Backing Up

Have you noticed that when you're backing out of a parking space -- having first looked both ways to make sure no one's coming -- and you're halfway out, some car will zoom from out of nowhere. But instead of stopping, since you're halfway out of your space, they cut past you? There you are, slamming on the brakes, tossing the kiddies around the interior of the car (okay, kidding, they're strapped into their space-age car seats) just so some rude person can save 1 or 2 seconds?

Didn't people use to wait for people to back out? Didn't we stop, knowing the way past that car was mostly blocked, and that we'd be free to move on after they were done?

It happens everywhere. At Target, at the mall, at church. This morning, it happened to me again at Biscuitville. I was 3/4ths of the way out of the space, narrowly avoiding the lengthy drive thru line, when some car cut IN BETWEEN my car and the drive thru line, while talking on a cell phone.

I have one of those cars with the spare mounted on the rear, and I'm tempted to just keep on going and bump them with my spare. Who has the right of way?

And here's just one more example, pardon my venting, but occasionally I pass a school on a two lane road -- one lane in each direction -- and if I slow down or heaven forbid, stop, to allow a parent who is dropping off a child to enter the school's parking lot, I get cars behind me zooming past and not allowing that turn in. How wrong is that?

ConvergeSouth Saturday, Part 2

The social networking panel was interesting, mostly because it seemed while people liked the idea of Facebook, it doesn't exactly work for professionals. And LinkedIn doesn't seem to be quite as social as Facebook.

There was some good discussion regarding managing your online identity, with the consensus being it's better for you to manage your own brand than to allow others to manage it for you. I was intrigued when Elisa Camahort made the observation that in about 10 years all the kids who have party pictures of themselves on Facebook and MySpace will be the bosses and they might think it's weird if their future employees DON'T have an online presence.

What was really interesting about today's audience for ConvergeSouth was its age. Most of the people in the audience looked like they were 30-35 and up. Now some of it could be because the 20-somethings were all sleeping. After all, it did start at 9am. But what I'm wondering is if they all are so busy doing it that they don't need to come to conferences to learn about and discuss it.

The afternoon discussion around better blogging was really a great conversation led by Ed Cone and James Portzman -- running the gamut from creating a nice-looking blog without hiring a web designer or being one, to finding the topic you're interested in, to having a conversation with your readers. Loved Ed's basic advice:

Have a take, and don't suck.

ConvergeSouth

Just had a great keynote speaker, Elisa Camahort of BlogHer! Really great stories of how bloggers, mainly women, are connecting, sharing, making a living, making a difference and creating a community.

Next panel is social networking -- which I'm interested in as a novice Facebooker.

Tea ... For Me?

I'm the luckiest girl! I have a new coworker who custom blends teas. That's pretty cool, you're thinking. Neat to have a hobby, right?

But she blends serious tea! Custom tea for Hugh Grant! Custom tea for Oscar gift bags! I had read about her new venture in our local media years ago, but now I'm working with her. And she brought me some of her stuff. It smelled like heaven. It's black tea with vanilla, cranberry, orange and cinnamon. She labeled it Stephanie's Blend. She even brought me a thermal tumbler with a loose leaf infuser so I could properly sample the tea.

My mom had picked up the girls, so I brought the tea over to her house. We brewed three tumblers full, poured it into teapots and had the best tea party ever. Now, we drink our tea with milk. It HAS to have milk. Many a mug or cup of our tea has been discarded or abandoned when we go to the fridge and find no milk. Occasionally, when suffering in an office building, we have sprinkled a little powdered creamer in there, but it just about ruins it for us. This tea was so good, it didn't NEED milk. We could have had just the tea alone, and that NEVER happens.

My mom considers me "fancy" because I drink Earl Grey or Irish Breakfast or French Vanilla, while she drinks Lipton but I think the tea from Artisan's Cup may change her mind forever. This stuff was so good, we skipped dinner.

You can drink Stephanie's Blend from Artisan's Cup too. Only it's usually called Carolina Spice. But that can be our little secret.

Dan, Dan, Dan. WHEN will you learn?

So Dan Rather is suing CBS for $70 million dollars. $20 million for making him a scapegoat for the President Bush report 2 years ago and $50 million in punitive damages. My hubby was saying "What, it took him 2 years to figure out how to sue?"

But I think it's because Katie Couric (grimace. Sorry, can't stand her.) is failing spectacularly at anchoring the CBS evening news. I have many opinions why it's not working, but I'll stick with she's too used to mornings and evening news is entirely different. Take it from me who worked 19 years in broadcast news.

