Tannya Joaquin’s Ad-Lib

Like Old Times on Sunrise

Gone for 3 months, but the team didn't miss a beat and I slid right back into my place on Sunrise this morning. Thanks for the warm welcome back!

Our morning team really plays off of each other so when anyone is gone, there's a void. The dynamics change dramatically and the work load increases exponentially. Luckily, Steve and the fellas had help from the night time anchors- Steph, Teri, & Lisa and of course Ramsay too. Steve says he missed me, but after the teasing I gave him on day one, I wonder how long before the honeymoon's over. Just comes naturally to me to give him grief. I joke that it's one of my job perks. He's a good sport about it and certainly dishes just as well as he receives. Part of the fun of being the Sunrise anchor.

Good to be back and I look forward to sharing more behind the scenes play by play with you.

Time to Get Back to Work

So it's that time already. Time to return to work. Time is a funny thing. It's all relative. For me, it flew by as I spent cherised family time with my newborn Hana, my 3 year old son Kai and husband Alan. For my co-anchors who've had to hold down the fort without me and co-workers who filled in for me... well, I know the days, weeks, months... dragged on and on. 

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I'm glad that I took this time and didn't rush back to work. I didn't want to cheat myself or my daughter out of this priceless time together. Luckily, my odd work hours on Sunrise (start work at 3:30 AM) will allow me most of the day for more mother/daughter bonding. My son Kai is now in preschool. These past few months on maternity leave have also given me the opportunity to do things with Kai that I can't when I'm working. Like drop him off at school. Nice to experience that. 

So, I have no idea yet how challenging it will be to balance the demands of raising two young children with the demands of Sunrise. I'll get my first taste of it on Monday morning! But, I can honestly say that I am ready to get back on the horse (or anchor desk in this case). Wish me luck!

 

 

Meet Our New Sports Director Chris Tanaka

A void that was left in our Hawaii News Now ohana by the departure of Sports Director Liz Chun is about to be filled. Liz, you may remember, decided to get out of news after the death of her Dad. She re-evaluated where here own life was and has found happiness in her new position with Hawaii Pacific Health's Pali Momi. 

Since Liz left, we've had a host of people working to fill her shoes. Brooks Baehr temporarily moved from news to sports, Mike Cherry was a one man machine working around the clock, and the list goes on. Holly Juscen, Russell Yamanoha, even Guy Hagi and Keahi Tucker have read sports some nights.

Our new Sports Director will start behind the scenes next week. He's going to be a great addition right off the bat. Rick Blangiardi managed to lure Chris Tanaka away from one of the nation's top sports cities, Denver. We're happy to welcome such an experienced, talented and genuinely nice person to our team. You can watch his farewell to viewers and co-workers in Denver here. http://www.kdvr.com/videobeta/?watchId=ba40adce-7ef3-45aa-bad7-0b4725089421?video=YHI&t=a

We're excited to have him onboard and will keep you posted on his debut.

Laughs with Star of "Love Bites"

On any given morning on Sunrise, we may chat live via satellite with stars from Los Angeles or New York. Usually, the stars come to play. Today we had fun with actor Greg Grunberg, one of the stars of a new NBC show called "Love Bites."

The show  starts tomorrow night on KHNL with an interesting premise. A married man and his wife have a "list" of celebrities that they're given a pass to cheat with, normally a hypothetical proposal. Lo and behold, who does the hubby end up sitting next to on a plane, but Jennifer Love Hewitt, a star on his list and she's game.

Here's the interview:

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/14810328/greg-grunberg

Hmm. Who would be on your list?

Too Much Information

Well, I've really done it now. My trusty iPhone and MacBook are both maxed out. Too many cute clips of Kai, I suppose. I have to start saving and/or deleting, but it's not at the top of my to do list right now. So, that's my excuse for neglecting Ad Lib.

Okay, let's get re-acquainted. After all, I've taken a break from the blog for far too long. A month and a half to be exact. Oh, the horror. 

