When Is The Last Time You Laughed Really Hard?

A simple question.

When was the last time you laughed so hard, so hard that tears started streaming from your eyes, or your stomach hurt after laughing?

I had one of those moments this weekend and it made me start to think... when was the last time I laughed this hard?



It's been forever! Okay not forever, but maybe at least almost two years. Sad? Maybe... but I realized that sometimes we get so caught up with work, and daily stresses that we forget to laugh, we forget to enjoy life, take a deep breath, or just giggle at our mistakes.

Time flies by so quickly, minutes turn into hours, days, and weeks, and next thing you know you are sitting there asking when is the last time I laughed really hurt.

So this is me taking a deep breath, and happy that Manny Diaz made me laugh!!

My "Oopsy" Moment On Air

We all have our "oopsy" moments on air, if we didn't then there wouldn't be blooper shows!

I have to admit, I've had my moments, but somehow, someway, I slipped and changed the vowel in the word six!

Here is the background info!
My show was running a little heavy (meaning I was running out of time) I had about 10 seconds coming out of commercial break to say goodbye and close the show. So I tried to get everything in by talking fast and that is when the wrong word came out!
I tried to recover and move on but the look on my cameraman's face, I knew what I said and couldn't hold my composure.

Take a look at my "oopsy" moment.

Ronald McDonald Is Missing!

If you watch KRBC News, you know that Ronald McDonald has been taken from Safety City!

In case you aren't sure what he looks like, that's my amateur sketch.

According to the police report Ronald was taken from Safety City sometime between Friday and Monday.

But who could've taken him?

The King (Burger King) did steal the McMuffin Recipe recently.. hmmmm.. kind of sketchy.

No all kidding aside, the statue is valued at $5,000.

If you have any information you are asked to call crime stoppers!

But let me know who could have taken Ronald McDonald!

How One DWI Crash Led Another Drunk Driver Right Into The Hands Of Police!

First, the police department, fire departments, and emergency personnel need to know that we appreciate them. They are constantly risking their lives to make ours safer. A BIG thanks from all of us :)

Now, there is nothing, I mean nothing, some of us hate more than being on-call during the night. Not a big deal for some, but as a woman heading to shootings, or stabbings, even accidents in remote locations can be pretty scary.

I brave it out and I've gone to plenty of the above, I've been scared and nervous, but this time I froze in fear, just for a few seconds, then I knew I had to get my camera rolling!

Now some of you might think I'm a chicken, I could be-- but here is how my night went.

A little before midnight or so, I hear a 10-50 major go over scanner, meaning a major accident. Then they said rollover and something along the lines of a 10-55 meaning drunk driver. (Besides hating being on-call, I also dislike drunk drivers!) I head out to 277 and Bishop, guy rolls truck over, girlfriend is hurt, he tries to make excuses, he gets arrested, she is sent to the hospital.

I am back at work around 12:45 and I hear 10-50 major, South 14th and Ross Ave. Dispatch says, driver attempting to leave the scene. I get my gear once again and head back out. One driver had the yellow blinking lights, the suspected drunk failed to stop for his blinking red, hit the vehicle, driver hits the windshield BUT is OK :)End of story!

As I pack my gear up, I hear a car rattling and speeding towards the crash scene. Then everything went slow motion for me. One officer is yelling at us, I couldn't hear what he was saying, but right away I knew, I needed to get out of the way. I froze! I froze, just like a deer in the headlights of this oncoming car. One cop near me starts to move over, then I notice the car coming towards us was driving on his rim. Get this, three wheels! Anyways, as the loud noise and car get closer I'm thinking, this isn't good. He wont be able to stop, he'll hit the patrol car and that will hit the cars involved in the crash and here I am in the middle of it. I felt my heart stop, I really didn't know how the next few minutes of my life were going to turn out.

But lucky for me, officers had it all under control!

The car then slowed down, two officers surrounded the car, they pulled out their guns, they were probably unsure who the driver was, why he was speeding towards us with a missing tire, and of course they had to be cautious.

