I’ve had lots of awkward and embarrassing moments in my lifetime. One in particular occurred many years ago when, after a golf game, my two brothers, a friend and I stopped at the Brookings Dairy Queen for refreshments. I, of course, was elected to go up to the window to place our order. (No drive-thru or indoor seating back then.) In the line ahead of me, taking their sweet time deciding what they wanted, were four or five huge guys who appeared to be SDSU football linemen. My big brother, Denny, rarely missed an opportunity to get a laugh at my expense, yelled out the window, “Doug, I thought you said you were going to shove those apes out of the way if they didn’t hurry up.”
I’d said no such thing, of course, but I was lucky those jocks didn’t stomp me into the ground like a used up Marlboro.
I only mention this because, over the weekend, a similar thing happened when someone, obviously trying to get me into trouble, commented on my latest blog claiming that he or she heard me bad mouthing Keloland TV and did so on a regular basis . What made that lie particularly offensive was that it came at a time when all of Keloland is mourning the loss of our beloved Dave Dedrick.
I have the power to delete comments but rarely do so unless it’s that annoying and prolific spam which infests popular internet blogs like buzzards on a rotting carcass. I’m a big boy and can take criticism but will not abide computer vultures whose aim is to try stir things up just for laughs or to make me squirm…that comment was axed.
As a matter of fact, I spent a delightful couple of hours Friday night with Kelo colleagues, past and present, at a Keloland alumni reunion.
Lots of former and current employees showed up at Falls Landing to share a few beers, loads of laughs and fond memories of their time working at the station. As I made the rounds trying hard to put the right names to familiar faces, the recurring theme was “do you remember when…?”
I spent a lot of time talking with photographers and producers about some of the crazy stories I roped them into doing for Lund at Large or Eye on Keloland stories. Josh Munce likes to remind me of the one we did on the Sinai area farmer who raises camels. When it came time for someone to take a ride on that dromedary..I grabbed Josh’s camera and started shooting as he reluctantly climbed aboard.
Madeline Shields accepted my long overdue apology for erupting in a rage when a 5 O’clock news show she produced disintegrated into a sea of technical foul-ups over which she had no control.
Had nice visits with former production people, engineers and news staff all of whom have good memories of their time at Keloland TV even though a few of them didn’t leave of their own accord.
I don’t know too many people who’ve gotten wealthy working in local television. Come to think of it, I don’t know anybody who has.
But it sure was fun hanging out and reminiscing the other night with other folks who, like me, have been immeasurably enriched by the Keloland experience.
