Super Funky Hippies gone WILD!!!

A serious police situation erupted downtown Monday afternoon! Columbus was on Red Alert! We were at DEFCON 1!...or 5!...whichever is worse! I'm not sure! What was the source of all this pandemonium??
These bad boys...and girls. Hippies. Well, I'm not sure if they were "Hippies", but my definition of "Hippy" has slowly morphed over the years. It used to be almost anyone who donned a tie-dye shirt and sandles, (at the same time), while going on about their hemp...whatever. That was deemed a hippy...in my mind. That definition has sort-of morphed over the years to encompass those individuals who fear or actively hate on the "establishment", as well as have a serious aversion to soap and water, (these hippsters were RIPE!).
To give you some background, apparently they started what they termed was a "peaceful" protest in front of some company wanting to open a new coal burning powerplant. About 100 of them showed up to this protest, (I bet the smell was AMAZING). Well, according to some of them, a couple of their "brothers and sisters" were pepper sprayed and tased for NO REASON WHATSOEVER!! UNPROVOKED!! Like, Dude! She was totally complying with the officers and they tased her 3 times!! Coal KILLS!! Aren't you glad you DIDN'T use Dial?? Don't you wish NObody did?

yea.

Police make a habit of tasing people for NO reason...it gives them a rush. Actually, if I heard right, the CPD officer manual clearly states they actively tase all Hippies on site...or smell...whichever. Anyhoo, this other picture is of a scanner at the desk. Since I can't quite keep all my posts timely, and since the hippy pics were taken on monday, the scanner counts as my tuesday, July 8th, picture of the day. So eat that!

Ultimate Geek Car

That's what one website dubbed the Delorean, and I have to sort-of agree. At the same time, the Delorean is probably one of the most recognized obscure cars ever to grace the earth. I wonder what would have happened had the Back to the Future Trilogy featured a Pinto, or random volkswagon. The Delorean is so cool in itself that people remember this car long after seeing the movie. Plus, how many cars can you say would inspire some photogs to dress up like Doc Brown from the movie to pose with said model vehicle parked in our parking lot a couple nights ago. Apparently this Delorean belongs to the Litton family, (Jason Litton is a Director here at the station), and it's a fine representation of this car species. I wonder how many people ask to pose with this thing when it's out and about?

The air tastes so good.

This blurry picture is of my cat singing along to Guitar Hero Aerosmith...or just yawning. I haven't decided which. I missed a post yesterday, but hey...I was sleepy. I should have taken my camera with me to the family gathering at Memaw's house, (my grandma), but I forgot it after walking out of the house and didn't realize I had, (I intended on bringing it), until after I was halfway there. Oh well. It was fun. My bro-in-law Dave set off some small fire-crackers, and I had to tell Memaw's new miniature pincher who the boss was a couple times. She was apparently abused as a puppy and has some real trust issues. Hopefully she'll get over them. If she hadn't had her little muzzle on, she would have made a nice bloody snack out of my hand a couple times. The main concern, of course, wasn't my hands but those of the lil' ones running around. Dogs can bite me, (or Try...), but mouths off the kids...
I snapped this photo this morning in my messy apt/basement of my dork of a dog trying to eat the air exhaust from the microwave. I tend to make alot of noodles for lunch, and everytime I do this goofball makes his way to the microwave so he can sniff and lick the air. The air smells like food, so I guess it's not too much to think it could taste good...although it can't be very filling...can it?
This pic was snapped by Mr. Andy Long while we were at the Clinton Obama debate in Cleveland last winter. This was during Amy Basista's and my live shot. Behind her was a live set for Chris Matthew's show, (not visible), and later I shot a live shot of her and Patrick Preston interviewing Tim Russert, (pic to come). Pretty cool stuff...too bad most days at the station couldn't be THAT interesting...

Guitar Hero Pajama Rockin'

Megan rocks out some Guitar Hero Aerosmith...on the hard setting. I can barely play medium.
This action shot looks alot less action-y as a still...
Awwww yea, that's more like it. She's playing EXPERT during this shot.
No, those aren't my shorts hanging off a pull-up bar in the background...but yes, I am using a cat scratching-post as a speaker pedestal.

Everything's going according to plan....but not mine.

I snapped a few pictures last night at my live shot with Mr. David Wayne. They turned out pretty decent. Obviously the first is of my camera, tripod, and a streetlight. We did a story about Red, White and Boom and featured some of the crazy folk who were camping out ALREADY. I guess if you have nothing better to do but sit around somewhere for days on end, the camping isn't a big deal. Most of us who live in the REAL world, however, aren't afforded such luxuries. Other than that, Today we headed to the house early and met with Robert. With his help, we gave my credit card a several thousand dollar workout, (it made me feel happy inside...or terrified...they're such similar feelings). Megan and I then headed to Lowe's to pick out our paint colors, and what a palate it was...what can I say though, I'm an artist at heart and like bold colors, (see the bedroom pics from the past couple days).

