Over the weekend, my front yard became a kids playground. It started when a group of neighborhood kids spotted Turtle and Piggy in the yard. They wanted to pet the dogs, but they were scared. Surprisingly enough, many people in my neighborhood get off the sidewalk when they see my dogs coming. Finally the kids got the courage to come into my yard. The dogs immediately jumped on them and licked their faces. One of the boys admitted that he had never held a dog before. When they realized that Turtle and Piggy were friendly, the kids played fetch and chased them around the yard. One of the boys noticed an old fashioned lawn mower between my house and the next. He politely asked if he could use it. I graciously allowed him to cut the grass while I stood around feeling like Tom Sawyer. When the job was finished, they spotted the hose. One of the boys grabbed it and doused the others. They took turns spraying each other before leaving to get changed. They promised to come back soon.

I just saw myself on CNN! I guess I was standing opposite the CNN cameraman when Hillary Clinton was shaking hands after her Iraq war speech. So there I was standing next to her holding the camera...

I finished the "Powerful Women in Washington" trifecta today. Last Wednesday I filmed Condoleezza Rice at the State Department. She looked extremely tired. I think she had just stepped off the plane from the Middle East. Thursday I did a press conference with Nancy Pelosi at Congress. She reminded me a lot of my mother and when she cheered her hometown of Baltimore, I realized why. Today I arrived at GW for a 6:30 pre-set to film Hillary Clinton's speech about Iraq. It was a lot different than seeing an Obama event. She spoke about the specifics of her plan (a bit wonkishly) and did very little glad-handing. Obama speaks in generalities and walks slowly around the room greeting everyone both before and after he speaks.

I am amazed at the energy and drive of both Clinton and Obama. They have been traveling, making speeches, debating and raising money for months. I'm surprised they haven't dropped out of the race from pure exhaustion.

Emily and I had date night last night. We went to see the movie 'The Band's Visit' about an Egyptian Police band going to play a show in Israel. It was great! Not 'There will be Blood' great, but a nice character driven type film. The characters spoke English, Arabic and Hebrew. I was impressed with my ability to understand some of the Arabic and Hebrew. I wasn't as good with the English.

Last week The Economist had a small article in the magazine about our online videos. We are getting good at them now. They don't take nearly as long to make, and they have been turning out well. Look for the images with little film strips here.

The report I filmed and edited in Russia is online now. Click on 'Streaming Video' to watch it.

I'm back from Moscow. Sorry I didn't have time to blog. The entire trip was spent running around Moscow shooting everything that moved. The best parts were the honey festival, the homely food market in Ivanovo, the fabric factory and the interview with a top Kremlin official. The worst part was all of the bureaucratic harassment. The camera was almost confiscated on multiple occasions. In the Ivanovo mall, Anya had to convince the guards that we were just practicing, not actually shooting video, which was why the camera had no tape. In realty, Simon took the tape and ran off when we saw the guards coming. On Friday, I edited for 12 hours straight to get the piece to Newshour on time. It was a ton of work, but lots of fun.