Back to the Daily Grind

Here I am, back in Springfield and back to work. In the back of my head I was hoping to have a cushy day at work since it was my first day back from vacation... a nice, easy day to ease back into the work mode. What the hell was I thinking?! The News Gods didn't know I had a break. Anyway, there's no such thing as an easy day in television news.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better. At least it will be Friday.

Week 11: August 31-September 6

Hello from St. Louis! I'm taking a mini-vacation of sorts from work and am enjoying my time off back home in the Lou. So far so good, it's just going by way too fast. Anyway, here's a couple pictures from the last week.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008: Watched Sarah Palin make history by accepting the Republican nomination for Vice President.


Saturday, September 6, 2008: Enjoyed lunch at the Boathouse in Forest Park. The ducks also enjoyed our lunch.

Billy Bob's Got Hope

HEY ALL CARDINALS FANS... you gotta watch this video from last night's Leno. I caught the tale end of the conversation between Jay and Billy Bob Thornton. They were talking about Thornton's love of the CARDINALS! Jay tried to get him to give in and say he would like to see the cubs go all the way since the Cards are "out of it" (as Jay put it). But, like a true Cards fan, Billy Bob wouldn't give in.

To watch it click here, then click on the Sept. 3 episode, then Chapter 4.

Billy Bob's got hope.

Happy 1 Year

Today is my 1 year anniversary of working in Springfield. I guess it's gone by fairly fast. It definitely hasn't been a piece of cake moving down here. There's been ups and downs and a lot of adjusting, but I guess you can expect that with moving to a new place and starting your first job. All and all it hasn't been that bad. The past year definitely could have gone a lot worse.

Now, it's time to think about the future. In the TV business it's hard not to, especially when you're young and at your first station. I have a year left in my contract, which sounds like a long time, but really it's not. It's never too soon to think about what's next. It takes time to get a good resume tape together and once your tapes are sent out it could take a news director a while to get back with you or contact you to begin with. Last year when I was looking for a job, everything happened at once... literally. I was offered two job interviews in one day... and within a month I was employed. That was lucky. Being a producer will definitely help me get a job fairly quick, but I have a feeling my first experience wasn't typical.

There are some things tempting me to stay in Springfield, and other things tempting me to leave. Right now, I have no clue what I'm going to do. In the next couple months I'll have a better idea. For now, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing in Springfield.

Week 10: August 24-30

I had a visitor this weekend, hence the tardy post...

Thursday, August 28, 2008: Watched Barack Obama make history by accepting the Democratic nomination for president.

Saturday, August 30, 2008: Watched Mizzou football make history by starting the season #6... the highest start in school history. The Tigers beat the Illini in the Arch Rivalry game.

Sayonara Sun

The days are getting shorter. I really don't care for that.


That's all for now.

Week 9: August 17-23

Sunday, August 17, 2008: Celebrated a 3 year anniversary with Jason!

Week 8: August 10-16

Ok this is a couple days overdue, but I was pretty exhausted after the trip to Memphis.

Friday, August 15, 2008: Road trip to Memphis! First taste of true Memphis BBQ at Rendezvous.

Friday, August 15, 2008: This is Beale Street at night.

Friday, August 15, 2008: Went to Graceland for a candlelight vigil. It was the 31st anniversary of Elvis' death so thousands of people gathered to remember him. We were going to visit his gravesite, but there were hundreds of people in line... and it was 12:30 a.m.!

Saturday, August 16, 2008: Lunch at Neely's BBQ. They have a TV show on Food Network.

Saturday, August 16, 2008: Visited the Gibson Guitar manufacturing plant.

Saturday, August 16, 2008: Enjoyed some more BBQ, blues, and a few beers on Beale St.

Inspiration from Gene

Have you ever felt like you're capable of doing so much more in life than what you're doing right now? I had one of those moments last night, and it came at the most unsuspecting time...

So I was watching Gene Simmons: Family Jewels and he was spending some time in a veterans hospital. He and his daughter, Sophie, were talking with a man injured in war. He sounded like an incredible human being with amazing stories to tell. Gene and Sophie then visited with a Vietnam vet who was also in the hospital. Gene teared up while talking to both people (and if you watch the show you know this is quite an unusual sight).

After seeing that, I had this intense feeling inside of me that was striving to accomplish great things. I want to talk to interesting people of all walks of life, experience something besides sitting behind a computer screen every day, and feel like I made a difference in the world or even just one person's life. With the profession I'm in this goal is fairly doable. However right now and in the next couple years, I just don't see it happening, and honestly, I don't even think I want to do something so big so soon. Maybe something to strive for sometime in my future.

Memphis Here I Come

I'm going to Memphis, and I'm so excited! It will be my first trip there so I have no idea what to expect. It's a trip Jason and I kinda planned earlier this year, but fell by the wayside when gas prices soared. However, in the last week or so we've decided to go anyway. So instead of spending our 3 year anniversary in Springfield, we're taking the trip down I-55 to the home of the blues.

We got a cheap hotel room about a mile or so from Beale Street so I imagine we'll spend a lot of our time in blues bars, and the rest of the time stuffing our faces with BBQ for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hopefully we can make it to a Memphis Redbirds game and we might even make a stop at Graceland. We'll see. Either way this is the road trip I've been dying for the past couple months. It will be nice to see something new.