The Show Must Go On... Mustn't It?

[MrMedia]

I am employed at least through the end of the year. That's what my boss told me. I feel a gigantic weight lifted off my shoulders. We can have Christmas this year... I'll deal with everything else later.

I'm not an actor, not a performer at all really. I'm a talk show host.

Specifically, I host a sports talk show somewhere in mid-America. The company that I work for doesn't own the station that I broadcast from, and there's some talk about our programming going away at some point in the future. It looks like it just won't happen until after the first of the year.

I'm married. Five years this past August. Three kids. Two from my wife's first marriage. A sixteen year old daughter (as of Saturday), an eleven year old son, and a two year old boy.

The two older kids are bi-racial, which makes for a lot of funny looks when we go out in public. I've learned to ignore it, although when I talk about my son's Kobe Bryant hair on the radio show, I'm sure I'm confusing the hell out of people.

I'm not really sure why I've decided to start writing again. I used to have a journal on Open Diary, but ended it about nine months ago. It became more of a chore than a pleasure, I guess. Hopefully this will be different.

Eventually I'd like to write some fiction, but I need practice. I need to learn to write dialogue, write more descriptively, and write something people find interesting. If I can make it here, I'll make it anywhere, I guess.

Welcome to my world.... hope you brought some cookies.

 

[MrMedia]

A Good Sport...

... and a horrible pun.

I never intended to do a sports talk show. The opportunity came up in January of last year, and since it meant a lot of money for not a lot of work, I jumped at the chance.

My background is actually in news, both as a reporter and a talk show host. I actually had my first talk show at the age of 24. Waaaaayyyyyy too young to be spouting off your opinion for three hours a night. I look back at some of those shows and just cringe.

Sports, on the other hand, is a breeze. One of my competitors was actually talking about me on the air the other day, saying he couldn't believe that they'd let me on the air.

"I guess they'll just let anybody have their own show these days. Blah Blah Blahbity blah..."

As if hosting a sports show is akin to rocket science.

You want to know how to host a successful (which my show is... somewhat) sports show and still have a life?

1- Watch Sportscenter. It's no use watching four hours of sports if the only thing people are going to talk about will be shown in 30 minutes on Sportscenter.

2-Get to work 45 minutes before the show starts. This gives you time to check out the websites like espn.com, sportsline.com, cnnsi.com, benmaller.com (good for commentary), sportspages.com, etc. Don't forget to buy a local paper on the way in.

3-Have an opinion about everything under the sun. If someone asks you about Yao Ming, you should be able to spout off a coherent opinion at will. Same for the Yankees. Same for the Cowboys. Forget the NHL (at least in my market).

4-Talk to the experts. I don't portray myself as someone who's intimately connected to any one sports franchise. Instead, my show talks to everyone, from NBA owners to MLB GM's to the head of the NCAA. Too many people, including the jackass that talked about me on the air, think that if people listen to what they say the masses will be informed. Sorry, but it doesn't work that way.

I actually enjoy the show. I have yet to get used to getting up at 4:45 a.m., but I've gotten to the point where I can stay up until 10:30 or so at night before I have to crash.

It's also fun to have your two year old ask his mom if they can listen to Daddy on the radio.

I actually got a chance to put my little guy on the air the other day, but that's a story for another time.

 

[MrMedia]

Things I Like

I have no idea why I'm compelled to create a list of things I like... must be boredom.

-my wife
-my kids
-my job
-"My Man" and every other They Might Be Giants song
-watching baseball in person
-my Red Sox tattoo
-singing
-playing my melodica
-a good book (right now I'm reading "Road Comic" by Barry Friedman, a stand up comedian from Oklahoma City. It's a fascinating read)
-snuggling with my two year old
-dancing with my wife
-that feeling you get when you walk out of a hot office into the cold air. There's about twenty seconds where the cold feels fantastic, then reality sets in. Those twenty seconds are the best temperature ever.
-the band Hem
-Hoosiers (the movie, not Indiana University students. I have no feeling one way or the other about those folks).
-new clothes
-warm clothes
-flannel sheets


There I am, a man of simple taste. I could never actually come up with a complete list of things I like. I like too many things. In fact, there are only a few things I can't stand.

-rap music
-the fact that my daughter has a body that makes men drool.
-the lack of hair on my head
-movies with subtitles

See, pretty simple.

