Day 226/365

     Tonight I covered another volleyball game. I don't really know what to say about them anymore; I've covered so many it seems like. Nothing against the sport or anyone who plays it personally, but I can't say I'll miss it all that much once the season's over.

Day 225/365

     Yesterday/day 225 was one of the craziest work days I've had in a while. My boss and one of the other photo interns were out for the day, so it was just one other photo intern and myself covering anything that happened between the Saginaw and Bay City coverage areas. We got a lot of nasty weather compliments of Hurricane Sandy, which meant lots of car accidents, (including an overturned semi hauling corn!), so those kept us pretty busy, on top of other assignments that we had already. There were definitely some interesting ones, like a new stroke prevention tool that one of the local hospitals is now operating thanks to one of its doctors being its champion, or the ride-along another reporter and I did with an arson watch group last night. 

     I think the assignment I was most interested in though was the one about dogs, ( go figure). Apparently the city of Saginaw passed an ordinance last summer called the 'dangerous dog ordinance.' Anyone with dogs that have had past aggressive or violent behavior that's on file had to pay a fee to get a 'dog on premises' sign to hang on the front of their home. That part I understood. The part I wasn't so sure of was any dog owner with a certain dog breed, typically those with the 'aggressive breed' stigma, (pit bulls, German shepherds, dobermans, rottweilers, etc.), also had to get these signs, regardless of whether or not their dogs have ever had any problems. A reporter and I went knocking on the doors of some of the houses with the signs posted, and ended up talking to a really nice lady who had two pit bulls, (along with another dog and four cats). Her dogs were sweethearts, and were extremely photogenic!

Day 224/365

     I ended up having to work Monday night instead of having the day off as originally planned. I covered some high school sports and some early trick-or-treating, and a sad story about a family's dog who was killed by loose neighborhood dogs. I was in a weird mood after that one, but the amazing sunset managed to make up  for it a bit. 

Day 223/365

     This past Sunday/day 223 was a lazy day inside. The weather in Ohio was rainy and cool, so the only time I actually ventured outside was to take the dogs out in my mom's front yard. Other than that, it was a movies and sweatpants kind of day, (not that that's a bad thing).

Day 222/365

     My apologies for the delay in updates; I spent the weekend home in Ohio and tried to see everyone and do everything, (except sleep), and then had a few crazy days at work. Any spare time was pretty much spent catching up on sleep. 

     This past Saturday I got to catch up with a bunch of friends from home, and we carved pumpkins like we've done for the last couple of years. Today's photo is my mustachioed jack-o-lantern. It was a lot of fun, and while I was pretty aware of how much I missed all of them before visiting, it was made even more obvious after getting to actually see them. They're literally some of the best people on Earth!

Day 221/365

     Last night/Friday was a football night. This is the first week of high school playoffs in Michigan, and the game I covered last night was between two Saginaw high schools. One of the schools was making their first playoff appearance for the first time ever in the school's history, but unfortunately they lost pretty badly. It was quite an exciting game though, so much so that I was literally one step away from getting knocked out at one point when a defender tackled a receiver on the sidelines. Luckily the TV cameramen had left already...

Day 220/365

      Tonight I covered my first swim meet, and while it didn't frustrate me as much as shooting volleyball does, it wasn't all that far off. Something else to work on!

Day 219/365

     Tonight was a frustrating one, as I had to shoot a volleyball quad, (four teams holding two matches at the same time). I swear I will figure out how to shoot this sport properly if it's the last thing I do. I'm at the point where I almost prefer shooting golf to volleyball...

Day 218/365

     Yesterday/Tuesday marked the beginning of fall sports playoffs coverage for the high schools in the Saginaw News and Bay City Times coverage areas. I covered the regional semifinals for boys soccer, which were held near Lansing. The two games I covered last night were easily the most interesting soccer games I've seen, (admittedly, the only ones I've seen are the high school ones I've covered up here). Each game had between two and three goals scored within the first five minutes, so they were definitely action-packed. 

Day 217/365

     Today was a super quiet one work-wise, although I was officially offered an extension on my internship, so I will be in Saginaw until June! It's a big relief. I love my job and I work with some great people, so I'm really glad I get to stay longer. 

     Anyways, before I was on shift, I took Kip for a walk around the apartment complex and took a quick photo of the steadily-growing ground covering of leaves. Quite a few are still hanging in there on the trees, and have started turning this fantastic golden color; it's quite pretty. Today was mostly sunny, until right before our walk it let loose for about fifteen minutes and then abruptly stopped, leaving huge puddles on the easily-flooded sidewalks by my building.