It's been a busy week. On top of my normal work week, I put in an extra 4 hours working a Board meeting on Tuesday and I stayed late on Friday too, closing up the station. We take turns on Board meetings and it just happened to be my turn, and Friday was just one of those times when technical issues make things take longer than you expected - so just your typical 'working hard' so far. But then I worked a long 14-hour shift on Saturday at ESPNU, getting home in the A.M. only to get up early and work most of the day at the Panthers game today. (Then I mowed the lawn when I got home, but that doesn't count.) By my count this has been a 67 hour work week - and I've still got another 6 straight days of work ahead of me. I'm already looking forward to resting next Sunday! Meanwhile since I've been working non-stop, Patty hasn't had any help with the kids this whole time.

P.S. Looking ahead, I only have one day off in the entire month of October.

Labels: work

Today we were taping a school board meeting. That's not uncommon, but due to the length of the meeting I sat in and switched for an hour. The only reason I mention this is because it was the first time I switched a live or live-to-tape event since my PSTV days way back in college. It wasn't difficult but it was fun to do that again.

Labels: work

Last night ----------------- (redacted story) -----------------

Another interesting thing from last night was the new NFL logo. It was actually unveiled during the April draft but I missed the announcement and didn't know about it until last night when we had to apply new logos on the IR equipment. The changes are subtle but nice. The number of stars decreased from 25 down to 8. The eight stars represent each of the eight NFL divisions, but it also looks a lot better on small items. The typeface was modernized (check out that psychedelic "L" on the old logo). The blue was darkened and the football is now more consistent with the design of the Lombardi trophy. Subtle changes but all good ones.

The game itself was a total blowout. The Panthers scored an unreal 31 points in just the 2nd quarter alone. I swear it was like playing Madden on my X-Box.

Labels: football, work

Adobe After Effects is the tool for professional film and video post-production effects. I've been editing video on Avid for thirteen years (mostly Media Composers) but I never had the opportunity to enhance my own work with After Effects' high-end compositing effects. I was promised AE training for years but it just never happened. I taught myself the basics but it's just not the same as learning from a certified trainer. At my new job I'm counted on much more than before for graphic design and visual effects so I need to use After Effects often. Well today was finally the day I've been waiting for for years. Today I spent the entire day with a professional After Effects trainer learning all the tips, secrets, and advanced features needed to take my projects to the next level. Hooray! Stand by for kick ass video!

Labels: television, work

I'm sitting here just before midnight on a Saturday night waiting for the third period to begin in a college hockey game between Notre Dame and Michigan State. Why? Because that's my job.

I've eluded to working on Saturdays before but I've never actually mentioned where. I've freelanced at ESPNU as a logger since 2005. From the beginning of college football season in August to the end of college basketball season in March, I sit here, watch video of live college sports, and log (write down) details of what happens in the game. Then producers and editors take the highlights I've identified to cut highlights to air on the ESPNU cable network. It really is work and it needs to be done well, but it's still great to get paid to watch sports on television! Plus it's nice to work in an industry I'm familiar with but to not be responsible for using any of my television skills like editing, writing, or producing

During the fall it's mostly football and during the spring it's mostly basketball. Then there's also the occasional games of baseball, lacrosse, and hockey (as I mentioned earlier). I may be called in for a few days during the college baseball world series, but otherwise tonight is my last regularly scheduled night until college football season. So starting next week I won't be working six days a week again until the fall. Unfortnately in the fall is also when NFL season begins too so I'll often work seven days a week when the Panthers have a home game. But lets not think about that yet. For now, more time to spend with the family during the summer (and housework too).

Labels: work

I hope this is just temporary situation but I'm just finding it hard to find the time to post to my blog lately - basically since starting my new job. I didn't used to blog during work hours at my previous job so that's not the issue. It's that I'm rather disconnected from news and information from outside of work during the day now. So when I would normally have time to blog at night after the kids are asleep, now I'm just catching up with the latest happenings at that time, and by that time I'm usually too tired to blog my rambling thoughts. (P.S. - Despite my statement about being disconnected during the day, I am enjoying the fact that I can now usually get home in time to see the national news (NBC).)

Now I swear I'm going to stop talking about work all the time and start blogging about other stuff (like family), but I do have a few interesting work related tid bits to report today. Yesterday I went out to shoot my own video for the first time since 1998! At first I was nervous about being out of practice but it was just like riding a bike and everything went fine. But my story is that I went out again today to cover a press conference and in just my second trip out, I ran into three different ex-colleagues. One I knew worked for CMS, another I knew but wasn't aware that she worked for CMS now, and the third was a channel 9 photog whom I never knew before because I didn't work in the News department, but we talked shop a while before the presser got started. Anyway, it didn't take long at all to start running into people I've worked with in the past.

My other little story is that my new co-workers found out that I play disc golf, and that I always keep my disc bag in my car. So after work was over, a couple of us headed outside on to the football field (we're located at an old school) and had an impromptu disc golf competition, which was a fun ending to the day.

Labels: blogging, work

Today was my first day at my new job. I spent the entire morning at an orientation meeting and filling out reams of paperwork (11 different forms needed the same exact information about my family members). Learned fact of the day: There are 128,000 students in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system.