The older I get, the more I realize just how simple I am. I used to be one of the smart kids. In fact, as a elementary school kid, I was damn near a genius. In high school, I was the smart kid who never applied himself. Now I'm just borderline above average.

By the time I'm 40 I'll be a complete idiot.

My son will be 14. At that age, every adult is a complete idiot.

What if the perception 14 year olds have of us is dead on? They're really smarter than us... and we ARE morons!!?

Then again, I'm the one suppositing this... and since I'm no genius, I doubt that any sort of theory I have about things like this could be true.

I believe I've just given myself a headache.

 

[MrMedia]

Prolific Little Bastard...

... aren't I?

I can't help it. I'm in a down time at work. Next week will kick my tail, however.

I don't think I've mentioned this, but I have another job in addition to the sports show. I work for the local public television station as a reporter and a producer. Specifically I make documentaries. It sounds fun, and for the most part it is, but it's a lot of down time followed by 60 hour weeks.

I thought of another pet peeve of mine. Misspellings. It always amazes me how people will spend all this time writing something, trying to convince others of their cleverness and wittiness... then go and fuck it all up by misspelling five or six words.

Don't get me wrong, I am by no means a master speller. There are a few words that ALWAYS screw me up. You'll never see me use the words definitely, congratulations, or succession. I have to look those words up every time.

What I do instead (and what I encourage other poor spellers to do) is to use words you do know how to spell. Can't use definitely? Say positively instead. Congratulations simply becomes Good for you! or even congrats!! Succession becomes "the thing that came after the first one".

Okay, so it words most of the time.

I figure I'm going to be thought of as a dumbass at some point, but I'd like it to be the result of what I typed, not how I spelled it.

Okay, rant over... back to pvponline.com and staring out the window at the Canadian geese flying overhead.

 

[MrMedia]

MrMedia's MrMicrophone

I've been singing in a band for eleven years.

Eleven flippin' years. Good God, that's a long time to suck at something.

Actually, we don't suck. And it hasn't been the same band all eleven years. The guitarist and I were best friends in high school and started playing together in our junior year. R.E.M.'s "Out of Time" had just come out. I wanted to be Michael Stipe. I don't know who Todd wanted to be, but he wanted a 12 string Rickenbacker just like Peter Buck, so I'm assuming that's who his guitar god was.

In college we had a full band for a year or so. "The Almighty Bucks". godhelpme. Actually, the music wasn't bad... but, oh the name.

I dropped out of college, moved to Ft. Smith, AR for a year, and then moved back to my hometown, where Todd was living. We roomed together, started the band (now called Another Engine) and actually started playing around the city.

Then I got married, Todd went to grad school, and we stopped playing for 4 years.

A year ago Todd moved back and we started writing again. I am so freaking proud of the stuff we're coming up with now, but I know it'll never get heard by more than 20 people in a bar somewhere. We have the desire to play with a full band, but it would have to be a magical set of circumstances to get us hooked up with a bassist and a drummer.

We'll be playing tonight at a little restaurant's open mic night. I'll take the kids trick or treating first, then don my ghost outfit (Todd's going as a ghostbuster) and we'll do our twenty minutes. I'm not sure what all we'll play, but I think this might be one of the songs.

To Be Loved Twice (it's copywritten, btw, so don't even try to steal it. thanks)

Hey there child,
it's been awhile
since I've seen your eyes
light up in a smile
as I held you.
With your sticky face
and your sweet embrace
food from lunch all over the place
but I, I love you.

And what say we dance
around the living room?
I'd twirl all afternoon
to hear you laugh.
And what say we walk
around the neighborhood
All night if I could
to hear you laugh.

Sleepy eyed son,
since life's begun
you've changed me and
I am not the only one.
It must be nice
to be loved twice
From both sides
your mom and I
adore you.

And what say we dance
around the living room?
I'd twirl all afternoon
to hear you laugh.
And what say we walk
around the neighborhood
All night if I could
to hear you laugh.

I wrote that shortly after my son was born. I still like singing it and he likes hearing it (although not as much as TMBG's "Robot Parade").

Of course, lest you think I'm all sweet and sappy, I've also written songs with lyrics like:

"I feel like an ass tonight, and yours looks fine to me".

It all balances out.

 

[MrMedia]

Halloween: The Day After

I can't get the image of Wonder Woman out of my head. Not the real Wonder Woman, but the reasonable facsimile that was at the bar I playet at last night.

