I meet amazing people with my job

This past week I went to cover a dinner where high school seniors were being awarded scholarships. There were the 2 students who were the awesome students who did community service, activities, and were really smart. The there was a category called the ACE award, which stands for Accepting the Challenge of Excellence. This award is for students who have overcome obstacles to still be excellent students. There were 3 nominees. The first 2 received 50 merit awards. One girl had recently lost her father and the other boy had been in a dirt bike accident that nearly took his life. He had part of his skull removed for 4 months to take the pressure off. He also now has trouble with learning and doing things. Everything is more of a challenge now. Obviously these are both very difficult things to not only deal with but deal with and still have awesome GPA's. The girl who actually won the award though stunned me. She was diagnosed with 3 diseases at the age of 8. And she said herself "3 diseases that most people can't pronounce" And that is true of me. I can't even pronounce them or start to spell them to tell you what they are. But in reading her essay she said that she had been to Salt Lake City 27 times in the year for medical care and has had 17 surgeries in her life. She also has a pump the size of a hockey puck in her body that dispenses medicine. When I interviewed her she told me that she wasn't even sure if she was going to be able to make it to the dinner that night because at 5 p.m. it was very ify. I don't know how I would ever deal with something like that. I can't imagine being in that much pain constantly and to be cut open that many times. I would not be the happy person she was or that great of a student. I'd probably use that as an excuse to not do anything. So I was amazed by that and agreed that she should have won the award.

I Do meet a lot of people with my job and this night really made that clear. I'm lucky to not be in the same position as these people but also lucky that I get to meet them and talk to them. I also get to do some cool things. My job paid me to take a ski lesson. Of course my falling in the snow glory was aired on the 5:30 and 10 pm news but that's ok. I've had a lot of people come up and talk to me about it while I'm out in the community so people seem to like it. And it was a fun day of work. If you want to see it here are the links for part 1 and part 1...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzcFazUccS8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTRa_z7-Vi8

Happy Chinese New Year

Ok so the chinese New Year was yesterday but I had no time to blog then so Happy Chinese New Year a day late. In Butte yesterday there was a Chinese New Year parade to celebrate the event. It's an annual tradition and this was the first year I witnessed it. I was told it had a reputation as being the "shortest and loudest" parade. Well it was definitely loud. I'm shocked I still have my hearing honestly with all the fire works going off inches away from me. However, the shortest thing didn't happen. This year was the first year that they dragon dancers offered to do the dance of prosperity in front of your business if you gave the Mai Wah society a donation. So this year the parade was about 45 minutes long as the dragon dancers and the rest of the noisy parade made their way throughout uptown Butte dancing in front of businesses. It was interesting and I'm glad I saw it. The video should be on KXLF.com tomorrow if you are at all interested. Oh also it's the year of the tiger. And if you were born in 1986 you are a tiger. There's some more birth years that are tigers but I only remember 1986 and 1938 being read at the beginning of the parade. I looked it up and 1987 is the year of the Rabbit. I'm not sure how I feel about being a rabbit but I'm glad I'm not a rat or boar actually.
After the parade I went straight to Bozeman with my cousins to stay with more family out there for the night. That was good had a tasty dinner, talked, and watched the Olympics. Oh and by the way in case I didn't mention it before a guy from Butte, MT won a bronze medal in moguls. Everywhere you go now there is some kind of sign that says "Congrats Bryon Wilson on the Bronze" or something along those lines. Anyways back to Bozeman. I had a lovely 6:30 a.m. wake up call this morning by my one 2 year old cousin. He was excited to find where I was sleeping. Then kept starring at the horses out the window right behind my bed and telling me what they were doing. Then we jumped on the bed then the horses became scary monsters so we had to hide under the covers to protect ourselves and periodically look out to see if they were still there. It was really cute just early but that's ok. After breakfast we then went snow shoeing. Something I had never done before and I have to admit I had visions of tennis rackets being tied to my feet when thinking of the activity. Snow shoes actually don't look like that at all though. And it was fun and much easier to walk through feet of snow than with regular boots and sinking down. These shoes keep you more on the surface of really deep snow. It basically allows you to hike in snow, which is what we did. Even stopped to sit on a log and have a snack in the snow.
Anyways now I'm back in Butte and trying to catch up on a million chores I need to do. Still won't get it all done today but that's ok my apartment can be a mess another week longer. Tomorrow I'm going to interview the Chief Executive about how stimulus money has been, is being, or will be spent in Butte. Anything you want to know about it?? Text me.

