What would you do?

I hope this never happens to me. Although if it did, I'm not sure I'd shove the guy's face on live TV. I love the anchors' reaction.

Oldie but a goodie

I've spent all day trying to pretend I know something about computers and file transfers and editing and digital video and blah, blah, blah. I'm irritated now. I'm simply trying to get old programs saved on my DVR transfered onto my computer so I can edit them. That is much, much easier said than done. 

Anywho, I needed a break so I went Youtube browsing. I came across this. Many of you might have seen it before but it's still worth another look. This is the "God Warrior" from Trading Spouses. This one crazy, crazy lady. It'll make you thankful for the mother you have. It gets real good about a minute in.

Yikes.

Peevish

On long Interstate drives...when the cars around you can't maintain a steady speed. Why do they have to pass me...then watch me pass them a few minutes later...then repeat the cycle. Cruise control people! I'm using it so I know you are not.

People who call attention to their own birthdays. One or two mentions are fine...but don't go overboard. It really ticks me off when they say, "What are you doing for my birthday?"

Overly sweet coffee or tea. Why do Starbucks baristas look at me strange when I ask for just ONE pump of syrup?

Waking up early...although my definition of early has changed since I started waking up at 3:00 am.

Slow hikers. I'm destination oriented. I'm sorry. Just accept it and let me book it. Please don't ask me to slow down or "wait up." If I'm hiking with you I know I've already warned you that I like to go fast.

People who don't accept alternative lifestyles...and by that I simply mean those who think you're abnormal because you're not married and raising a family.

Chronic tardiness. It isn't that difficult to be on time. I promise.

Reporters who say, "take a look behind me" or "just over my shoulder" in live shots.

People who don't like animals. How is that even possible?


I think that's it for now...but I reserve the right to add an addendum to this post.

Wow

I guess everyone's weighing in on Michael Jackson's death. I will too. Whoever first referred to him as Wacko Jacko couldn't have said it better. He was a bizarre human being. But it's obvious he had a HUGE impact on the entire world. I'm not exactly sad. Just shocked I guess. 

Like many people, "Thriller" is always the first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Michael Jackson. I don't remember a childhood transfixion more confusing than that video. I was scared of it. I was drawn to it. I remember a little panic attack when it would come on the TV. Yet I'd never leave the room to avoid watching it. For some reason, I'd always focus on one specific female zombie in the group dance. (I'd have to watch it again to tell you which one it is. I think she was wearing white). My "favorite" (or the most terrifying) part was when the girlfriend barricades herself in the house and they start breaking in. What a video. 

People will remember him in many different ways. I think it would be awesome if everyone did their best to learn the "Thriller" dance and then let 'er rip in a big group performance. That idea brings a smile to my face. 

Preggers

Here's the deal. 

Back on June 1, I officially had 9 months left on my current contract. I made that realization and immediately thought, "that's the length of a pregnancy." I've taken that theme and run with it. 

It's an interesting time for the news biz. I have no idea what I'm going to do early next year. I suppose I'm torn between several different goals and aspirations. I won't go into them here. I just know that, like a pregnancy, I've got to be ready when the time comes. Much like a soon-to-be parent, I feel unprepared. 

So yeah....I'm pregnant. 

If I throw myself a baby shower will people bring me presents?

Why I Caved

I'm a tweeter. 

I've been one for about 4 hours now. I expected to feel more ashamed about it but...I really don't. Over the past few months I told many people that I wouldn't join Twitter. Honestly, I'm not quite sure I ever believed myself. I was hoping for the Twitter hype to die down and then feel comfortable with my refusal. Then, two things changed my mind: the Iran election drama and the social networking password controversy in Bozeman. 

We've known for a while how a site like Twitter can enable "citizen journalists" to spread information quickly. I, like many others, was able to see it as a dissemination tool. But I looked at it as a divider of sorts. It divided the "citizen journalists" from the "real ones." You could get little bits of information from people on the scene of a breaking story. But if you wanted the best "coverage" you should look to traditional media. In many ways, I still believe that. But with the two recent events I mentioned above...I saw the flaws in my argument. When Iran cracked down on media coverage, Twitter became vital pathway of information dissemination. The traditional media were looking to Twitter (among others) for the best coverage. As for the Bozeman drama (quick background: a reporter at KBZK uncovered the fact that the city was asking job applicants to disclose login information...including passwords...on applications. A worldwide brouhaha ensued...and the city dropped the policy days later in embarrassment) a BIG part of the story was how the Twitterverse was exploding with criticism. As someone very interested in the issue, I was shut out of a lot of the back and forth....simply because I wasn't on Twitter. 

