Getting My Ears Lowered

So where do all of us "famous" TV people get our hair cut? Well, I can't speak for anyone else at the station, but I get mine cut at the ultra exclusive Baileyton Barbershop. It's in Cullman County.

The barber is Mary Whitehead. She's been cutting my hair since I was probably 12 or 13. She was partnered with John Morrow, who had a shop in Arab for years and he cut my hair from the time I was a kid. After he passed away, Mary moved the shop to Baileyton.

Mary was closed today for her step-daughter's wedding. So I got my hair cut in Huntsville. 25 dollars later, it was cut. But not any better than Mary cuts it for 7.

Story You Won't See Tonight

We were called out to a house in Albertville this afternoon. A German Shepard Puppy had fallen down a well. The puppy was still alive and it had all the makings of a great, feel good story.

It turns out they were unable to get the puppy out of the hole. It looks like the puppy moved up a channel where the water used to flow. So those trying to rescue the puppy weren't able to latch on to anything.

It's not on TV, because a puppy dying, just doesn't make for very good TV.

Odds and Ends

First, the old picture of me will be coming back soon. The anti-Carson in front of the red background forces have prevailed.

The other: Yesterday afternoon, a woman comes up to me in Food World and says, "don't I know you from somewhere?" I said, "Well, I work at Channel 19. I'm on TV." She says, "No, that's not it."

The Worst Part of the Job

We had a murder and a plane crash today. The plane crash wasn't that big of a deal. The pilot is going to be fine.

The murder on the other hand is very strange. A pregnant, 23-year-old woman, found dead in a truck from a gunshot to the head. A man found her, after hearing the truck crash in front of his house. How did she manage to drive after being shot in the head with a shot gun? The killer is still on the loose.

I had to make a phone call to the family. That is the worst thing you'll ever do as a reporter. Picking up that phone and calling someone who's just lost a loved one. You never know what the reaction will be. Some people want to talk. I think it must be like therapy for them. They just want to get it out. Others are very offended by your calling. I understand both sides. I hate having to call at all.

A New Picture

I've changed the picture of me that you see over to the left. Brad said the old one looked too menacing, like I was a WWE wrestler. In fact, he had everyone at the station rolling in the floor making fun of the picture. So I changed it. It's not in black and white and I tried to smile. So do you like this one, or the old one better?

Nothing On TV

I came to a conclusion a little while ago. There is not a single television show on right now that I watch on a regular basis. I flipped through all the channels and couldn't find anything that even peaked my interest. The closest was Looney Tunes on Boomerang. Maybe it's just summer. I have Dish Network. You would think that with all those channels, there would be, at any given time, something I would find interesting to watch.

It's at boring times like this, I kind of wish I still had my Hot Wheels or my GI Joe Men.
GI Joe, now there was a show.

Yo Joe! He'll fight for freedom where ever there's trouble. GI Joe is there. It's GI Joe against Cobra the enemy. Fighting to save the day. He never gives up. He's always there,Fighting for freedom over land and air GI Joe- A real American hero GI Joe is there.
GI Joe is the codename for America's daring, highly trained special mission force. It's purpose, to defend human freedom against Cobra-a ruthless, terrorist organization determined to rule the world.
He never gives up. He'll stay til the fight's won. GI Joe will dare. GI Joe- A real American hero. GI Joe

Not Much New

Not a lot going on today. Of course I'm off work since I worked the weekend. More car problems. I think the battery has died. I've had it less than a year.

This is great news, I've been Waiting For.

I found this story. Now I've got an excuse.

New research from Kingston University in the United Kingdom has concluded that an unmade bed is not only unappealing to the eyes, but also unappealing to house dust mites, which are thought to cause asthma and other allergies.

The average bed can be home to as many as 1.5 million house dust mites, and when a bed is made up, it traps moisture in the sheets and mattress--ideal conditions for those mites. But the bugs apparently have a harder time surviving in the drier conditions of an unmade bed, reports the BBC News.The big takeaway: Since dust mites are a leading cause of allergies and asthma, keeping your bed unmade could keep you healthier.

