Claire Aiello's Blog: Too Many Hats

Thoughts on 2009

2009-01-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

"Bless me father, for I have sinned. It's been a month since my last blog post."

Anwyay, here I am again.. with some thoughts on the New Year. I have to say I'm hopeful about 2009.

I have hopes that the economy will improve. Let's hope so, because I get downright nauseous when I look at my monthly financial statements. But I know it's been that way for everyone - businesses, families - no one is immune to these money troubles and we can only hope it will get better.

More importantly, I'm hopeful for my family. My husband Joey and I have been blessed with two beautiful, healthy children who are growing up too fast! Elena is 3 1/2, and Nick is 7 months.

One of my goals for 2009, going forward, is to take better care of myself so I can be around to enjoy their children one day!

I took a step in that direction recently with a deep tissue massage. I went to see the folks at Terrame - they were WONDERFUL. I was speechless afterwards. It felt GREAT to get away from the stress of work, parenting and everything else. Basically, I put myself first. I hardly ever do that - and I know as a mother and wife it's just about impossible - but I want to be here many years from now, to be with my family.

Lately, it seems we can't keep the house clean. Part of it is the holiday craziness, but when we put the Christmas decorations away, that just means there will be more room for Elena to throw toys all over the place. The mess bothers me to NO end - but I also know my kids won't remember that. They'll remember that Joey and I spent time playing with them.

That's one of my resolutions - to try to relax more.

Oh, and my mom is coming to visit this weekend.. so I guess we have to clean up tonight.

Saturday Protests

2008-12-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

Most Saturdays, I happily drive by two groups of protestors at the intersection of Airport Road and Whitesburg Drive in Huntsville. I say happily, because both of these groups have my support.

On one corner, you'll see the group that supports the military. They hold signs with messages like "Support our Troops," "Freedom Isn't Free" and "Honk if You Love America."

On the other corner, the peace supporters. "End the War," "Bring Our Boys Home" and "We Support The Soldiers, Too" are some of their weekly themes.

I don't understand why these two groups have to be on opposite sides of the street. I don't see their messages as two different things. We can't choose peace without supporting our soldiers, because the soldiers are the ones who keep the peace. And they are the reason we are free. So are they going to continue to be on opposite sides every week?

C'mon guys, it's Christmas. Maybe you could try to stand together just once. You might like it. Now THAT would send a strong message.

In the meantime, I'll continue to beep at both groups and give them a big thumbs up as I drive by.

Black Friday - I'd Rather Be Working!

2008-11-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

And I am. I would MUCH rather be here at the station than fighting the crowds. A few years ago, I had Black Friday off and my husband and I made the mistake of getting up at 6am and going to Best Buy.

What were we thinking? The line was already wrapped around the building, much like it was this morning.

These pictures are from the Best Buy in Florence, taken by NewsChannel 19 all-around handyman Brian Covington. Some UNA students had a good idea - wait in line, then sell their spots. It beats selling plasma!

My husband and I ended up getting a few small things that year (video games for our nephews, a CD or two for us) and then we had to wait in line for nearly 2 hours.

Never again. I won't sacrifice my sanity for the savings! Maybe I'll do a little shopping online, though.

Just Vote, People

2008-11-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

The kids are asleep, and I've got about an hour til bedtime. If this note strikes a chord with one person, it will be worth it.

Just vote tomorrow. This year we've heard plenty from both sides. God, am I ready for it to be over. If we have to do one more day of pre-election coverage I think I'm going to go nuts. It has been an ugly election season, with candidates taking jabs at each other and going for very low blows.

I'll definitely vote tomorrow. I always vote - I'm 32 and have voted in every election since I registered in college. I even vote at the low-turnout runoffs.

So, that gives me a right to complain, since I vote. I try not to complain too much, though, because we have it pretty darn good, living in America. We enjoy more freedoms here than people in many other countries can imagine.

I don't care who you vote for tomorrow. Just vote. America will survive no matter who wins. And yes, your vote does matter. Alabama's electoral votes may already be all but promised to the red side, but your vote does matter in the local races.

And, we can't wait to take the calls in the newsroom tomorrow -

"Where's my polling precinct?"

"I went to vote, but my name wasn't on the list. I'm outraged! Give me the number for the voter fraud hotline!"

"They said I wasn't registered. I didn't know I had to be registered to vote!"

"Who's running again?"

Yep. We get these over and over on election day! What an interesting day it will be.

See you on the web tomorrow night! Check out WHNT.com for full coverage of Tuesday's races.

I Was Worried...

2008-10-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

I am a journalist by trade, so I can't come out and say "I'm a Democrat" or "I'm a Republican" or whatever I am -- so I like to keep people guessing about my political leanings.

This story from the Associated Press today...

Officials say a new fence erected on the Alabama coast appears to be protecting the endangered Alabama red-bellied turtle.

Read more on WHNT.com. According to the experts who keep up with the turtle population, only 19 of these have been born so far this year. I could fit that many in my purse.

The Alabama Department of Transportation put up the low-barrier fence along about three miles of the highway.

Cute little guy... but how much did that fence cost us?

At any rate, I'd rather save him than the ancient Alabama Sturgeon.

Bama is #2, and That's OKAY!

2008-10-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

If you haven't guessed by now, I'm not one of those Bama fans who gets caught up in the AP poll ranking. I'm glad we are still at #2 - the #1 thing is a curse. And, yes, I fully expect we'll get screwed out of the national championship game because of the BCS thing.

So, I'm enjoying the Tide's undefeated ride while it lasts. (Setting my expectations low, so that I enjoy the surprises that are still to come.)

All that said, check out this video montage one of our sports guys at WHNT put together this weekend. It aired on our college football show, "The Game". The Saban clips are what make it for me.

ROLL TIDE!

