{From Foster Family to Forever Family}

Talk about touching. I cried more than once while filming this story.

The writing just flowed when I sat down to do my script. It turned out to be

one of my very favorite packages.

I had a emotionally gripping, tear-filled interview with Mr. and Mrs. Nicholes that I

couldn't use because I didn't have my audio levels set right. Talk about a learning

experience! Always use headphones and do a sounds check. Fortunately, I had

enough to work with and alls well that ends well. I hope you enjoyed watching it.

{Graduation}

Before graduation, people kept asking, 'are you so excited to be done with school'?
I was pleased, but it really just felt like the end of another semester ...
until I put my cap and gown on and went to my graduation ceremony.

God, did that feel good. I finally had a chance to let it sink in. I'm so glad I walked.

Before hand, there was a part of me that didn't want people to make a fuss about it.

I didn't want anyone to go out of their way to be there, and I didn't see how a party

was necessary. It just felt weird to celebrate it, in part, because I "should have" finished

many years earlier.

But I got over that (with a little encouragement from David) and I'm so glad I did. It was fabulous to have people there who love me and who I love. It felt good to share it with them

and to celebrate my accomplishment.

We took some photos before hand, did the ceremony thing and then

went back to our house for food, conversation, company, and presents!


Pam got this one of me and the girls when we first arrived.
Catherine is giving the day a thumbs up!

These two photos are pretty special to me. This day was earned as much by

David as it was by me. He was a huge support for me through this journey --

emotionally, financially and otherwise. I'm really thankful to him and so glad

he was there! This day wouldn't have been the same without him by my side.

My brother, Aaron, and his entire family (all six of them) flew in from

Ohio just for this day. Pretty awesome. :) It was nice to have family there.

Aaron and me.

Me with Aaron and Pam's beautiful kids -- (from left to right) Lauren, Meghan,

Catherine, and Aidan.

David's parents, Sandy and Jim, traveled in from Michigan.


Our friend, Kim, came for the ceremony, too. (Photo from a holiday party in December.)

I was so glad she did! Her presence added a really nice dynamic that evening. We always

enjoy her company and our family did, too. She went out of her way to make my day

extra special, and I feel very grateful for her friendship. I mean, it's a sweet friend who

gives up their Friday night, after working all week, to sit through a boring commencement. :)

Backstage before the ceremony with some friends from my program.

Afterwards, we had a little party at the house.

D, me, Jim, Sandy, Aaron, Pam, the kids, and my friend, Kim.

I'm telling you, you should totally graduate. You get completely spoiled! :)

Aaron and Pam hand wrapped the bag they gave me in ASU colors. Loved it!

(Aside from my camera, I think it's my new favorite possession.)

David got me a beautiful ASU frame for my diploma.

Kim brought me a lovely necklace and an insanely delicious cake for us to share.

There were flowers, a robe, bath and body stuff, ornaments, and gift cards.

It was all too much! Everyone was so thoughtful and so excited for me.

I was really touched.

Graduation day is going in the memory banks as a good one. :)

{It Put Arizona on the Energy Map}

I love getting out of the valley to cover stories. Selfishly, I enjoy the mini road trip that takes

me into Arizona's big, beautiful, wide open spaces. But it's also a really great opportunity to

share something with people they probably wouldn't otherwise get a chance to see.

Just before Thanksgiving, I went out to the first wind farm in our state. I got to talk to Bill

Elkins -- who was the mastermind of the project -- and see the wind turbines in action.

CORRECTION: The title here says it's the Snowflake Wind Farm. The wind farm is actually

between Heber and Holbrook in Arizona.

Here's a few details I didn't have a chance to include in my story:

* Background: Bill is a fifth generation cattle rancher. He first came up with the idea of

putting a wind farm on his property after seeing them in the midwest where the topography

was similar to his land. They started doing research, connected with NAU to get some information, bought their own testing equipment, and started receiving certified data. With

that data, they could then start testing to see if they had viable wind. They did this data collection 24/7 for several years.

* Timeline: It took over seven years for this wind farm to go from idea to reality. Bill says

there were several times they didn't think it was going to happen, and he's still amazed that

it did. The actual building phase of the wind farm -- about a half a year. It was a clean, fast process. Bill says they actually left Rocking Horse Ranch in great condition afterwards. They built roads that were even better then the originals, and they reseeded the ground right up

to the edge of the roads and bases of the towers.