House dust mites are less than a millimeter long and feed on the scales of human skin. They produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep. When we sleep, the bed becomes warm and even damp, conditions that help the house dust mites to grow and multiply. "We know that mites can only survive by taking in water from the atmosphere using small glands on the outside of their body," lead researcher Dr. Stephen Pretlove told the BBC News. "Something as simple as leaving a bed unmade during the day can remove moisture from the sheets and mattress so the mites will dehydrate and eventually die."

Good Folks

I was a little tough in my post below about something another station did recently. With that being said, there are a lot of good people at the other stations. The reporters, photographers and most of the people behind the scenes are a good bunch. I call many of them friends. I had lunch with one of them on Friday. My bone is just with the "news philosophy" that pushes misleading phrases down viewers throats.

Did You Now????

In the following post, the names have been blocked out to protect the innocent and the guilty.

Do me a favor and read this sentence, which was on a television station's broadcast and on its website:

"The *%^& $* News Investigators have discovered rare footage of the missing teen before she disappeared."

Interesting. It's the exact same video that we and every other television station and cable news outlet ran of Natalie Holloway. In fact I saw it on Fox News the night before. We got ours on the network news feed. I wonder where they discovered theirs? Under a rock? Behind a secret trap door in an old haunted mansion?

I just think that's misleading the viewers to say we "discovered." It just gives the idea that they were really out working hard to find this video.

Just in Case you didn't know....

IT'S HOT OUTSIDE

Today Brad Hood, Sat Truck engineer Brian Covington and I, spent a good deal of time out in the heat today. We were chasing down dynamite.

I'm just tired now.

I will be achoring this weekend. If you get a chance, turn your TV our way.

For Your Information, It's None of Your Business

America is supposed to be the land of the free, home of the brave. It's where Freedom of the Press was put right there in the ole First Ammendment. The first one, not the 16th, not the 22nd, but the first. Yet, you'd be suprised how much freedom we don't have.

The times it's most obvious, is when things happen after 5pm and on the weekends. Some (and please underscore the word Some) law enforcement organizations become an information freeze zone.

Let's say you hear there's been a shooting somewhere. You simply want to know if it's true and where it's happened. That's all. You don't want names. You don't want to know who was at fault. You don't want to know what type gun was used. You don't want to know if they deserved it. Just some basic stuff. So you call and a dispatcher gives you the most helpful piece of information in the free world, "I'm not allowed to give out that information."

Obviously it's not the dispatchers fault. They are just following the rules put in place by someone higher up. And the angry reporter in me, would like to say to the higher up sometime: "Your organization is run by the people and supported by tax payer money. You don't run a private club here. I'm not asking for much. We simply want to know if what we've heard is true and whether it's worth our time to drive out to see what's going on." Of course we don't want to take time away from a dispatcher who's busy. If they've got a job to do, understood. But I don't mind waiting on the line, until they do have a second.

I just go back to what I've said on here before. Remember, you're not really talking to a reporter, when you talk to a reporter. You're talking to the people at home. You're talking to the people who voted you into office. You're talking to the people who pay your salary. We're asking the questions, because average Joe out there is too busy. Or maybe he's too scared to ask.

So cut us a break. If you're going to stonewall us, at least stonewall on something a bit bigger than whether or not a bakery truck's collided with the ice creme man. I know, I know, you're not allowed to give out that information.

This post might be gone as soon as I cool down. So read while you can.

Chris, James-Paul, just calm down, OK.

Below is a story I ran across about a station in Florida where the weekend morning weather guy got into a fight with the weekend night weather guy. I don't think we'll ever have that problem at the station.

Miami insiders tell FTVLive about a fight that broke out in the weather department. Word is that Weekend Nighttime weather guy Tom Johnston was fired from WSVN yesterday after getting into a fight with the weekend morning weather guy, Jonathan Novak It happened on Saturday afternoon around 4 or 5pm... details are still sketchy as to what went down., but one source says that Johnston wiped the floor with Novak over what they hear could have been some sort of scheduling conflict. Others say Novak simply got tired of Johnston hassling him and treating him like a child and confronted him in the weather office. Sources say that fists started to fly sometime after 4pm on Sunday. One source says that Novak comes running into the newsroom screaming something like "Look what he did, he just attacked me"... or something like that. The Executive Producer intervenes and one of the producers starts taking pictures of Novak's ripped shirt with their cellphone. Johnston was booted and taken off the station's website and all promos with him in them have been pulled.

