All right. I've had enough. I'm looking for a miracle pill.
Every May/June since high school, I've gotten really bad spring allergies. Like, so bad, I rub my eyes and they turn into jumbo puffed pink marshmallows and swell shut. I haven't been able to breathe comfortably through my nose for longer than 3 minutes before more gunk oozes in and clogs up the works. Every sinus in my head is painfully full, and I'm always tired. I've gone through a box of Kleenex in about a week and a half.
So give me your suggestions. What works? I've tried Benadryl (too sleepy), Claritin (doesn't do much for the stuffiness), and the Neti Pot (nothing comes out because as soon as I tip my head, it stuffs up again.) I hate to self-medicate, mostly because I don't like to take pills. But this has been going on for two months. I'm pretty sure Luke is tired of the awful snoring. I'm tired of my head never feeling happy. I'm tired of being tired all the time. So tell me, what do I need to get at the pharmacy?
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Killing A Killer
It’s one thing to support a major cause with words. It’s another to feel a part of it.
Last night, I lay half asleep in my bed, waiting until after midnight for our station to cut in announcing the death of Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad. Luke woke me up just seconds before the cut in. I have to say, our presentation of the announcement was…bone chilling. We had built a graphics package for this moment. The opening animation had music like a horror movie. Ronnie’s eyes stared at you from the television, looking right into you, and I got the feeling I was looking at a killer, a marked man, one who would no longer be on this earth by the hands of the State. A man who was already dead as I watched. Cristina, our reporter, spoke softly from the prison media room, telling the world Gardner had been executed at 12:20am on Friday, June 18, 2010. The entire experience, watching the report in a dark room in the middle of the night, left me nearly unable to go to sleep. You could feel something evil in the room, unsettled spirits. It took Luke holding me to be able to drift off, and even then I feared nightmares.
When I woke, I turned on the morning news, and got the full account of the execution. Gardner clenched his fist in anticipation. Five men shot their guns with a loud report. Gardner relaxed…and minutes later started twitching. The firing squad was unsure if they would have to shoot again. Had they missed? Was he dead? A doctor looked in Gardner’s eyes, checked his pulse. At 12:17, he was declared to have left this life. Our reporter Fields watched from the witness room. When he emerged, he answered questions for the press about his experience. He told them, it was violent. He’s been around guns most of his life, but the noise, combined with watching a man being shot, being killed, was not a mere “clinical” act as some others who witnessed the execution described. He was shaken.
I feel an eerie presence within myself today. I’ve always supported capital punishment. For some members of society, their crimes are so horrendous that the only way for society to get passed them is to eliminate the reminder of the tragedy. Gardner is now only a figment of history. And after some time passes, people will forget, filing this event in the back of their minds, to be brought fresh again only when another is killed by the government. An, “I remember when…”. But it’s something different when you’re this close to the story. When you hear the details. When you know that you’ve just killed a man as a collective. The jury was representative of our populace when they decided he was guilty. The judge deemed death to be the best punishment. Countless appeals were denied by several boards, judges, and politicians. The entire state of Utah, even the country, decided to kill this man for his crimes.
I’m not saying that this event has changed my view of capital punishment. There frankly was no dilemma about this case. Hundreds of people watched as he tried to escape the courthouse and shot two men trying to do it. One died instantly. One died years later from wounds that never healed. There was no doubt he was innocent. At this point, protestors only had the moral leg to stand on. Does one murder justify another murder? As one of the family members put it, the death penalty insures no more crimes will be committed by this person. I guess I loosely liken this experience to Old Yeller. You have to kill the dog, but that doesn’t make the experience any less emotional. Even if there’s a monster on the other end of your gun.
Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune’s story about what happened, how Gardner ended up on Death Row, and what happens next.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15325197?source=rv
I’ll be glad when this day is over, and I can put this one to rest in the back of my mental filing cabinet. It’s emotionally unsettling, and I’m only glad I wasn’t the one chosen to watch it.
Last night, I lay half asleep in my bed, waiting until after midnight for our station to cut in announcing the death of Ronnie Lee Gardner by firing squad. Luke woke me up just seconds before the cut in. I have to say, our presentation of the announcement was…bone chilling. We had built a graphics package for this moment. The opening animation had music like a horror movie. Ronnie’s eyes stared at you from the television, looking right into you, and I got the feeling I was looking at a killer, a marked man, one who would no longer be on this earth by the hands of the State. A man who was already dead as I watched. Cristina, our reporter, spoke softly from the prison media room, telling the world Gardner had been executed at 12:20am on Friday, June 18, 2010. The entire experience, watching the report in a dark room in the middle of the night, left me nearly unable to go to sleep. You could feel something evil in the room, unsettled spirits. It took Luke holding me to be able to drift off, and even then I feared nightmares.
