George Sells' Blog

You have to love an appreciation for our troops, combined with a good sense of humor!  I have some good friends at the St. Louis based American Mustache Institute (www.americanmustacheinstitute.org) who are providing this.  AMI's site is always hysterical, but, on a slightly more serious note, they've found a mustached soldier who is blogging for them from Iraq.  Enjoy the sample below!


An American Mustache In Iraq - Nov. 21, 2008

Good morning from Baghdad, where the weather has been nice and cool, 50's in the morning and 70's during the day. Things remain nice and quiet for us in our little AO (Area of Operation) as Team Zombie is finally settled in as we moved into our new office last week when we returned from FOB Liberty for five days of MRAP (Mine Resistant Armored Prtoection) vehicle training.Pretty cool vehicle, like driving an armored bus.

Our team has been occupied mostly with updating paperwork relative to applications for business grants from the various neighborhoods in our AO. Over the past 24 hours, Grandpa and I volunteered to participate in two walking presence patrols in Khadimya just outside our gate, both two hours long, one at night and yesterday afternoon. I haven't walked that much in full battle rattle since Basic and damn was my back feeling it! It was very cool, though. We saw so much of the area.

During the night patrol, the power went out on one street we were walking thru, definitely made for some jittery nerves. It was amazing to see so many people out and about, at the little shops along the way, mostly friendly and responsive to the general greeting "A Salaama Lakem" which means "Peace Be Upon You". We stopped at a nite club packed full of men on outdoor patios playing dominoes. Several hotels along the way appeared to be very nice, as the local shrine appears to be a big draw for Shia pilgrims visiting the area. The Iraqi Army and Police seem to have a good report with the populace as those interspersed amongst our patrol greeted many along the way and seemed to have very friendly relations with those we met along the way.

Funny story...during yesterday's daytime patrol thru the markets and around the shrine, several of the Iraqi Police walking with us wanted to trade equipment with me, kept asking my name, etc. all very cordial, but when one guy asked me what my name was, his buddy told me the guy's name was "Loogy", which I could easily remember as the English equivalent was a sort of spit, right? So I'm calling the cop "Loogy" during the patrol and he and his buddies were laughing. Finally, at the end of the patrol, one of the interpreters hears me and informs me that "Loogy" means "Ass-Kisser" in Arabic. So I tell him to tell the cop I really thought his name was "Loogy" and they all got a big laugh out of it.

The market area we walked thru yesterday was unbelievable, just packed with people and all sorts of goods from rich silks and carpets to gold and foods of all sorts. Just like anywhere, when security improves, business does as well and that was very evident yesterday. It was a very good patrol to participate in as we got to see so much up close and personal rather than in a Humvee driving thru. Attitudes were good and people again, seem to appreciate their freedom and like most of us, want to work and make a buck. It's too bad none of this gets reported back home. I have pics of the market and shrine, and Loogy, on myspace under "Khadimya Market and Shrine".

Yesterday I also discovered that Bowzer the puppy is alive and well, living in the back of the FOB with her (he's a she) siblings and getting nice and fat thanks to the 1st ID soldiers who have adopted them and named her "Wilber". Also, unsure if I'd shared this, but there's about 300 Ugandan soldiers on our post, responsible for perimter security and I have to say, they do a damn good job and pose quite the imposing figure. I always make a point of greeting them with the Ugandan "Aghandi" which means "How Are You" and occasionally a "Waybody" which means "Thank You". It's fun to get to know them and see them light up with a smile when they see a Joe actually trying to relate to them. Heck, the way I see it, they are doing a job that saves Joe from having to man that gate or watchtower at night and I appreciate them for it.

