The news waits for no one

Finally able to come up for air! Friday took it all out of me.

Friday I learned that the news waits for no one...like the postman --thru rain and snow and ...well you know the saying!

I'm gonna resort to being a bit 'all about me' right now, JUST to explain my story!

Friday, December 19th was the last day before my vacation. I must add, this is THE VERY FIRST time I have actually been off the entire week of Christmas in my entire broadcasting career. I was so looking forward to getting all caught up, putting all my ducks in a row before being off for a week so that when I got back I didn't have a mound of anything to tackle.

Friday, December 19th was also my birthday. No way, no how am I saying how old...however, the last thing I wanted to do on my birthday and the day before vacation is work overtime.

Normally, not a problem. That's why I prefaced this entry with the 'selfish' and 'self-absorbed' explainer!

Mr. News reared his ugly head just to foul up my perfectly orchestrated plan.

He crashed a little plane into a house in Stark County....sent the Cleveland Homicide unit to a person killed on Dibble on Cleveland's east side.....placed a suspicious package under a government vehicle at an Army recruiting station in Medina County.....and turned off the power to thousands in the western suburbs--without their consent!

But wait, there's more!

ALL of this on the day when I am web girl --meaning the normal person who handles the web is not in for the bulk of my shift and I have to focus more on the web than normal, including putting the reporters' video packages on the web...

Amazingly enough, I got all of the necessary work completed...and most of my other agenda checked off. But, it was one heck of a shift. I did wind up working over about an hour and then I just had to throw in the towel and concede that whatever was not done was not getting done until vacation ends.

At one point, I was the only person in the newsroom for quite a while. Romona Robinson walked back in and said, "Dani, do you realize that before I came in, you were the only person in the newsroom?" I told her --"that is why I am always talking to myself. There is usually no one in here with me!!"

On days like these, you do the best you can. You ARE only one person. With breaking news, I first and foremost have to get a crew out to the story WHILE I am attempting to toss something on the web and hopefully beat the competition at that task! Friday, we had so much stuff and one of them (the plane crash) was huge. I could not shoot the bomb threat or power outage but still put those stories on the web. As much new content as possible is what I strive for when it comes to the web. And as much UP TO THE MINUTE content, especially!

That's all I did. Oh, I answered the phones and listened to the scanners of course....but the bulk of my duties was web, web, web. I had to leave my archiving and future preps and court checks and wading through all of my email and messages and so much more on the back burner while I dealt with trying to win the big breaking news story on the air as well as on the web. I think we did it!

And my birthday was not half bad, either. Everyone remembered it and made me feel like queen for a day --a very crazed and busy queen, but none the less!

The day I get back from vacation, I'll just have to take a deep breath, tackle one task at a time, remember that I am only one person and see where the chips fall!

Happy Holidays to all of you! In this fast-paced world, I hope you can slow down, enjoy the moment, savor memorable occasions, delight in those around you and surround yourself with the unconditional love of family and friends!