The Griddo Crew

A pic of us being as awesome as we truly are! I'll write more later, but work is calling. 

I Froze Yesterday and Today

Yesterday, as I walked through -2 degree windchill down to Park Studio B for the millionth time, I considered the possibility of purchasing a hat. You know, one that keeps your ears from falling off. 

I spent just about a year of my life (at least it felt that way) working the teleprompter yesterday, because I worked it on the Inquirer for the first time, and then ran it during our one-hour Griddo special last night. Total time spent: four hours. Gaahhhhh

If you didn't catch the amazingness that was our one hour special, full season recap yesterday, it re-airs on ictv.org on Thursday from 9-10 again. It even included an AMAZING PTI-inspired countdown and we brought in these awesome guys from commentary and Sports Final and they did some really neat, kind of funny analysis of the whole season. It was great. Our graphic was totally wicked. It felt like I was working for ESPN. 

It is cold outside, but it did snow last night. I love the way it looks, but it's thirteen degrees outside. It's bad when you announce the high temperature for the day and someone asks, "Fahrenheit or celsius?" 

Whatever. It's my last week of classes! I'll make it. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

It's my Mom's birthday, and I would just like to say thank you:

You're such a great mom. You taught (and am teaching) me to be a strong woman that can do anything she sets her mind to.

Even though I still lose all my hair ties, you made the transition from high school to college easy, teaching me everything I needed to know. The only problem? I miss you so much!

Everyone is totally obsessed with the candy wreath you made. As am I. Thanks so much!

Thank you for supporting me in anything I do, whether it's absorbing myself in football, becoming a journalist or swimming on the swim team. You're always there to cheer, or make all my friends love you by showing up with food (Continental pizza at Homecoming Decorations? You're legendary!)  and lots and lots of love. 

Have an amazing day! You deserve it. I can't wait to see you in less than two weeks! 

I love you!

Oh, and Dad, I love you tons too. 

Friday!

So I'm just estimating, but I'm pretty sure that 60% of my blogs are about Friday. Whether it's Friday, or I want it to be. And here it is again.  

I'm cleaning my room, which had (has) become a disaster area. I'm taking a small break, gaining a little perspective. Yesterday, because it was a Thursday, was long.  It ended with our last Sports Section meeting of the year. As usual, it was extremely entertaining. Next week's issue is our last of the semester, and since I don't have an assignment, I can take a break! Well...I've actually got to deal with my intro to journalism assignment instead. Ugh. But at least I won't have to handle both at once. 

Next Thursday is the Ithacan semester-end banquet. Everyone is supposed to dress "business casual." I'm not exactly sure what that means. I may resort to getting the girls in my dorm to pick my outfit for me. We are, essentially, an awesome sorority.  I don't know how it worked out so perfectly, but everyone that lives here is pretty awesome and fun. 

I also have a confession: I'm all the way in New York, and I am still listening to WashFM Christmas Music (online, of course). It's a hard habit to break. 

I love it. I even like listening to the traffic report, thinking about all the angry Washingtonians on the packed Beltway. 

That's what Christmas is all about.

Griddo Ends

I just got an e-mail from my Griddo producers, about our last episode of the year. Because it's the last episode, we're going out with a bang, doing an hour-long season extravaganza. So, if you're free from 9:00-10:00 p.m Sunday, tune in on ictv.org. It streams right on the front page live.  

Reading the e-mail made me very, very sad. Saying goodbye to Griddo for the year pretty much means saying goodbye to the seniors on the crew, and they've helped me so much and are so much fun. I can't imagine Sundays without them, because of how much I've learned. We're taking a full-crew picture afterwards, and I hope I'll get a copy. 

Of course, in true Gridiron Report style, Dave had to put in a little extra caution and advice to the crew:

"And guys, leave your guns behind. I know it's a football show and all, but bringing the pistol that I'm sure you all have to the show won't be necessary."  

And that's why I love the Gridiron Report.

 I didn't know I needed another reason to be sad when football seasons began to draw to a close!

So tune in Sunday!

Life in Not-So-Slow Motion

It's a Tuesday, which normally means I have extra time in the morning to get things done. I usually wake up early and try to crank out some work on long-term projects and such. I've already done quite a bit this morning. 

This week is just packed. Once Wednesday is finished, however, I'll have a few things to cross off on my master finish-and-then-you're-free list.  

Yesterday everyone was struggling to get back into the swing of things, and I spent an unexpected hour wrestling with my swimming article with my editor in the Ithacan office. It's never exactly fun to do that, because it drags on and on, but I always learn a lot when I go, and my articles always turn out way better. 

I'm listening to so much Christmas music. Claire sent me a short text message yesterday saying, "I CANNOT escape Christmas music!" If she went to Ithaca, I would totally be part of the problem. 

I worked a little on our family's Christmas letter, which I write every year to avoid the horrible cliches  that tend to plague Christmas letters, like, "Last year, while our family was vacationing in Bora-Bora, little Becky discovered a passion for aquatic life and quickly became one of the most highly respected dolphin trainers in the universe. Also, little Jimmy got straight As again, as he always does." 

Maybe ours is no better. Who knows. 

Okay, seriously, back to work. 

Okay, so another tally on the "things destroyed" list

I stated at the very beginning that I would use the blog to keep track of the things I lost/destroyed while making the journey through the crazy world of college. 

It all began with that silly yellow towel, which is now a...well, puke colored towel. That actually is (was) the only thing on the "destroyed" list. Now, my lovely, cherished red Einstein Swim shirt will join it, as my pen exploded on me yesterday. I rushed it to the washing machine like an EMT rushes a crash victim to the hospital, but it could not be saved. But I'm keeping it anyway. 

This incident did, however, alert me to the fact that I have only ruined two items in three whole months of college, which is a huge accomplishment for me. You would know this if you have ever lived with me before. 

I haven't updated the lost list either, but I think I'll just have to estimate the total to about 4 lost hair ties. See Mom? I haven't changed! 

I have created a Christmas-color themed list of all the ridiculous things I need to get through to get to Christmas break and posted it on my closet door.  It goes with our lovely dorm Christmas decorations, which includes lights, a big santa on our door, and my candy wreath. 

It's good to be back.