Really? Really now Laptop? You’re telling me I only have 1:23 until Ted Kennedy dies on a full charge? That can’t be right.

Two weeks ago I purchased an additional battery for my laptop to help me last through my 6 hour block on Tuesday and Fridays. While there were some small differences in the label, it was tough to tell the difference. The difference was the presence of two additional zeroes after the spot where it said “Li-ion”. So I decided to name my batteries. As a tribute to one of my fallen heroes, I decided to name my old battery Ted Kennedy. Because, you know, he’s the li-ion of the Senate. I then named my new battery Billy Mays, as he also recently died, and he obviously has a lot more energy than Ted Kennedy.

On to the weekend.

Saturday consisted of the second football game of the year. After last week’s shenanigans with Jim Evans, I wasn’t particularly excited about the prospects for this week’s game. My fears were all for naught though, as the production went amazingly smooth. Our camera operators by now had had a bit more experience behind the viewfinder, and we were actually able to run 4 cameras in the desired locations. Jim Evans had backed off as well; he was just using one main camera for the Jumbotron, and it was staffed by one of his underlings and/or friends. Thus, RPI TV has successfully escaped from the clutches of Jim Evans. Titles were great, closeups were wonderful, and switching was terrific as usual thanks to Dan.

The game was a thriller as well, with RPI narrowly defeating Utica 17-14. Utica had the ball on the RPI 18 with 46 seconds to go. Three plays later, and Utica reaches the 13, but decides to go for a field goal. The kick was (somehow) blocked, and (somehow) recovered by the Utica QB. The QB ran toward the sideline and through a pass, but it was (somehow) intercepted! RPI’s Herrera ran the ball some 90 yards down the sideline, only to be taken down at Utica’s 2 yard line. RPI sat on the ball to win the game 17-14.

Check out the footage here: http://www.rpitv.org/productions/2009/09/19/RPI-Football-vs-Utica/HQ/ Skip to 34:50 in the 4th quarter to see the final play.

After the game, I ran the hard drive recorder back to the Union on foot to start processing the footage for the web. It only took me about three and a half hours to have the whole game up in SD, which I think is a new record. I was quite happy. I promptly fell asleep back in my dorm at around 8:30.

Sunday basically only consisted of TV business as well. I quickly did a rough edit of this week’s Wednesday Night Live during the morning hours. It looks great, but I’m going to give it a second pass in Final Cut once I get the final mix of the audio from WRPI. I napped for a bit, then went to Blitman for dinner. I helped Fernie learn the basics of a Sony VX2000 for his Intro to Film (or whatever) class. Silverware and selected dishes were washed before the night grew to old, whereupon I retired to my room to type this entry.

I’m going to try to hold RPI TV editing office hours Mondays and Thursdays from 12:30 to 3:00. Tomorrow will be an unpublicized test.