When I woke, I turned on the morning news, and got the full account of the execution. Gardner clenched his fist in anticipation. Five men shot their guns with a loud report. Gardner relaxed…and minutes later started twitching. The firing squad was unsure if they would have to shoot again. Had they missed? Was he dead? A doctor looked in Gardner’s eyes, checked his pulse. At 12:17, he was declared to have left this life. Our reporter Fields watched from the witness room. When he emerged, he answered questions for the press about his experience. He told them, it was violent. He’s been around guns most of his life, but the noise, combined with watching a man being shot, being killed, was not a mere “clinical” act as some others who witnessed the execution described. He was shaken.
I feel an eerie presence within myself today. I’ve always supported capital punishment. For some members of society, their crimes are so horrendous that the only way for society to get passed them is to eliminate the reminder of the tragedy. Gardner is now only a figment of history. And after some time passes, people will forget, filing this event in the back of their minds, to be brought fresh again only when another is killed by the government. An, “I remember when…”. But it’s something different when you’re this close to the story. When you hear the details. When you know that you’ve just killed a man as a collective. The jury was representative of our populace when they decided he was guilty. The judge deemed death to be the best punishment. Countless appeals were denied by several boards, judges, and politicians. The entire state of Utah, even the country, decided to kill this man for his crimes.
I’m not saying that this event has changed my view of capital punishment. There frankly was no dilemma about this case. Hundreds of people watched as he tried to escape the courthouse and shot two men trying to do it. One died instantly. One died years later from wounds that never healed. There was no doubt he was innocent. At this point, protestors only had the moral leg to stand on. Does one murder justify another murder? As one of the family members put it, the death penalty insures no more crimes will be committed by this person. I guess I loosely liken this experience to Old Yeller. You have to kill the dog, but that doesn’t make the experience any less emotional. Even if there’s a monster on the other end of your gun.
Here’s the Salt Lake Tribune’s story about what happened, how Gardner ended up on Death Row, and what happens next.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_15325197?source=rv
I’ll be glad when this day is over, and I can put this one to rest in the back of my mental filing cabinet. It’s emotionally unsettling, and I’m only glad I wasn’t the one chosen to watch it.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
A Big News Day
When it rains, it pours.
Tonight, convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner faces the firing squad. We’ve been covering this case since he killed his first victim, his second victim, and was convicted 25 years ago. Finally, all of his appeals have run out, he’s had his last meal of steak and lobster and apple pie, and now waits in a solitary observation cell for his impending death. He’s spoken with his family, and said goodbye for the last time. The only thing that can save him now is a Supreme Court decision to stay his execution. The governor has already said he’s had 25 years of fair trials, appeals, and decisions, and will not give him an 11th hour reprieve. We’ve planned this to be a busy news day with the world watching us use such an archaic method of execution against this monster.
This is Gardner.
This is where he will die tonight at Midnight.
The quasi-planned news we also had today was the University of Utah’s acceptance into the Pac-10 conference. Yesterday, we discovered the official invitation. Today, we received the official acceptance via live press conference from the U. With this, we planned not much else for our reporters, as these are two monumental stories to hit our state.
In the middle of our noon newscast today, we got word of a child abduction. If there’s anything that can trump and execution, it’s an abduction. A little 8 year old blonde girl was out on her scooter near a local high school, when two Hispanic men veered through traffic, stopped in front of her, and threw her into the car, leaving her scooter behind. There’s much debate in the newsroom on this one. If this was a parent, or relative, why would they have left the scooter in the middle of the sidewalk? Just after our Pac-10 press conference, an Amber Alert was issued for the little girl. Now we can only hope that she’s OK, and that the perpetrators are found soon, and this was a simple parenting matter, and not an actual abduction. We hope.
THEN, as if we didn’t already have enough going on today, we get word that the DUI arrest video of former Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack is being released. The press release originally said it would be a week before the courts released the tape, pending a DPS appeal. Apparently that happened and only the Trib knew about it. We got a tweet from them saying they were getting the video today. Now the rush is on to get this video, which allegedly shows the disgraced politician’s arrest that night after spending time at Liquid Joe’s with a lobbyist. I’m not sure how we’re going to cram it into already full shows, but it has to happen. This has to be the easiest day for producers, because the shows pretty much wrote themselves tonight.
And it’s only ten to five. What else can the news gods throw at us? Just a peek at the adrenaline rush in the newsroom tonight.
On a less stressful note, our living room is back to normal! Now for the rest of the house…
Tonight, convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner faces the firing squad. We’ve been covering this case since he killed his first victim, his second victim, and was convicted 25 years ago. Finally, all of his appeals have run out, he’s had his last meal of steak and lobster and apple pie, and now waits in a solitary observation cell for his impending death. He’s spoken with his family, and said goodbye for the last time. The only thing that can save him now is a Supreme Court decision to stay his execution. The governor has already said he’s had 25 years of fair trials, appeals, and decisions, and will not give him an 11th hour reprieve. We’ve planned this to be a busy news day with the world watching us use such an archaic method of execution against this monster.
