I've been a busy robot these days, and let the blog slow down. But, I did update Anamorphic (my making-a-comic-book-blog) with some tasty new pictures of my progress.

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puddle jumper

After my stint as the website guy, I've jumped right back into the thick of things. Every few days or so there's a neighborhood in the area that completely floods and I get to go check it out.

Last night I went prepared.

I threw on some junky shoes, put my light kit in a backpack, and ran down into the swampy mess.

It was kinda fun (but totally nasty). I went over to this guy's home (which was like a little island), hooked up some lights, and lit that whole street up. And then I ran around in the brown little lake, getting shots of submerged mailboxes.



Every few minutes someone would come driving down the street and then slam on the brakes a few feet shy of "the lake" in the neighborhood. At one point, we all thought some guy was gonna drive across it (which would've been a disaster), and we were all, "Oh man, I hope he doesn't drive across it." But, I could tell that everyone was kinda-secretly thinking, "Drive across it! Drive across it!..That would be awesome!"

It didn't happen, but we shot a nice little late-night pkg anyway, and it gave Marla a reason to wear rubber boots. Good times.

This weekend I went to the Heroes Con up in Charlotte, which was a good time. I didn't buy as much stuff as I certainly could've, but I said plenty of stupid things to the comic book/artists that had booths at the show. I couldn't help it.

Also, I got my head crushed by Richard Kiel (better known as "Jaws" from the James Bond movies, Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me).



ouch.

Elise Hu: "Have fun with the internet training..."

LL Robot: "Training? I'm on my own now. I play Anakin Skywalker to Jay's Obi-Wan Kenobi here. Today's my first day as Darth Vader."

My regular work schedule was preempted last week, so I could train to be the secondary "webguy" at my station. Since last Friday I've been pointing-and-clicking all day rather than driving-shooting-editing all day.

My station is part of the IBS network (or, possibly just IB now), so there's a dedicated 'managing editor' at each station. Their online website tools work pretty well, and there plenty of support for the local 'managing editors' at each station.



Anyway, the first thing I did was move right into my cubicle and take over. I replaced the regular webguy's photos of his wife and baby with my own, similar robot-like photos.

And, then...I got to work.



One thing that's kinda cool about posting stuff to IBS, is the little 'send to proof' button. It sends whatever I write to a team of copy editors, hidden away in an underground bunker somewhere. They make corrections to my stuff, and then email it back to me. Usually I only end up accidentally convicting someone making minor grammatical or spelling errors.

I'd say the biggest challenge for me, is conforming to the AP Stylebook. After years of being exposed to flashy television writing (and lazy bloggin') I've found the transition to be soul shattering. Although occasionally, I'll have fun dreaming up little (non-postable) AP headlines like: College Student Watches Herbie, Fully Loaded.

Overall, the website work isn't that bad. It can get kinda repetitive, and certainly suck the living soul out of anything that isn't already AP wire copy before it's rewritten.

For example, this is what this blog post would look like written in AP style:

GREENVILLE, S.C. - The regular internet guy at WYFF went on vacation June 14. A replacement editor has been working in his absence.

Photographer JL Watkins said, "I am having a swell time filling in for Jay, but writing in AP style can get kinda repetitive."

Watkins said he is planning to post more news about Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes sometime Wednesday or Thursday.

Jay Murdock is expected to return next week.

See what I mean?

I can't really complain. It's been a fun week working on the internet, and I only have a few days left before I'm put back out into the humid, scorching Southern summer (which just started today, but really started a month ago).

Yikes! Sorry to cut this short, but I gotta get back to work...

Went to Atlanta this weekend (or Fatlanta, as a local paper dubbed it) for the SE Reigonal Emmys. I wasn't up for anything. I just went to lurk.

Moving on...

Prada Robot Trick

Earlier this year, several people told me (Dinah being the first) about the lovely Prada Robot Keychain-thing. It was gonna get one for my lady-friend, but they're rather expensive. Even on eBay they're like $150 or something. I'm not cheap or aything, but (as much as I love my girlfriend) I can't imagine dropping a few hundred dollars on a stupid purse charm/keychain. However, I found and awesome $10 knock-off in Atlanta. Woot!



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bbq chex

Some of you may know about my Chex Mix obsession. I'm not talking about the stuff that you buy in the bag at the store. I'm talkin' about the junk you spend an hour making, and costs you twice as much. I spend every weekend making 2-3 batches of that stuff, so I can gobble it all up by Wednesday of that week.



