In case you’re wondering, last weeks journal was never posted. I was censored! Yep. It was too racy. So my bosses decided against posting entry number 187.

It’s happened before. But typically when I know a journal topic is going to tweak my bosses I write more than one version. I have the one I submit to them initially, which I suspect won’t be approved but secretly hope will, and I have a kinder-gentler version on file for when they call and say, “We have a problem with your journal.”

Once I wrote a journal about a local newspaper in town which started a pooh-storm that took five years off my News Director’s life. So I had that journal removed from the website. I don’t want to have to tell her kids I’m the reason why mommy won’t be there for their weddings.

Anywho, last week I had only one version. Entry 187 wasn’t the kind of journal that could be said in “easy listening” verbiage. What I wrote was outrageous and ridiculous. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. But sometimes what’s funny to me is offensive to others. And by “sometimes” I mean frequently.

So in honor of the journal no one will ever read, I’m retiring #187 and going straight to entry 188. In the year 2311 when archeologists dig up this website, it will create a fantastic buzz. The great mystery… “Where is journal 187? Why does it skip from 186 to 188? What could this mean? What were they trying to hide?”

Okay, onward. 188…

Andy and I are mostly off the road right now. We have some bits and pieces to shoot, but for the most part his creative butt is parked in a hi-def edit suite at WCNC-TV and mine is parked in the back room of my house logging tape. I, like any TV reporter, make a written log, time codes and all, of what is on our raw tapes. From those written logs we write our stories.

I don’t log tape at the office anymore because newsrooms are often loud, chatty places. That’s okay when you’re working on a story for a newscast. It takes anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes to log tape for a typical one-minute ten-second news report.

The average Carolina Traveler story takes 10 to 14 hours to log… depending on the amount of raw tape. (Logging tape is the only real work I do.) And I admit I’m not fast at any of this. Some of that 10 to 14 hour day could simply be my brain grinding away, working a lot slooooooooowerrrrrrrrr than a norrrrrrrrmal brain.

And since I have about 20 more Carolina Traveler stories to log after this one, I don’t want anyone strolling up to me saying, “Yo, you having another Halloween party this year?” or, “How’d you trick your wife into marrying you?” or, “I didn’t know you wear reading glasses!”

I like people as much as anyone can, but I despise small-talk when I’m trying to write. While they’re chatting on and on I’m thinking of a way to make them leave without being totally cruel.

I get more work done when I’m alone.

When I’m forced to write at the office, I wear the same sound-dampening headphones as the guys waving in passenger jets on the tarmac at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport. I’m serious. I wear them. And people still come up to me and tap on my headphones to get my attention. I work with terribly friendly people. They’re much nicer than I.

Back to what Andy and I are up to… we went on a hi-def shooting spree and stalk-piled a wheelbarrow full of stories over the last few months. Now we’re surgically carving through all the raw tape to bring you the best possible moments.

To be blunt, in the past couple months we’ve shot some of our best ever stories. They range from real pirates to modern pirates to a debate over wild horse DNA to granddaughters of slaves to a man who builds pet caskets in his garage shop to a 9th grader with no legs playing High School football to autistic children surfing to the last tea plantation in North America to a dozen other amazing stories.

We’re bringing all of these stories to you in high definition TV. Set your DVR or your Tivo or plan to be home at 7:30 Saturday nights in November. It’s going to be an amazing month for our show.

As for my “Travel Journal,” every Tuesday between now and the end of November, I’ll give you a behind the scenes look at one of those upcoming stories and tell you what you can expect to see in the TV version.

But right now I have to get back to logging tape. Catch up with you next Tuesday.

Don’t forget to read Andy’s journal on Fridays. He has an interesting take on everything we do. And if you somehow missed it, “Carolina Traveler” is on WCNC-TV every Saturday night at 7:30.

Be swell,

Mike Redding