Observations & Inspirations

I am not where I thought I was.

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:25:10 -0400

I wanted to wait until I actually ran the race to post about my recent endeavors but I can’t.

I’m running my first 5k a week from today. Yesterday, for the first time, I went for a run outside.

It. Was. TERRIBLE.

I didn’t realize there would be a such a difference between running outside and running on a treadmill. Running is running, right? How wrong I was. I’ve cranked out the 3.2 miles on a treadmill a few times in the last month and each time it gets easier. Translating that to actually running outside isn’t as smooth as I’d thought. The sun is in my eyes, the wind is pushing against me, the ground is uneven, the air is thick and heavy in my lungs. I can’t seem to keep a good pace. I’m either strolling or sprinting for my life. I didn’t realize the sidewalk ended half-way through my preplanned route due to construction. Also, my preplanned route was terrible and I felt like I was going to get run over.

I ended up going a little under two miles in 24 minutes. I finished my trek red-faced and sweaty, huffing like I had never gotten my heart rate up before. I can’t say I ran the whole way (because I didn’t) but there was some New Yorker walking involved, no slow-go Floridian feet dragging. But still! I’m a fairly active person. My job is physically demanding. I take boxing classes, I go to the gym a few times a week. Why was it so hard to run in a non-climate controlled environment?

The 5k next week will be … interesting.

I need to show you that Chris Christie made a funny video poking...

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:24:47 -0400

I need to show you that Chris Christie made a funny video poking at himself and dammit he has an all-star cast.

A First of May No More

Wed, 01 May 2013 17:54:00 -0400

Happy First of May — and today I’m no longer a First of May.**

Yesterday marked my one-year anniversary with Bay News 9 — and truly, my one-year anniversary of working in news.

It’s a weird feeling. It’s felt much longer than a year, yet I learn something new almost everyday. There’s always a new challenge, a new opportunity, a new gray hair. When I first started, I worried working in news would make me bitter and hard. I worried the constant exposure to the bad side of humanity — the murders, the rapists, the criminals — would make me depressed. Yet working in news helped give me a little more faith in humanity.

There is a balance between good and bad. I could be lucky, but I find for every unhappy story I cover, I get to cover a happy one. For every house fire, there’s a fundraiser. For every death, there’s a celebration of life.

It doesn’t mean life is fair. It doesn’t mean the majority of the newscast still isn’t ‘bad news.’ I’ll never get used to certain types of stories. I’ll never get used to children dying. I’m still a human being and when a life is snatched from a child before they’ve had a chance to live it, that upsets me. I’m sure it always will.

There are some things I just have to accept. I am a young woman carrying a large news camera, and that confuses people. People will feel the need to point out this fact and bring their confusion to light. It used to bother me, but now I laugh. People tend to say some funny things. The other day, someone asked if I was by myself because of budget cuts. Earlier that day, someone else asked, “Where’s your pit crew, girl? You gotta carry all that by yourself?”

My personal relationship with news, however, is balanced. I can’t focus on the big picture because that will bring me down. I can only focus on the stories I touch and be confident that I do them justice. I can only hope that my small role on this Earth benefits people and I do that with my camera.

I still love what I do. Let’s see how I feel a year from now.

——

** A ‘First of May’ was someone in the circus who was a newbie. Circuses traditionally started their tours on May 1st.

"I thought you all went home. (Laughter.) We are so grateful to be here right now. We are so..."

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:55:09 -0400

“

I thought you all went home. (Laughter.)

We are so grateful to be here right now. We are so grateful to bring justice and a closure to this case.

To those families that lost loved ones, or who have suffered injuries that they’ll have to live with the rest of their lives; for a police officer — a young man starting a career at MIT — and a police officer with the MBTA who almost lost his life; and for neighborhoods who lived in fear for an entire day, we are eternally grateful for the outcome here tonight.

We have a suspect in custody.

”

- Col. TIMOTHY ALBEN, of the Massachusetts State Police, opening a press conference to announce the capture of the Boston bombing suspect. (via inothernews)

Live in Sky 9: Sinkhole Patrol in Seffner, FL. I got to fly up...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 19:55:00 -0500

Pilot Daniel Schlimpert

Downtown St. Pete

Downtown Tampa

It's like a video game.

Except much harder and I didn't die.

Live in Sky 9: Sinkhole Patrol in Seffner, FL.

I got to fly up in the bird today to get some aerial footage of a home demolition, caused by a deadly sinkhole here in the Tampa Bay area.