Bama Gets Ugly Win, But Cute New Cheerleader

2008-10-07T09:27:00.001-07:00

Joey and I took Elena to her first Alabama game this past weekend. The Tide played Kentucky, and thank goodness, got the win, 17-14. Not a pretty game, and super hot - but look at Alabama's newest cheerleader!

Here we are with the famous Denny Chimes in the background. Do you like her cheerleader uniform? I got it just for this occasion. I was never a cheerleader myself (big shock there) but I think she looks pretty adorable.

Here we are at the game.. early on, before she got fed up with sitting down for several hours. The second half was long, hot and brutal, but we made it. I don't know the lady who sat in front of us, but I thanked her repeatedly for not getting too mad when Elena kicked her, (repeatedly).

Here's Elena enjoying the inflatable games on the Quad before kickoff.

And Joey with his little princess.

My aunt Nancy and uncle Gary kept Nick for us while we took Elena on this special outing. It took alot of energy -- Joey said this morning we may not do it again for 4 or 5 more years. :)

This Election is Stressing Me Out

2008-09-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Man, am I ready for October 7 to come and go (municipal election day). Moreso, though, November 4 can't get here fast enough (or, should I say, November 5).

I'm not going to be one of those journalists who tells you who I'm going to vote for - that's not my job, and it's unprofessional. Too many media people do that these days.

I'll leave it at this -- my mind is made up, and it's an easy choice for me on each of the races (presidential, congressional, and mayoral).

I will say all the news coverage is stressing me out. Campaigns are nasty this year. Candidates may say they're going to keep on the "high road" but that went out the window months ago for a few of them. They'll do anything it takes to win these days.

Whoever you vote for - just vote. Get registered now. Don't put it off. And don't whine when you have to wait in line for a few minutes (or more) on election day. Don't let that discourage you from voting, either. It's a beautiful thing to see the polls packed on election day. It means people want change, and they're willing to do something about it.

And no, I didn't give away my presidential choice there. Aren't both candidates preaching that these days?

New Picture of Nick

2008-09-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a new picture of our son, Nicholas Joseph Aiello ("Nick"). He's almost 4 months old now!
No, he's not named after Nick Saban. Joey and I just both like the name. More pics soon.. I've got my digital camera back, thank God.

Who's the Man? Saban's the Man!

2008-09-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Today, another post about why I love Nick Saban. No, not because he led the Crimson Tide to victory this past weekend over Clemson. That was nice, by the way.

I love that Saban speaks his mind. Namely, he's not afraid to bring fans, alumni and others in the UA establishment back down from Cloud 9 and tell them to chill out.

"It's one game. You know, confidence can screw you up, confidence can be a good thing, but what our players need to understand, what our fans need to understand, what everybody needs to understand, it's one game. It's one game. Alright? And we need to keep playing better, and we need to improve, and our players need to have the focus to improve, and remember how they got where they got, rather than think we can just show up now and think we can beat whoever we play, because we have a tendency to think that way around here, instead of just kicking people's a** like you're supposed to, and working to do it. Alright?"

Then, the clincher... "So when you ask me those kind of questions, it really pi**es me off."

Saban then told the reporter he wasn't ticked off at him for asking it, just the mentality of it.

Watch all of Saban's post-game comments here.

So... did the media listen? Hell no. Look what hits the newstands a few days later:

This isn't going to help one bit. I wish the national sports media would just ignore us till about game 5 or 6 in the season. If we're doing well by then, GREAT.. give us some good coverage.. bring the ESPN College Gameday crew.. but doing this stuff early in the season just sets us up for failure.

Our football fan base has been drooling for another national championship since 1992. And every year, they get their hopes up when we beat a big team early on, and then wonder what happened to our golden run when we lose to a team like Louisiana-Monroe.

I quit getting my hopes up in the late 90s, and ever since then, I've been a realist. It's good to enjoy an Alabama win, but if we don't win every weekend, my life will still go on. We'll live to see another day. The world won't fall apart.

I tell you, though, I don't envy the sports reporters who have to ask Saban questions after the game. That takes courage.

Off the subject, I finally saw "The Dark Knight" this weekend. It rocked.

Peace!

Custom Cabinets!

2008-08-08T13:49:00.000-07:00

I got to do something really fun this past weekend. We built some HUGE storage cabinets for the garage!

This was taken after they were finished.. so we were sweaty and glad to be finished with the three-day project. We also had my cousin's wedding to attend later that day, so we had to get them done.

Inside, that's me, Elena and my mom's friend Bob, who came up from Florida to help build them. I say "help", but that was more my job.. "Bob the Builder" was in charge and he knew what he was doing. I really had fun, too... I learned a lot about construction, and learned that things never go quite according to plan. But, you improvise along the way and it turns out even better.

These cabinets are 8' high, and our ceiling is about 8' 4" high - so it got a little tricky to stand them up once we had them built.. we knocked out a lightbulb in the process, but oh well. No one got hurt.

I also got to use a drill and circular saw over the course of the three days we worked, so that was FUN! It's alot easier to saw 2x4's than it is to saw a big sheet of plywood. Almost had a scare there.. but we got through it.

Now we have plenty of room to store our stuff! THANKS BOB!!

New Family Pics

2008-08-08T13:45:00.001-07:00

Here are a few family pictures...

This one is taken at my cousin Mike's wedding. It was good having all the family on my side come to Huntsville for a change!

Here's Elena at the YMCA pool... she loves to swim!

Elena in her watermelon dress from Grandma Peggy... who she calls "Peggy," not Grandma, by the way...

Elena in her Cinderella dress - a birthday gift from Daddy.

I need to take a few more pictures of Nick, I know.

Back to the Grind

2008-08-04T14:06:00.000-07:00

Well, today marked my return to work. I will admit I cried all the way in, after dropping off Nick at daycare. It was so hard to leave him -- my little boy is going to grow up so fast!

Elena spent a few extra hours with my Mom, and I'll pick both kids up later today.

