> Well, I think that the reporters either say what they said last year or just make it up. Also, if they say that the streets are crowded (bluh, bluh, bluh) then more people will tend to stay home and, after about an hour, well, no more traffic! Sometimes, I think that news stations just say things like that so that they can get their shopping done with little intervention. "(Say what Joe? Your birthday is in 3 days! Ahh!) Um...yeah...and 2 days from now, I predict that the steets will be majorly backed up and all the malls will be full so you'd better stay home and watch TV or something!"
>
> Or, I guess you could be right about the laziness. Once (and only once) I did see a paticular traffic news story that had a little icon in the upper left corner that said "Made from 100% Recycled Material" The amusing part was that the report was actually /correct/, including the accident report on the Whitemud Freeway!
>
> -Ka"I don't listen/watch the news much though"z!

I did the get-up-long-before-it-gets-light-out-and-go-wait-in-line-to-shop thing yesterday. I'm refraining from writing all about it until I get a paper done, but I will say this much because it has to do with news: I was part of the line that wrapped around Wal-Mart, and the main thought going through my head was, "Where are the television crews and news reporters?" I think I was born with the journalist's instinct, and I don't know why a reporter and photographer from the local newspaper weren't there to capture the event and interview the people at the very front of the line. I can't imagine what time they got up in order to be first in line. Things like that always make an interesting story. Here's how you do it.

You interview the people at the front of the line and at the end of the line, observe the cars parked in the lot and interview someone who just walked from the very back of the parking lot because he didn't get there early enough. (Take pictures along the way, unless you have a photographer with you.) Then you go inside the store, note the "hot" items, get a quote from someone who has two shopping baskets, talk to a cashier (if Wal-Mart's PR people allow cashiers to talk to the media), talk to people standing in line at registers and finally interview people as they're leaving the store. Write the story, and the whole thing should be finished in a few hours. If you're on a tighter deadline, just interview one person at each of the above locations and finish the story in under two hours.

Ell"Procrastinating, as usual"myruh