Poker Night

We try to squeeze in a Poker Night every year. It’s a great time for a handful of us to hang out quietly, away from the masses and just enjoy each others’ company. Sunday night was our night.

There’s no actual cash involved. We just hand out a bunch of chips. Then the dealing begins. We play Five Card Draw, mostly because I’m not smart enough to understand how to play Texas Hold ‘Em.

I managed to play for about an hour or so and had a bunch of chips left on the table, but really needed to get to bed in order to get up early to get to the airport. I awarded all my chips to Greg since he’d already busted earlier. He’d be back in the game.

Thank goodness the luggage is already packed. I can just slide into the bed and snooze.

Hurricanes and Pizza

As the afternoon progressed, the weather improved and people began to realize that the city had survived, more shops and restaurants began to open their doors. The neighborhood by bustling by dinner time. People were out in droves trying to stave off a little cabin fever brought on by the hurricane.

We managed to avoid a huge group that was gathering in the hotel lobby for a dinner excursion. Getting in to a restaurant with 30 people is never easy. And it turns in to more of a nightmare than an enjoyable experience. Plus, there were a few bucketsful of crazy going along for the tour.

Our gang of five decided to strike out on its own, in search of a decent post-storm meal.

The concierge gave us a whole sheet of suggestions. But we didn’t really know what would be open. So, we decided to wander the neighborhood and see what presented itself. The first Italian restaurant couldn’t get us in for at least 90 minutes so we kept walking. But we didn’t go far. In fact, we stopped at a pizza-and-wine joint next door.

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The Zavino Wine Bar and Pizzeria sat us immediately. The exposed-brick walls and long, dark-wood bar were inviting. Our table was near the back of the seating area, right next to the pizza oven. It’s not wood-fired but it’s definitely artisanal. And the oven is kinda small. They were making one pizza at a time.

The drink special was a “Hurricane,” naturally with lychee juice and rum. It was only appropriate to have a round for everyone. The Lemoncello Margaritas were a hit, too, but I found them a little bit bitter.

The pizzas were fantastic. The Diavlo was Zavino’s version of a pepperoni pie but the slices of meat were the size of bottle-bottoms. Delicious with a spicy sauce.

zavino wine bar and pizzeria
112 S. 13th Street
Midtown Village
Philadelphia, PA 19107
www.zavino.com

A Very Quiet, Laid Back Afternoon

We had another meal at El Vez. It’s one of the few places in the neighborhood that’s actually open today. Most places are shuttered either because of the hurricane or because it’s Sunday.

I’m really loving this place. It’s “modern” Mexican cuisine. Some of the best guacamole ever! And the plantains are out of this world!

Barb and I had a couple of margaritas. You’re surprised. Just shocked.

People Watching As Sport

Once the live shots were finished for the morning shows, we were on our own. Finished for the day. After a 5am start, we were ready for a break. My friend, Barb, sat with me most of the morning as we did the live hits. She was a trooper. Thanks for keeping me company, Barb!

We still ended up sitting by the same windows most of the morning and into the first part of the afternoon. The people watching was just spectacular. There were the wandering crazies, the fashion disasters, the hotties and the just-plain-odd. Of course, we had something catty to say about each and every one of them. Especially as we were joined by half a dozen other stranded conventioneers.

There was the woman who stood in the middle of the intersection barking at the wind and getting a couple of free cigarettes from the SEPTA workers across the street. Her umbrella was nothing more than a wire skeleton with some fabric flapping like a wadded-up flag in the breeze. (It later ended up as a CNN prop.) There was the mother-daughter team dressed in all-black outfits, covered in clear-plastic bags and wearing different color crocks.

And then the Piece de Resistance (how do you spell that?):

The people watching in Center City Philadelphia is outstanding.

What you can’t see in the photo are the long, blonde braids draped across her bussum with matching, blue bows tied around the ends. Even the dog seems to want to get away from this mess.

