Lucky Kid, Says the Pervy Photog
This is fascinating to me. The woman is really relatively young, and quite pretty. Why a 14-year-old? Oh, memories of Dawson's Creek Season One. Only, this real-life teacher is much prettier than Tamara.

Perks
Guess who got a cool Anchorman T-shirt and a dozen free passes to see the movie, for deejaying this week? Man I'm easy to please...

The radio gig has been much fun, though going from four hours of goofing off on the radio to nine hours of churning out serious stories is getting a bit exhausting. Good thing there's Vegas 'round the corner, baby!

"Rough Week," Says My Boss
...smoking a ciggy while I stared blankly at my flat tire. Could I HAVE more issues with my Spawn of Satan ride?
Later he told me my "weekend" will be moved to the choice days of Monday and Tuesday.

The Countdown Edition
Days until Lasure's arrival: 3
Days until Vegas, baby: 4
Days until South Carolina: 11
Days left at current job: Depends on reaction to unsanctioned radio appearance.

The Open Airwaves
Looks like I'm gonna co-host 97.5's "Darren and Chrissy" Morning Show next week... Chrissy's out, so Darren asked me to sub. We'll talk about random stuff over pop radio airwaves for three hours every morning. I can't imagine a better format for my randomness. Thanks, Clearchannel.

The Movie
Here's C. Vogn@r, on Fahrenheit 911. Privately, he said he faced a fine line between critiquing a movie that Bush-bashes and Bush-bashing in his critique.

He added, on an unrelated note, it's cruel and unusual punishment to drag any man to see The Notebook.

Speaking of Books...
Seen in Mr Vognar's loo - not Golf Digest, not Us Weekly, not The New Yorker. It's the Norton Anthology of English Literature. Didn't catch which volume.

Vote Hemmer 2004
Playgirl Magazine is asking readers to vote for the sexiest, most intelligent newscaster on network or cable news. The winner will be profiled in the October issue.

Here's the ballot, as selected by Playgirl editors:
Wolf Blitzer/CNN
Matt Lauer/NBC News
Ed Bradley/CBS 60 Minutes
Peter Jennings/ABC News
Tom Brokaw/NBC Nightly News
Keith Olbermann/MSNBC
Anderson Cooper/CNN 360
Dan Rather/CBS News
Brian Williams/MSNBC
Charlie Gibson/ABC News
Geraldo Rivera/FOX News
Sean Hannity/FOX News
Andy Rooney/CBS 60 Minutes
Bill Hemmer/CNN
Harry Smith/CBS News
Lester Holt/MSNBC
Shepard Smith/FOX News
Brit Hume/FOX News

WOLF BLITZER? DAN RATHER? GERALDO? All I gotta say is, Hemmer better win in a landslide. (See Hemmer pictures in a link from an earlier post.)

The Skinny on Mary Kate
(That was tacky, given today's news.)

A PSA
In today's digital age, you ostensibly ARE what a Google search digs up on you. And someday if Friendster drops the "beta" and works consistently, one's identity may just become a factor of his/her friendster profile, and sadly, not the other way around.
So if you're a chick, help M@tt Sti!es out. I'm organizing a female friendster drive on his behalf, so it doesn't appear as if all his friends are dudes. Because when you are what you're friendstered, this stuff matters... (er, it still probably doesn't, but the invitation is extended to all my sista's anyway.)

A Conversation With Rebecca Solaki@n, Fathers Day Edition
Rebecca: Hellooooooh. Happy Father's Day!
Me: What?
Rebecca: I thought since I haven't talked to my dad today I'd say Happy Father's Day to you.

The Bangs, The Bangs
...are at that in-between length where I've had to become extremely creative in order to make them disappear.

The Standoff Series
One took place in a Walmart parking lot in the DFW area, another here in Cen Tex at a double-wide in the boonies. The former left two dead, the latter, one. Seriously, I was SO going to call in sick today.

Quotable Judges
Me: Hi, Judge Lew*s, it's E!ise H*.
Judge: (in signature Texas twang) How are ya, honey.
Me: Fine, thanks... so, do you mind if I come by for a soundbite on the county's three million dollar operating deficit?
Judge: You know you can always come by for a quick one with me, honey.
Me: [silence]

OK, Seriously
I can't decide which is worse. Chris and Gwyneth's Apple, or David and Courtney's Coco.

Clark de Triomphe
I'd like to declare publicly I am a huge Lenar Clark fan. I think I've been introduced to him once, but he has since existed in my world as a mythical character who blogs. I don't remember BEING so amused as when he created a "Which Object of Clark's Affection Are You?" quiz. Ingenious! Moreover, he loves Wilco, the trailer for Garden State, and Eternal Sunshine. Combined with one freakin' hilarious quiz, it's more than enough to make me forgive his bitter Texas-bashing in February.

Same Old G, She's Just Been Low Key
Goodloe's goodlovin' it once again.

Postcards from the Edge
Woelfel's been back from the Far East for weeks now, but I got the postcard he sent me just yesterday:

Ned,
Cool place. People kinda look like you. Prez has your name, too.
Ned

Happy 18th Birthday, Olsen Twins!
We here at 67 Degrees have been strangely fascinated by your continued pop culture relevance despite your careers peaking at age five. (Perhaps I'm just projecting, though. I think it's been progressively downhill for me since age six.)

