Spring Break

What a marvelous 2 week event. I was blessed to have 2 teachers this quarter who decided to give us our finals a week early, so I had no finals during finals week.

Here is what I've done so far:
- Subbed a couple days
- went to LA with friends for dinner and a night on the town
- spent the night at a friend's house and played computer games
- went to lunch at Olive Garden with my parents
- went bowling with my friends and played 6 games- my best score was 130
- watched lots of "Law and Order"
- found a new DSL provider for us since we're tired of Earthlink- now it is just a matter of calling and setting up the service
- Took my car in for service; forgot to get an oil change, though
- went to the dentist and had no cavities
- switched banks- ALTURA SUCKS
- today I'm going to weed whack since my dad can't do it anymore since the motions hurt his back

Fantasy LA anchor teams

I love to watch local LA news. I have grown up watching many of the anchors. I was bored the other day and created my own fantasy news teams for each LA station. This minimizes the slutty news anchors like Mia Lee and actually brings together strong anchors I think that would be able to bring in good ratings and would be in each station's best interest. I'll start with

KCBS 2
5-7a.m.
Suzanne Rico, Rick Chambers, Vera Jiminez, Henry Dicarlo

11a.m.
Laura Diaz, Kent Shocknek, Henry Dicarlo

5:00p.m. and 11:00p.m.
Paul Magers, Pat Harvey, Johnny Mountain, Gary Miller

6:00p.m.
Laura Diaz, Kent Shocknek, Johnny Mountain, Jim Hill

Weekend 5 and 11p.m.
Sharon Tay, Juan Fernandez, Jackie Johnson, Steve Hartman

Weekend 6p.m.
Mia Lee, Glen Walker, Jackie Johnson, Jim Hill

Commentary- who knew Kent Shocknek was on 2 in the morning? With how few people watch, I moved Rick Chambers on just to change it up and perhaps give Kent a bigger slot where people may be tuning in and realize hey, he is on 2 now. He has been on CBS for 5 years and still nobody tunes in in the mornings. Laura Diaz is old and frumpy. Her news delivery is poor. Laura should not be their top anchor woman. KCBS would be smart to bring Pat Harvey over from 9 (their sister station) and pair her with Paul Magers. I don't think Jim Hill has much of a personality and not a lot of on air chemistry with any of the anchors, but I find Gary Miller interacts better with them.

KCAL 9
12p.m.
Ann Martin, David Gonzales, Kaj Goldberg

2:00p.m.
Ann Martin, David Gonzales, Kaj Goldberg

3:00p.m.
Ann Martin, Kaj Goldberg

4:00p.m. and 9:00p.m.
Harold Greene, Sylvia Lopez, Josh Rubenstein, Jim Hill

8:00p.m. and 10:00p.m.
Sandra Mitchell, Mark Coogan, Josh Rubenstein, John Ireland

Weekend 8 and 10p.m.
Sharon Tay, Juan Fernandez, Jackie Johnson, Steve Hartman

Weekend 9p.m.
Mia Lee, Glen Walker, Jackie Johnson, Steve Hartman

As much as I like Ann Martin and Harold Greene together, maybe just because I've grown up watching them and they have grown on me. Whatever the case may be, I don't see them bringing in ratings. I moved Ann to middays to replace Mia Lee, which can only help KCAL with credibility and a well known figure in LA news. Sandra Mitchell would become KCAL'S main anchor woman. She has really grown into the anchor position I believe on CBS at 11a.m. I would pair her with Paul Magers, but she is not as well known as Pat Harvey. I have met her in person, and she is just as sweet on camera, as off btw. Marc Coogan would be brought back to the anchor chair because he is better known than Glen Walker. Marc Coogan anchored with Tritia Toyota for a while on KCBS when he went over there from KABC. KCAL's ratings keep declining because the news directors and managers are into boobs and cheap talent on that station.

I haven't watched KCAL 9 news at 8, 9, or 10p.m. regularly since Kerry Kilbride and Pat Harvey anchored together a couple years back. I don't like Glen Walker at all and he is all over there. Jackie Johnson is just annoying. I used to watch KCAL news every night, but I haven't in about 2 years. I think they should really consider moving better anchors into place and I would watch. Marc Coogan, Harold Greene, Kent Shocknek would be good pairings in the evening on KCAL.




