New sunglasses...

Looking at the world through bug eyes:




-joey

Chasing waterfalls...

Spent hours in the news car yesterday with Russ Bowen. We were having a close encounter with the H1-N1 swine flu when the call came in of a waterfall accident in the outer reaches of our DMA. We beelined to Highlands on an archaic, winding mountain road to Glenn Falls.



We hiked down the mountain to the falls, Russ in dress shoes and suit pants, and me with 50 pounds of camera and tripod slung over my shoulders. I was as sure-footed as a Sherpa over rocks and tree roots as we raced the waning daylight down the switchbacks to the roaring waters.





I'm always in the mood for an adventure, but knowing the drop was 80 feet down to a shelf of rocks and two more sets of falls, I stayed behind the steel railings and got my shots.

I didn't want to become the news that day...

-joey

Three musketeers...

And a side dish of Ronnie...


-joey

Breakfast of champions...

The smiley face (sriracha "rooster sauce") over grits is about as culturally contradictory as you can get. I mean, they eat dogs in Vietnam and here they tie them to the porch and serenade them with banjo picking.





I'm just glad to have the "time" for a decent sit down breakfast. Hey, it's no waffle house, but it hits the spot!

-joey

Lost and found...

My grandfather recently gave me a pewter owl he had made in his metal shop. I pinned it to a favorite hat and wore it everywhere.

After a visit to the YMCA, I realized the owl was missing. I asked about it at the lost and found, but no luck. The owl was gone.

A few days passed. I decided to ask again because the girl at the front desk was wearing a cardigan sweater in my favorite color (lemon yellow) and seemed to be looking for something to do.



Sometimes it pays to ask again. The girl in the lemon yellow cardigan produced a small pewter owl from under the counter, and my Monday was made.

Happy endings...

-joey

Blue Ridge Forever

A very nice change of pace today out on the parkway, shooting two future stories on an excellent day.

Even took time at the highest point on the blue ridge for a photo op with reporter Karen Wynne:




-joey

Traveling man...

I've been feeling worldly of late. In a matter of days I have chronicled calamity on the shores of Myrtle Beach, tasted the crisp mountain air of my very own Asheville from a sun-soaked bench at carrier park, and channeled my inner Billy Ray Cyrus as I kneeled at the church in the holy city of Nashville....

Three states in three days, a whirlwind tour of middle America.

My parents continue to confuse. Refusing to participate in the recession, they have instead taken up scuba diving and the Nintendo Wii. I've been handed my ass at tennis, bowling, and virtually every other sport that can be played in virtual reality...

It feels good up be here, basking in the afterglow of a much anticipated rockshow with a bottle of beer, letting the cool evening breeze lick me like a postage stamp, as the windchimes drunkenly collide with each other....

-joey

Mobile blogging...

In this day and age of twitter, there is a mindset of "if it can't be said in 140 characters or less it's probably not important."

While I enjoy the twitterverse immensely, it's sometimes fun to let those run on sentences run free, use adjectives liberally, and pepper the literary stew with some long-winded spice.

It used to be these sit down sessions occured in a designated space, the computer room. With the rise of the iPhone and blackberry, I can blog from my front porch, the burger king drive thru, the Styx concert, or in line at the DMV.



I'm on the porch tonight...


-joey