Mental Health Thread #5 - It's a New Year!

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cbg said:
You and me both, Bertie. (30 character limit)
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Do you go back to work tomorrow or still work from home? I assume the streets are pretty good by now? Is school open for the students?
 
I'll be back at work tomorrow. My street is still pretty sloppy but the main roads are clear. Most of the students are still on Christmas break - the spring semester doesn't start till late January. We do have what we call a J-term; a condensed, very intense "semester" where a student can take an extra course or make up some credits during the month of January, so those kids will be back in class.
 
I wish the local TV news stations would quit interrupting TV shows to announce a winter weather/weather chill warning starting tonight. I think everyone knows it by now. I get tired of hearing it.
 
Elle, your sister that is a TV news reporter does she have to go out in the snow/cold/ice... (the weather elements) to do reports from various areas? I see some of them doing reports on TV & they are about frozen or being blown away, etc.
 
Yup, she does. That is how I know the newscasters dislike the cut ins. When storms hit, she can end up working 16 hour shifts in the elements. She gets extra tired of trying to come up with unique things to say about the snow. One of her good friends is the Meteorlogist at her station and at Christmas, they were discussing being called in for inclement weather. Her friend of course has a slightly different take as she finds weather fascinating. Still, even she starts to run out of material after 16 hours. Last year during Sandy, her friend was actually weighed down with sandbags so she could withstand the winds. Once large chunks of the building next door started flying, the station determined this was no longer a good strategy.
 
Oh my gosh - I wish her safety at all times.
 
A few years back, I was watching local weather coverage and the station cut to their sister station in Elle's area for their input (it was a very wide spread weather system). Elle's sister was the reporter they cut to.
 
If I recall correctly, we were online chatting at the time. Just last night, the local news cut to coverage from your former hometown. Someone at your local station must be buddies with someone at mine.
 
I get cold so easily & I believe you said you did also Elle. We both like it warmer in our houses & outside as opposed to some people. I could never do that job.
 
I wouldn't last a single shift. Most people assume it is a glamorous and high paying job. They have no idea.
 
Years ago my wife di a lot of advertising production at TV stations and knew the local staff well. She said the production staff always joked about which up-and-coming news reporter would put themselves in the most dangerous location or worst weather for a story. Each seemed to try to out-do the other to prove they were serious reporters. There was one old fella (Walter Cronkite type) that didn't play the game. One time he was reporting on a bad storm while he (and it film crew) stood under an awning at a shopping center. A young weekend anchor chided him on the air about being afraid to get out in the weather. He smiled and said "Well, after 30 years of reporting I've learned that I don't have to stand out in the rain to report that it's wet."
 
ElleMD said:
If I recall correctly, we were online chatting at the time. Just last night, the local news cut to coverage from your former hometown. Someone at your local station must be buddies with someone at mine.
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Sounds about right - it's a small world and in perspective, our metro areas aren't that far apart.

Yep, I remember messaging - Hey, that's your sister just came on the screen -or something on that order.
 
lda01 said:
He smiled and said "Well, after 30 years of reporting I've learned that I don't have to stand out in the rain to report that it's wet."
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LOL - that's funny & a good answer!
 
Oh, Midge would be more than happy to avoid the elements, however, her news director disagrees. Right now she is out there in -20 windchill, sub zero actual temps, reporting. I'm actually worried about her though she has many layers, a long down coat, and a warmish news van to sit in between live shots.
 
Elle, your sister's a brave soul. A very long time ago (just out of college) I worked for a small fly-by-night TV station. Sold ads, cut commercials, took out the trash and yes, read news when the equipment was working. Commercial grade camcorders were just coming out back then, most stations were still shooting/processing film for out-of-studio coverage. This station did neither, I basically sat on a stool and behind a fake desk and read wire copy. The station mgr. had always wanted to do remote segments in news like the big stations, sooooo one day during an ice storm they came up with the idea that I would start out reading news, they would cut to a commercial (on our one working 2" video tape machine) and I would put on a coat and run out the back door of the studio so the camera could shoot me standing in the sleet from the doorway. No wireless stuff in those days so we were both literally at the very end of our cords. Then during the next commercial I ran back inside took off the coat and sat down behind the desk to read more wire copy with my hair still dripping. It turned out that I was also either on-camera or doing the voice-over in both commercials so it came off looking really hokey. I believe that was the station's one and only "remote coverage news story".

Other "oh s***" moments included sitting down to read news and discovering the wire copy was just alphabet soup (machine had been broken all day), having to pad 4 minutes of live TV due the VCR with the commercials breaking down, a light stand falling inches from my head "live and on camera" and the station getting flooded. Was almost a blessing when the station went belly-up. While I didn't turn out to be the next Dan Rather, the experience making changes on-the-fly, working with no help or resources, and with little or no budget helped prepare me for my later career in HR.
 
Oh, those things still happen, just with newer technology. And none of the stations my sister has worked for are that small. Even when she worked in much smaller markets, she worked for a network.
 
lda01 - your post is funny now that it is all in the past - doesn't sound like it was so funny at the time though. What we have to do for our employers.
 
God Bless space heaters. Boilers have been down here at work and the doors to the outside near my office have been propped open as they are moving some furniture and offices around. I don't know how cold it is in the hallway but you really needed a coat and gloves to walk down it. At least today it is supposed to get up to a balmy 20. When it was zero with 30 mph winds, it was brutal. Twas not a happy camper.
 
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