I'm not feeling any better.
I'm going to skip over the nasty events of Saturday afternoon, though, and jump into the more pleasant events of that evening. I had been guilted into going to one of the local PBS stations as a phone volunteer, so I hitched a ride with my sister and ended up in Tacoma.
It was odd, there were a number of folks dressed very nicely, black tie formal nicely, hanging out at the station. We weren't entirely sure what to do, but we said we were phone volunteers and walked past them. When we got into the studio someone explained that there was a formal fundraising dinner going on. Ah... ok. We were told to be polite... no problem... there were members of the board of trustees around.
The studio was HOT, which it normally isn't. Usually, that particular studio is freezing cold. So we were a bit surprised. We later learned that someone had found a thermostat and cranked it up to 80 for some reason. Probably because they were cold. Added to the heat outside, it was just uncomfortable.
While sitting in the break room, I heard a rumor that someone had told the Klingon group that usually comes to answer phones that they weren't welcome on this particular night because of the board of trustees and the formal dinner. Whether or not it was true, no one bothered to tell the Klingons, who showed up in full uniforms and make-up to come in and answer phones on the air. As they walked up, the board of trustees spotted them, eyes widened, and everyone got out cameras and asked to have photos taken with the klingons. Ha! So much for freaking out the board of trustees.
An aside about this group of Klingons. They are a charity group. They want people to know that Star Trek fans, while geeky, are a force for good. This particular groups does all kinds of charity events, including answering phones for PBS, visiting hospitals, and all kinds of neat stuff. They got their interview in during the pledge breaks, and they basically took over the phones so some of us that weren't feeling very well didn't have to talk with people. I'm very grateful that they showed.
The folks at the formal dinner were all amused by us phone volunteers, and we took advantage when they showed curiousity to bring them into the studio and show them the works. They seemed very interested in the Klingons, of course, but two kids who came got a brief tour of the studio from me, then they got to sit in the control room during the next break and see how a live TV studio works.
All-in-all it turned out to be a pleasant evening.
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