Hemmertime
Woelfel keeps in touch with a MU grad working at CNN, and said alum took behind-the-scenes photos of the crew covering Reagan events in DC. They include FAB PHOTOS of my boyfriend, Bill Hemmer. For any Anderson Cooper fans, there are several of him, too, but whatever. He's no Hemmer-hottie.

A Place Like College Station, Texas...
Greetings from Bryan-College Station, where today I am the sole reporter for Newstar 3 - a different station, on a different air, in a place I've never so much as visited.

Daniel the photog came with me. He's dealing with culture shock, which has turned him into his 14-year-old self.

We're filling in at our sister station because earlier this week they lost one of their photogs in a freak live-truck-meets-power-line accident. Sad, scary stuff... but we're glad to be able to help.

Coffee! You Can Sleep When You're Dead
My day, by the numbers...
Grande iced soy latte from the Starbucks on Lake Air Dr: $3.73
Grande iced soy latte #2 from the Starbucks on Waco Dr: $3.36 (Huh?)
Grande iced soy latte #3 from the Starbucks on Lake Air again: $3.73
Ounces of Starbucks iced soy lattes consumed: 48
Productivity, on scale from one to ten: 6.5 (the .5 for sending my dad his Father's Day card on time)

Vegas Plan...Check!
We're off to Vegas soon. The Beam will join Sudeep, Mateo and myself in less than a month to fly off to Sin City. Even brother Roger and virtual sister-in-law Tracy are trying to join us, at least for an evening. Items NOT on the Vegas to-do list: Celine Dion's show.

No Bill Lumberg This Week
Um, yeeeeeeah. So. Both my bosses are gonna be out this week, which means even more Anchorman trailer viewing at work. And after a week of nightside purgatory, it's back to dayside, baby. Back to afternoon naps in the news units.

(Belated) MEN of the Week
Stewart Elliot. Nice effort, man.
Stuart Scott, despite the lazy eye issue
Jonathan Woodw@rd
Adam Exum (who lives in the aforementioned PHAT pad)
Richard Schiff. Saw him without the beard, whoa. Strange.

Crack is Whack
Checking in from a PHAT bachelor pad in D, where I'm camped out for the weekend. Dave and I spoke to about 150 high school sophomores today about "media in the 21st century". We came up with great stuff to pass on to the next, uh, our, generation...i.e. "don't do drugs," "blogs are cool," and other various three-word platitudes.
But really. We had a good time. Plus, Dave got to see Mayor Laura Miller's Chief of Staff (and conference MC) in cargo shorts, marking the highlight of his day. Later he got pulled over for expired registration but got off without a ticket, we watched Reagan coverage on muted TVs (being in a restaurant at the time), and I came back to watch DVDs (and currently, a pay-per-view fight with the ex frat boys).

In the Dark
"Apparently there's a bit of power out. That's the word on the street." -Sude*p, The Morning News' ENERGY reporter, on the largest power outage in North Texas history.

Shout out to my blog buddy Mark Hancock, (his blog is on the right) for some badass photos of the storms walloping Texas.

The Thing About Icebergs Is...
Here's 10% of the email travel journal S Wo kept during his recent trip to Beijing. Just landed in my inbox... and now, excerpted for your reading pleasure.

May 21... En Route to China
On-plane entertainment is an odd mix of Tom and Jerry cartoons, a Chinese documentary about Peking duck (can’t wait to try that), and a movie that is in Chinese with English subtitles, but strikes me as being of German origin—don’t ask me why. I decide to forgo all those choices and watch Master and Commander on my new PowerBook. Good choice.

May 22... Lecturing on TV News at the Beijing Broadcast Institute
George (my host) has the task of entertaining me. He has passes to allow me to use some of the campus recreational facilities. He at first suggests swimming or a massage, but I reject both of those because I don’t really feel like getting naked with him. So we settle on bowling instead.

May 24th
Add to my new food list today—chicken feet, frog, whole fish (head and all), and something that might have been monkey. I remarked to my one hosts who will come to study in Missouri for a year starting this fall that she is going to be VERY bored with the choices of beef, pork, and chicken.

My reactions on campus are mixed. I think I’m surprised at how many of these students walk right by me without a second look (aren’t I the only chubby, bearded, bald, white guy they’ve seen in person for a while?), while there are those who stop and stare at the strange spectacle of a white guy leading all these Chinese reporters around.

May 27th
We saw our first white people since Sunday. The Americans were whiny, the Germans were loud, and the French were sort of in the way.

What did surprise me is that news of what goes on in Taiwan is cut off from the Chinese people. When we were talking about tall buildings, I imagined there would be some pride in my interpreter that the tallest building in the world is now under construction in Taipei, Taiwan. After all, they see that as part of China. But instead of being proud of the feat, she knew nothing about it. She had a total blank look when I mentioned it, and then went on to say that the tallest building in the world was in Malaysia. I told her yes, it is now, but the Taipei tower will surpass it when complete. She was completely clueless. All I can figure is that the government has effectively blocked news of this to the mainland. (See my pics from Taiwan Here.)

May 29th
There is so much more I can write, but I’m not sure how much more you can read. China is a remarkable place—so different from here and yet so the same in many ways. I highly recommend travel to Beijing, and hope to see more of the country the next time I visit. You can be sure I’ll write you about it.

So long from 33,000 feet over the Pacific.