Anyway, we got back and with the help of Megan's grandparents we tore up some stuff in the basement while Robert and his painter worked upstairs. Robert couldn't figure out the situation with the vent going into the floor from the downstairs. I helped him figure that out, and apparently the morons who used to live there re-routed plumbing right over top of the vent. Instead of remedying this situation, this genius decided to plug up the vent with fiberglass insulation, (wha?), and put the floor over top of it. Awesome. Needless to say Robert said taking care of this would set us back some time, but what else is freakin' new. I snapped this pic of Megan today, and apparently I'm a focus noob. I actually had it on manual focus from when I was taking pictures last night at the live shot, and forgot it was on manual, so most of today's pics are alittle furrier than normal. I waited until Megan turned around and said, "Hey!" to snap this one. Even blurry, it's still a good one.

The impending wallet workout...

The aweosme sight of work being done on the house, Behold! So apparently it takes these roofers two days to do a roof that should be done in one. Oh well. As long as it's done today I really don't care as rain is in the forecast tomorrow. The bathroom also started getting it's workout this afternoon. The psuedo plan tomorrow is to start laying the floor tiles, and Robert should be starting to put the new tub and surround in. Hopefully all goes according to plan.

What has NOT gone according to plan is the flippin' bank...AGAIN. So along with all the other things this bank has sucessfully screwed up, not disclosed, etc. It was not made clear to me the way in which the "Draw" system works for the money to do all this work. I was told I get 2 draws. That sounds...well...EXACTLY HOW IT SOUNDS. No. What is means is I get 2 draws TOTAL, the second being the final payout on completion of ALL WORK. So the bank expects $28,000 worth of work to be completed on the initial draw of $14,000. Yea, so how are all the raw materials and labor in the mean time going to be paid once the first half is used up? Who knows! The bank sure doesn't seem to care! So it looks like my wallet will temporarily be funding the remaining materials and labor costs. I'll be reimbursed once the project is all completed with the final check. Lets hope Robert's timetable of being completed before the end of the month holds true so I can avoid and finance charges...but thank god for credit.

See Bob. See Bob paint. (I don't know if that guys name is Bob, but my beadroom is looking....blueish).

Hey big boy, is that a new roof in your pocket...?

So we stopped by the house today, and the new roof was being put on! Woo hoo!! In addition, they said all the boards underneath the old roof looked good, so no hidden surprises there. Whew! I would have taken a picture of the roof being removed, but I'm a bad blogger and forgot before we left the house. I know everyone who reads this is utterly dissappointed they can't get a dose of young mexican workers working on a roof. I'll try to come through for you guys next time. We had to rush from the house to get lunch and get home in time for me to leave for the carpool. I must say, as much as I love saving the gas, that one hour I miss each day feels like I'm losing alot of time! It's okay, I can tough it out.

Anyway, Robert thinks his painters quit...or died on him, he's not sure which. They haven't returned his calls for a few days now OR cashed their paychecks he wrote them last friday. Interesting... He says he won't accept an excuse from them outside of, "We are/were in a/some comas." (Is the plural for coma, comas?...I'm so bad at plurals). Anyway, Robert was painting our bedroom himself. The bedroom did look nice with a fresh coat of paint on it, but he said the primer we bought wouldn't stick to the trim...hmm. We looked and there indeed was alot of drippage on the trim. I hope to God he figures it out and makes it look nice. Oh, and I THOUGHT, (shame on me...thinking...), that whoever painted that room would notice a couple spots needed SANDED...but no. We'll just paint over everything apparently. Robert also thought we wiped down all the walls ahead of time. What happens when we "Assume" Robert...? Yea, exactly...we'll, except for the "me" part since YOU are the expert...or should be. whatever. I think he's just a noob when it comes to painting, (noob is short for Newbie...as in a new person to something...case you can't follow the slang ;). you can also call someone a "noob" if they are just lame at something...). He was spraying it on, and after talking to some people AND doing alittle brain work on my part, I think he A. had the paint too thin, and B. was having humidity problems. A guy at work said paint has alot of trouble sticking in higher humidity. I bet that's it. If Robert knew alittle mroe about painting, he probably would have known the issue. Makes me think he bid on some work while not knowing as much about it as he "could" have. Oh well.

I'm writing all of this from work, and therefore can't post pictures as easily, so they'll be added later. Depending on how my night continues, you can expect to see a few lovely photos I took on the way home last night from Jason's car. Technically they were taken today as they were after midnight, so eat THAT!

(the top picture is the two-way from work. it's one of many ways the station chats with us, or as you can see, Chopper 4!)