Lesson Learned: You can clean and clean but they will still come for you

Today I had a guest on my desk. Mr. Roach made himself at home until I decided enough was enough and I wasn't going to share my space anymore. Actually, I screamed as he streaked across my key board. Fortunately, a daring co-worker of mine quickly came to the rescue and squashed him like he's done it 100 times before (probably has). 

I have a hand sanitizer bottle and I use those disinfecting wipes all the time but that didn't stop Mr. Roach from paying me a visit. 

So, you can clean and clean all you want but those suckers are still going to come for you...lesson learned. 

Lesson Learned: Look both ways before you step on camera

I was heading on set for a breaking news story when I got confused and accidentally walked on camera in front of  the weather graphics my meteorologist was voicing over on LIVE TV. I spotted myself on air and jumped off but not before making this extremely embarrassing face in front of thousands of people. 

The team all had a good laugh about it since when you're dealing with live TV there's so much room for error. In this case my mistake was pretty harmless but just like everyone I've ever made on air before, I won't be doing it again and am grateful for the lesson learned. 

Lesson Learned: Do not judge those by what they eat

Please do not judge me but today for lunch I ate a hot dog from a gas station.

I had 10 minutes in between interviews and my gas light in the car went on (we all know how much pain I’ve had with my gas light in the past) so I had enough time to either get gas or pick up something for lunch, I didn’t think twice, and immediately pulled into the Hess Station.

You would think I’d chose a bag of pretzels or maybe a Snickers but for some reason I could not resist the rotating hot dog stand in the very back corner of the store, I even panicked when I thought they were out of buns. Fortunately for the station clerk, they weren’t. I grabbed a bun, a hot dog that looked like it was burnt, slathered it with ketchup and mustard, and ran back to my car almost embarrassed for someone to see what I was carrying.

I’ve never had a gas station hot dog before and probably won't again but I’ll admit it was satisfying. I do know from now on I'll steer clear from judging those by what they eat because sometimes a craving is irresistible…lesson learned. 

Oh ya, I also had ribs for dinner, not exactly a healthy eating day but luckily I can always start fresh tomorrow!

So would you eat a gas station hot dog? Let me know!

Lesson Learned: Never miss a big birthday

My grandmother just turned 90, so my entire family gathered in Frankfurt, Illinois to celebrate. We were missing two, my cousins Leah and Charlie who are expecting very shortly and thought it best to play it safe and stay home.  But other than that it was a star-studded event (well at least when it comes to the Kaplans). One cousin flew in from LA, others drove from Ohio, aunts and uncles made the trip from Indiana, and I took an early Saturday morning flight from Raleigh, made it to Chicago by noon, and drove up with my family (about a 45 minute trip on the way there, cut a little bit shorter when my brother snagged the steering wheel on the way back).

My grandmother said all she wanted for her birthday was to be with family and that’s exactly what we did. Good company, great food, and of course presents since birthday celebrations also fell on Hanukkah this year.

I will admit my travel experience was rough, flying in on Saturday, out on Sunday, and of course there were complications but I would do it again this weekend. The older I get the more I want to spend the good times with the ones I love the most (I know cheesy) but this was definitely a lesson learned, if you can, never miss a big birthday.

Happy Birthday Grandma, enjoy the video!

Lesson Learned: If you're going to put up lights, do it right

Lesson Learned: Fog can ruin your life

I went back to Chicago this weekend for my grandmother’s 90^th birthday. It was a quick trip, early flight on Saturday, and late flight back on Sunday. I didn’t want to take off a day of work and figured I could make it happen in 24 hours.

I got a bad feeling when I got to O’Hare Sunday night at 5pm. My 6pm flight was already delayed and we didn’t have an assigned gate yet. Just seeing a hold message where my gate number should have been on the departure big screen made me nervous.

We ended up taking off at 7:15pm and I was just excited to be in the air. 2 hours later I could see Raleigh from my window seat and the pilot announced we would be landing in 10 minutes. About 5 minutes after that a flight attendant with very little information made another announcement, “I am sorry to inform you that Raleigh’s airport has been shutdown due to fog issues so we are landing in Norfolk, Virginia instead.”