* Finances: The total project cost $100 million. Bill declined to say what he sold the project

for. He did mention they recouped all the money from their original investment, and they

have long term contract in place.

* Firsts: There are 30 turbines in all. That's the first phase of the project. Ten are on Bill's

land. Ten are on state land. And the final ten are on land that belongs to Bureau of Land Management. They didn't need the BLM and state land to do the project, but they decided

to see if they could make it happen. Now, Arizona is the first state in the country to have a portion of a wind farm built on it.

* Wind speeds: I mentioned the turbines can start generating power with winds as low as

eight mph. They have to shut down if winds exceed 65 mph. When the winds get high, the

blades feather out first -- like the wings on an airplane. If that doesn't slow the blades down enough, they'll shut down until the wind slows. That's a safety measure because the long

blades could smack into the tower if blown too hard. Bill says people don't realize it, but they'll get winds of 100 mph out there from time to time.

* Interest: The grand opening drew double the number of people they were expecting. In attendance -- Secretary of the Interior, Salazar. People often come out to tour the wind farm.

* Cattle: We asked if the cattle seemed to mind the changes on their land. Bills says the

cattle don't even notice it. The actual turbines have such a small footprint on the ground.

At most, he says he's seen a cattle come over to one and stand in the shade it creates, but

that's about it.

* Sound: You can hear a little sound come from them when they first start turning. But once they get going, they're very quiet. Bill says when they're really moving in the wind, the sound reminds him of being about a half a mile away from the ocean -- a calming, peaceful, quiet wash.

I think that's it. Hope you enjoyed the show!

{Motorcycle Gang Arrests, LIVE from Kingman}

My last day of reporting at NewsWatch ...

(I'm going out of order here as far as posting stories.)

I'm kind of floundering trying to come up with a good, one day turn ...

Calling to do a story on this guy who legally changed his name to Santa Claus ...

Mark walks up to me and says I need to be in Kingman for a 2PM presser.

Well, okay!

The best part ... we were going to go live from Kingman. We have the capability to go live

around the outside of our building, but we don't have a live truck. So, the only way to go live from location is via ichat (which is essentially Skype). I hadn't done it before, and neither had Mike, who went out there with me. So, we were both excited for a new experience. We flew to Kingman and made it there just in time. We shot the press conference, finishing up at 3PM.

We then had two hours before we were going live with the top story on the 5PM newscast.

The idea was to write a script and then upload and edit the video. Since I wasn't in the

newsroom where I could cut my voice track, I was going to do a live reader over the video.

None of us (Mike, me or the people in the newsroom) had ever tried to send cut video files

(FTPs) before. So, I wrote the script. Mike edited the video ...

And we couldn't figure out how to send it.

Time for a new plan.

The station got video and stills from the police that they edited together for video. Melanie

(the producer) and I talked over the phone to rewrite the script to fit the visuals they had.

Meanwhile, Mike worked to set up ichat but was having troubles getting a strong enough Internet connection. So, at 4:30PM we left the police station parking lot in search of a Starbucks

that I'm still convinced does not exist. We pulled into this mom and pop motel and begged

the owner to let us hook up to hers. She was in!

We were the top story of a 5PM newscast. At 4:45PM, we still didn't have the ichat up.

I called the special line and got ready to do a phoner. I was doing this from the parking

lot next door in order to get a phone signal. Mike was around the corner and out of my

sight. So, we ran back and forth a few times. Crazy!

They bumped us into the second block of the newscast to give us more time to figure out the ichat, and it worked. Mike was able to connect to it. (Cue singing angels.) I literally ran to the camera with ten seconds to spare before going LIVE!

It was insane. Mike and I were pumped full of adrenaline afterwards. His hands were shaking,

my heart was racing.

I was a little disappointed when I watched it back. I stumbled a couple times, my hair was a mess, that deep breath before the video started was not supposed to have been on camera, etc.

But it was still the most exciting day in reporting I've experienced yet, and I learned a lot from it. So ultimately, I wouldn't change a think about it.

*******************

"Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly." -Robert Schuller

{Advancements in Cancer Research}

I'm back with more stories! I still have five video packages to share from last semester.