Before snapping the photo, a nice gay couple walked up near the window. One appeared to be leading his own-of-town friend on a tour of the Center City. He stopped and pointed to the statue of William Penn atop City Hall a couple of blocks away. They were a living, breathing tourism poster. When three people inside the hotel lounge jumped up with cameras, the boys thought they were in for their own photo shoot. But all three people whooshed by the boys to snap images of the Woman in Blue and her dog. The boys were devastated. Then they looked to their left. They saw her. “Ohhhhhh,” they nodded in appreciation. They understood.

New Video

I got out in the rain and shot some new video for the morning shows. There was a limb down on the sidewalk across the street from the hotel but, otherwise, no visible signs of damage in the vicinity.

I was able to edit the video (again, in iMovie) but this time I put the file in DropBox’s public folder and sent Brett the URL so they could download it at the station. They still had to convert the .mov file but it was easier to download via DropBox. Don’t know why I didn’t’ think of it last night.

And We’re LIVE!

We just pulled off a live shot via Skype for the morning show. From the Philly end, anyway, it seemed like it went pretty well. With the laptop’s built-in camera, I was able to show the leaks in the lobby and some of the street outside the windows. The Loews’ first-floor lounge has a huge, curved bank of windows that looks out on the streetscape. It’s the perfect place to stay dry and still see what’s happening outside. And, in theory, it’s quiet.

Thank goodness it’s a very lightweight laptop that I was able to hold in one hand while holding the phone in the other for audio and IFB. Brett was able to use the package from the YouTube feed and he dropped it in to the shows.

CNN’s Don Lemon is doing a live shot outside with a photographer. Their equipment has rain gear. My laptop doesn’t. They have a satellite truck. I have a Skype. They have a field producer. I have a consumer-grade camcorder and a wifi gadget in each hand. Ours turned out just fine. It wasn’t perfect but it worked. We had a live presence in Philadelphia as Hurricane Irene barreled through the city.

Working on a Saturday Night

I missed the entire Gala and Silent Auction tonight. The storm is moving in and now’s the time to get the interviews and shoot the video we need for a package. I grabbed some folks from the ballroom, found the best light I could and shot the interviews with the handheld camera. It’s not all that pretty, but it’ll get the job done.

With the help of a gallon-sized ziploc bag and my new rain jacket, I was able to get out in the rain and the wind to shoot some video around the hotel. It’s pretty wet, that’s for sure. The traffic is minimal but there are still a few people driving around. (Good thing, too, because splashing through the puddles was some good nat sound.) It would be great to have a tripod, especially in this wind, but I’m working out of a carryon bag. So, we do what we can.

Trying to edit turned into a nightmare. The Canon camera produces video files in a proprietary .mod format that isn’t readable by Quicktime or Final Cut Pro. It can be imported, however, into iMovie. And I have now re-discovered why I despise iMovie. Aaargh! It’s sucks! It’s just awful! If you’re cutting your kid’s school play into three 20-minute segments, you’re probably fine. But trying to cut a package for a newscast is horrible.

With the video imported into iMovie, I was able to log the sound. But there are no time codes, so I had to just pull the bites out of the clips whether I ended up using them or not. With the sound logged, I was able to get the package written. Ready to actually track and edit.

I recorded the audio on the iPhone and e-mailed it to the laptop. Then it had to be cut into pieces in Audacity then imported into iTunes to they’ll be visible to iMovie. (Daniel reminds me I could have cut them in Garage Band and they would have been automatically visible to iMovie. I didn’t think of it at the time.) In iMovie, I was able to put the soundbites in order but then the track was overlapping everything. Inserting the b-roll is less than intuitive and certainly isn’t efficient. I could have had the whole thing done in Final Cut Pro in less than 20 minutes. Instead, I fought with iMovie for more than an hour.

My original goal had been to send something back for the 11pm newscast. But as I continued to fight with the software’s limitations, the clock kept ticking and I knew it just wasn’t going to get finished soon enough to feed it back and get it converted into something the station’s editing system can handle.

Instead, by 1am, I was calling the morning show producer and making arrangements for the next day. Brett suggested sending the video to YouTube because the station is able to grab it and convert it from there. I’m uploading and going to bed. We’re going to try a live Skype shot for the morning broadcasts.