WHAT??? Please God, this is not happening to me again. Norfolk is about 3 hours away from Raleigh after which I would still have my 1hr 30min drive to Greenville. You can imagine how passengers on the plane reacted. At the time, we were given no other information. When we got off the plane, United ordered us to stay in the gate area, 10 minutes later we were still waiting. So, I decided to team up with 2 other travelers, rent a car, and road trip it back to Raleigh. We picked up a one-way vehicle for $160. I figured, it was a safer bet to get in a car right then rather than sit around waiting for United to figure something out for us. I called in sick for work at midnight, knowing there was no way I was going to be camera ready at 9am, my boss said she had everything covered and wished me good luck.

I was traveling with Carl and Molly. Carl was heading to Raleigh on business and also happened to be the Mayor of Mount Caroll, a small town in Illinois. He lives about 10 miles away from the high security prison President Obama wants to move the detainees from Guantanamo Bay to. Carl told me it would mean 800 new jobs for the area so he was all for it. Molly was a young chiropractor living in Raleigh and enjoying city life. She passed out in the back seat 10 minutes after we left and woke up when we got to Raleigh.

My new friends dropped me off at my car at 3am. I stopped at the Hilton to see how much a room would be for the night and decided not to pay $140 to sleep in a bed for 5 hours. I would just have to complete the last leg of this nightmare on my own. Little did I know I had one more obstacle ahead.

I ran out of gas at 4:15am, the red light went on, and I started to freak out since I was in the middle of no where, blinded by the fog. I got off at 3 exits, not a single gas station was open. So, I parked in front of a pump in Farmville, NC around 4:30am and curled up in the back seat of my car to wait for the station to open. At 6am I spent $47 on a full tank.

I got home at 6:30am and jumped under the covers. For the next 7 hours I dreamed about how fog had just ruined my life…lesson learned.

Lesson Learned: The trip isn't over until you get into your car

My last flight was a total success. I left Chicago at 7:55pm and landed in Raleigh at 10:20 pm, right on time. I was thrilled since I knew I had an hour and a half drive back to Greenville and didn’t want to be heading back any later. I got my luggage and jumped on the bus that takes me to the parking lot where my car is. If you park in this particular lot a couple of miles away it only costs $6 a day and a bus picks you up and drops you off in a timely fashion, well it usually does.

I took a seat on the bus, the doors closed, we started to pull away from the curb, and then the driver stopped and backed up again. A few minutes later she made an announcement that there was an airport emergency and that traffic in and out of Purple Lot 3 (of course where I was parked) was indefinitely suspended. First of all, indefinitely is an intense word when all you want to do is go home. You can imagine how the passengers on the bus reacted. I checked my blackberry and found out from Raleigh’s local news station that there possibly was a shooting at the gas station across the street from the parking lot. All surrounding roads were shutdown because the suspects ran into a wooded area nearby and were still on the loose (I found out the next day someone had tried to carjack two employees leaving the gas station).

I got on the bus at 10:30, by 11:00 we were still sitting there, at 11:15 they were counting how many passengers had parked cars in that particular lot, at 11:45 I caught a break. A police car was going to escort buses back to the parking lot, we were to get into our cars, and exit the lot through a special entrance. Check out the video below to see what happened from there. 

Although I had to wait 1hr and 15min. I eventually got out of the parking lot, the only good part was I got to skip out on my bill. So a heads up to travelers, just because your flight lands on time, doesn’t mean you’re in the clear, because the trip isn’t over until you get into your car…lesson learned.   

Lesson Learned: There's no place like home

Thanksgiving is my favorite time of year for three reasons, friends, family, and food. That’s probably why everyone likes to come home for the holiday. While I managed to gain 3 ½ pounds while I was back in Chicago for 5 days I also got to catch up with everyone I miss on a constant basis.

A joint Thanksgiving dinner with my family and my best friend’s family. Lunch in the suburbs with a reporter who I used to work with, drinks at a friend’s house overlooking the city, then off to a nightclub for a high school reunion, and late night eating at our favorite 4am joint. A shopping date with my mom, an engagement party, a wild night of dancing. Brunch with family friends, a relaxing two hours while watching New Moon, then a stir fry dinner, and a quick drive along Lakeshore Drive to admire the city. A doctor’s appointment, more shopping, lunch with grandma, and back to the airport.

A busy weekend but I wouldn’t have changed a thing because there’s no place like home…lesson learned.

Check out this video of my favorite view of the city!