Go BIG SKY or Go Home!

Dear Cousin Gobo,

I've recently returned from one of my greatest adventures to date. I grew tired of the desert, and I needed to get away. I needed the polar opposite of this dry dusty climate.

I needed BIG SKY Country!



I returned to the homeland, but only for a short period, and I wanted snow. Boy, did I get it. A storm hit as soon as I got there. The air was cold. The sky was gray. And the flakes feel continuously. I did the only thing I could when this snow falls this furiously.

I shredded it!


I haven't seen this much powder in decades. It was like the snow gods knew I only had one chance at hitting this, so they made it worth my soul. It was perfect. The vacation I needed. I got to go back to small town living. Left my worries on the mountain. Just me and the white gold.



After three straight days, my muscles ached.....my mind cleared.....my battery recharged. It is time to start my quest for greatest. I got alot of things planned for the next coming month's. Hopefully with minimal distractions, and not too many surprises, this year will turn out to be legendary.

T.C.B.

A Look Back

Dear Cousin Gobo,

Okay, so a lot has happened over the past month, yet you don't know any of it. I wanted to tell you about everything but I just got caught up with other activities. As the new year begins, I vow to keep you more informed. To start it out, here is a peek of all the stories I neglected to tell you. I can only hope that this will stimulate your interest for future posts. Mostly likely I forget about you again. What can I say? Sometimes I am just a jerk.

The past year was great. I know this new one will continue to rock. Cheers!

Single and Starving

Dear Cousin Gobo,

Usually when the holidays come along, people tend to go all out. They take days off. Invite the whole family over to enjoy a delicious meal. Some will even close their business to make sure that they have plenty of time to waste. Well, not this SuperPhotog! News doesn't take a day off. And if it did, it wouldn't take Thanksgiving off. Why would it want to do that? Because that's what everyone else does?



So you may ask why would I work on a day which most do not. I'm glad you asked. There are a number of reasons. One, I get paid double on holidays for usually half the work. Since everyone likes to take these days off there is nothing ever going on. Meaning that the night will most likely be an easy one, unless a natural disaster occurs. Probably the only way you'll get PIO's(public information officer) to answer a phone call anyways.

Two, there is always free food. The managment feels guilty to make people work on holidays, so they charm the workers with a catered meal. As if getting paid double wasn't enough. Plus no clean-up. What a deal!



After I having two giant servings of free turkey, food always tastes more delicious when it's free, I discover another reason I like working holidays.......no mangagers.



When there are no managers around, slowing the clogs, things seem to flow much smoother. Look at these hard workers slaving away; searching for news stories.



Wait a tick. Are they playing video poker? Yes. Yes they are. Well, I guess there is another reason. You can play video poker at your desk and Lumbergh is nowhere to be found.

Wow, a Royal Flush!

Benka won it. He was very pleased with himself until he realized that he just wasted his luck on a free online game.

After I finished my second piece of pie, I headed off to my only scheduled shoot of the evening. The opening night of the annual Magical Forest. You see in the desert people like to pretend that they live somewhere else. It's very annoying.

Hey, check it out Santa showed up! I was told by Santa himself that this was his first stop of the season. Hey, some other kids believed it too!

I also found the impossible. A real L.V. snow flake falling. Isn't it beautiful?

So I had my fill of Holiday season for one night. I talked to Santa. He knows I want one billion dollars. We're square. I got other news to cover. Like this...

"Breaking news.......a car was stolen......there was a child in the car, also taken.....go find it! " Those are the words my cell phone usually likes to say to me.

So I drive out to.......I don't know.....it was far that's all I know. It always is. Why can't people commit crimes that are closer to my current location? Geez!

A friend of mine says that on every holiday two things always will happen. 1. a house fire. 2. a domestic violence crime. This would probably fall under the domestic violence crime just for neatness. Anyways no big deal. Kid was found. So was car. Metro started search for suspect. Another civilian saved by SuperPhotog.

Lastly, while I was out on this on the possible kidnapping. I found mailboxes in the middle of an empty lot. Who lives at an empty lot? Well, obviously Tony Estes does, and he likes to keep his mail secure. I just thought it was wierd that there would some mailboxes in a lot with no houses or any bulidings around.

Strange

T.C.B., Baby!

Travelin' .... Let's Begin!

Dear Cousin Gobo,

Today is going to be a turning point in my life. I know in my last entry I told you about how I may disappear for awhile. Well that was before I received a surprise in the mail.



Who says the government doesn't work fast? I was expecting this to be sent in a couple months, but I never thought it would be less than two weeks.

Some people may view this as no big deal, but for someone raised in a small town of the Montana Rockies it is very much so. I always wanted my friends and family to see the world through my unique eyes. Now here is my chance. I've already experienced so much. More than most in my hometown could dream. My family already believes that I'm brave by being able to pick up and move to a new place. Knowing no one or nothing about it. I don't see it that way. My name wouldn't be Travelin' if I wasn't reaching for the next adventure.

A friend told me that all I need to do is take the "leap of faith". Buy the ticket. Get a passport. The rest will all fall into place. I'm almost ready. I don't know when it will happen, within the next year I hope. This is going to be the beginning of my next great adventure. I'm not just talking about taking a quick vacation trip to a foreign land. I'm looking higher. By now you have to get that I talking about moving to another country.

That's it. All types of people want to live here. Well I want to live there. This will all happen within the next year. And I'll take you with me.

Isn't it exciting!

