Got Global?

Well, today is the last day of May. An exciting month to be sure. I won't bore you all with a recap since that's what archives (available on the right) are for. What I will bore you with is a recap of my last couple days at Global Saskatoon.

Bore may be too harsh a word, at least for the past few days. Yesterday (as mentioned Monday) my practicum teacher Bob Simmons visited my practicum host and I here at the station. We had a short meeting (followed by a tour) during which my host said I was a fast learner and was doing well. I just passed the halfway point on Monday and by the time I return to Brandon this weekend I'll be only three weeks away from salvation. Though I don't yet quite know what that will be.

As I've mentioned before I graduate on Saturday, early in the afternoon. For anyone who may wish to attend it will take place at the Keystone Centre around 1:30pm local time. Attendance I believe is free. For my graduating classmates please be reminded that our private forum will open on Friday so if you want immediate access please register for the forum before then and e-mail me your user name so I can set you up then.

I've added a new feature to the forum on the right hand side under "content." I'm going to try and keep my personal calendar updated at that location. It's a PDF file so most should already have the software on their computers to view the file. If you get an error message when you click on the "My Calendar" link than please click here to download the appropriate software.

That's all for tonight. One more day at Global then back to Brandon I go!

Type ya'll Friday (from Brandon!)

Broadcasting Boredom

So, another rather slow day in the broadcasting world. Today I moved into the studio at Global where I witnessed many things I had already seen before only done differently with some cool toys my college could never afford. Tomorrow is a rarity as I work a 10-7 to meet my practicum teacher Bob Simmons here in Saskatoon. Next week It's back to the control to spend some time in audio and production control.

My trip to Toronto as you probably (hopefully) read on Friday was amazing and the pictures are now up in the BBBB Gallery (link on the right.) Due to a slight server error which will be corrected this weekend some of the pictures are improperly orientated however.

Back to Brandon this Friday afternoon as some of you may be aware for my graduation. I return to Saskatoon late Sunday for my final 3 weeks in Saskatchewan. I'm still putting together my final plans for the summer and fall so one of these days expect those to start filtering out into the blogosphere.

Well, that's all I have time for tonight!

Type Ya'll Wednesday!

Toronto Tourists

So, here I am in Toronto. Sitting in a very comfortable chair in the Business Centre at the Seneca@York campus.

Last night I barely slept a wink. We woke up at 4:00am to catch our flight from Saskatoon to Winnipeg which then moved on to Toronto. My first two times on an airplane ever and mostly, the experience was quite cool and enjoyable. Except it took some time for my ears and sinuses to adjust making for a painful decent to Winnipeg. After that though it hasn't been nearly as bad.

Got into Toronto and here waiting for us was a guy holding a sign reading "Assiniboine Community College." We followed him and he led us to a limo which, after getting lost a few times, brought us here to the Seneca campus at York University. Our rooms are amazing. We're staying in $250 a night individual executive suites (the school got a bit of a discount on them I believe) and they feature all the amenities except for in room Internet which I found rather odd. It doesn't much matter though since we have access to the penthouse where they have a lounge packed with complimentary goodies, the business centre where they have multiple computers and printers, and an exercise room.

After checking in we had a bit of time to ourselves before we had to get all dressed up and walk down the street to the award ceremonies and dinner. The dinner was amazing, 3 course with all kinds of fancy dishes that tasted fantastic. We got our certificates and Tim and I went up to the podium and rambled off a few words. We then got a tour of the Seneca facilities before we headed back to our rooms, changed again and headed on down to downtown Toronto for a night on the town.

Tomorrow the plan is to be up by 8:30am to go for a quick tour of the CBC before our plane departs at 1:00pm. Jessica and I fly from Torono to Calgary where we then connect with another flight that takes us back to Saskatoon. It's been an odd experience these past few hours. Usually I'm forced to track 3 time zones. The Brandon time zone where most of my friends and family are, the Saskatoon timezone where I am and the Quebec timezone where Alix is. Today and tomorrow however I have the very rare treat of being in the same timezone as Alix meaning that all my time conversions are off. It's a weird feeling since usually Alix and I are 4000km apart but this weekend we're only a thousand. That's still a huge distance, far too much for a quick visit but still, It's sorta nice to be a little closer for a little while.