Chow has gotten a little better under the 1st ID now that they have taken control from the departing 502nd Airborne, who by now should be home and enjoying life stateside. The bacon is crispier, however, we are now short on cereal and other snack items. If anyone wants to send us stuff, Pickel has asked for Doritos and my request would be for Captain Crunch Berries. Unsure of Granpa and LT's requests, but they seem to enjoy anything we get as we all appreciate the baked goods we've receieved, especially the homemade fudge we receieved from the ever-wonderful folks at Madison Manufacturing in Hamilton! Just wonderful people there and everyone in the 403rd back at Liberty and here at Justice and the other FOBs want me to reiterate how thankful and appreciative we all are for the goodies already sent. Also, if anyone has kiddos at home or school who want a pen pal, there's plenty of Joes not getting mail who would probably love to have one, so just have them send a generic letter with a home or school address on it and I'll distribute. We'd also like hard candy and pens/pencils as that is the biggest request from Iraqi kids we meet. They appear to be well-fed and healthy, but are such beggars. They come up, shake hands with us and greet us, then say "Mister, Mister, you got chocolate" or ask for the pens in our sleeves. Too funny.

Well, that's about the latest and greatest from our quiet little spot in Baghdad. Will keep you posted as things progress. It hasn't even sunk in yet that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. We're just looking forward to the New Year, which means we're that much closer to getting back home.

God Bless!

Sgt Jon Alvarez
A Co 403rd CA BN
2 H BCT 1ID
FOB Justice
APO AE 09344
www.myspace.com/ILoveCNY

 

Bonita Cornute's report at 6pm Thursday raises some interesting questions.  What should happen to a museum when it loses artifacts entrusted to it?
The St. Louis Science Center is still trying to find missing Indian artifacts.  Among them, headdresses made of eagle feathers that can no longer be bought or sold in this country.
If they can't find the goods, what kind of punishment should the science center face?  Should they be fined?  Should they lose accreditation?  Should they be shut down? Tell us what you think!

What are people thinking?  What is wrong with people?  These are the questions that have been dominating conversation in our community in recent days after the murder of University Police Sergeant Michael King Friday, and the killing of Firefighter Leonard Riggins Wednesday.
Of course the families of the brave first responders who died serving our community are top of mind right now.  If you'd like to pass any messages to them, please leave a comment here.

Now that Barack Obama is President-Elect, he’s faced with the shift from campaigning to governing. Governing, of course, is an entirely different animal.

Obama, like many of his predecessors, has been elected as an agent of change. But history suggests there are plenty of pitfalls for the changers when they encounter the realities of Washington, D.C.

When Jimmy Carter went to Washington in 1977, he brought many of the bright young Georgians, who had run his campaign, with him. He had little interest in listening to the D.C. bureaucrats who kept the wheels of the machine moving, and eventually alienated a large number of them. Some believe Carter was hitting roadblocks from the very beginning because of the way he rode into town.

Obama will certainly have plenty of campaign staff, University of Chicago cronies, and others who have sipped the “Change You Can Believe In” Kool-Aid in tow when he moves into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Some analysts believe he’ll be wise to have them play nicely with the “old guard” already entrenched there.

When Bill Clinton took office in 1992, he led a Democratic Party that was also in control of Congress. Some say he took it for granted that his agenda would slide through without a fight. Apparently, some say, he forgot about the gentle egos that make up the House and Senate, and ended up fighting battles with his own party.

Obama, of course, already has congressional relationships from his time in the senate. The question is whether he’ll interpret his election as a mandate for his ideas and try to run roughshod over the legislative branch. Some believe that would lead to a political mess for the new administration.

When George W. Bush took office, he was criticized for worrying so much about his new cabinet, that he didn’t give enough attention to important staff positions inside the White House. I heard one analyst today point out that the White House Chief of Staff and other key aids are probably more powerful and important than certain cabinet members.

Obama has reportedly already chosen his Chief of Staff. Where is he likely to focus his efforts as he begins putting a government together? This is probably a more important question than most of us realize.

Barack Obama has made history once. But the thing about being President is history never stops judging.

If you sit in front of a television, particularly during a newscast, you will be provided with plenty of reasons to dislike lots of people. 

Is this wearing you out at all?  It has become so formulaic.  Soothing music and nicely lit color video means the good guy.  The soundtrack from "Halloween 3" combined with an unflattering black and white still shot is the person you're being programmed to hate.