I finally got to where I'll actually be working after noon. Like any typical first day, it takes a while to get your bearings and get into the rhythm of a new environment. There are countless differences between my new job and my old job but the most surprising is something that had never even crossed my mind before. At my old job, I walked two steps directly across the hallway to get to the bathroom. In my new job, I have to get a key and walk outside 100 feet to another building!

Labels: work

After 10 years, today was my last day working at WAXN-TV. Over and over again, every time I did anything all day I thought to myself how it was my last.

My last department meeting.
My last time working with these colleagues.
My last time checking Andy Griffith spots.
My last time updating the station website.
My last time doing logs. (Scheduling what airs when)
My last hour.
My last goodbyes.
My last email. (It was funny)
My last time turning off my computer.
My last time in my (large) office.
My last time in the building.
My last time driving this route home.

Tomorrow... a lot of "my firsts".

Labels: work

On Friday I begin my new job with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, continuing the long family tradition of careers in the field of education.

• My grandfather was a New York City public school teacher for 15 years, and then a Principal for 20 years.
• My mother was a teacher for 16 years, primarily for New York City public schools.
• My sister has taught at Georgetown University, after earning her PhD from Yale. (She still works at Georgetown but isn't currently teaching.)
  

Okay, so my job will be in television and not as a teacher, but it's still in the education field none the less. ;-)

Labels: family, work

As like every morning, I was skimming through my daily ShopTalk newsletter. One story caught my eye, "Fake Macon TV Station Runs A Scam". The story was a copy of the original story from WAGT in Augusta.

It's a scam involving a so-called television station in downtown Macon, Georgia. The Web site for "Action 25 News" is ripping consumers off across the state, and possibly the nation. It's a story the Better Business Bureau is now investigating.

After posting her resume to monster.com, she was directed to a fake TV news Web site, WACT, Action 25 News, a cable channel out of Macon. The site was complete with weather updates, an "award winning news team"

I was curious how professional their website looked if they were able to trick people into thinking it was a real television station. A quick google search revealed the fake station's website to be action25news.com. So I checked out the site and... WTF? That's my station's website! The website design was blatantly stolen directly from WAXN-TV.


I created those show graphics and I wrote those show descriptions. That Action News graphic is the logo I designed for our station's newscast. That Severe Weather Center logo was stolen from our sister station WSOC-TV - they just covered up the 9 logo with a 25. Even the scrolling program lineup is uniquely ours. It's all completely stolen.

It's bad enough to blatantly steal creative works but it's a whole 'nother ballgame when that stolen work is then used to steal money from innocent victims. All they did was replace our station name with the fake name. I can tell from the minor differences that they stole our website design and content last summer. First, our station used to brand itself as "Action 64", explaining why they have the same logo design but wrote Action25 instead of using call letters. Also, the order in which the shows appear on their fake website is the same order we had ours in before it was changed last fall.

Labels: work

I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in August of 1998 to work at WAXN-TV, where I've worked in the Creative Services (Promotions) department for the past 9 1/2 years. I am proud of what I've accomplished during my tenure with the independent station, including a National Addy, a Promax Gold, and two Emmys - oh, and not to forget leading the station to its highest ratings book ever. I've also had the pleasure of working with some truly talented creative individuals as well. But today, I handed in my resignation notice.

Starting on February 29th, I will be the new Creative Services Project Manager for CMS-TV, the cable television station of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School system.

P.S. This is off subject, but starting a new job on February 29th reminds me of the plot to The Pirates of Penzance.

Labels: work

Tonight I went to a Charlotte Bobcats game with most of my department from my station. This was my first Bobcats game. We had what you might call a luxury box, although it had no walls to call it a box. Private section, comfy padded chairs (not attached to the ground), and a stone table/ledge to eat our gourmet dinners. Very nice.

It was a good game too. The Bobcats won handily 115-99 over the New Jersey Nets. But more notable to me was that this was the first time the department has gotten together outside of work in a long, long time. We used to get together socially quite often back in the day. A couple of poker nights, softball leagues, even a disc golf outing once (years before I got back into the sport more recently). But that all ended in 2000. In addition, non-studio holiday parties (the kind where you dress formally and bring your spouse) ended with 9/11, so I haven't had any opportunities to take photos with co-workers for over seven years - and most current co-workers weren't even here back then. So although I'm not a basketball fan, this game was a welcome change of pace. Plus since I thought ahead to bring my camera to the game, I was able to take a more recent photo with co-workers.

Labels: work

After 10 months, Patty is rejoining the workforce. She was offered a position with an architect in Charlotte (not as an architect) and she will start on Wednesday. Patty was contacted about the available position after I posted a message about her in Craig's List, with a link to her resume.

Labels: news, Patty, work

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. Here's what's been going on over the past week that wasn't really worthy of dedicated posts.

