Journal Entry for the Weekend of March 19, 2016

Today was a great day.  I got to sleep in after having to work extremely late for the past two nights.  I got to wake up just after 9AM.  I could have slept even longer, but I heard one of my sons either crying or screaming really loud.  I was good for the rest of the day after sleeping for seven hours.

See below.  Ben had a good ole time playing in the sandbox.  We had some special bonding time together, and I even got to dig into the sandbox and smooth it out with him.  I had to squat down while he had the luxury of standing up.  Later on, Ben threw out some of the sand into the yard and into the bushes.  All I could do or say was 'Awwwww.....Ben!'

We had a fun dinner out at Mellow Mushroom in Acworth.  We tried a pulled pork pizza for the first time, and we all loved it.  O.K. so Kelly and I loved it and Ben tried to warm up to it.  He eventually would on Monday when we had pizza for breakfast.

Blake had some fun too.  We gave him some sauces to eat so that he wouldn't be left out of our festivities.  I feel guilty in the fact that he can't enjoy what we eat.  He doesn't have enough teeth in him just yet.  They'll pop up before you know it, and he'll let us know about it.

Sunday was another fun day.  We went to church and then attended Palm-a-palooza after the 11AM service.  We had such a fun time just being there with everyone.  I got to be there with my family.

After we got back home, we all needed a nap in some form or fashion.

                                                   
I rocked this little guy to sleep.  He and I took a little nap in the rocking chair in my room.  He looks so peaceful sleeping and not saying anything.  The simplicity of a baby sleeping is so priceless.

Later on Sunday Night, I grilled some hamburgers for the first time this year.  I was a little bit out of practice, but once I got going, I got my grilling wings back.  I love to see meat get a little charred after it goes over the fire for a while.  I love flipping burgers, and flipping meat in general.

I'll be back for more fun later in the week.

Journal Entry for March 21, 2016

I slept pretty well last night.  I got 7.5 hours of nite-nite in bed.  I could have slept even more, but both our sons woke up this morning at 7AM.  My wife alerted me to their state of being awake.  Not only that, she told me that both of them slept in their own cribs all night long.  It was glorious for all of us.


See Below:  Ben had a good old time playing at the indoor playground at Town Center at Cobb.  Ben was running around, sliding, 'riding' inside some cars, and spinning a few wheels.  He got to run around so much, he ran outside the play area a couple of times.  I had to chase him and pick him up.  I had to run and catch him so that he wouldn't venture too far from the play area and into the mall even further.

The best part of our day was seeing the Easter Bunny at the Mall.  The boys were so good in getting their picture taken.  Both my boys were far better dressed than I was.  You don't need to see a picture of me from this day.  No you don't.

We bought some better pictures after they got their pics.  I gave the bunny a high five and a handshake for his good work for the guys.  Thank you Easter Bunny.

Who knows, maybe the bunny will give my boys something special this weekend.

On a good note, I practiced with three sample scripts in this blog.  On a down note, I had a VO and SOT/VO not connect on the Religious Freedom Bill in the 11PM news tonight.  I have to do a better job in changing the beginning of a SOT/VO for next time when I have to do this.

To me, it felt slow in terms of editing news video tonight.  We had a few too many VO and SOT/VO combos in this newscast.  It may have felt fast for the viewer, but it felt too plodding and slow for us to get through.  I'm hoping for a better tomorrow.

Good night everyone.  I'll be back for more on Tuesday.

Writing Samples for March 21, 2016

FOR MARCH 21, 2016

ATLANTA POLICE NEED YOUR HELP IN LOCATING SOME ROBBERY SUSPECTS.

TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THESE TWO PICTURES OF THE MAN HERE ON SURVEILLANCE.

THIS ROBBERY HAPPENED ON THURSDAY ROCKWELL STREET IN SOUTHWEST ATLANTA.

IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION REGARDING THE ROBBERY OR THE SUSPECT SEEN THERE, CALL 404-577-TIPS.