As a personal social networking site, I'm still skeptical of Twitter. But as a journalist, I now realize it's a valuable tool to have at my disposal. I would hate to be involved in a major breaking story and not have Twitter in my coverage arsenal. 

So I joined. I feel good about it. I'm going to try to keep it more professional than personal. 

My Twitter handle is LincolnGraves. Check it out and become a follower. 

Miss Spud State

People are often surprised when I tell them I'm scared of public speaking. "But you're a news anchor," they say. Yes I am. Put me in a studio with a teleprompter and I'm fairly comfortable. I'm even fairly comfortable without the teleprompter. Even though people are watching on television, I'm able to feel safe and comfortable in the studio. But put me in front of a large group of people and I get nervous. 

It's gotten better over the last year and a half. Taking this job in Boise has given me some opportunities to overcome that fear. I took the biggest step last weekend as co-host of the 2009 Miss Idaho Pageant. I didn't know what to expect but I must say...I had a really good time. It helped that my co-host was someone I'm already comfortable with...my co-anchor Mellisa. Here we are all dressed up. 

It was a two night event and I got more comfortable the more I did it. I got a lot of good feedback after the show as well. I'm going to assume it was all sincere. It made me realize that I should look into hosting gigs when it's time to look for another job. Granted, host jobs are even tougher to come by than news jobs...but I was never interested in them before this event. 

Here's Mellisa and I on the first night with Miss Idaho 2008.

And here we are with Miss Idaho 2009. 
I know people are skeptical of pageants. They have a cheesy reputation that will probably never disappear. But by the time we got down to the end and were ready to announce the winner...I was genuinely excited and happy for the girls.

Mellisa tells me I may have gotten a date out of the whole thing too. She's with-holding information until she knows for sure...whatever that means. 

More than anything, I'm grateful for the experience. It made me much less nervous to accept a debate moderator gig I've got lined up for next month. 

Under Fire

I've been able to do a lot of cool things since I got into the news business. My latest adventure was Fire OPS 101...a firefighter training event put on by local fire departments in the Boise area. It was the inaugural event...designed to give local media and elected officials a taste of what it's like to be a firefighter. I've gotta say...it was awesome. We were in groups of four...each "amateur" shadowed by a real firefighter. We searched for victims in a smoke filled room. Attacked a blaze head-on with a fire hose. Sawed into the roof of a building with a chainsaw. Climbed a 100 foot tall ladder truck. Used the Jaws of Life to cut open a wrecked car. Watched a flashover demonstration. Here's a picture of that. 

I'm not sure most people really understand what a firefighter does each day. Until this event, I didn't. I was worried about going through all the exercises without wearing my glasses. (You can't wear a firefighter's mask with eyeglasses). It turns out vision wasn't the sense I needed most with some of these exercises. There's nothing like crawling around on your knees through a smoke-clogged room, breathing oxygen from a claustrophobic mask...to make you appreciate the sense of touch. And while I like to think I'm in reasonably good shape it's exhausting to drag a 150 lb. dummy from a "burning" building. I had also never operated a chainsaw before. It's not as easy as it looks. I'd have to say the coolest part was cutting apart a wrecked car. The "cutter" and the "spreader" are AWESOME....and very, very heavy. 

It was a really good day. I was drenched in sweat by the end of it...but I only felt the good kind of exhaustion. 

There were several local elected officials there. As for the media...a news anchor from each station in Boise came to play. It's not often we all get together at events like this...so I had to take a picture. 

Three morning anchors, Tammy, me, Doug (left to right) and one evening anchor, Natalie. Oh, and we got to keep those helmets too. They even put our names on them. 

Good times.