Now, after witnessing officers take action so quickly, and ensuring no one else was hurt in this crash scene, I felt relieved to have a police department that put their lives at risk to make sure the rest of us are safe. (Again, thank you!)

So that is how this drunk driver drove right into the hands of the Abilene Police Department.

Take A Look At The Video!
3-Tire Driver Rolls Up To Crash Scene, Goes To Jail

No Facebook For A Week.. Easy Right? Wrong!

For those of you who've decided to take part in that thing called "social networking," you know that once you are "hooked" it's hard to imagine your life with out it.

So maybe it was my constant status updates that made my boss put me up to the challenge of going 5 days without Facebook. Hard? No! Easy? Definitely not!

So how exactly did I do?

At first, I am not going to lie I was a little stressed out. Maybe I am just weird but I hate having an icon on my phone whether it's the little Facebook symbol, or the little envelopes, or the voice mail icon. It bothers me! Therefore, having all these Facebook notifications on my phone were very frustrating!

I admit it... I log on Facebook at work.
I do use Facebook for work purposes not just for my own personal use. I have sources that will shoot me a Facebook email me or message me on Facebook chat letting me know what's going on. Even the first day, I had logged on to say that I wasn't going to be able to get on Facebook for 5 days, one of my sources sent me a message before I could finish updating my status!

But, I also have family in Colombia, South America and in Switzerland, Facebook is a way for me to communicate with them since I can't afford the long distance phone calls!

And of course, like many of you,I have reconnected with old friends from high school, middle school, even from my kindergarten days!!

Facebook also gives me the opportunity to meet some of our KRBC viewers!
Will I ever go without Facebook again? Nope, at least not willingly!

Could you make it with facebook for a week? What about other websites or technology that we didn't have 15-20 years ago?

MLK Bridge ALL Icy- No Wonder There Were Wrecks!

Got to love days when you get called in at 4 a.m. to cover weather issues!

This morning it was absolutely freezing out! And after yesterday's rainfall, we knew the roads would get icy, you would think everyone else would realize that too!

But in this case, for the most part, I don't blame the drivers. Maybe they were traveling at high speeds, but in their defense MLK Bridge was absolutely icy.

When we heard so many wrecks occurring on the bridge, we headed over there to get video. Police had closed off the eastbound lanes of the bridge, so as we walked across it, we were slipping and sliding, I even ice skated with my rain boots! (not kidding)

Although luckily- there weren't serious injuries, about 6 or so cars were involved. One woman was really startled over her crash.
From what I understand it was a chain reaction and the more cars that attempted to cross the icy bridge, the more cars got involved with the wreck.


These Are My Confessions.

So, who's fault?

I would think TXDot needed to be out treating the bridges, we all knew yesterday's rainfall, mixed with today's temperatures would make it icy for drivers!

One of the officers at the scene even said, something along the lines like "I had to call TXDot myself to get them to come out here!"

We've been warning drivers, residents, and city officials about these conditions for days, hopefully next time roads, highways, and bridges will be treated, and maybe sweet Esmeralda wouldn't of gotten in a crash, along with the 6 or 7 others.

Please Close The Door When You Go To The Bathroom!

On Friday, we decided to head to the movies. We watched Lovely Bones (by the way it was great!)

I had to use the restroom in the middle of the movie, so I got up and went to the bathroom. I walked in and turned to my right to hit the first stall, but to my surprise there was a lady sitting on the toilet seat going about her own business.

I was shocked! This is definitely not something I am use to seeing! Why not just close the bathroom stall!? It's a public restroom!

These Are My Confessions.

Maybe I am just a private person, especially when it comes to using the restroom, but do people not care? I understand if you are in the locker room of a gym and changing, but when you are going to the bathroom for a number one or two, don't you think you should be respectful and close the stall door?

Ghost and Spirits didn't bother me... Until...

After booking a room at the Driskill on 6th Street and Brazos in Austin, we did a little research (see December Blog) It was HAUNTED!!!!!

