A prickly trip

Jason is racking up the travel miles these days.  His recent work trip took him to a cactus filled park in Arizona to direct a photography video for his company.  Leading a crew of six, the goal was to produce a one hour dvd on different photography techniques.   They were in Sagaro park, near Tuscon.

Aside from shooting in the hot desert with 90 degree temperatures, he also had a few run-ins with a cactus!  A photographer shot this video of one of the crew members pulling cactus needles from his butt.  Not your typical work hazard, right?

Cuties.

When I went home I got to meet my best friend's son. Michelle was pregnant during our wedding last June, and welcomed Calvin into the world about two month later. Isn't he a cutie?

He's always smiling, and how can you not love his hair?

Calvin sat on my lap for his tasty dinner of carrots.

But Calvin isn't the only cutie we've hung out with lately.  Our friend's son, Jack just celebrated his first birthday.  He's a mover, crawling up a storm as his  'Very Hungry Caterpillar'  themed party. 

 What a cutie!

 He had his own birthday cake, which he enjoyed playing in.

Happy first birthday Jack!

Welcomed sign!

It's a good sign!  I saw a robin outside today.  It looked a little cold, but I'll take any sign of spring right now!

Thinking Spring

We still have at least three feet of snow on the ground, with another foot predicted this week but it's not stopping me from thinking Spring!

I heard about a new garden idea.  Check this out.  You can start seeds in milk jugs outside.  Have you ever heard of this?  This is news to me. You poke some holes in the bottom of the jug, cut the bottom open and fill with dirt.  Soak it with water and sprinkle in some seeds.  Then you tape it shut and stick it in the snow.  The milk jugs act like mini greenhouses trapping the sunlight in.  The snow around it insulates the jug and supposedly by May these recycled containers will be full of flowers!

I have to admit I'm a little skeptical.  You would think they would just freeze, but people have had success doing this so I thought I would give it a try.  I figure I don't have much to lose - a few bucks in seeds at most.  I'll let you know how they turn out!

Busy newsroom + technical problems = CHAOS

 Newsrooms aren't exactly a calm and quiet place, it's why many of us got into the business.  On an ordinary day there is a lot to handle.  What's the news of the day? How do we tell the story well and get it on the air in seven hours?  But when you toss computer problems into the mix - yikes.  One of the main pieces we need to put a newscast on the air is our switcher, and Monday morning it just wouldn't turn on.  Plus, this particular day was a big news day, everyone was racing to get stories done on deadline. 

The production crew had to come up with a plan B.  With our switcher broken, it basically renders everything else obsolete.  Luckily we have a production van to cover live sporting events, so with wires running everywhere and people shouting back and forth we were able to pull off a newscast using a van that's sitting in our garage.