That's what work is like. Today, I go in and my computer is off. I had restarted the night before when I left. I turn it on. It starts up but goes into a maddening series of file scanning routines that disables me from booting up any other programs. I wait for more than 20 minutes while this goes on and call Bill, the IT guy and tell him my woes. He comes up, tells me that the UPS surge protector box I have on my computer has low batteries so every time even the slightest surge is detected, the low batteries think it's Armageddon and turn my computer off. By the time it's 9:30, morning news meeting time, I have been successful only at opening my email.
After the news meeting, Todd stops me in the hall to say that Channel 11 is sending a newsfeed to their Twitter account and why can't we do the same thing? I return to my office and my computer has died again. I reboot and spend quite a while trying to determine the URL of my news xml feeds so our news posts automatically to Twitter.
A fire in Tiffin becomes breaking news and must be posted right away. And updated.
I finally read through a couple of posted news stories for mistakes and typos, during which I get email saying the flash creative for the ad campaign that starts March 4 doesn't work right so I forward the bad graphic to the art director who created it who tells me he is too busy to fix it. I try to have Erin fix it, but he's sent an swf file and she can only edit flash in flv.
Then Sean calls me, the webmaster at WTVD in Raleigh. He knows where my xml feed URLs are. About halfway through my conversation with him, I realize I have missed my 11:45 digital sales conference call. When I hang up with Sean, it's 12:30.
I go to lunch, realizing this will be the only calm hour of my day. I eat at Organic Bliss and look at shoes at Elder Beerman and get back to work just minutes before my 2 p.m. webmaster conference call. During which we are chastised by the digital media VPs about our misuse of the newly installed site alerts that we had to learn how to use this week along with populating our new weather page.
I start again to post this xml feed to Twitter which involves a process of logging in to some ultra secure system that requires me to choose 3 pictures from a group of about 20 that I will remember later because they will be my SECRET IMAGES. I choose cats, food and outer space. How could I not forget those?? Then a login approval is sent to my webmaster email. Or so the software says. I wait. I choose Send Again and this time the email comes, I go back to the twitterfeed site, follow all the steps and get to the page where I enter the URL of my xml feed and a couple of other things and right after I click OK for what surely must be the last time, my computer shuts itself down. Again. It's 4:30. I have done no evening news, although Jennifer is there to do that but I always help her.
The IT woman comes up to help me unplug the faulty UPS surge box and we find the monitors were plugged into it instead of anywhere else so she has to go to the basement to get a common household surge protector so that she has somewhere to plug in the monitors.
I get my computer restarted and it's after 5 and the news director has sent me a 14-page pdf file of all the jobs they'll be referencing in the Job Bank call-in portion of tonight's newscasts. The file refuses to convert to text. So I have to ftp the file to a server and then reference it as a URL and send that to Jen so she can post it. And it doesn't show up the first two times I try it. But finally it does.
During all this other stuff, I have answered about 85 emails, discussed an upcoming contest that is so complicated we have to have a conference call about it on Friday, made a graphic and posted it for the Job Bank call-in, updated the Job Center web page with new jobs, posted a story about Tim Hortons roll up the rim contest because news made mistakes LAST night so I have to bail them out with a story that we otherwise wouldn't have posted because face it, it's free advertising.
At least Jen has me watch the video of the hero dog pulling the injured dog from a busy street in Chile. I love the internet.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
last week of February
Many people are saying winter is going by really fast. Hmmm, not so much for me.
Weekends go by way fast, that's for sure. Friday night, Sherry and Amy and I intended to play cribbage but alas we never made it off the couch. I was in bed by midnight and the next thing I know, it's 11:15 a.m. and I am just waking up. So much for Saturday morning gym. But a good rally resulted in me cleaning the whole house, going to Meijer for massive stock-up, going to the library where I got The Bible Salesman and Home. Read the Bible Salesman between Saturday afternoon and Sunday noon. Pretty amusing. And suddenly, it was time to go to Ron and Deb's to play cards, where I lost all but one game of euchre with Stubbs and Chip and Amy. Much good food-- chicken sandwich and rumaki and hummus and baked brie and pasta with jerk chicken and weenies and cookies.
Got home at midnight again and sprang up at 8:45 to finish my book. Finally got started on cooking school about 2 and made lasagna with leftover Bolognese sauces and pasta with chicken and carmelized onions and roasted grape tomatoes and and yam/parsnip/watercress soup and now I have a tilapia filet in the oven and a salad made to go with it.
At least I did the Pilates today.
One of my bamboo fence panels fell completely over so I went out today during a sunny period and brushed all the snow off and rolled it up and put it on the table on the patio. It looked unscathed so I hope I can just reattach it when it gets nice.