Flying feels like cheating. When you drive somewhere and you arrive at your destination it actually feels like you earned your way there but when you fly it happens so quick that It's hard to even believe at first where you are. Not to say I don't like it, I do! Our place had seatback satellite TV! But at the sametime it doesn't have quick the satisfaction that a roadtrip has.

Anyways, I should be off I suppose. I added Global pictures to the gallery earlier this week so feel free to take a look at those. Pictures from the Toronto trip should be up by Monday so stay tuned for a look at this giant city. I told someone today, this feels far too large for a Canadian city...

Type ya'll Monday!

Birthday Blog

Hey Everybody! It's My Birthday!


Happy Birthday to me and everyone else who gets to share a birthday with me! Above is a picture of the cards I received for my birthday so far. On the left is the card from my parents, left of center is the card from my sister and the card to the right of center is the card from one of my grandmothers. Also, so far today I have received e-cards from Rena and a couple companies who sent me coupons for their products. Go coupons!

But wait a second. I forgot a card. The one on the right! Well, that one has been up there the longest (since the day I moved in actually) and is from my girlfriend Alix. Hey look! I said her name! Yes, for the few who didn't know Alix and I have been going out for the past three months. Against Wal-Mart policy I might add which is why if I go back to Wal-Mart after practicum I won't be going back as a CSM. My reign of terror is over!

As exciting as some birthdays have been in the past today is unlikely to fall into the exciting category. I got a haircut this morning which has been on my list of things to do for a few weeks now and this afternoon I'm on work practicum at Global from 2:30 - 11:30 CST. I do get a break from 7-8:30pm however so perhaps there will be enough time then to party down?!

Obviously the big exciting event to come this week isn't my birthday but rather my trip to Toronto Friday morning. I've never been to Toronto before. I've never flown before. And I've never been to a Canadian Apple Store before! I can't wait to make the trip and it should be 25 of the busiest hours I've ever experienced. Go sleep deprevation!

Well, that's about all I've got for this Birthday Blog post. Stay tuned Friday when (as long as I have Internet access) I'll be blogging live from Toronto!

Type ya'll Friday!

A May Monday

Well, today was the last day of the long weekend and by golly it sure did pass me by quick. As I mentioned last week my parents came to visit and we had just a splendid time. Tours we're given, paths were walked, shopping was done, dinner was had and gifts (for my birthday) were received. They came Saturday, left today, and I must say I enjoyed the time they were here.

Also making the trip to toon town this past weekend; Devin, Amy and her sister Betheny. We hung out during the evening of both the Saturday and the Sunday and for the most part we enjoyed our time taking an interesting journey through the streets of downtown Saskatoon and an intersting late night dessert at a local Boston Pizza. On the menu yesterday we went to see Over the Hedge which failed to dissapoint (double negative) and turned out to be an enjoyable romp through North America suberbia.

I would also like to take the oppourtunity to announce (I'm hoping everyone who needed advance notice now knows) to my readers that Devin and Amy officially became engaged earlier this morning (I think.) I talked to Amy earlier today and left a voicemail message for Devin this evening wishing them both my congratulations and I encourage everyone else to do the same. From my understanding their having trouble coming up with names for Devin's side of the church so tickets for the big event may yet go on sale at your local Ticketmaster...

Last week I promised I would take some time this past long weekend to take some pictures of the campus and make them available to all of you. Well, I'm proud to say I get to keep my promise and direct you all to this web site where you can take your very own "virtual tour" of the University of Saskatchewan campus:

http://jaycr1.sytes.net/gallery/brandon_blogger

After my parents had left and Devin, Amy & Betheny had departed the fun didn't stop, oh no! With 31.1 degree weather here in Saskatoon Jessica and I tried to take advantage of the situation by playing a game of Volleyball out in the circle (game might be a bit strong a word.) Afterwards we went to spend some much deserved time in an air conditioned space as we went and watched (gulp) Just My Luck. Jessica and I tend to do a bit of give and take as far as movie selection is concerned with it just being the two of us out here and tonight was her turn to pick the flick. I told her before we left that sometimes movies that look like chick flicks aren't nearly as bad as they originally look. This wasn't one of those movies, although I didn't come out of the movie feeling any more ripped off than usual (ticket prices are a bit higher here than in Brandon.)

