Bring My Friends to Work Day

On January 4th, the first day of the new Congress, I decided to bring my camera to work and share with you what happened... it was a long day, 6:10am to 7:20pm.

First hit: FOX and Friends w/ Rep. John Boehner, House Minority Leader, at Large House Gallery

Second hit: FOX and Friends w/ Rep. Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, at Large House Gallery (25 minutes later)

Both Congressmen were extremely gracious...

Afterward Steve and I headed back to the TWB office to regroup... however we didn't have much time because we both had more work to do. I was going to spend the day with RNN, a news show based in New York, that we share our office with. The show's "star," Richard French, was coming into DC from NY that day inorder to interview lawmakers. Because RNN is so small they usually do not get big guests, but because they are from New York they managed to book an interview with Senator Hillary Clinton this day. I was excited to be able to meet her, and she was first on the agenda for the day. I had no clue just how hard I would be worked... however, since we were going to tape and not live I did not have any responsibilties once we were shooting and could snap photos... Richard French even asked if I would take photos throughout the day of him and the lawmakers so that they could use them for publicity.

Third hit: RNN w/ Sen. Hillary Clinton at the Russell Rotunda
Sen. Clinton does not give interviews too often so this was well planned out so that she could give many interviews one after another. We waited patiently as she went from one station to another... throughout the process some of the public began to gather around and watch her. The Cameraman, Kevin, was a freelancer working for the day and gave me this bit of advice... the bigger the name the less mistakes they stand. He told me that Hillary would not want me to mic her myself, but to just hand her the mic. Sure enough, her press secretary told me to just hand her the mic right before she came over--this is the first time I have had someone mic themself. Here are some pictures:

Richard French and Sen. Clinton

She did well and shook my hand afterward. I also thought it was interesting that after the interview she spotted a nun down stairs and shouted out to the sister, apparently she knows her, and had one of her people bring her up to see her.

Here is the Nun waiting for Sen. Clinton

RNN then decided that we would wait around and see if we couldn't get another interview... it didn't work out and we had to rush over to our next hit with Rangle in the Capital.

WOW! The house side of the Capital was packed! Congressmen and their families were all over the place... I even saw Richard Gere wandering the halls. Well, when wwe got there Rep. Charlie Rangle ran off with another crew and we lost them in the crowd so we instead got an interview with Rep. Waxman in the hallway... which apparently is a big no no. We could have gotten our press passes taken from us... here are some shots from that.

Richard Gere (top) and Rep. Waxman (bottom)

From there RNN decided to try and catch up with Rangle at his office in Rayburn and off we ran. There we waited to no avail.

Well, this is taking too long... here are some more pictures from the rest of the day.

Rep. ... I forget.

Short reporter (top) and Rangle (bottom)

I caught Rep. Rangle sticking his tounge out at the camera (not ours)

Rep. Shays who had to wait for Rangle to finish up before his turn

Shooting from a hotel window and running late.

Less than an hour till his flight and struggling with a power outage.

Finally we finished the day and Richard French left for the airport with only 45min till the plane was scheduled to take off. I left with a 2nd degree burn from one of the lights and lots of memories and pictures. Thanks for joining me. God Bless.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Danielle and I had a wonderful Christmas. We visited Dani's family up in Michigan from the 19 to 25 and then came back late in the afternoon to celebrate with my family. Dani and I got tons of gifts! I was under the impression that by getting married I was giving up my rights to gift filled Christmases... I was wrong... you get twice as many! It was great and I got a lot of useful gifts but it made me wish I had spent more time thinking and shopping for gifts. My new year's resolution is to keep notes of gift ideas for people through out the year.

One thing I have not enjoyed this year is that I had to go right back to work! For my entire life I've had at least two weeks off for Christmas, four in college, but not this year. The day after Christmas I had to show up at my vacant office to put in 8 hours. The metro was dead and I thought maybe I'll get to work and they'll send me home... ah! However, it could be a lot worse. With not much to do at work I took some time to research video and camera equipment and also to catch up on my favorite blog... actually the only one I read... Church of the Masses. Looking at back blogs I found one that I found particularly interesting because it played off of C.S. Lewis' Screw Tape Letters. Barbra did not write it her self... just re posted it. It is a letter from Wormwood, an older demon, to his nephew, a younger demon, about the book the Da Vinci Code. Check it out...