My first day back went pretty well... things haven't changed too much, and I only had 9,341 emails waiting in my inbox! I'd say 8,900 of them were spam. We get a lot of spam here at WHNT. Wish someone could figure out how to block it. The subject lines are pretty risque'.

If you've sent me an email in the past few months and are waiting on a response, please write again. Chances are it got lost in the oblivion.

Record Profits, Again

2008-08-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

I bet this story ticked many of you off, just as it did me. In today's edition of the Huntsville Times, "Exxon Mobil earns the biggest profit ever."

While we all suffer!!!!

Before you tell me to "go green" - I am working on it. I have used less gas this summer, and I'm trying to be smart about where I drive, keep my errands close together, etc. It has helped that I've been home with the kids, too, this summer, but I am all about not having to fill up the tank as much as I can.

And, prices have dropped a few cents. Bless their black hearts.

Screw 'em. These rich oil companies will get what's coming to them. Prayer at the pump won't help... the executives should start praying for their souls.

Movie Review: Mamma Mia!

2008-07-26T20:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Allison and I went to see "Mamma Mia!" today. My first outing leaving both kids at home with my husband (and I turned off the cell phone)!

I looked online after the film, and sadly, I had a hard time finding a good review -- but that's what I'm about to write.

My first experience with Mamma Mia! was with Huntsville's Broadway Theatre League a few years ago. The play was fantastic -- the characters so alive, with the pairing of the ABBA music -and a great love story with a twist I didn't expect - so I had high hopes for the film.

I freaked when I saw the trailer for it before "Sex in the City" - OMG! A movie version! That, and "The Dark Knight," both in the same summer?

So, I'm not a film critic -- I don't go to the movies with a pen and paper to jot down notes throughout the experience. I go for, well, an "experience." I judge a film overall, and don't let one or two bad apples in it spoil the whole thing.

Meryl Streep was wonderful - I wasn't sure what I'd think of her, but she played a tough, but fun, broad ("Donna") who's had a hard life raising her daughter Sophie and keeping a hotel running on a Greek island. She sang well, too. I did wish someone would give her a bobbypin or two, to keep some of her hair back, but she carried the film well. Her two BFF's, played by Julie Walters and Christine Baranski, are awesome too. The three of them are really fun to watch together. I hope when I have reunions with my girlfriends 10 or 20 years from now, we're that crazy!

An aside - ask Dan Satterfield what he thinks of Meryl Streep if you ever run into him. His answer might throw you for a loop.

Back to the movie. Pierce Brosnan plays "Sam," the leading man who hasn't been in Donna's life for 20 years, and is suddenly back after Donna's daughter, Sophie, invites him and two other men to attend her wedding. One of the three men is Sophie's father, and Donna doesn't know they're coming.

The others two actors (Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard) sing very little, and frankly, I wish Pierce would have sang a little less, too. Ladies, we know why he got the role. He looks GOOD.

(But isn't there another handsome leading man out there who tried out for this role, who could sing a little better? He was a little painful to listen to.)

Amanda Seyfried plays young Sophie, the betrothed, and is no doubt the strongest singer in the film. I really enjoyed her performance. She was fun, bright, enthusiastic, all the things a bride should be in the 24 hours leading up to her wedding.

I won't go into what happens in the film, or name all of the players, because you can read that elsewhere, and it's late and I'm tired. Those of you who have seen the play know what happens and if you liked the play, you'll like the movie. (Well, I did, but some out there in web land don't necessarily agree with me.)

Judging on the whole experience, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. Any fun movie musical with a good love story tied in has my support.

Two Wedding Showers, a Baptism and Birthday Party

2008-07-23T06:16:00.000-07:00

Whew. What a busy weekend. It is Wednesday morning now, so I know the weekend is way over, but we're just catching our breath.

Had a busy few events this past weekend -- I helped host two wedding showers on Saturday - one during the afternoon for my cousin, Mike Suckow, and his fiancee, Jennifer Rice. They'll be married on August 3. Then, on Saturday evening, I helped host another shower, this one for my good friend, Allison Palmer and her fiancee Jason Blackburn. They'll get married on August 9.

Those went well - thank God they weren't at my house. That would have been too much!

The next day, Nick was baptized, on his 2-month birthday, at Good Shepherd Catholic Church. To be honest, we never got our camera out of our purse, with all the craziness, but plenty of our friends and family took pictures. My good friend Deanna Lawley is Nick's godmother and is going to send me a CD with pics.. I'll add a few when it arrives. Thanks, Dee!

Sunday afternoon, Elena's 3rd birthday party. We did a "Wizard of Oz" themed event and Elena wore her Dorothy costume from last Halloween. We played some cute games, "find the ruby slippers in the yard," "pin the heart on the tin man" and "break the somewhere-over-the-rainbow pinata."

I warn you, if you even think about doing a pinata at a party for your child, have a few extra adults on hand to keep the kids back! We had a few wander dangerously close to the child with the bat. Phew! That would have been disastrous! But no one got hurt, thank goodness.

We had a wonderful time, but honestly, much of it is a blur to me. It was really hectic trying to keep up with all the kids!

Dee helped serve as the photographer for that event, too. Will post some pics soon.

Hope you're doing well! I return to work on August 4th. Can't say I've missed it.. it will be good to have some adult conversation, though. I think my brain has turned to mush.

:) Claire

Welcome Baby Nick!

2008-06-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been trying to find time to blog for the last few weeks. It's hard to type with a baby in one hand, though. Usually that just allows me to check emails, if anything, and respond back with one or two-word answers.

Nicholas Joseph Aiello arrived on May 20, 2008 at 7:04am. My instincts were wrong on him, I "guessed" he would be a girl, but God had other plans! That's fine.. my husband had the happiest look on his face when our doctor said "it's a boy" and I immediately burst into tears (happy tears).