There is Sushi in Montana

I don't think too much has happened in the past 2 weeks. For work I went to Hanson Livestock to talk to the owner about wolves in the area and the problem they cause with his livestock. It was really pretty out there and there were a ton of animals. It was only my second time doing a story out on open land with animals. First time was in Maryland when I went to a dairy farm. This was a little different but still a cool experience to see this and be allowed to go wherever I wanted on the ranch to get some video. I couldn't go inside the fenced in areas with the animals obviously but they were nice enough to drive me down to the area with all the sheep and these massive dogs that live with the sheep and guard them. Anyways while continuing to work on this wolf story I'm finding that almost everyone is for hunting wolves. Montana had their first wolf hunting season this past year and people think it is a good idea to manage the population since they keep killing ranchers animals. The rancher I talked to did tell me he has lost 56 animals and in one night he lost 18 lambs to wolves.
Besides for that story I also had work on the super bowl since CBS was airing the game and we wanted to take advantage of the viewers. I had a fun story where I went to Papa John's to see the rush during the game. I followed one of their delivery drivers on 2 deliveries. At the first one the guy came out of his house to get his pizza without a shirt on. And what makes this so great is that Papa John's called him ahead of time to tell him a reporter would be following the delivery girl when he got his pizza and he still didn't put a shirt on. Oh well.
Last Thursday my boyfriend flew out here for Valentine's Day. He's still here and currently babysitting my cousins kids. I volunteered him....oops. But yea his flying out here was supposed to be a surprise but he let it slip that he was coming a few days before. But that allowed me to pick him up at the airport. We went to a comedic play at the local theater on Friday. It was ok. It was called leading ladies and about two guys in York, PA who cross dress to pose as girls to try and get an inheritance that really isn't theirs. Saturday we explored the city of Missoula, MT. It has a nice downtown area and we also saw the University of Montana. We had a nice sushi dinner. Sushi was the main reason we went. There is no sushi in Butte and I miss it haha. After Sushi we went to a local ice cream place. It was good and while we were standing in line the old woman in front of us farted really loudly. Then she turned around and smiled at us. It was very difficult to not laugh.
Valentine's Day was pretty chill. Breakfast in bed and watched the Olympics in bed. Then made some coconut shrimp for dinner. I attempted to make funfetti cookies with some pink icing to be festive. And I say attempted because they did not look burnt or even the slightest bit browned but they are so hard and crunchy. They taste ok just too hard for my taste. I was upset with myself but then learned today it's not my fault. Our anchor at KXLF was telling me that because of the high altitude here you have to follow the high altitude baking directions or that will happen. The air here just flatens everything and there's no moisture. She said for this reason she's given up on cookies and cakes here. So from now on I'll know that if I want to bake something I have to follow special directions because I live in the mountains sweet. Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day.

I'm writing this in long underwear

Today I went skiing for the third time in my life. It was easier if I was staying on little hills. I went with my 2 and 4 year old cousins so I was awesome on that bunny hill with them. Even the slightly bigger hill that has a lift I was having a good time on. Then I attempted some real runs. Oh man. I still need some work. I went down a couple runs with my cousins neighbor who is probably in her 50's. She's an awesome skier too and was nice enough to go down some greens with me and help me out and give me some tips. She still kicked my butt though. I was fine on the runs until we came to the part when it was just steep downhill skiing. Then I got scared. I survived and made it down with only a few falls today but seriously someone needs to teach me how to slow down on those steep hills. My pizza was not working very well to accomplish that. It works fine on the not so steep hills but otherwise falling was my best option to slow down haha. But I consider a day where I did not run into a tree a good day. But yes under my waterproof pants and sweater whenever I go skiing I wear long underwear. You know to stay warm. And I was so tired from getting up at 7:30 am to go skiing that as soon as I got back I stripped off the waterproof pants and sweater and took a nap in my long underwear. I'm also still wearing them because I'm that lazy. I ate my dinner just in my long underwear too. I'm going to try to make this a new fashion trend because let me tell you this is sexy. Ok maybe not. But maybe next year someone can wear some long underwear to the grammys because I haven't seen any so far.