God Bless, James

Auntie Cheryl (1950-2006)

This weekend Danielle and I went up to Michigan for her auntie's funeral, she died of cancer, a week ago, at the age of 56. Danielle's Auntie Cheryl was a close family friend but not directly related as "Auntie Cheryl"portrays. She and Danielle's mom were best of friends and taught at the same school together for most of their lives. The ceremony was beautiful, I teared up several times when family and friends talked about how much love surrounds the family, a true testimony to their God! The Church was also beautiful very unlike the surrounding neighborhood in the suburbs of Detroit. Both Cheryl's parents were still alive and there, her father was a deacon of the church so many from the choir and parish new him and Cheryl. It was quite an amazing ceremony... also very long. My only memory of Cheryl is at our wedding, I know that we met before but it was during a wedding shower, I believe, and there was too much going on. Danielle and I were for a long time unsure if Cheryl would make it to the wedding because of the cancer, but days before the wedding Cheryl decided to postpone an operation that doctors advised and that couldn't be rescheduled for sometime because she so wanted to be at our wedding and see her "baby". That speaks volumes! I remember her as a joyful person with a beautiful smile. Danielle and I are confident that the Lord has judged wisely, and because of her faith and God's promise we look forward to joining her in heaven someday.

Dan Rather

Today I met Dan Rather while waiting for a Sen. that never showed up for a hit. He showed up just before Gary, a guy I work with, and I left for another hit in the Capital. I was wrapping up some cable that happened to go under his chair... he was sitting down getting makeup, and I apologized but asked if I could clear the cable. He was very gracious and told me to take my time, I told him that it was a pleasure to have seen him there and he thanked me.... later after I left because we were running short on time Gary who stayed to finish up approached him and shook his hand. Dan Rather stood up to shake his hand and showed great appreciation for the compliment and asked for his name. Its this kind of stuff that makes my job interesting. When Gary and I met back up we talked about how awkward we always feel about what we say after it's over with. Even if it's just "Hi!" Then moments later I greeted Rep. Charlie Rangle with a, "Hey Rangle!" ... Whoops, I should probably be a little more formal. Ah well, at 76 I don't think he cares anymore.

Also, the day before while waiting for a hit Gary and I talked about God, life after death, and the Gospel. Good questions raised! In my next post I will try to discus some of those questions and what I think. Until then... later.

Long Day at Work

Tuesday was a long day at work, I got in at 6:45am and left at 10:20pm. I took part in seven “hits,” I found the first and last hits online when I got home that night. Check them out and it will help everyone understand what I do a little better. The first was at 9:03 am in the Russell building, an office building for senators, and the second is from last night around 9:13 pm inside the capital. Rep. Charlie Rangel was a lot of fun and a little crazy; he was in a good mood and chatted candidly with us.

Video Headline: Sen. John Cornyn

Click on the URL below to watch the video:

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/launchPage.html?111406/111406_ff_cornyn&Sen.%20John%20Cornyn&FOX_Friends&Senate%20Armed%20Services%20Committee%20member%20on%20assessing%20options%20for%20Iraq&Politics&-1&Sen.%20John%20Cornyn&Video%20Launch%20Page&News

Video Headline: Rep. Charlie Rangel

Click on the URL below to watch the video:

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/launchPage.html?111406/111406_hc_rangel&Rep.%20Charlie%20Rangel&Hannity_Colmes&NY%20Dem%20is%20incoming%20Chair%20of%20Hse%20Ways%20%26%20Means%20Cmte&Politics&-1&Rep.%20Charlie%20Rangel&Video%20Launch%20Page&News

Staking Out John Kerry

Yesterday was interesting. About noon The Washinton Bureau got a call from Fox asking for three crews, one at the airport and two at John Kerry's DC residence, all in an attempt to get a quick interview. In 20 minutes we were out the door. I was sent to Kerry's house, as a cameraman with two other guys from my work, where we met up with a Fox producer. Fox was the only agency there and having never done a stake out before we were pretty neverous and felt a little "dirty" for waiting outside his house, but as time rolled on, and it did for hours, we got more comfortable. One crew stayed in front and the other crew covered the back door, I was in front and sat across the street on a neighboors stoop who was nice enough to let us sit there. Eventually the FOX live truck showed up then came NBC around 5PM. NBC had only one producer and one shooter (cameraman). It was funny to see the news rivalry. Though through out the day we saw people come and go from the front of the house we never saw Kerry. Almost everyone who passed by and talked with us said, "Kerry never comes in the front." Apparently he goes in the back way and the only time he used the front enterance was during the presidential campian because the security made him.

Overall it was interesting and I enjoyed being there... mostly because otherwise I'd be just sitting at my desk.

Just couldn't let a whole year pass

A lot has happend since I last blogged, I'm still pretty stuborn to my own detriment however. Last week I started working at The Washington Bureau as a Producer, nice title. It's a small office by Union Station and the Capital Building, TWB only has 6 full time employees including the owners. The job pays very little but it is great experience for broadcast news and TV. Today is my sixth day and I've already met two current senators and Bob Dole, and since we share our office with another news agency I get to see important people come in all the time... John Ashcroft was here this past Monday. I'm not big on politics or news but it is an amazing experience and I feel as though I am witnessing history in the making. TWB is contracted by news agencies all around the world to setup live interviews or get tape on events happening around the Capital most often we do "Hits" for Fox News. A "hit" is basically an appointment for TWB to tape or send a live feed to someone.

...well it looks like I never finished this post before the year mark... but I started it before. Oh well, got to get back to work. Later