I'm dreaming...

...of a white Christmas that is. And it doesn't snow here in Sicily. I was approved 8 days of leave in December, from the 21st until the 29th I think.

So I will be back home in Ohio for Christmas. Thank God.

Nothing much else to say :)

Picture uploading problems...

The actual problem being that I'm too lazy to go through and upload pictures one at a time. I just want to be able to upload a whole gallery of images and post it in my blog. So If anyone knows a good way to do that let me know and I will definitely post more pictures.

Moving on. Life has been kind of quiet here. Still just as busy but nothing exciting going on. Today wraps up Hispanic Heritage Month. Which is fine with me, because we've done 3 different stories on it, I will have done 2 of the 3 after my story today... kind of makes it hard to produce an interesting story when it's been done twice already.

Right now it's 7:40a.m. I'm about 2 hours early for work but it's ok, It gives me time to just breath before the work day begins. I usually come in with Lauryn when she goes live on the radio at six in the morning. She's been doing radio since about August I think. She has become pretty good at it. We're both getting better at our jobs and it's neat to watch that happen. It was pretty rocky for me when I first got here, but I finally feel like I'm starting to get into the swing of things.

In related news, while I was in Vicenza for my training the instructors liked one of my projects enough to tell me to make it into a spot(commercial). So I did that once I got back to the station and it was picked for Broadcast Product of the Quarter in the tv spot category. Which that's only out of the products made here at my station but I was pretty proud. AND! Lauryn made a radio spot about hydration and I'm pretty sure it got the BPOQ for radio spots... this is a copy of the email we recieved from our Officer in Charge about it:

Coop/Wolfe,
Your spot was friggin’ OUTSTANDING!!! I think you two need to
make some more of those. Very funny, informative and great production quality.
Keep up the good work!!!

And finally, I bought a new PC which I'm very excited about. I recently converted to the Mac side of the world but decided I missed my PC, so now I have both, a mac laptop and a PC desktop. I already know some program for PC for uploading batches of images too so that should make this blogging process run a lot smoother.

Here is an attempt at uploading the commercial I made. Leave me some feedback let me know if it takes too long to load and I'll try to upload a lower quality version...

If that works I'll try to upload some of my stories as well.

Vicenza... or Venice.

From now until the 18th I am in Vicenza... which is, essentially, Venice.

My command thought it would be appropriate to send me and three others up here to attend the National Press Photographers Agency Training.

I've only made it through day one, but it's pretty neat. A few photojournalists from actual news stations back in the states flew out here to train us on ways to better tell the story. 

I know it will be a crime if I'm here these 4 days and don't actually make it to the city of Venice, we are going to try to go tomorrow evening if we get done early enough. We were going to go on our day off on Sunday, but some problems at the airport came up(they lost our luggage, and wouldn't rent us the car we had reserved).

I've taken a few pictures here and there and will try to upload them later. I just thought this would be a good opportunity to let you know where I am and why. More to come...

2 months later.

All I have to say is... wow.

I honestly had no idea how many people read this. I figured it was my family and maybe two or three others. But in the two and a half months that I stopped posting, I've received about a dozen emails asking me not to quit posting, and a few others with just questions about the Navy and/or mass communication specialists.

I took the break because I needed it, and even though I'm back I still may not be updating as frequent as some like. 

I know this sounds like a lame excuse, but in my time here I've been pretty exhausted. I keep pretty busy at work most days so usually when I get home the only thing I want to do is eat dinner and go to bed. 

Since it's been so long I have definitely become accustomed to my job now. So I'll give a quick rundown of my daily schedule.

Typically show up to work at 8 or 9am(depending on whether or not it's a PT day. PT meaning Physical training.) Work on the newscast for the day, that includes putting together the morning newscast, the news update that airs throughout the day, and then the main evening report. There are three of us on the news team so ideally different people work on different parts of everything.

Usually this all gets done and sent out the door anywhere from 1p.m to 5p.m. Also at some point throughout the day scripts for the next one to two days' newscasts should be written, then we go and shoot the "in's and outs". Basically us sitting at the desk saying "Welcome to your AFN Sigonella Report, I'm [Name]" then introducing the stories that we are airing and putting out any pertinent news. 

Now add to that the fact that you may have a story to go shoot. So when one person is out of the office on a shoot that means the other two have to pick up the slack. And so, usually 1 of the 3 of us are working on shooting or putting together a story while the other two are working on putting together the newscast and preparing scripts and such for the next day.

this should be a link to the finished product. The Sigonella Report:

http://sigonella.afneurope.net/SigonellaReport/tabid/761/Default.aspx

and below is an actual story I put together on the local children going back to school.

(**NOTE** The quality is crap on that Youtube Video. You may be better off watching it on the AFN Sigonella website. www.afneurope.net/sigonella )

Double Duty

Sorry I have not posted in almost a month, I know it's ridiculous. I started work about a month ago, and have been running on E ever since. The learning curve is steep to say the least.