Music to do the News By

Maybe some of you have wondered, maybe most of you haven't. Just in case, the music you hear at the beginning of our newscast, actually has a name.

Every TV station has news music. I thought maybe it was time to talk about it. It really doesn't make your news product better. Yet, people have come to expect a little something to get television programs off to a start.

TV shows used to have theme songs(Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of fateful trip) or at least a memorable music score. Today, many shows just start with no music.

The TV news music remains. It's either at the beginning or you'll hear it as we head into each commercial break.

So what is the name of our news music? Well, it's called Metropolis. Just like the place where Superman lived. It's composed by Stephen Arnold. It's not just our music. Several stations across the country use Metropolis. The ABC station in Washington, D.C. uses Metropolis as well as KIFI in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Our competition's news music also has a name. 31 uses a piece called U-Phonix. It's also composed by Stephen Arnold. (Hey, is he working for us, or for them?) 48 uses Advantage. It's composed by Gari Communications.

If you ever want to hear news music, there is a great website. It's called SouthernMedia. You can listen to some of our news themes there all the way back to 1975. You can listen to virtually any station in the country. I don't know where they get all of them.

My grandmother's moon rock. Is it the real deal? 

My Grandmother's Moon Rock

July 20, 2005 marks 36 years since man landed on the moon. So in honor, I’m letting you in on a little secret. I’ve got a piece of the moon. Now, I know what you’re thinking, "how is that possible?" Well, it is, maybe.

My grandmother, Ethel Clark, died in March of 2004. One of her possessions that she passed on to me, is her moon rock. Several years before she died, in some conversation that I don’t remember, she said, "I’ve got a moon rock." Of course I said, "you’ve got a moon rock?" I was a little bit skeptical, but I thought it might be possible. She went back, opened up a drawer in her bedroom and brought out a rock.

So how did my grandmother come to be the owner of a piece of lunar material? Well, throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, she worked in the commissary at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Her specific job was to make desserts. Her specialty was carrot and coconut cakes. So during those years, my grandmother made desserts eaten by Dr. Von Braun and the Apollo astronauts who made their way through building 4200.

She said she was given the rock, "after one of them trips to the moon." I don’t know who and she didn’t remember, but some astronaut gave my grandmother this rock and said he had brought it back from the moon. Did he give in to her in exchange for the desserts she had made? Was some astronaut getting a laugh at the expense of my grandmother? Who knows.

After she gave me the rock, I did some checking. I Googled and Yahooed moon rocks. It seems that all of the rocks collected on the moon are cataloged and stored at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Rocks are loaned out to be put on display around the world.

So it seems that it would be highly unlikely that the rock I have actually came from the moon. Although, it doesn’t look like any rock I’ve ever seen around here.

Is it a real moon rock? Maybe, maybe not. But until I get more specific evidence to the contrary, I’m going by what my grandmother told me. I’ve got a piece of the moon and it’s sitting on my kitchen counter.

A New Blog

Photographer Brad Hood now has a blog of his own. I've been telling him we needed a photographer to do one.

http://www.photogsandmtn.blogspot.com/

BREAKING NEWS

Chris finally updated his blog. http://chrisdavis19wx.blogspot.com/

Not Really Impressed

I found myself in a unique position on Monday covering the Eric Robert Rudolph sentencing in Birmingham. There were so many photographers and so many reporters that I was pretty much able to stand back and watch the others work.

It was a different perspective. There were reporters from Birmingham and Atlanta. Those are TV markets size 40 and 9, I believe.

What I saw as I stood there and as I listened to the tape later, wasn't that impressive. It's not what you would expect from reporters who've made it that far in this business. Most of them wouldn't let the person being interviewed finish what they were saying.

One of the things you learn about reporting is something called the pregnant pause. The person you interview will finish what they're saying. You don't start in with another question right away, you just let that pause hang there for a second. Often times, the person will start up again, and you get some of your best interview sound that way.