Tidbits

It's official. I lost the dancing competition at my station. Still, thanks to everyone who voted for me. If it wasn't for you...I wouldn't have received the 41% of votes I did get. A landslide loss? Yes. But it could have been worse. 

I haven't yet talked about the season finale of Lost. I won't say anything revealing in case some of you haven't watched it. I still love this show. But I have to admit this latest season confused me more than any other. I hope I'm not alone in this. But it did give me one of my favorite phrases. "When are we?" I love that. I've also got a crush on Juliet. 

Merlin, my well-behaved cat of seven months decided he had enough of me and tried to make a break for it a week ago. He's never showed much interest in going outside like some cats do. He's never bolted for the door. He never whines in front of the window. I usually open a window so he can sit on the window sill and get some fresh air through the screen. I was watching TV one morning when I looked over and saw him poke his little paw through a small hole at the bottom of the screen. It's like something clicked inside him. "This is it! Here's my chance!" He rammed his head through the hole, tore the screen from its edges, and lodged half his body outside before I ran over to pull him back in. Little bastard. He's still a cool cat though. 

Yeah, he drinks out of the toilet. He won't touch a water dish. And no, he's not fat in that first picture.  He's just very, very furry. That damn fur fills up my vacuum every time I use it. 

While not official by the calendar, summer is, nonetheless, here. That means I'm back on a zip line. I'm helping out at Zip Idaho this summer as a part-time, zip line tour guide. It's a nice escape from the real world and the extra money is good too. Here's my latest ride on Wild Turkey. 

Zip Idaho is in the mountains...meaning I've finally put my Jeep through some rugged paces. Soooooo nice. Bumpy, dirt roads are so smooth compared to how they felt in my Camry. It's nice to have a new car that can go pretty much anywhere. 

I really dislike it when someone makes a favorite treat of mine the wrong way. I'm somewhat addicted to Cappuccino Blasts from Baskin Robbins. I've gotten so many of them that I can immediately tell when the worker behind the counter starts to make them in a way I don't like. They let the blender run long. They let it run short. They don't add enough ice. They don't give me enough whipped cream. The possibilities are endless. It makes me want all the materials at home so I can make it myself. 

With me being a news anchor, I don't report on as many stories as I'd like to. But, this is one I did as part of my weekly environmental franchise. It's one of my favorites, so I'll share it with you. I'm having a hell of a time trying to embed videos from my station's website. For some reason, I can't get it to work for all videos. I'll just give you the link instead:

A Smoggy Day in Boise Town

I watched the finales of Dancing With the Stars and American Idol. Man, I need to cut down on my TV watching. I've become addicted. I'm happy Shawn Johnson won. I'm okay with Kris Allen winning...even though I wanted Adam Lambert. Whatever.

Finally...old school Nintendo is awesome. I brought the old NES and SNES game consoles home with me from my last trip to Salt Lake. Since then, I'm wasting hours in front of the TV playing Super Mario World, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Street Fighter, and others. Good times...but not good for my lazy tendencies. You just can't beat classic video games. 

Ouch

We play games in TV business. Sometimes we take digs at the competition. They do the same to us. It's a back and forth...and you just have to roll with it.

Unfortunately, I figure prominently in a promo from another station in town. More specifically, my bad dancing figures prominently. I have to give them credit...this one was pretty creative, and a pretty good dig. And despite my poor performance, I stand behind our dancing segment 100%. It was a cool, fun feature story that tied in with a hit show on our network. They've done similar things.

But yeah...this one stings a little.

Yep...it's bad

Okay...it's done. Just keep one thing in mind. Since I'm encouraging all the world to see this story...please go to our station's website and vote for ME...even though I'm not a good dancer. 

Don & Michelle Judge the Dances:

Be nice to me folks.

Oh geez...here we go

Here's the promo spot my station will start running tomorrow. I know some of you are giddy with glee to see me make a fool of myself. I'm considering faking my own death after the whole thing airs.

This is gonna be bad.