Well, that's all for tonight. This is a special post obviously with it being the end of the long weekend but really every post this week will be special. Wednesday will be my birthday post and my first blog post at the age of 22 AND Friday I'll be blogging from where else but Toronto where I'll be to accept my classes award for Canada's BEST student newscast! To kick off this big week let's hold a quick little contest. The FIRST person to make a post to the JSN Forum about either of the movies I mentioned in my blog tonight will win the iTunes single from that movies soundtrack (Over the Hedge | Just My Luck.) I agree, It's not a huge prize but let's see if we can have some fun!

Type ya'll Wednes(Birth)day!

Suddenly Seven

Well, my seventh day of practicum work in a row has come and thankfully gone. It was worth it, now that I have the long weekend off, but it was at times a wee bit irritating. Having to rush every day for seven days to a job where I'm barely noticed by the person who's supposed to be hosting my practicum. A place where I'm trying to figure out what I'll have to do for the next five weeks...

Good news is of course that the long weekend is finally here and that it is in fact a doosey. While tomorrow should only get up to around a normal high Sunday and Monday are going to HOT. Almost thirty degree hot. Further reason to continue with the shorts and seek out the shade. As mentioned earlier my parents are scheduled to make a trip out seperately from Devin and Amy who will also be in town on family business this weekend. Jessica's parents are out this weekend as well so It's gonna be a weekend of tours and socializing no doubt.

One week from today I should be partying it up in downtown Toronto. Celebrating my classes award win. Celebrating my 22nd birthday. Celebrating my first time flying and my first time to the GTA. I'm starting to get excited and I can't wait for Friday morning to come. It is going to be an early Friday however, our plane leaves at 6:05am and we have to check-in 90 minutes before the departure time. Because of my trip to Toronto and because of Victoria day it will be shortened week at Global Saskatoon. I'm currently thinking that I'll only be there for maybe Tuesday and Wednesday, finishing up my time in control. I'll start back at it on Sunday as I shadow the weekend Producer/Director.

As a closing note I must say that the one sure fire way to know whether or not you've become domesticated is if you get excited after buying a new Swiffer device. This past week I purchased a Swiffer CarpetFlick to help keep my carpet here at Res nice and clean for my visitors this week and I must give it two thumbs up. I really didn't know how well it was going to work and while my first cartridge is already full it still worked very well for It's first time out of the box. Plus, it comes in a funky orange colour!

Well, that's all I've got for this installment. Stay tuned over the weekend for the possibility of some pictures being posted. Until then..

Type ya'll Monday!

Wacky Weekend

Well, here it is. Another late blog post. Surprised? Doubtful. In fact what would personally surprise me more is if anyone even noticed with it being past 2am in Manitoba right now.

Not too much to report tonight so this will likely be a short one. While not having a social life originally led me to believe I'd have lots of free time here in Saskatoon I seem to have been mistaken because it doesn't ever seem like there are enough minutes in a day. I'm currently training in the control room at Global Saskatoon while I'm there. Friday I get to do something new in control but tomorrow should be another fairly standard day trying to keep what's happening on 3 different computers straight. They say It's like playing a piano and I'm starting to agree. It's interesting work and I'm glad to be learning it, thought there is a fair amount of down time. Not that that's a bad thing some days.

I've been spending some time on my web sites the past few weeks, most notably the forums on JayCr Sytes Network (static link to your right.) I'm currently in the process of setting up some private forums for people to use. Starting off with the launch of a Media Production 2006 graduating class forum over the weekend of June the third (grad weekend) followed by a Wal-Mart forum for past and present associates a few weeks later. If you fall into one of the categories that qualifies for one of those forums (or even if you don't, anyone can register to post in the public portion) please visit the forum, register if you haven't yet done so and e-mail me the user name so I can register you for the proper group when the time comes. I may look at adding more private forum groups in the future if the need so arises.

