I recently had the opportunity of a lifetime — drive two hours to Mountain View, California and travel 40 miles per hour above the San Francisco Bay Area in a balloon filled with helium. The world’s largest zeppelin calls Moffett Field home, kept in a large hanger at a now-defunct Air Force Base overtaken by NASA employees.

Our flight a few weeks ago was set for 10:00AM that morning. Our reporter, photographer and myself would fly about an hour over luxury homes, large public schools and Stanford University. We rode with two other passengers — a man from near Tempe, Arizona and his father from Beverly Hills. The man was an alumnist of Stanford; the father had provided for the man’s education years ago, and the ride on the dirigible was the man’s way of giving back to his father after years of receiving his love.

Hearing stories this man and his father had to share made the experience all the more enjoyable and memorable. I started thinking about that ride above earth tonight when I found photos, like the one above and the ones here, on my computer.

In the fast, ever-changing environment of television news, so much happens and so much is experienced that moments like the one on November 18th are often lost in the shuffle of what experiences are to be had in the future and the moment of “now.” This is why celebrities, television journalists and politicians write books — only part of it is because they have a story to tell.

The other part is because they have memories they enjoy reliving in their minds.

Matthew here.

You may have noticed a change around here. Writings that are a little more personal, not written in a news-esque fashion. Gone are the tech, music and media writings of the future. It’s not that I’ve lost a passion for it, I’ve just found a different and broader outlet for them is all.

You know what I’m talking about.

What I do miss are the days when I could have little conversations with myself, so I’m reverting back to that part of me. Outside of work, I still find myself alone. Not so much lonely, because I never really feel that. But more alone, isolated and by myself. And wow, the things I think about when I’m conversing with myself…they’re pretty amazing thoughts.

So why not just start anew? Because in the months I was blogging about tech, music and media that catapulted me toward the beginning of my career, I manifested a ton of informative articles that, to this day, are still being read and referred to. They’re being linked to on Wikipedia, social news website and even other blogs. It’s an insane feeling, it really is.

So that’s why they are still there, tucked away in an archive of what this place used to be. I can’t bring myself to the thought of potentially depriving anyone in the future of information, met with broken links and redirects.

Welcome to an old kind of writing with a new kind of expression—and hopefully, in the process, I don’t offend anyone or get fired from the job I love.

One thing still remains, and will always remain: As the new slogan goes, I am still Sacramento’s very own.

What you see above is a picture of my car keys. I’ll explain why it’s important in a moment.

The weekend before the national election, there was a huge rally in a city called Citrus Heights, California, on one of Sacramento’s busiest (and that night, congested) street corners. It was cold, and moist because of the rain that had come the night before. There was mud in the grass and on the sidewalks. There was an ungodly stench coming from the crowds where people had stepped in mud and God-only-knows what else. Thousands of people there.

You know how jeans have that little coin pocket above the right leg near the right pocket? Those have been perfect for putting my keys in, by just the remote with the rest dangling out, since I bought my car. But since I’ve lost weight, I’ve often heard them clunking to the ground after wiggling out loose. But out of habit, I still put them in there every now and then.

Back to Citrus Heights now…I hurried to get to our video photographer and reporter in order to make it for their live shot at the top of the 10PM block. Turns out, despite running and rushing, I had been two minutes late, but had made it in time to see the end of our reporter’s live shot.

Shortly after he wrapped up his reporting, a police officer came up to him and asked him if a set of keys belonged to anyone at FOX40 News. My keys had somehow fallen out of my pocket, and someone had spotted the “FOX40 News” keychain I had among the others from Borders, Petco and Best Buy. They gave them to police, who in turn gave them back to me.

Had someone not found my keys and turned them in, I would have been oblivious to the idea that I had lost them until it was time to go home, and by then they would have been long gone.

Someone out there—I don’t know whose side they were on, but someone—was looking out for me. And had I not had that little symbol of my employment, they probably never would have reached their owner again.

Meet my friends, Bethany and Ben.

They’re the two newest bloggers at my work’s website, FOX40.com. I’m really excited to see the work they produce. Ben kicked off his blog with a behind-the-scenes look at our studio, while Bethany had some fun with the guys at Rock, Inc.

If you can, patron their stories and entries. Feel free to give them feedback. They’re just starting to bloom, but I know they have so much potential, and while I’m trying to encourage them as much as I can, I know even more encouragement would provoke them to write even more.

There’s more photos from our blog promo shoot on my Flickr account.

Norah Jones has been background music for too long. Her song “Don’t Know Why” came out when I was in high school, and it was a big hit on the radio. Never did figure out why. Sure, I liked it, but I didn’t connect with it at the time. Music is all about a connection with me. Now, I connect somehow with her music.

It’s because I tuned in to her melody and lyrics, rather than passing it off as another soft rock hit. There’s real artistry in her music. There’s melody and instruments that jump out at your ears. Her words are poetic. It’s soothing, in both a maternal way and in a euphoric way.

It’s like being in a room surrounded by people and feeling really lonely. You’re not alone, but you’re lonely. Funny how that works sometimes. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, someone sits down next to you. They put their arm around you and smile. It totally comes out of nowhere, and in the course of just a few minutes, it’s gone. And it leaves you wanting more.

That’s what it sounds like to me. And in this case, you can just rewind the track or replay the Internet video and get that comforting feeling all over again. It never goes away, no matter how many times you replay the song over and over again.

