen anywhere. To think otherwise is ignorant and naive.
Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those killed, injured or otherwise involved in that shooting, as well as to the first responders who had no idea what they were walking into but went in anyway. May God heal your hurts and your hearts, but may you never forget so that you are always aware of the realness of the world around you.
From how our local police departments are prepared for similar situations … to whether movie-goers are changing their plans to see The Dark Knight Rises … and even revisiting the deadliest mass shooting in Alabama history, which happened in our viewing area … today has been mentally stressful.
I’ve heard 911 calls, police scanner traffic … the chaos and panic surrounding that theater in Aurora, Colorado, was truly tear jerking.
My station has gotten several comments about how the media is fear-mongering. While our goal is not to instill a sense of fear in our viewers, the truth of the matter is that a situation like the one in Aurora could happen anywhere. To think otherwise is ignorant and naive.
Our hearts go out to the family and friends of those killed, injured or otherwise involved in that shooting, as well as to the first responders who had no idea what they were walking into but went in anyway. May God heal your hurts and your hearts, but may you never forget so that you are always aware of the realness of the world around you.
I had a conversation with one of my reporters the other day that was truly inspiring.
He's what we call a 'hybrid' reporter - he does news two days a week and sports three days.
This week he's been covering the desk while our main sports anchor was at SEC media days so we've spent a good bit of time together.
One night I asked him what he wants to do in this business - pursue a career as a news reporter or something with sports. I've asked this question of many people, and his answer was one of the best I've heard.
He told me that he had started to feel better about the news side of his job, but that on those days he sometimes wakes up dreading coming to work. With sports though, he's excited about what the day holds. He said that it doesn't matter where he is as long as he can cover sports in a way that matters to the people that watch him.
I wish everyone had an answer like that.
Let me start by saying if you haven't seen this movie, go rent it now. Go. Run, don't walk to your nearest Redbox or Blockbuster machine.
Quick synopsis: This movie is about a CIA operation into an impending terrorist attack that goes wrong. A team of Navy Seals is tasked with rescuing the agent.
Best part? They're played by actual Navy Seals.
Here's a look at one of the coolest fight scenes:
We're less than 3 months away from the big day. So what does that mean?
When I'm not working or sleeping, I'm working on my wedding checklist.
We've gotten a lot of stuff done, but there are still some big ticket items left to mark off. Fortunately, my fiance has been involved in almost every aspect of the planning and both of our parents are lending a hand.
We finally settled on a cake design. We're going to combine elements of
these three to create a unique cake that fits our theme and my
personality.
We're going to use the basket weave design for the top layer. No flowers though.
We're going to use the monogrammed letter for the middle letter. It's going to be a bronze-brown color to go with our rustic theme.
This is the cake that inspired it all. We're going to use the bottom layer as is, except with our colors - teal and orange. We'll keep the rick-rack on the middle layer - just changing the color once again - and add the monogrammed letter. The top will be replaced with a plain basket weave.
My dress came back from alterations last week. It fits perfectly, which means I can't gain or lose any weight. We left it at the dress shop though just in case. I'll go back next month for one more try-on to make sure no adjustments need to be made. While we were there, we picked out the tuxes for the groomsmen.
Our venue has been paid off. We'll be setting up the catering this week. Flowers have been decided on, just not ordered, and we're working on the music. We're also getting on top of our invitations - they go out in a couple of weeks.
So between all the final preparations and easing into my new role at work, I've been pretty busy. Once things settle down, I'll be able to blog more regularly. Until then, stay cool my friends.
This was the first 4th of July I've had off in the past three years. We spent it working on stuff for the wedding and watching fireworks, and if I do say so myself - these were some of the best photos I've taken of fireworks ... and they were with my phone.
I hope your Independence Day was as good as mine was!