Mom's Surprise

I went to the gym pretty late Saturday night. While there, I thought to myself, "it'd be nice to surprise mom at breakfast tomorrow morning." So I did. I didn't leave Boise until 10:41 that night. I got into Salt Lake around 3 o'clock in the morning, slept for four hours and headed to the restaurant to meet my family. Only Dad and my sister knew I was coming. I surprised my aunt, grandma, and cousin when they got there first. When my mom walked in I was sitting at a table with a newspaper held up over my face. Mom went to sit down with my nephew moving in beside her. I got up quickly, walked over to the table, pushed my nephew out of the way and said, "I want to sit by my mom." 

The look on her face was priceless. It was a nice surprise if I do say so myself. Happy Mother's Day mom. 

It was a quick trip...but well worth it. After breakfast my mom, sister, her kids, and myself headed to Lagoon. I haven't been to Lagoon about 3 or 4  years. Every time I go back I get nostalgic for the good ole days. When I was kid I went to Lagoon EVERY SINGLE day during the summer. My aunt would take my sister and I along with our cousins. We rode the rides occasionally but the vast majority of our time was spent at Lagoon-A-Beach. Hours and hours spent at the waterpark. It was awesome. We'd rent tubes each day and get a two dollar refund when we returned them. My cousin Levi and I would use that two dollars to play Sidewinder. It was a game they had along the midway. It was only around for a couple years. I found a couple pictures online.

You start with a large ball (about the size of a skee-ball) near the top of the curvy track. Using the steering wheel, you guide it down the track and make it fall into a hole at the bottom. Near the bottom, the guardrails disappear. Plus, the steering wheel turns in opposite directions. Turn it right, the track goes left. It was confusing. Levi and I, however, got very, very good at it. We'd throw two bucks towards practicing every day and within weeks...we were always winning. This was a game with big prizes too. I'm not sure why we needed huge stuffed animals but we kept winning and winning and winning. They had a rule against winning more than once each day so we'd come back at different times when there was a different game attendant. Lagoon tried to make it a little harder the second year. They put a plastic ring inside the hole to make the opening smaller. It challenged us a little more but...we still kicked ass. 

It was nice to go back and re-live some of those memories. Lagoon is a fun place. If you try to compare it to a Six Flags amusement park...Lagoon will lose every time. But take it for what it is...and it's fun. 

My only problem is that I noticed my age once again. When I was young I could ride any ride as many times as I wanted and feel great. This time around I felt a little queasy getting off some of them. So sad. 

Whoa there buddy....

This is cute...until the cat decides to take it too far.

Mr. Chihuahua wants none of it. 

The moral of the story...you can't be friends with benefits unless your friend wants the benefits.

Dancing with the Hopeless

As far as reality TV talent shows go...I'm an American Idol loyalist. I've taken a gander at Dancing With the Stars but I can take it or leave it. 

Still, I've wondered what it takes to do a little ballroom dancing. I can wonder no more. For the last two days I've taken a crash course in the Waltz with a dance instructor in Boise. My co-anchor is doing the same thing. It's a competition of sorts. It's called Dancing With the Anchors. Since we're an ABC affiliate, we're doing a little local tie-in with the season finale of the show. 

We don't get much practice time. I'm getting one more hour on Wednesday and then I have to perform the routine...while a photographer videotapes the whole thing. Apparently, we're airing the embarrassing footage sometime this month. 

I'll share the footage when the time comes. But let me warn you. It's bad. Really, really bad. Perhaps, with time, I could get better. 

But it'll take a while.

Lazy

You can always spot a lazy blogger. They rely more on random YouTube videos to entertain rather than write anything. But let's be honest...my life hasn't been interesting enough to write about.

With that, here's a clip of a kitten versus an electric fan. It's pretty awesome.

Facebook Guilt

I have 302 friends on Facebook. I don't know if that's a large number or not. I've seen people with more. I've seen people with less. There's one thing I'm sure off. No one should be impressed with anyone who has lots of friends.

I wouldn't recognize half of my "friends" if I saw them on the street. I can't be alone in this. The only reason most people have hundreds of friends is because they won't deny a "friend request." There's a myriad number of reasons for this. I'm sure some people love to see that "friends" number climb. In my case...it's guilt. I feel guilty if I don't accept someone as a friend. What a blatant form of rejection. "Um...no...you can't be my friend." That's harsh. I can't do that. Some people are from high school. Some are from Glacier. Most of them...I don't talk to anymore...not even on Facebook. There are even some who apparently "know" me...but I've never even met them. Chalk that up to my job. Someone sees me on the news and throws a friend request my way. Some of my colleagues wouldn't entertain the idea of accepting such an invitation. I, for one, feel guilty if I don't. It's Facebook Guilt.

