Here it is! My first Voice of America video that I wrote, directed, produced, shot and edited myself. It is about the Keely's District Boxing and Youth Center in Washington DC. The center was started by former World Champion Boxer Keely Thompson. The goal is to get at-risk youth off the streets, teach them discipline and help with their schoolwork.

Christmas with Emily's family was great! They must be the most organized group of people I have ever seen. For example, the family Olympics (game day) was carefully planned out. Each of the teams were chosen in advance. It was all laid out on an Excel spreadsheet telling everyone which game they were playing, who they were playing against and when. Each game station was clearly labeled and came with a detailed set of instructions telling how to play and how to score. Afterward, there was a chart for each team to write the score from every game and calculate the team's total. Rebbecca, Rob and I won!

The highlight of the game day, as well as much of the week, was Kat's Wii. That thing is great. Everyone created their own Mii character and played the sports games non-stop. By the way, thanks everyone for the nice gifts.

Check out the videos Emily and I have been making for The Economist!

We do "Politics This Week" and "Business This Week".

Hey everyone... Happy birthday to me!!

Check out my Tim Russert interview on Washingtonpost.com

It's snowing in DC! Emily and I probably have not seen snow since we went to Denver two years ago (not much snow in Florida and Sudan).

The 'Divine Impulses' videos that Malcolm and I have been working on have gone live! The Desmond Tutu videos are the first ones; you can see them here.

I did the shooting (wide camera), editing, motion graphics, color correction, etc.

About this British woman jailed in Sudan for naming a teddy bear 'Mohamed'...

I just did a phone interview for the FSN radio feed with a friend from Sudan. He said that he had not heard people calling for her death (like the news has been reporting). Some people are hurt by what she did, but many feel that she should not be jailed. Unfortunately, those who oppose her incarceration can not openly express their feelings.

Sudan is a very religious country, and naming anything besides a person is offensive to them. But it was the students who named the bear, not the teacher. Even the people who put her in jail must realize that it was an honest mistake. Mohamed is by far the most common name in the country. I think it has more to do with a general anti-western sentiment over the deployment of UN troops in Darfur, than wanting to punish her for this "crime".

In live news production, everything is done at the last minute. Simon and Dennis are in Pakistan producing and shooting for the NewsHour. Apparently the correspondent was making changes until the very last minute. The piece was suppose to be in by 4:00 pm, but we didn't get it until 5:00. I converted it and exported it to a Beta tape as quickly as I could. Helen waited outside the building with her car running and Malcolm stood next to me cussing at the TV (because the piece was so long). The second it finished he ran down, jumped in the car with Helen and raced to NewsHour headquarters.

When I got home, I turned on the TV just as it was airing. It was neat to see the video go from my computer at work straight to my living room.

Today I did an interview with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Look for the videos on the Washington Post website in the next few weeks. And check out my intimate moment with the Archbishop!

Daniel and I covered the TransAfrica Lifetime Achievement Award Gala tonight. As members of the press, we were allowed access to the VIP cocktail event. Danny Glover is the head of the TransAfrica board, so we got an exclusive interview with him. Check out the finished package.

I had a terribly frustrating day. It was fine until about 6:30pm, when I got a call from the office that I had to come back. Apparently (un-named reporter) had been working on his one page script all day. Not only did he wait until I got home to finish the script, he thought it was acceptable to turn in a script at 6:30pm! Everyone else can write their stories in a matter of hours, but he took literally all day to write one page.

When I got back to the office, he was still tweaking the script and didn't give it to me until after 7:00. I quickly edited the video and showed it to him. He decided that half the pictures didn't work and asked me re-edit them. I gritted my teeth and made the changes. Then he came back into the edit suite and asked me to change the other half of the pictures. I resisted the urge to strangle him, as I made the changes. Finally he watched the piece for the third time and decided to re-write the entire script. I was pissed. I told him that I would either send it the way it was, or he could finish it himself. He stumbled over his words and explained that it wasn't 'broadcast ready', so I left.

After 30 minutes talking to Emily, she convinced me to go back and finish the edit. The boss said that his behavior was unacceptable and would never happen again. I begrudgingly went back and made his final round of changes.

Yesterday I filmed Bush at the White House. It wasn't the first time I have filmed there, but it was the first time President Bush was in attendance. I arrived at 7:30am for an 8:30 pre-set. All of the camera-people waited in the Press Briefing Room (between the West Wing and the main White House building). We were led into the East Room and given about 15 minutes to set up. Then we had to wait in the Press Briefing Room for another hour. The Medal of Freedom ceremony, which I was there to film, started at 10:00. The award recipients were announced and they each took the stage. I was shooting for SABC, so our main subject was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (the president of Liberia). Of course, she sat right behind the podium where I could not get a good shot of her. George and Laura Bush walked in to 'Hail to the Chief'. He spoke briefly about each award recipient and handed out the awards. After the ceremony, the guests were invited to brunch with the president. I thought about taking off my press passes and sneaking in, but I decided that the Secret Service wouldn't be that easily fooled.

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.