KristineGalvan's Blog

About 200 students have gathered outside the auditorium at TSU to watch the returns.  From what I've seen and heard, its safe to say this crowd is pro-Obama. 

There have been big cheers as projected wins for Obama are announced, slight boos when a red state is called.

On a different note:  to all my friends who are blowing up my phone with political-related text messages...Uhmmm, the polls are closed.  There's nothing you can do or say to change the outcome at this point.  So, please give my text bill a break.  Just kidding, not really, well, maybe.....

I am grateful for:

1.)  the right to vote

2.)  Cindy McCain's fashion sense

3.)  the end of that stupid David Mincberg jingle

What about you?

So...

a few weeks back I embarked on a shopping trip with the better half's mom.  (insert smile)

I found the most beautiful comforter set at Dillards...AND it was on sale 50% off plus an additional 40% off.

So my $500 comforter set rang up as $500 BECAUSE I bought among other things that matched it...5 regularly priced $110.00 throw pillows.  Think of it as buying the darn thing and getting everything else  free!

Because....bottom  line is EVERYTHING matched and it all came out to the original price of the comforter set.  AND, I made sure the thing wasnt pink or had a bunch of flowers...

Better half didnt like it...doesnt like it.

That will teach him... or me...

I think Im going to take it back and get something BRIGHT PINK with LOTS of flowers!

Tenisha Stewarts mother ...Gale Shields... is on the stand talking about her daughter.  Stewart disappeared last March after visiting her ex boyfriend, Timothy Shepherd.  Shepherd is on trial for her murder.

Gale is talking about how excited Tenisha was to be dating her boyfriend Mark, during the time when she was last seen.  The last time Gale saw Tenisha was when dropped her off at her friend Lois's house.  The last time Gale spoke to Tenisha was on the Thursday before she disappeared.  Tenisha wanted to borrow her moms car.  She never made it home.

Gale is talking about how she called Lois to check on Tenisha.  Lois hadnt heard from Tenisha in several days.  Gale says none of her friends had seen her so she went to all the hospitals and day clinics, to Shepherds apartment and to the police station on Cypresswood looking for Tenisha.  No luck.

She returned to Shepherds apartment complex, but was not able to get the exact apartment number.  She called the police.  They arrived within a couple of hours.  Gale saw the deputy talking to the apartment manager.  She followed the deputy to Shepherds apartment.  Shepherd did not answer the door.  The deputy told Gale to stay by the door while he went to the apartment manager.  The manager returned with the deputy and banged on the door.  She had a key to open the door.  When she opened the door, it was locked from the inside.  They eventually got a response from Shepherd.  He opened the door and came outside.  Gale asked him if he had seen Tenisha.  Shepherd said no.  Gale says he would not look at her.  She was crying, anxious, frustrated and nervous.  She says Shepherd says Tenisha left his apartment walking.  Gale didnt believe him because Tenisha didnt like to walk anywhere.  Gale says Tenisha was lazy.  Gale says thats when she knew something happened to her daughter.

Just got home from the most AMAZING haircut... I havent stopped basking in my bouncy new do...

My hair guy gives the most amazing cut ever.  I swear I'm 5 pounds lighter just from the cut!!!!

You have to understand... I have the world's thickest hair.  The plus side is that it always looks healthy when you consider the hell I put it thru daily (at least 3 hot roller sets, several flat irons in between), the minus side is that it looks like crap when it gets too long.  And in between living in Galveston (due to Ike) and finishing this house we've been building for 2 years.... I really havent had the time to go in, relax, and let him do his thing.

Now I remember what Ive been missing....

THOSE WERE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT WERE DISCUSSED/ BROUGHT UP DURING THE SUSAN WRIGHT HEARING TODAY.  SUSAN IS HOPING TO GET A NEW TRIAL, FOUR YEARS AFTER A JURY CONVICTED HER OF KILLING HER HUSBAND JEFF.

THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A SOAP OPERA LIKE CASE.  BACK DURING HER FIRST TRIAL...THE LEAD PROSECUTOR BROUGHT IN THE WRIGHTS BLOOD STAINED BED (WHERE SUSAN HAD STABBED JEFF 193 TIMES) , STRADDLED ANOTHER PROSECUTOR AND THEN DESCRIBED HOW SUSAN LURED HER HUBBY INTO BED WITH THE PROMISE OF KINKY SEX AND STABBED HIM TO DEATH.  I'LL LEAVE OUT THE HOT CANDLE WAX DETAILS, BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE...

TODAY, JEFF'S EX FIANCEE FLEW IN FROM CHICAGO, WHERE SHE IS NOW HAPPILY MARRIED TO A FORMER UT ALL AMERICAN FOOTBALL STAR, SUPERBOWL WINNING CHICAGO BEAR TURNED PRO WRESTLER.  SHE'S THE FORMER STRIPPER IN THIS STORY...

ANYWAY, IN BETWEEN HER BREATHLESS (ANNA NICOLE-LIKE VOICE) TESTIMONY, SHE DRAMATICALLY WIPED AWAY TEARS AND PULLED OUT AUTOGRAPHED PICTURES OF HER HUBBY FOR THE JUDGE AND PROSECUTOR.

ONLY IN HOUSTON!!!!

OR BRAD PITT, OR SEAN PENN?  DID I MISS THEM?  I'VE BEEN IN GALVESTON FOR MORE THAN A WEEK NOW, SO MAYBE  I BLINKED AND MISSED THEM...  OR MAYBE NOT.

HMMM?  I THOUGHT ALL DISTASTER VICTIMS (FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD) WERE IMPORTANT.  OH I  GET IT.  ITS BECAUSE THEY CANT GET IN BECAUSE THE "LOOK AND LEAVE" PROGRAM WAS SUSPENDED.

SILLY ME....

So I'm headed back to Galveston after a day and half off...

Off from Fox 26, but in reality, I've never been busier in my life.  Ike decided to make landfall the same weekend I was due to move out of my apartment into the new house we've been  building.  Trouble:  new house isnt ready to move into, apartment couldnt extend our moveout day because someone else is moving in this weekend, I'm in Galveston and the better half is on a business trip to Dubai, stranded because the airports shut down here in Houston.

It could be worse.  I'm counting my blessings I still have a house and clothes and a family...

But really, when it rains, it pours!

By the way, working during a hurricane is a great way to diet.  I lost seven pounds in 5 days!!!

Thats what we used to say when I was a kid at summer camp...so here we go....

Ike is on the way to Galveston and behind the scenes here, photographer Gregg Ramirez and I (him moreso than me) have been busy setting up a portable microwave signal inside the San Luis Hotel.

We have to do this in order to get our trucks off the Island and protect the equiptment.  Setting up the portable allows us to transmit a live signal from the hotel.

So wish us well...

The seawall is a non issue at this point...The Gulf of Mexico looks awesome, creepy, eerie...all at the same time.

And by the way....thank you Jenny, Will , Stephanie, and Mike for  offering to come get me  off the Island.  Like I would've said yes....

:)

I guess Fox really is a family.  Hi Austin.  I'm a news reporter at the Houston station KRIV.  This weekend I had the pleasure of running into former KTBC reporter Mike Rosen's parents.  They're my neighbors!!!!

I've been having trouble with my TMOBILE Blackberry Pearl.  Simply put, it broke.  So I spent an hour at our neighborhood TMOBILE store, right next to Mike's parents, who were trying to activate a new phone.  I didnt know who they were at that point.

But after an hour of hassle (a lot of it), they helped calm my nerves.  The TMOBILE people told me they couldnt do an exchange right then and there because their computers were down, the store didnt have any loaner phones, they refused to let me buy a new phone and just credit my account and basically told me I had to wait 10 days to get a new replacement phone....

10 days?  With a hurricane threatening to move into the gulf, and the fact I am moving from an apartment into my new house on September 15th???? 10 DAYS without a phone???

Mike's parents graciously offered to lend me one of their phones...wow,  more courtesy and friendliness from our FOX family's family....than the people I've been writing monthly checks to for the past four years....