Joey rushed over with the video camera as the nurses cleaned him and weighed him, and I asked the nurse "is he a good size?" because I hadn't seen him yet, behind the C-section curtain. She said yes.. and soon afterward, I heard the neonatologist say "8 pounds 5 ounces" - HOLY CRAP! I had no idea he'd be so big. I was so thankful! Twenty-one and a half inches long, too.

A few moments later, the neonatologist brought Nick over, and I gave him a kiss before he took him to the nursery with Joey.

In recovery, the nurse told me Nick went right to the "well-baby" nursery - more happy tears. That means I'd get to see him soon!

Then, my husband did what I really didn't think I had to ask him NOT to do - he took a cell phone picture of the baby, "family jewels" included, and emailed it to our friends and family. Geez, babe. (I won't post that one here -- I'll spare my child the misery, and I'll spare you.)

What can I say, Joey is a proud father.

I had to put some makeup on, because when I called the newsroom to let them know the good news, my co-worker Amber Stuart said "oh, we have to come and get video of you and Nick - TODAY." Let me tell you something, Amber. Wait until you're on morphine, 3 hours out of surgery.. you won't feel up to having a news crew come into your hospital room. Oh well. At least I didn't have to get out of bed.

Here's Joey with his new son. He wore an Alabama shirt that day, and told all the nurses "if it's a boy, what do you think about Nicholas Saban Aiello?"

It was just a joke. We aren't freaks.

Nick has blue eyes and blondish/brown hair.. funny, he really looks like his big sister did at that age (with one major difference).

I can't say enough about the doctors, nurses and the rest of the caring staff at Huntsville Hospital for Women and Children. I had such a wonderful experience there, just as I did when I delivered Elena, and I thank all of them so much. When I get a chance to breathe maybe I'll bake some cookies and take them over!

Nick is a great baby - he's 4 weeks old now, and eats well, and sleeps pretty well, for the most part. Most nights, he's up 2-3 times, but last night, he woke up just once - so that was fantastic. I think I'm sleepier the mornings after a good night's sleep than the other nights when I'm up more.

Elena is taking well to him, too - she loves her little brother and is so protective of him!

I hope you are all doing well. I certainly don't miss work... maternity leave will be over before I know it, so I'm cherishing this time with my children. I am reminded how hard stay-at-home moms have it, though. I couldn't do this all the time. It is TOUGH! My mom had Elena in Florida for 2 weeks while I recovered, and my sister came up to help, also. Now, I'm on my own with the kids during the day, and I really do have to take it one day at a time.

My daughter has her temper tantrums from time to time, and we've really had to enforce time outs lately.

More updates as soon as I find time... I also hope to post a few movie reviews soon, on Sex and the City, and Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Also, the Top 5 DVDs to watch while on maternity leave!

Later!

Baby #2 Arrives Next Week!

2008-05-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Hello blog world!

Well, the big day is almost here. And frankly, I'm ready to not be "big" anymore as you'll see in the pictures my co-worker Brittian took of me this morning. Another co-worker of mine, Shane, asked me the other day if I was ready to "drop it like it's hot." I slapped him.

I'm scheduled for my C-Section the morning of Tuesday, May 20th.

My husband Joey and I are ready to meet our new son or daughter! Please keep me in your prayers that everything goes well. I have faith that it will.

On that subject, I tried to get my doctor to "guess" the baby's gender yesterday, just for fun (no ultrasound or anything, just a guess) -- and he wouldn't go for it. He jokingly replied "How about I guess on Tuesday?"

I even said "I'm not going to go home and paint the room pink or blue depending on what you say..." but he wouldn't budge. Maybe people have sued over that in the past???

I'll be on maternity leave for a while. I am definitely ready for a break from work -- but I know this won't be a vacation by any means. There will be plenty to keep me busy at home! My colleague, Tonarius Gooden, will fill in on web duties during my absence. Take it easy on him! There's a lot that goes into maintaining WHNT.com on a daily basis.

Our daughter Elena is really excited about the new baby. My Mom is also here to help for a few weeks, then my sister will come up for another week.

I have to say comparing this delivery to my first, I'm much more excited about it. Yes, it won't be fun to recover, or lose sleep for a while, but I am so blessed to be able to have children. I have a few friends who are struggling right now with getting pregnant.

And frankly, I'm not worried because I've been through it already. I was so scared before I had Elena -- scared about the C-section (I was crying as the nurses wheeled me in to the operating room), scared I'd feel the 'cut'...

And moreso, scared that I wouldn't know what to do with a baby -- I wouldn't know how to react when she cried, or got sick, basically, how to take care of her.

I honestly learned -- and this is the advice I give to all new parents, (if they ask) -- that all you need is love. Yeah, it's a Beatles song - but it's the truth. If you just take time to love the precious gift you're given, the rest comes with instinct. All my worries cleared up the moment I held Elena for the first time. Yes, there were certainly some challenges - nursing, crying (me and her), but it all worked out!

I have to say I said more special prayers to Mary that week than any other of my life, for support with nursing. As a mother, I knew she'd understand my frustrations and worries. Mary definitely came through!

Anyway, I don't want to gross any of you out. No more talk about that subject, at least on this blog.

My only worry this time is how to afford the cost of two kids in daycare. GEEZ!!!

News stories that drive me crazy...

2008-04-30T11:34:00.001-07:00

There are a few stories in the news lately that have had me itching to comment.

Let's start with the polygamy story in Texas. First of all, I don't want to criticize these people, because many of them don't know any different. I say "don't know different," not "don't know better," because this has been their lifestyle for generations. This is how they were brought up, how their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were brought up.

I just don't understand how girls that young have to be "baby factories." New developments in the case this week showed that out of 53 girls, between ages 14 and 17, 31 of them had been, or are currently pregnant.

GOOD LORD!!

