What I've been up to at work

I need to be more disciplined when it comes to blogging...


Work has been going alright — a little slow — but it's picking up steam as the holidays approach.


Probably the top thing I'm working on right now is a story about a Montessori school that is under investigation and possible could shut down because it left a 3-year-old boy at the city's spray park after a field trip for about an hour. It was their third offense - read the report, here.


I worked Black Friday doing coverage from midnight to almost 3 a.m. - the highlight of my night came at Old Navy. Here's a video I captured:

The "Gobble Dance" as it is called was a promotion for Old Navy this year, and as you can see- the employees got pretty good at it.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! I'm heading to Louisville this Friday to watch Erin run at the NCAA national meet on Saturday! With the lady Chargers luck!

A Bay City weekend of cooking

After moving into Bay City more than a year ago, I said I would try and learn to cook and cook often. It's pretty easy to buy something quick to eat, but it's not the most economical (and probably not the healthiest).


This weekend, Erin paid me a visit, and we decided to cook a nice dinner and breakfast. You know a dinner is good when it's photo worthy.

I grilled the steak, Erin made the green beans and sweet potatoes.


For those of you now on your own, make one really good dinner this week. You'll feel proud of yourself.


We also decided to make a breakfast, which was easily prepared the night before, put in the fridge, then baked in the morning. We found the recipe on Food Network.


How good does this look?

The Maria Schmitt (Servold) Wedding

Last week I had the distinct pleasure of shooting photos for Maria Schmitt's wedding in Longmont, Colorado. The wedding was beautiful, the party was a blast and I was lucky enough to bring Erin along with me and spend time with her family.

I talked with Maria this afternoon and she gave me permission to post photos from the wedding on here. Enjoy!

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE....

Slacking on the blogging...

Here's a shot at Austin Peay State University that I took.
If you click the link below, you'll find out why I was there.

But I have good reason!

The past two weeks have been extremely crazy for me at work — which is a good thing. Looking back at the work I've done, it makes me realize how much I love my job. Who wouldn't love being a community watchdog and telling stories to people?

Anyways, on Oct. 12 I left for Clarksville, Tenn. which is the site of the new Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) facility. To make a long story short — HSC is the world leader in producing the main component of solar panels. With green energy taking off, HSC also takes off. Their headquarters are in Saginaw County and they've done some major expansion (we're talking billions of dollars) in Saginaw County.

But a major investment was recently made in Clarksville, thus the reason why a reporter from the Saginaw News and myself teamed up to make the trip down south and see what was really going on in Clarksville. The point of the story showed what Michigan missed out on (potentially thousands of jobs) because of everything Tennessee could offer — including cheaper electricity and cheaper taxes. I also covered the educational side of it which also plays large role.

Instead of me describing the whole story — you can read everything we wrote and blogged about by clicking, HERE.

I wrote another story before I left for Colorado (read below) last week, that exploded on the Internet, getting more than 60,000 clicks online over the weekend. It's about bullying and discriminatory harassment — specifically toward gay and lesbians students. Check it out.

This previous week, Erin and I went back to Colorado for Maria Schmitt's wedding! I was lucky enough to be her photographer and Maria let me take Erin with me so she could go home for fall break. I'm so happy we were able to travel to Erin's home — not only because she was able to spend time with her family, but also because she knows her wedding photography! Many of the really good photos came out so well because Erin thought of the perfect pose. She was the perfect assistant! I need Maria's permission before posting any of those photos, but I'll share them soon!

Video: Pumpkin Carving

Can fall be any better? After a lovely fall color tour on Saturday, Erin and I enjoyed some apple cider and carved pumpkins. Enjoy the video:

Fall colors with Erin