I also had double duty because I agreed to help a shipmate who is going on leave. But after this week I will have some free time.

I have some pictures to post, thanks to Lauryn, who took my camera to Catania with her. So check back soon.

Until then, ciao!

Street signs and weeds. Enjoy!

Nothing much new going on yet. I finished my last day of Indoctrination today, and tomorrow is my first day at work. I'm kind of excited about it, and kind of apprehensive at the same time. It will be nice to finally get down to business. However, it also means this is it, there are no more half days, no more going in at 0940 and no more sitting in a classroom drowning out instructors like I have for the past eight months. 

Well, anyway, I was riding the bus from NAS1(the base I live on) to NAS2(... the one I don't live on) with my handy dandy camera in my pocket so I thought I'd get this ball rolling...

Some weeds, Mt. Etna in the Background.

Some of the confusing roads here!

A Discoteca right outside of base. "English Spoken"

Pretty self explanitory...

I know some of them have a glare and some are blurry, but that's because I took them from inside a moving bus.

Stay tuned!

Living Overseas = Amazing!

Today may be the best day of my Sigonellan life...

Today I got my first paycheck, complete with Cost of Living Allowance and Commuted Rations(money to eat on). My pay has doubled. So thank you for that, Navy!

So in order to celebrate, I just went out and purchased this blogs best friend:

A Sony Cybershot DSC T2.

I almost bought the next higher model, but I had to talk myself out of it. I kind of regret it still but we'll see how this one works out.

About two more weeks until I go out and start exploring the island I think. So look forward to some new pictures soon.

Later!

Catania

Hello!

I know it has been a while since I posted, but I really haven't done anything at all. I rented GTA4 and have spent the past week sitting in my room playing it. Not because it's that awesome but because I'm poor and it's cheaper to sit in the room than go out and experience Italy. By now it's about 3 days past due... oops!

On a more interesting note. Today we visited the province of Catania. 

As a part of our intercultural relations program they take us to Catania and drop us off in the Piazza Doumo, or Cathedral Square, and let us wander around from there.

The main Cathedral in Catania.

The little elephant, which is kind of like a 

mascot or something for the Province.

Catania was pretty fun all in all, I didn't take any of these pictures because I didn't have a camera. Once I get paid I will buy one, and once my friend Lauryn gets here we will go out and explore I expect.

So expect to see more of Catania Later.

Until then, ciao!

Bonjourno!

I have been here for four days and I love it already. This place is amazing. The weather is perfect, the base is almost like a resort and the surrounding area is beautiful!

Just yesterday I was waiting for the shuttle and I almost missed it because I thought surely this giant tour-bus wasn't the shuttle I was waiting for. This thing had better seating than the commercial jet I flew here on! Everything I need is in walking distance also. This whole base is within walking distance practically. We have a NEX(walmart-esque store), a grocery store, a food court complete with taco bell, subway, kfc, and a couple other places I can't remember right now, a world class gym, an Applebees, a couple bars, a movie theater, a bowling alley, a bunch of little stores, a library with free wireless internet and a place called ITT that schedules trips around europe! Like to London and Ireland. 

The barracks are really nice also. I'm still in temporary housing until they get me a room to live in, so no phone or internet yet, but the temporary rooms are nice as well. 

I went to a town called Motta Sant'Anastasia(above) with my sponsor, and we went to a restaurant where I had Cannelloni with chicken, and it was so good.  In the background is the active volcano Mt. Etna.

(a picture from the room I stayed in the first night. Mt. Etna in the back.)

So, needless to say I'm having a blast so far. I haven't even started my 

job yet though. I will be doing all this indoctrination stuff for about three weeks. After that I will be working for American Forces Network, Sigonella. 

I'm trying to save up money right now to buy a decent camera. Although my sponsor told me that our shop has one still camera that you can check out. I will look into that later.

Until next time. Ciao!

Welcome Aboard!

Welcome to my new blog, which is essentially the same blog just on a new address. A fresh start for a new location. I have finished boot camp and I have finished my A-School.  As of 12May2008 I will be getting on a plane and heading to Sicily, my new home for the next two years. 

Since I wont be in school I wasn't sure at first if I would keep a blog even. It seems wrong to stop it though with so many people that read it. I'm not positive what kind of things I will be posting. Expect the normal updates i.e. how the new job is, what I do, how life in Italy is. I hope to turn this into more of a photo blog though. I plan on buying a decent camera and taking lots of trips around Europe. So that will make for some good photos.

Ok so don't expect much at first, I will update this as soon as I get to Sicily and get settled in with internet and all.

(also I'm not sure how permanent this layout will be, I want to do something more creative but right now I'm trying to enjoy my leave rather than spend the whole time hiding behind my laptop.)

-Adam