Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Wide Open
Saturday
September 21, 2002
It's been a rather interesting week for me this week. There are several developments going on at work that could turn out quite well for me. Wish me luck. I don't think there's much of a secret that I'd like to get out of the work-all-night, sleep-all-day mold. Three and a half years of that has lead me to appreciate the luxury of sleeping at night.
In about an hour I'll be calling in to work to take part in a morning conference call. It's my first time filling in on a weekend newscast at WTSP today, so that should be something new and different and interesting. Not quite sure how the sleep is going to add up though... But that's why there's caffeine, right?
The Camden Ybor apartment complex party deal last night was interesting. I met Nikki, a woman who just started as a producer over at Channel 8 (WFLA) and had some interesting conversations with the random assortment of people there. I met this guy named Bobby who just moved here from Korea, where he was stationed for the Army. He was describing the events of 9/11/2001 from that perspective, and it was amazing. The 2 AM horn waking them up, the disbelief turning into a rushed effort to check in with friends and family. He said he spent hours trying to get ahold of his folks back in New York (where he was from) and find out how about people he knew etc. I asked him if his family was all alright, and he paused, looked away, and said no... Talk about a long awkward silence after that. I felt like John Q. Dickhead. I mean, I didn't know at all what to say. Luckily Nikki came up with something to say at that point. Bobby did say that the not knowing part was actually worse than finding out the bad news.
Finally saw the season debut of The Sopranos last night. They didn't miss a beat. The character development in that show is just light years ahead of what most everything else out there on TV offers. In a related note, HBO won the 8-9 PM Sunday night timeslot for the first time ever (even beating broadcast TV which is available in many more households). HBO is playing up tomorrow's episode as being one of the best ever. That's a bold statement, but if it's even close to being true, it should be something truly amazing to behold.
I've picked up the NCAA Football 2003 bug again. Once I won the national title with Marshall, I switched to Mississippi State (who was coming off a sorry 3-8 season). Playing this morning, I was in the middle of an instant classic with Alabama. Down four points with 3 minutes to play... and then *boom*, the power cut out. Just for a moment, just long enough to reset the game. Aaaaargh...
Might try to get a nap real quick before the conference call. Of course another power outage would stick it to me on the alarm clock.... ahh, the challenges we face...
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