They're each about two minutes long. I hope you get a chance to watch them all!

I was really proud of how this one turned out. The idea was to do a story on some of the

cutting edge research being done in an effort to find a cure for cancer. When I started

looking to see who was doing what, I was overwhelmed with all the amazing ideas, tests

and experiments being done right here in the Phoenix area. They're doing some really

cool stuff to come up with that one idea that will save untold lives. Of course, in two

minutes, you can only feature a couple of them.

The real challenge was distilling all the technical information they gave me into a format

that was easy to listen to and simple enough to digest in a few sentences. It was fun!

I hope you enjoy this package ...



I met Lisa at a breast cancer awareness 5K earlier in the year. It was really nice of her to make time for this interview. She agreed to meet me in between volunteering for Habitat, helping a friend pack and doing yard work for her grandmother. Lisa lost her grandfather to cancer about two weeks after this interview was filmed.

{News Maker}

I feel so fortunate to have been a part of NewsWatch and Cronkite News Service (which I

did in the second half of the semester). Combined, they were by far the best experience I

had during my time at ASU.

I've talked about my shoots, and I've shared several packages. (I have five more that I still

want to post.) However, I haven't written much about the program itself -- something I've

been meaning to do since I started the program in the fall.

In those programs, you are a full fledged member of the media. We produced four newscasts a week that aired on television, working from a fully functioning news studio. Everything is completely state of the art. The equipment and resources are just amazing. There's also a support staff that's filled beyond the brim with talent, skill, knowledge, and patience.

As students, we can't be there full time, but they want us to experience a full day in a

newsroom. So, your "class" is from at least 8:30AM to 6PM -- two to four days a week.

I did two full days. Of course, you end up staying late or doing your shooting and editing on

off days, too. It's a decent time commitment, but once you're into it, you just want to be there. It's addictive.

My focus in NewsWatch and CNS was as a reporter. So, my thing was to come up with story ideas, pursue them and turn them into packages for air. But a bunch of reporters does not a newsroom make.

We had a staffed assignment desk, producers, directors, production (technical people). Then, there were also the four main professors -- all of which had full careers as practicing journalists before coming to ASU -- that were amazing to learn from and work with. Finally, there were at least a half a dozen other people there for support. One of the local evening news anchors, for example, would come in weekly to do script and package approvals and help out where he could. Another guy was there to work with the sports reporters on stuff they produced for Fox Sports Network. Plus, we had access to the amazing Brian Snyder who is the broadcast wizard for the building. Every person there brought talent and know how to the newsroom, creating ample opportunities to learn.

The day began with everyone checking on the latest developments in the news -- the wires and social media -- and we'd make calls, set up interviews, check out cameras, etc. The morning editorial meetings started at 9AM and lasted about an hour. That's where we'd pitch story ideas and solidify the assignment for the day. Sue and Mark (our news directors) would say if the idea was a go or not and make sure we had a newsworthy and timely direction to pursue. From there, we were off to cover things and make packages. The producers started putting together the rundown for that nights newscast.

Now for some pictures:


This is the newsroom. Editing bays are along the wall to the right. The assignment desk

is in the far back under the TVs. Outside the windows to the left is a terrace overlooking downtown for live shots. All the rest -- desks and computers.

Video must be imported and edited once it's been shot.

Everything is done on a MAC and edited with Final Cut Pro.

If you click on that second picture, you can see all those little boxes on the

screen. Each one on the top row is a different shot. The two layers below it

are corresponding audio.

Studio cameras. Notice the green wall in the first photo. That's primarily for weather.

This is the studio. Nice, right?! So, that's the set, anchor desk and three studio cameras.



This is the anchor desk. I wasn't the regular anchor. I did two small segments called

the AZ TV Cut-in though, and it was a fun experience. This was just a practice day.

The studio from the anchors perspective.

And a better look at those cameras. The prompter for the anchors would

be above the clock and video of what's airing shows on the bottom.

There's always a floor director during the newscast that tells the talent

what camera is live and relays information from the director.

This is the control room. From here, they do everything! That means they do the audio,

watch all the cameras, do graphics, pull up all the video they're using that night, run the prompter. Essentially, they do the newscast here.

The control room has a view to the set.