Yet, these reporters today didn't seem to know that or didn't care. I got the sense that Reporter B didn't care what Reporter A had asked. Reporter B just wanted to get his question asked. Then as the person was trying to answer, Reporter C would fire away with her question.

Something else I heard one reporter say, just wasn't right in my opinion. I believe reporters, especially in cases like Eric Rudolph, should stay as neutral as possible. This reporter said before her question to Emily Lyons, "you are just so impressive to me." I stood there and thought, "what does your personal statement to Emily Lyons have to with the story you are writing?" I just don't like that kind of, I'm going to tell my interview just what I feel, operation.

Who cares how I feel about Emily Lyons? Who cares how I feel about Eric Rudolph? Who cares how I feel about President Bush? Who cares how I feel about Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid? Reporters should ask questions of their interviews, not make statements to them.

Chris Davis and I went to the Huntsville Stars game Sunday night. I ate a hotdog, popcorn and M&M's. I ate bad, but it's the weekend. It was nice out there, but it was hot as, well anyway thanks for stopping by. 

Chris at the Huntsville Stars game. 

Shelia Jennings

I read in the Decatur Daily this morning that a girl I went to high school with, died yesterday. Shelia Jennings was killed in a car accident in Priceville. She was a year ahead of me in school. We weren't really friends. I knew her, she knew me.

I saw her not that long ago. She told me how much she liked watching me on television. I'm sad to say I can't remember when or where it was we talked though. It might have been Kid's Count '04.

Even though we weren't close, it's still a strange feeling to read that someone you knew has passed away.

I talk about Brad a lot. That's him in the back with the white shirt on. Those are the Guntersville High School cheerleaders. The other photog on the end, isn't in Huntsville anymore, I don't think. 

The Weekend

Friday is here. I'm glad. Today is my 12th or 13th day of work in a row. Sometimes I think I would prefer working a nightside schedule. Nightside is what all of those who work on the 10pm show are on. It's normally a 2pm to 11pm schedule. I'm not a late sleeper. 8am is about my limit for sleeping late. But I'm not an early to bed kind of guy either. I went to sleep about 11 last night, which is about the earliest for me. Around 8:30 every night, I seem to hit a new level of alertness. So I can be dead tired at 7 and wide awake at 9pm. With a nightside schedule you also get more time in the day to take care of things. If you need to go to the doctor, the dentist or do errands, you've got several hours before work.

I took the car to the shop yesterday. $423 dollars later, I got it back. The left hub went bad. The part was 300 and something dollars. Ouch!!

Brad took a freeze frame of the video from Gulf Shores and made this picture. There are too many pictures of me on this blog. 

Attack of the Killer Bugs

Tuesday night I went in the Publix there on Bailey Cove Road in Huntsville. There were gnats swarming all over the parking lot. I saw this woman get out of her car and she started hitting herself. I thought she had lost it. I soon saw what she was doing. People were running into the store with their mouths covered. One guy came out with a shopping bag over his head. I don't know what caused it.

Then last night, I see this ant go shooting across my kitchen counter. I look closer and there is a convoy of ants going up to the canister where the sugar is. It's the same sugar that's been in there since I moved in back in 2003. (I don't use much sugar.) So I don't open it up that often. I opened it, and there is a swarm or what ever you call a bunch of ants, all inside. Who told them they could borrow some of my sugar?

Something's Wrong with my Car and other Stuff

Amy returned to the anchor chair last night. It was good to see her back and know that Amy and Chris' baby is doing well.

Something is wrong with my car. As you drive down the road, it's making this roaring noise. If you pull the wheel to the left, it gets worse. You pull it to the right and the noise eases up? What could it be?

It's going to have to go to the shop today or tomorrow. Brad thinks something is wrong with the drive train. I hope it's not something expensive.

The Shuttle Launch

The shuttle is supposed to launch today. I'm not holding my breath. Maybe it will be a go, but the weather usually likes to get in the way at least on the first try.

I was thinking about the Challenger and Columbia accidents. During Challenger I was in the 3rd grade. We were home from school that morning because of snow. I actually watched the launch on 19, because I remember the Price is Right being broken into for coverage.

