A byline, a byline!

First of all, I must sincerely apologize for the drought on this blog. I fully intend to keep up on it, but things have been busy since my last post.

We first had our family pictures taken by Melanie Lee on Saturday. They turned out amazing! Here's a preview of what she took.

Monday night, I had a dreadful time sleeping, thanks to some newly-developed pain in my right knee. The pain has come and gone since high school, but now I think it's here to stay. And boy did it manifest itself with a vengeance Monday night. By the time 4:45 a.m. rolled around on Tuesday morning, I had a massive headache from the lack of sleep. I did try to straighten my hair for work, but I had to lie down several times due to exhaustion. That's when I decided to give up and call in sick.

So Wednesday was a make-up day for Tuesday. I did my usual hours, but instead of going out with reporters, I decided to stay in and rest my knee. Well, it just so happened that the greatest story ever fell into my lap, so it's a good thing I was stuck in the newsroom that day!

KPHO (and BYU Daily News) has a program called iNews where newsroom personnel type scripts and organize run-downs for the shows. Part of iNews includes a Late Breaking section where we keep all of our breaking news from various police departments, viewer e-mails, police scanners, etc.

One story came from the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office about a Sedona man who was caught pretending to be a justice of the peace and had married several couples while keeping up his charade. Incredible! Part of the release from YCSO mentioned he had a Web site advertising this service. Well, those who know me know I am the Queen of Google. I can literally find anything on the Internet, and I can find things fast. So it didn't take me long to pull up this dude's Myspace page, full of videos of ceremonies he had performed, and his personal page, which advertised him as a justice of the peace, paralegal AND --get this-- personal investigator! A little more digging led me to discover he is a local talk show host for an internet program called Visit Sedona. His mug and name were shamelessly plastered everywhere on the World Wide Web.

Well, with all this information, I was equipped to enterprise a story and earn a byline (i.e., "By: Jenna the Intern"). You can read the finished product here.

Naturally, I was feeling very proud of this accomplishment. But oh, the fun didn't stop there! Pretty soon, CNN (our affiliate) found it and linked it on their Web site. Then, a bunch of national stations picked it up and put it on their sites.

So now, when I Google my name, my articles pop up on news sites in Denver, Kansas City, the Bay area, Detroit and Boston, among other places. I cannot tell you how cool that is.

Nicole (my Web editor) encouraged me to enterprise a story when I started at KPHO, bribing me with a byline if I did. I wanted to, but didn't think I'd have enough time to do the research for a story. Now that I've finally done it, I feel like my passion for journalism has been rejuvenated. So thank you, Nicole, for the boost! You're the best editor an intern could ask for.

Oh, and if you were all wondering, I am getting an MRI on my knee tomorrow. Wish me luck.