It seems to be a rarity when one of these commercials actually tells you why you should vote for the person paying for the ad.  The idea is to make the mention of their opponent's name give you the heebie jeebies.  Not "vote for," but "vote against," seems to be what they're going for. 

Off the top of my head, I can tell you various political candidates this year are dishonorable, inexperienced, have passed bad checks, have stolen millions, and are going to raise your taxes then lie to you about it.  These clearly are not people you would want to invite to dinner or allow your children to be around.  The problem is, if you listen to this noise long enough, you'll end up hating all the candidates.  There's no one left to vote for!

Some of the other tendencies are equally fascinating.  I saw back to back spots from local candidates who actually spent thirty seconds off the attack..  This brings us to a different set of rules. 

When you're not telling the public how icky your opponent is, you are apparently required to show pictures of yourself with as many family members as possible.  A spouse and 3.4 kids are preferred.  If you don't have 3.4 kids, I wonder if the production company rents a couple of spares. 

I don't really understand the point.  Are they trying to say, "Look!  This nice looking lady or man hasn't divorced me, so you can certainly vote for me!"  Or maybe it's, "Look, four kids and not one has been taken into state custody!  I'm fit for your confidence!"

Once in a blue moon a politician actually runs an ad where he or she tells you what they intend to do, and why it will help you.  This, last I checked, is what we're supposed to be basing our votes on.  It's a shame more time and effort isn't spent telling us why we should vote for people instead of why we shouldn't. 

To me, this is the coolest thing about Web 2.0. The interactivity and immediacy is mind-blowing.

Thursday night at 7pm CDT, in the hour leading up to the VP debat, we'll be doing a webcast talking about what's ahead and getting input from some of FOX 2's experts. But YOU get to help steer the ship.

If you have questions or topics you want us to touch on, leave a comment below. If that's not fast enough for you, you can follow me at George_Sells on twitter.com, and I'll be taking some material from there. Also, as you watch on our live stream, the chat board should be burning up on the same page. I'll be watcing!

One topic I'd like to hear from you on is that of expectations. I've been hearing over and over that both candidates are trying to lower expectations as much as possible. Doesn't that seem a little bit lame? Great quarterbacks want you to expect them to throw for 400 yards a game. They expect it of themselves. Shouldn't great politicians want you to expect the best from them? Is this part of the dumbing down of our nation? What do you think?

I can't wait to hear from you! Please join us tonight. It should be a blast!

So how will you be spending your money this holiday season? Retailers are understandably nervous about what's ahead. As we told you in our report at 5, many businesses make 40% of their annual budget and every cent of their annual profit off the holiday season. A bad Christmas could kill the whole year.

It's made worse by the rising cost of fuel. The price of most items has gone up due tot he price of materials rising. The price of shipping the item has gone up as well. But with business expected to be very competitive for your dollar, retailers are hesitant to raise the price. That means ten or fifteen percent might be knocked off their profit margin. If they're making less per item, and selling fewer items, that can put them out of business.

So what will you do? Will you buy fewer gift? Will you buy less expensive gifts? Willy you shop more for bargains? Will you shop the same way as you always have?

Let me know what you think in comments. We'll read a few of them on the air at 9:00.

You may or may not have noticed that my stories pop up at all different hours of all different days.  I work 9-6ish early in the week, evenings later in the week, sometimes reporting, sometimes doing web.  And, by the way, those hours are all completely subject to change and quite often do. 

This is not intended to sound like a complaint. It totally comes with the territory of being the newer guy in a newsroom.  I love my job, and you can't ask for more than that professionally.

I bring this up only to point out the reason I'm writing this blog.  It's 11:30 at night,  I'm working daytime hours.  I got to bed early.  And I can't sleep. 

I think I'm suffering from a stationary form of jet lag.  We'll call it news lag.  It's when your body doesn't know what day or time it is anymore, because you're working four different types of shifts in five days.  Here's what I learned during my news lag period.