She was, in a word... yummy. Her costume was missing the "girdle of power". When I asked her about it, she said she was wearing panties of power instead.

I told her they were doing powerful things to me.

This, of course, was after I took the kids trick or treating. The two year old had to wear his winter coat, completely negating his costume. My older son kept getting asked if he was Luke Skywalker. He kept replying he was Mace Windu. All night long...

"Oh what a cute Luke Skywalker!"

"sigh... I'm not Luke Skywalker."

I finally told him next year we'd make him a sign that said "Hello, my name is Mace Windu."

I'm sure it's just a matter of some of the folks not knowing the whole list of characters in Star Wars. The kid who told my son he couldn't be Luke Skywalker because he (my son) isn't white, however...

I asked the kid, "What are you supposed to be?"

"A vampire," he replied.

"Well, how can you be a vampire? You're not dead... yet."

Between that and the kids who just came to my door and stared at me without saying "trick or treat" (or thank you when they finally got their candy) I'm feeling like a crochety old bastard today.

The fact that I had to go to a funeral doesn't help. I can't stand wearing ties on a Friday.

 

[MrMedia]

Rainy Days and Mondays

I have a hard time getting on the computer on the weekends. With three kids and a wife, PC Time is at a minimum. So, for all three of you reading, don't expect too many updates on Saturdays and Sundays.

Saturday was my stepdaughter's 16th birthday. She didn't get a car (what, am I MADE of money??), but she did get the Moulin Rouge DVD, a new outfit, and a Disney cd. She's obsessed with musicals, which is a good thing, considering she could be obsessed with Eminem.

We watched 13 Ghosts Saturday night, which was a real disappointment. I was hoping to be scared, not grossed out. I think the last truly spooky movie I saw was "The Others". Gore seems to be the norm these days, rather than suspense.

We played at the open mic last night... and it went pretty well. I got home shortly before ten and was too tired to fool around with my wife, even though we had discussed it earlier in the day. You know you're getting old when you pencil in "intimacy" rather than going for spur of the moment sex.

I'm sure I'll write more in here later.. right now I need a cup of coffee to wake myself up.

 

[MrMedia]

An Early Morning

4:22 a.m.

I am jolted awake by the sound of my two year old crying in the room he and his brother share. I slide out of bed, trying not to wake my wife, and tiptoe down the hall.

He's standing in his crib, swiping the sleep from his eyes.

"I wanna waffle," he says.

"Shhhh," I whisper back. "It's not time for waffles. You need to go back to sleep. Lay down and I'll rub your back."

He lays down and tuck the blankets over his little body. I start to rub his back and hear his breath slow down. After two minutes he's asleep, which is good, because I'm about to wet my pj's.

While I'm in the bathroom he starts crying again, waking my wife, who takes him into bed with us.

It's now 4:34, and I have to be up in 26 minutes anyway, but I try desperately to go back to sleep.

He's kicking my kidneys, trying to hold my hand, breathing in my face. Sleep is impossible, so I open my eyes and stare into his. We lay there, side by side in the darkness, looking into each others eyes.

I smile. He smiles. I kiss his forehead. He says "I love you, Daddy."

I melt.

 

[MrMedia]

I Am A Whore

A note whore, that is. When I was on Open Diary, I used to crave notes. I used to enjoy the back and forth with other diarists. Either this place doesn't have a lot of that, or I'm boring a lot of people, because with the notable exception of Gypsy, my mailbox has sure been empty.

So why not send me a pm, or an email to mrmedia74@yahoo.com just to let me know you're reading.

Thanks.

 

[MrMedia]

Election Day

Good golly... only one person said hello. But it was nice to hear from him, since he's one of the better writers on here.

Today is Election Day, and I will be covering the races in my midwestern state for the public television station I work for. (wow, THAT sentence was horribly put together, but I'm too lazy to correct it. Must save brain cells for the important stuff) For the first time in quite a while I'll be voting Democrat for governor. I just can't stand the Republican candidate. I have no idea how successful our Democratic candidate could be, but at least his ideas are his own, not the ideas of shadowy figures in his party heirarchy.

Someone said he was looking forward to hearing more radio stories. I was reminded of this today, just after I started singing Heart's "Crazy on You" on the air.

I was anchoring the afternoon news on the talk station I used to work for. There was a story about the pecan harvest in our state. This is what went out over the airwaves:

Me: Pecan farmers say this year's harvest is not nearly as good as last years. And farmer Ted Brown says it's easy to see why.

