Celebrating Another Year

Well, another year older, another year...wiser? Not sure about that one, but last week was the anniversary of my birth. Yes, it was 32 years ago that I was born. For some reason, birthdays are still a big deal to me. So, spreading out the celebrations for over a week was A-OK with me!

The weekend before, I did a little road trip to Lambton County :D I went to visit my Aunt Peggy, she's just so adorable. Then I went on to Petrolia. John & Karen and the kids came over to the Berrys and we had pizza and birthday cake! It was so yummy...Connie made a homemade chocolate/lemon layer cake. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera was dead so I didn't get any photos. I was so disappointed.

After supper with the family, I ventured on to Grammie's house. She was looking forward to having some company and had the tea on when I got there. My cousin Josh came after work and decided to stay over too. So, we had an impromptu slumber party. Grammie (who is quite the night hawk) and I stayed up talking until 1:30am! She's a great listener and I always like hearing her stories from the past. We had to put the clocks ahead that night, so the next morning, we were all still in bed when the phone rang at 11am!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon with Karla Ann in Sarnia. We played Scrabble (a rare occurance...I won!) and watched some old videos from highschool. Oh, the memories!





The next weekend Jason & I went to see Art Garfunkel in Toronto. (I think I'll save the details for another post) We also went to the Warhol exhibit at the Waterloo Children's Museum. What a great place! The London Children's Museum pales in comparison. PLUS they had original Warhol pieces on display and hands-on silk screening. It was a fun afternoon.





On my actual birthday, Karla Ann came to London and brought a picnic! It was such great weather that we sat in Victoria Park in shirt sleeves to enjoy it. Later on, I went to Jo-Anne & Nick's for a homemade dinner and then finished off the day at Starbucks with Sue.

Thanks to all my friends and family for making me feel so loved!

Left Behind

There is a movie out there, starring Kirk Cameron, called "Left Behind". The plot focuses on a guy in a post-apocalyptic world. It then shows all the hardships he endures as one of the ones left behind. This week, I'm feeling a connection this character. After all the decisions at work about who will be staying and leaving, I will be losing some of my favourite co-workers and I will be left in an empty newsroom. :(



DUANE DEINUM (LOOSE CANNON)I've always told Duane he is like my brother. Not that he is like my brother John, but he is like a brother to me. He's helped dig my car out of a snowbank, move a bed into my upper-level apartment, take a beetle for a test drive, even take a mouse out of mouse trap for me! I have a lot of respect for Duane as a person and have loved working with him. I value his opinion on things in all areas of life and we've had some really good talks. Duane loves race cars (I'm not sure if it's Nascar or stock car or what) and when I went to Monte Carlo right before the Grand Prix, he was flipping out! (well, as much as Duane can flip) ha ha...I remember how excited I was the day before I left for that trip and Duane had to put up with my spazziness that day! He was also cooperative when I was trying to get "action" shots on my new camera. Duane and his wife Debby have been such great friends and I look forward to lots more good times.


MURRAY BARNETT
For the past 10 years, Murray has been my go-to guy. We first met during my internship in Creative Services. He took me out on a shoot and then we got to go for lunch at East Side Mario's. We just clicked after discovering we both grew up on a farm, our moms are nurses, and he just seemed like part of the family. Murray has been there for me when my car wouldn't start - he'd give me a boost, when I needed something hung on the wall - he'd bring his tool belt, when I bought a standard car and didn't know how to drive it - he came with me to pick it up and then spent the afternoon teaching me how to shift. We've discussed politics, religion, relationships, Oprah, country music, musicals, family, careers, history, and pretty much everything in between. He's always got the dish and when he doesn't, he'll just make up something that sounds good :) There is no other like Murray (Beefy Forearms) Barnett and I will miss him tremendously.
TREVOR DIXON (AKA: JOEY)
Trevor started at the station shortly after I did. He was a long-haired hippy type that got along with everybody. Soon after, we started working the early morning shift together. If there's anything that bonds people together, it's starting your day at an ungodly hour! We would go to matinee movies (who else was available to see a movie in the afternoon?) and out for breakfast with the morning crew. I even convinced Trevor to come to our Board Game Nights. I think he was surprised that he actually had fun! ha ha. I set him up with his first email account and we made the trek to Cedar Point & The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Randy & Janice Meyer. I remember making a pact with Trevor a LONG time ago that I would watch Star Wars if he would watch The Sound of Music. As I recall, I held up my end of the bargain, but he never did watch Maria & The Captain. Trevor, I have 3 words for you: ONION RINGS...GASP!!



BOB SMITH
To me, Bob Smith is a real-live renaissance man. Not only is he a fantastic news anchor, but also a great line-up producer, farm-markets reporter and knows a plethora of information on anything you can think of. We share a love of The Beatles and both times I saw Paul McCartney, Bob was at the same concert. We had some great times working together on the noon news. One of my favourite shows was the Christmas Carol call-in. It seemed like everything went crazy with cameos of Sarah putting on her scarf, John Lees walking into the camera and John Wilson interrupting Bob & Peter while they were on the air! It was hilarious. I also remember Bob sticking up for me & my creativity when my tickle trunk was on air and a caller was complaining that there wasn't enough colour on it! Ha ha...Bob was quick to point out that it was FULL of colour! I shall miss you Hog-Boy, from Miss Piggy :)

JIM CRICHTON
Jim started anchoring the Windsor newscast from our London studio. It was during this time that I got the pleasure of working with him. I've never met such a hard-core newsie!! Jim takes his job very seriously but we also talked a lot about the 60's, cars and music (especially The Beatles) He dubbed me an "old soul" and I think there's something to that.



CHRIS PARR
Chris & I share a passion for music and have had lots of discussions about the best way to get an autograph :) I remember a LONG time ago, we were actually compiling a music trivia game! (Chris, maybe we should market that!) Chris has helped me out on numerous projects, shared his expertise and has been a great guy to work with.

Buzz Words

WORDS I'M TIRED OF HEARING THIS WEEK:

layoff
bumping
package
carriage-fee
CRTC
cut
slash
severence
cancelled
grave
revenue
broken model

Layoffs

In case you have heard or seen something in the media today, I thought I should fill you in on what's happening at work. First off, my job is safe for now but as you can imagine, a lot of my friends have lost their jobs and that is very sad.

Last week we were told that CTV was not applying to renew the licence on 2 of the 3 stations run out of our building. This signaled troubled times ahead. However, for 6 days, we didn't know how this would affect us. Today, we found out.

Effective today, our morning show was cancelled. Anyone who works directly for the morning show is laid off immediately. This includes my friend Chris who has worked here for about 20 years and one of my favourite co-workers Bob Smith...30 years! In addition to that, when Windsor & Wingham go off the air in August, more will be affected. This will include my friends Trevor, Duane & Murray. In total, 48 people were affected today.

Daily Photo Project (February)

Here is the February edition of the 2009 Daily Photo Project.