Friday:  High school football scores come in late and I'm officially losing track of all the passwords I have to know.  Including our new H.S. football site, I think I have seven sets of user names and passwords I need to remember.  My brain will be exploding soon.

Saturday:  How sad it is for families who endure tragic accidents.  I covered the story of those four guys who's car flipped off the Poplar Street bridge.  Yes they were going too fast.  Yes there were bullets in the car for some reason, which began exploding as firefighters tried to rescue the men.  These are odd things.  Probably things they shouldn't have been doing or holding.  But none of it is wrong enough for their families to have to endure a midnight phone call telling them a loved one is dead.  I interviewed the grandmother of the youngest victim.  Grandmothers should never, ever have to bury grandkids.

Sunday:  This was my day off.  A peaceful trip to church was followed by breakfast with my family (including visiting parents.)  That was followed by a reminder that the Rams are really bad.

Monday:  This was one of those days where things keep changing.  One thing you won't often see on the air is how much time we spend running down rumors, then finding they're untrue.  For the record:  no one had a gun at the Belleville West-East St. Louis football game.  No one was tazered by police either. 
Once that was established we went to U-City long enough to shoot three minutes of flood damage, interview one poor man who's so frustrated with the drainage situation he can't stand it, then be shipped off to O'Fallon, Illinois.
It was on the east side of the river where a man had been found strangled in his house.  Neighbors think drugs were involved.  Police aren't certain yet.  Families shouldn't have to live life in fear of what some unknown, violent person might do for no good reason.  People on East State Street aren't sleeping well tonight. 

Neither am I, but they have better reason for insomnia than I do. 

Have you caught Geraldo Rivera's latest act?  This morning he was hanging out on Galveston Island in Texas waiting for Hurricane Ike to arrive.  That's fine when the storm is still a eighteen hours or so away.  But why is it I think Geraldo will try to stay camped out on the island right through the storm? 

There's a big difference between riding out a hurricane in a coastal city as opposed to being on an island.  You can always make a run for it when you're on the mainland.  On an island, the bridges will close when winds hit about 75 mph (weak hurricane strength) and the 25 foot storm surge they're talking about could make most or all of an island disappear for a while.  It could also cause the disappearance of those dumb enough to hang around. (Read: Geraldo)

In case the man who brought us Al Capone's vault needs a history lesson, the island he's currently hanging around on was the site of about 8-thousand deaths when the Hurricane of 1900 came ashore.  Granted, they didn't have the technology to know it was coming, but the moral of the story is Galveston is a lousy place to be for a storm.

I'm not casting stones here.  I've covered hurricanes and I've ridden them out in places where you might think I was out of my mind.  The difference is, my escape route wasn't going to disappear.  Geraldo's is. 

The scary part is how fast the water will come up.  In 2004 I was in Gulf Shores, Alabama when Hurricane Ivan was about 12 hours out.  We arrived at the satellite truck at 4:30 and the water was still many yards away.  Suddenly, by 5, water was surging under the truck.  We immediately started scrambling to move before we, and the truck, washed into the Gulf.  It was time to "get out of Dodge."  We gladly did. 

If Geraldo decides to put himself in harm's way, that's his business. He's built a career on doing asinine things.  I just worry that in the process he's put a photographer and other techs in danger in the process.  Then there's the poor firefighters and EMT's that could get the call if he gets in too far over his head. 

Then again, they all might just tell him he's out of luck.  I hope he brought his water wings. 

September 11th  is, without question the "where were you" moment of a generation.  My parents had the Kennedy assassination.  My grandparents had Pearl Harbor.  I managed to live more than three decades before the moment in time that would be burned into my memory forever.

For most people, September 11th was a television experience.  Everyone I know was somewhere, gathered around the television, watching bad news turn worse and worse.  The images are still vivid, heart wrenching, and surreal.

It was all different for me.  I saw the report of the first tower being hit.  I heard news of the second plane over the radio as I drove to work in Louisville, Kentucky. By the time the second tower fell, I was in a car with a news photographer on the way to New York. Telling my wife I was going to New York City in the midst of this was among the hardest things I ever had to do. 