Farmer Brown (on tape): You can tell by looking at your nuts. My nuts are smaller than what I'm used to. I can roll my nuts around in my hand, and I couldn't do that last year.

Me: Farmer Brown says.. (giggling).. his nuts.. (laughing hysterically)... I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Can we go back to the talk show?

Talk Show Host: Ha Ha Ha Ha!! (falls off his chair)

Me: Let's go to commercial. We'll be right back.

Commercial: Men, are you looking to get bigger?...

It wasn't so much that I'm a big fan of juvenile humor (although I am), it was just something about that bumpkin voice talking about rolling his nuts in his hand. And I have one of those laughs that make everybody else crack up, so once I lost it... we were done for.

 

[MrMedia]

Tired Tired Tired

I'm not sure when 28 became old, but I sure as hell feel ancient today. Up at 5:30 yesterday, didn't go to bed until after midnight this morning, then up again at 5:30. Blargh. I think a nap is in order at some point today.

I covered the elections last night, and for once, I think I did a good job. Had plenty of interviews with candidates, got my stuff out in a timely manner, was conversation yet informative... yep, I give myself a A-. I asked one stupid question... so maybe I should downgrade that to a B+.

Thanks to the second person to email me to let me know they're reading. Phil is now one of my new best friends.

It's funny, because every now and then I'll get an email from someone who listens to my show. I don't really promote the website that often, but I guess people stumble onto it and find my column (which needs to be updated) with my email address. It's always the coolest thing to open your mailbox and have some stranger telling you how great you are

******

I've been staring blankly at the computer screen for three or four minutes. I think I might have dozed off. I'm gonna go take a nap.

More later.

 

[MrMedia]

Schoolgirl

She breezes in, plaid skirt twitching,
fetching in her blue sweater vest.
Long legs stretching out
as she smooths her stockings.

She growls at me as I reach for her,
"I'm hungry and grouchy."
"You're also beautiful," I retort.
It doesn't matter.

When do you know the honeymoon's over?
Is it when a salad means more than another's touch?
Or am I just reading too much into
the fact she wanted lunch?

***

The wife came home for lunch today in her "schoolgirl" outfit. Yummy. Of course, she was incredibly hungry, having foregone breakfast, and she was also in a hurry, so I couldn't savor the moment. I had to go to work as well.

Six years after we met, she's still just as beautiful, but just as complex. There's a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay called "Witch-Wife" that describes her to a T.

She is neither pink nor pale,
And she never will be all mine;
She learned her hands in a fairy-tale,
And her mouth on a valentine.

She has more hair than she needs;
In the sun `tis a woe to me!
And her voice is a string of coloured beads,
Or steps leading into the sea.

She loves me all that she can,
And her ways to my ways resign;
But she was not made for any man,
And she never will be all mine.

Soon I'll tell the story about how we met, but not now. I have to be in the right frame of mind for that, and it's just not today.

 

[MrMedia]

Grrrrrrrrr

I have a very low tolerance for idiots. I have an extremely low tolerance for lazy people. I have an insanely low tolerance for idiotic, lazy coworkers.

And I'm stuck in a room with one right now.

I'm editing my part of a documentary. It's not a long segment, just 13 minutes. It should take about 12 hours to edit. We got started last night about six o'clock. I stayed until 10 p.m. dumping video into the computer. I put EVERYTHING in so my partner could start editing when he got in this morning.

I arrived after my radio show to find him still listening to cd's, trying to find "just the right song" to start our piece.

It was noon before we made our first edit.

He's working slower than molasses, saying things like "I'm just not creative today" and "I don't know what's wrong with me" in his Gomer Pyle voice.

I know what's wrong with you, asshat. Now move over and let me go to work.

I am prepared to stay here all night editing if I have to. I am prepared to work through the night to get this thing finished.

I am prepared to stick a plastic fork in his throat if he doesn't shape up.

There WILL be more ranting later.

 

[MrMedia]

Better Now

I've calmed down a bit. It's now 8:30 p.m.... the segment is more than halfway completed, and my wife brought the boys up to work so I could see them.

I've decided that I need a more interesting title in order to attract more readers.

"Hookers and Booze?"

"Intimate Thoughts About My Sex Life?"

"Booze, Boobs, and Bubbas?"

