Shit Happens

Serious Sandwich Debate
All right, so I pull up to Burger King for breakfast this morning, a departure from my normal breakfast-of-choice, the chicken biscuit meal at Chik-Fil-A.

When I pull up, photog Todd calls me to say we're working together. I pause to order.

"Uh yeah, could I get the Croissanwich with bacon meal, an orange juice to drink," I said. Note, I pronounced it a "cruh-SAHN-wich."

Several hours later, photog Todd and I are crossing 11th street. He says I pronounce "croissanwich" all wrong.

"Do you think you're French? It's "cruh-SAN-wich." (The last half pronounced like sandwich)

I said I would poll people on how it should be pronounced. He says nine out of ten people will agree it's "cruh-SAND-wich", not "cruh-SAHN-wich." Settle this.

Too. Much. Blogging.
I had high hopes I would deftly keep up both my work blog, this blog and my personal journal (which I feel obligated to keep since I started that blog-on-paper back in 1988). Now I'm just plain exhausted, since there's that whole turning-a-television-news-story-everyday element thrown in there.

So, I'm sorry for not posting here as much, but I won't be shutting down. You never know what can happen that will bring about a blogpost. I mean, it's entirely feasible that I could go from just being a lowly paparazzi, when, I dunno, I could be picked up by Britney Spears or something and start a crazy fantastic life as a hanger-on. I would absolutely have to blog about that. You never know.

Adventures in Reporting
Me: Would you be available for an interview this afternoon?
Him: How did you get this number?
Me: I googled you.

Might As Well Have Been a Snippet from Stiles
Former NPR foreign correspondent Eric Weiner wrote the book, The Geography of Bliss, in which he searches the world for the happiest places. He appeared on Colbert tonight, and this part of the interview stood out:

WEINER: I'm not a particularly happy person, I'm a grump. Worst of all, I'm a journalist, which only exacerbates the problem.

COLBERT: Right, you make other people unhappy.

STOOOOOP!!!
If I hear "The Best Political Team on Television" one more time...

Bloomberg and his Bling Drop By
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a stop in Austin today, and insisted he's not a candidate for president, dammit. I sat there, two feet away from him, distracted by the sound of him shaking the change in his pocket. I wrote up a little TV story about the visit and created his super - the graphic that shows his name/title on the screen:

*cg 2name
Michael Bloomberg
Gazillionaire

Someone eventually noticed.

Campaign Warfare
Sigh. I had to eat a shitburger from a campaign manager today, after a story pointing out his Democratic candidate's cash comes from embattled Republican House Speaker Tom Cr@ddick's big lobby donors. I couldn't give an inch, because, well, the story was fair. I offered to put up his email rants directly on my political blog, but for some reason he asked me not to.

Some campaign manager tactics that never seem to work really well with reporters but continue to be used all the time:

1.) Bullying
2.) Crying foul - "How is THAT a story!" "That's an old story!" "That's a non-story."
3.) Listing all the "glaring omissions" on reporter's part
4.) Patronizing.. largely by way of rhetorical questions that are supposed to prove their point
5.) Refusing to respond (this is probably the worst tactic of all)

Running For President Must Suck
I was checking out the campaign schedules today, and noticed this little item:

3:20 pm
Fred Thompson tours downtown Greenwood, South Carolina

This is a fate worse than death. I've been to Greenwood a few times for some triple homicides or perhaps a little teacher-on-student sex scandal. So I'm gonna put it out there -- Fred, spare yourself the misery and drop out, man.

Woe is Me
Seriously, Dallas Cowboys. WTF!??!
I'm so depressed.
Is there any reason to go on with life?

How Fitz Keeps Almost Dying
Friggin Fitz. My orange tabby likes living on the edge. He comes home on Iowa caucus night bleeding from his neck. This is about to sound bad, but since I was too busy watching the Iowa caucuses and Fitz is perpetually getting into trouble, I just locked him in my room until all the precincts came in.

The vet said he was bitten by a dog somewhere, but didn't need stitches. Now he's grounded for awhile (he had recently become and indoor/outdoor cat). Which made me think, how many times has Fitz almost died? Let me count the ways.

9th life: Being born onto the streets of South Dallas, we're talking Oak Cliff area. Somehow finding his way to "safety" on the infamous grassy knoll, which happens to be at the mouth of a major interstate. (Hence the name "Fitz", short for John Fitzgerald Kennedy Hu-St!les)

8th life: Getting taken into the Spartanburg Humane Society, which has one of the highest animal euthanasia rates in the country. He was miraculously rescued because the same day he was brought in, my friend Myra was outside doing a live report. She saw him and had to take him home with her... which is how I wound up with him.

7th life: Accidentally eating ibuprofen. It looks like he took in at least two Advil liquigels, which is toxic to cats. Almost died, stayed in the Emergency Clinic overnight with an IV in his little arm. Had to shoot him with some sort of subcutaneous fluids for two weeks.

6th life: Running away for two weeks. To this day we don't know where Fitz was during the last half of September, 2007. We thought he was a goner, fer sho. But then he just came strolling back in when October came around.

5th life: Dog bite. How he got away after a dog got him by the neck is still a mystery to me.

So by my count Fitz can almost-die another three times, and then he's gonna be out of lives. Good gracious. The vet fees have cost more than my own healthcare.

Men of the Crazy Week
Dr. Phil, begrudgingly
Barack Obama
Mike Huckabee
My cat Fitz, 3 of 9 lives left

Snippet from Stiles: Meow
"I don't know how hard it is to break into the world of cat-modeling."

Down to The Wire
All right, now, I'm not gonna tell you who to vote for. But all I gotta say is Barack Obama told TV Guide that The Wire was his favorite TV show. That's all I'm sayin'.

Happy Caucus Day!
This thing is going to be fun, fun fun! I'm predicting we know who wins on the GOP side pretty early, but that the results for the Democrats will be unclear until early tomorrow morning. I can't wait to watch Chris Matthews yell at me all night long.