Pinch Hitting

I just picked up this new Diet Pepsi Max at the store. "With ginseng and caffeine", screams the can. I'll fully admit, I have no idea what ginseng is supposed to do. I know that caffeine is supposed to give me a little energy boost, which I need today. After half a can of this stuff, if someone told me that ginseng was Japanese for "pee more frequently", I'd totally get it.

This morning I filled in for Mark Thomas in the big chair of the KDWN traffic department. That meant reports every six minutes on KDWN between 5-8:30, and four taped reports an hour for KKLZ. Safe to say, it's the first major broadcast work that I've done since December. My current job as Supercommuter for KDWN means reports of a shorter variety, and this morning gave a chance to show that I still have what it takes. I think it went pretty well. Letter grade: B. If I was a quarterback, my rating would've been in the low 90's.

It's a dizzying time, the morning shift. I'm constantly checking websites, monitoring TV cameras, eavesdropping on other reports to check what I have versus what he has, swapping out sponsors for both stations without confusing what station has which sponsor (the biggest challenge for me this morning)....you never have time to take a break. I was mostly ignored by co-workers during the shift, and I wasn't brought into the boss' office afterward, so I'll take their lack of reaction to mean that I was able to handle the load. Considering how busy the morning was (fatal accident causing a closure, major construction delays, a boatload of surface street accidents), to be able to handle most of what was thrown at me was quite satisfying. Still, I don't know if I'd want to do that gig day after day after day. Then again, I took one helluva nap today, so who knows?

I rarely hit the bathroom this morning, but I'm more than making up for it this afternoon. Acesulfame Potassium always does that to me.