I hope Stubbs will play euchre with me Monday night at Grumpy Dave's.
Saturday is Rod's Collision at the ClaZel 7:30 to 10:30. Come out and see them. $3 at the door.
Tonight I have to update the Oscars part of 13abc.com. Another late night.
Weekends go by way fast, that's for sure. Friday night, Sherry and Amy and I intended to play cribbage but alas we never made it off the couch. I was in bed by midnight and the next thing I know, it's 11:15 a.m. and I am just waking up. So much for Saturday morning gym. But a good rally resulted in me cleaning the whole house, going to Meijer for massive stock-up, going to the library where I got The Bible Salesman and Home. Read the Bible Salesman between Saturday afternoon and Sunday noon. Pretty amusing. And suddenly, it was time to go to Ron and Deb's to play cards, where I lost all but one game of euchre with Stubbs and Chip and Amy. Much good food-- chicken sandwich and rumaki and hummus and baked brie and pasta with jerk chicken and weenies and cookies.
Got home at midnight again and sprang up at 8:45 to finish my book. Finally got started on cooking school about 2 and made lasagna with leftover Bolognese sauces and pasta with chicken and carmelized onions and roasted grape tomatoes and and yam/parsnip/watercress soup and now I have a tilapia filet in the oven and a salad made to go with it.
At least I did the Pilates today.
One of my bamboo fence panels fell completely over so I went out today during a sunny period and brushed all the snow off and rolled it up and put it on the table on the patio. It looked unscathed so I hope I can just reattach it when it gets nice.
I hope Stubbs will play euchre with me Monday night at Grumpy Dave's.
Saturday is Rod's Collision at the ClaZel 7:30 to 10:30. Come out and see them. $3 at the door.
Tonight I have to update the Oscars part of 13abc.com. Another late night.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Back to reality
Check out the Upcoming Shows link to the right. Welders, Rod's, Polka Floyd and more! Plus, although not posted on their website, the Madison Ribberfest features Robben Ford, Dr. John and Watermelon Slim. Time to get a room. I called the Riverboat Inn tonight but the woman who answered the phone said I had to call back in the daytime when the events coordinator was there. WTF. All the other rooms are over $120 a night! May have to look at a longer drive to the motel. Like that place in Kentucky where some Black Swamp Blues people stay.
It was tough going back to work. Plus what was worse, my assistant left for vacation the day I got back so I've had to go in at 7 this week and still work til 5:30. Oh, the injustice!!
I finally have all my laundry done and limited food supplies laid in. Which more must be laid in for the next big snowstorm Saturday. Or not. Haven't had any Corner Grill in weeks.
Big weekend with cribbage Friday and cards Saturday at Deb and Ron's and Andrew Ellis at the HiNote Saturday. No radio show though. I think.
It was tough going back to work. Plus what was worse, my assistant left for vacation the day I got back so I've had to go in at 7 this week and still work til 5:30. Oh, the injustice!!
I finally have all my laundry done and limited food supplies laid in. Which more must be laid in for the next big snowstorm Saturday. Or not. Haven't had any Corner Grill in weeks.
Big weekend with cribbage Friday and cards Saturday at Deb and Ron's and Andrew Ellis at the HiNote Saturday. No radio show though. I think.
Other pictures
The snow before I left for Mexico.
Freaking bleak.
I call this The Rapture
One corner of my living room
Freaking bleak.
I call this The Rapture
One corner of my living room
Mexico pix
Remember: click a picture to see a bigger version.
Lucha masks se vende
Grandpa tries on a sombrero
The kitchen at Cueva del Chango
Carla at the bar
Yucatan breakfast: ham and peas and cheese on a tortilla on two sunny side eggs on a tortilla with salsa
More breakfast
Beach with many boats
Beach
At the Bad Boys Beach Bar
The band plays at No Limits, the bar at our hotel. The bass player is the husband of one of the bartender's at Bad Boys.
Tenth St. across from el banco
Lucha masks se vende
Grandpa tries on a sombrero
The kitchen at Cueva del Chango
Carla at the bar
Yucatan breakfast: ham and peas and cheese on a tortilla on two sunny side eggs on a tortilla with salsa
More breakfast
Beach with many boats
Beach
At the Bad Boys Beach Bar
The band plays at No Limits, the bar at our hotel. The bass player is the husband of one of the bartender's at Bad Boys.
Tenth St. across from el banco
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Last full day
Last night, we went again to the Bad Boys Beach Bar and saw that band who had some special guests including a guy named Brant Parkinson or something did some great blues like BB King and Carl Perkins. And some entire guest band did some Black Sabbath and some other tunes. And then these three chicas got up there and sang Let´s Twist Again and Mr. Postman in a cute girl group way.