We were so excited to stay there that when we got there we were amazed at the size and beauty of it!So here is the full story!

We checked in and were given our room key (429 in the historic wing) she said the rooms just have the last two digits so you are room 29 on the fourth floor.

As we are taking the elevator up, it was of course creaking because the hotel was so old but we joked around about it. We got to our room, and at the time we didn't remember which room was the haunted one, so I said, I think we are directly below the haunted room! (thinking the haunted room was 529) We continued to joke but I felt like a heavy presence, it was a little tough to breath, so then I decided to pull out my blackberry to double check. I read several different articles, and they said one committed suicide on the 5th floor, another on the fourth... room.... 29!!!! WHAT?! (some reports say Room 29 others Room 27) My heart started to pound, I told John, I think we are in the room!! And he didn't believe me, so we continued to look at more and more articles and we come to find out, we were in the room where a bride to be committed suicide! We weren't at all scared so we decided to stay and not change rooms. We decided to go out to 6th street but stopped at the front desk to ask about the "hauntings." And we were given a piece of paper with the all hauntings. The article mentioned about the fourth and fifth floor suicides, so I had to ask with out telling them what room we were in. And the employee said, you guys can check those floors out but it's room 29, and there are people already staying there so please don't disturb them. (uh.. YEAH.. those people were us!!)

I started to get a little nervous every time John would leave me in the room by myself, but nothing happened. At one point we turned the shower on and decided to be silly.
Yes.. redruM!

Anyways, that night we went out on 6th street, had a great time, we even took a horse and carriage ride to the Capitol Building. We took these pictures before heading out...



BUT... THIS ONE CREEPED US OUT!
You can see right through John!! (this photo has not been edited, and we tried to reenact it several times but it wouldn't do the same thing)



Next day we woke up early took a walk to the shopping district which we didn't realize how far it was! Got back to the room and got ready for dinner at Ruth Chris Steak House, we headed back to the room to relax and then go back out to 6th street, but we were so full from Ruth Chris we stayed in. John stepped out for a minute, and left me in the room, it was dark and instantly I felt cold, but I was laying on my side, when I felt my pillow inflate by my neck. I froze!! I couldn't move, I honestly was about to start crying, and I kept thinking don't look, don't move, John hurry! I was so scared!! As soon as I heard john open the room door i screamed TURN THE LIGHTS ON!! My stomach was turned upside down from the nerves and how scared I was, I didn't feel good for the rest of the night.

So we then decided to call it a night, and I tossed and turned all night, I felt like someone was in the room with us and but no one was around. Then I woke up to really old music playing in our room I got scared again but I couldn't budge or move or call for John to wake up. But I fell asleep, woke up again no music. Kept tossing and turning, and woke up again, music was playing, again I was frozen, (john was sleeping) then the music turned off. I ended up getting a little bit of sleep at the end.

These Are My Confessions.

Next time, I will not be joking around about a haunted place because sooner or later, I know I will be spooked! BUT I will stay at the Driskill over and over again, it was a great hotel/experience.

have you stayed at the Driskill?


Here are some pics of our trip!

And here is more info on the Haunting:

The ghost called the "Houston Bride" is the tragic tale of sorrow after the woman's fiance called off wedding plans at the last moment, in the 1990's. The woman stayed in room 29 and helped herself to her fiance's credit cards. She went on a shopping spree, and was last seen on the elevator of the fourth floor with arms full of packages. Three days later her body was discovered. She had committed suicide by shooting herself in the stomach.

Late one night, two women who wanted to see a ghost decided to stop on the fourth floor and look around. The fourth floor was undergoing restoration and the halls were lined with plastic. They decided it was not a good idea to wander around and returned to the elevator. A young woman stepped out with her arms full of bags and packages. She walked past them without a word and headed to room 29. The women asked her if the restoration bothered her and she replied that it was not bothering her. The next morning the clerk showed them the room, which had been taken apart for the restoration.

Also Check Out:


The Driskill

Haunted Driskill Hotel in Austin

HauntedTexas.com