All in a Day's Work.

First of all, I have a question: do all Mustang drivers HAVE to be crazy on the freeway? Because I have yet to see one drive normally.

Second: I think everyone needs to watch this. It's probably already taken off around the blogosphere but I don't care. I'm posting it because it's on my company's website. So ha.

WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK!

Seriously amusing. Jenn, I'm sure you saw this long before anyone else did!

And then, watch a couple minutes of this (the video player is on the right-hand side of the story, which I wrote). I guarantee you're going to go, "Awwwww!' And if you don't, you're a sadist. There's no other explanation.

Third: I met another Mormon at work today! Woo-hoo! Steve Garry. He's one of the meteorologists at the station. He's so suave. And so nice! When he realized I'm a Cougar, too, he couldn't help himself. We talked about KBYU and the Daily News, then we played the "Do You Know...?" game. Because really, what Mormon encounter would be complete without it? And it was a success.

So, I guess that makes three of us: myself, Kent, and Steve.

And, I'm finally done with the Web rotation, but I'm a little sad. I hope the other rotations can be just as stellar.

KPHO v. BYU Daily News

The crew at BYU Daily News, Spring 2008. Can you see me?

Many things about both stations are similar. News is news, right? In the end, it's all about coming together to deliver the latest, most important news to the viewers. But there are a LOT of differences between KPHO and BYU Daily News. Here are four:

1) At KPHO, it always smells like coffee. Having lived in Utah for the past three years, I forgot what coffee smelled like.

2) At KPHO, people swear. A lot. At the DN, you hear "crap", "heck" and "shoot". Or the occasional swear word in a different language, which doesn't really count. I don't think I'd heard the F-word in years until last week. What can I say? The newsroom is stressful.

3) At KPHO, it's not uncommon to see some skin. Forearms and shins are about as as you'll see at the DN.

4) At KPHO, everyone is thrilled at the sight of a baby in the newsroom. At the DN, babies are an everyday occurance (see far right of above picture for proof).

That's my list for now. I'm sure it will continue to grow as time goes on. It's interesting to be part of the "real world". Now I fully understand why Provo is so affectionately called "The Bubble."

Yesterday was nice. I got to leave early because I'll be going in tonight to help with the CyberBowl. It's a web-interactive newscast about the Super Bowl. Viewers can send text messages to Cardinals players, chat online, etc. Should be fun. All you Arizonans can check it out on Channel 5 at 7:30 pm tonight (unless you're watching Idol)!

Q&A.

I noticed a few of you had some questions in the comments from my last posts, so I thought I would attempt to answer them today.

Stephanie asked, "Why don't the internet stories give you credit for writing them?"

The short answer: since I don't personally research the content of these press releases and packages, I can't take credit for the material. Every day, we get a lot of press releases from police and such. My job is simply to rewrite them so they are more pleasant to read on the website. Because believe me, cops don't have the best grammar, and they tend to speak in a language all their own (Example: "The suspect fled on foot and headed westbound from the scene of the crime."). I also re-write reporter packages so they are in print form instead of in a broadcast script.

Jessica said, "I hope no one gave you crap about being married and being a mom."

It hasn't really come up yet. For the most part, I don't feel the need to advertise that I'm married and a mom, but I'm certainly not shy about it if it comes up in conversation. Most people have been fairly cordial about it, except for one reporter who copped a bit of an attitude. She asked me when I was scheduled to work; I told her Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 am - 5 pm. She asked why in the world I would do that instead coming in every day. I told her, "Well, I live in the East Valley so I don't want to drive out every day, and it's easier for my babysitters this way." Her respsonse was a little less than tactful: "Oh, those babies...always getting in the way...." Just one of those times you have to chuckle instead of getting angry. I wanted to yell all sorts of things and maybe spit on her, but decided against it. Besides, I'm sure anchor Kent Dana would approve: he's got six kids of his own!

Jennifer asked, "Which do you like more? Is it fun being out of the house a few times a week? Do you want to work there when you're done?"

