MAC mania in Cleveland

So this will be short becasue I have spent WAY too much time in front of the computer today. I am at the MAC (Mid-American Conference, for those of you who don't live in the Midwest) Tournament in Cleveland, covering Western Michigan University for the paper. The reporter and I left Kalamazoo at 7 a.m., drove to Cleveland, (4 hours) then covered the women's game. This has become much more involved since last year, when all I did was shoot and send pictures on my laptop. This year, I am shooting still and also doing video. Today I sent 12 pictures to the paper and put together 2 different videos, and Graham, the reporter , has updated the WMU Broncos blog about 4 or 5 different times, in addition to writing stories for the paper. We went into Quicken Loans arena around 11:30 a.m., and didn't leave until almost 10 p.m. That's a whole day of my life, gone, whiled away in the basement of a sports arena. I am totally looking forward to tomorrow, because I get to sleep in on my fancy sleep number bed. Knowing me, though, I will probably wake up at 7.

Environmental conundrum

So if you are driving to the grocery store, and halfway there you realize you forgot your reusable shopping bags at home, is it better for the environment to: a) Turn around and drive back to the house to get them, burning extra fossil fuels in the process, or b) Continue on to the store and get plastic bags, which will not biodegrade in our lifetime?

Cool as ice

Sometimes my job is really cool. There are times when I am on an assignment, and I marvel at the fact that I actually get paid to do this stuff. Friday night I was at work at the paper and a guy called to say he and the rest of the Gull Lake Ice Yacht Club would be having races Saturday and Sunday out on the lake for the first time in 8 years. I vaguely knew what ice yachting was, and it sounded like it could be cool, so I called the guy back for more info. When he promised to give me a ride in his boat, I was sold, even though I wasn't supposed to be working Saturday. So the next morning I layered up, put on my warmest socks, and ventured out onto the ice. Now, as you know from my previous post, I am totally done with winter, but apparently winter isn't done with me. It was about 12 degrees, and the wind was blowing somewhere around 15 miles an hour, which put the wind chill at about -5. These boat guys didn't seem to care, they were bundled up from head to toe, then they hunkered down in these tiny sailboats with runners on the bottom and zipped along the ice at about 60 miles an hour. Click here for a photo gallery of pics from the races. Randy, the very nice guy who called the paper, had just finished telling me and the reporter all about all these injuries he'd had and how people have drowned doing this, when he said, "Okay, who's going first?" To his credit, he did not push the boat to 60, and we didn't even come close to leaning over onto one runner like some of the racers, which was probably good, since I was holding a brand-new, corporately purchased HD video camera. But it was REALLY cool. And when would I ever have gotten the chance to do something like that? That's why I like my job. It opens doors, gives me a glimpse into the lives of people I would otherwise never know, and a chance to do things like go speeding across the ice on a cold (but sunny!) March morning in Michigan. Here's a little clip of my ride:




And if you want more, here is the video I put together for Mlive.com, the Kalamazoo Gazette's website.

Ice Yachting on Gull Lake

Sun-ny day, sweepin' the clouds a-way...

Okay, so the weather Gods heard my plea, sort of. Monday I walked outside and it was a balmy 48 degrees. Of course it was overcast and drizzling, but it was downright tropical compared to what we have been having, and it eventually got up to 51. Break out the shorts! Fast forward to Wednesday. It wasn't quite so warm, but it was in the 40s, and guess what I got to see—the sun! It is amazing what a little sunlight can do for my mood. I had more energy, felt like I got more stuff done at work, I actually felt like cooking dinner, and had a great time playing with the boys. I don't know what it is about the sun, maybe it just signals that warmer days are on the way, but I'll take it!

What to write?

Argh, there is a reason I don't post here more often. I want to let people know what is going on in our lives, but sometimes it seems so mundane that to take the time to write about it wouldn't even be worth the trouble. This weekend I went to a Michigan Press Photographers Association conference to see the judging for the yearly contest. I didn't win anything, but it is still fun to be around other photogs from other papers and see what they are doing. The conference was in Lansing, a little more than an hour from here. I left the conference Friday night a little after 8 p.m. It was overcast and cold, but that was it. About ten minutes into my drive, I drove into a snowstorm. Not just some flurries, big fat flakes that were drifting over the road so I couldn't see ANYTHING! It was dark and all you could see was the snow in your headlights. The effect of the snow flying towards the windshield gave the impression that I wasn't actually moving. After slowing to a crawl for about 15 minutes and periodically hitting the rumble strips on the side of the road because i couldn't see the lanes, the snow finally let up a little. I thought, whew, I must have just gone through a little squall, but its over now. Nope. About five minutes later a semi and a few cars in front of me started slowing down really fast. I tapped the brakes, only to have the antilock brakes come on (which still freaks me out, we have only had our new van for a few months) and I realized the road was a sheet of ice. I passed 4 or 5 slide-offs in about a mile and a half, then it started snowing again. After I drove back into the snow. the road wasn't so slick, but I couldn't see anything again. Ugh. It took me almost 2 hours to get home, and by the time I reached Kalamazoo, it wasn't even snowing. Go figure. I am SO ready for winter to be over. I want to see green stuff and not have to start the car to warm it up or wear socks all the time. I want to see the sun! I t doesn't come out very often in Michigan in the winter. Anybody reading this from a warmer clime, please send some sunshine my way!

Potty mouths and other funny things

I think my kids are funny. I laugh. But its usually when they are trying their hardest NOT to be funny. Like tonight, when we came in the house and there was a box of papers in the entryway, and Connor says, "What is all this crap over here?" It is really hard to explain why he shouldn't say that word while you are trying not to laugh. The same thing happens when they get mad about something and decide they are going to tell you about it. It's hilarious. Which makes me wonder how many times as a child, I got mad about something and my parents sat there with heads turned, hands covering up a smile, while I sat there fuming and pouting.
Either every parent does this, or there goes my mother of the year award!
To pay tribute to the amusing musings of my children, I started a little feature on the right called From the mouths of babes. I'll put funny quotes and thought-provoking questions there as they come up. So keep coming back! I promise I will post more often!

Mommy, slayer of "bad guys"

One night, a few weeks ago, I was putting the boys to bed, and Riley said, "Mommy, I am just really really scared to go to bed." I responded by saying, " You don't need to be scared, because Mommy would never let anything bad happen to you." Now, every night we go through this ritual, where Riley says he is scared and I say I will make sure nothing bad will happen to him. And now, since the boys are absolutely OBSESSED with Star Wars (I will save that subject for another post) it has morphed into, not only will Mommy make sure you are safe, if any bad guys come in the house, Mommy will take Riley's (or Connor's) light saber and get the bad guys with it. I imagine that in Riley's mind I am a butt-kicking Obi-Wan Kenobi, striking down any creepy Darth Maul characters who might try to come in the house. I just hope he always thinks I'm that cool.