I woke up at 3:30 this morning as the first bit of panic set in. I was running on a little under four hours of sleep when I recorded, so this episode might not make a whole lot of sense.
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I made it to my second day of unemployment! In this episode, I talk about a new twist in the story of me being let go from work yesterday, how awesome everybody on Twitter is, and why going to Ikea in the middle of the week is cool.
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I lost my job today, joining the 7.6% of Americans that are unemployed. So, now that I have all this free time on my hands, I might as well podcast about it. It’s the longest President’s Day weekend ever!
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I woke up this morning to weak water pressure in my apartment. Finding that odd but not thinking too much of it, I went on with my Sunday morning. A few minutes later, I checked Twitter and read this message from my friend Sam: “So I heard St. Paul and Calvert Streets are shut down. Broken water main. Hope you guys don’t have floods!”
I popped my head out my back door and saw this:
Sure enough, there was a water main break on Madison Street between St. Paul and North Calvert.
I lucked out. The flood missed my apartment by half a block. Unfortunately, others weren’t so lucky. On the sidewalk, I talked to a woman who parked downhill on Madison last night, and her entire car was flooded by the break this morning. She said she wouldn’t be able to move it or get it towed until they stop the flow of water. Understandably, she was not a happy camper.
According to a BGE employee I spoke with, the water main broke around 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. this morning, and the water is still gushing out of the street as I write this 12 hours later.
Thankfully, we’re having unseasonably warm February weather in Baltimore today. Right now, it’s 63 degrees.
Crews are working on repairing it now, but there’s not a lot they can do while that whole stretch of road is a river. I suspect it will be a while before that stretch of Madison Street re-opens to traffic.
Here it is! I took my Kodak Zi6 with me all over DC on Tuesday and took as much crowd video as I could. Getting into Washington via Metro was surprisingly easy. Getting out of the National Mall after President Obama’s inaugural address was more difficult. Roads were closed in preparation for the parade, and there was the added difficulty of a few million people all trying to head for the same one or two Metro stations in the area that were open.
Much like Baltimore, everybody in Washington was energized. You could feel it the moment you stepped on the train. People love Obama. And, as you see in the video, they’re not shy about vocalizing their opinions of President Bush, either.
Again, the Zi6 was a trooper. I never had to change the batteries once, and I shot all day in HD mode (30 frames per second). My 16GB SD card laughed as I recorded over 140 videos that added up to well over an hour’s worth of footage, with gigabytes to spare. The digital zoom was surprisingly sharp. When I used my Flip Ultra, I avoided touching the zoom like the plague. But on this camera, it’s not bad. Sure, you’re not going to get anything as crisp as you would with an optical zoom, but for a sub-$200 pocket-sized point-and-shoot video camera, it’s amazing.
Last Saturday, then President-Elect Barack Obama made a whistle stop in Baltimore, and tens of thousands of people waited all day in 17-degree weather to see him speak. I was one of them, and ended up waiting in line at about 9:00 am for his speech at 4:30 pm. But you know what? It was worth it. I ended up about 30 yards away from where he spoke, and the energy of the crowd was something I’m really happy I got to experience. Baltimore is overwhelmingly excited about our new President.
Even though the events of the day were widely televised, I think the news channels and networks largely missed the spirit of what it felt like to be “on the ground”. So here’s my perspective on the day, condensed to a little under 15 minutes.
I recorded the whole thing with the Kodak Zi6, and I have to say it was a beast! I brought a pocket full of extra AA batteries but never had to use them. The rechargeable batteries that came with the camera lasted all day, and then some. When I got home, I connected the camera to my TV with the included component cables, and the quality of the video was startlingly good.
Any worries I had about the Zi6 being bulkier than my old Flip Ultra are gone. More than a few times I had to pat down my jacket pocket to make sure it was still there. It somehow manages to be very lightweight, yet also feel solid in my hand. It’s got a good solid grip to it which I much prefer over the glossy-bodied Flip. Even standing out in the cold wearing two pairs of gloves, I felt like I had a firm grasp on it.
My Inauguration Day video is up next, along with more thoughts on the Zi6. This camera goes everywhere with me, now.
I did it. Holy crap, I did it. I crossed the 50,000-word mark and NaNoWriMo 2008 finish line. I am exhausted. I am triumphant. I feel like I can take on the world. Most importantly, I feel like I’ve earned the right to do whatever the hell I want for the rest of the night!
Slowly but surely, I’m getting myself back on track. I wrapped up my writing for today with a word count of 22,862 words and, with a little luck (and a lot of extra effort), I’ll hit the 30,000 word mark tomorrow! Failing that, however, I’ll need to at least get to the 26,080 mark to stay on track with my revised writing schedule. The drama and adventure continues!
Oh, and for some reason, my characters keep getting into fights (and losing, badly).
