Student Projects

Have I ever said that I love my students?  I love teaching, and in particular, I love teaching ACOM 3301--Video Production in Agriculture. I'm teaching the class in Summer II.  There are only five students this semester, but I am having a blast with them!

For their first project, it's pretty simple: create a slide show on any agricultural topic.  This assignment is designed to get them used to working with the Final Cut Express video editing software, so they're creating timelines, editing music, learning to use transitions, and playing around with the bells and whistles.  It's a fun assignment and I'm always excited to see what they come up with.

Brent's slide show

David's slide show

Emily's slide show

Kelsi's slide show

Madison's slide show

It's safe to say Jason Aldean and the Zac Brown Band are popular with my students, and they make great music that helps tell the story of agriculture.

All of my students' projects from the past few semesters is available on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/TechACOM3301 
 

New York State of Mind

I have always wanted to go to New York.  So when an opportunity presented itself for me to go to a conference on the East Cost we decided to go.

Our first stop in the Big Apple was at the 9/11 Memorial.  This is a must-see for anyone that visits New York.  The memorial does a fantastic job of honoring those who died on 9/11/01, all while paying tribute to the American spirit.

The next morning, we were in the studio at Good Morning America. (See my previous post).  After that, we went on Scott's Pizza Tour. Not Scott Irlbeck's pizza tour...just some New Yorker named Scott. Those that know me know that pizza is my favorite food. I could eat it every day. So an entire tour dedicated to pizza? Heck yes we're in!

I thought I loved pizza more than anyone else in the world. I am wrong.  Scott the pizza tour guide is a freak about pizza, and he really does eat it every single day. He was talking about how he and his roommates were going to make pizza on the grill when he got home.  He knew the history of pizza, and even knew all the background information on pizza ovens, flour types, tomato types, and so on. It was crazy how much the guy knew about pizza.  My pizza passion was put to shame.  We got to try a slice of Neapolitan pizza, which is the original type of pizza out of Italy, New York style, and Sicilian style, which is what we're eating in the picture below.

That night, we saw Nice Work if you Can Get It at the Imperial Theater on Broadway.  The show starred Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara.  I picked the show because (1) I didn't want to see anything that I could see in Vegas, and (2) I wanted to see someone really famous, and I consider Matthew to be an A-list actor.  And let's not forget the off chance that Sarah Jessica Parker could have been in the audience. I didn't see her. I also wanted to see this because Kelli is from Oklahoma and she's cousins with my friend Traci.  I even saw Kelli sing in Traci's wedding, so I felt like I knew her.  The show was great. It was a fun little story with great music by the Gershwins.  After the show we ate at Carmines.  It was wonderful, but I wouldn't recommend it for just two people.  Everything is served family style, so the two of us had a platter that would have fed six people. We put a nice dent in it, but there was plenty left over.  Yummy!

Chicken picatta at Carmines. 

The next morning we went on a bicycle tour of Central Park.  We needed that tour after everything we ate at Carmines. We saw all of the famous sites--the sheep meadow, several ponds, the benches, Strawberry Fields, John Lennon's memorial, and lots of the famous buildings next to it. I kept my eyes peeled for famous people, but no luck.  Our tour guide said he saw celebs in the park all the time. I don't know if I believe him or not. He was great about pointing out locations from movies, though.

We walked along Fifth Avenue to get back to our hotel.  I'm not much of a shopper, but I wanted to see FAO Schwartz and Tiffany's.  Didn't buy anything, but at least I got the experience of being in there. We simply walked by the rest of the stores and looked in the windows, including the very famous Harry Winston (below right).

That afternoon, we met up with my old buddy from my KXII-TV days, Adam Darsky. He's a big time executive producer at WABC in New York. I'm so proud to say that I worked with someone that made it to the big leagues.  We ate at 5 Napkin Burger in Hell's Kitchen. I don't think I would recommend it; however, there was something about the tater tots that they serve there...they make Sonic's tater tots look like school lunchroom food.

We did a harbor tour that evening and got to see the space shuttle Enterprise aboard the Intrepid Museum.  Pretty cool to see!  Our tour took us past downtown, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty.  Then we went up the East River, under the Brooklyn Bridge, past the United Nations Building, and then turned around.  It was so cool to see the lights coming on as it got dark.  I'm kind of a sucker for a boat ride, and I really like history stuff, so this tour was one of my favorite activities.

After that, we went to Eataly.  Oh my goodness, where has this place been all my life?   Think of Whole Foods or Central Market, and then make them 200 times more fabulous.  It was a grocery store, liquor store, beer garden, cooking school, and several restaurants, all rolled up into one giant building of goodness.  We got there right after the boat ride and that wasn't nearly early enough time.  We had one of the best panna cottas that I have ever tasted and drank a glass of wine.  This place had a wonderful meat counter, great produce, homemade pasta bar...oh my! I was in heaven.



















The last thing on my NYC bucket list was to see the Statue of Liberty.  I have wanted to see her up close since I was in grade school. Sadly, she is being restored, so you can't go up, but you can walk around the grounds. Plus, the SOL tour is paired with Ellis Island, which I also really wanted to do, so I was super excited about going there on Saturday morning.  Weeeellllllll, thanks to the NYC subway system being a giant mess, we didn't make it.  For some reason, the train we needed to be on had switched tracks or something, and we ended up in Brooklyn.  Not what I wanted to see.  The only thing we saw on Saturday morning was the inside of a subway train.

We had to catch a bus down to Baltimore that was leaving at noon, so after the subway debacle, we only had time to grab a deli sandwich, pack our stuff and go.  I made one last restroom stop in our hotel room, and then I couldn't get out of the bathroom.  Something had broken on the knob and it wouldn't turn.  I was in there for  at least 30 minutes, and maintenance had to get me out.  As I'm stuck in there, the genius asked me if I tried turning the knob from the inside.  Ummmmm, yes.  How do you think I know I'm stuck in the first place?

