What a trip!

Hi gang!
I had every intention of blogging yesterday, but . . .
I love the phrase, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions." It is just so . . . me!

I left town last Thursday for a rather roundabout trip to see my folks in northwest Nebraska. I flew into Denver at the crack of dawn, where my best friend from college picked me up at DIA. You've met Beth on previous posts - she is the best. She didn't even complain about picking me up so early, or about me totally screwing up her workday. In fact, she booked us at a FANTASTIC spa in Evergreen that afternoon. It was a great start to a great trip.

Friday, we drove to Chadron. It took us about five hours. I always remember it being more like four hours. That tells you something about how I drive. Beth is a lawyer and obeys the speed limit much better than I do! Friday night we rode the old train, which was very fun. During the ride we kept commenting, "Gosh, it is really dark over there! Well, we need the rain. Oh look, a rainbow!" When our ride was complete, we stepped of the train to find branches ripped of trees, huge puddles of water everywhere, and big dents in all of our cars. A huge, and very fast hail storm had ripped through town while we were on our scenic, and very serene train ride!

On to Saturday - we had a going away party for my parents, and it was a lot of fun. Friends and relatives sitting around telling stories and reminiscing is always entertaining to me. At this point, you might be wondering why I'm not posting any pictures. I forgot my camera as I was running out the door with my hair on fire to get to the airport at 5am. Use your imaginations.

Sunday was spent bumming around with my parents, and Beth went back home to Denver. I looked through lots of boxes of old toys, letters, pictures, artwork, etc . . . I think my mother saved anything I ever owned or created. It's hard to think of my mom and dad not living in their house in Chadron anymore, and I got a bit weepy at times. I know that makes me silly and sentimental, but I just am.

Monday was travel day for me. I was flying out of Rapid City late that afternoon. We got to the airport in plenty of time, but as I was checking in the agent says - "Oh, your flight from Chicago to Des Moines has been cancelled." I really didn't freak out at first, thinking it wouldn't be that much of an issue since there were several evening flights. But then, the agent says "The other evening flight has been cancelled too. There's only one flight from O'Hare to Des Moines tonight, and it's full. I can get you out at six o'clock tomorrow morning . . . would that work?" I had a total meltdown. I mean, I was crying and swearing (not at the agent, but to my parents) and having a general fit. No - it was NOT ok for me to spend the night in Chicago and fly out the next morning. That's why I bought a ticket for TODAY! So, I got on the plane red-eyed and snot-nosed and in a very bad mood. Little did I know a guardian angel was waiting for me at O'Hare. It was Lisa . . . one of our loyal blog readers! She said "hello" to me when I was stomping through the terminal trying to find a real person to help me get home, and she went out of her way to help me. I got on the plane, and actually got home about a half hour earlier than scheduled. I was thinking of what my dad said when I was freaking out in the Rapid City Airport, "Pray about it." I had, and I know my parents did, and Monday night I was saying, "Thank God for Lisa!" If I hadn't forgotten my camera, I would've taken her picture and posted it here. :)

Here's to good friends and family, and good Samaritans.
Amen!
EEK

Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com

The blues, too busy, a book on "no"

Happy Monday everyone!
Almost every Monday I have The Carpenters stuck in my head singing "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down." Today isn't particularly dreary or terrible, but I am SO TIRED. I hate that feeling. It may have something to do with my efforts to drastically reduce my morning caffeine intake. I'm sitting next to Sonya Heitshusen thinking, "Shut up, Erin! You're whining about not drinking a full pot of full strength coffee, and Sonya busted her butt competing in a triathlon at the crack of dawn yesterday!" Needless to say, Sonya is my hero!

Because I'm in a funk, I thought I'd share a funny story with you.
It has to do with these fun little treats.

I've been chomping on Dum-Dums a lot lately. They're better than most of the stuff in vendo-land, but come with one side effect I had not considered until last week. These are the types of emails (and phone calls) that were coming into the newsroom last Wednesday: "Am I mistaken or was Erin's tongue green on the 6pm news 6/13 ??" Actually, my tongue was a very vibrant shade of blue, thanks to the blue raspberry sucker that was parked in my mouth prior to the early newscasts. So, I'm adding tongue color to the list of things to worry about prior to going on the air.