Friday night we ate at La Tortuga again and I stupidly had shrimp, at least one of which was bad, so that all came up (sorry for the graphic description) in the middle of the night so Saturday I couldn´t drink or hardly eat all day. Stick to the beef. Annie had a great filet mignon there. I had just told the waiter we would tripadvisor the place very favorably so hmmmmm.
We also walked around to various pharmacies to buy RetinA which we ended up buying Receal A .01% for $9US a 60 gram tube. Other places, the stuff called RetinA on the box was like $27 or more although it was a higher percentage. I´ve been trying to google what the difference is without much luck.
Our pal Greg from Dec 07 shows up at the beach bar the other day and although he was supposed to be leaving the day after we did in Dec 07 he´s still here, having rented an apartment on 38th St. and now has some jealous Mexican girlfriend named Claudia who called him about 8 times while we were at the bar, finally threatening to walk into the ocean if he didn´t come home pretty soon. Which he didn´t.
OK off to the beach. Had breakfast today at Tropicale where we had eggs AND fruit plate with granola and yogurt because we had hardly eaten yesterday.
Friday night we ate at La Tortuga again and I stupidly had shrimp, at least one of which was bad, so that all came up (sorry for the graphic description) in the middle of the night so Saturday I couldn´t drink or hardly eat all day. Stick to the beef. Annie had a great filet mignon there. I had just told the waiter we would tripadvisor the place very favorably so hmmmmm.
We also walked around to various pharmacies to buy RetinA which we ended up buying Receal A .01% for $9US a 60 gram tube. Other places, the stuff called RetinA on the box was like $27 or more although it was a higher percentage. I´ve been trying to google what the difference is without much luck.
Our pal Greg from Dec 07 shows up at the beach bar the other day and although he was supposed to be leaving the day after we did in Dec 07 he´s still here, having rented an apartment on 38th St. and now has some jealous Mexican girlfriend named Claudia who called him about 8 times while we were at the bar, finally threatening to walk into the ocean if he didn´t come home pretty soon. Which he didn´t.
OK off to the beach. Had breakfast today at Tropicale where we had eggs AND fruit plate with granola and yogurt because we had hardly eaten yesterday.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday the 13th
Very eventful week: contained a full moon, Friday the 13th and tomorrow, Valentine´s Day.
Last night we went to the Bad Boys on the Beach where a band of Americans played songs like Taking Care of Business and Sweet Home Alabama and some Pink Floyd and there was much consumption of beer and Miss Annie being picked up by American men our age. When it was over at 9 p.m. we were too tanky to dine out so we got some pizza off a street vendor and ate it in our room and went to sleep.
Yesterday, I couldn´t go to the beach at all because I needed no more sun and I was, uh, listless from having drunk quite a bit of whiskey the night before. I swung in our balcony hammock and read and later went to the beach bar at the hotel for a mineral water with lime.
There are several restaurants we haven´t eaten at yet. And a couple we are marking off our list: Media Luna and La Caprichoza.
Last night we went to the Bad Boys on the Beach where a band of Americans played songs like Taking Care of Business and Sweet Home Alabama and some Pink Floyd and there was much consumption of beer and Miss Annie being picked up by American men our age. When it was over at 9 p.m. we were too tanky to dine out so we got some pizza off a street vendor and ate it in our room and went to sleep.
Yesterday, I couldn´t go to the beach at all because I needed no more sun and I was, uh, listless from having drunk quite a bit of whiskey the night before. I swung in our balcony hammock and read and later went to the beach bar at the hotel for a mineral water with lime.
There are several restaurants we haven´t eaten at yet. And a couple we are marking off our list: Media Luna and La Caprichoza.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Two days later
Well as I always say, we are not losing any weight down here. The weather has improved, if that´s possible. Not as much wind and warmer. 87 today. Looks to continue throughout the week.
More good food has been eaten. Tonight we are going to La Carpichoza where they make a fab caesar salad at your table. Last night we tried to go to Yaxche, a Mayan restaurant, but it was packed so we went to Maktub, a Lebanese restaurant where i had chicken kabob and Annie had vegetarian platter which was great.
We went to the Mexican equivalent of WalMart the other night and bought beer and wine and Jack Daniels, in a frugal way, and some bread and cheese which we have had for afternoon snack two days in a row.
Thursday night we are going to Bad Boys on the Beach where a band called the Nasty Bastards plays.
Otherwise, I don´t what we´ll do with ourselves. We are blasting through books like crazy. Because you can only take so much lying on the beach, believe it or not. Today, I had to lie under an umbrella because I am kinda red. But not real bad. I can hear the no sympathy from here.
Besos, chicos.
