Today began with a 7am call time. Pusser had latched onto the idea of shooting the Fargo Marathon, which started at 8am, which was awesome for me, because if there’s one thing I love more than waking up early, it’s waking up early to watch people run. I went to bed at 2:30am, and woke up at 6:20 to run and get coffee for the crew. It was a less than auspicious start to my Saturday.

We’d scouted a location in downtown Fargo near the iconic movie theater, which, as far as I can tell, is just about the only iconic thing in town. I’d expected a huge crowd – it had been rumored that the runners numbered well over 10,000 – but was pleasantly surprised to find the sidewalk empty. I spent a pleasant two hours on the sidelines while Mr. Solutions (whose name hasn’t stuck quite as well as Pusser’s) hauled the camera to and fro. We got some great stuff, and wrapped the scene around 9:30. It was then that our venerable DP had his most brilliant idea yet:

Best Buy.

We told Pusser that I needed to buy more DVDs for audio backups, but our mission was one born of pure techno-hedonism. While walking back to the van, he’d decided to buy the Flip, and I was aces in. Giddy as a schoolgirl after blowing lines of Vivarin, I ogled the display model and, after a moment’s contemplation, bought one for myself as well. I’ve never bought anything like that in my life, at least not for personal use. I tend to leave electronic purchases to someone else, someone like Katsumi, reserving my own precious pennies for more important things. Shoes, for one, or bikini waxes. But today marked a turning point, both for myself and for this humble archive.

I hereby present my first video blog.