15 minutes of fame

When I checked my e-mail yesterday morning, I had one from my cousin Lisa saying that she saw us on TV! Apparently our "hometown holiday greeting" aired. Last year, it only showed once in the Chicagoland area, but several times in Eastern Kentucky. Keep your eye out and maybe you'll see us too! It was on channel 7 last year. Filming the greeting this year was pretty excruciating. Last year it was more private, there was a little waiting room and then one family at a time went out onto the porch where they filmed your message. They are also very particular about what you say in your message... name, location, who/where your message is going. And you have to look at the camera for 5 seconds before you start your message and 5 seconds after. That's the hardest part for David. The military member has to be in uniform.
This year, the greetings were filmed in the middle of the Tee House restaurant. So everyone who was waiting to do the greeting and everyone who was there eating watched. The family ahead of us took about 16 takes. The woman (in uniform) was sweating profusely under all of the lights. The man kept messing up, forgetting something he was going to say or talking to fast or too softly or not waiting long enough afterward before saying "Was it okay that time?" So then the woman decided to give it a try. But holding the baby was making her too hot so they had to switch places. And she messed up just as much as he did. They had a huge message they were trying to send, like "Little Susie, I hope Santa brings you the puppy you've been wanting" and "Uncle Joe, we'll be wishing we were eating some of your fried turkey", etc. And they were sending the message to families living in 2 different places, so they went through all of this twice! David and I decided to keep it very simple. I'm not actually sure I spoke at all, I might have chosen to just stand there looking beautiful.

Anyway, that's only about 15 seconds of fame. But don't worry, there's more!
Yesterday David called me and said, "Have you been blogging about me playing Rock Band 2?" and I said, "I have so many more important things to blog about than that. But I suppose it's possible that I mentioned it. Why do you ask?" And he said that he got an e-mail from his cousin Craig (also in the AF) saying something along the lines of , "Why are you playing Rock Band 2? Shouldn't you be studying for MSgt?" I just told David that he made a pretty good point. And that was the end of that conversation. At least that's the point at which I stopped listening.
So David came home and said that someone else mentioned Rock Band 2 to him, and that struck him as odd so eventually somehow he managed to figure out what in the world was linking him to Rock Band 2 today...

That was in the December 8 issue of the Air Force Times. On page 31. I can't believe it! 1. I can't believe that David is a published author. 2. I can't believe he would submit such a dweeby looking photo (can you tell that he's giving a thumbs-up?) for publication.
I'm not sure if you can see it in the photo here, but in case you actually care what he had to say about the game, here goes:
Tech. Sgt. Charles Slone, Air Force (That's David's alias. Or, now that he's an author, his pen name!)
Kadena Air Base, Japan
What I'm playing: Rock Band 2
The second installment of what will be a long-running series has added multiple features to attract every type of gamer. While the game stayed true to its predecessor with graphics and game play, they have added a ton of features and a wider variety of music to attract everyone from your kids to your grandfather...I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys music.

He was disappointed that they didn't publish the one he did for another game (Gear of War, maybe?) because he thought that he had written a better review for that one. Anyway... (because you know I can't stand David getting all the glory) I was in the paper once too. I was maybe 4 or 5 or 6 and I had to tell the news reporter how to make a hot dog. You put it in a bun and put ketchup on it and eat it. Of course! That must've been before I was introduced to the Chicago Style dog.