Video queen

The Higher Ups at the Washington Times are asking us all to produce video, video and more video so today I and another female staff writer premiered Take Two: A Woman's View on the faith/family side of the news. (She covers social issues and I of course do religion). It's on the front page of our site now - sigh - my hair was dangling in front of my face and I think I was slouching. There is lots of room to improve here.
Of course it would help if we had some training on how to do video/TV stuff but it's not in any budget I know of so here we are, talking before cameras about, well, whatever pops into our minds. I have been doing weekly videos about the religion beat that usually show up Sundays on our site - an example is here - but I must admit it's hard to talk non-stop for 3 minutes without a teleprompter and just spout off names and statistics and get them all correct. I still have to glance down at a notepad which is a no-no. There's always something that goes haywire: either my mini-microphone is creating static or I'm pursing my mouth in a weird way or - the list goes on. Often my mind just BLANKS out for a few seconds as I am trying to remember this Senate minority leader or that bishop. But I still jumped at the chance to do all these videos as the folks at the paper want them and I have lots of expertise on my beat so, well, pourquoi pas? Hopefully in a few months I'll be a lot better in front of the cameras.
As for Veeka, here's a photo of her posing in her school get-up. She loves her little back pack and her lunch box, etc. And she is only 3. At her age, I was pretty much hanging out at home all day but it's a new century and the age of the Single Mom and my little darling ends up at daycare which to be honest I think she really prefers because being with Mommy all day is a tad boring compared to all the kiddos she gets to play with at "school" as she now calls it.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I am off to a friend's place in the Shenandoah Valley. So much has happened this year - mostly good - for me and I am thankful for that.