You see, if Katie had better ratings, he doesn't have a leg to stand on. She's better! The network is making money! But for them to force him out one year before his big anniversary of taking over the anchor chair for someone who's ratings are tanking worse than his, then obviously it was a conspiracy and he should be compensated for the way he was treated.

The way he was treated? I always heard that Dan ran the ship at CBS and if Dan didn't like you, you might as well turn in your microphone and hairspray and head back to a Top 50 market, or better yet, try for a cable network.

I don't have anything against Dan. Despite working for various CBS affiliates where I sort of HAD to watch the CBS evening news, he never bothered me. Except on election night. I really rather preferred Peter Jennings, truth be told, after working for an ABC affiliate, but I grew up watching Tom Brokaw and really liked him too. So pretty much, I could watch any of them, but would rank them Peter, Tom and Dan if I had to.

While the Bush story debacle "ruined" Dan's legacy of reporting and doing the tough stories and being the anchor who left the desk to report live from the field, I hardly think a $70 million dollar lawsuit will

A) Solve anything
B) Make Dan feel any better about being forced to resign

What if CBS took that $70 million and spread it around the smallest 50 markets, where their gear is held together by duct tape, where the fledgling reporters are buying their on-air clothes at Target and sharing tiny little apartments with multiple roommates because they're making what's basically minimum wage, where there's no one to teach you how to write to video or how to handle a tough situation with the cops who don't want you to shoot the crime scene? Those kids are straight out of school and there's no one showing them the ropes.

Which is too bad because the larger markets are desperate for reporters and producers and throwing barely capable men and women in over their heads into a news cycle that's 24 hours, with a deadline every 5 minutes, where there's no time to THINK about the right thing, you just have to KNOW it, but oh yeah, there's no one TRAINED here, so there are mistakes everywhere and stories that shouldn't air ... oops, just like yours, Dan. Stories that aren't researched by people without enough experience.

Dan, now THAT would be a legacy.

Famous People I Have Met

My schoolager and I like to listen to the 13 Going On 30 soundtrack on our way to school in the mornings. One of her favorites is Vanilla Ice's Ice, Ice Baby. I was telling her the song was popular in the 90s when I was a TV reporter, and that I actually met Vanilla Ice.

"No way! What was he like?"

Well, we were on our way back to the station from another story when we got called over the two-way radio and told to go to the movie studios in Wilmington, NC. Some guy had a hit record and there was a party for him. Turns out it was Vanilla Ice. None of us knew who he was. Rap wasn't a big deal in Wilmington, NC. Turns out also, no one knew him yet or the song because it had only been out two weeks, but it was making some historic climb up the charts for the record company and he was turning 21 so they were throwing him a party. My photog set up his camera, lit the interview and I asked Robbie van Winkle (Vanilla Ice) how he felt about his song climbing up the charts so fast. You can watch the video on YouTube.

He rapped his answer. At least I'm pretty sure he did. Since Mr. Ice was 21, he'd been celebrating with some adult beverages, so the rap was all slurry. Anyway, he seemed arrogant and drunk, and unintelligable. Back at the station I cut some of his interview together so we had a soundbite we could use. It aired.

And why was he in Wilmington, NC? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II, baby! My daughter is so impressed with me.

A partial list of other famous people I have met:
Harry Smith, currently with CBS morning show. Interviewed me in Wilmington the morning after Hurriane Hugo cuz I was standing on the beach reporting when it hit. I saw ball lightning. But that's another post. For another day. My relatives in Boston happened to see it that morning.

Anthony LaPaglia, who was playing a dead guy in a movie that my friend Stephanie O. was working on.

Dennis Hopper. There was something scary about him.

Melissa Etheridge. She was amazing. And I decided NOT to ask her the big question about being a lesbian because it was news at least a year or two old, and I would rather talk about her music than who she was dating. For this my news anchor congratulated me for being discerning while my executive producer was disappointed.

Daniel Roebuck. I interviewed him a few times when he was doing Matlock. Never did get to meet Andy Griffith, although I also interviewed the actress who played his daughter or something and I judged a local beauty pageant with her.

Jimmy Buffett. I am 99% sure of it, being a major parrothead. There's a story that goes with this one. But that's another post for another day.

A Partial List of Famous People I have seen in person, but not quite met or touched:
Bill Clinton
Nicholas Cage
Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts With Keifer Sutherland
Rue McClanahan
Judge Reinhold
Ricky Shroeder (I did get to hear his horrible pretend Southern accent for the movie he was working on. I can't erase the shrillness.)