Here's the cliff notes version of what's new. I'm now 7 months pregnant. 11 weeks left until my due date. Which means I better start work on the nursery. We need to transform Kai's blue surf & aviation inspired room into a place fit for a princess for our baby girl. Not sure if I'll go all out with pink, but I definitely want to do a girly room.

Work wise, I've now been on Sunrise for 5 months. The crew is a blast to work with every morning! We have some fun Hawaii Five-O features planned, and we're changing it up all the time. Steve started a "Metro Monday" segment, I do a new segment called "Baby Steps", Dan is taking us on "Zip Trips" to zip codes around Oahu, Taizo has groomed Traffic Kidcasters, Ramsay's always chasing down breaking news. Stay tuned. We're playing around with some new features too. We've debuted one about hot topics tentatively called "What's trending." It's a good opportunity for all of our news team to pick one interesting, timely story that's generating buzz. We're always up for suggestions too.

This is a busy time of year for events. I had the pleasure of serving as emcee for the Lantern Floating ceremony last night with Dan Cooke. It was our first time witnessing it in person. Next week, I'll emcee the YWCA Leader luncheon. Speaking of which, check out my profile story tonight at 5 on honoree Vicky Cayetano. Did you know our former First Lady starred in a movie with Elvis? I dug up the footage and will have that in my report.

Until my next blog (Promise I won't be a stranger for so long),

Tannya

Playing Catch Up

I'm back to business as usual after a one week vacation and even longer hiatus from my blog. So much to catch up on, so little time. I'll play catch up this weekend.

In the meantime, I send out emails every morning outlining what's coming up on Sunrise so I'll start posting these here too to do a better job keeping in touch. Here's the first. My aloha friday email edition. Cheers!

It's Aloha Friday Sunrise ohana, but is the government on the brink of a shutdown? We'll follow developments from Washington D.C. all morning long with some star power sprinkled throughout Sunrise.

DEAL OR NO DEAL?

Republicans and Democrats must reach a deal by midnight tonight to head off a partial government shutdown, but the President says he's not "wildly optimistic." What impact would a shutdown have on Hawaii? We'll break it down for you.

CHOPPER WRECKAGE REMOVAL

Marines will remove the helicopter that crashed on the Sandbar in Kaneohe today. The chopper will be cut into two or three sections and hauled back to base to determine what went wrong. Ramsay Wharton will give us a progress report.

DOUBLE WHAMMY FOR JAPAN

An aftershock from yesterday's 7.4 earthquake damaged another nuclear power plant in Japan. Water leaked out of the Onagawa plant, but so far, there's been no change in the radiation levels outside.

KOKUA FOR JAPAN: MICHAEL MCDONALD & HENRY KAPONO LIVE FROM STUDIO B

A star-studded line up of entertainers will join Hawaii News Now and other local media outlets to raise money for Japan this Sunday. Everyone from Jack Johnson and Willie Nelson to C & K. Five time Grammy Award Winner Michael McDonald and the Wild Hawaiian himself, Henry Kapono will perform live this morning at 7:50 & 8:20.

Be sure to join us Sunday on air and online to help out.

WITH ALOHA FUNDRAISER

Another fundraiser happening tomorrow brings great music and food together in one place. 24 restaurants are taking part, along with top Hawaii musicians like Natural Vibes and Brother Noland. We'll have a live preview from the Sunrise kitchen at 8:10.

TWO LOCAL STARS OF BETHANY HAMILTON'S STORY, "SOUL SURFER" TALK STORY

Sonya Balmores and Cody Gomes both get their big screen break with the opening of Bethany Hamilton's story, Soul Surfer. Steve caught up with Cody and we'll talk to him about his breakout role at 5:45. Then, Sonya will talk story with Malika live in studio this morning at 6:40.

CROONER JIMMY BORGES SWINGS BY SUNRISE

Get your

Zoot Suits and 1930s Gangster Garb ready for "Swing City." Jimmy Borges will join us with details at 5:40.