YOU CAN REMAIN ANONYMOUS AND YOU ARE ELLIGIBLE FOR A TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR REWARD.

EIGHTY FIVE BILLS STILL SIT EITHER ON THE HOUSE OR SENATE FLOOR UNDER THE GOLD DOME.

LAWMAKERS WILL BE BACK TO WORK AT THE STATE CAPITOL AGAIN TOMORROW AND AGAIN ON THURSDAY.

THEY'LL TO TRY TO PASS ANY OF THE ASSORTMENT OF BILLS LEFT FOR THE YEAR.

NEW TAXES, CHANGES TO PARTS OF THE HOPE SCHOLARSHIP, AND INCORPORATION OF THE CITY OF SOUTH FULTON ARE AMONG THE BILLS STILL ON THE TABLE.

THE 2016 LEGISLATIVE SESSION ENDS ON THURSDAY.

A PETITION IS OUT TO FORCE A MINNESOTA SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT TO RESIGN.

SAINT PAUL SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT VALERIA SILVA IS UNDER FIRE AFTER THE DISTRICT SUSPENDED A SPECIAL ED TEACHER FOR HIS SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS.

THE DISTRICT PUT THEO OLSON ON PAID ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE ON MARCH NINTH AFTER HIS POSTS ON STUDENT DISCIPLINE WERE CONSIDERED RACIST BY THE GROUP BLACK LIVES MATTER.

OLSON WROTE ON FACEBOOK “Anyone care to explain to me the school-to-prison pipeline my colleagues and I have somehow created, or perpetuated, or not done enough to interrupt? Because if you can’t prove it, the campaigns you’ve waged to deconstruct adult authority in my building by enabling student misconduct, you seriously owe us real teachers an apology. Actually, an apology won’t cut it.”

THE POST CONTINUES TO SAY "There have always been rules for ‘devices,’ and defined levels of misconduct. Since we now have no backup, no functional location to send kids who won’t quit gaming, setting up fights, selling drugs, whoring trains, or cyber bullying, we’re screwed, just designing our own classroom rules.”

PARENTS AND TEACHERS ARE STANDING BY MISTER OLSON DURING THE DISTRICT'S INVESTIGATION.

(Jane Somerville/Como Park High School Parent)

“The teachers at Como are outstanding, and for a long time they have not felt free to speak up and defend students’ rights.” 

(JoAnn Nathan/Randolph Heights Special Education Teacher)

“He meant to say there just isn’t enough support from the school district and administration. There aren’t the social workers, the counselors, the support staff, or a discipline policy that is effective for schools.”

MOVE-ON-DOT-ORG HAS A PETITION OUT FOR SILVA'S RESIGNATION.  

SO FAR, THERE ARE NEARLY 900 SIGNATURES, JUST SHORT OF THE ONE THOUSAND NEEDED FOR THE PETITION TO GO TO THE MINNESOTA STATE GOVERNMENT.

Journal Entry for Friday, March 18, 2016

Today will be another long day for me.  I know it.  Good thing I got to sleep in just a little bit this morning.  My wife woke up with Blake and later Ben before I got up from my dream that I know don't remember.

I got to wake up to watching "TODAY" with my wife and two kids.  I was home playing with Blake and Ben.  Ben had some yummy breakfast while Blake and I played on the floor and watched some TV together.

I had the honor of feeding Blake some yummy baby food this afternoon.  Only little did I know I was feeding him some green baby food.  I got him some peas, spinach, and squash.  I smiled at him saying yum yum yum.  I didn't buy it myself because it smelled funny to me.  Don't worry it wasn't unsafe or anything.  It wouldn't be anything I would eat.  I give Blake some credit for being a good sport about it.

I got to feed Ben some chicken nuggets, green beans, and mac and cheese.  He ate his chicken, but not much else.  I didn't want to be the one to eat his lunch, but I did.  Life works that way sometimes.