KNBC 4

5:00-7:00a.m.
Mary Parks, Robert Kovacik, Pablo Pereira, Paul Johnson

11:00a.m. and 6:00p.m.
Kim Baldonado, Chuck Henry, Pablo Pereira

5:00p.m. and 11:00p.m.
Paul Moyer, Colleen Williams, Fritz Coleman, Fred Roggin

Weekend a.m.
Chris Schauble, Jennifer Bjorklund, Carl Bell, Mario Solis

Weekend p.m.
Beverly White, Furnell Chatman, Elita Lorezca, Bill Seward

I think Mary Parks used to anchor on KNBC. I think I recall that. I much prefer Robert Kovacik in the morning to Chris Schauble. I can't stand Chris' raspy and booming voice, or his cutesy comments/ad libs. KNBC's morning ratings have dropped. This anchor team I believe shows authority and experience over the current Schauble/Bjorklund team, which just looks too young. Kim Baldonado is a good anchor and should be more than just a weekend anchor, so she gets the 11 and 6p.m. slots. That moves Ana Garcia to work solely on KNBC's investigative unit, which could help KNBC in ratings in that they would have a better and stronger investigative unit with reporters focused solely on that. Ana Garcia has won many awards for that. She is a frumpy looking anchor, like her heart is not in the job. I don't like Elita Lorezca, the new babe on KNBC mornings because she just doesn't seem like a perfect fit and doesn't have the bubbly personality Rachel Boesing did.


KTLA
5:00a.m.-7:00a.m.
Eric Spillman, Cher Calvin, Mark Kriski, Sam Rubin

7:00a.m.-9:00a.m.
Frank Buckley, Michaela Pereira, Mark Kriski, Sam Rubin, Ginger Chan

9:00a.m.
Michaela Pereira, Cher Calvin, Jessica Holmes

10:00p.m.
Emmett Miller, Lynette Romero, Lu Parker, Brett Miller, Ross King

Weekend p.m.
Leila Feinstein, Walter Richards, Damon Andrews

Where to start? Eric Spillman is an OK anchor, probably the best one KTLA has for mornings until a replacement is found. Frank Buckley has fit perfectly into the KTLA morning show. He has the personality needed, he is warm, he opens up about his family, which is needed on the morning show. Michaela is perfect and seems like the mother of the show keeping everyone in line. Ginger Chan definitely knows a lot more about traffic and has a somewhat better voice than Jessica Holmes who came to LA from Miami and does not know the LA freeway system and does not do breaking news improvizing well, or have much to say in her little brain. Lynette Romero is a much stronger anchor than Leila Feinstein and has a much better voice. She should be the main anchor with Emmett Miller. Brett Miller, the former NFL player who is now on KTLA weekends would be moved to weekday sports because he is much more watchable than Damon Andrews. Damon has so many cutesy analogies for everything you often think "huh?" what is he saying? Leila can do weather and anchor on the weekends, plus fill in on sports as needed, which was what she was when she came to KTLA. She is not main anchor material.


KABC
5:00-7:00a.m.
Phillip Palmer, Kathy Vara, Scott Reiff, Jane Monreal, Garth Kemp

11:00a.m.
Phillip Palmer, Leslie Miller, Garth Kemp

4:00p.m., 6:00p.m., and 11:00p.m.
Marc Brown, Michelle Tuzee, Dallas Raines, Denise Dador, John Hartung

5:00p.m.
David Ono, Ellen Leyva, Dallas Raines, Denise Dador, John Hartung

Weekend a.m.
John Gregory, Lisa Hernandez, Danny Romero, Rob Fukuzaki

Weekend p.m.
Gene Gleeson, Adrienne Alpert, Indra Petersons, Curt Sandoval

FOr the mostpart, the teams would remain the same. KABC is consistently strong in ratings. Their anchor teams are well known. I would really only reduce Rob Fukuzaki, their hyper weekday sports guy to weekends. I'd move weekender John Hartung into the main sports job because he is more watchable than Curt or Rob. He also has a more authoritative figure. I'd switch the weekend afternoon anchor team because I can't stand to watch Leslie Sykes who just seems so impersonable and Micah Ohlman's over the top news reading and improvizations are terrible. They're a train wreck.


KTTV 11

5:00a.m.-7:00a.m.
Tony McEwing, Jean Martirez, Lisa Breckenridge, Rick Dickert

7:00-10:00a.m.
Steve Edwards, Jillian Barberie Reynolds, Dorothy Lucey, Rick Dickert

10p.m.
Carlos Amezcua, Gina Silva, Mark Thompson, Rick Garcia

Weekend a.m.

