Normally tonight would have been much like any other night. Rush home, fix dinner on the grill, work for three or four hours, and just collapse in bed at 11. Tonight several of my coworkers and I were invited to a little BBQ get together at a local news station. Ordinarily when you watch the news you see folks who literally keep us connected to what is happening in our community. Sometimes reporters can be a bit, well, intimidating, or they can be swell folks who promote worthy causes. In the case of CNN, well, that's another issue entirely. Tonight I figured I would have nothing to lose by attending a simple BBQ. After all, one of the things they teach you in the military is never turn down free food or a chance to go to the bathroom, right?
The weather was just perfect tonight. Not really overly warm, and a slight breeze made the bit of humidity go away. I decided to take my bike - of course. It was a perfect day to ride! As I turned northward towards the station, I let everything go from the day and just relaxed, something I am usually not akin to doing. Working as much as I do it is sometimes rather difficult to slow down and step back from the office or the pace of life, so it was grand just to get on the bike, start it up and take my time and make the ride count!.
Unfortunately, traffic sometimes has other plans with my time. Several times I ran into slow moving traffic, or the occasional aggressor switching lanes and causing a havoc. When you are just cruising, though, its a lot easier to just slow down, and let traffic snake its own way around. As I pulled off into the station area, I was almost tempted to ride back towards town, but alas, the temptation of a free meal and meeting some of the staff at the station were more inviting. Besides, rush hour can be awful hectic on a motorcycle!
Walking into the station, I was guided back thru the newsroom and to a side door that led outside. Having never seen a newsroom, I always thought there were forty cameras in there and a mess of computers and the like, with four clocks standing watch over its own time zone. Instead, the room was almost empty except for two cameras. My thought was who is in charge in here anyways? Who keeps the time, the programming moving? I have never been very keen on reporters. One reporter in particular - a national reporter from CNN - really stood out last year when he decided to go wading thru flood waters down town. Law enforcement was not exactly pleased with him! These folks, however, seemed very enthusiastic and pleasant. Well, hopefully they wouldn't put a microphone under my nose.
Dinner was a simple BBQ. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, potato salad. Just enough to feed my tummy. Riding a big Harley is a great thing, but muscling around a 700 pound motorcycle can be a chore. I was hungry food was free - enough said! As we ate, however, I started seeing the faces - the weather guys, the sportscaster, and then the news anchors. Even a couple staff reporters. These are folks who live in front of the camera, who give us the news, weather, and sports. I am now talking to most of these folks as if we were chatting off some picket fence. Cool!
As the staff mingled with those of us in attendance, I was particularly struck by the humor of the evening. Poking fun at each other, talking about Donnie Osmond's loin cloth (OMG!), and the jovial nature that these people seemed to have even while doing their jobs. Why can't we all be this good natured? Why do we carry such heavy baggage emotionally? While I am sure that these folks have their bad days, it struck me as odd that these folks were funny, good natured, even poking fun at themselves. I have met reporters before, but these folks made my evening pleasant and relaxing!
So thank you KGAN - for giving my wife and I a pleasant evening!
Regards,
Boomer
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