I’m hoping that when I get to Rocky Hill tomorrow morning, I will be presented with the sight of the full news staff there.  Ever since I started working there on Wednesday, I knew I couldn’t wait for newscasts to start from there.  I’m not entirely sure what prevented them from starting there Wednesday, but I am guessing it’s something to do with everything not having been there.  So, hopefully this weekend was a time for them to move things and set it all up, so that they’ll be ready on Monday.  We shall see, however.  I’d hate for it to be another day like Wednesday, with news still up in Hartford, so that there’s not much to do (though I heard tell Wednesday that one of the assignments editors might have started there last week, so there might be things to do).  But, we’ll see.

Now, off to put my clothes in the dryer, so I can get up at my ridiculous waking time.

As if I wasn’t already a little miffed by the longer trip I need to take to my internship (though now I take some of it back now that I’ve actually seen the place – it was worth the trip), I’m now angry at the idiots over at CT Transit, the company who runs public transport here in Connecticut. I asked twice, once on Monday, and once on Tuesday, whether I’d be able to transfer buses in Hartford to get to Rocky Hill without paying any more money. Both people said yes. I thought this was great, not having to pay any more money to get to my destination. Turns out either I was told wrong, or the bus driver hasn’t been updated on the policies lately.

I get to Hartford, and onto the bus going to Rocky Hill, and put my transfer ticket into the ticket taker. The bus driver is like, “$1.00 please.” And I’m like, “What? I was told I didn’t have to pay any more.” And he’s like, “This is a commuter bus.” So, what the hell can I do? I had to pay it, or I wasn’t going to Rocky Hill. But what if I didn’t have it or the exact change of it? What then? I’m stuck in Hartford?

CT Transit is getting my call tomorrow to yell at them for the incorrect answer to my question.

No, I’m not going to grandma’s house, but it sure feels like I’ll be jumping through hoops and traveling on all roads to get to my internship the next few weeks, starting tomorrow.

Right now, Channel 3 is in Hartford, which is easy enough to get to. I don’t have a car or license yet, so I take the commuter bus, which is easy since there is a commuter lot at Buckland which goes to Hartford. Great. But, now Channel 3 is going to Rocky Hill. Instead of catching one bus, I’ll have to catch two. One to Hartford from Buckland, and then from Hartford to Rocky Hill. Thank god you can transfer to the second bus for free.

However, it doesn’t end there. Not only will I have to get an extra bus now, I’ll have to wake up an hour earlier to do it, since the route to Rocky Hill has only two (2) times that it leaves from Hartford in the morning, and in the afternoon as well, and neither is anywhere close to when I was getting into Hartford before. So, I take two buses, starting an hour earlier, and as a result, end up getting to Rocky Hill about an hour earlier than I used to get to Hartford. I then have to walk half a mile up some street (which I kind of hope has a sidewalk) to get to the building, which is kind of in the middle of nowhere.

I love Channel 3, working there on my internship and all, but why they chose Rocky Hill, I’ll probably never know (probably something to do with taxes). I hope doing all this shows them my dedication to getting there, haha. Let the games begin…

Had an interview at Barnes and Noble today for a job interview.  The women said she’d led me know on Monday if I got it, so keep your fingers crossed.  This’ll be the third interview I’ve been on for a job this Summer, the first two for Circuit City.  I know that B&N needs some help, especially with Harry Potter coming out on July 21st.  So, with that known, I’m hoping I’ll be employed there this Summer.  There’s one place left that I need to call back, since they say they’re hiring, but have yet to call me for an interview.  Of course, it could be like CVS, where the manager said he hadn’t gotten to looking at them yet.

So, we’ll see what happens.

Yesterday, for my WFSB internship, I went to the Traveller’s Championship (formerly the GHO) in Cromwell.  Yesterday happened to be Pro Am day, so many celebrities were there, including Dennis Haysbert (24, The Unit, All-State), Joe Pesci (so damn many I can’t count), Stewart Scott (ESPN), Geoge Lopez (George Lopez Show) and many athletic celebrities, including Geno Auriemma and Kara Walters (UConn).  Jim Caulhoun and Michael Bolton were supposed to show up, but didn’t for whatever reason.

I didn’t have much to do for actual duties, but it was fun to walk around and see people play some golf all day.  Some people (like Lopez) were very good, while others, not so good.  However, I think it was all for charity, so raising the money is somewhat more important than how good people were.

Overall, the internship has been going well, though a little more monotonous than I had intended.  I’ll change that soon, though, since I’m going to get out with the photogs and reporters more often, and will make a point of emphasizing my wish to do so.  Things will be getting a little crazy soon, especially after next week, because of their move to Rocky Hill.  I think any major packing will be done in the week to couple days prior to the move, so that gives me plenty of time for field experience.  Then there will be some time to adjust to Rocky Hill, and after that I can continue going out.   So, I look forward to all of that.

Oh, and by the way, 1 month until 21.  Yea!

R.I.P. Madeline “Grandma Cookie” Martikainen

Didn’t know you so well, but I loved seeing you when I was able to.  Rest in peace.

Seems like every time I say “Back in Action,” it turns out not to be so true. However, I’m hoping that with Summer finally being here, I can do more on this. Instead of the “here’s my life today” entry I was going to do, here’s an article I just wrote for another website I work on. For the Facebook readers: Back in *Slap*

Continue reading →

Having Crohn’s Disease, I often need to find a bathroom wherever I might be. Well, not always does a retail establishment have a public bathroom, and for someone like me, that can be shitty (literally).