THE GREAT HAWAIIAN LUNCHWAGON FESTIVAL

Lobsters and lunchwagons. Could there be a better combination? Sunrise gets the scoop on the Great Hawaiian Lunchwagon Festival at 7:40. I hear the lunchwagon will be right outside our station. Close enough for a quick bite!

D-LISTERS, HERE'S YOUR SHOT AT FREE TICKETS TO KATHY GRIFFIN'S COMEDY SHOW

All that, plus a chance for free tickets to the Queen of the D-list, Kathy Griffin. Email us an example of your personal "d-list moment" for a chance to win at sunrise@HawaiiNewsNow.com.

WEEKEND WEATHER

And, will the severe weather show stop in time for the weekend? Malika will let us know if the thunderstorms are moving out.

See you on Sunrise,

Tannya Joaquin

 

Traffic Ticket Gate

You know everyone loves a good conspiracy theory so I'll stir something up here. Yesterday, a nasty 6 car pileup at the H-1 H-2 merge resulted in a horrendous traffic jam during the morning rush hour. It was so bad, the Dept. of Transportation did something rare. DOT opened up the zipper lane to everyone, not just carpoolers and told us to spread the word.

Dan Cooke was pulling double duty covering weather and traffic so he shared that message with drivers and they obliged. Happily using the Zip lane, even though it really looked almost as bad. Well, a little while later, our producer sends us a message. It says that a caller just got a ticket for using the zip lane when he was just doing what Dan told him. We stood behind our viewer and Dan's message from DOT and even offered on air to testify as witnesses in Court. Well later, DOT apologized saying police must not have gotten the message and that they would write letters explaining the predicament for the court. We aired that story in the evening.

This morning came a new twist. Something about the tickets weren't for using the zipper lane. They were for speeding. Here's where I have a problem (and this is me blogging, I'm not speaking for Hawaii News Now here.) Seriously the traffic backlog was so slow, I highly doubt that they could have been speeding. Then again, I might still be bitter because of a speeding ticket I got about 2 weeks ago...

I get riled up just thinking about it. I was driving into work one morning, when I suddenly had a bout of morning sickness. (I'll try not to get too graphic.) I was heading down Kalanianaole Highway at the time and fumbled around and found a napkin in my car. Well, I quickly realized that wasn't going to be good enough so I pulled over as quickly as I could, got out of my car, and yes, threw up right on the side of the road. I regrouped as best I could, got back in my car and started driving.

No sooner do I pull away than do I see blinking lights behind me. "You've got to be kidding me" I think to myself. This day is not off to a good start. I can't even think what I possibly could have done wrong. The officer comes to my window and says that I was speeding and that he paced me, passing all kinds of cars. Really? I didn't even see anyone else on the road at 3AM. However, he somehow did not see me puking. At this point, I still feel sick and barely have energy to say anything to the officer except that I have morning sickness and had to pull over. He says that he wouldn't know anything about that and basically accuses me of lying. His exact words "If what you're saying is true..." I wish it wasn't, but it was. Despite the fact that I have the napkin evidence in my hand and the other disgusting exhibit just behind us, he proceeds to write me the ticket. That's bad enough, but he then takes 20 minutes to do it. So here I am, feeling like junk, stressed, and now, late for work to boot. To make matters worse, I can't even call in to work because I left my phone at work the day before. (Definitely wasn't a good 24 hours for me.) To be fair, I was so focused on pulling over, I didn't look at the spedometer, but I think I should contest the ticket just out of principle. Hmmm. Don't suppose DOT will write me an excuse letter. Especially not after this blog!

Baby Talk

So, I've had a big secret since I moved to Sunrise. After I decided to switch to mornings, I learned I was pregnant. Talk about timing. Can you say morning sickness?!?! (I have an unbelievable morning sickness story that I'll save for another blog...)

