Snowed In

We woke up yesterday to a true Minnesota snowfall. Problem is DC doesn't have the MN equipment so getting anywhere was challenging. Although Scott and I were laughing at the panic that had set in to the area with full wall to wall coverage on all the news stations and everything was canceled before the first flake flew.


Today things are bright and sunny, but there is a lot of talk of school being canceled tomorrow.
My sister had her annual Christmas party last night which turned into a neighborhood party with one guest from Springfield (me). Even with a power outage in the middle of it, it could not stop this gang who are used to the Christmas time treat at the English House.
I got an early Christmas present. It actually arrived the week after Thanksgiving when I got a call someone wanted to hire me. So I will start a new job January 4th. But the whole thing went like it usually does in our household. Let me set the scene for you.

I was cleaning out the vacuum cleaner about 7:30 at night when the phone rang.
"Sue Turner"
"Yes?"
"This is Wayne Lynch from Northwest Cable News in Seattle."
Thinking: Great, Seattle. Wrong Washington what do you want? But instead I said..
"Yes."
"We are looking for a reporter in our DC bureau."
Rapidly going through the zillions of job applications I filled out in my head and not finding that particular job I said:
"Are you thinking of me for that job???"
"Uh, yes...that's why I'm calling you."
"Oh FANTASTIC! What can I do for you?"
"Well is this a good time? Are you eating dinner?"
"No we just finished."
"Oh, what did you have?"
"We had meatloaf."
"Meatloaf. I love meatloaf."
Getting friendlier all the time I said, "yes, we had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas." (It was a rare night for us.)
"Oh I love it."
"Yes, now about that job.."
Turns out my new boss Wayne got my tape from one of the news directors at a station here where he used to work. A small world, God has a plan, and yes I did send that person a thank you note after I was hired.
After a few phone interviews and an audition downtown at the capitol with the two people currently in the bureau I was hired. I will do mostly congressional stories for their stations which are in:
Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Austin, TX; St. Louis, MO; Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Tuscon, AZ; Phoenix, AZ; Norfolk, VA; Louisville, KY; New Orleans, LA; Boise, ID; Spokane, WA; San Antonio, TX; and Charlotte, NC.
The bureau has just moved to a new building with lots of other bureaus with a handful of people. During my audition it was fun watching the folks from the Great Britain news bureau cheer on their soccer team in the world cup qualifying rounds.
Getting everything set up to report from the capitol or even the congressional office buildings to all these stations in different time zones is no small miracle.
For me, I'm looking forward to a nice change of pace from standing outside in the cold getting frost bite and telling people not to go outside.