11 training days left

So, I am now done with the photojournalism part. It's a good thing too. My grade just kept going down. Might have been that Pagemaker stuff. We aren't done with that though, we still need it for layout & design. Here in just a couple of weeks I'll be able to put what they have tried to teach me to use in the real Air Force.

So, there we were, Farva, Lyn and I, walking down the streets of D.C. doing the "don't look like tourist thing" with our Miller Light in brown paper bags. Walking behind the Library of Congress we walked by a truck with a couple of guys chuckling. They knew what was up, they where in the truck doing the same thing. The difference between them and us? They where still in security guard type uniforms. In the front of the library I took a picture of Farva and Lyn with the brown bags. I would have gotten one of me doing the same thing but a group of Boy Scouts came up the steps and we left.

CL -2

It would seem that even in this cyber world one cannot escape the awful CL -2 hit. If you don't know what that is consider yourself lucky. In an effort to clarify for y'all, the bottom pic is me. Bethaney is the pic in the middle. And the one on the top is Angela. They are here at school with me. The guy in the pic for this blog is Farva. He is in the class too. In fact, all three of them are linked from here.

Garbage is good

Today the instructors tried to teach us Pagemaker. Man was that rough. I think that I'll get it eventually. I thanked the four people that I hang out with thanx. That is because at the end of this block, the grade will be a group grade. I'm counting on that grade to pass.

So I come back to the room after going to the gym and shopping for dinner tomorrow. Turn on the television and there is Garbage on the t.v. My day got better right away. I might just get the CD that's been out for like a month.

This just in...

Well, I made it through the features block! Not only that, but today's photo shoot was a pretty good time. Maybe this will be a good week. Not like last week. Tomorrow we start Desk Top Publisher. Guess it's pretty hard to fail and class back from here.

Latest Story

Here is the story I promised I'd have on here. Wanna read it? Here it is.

Twenty-five years ago there was a carnival in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland Indians outfielder and 1980 Rookie of the Year Joe Charbonneau was there signing autographs.
"I ran right up to him and got his autograph," said Air Force Tech. Sgt., and Cleveland native, Adam M. Stump, a public affairs instructor at the Defense Information School here.
Stump has been collecting autographs of sports stars for a quarter of a century and hasnearly 200.
Even though Stump had Charboneau's autograph, and a few others he got here and tehre, the idea to collect them didn't come until two years later when he met John McEnroe at an exhibition tinnis match, he said.
Stump wan in the Big Brother-Big Sisters program at the time.
Before the tennis matches, there was a get-together for the big brothers and little brothers who won tickets to the event. He and another kid went to the restroom, and as they walked out, McEnroe walked into the banquet room, he said.
They were both excited to see him and ran into the banquet room, he said.
"He had actually come up to see us," Stump said.
It was neat because he was a big-time athlete, not like Charbonnea. Everyone knew who John McEnroe was, he said.
"I didn't have anything for him to sign because I wasn't really prepared. I didn't know he was coming," Stump said.
Stump got his autograph on the back of the envelope that the tickets for the event were in. Now he has it in his office.
A football signed by former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly also sits on his desk.
"Someone said I can get between five and six hundred dollars," Stump said.
However, he has no intention of selling the football or any other autograph.
"I've only sold one autograph in my life," he said.
"It was a Ken Griffey Jr. autographed baseball," he said.
He took it to a card show just to see how much he could get for it, he said.
"The guy was making me an offer I couldn't refuse," Stump said.
"I regretted doing it the day after and still regret it to this day," he said.
"I won't be able to get another one," he said.
Stump doesn't bring stuff to work just so he can show them off to fellow staff.
She has only seen what he displays on his desk, but she's heard about the collection he has at home, said Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Terrina M. Weatherspoon, a journalism instructor at DINFOS.
She heard that he has over 200 autographs that he started collecting as a little boy, she said.
"He must be pretty personable and approchable to be able to get all of those autographs," she said.
Even with 200 autographs, Stump doesn't have all of the signatures he would like to have.
He has a copy of Terry Bradshaw's book "It's Only a Game" that he would like to get signed by the former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback.
"I'm a real big Steelers fan," Stump said.
Stump plans to give his son, Alex, his collection of cards when Alex is 10.
Alex is 3 now. With short, brown hair and blue eyes, Alex is the smaller, spitting image of Adam, even down to the gray patch of hair on the back of his head.
"I'm not sure if he'll appreciate it, but being able to tell him some of the stories that go along with it will be one of the best memories I'll have," Stump said.

There it is. This one got me an 87 and if I score atleast 70's on the last two stories I'll actually pass the features part of the course.

What I Hate Today

First I understand how the silly-villian (civilian) workers on this base feel. Every couple of weeks some group of students come by and want to take pictures of you doing your job. That can get annoying, especially if some of the kids aren't very appreciative.