We made our bus in time.  We rode the Bolt Bus, which has free wi-fi and is pretty nice.  That night we went to the Orioles game with old friends Tim and Allison Tunison, then I was off to my conference in Annapolis.

Great trip, great food, great shows.  NYC is checked off the bucket list and I hope to return soon...even if it's just to Eataly.

To read my review of Scott's Pizza Tour, click here.

To read my review of 5 Napkin Burger, click here.

To read my review of Eataly, click here.

I Heart GMA

I'm back!  Only 10 months since my last post, but I like to keep my social media presence active (yes, that was sarcasm).  I probably wouldn't say this is active, since my post today is about a trip I took a month ago.  I'm going to use the "I just had a baby" excuse once again (I figure I have about four more months of it being legit).


We love to travel, and New York City has always been on my list of places to see in the USA.

The very first item on my NYC bucket list was to make a sign with a giant Double T and stand outside the Good Morning America like the nerds we are.  We did one better. We stood INSIDE the studio like the awesome people we are.  Other than having Jett, this was the hi-light of my year....maybe even of my 30s. We watch GMA every morning, so I feel like we know George and Robin, and if he would just get to know me, Sam Champion and I would be BFFs.

Our old news director from KLBKAMC made some calls and got us the hookup to go inside, so here's our opportunity to say thanks again to Russ Poteet!

We arrived at the Times Square studios around 6:30 a.m., and looked around, stared into the studio windows, then we went inside.  It was very difficult for me to not squeal, but I played it cool. I'm a professional after all. First person we see inside--Brian Ross, ABC's chief investigative correspondent. Again, had to contain the squealing.  Scott and I were seriously scared of getting kicked out of the studio. We just knew that if we sneezed or stood in the wrong spot even once, that they would have kicked us out.  So we stood in our designated area and watched with delight as the show went on the air.  In addition to Brian, Elizabeth Vargas and Bianna Golodryga were in the studio.  Oh how I wanted to meet them, but we were scared to death to leave our designated spots, so we just stood there, and gave them all goofy smiles when they walked by.  I felt like such a dork.

Lots of people standing around at GMA.

Something that we did notice was the number of people that were standing around.  So we struck up a conversation with one of the stand-arounders and found out that ABC is union; I'm sure all three networks are.  So what that meant, is that if you are a camera operator, you operate a camera and only a camera, and you don't have to be afraid of someone stealing your job because no one else can touch said camera.  Our new friend was a lighting director, so she had to be there during GMA's duration on the off chance a light bulb went out or a light needed adjusting.  By union rules, only she could touch the lights.  This was such a foreign concept to me.  Back at good ole KLBKAMC, I saw sports and weather guys crawling up on the desks to adjust the lights in the studio.

We met George! I'm sure he remembers us.

Our new friend asked us why we weren't taking pictures with the anchors, and we told her we didn't want to do anything that would get us kicked out.  She kind of laughed at us and told us that if we wanted pictures, we needed to be bold and ask, so our first act of bravery came with George Stephanopoulos. He was a tiny little fellow. I felt like a giant next to him.

The show went on.  Chris Powell from Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition was in the studio. We, of course, chickened out and didn't ask him to take a picture with us. Our new friend scolded us for chickening out.

Don't mess with me, Sam Champion. I'll post
pictures of you looking like a weirdo onto
my blog.  You should have taken a picture
with us.

So I got brave and asked my BFF hopeful, Sam Champion, for a picture. He said no.  My heart shattered.  I guess he technically didn't say no. He said, "I would love to, but I really have to go." Really Sam?  You've re-tweeted me.  I thought we were friends.  In his defense, he had changed out of his suit and had on a really tight t-shirt, holey jeans, and flip flops, so I don't think he wanted his reputation marred by being caught on Facebook in his street clothes. I like him less now.  For revenge, I'm going to post a picture of him looking like a goof, along with his box of beauty products (see below). Now all seven readers of this blog will see how silly he looks in this picture.











Joe Walsh from the Eagles was in the studio and played to promote his new album.  People that were young in the 70s thought that I was the coolest person in the world for seeing him. We also chickened out on that photo op.

Joe Walsh from the Eagles!

After the show was over, they cleared out the studio, but we hid behind some cameras to see what was going on.  Bristol Palin came in for an on set interview.  We were hoping somebody really famous was going to walk it, but nope. Just Bristol.  She seemed like a nice girl.  We didn't chicken out of a photo with her...we just didn't want one.

Robin interviews Bristol Palin.

Then the moment that would make or break our trip.  I mustered up the courage to ask Robin Roberts for a picture.  SHE SAID YES!  Then I told her I loved her.  Oh. Dear.  I'm such a....well....I can't think of the fitting word here. This may just be our Christmas card. Photoshop Jett in to a corner, and we're set!

We met Robin Roberts!!  Anything else that happened on this trip was just extra.  Thank you Robin for making
our trip and our year!

So we have our pictures with George and Robin, so pretty much anything could have happened during the rest of the trip and it would have still been the best trip ever.  And other stuff did happen.  That's the subject of my next post. Hopefully I'll have it up tomorrow instead of seven months from now.  But I just had a baby......

Lots of people and lots of stuff in the studio

Anchors talk back and forth. The set was awesome.

Sure is the pits to have to stand outside. The air conditioning
was quite nice in the studio.

Josh Elliott takes pictures with fans. We chickened out
of asking him for a picture.

Sam's makeup box.  Complete with Altoids and Mucinex.

GMA's next segment:  Focus on Farming with Scott Irlbeck