So, even though Mike is not with KTBC anymore...I thought I should share my story with you guys...

Good people raise good people...so I can only assume Mike is really missed by you guys...

I met a  truly remarkable woman today in the small town of West Columbia, population about 5000.  She's 78 years old and an absolute gem.  I wish I would've met her for another reason though.  This incredibly brave woman was raped and robbed late Sunday night.  Someone knocked on her door.  She says it was a familiar knock, a pattern one of her relatives always uses.  She opened the door thinking it was that relative.  It wasnt.  The man made up a story.  He was looking for someone named John.  She asked him what was Johns address.  He made one up, then asked to use her phone.  She let him inside and waited for him at the door.  After using (or pretending to use) the phone, he walked over to the door, grabbed her, demanded money, and then (when she told him she didnt have any) dragged her to her bedroom and raped her.

This wonderful woman wanted to tell her story in order to warn and protect the other women in her town.  WOW!

Who could or would relive that in order to help someone else?  For the SOLE purpose of protecting someone else? 

I've met some pretty great people on the job, but no one nearly as fabulous as this woman.  I know I will think of her for many years to come.  She will be in my prayers tonight...and I hope in yours as well.

So that "Interesting" wedding I blogged about two weeks ago went off (with a couple of minor hitches) last night.  Overall it was a great celebration.  Now cross your fingers for Jason and Andrea Junkin.  They're planning to continue with their caribbean honeymoon  even though the newly formed Tropical Storm Ike may crash the party.

So our good friends Jason and Andrea are getting married on August 31.  Thats less than two weeks away and as of yesterday, August 17th....

1.)  They havent ordered any flowers (bouquet included)

2.)  Haven't ordered the cake

3.)  Haven't picked their wedding bands

4.)  Haven't  given the DJ a list of songs to play or list of names in the wedding party

Thats just the stuff that made my jaw fall a bit.  The cool thing is Jason and Andrea are so into each other, they don't really care, which I think is completely awesome.  So many of us (myself included) get caught up in every little detail, we forget the true reason we're getting married.

Oh yeah, 5.) Andrea doesnt know who is going to do her hair and makeup or where she is getting dressed...

But I know she'll be a beautiful bride. 

Dont get me wrong... My heart is with little Jazmin and her mom (my bestfriend).  I just wish she was a bit older so she could pick up the phone and make calls for me, hammer in some loose nails at our STILL under construction house, go pick up a new handbag (to replace the stolen one) for me.... you know... all the stuff that keeps me from cradling her in my arms.

I think the child is going to be in preschool before I get to see her again.  BAD, BAD, BAD God Mommy.  Good thing I bought her a rhinestone encrusted onesie... now if I could only SEE her to give it to her....

So this oddly spelled tropical storm brought rain and slight wind to the Galveston area, put me on the penthouse floor of the San Luis, and called out to the bicycle riding thieves who patrol the seawall overnight.

Yes, some (no doubt very fashionable) bicycle riding man  (not really) used the five finger discount to "borrow" my purse this morning as I was on the air, reporting at 5am.  I saw him scooting by our truck and knew something wasnt right.  Sure enough, there it was... My pretty little black handbag (the one my friend Deborah went ga-ga over this weekend) on his arm.

I'm not a snob, but I have to say it looked better on my arm than it did on his.  I came to the sarcastic conclusion that this guy was all about fashion because he choose to take my bag, NOT the brand new laptop computer that was set up right next to it.  I hope he's happy polishing it as he leans up against his gasoline -saving transportation.

Ummm...I should also mention I am CERTAIN he loved the bag because another person ( a real man) found my WALLET thrown in his driveway- cash missing, but credit cards and drivers license still there.  The real man went out of his way to call me (he found my business cards) and he tracked down our Fox 26 truck.  Thank you, David.

So I'm out a pretty nice handbag, a cute makeup bag full of the stuff this bicycle riding thief no doubt treasures, a Chi flat iron... you know, girl stuff...

I cancelled my credit cards right off the back, looks like Aaron has to take me shopping for replacements !!!!  See, the glass is half full!