Hurricane Hairdos

Yesterday as I watched live coverage of Gustav make land fall, I wondered to myself - How do you get picked for 'Hurricane Duty'? I flipped between Geraldo and Anderson Cooper both hanging on for dear life in order to get the 'live shot'. I smiled when Geraldo asked his camera guy/gal to 'tighten up the shot' so we could see the poor guy in the water trying to tie down a propane tank. In his eagerness to get the story, didn't Geraldo realize that it was probably taking all the strength and focus the camera person had to keep the camera from flying out of their hands and into the gulf? He/she could hardly keep the focus in the general direction let alone zoom in on a speck in the choppy water. All the while, Geraldo is screaming at him/her to get the shot.

Were Geraldo and Anderson winners/losers of rock/paper/scissors back at headquarters? Is standing in hurricane winds, being pelted by hurricane rain a prime assignment? Is it because they are part of the shrinking pool of journalists that still have all their own hair? No weaves or toupes to worry about. Did they draw straws and they came up short?

On one channel Anderson is doing his best to coordinate reporters spread throughout the New Orleans region so we can get it 'live and real'. He can hardly hear himself speak, let alone everyone talking in his ear piece and he has absolutely NO IDEA what video stream they're showing. All the while he can barely stand up straight.

On the other channel Geraldo is swearing in his attempts to get the camera person to pick out a person in the water and speculating on whether he jumped, was washed off the boat, ignored hurricane warnings and went for a swim, and on and on and on.

I enjoyed watching them both stroking their hair in some crazy attempt to make it presentable for live TV! They both looked like drowned cats no matter how many times they ran their wet fingers through their hurricane hairdos. Just when it couldn't seem any worse, they cut back to the perfectly coiffed anchorman sitting in a dry studio, with full make up and John Edward's 'Breck' hair. He sat smugly in his leather anchor seat while he watched Geraldo and Anderson look like complete idiots standing out in the hurricane.

Isn't that how life goes sometimes. For whatever reason - whether it's by choice, by chance or by assignment - we are out in life's hurricanes. We do our best to style our hair, look straight ahead and try to appear that we know what we're doing. There are sure to be those sitting smugly, watching, knowing that THEY WOULD NEVER BE CAUGHT IN A HURRICANE!

Thanks to the Geraldos and Andersons in life that are willing to go out in the storm. And a special shout out to the camera person for making it possible for me to cheer you all on from the safety of my dry couch!