I was in the 6th grade, when Discovery got us back into space in September of 1988. I remember the launch guy saying, "And liftoff, liftoff of Discovery and America's return to space."

During Columbia I was doing live shots from our Kids Count Expo at the VBC. I was with our news director Kevin Osgood looking at the helicopter, when Brad Hood comes running over and says, "the space shuttle is missing." I'll never forget those words.

Now Discovery is doing it again. Hopefully this will be the last time America has to return to space after a long break.

Be Sure to Watch

I'd invite all of you who read the blog to watch our coverage of the Shuttle Launch Wednesday. You'll get a nice surprise. If you miss it, then be sure to watch at 6 Wednesday night.

Back From the Beach

We got home from the Gulf around 7 Monday night. It was an interesting experience. We never got into weather that you would really call dangerous. The worst we had was Sunday around 12:30, when we decided to leave the hotel and go to the EOC in Robertsdale. The wind was whipping the Jeep pretty good.

The worst part was that everything closed. There was no gas and no food. So we ate beef jerkey and peanuts all day Sunday.

On the way back, we got a chance to see WAKA in Montgomery and WBRC in Birmingham.

I've posted some of the pictures of the trip below.

The Gulf on Saturday morning was about as calm as I've ever seen it. Almost like glass out there. 

James-Paul doing a Saturday morning live shot. Fox 6 in Birmingham helped us out with that. 

I can never seem to get anyone to take a picture of me. I always have to do it myself. 

Right out of the pool. There was time for some fun as well Saturday morning. The sun was really bright.

The Weather Endeavor outside of our hotel in Foley.

Other reporters waiting out Dennis at the Baldwin County Emergency Operations Center. 

James-Paul outside the EOC. 

Gulf Shores about two hours after Dennis came ashore.

Monday morning, the beach looked pretty much like normal. 

Sunday Night

Dennis is gone for the most part. We are at the Emergency Operations Center in Robertsdale. We've been back down to the beach at Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. All appears to be fine. We didn't see any damage. Florida seems to have gotten most of the force from Dennis.

We will be live tonight at ten. Whether we will get to come home tomorrow isn't known yet. We may get sent to Florida.

I'm so tired of eating beef jerkey and peanuts. I'm looking forward to getting back to the room and opening up a can of Beannie Weenies.

Dennis Update

It's just before 10 in the morning on Sunday. We are now in Foley, about 10 miles from the coast. We had to leave Orange Beach. Very spooky last night as we made our way back to the beach to feed our video for the 10 show. When you crossed the bridge into Gulf Shores, all of the power had been turned off. We were also in one of the first feeder bands. So it was rainy, windy and pitch black.

Today we are planning on riding out the storm here in Foley at the hotel. The truck we're using to feed our video and lives shots back to Huntsville is in Robertsdale. That's about 10 miles north of where we are now. So that's not very easy on us. So you might be hearing us on the phone talking about what's going on outside for awhile.

Another concern is gas. We have all of the gas we're going to have for awhile. So keep thinking and praying for us. It will be much appreciated.

We Are Here

We are in Orange Beach at the Sleep Inn. I'm blogging from James-Paul's laptop. We got here around 10pm. We also knocked out a package. Tom Woodard was my photog as we interviewed a Marshall County Commissioner who's moving out of his condo next door. How lucky was that?

Hope to blog again soon. Carson.

Gulf Coast, Here We Come

So this afternoon, Tom Woodard, James-Paul and myself, will be headed for Orange Beach, Alabama. As most people start streaming out of that area, we will be streaming in.

This will be the first hurricane I've covered from the coast. While it's exciting, there are some concerns. Besides the hurricane itself, which is more than enough to be worried about, there are smaller things. One, is gas. As all of these people head out, gas becomes short on supply. So I would hate for us to get down there and not be able to get gas anywhere.

We are also going without a photographer. Tom and I will take turns being a photographer for each other and JP. Two reporters fumbling around with cameras; this should be fun.

We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Express which is right on the beach. So at some point during our coverage I've got to work in something like, "I'm not a hurricane expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night." Oh, that's bad.