When I was between 14 and 17, I was enjoying high school, playing basketball and softball at St. Joseph Academy in St. Augustine, Florida and starting my first job. That was at Golden Corral in Palatka (great job, by the way).

I didn't have my first child until I was 28, and if all goes well, I'll have my second child in a few weeks, at age 31. I chose to wait that long, because it's a choice. Had other things to do first, I guess... college, marriage, get my career going... I could have chosen to have children earlier, but this was how it worked out for me.

I just feel so bad this is how they are taught their lives have to be. This is their duty, to bear children, over and over, starting at such an early age. They don't know any different because that's how they've been brought up, and that's how their parents and grandparents were brought up, too.

Now, I am not one to criticize another person's religion. I am Catholic, and there are some misunderstandings about my religion, so I've had some people ask me why we pray to idols and worship saints, the Pope, etc... when we should be praying directly to God. (That's a topic for another post.)

What I'm saying is, there are questions about my religion. There are questions about other religions... I feel bad for Mormons who have people ask them all the time why their church allows this, when they split off from these fundamentalist sects several hundred years ago.

But polygamy -- why does this continue to exist?

The next story that has me saying "seriously???" The shark attack, off the California coast.

A great white killed a triathlete named David Martin. This is a very unfortunate story, and Martin no doubt suffered a great deal of pain in the attack.

What irks me are the news organizations who repeatedly say "the hunt is on for the great white shark" that killed this man. Really?? Are there search crews out there with sonar looking for this shark?

What are these teams going to do with them if they find him, anyway? Cuff him and stuff him? Take him to shark court and charge him with murder?

The big guy is long gone.

Disney World Visit

2008-03-13T08:48:00.001-07:00

Time for a fun post. I've been meaning to post these pictures since late DECEMBER... but hey, the title of my blog is "Too Many Hats" and sometimes all those things dominate my time.

(Yeah, yeah.. give me some wine and cheese to go with that...)

My husband Joey and I took Elena to Disney World during our December visit to Florida to see my family. It was awesome, and this picture just sums it up...

I grew up in Florida, and loved going to Disney World. But it's a different experience when you take your child. You realize that Disney is for kids, and that's GREAT!! It's even better when you experience it with them, seeing their face light up when they see the characters in the parade, etc... I highly recommend the parades. That was the best part for us.

Here's another funny one... it was PACKED the day we went -- not an empty bench to be found. Being the week after Christmas, I didn't expect that, but apparently, that's one of the busiest weeks.

However, we hung in there, and Elena took her nap on Daddy's shoulder in our 1 1/2 hour wait for the Haunted House. I tried to help as I could, but being 5 1/2 months pregnant at the time, I couldn't offer too much assistance.

We figured we'd squeeze it in and she might sleep through the Haunted House? NO. Just as we got on the black cars to start the ride, she wakes up! I said "oh dear... I hope this doesn't scare her..." but she was a trooper. She loved it. Luckily, Disney's Haunted House is more fun anyway... the ghosts aren't too scary and are more on the fun side.

At the end, as we walked outside, she said "I see GHOSTS, Mommy! I see GHOSTS!" and smiled.

Thank goodness!

Next time we'll find a less busy time to visit Disney, if that's possible.. but we will be back. I learned one other thing.. you learn a new meaning to the phrase "watch your kids like a HAWK" when you're there.

Nothing to fear... but now I understand why some families use those "kid leashes" in places like this.

The 60 Minutes Debacle

2008-02-27T14:40:00.001-08:00

The past few days have been some of the most frustrating I've ever had, working in local news.

We had a technical error on our end that caused our CBS 60 Minutes broadcast on "The Prosecution of Don Siegelman" to go to black, just as the show was beginning.

Many of our viewers have been highly suspicious of us "blacking out the program" at that very moment. They have a right to be. There are some in the media who abuse their power.

Our satellite receiver failed at the worst possible time. But that's all there is to it. I could go into more, but I am plain TIRED of even thinking about this issue.

By the way, I was waiting at home at 6pm, looking forward to seeing Scott Pelley's report.

We've been bashed on the Internet, blog posts, national news, you name it. Keith Olbermann even put his on his "worst" list Monday night on MSNBC. Thanks, Keith, for taking the side of all the Internet rumors and not calling WHNT to get our side of the story.

Media people like Keith are why.... well, I've already written a blog on him.

We've heard every curse word in the book thrown at us since Sunday night -- in phone calls and e-mails.

One viewer today wrote that we should go stick our head up Karl Rove's you-know-where. Well, thank you.

We still provided a courteous and TRUTHFUL reply to that viewer about what happened, as we did to the hundreds who e-mailed us. Some were nice enough to write back. Some accepted our explanation and thanked us for the job we do here.

Some wrote back, still skeptical, but thanking us nonetheless for caring to provide a response.

Many others didn't write back.. who knows if our emails made a difference in their lives.

We believe in being open and honest about what happened, and we have been, even with the people who have dog-cussed us out. We're a local news station. Stuff breaks from time to time.

Yes, it even malfunctions on a Sunday night when no engineer is on the clock and we expect our CBS receiver to work well, just like it usually does.

This is not the first time we've had an equipment failure at NewsChannel 19. We lost power to the building a few weeks ago, during the 10pm news. Yet, the show must go on.. so we did go on... and did the news with very minimal lighting, in some cases, flashlights. It was primitive, but we presented the news, which is our job.

We lost power to the entire station (yes, a real blackout) last year, mid-afternoon one weekday. Yet, we still went on the air at 5pm and with hand-written scripts, weather graphics on a dry-erase board. Sure, our competition probably laughed at us. But we had no other choice. It happened, and you have to roll with the punches in local news.

We all seem to have 'black eyes' after the last few days.

I just don't have any energy to type about this issue anymore. We've apologized as much as we can apologize, and we got permission from CBS to re-air the Siegelman piece not ONCE, but TWICE, and we thank CBS for allowing us to do so. We also made the entire 12-minute report available on WHNT.com.