• I didn't play disc golf for a full month because of the incredible heat we've had in Charlotte all of August. On Thursday I played in my first tournament in 6 weeks, and I took 4th place, my highest finish yet. I won't bore you every time I win plastic (the prizes are new discs), but I will post if I ever come in first.
• Last week we finally got part of our house repairs taken care of. The first floor ceiling was finally patched and I'm not satisfied with the popcorn finishing they did. We're still trying to get the master bathroom floor fixed but nobody is willing to take the job because the "first response" people who came in to dry everything up did more damage to the sub floor than necessary. It's all a freakin' mess that I wish would just go away already.
• I'm now back to working 6 1/2 days per week until December. Joy. Even better is the fact that my non-NFL job (which I don't identify) stopped paying overtime, which really sucks after working what sometimes ends up being a 14 hour shift.
• Ending on a positive note, I am the guru of fantasy sports. I am in the championships in both of my fantasy baseball leagues, which is a huge achievement in one league since I started without a winning week for the first 5 weeks of the season but came back to end up with the 2nd best regular season record. And now it's football season too. In the three leagues I'm in, I'm a combined 6 wins and zero losses (2-0 in each league) and I'm in first place in 2 of my leagues. Booya!
  

Labels: disc_golf, fantasy_baseball, fantasy_football, home, work

Living in Charlotte, North Carolina, very few people have ever heard of my Upstate New York alma mater of SUNY Plattsburgh. Today we all met the new General Manager for both stations and it turns out that he is a SUNY Plattsburgh alumnus too. He graduated 11 years before me and was also in a (rival) fraternity. Small world. What are the odds?

Labels: Plattsburgh, work

I was quietly eating my lunch at my desk when I began hearing strange sounds. Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak... At first I thought "who keeps squeezing a dog's chew toy over and over again. How annoying." But then I remembered the story of Courtney Mei's new shoes. I immediately got up and followed the squeaky sounds down the hall to find Brian, his wife Dawn, and little Courtney Mei visiting the station. I blogged earlier about Brian and Dawn's trip to China to adopt Courtney Mei two weeks ago. Brian came back to work this Monday and this is the first time we're getting to meet Courtney Mei in person. Very cute.

I normally wouldn't have blogged about this, however, as I was talking to Brian, Dawn put Courtney Mei down on the ground and she ran over to me and grabbed my leg. I kneeled down to say hello to her and she immediately wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big hug. Brian tried to snap a photo but wasn't quick enough. Courtney Mei had never seen me before but kids just always like me for some reason.

Updated 6/25/07: Added this photo of Courtney Mei staring at me, a few minutes before she gave me a hug.

Labels: work

My co-worker Brian and his wife leave tomorrow on a journey to China to pick up their adopted daughter Courtney Mei. They plan to blog about their progress along the way at http://courtneyinchina.blogspot.com/. I hope they are able to keep it updated but you can't predict how easy that will be over there. Best of luck, Brian.

Labels: work

(This story has been switched to "stealth mode")

Labels: work

Yesterday was Patty's last day working as Administrative Office Manager for homebuilder Brentwood Homes (formerly Hampton Homes). No, she is not taking an early maternity leave and that's all I can say. Patty gave her notice two weeks ago, after five and a half years of loyal and dedicated service.

Labels: Patty, work

Last year my television station launched a major multi-media promotional campaign for a contest called The Mayberry Code. (I blogged about receiving an Emmy nomination for the promo and I'll find out if I won in two more weeks.) My totally original concept was to place Barney Fife from The Andy Griffith Show in the role of a detective trying to uncover a dark mysterious secret by means of decoding cryptic clues. Of course this is a spoof of the plot to The Da Vinci Code, but with the unique twist of adding Deputy Fife into the mix.

Yesterday I was astonished to discover that a short film was released with almost the exact same premise as The Mayberry Code! A film titled The Norman Rockwell Code ^[IMDB] is the story of Barney Fife's son, a detective trying to uncover a dark mysterious secret by means of decoding cryptic clues. Sound familiar? Watch the trailer.

Spoofing The Da Vinci Code is not such a unique idea but what are the odds that two different parodies would each feature the same television character from over 40 years ago (or his son in this case)? We launched our on-air campaign in April of 2006. The Normal Rockwell Code was released a month later in May. However they began filming in February before we ever sent out our first press release. Purely an incredible coincidence. I guess great minds think alike.

Although there are a lot of similarities with the initial premises, both projects had significant differences too. We created promos only while they created a full 33-minute feature (complete with on-location production, a detailed plot, and extensive script.) We utilized actual footage from The Andy Griffith Show while they utilized real actors. We relied on tongue-in-cheek comedy while they used shtick routines. It's really apples to oranges, especially considering their bizarre sea-related conspiracy plot line.

I watched the entire film online. The Normal Rockwell Code is pretty good. A funny movie, especially if you enjoy The Andy Griffith Show. And the production quality was pretty good too (if you ignore the lightstand and sandbag in the museum shots). Well done.

Labels: movies, television, work

I've worked every single day since September 25th. That's 19 consecutive days, but now my streak has been snapped by a case of strep throat (ironically caught at work). So here I am sitting at home with my bottle of penicillin, avoiding contact with Patty and Maegan, and trying to grasp this unfamiliar concept of resting.

Labels: work