T.B.C. Baby!

Goodbye Sunshine

Dear Cousin Gobo,

I'm really sorry! I know I just recently told you that I would make a much needed effort to return to this posting. It was just two days ago that I thought I found a flow that would get me right back into the blog.

Well that was before today, when I got my own copy of the highly anticipated....

Super Mario Galaxy.

I already have a schedule adjusted toward the night-time. Now I just don't think I'll be seeing daylight anymore. Well not until I clear the game, which might take some time.

Though, I vow to return. Just keep you eye on your mailbox.

T.C.B., Mario!

Rough Morning

Dear Cousin Gobo,

I saw this on a friend's posting, thought I would try it out. Today was not a good day.

I woke up quite late because I was covering the Frontier Implosion last night. Sorry no pictures



This is too bad because I have alot to do and no time to do it.



Hopped in the car, went for a quick drive



Had to let a girl out through the gate at my complex. Why was she waiting? How come she couldn't get out? Who cares.



Went to the store. I needed a few things. Yesterday someone at work got me sick. That combined with the dust cloud at the implosion most likely



So I picked up these.

Now I know someone at work got me sick because I was fine all day before I went in to work. I went to the gym. I was fine. I went to get lunch. I was fine. I go to work, and shortly after I start to feel my throat getting sore



I also pickup some Zicam just in case this sore throat turns into more.



I should get this instead. I bet that would kill every virus in my body



The shitty part is that how can anyone be sick on days like this? One down side of living in the desert. The best part of the year is ususally the winter, and that is the when most people will get sick. But not me. I am going to fight it to the death

T.C.B., Baby!

Addiction

Dear Cousin Gobo,

I know I've been neglecting you lately. I apologize for that. But you don't understand, I have an addiction. No it's not drugs or alcohol. Not steroids or food. It is something that is more powerful and harder to shake that all of those other addictions combined.

You still don't know. Well I guess I have no other choice than to show the bane of my existance.



Look at it! Take a long long look. Soak it up! This is the thing that has consumed my life. I don't sleep. I won't eat ...unless this is in front of my eyes. I'm afraid to be alone in the room with it. It's controlling, demanding, intoxication, and I CAN'T BEAT IT! At least not yet.

Still have no clue what it is?

The Legend of Zelda

(aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh)

The original! The game that brewed my love for all video games. It has been twenty years since this game first came out and still it one of the best I have ever played. You won't find a 5-minute clearing of this game on youtube. It takes hours, days, maybe weeks of game play to finish this classic.

Have I mentioned how awesome the Nintendo Wii is? If it wasn't for the Wii I don't think I would have ever been re-united with my favorite game of all time.

So if I disappear for awhile, just except the fact that I am getting my fix. I'll try and give you a new update soon.

T.C.B., Link!

The Best Mario Level Ever!!!

A Much Deserved Rest

Dear Cousin Gobo,

After the last few weeks I had, I am in need of some time for myself to get re-adjusted. Middle of last week, I awoke to discover some hooligans broke a window out of my work vehicle. The thieves took only the stuff I needed to do my job properly: a camera tripod, a light kit, and a box of various cables.



These things are useless to anyone who doesn't shot video professionally. I have no idea why someone, other than a meth-head looking for quick cash, would steal this stuff. So I had to deal with police reports, serial numbers, annoyed supervisors, and a voilated self-esteam. Eventhough my chief kept telling me it wasn't my fault, in a way I thought it was. I was emotionally distraught. Then...



I was told I was working my last weekend shift. Yeah! When I was I told you ask? How about on Monday. Yes, I was called on my day off and told my new shift started that day. So I guess I'm going to work ten straight now. The shitty part was I didn't get to tell my reporter/friend that I wasn' t going to be working with him anymore until Friday. Damn

So after a week of dealing with some new paranoia and another week of work with out any days off, I'm alittle drained. I couldn't think of a single event that could refill my spirits, reignite my upbeat energy. Until...



I saw this. Now I'm not much of a fan of musicals. But...



this one stars The Danza! Yes that's right, Who's the Boss? star Tony Danza is probably the only one with the power to cheer me up. I don't know, there's just something about envisioning Tony Danza singing and dancing that makes me laugh. I'll keep you updated when I go to the show.

T.C.B., Baby!

A Change in the Water

Dear Cousin Gobo,

Today I held witness to the power of water. It started to rain today. Okay, I've certainly been it places that it has rained many times before, but the rain here was a completely different animal.



What started as mere drops soon developed into a rage of flooding. In less that thirty minutes rivers were flowing through the desert. Roads were completely overcome by the water. Many were amazed by this act of nature, including myself.



Now I've seen flooding before, but I've never seen it happen so fast. It wasn't even that much rain. I've seen rivers rise above it's banks destroying homes. I've seen roads blocked by massive mudslides. Usually it happens over the course of a few days of constant rain. I've never seen it happen in twenty minutes.

The desert ground doesn't absorb the water like most places. When it rains the excess water has nowhere to go. Plus you can't predict where or how it will flow. How will you know where it will rain? Once a neighborhood road, now is a easy path for a river. To help prevent the destruction of many homes the officials in the L.V. valley have built very large detention basins to hold all the flooding water. With any luck, the natural flow will move it in exactly that direction.

Today was a lucky day. The rain came fast and hard causing a few roads to be blocked, but no one was injured. And as quickly as the large river formed, just as quickly did the sky clear up and all the water trickle down to a stream.

T.C.B., Baby!