Oops….

You know, I kinda knew I had this blog thing, I just wasn’t all that great and bloggin so Ive kinda stopped for awhile. Ya about a year long while, oops! Well, this week I think I actually have something to blog about (not that many read it), me in court. So let me get through today, and I’ll throw something up….

Bloggin with the iPhone….

Needed a new cell provider and decided to go with AT&T, for the iPhone of course. Maybe, just maybe i’ll blog a little more with my iPhone at my side, I wouldnt count on it though!

Fugitives update…

Some info for those that care to know, the fugitives were caught in Sweetwater County Wyoming last night on I-80.

Hey, your going to Vernal!

Oh Boy! The drive to Vernal from Salt Lake City is nothing short of mind-numbing as far as I’m concerned. A long 180 mile drive down the I-40, a single lane highway through nothingness filled with more of nothing. Vernal its self I guess isn’t all that bad as far as small rural towns go it’s just a hella drive to get there. Numbness aside we were sent like every other Utah news hungry junkie looking to get our fill for the day on a story that we had all been covering earlier that week, escaped prisoners form a prison in the sticks. A sighting, a confirmed sighting, or at least that’s what the ASSWIPE that said he had seen the convicts told the Sheriffs office. Why someone would even think of making something like that up is beyond me but someone did. Well it still gave us something to cover just focused on something and someone else for the moment, an IDOIT. After covering what we thought would have been the Sherriff recapturing there men we returned back to the ranch via another route. Much more worth it at least we thought its was. A drive through Wyoming, a drive most would consider another mind-numer seemed not only shorter a lot more picturesque passing big horn sheep roadside (yes alive) and more deer then I have fingers and toes (yes I have all of them) to count with and about 20 miles shorter on an actual Interstate. All in all an unusual trip I hope to forget but cant.

Testing out my touch

Testing out my wifes iPod touch on blogger

Still here…

Going on day 6 now of the Crandall Mine collapse I’m and still here waiting for some type of news about the miners trapped.So far the news hasn’t been so good and I don’t think this is going to turn out like the Sego mine but you never know. This is the most bizarre story that is constantly keeping all the media on its toes and working LONG hours. The strangest thing for me was when I was chosen to enter the mine as the pool photog for TV. When I was asked by Robert Murray to go in to the mine to shoot in front of all the other media outlets, my reply was ya, sure I’ll go? What the #*@% did I just say? Oh hell no I didn’t just say I would, but I did, I said I would go. Now how the heck can to get out of this pickle, I know pass it along to the chief. I had a bad experience when I shot documentaries for a Government Agency in California and wasn’t about to relive another one. So ya I chickened out big time on this one. If it wasn’t under the circumstances that they are, I would be in there in a heartbeat to capture it. I guess I just don’t get paid enough to risk it!

I did kick my self in the ass after Todd (the chief) came walking is smiling yet scared face out of the mine. While he was in the mine he witnessed and captured a what miners call a bump. He called it a pants crapper! If I was asked again would I do it? HELL NO!

We’ll see what happens next and hope for the best for the families!

And these are just the locals!

What a creature canteen full of media folk this story has brought to its self and with the mine owner now saying as much as a week before proof of life will be available, one could only wonder what it will bring next. I’m sure I’ll be here all week to find out!

I should have never asked!

I knew the moment I asked what would happen next I shouldn’t have. Last month fires, flash floods, and now a mine collapse. I got the call Monday morning and was told I had been requested to go down with five other photogs and reporters to cover the mine collapse. This story had World wide attention before I had even had my go bag repacked from all the other stuff I’d been covering. At this point there are 6 miners trapped in the coal mine just north of Huntington Utah about a 140 miles from Salt Lake City. They said today it would at least 2 days before they even get close to the 6 miners trapped. I think its going to be long week.

Its a triple F month, Frikin Floods & Fires

Just last month I was out covering HUGE brush fires throughout the State of Utah. The Milford fire was the biggest in the state like I mentioned in my last post, so thats the one we gave the most airtime to.
There were over 20 at one time blazing their way through Utah’s grasslands and backcountry, some mentioned, some not. One of the many we did was just outside of Virgin Utah.
This month its flash floods destroying any and everything in its path just outside of you guessed it Virgin Utah. It had the visuals of a mini sized Tsunami in Utah visually speaking as far as destruction goes. Once again I didn’t think of snapping off a couple of photos, DUH. I was shooting video in one of the houses that had over 6 feet or more of mud a debris in the living room from wall to wall. This flash flood sent a piano from the front of the house crashing through the back door and down the river never to be found. It placed a full sized truck on top of a car. I have never seen anything more powerful or destructive up and personal in my life.

I don’t even want to think of what will be thrown my way next to cover news on. I’m not complaining at all, stories like this beat covering car accidents or a cat in tree any day!

Damn thats a BIG fire!

Especially when you’re dealing with covering its gargantuan size. I’ve shot a lot of large fires when I was in a shooter in Southern California. This fire though was just DAMN BIG! It was such a spread out fire 55+ miles form one end to the other. Most of it on flat cattle grazing land with a few large mountains on the southern end. I thought it was a pain in the backside to cover at times however. If you work in news you know what I’m talking about. Desk peoples bad!

Sorry, my bad! I have a tendency to focus on the negative. I guess I shouldn’t thump the desk that hard seeing how 98% of the time everything went great and they let us alone to cover the story.

I thought this fire allowed us to capture, gather and show some of the best news coverage that we have seen in a hella long time at the station (just my opinion)! It showed viewers that we are still capable of bringing them solid news and excellent coverage. I think this fire allowed us to show viewers as well as other stations that we still are capable of kickin some ASS without a HELO and while in a slump.

Wow, I went way outside of where I thought I was going with this blog today! Oh well, here’s looking at you Horiuchi