Simon, Anya and I have been running around like maniacs to shoot all of the necessary components for Friday's Newshour piece. Yesterday we drove four hours to Ivanovo, which is north east of Moscow, shot all day and got back at 2:30 am. Today is more shooting, more digitizing and more insanity. At least we have been eating well on the Newshour's money. We have been making Podcasts for the Newshour online. I posted them here to keep everyone up to date.

I spent most of the day yesterday running around the city shooting b-roll. We parked across the river from the Russian White House, so I could shoot from the water's edge. The problem was that the staircase to the water level, as well as the entire landing, was covered in ice. I slid down half the stairs, but managed to keep my balance. I stepped out onto the landing and crept toward the edge. I carefully anchored my tripod in the ice and shot while holding on to a pole to avoid falling in the water. I also got some shots overlooking the Kremlin and shot an interview with a woman from the Carnegie Institute.

You're not going to believe this... I noticed that every time we drove around the city, we go in these crazy loops. It turns out that there are very few places in Moscow where you can make a left turn! No joke. You have to drive around in circles (right circles, of course) to get anywhere. You can't even cut across the street to park. Yesterday we had to go around the entire Kremlin to park on the opposite side of the street.

I am in Moscow once again. This time to shoot for the Newshour with Jim Lehr on PBS. Everyone should watch the show on Friday, because that's when the package will air.

The flight here was a bit shaky. Simon (my boss) and I flew from DC through NYC. Before we left Washington, they announced that someone had forgotten to do the security sweep, so everyone had to de-plane. We waited in the breezeway nervously checking our watches. Finally the sweep was done and we flew to New York.

By the time we got to JFK, it was too late for Simon to upgrade to business class. He complained the whole time about having to sit in "goat class" and kept talking about how much better the flight would have been if he had gotten the upgrade. He even went as far as saying that there was a special type of lip balm that he would have gotten, if he were in the front of the plane.

We arrived in Moscow at 10:00 am, got our baggage and almost had the camera confiscated. The camera, microphones and all other gear had FSN stickers on them. We tried to convince the guards that it was only for personal use, but they weren't buying it. Finally, Anya (the Moscow bureau chief) got on the phone and cleared things up. The guards could have easily taken the camera and never given it back.

After checking into the hotel, we went on a search for some Russian dolls of Putin and Medvedev. The first place we looked was a bust. Next we stopped by the Old Arbat Street and found some dolls. Anya met us there and took us to a honey festival. This thing was fantastic. There were hundreds of independent honey producers from all over Russia. I was in heaven; they all gave samples! We spent at least an hour filming, tasting and buying honey. I hope the Newshour will pay for my cavities.

I'm on my way back to Moscow Saturday! It was somewhat unexpected. Simon (my boss) was going to Russia to cover the elections. Malcolm (a co-worker) was scheduled to go, but he had problems getting his visa. Luckily, mine was still valid from last month. I will probably be shooting for Bloomberg again. This time doing live shots about the election. The results will not be a surprise (Medvedev is going to win), but it should be interesting anyway. I may also be doing some work for Fox News and The Newshour with Jim Lehr. So watch the programs next week and I will try to keep everyone updated about my work.

Monday I shot another Obama event. The usual press woman was off duty today, so an inexperienced staffer was in charge of the media. There was plenty of riser space, but she was convinced that the major networks were going to take it all up. 'Foreign Press' like myself (shooting for SABC) were confined to the floor. The only shot I could get from there was the back of someone's sign. I saw that there was plenty of riser space, so I moved up. She quickly came and kicked me off. This happened over and over again until I finally secured a spot just before the start of the event and she left me alone. It was really obnoxious because it was obvious that she didn't know what she was doing and was simply trying to appear in control.

Yesterday Emily and I again ran the Washington Post and Newsweek online election coverage. This time it went much more smoothly. We didn't have many celebrity guests, but the event was more carefully planned and much more manageable. We will be doing it again on March 4th. Don't forget to watch.

For those who missed it here is a clip from Emily and my Super Tuesday coverage on Washingtonpost.com. We will be doing another live broadcast tomorrow for the MD, VA, DC primaries. Look for it on Washingtonpost.com and Newsweek.com.

This clip starts with Mike Huckabee's phone call. Sorry for the audio problems.

Just a quick word of thanks to my loyal comment posters - Kat, Todd and mom - I appreciate it!

Emily and I ran the live Super Tuesday video coverage on Washingtonpost.com, Newsweek.com and Slate.com. They had never done this type of event before, so it was quite disorganized. Emily was the director and I was the switcher. Neither of us had headphones, so we had to watch our bank of monitors and switch to whoever was moving their lips.

The set was not very well thought out. It was in the middle of the Washingtonpost.com newsroom. All of the video equipment was scavenged from other parts of the building. I had THREE switchers. Each one was routed through the last, so I had to carefully trace the video path and press three buttons to pull up any source.

The coverage lasted from 6:00 pm to 1:30 am - commercial free. We were exhausted before we even started, because we had arrived at 7:30 am to interview Rick Warren (the Purpose Driven Life guy). As the night went on, Emily had to give me more and more time to pull up a video source, because it was getting harder to trace the correct path.

John Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, hosted the show. We were joined in studio by Bob Woodward, and other political commentators. We received phone calls from Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, John Kerry, Howard Dean and journalists around the country.

The worst part of the night was when we went live on BBC World. We were so nervous about the camera placement, that we decided to adjust it mid-interview. As soon as we unscrewed the tripod, the camera was jerked to the right by a taught cable. Emily quickly adjusted it as almost pulled out my hair.

We are doing another live event this Tuesday for the DC, Maryland and Virginia primaries. Don't miss it!

I went to the Obama rally at American University last week. I arrived at 8:40 and was told that I was too late. It said on the invitation that live trucks had to be set up by 8:30, but everyone else should arrive by 9:30. Soon other cameramen began to arrive and were told the same thing. A large angry crowd began to assemble at the media entrance. When they saw the size of the crowd, they quickly called the Obama campaign and cleared things up. I stood out in the cold for over an hour before finally being let inside. They made everyone drop their gear near the door while the Secret Service searched it. It was 10:30 before I finally took my place on the media riser.

The line at the public entrance was over a mile long. It took two hours for everyone to get inside and the place was packed. Many people had to be turned away (including NBC's Chris Matthews). Campaign members passed out signs, including hand-made ones designed to look like they were made by supporters.

Obama arrived with Ted Kennedy. The latter gave a rousing speech, while the former talked about how honored he was to receive the endorsement. Overall it was a bit disappointing. Barack looked like he needed time off.