We had driven straight through to New York.  All those things you probably watched on television that day, I heard on the radio. I specifically remember being in a rest stop in Pennsylvania when President Bush finally addressed the nation. 

 It was about midnight as we rolled up the New Jersey Turnpike and lower Manhattan came into view.  I will never forget the glow of the fire at the southern end of the island.  We were still too far off to see any flames.  It was sort of like a fire on a grill when the big flames have subsided, but the red glow of the heat is still visible.  It was enough to light up the night. 

There was nowhere to stay that night.  You couldn't get into the city proper yet, and the hotels in New Jersey were filled with workers from the city who literally walked out.  The "sleep" we got that night lasted for all of two or three hours.  I remember being woken up about every 20 or 30 minutes as the roar of fighter planes overhead broke the nighttime silence. 

On September 12th we were able to get into the city by ferry.  If you know the geography, you know the ferry from New Jersey comes in at 38th Street.  From there we walked the two miles or so to the area around Ground Zero each day.  I recall the first time I heard it referred to as Ground Zero.  It just didn't sound right.  By weeks end, it rolled off the tongue way too easily.

The closest we got to the actual pile was about three blocks away.  That might seem far, but it was close enough.  What TV never really conveyed well was the sheer size of the pile.  It was thirteen stories high.  Imagine sixteen acres of burning rubble all piled about a quarter way up the Gateway Arch.  It was overwhelming.

Just as overwhelming were the people.  We would regularly be approached by folks on the street who saw the television camera.  The would rush to us with pictures.  "Can you broadcast a picture of my husband?"  "I can't find my son."  On the first day they were filled with hope.  As each day passed, the hope dissipated, and the number of pictures grew.  They were building the Toys 'r Us in Times Square at the time.  The block long construction wall was covered with fliers.  They were all photos of people.  Name.  Age.  Last seen.  And, usually, which tower they worked in. 

I remember coming up West Street on the 12th of September and coming across a group of about four or five women.  This was the route that the crews working the pile would take out of Ground Zero when they were relieved.  These women were standing in the median applauding as they passed.  It was moving the first time I saw it.  It became more moving as the small group grew into a crowd of dozens, then hundreds as the days went by.  Every time a truck passed with firefighters, paramedics, or guys off the bucket brigade, they cheered.  They roared.  They tried to keep the energy up for people that were working tirelessly in search of any survivors. 

Of course survivors were few and far between.  I ran across a medic at one point who was assigned to a triage center.  That's the place where they planned to bring the injured.  I'll never forget the look on his face when he told me, "no one ever showed up.  There were almost no injuries.  They were just all gone."

There was a minister from Louisville who had happened to be in the city that morning.  He went downtown to help, and was used to administer last rites to the dead, and pray with those trying to find survivors.  I met him on the Saturday after the attacks, and he brought a scrapbook with him.  He'd been picking up pictures in the debris.  Think of the photos on your desk.  Think of all the desks in those three buildings that fell.  This was a book that contained slivers of stories about all those who had been lost.  He only had that book for another couple of days.  Last I heard, the FBI had taken it. 

I'll always remember standing in Times Square around noon on that same Saturday.  If you've been to New York you know about the din of car horns that follows you day and night.  I stood in Times Square for about fifteen minutes that day without hearing a single horn.  The absence of that sound in that place stood out.  It was, in a strange way, very emotional. 

That week in New York was probably the most difficult and most rewarding of my career.  The rewards came in finding just how good people can be to one another when they truly need to be.  There were no horns honking, because no one needed to hear that.  People were hurting.  No one needed to pile on with their self absorbed need to get through the light before it turned red. 

In the wake of the tragedy that you could see every time you looked south and smell every time you drew breath, a brotherhood and sisterhood emerged.  For a few days everyone was looking out for each other.  People who normally stared at the ground would smile and say, "hello."  And whenever you bid someone farewell, you were always instructed, "be careful." 