These guys are really good.

The first time I heard this song, it was the Chris Brown version. I was over at a friend’s house in Sacramento about a month ago. We were laying on his bed, one of us on either end. We were meditating, and it was extremely peaceful.

His iPod Touch was docked in his stereo, streaming Pandora from his computer. He had created a playlist full of R&B songs, and many of them were extremely enjoyable. At one point, Frank Sinatra came on…we’re still not quite sure how it happened. Eventually, “Forever” by Chris Brown started playing.

My first thoughts were, Wow, this belongs in a Doublemint Gum commercial, at which point my friend says, “Hey, did you know this song was in a Doublemint Gum commercial?”

Figures.

Boyce Avenue was a band I subscribed to a while back on YouTube. I can’t remember why I initially found them captivating, but Saturday, I spent a ridiculous amount of money purchasing their covers on iTunes when I could just as well have heard them on YouTube for free. Maybe it’s because they’ve given me a deeper appreciation for music that I would, otherwise, not have appreciated. Maybe it’s because they can actually sing and perform without the need of thousands of dollars in computer software and studio equipment.

Or maybe it’s just because they’re fucking awesome.

Either way, they’re well-deserving of my money.

People who know me will tell you I do not discuss politics. It’s about as personal as where I live specifically or what I look like naked. But nonetheless, I took an unusual stance on my blog in endorsing a political measure that, to me, would be very scary if passed.

Over the past week, I’ve done a handful of stories on Proposition 8 that I found to be balanced, fair and objective. I did not let my view of Proposition 8 cloud my judgement as a writer for the station I work at.

And then, there was the candlelight vigil the day after Election Day. Earlier that day, I had to write about two men who were denied a marriage certificate in the middle of their ceremony. Later that day, I found myself surrounded by hundreds—and by some estimates, a handful of thousands—of people just like those two who now found themselves being second-class citizens.

I took my photos of the event, I wrote my article, and I went home. I laid in bed, and I started reflecting on what I had just been witness to. My generation’s civil rights movement. Sure, I don’t believe either side was right in this battle, and I feel compromises could be made without drastic action being taken on either side.

But the fact of the matter is this—those people I was with tonight had lost their battle on Proposition 8, but they weren’t ready to lose the war when it came to their beliefs. They were pissed off. They were angry. They were upset. But they weren’t destructive, they weren’t looting stores or setting fire to cars.

Instead, they delivered their message that the war wasn’t over yet and they did so peacefully. That’s one of the most moving things I’ve ever been a witness to, and the entire aura of that evening is one I’ll remember for a long time coming.

Since 2004, the people of California have engaged in a long and stressful battle regarding the definition of “marriage” and to whom the rights and responsibilities of “marriage” should belong to. Proponents of Proposition 8 will argue that our country was founded on religious principle, and they would be correct. However, it was also founded on the principle of a separation between religious institutions and a people’s government.

Over time, however, that separation has narrowed. The words “In God We Trust” grace the paper currency we freely trade back and forth when resolving debts and making purchases. The words “Under God” are said daily by schoolchildren who pledge their allegiance to our country.

And the word “marriage” has undergone significant change since the year 1776.

We have marriage licenses and marriage certificates, both issued by the government. We have marriage counselors, and marriage retreats, none of which have any religious requirement attached to them (you don’t need to be a member of the clergy to be a marriage therapist). Over 200 years, we have lost touch with the “sanctity” of marriage, a value I hope we one day regain. I look forward to the day when the number of marriages is not closely tied with the number of divorces.

Since the announcement of Proposition 8 on the California ballot, I have struggled with the idea of which side was correct. True, marriage should be a sanctified religious ceremony between a man and a woman. True, homosexual couples should be allowed to enjoy the same happiness as any other couple. And true, the approval of gay marriage in our society has the potential to open a door to people marrying animals, trees, aircraft carriers and children—the line could become very blurry.

So why speak out against Proposition 8?

Proposition 8 is not about redefining the term “marriage,” and Proposition 8 is not about the State of California. Proposition 8 is about fundamental human rights. It would be more dangerous to allow Proposition 8 to pass this election than to allow a few promiscuous homosexual couples the right to marry.

If Proposition 8 passes, we would be giving fundamentalist extremists (and make no mistakes, the talking heads you see in the Protect Marriage commercials are extremists) the power to tell Americans how to live their lives and conduct themselves on a day-to-day basis. We would erase decades of protests and struggles for human dignity—from the emancipation of the slaves in the 1800s to the rights of migrant farm workers in the 1960s.

Proposition 8 wants to open a Pandora’s Box of erasing human rights. Ask yourself when you vote in November—is Proposition 8 patriotic?

As spotted on Six Degrees with Annalee, this may provide a troubling perspective of the digital switchover coming next February.

If your Granny wants to continue watching her “stories” without cable or dish, do her a favor—hook up her DTV box for her.

The six tiered packages will include an “all news & talk” and “all sports” packages, while the a-la-carte packages will allow subscribers to choose up to 50 or up to 100 channels of their choosing, with specialty channels like “Howard 100″ and “The Virus” running extra. A package called the “Best Of Sirius-XM” will run subscribers $16.99 a month and will allow listeners to choose programming from both services.

Also rolling out sometime this fall will be brand-new Sirius XM Radio receivers, which will allow even more programming options in the future. A launch date for the new radios has not yet been set.