WORK

Over the past few weeks, I've been more involved in the commercial production department, which I've been trying to get into since I started at channel 5.

I've been involved with countless commercial shoots prior to all this, but only recently have I been able to edit them myself. So, with the help of my friend and coworker Kyle, I set out to learn how to use the station's brand new Avid Adrenaline NLE.

The first spot I did was a practice commercial for a local Chevrolet dealer, just to get a feel for the Avid. Click the picture to the left to see the finished spot. Keep in mind that this spot was never intended for air, so it didn't have to be perfect. I just wanted to learn the basics. It took me a week to finish.

After I felt that I had the hang of it, I was assigned to a very simple spot that would eventually get on the air. It took me two days to do, which will seem excessive when you see the finished spot, but problems with the voiceover, and a late script change accounted for most of the delay.

It's rather self-explanatory. Click the still on the left to see the completed spot.

After I finished the lawyers spot, Tracy, the head of our commercial production department, asked me to go along with her for a shoot at a local hospital. The basic idea and script for the spot had already been planned out, so I was mainly going as a grip to help haul gear around a huge medical campus.

Soon after that day, Tracy announced that she had had enough, and was planning to return home to Virginia. That meant that the rest of us would have to step up and figure out how to do finish these spots without her, at least until they found a replacement.

With a little negotiating, I was able to take charge of the hospital spot and edit it myself. It took me about a week to finish, spending time on it when I could. A week is way too long for a 30-second spot, but there were still a couple things I needed to learn how to do before I could complete it.

Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out, although there are a couple things I would have done differently if I had written it. Click on the still to the left to see the finished spot. Because it was just Tracy and me shooting it, we both have brief appearances in the spot.

With that one done, they gave me another easy spot to do. All I had to do was re-edit an existing commercial to add a different phone number, replace one shot, and change the voiceover to a female, instead of a male. I ended up redoing the whole thing, because hey, I had the time.

The bad thing about this one is that the only video I had to work with was from a VHS tape, so the quality is kind of bad. Click the--oh you know what to do.

So that just about brings us up to date at work. I'm still working crazy long shifts, and racking up the overtime pay, but don't tell my boss that.

One reason for the long hours is our expanded super extra special weather coverage. Whenever it snows more than an inch (or less than an inch), our morning show starts an hour early, and we stay on the air until the other stations sign off. It's basically a "can you top this" contest every morning.

During the winter snow, Kansas City got 8" of snow in one day, which is the most in a 24-hour period since 1993, so they tend to freak out about what we Iowans would refer to as a "light dusting."

HOME

The big news on the homefront is our new cat, Molly. We picked her up on after stopping at Petsmart on an impulse on Sunday.

She and Jake are getting along well, although at first they just stared at each other and hissed occasionally. I thought about having a "name the cat" contest on this site, but I think she's stuck with the name Molly. Besides, I'm sure only John would submit a name, and it would surely be a pun like Eartha Kitty or Harrison Furred.

BRIEFS

I got an eye infection somehow, and have had to wear my stupid glasses for a week now. I hate them.

I did something really stupid and messed up my Powerbook really bad, and had to ship it to Apple for repairs. On the brighter side of things, I got a new combo drive and a firewire hub out of the whole ordeal.

Sonja and I saw "The Butterfly Effect." We walked out about an hour into it. The last movie I walked out of was "She's Having a Baby." Butterfly Effect was that bad. Not good news for Ethan Suplee, who had finally gotten his name in the trailer.

I've been meaning to upload this for some time now. I present the best phone message ever. Is it really that hard to pronounce my last name?