Apparently it's suppose to snow today in New Mexico, not in albuquerque, but in New Mexico.  which means people are going crazy around here, because weather never happens here.  Luckily it's been almost 80 all week so the snow and stuff isn't really going to stick.  Which is good, because I absolutely hate winter and hate snow and hate all that stuff...I always say I moved to New Mexico for a reason and it was to get away from all that stuff.

so the title of my blog is a little misleading, when I moved to new mexico last year it was just as balloon fiesta was starting.  Which meant that i didn't have to work balloon fiesta, but i did get to go and enjoy it.  I went with Chris, Tater and dominic to see mass ascension and that's where I ended up meeting Brian, June and the kids.  The only thing I had to really work for last year's balloon fiesta, I had to log some video for the Friday before the first mass ascension and then I produced cut-ins...which weren't bad, except the very last Friday of balloon fiesta when a ballon hit a power line and blew up....killing one person and critically injuring another.  It was crazy and out of control, but it was a good learning experience and good way to get thrown into the fire.  This year I got to enjoy balloon fiesta (kind of) and worked balloon fiesta.  But before I get to all that, there are a few things first....

Friday october 2nd is the unofficial kickoff to balloon fiesta, several dozen ballons go to schools around albuquerque and rio rancho and launch for the kids.  Unfortunatly that was overshadowed because a young rio rancho girl died of the swine flu.  So we spent a good part of our coverage and our morning following that.  other than that it was a pretty boring morning and a pretty boring day.  After work was over I went home and pretty much went to bed, because I planned to go to June's that night for quilting.  June has been helping me make a t-shirt quilt, while there's no way I'll finish it before I move, I would like to have a good idea what I'm doing before I leave.  I got over there a little before 6 and didn't leave until around 9ish or so.  as I was getting ready to leave I got a text message from Andrew saying he and his girlfriend were coming into town for balloon fiesta and wanted to know if we wanted to hang out.  That text message turned into a phone call and making plans to hang out on Saturday once I got off work.  Before any of that could happen I went home and took a quick nap before going into work.

Work was definitely interesting...usually on Saturday mornings it's just me from 1 am until 4 and then paul comes into edit, production comes in from 5 to 6 and then Shar and Val come in around 7.  But because it was balloon fiesta, there were a lot more people working and coming in earlier than normal.  By the time I got to the station, Kenny was already there, blaise was still at the station because he shot a story about a balloon tank that blew up.  he left around 1:30ish, then Rick came in around 2:30 to edit the show.  I'm not sure what time production came in, but Val, Shar and Eric came in around 4 am and jamie and Mike anderson got in around 3:30 with food.  so even though there were a ton of people at the station there was food.  Overall balloon fiesta wasn't that bad.  Basically from 5 to 7 I went back and forth between the booth and the newsroom doing different stuff for Kenny.  Once 7 came then I sat in the booth until 9 giving chopper instructions and making sure Bess had everything she needed for the live show.  Our balloon fiesta coverage ended around 9, but I had to stick around the station until all the balloons landed...making sure none of them exploded in a fiery ball of death, as Valerie Castro so graciously put it.  Everyone landed fine, but I didn't end up leaving the station until 10:30...we got the okay to leave shortly after 10 but just about the time to leave the phones at the station started blowing up and Kenny and i stuck around for a few minutes helping Steph answer phones.  when I finally left the station I texted Andrew so we could meet up and hang out, but he was at balloon fiesta park so it was going to be a bit.  Once he and Kristen, his new girlfriend, made it back to their hotel, I met them and started showing them around Albuquerque.  We went to Tucanos for lunch, which apparently made the entire trip worth it.  We ate so much that we walked around downtown for a little bit, but downtown wasn't as exciting as andrew and Kristen thought it would be so we went to Coronado mall to walk around.  once we walked around the entire mall it was getting close to time for andrew and Kristen to head back to balloon fiesta park for the balloon glow, by that point I decided I would just stay up and hang out with them as long as I could so I went with them to balloon fiesta park for the balloon glow.  We got there pretty early, parked and walked into the park...once inside the park we walked around some more and waited for the balloon glow...we even went into the beer garden for a drink.  Unfortunatly, it was really windy so the balloon glow got cancelled....but we did get to see the fireworks.  I think we left balloon fiesta park around 8ish and then went to Fudruckers for dinner.  By the time we were all finished it was around 9 or so...that's when I dropped them off at their hotel and headed home.  By the time I went home and went to bed I had been awake for 20 straight hours and I was exhausted! 

and that's it for now, I have to get back to work...I'll update more later!  At this point I'm only 3 weeks or so behind!