Well, I just found out about a law passed in Illinois, called the Restroom Access Act, or Ally’s Law, named for the young woman who pushed for it after having an embarrassing situation. It’s not just for Crohn’s people, but for anybody that has a medical condition that requires them to go to the bathroom a lot. Apparently, it’s also being considered in twelve other states. Here’s what the conditions are for Illinois’ version:

Requires a retail establishment that has a toilet facility for its employees to allow a customer to use that facility during normal business hours if the
following conditions are met:
(1) the customer requesting the use of the employee toilet facility suffers from an eligible medical condition or utilizes an ostomy device;
(2) three or more employees of the retail establishment are working at the time the request is made;
(3) the retail establishment does not normally make a restroom available to the public;
(4) the employee toilet facility is not located in an area where providing would create an obvious health or safety risk to the customer;
and
(5) a public restroom is not immediately accessible to the customer.
Provides circumstances in which the retail establishment or an employee would not be civilly liable for any act or omission in allowing a customer to use an employee toilet facility. Provides that a retail establishment is not required to make any physical changes to an employee toilet facility.

Provides a penalty of not more than $100 for a violation of the Act

I don’t see why I should have to worry any more about Crohn’s (which I certainly didn’t ask for and would rather not have) than I have to, because some stingy shop owner doesn’t want to do a good deed and allow me to use their bathroom for a few minutes.  If I’m not causing a disturbance or being arrogant about it, I don’t see why not.

Now that I can think a little more clearly, the reasoning for my last entry.

It would seem that the fates are signaling to me I should never run for President of any type of organization, be it a student group, a corporation, or the federal government. Why, you ask? It seems something happens each time and I just never seem to make it. Let us go through them, one by one:

Nutmeg Hall Council – Round 1

Nutmeg is the name of the residence hall I live in, and each of these buildings has a council of residents who plan activities, buy things for the hall, and that sort of thing. Anyway, I thought I had this one in the bag. At the actual meeting, I was the only one to put in my name for the position. So, I technically got it.

After the meeting, I get a knock on my door from an RA, also one of the council’s advisers, and another resident from my building. They tell me that the resident forgot to wake up in time for the meeting. The RA tells me, that I consent, he’d like to run against me. We’d have to say a bit about why we want to be elected, and it’s go from there. While in retrospect it probably was a bad choice, I agreed.

So, the next meeting comes, and I was shocked to see a ton of people there. Well, it turns out that most of these people were there to vote for him. Then they never showed up again! At least most of them. It’s funny, because I remember that all the people who weren’t his friends voted for me. The people that actually showed up again, I got their vote. It was clearly a sign of things to come.

Nutmeg Hall Council – Round 2

So, just like the last time, my name was the only one in the pot. I sure wasn’t going to make the mistake I did last time and let someone challenge me after they overslept. So, I’m guaranteed it this time, right? If you said right, you’re WRONG! During the Summer, the changed the structure of the organization as a whole, to make it a more deliberative forum, without the executive board positions. Thwarted again!

Television Club

Again, maybe overconfidence, but I that I had this one for sure. Finally, a chance to lead an organization. I knew it was a challenge, but thought I was up for it. I’d been a member of the club since day one of my college career. Hell, I sat out, like the video geek I am, with the club while they were holding recruitment for new members! Since then, I had consistently came to meetings, been part of both shows we do since the beginning of my time at college. I’d been a director, and was newly a producer for one of the shows. So, I thought I had a very good chance.

Now, I can’t prove what would have happened if things had been different, but something may have limited my chances. Last year, the outgoing Seniors were allowed to vote for the next executive board. This year, our adviser didn’t allow it. So, there were several less people voting than the previous year. In the end, I lost by something like two votes. It was damn close. And me, being stupid, didn’t nominate myself for the Vice President position. Still not sure if I’d gotten that, but who knows.

I’m not bitter at anyone. However, I’m a little disappointed, because it’s my third time going for the position of President somewhere, and I still haven’t gotten it. A situation that someone like Ralph Nader knows all too well, to be sure. I would like to know some more reasoning behind the loss of the Senior vote, however. I’m going to ask the adviser about it when I see him next. I’m not going to play spoilsport and challenge the election on that basis, however, even though I probably could, and if I persisted enough, would probably win my claim.

Maybe it’ll even turn out to be a blessing in disguise. God knows I’ve got enough to do there next year. In addition to producing the game show (which is a job in itself), I’ll be editing episodes of it, probably directing some episodes, doing Senior Production Technician for both shows, shooting packages for the news, and editing those. If I’m President, that’s the added weight of having to plan for the Las Vegas trip next April, in addition to planning any events and fundraisers, having to work with the university and SGA, and more. Add on to that one of the most difficult classes in my major next semester, my other classes, Hall Council, and the website I work on, and it’d be a lot. Still, it would have been nice to finally get it.

So, for anyone who’s reading this, you now know the history behind my disappointment from tonight.

This week, and last, really has been one thing after another.  For the past two weeks, I edited two ten minute videos for an abstract poetry performance taking place.  As late as Wednesday of last week, I was very nervous that they wouldn’t get done.  However, I put in the hours, and they’re now done and ready.  So, today we set it all up.  Were there from 11:30 to 5:30.  Was hell of a time setting it up, because the video was overmodulated.  Then we had to play the waiting game for a couple people.  But, we got it all done, and I made it back just in time for the news.

Tomorrow is the actual production, and it’s going to be crazy.  10 minutes of Chibeau doing his stuff, then 10 of this video playing.  I get to play the role of documentarian for a documentary I’ll be doing starting next week.  It should be fun.