Some people still think we're Nazis. You know what I have to say to that?

My favorite line in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - when Jones says "Nazis. I hate Nazis."

And I do. Can't wait for Indiana Jones #4, by the way. Even though I will probably be at home nursing a newborn, and might not be able to see it for another month or two...

I don't stand for censorship, and I wouldn't work at a station that asked us to censor things on the news. I wouldn't work at one where I even SUSPECT that it happened behind the scenes by one of my co-workers.

I don't feel that way about WHNT. I love the people I work with. They're good people. They're caring journalists. We are members of the north Alabama community -- we live here -- we shop here -- we go to church here -- our children go to school here.

We're your neighbors. Please stop hating us.

In closing, check out some of the blogs my co-workers have written on the 60 Minutes issue. Each of these people are stand-up, solid journalists whom I deeply respect.

Steve Johnson, Anchor/Reporter

Greg Screws, Anchor/Reporter

Denise Vickers, News Director and Station Manager

Patrick Ary, News Producer

Peace,
Claire

A Life Update

2008-02-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged recently, and I could blame it on work, but that wouldn't be original. Life has been busy, and things are going great.

I feel comfortable announcing to the world that I'm expecting another child!

In fact, I've had the great privilege of using a special new parking space at NewsChannel 19! Our general manager, Stan Pylant, recently added it, and until another pregnant woman presents herself in our building, I'll enjoy it. (I would love to share it with someone, I feel guilty using it!)

I'm 24 weeks along now, and am due in late May. Will probably deliver in mid-May by planned C-section. Trust me, I wish I could go the natural way, with no epidural. I'm that kind of girl. However, with my first child, the doctor recommended a C-section because of my past medical history (I had spina bifida as a child) so I took his advice. I don't regret it for a minute.

I thought it might make me less of a mother, not going through labor pains, etc.. but there is plenty you do after that surgery that makes up for it, trust me!

Please keep me in your prayers. It has been a relatively easy pregnancy so far... I'm just feeling "bigger" which is normal. My husband Joey and I are very excited, and will find out the gender of the baby when he or she is born. I'm old-fashioned that way, and he'd love to find out, but would tell me in about 5 minutes. Our friends and I like to tease him that he is a one-man communication system -- "Telephone, television, Tell-a-Joey."

Elena, my 2 1/2 year old, understands we're having a baby, but doesn't know that it will be a boy OR a girl, not both. We ask her all the time what she thinks the baby is -- a boy, or a girl? And she replies "boy-girl" or "brother-sister."

She's going to be a wonderful big sister. I just hope we can adjust to having 2 little ones around the house. It will be a big change!

More to come soon... I hope to post some pictures of our December trip to Disney World.

Good Music, Bad Music

2007-12-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

First, the bad music.

My friend and coworker Amber Stuart has some, well, questionable taste in music. Some of her music choices I like -- for example, Robin Thicke.

Not this one.

Recently, Amber bought the new Britney Spears CD, 'Blackout.' God knows why. And even worse, she admits it to the world in her new blog post.

I applaud her for the two other CDs she bought. Those are reputable musicians. Spears is not.

While we're on the subject of music, I want to talk about one of my favorite musicians. I saw Keith Urban in concert this past weekend at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center.

Urban is something else on stage. He's taken some hits in his personal life, and the tabloids bash him quite a bit, but they should stick to Britney Spears. Urban has talent and deserves a break.

He seems happy, and much of that is probably due to his new wife, Nicole Kidman. I love the two of them together. Wish she had been there, but he did dedicate a song to her with his charming Aussie accent! I really hope the two of them make it. It's wonderful to see them both so happy.

Back to the concert. Mary Calurso of The Birmingham News posted this review of the concert, and I have to say she is dead on. Mary, I apologize if some of what you wrote bleeds over in to my blog. I don't mean for it to. I just think you and I agree on many points about the concert.

I don't go for grungy rock stars, but Urban doesn't fall in to that category. Some might say he does, but there are plenty of ladies out there who will agree when I say that Urban gives me goosebumps. He can sing.. play the guitar, piano, drums, and really rocks the crowd. Even the guys who attended Saturday's concert had a good time.

Urban was also very gracious to the crowd. You could tell it's been a challenging year for him, and he's glad to be back on solid ground, which I believe he is.

My friend and I especially enjoyed watching a cowboy with too-tight jeans slide back and forth across the aisle.

We also enjoyed the Bob Jones High School drumline, from Madison, AL. They joined Urban on stage at the end of the song "I Told You So", which has a heavy drumbeat.

They only played for about a minute, but were STELLAR. The crowd loved them! I was really looking forward to this part of the concert because one of our NewsChannel 19 photojournalists, Colby Knight, profiled the drumline getting ready for their performance a few weeks ago.

The drumline's advisor says the students didn't actually get to meet Urban, which disappointed me a bit, but they did get to hang out with the crew. And the crowd made them feel very appreciated, too.

This is the second time I've seen Keith Urban live. He continues to get better.. because he has more songs in his repertoire now. He performed for more than 2 hours this time, as opposed to his concert in Huntsville last year, which was still good, but not as long.

Did I mention he is SEXY?????? Can't wait to see him on his next trip to Alabama.

Happy Thanksgiving, and I Love Nick Saban

2007-11-20T12:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Hope you have a good Turkey Day and enjoy your family.
Notice, I said "enjoy." Yes, I know that's not easy all the time... but they mean well. Some just don't know any better.

On to my thought for the day. Nick Saban. The man keeps Bama fans, and media folks, on our toes.

I don't envy Saban. He has one of the toughest jobs of anyone in the world. He's the head coach of the University of Alabama football team, for those of you who don't follow sports. He's caught flack from all directions this year, and he makes a zillion bucks, so he can handle it.

