Day 3 (Mon., Oct. 17)

Some signs in Vegas say Girls! Girls! Girls!

Today, signs should have read: Rain! Rain! Rain!

I am pretty sure everyone that came to Vegas for the first time for this week's convention is pretty mad because they experienced rain. This is a town where there isn't too much rain. The rainfall average for the year is below ten inches. So, that's pretty bad luck. I hope they are staying away from the tables and slots w/ that kind of luck.

Today we published the first edition and it looked good. Not bad for a group of talented students who just met 30 hours before and had never done an internship like this. I am the only intern that was on board last year, so the rest of the students did an impressive job of putting things together. One of the coolest feelings in journalism is when you see the reaction of people when you publish their name and/or photo. Today we headed to the Mark of Excellence Luncheon and I caught a professor showing his student the page of the TWP where her photo ran. It's a great feeling to see this:

It makes it all worthwhile. Speaking of enjoying the final product, here's the Staff Notebook that I wrote for today's edition. Each intern must write a Staff Notebook during the internship.

I have a vice and journalism is helping me with my addiction. In Las Vegas, the things that usually come to mind are gambling and alcohol. For me, the drug is traveling and running. Thanks to journalism, I get my fix of both. I love traveling. Two years ago I decided to do something new. I set off to see a new place in the United States every month. So far, I have kept that streak alive thanks to two SPJ internships and three newspapers internships in Texas and Florida. I also love running. I have been running for 15 years and I have six marathons (26.2 miles) under my belt. Someday I want to run a race in every state. So, when I took a break from my fall internship in South Florida this week, I decided to do something I thought was cool. Everyone told me I am crazy for taking on what I called the "9.9 Challenge." The "9.9 Challenge" consists of running 3.3 miles on each of the United States coasts in a 24-hour span. I left Ft. Lauderdale on Oct. 13 to make a quick 1½ day visit to my family in Los Angeles before driving here for the SPJ Convention. The day I left, I woke up at 3:33 a.m. and drove 123 miles from Ft. Lauderdale to Naples, Fla. That's where I ran 3.3 miles on the Gulf Coast as the sun came up over Bonita Beach. I drove back to Ft. Lauderdale and ran the same distance on the Atlantic Coast. Then I worked six hours on assignments for the Sun-Sentinel. After work, I drove to the airport and got on a five-hour-plus flight to L.A. Minutes after my arrival, I headed to Santa Monica Beach where I ran the final leg of the challenge _ just 17 hours after I started my first run. In Santa Monica I felt a sense of achievement. I felt like Forrest Gump when he ran across the country. The "9.9 Challenge" would have not been conceivable if I wasn't chosen as a member of The Working Press. Given opportunity, I had a reason to take a week off from my fall internship, visit my family (which I had not seen since May) and came to Vegas. It also gave me a chance to run into a few old friends from last year's convention. Thank you journalism.

The heart of the convention was today. I worked on a few assignments and even did some cool late-breaking photography. I enjoyed a few hours of walking into many different workshops. It's extremely hard shooting workshops. People sit and others talk. That's it! How can you make that attractive?

First, I covered the MOE luncheon. During the gathering, members of TWP sat together and enjoyed the food. Well, um... Most of us did. I guess not everyone is a fan of Salmon and Caviar. But it was still pretty cool having lunch together. You can ask Joanne as she is pictured below bonding w/ Jeremy Chura.

After lunch I went to work and shot the keynote speaker and everything that went on during the speech. Here are some of those photos.

After the speech SPJ handed out awards to all the talented individuals in the SPJ world. I was proud to see an award won by Rebecca Neal, a TWP veteran who worked on staff the previous two years. Here she is as she raced toward the stage to pick up her award.

It was a time to shine for most students as they got their awards. Everyone wanted to capture the moment w/ their cameras as you can see below.

Soon after the luncheon was over I headed for more workshops. As I said, it's very hard to make photos in workshops because it's just a bunch of "talking heads". However, today I did walk into a workshop that gave me something to shoot. It was so jammed-pack that people sat on the floor in order to hear what the speaker had to say. It was a workshop on how to make sure you are completely accurate. In the world of journalism, that's a very key thing. So, I am glad people crammed themselves into this room. It gives me a feeling of hope for the future of journalism.

Just like yesterday, Katy and I headed out to find another face in the crowd. At first she wanted to do a table dealer. But because of all the red tape at casinos, we weren't able to get access to take photos. We got the chance to talk to people, but that's all we could do. No photos.

While trying to get access to shoot photos in the casino, Katy brought up something that I really had not thought about too much. Minutes before, we walked up to a table and she talked to a dealer. The dealer then looked to me and started talking to me in Spanish. She was very comfortable when she talked to me and Katy said it was good that people can open up to me just because I can understand them in their language. I really had not thought about that before, so it caught me off guard. But thinking about it, I guess that's a good thing. Perhaps that's why the flier lady on the street was able to open up to me yesterday on The Strip. I guess I am lucky that way.

We decided to come up w/ a back-up plan. So, we went down to the mall area that connects to the casino. There, we bumped into Blondies Sports Bar. I told Katy that we should talk to a bartender. So, we headed in
and found Renee Tavernite. The 23-year-old bartender spoke w/ the truth. She didn't act like anything that she isn't, which is pretty amazing in a place like Vegas. I admired the way she talked.

"I meet people from all over the world," Renee said. "I've met people from England. I don't even know where England is, but I know about the people. I like that." Wow! Now that's cool. But that's how most bartenders are. They are cool people who like to talk. We were lucky to walk into the bar at an early hour because we got a chance to talk to her a lot. She gave us the perfect quotes and she wasn't shy around the camera. It was a perfect situation. I knew it would be when I first saw her. There's something cool about women who wear baseball caps.

The day continued and I was stuck w/ some free time. Being a veteran at TWP I was able to live up to the workflow. It didn't kill me the way it did last year. Then again, last year I was in New York City for the first time and I was going to sleep at 3 or 4 a.m. because of all the exploring I did after work. Here, I have been going to sleep early and I have been good about staying away from the gambling tables. Then again, I have been to Vegas a million times. I feel relaxed. During my free time I went out to The Strip and took photos. I had not been out of the hotel since my morning run, so I was not aware that it was raining outside. That's breaking news in this part of the world. So, I documented the rain on the strip.

Some people kept dry w/ umbrellas as they watched the fountains at the Belaggio. Puddles outside of the Paris Casino reflected the lights.

Unlike the first two nights, tonight I didn't go to sleep to early. But don't think I was out all night. It was 12:30 a.m. and I was in bed. That's early in Las Vegas standards. I hung out with two of my former The Working Press partners, Rebecca and Renee. I met them at their hotel room and then we headed out. But it was kind of weird walking into the girls' room because they were extremely happy about the phone.

They quickly directed me to it and wanted it documented on www.JulyThePhotoGuy.com. It was quite funny. Why in the world would you want a phone in the restroom?

Rebecca tried to explain why it would be a good reason to have a phone in the restroom. But I still don't get it. Ha! Ha!

After making fun of the phone, we decided to go into the rain and take a trip down to Fremont Street. There, I played about $5 worth on the slots and didn't win anything. I decided that the two drinks the casino comp'ed me was a good tradeoff.

It was only midnight when we got on the bus back to the hotel but everyone riding the 301 bus line was ready for bed. I know I was.

Today was hump day as far as The Working Press is concerned. The toughest of the days. Where everything is going on all at once and the members of the paper must stay focused. We did our jobs today. Tomorrow is our last day of real work and it should be smooth sailing.

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