Pledge drive week begins.

Pledge drive week started Monday. Had a morning shift in the phone room on Sunday and thought I was late when I woke up at 6:33 AM. Winds up the Sunday shift started at seven, not six. Whew. Was a mess since I didn't get to bed until late Saturday so went home to groom before my on-air shift. It was six kinds of goofitude getting that together, but we did, and did rather well. Was one slightly tricky transition but it didn't sound that way on air, so everything was grand. Most of the shows are bringing in way more calls than we'd expected or aimed for.

Downloaded Radiohead's "In Rainbows". Actually ordered the box set before downloading, because I've *never* been disappointed by anything they've put out, and forty pounds is not enough compensation for what their music has meant in my life. "In Rainbows" is no exception. I've already developed quite an attachment to some of the songs. It all seems to hold together better than "Hail to the Thief", too, which I enjoyed, but didn't quite seem to have the same structure as their best work. I highly recommend "In Rainbows".

This morning I went over to Sissy's to finish topdressing the pansies and violas. It was getting kind of critical by the lozenges near the fountain since the violas came to us not properly rooted out and they *needed* propping up -- all the more since they're what give definition to the beds (which are currently sunk in the lawn). But the dirty work of colour rotation, phase one is now done and now nothing remains for me to do but keep everything properly watered 'til Charles gets back and we get the flowers for phase two, which won't be near the vast operation phase one was. And then, of course, at some point, the manor's going to need its colours rotated, too. I like topdressing, honestly. It's dirty work but it brings out the colours and makes the new transplants perk up.

Went home to wash off as much of the compost from my hands as I could manage in short order, change into clothes not speckled with dirt, and head into the station for the first weekday afternoon drivetime newsblock pledge drive. They were very fully staffed so I kinda hung out in the newsroom waiting for a callback from a US Forest Service fire information officer about a forest fire happening in the Cibola National Forest. Not award-winning journalism, but a step up from "reading wire copy" that breaks up the voices on air. Mostly just intro-ed and outro-ed the soundclip and let *her* explain what was going on with the forest fire.

After news was over I headed into the booth (which becomes my super-secret lair at night) and edited David Barsamian's "Targeting Iran" speech from 30 August for broadcast on 21 October. (The station manager announced it during Saturday's ATC since we're not going to have carts playing for it during pledge week.) Spent three hours cutting out 14 minutes. He's good to edit in that he knows how to talk for someone who edits. He's hard to edit in that he goes in circles within circles which always wind up at a logical next step in his argumentation but you can't tell without hearing things fifteen times which things you can cut where and which you have to leave if what he says five minutes later is going to make *any* sense. He talks like some college professors -- which I enjoy listening to, but it's, well, "fun" to edit. You have to be *super* careful 'cause you could destroy his meaning without meaning to. What seems like an irrelevant aside may critically undergird something he says after he's said three other things, and if you cut it out before realizing where he was going, you ruin the structure of his talk. Cutting out the final six minutes to bring it in under time may be the most challenging part. I've already gotten rid of most of the humour and sarcasm, which is a shame because he really *doesn't* talk in long, unbroken streams of historical facts and figures. My challenge? Bring in a 1:37 speech in at 54 minutes without changing his meaning or leaving anything out that's central to his argument.

Tomorrow? Who knows? Charles may arrive out of nowhere and announce that forty flats of pansies are ready to get planted. Or I may go the station and spend all day walking around finding things that could stand being done. No telling 'til it happens.