At the beginning of the season, Bama fans thought we'd win the National Championship this year. I didn't. Would've loved to see it happen, but I'm a realist.

Saban's not perfect. Neither is his team. He's trying to clean up a mess left behind by the last coaching staff, when I guess they ran around like hoodlums, as we are led to believe.

Saban's latest comments have some people in an uproar.

The Iron Bowl is this week, and we've lost our last two games to Mississippi State and Louisiana/Monroe, both of them at home. Not good. Not good at all. And the heat is on to beat, well, let me say "compete" against Auburn.

On Monday, Saban brought up two major events in American history, 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, in the same thought as Alabama's recent losing streak. He was trying to make a point that after those two things happened, America responded and came out stronger because of them. And, in turn, Bama would learn from its recent embarassments and do the same.

I watched the comments this morning (watch them here for yourself). I see what he meant. But others think the comments were too strong. Judge for yourself.

I don't expect a win against Auburn this weekend. I expect the hand, and a new thumb. (That means 6 losses in a row to our in-state rival). And I don't think the score will be close.

Are we not at rock bottom yet? God, I hope so. But Saban is trying to turn the Alabama football program around, and I think he's doing the right thing. He suspends players who don't follow the rules. I think he knows what he's doing.

The thing I love about Saban is he doesn't care what anyone else thinks. It's his way or the highway, and he's proving that. I'm glad I don't work for him... I couldn't handle it. But Alabama needs some stern leadership, and we've got it now. What's left of the old regime at the Capstone is learning that, and they might not be there much longer. GOOD.

No, Saban's not perfect. Some think he's supposed to be, because he makes more money than Oprah. Well, not that much. But let's have some faith in what he's trying to do.

Bama will ROLL again, maybe not this year or next. But we'll get there. I just hope our fans and alumni let Saban hang around long enough to prove he and the team can do it.

Halloween 2007

2007-11-07T08:22:00.001-08:00

I've been trying to get around to posting these photos for a few days now. We had a great Halloween this year. My husband Joey and I always make a point to dress up, and this year, our two-year-old daughter got into the spirit, too. This is the first year she actually 'understood' it was Halloween, and definitely wanted to go for the candy!

Joey and Elena went for the "Wizard of Oz" theme, because Elena loves the movie right now. Don't they look great? Elena is Dorothy and Joey is the Scarecrow. I love how he really gets into the Halloween spirit.

Before you say anything, I did try to find a Wizard-related costume, but didn't have any luck. I was going to be 'adult Dorothy' but couldn't find a costume. I could have been the wicked witch, but didn't want to have to mess with green face and hand paint, or find a Glenda "good witch" costume.

Hence, I was Medusa. She was always my favorite character from Greek mythology.

Medusa would fool men - she appeared beautiful at first, but one look could turn men to stone.

I was impressed that most people knew who I was this year!

Hope you and your family had a great Halloween, too.

Reminiscing...

2007-10-30T11:43:00.001-07:00

My colleague Carson Clark recently wrote a post about his first week at NewsChannel 19. He recently marked his 8th anniversary as a full-time staff member, although he interned here before that.

Carson and I go way back. We worked in Tuscaloosa together, and both went to the University of Alabama. I remember he came to intern at our old station, NewsChannel 49 in Tuscaloosa (now WVUA-7 News) and he wore a mint green shirt on St. Patrick's Day. I thought that was funny, because Carson is pretty conservative, yet he wore that colorful shirt.

You can check out Carson's blog here.

You can check out Carson's blog here. I keep encouraging him to update it more often!

Well, anyway, back to my first week at NewsChannel 19. My first day was October 16, 2000 a Monday, just after my birthday on the 13th. I trained on days for 2 weeks, then switched over to overnights to produce NewsChannel 19 This Morning.

Remember the Jason Hayes story? (No relation to Jerry). Jason Hayes was a local sailor injured in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. NewsChannel 19 flew him and his wife, Roxanne, back to Huntsville for a hero's welcome.

It was nice gesture. However, we put our 19 logo all over the private jet, so that when it flew in to the airport, it became a "NewsChannel 19 event." We even had one of our employees act as a bodyguard so none of the other TV stations could get to him. And those general managers called our TV station, ticked at what we did, as they should.

I didn't know what to think. This was my first week, and I had come to work with a great group of people at NewsChannel 19 - but this was a shock to me. We caught heat about this from all kinds of media organizations - we bought this story, they claimed, and in my opinion, they were right.

We haven't done anything like that since that week in October 2000... and I'm glad about that. Don't get me wrong, it's great to "own" a story, but not like that.

Marriage License Struggle

2007-10-24T08:03:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to write about this for a few days. Maybe I should change the name of my blog to "Things That Drive Claire Crazy" - James-Paul Dice suggested I do a blog like this a year ago. I promise all my blog posts won't be about my pet peeves... maybe I'm just trying to get a few things out of my system.

This one has to do with an article in the Huntsville Times over the weekend. It was a GREAT article, by Patricia C. McCarter, about one couple's wedding at Huntsville Hospital, in the bride's room. There's something about it that set me off, though.

Kimberly Douglas had been involved in bad auto accident while driving to see her fiance, Troy Morgan, who is an airman stationed near Valdosta, GA. She had four fractured vertebrae, cracked ribs, a huge gash on her head. She wore a neck brace in her hospital bed, but the picture on the front page of the Huntsville Times by Eric Schultz showed her gorgeous smile, when she got to marry Troy.

The story had me in tears. I loved it. Great job to Patricia and Eric for their teamwork on it, and to Eric for the "money shot" of the groom kissing his bride.

Here's the article, unfortunately, it doesn't have the pictures.

There was one part of the article that made my blood boil, though. The red tape the couple had to go through, to get a marriage license.

In the article, it states Troy went to the Madison County Courthouse to apply for a marriage license, but the employee said no, the bride had to be there, too.