June is an insane month for me, full of lots of volunteer duties. The event I helped with this last Saturday is a great one. "Little Houses, Big Dreams" raises money for Children & Families of Iowa. It's one of the more unique charity fundraisers I've been involved with over the years, with local builders creating amazing playhouses that go up for auction. Some of these mini-houses sell for crazy cash, and it's all for a great cause. If you haven't attended this event the past three years, mark your calendar for June 2008.

Speaking of great charities and an overloaded schedule, I think I need to invest in signs like this:

You've heard it before. I have trouble saying "no." It's a serious problem. Serious enough that a girlfriend of mine is offering to loan me a book she purchased recently. It's all about saying "no." For real. I'm not much for self-help books, but this one might be a good choice for me. If I actually read the darn thing I'll give you a review.

Until then, have a wonderful week!

EEK

Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com

Great news, sad news and a surprise visit

Hi gang!
First, we have some exciting news here at Channel 13.
Amanda Krenz has gone from managing the Iowa Votes 2008 website, to reporting!
As many of you know, Amanda was a reporter and weekend anchor at Channel 5 before coming to work for us. She was fantastic in her role as web producer, but those of us in the newsroom are tickled that she's finally back on the tube fulltime!

Amanda will probably kill me for posting this pre-baby picture of her, but she's so darn cute it doesn't matter that she's nine months pregnant in it. Please make Amanda welcome by posting a comment on the blog, or dropping her a line at Amanda.Krenz@whotv.com

And now, on to our sad news . . .





Kerry Kavanaugh's last day at Channel 13 was last Thursday. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Kerry ditched us for a gig in Tampa. Can you blame her? The only upsides to this are 1) we have someone to visit in Tampa, and 2) it gave us a good excuse to have a party. This photo is of Kerry and her fiance' Ron. And here are some more "party people" . . .

Executive Producer Paul Lepert & Photojournalist Brad Argo

Jannay Towne & her friend Harley

You get one chance to guess the number question people ask him when they meet him.

KGGO's Heather Burnside, Shawn Terrell & Dan Winters

Kerry with the Klinge sisters, Elizabeth & Christina

A lot of other people made it to the Kiernan house for the going away festivities, but I was not very good at documenting the comings and goings . . . sorry! Needless to say, it was a great time and Kerry will be greatly missed.

Finally, a wonderful surprise visit rounded out the weekend. Our friends the Smiths were on a big roadtrip through the Midwest, and they decided to drop in on their way back to Nebraska. Our house is not very "kid friendly" so we decided to make a trip downtown to "In Play". Oh boy . . . here's proof of just how fun it is!

Brady loved the "spin the wheel" game, and he hit the jackpot!

Dad (Mark) takes Brady & Myka for a spin

Myka's favorite thing?

Collecting the prize tickets!

Mom (Brenda) watches Brady rack up more points

Many of you "blog lurkers" might remember Brenda and Mark and their adorable kids from previous postings. We've been friends for a long time, and it's so great being around people who just allow you to be yourself. Sunday evening was a blast. My only worry is how Brennie is holding up this week, since the Smiths probably didn't get home until at least midnight, and she had to be at work at 6am on Monday! Hopefully, the sleep deprivation was worth it.

The clock is ticking and it's nearing newstime, so I've got to run.

Thanks for lurking, posting the occasional comment, and watching!

EEK

Erin.Kiernan@whotv.com

These shoes are NOT made for walking

Ouch!
My feet are killing me.

I have no one to blame but myself.

I went shoe shopping a few weeks ago. My mission was to find a new pair of workout shoes. Have I mentioned that I'm easily distracted?

I ended up with three pairs of dress shoes, all of which have heels at least this high. No workout shoes.

Ladies, why do we do this to ourselves? I get home from work and I'm walking like I have some sort of serious injury! I have blisters like I've been running for miles! After a girls' night out Saturday, I was actually icing my achilles tendons on Sunday!

The good news is, this Saturday I will be wearing shoes like this . . .

I'll be at the Walk for Autism Research. Registration is at 9am, the walk begins at 10 o'clock. Last year it was pouring rain, so there wasn't a lot of walking but we still had a good turnout. Jeriann is saying that Saturday looks pretty good at this point, so we're keeping our fingers crossed for good weather. Coming up Thursday night, I'll have a story running about a young man from Ames who is beating the odds when it comes to dealing with autism. He's doing it with the help of great parents and supportive teachers, and he's teaching people a lot about autism in the process. For more information about autism, or the walk on Saturday check out www.autismwalk.org/iowa.

As always, thanks for watching, reading and emailing.

EEK