Sometimes We Actually Do Good

A couple of weeks age 20/20 ran a story about a wee girl named Grace who couldn't or wouldn't eat. It was a heartbreaking tale of a family doing the best they could with what they have. In the story we spoke to another couple whose daughter had the same problem and had travelled to Austria where a University ran a clinic that helped with great success.
Pip and Gareth the parents of wee Grace did not have the money needed to travel to the Austrian clinic but, after the airing of our show a couple came forward and said theyed like to help.
A trust has been set up and Grace may yet get the help her parents so desperatly want to give their little girl.
Often in the media it feels like we're tearing things down it's nice to help every now and then, I'm also constantly amazed at how mean people can be, yet equally amazed at how kind and generous they can be.

Badwater Beaten

Lisa Tamati has once again run through hell and back. Lisa was the 8th female to cross the finish line in a staggering 37hrs and 14mins.
Its worth clicking across to her blog and having a read about how her race went.http://www.lisatamati.co.nz/home/runner

Back To Badwater

This time last year reporter Sonya Wilson, cameraman Chris Brown and myself as producer headed to Death Valley USA, our mission was to film a story about a remarkable woman from Taranaki New Zealand. Lisa Tamiti's mission was to run 217km through possibly the hottest place on the planet.

What Lisa achieved on that trip was one of the most amazing sporting feats I've ever seen, and I've covered allot of sporting events. In just hours Lisa sets off again in what is the toughest foot race on the planet, and I thought I would post a link to the story we shot last year, give it a watch it's called The Amazing Race for good reason.

Good luck Lisa

http://tvnz.co.nz/20-20/2020-amazing-race-video-2024591

This weeks 20/20 Promo

Nil by Mouth:

Kiwi kids who refuse to eat – refuse to drink!

Grace is just five years old, but she has never eaten – never drunk. A gastric tube is the only thing that keeps her alive. Nothing has passed her lips since the day she was born. It is a horrible condition that is literally consuming her life. No one knows for certain how many kiwi kids are affected by this weird phenomenon. It could be hundreds! It could be thousands! It is a parent’s worst nightmare and the cure is almost as cruel as the condition.

Killing Colds On The Couch

On Friday my family and I head to the Gold Coast, where my wife will be competing in a half marathon event. This is not that unusual as Lee is a great runner and likes to compete when she can.

Unfortunately both myself and my eldest daughter have been struck down by the worst cold ever. Our mission is to convalesce on the couch all the while trying not to pass on the bug. Lee has trained through some very cold mornings and really put in some hard yards, to be struck down before we head off would be a crying shame.

Wish us luck

Lost and Found this week on 20/20

My colleague Mark Sleeman has been working on this for awhile and sounds like a good yarn be sure to watch

TV Pro

I’m a television professional with over twenty years of experience, so when my daughter said she had a school project to do on earthquakes I had what seemed at the time an amazing idea. I suggested to my eight year old daughter that she do an interview with her Uncle Mike who is a reporter for the 60minutes show and had gone to China to cover the 2008 earthquake.

This would be simple I thought, I’d film it, borrow a friends MAC Book and edit it on IMovie. How hard could it be, I am after all a TV Pro. Well as it turns out very hard, first up my friends shiny new MAC Book is so new it doesn’t have a fire-wire input. No problem I’ll just use my old PC Laptop.

Next what to use as an editing tool, after searching the net I discovered that Sony Vegas provides a free trail of their Movie Maker software .
Software downloaded I started editing away in the knowledge the project was due in two days time. I was once an editor however it was just starting to dawn on me that was over ten years ago…oops this might not be as easy as I first thought. Eventually I found my way around the editing tool and had a final product the night before it was to be handed in.

Next step transfer the project to DVD, oops I need to download some more software. New batch of software neatly installed I was ready to publish and be damned …. system crash …. try again …. system crash …. repeat this sequence many times over. It is now midnight and I suddenly remember how old my laptop is …. you fool it doesn’t have a DVD burner.

Due day arrives I explain to my girl I’ll take the Flintstone laptop to work make a file and use another computer to burn a DVD. I then write her a note for her teacher saying that I’ll bring the disk in at lunch time.

Disk in hand I race from the city to my daughters school, find her in the playground and hand it to her. Daddy she says to me, yes I say, we don’t need it until Friday now.