Monday, October 31, 2005

Off The Airwaves...

...and into the airways.

Yeah...I'm out of radio...again.

Had a meeting this morning where I was told my salary requirements just weren't in the budget. I knew this was coming when I told them what I needed, minimum, to work there full time. So...today was my last day on the air. I go in tomorrow to turn in my key and get the new Interim News Director up to speed.

Where am I going?

Back to aviation. Fly airplanes for a living. My old boss, when he found out I was available, wanted me back and was able to pay my minimum salary requirements. I start on Wednesday.

Finally...I get to sleep in again!! No more of this 4 am crap!

I feel a lot better. I actually looked forward to Fridays on Tuesdays. I've never had a job where I couldn't wait until Friday.

I'll also have to find another creative outlet. Might pick up my novel and try to finish it. Or maybe sell some photos I've taken. Anyone know how to do that???

Eric

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Buchner's Blog...

You'll find a new link on the sidebar. One of the girls that was in my High School Sunday School class has turned 25 and is living as a missionary in Japan. Her name now is Kari Burrell but when I knew her she was Kari Buchner. So I always refer to her as "BUCHNER!" I know...I'm weird!

Anyways...check out here blog. Her website is at Buchner's Homepage

Eric

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

It's.....

And now for something completely different.

Title: Bring Out Your Dead
From: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Transcribed By: Malcolm Dickinson ( CLARINET@YALEVM.BITNET )


A cart passes through the muddy road through a village.
A baby cries. People wrestle in the mud. A woman beats a cat.

The cart-master chants wearily as they trudge along:

Bring out your dead!
Bring out your dead!
Bring out your dead! etc. while beating occasionally on a large
triangle with a wooden spoon.

As each person comes forward with his or her dead relative, they throw them on
the cart. He holds out his hand and they pay.

Bring out your dead!

A man comes out with a dead-looking old man in a nightshirst slung over his
shoulder. He starts to put the old man on the cart.

Man: Here's one-
Cart-master: Ninepence.
Old Man: (feebly) I'm not dead!
Cart-master: (suprised) What?
Man: Nothing! Here's your ninepence....
Old Man: I'm not dead!
Cart-master: 'Ere! 'E says 'e's not dead!
Man: Yes he is.
Old Man: I'm not!
Cart-master: 'E isn't?
Man: Well... he will be soon-- he's very ill...
Old Man: I'm getting better!
Man: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
Cart-master: I can't take 'im like that! It's against regulations!
Old Man: I don't want to go on the cart....
Man: Oh, don't be such a baby.
Cart-master: I can't take 'im....
Old Man: I feel fine!
Man: Well, do us a favor...
Cart-master: I can't!
Man: Can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long...
Cart-master: No, gotta get to Robinson's, they lost nine today.
Man: Well, when's your next round?
Cart-master: Thursday.
Old Man: I think I'll go for a walk....
Man: You're not fooling anyone, you know--
(to Cart-master) Look, isn't there something you can do...?

(they both look around)

Old Man: I feel happy! I feel happy!

(the Cart-master deals the old man a swift blow to the head with his wooden
spoon. The old man goes limp.)

Man: (throwing the old man onto the cart) Ah. thanks very much.
Cart-master: Not at all. See you on Thursday!
Man: Right! All right....

King Arthur and his trusty servant, Patsy, "ride" through the town and past
the men.

Man: 'Oo's that then?
Cart-master: I don't know. Must be a king.
Man: Why
Cart-master: 'E 'asn't got shit all over 'im.




(You can find this and more here...http://www.intriguing.com/mp/holygrail.asp)

Eric

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Testing...

...one, two, three...

Is this thing on??

Hmmm...tried to post a couple of entries and Blogger just got caught up in a causality loop...neither posting nor shutting down.

Just a picture to prove that I am a close personal friend of "Weird Al" Yankovic...



And a link for the "Lost Rhapsody" video!

Lost Rhapsody

Eric

Thursday, October 20, 2005

The Real Rain Man....

I had the opportunity to meet the "real rain man", Kim Peek. Peek is the one Hollywood modeled for the Dustin Hoffman/Tom Cruise movie, "RAIN MAN".

Peek is incredible.

Just some of the things I learned today....

When he reads, his left eye reads the left page and his right eye reads the right page....at the same time!! And with 95+% comprehesion.

NASA says his brain is smarter than their computers and made him an honorary astronaut.

His father said that at age 7, Kim had four retired teachers as tutors. Taking "classes" at 45 minutes at a time, two or three times a day, he finished high school but the time he was 14.

When on of our reporters gave his birthdate, Kim told him what day it was, what day his next birthday would be and what day his birthday would be in 2020!

Listening to him I was struck how similar he was to ADHD people. His mind would jump ahead and answer the question before someone finished asking it. He would hear a word and his mind would immediately jump off the topic of conversation and he'd go on about whatever he was distracted by. Socially, he fits in about as well as the rest of us ADDer's, sometimes blurting out things, laughing at something he thought was funny (I got it...the host of the talk show didn't!!), and putting things together that most people wouldn't understand the connection (again...I caught it but our host and some of the callers were astounded....)

That's Kim Peek on the right. He was being followed around by a Japanese news crew for the Japanese equivalent of the "TODAY" show...




Eric

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

I'm Being Dissed....

...by a 16-yead-old, emancipated girl.

She's smart, quick, has picked up on radio really fast...and she has an attitude towards me that is unfounded.

I have that affect on some women. They just instantly hate me as soon as they see me. What's up with that? I've got 20-some-odd years on her and about 15 years more experience in radio than she does and she looks at me like I don't know my head from a hole in the ground. Yes...I'm rusty. I've been away from radio for over 7 years. But I've probably forgotten more than she knows!

If I ask her to do something in my role as Interim News Director, I get the blank stare. You know the one; like a cow at a passing car? As if she's trying to make up her mind whether it's beneath her to take an order from me. Honey...If I swing this as a full-time gig you've got two options...comply or bail. Resistance is futile. I can be a royal pain in the arse if needs be.

My goal, if I take the full-time job, is what's best for the station. And if you can't follow directions then there's the door. Don't let it hit you in the rear on the way out. And if she thinks she can do it better...more power to her.

Okay...I'm done grousing...I'll go to work with a smile on my face and do my job. The rest of them can deal with it!

Eric

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Way Cool!

Cool weather pics from this place...

Extreme Instability

This guy is a storm chaser and you may have heard that some of his pictures of tornados in Kansas were passed off by television media as pics from Hurricane Katrina...

What a bunch of dopes. Like you can get away with that in this day and age of instant internet searches. There's always someone out there who has nothing better to do than show how lazy some reporters can be...

Isn't this how Drudge started???

Eric

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

So....Tired....Must....Sleep

Dang...this new job is killing me. Up at 3 am...work until 9 am...try to nap. Ugh.

Good news is on Monday... I'll get to sleep in until 4 am! Joy.

Also, met an author who is willing to take a look at the first chapter of my "Great American Novel". He's published four books and is working on his fifth.

Cool.

(He also works for our local Congressman...I now know people who know people!)

Eric

Saturday, October 08, 2005

Yesterday...I Had Coffee...

...one of those frou-frou, crapaccino, mocha-latte, whip-creamed, espresso shot elixirs that millions of people become cranky when they are deprived of it.

I shouldna never drank the whole thing.

I like caffeine...don't get me wrong. Being ADHD, a small amount of caffeine as found in tea or say, a Mt. Dew or Dr. Pepper, takes the edge off. A "Tidal Wave" from "West Coast Coffee" on Churn Creek Road in Redding, has me rambling on, talking to people I don't know and asking the little Chinese waitress how you say "thank you" in Chinese. (It's pronounce 'do-che' in case you're wondering.) My hands were even shaking somewhat.

I crashed hard around 2pm. My wife had to wake me at 3:30 so I could go back to work. I was still going a mile-a-minute at 9:30 and didn't fall asleep until 11:00. But I was wide awake at 6 in the A.M. ready to take on the world. Now it's 2:30 on a Saturday and I think the buzz is wearing off.

I shouldna never drank the whole thing.

I guess my system wasn't used to such a strong snort o' the espresso!

Maybe I'll try another "Tidal Wave" sometime in the future...when I really have to stay awake!

Eric

Friday, October 07, 2005

My Good Deed for the Day...

We got a fax this morning about a 14-year-old girl who apparently didn't show up from school yesterday. CHP had their helicopter out 3 times last night searching the surrounding area. (Her school is in a rural area.) We ran the story between 6 and 8 this morning.

After we got off the air, some boy called the station saying he knew where the girl was but wouldn't give his name, only a number. I called the number but got an answering machine. The message was garbled and I couldn't make out the family's name but left a message to call me at the station. Then I called the County Sheriff's office to get an update. They said they thought it was a case of a runaway and were waiting to see if she would show up at school. I mentioned the message we got and passed on the phone number.

I heard nothing for 2 hours so I went home and took a nap. One of my reporters called me and said, based on my tip, they cops were able to locate the girl...and yes...she was a runaway.

So...good deed for the day...I feel good... :)


Also...I drank coffee today. Frou-frou coffee called a Tidal Wave. I don't drink coffee as a rule; never liked the taste but tried this one anyways as it was a freebie from a local coffee house. It was pretty good. So I drank it. All of it.

I have cut caffeine pretty much out of my diet. I was a die-hard Mt. Dew man for many years. Nowadays I prefer my caffeine in the form of tea...black or green. Not as much as coffee of the Dew but enough to keep me going in the early morning hours whence I arise. I drank the coffee at 7am....by 10am I was talking very fast. And I couldn't fall asleep while taking my nap. I just dozed. Now I'm wide awake and it's 11:30 am.

When I crash...it's gonna be ugly!

Eric

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Another Day at the U.S. Forest Service...




I guess I got out in time!

Eric

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Calvin and Hobbes....





(The above picture is of Eric and Bart reading Spidey comics...you guess who's who!)



Probably the greatest comic ever written is now out in a 3-volume set. Yeah...it's a hundred bucks but it's Calvin and Hobbes! I mean, c'mon...it's Calving and Hobbes!!!



I want this for Christmas....you can get it for me here ------->



Calvin and Hobbes



I'm trying to establish myself as the leader in the newsroom. I'm basically the "Acting" News/Program Director but really need managment to make the announcement. I took the initiative and assigned some stories today...we'll see how it goes...



My friend George "Thunder" Tharalson and his lovely wife, Julie, should be popping out Baby Thunder sometime today. Julie was induced this morning so we should have a bouncing baby Tharalson soon...



It's Wednesday...Hump Day. Can I start my weekend now???



Eric

Sunday, October 02, 2005

Sweet Serenity

Oh. Wow.

Damn! Great movie! Most TV-to-Film movies stink but Wheddon hit one out of the ballpark with Serenity. Sharp writing. Smart writing. Great cinematography/EFX. Good story line. Humor and drama, both excellent in their timing and delivery.

Spoilers!!!
















Totally bummed Wash and Book got whacked. Damn...I liked Wash and Book! Also, When Kayli and the Doc started sharing their innermost feelings, thinking they were going to die, I rolled my eyes thinking why did Wheddon put that in there? It is so contrived and is standard Lifetime Movie of the Week schlock. Of course Kayli saves the scene with her, "This is about sex, right?" and "The hell with this! I'm gonna live!"

I was tempted to go back and see it again today but I'll just wait until it comes out on DVD. Even though Firefly's been off the air for a few years, the actors picked up their characters very well. Here's to a sequel!!

Eric