(Did that employee listen to the couple's predicament? I'm sure Troy nicely explained it to him or her, that his fiancee was not able to make it that day). "Sorry, no bride, no license."

That is our state government at its finest. Could the office not have sent someone to the hospital, with the necessary papers, so Troy and Kimberly could sign them together? I mean, it's about customer service, people. You work for Alabama's citizens. Their taxes pay your salaries. Why not give them something back in return, about 15 or 20 minutes of your time.

Working at NewsChannel 19, we try to go out of our way to help viewers. We can't help everyone who calls, or comes in with a story. We have a limited staff, but we make the best effort we can to find solutions for people who need them, or at least point them in the right direction.

It's a good thing the hospital chaplain knew a judge in Fayetteville, Tennessee who could help Kimbery and Troy. They got a marriage license after all, and they're now happily married. In fact, I see that Kimberly just got released from the hospital after having surgery, and she's at a relative's home in Tuscumbia, resting.

I wish the couple many, many happy, healthy years together. You deserve it!

Big Media People

2007-10-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

I want to write about big media people who go a little too far on the airwaves. Keith Olbermann got on my nerves for a comment he made last week.
Something had happened at the top of the news, which caused his live shot not to be ready - the director went to a fill-in host, or someone standing by until they had Keith ready... she did a nice job, and was only up for a minute or two.

Then, they went to Keith out of a soundbite. He made some comment like "we apologize for that unforgiveable technical mistake". Maybe he was just apologizing, thinking the mistake was unforgiveable for some ticked off viewer out there, but to me, it sounded like he was criticizing someone behind the scenes. Maybe a producer, or an engineer.. who knows why they didn't take Keith off the top of the show, but who cares. He was just going to criticize someone anyway once he started his diatribe of the night.

I do like some of what Olbermann does - he is highly critical of politicians with too much power (guess who I'm talking about here) and I appreciate that. The media should hold the powerful accountable, although I don't want to see 24/7 coverage of it, which is what we have today with all the cable news outlets.

Maybe I read too much into his comment about an "unforgiveable" technical mistake. Maybe not. If you're going to criticize someone behind-the-scenes for a mistake in getting you on the air, do it off the air. It's embarassing enough for that person, and sometimes, it's out of their control.

What to Say, What to Say...

2007-10-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

Okay... I've now discovered why people don't update their blogs every day. Besides the time factor, you really have to come up with something to say!

And, you don't want to insult too many people, so I won't post my strongest opinions on here. I do have some, by the way. I moderate "The Rant" forum on WHNT.com and would love to jump into a few discussions on there to tell people where to stick it. But, for the most part, I just bite my tongue and wear my journalist hat, and let people go back and forth.

That is one of the tough things about being a journalist. Keeping your personal opinions to yourself. The blog world has laxed that a bit, and you see people writing opinions here and there, and that's fine. I just choose not to do it, for the most part. Someone jumped on my religion the other day though, and I couldn't keep quiet. He apologized. He is a frequent Rant poster, so I can't get too mad at him. I do appreciate people who keep coming back to WHNT.com!

I guess I'll talk about some of my co-workers at NewsChannel 19. A lot of people ask me "what is Jerry Hayes like? What is Steve Johnson like? Is Greg Screws really 9 feet tall?"

Yes, Greg Screws really is tall.. probably more like 6'5" though. He can't play basketball worth a lick, though, and he admits that.

Steve Johnson and Jerry Hayes are two of the nicest men you'll ever meet. They are gentlemen in every sense of the word. Steve loves to read (so does Greg, when he's not growing taller).. and can have a conversation about anything. Steve sits across from me, and sometimes I'll forget he's there and I'll start singing a tune.. Steve will say "Claire, I love it when you sing" and I'll be embarassed for a moment. But, he's nice to say that. Now, I don't mind it too much any more.

I love to sing, by the way. My husband Joey and I do a great karaoke version of 'Love Shack" by the B-52's. At least, we think so!

Greg is a nice guy, too. He's a newlywed, and loves his family. His daughter Emily goes to the University of Alabama and he couldn't be more proud of her.

Jerry is a hoot. He loves country music and telling us about his adventures with his identical twin brother, Terry. Did you know the two of them tried out for the Dukes of Hazzard? This was when Jerry had a bigger hairdo (a 'fro') and he wore the jeans, plaid shirt, boots, the whole nine yards. He also wants to marry Sara Evans. (Jerry's, she's single again!)

Jerry is also super-proud of his two daughters.

There are many others I could tell you about - Carson Clark is one of them. One of the most humble people you'll ever meet, and quiet, too. He also hasn't updated his blog in a while, (like, since he voted in June) but I keep asking him to.

Amber Stuart is a good buddy of mine. She keeps a blog, too, and does update it several times a week! I did a few guest posts on Amber's blog - one about Harry Potter, one about Keith Urban - and I guess that gave me the push to do my own.

There are many others I'll talk about in future posts. I'm really blessed to work with some great people here at NewsChannel 19. No, I'm not toting the company line. You hear about big egos in TV, but we're fortunate not to have them here. When I interned at a Birmingham station in 1997, there were some egos at that place, which will remain unnamed.. but we're in a good situation at WHNT. We work together well, I think.

Welcome!

2007-10-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog! I created this back in March, but have been too lazy to get around to posting on it. I figured after a few "guest blogs" on friends' sites, I should actually start my own.
I'll try to update this a few times a week. I welcome your comments!

I am currently the web content manager at WHNT. That basically means I oversee most of the website (the content portion) - you know, stories, videos, graphics, etc. Another girl handles the ad portion of it, and we collaborate on different things.

I used to produce for NewsChannel 19, which means I wrote the stories the anchors read during the newscast. That also meant throwing in breaking news at the last minute, etc. There's a lot to producing, and I'm glad not to be doing it anymore! I do fill in from time to time when we get desperate.

We'll talk later!