I worked, and I watched some of the NCAA Tournament here in my edit bay.  Again my station aired the Tournament on CBS all day today.  We'll be done with the news in about ten minutes.  I just uploaded a package re-track that I edited tonight.

The one thing about working during the tournament is that I don't get home until way late.  I miss my family so much, and I know that Kelly is taking extremely good care of our boys.  I'll get to see them in all their glory on Saturday.  I'll get to play with them and help them with some Palm Sunday festivities throughout the weekend.

As the night got longer, I had some time to sample different Georgia radio stations way outside Metro Atlanta.  I liked what I heard.  I heard a song I hadn't heard in a while, Dan Seals' "Bop."

I'm getting excited about football season already.  Our station has been doing reports about Spring Practice and UGA and Georgia Tech pro days.  I'll be excited about the upcoming NFL draft really soon.  I can't wait.

I want to eat some football food:  Steak and chicken wings.  I want some beer too.  Man, I really can't wait.

I'll be back for more again soon.  Have a great weekend and I'll be back next week.

Z

Zach Irwin Edit - Automatic Braking - March 18, 2016

Dreams come true: Blake starts crawling in January

Journal Entry for March 17, 2016

I was alerted by my wife that it was 8AM again this morning.  True to form, I only got six hours of sleep last night.  I deserved what I got.  I finished my dubs of some old tapes that I did.

You'll see them in one of my previous blog posts.  They were of me voicing some stories about the weekend's biggest money making movies, and top stories of the day (back in 2005).  I was proud of the work I did and I got to post them to social media later on today.

My day got off to a bad start after I dropped Ben off at preschool.  After I saw him get picked up from out of my car, I had to decide where I was going to get Kelly and I something to drink.  I decided to go to Publix.  I had this bright idea of picking up a sales paper for the next seven days where I was there.  I had a good experience yesterday, I figured that it would carry over into this visit today.  Boy I was wrong.

I went to the set of doors to get a sales paper, and I had a nasty encounter with this lady who was putting some cash into an ATM machine.  I said "pardon me" as I was trying to make my way towards the sales paper.  She brushed me off with such a loud, nasty tone, I felt ashamed.  I ran away apologetic like I always do and it pisses me off.  I wanted to get the hell out of there so fast it hurt.  I went to get a Coke for Kelly and that was it.  I was so fed up with what happened I wanted to go home.  I slammed the door in my car and left.  I held it in and sulked most of the time I was at home today.  I didn't let Kelly know what was going on.  I figured it was for the best.

Now see above, I got to pick Ben up from preschool after 1PM.  For the first time, I put Ben inside his new car seat.  The straps were a little too loose for my liking.  I'm sure Ben didn't mind.  I wanted to make sure that he would be safe and sound for the 2+ miles it would take to drive home.  He didn't say a word, and he didn't complain.  He was content to have doggy in his lap.

Up above, Blake was doing so good inside his crib.  He didn't cry or anything when we got Ben ready for his nap.  We took care of Ben for his nap before I left for work during the day.  Blake won't see me until the next morning.  Heck, I won't be out of the building here at work until Friday (after midnight) because the CBS station I work at is airing the NCAA tournament.  The late local news won't start until after midnight.

Before I arrived for work, I checked two lottery tickets to see if they were winners.  I learned that they weren't.  I was a bit disappointed, but not surprised.  I guess I was hoping for a miracle.  On the ride in for work, I prayed to God for better days ahead and I listened to Dave Ramsey on the radio again.  Both God and Dave Ramsey are going to inspire me to do better things going forward.  My hard work and God's grace will get me out of debt and into a better job situation for myself and my family.

So far, it has been a relaxing day here at CBS46.  I mean, I had some work to do for the 5PM, 6PM, and 11PM newscasts.  There was no 4PM show as usual because we are airing some games of the NCAA Tournament.  As I sit here writing my blog at 10:39PM, I am watching the 4th and final game of CBS's coverage for today.  I'm watching a first round game between #4 Kentucky and #13 Stony Brook.  Since the game started late tonight (just before 10PM), We won't go on the air with CBS46 News at 11 until at least Midnight.

