Once again, I'm sorry for not getting the promised update on the site yesterday .We are in full pool mode right now. The traveling press corps (the ones who go everywhere Clinton goes) arrived on Thursday night. That's when it all really starts for us. Reporters are doing live shots, tapes are coming in to be fed, live material from the local television broadcaster (Host TV) is coming in and needs to be recorded. Our challenge is a bit larger too as we are not only covering Clinton ,but to some extent the other leaders at the G8 as well.

And for all the preparation, and testing, and tweaking that one does, you don't find all of the problems until the show starts. There were a few small ones, but not things that you notice on the air back in the States. And that's the idea!

Also on Thursday I started to loose my voice. When I woke up on Friday it was totally gone! I don't know what brought this one, but it really pissed me off. I got up early and took a long walk for about an hour and a half. I went three bridges up the Rhine, crossed, then came back down the other side. I wanted to go near the Hyatt because there is a great shot of the Dom from there. But because some of the leaders are there, the security is amazing. And since I still had to go to work my shift, I didn't want to get trapped in a secure zone and be late.

On my way back to the Mondial I stopped at the chemist to buy a fix for my throat. They sold me a spray and some lozenges. I started using them immediately. The spray was horrid, but I kept on using it because I needed my voice back. One of our German runners took a look at it (after I had popped about six shots down my throat) and was horrified. In big bold German, the spray says "Only use four times a day." Ooops. I don't think it did any damage, but nothing seemed to be doing the trick. Well, after everything was done and we were winding down for the day, I had a cup of hot coffee. Almost immediately my voice started to improve. Solution found - hot liquids. Why didn't anyone tell me this before!?!

After closing shop around two in the morning, myself and John (one of our other engineers) and Egon (our German fixer) go out for a beer. The international media center is supposed to have free food and beer 24 hours a day. Guess what - it was closed. So we went to a small beer bar at the Maratim Hotel near the school Egon teaches at and had a few Kolsch. Egon went off to go home, and John and I started wandering back to the Mondial. On our way, we passed an Irish pub and decided to have a quick Guinness. Wow, the other solution to my throat problem. So here now on Saturday morning, I don't have my voice back to what it usually is, but at least people can hear me again!

I'm not sure if we have two or three more days of being live from Cologne. I am hoping to get time to explore in the mornings again. But tomorrow being Sunday I don't know how much will be open. I've been trying to focus a bit on the after part of the trip, but really haven't been able to give it much thought. My friends from Breda have been e-mailing me and want me to come visit. Which I may well do since it's only a few hours away by car. And since I will be heading west anyhow to Aachen and Remagen, I may as well travel a bit further into the sun and see some friends!

But for now we have a job to focus on. While it has been crazy and long and hard, this is what we live for. If it wasn't crazy and long and tough, it wouldn't be any fun. It would be boring! On Friday there was a deal made in Helsinki regarding Russian involvement in the KFOR force in Kosovo. This came out of the blue and suddenly we were juggling as every network wanted to do White House reaction from Cologne. This was exacerbated by the presence of Sergei Stepashin, the Russian Prime Minister, here at the summit. Like I said, this stop is much more than just Clinton.

So, as I write this web page, know that all the video from here that you see is coming through my hands. And if the updates have been a bit brief and sporadic, it's because we are sending much much more back to you in the video world.