I've started off with the simple basic recipe, and then I modified it. I keep pushing the envelope on Chex Mix technology, and I'm currently well into Robot's Chex Mix Version 9.3 or something.

Well, Kyann gave me a recipe for BBQ Chex Mix. And, since I live in the South now, I thought, "Right on. I'm gonna make me some Southern BBQ Chex." Anyway, I should've been suspicious when the only real ingredient was BBQ sauce - not the 15 other things that make Chex Mix so delicious.

Anyway, my point is: It's rather disgusting. It tastes like AIDS. Don't be fooled.

[update: I made like 2 big batches of BBQ Chex before I realized it tasted like a moldy sandwich fucked by a hippie bad. But, I decided that I'd give it another shot after letting it sit overnight and "settle" or whatever. It's not as bad as I initially thought, and now I'm kinda gettting weirdly hooked on it. I keep eating it. Does that means it tastes good? I'm still not sure. I haven't given up on it yet.]

I was sitting over with the webguy today when I heard this over the loudspeaker: "Blah blah blah blah Blah!" I would've ignored it, but suddenly everyone jumped up from their chairs and started running out of the room.

I was all, "Wait. What's going on?" Someone yelled back from the moving herd, "The ice cream truck is out front!"

Ice cream truck? I swiftly went towards the front of the building. As I entered the lobby two dozen people were lining the balcony and rushing down the stairs - it looked like all the hysterical rich people rushing around the flooding ballroom in Titanic.



Anyway, I went outside into the blazing sun and joined the long line of people getting ice cream treats. Apparently this is a regular/weekly summer thing that my station pays for. How rad is that?

Oh! And I almost forgot: 10 minutes after everyone settled back into work in their sugar comas, the fire alarm went off (no joke) - and no one got up from their desks.

I'm on the day shift this week, learning to be the webguy. When breaking news happens I'll be there to...umm...click on it.



But, I better shut up now and pay attention because I'll be running the website all next week while Zippy is away.

I wonder if you can officially call me the "webmaster" next week? Regardless, I'll still demand it (that, or "Maestro", yeah that'll work too).

Last night my assignment was to go to the Christian Team Impact show. It's one of those things where some guys (who are all former wrestlers and football players) do all kinds of "feats of strength" like: ripping phone books in half, breaking baseball bats, smashing massive cinder blocks, and exploding unopened soda cans in the palm of their hands. Regardless of my beliefs, I thought it was a rather entertaining show.

But an hour before we left the station...I wasn't so sure. I was shooting my mouth off about how it's probably really easy to just rip a phone book in half. I kept going on and on about how it was all a scam - and how I saw it on the internet. So Stephanie (the producer) said, "Let's see you do it then."

Oh no! She called me out, so I grabbed the nearest phone book, harnessed my chi, and proceeded to tear...or at least try to.



It wasn't so easy. And while I didn't actually rip the phone book in half...I still tore it up pretty good.

It came back to haunt me.



Just over a month ago, I thought I was so smart by installing a mini-fridge in the back seat of my news car (and filling it with Capri Sun fruit punch drinks).

We were having a grand old time - rolling down the street, sipping on fruit punch. But, I got a rude awakening one afternoon (after a 4 day weekend) when I tried to start my news car. The fridge completely drained the battery.

I repeat (with more emphasis):Completely drained the battery.

Anyway, to keep a short story short: The car has been fine, until the last 2 days - weeks later. Now I'm having all kinds of battery-related issues, and we had to get a 'jump' outside some fancy, high-society function that we had just finished covering (and tried to sneak out of gracefully - which didn't happen when we had to get our car jumped on the other side of the giant glass window they all were mocking watching us through).

/sigh

Other than that: it was a fine day.

I've been kinda neglecting my blog, but I've been toying with the layout and stuff a little bit (you might've noticed). I decided to keep this version up until I'm ready for the big overhaul.

big music day

Fuck Coldplay, The White Stripes, and the Black Eyed Peas (and Kelly Osbourne). The big album release today is: Paul Anka's Rock Swings!

It's basically semi-modern rock/new wave songs, covered in big band, swing style. Completely awesome.

sweeps contest

I forgot to mention: After weeks of getting passed over in the 'standup tease contest', Marla and I finally won. Here's (the Asst. ND) Lee Brown, showing how proud he is of us.