A producer puts together a rundown. That includes what will be on the show in what order

and how much time will be dedicated to each part. A director (pictured here) makes it happen.

Directors have a lot to keep tabs on. They have to give orders on everything that

goes on air and make sure everyone else in the studio knows what's coming up next.

I think that pretty much wraps it up! Hope you enjoyed the tour. :)

{Meet the Press with Joe Arpaio}

Hello! It's been awhile. I have been doing everything but blogging. It's been a busy

month or two here, but I'm sure you're all feeling that way too. 'Tis the season!

I'm ready to get back into it though. I have a slew of posts planned for the next week

or two to get myself up to date. Hopefully there's still someone out there reading this

thing; I've noticed my lack of fresh content has meant a lot less readers. :)

Gotta go back a couple weeks to get caught up chronologically ...

*****************************

The Cronkite School at ASU hosts an event series called Must See Mondays. Each week

they feature a journalist -- sometimes local, sometimes not -- that comes out to talk about

their experiences. A meet the press event with the controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio had a

lot of people talking in the community. People tend to absolutely love or wholeheartedly

hate Arpaio. His tactics have drawn national attention, and he's notorious for his love-hate

relationship with the press.

I took a few pictures just before the event started, in part, because there was such a great

turnout and so much chatter about this event in the days leading up to it. Also, I wanted to

show off the schools gorgeous First Amendment Forum. This is where I've been going to

school for the last year and a half since our program moved into downtown Phoenix. And

PCI (where David works) helped build this impressive place!

It was pretty cool to see the local news stations coming to us to get their top story for

the night! Channels 3 and 15 are over against that far wall there. Outside, our own

Heather Turner was covering the protesters who were there for and against Arpaio.

You can see the one hour conversation for yourself via ustream, if you'd like.

{Will They Strike?}

Two of the big grocery store chains in the valley are Fry's and Safeway. They were

locked in contract negotiations for many months with The United Food and Commercial

Workers Local 99. Things were getting heated as they came down to the final deadline --

just a week or two before Thanksgiving.

Some of the workers wanted to strike (which the Union was in support of). Others didn't,

saying they wanted to work and take the fair deal their employers were offering.

I covered the developing story and a protest against the strike in downtown Phoenix.

As far as what the experience was like for me:

* This was a day turn, which was great practice for me! I shot, wrote and edited it on a

Monday. I also cut a VO-SOT (video and a sound bit read by the anchor) for the AZ-TV

Cut In -- another segment we produce.

* The story aired on Tuesday (because we don't do a show on Monday). I was able to do a

look live tag (which we prerecorded because I had class during the newscast on the day it

aired).

* It was breaking news and a developing local story. So, all the other stations were there

covering it. I showed up just in time for the union to do a press conference inside. We all

crammed into a small entry area upstairs at union headquarters to get their comments.

I didn't end up including that in the story but vying for a good spot in the presser and
hearing the questions asked after is always good experience.



The two sides came to an 11th hour agreement and the strike was avoided.

{Shooting}

I have come to love shooting video and editing it. I think those are the two things I'll miss

most once I graduate. It's just so much fun; I get a lot out of it. But you need a camera (etc)

and final cut pro for editing for that. So, I'll just have to let my job search guide me back to it.

It's been kind of cool to get a few photos of myself at shoots. I'm glad I have them.

This first set were taken in October by Officer Roy Dunkelbarger with the Mesa Police Department. He was taking some for the station and sent these my way, which I thought

was very nice of him. (Click here to see the story from this shoot.)

And here I am more recently at the first wind farm in Arizona (between Heber and Holbrook). These were taken by Rebeka Parsons, who was nice enough to give up her day to go out there with me. We weren't actually shooting when we took these. But since we were waiting for Bill Elkins, mastermind of the wind farm, we took the opportunity to snap a couple.

I hope you all had a nice long weekend. We have a ridiculously busy two weeks ahead.

David has work, work travel, running to train for his races, and an at home bathroom

remodel to knock out. (I don't envy his schedule.) My last day at ASU is on Friday,

December 11th. I have a ton to do before that last final at 7-9PM. Not to mention,

getting ready for Christmas, company, graduation, and helping with the bathroom.

It's gonna be an interesting two weeks!

Time to get after it...