Highlights of 2009: Becoming more media savvy

Operation Free

I spent some effort in 2009 to become more media savvy. The community organizing I’ve been doing with the East CAC had led to more media interviews. I’d done a few TV interviews in the past and didn’t like how they came out. I wanted to look my best, so I studied the interviews I’ve done to see how to improve.

I got a chance to try again when NBC 17 called me up out of the blue and needed to interview me right away. I hadn’t shaved that morning, had a few meetings to attend at work, and was wearing the wrong shirt for television, but I couldn’t find anyone else who could do the interview. I rushed home at lunchtime and quickly shaved and changed shirts, meeting the TV crew in the neighborhood right on time.

The interview went pretty well. The resulting clip turned out even better – making me appear coherent and authoritative. It was the best interview I’ve done so far.
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Highlights of 2009: Tornadic storm

The year 2009 was mostly unexceptional, weather wise. Temperatures stayed in the seasonal ranges for a change. We had a spring season that lasted longer than what always seems like two weeks; summer was warm but not broiling hot, with few 100+ degree days; we got plenty of rain, and no hurricanes hit this year. All that considered, there was one notable weather event I’d rather not repeat: a tornadic storm on May 5th.

I’d never been anywhere near a tornado before. I remember as a kid growing up outside Atlanta our parents would rouse us from our sleep and carry us to the hallway where we’d be plopped down in the middle of mattresses while a tornado passed somewhere outside. Then there was that time in 2005 when I heard the frightening sound of wind that seemed alive. That incident prompted me to get a weather radio so that our family would never be surprised again.
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Coming soon: Highlights of 2009

I spent some time this evening putting together my annual list of highlights from the year. What strikes me about 2009 is how … well, dull it’s been by comparison to other years. Sure, some good things have happened, but compared to the scale of things that happened in recent years past 2009 has been a yawner. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, obviously, but it will put my skills to the test when it comes to creating punchy, attention-grabbing writing in documenting it.

Where I’ve worked: W. Bell & Co.

W. Bell & Co. employee card

After my stint at Dart Drug I looked for a company that would value my trustworthiness. It was April 1987. A classmate of mine worked at a catalog showroom store and suggested I apply there. It sounded a bit more professional than what I’d just done, so I filled out an application and got an interview.

The store was W. Bell & Co.: a now-defunct Rockville, MD-based retail catalog showroom chain that once thrived in the D.C. area. My friend worked at the Tysons Corner store doing what I wanted to be doing: selling electronics. The store manager had different plans for me, however: he wanted me to sell jewelry. Jewelry was W. Bell’s mainstay. I gave it a shot and showed up the following Monday wearing slacks and a tie.
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Where I’ve worked: Dart Drug

One of my many nametags

I was mistaken in saying the nameless computer store was my first job in Virginia. That honor actually goes to Dart Drug Corp. Dart Drug was a chain of D.C.-area drug stores similar to CVS only dirtier and much less professional. Dart was the creation of Herbert Haft and his big-haired, feuding family. But well before the Haft family turned on each other the company was going through troubled times. The management of the chain had just bought the company and the business always seemed to be on the brink of collapse.

I had been talked into working there by my friend Evan MacKenzie. It was a job, and even at a pay rate of $3.66 per hour it was better than nothing (or McDonald’s, I figured at the time). I never considered it a long-term employer but it suited my needs for a time. If there’s one good thing about a skimpy paycheck it’s that it’s less likely to bounce. So in September of 1986 I applied for a job and soon pinned on my name badge at the Dart Drug store in the Sugarland Plaza shopping center, 247 Harry Flood Byrd Highway in Sterling, VA.
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Don’t bring a gun to a snowball fight

This weekend’s blizzard dumped over a foot of snow on Washington, D.C. and folks were out Saturday having a good-natured snowball fight. Suddenly a Hummer gets hit with a snowball rolls to a stop. A plainsclothes police officer pulls out his weapon and goes after the crowd. Later the D.C. police claim the officer, Detective Baylor, never unholstered his weapon, in spite of what the video and pictures clearly show.

What’s worse, ABC affiliate WJLA’s horrible reporting pins the blame on “antiwar protesters” dressed in “archist” garb, which from the video appears completely baseless. I suppose anyone who covers his face during a bone-chilling blizzard must be an anti-war anarchist.

I respect the work that police officers do, but Det. Baylor is in obvious need of a long vacation. No one should pull a gun on a snowball fight. Get real.

I feel for the uniformed cop that responded to this call. You can see him pleading with the crowd at 2:28 in the video to just shake it off and keep playing, all but admitting the detective has lost his cool. The guy is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Winter solstice

Today is the winter solstice: the first day of winter and the start of the sun’s long climb back up the sky. Not only that, it’s a beautiful, sunny (if cold), peaceful day. It’s the kind of day that makes me glad to be alive.

Hey man watch this!

After going a year without wearing my watch, on Friday I finally got the band fixed. I took it to a jeweler right outside of my neighborhood. Not only did I get my best watch fixed, I dropped a bag of watches needing batteries on him, too. Those will take longer for him to fix, as he’s slammed with holiday business at the moment.

It’s weird having a watch after not having one for so long. It sure looks nice, though!

(The title comes from a redneck’s last words, of course).