It's hard to say if I like being an intern more than being a mom or vice versa. There are definitely times when I'd rather be slaving away in a newsroom (like when Bubby is having explosive diarrhea or when my house is a complete wreck). But for the most part, I love being a mom! And I'm always excited to see my family when I get home.

It is definitely fun to get out of the house a few times a week, though. Trust me; while motherhood is a wonderful blessing and an adventure, it can get extremely repetitive and boring. A grown adult can only play blocks for so long. And contrary to what some might think, it's difficult. I have a child who depends on me to take care of her 24 hours a day. I don't get any breaks. It can be overwhelming.

I have always held the philosophy that moms need something to call their own in their lives. Whether it be a job, a hobby, piano lessons, a book club, yoga, or extreme sports...all mothers need their "(name) time." That is the time when we get to develop ourselves as individuals. My current "Jenna time" is my internship. I'm sure you all could think of many activities that qualify as "(name) time". Scrapbooking, baking, cardio kick-boxing, consulting for Mary Kay, teaching, cutting hair...you name it.

So, to answer Jennifer's third question: I don't know. If the station offers me a job, it will be hard to turn it down. I mean, how flattering! But I realize what a huge commitment it would be, and I wonder if I could juggle it all. I do value being home with my child. As awesome as my mom and mother-in-law are at babysitting, no one knows Bubby's needs like I do. But, I do want to have my "Jenna time" in some form or another. So, I guess I'll have a more concrete answer in late April/May.

Thanks for reading! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. I might just dub Mondays "Q&A Day."

Another day, another van.

This is one of the many news vans at KPHO. Behind it is a large satellite dish which receives signals from live shots and Newshawk 5 (our chopper).

Well, another day has come and gone. I've decided I do hate traffic after all. I think if you have to commute more than 10 miles, you should have to take a mandatory class about freeway driving, interchanges, junctions, etc. Would it suck? Of course. But you know what sucks worse than classes about traffic? Being STUCK in traffic.

And seriously, be gone, photo radar cameras. Yes, I got flashed yesterday morning. Cheese. I wasn't speeding, though. I am pretty sure it was the car next to me. But still, talk about a shock to the system. It's pitch black and all the sudden, you're blinded by a huge flash of light. Nuclear bomb? Nope, just photo radar.

Yesterday was very similar to Monday, except I was a little quicker and more efficient. I also learned how to make slide shows using stills. That was fun.

Next week, we're doing a special web-interactive broadcast about the Cardinals and the Super Bowl. It should be a lot of fun. I'll be sure to tell you all about it again when it gets closer because I think it will be worth checking out. I mean come on! I'm going to be part of it so you KNOW it's gonna be awesome.

The whole Amber Alert thing was really exciting. You can read the story here and watch the uncut footage from the chopper. I'm still in awe at how fast Newshawk can get to a scene. Somebody calls out, "Launch Newshawk!" and literally minutes later, feed is coming through on the ENG monitor. Maybe someday they'll let me take a ride. Although, I have extreme motion sickness so I'd probably blow chunks all over the crew. So maybe that's not the best idea.

I'm so pumped for the weekend! I was getting sick of waking up at 0:00. I didn't think I could survive another day. Time for hibernation.
Oh, and how could I forget to include this? Ha. When I went to go pick up Bubbers from my mom's house, I was a little shocked to see her wearing hot pink polka-dot pants with a salmon-colored floral print top and no shoes. My mom swore up and down that she showed up like that. Looks like Dillon and I are going to have to talk about color matching basics and why it's not OK for a walking child to go without shoes.

First day.

Yesterday was the first day of my internship at KPHO. My schedule is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. It's definitely longer than I would like, but I'm required to complete 280 hours by the end of the semester. I think I'll survive.

I woke up yesterday morning at 4:45 and left my house at a quarter to 5. I learned I'm not very good at this commuting thing. I live about 30 miles away from the station and this creates a lot of problems for me. On the one hand, I don't want to hit rush hour traffic so I have to make sure I leave early enough. On the other, I don't want to leave too early because I'll wind up sitting in my car once I get there, which is what happened yesterday. I listened to the radio for a bit, put on some lipstick, sifted through some paperwork, checked my phone (why?), and finally decided to go in at 6:45. A person can only pretend to be busy for so long.

