a long week...

The lack of updates from the workweek has been because they have been long, hard days. Boy, am I glad it's the weekend.

Wednesday I got to return to California! I drove to Yreka (about an hour from Medford) to talk to Public Health officials about Pertussis, aka Whooping Cough, declared an epidemic. Over 1500 people have been diagnosed with Whooping Cough so far this year. They also expect that another 700 possible cases could be confirmed. And because many people who have the symptoms don't see a doctor, there could be many more people infected across the state. After hearing the symptoms: a week of a fever and sore throat followed by weeks or months of coughing fits, I realized that I had the disease! I was sick for a few days in early May then had a cough I couldn't shake til mid June. And a handful of friends had the same problems. Who knew? http://kdrv.com/news/local/182971

Thursday was difficult too. A dam on the Rogue River has been slated for demolition for a long time, but was the deconstruction was held up by legal appeals. Thursday the dam started coming down. I was assigned a follow up with some residents who live just upstream of the dam who rely on wells as the only source of water. I looked at what would happen to them and what the county's response was.
It was a tough story because it was similar to a story we ran the day before and the producers didn't want a rehashing of the same old news. Also, the opposing sides were pointing fingers at each other and it resulted in a "he said, she said" conundrum. It was tough.
At the end of the day, I was writing and editing my package and up against the deadline. I ended up needing help and asking one of the photographers I worked with to help me cut the package while I ran downstairs to front it in front of the wall (the green screen).
My story was the lead that day and time was running out.
As the minutes and seconds to the show count down, I could see the director in the booth getting anxious, upset. My IFB wasn't working so I couldn't tell what he was saying, but I later found out that my package was just exporting to the digital VCR while the show was in the open. While it sounds exciting, exhilarating, and perfectly typical for the TV industry...it's hell for everyone involved.


I'm working on being quicker from here on out.