It's time for me to go home and pray on my way home.  I have a quick turn around for tomorrow morning as I have to get up for Ben and Blake.

Wish my wife good luck tomorrow.  She has a job interview.  Wish me luck too.  I have a talk with someone about the chief editor position here at CBS46.

Zach Irwin Edit Top 5 things overheard during March Madness March 16...

Writing Samples for March 17, 2016

ALL DAY WE'VE BEEN REPORTING ON AN ARMED ROBBERY INSIDE A JEWELRY STORE ROBBERY IN COBB COUNTY.

WE HAVE NEWLY RELEASED SURVEILLANCE VIDEO OF THE ROBBERS BULLDOZING THEIR WAY INTO THIS JEWELRY STORE.

YOU CAN SEE THESE MEN OVERPOWERING THE WORKERS AND SMASHING THE GLASS ON HERE.

THIS ALL HAPPENED AT THE DIAMOND SOLUTIONS STORE INSIDE CUMBERLAND MALL THIS MORNING.

THEY WERE LAST SEEN IN A WHITE 2005 MITSUBISHI ENDEAVOR WITH ALABAMA LICENCE PLATE NUMBER 9-ZERO-8-3-A-M-4.

IF YOU RECOGNIZE ANY OF THE MEN, CALL POLICE AT 770-499-3945.





UP NEXT IN SPORTS, IT WAS UPSET CITY IN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE N-C-DOUBLE-A TOURNAMENT, AND THE HAWKS SEEK SOME NUGGETS OF SUCCESS VERSUS DENVER AT HOME.

Journal Entry for March 16, 2016

I woke up around 8AM this morning.  I had my beautiful wife giving Ben his sippy cup and a new baby diaper.  I woke up with Blake.  His cries got me up for good this morning.

I had a lot of fun playing with the guys out in the living room.  I had the utmost honor of feeding my baby boy Blake his breakfast of yogurt.  Kelly got me a chocolate chip waffle with Peanut Butter and Syrup.  It filled me up extremely well and I sort of felt a little guilty at the same time.

PLAYDATE

It was Ben's turn (along with Blake and Kelly) to be part of a play date with one of his preschool classmates.  I stayed behind and did some chores around the house.  I vacuumed as much as I could, I put the dishes away, and I got some yummies at Publix for both our house and for our church food pantry.  I got some change in order to play in a NCAA Tournament pool here at work.

By all accounts, Ben had a great time at the park.  He was well behaved; much better than he was at a birthday party earlier this month.  The only bad thing I heard Ben do was take a bag of trucks that didn't belong to him.  Now I didn't teach him how to do that.  My next job is to teach him NOT to do that and tell him that stealing is wrong and won't be tolerated.

WORK

Tonight was a good night of work.  I edited my usual good works and Fred Kalil's Top 5 things overheard during March Madness.  I'll post that on my blog soon.  After I edited for the afternoon, I deleted more video to free up space on AVID, ate dinner, played Candy Crush Saga, and got myself metally ready to write.

At 7:30PM, I started writing some stories for the 11PM news program.  I got nervous about my skill level, and at the same time I sure appreciate the speed that it takes to write well under deadline pressure.  After I wrote six stories, I went back to editing at 10:30PM to help out my crew.  I needed to step up back here to get things done for the show.

THE AFTERMATH

I got some constructive criticism and guidance from one of the senior writers here during last night's 11PM show.  I remember what I wrote.  Even more important, I remember what he corrected so that I could write better next time.  I will write better from now on.  I'm going to practice again starting on Friday.

I finished one more dub of one of my old tapes and found that I did some great work as a voice talent for CNN.  I wished I would have done more work like that, but I made the decision to give it up in 2006.  I regret it now.  I will work to get back to that level one day.