This weekend is the big May long weekend before my birthday (and before the Toronto trip) and as such it's going to be a busy one. Jessica's parents, my parents and Devin and Amy & friends are scheduled to arrive sometime on Saturday. If you have plans to be in the Saskatoon area this weekend as well please feel free to give me a shout in advance and if nothing else I'll try and setup a tour of my digs here in toon town for you. I also plan to post some pictures of the residence on JSN this weekend so those of you who can't make the trip can have a sort of "virtual tour." There will likely be a second chance for visits in the second half of June so if you're interested feel free to start planning for that now.

And I believe that's all for tonight.

Type ya'll Friday!

Cactus Conversation

So, here I am. It's nearly 8:00 in the wonderous town of Saskatoon and I'm sitting in a restaurant, listening to the Spanish version of Shakira's first popular single, catching up on a little writing. I just finished a cover letter and modifications to my resume so I can send it to a couple different places and I thought that since I don't have to be back to Global till quarter after eight I might start on my Monday blog.

The restaurant in case you're wondering is called "Cactus Jo's" as per the title. It's a weird cross between a Subway and a Taco Time that includes a "free" salad. It's become my favourite Saskatoon restaurant since my big move after being introduced by Jessica last week.

So I'm not connected to the Internet right now meaning ala last summer this entry will be posted when I get reconnected to the Internet later on tonight. I wish more restaurants had free wireless hookups, that way I could be looking up porn or something right now instead of looking like a restaurant critic typing up my review...

I work tonight till 11:30pm once again which is pretty much how my weekend went. It was slow and uneventful except for a quick tour of some area bars on Friday night with Jessica and some new found friends (unfortunately hers more than mine.)

They let me shadow the Producer/Director over the weekend which was a bit of a bonus but it was still a bit slow. I know someday I'll end up loving unions but in this particular circumstance where I'm not allowed to do anything on my own that a union member could be doing, it certainly isn't playing to my favour.

Well, that's all I've got for right now.

Type ya'll Wednesday!

Trip to Toronto!

So, yesterday I broke my own little rule and posted the press release from Assiniboine Community College on a Thursday (egads!) First let me say how thrilled I am that our class won this award. Usually I'd like to think I try to be fairly modest but if I tried to describe my behaviour over the past few days with that terminology I would be a total liar. I can't even put into words how happy I am to have produced Canada's BEST student newscast and I've already taken the time to put this little gem on my resume. Also, staying with the anti-modesty theme of the past few days this is my second award in media, another huge surprise since before I started this course I wasn't exactly a great student. Glad to know I seem to have found my place!

Now as rewarding as it is to be one of Canada's best student television producers I also found out Wednesday that I will be traveling, all expenses paid, to Toronto in 2 weeks for 2 days to accept the award and say "a few words" on behalf of my class! Then yesterday I found out that additional funding had come through and so I will be accompanied by six classmates and two instructors as well! This is gonna be a party, especially since my birthday is only TWO DAYS before the big trip!

I have NEVER flown before and as such it had been my new years resolution this year to fly SOMEWHERE over the course of the year. Also, I have never been to Toronto before and so I am very much looking forward to the trip!

Moving onto a few other things for the moment though, today was my second day off this week meaning It's back to the old grind tomorrow for 7 days in a row before I hit the long weekend. That's when Jessica's parents, possibly my parents and Devin and Amy are scheduled to be making the trip into town. Gonna be a busy and fun three days!

Today is also traveling day for my girlfriend who's on her way to her THREE MONTH summer job that deals with what she's currently taking at school. My day has partly been a matter of looking at the time and trying to figure out which flight/bus/taxi she'll be on at that given time. I now get to track 3 time zones on a daily basis, go multi-tasking!

Well that's it for now. I'll keep you all apprised on the continuing preparations for my big trip to the T-Dot and on how my practicum continues to evolve next week.

Type ya'll Monday!

Student Success

Press Release from
Assiniboine Community College:

We always knew our students were winners.
And now the rest of the country knows it, too!

The Media Production program was thrilled today to receive word that Westman Newsline, the live daily newscast the Media students produce and perform on WCG-TV Channel 12, was the national winner of the Studio Newscast Category in the Broadcast Educators Association of Canada (BEAC) National Student Awards.