Weekend p.m.
Jeff Michael, Susan Hirasuna, Amy Murphy, Liz Habib

KCOP 13
11p.m.
Christine Devine, Phil Shuman, Maria Quiban, Rick Garcia

Weekend p.m.
Michael Brownlee, Lauren Sanchez, Amy Murphy, Liz Habib

Commentary on 11 and 13: I can't stand Christine Devine; she has little to no personality. Moving her to 13 could only help 13 in their ratings over Lauren Sanchez. Gina Silva seems to have enough experience and does well filling in anchoring, she could easily rise to the main anchor position on 11. I don't think moving her there would hurt 11's ratings at 10p.m. They are number 1 and Carlos has only helped their ratings. Phil Shuman is a good solid anchor, who deserves a weekday position. Mark Thompson is annoying, but well known, so I'll keep him on 11 and leave Maria Quiban who is pretty hot, and not bad, on 13.

Memories of my grandpa

I have written about memories of my grandma, so now I'm doing my grandpa

- He had sayings like "woo doggies"
- I remember going to his house almost every Saturday, often while my parents were out shopping
- If it was Saturday, he never had the TV on
- He always had KFWB News 98 on and would listen to the Dodger game on the radio
- He always carried large bills in his wallet ($20, 50, 100)
- Anytime I asked for money, I got it
- He only paid bills by check
- My grandpa ALWAYS wore dress shoes- I don't think he had a pair of tennis shoes or sneakers
- My grandpa always bought shoes a size smaller than he really was and would complain his feet hurt
- His shoes had to be perfect and very polished
- He always went to the credit union on Monday mornings
- He always wore plaid type buttondown shirts (not like fleece)
- He drove a late 80s white Cadillac
- For birthday's, even though it may have been my birthday he couldn't not buy my sister a gift. I remember my birthday from 1st grade when he bought me some toy I can't recall and my sister a Little Red Riding Hood cape.
- I remember playing bartender for him and getting him drinks
- During the days at my grandma's house my grandpa would sit downstairs in the rumpus room
- Like my grandma, grandpa pronounced Saturday Saredee, Tuesdee, Wensdee, etc.
- I remember when my grandpa used to drive me to school he would ask if I wanted to go flying instead. I always said no because I was afraid of missing school; now I wonder if I had said yes, what we would have done
- I remember my grandpa never wore his seatbelt when he would drive. My grandma would always go out to the car to say goodbye to him, would buckle him in, then he'd always take the seatbelt off once he got into the canyon.
- I remember one SIP day when I was in maybe 1st grade I was going to spend the day with my grandpa, after he picked me up at grandma's. Our plans were somewhat ruined- we were going to play with a choo choo train he bought me, but someone broke into his house the night before, so he spent the day working repairing the door
- I remember my grandpa always talked to EVERYBODY. He would take my sister or me to school and have to stop to talk to the parents picking their kids up, the noon aides, and more
- I remember the taste of my grandpa's meatloaf and spaghetti- he didn't cook a lot that I recall, but when he did he was a great cook... too bad we don't have those recipes today. They're lost and gone forever
- I remember my grandpa always had juice of some sort, Diet Coke for my parents, and a couple cans of Budweiser, the Stater Brothers 18 pack of eggs, and bacon
- My grandpa would always fry me bacon when I visited him at his house
- My grandpa had a lot of cast iron skillets
- I always thought my grandpa had sort of a strange, hunched over walk
- I never remember my grandpa listening to music
- There are only 2-3 times I remember playing his guitar- once when my uncle visited him at home, another when Uncle Charlie visited, and then once when my sister and I were alone.
- The guitar sat in the dining area right behind his chair.
- My grandpa was always insistent he got to sit in his chair at the kitchen table closest to the kitchen
- I remember my grandpa kept a stack of bills all the time on his table in a holder
- I remember the tacky green couch and chair my grandpa had
- I remember my grandpa had an organ, but I don't recall him playing it- I do remember the Saturday he got it tuned up to play
- I remember my grandpa had really neat cursive
- I remember he, like my grandma bought birthday cards for every occasion
- He always cleaned his nails and made sure they were clean- he kept them a little long
- He drove very slow compared to my grandma
- I remember every Saturday morning he would call his brothers and sisters in Indiana, then report to everyone on what is going on with them
- I remember one Saturday morning after I spent the night I got to sit in the den with him as he called his brothers and sisters, he put them on speakerphone and I got to talk too
- I remember when his sisters and brothers came out to visit and all the photos they took of my grandpa and I... I remember thinking to myself what do people do if they take pictures and someone is accidentally in the shot they don't know, then do they name the people and give them a fake name? haha
- I remember my grandpa never explicitly said he had a twin sister, but they had the same birthday
- My grandpa never talked about his childhood or adulthood- he only talked about ROHR, having to go to ROHR, etc. etc.
- I remember going shoe shopping with him once, we went as a family, and we went to Sears. He was in a wheelchair at this time and he didn't want to sit in it, but my dad said he was going to and my dad could push him and do rotten things to him. I remember pushing him in it
- I remember my grandpa always talked about what he read in the paper, he would tell me what time his paper person got to his house, how he would go out and get the paper- the paper person usually arrived around 5:30a.m. and was a woman
- He always talked about Mr. and Mrs. Wolff across the street from him
- I remember my grandpa would often walk over to the fence and talk to the Wolff's and sometimes I got to go
- It seemed like my grandpa was always picking up their mail and newspapers when they were on vacation, which when I was little seemed like quite a bit
- My grandpa got up at about 5-5:30a.m. and would go to bed about 9p.m.
- He would always mail his bills from my grandma's house
- I remember my grandpa drawing for my sister and I- he would draw donkeys and was really good at it
- I remember my grandpa buying me a lunch pail in first grade because I didn't think we were allowed to bring our lunch in paper bags. It was an insulated Barney lunch pail. It could have been a purse because it had a long strap to carry it
- I remember sitting with my grandma and him at the table in the kitchen playing Go Fish and Old Maid
- I remember taking walks up and down the driveway at my grandma's house with him
- I remember him pushing my sister and I in the wheelbarrow when we were really young
- I remember when my grandma and him would argue my grandma would get a loud, shreiky voice, and call him Don
- Their arguments were infrequent and were always over monotonous things
- My grandpa's socks always matched his shirts
- My grandpa always combed his hair and would probably do that 10-15 times a day