Speaking of the grammys (horrible transition I know) what are they doing??? All I can figure is that whoever is in charge of this show now is a much younger person than in recent years. Jamie Foxx performing "blame it on the alcohol"? What? I'm sorry did I switch over to the the MTV music video awards? Then slash came out and seriously I wouldn't have been surprised if Snooki made an appearance during that performance. Now onto the Michael Jackson remembrance performance. I'm cool with MJ and the music was good all the artists singing were good and I have no problem with the idea of this. However, I do have a problem with the whole needing 3D glasses to watch it thing. I don't just have a spare pair of those lying around Grammy organizer people. I don't even know where you buy 3D glasses I thought you just got them at imax theaters or something. And since I did not have any 3D glasses I just thought I was having an acid trip while watching that performance. (For the record I have never taken acid, this is just what I imagine it would be like) I also have a problem with the fact that this show is taped and airing at different times across the country. Don't they know since this has already aired on the east coast all I have to do is go online and find a list of winners? Also, when you are in a long distance relationship it makes it very difficult when you 2 aren't seeing the same things at the same time because you can't make fun of it as easily.

Anyways, I had my first hair appointment in Montana on Saturday. My hair looks good so I'm happy with it. My hair dresser was also really nice. However, she was telling me that here in Butte instead of spring showers (rain) they get spring snow showers. Great. So basically it snows here in April. And right now it is very powdery snow but apparently in April it's the wet snow like back East gets. But she also added that by the end of the day it normally all melts to it doesn't stick around but it does snow in April. Soooo if anyone would like to donate to the "Melanie needs a beach vacation fund" that I'll probably need in April or May please feel free. Just kidding, but I now have some research to do for a story I'm working on tomorrow so I should stop procrastinating and get to work. Have a good Monday! or try to at least I know it's about the worst day of the week.

Montana is Super Nice

This is going to be all about how nice people in Montana are. Seriously everywhere I go with my camera and tripod someone asks me if I need help carrying them. People are also super friendly whenever you meet them in person or if you just call them on the phone. They ask you how you are and engage you in some conversation totally unrelated to the reason you called. They always sound so happy on the phone too. I love it. When I first met our other reporter here who is from Philly he told me he has become a 10 times nicer person just by living here. I now believe it. I think I will become a 10 times nicer person as well. Even though I considered myself a nice person to begin with I'll probably become a super nice person who is always happy. Hopefully I don't annoy myself.

The dogs are even super friendly. Today when I got to the site of a story 3 dogs came right up to me. No barking or bearing teeth just walked up wagging their tails, let me pet them, and sniffed my camera bag. The owner joked and told me they were the welcoming crew. Well no joke it kind of made my day. Too bad I can't afford a dog or don't have the time of day to hang out with one because they are awesome when they are all nice to you and just wag their tails at you. Being in Montana has even made me want a bigger dog. I always thought I'd get a little dog when I actually could have one. In my mind I can't handle all the slobber that comes with big dogs but there are so many cool big dogs out here in Montana I could be re-thinking this.

Anyways, back to people. I have been offered a lot of random baked goods while at work. People bring them in and offer them to me I love it. In December it was happening a lot and I just assumed it was because of the holidays. Nope. Just yesterday one guy brought in brownies that his wife had made and shared them with everyone. Before that one day I was working late on a story and when I was finished with it I was given a cookie. So nice. And my mom will probably be happy to know that even when I'm a million miles away from her constant baking I'm still getting baked goods. I've also been offered Pizza a lot. I've covered a lot of meetings and events here and most of them have Pizza for the participants. However, I'm also told to grab some Pizza as well. So I am being fed, may not be the healthiest food but who cares people are super nice here.

Falling on camera

This past sunday KXLF's sports reporter and myself drove 2 hours into the pioneer mountains to visit Maverick Mountain ski area. We were there to do a story in which I learned how to ski. This is one of several ski areas across the state of Montana that is currently offering a "learn to ski in 3" promotion. Hence why we went there for the story. This means for one price you get 3 days of lessons, rentals and lift tickets. So anyways we got there and everyone was of course super nice because we are in Montana. I actually found out that the owner of the place also graduated from the University of Maryland when I was talking to him. They let us first ride up the chair lift all the way to the top without ski's so we could just get some good video of the views. And it was gorgeous up there. Just wasn't one of the clearest days ever but it was still really pretty. All the way at the top it's only black diamonds so didn't ski that at all and had to ride the chair lift back down. We were the only one's doing that because honestly everyone else just ski's down. All the skiers going up said hi to us though and waved at the camera.

Once I did get some ski's on it was interesting. Learned the basics and did the bunny hill. I then rode up some rope lift thing. That was probably the most difficult part of the day. I really just didn't understand it at all and was having a horrible time being pulled up hill by hanging on to a rope. Then I rode up the chair lift half way and attempted a green run called easy street. Of course when I got to the top of the chair lift I got off the chair started to ski down away and fell. Don't worry Shane (sports reporter) got it all on camera. Now my first time skiing was only a couple of weeks ago and I didn't even try a run then it was just learning on the bunny hill and some hill that was larger than the bunny hill and fun to ski down but was a straight shot with no trees and was not an actual named run. This time I did a run. It was a good distance but it was more difficult. There were places it turned and that I was scared if I picked up too much speed I wouldn't be able to turn in time and would go flying off the mountain. At those moments I fell on purpose to avoid death or injury. And yes of course those falls were caught on camera. I love embarrassing myself on camera. Not really but trust me I will for this story. Even just watching how I am skiing I look ridiculous. I have the poles going everywhere and I never move my ski's out of the wedge or "pizza" formation. I was too scared of going to fast. Now the pizza is when you put your ski's together in the shape of a wedge or triangle or pizza slice with the tips almost touching each other. This is how you slow yourself down and it's also your brakes. When you have your ski's straight it's called french fry. So I was told I never french fry. Maybe if I go again I'll be brave enough to french fry more often. But yes this whole glorious adventure was caught on camera and I'm currently turning it into a 2 part story that will air during sweeps (which is February) I'll also be sure to post it on youtube along with my other videos that are currently there. I have uploaded some pictures from the ski place on to my twitter and facebook if you want to check that out.

Anyways I'm going to go get ready to cover a story at 7:30 so I'll be getting home around 9:30 or 10 tonight and promptly going to bed since I have to wake up at 6 a.m. to cover another story early tomorrow morning. Yay.

Have a ball at the Testicle Festival

First off to explain my video from yesterday, he is the coach of the Montana Tech football team. He talks in a yell all the time and often speaks using similes. In case you missed the video here you go.

Now on to other things. Today we were talking in the newsroom and the woman who anchors the noon show "Montana Spotlight" came into the newsroom to tell Shane (sports reporter) and myself about the Virginia City winter fest that will include some broom ball. Basically hockey with brooms. I jokingly asked Shane if he wanted to go and then he asked me if I wanted to go to the Testicle Festival. 2 seconds later I learned this is a real event held in Clinton, MT every September. Basically it's a 5 day event in which people eat a bunch of bulls balls. Over 2 tons of balls are fed to the festival attendees. There's also a wet t-shirt contest for girls, hairy chest contest for men, and bullshit bingo. Bullshit bingo is when someone is awarded $100 for correctly guessing where a cow will umm have a bowel movement. Oh and if you get thirsty while enjoying your balls or trying to guess where a cow will poopy, Big Sky Brewery (here in Montana) makes a beer especially for the festival : Bull Snort Brew. So needless to say I will be attending this event in September maybe not to eat balls but I will need a shirt that says "I had a ball at the Testicle Festival" because really how can you pass up that opportunity. If anyone would like to come visit in September and join me at the Testicle Festival feel free. Here's some more info and a video on the event.