Now, seven years later, things are back to how they once were in our country.  Terrorists seem to have been held at bay, and people are back to being inundated with their own lives. I still tend to pause on 9-11.  When this day comes around I always think of where I was, where I went, and how, for a moment, we all truly became one. 

It's funny how police are so polite when talking about suspects.  I did a story today about two guys arrested in St. Peters for trying to steal copper wire from a cellular tower. 

 I don't think it's being journalistically unbalanced or unfair to say these guys made some pretty questionable, if not downright stupid choices. 

If you're going to steal something from a cell tower, do you consider it bright to park your truck in the driveway on a fairly visible road while you conduct your theft? (By the way, the truck is running and there's a toolbox sitting open in the back.)

If you're going to steal wire, is it wise to go up to a cell tower which is powered by thousands and thousands of watts of electricity and start cutting wires with a bolt cutter?

 If your caught doing this at 10 at night, do you really think a police officer is going to believe you're a cell tower repair man, and that your buddy is "just hanging out" while you're making the repairs.  Further, when you claim to be a repair man, shouldn't you have a story as to who hired you?  These guys told police they didn't know who hired them and they wouldn't be able to find out.  I'm buying that. How about you?

At the end of our interview, I asked the spokesperson for the St. Peters police if her impression was that these weren't the two brightest guys in the world.  She smiled and politely declined to comment.  Come on!  I know she was trying to be professional, but can't we all laugh together once in a while?  Let’s face it.  When the next book on criminal masterminds is written by some college professor somewhere, it's unlikely the author will be coming to St. Peters in search of these two. 

 It may not be as bad as leaving your driver's license at the scene of a robbery, but these guys aren't the sharpest tools in the shed. 

I've been in the news business for a long time, but it still amazes me how quickly the national news cycle can change.  Watching national stories from a local's perspective also gives sharp focus to the value of local news.

Here's what I'm talking about:  Monday morning I flipped vigorously through the cable news channels watching coverage of hurricane Gustav.  My mom and dad are in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, about 80 miles northwest of New Orleans, and they were taking a pretty good beating from the storm.

Once it was clear that, a)New Orleans wouldn't be washed away by another set of broken levees, and b) the government wasn't going to provide another example of "how to screw up everything" in its response, the networks were nearly gone.  Anderson Cooper went from a golf shirt in the Crescent City to a suit at the Republican Convention in twelve hours.

Those who stayed missed a couple of things.  First and foremost, few have seemed to figure out that the story is in Baton Rouge.  The reports being done are still out of New Orleans, where things are a lot closer to "back to normal" than in many other parts of the state.  Meanwhile, Baton Rouge has about half a million people with no power, and residents standing in five hour long lines just to get water and ice.  FOX 2 viewers on Wednesday night discovered that many of the St. Louis volunteers in the hurricane zone are in Baton Rouge as we speak. (Teresa Woodard's story on the 9:00 News)

I realize it's a little self serving to talk about the value of local newsrooms in these situations, but watching the networks bungle their coverage of this story just makes me shake my head.  Are they not communicating with the people who know the area at all?  You'll notice Wednesday  the President of the United States was in Baton Rouge, yet much of the story content was New Orleans.  Huh?  Did anyone venture beyond the little room President Bush was standing in near the Capitol to look for the story?

As I write this, CNN is breaking in with news that Hurricane Ike has now been upgraded from a category 1 to a category 3.  There's a lot of water between it's current location and the US mainland, but we may be in for more nervousness on the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts.  (Don't forget Hannah headed for Georgia)  I'm sure Anderson Cooper will be back in golf shirt mode if Ike makes a move.  I just hope he or his producers pay a little more attention to local folks if another storm takes center stage. 

"They never say anything you don't expect.  They're a waste of time and money."  Those were the words of a friend of mine this afternoon in reference to th political conventions.  She's of the belief that they're an over-hyped, overpriced exercise in political self indulgence that offer little in terms of information or insight.  (Not a direct quote, but I think I've got her pretty well pegged.)