Dan briefed me on covering a hurricane. He said, if it's a Cat two or below you should be fine staying there at the beach. But if it's a Cat 3 or above, the storm surge will come in at least 15 feet high and you will drown. Thanks for the comforting words Dan.

So there won't be any updates to the blog for awhile. I'll see you on TV.

Update on the Mutant Tomato Plant behind my house. If you look close, you can see the thing is closing in on me. And I'm over 6 feet tall. I guess I couldn't smile in the picture.

The Sound of Tragedy

Today with the blasts in London, I worked much like I did on September 11th. At the time, our bureau was in Guntersville. The building didn't have cable. We didn't have a TV in the office anyway. I guess it's strange that a television station's bureau wouldn't have a TV.

On that day, everything we learned about what was going on, came from the radio. So I don't have the same visual memories of September 11th, like most people do. I just remember hearing it.

Today, much the same. We were out most of the day working on a connected story. So there was very little information about what was going on. A subject for another day might be how reporters really are sometimes in a news vacuum. People at home often know more than we do.

But now I'm off to the store to stock up on rain gear. Are you wondering why? Find out tomorrow. Am I good tease writer or what?

Fyffe UFO Story

If you would like to check out the Fyffe UFO story that I mention below, you can. Just follow this link and click on the video option.

http://www.whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=3563214&nav=1VPtbqKc

Ask, And You Shall Receive

Two days ago I posed the question, "What Giant Produce Lies in My Future?" Well, yesterday I got the answer. The answer came in the form of a Giant Banana.

Oh, but this wasn't just any giant banana. This was a giant banana in the form of a UFO. Back in 1989, for several weeks, people in the town of Fyffe reported seeing UFOs. And almost everyone described it as a looking like a banana.

They are getting ready to have a UFO Festival. So we revisited the UFO story from '89.

I think I'm going to stop asking these questions.

I'm Not Garrett, Cross My Heart

On July 4th, I got a call on my answering machine that went like this: "Garrett, hey man. Call me. I need you to really call me. OK? Call me Garrett."

It would be easy to say, well that was just a wrong number. But a couple of months ago, I got this call: "Garrett, this is so and so. I really need to get in touch with your mother. I hope that you will call me back, because I really need to talk to her."

Then back in October or November, I received the first "Garrett" call: Garrett!!! Where are you? You ran off with my stove, my dryer, my refrigerator and you owe me a months rent! You'd better call me, or I'm going to let the police take care of this!!!"

I'm not sure who this Garrett person might be. But what's sad is that he seems to get more calls to my house than I do.

The Glamorous Life of a TV Reporter

I'm sure many people look at TV reporters and anchors and think, "Wow, it must be nice living that kind of life." What kind of life that is, I'm not so sure.

Today, I (I'm working by myself this week) went and got video of a man's giant fig. Yep, a big, ugly fig. It's better than it could have been. When he left a message on the answering machine, I wasn't sure if he said giant fig or giant pig.

Two weeks ago we got video of a giant cabbage.

What other giant produce does my future hold?

Look Mom, No Shirt

As I watched Jason Marks tell a story this morning about a shooting in Lincoln County, I got to thinking about something. I'd say at least half to two-thirds of the time when we show a murder suspect or someone who's been charged with murder, they never have a shirt on.

Why is this? So two people are in a fight, it gets heated and one says, "You'd better watch it, I might take my shirt off and shoot you."

Really I guess it's more than just murder and shooting suspects. On many occasions when you see video of someone or their mug shot, they don't have a shirt on.

So I guess the moral is, keep your shirt on and maybe you won't get taken to jail.

Happy (Half) New Year!!!!

With the end of June 30th and the start of July 1st, half the year is behind us and half the year is still ahead. Six months on both sides of us. The last six always seem to go by much faster than the first. From the 4th of July to Christmas, it's just bam, bam, bam. Football starts soon, then there's Halloween and Thanksgiving. January, February and March are just three depressing months. Cold, Rainy, Dark, with little or no snow. I'm glad to be around in any month, but I think you get my point.

There's still half of the year to go. So Happy Half-New Year.