Emily and I had a great Halloween! This is probably the only holiday that I will celebrate. We bought candy, got costumes for the dogs and were all ready for the kids. Unfortunately, we were caught up at work until 7:15. When we got home, we dressed up the dogs and sat on the front porch with a big bowl of candy. Turtle loved running around in his little peacock costume. We had more Trick or Treaters than candy, so we had to dip into our personal stash. Most of the kids came dressed as rappers or gangsters (we live in north east DC). It was weird being the one handing out the candy not getting it. I felt old.

Myanmar's state run news agency continues to attack our VOA stories. Now they are starting to make personal threats! Check it out...

Emily have been extremely busy at work. It is unrelenting. We were shooting and editing IMF / World Bank footage all weekend and we won't have a break until sometime next week. This week I am working on fake news stories for Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE), which will be used in their oil supply catastrophe simulations. At the end of the week, the Economist videos are suppose to start. Things have been continually up in the air though, so who knows if it will actually happen.

We are starting an exciting new project next month. The Washington Post wants us to make online videos for them, the first of which will an interview with Desmond Tutu.

For two days in a row, the videos I edited for Malcolm Brown have been "Video of the Day" on the Voice of America Website! Check out 'Child Soldier Turned Rapper' and 'Ordinary People Doing Evil'.

This is a very interesting piece I edited for Malcolm about a Nazi photo album which was donated to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.

This morning I filmed the Americans for Prosperity Foundation meeting. Among the speakers were Ron Paul, Rudy Guiliani, and Fred Thompson. The group is mainly concerned with ending pork barrel spending and reducing the size of the government. I certainly agree with their principals, but I could never fit in with their members. I have never seen so many cowboy hats or heard so many God Bless America's since I have been in DC. I enjoyed hearing Ron Paul speak. I may not agree with him on all of the issues, he seems like the most honest and consistent presidential candidate in the race.

The Nigerian Foreign Minister was in town yesterday, so I asked him to respond to Biafra's declaration of independence. Here is what he had to say...

We must be doing something right with these VOA stories about the protests in Myanmar (Burma). Check out what their Government run news station had to say about us.

Yesterday, Simon (the boss), Jessica (the intern) and I took a trip out to Lancaster Virginia to shoot an interview for A&E Biography. We got a little lost on the way down there and were starving by the time we approached the interview location. So we stopped at the only nearby gas station to ask about restaurants. The closest one was "11 miles down the road, turn right on the dirt road and go 5 more miles". Luckily they had a grill in the back of the gas station, where we purchased some amazingly tasty burgers.

The interview was with Brian Latell, the author of a book about Fidel and Raul Castro, for the A&E Biography of Raul Castro. I was so afraid that after driving 3 hours to get there, I would be missing something crucial to the shoot and we would have to drive back without the interview. I ended up having all the necessary gear, so the interview went smoothly.

On the way home Simon wanted coffee, but he refused to stop for gas station coffee. I reminded him that there are no Starbucks in the boonies. Just around the next corner, there was a small independent coffee shop, which was closing as we drove up. The owner was nice enough to unlock the door for us and we picked up some delicious coffee and pastries.

Last night we went to a restaurant called Marrakesh to celebrate Matt's birthday. I dropped everyone off near the restaurant, then went to find a parking spot. Across the street, someone waived me into the lot and directed me to a parking spot. He told me that it would be $7.00 to park. I gave him a $20 bill and he handed me a receipt, before running off to get change. He did not work in the parking lot and never returned with my change. I got pissed off and yelled at the parking lot attendant for allowing thieves to operate in his lot. He was unapologetic, so I flagged down a passing cop. They laughed at my story and promptly left.

I haven't had much time to post lately. My shoot schedule has been incredibly hectic lately. Since I posted the story on Biafra, the ambassadors from the fledgling country have been calling me non-stop. They want me to provide copies of the story in every conceivable format. It reminds me of Sudan, when my students or random people I met on the street would constantly call.

Today Emily and I are shooting and editing four different TV packages. It will be another late night.

I covered a couple interesting stories so far this week. The first was the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. The room at the Department of Justice was packed with reporters. He spoke for just over a minute and a half before bolting out of the room. Everyone stood around in confusion for a few minutes, waiting for him to come back to answer questions. But he never did. I barely had time to grab my shots before he was gone.

Today I covered the independence of Biafra, a small region of Nigeria. The press conference was scheduled to start at 9:00. On the way to the National Press Club, I realized that I had forgotten to bring a tape. I rushed to find a nearby CVS. Luckily there was one a block down from the Press Club. When I arrived for the conference, I was the first one there. An official of the new country of Biafra introduced me to the members of the government, including the President. I had plenty of time to set up my equipment and speak with the officials, before other people arrived. The President gave a passionate and rousing speech about the mistreatment of his people by the Nigerian government and outlined his plan for the country. Biafra has been under Nigerian control since they lost the country's civil war. For the past 30 years, the Nigerian government has looted oil from Biafra and waged a brutal campaign against its citizens. Hopefully now this will begin to change. However, few took notice of the Provisional Government of Biafra's announcement of independence. I hope that this story will begin to change that.

Here is a photo of me at the office.

Emily, Matt, Neetha and I signed a lease for our new house! It is located on 3rd St. NE in a transitional neighborhood. For many years DC has been completely segregated between white and black. Now the eastern sections of the city are beginning to be gentrified. Our house is in one such area. We have the entire row house to ourselves; it is three stories including the basement. There is a ton of space and even room to park four cars in the back. Our lease starts today, so I can't wait to move in. Emily and I are close enough to work that we could walk.

