After checking out on Saturday morning and a good breakfast at Denny's, we drove to Luke Air Force Base. We had decided to go to the Base Exchange and clothing sales, when we realized that our military ID cards had expired in August on my birthday two months earlier. Luckily for us the guard didn't check closely. Luckily for them we weren't terrorists. After buying a few items, including a dress shirt, we went around the corner off the base to the Cactus Cleaners and paid to have it pressed.
We had called David and Jessica Hawks, and Erin McCoy Morley and her family. We made arrangements to meet at the Hawks, so were drove across Phoenix to Mesa.
The freeway was extremely slow due to a bad accident, but we got there in time to spent about an hour visiting before heading to the Sheraton in downtown Phoenix, the site of the evening award ceremony. After checking in and getting to our room, we had enough time to relax for a few minutes before getting spiffed up for the activities.We headed down to the hors d'oeurves and games. What a joke! For some reason Pat and I weren't even on the list. They let us in and said they would clear it up later. The food items were to put it mildly... unique. The juices were expensive and the gambling games uninviting. We traded our chips in directly for raffle tickets.
After whats seemed like a long time, we were finally allowed to enter into the hall to begin presenting the awards. After sitting through hours of presenting Emmys for the best news cast, promotion campaign, breaking news story, etc., they finally got to my category. The presenters read the nominees, then opened the envelope to reveal that Berlin had won.After picking up my statue, I was sent back stage to have a picture taken and to get my shot of Tequila (Don't worry I passed on the Tequila), and headed back into the hall to rejoin Pat. We had a program with a gold sticker on the inside cover, which indicated that we had won a
Tequilla basket which we gave to the couple next to us.We also won a very soft and cuddly baby blanket as a raffle gift. It was nice to be able to just head up to the room after the ceremony and crash.We checked out Sunday morning and started our return trip north. We stopped for a big breakfast/lunch in Flagstaff, then got back on the road. After a quick stop to pick up some dinner in Beaver, headed out again and returned the car to Motorpool at about 8 pm.
Overall it was a great week. On Thursday, October 22, at the BYU Broadcasting retreat I received my 25 years of service certificate and gift. Later that same day, I was presented with a 2009 Cine Golden Eagle for the same show, Berlin. It nice to have this show recognized since it took a major portion of my efforts during 2008 to finish it.Although not the first awards that I have won for my shows, these were by far the most prestigious. Thanks to my family for all of the screenings and advice.