I got nothin'.

The problem is, I have a couple of interesting stories to tell, I'm just paranoid someone reading this will find out who I am and then I'll never be able to work in this town again. I'm half serious when I say that, half joking. I DO worry that someone out there will recognize me, but I'm not enough of a "personality" that anyone would give a shit.

I could probably be caught screwing a sheep and snorting coke on the front lawn of the county courthouse without it making the papers.

Why do I find that depressing?

 

[MrMedia]

Damn the Torpedoes...

... full speed ahead! That's the gist of a PM I received in response to my last entry.

"Let's hear the juicy stories!" was the actual response, I believe.

Of course, in my sleep deprived mind, I wasn't sure if the note was even meant for this journal. I had completely forgotten writing in here last night.

I might share a juicy story, but I don't think it will be today. I'm too frazzled to give it the proper telling.

I'm also suffering from a bit of melancholy today. Not sure why, in particular, but I am. Not having a life for an entire week isn't helping, I'm sure... but there's more to it than that.

I look at the writing of other people, and I am amazed. I work with other people's words all day long, and I sometimes wonder if that's robbed me of any ability to write in my own voice. I have stories to tell, but I get frustrated because I can't tell them well.

I had an idea for a book once. Since I'll never write it, I can share it here... but if I ever see this in a bookstore I'm suing.

There's an 80's cover band playing in Madison, Wisconsin. It's the night after a Phish-like band has played it's final show. Three Phish-heads stumble into this bar and sit, listening to "Video Killed the Radio Star" and "Goody Two-Shoes". They make a decision: since they can't follow Phish any more, they'll follow this cover band around.

They start driving from show to show, never interacting with the band, just watching and taping the shows. Their wardrobe slowly changes from hippie regalia to new wave Romantic. They grow their hair into Flock of Seagulls type 'do's. More and more people follow then, until the band is just as big as Phish ever was.

In the end, the 80's band breaks up because of the pressure of performing for thousands of people every night. And the very next night, three fans of the 80's band wander into a bar where a salsa band is playing.

I still think it could be a good read, but apparently it's not my story to tell. I'm an idea guy... just not much on execution.

 

[MrMedia]

Well, shit.

The radio station's been sold.

I found out about it by reading the paper, of all things. It was in this morning's business section.

I have no idea if I'll be kept on through the end of the year now. I have no idea what's going to happen even tomorrow. I should know more this afternoon, but it's looking more and more that I'll be looking for work.

I have a peach pit in my stomach, and it's growing larger by the minute.

I'm a very unhappy person today.

Anybody know of any radio jobs out there?

 

[MrMedia]

Feeling Better

I talked to my boss at lunch yesterday and walked out feeling better about things. I'm not 100 percent sure that I'll have a job in January, but it looks more likely than it did when I wrote yesterday.

Radio is all one big chess match these days. Stations change format to take away a ratings point from their competition, people get laid off so corporations can save 5 or 6 thousand dollars a year, promotions budgets get slashed so profits can increase from 10 to 15 percent... it's a mess right now. I think there'll be big changes in the next five years in how radio is run. I just hope I'm along for the ride.

I bought Star Wars Episode II yesterday, and as we're watching it last night my two year old runs out of the room, then runs back in a few minutes later wielding his toy light saber. He watched about half an hour of the movie waving his light saber around, then turns to my wife and says "I want to wear my costume." He was little Anakin from Episode I for Halloween, so my wife gets him dressed up in his outfit and he watched the rest of the movie in costume, turning to me every now and then and saying "I'm Anakin. I'm (in a SNL "Superstar" voice) Starrrr Warrrrssssss". Then he'd strike this jedi pose and giggle.

He's so damn cute he makes my heart ache sometimes.

I was so emotionally drained by the day yesterday that I went to bed at 9:30. It made getting up at 5 this morning a lot easier. I would do it every night, but then I'd never get to go to sleep at the same time as my wife.

I think she and I are about to start having some issues again. We went to counseling just after our youngest was born. I was resentful because she's not an affectionate person. I have to ask for a hug... I have to ask for a kiss. And we won't even get into sex. She gets resentful because she has to tell me to help out around the house. I don't ever do anything without being told. Personally, it's because I'm a guy and messes don't bother me, but I know I should try harder.