Check out what I found on the AP feed.

My British friends will be excited to hear that I filmed your new Prime Minister yesterday. Gordon Brown was in the states for a visit. He stopped by Congress to meet Senator Reid and company. The British Pool videographer and I were the first to arrive. We leisurely set up our cameras and tripods. Soon the Congress Press Agent showed up and told us that there were 5 or 6 more photographers who would be joining us. Brown's Press Agent told him that there was no room for additional photographers. After a short argument, the additional photographers were allowed. Next Senator Reid's Press Agent came in and told us that we could not use tripods. The British Press Agent argued with her and won, allowing us to keep our tripods.

When we were all ready for the shoot, a few photographers entered and crouched in front. Then a few more. And a few more. Then an entire hoard of photographers and videographers piled in. No one else was allowed to use a tripod and they were not happy that we were. The room was packed. I had to push away the camera next to me to prevent it from entering my shot. Brown entered a few minutes later and the room lit up with flash bulbs. We were allowed to film for two minutes, before we were all shuffled out of the room.

My first shoot yesterday started at 9:00. I drove into the city and made it to the office at 8:30, when I was suppose to begin setting up for the shoot. I quickly grabbed the heavy bags of gear and started my trek on foot. On 17th street, someone yelled after me and handed me the small notebook that had fallen out of my back pocket. Apparently the gear bag had pushed out the notebook. I immediately checked my other pocket and found that my wallet was missing.

I asked a few street sweepers, but they hadn't seen it. There was no time to keep looking, so I went straight to the shoot. The Prime Minister of Lesotho was giving a speech. I arrived sweaty and disheveled. I could not even shake hands with the other media people covering the even, because my hands were all sweaty. I got there just in time to set up my camera and catch the speech.

Afterward, I lugged my equipment back to the office and went searching for my wallet. No one had seen turned it in. I needed an ID to get into the afternoon shoot, so I had to find the wallet. Finally I searched my car and there it was!

The afternoon shoot was at the State Department. The Prime Minister was signing an agreement with the Millennium Challenge Corporation to receive a development grant. Condoleezza Rice was there to give a speech. The shoot went easily and I was able to edit both the English version and the Nguni version in a total of 45 minutes. We have to do two versions of everything we shoot for the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

Today I was sent to the White House to cover Ban Ki Moon's visit with President Bush. I attended the White House press briefing, which was quite interesting. Ban Ki Moon (the head of the UN) was suppose to arrive at 1:00. So I waited outside the with cameramen from other news agencies to cover his arrival. I was going to bring my copy of the Koran to keep me entertained while I waited, but decided that it would not be the best reading material for the White House.

After a hot and sweaty hour and a half of waiting, we found out that he had snuck in the side door, met with Bush and left. I had to wait until 5:00 to record the footage from the AP feed. It took until 9:30 pm to edit and upload the story to SABC.

I've been doing some interesting interviews for my new job. Yesterday I was at the CATO Institute, a Libertarian think-tank. Today I was interviewing William Howard Taft IV, the great-grandson of president Taft. He was the chief legal advisor for the Department of Defense under George HW Bush and the Deputy Secretary of Defense under George W Bush. Normally this would not be a person with whom I would want to spend my time, however he was an outspoken critic of Guantanamo. The interview went well. It will be shown on France 24 sometime soon.

Friday my new job sent me to New York to cover a concert in Brooklyn. They put me on the fancy all business class train from Union Station in DC to Penn Station in NYC. The train was not as luxurious as you would expect, slightly larger seats, but no food service. The Feature Story News office in New York is in the UN building, so my first stop was the credentials office. One of the guys from my office had already started filling out the form, so it didn't take long to get my badge.

The media offices at the UN (at least the ones I saw) were packed into a small area behind the womans bathroom, which looks like it was designed for storage. I met the South African Broadcasting corespondent, with whom I was working on the story, and we caught a cab to Brooklyn.

The first guy to perform didn't allow any media coverage whatsoever. All of the cameras had to be turned away from the stage. I heard he even tried to ban cell phone cameras in the audience. It didn't matter though, because we were there to cover the main performance. It was a huge production, consisting of a 100 piece choir, a string section, 4 opera singers and a video instillation. The concert set music to the words of Apartheid survivors. It was great, and I wish I could have stayed longer.

After the concert, we immediately returned to the office to edit the video and upload it to the news station in South Africa. I finished around 3:00 am. The company owns an apartment in lower Manhattan. I took a cab downtown and easily found the building. Unfortunately, when I tried my key in the lock, it didn't work. I called everyone I could in the office, but no one answered. I spent the next few hours walking all across Manhattan, through Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Times Square, and up to Rockefeller Center. Finally at 7:00 am, I got a call from someone at work. When I got the information about the apartment, I thought the note said apartment 5D, but it was actually 5P. I took the subway back downtown and fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up a few hours later and met Kat for lunch at the first pizzeria in the country, before catching the train back home.

I got the job I wanted! I will be working at Feature Story News doing all kinds of video production and editing for international news stations. Thanks for hooking me up Aaron! My main job will be to produce the online videos for The Economist magazine.

Yesterday was my first day of work. I started creating the opening motion graphics for The Economist. They are coming along well. I've been using Motion, cool new program to do motion graphics. It is like After Effects, but much easier to use. Without even looking at the manual, I was able to create some nice 3D graphics sequences. Look for my work at www.economist.com in the next few months.