The question is this:  Do you agree? 

Those who know me know that I'm an eternal optimist.  I'm the guy that will watch the Rams this fall, insisting that a few good bounces mixed with some underrated talent actually could land them in the playoffs!

This same longing for people and projects to reach their potential leaves me holding on to the hope that I can learn something from the political gatherings of the next two weeks.  There's certainly enough we don't know about the candidates.  Is John McCain the bi-partisan champion who will finally unite Congress or is he just a Bush clone? Is Obama the natural leader who can make us dream our dreams, then achieve them, or is he a guy who delivers a great speech and not much else? 

It seems these days, we're presented with two views of a politician.  We get the soft, angelic, man of the people presentation of the candidate's campaign, followed by the nasty, incompetent, "call the cops of the guy arrives on your lawn" view given by the opponent.  It's almost formulaic.  The truth has to be somewhere in the middle, right?

Here's why I think these conventions will be worth watching.  It's our chance to get a fairly lengthy, unedited view of who these people want us to think they are.  They get to pick the points they drive home.  They get to spell out what they think is important.  They'll likely spend more time talking about themselves than the other guy. 

What can we learn from this?  If a candidate sinks his teeth into a bunch of issues you don't care about, and doesn't address what you think matters, you've gained valuable information.  If the candidate's self-proclaimed strengths don't include the strength you think matters most, there's news there as well. 

Each candidate and party has a week to tell us what they're all about.  If we listen closely and watch carefully, they might actually make a little news.  I'm talking about those little nuggets of news that matter to us as individuals.  Of course, when deciding who to vote for, that's some of the most important news there is.

"Does this guy know what he's doing?"  That is the question somewhere in the recesses of every mind in a newsroom when a new guy (or gal) walks in.  It's not an unfriendly or inhospitable sort of query.  In fact, as a viewer, you should be glad that the collective gut of a newsroom says, "show me what you've got."  That means the room is full of professionals who have high standards which they expect the newest person to meet.  In other words, they expect me to be able to deliver the quality of work you have come to count on from this station.

The intimidating part of that as a reporter is the fact that everyone will get a very public answer to the "does he know what he's doing" question in short order.  Let's face it:  when a TV reporter goofs, it's out there for all to see.  Many a blooper show producer has made a nice, lucrative living on the bumbles, stumbles, and strokes of bad luck we in the news biz have encountered over the years.

Every time I've started a new job, the fear has been the same.  You go to the first live shot and you're scared to death you'll provide that ultimate "blooper show moment" right out of the gate.  Consider the possibility:  you can cause a collective eye roll among your co-workers and make a fool out of yourself in front of an entire metropolitan area before you've even figured out the company dental plan!

Fortunately, that didn't happen, and I immediately was able to move on to fear number two. This is on your second and third live reports when you're mortified you'll say the wrong station at the end. I nearly did that in Kirkwood last week.  I got through the whole story, moved to the end, said my name and.....uh....what station do I work for again?  News 12 Long Island (my previous employer) was right there on the tip of my tongue.  You couldn't tell at home.  I caught myself in a slight pause and managed to form the words "Fox 2 News" in plenty of time.  But in my head, I had teetered on the edge of a classic bit of brain flatulence.  16 years in news and this stuff still goes on in my head!

So far I've managed to figure things out pretty well in my new job.  I'm learning all the names, faces and processes inside the building. 

As for the city, St. Louis isn't that new to me.  My wife was born and raised here.  We were married here and have been floating in and out of town regularly for more than a decade.  I often joke that, while I'm a fairly new resident, I arrived knowing that 40 and 64 are the same thing, toasted ravs are actually fried, and when calling someone a "hoosier" you're not referring to their love of Indiana basketball. 

In the end, you'll be my judge and jury when it comes to local knowledge.  I can tell you this, however:  after a little less than a year in town, St. Louis already feels like home.  After less than a month, Fox 2 is quickly feeling that way as well.  Those are two things that make it markedly easier to survive life as the new guy.