Crazy things you've had to do to file a story

On assignment I once expensed a $77 cab ride to a Radio Shack to buy a new set of acoustic couplers, to file from my TRS-80. And if you're too young to know what any of that is, well, you can go shit in your hat.

 

I call bullshit on Tazewell having phone lines.

 

I once chased down the guy who stole the battery from my car before filing a story.

 

We don't have aircards. Company tried them for a year or so and decided we didn't use them enough (The idiot business office checked the usage during summer. We're lucky if anyone even comes into the office to put a page together in the summer).

And yeah there are so many places with free hotspots. I prefer hotel lobbies over the late night dining, unless I'm starving. I've yet to meet a hotel clerk who said I couldn't use the breakfast area to work and use the wifi to send a story. It's usually quieter and you don't have to feel obligated to buy anything.

 

As copyboy for old Phila Bulletin I ran photo film negatives back from the Phila Palestra night games back to the photo dept. Half time night basketball left only precious deadline minutes to travel the four or five blocks back to 30th and Market St. Bulletin building (across from the Philly Penn train Station). I pocketed the taxi money and as a HS distance runner, ran the film back. Back then Philly sports newsprint was a show. I think the sports dept occupied one fourth of the building. You could set your watch by when the eighteen noisy floor shaking ink smelly UPI AP teletype monsters kicked into gear like at night when the west coast scores started coming in. I think the old Bulletin building still stands across the street from Penn Station which is one of the most wonderful beautiful historic haunting architectural treasures on the east coast. If you ever travel Amtrack and get a chance for a few minutes in Philly, sit and take in the sun, take in the space, take in the echoes and you will know the haunt.

 

I was a little (or maybe a lot) slow in getting a cellphone. My wife wanted one, but I said in an emergency she could always call collect. I followed my mother's advice to always carry a dime (which became a quarter).

I was covering a high school football playoff game in 2002 that went into triple overtime. Before OT I raced to a pay phone at the school to tell them the situation. After the game ended in the third overtime, there was a line but I walked to a group of nearby stores. Only one had a pay phone.

Somehow, I managed to call the game in before deadline.

I also got a cell phone for my wife the following week. It was a necessity after all.

 

Two-parter from state soccer tournament, held at a site about a half-hour from office. Finals are done, I'm done with interviews and there's a line all the way around the 22-field complex to get out the one exit, while the entry way is completely open. And it's less than an hour to deadline. No way to file or even write from field. So I zip down the wrong way and make it right to the exit, where a cop pops out from behind a berm. I'm too pissed to even look at the cop but he takes one look at my license, flings it back in and says, "idiot, what do you think you're doing?" It turned out to be an old contact from my days on the police beat.
Flash forward a year and I'm thinking I'm not going to let that happen again. The day before the finals, I call a nearby restaurant, explain what I need and they sure, you can file from here. I park near the exit this time, zip over the restaurant and the only outside line is on the fax machine sitting on a desk in the kitchen. So I'm sitting in the kitchen writing and filing story. It worked though.

 

nmsports' story reminds me of the year the two biggest schools in our area, and rivals, entered the season finale 9-0, and I had the gamer. Such was the demand for tickets that I knew that even if I showed up for the kickoff of the jv game, my favorite parking spot, which lets me take back roads to the office, would be gone. So, a few hours before game time, I threw a bicycle in the back of my car, drove to the school, found my spot open, drove in, locked the car and rode the bike home for a nap before the game.

 

I had almost completely forgot about that night. I was the former coworker with a friend. Adding to the fun of the adventure, I got to rewrite my story on my friend's laptop that was missing three keys.