However, we do need to be able to take pictures of these people for our assignments and that should just be a part of the job on a media training base.

Today we were told to go and walk up to random workers and ask them to take their pictures. Here is a breakdown of how the day went.

Arts and crafts center: one pottery lady-no, other pottery lady-no, framing lady-no
Commisary: peanut guy-no, fruit guy-no, samples lady-no
My hotel and the one next to it: my building->first floor (in my room at the time)-no
second floor-no
third floor-no
other one->first floor- ok, just one picture though
second floor- let the guy I was with take a few
(practically begged for it though)
third floor-no
Thrift store: all three ladies-have to talk to the manager first (manager was in meeting)

So, on the way to the thrift store a bug flew into the truck and landed on my neck. I felt a kind of pinch. I asked the guy driving what it was before I smashed it. "It's a bee," he said. So instead of squishing the life from it right then and there I flicked it into the window. It went into that space between the windshield and dash board. It came out and that was the last thing it did. I squished the piss out of that bug. Turns out it was a bumle bee. Those things don't quit stinging you either. It didn't leave the stinger in, I guess that is a good thing. I'm looking forward to the stiff neck I'm going to have for the next week because of the poison working its way out.

Back to the pictures, it's pretty obviouse I only got one pic for that part of the assignment.

For the first part of the pictures assignment I had a partner. Appariently lunch is pretty important. It was getting close to that time and I still had to get my shots. The kid took quite a bit of time to get his first couple of shots. One shot was a silouhette. I told him I wanted to take them infront of the second floor window we were at. He said that we should go outside. I told him that every minute we spent going down the stairs to go outside was a minute we would waste.

We go down anyway. Outside he realizes that I was right and we should go back inside. Me correct? What a concept!! We end up back inside by a bunch of doors. I take the pic and the door frames and other things are all in the picture. I tell him I want to go somewhere else and he says (everybody say it with me) "Be the monkey, do the trick, get the banana." I tell him that the pics suck and I'm trying, and part of that is to eliminate distractions from the picture. We end up at a different window and the pics look better. They weren't the greatest, but they were much better than the door window.

The day is over, and done with. I'll have that story on this weekend sometime.

Here It Is

Here is my first "non scripted" story. It's a news feature. Took a regular news story and made it interesting and readable. I have fixed most of the errors on it. There where a couple of commas and a word or two that made it read better. Wanna read it? Here it is.

Something had to be done to get him out of there fast. Humphrey looked sick. The scientists knew he would die if he didn't get back to the ocean. ... Turn the page.
The kids sit in anticipation waiting to see what will happen next to Humphrey, the title character of "Humphrey The Lost Whale," a story written by Wendy Tokuda and Richard Hall.
Every summer the post library has a reading program for kids 2-15 to get them interested in reading. On Tuesdays between July 5 and Aug. 2, children of all ages can participate in story time and crafts.
Each week will feature a new "Explore The World" topic. Books and crafts the staff has chosen will be based on the subject and age level.
The reading adventure will start with a trip around the world. Then it is off to explore nature and all its wonders. Next will be a study about cultures of the world. What better place to go after that? Under the sea of course. Finally it's off to space to celebrate how "out of this world" reading can be.
"Families look forward to the summer reading program," said Trudy F. White, a library technician here. They remember how much fun the program was the year before, she said.
Last year 88 kids participated in the program. This year the library is expecting twice as many participants, said Jan Curtis, a post library technician.
The program will be set up in three age groups: preschool age, kindergarten to fifth grade, and sixth to 12th grade.
The staff will try to do whatever they can to get kids interested in reading books this summer, said Curtis.
There will be stories and crafts based on the weekly theme. Several books on the theme will be available for reading and to check out.
The first half of the hour will be story time, and the second half will be for crafts. Crafts are done mainly so that preschoolers have something to take home.
"When they see their craft hanging at home, they'll think 'library,'" said Curtis.
Stories for the younger children will be read all the way through. The staff will try to read more than one if possible.
For the older kids, chapters will be read to spark an interest in the book.
During crafts, the teens will be able to help the little children with the projects.
Everyone who comes to the library to sing up during "Kickoff Week" will receive a library bag filled with an activity book and other theme-related goodies. Also in the bag will be a summer reading list with extra books the kids can read at home. Each week children will receive surprises like penciles and stickers for participating.
Small prizes have been recently donated for the children to win. There is no set plan yet on how the prizes will be distributed.
The prizes are intended to entice kids into reading through the whole summer.
Reading over the summer helps keep reading skills sharp, said Curtis. "The more you do, the better you get," she said.
The library offers many different magazines for kids in the children's reading room.
What will happen to Humphrey? Come to the library during the "Explore The World" summer reading program and find out. Sign-up is Tuesday to July 2 at the post library.

There it is. Hope you liked it. It was good enough to get me a 91.