The newsroom looks exactly as you'd expect a newsroom to look. There are monitors everywhere. Producers sit at computers and write ferociously. Each desk has a small TV so the producers can watch the news all day long. The set is off to the side and looks so pretty in person. The assignment desk is in the front, and editing bays line the perimeter.

The internship is set up in two-week rotations. My first rotation is the website. So, I basically get to update the content on the station's website. The editor's name is Nicole, and she is a nice girl. She is also very short and I felt extremely self-conscious whenever we'd stand up to go somewhere. I am not tall by any means (five-foot-three) but I literally tower over her. I think I'll wear flats for the next two weeks.

Nicole put me to work write away (pun is, in fact, intended). I quickly realized how well the BYU Comms program has prepared me for this internship. Writing for web is basically the same as writing for a newspaper, which is very different from broadcast writing. There are a lot of silly rules you have to remember for print writing, but I remembered most of them from my Spring 2006 news writing class with Dr. Stoker (never thought I'd thank that man for anything, but I've been humbled). I think Nicole was surprised at how fast I learned how to use the newsroom software, and how quickly I can crank out stories.

At 9:00, Nicole and I went to the staff story meeting. The executive producers, reporters, and directors were all sitting around the conference room table. I felt a little like a fish out of water. I've been to story meetings before, but I've never seen a group of people talk so fast. It was as if they could read each other's minds and I could barely keep up. All I heard was "Salmonella? Inauguration? Secretary? Foreclosures?" and so forth. I participated as much as I could, but for the most part, I was lost. At one point, we turned on a television set in the conference room to watch the inauguration. Everyone was saying how cool it was that they got to watch history in the newsroom. I'll surely never forget where I was when the first black president was inaugurated.

After the story meeting, I went back to work. I wrote probably 12 stories and created a few quizzes as I watched the inauguration on 15 different monitors.

Each time I finished a story, I had to email it to be proofread. The proofreading center is somewhere on the east coast. Nicole described it to me as "a bunch of people sitting at cubicles, waiting for emails to proofread." What a life! It took about 5-10 minutes for my story to come back to me, complete with blue edits. Nicole warned me these editors were ruthless and my stories might be covered in blue, but I was relieved to see very few edits. Four of my stories came back completely clean. Take that, ruthless editor people.

At 2 p.m., Phil showed up. Phil is Nicole's boss, basically. I thought he was very nice. He's pretty hands-off, but he was happy to help if I had a question.

I am sure many of you are wondering at this point if I have met any of the anchors. The answer is YES, but it wasn't difficult. The talent roam around the newsroom all day and are actively involved in the newsmaking process. So far, I have met Nicole Crites, Sean McLaughlin, Paul Horton and Kent Dana. I also met Marcy Valenzuela who does the CBS-5 Time-Saver Traffic.

The truth is, the anchors are really just normal people. You can't easily tell them apart from the rest of the newsroom. They're not celebrities and they don't try to be. Their role is to be the face of the news and they embrace that role fully. In short, they are nothing like Ron Burgundy.

I left the newsroom at a quarter to 5 and didn't hit any traffic until I got to I-10. Go figure. It crawled at a snail's pace the rest of the way. Bubby was sick yesterday so Dill stayed home with her. She was overjoyed to see me when I finally got home.

It was weird how I spent my whole day in a professional workplace and came home to Motherhood as if nothing had changed. Bubby whined and wrapped herself around my legs, Dill asked me what I was going to make for dinner (answer: bean burritos). We put Bubbs to bed, curled up on the couch with our burritos and watched American Idol. I tried to watch The Biggest Loser but fell asleep at 8:30. I was pooped.

Today, I'm just a mom, blogging while my baby naps. I've got a kitchen to clean, carpets to vacuum, and a Bubby to play with. Tomorrow, it's back to the station.

Check out one of my stories from yesterday.