In Portland last week I was supposed to be doing a live interview with some local tv station, but then just before we started I heard the infamous phrase “we’ve been bumped.” Having your interview bumped, basically means there’s some other breaking news that is more important, so usually a station will just tape your segment and show it later… no big deal.

I am however always curious as to what the breaking news is just in case it’s some crazy terrorist attack or an earthquake or something. In Portland the answer was “Haven’t you noticed?  It’s snowing!” I had noticed, but I didn’t pay any attention to it because every flake, which I’m pretty sure I could count them all, was melting immediately on impact. So my thought was, “Wow, either people in Portland are really lame if this is exciting breaking news. Or, and more probably the case, an interview with me is pretty low and the totem pole even below a few melting snow flakes.”

The best “bump” came with a live CNN interview I was supposed to do in December. The cameras were set. The crew was ready to start rolling in a matter of seconds and then… wait… the producer put his hand on his ear peace and listened intently. “Damn, ok guys we’ve just been bumped.” Again… no big deal. But as I huddled around the TV playing the live breaking news streaming on CNN I was once again aware of my totem pole status. I had been bumped because Obama was announcing that congress had failed to come to an agreement over some bill or something.

Melting snow flakes are one thing, but if something like “News Flash! Congress can’t work together. Both sides of the aisle have lost their minds and our system is broken.” is able to bump me. Then I must be REALLY lame because everyone on the freakin planet knows that.