The ACC student production was selected as the winner among 12 post-secondary institution entries from across the country.

The producer of the show was Jason Cruickshank; the director was Stephen Weisgerber. The April 7th installment of Newsline featured the on-air talents of Jessica Bailey (news anchor), Jesse Carlson (sports), Tim Proven (weather) and Ashly Larson (Community Calendar). The show's technical director was Mathew Bevis.

"Congratulations! Westman Newsline is the winner!" said Sue Childs, co-ordinator of the Radio, TV and Journalism Programs of Canadore College in North Bay , Ontario , and chairwoman of the BEAC Studio Newscast Award selection committee.

Video Instructor Greg Sherris and Journalism Instructor Diane Nelson are co-executive producers of Westman Newsline, and were delighted to hear of the students' win.

"We're just so excited for the students – this is a real coup for Assiniboine," Nelson said following the announcement.

"The students worked hard, and they really deserve this," added Sherris.

The award will be presented at the BEAC National Conference in Toronto on May 26th.

Sunny Saskatoon

Well, I must say I am pleasantly surprised to see no one tried to make any comments to my Monday post. If you so desire the option is still open using the archive links to your right, I was after all hoping to get a bit of a laugh out of it myself.

But, for those who aren't in the know I shall inform that none of that second to last paragraph is true, obviously. Devin and Amy still seem to have a pretty good thing going there and Stephen and Breanne? Well, the only place their dating is in their own fluffy fantasy land. And no, I'm not talking about the Holiday Inn Airport West.

I do in fact have a girlfriend of my own now, have for nearly 3 months and while I won't mention her name here yet, do know that so far I've been quite enjoying her company.

Also for those unaware I'm currently staying in Saskatoon Saskatchewan while I work on my Broadcasting practicum, the final leg of the journey towards my Media Production Diploma. I'll be here till the end of June working for Global Television hopefully getting some experience doing what I trained to do back at ACC.

Speaking of Saskatoon the sun has come out to shine today after multiple days of rainy depressing weather. I have to work today from 2:30-11:30 before I take two days off tomorrow and on Friday. What plans do I have for my time off in Saskatoon? Well, currently I'm thinking about finding a movie theatre here so I can finally see "RV," a movie I've been wanting to see ever since a friend told me it was good. Also, my mother has been nagging me to get a little fridge for my room here so I might go off and investigate that possibility as well. Add in a little more experimentation with Microwave cookery and the chance for some further exploration and down time, I think my days will be full.

I'm currently looking at posting to my blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so stay tuned for new content on those 3 days.

Type ya Friday!

Solitary Secrets

The story has been told a million times and yet I shall take the time to tell it again. Once upon a time, when this blog was first started, I would post updates on a daily basis. It may seem surprising now as I write my first entry in more then 4 months but it's true, and more to the point I enjoyed the experience. I wrote daily for much of last summer during my trip to Chicago with Shawn, during my boring days at the then expanding Wal*Mart, and I even wrote the occasional post while I was putting my more popular postulations out on the air waves as the temporary station manager over at good ol' CJ-106.

It was an interesting summer to be sure. The complete texts from the time are still available in archive using the links to your right but I will take a bit of column space now to outline the more interesting. Such as of course Shawn and my trip to Chicago continuing our tradition of driving long distances for shorter trips. Summer mobiles with Jessica, Matt, Dallas and some other fellow Media students covering everything from Baseball to, well, Baseball. And of course the Wal*Mart fun continued with our new store opening, moving into a new model store that was never built again. Gotta love the prototypes!

And now we make it to this summer and while I can attribute my lack of blog posts to my own laziness as much as I like that wouldn't be telling the complete truth. I've been keeping a secret for the past few months along with the help (or sometimes hindrance) of several friends. Yes Wal-Mart/ACC friends I can confirm it, Devin/Stephen and I are dating. Sorry Amy/Breanne but it had to come out sooner or later and I felt that since you'd been asking/not asking about BBBB, a blog post was just the way to do it!

I will now give you all the chance to post your very own brand of gay joke/religious rant/farting text sound effect so while you post your comments using the link below I'm gonna go have some lunch.

Type ya'll Wednesday!