Another Busy Day

Well I had another really busy five story day and so I thought I'd share what went on for my Thursday. Plus there are some good pictures of a few of the stories I covered throughout the day. I've also been training at night to run the Tahitian Noni International 5K in Provo this Saturday morning so I was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day. I am not built for long distance running at all and I've been feeling it all week.

9:00 AM - I arrive at work and start coming up with a list of story ideas to pitch in the morning meeting. I actually have a pretty good selection today which is always nice.

9:25 AM - Morning meeting starts and I pitch some story ideas and actually get to do a few of them.

10 AM - I've made a few phone calls and head out the door. My first stop is a house in west Salt Lake where several molotov cocktails were thrown threw windows. I'm hoping the family is there and I can talk to them.

10:20 AM - I arrive at the house and channel 2 is already out front. I think I've been to this house before on another story about a drive by shooting. The family is there but I quickly find out that no one speaks English but luckily I speak Spanish and I'm able to find out what went on during the night. Channel 2 is hanging out right behind me trying to figure out what they are saying to me in Spanish. I give them a few hints after but hey I don’t get paid by them so tough. It’s a pretty sad situation where one of the bottles crashed through the living room window and landed on a couch where a 3 year-old girl was sleeping. There is a picture of the house with the other pictures on the blog.

10:45 AM - I arrive to the Salt Lake Police station to get a quick sound bite on the molotov cocktail situation. I actually wasn't going to ask about it because I already had the interview in Spanish but it came in handy when I was told later that we can't play Spanish sound bites since not many people understand that language. Luckily I asked two questions about the molotov cocktail situation just in case. I was also there on another story about a man who was ticked off at a parking enforcement officer who gave the guy a ticket for blocking the sidewalk. The man was so mad that he got the officers name off the ticket, looked the name up in the phone book, and then called and left a threatening message for the officer. That man was later arrested by police.

11 AM - Time to start writing and editing my stories in order to get them on the air for the noon news.

12:15 AM - I'm done sending all my stories and sound bites in to the station for the newscast.

12:30 AM - I'm back at the station and ready to find out what my last (ha ha) story for the day will be. I see there is an e-mail from the Humane Society of Utah about utility workers spray painting dogs. I think this is a great story and I ask if anyone has been assigned this one. Someone has so I start looking for something else, plus I need to fix my Spanish sound bites from the molotov cocktail story I sent in earlier.

1 PM - Change in plans and I get the dog spray painting story so I'm pretty excited. I also get a list of names from Sheryl Worsley, our managing editor, of people who have had their dogs spray painted.

1:15 PM - I call up a Sandy resident who had to take his dog to the vet because of the spray paint. Luckily he is available to interview in the middle of the day and said to come to his house at 2 PM. I finish up a few more things and then get ready to head out.

1:30 PM - I head out of the station and before I even get on to 3rd West I get a call from the station and there is a change of plans. Apparently there are several barrels full of a hazardous material in Midvale and they want me to stop there as well. So I call the dog owner in Sandy and ask if I can arrive late and it's okay.

1:50 PM - I get to Midvale and there are fire trucks every where. I see several yellow barrels in the back of a business that's near the railroad tracks. Everyone seems pretty calm and there are people in the businesses nearby so it's not too big of situation so I get an interview and keep heading to Sandy.

2:30 PM - I arrive at the dog owners house in Sandy. He tells me how he was gone on vacation and when he got back Monday night his dog had orange spray paint all over him. Apparently a utility worker sprayed the dog through the fence. The Humane Society says another situation like this happened in Centerville.

2:45 PM - Stop for a slurpee because I'm dying from the heat, not good for 5K training.

3:00 PM - I find a nice shady spot in a church parking lot to start writing and editing my last two stories from Midvale and Sandy. As I'm about to finish I see a teenage boy riding on one of those mini motorcycle through the parking lot. He's way too big for the bike and his foot catches the ground and he starts wobbling and then falls off and tumbles on the ground. He gets up and dusts himself off and looks around to see if anyone saw him. He figures he's okay but I felt the need to wave just to make him know I saw the whole thing and to make him feel better. Actually I think it just made me feel good. It was actually pretty funny to watch. It gave me a good laugh.

4:00 PM - I've sent in all the stories and pictures from the day. I'm feeling really good about the day and I start to head to the station. As soon as I get to 86th South and 13th East I get a call from the station. Guess what, breaking news. A girl has been hit by a car. So I get the address and it's clear on the west side of the valley. I head to I-215 and make my way to Kearns.

4:40 PM - I arrive finally. I was making good time but 47th South is really slow with a ton of people heading west. Plus I'm really wishing there was a turn signal to go south on 48th West because the turn lane is not moving at all. I arrive on scene and see a small red car with the front windshield smashed in from the impact. There is a picture of this as well. A 9 year-old girl darted in to the street while playing with friends. I get the interview and head to my car.

4:50 PM - I'm getting calls from the station about going live and getting sound bites in to the station. I'm just starting to log the interview and my mini-disk player starts to freeze up. Oh great that's good timing. I need to get a sound bite to the station and get ready to go live at 5 PM. I finally get the sound bite in maybe 30 seconds before its needed. Then I can't get my sound bite ready to go live at 5 PM. I also haven't written anything down to say and I can here the music playing to start the 5 PM newscast so I'm just going to have to wing it. It comes off fine but it was hectic.

5:30 PM - I'm all done sending in the story about the girl being hit and I head back to the station. I can't believe its another five story day, but you know it's really nice to have the stories spread out because sometimes everything happens at the same time and that gets rough.

6:00 PM - I'm back at the station and ready to go home. It feels like I've run a 5K today so maybe I won't practice tonight. Sounds like good reasoning to me. Hopefully there will only be three people in my age category anyway so I can say I finished third in the race. That will sound some what impressive.