I never let on at work, even when I was battling nausea. The only one who figured it out before I let the cat out of the bag was Steve Uyehara. Actually, it's funny how he put two and two together. We interviewed a psychic about her predictions for 2011. After our segment, she stuck around and did personal readings. For me, she said I would be very busy around the house in 7 months. My reaction clearly gave me away as I did the math and put that timeline right around my due date.  Steve whispered to me "are you pregnant?" I swore him to secrecy until my second trimester.

I had a hunch it's a girl because of the old wives' tales about morning sickness, but didn't know for sure until Valentine's Day. That's when we got the good news. My due date is August 19th, just 12 days before my son Kai's 3rd birthday.

I shared the news on Sunrise this morning. I knew the secret would be out soon now anyhow so I wanted to go public before everyone started speculating or worse, assuming I'd just packed on pounds. Body by Sunrise we joke. Luckily, this is my second time around so I have the maternity clothes ready to roll.

 

Why We Don't Say "Break a Leg" in the News Biz...

"Break a leg" is a standard pep talk for entertainers, but if you were watching Sunrise yesterday, you know why we don't say it in the news biz.

Our Sunrise Around Town reporter and studio crewman extraordinaire Byron Furukawa was part of a gag Dan Cooke was doing at the weather wall. Dan had a beautiful live shot of Waikiki Beach behind him when all of the sudden, a shirtless Byron walks across. That was funny. Then, he came running back across the other direction and misjudged or got carried away. He ended up crashing into a TV monitor just to the side of the weather wall... hard. I wish I had the clip link to post here. (If you're reading this on Facebook, it's in a video clip tagged on my wall called Byron goes to the Beach.) Poor Byron! He was limping around the studio today.

Actually, what viewers can't see off camera is a maze of equipment and wires. Bad spills can and do happen. There was an incident years ago when a sportscaster actually got knocked out cold on the way back to the main desk. I have to be extra careful when running from one set to another and upstairs to the Sunrise kitchen... in my high heels. Many times we only have seconds to get to another location. Since I've been known to trip on my own two feet, I gingerly make my way around the studio. My first time carrying one of Chef Chai's creations down from the kitchen, I almost ate it. As in, tripped. I won't make that mistake again and I'm sure Byron won't either.

Sunrise One Month Anniversary

It's been one month now since I started on Sunrise, but time feels distorted. On the one hand, I feel like I've been working with the team forever because we "click." On the other hand, it feels fresh and new. 

I've been on this shift long enough to develop my morning rituals. I now know exactly how quickly I can get ready in the morning. How long it will take me to blow dry my hair, get dressed, and out the door. The most important thing for me to do the night before is pick out what to wear. Accessories included so I'm not fumbling around looking for something and accidentally wake up my son. 

My new best friend in the morning is my iPhone. It's my alarm clock and flashlight too. Yes, there's an app for that. I use it to get down the stairs and out to my car in one piece.

Some highlights from the past month on Sunrise:

- No one eats better. We've had Chef Morimoto, Chai, The Alley's Chef Uyeda, and New Eagle Cafe.

- No one has more entertaining segments. We've interviewed Giuliana Rancic,  Debbie Gibson & Tiffany, NFL stars. Tomorrow morning, we'll interview Vanessa Williams & Lisa Kudrow. Coming up next week, look for the Millionaire Matchmaker and Khloe Kardashian. We'll also talk with the charming E host Giuliana Rancic again along with her husband and America Now host Bill Rancic to get their secrets to a good Valentine's Day.

- No one has better guests. Jake Shimabukuro playing Bohemian Rhapsody live. Are you kidding me?

- No one has more fun. I work with the funniest team around and I get to tease Steve every morning. It's the bright side of coming to work at 3:30 AM. Hmm. Should I give him grief? Tomorrow will be our one month anniversary. I bet he won't even remember. Just like a guy! 

More good things to come on Sunrise. We have an amazing field trip planned for Friday. I'll keep you posted...