I rode my bike to work this morning, thinking I would pedal slow, so I wouldn’t get my heart rate up. Didn’t want to break a sweat before a day in the office. I walked outside with my bike and it was a bit chilly. More than a bit, really. So I figured I would pedal a bit, just to get warm. Then, of course, I was in the breeze and getting chilly.

So I broke a little tiny sweat. And then spent the rest of the morning trying to convince myself I didn’t have a chill. By lunch I was better, but it was lunch time, which of course meant going outside. But the sky! It was blue! Of course it was. We’re into May. It is supposed to be nice weather. It is supposed to be routine and shouldn’t be a novelty. That’s the point. If you are saying “But look! The sky! She’s blue!” That’s pointing out the novelty. In May.

But at lunch someone complained about the pollen. And later, in an evening meeting, someone else complained about the pollen. It has been bad. It has been horrible. I haven’t noticed, thankfully. No big piles of yellow powder, no sinus difficulties. So there are trade offs, I suppose.

My meeting this evening, by the way, was with new student media leaders. Think of that. This is finals week. They’re in a long planning meeting for next year. They could be cramming. They were in a conference room. I love that about people who work in student media. They could be most anywhere, but there they are, giving you good work and devotion to their product.

When I rode my bike home it wasn’t cold. And I could ride my bike home. I think of that a lot on the four miles in. Didn’t notice any pollen, either.

I mentioned yesterday the bull fighting frame I got at the Surplus Store. I got one other thing there, too:

This is a giant poster. A re-creation of a 19th century map, complete with period advertisements on the side. Even the water stains are a reproduction.

Now, normally, I don’t go in for reproductions. I’m snobby like that, but this cost me $.50, and it represents the work of an 1856 cartographer:

Plus, it’ll be fun figuring out the stories about the advertisers on the borders. Whatever became of them and their businesses and dreams? Do they have descendants still here? Whatever I find will wind up here, too, and that’s worth the half dollar I spent on it. 

Just like a good map, to tell you where you’re going. 

Last Friday night the first show of the year to wrap had their day. Tonight, we’re saying auf wiedersehen to the news show, Hoosier News Source. As always, I learned a lot and I had a great deal of fun. I hope they did too. Those two ladies are the graduating news directors, and they’ve meant a lot to the IUS-TV project in the last few years.

We’re also closing down, for the summer, the pop culture smash hit show What’s Up Weekly. It has been a lot of fun to see, even some of the fashion segments!

This crew has only had to put up with me for the one year, of course, and I hope they found it useful.

Some of them will be going to work in Illinois, here in Indiana, Virginia and elsewhere. They are a talented group of young people. I say it a lot, and think it more often, but they come in on their free time to work on these projects when they could be anywhere. They come do this because they believe us when we say it will be good for them in the long run, professionally. (And it will be.) But they could be anywhere. They all know it, but the few dozen that take part, they’re the smart ones. They’re working extra hard on yet another project that, if I had my way, they’d view as an almost-full time job. They do it without receiving a lot of recognition and they do it for free. They do it because they are awesome.

I, at least, appreciate the effort. I hope they appreciate the experience, and that it serves them well.

I managed to step outside just in time for the clouds to roll in. But I wanted to take pictures, and so take pictures I did. Here’s Franklin Hall, from a slightly different perspective than I have shot it before. This is the place where we spend most of our time:

And here are the Sample Gates next to the building, all decorated out in bright spring landscaping:

Inside Franklin Hall tonight, in the Beckley Studios, we shot a news show tonight. And tonight’s anchors, two seniors who are now counting the days, had a little fun before they put on their serious faces:

Lawson and Neil are talented people. Neil is the outgoing station manager. Lawson is a show producer and she’s packing for a Virginia TV market right after graduation. Their colleague at one of our reporter stations is also incredibly talented. Alex may well be a star reporter in the making:

The crew also shot What’s Up Weekly tonight, and we learned all about the current events, celebrity and style happenings. Also, there was a big surprise, but you’ll have to wait until Sierra and Sheila’s show runs to see that: