It's Normal, I Told Myself

Winter and spring in Minnesota are different in just about every way. Sometime around April, before the air stays warm after sundown, a flurry of interest centers around a ritual known to make grown men cry, dogs to drool more than usual and women to tread softly. It causes a stir on the social calendar. From winter we roll right into the Season of the Grill. 

For those of us on KP, it's a cherished time. Tin foil around broccoli, tin foil around salmon and tin foil around potatoes means scant dishwashing. For those who savor the grilled taste, it's season o' plenty. And for some, it's a way of life. 

Like for Bob, our next door neighbor. I met him for the first time this past week, but already knew more about him than I let on. He likes to grill. Not the easy knob-twist-gas-grill-type. He's hardcore-lets the charcoal reach a good white hot before searing carne. And we're not talking once a week. We're not even talking once a day. On numerous occasions in the past month or so my nostrils have flared for the unmistakable aroma...at breakfast, lunch and then dinner. No kidding. You go, Bob. Grill on. Carry on the tradition of the Season of the Grill.

A Moment's Notice

I make it my business to notice moments. I do a pretty good job of identifying them and recognizing the uniqueness of myriad different ones I encounter, but do a mediocre job of recounting and recording them-there should always be more time to write (sigh). Here's one I couldn't resist. 

You've been there before. That little sandwich shop, sometime mid-afternoon, long after the lunch rush and well before the dinner crowd. You step inside, smell fresh bread and walk to the abandoned register. There's no music playing for ambience, not one other customer and no one to make my sandwich. 

The guy eventually shows up to smile out of duty and take my order. Simple. Until it comes time for payment. I flash my credit card and see an ever-so-slight dilation of his pupils, the way your eyes expand in minimal surprise. He's been here before. I can tell he's scared. Cash would have been far easier.

He swipes the card and waits for it to do its thing. Clearly the machine is using dial-up technology. We wait for two full minutes.

The moment ensues: here we are, two grown men, perhaps nothing in common, perhaps everything-we'll never know. I look to my right, pretending to care about the decor of the place as he looks left, out the window, to notice any change since the last customer. Silence. We both tire and he looks right to check on the ham and salami and turkey in the hopper while I look left, pretending to care about the ingredients of Sun chips. He looks down at the credit card machine as if willing it to crank out that (expletive) receipt and I look down as if willing it to do anything at all. 

We start the routine all over, desperately searching for an object to focus on. We both look left and right and back again and as though a choreographed production is born of this moment, I begin tapping my foot to the silence. 

 

Mandate '08

Sounds like the strategy out of a political camp. A bit misleading. But then so it is with most politics. In actuality, Mandate '08 was a jaunt with Chad down to the Metrodome to watch the hometown boys take on the Bahston Red Sox. 

Last night's bottom of the 9th nail-biter felt more like the division playoffs than an early May regular season game. Now, I wouldn't normally blog about a baseball game, but the whole experience was just so satisfying I couldn't resist. 

Chad and I get to enjoy Mandates (spell it however you may) every once in a while-an evening out, just the guys, wives and children at home. We eat fatty, greasy foods, talk mainly about guy things and in last night's case, watched a great baseball game. 

Boof gave up an early lead and then Rincon came in and everybody in the dome started sweating. For good reason. Rincon blew the lead and we thought we'd see another heartbreaking loss that was well within our grasp. Down 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th, the Twins rallied behind a Delmon Young single and a Carlos Gomez walk (the guy really is amazing to watch). Mike Lamb blooped one into left field off the usually impenetrable Papelbon to win it in dramatic fashion. I haven't seen so many people stay to the end in a long while and the post-win buzz truly felt division-clinching. 

It was a great shared experience. I'm thankful for those kinds of nights. Thanks Chad. Here's looking forward to Mandate '08 II. 

All in a Day's Work

If I were a thrill-seeker, I'd be hard-pressed to top last week's experience. As many of you know, I've been fortunate enough to do a lot of work in the past couple of years for a Global 500 company and have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of great people and work on some creative video projects. I'd have to say that last week, however, takes the cake. 

A few weeks back we were in Atlanta shooting a few interviews for aforementioned company's project on going green. While there, we met a woman who works with their community relationships-namely their giving back to the community. A lot of their efforts center around donating to educational programs and she mentioned that she needed some footage re-shot at the National Teacher of the Year award ceremony and asked, almost in passing, if we would be able to be there for it. We said yes, and when she told us it was at the White House and the President would be presenting the award, we could only answer calmly and collected, "Sure." 

Next thing we know we're calling The Guy with our social security info, state of residence, etc. A day later the budget was confirmed and we booked our plane tickets. 

I'll skip the mundane details of getting there and even arriving the morning of the event (it was pretty wild telling the cab driver we needed to go to the East Entrance of the WH). Once through security (kind of like airport security only they had already done background checks on us), we were in. We were escorted by no fewer than 4 people in the 100 yards it took to walk to the Rose Garden. After setting up our gear, we were again escorted to the area the press hangs out in-a room past another security gate that held about 20 small workspaces. The walk to the Press Briefing room (the one you see on TV) wouldn't have been complete without brushing past Helen Thomas, a White House press fixture. 

We found ourselves waiting for 20 minutes in the seats of the Press Briefing room with all the other media folks-the ones from CNN and AP and such. They were laughing and joking around and talking about poker. We were awestruck and wishing we had brought a camera in. 

The press was called back out to the Rose Garden once all the guests had been seated and the ceremony promptly began. An official-sounding voice came over the PA system and began introducing each of the 50 Teacher of the Year candidates, one at a time, like they were graduates walking across the stage-only they were walking out of the Oval Office, down past the familiar Rose Garden podium and to their seats. 

Once they had all been introduced, there was a long pause. It was probably a last minute security check before the main event, the Moment. From the time we stepped onto the WH grounds, the electricity and buzz was more than evident. It was hard to imagine the security detail present as the seconds ticked down. 

And then came the announcement: "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States, accompanied by the Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and the Teacher of the Year, Michael Geisen. It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. I now stood, holding my own video camera (not camera 1, mind you, but my own camera) 50 feet from arguably the most powerful man on the planet. It was awesome. 

The President talked for a bit, then Michael and then it wrapped when the President thanked all in attendance for coming and walked back from whence he came into his Oval Office. 

It's hard to put into words an experience like this. With all of the pomp and circumstance, the adrenaline of being in one of the most sensitive spots on earth, I realized the privilege it was to experience these short, glowing moments. And in reality (as is the reality for so many who cover the White House press) it was simply another day at the office. 

To see the footage from the event (not our footage, but identical) click here.