I went through my Facebook and MySpace friends lists about 6 months ago to do a little weeding. I deleted about two dozen people. But it's no secret that Facebook has really taken off in the last six months. I've had friend requests pouring in since then...(some from people I weeded out weeks earlier). I'm not fighting it anymore. It's not like anyone actually keeps up to date with everyone on their list. I keep in touch with a select few...and just let the others sit there. I suppose there's no harm in that.

Reality

Somewhere in my blog archives there's a post in which I talk about "harboring secret desires to be a morning person." 

That desire has officially been flushed from my system. 

I'm a night owl. It's part of my personality. I never denied that...but fought it from time to time. For most people who come to such a realization it's easy to settle back into their "normal" lifestyle. Unfortunately I can't do that. My livelihood depends on it. 

It's really not fair of me to speak harshly of the mornings. I still haven't been able to give it a real shot. Getting up at 2:30 or 3:00 (like I do Monday-Friday) isn't really being a morning person. No one gets up at that time. Some stay up that late. Some work through the night. But who actually rises at 2:30? It sucks. I hate it. I can't deny it anymore. I can't escape it either. It's part of my job. I wouldn't rule out a similar shift in the future. If I want to stay in this business, it's a distinct possibility. But I do not like these hours. I long for the days of staying up late. I long for the days of waking up whenever the hell I want to. I long to truly be a night owl again.

Addictive

Bored?

Go here.

Do so at your own risk though. It's a highly addictive game. I keep finding new designs to make and new ways to manipulate everything. 

Go ahead. Explore and see what I'm talking about. 

Now if you'll excuse me...I have to get back to American Idol. 

Plugged In

During the height of my Glacier National Park experience, I was blissfully uninformed. There was no reliable TV in Glacier. Internet access was slow and computers were usually occupied by all the foreign kids. Much of my time off was spent hiking and exploring the backcountry. When I did make it to town I only had time to stock up on necessities, see a movie, or do a quick email check. My most reliable source of news was the Great Falls Tribune...a good paper by Montana standards but no New York Times. I knew about major events happening in the world but for the most part, I was disconnected. I was kind of happy about it too. (The only time I ever missed it all was during Hurricane Katrina. Even the Great Falls Tribune made it known what a big deal it was. For a day or two, I would have given anything to sit in front of a TV and watch CNN for hours).

Fast forward to the present. I have been sucked in to the media/entertainment world. It's no surprise I'm a news junkie. Not only is it part of my job but it's part of my personality. What is surprising is all the pop culture and television shows I've become addicted to. My DVR is set to record half a dozen different programs. There are gossip websites I check every day. I've been completely sucked in to American Idol. I'm not sure what happened to me. I've become one of the huddled masses. It's a little sad...but I've given in. I'm not fighting it anymore. 

In light of all that...let me share this:

I love Ellen. And this is one hell of a clip. It's a little lengthy...but watch it if you have time. At least watch up to the 3:55 mark. That's when it gets really good. 

One other thing in the world of pop culture. I'm growing tired of all the Susan Boyle coverage. I know I posted the clip of her singing a week ago. But that was before EVERY media outlet in the world decided to run with it. It's still an amazing clip of an amazing moment...but if there ever was a definition of "overexposure" this is it. I want only good things for her...but geez...let's all ease up a bit. 

Spring has sprung in Boise. I love it. I put a lot of miles on my bike this weekend and it felt great. 

One last thing. I must give a shoutout to my very good friends Ron & Jessie. They have been winter caretakers at the Many Glacier Hotel in Glacier National Park for the past 186 days. They have that many blog entries to prove it. Not only has the blog been entertaining...but visiting them this past February is one of the best trips I've ever taken. With spring coming quickly, their job is done and they're off to greener pastures. Nice job guys. Good luck and stop through Boise if you get a chance.