Never Groundhog Day

The one thing I love about working for a newspaper is the fact that your whole day can change in an instant. I went to work yesterday thinking I would be photographing some high school kids knitting hats for cancer patients. Instead, I heard an out of breath police officer chasing a suspect through yards. Thirty cops hunted for a parole violator with warrants for about an hour. Way more exciting than knitting teens. On a side note, I hate when I hear my vehicle description being aired on the police airwaves when I arrive at a scene. "Does anyone know if one of our guys is in a black truck?" Next thing I know an undercover unit is following my every move. "He looks suspicious," they said. I finally had to call the office to tell someone to call the cops to get them off my tail. The funny moment came when an undercover detective I know well rolled his window down to say "Stop **** following us!" We all know they like to see their photo in the paper. Man, I hate when the perp stares me down...After shooting two basketball games last night I heard a fire call. Ninety percent of the fire calls are bogus and we rarely move. You know when something is really on fire because the first firefighters to respond have anxiety in their voices. An abandoned building caught fire for the second time in two months. Can you say "arson?" There are no utilities to the building, but tons of empty 40 oz. malt liquor bottles surrounding the property. Hmmm? Anyway, three engines, a chief, an ambulance and the tower truck responded to the fire. I went back this morning and they were still mopping up. I missed them taking the walls down with the tower truck, though. Had to go shoot some pizza being made. I'm out for the weekend...