More good food has been eaten. Tonight we are going to La Carpichoza where they make a fab caesar salad at your table. Last night we tried to go to Yaxche, a Mayan restaurant, but it was packed so we went to Maktub, a Lebanese restaurant where i had chicken kabob and Annie had vegetarian platter which was great.
We went to the Mexican equivalent of WalMart the other night and bought beer and wine and Jack Daniels, in a frugal way, and some bread and cheese which we have had for afternoon snack two days in a row.
Thursday night we are going to Bad Boys on the Beach where a band called the Nasty Bastards plays.
Otherwise, I don´t what we´ll do with ourselves. We are blasting through books like crazy. Because you can only take so much lying on the beach, believe it or not. Today, I had to lie under an umbrella because I am kinda red. But not real bad. I can hear the no sympathy from here.
Besos, chicos.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Ola chicos!
Well we got here Saturday with no problem and were on a barstool yesterday by 3. It rained lightly but not enough to keep us from the palapa bar. We were fairly wiped out from the traveling so we had an early dinner at Media Luna which has become unremarkable after remodeling and moving to the second floor.
Yesterday we ate breakfast at Hot which was very good. Later we had a mexicano platter at the bar at the hotel and we thought we were too burnt (out and sun) to go out for dinner but later we recovered and had a great meal at El Bistro at La Torguga on 10th Ave. This is something to keep in mind--anything you can get on Fifth Ave is probably better and cheaper on 10th. We had mussels for an appetizer and then had big salads--Annie with the pear gorgonzola and me with a smoked salmon pecan. We had a bottle of Argentinian Malbec which pretty much cost as much as the food.
Today we had breakfast on 5th at Tropical where Annie had a vampira smoothie (beet juice and stuff) and a bagel and I had yogurt with granola and some banana bread with cream cheese. We started out both days with coffee from Java Joe´s which is just a block from our hotel.
The first night, the thumping music from hell started up about 1030 at a bar two hotels away from ours and continued on to 4 a.m. Yesterday we bought earplugs but last night, no music. Hopefully this is just a weekend thing. We could stay cheaper away from the beach but it´s so nice when you´re down there to run up to the room for stuff. What princesses.
Have had one marg today and now it´s 230 and we are taking a beach break, going to the ATM, where the exchange rate is very good. Took out 1500 pesos and it cost 100 American. Muy bien.
More later. Weather is fabulous. I see it is nearly summery in BG.
Yesterday we ate breakfast at Hot which was very good. Later we had a mexicano platter at the bar at the hotel and we thought we were too burnt (out and sun) to go out for dinner but later we recovered and had a great meal at El Bistro at La Torguga on 10th Ave. This is something to keep in mind--anything you can get on Fifth Ave is probably better and cheaper on 10th. We had mussels for an appetizer and then had big salads--Annie with the pear gorgonzola and me with a smoked salmon pecan. We had a bottle of Argentinian Malbec which pretty much cost as much as the food.
Today we had breakfast on 5th at Tropical where Annie had a vampira smoothie (beet juice and stuff) and a bagel and I had yogurt with granola and some banana bread with cream cheese. We started out both days with coffee from Java Joe´s which is just a block from our hotel.
The first night, the thumping music from hell started up about 1030 at a bar two hotels away from ours and continued on to 4 a.m. Yesterday we bought earplugs but last night, no music. Hopefully this is just a weekend thing. We could stay cheaper away from the beach but it´s so nice when you´re down there to run up to the room for stuff. What princesses.
Have had one marg today and now it´s 230 and we are taking a beach break, going to the ATM, where the exchange rate is very good. Took out 1500 pesos and it cost 100 American. Muy bien.
More later. Weather is fabulous. I see it is nearly summery in BG.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
OMG get me out of here
I can't even keep track of all the crappy weather we've had. It's real damn cold all the time and the snow is still a foot deep on the ground. But in just a couple of days I will be in Mexico for 10 days. Mmmmmmmmmm. It's my only hope, Obi-wan.
For a couple weeks there a couple weeks ago, I was exercising and eating sensibly so as to not appear too blimpish in a swimsuit but alas this last week I have fallen mightily so whatever. I'm sure fatter people will be on the beach.
Just a few last minute things to do, like buying cat litter and getting a big pile of cash out of the bank. I'll try and do a better job of posting during the vacation than the last time I was in Mexico.
____________________
For a couple weeks there a couple weeks ago, I was exercising and eating sensibly so as to not appear too blimpish in a swimsuit but alas this last week I have fallen mightily so whatever. I'm sure fatter people will be on the beach.
Just a few last minute things to do, like buying cat litter and getting a big pile of cash out of the bank. I'll try and do a better job of posting during the vacation than the last time I was in Mexico.
____________________
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