The story: Late Thursday night, a sinkhole suddenly opened up under Jeff Bush’s bed while he was asleep, causing him to fall into the ground where he couldn’t be saved. His brother, Jeremy Bush, almost died himself trying to save his brother. The sinkhole continues to spread and now authorities say they have no choice but to demolish the home so they can fill the sinkhole before it spreads to the rest of the neighborhood. The homes to the left and the right are already compromised. That demolition started today.

I didn’t get any photos of what we were actually covering since you need both hands to maneuver the camera (though sometimes I wish I had two more). We flew over the demolition scene to feed live video from the sky. We were up there for about two hours and I think they took our picture probably a dozen times. I heard HLN grabbed it too!

I’d never been in a helicopter before, let alone operate the camera attached underneath. Hopefully not too bad for a first timer! I hope this won’t be my last time up in the bird.

Gotta love my job :)

Humans of New York: Dear HONY,My name is Vicki. Having been raised in Queens, I know well...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:31:32 -0500

Humans of New York: Dear HONY,My name is Vicki. Having been raised in Queens, I know well...:

humansofnewyork:

Dear HONY,

My name is Vicki. Having been raised in Queens, I know well how important it is to have children experience the joys of camp and spend time in a non-concrete environment. Now, I am fortunate enough to work for a company that brings smiles to children and families every day – Feld…

It’s nice to see the company I used to tour with doing good things. :)

2012: A Look Back

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 22:48:19 -0500

The past year has been a whirlwind, to say the least. The following are pictures and descriptions from a major event or milestone every month, but these are not all inclusive. So much happened this year and hopefully there’s more to follow in 2013!

Enjoy …

JANUARY. THE REPUBLICAN DEBATE.

USF played host to NBC’s Republican Presidential Candidates Debate. That meant a 14-hour day for me, covering all aspects of the event. I met countless politicians and mingled with media from around the world. There were supporters, protestors and activists. It was glorious.

FEBRUARY. MISS VIDA BOHEME OF THE MANHATTAN BOHEMES.

This little girl came into my life unexpectedly. I heard a strange sound outside of my apartment, and she was at the bottom of the stares. We stared at one another, then she ran into my apartment. She’s never left.

MARCH. GRANDMA HILDA.

And with life, there is death. My Grandma Hilda passed away March 4 and in the week following I would learn so much about her, myself, life, death, family and Jewish traditions. We miss you, Grandma, and I’m so lucky to have had you for so long. I love you.

APRIL. NEW BEGINNINGS.

After two years of relentless resumes, countless demo reels, close calls and missed opportunities, I finally land a job in a newsroom. And it’s bigger and better than I could’ve ever imagined.

MAY. ANOTHER GOODBYE.

This time, not so finite. We send off our dearest Maggalah to bigger and better things in the Peach State. It’s bittersweet.

JUNE. PRESIDENT OBAMA.

Just two months into my new job and I get to be apart of a team covering the President’s speech at a local community college. BN9 took his speech live, and I was the woman behind the camera. I had a great photographer in my ear, guiding me and helping me out. It was truly an amazing experience.

JULY. LEMURS.

Just a regular Florida day where someone calls the news because there’s lemurs running around their backyard. Apparently, the neighbors had some pet lemurs that got loose and ran around the neighborhood. Funny thing is, this is the SECOND time I’ve had the pleasure of filming lemurs. They’re really adorable.

AUGUST. THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION.

This pretty much sums up the entire week. Five days of 12 hour shifts where we’re shuttled into downtown because Secret Service has the place locked down. Tampa did not look the same and walking from point A to point B was damned near impossible. Trust me, we tried.

SEPTEMBER. ONE YEAR.

It takes a special kind of man to deal with my shenanigans. Brett is that kind of man. When he’s not helping me play dress up with my cat, he’s calming me down off my cliff of desperation or he’s going along with one of my crazy ideas. I love you, you crazy man you.

OCTOBER. MIA WALLACE AND VINCENT VEGA.

Did you order a five dollar shake? There were a few Mia Wallace-Vincent Vega costumes, but ours had the most blood and the best wigs.

NOVEMBER. THE ELECTION.

I don’t have any other pictures of our election assignment because we were that crazy busy. My reporter and I covered a local election, but for a 24-hour local cable news channel, that’s just as important. Live hits every hour with new elements, a restaurant way past capacity, and lots of yelling makes for a crazy night. Gotta love it.