Anyway, we're falling back into the pattern of one of us going to sleep before the other one, no affection from her, very little effort to keep the house straight by me, and it's not good. The thing that pisses me off is I could wash the dishes, iron my clothes, make the bed, etc. but it still wouldn't make a difference as far as her attitude goes.

I know I need to do these things regardless of what she does... and I will.

I just wish I didn't have to ASK for affection. It kinda takes all the fun out of it.

 

[MrMedia]

Apology

I realized I was whining yesterday, and I apologize. My marriage is far from a bad one, in fact, I'm a pretty happy guy. If it sounds like I'm bitching, slap me, because my wife makes my world a better place.

I had to take the young one to the doctor yesterday. It took about three hours all told, and he was diagnosed with a little infection in his urinary tract. Poor kid.

Had a quiet evening with my wife and kids. I was actually able to help my older son with his math homework. I SUCK at math, so I was jazzed. He got his progress report yesterday... three A's, one B, one C, and one D. I'm a little ticked about the D. He hasn't turned in a couple of daily assignments, and he can't make them up. This has been a problem for years now, and I really don't know what to do about it.

Anyway, I'm starving, I need to pee, and I have to go on a shoot this afternoon. I'll try and write more later... for all two of my readers.

 

[MrMedia]

A Memory

She's dancing by herself in the warm amber glow of beer signs scattered throughout the bar. The hem of her short plaid skirt twitches on her thighs, sending my heart into my throat every time she gyrates quickly. Her ivory colored blouse is open almost to her navel, and her lacy off-white bra peeks through the opening... teasing me.

We're in a bar populated mostly by lesbians, and several of them have quit dancing to watch her alone on the dance floor. I'm sitting this one out... she can dance better than I can anyway.

Her feet glide across the floor, her hands grab the bottom of her skirt. She turns around, then flips up the hem, showing me her ass, clad in sheer white panties. She's a schoolgirl fantasy in a grown woman's body... 5'11", auburn hair, cupid bow lips.

Flushed with exertion and excitement, she walks over and sits next to me at a table in the corner. We talk about meaningless things while I stroke her thigh. My hand creeps under her skirt, past the tops of her stockings, until I'm inches away from where I want to be.

With a smile, she stops my hand. "There'll be time for that later," she says.

"Now it's time to dance."

She does, and they continue to watch. Eventually the shirt will fall completely open, her curves on display to anyone who wants to watch. Anyone and everyone in the bar does, and she's in the spotlight the rest of the evening.

Manly looking lesbians try to buy her drinks, but that's not what she wants. She likes girls, or at least she thinks she might. But tonight she wants to be with me. If some Sarah McLachlan look-alike were to walk in the bar she might ask if she could flirt, but otherwise, I have her all to myself.

Sarah McLachlan never materializes, and as the bar closes, we leave hand in hand. Hitting the February air outside, she pulls her shirt closed, and I shrug off my jacket to put it around her shoulders. I open the passenger door and she slides in, showing me her strong thighs as her skirt rides up. I close the door as she smiles impishly, and I wonder what will happen on the drive home....

 

[MrMedia]

Monday Meanderings

A week and a half, and then four days of vacation... I keep telling myself I can get through the next ten days.

I mailed off my resume for a human resources position over the weekend. Got a form letter back. Not exactly the response I was hoping for. I guess we'll see if anything develops.

Had a lovely date with my wife Saturday night. We went out to dinner and then hung out at Barnes and Noble for a couple of hours. I ended up buying "Fast Food Nation" which I hear is "The Jungle" of this generation. I haven't started reading it yet.. I'm too busy reading "If I Never Get Back", which is a very good novel about a man who goes back in time to 1869. He joins the Cincinnati Red Stockings baseball club, hangs out with Mark Twain, and generally finds himself involved in all kinds of scandal. It's a fairly engrossing read. I recommend it.

I also went to Best Buy (my church) this weekend. I was fairly good. I ended up buying Paul Simon's "Negotiations and Lovesongs" and Beechwood Sparks' first cd. Also bought "The Grinch" for the kids. I can't believe it's almost Christmas time already.

The next documentary I'm working on deals with death and dying, and to that end, I'll be spending the next three days at funeral homes around my state. I'm not real big on death. In fact, as I've mentioned before, I tend to ignore the fact that I'm going to die one day. This will NOT be my favorite show.

I'm off to get some work done. If anybody has any spare time, visit www.rabbitsongs.com today. It's the website of a band called Hem, and they're fantastic.