RANDOM THINGS I REMEMBER ABOUT MY GRANDMA WHILE THINKING ABOUT THIS
- When one of her cats would meow for food and she wasn't feeding them, she'd call them "dumb dorey" and she'd get her shreiky voice and say "I'm not feeding you now dumb dorey," "you have food, go eat it"
- she always used to say "horse feathers" and I remember watching Winnie the Pooh, Tigger said horses don't have feathers, so I would argue with my grandma who said that they did
- When my sis and I were say, 7 and under, my grandma wanted to be sure we had our daily bowel movements. They were called BMs. She would tell us to go in the bathroom and take a book and go into the bathroom and read. Then we would have to call her after we did it so she could check. Then she'd say we were ok to flush. Then she and my grandpa would report to my parents that my sis or me had our daily BMs. My parents couldn't have cared less- they figured we'd go when we need to, but found it funny how grandma and grandpa were obsessed with this.

Timeout

Yesterday I subbed for 6th graders at my mom's school. I had them for 3 periods. I do not like 6th graders, 7th, or 8th graders for that matter. I am subbing for this age level because my mom's school district is K-8, so high schoolers aren't an option. I do my best though- I'm firm on the kids like I would be with any other grade level. I also make sure to adjust how I talk around them etc. just because middle schoolers are different than high school kids. Not that I'd say anything bad, but it comes down to reasoning. High schoolers you can reason with, whereas middle schoolers have to be more forced, so I adjust my wording appropriately.

Anyways, I had the kids for 3 periods- 2 periods of math and 1 of science. There was one gal up wandering around, then she got an attitude with me a total of 3 times. The 2nd period I had her, she tried to tell me how to take attendance. My policy is if you're not in your assigned seat according to the seating chart, you are marked absent. She wanted to sit by her friend and not in her seat, so I marked her absent. She then was up talking and distracting everyone once we got down to work. I told her she better get to work or I'm sending her out. She said no, everyone else was causing problems. She told me she would cry on my shoulder. Finally I had enough and I said go to room 4. She told me she can't go to room 4 because it is the counseling center. I said well, they'd be more than happy to see you. She said no- there is probably no room there. I said they'll talk to you. I said go to room 4 now. She then said the teacher in room 4 was on prep. I told her that was pretty funny because I know for a fact that teacher's prep was 2nd period. She asked how I knew and I said something tells me that she has a class right now. I got on the phone and called my mom saying she would have a visitor. The class was wondering how I knew all this information and I said it was MY MOM'S CLASSROOM. Room 4 is my mom. They were all shocked. The girl went over to my mom's class and my mom met her at the door and said she heard that she was giving her son a hard time. The girl said no and it was everyone else in the class. My mom had a desk for her, sat her down there, and made her get to work. I caught the girl outside after school and she told me how mean I am and how mean my mom was to her. My mom just said that she heard she was giving me a hard time. We're mean teachers- the mean streak runs in the family.

I need a door girl

Have you seen this new video for Mariah Carey's new video "Touch My Body?" It is HOT. I was watching this video and I think I need a door girl like Mariah to answer the door in what little she wears, just like in this video. She could also do secretarial stuff like answering my cell phone for me.



BTW the song is VERY catchy. And who else could sing about youtube and make it sound sexy?