DECEMBER. SPREADING CHEER.

I got to do a few holiday stories, but this one resonated with me the most. I rode with Lealman firefighters as they hand-delivered toys to less fortunate kids. One of the firefighters even dressed as Santa Claus, handing out candy canes accompanied with Ho! Ho! Ho!s. It was special to not only witness, but to document and share their joy.

Of course these twelve events can’t attest for everything that’s happend this past year. Other milestones are: my sister’s high school graduation, Brett’s nephew’s birth, Tropical Storm Debby coverage, moving to Polk … then back to Tampa two months later, and countless others.

I hope to accomplish even more this year, touch more lives and create more memories with those I love. Every day is precious — live life to the fullest!

Vida Boheme gets in the holiday spirit. But not really. I bought...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:42:37 -0500

Vida Boheme gets in the holiday spirit. But not really. I bought a cat costume from Target and now she hates me every time I put it on her.

I’m cool so I already voted — but you still have a...

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:22:11 -0500

I’m cool so I already voted — but you still have a chance to be cool! VOTE TODAY! Find your polling place here.

Tomorrow's the last day to VOTE!

Mon, 05 Nov 2012 21:11:20 -0500

Are you voting tomorrow? Let’s skip all the people politics — let’s talk AMENDMENTS. Florida has 11 amendments and they’re all really LOOOONG. So don’t read them in the voting booth or you’ll be there forever. Check out the following sources for some handy-dandy amendment breaking down!

TAMPA BAY TIMES — Their interactive amendment guide breaks down what the amendment does, who it effects, its history and then the Times’s recommendation. What’s great about their site is you can choose what you can see.
BAY NEWS 9 — My station, duh. The amendment guide is more of a straight-read if you want something quick and to the point.
TAMPA TRIBUNE — The Tribune’s guide lets you pick and choose how much information you need. There’s a quick graf on each amendment and links to pursue more indepth stories.

What’s my recommendation, you ask? THAT YOU VOTE! Since we’re talking Florida, I’ll leave you with this photo of Hulk Hogan wearing a VOTE OR DIE shirt. In retrospect, VOTE OR DIE would’ve been a better campaign this time around, considering the ever-buzzing healthcare reform topic. It’s even on Florida’s lengthy list of amendments!

The front page of Huffington Post, as of 7:37pm today. This is...

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:38:00 -0400

The front page of Huffington Post, as of 7:37pm today.

This is amazing for two reasons: A) ONLY 4 MORE DAYS UNTIL THS IS OVER and B) It looks like Obama is flirting with Mitt Romney.

logotv: Bring back my BINDER of girls… Meanwhile … this...

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 19:41:20 -0400

logotv:

Bring back my BINDER of girls…

Meanwhile … this won the internet.

❝That awkward moment when you get locked out of you apt in your...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:47:24 -0400

❝That awkward moment when you get locked out of you apt in your underwear and you have no other choice but to get in the elevator (at 8:15 in the morning=full of neighbors going to work) go to reception and ask for a copy of your key. Thats how my day started. Im still laughing.❞

Why cant I live in the same apartment building as Ricky Martin …

I just hold the mirror.

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 21:34:48 -0400

I just hold the mirror.

barackobama: Hey Florida: Orange you glad we reminded you? Only...

Sat, 22 Sep 2012 19:01:28 -0400

barackobama:

Hey Florida: Orange you glad we reminded you? Only 17 days until your voter registration deadline.

Womp. Womp. I can’t resist the corny joke. But the message is good — register to vote!!

In honor of Brett and my’s one year anniversary, I present...

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:35:11 -0400

In honor of Brett and my’s one year anniversary, I present how we became a couple.

Some Mayors kiss babies. The Mayor of Tampa Bob Buckhorn rides...

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 19:10:00 -0400

Some Mayors kiss babies. The Mayor of Tampa Bob Buckhorn rides down slides with them.

RNC Awwwww Moment of the Day. A very important TPD K-9 takes a...

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 07:38:01 -0400

RNC Awwwww Moment of the Day. A very important TPD K-9 takes a break for a tasty treat! via @floridadecides

videohall: 3500 pound walrus practices his vocalizations This...

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:43:29 -0400

videohall:

3500 pound walrus practices his vocalizations

This is me in the morning.

My two new favorite words (though one is a noun phrase)...

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:34:00 -0400

My two new favorite words (though one is a noun phrase) … VAJIGGLE JAGGLE and BEAUTIMOUS.