One Day Work Week

I know it's been a while since I've written, but life has been busy! I worked two full weeks at WBIR, then flew back to Oregon for a week, worked one day, and now have two off. After tomorrow, I should be on a normal schedule for a while. That is, if you consider working Friday through Tuesday, 2:30pm to midnight, normal. I'm not complaining though. My life is as great as it's been in a long time.

I know this blog will be chock full of stories about my job as I go along, so I'm going to not write about work in this post. Instead, I'm going to write about the "other" stuff I've been up to, starting with my trip to Oregon last week.

I negotiated a week in Oregon with my new boss the day he called and offered me the job. I had planned to be in Ashland for a reunion with all of my friends from Southern Oregon University the first weekend in June. It also happened that another friend of mine, Ann Curry from NBC News, was tapped to be the speaker at SOU's commencement, which was held the same weekend. I was happy when I found out my request to leave work for a week after only working for two was granted. Thanks to my mom, and my friend, Jessalynn, for helping me finagle air miles to get a ticket, I was able to go.

I spent five days in southern Oregon. My mom picked me up at the Medford airport at midnight on Wednesday. We spent all day Thursday shopping, eating, and spending time together. We didn't buy much, but it was the time together that mattered most. I knew after this trip, it will be at least six months before I see her again.

I had dinner with my friends from KOBI, my old TV station, on Thursday night. We ate off the Happy Hour menu at Porter's in Medford. Great food, low priced, awesome drinks, and good friends made for a wonderful night. We ended up at Shenanigans, another of our old stomping grounds, filling up the juke box with our favorite music. We were out late...well after midnight. I stayed at Christina Anderson's house that night, with Nate too. It was the only way for the three of us to squeeze in a little extra time together. I'm not sure when I will see them again, unless they make good on talk of coming to Tennessee in September to watch the UO/TN game with me. :)

My friend McKenzie, a friend I've known since living in the dorms at SOU, is a second grade teacher in Medford. She invited me to come talk to her class on Friday. I'm no stranger to speaking in front of people, but talking to a room full of 8 year olds about my job is much different than talking to high school and college students. I had a great time though. The kids asked great questions! I hope I inspired at least one of them to think about journalism as a career.

Friday night was the first night of our SOU reunion. We met for dinner at Standing Stone Brewery in Ashland. It's a casual, low key place with great food. Nine of us showed up! Karine Rosvold, Kellii Wood, Me, McKenzie Minica, Holly Kolberg, and Bradley Whelden all met in the dorms our freshman and sophomore years at SOU. Holly's husband, Ray (also an SOU grad), McKenzie's husband Jason, and Kellii's husband Karsten were also there. Kellii and Karsten also brought their 11 month old daughter, Kaija (Kai-ya), who is a doll. We reminisced about old times, talked about the present, and our hopes for the future. As someone pointed out, all of the funny stories somehow involved me. I was a little crazy in college, or perhaps the word is FUN!

The reunion crew, except for Kellii and Kaija, stayed out until 3am. Ten years ago, getting up at 9am the next morning for breakfast wouldn't have been a big deal. I can honestly say, I'm finally starting to feel my age. Not that I'm old, just that I don't bounce back from late nights the way I used to, especially when there's alcohol involved.

We met at the Breadboard in Ashland for breakfast the following morning. The weather was nice enough to eat outside on the patio. It was just like old times. Huge plates of amazingly yummy food, good conversation, lots of laughs. We spent the afternoon shopping and walking around downtown Ashland. At one point it was just Kellii, Mac, Karine, me and Brad. Brad was a trooper shopping with us girls, but I think he just wanted to spend time with us. We went wine tasting at Allyson's of Ashland, a place we'd never been before and ended up buying a bottle of wine and a meat & cheese plate. That was lunch. I couldn't think of a better meal at that time.

SOU's commencement was later that afternoon. I wanted to go hear Ann give her speech. Karine had to go because her younger sister, Brenna, was graduating. McKenzie sat with me on the grass to listen to the speech. Karine sat with her family. I eventually went and found my friend Anne McCloy, a reporter for KOBI who was covering graduation. I watched Anne, and Amy Sienecki from Ch. 12, interview Ann Curry. The PR guy from SOU had me jump a fence so I could see Ann and watch the interviews. After the interviews were over, Ann saw me, and gave me a huge hug. She knew I was going to be at the ceremony but didn't think she'd see me until we had dinner later that night. She quietly told me she was exhausted but glad to be in her home town of Ashland. Ann, Anne, Amy and I all had our picture taken together. I've known Ann for years and this is only the second time we've had a picture together. Neither have turned out great.

Anyway, I had asked Ann if she would also take a picture with my friend Kellii and her daughter, Kaija. Ann agreed but I had to get it set up with the University security people so they didn't jump on us when we approached Ann. They were cool with it and actually had us come inside a roped off area so we could do that picture without a bunch of "fans" hovering. Plus, they wanted to whisk Ann and her family away from the stadium quickly in a golf cart. The picture turned out cute. One of these days I will post pictures with these blogs. Perhaps on my next day off. Kellii was thrilled to meet Ann & I'm glad I could make that happen for her.

All of my college crew split up Saturday afternoon/evening to do our own thing for a few hours. I got dropped off at the Ashland Springs Hotel, where Ann was staying, to have dinner with her at the hotel's restaurant, Larks. I got there as Ann was getting in an elevator to go up and change. I waited for her in the lobby. We went to the restaurant together where we met up with her step mother, nephew (Jesse) and his girlfriend (Anna). We had a lovely meal together, talking about Ann's dad, my move, Jesse and Anna's schooling. And, I possibly had the best salmon I've ever had. Ann was font of my brussel sprouts; they were cooked to perfection. We sat there and talked and laughed for more than two hours. Jesse reminds me of Ann. He's laid back, quiet, smart, and caring. He hangs on every word she speaks. Lots of respect between the two of them. Both of them remind me of Ann's dad, Bob. Jesse is the eldest grandchild, so it makes sense that he might see himself as a future family leader.

I went to go meet up with my friends for a last drink after dinner. But not before Ann told me how proud of me she was that I left everything familiar to take on this career and life challenge. It felt great to hear those words from my mentor. Even though our visit was short, it was one of the best visits I've had with Ann. Perhaps that had something to do with being in Oregon and not in NYC...more relaxed.

My friends and I said goodbye late that night. Mac, me and Karine got back to Macs house around 1:30am. We had to take Karine to the airport around 3:45am. Getting an hour and a half of sleep then being suddenly woken up wasn't fun. Mac and I went back to sleep until noon when we got back from the airport. We met up with my mom for lunch and then my mom took me to the airport so I could fly all night home to TN. I realized on this trip that distance between friends doesn't really matter. Good friends will stay connected no matter what. My friends are proof of that.