This is Gardner.
This is where he will die tonight at Midnight.
The quasi-planned news we also had today was the University of Utah’s acceptance into the Pac-10 conference. Yesterday, we discovered the official invitation. Today, we received the official acceptance via live press conference from the U. With this, we planned not much else for our reporters, as these are two monumental stories to hit our state.
In the middle of our noon newscast today, we got word of a child abduction. If there’s anything that can trump and execution, it’s an abduction. A little 8 year old blonde girl was out on her scooter near a local high school, when two Hispanic men veered through traffic, stopped in front of her, and threw her into the car, leaving her scooter behind. There’s much debate in the newsroom on this one. If this was a parent, or relative, why would they have left the scooter in the middle of the sidewalk? Just after our Pac-10 press conference, an Amber Alert was issued for the little girl. Now we can only hope that she’s OK, and that the perpetrators are found soon, and this was a simple parenting matter, and not an actual abduction. We hope.
THEN, as if we didn’t already have enough going on today, we get word that the DUI arrest video of former Senate Majority Leader Sheldon Killpack is being released. The press release originally said it would be a week before the courts released the tape, pending a DPS appeal. Apparently that happened and only the Trib knew about it. We got a tweet from them saying they were getting the video today. Now the rush is on to get this video, which allegedly shows the disgraced politician’s arrest that night after spending time at Liquid Joe’s with a lobbyist. I’m not sure how we’re going to cram it into already full shows, but it has to happen. This has to be the easiest day for producers, because the shows pretty much wrote themselves tonight.
And it’s only ten to five. What else can the news gods throw at us? Just a peek at the adrenaline rush in the newsroom tonight.
On a less stressful note, our living room is back to normal! Now for the rest of the house…
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Hazard Area
The St. Clair house has literally turned into a zoo as of late. A very messy one. After a long search to find someone to take my apartment, Luke and I have moved my stuff back home, but haven’t had time to put it all away and get organized. So our living room is pretty much all against one wall. Our bedroom is a mess of laundry and a random side table with a toolbox sitting on it. The sliding glass door has muddy paw prints on it from this winter. The grass in both yards is growing taller and taller, and the doggie doo is overdue for a pickup. Let’s not even start on the garage. We cleaned it last weekend, only to have me stash all of my stuff in there.
Needless to say, I need a few days off to get things under control. The bummer about this, both our jobs are stressful right now. Luke’s been given a huge project at work that keeps him engaged and busy all day, and has been working late just to keep up. Meanwhile I’m in limbo in the newsroom as the head honchos decide what we’re going to do with this new show. My schedule’s kind of all over the place. Plus, for the last several weeks, I’ve been going to the apartment to show it, clean it, move it, so I often don’t have a night to just sit and relax and recuperate from the day. So when we come home from work, while we should be cleaning, or working out, or making dinner, we end up ordering in, plopping in front of the computers and vegging. I’m hopeful this weekend (yes, I’m finally off weekends!) we’ll have some time to get the chores done on Saturday, and truly use Sunday as a much needed day of rest.
Perhaps in the next coming weeks, we can get back on track with a schedule, and we’ll be able to have a life again when we’re not at work. I haven’t had the time to pursue my interests in a long time. My camera is itching for some adventure, the dogs are waiting not-so-patiently for their next hike, and I can’t even remember the last time I’ve been geocaching. Time go get our lives back!
Needless to say, I need a few days off to get things under control. The bummer about this, both our jobs are stressful right now. Luke’s been given a huge project at work that keeps him engaged and busy all day, and has been working late just to keep up. Meanwhile I’m in limbo in the newsroom as the head honchos decide what we’re going to do with this new show. My schedule’s kind of all over the place. Plus, for the last several weeks, I’ve been going to the apartment to show it, clean it, move it, so I often don’t have a night to just sit and relax and recuperate from the day. So when we come home from work, while we should be cleaning, or working out, or making dinner, we end up ordering in, plopping in front of the computers and vegging. I’m hopeful this weekend (yes, I’m finally off weekends!) we’ll have some time to get the chores done on Saturday, and truly use Sunday as a much needed day of rest.
Perhaps in the next coming weeks, we can get back on track with a schedule, and we’ll be able to have a life again when we’re not at work. I haven’t had the time to pursue my interests in a long time. My camera is itching for some adventure, the dogs are waiting not-so-patiently for their next hike, and I can’t even remember the last time I’ve been geocaching. Time go get our lives back!
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