Sniper

John Allen Muhammad was executed last night. Maybe it's a sign that I'm getting old, but it seems like his sentence was carried out rather swiftly, comparatively. In 2002, during his killing spree, I worked in a newsroom and had some exposure to the story daily. A coworker attended a wedding in the DC area during this time and I remember him joking that he was going to wear a shirt with a target on it. Ah! Newsroom humor! This is the same guy that once said that he was considering cancelling his planned tour of Israeli sidewalk cafes. Humor can really get you through the daily death and destruction you are exposed to in a newsroom.

I remember once, a coworker and I were watching some aerials of a found body feed in. The chopper was over a parking lot and there, right in the handicapped space was the body and we both erupted into a fit of giggles. It's not that we don't care. Really. We care. It's just that we have to somehow cope and often, that's through humor.

I don't believe in the death penalty. I don't think the government has any business killing it's citizens, but it's not a cause I'm all up in arms about. I mean, there are people out there that are more deserving of my compassion. Even animals are more deserving of my compassion. I'd rather see a killer like Muhammad be executed than an innocent stray.

I don't know where I'm going with this. His death just feels like a bow on a tidy little package. That story is over now. The affects of September 11 are still with me daily. The wars continue. Daniel Pearl's beheading still replays in my mind. But the DC sniper is a done deal. I'm sure the families of his victims don't feel the same way.

Coat Sale!

In case you haven't heard, Old Navy is having a half-off outerwear sale this week only. Which is perfect for me, since I'm cold. I'm thinking something plaid, although I don't know when plaid came back in style or when I started liking it, but I've been kind of drawn to it lately. I guess my inner alternative-seattle-flannel-90s lumberjack is coming out.

Super Thrifty!

I wish I had the patience for this.

Email Hoax

I had a funny conversation via Facebook chat with my old pal Nick yesterday. Nick recently got married in Vegas and sent out a facebook message asking a bunch of people for their addresses, I presume to invite them to some sort of reception. In any case, in the message he sent out, he wrote, "Please do not 'Reply All'" Of course, everyone did.

1:42pmJennifer
Everyone keeps replying all
despite your warning
1:43pmNick
I am going to put them on direct mailing lists as punishment
1:43pmJennifer
hahaha
I'll just give my mom their email addresses
so she can send them warnings that Obama is the antichrist and it's dangerous to wear deoderant and heat water in the microwave
1:45pmNick
hahaha
I've got some awesome ones from my mom too
"This isn't a hotel... it's a house!"
1:46pmJennifer
I haven't gotten that one, but I can imagine
1:46pmNick
look at where your money goes when you fill up the tank! This sheik's house!
1:50pmNick
http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/nahyan.asp
Jennifer
hahahahahaha
awesome
1:53pmNick
I got so many crazy emails from my mom before the election
1:53pmJennifer
that's his home in Afghanistan where he worships Satan and kills puppies
2:05pmNick
what is your email address?
2:05pmJennifer
oh no
you don't really think I'm going to fall for that, do you?
2:06pmNick
I will send you my fake obama thing, then you send it to your mom, then we'll see if it gets back to my mom
2:06pmJennifer
wait
that's actually a good idea
I'm in

We then continued to collaborate on a terrific email hoax. I'm not willing to reveal it yet, because it will ruin the results of the experiment, but I assure you that I will alert you when Nick receives the email from his mom, if all goes as expected. I'm only sending it to one person- my mom. Let's see what happens.

2:22pmJennifer
ha
I gotta go
talk to you later
I'll be looking forward to the girl you're apparently about to send me
2:23pmNick
send me that thing when you're done!
girl?
2:24pmJennifer
hahahaha
gift
2:24pmNick
I'm actually sending you a girl to raise
have fun!
she likes to steal

Fall Fashion

After falling in love with dresses this summer, it's been hard for me to leave that love in the past and move on to fall. Normally, I love the warm roomy sweaters of the season, but this year, they seem so.... I don't know... cumbersome?

I'm in the process of a total image makeover. While my current frumpy and conservative look has served me well, I guess there's a certain sophistication that comes with aging that I've been lacking. Suddenly, I'm caring about designers and actually thinking about what my clothes say about me artistically. Formerly, my checklist went something like this:

- Does it fit?
- Is it comfortable?
- Is it appropriate?

I don't know how I fell into such a rut, but NO MORE! Really, it's been an issue of self-esteem. We've all laughed at those ridiculous people that go out of their way to look terrible. Behold:

It is my fear to be one of these people. The thing is that it's so much worse to put so much effort into looking good and then end up looking ridiculous, than to not put in much effort and look like it. I've been opting for the latter. But, now, I'm ready to take some chances! I mean, don't expect to see me in furry yellow boots anytime soon, but maybe I could do some fishnets. Under a pencil skirt. Not with white Reeboks.

I hope to be posting some pics of me sporting some new looks soon. Goodbye frumpy mom suits! So long careless jeans and t-shirts of my youth! Wouldn't want to be ya, pink velour sweat suit!

Schooled, Biden-Style

"Your dopes just got schooled, Biden-style!"

As you may have heard, three weeks ago, it started raining and it didn't stop for 15 days.




Photos Courtesy AJC.

Thankfully, my home wasn't affected and I didn't work Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday during the major hoopla. But, Thursday morning, I was reminded of what it's like to be in a newsroom during a major local breaking story. It seems, that in order to avoid the appearance of national government neglecting a state during a natural disaster, Vice President Joe Biden decided to come to town and have a look-see. He was in town for maybe 4 house, first taking a helicopter flight with CNN over some of the damage and then poppping down the the Cobb Civic Center, a makeshift shelter for those who have lost their homes, to make a little speech, where he compared our situation to Katrina (?) and then personally reassure about three people, from what I could tell watching it on a live feed, that the federal government would come through for them in their time of need, though not any time soon. Seriously. That's what he told them.

Naturally, he decided to start his speech around 11:30am. That's thirty minutes before noon, for those of you who are bad at math. And what happens at noon? The noon newscast, of course! So, that gave us half an hour to listen to his speech, pick out the highlights, write a little script about it, edit it and get it on-air for the lead story. Chaos ensued, which resulted in a reporter in the field and the anchor talking back and forth stretching while we tried to get something cued up for them to toss to. It didn't happen. There was a "technical error" and we had to come back to it in the next block. Instead, they decided to do an additional hit with another reporter who was in the flood area. Naturally, since water runs downhill, this is a low area and therefore had to be a satellite shot rather than a microwave shot. And the thing about satellite shots is that you have to book a window on the satellite and that's expensive, so you only book for the time that you need for the reporter to do their scheduled hit. So, when they decide to go back to the reporter, to fill time, there is about 30 seconds left in the sat window. EXTEND THE WINDOW!

Essentially, it was a half hour of total chaos. I had expected myself to completely spazz out the first time I was in a situation like this, not having worked in news for a couple of years, but, thankfully, I found that I still have nerves of steel.

Oops.

The look on the female anchor's face is priceless.

Come check out clips like this at The Atlanta Press Club's Gorilla Ball Saturday night! (Well, maybe not exactly like this)