When you think about cops and breaking news reporting, many of you may think of a reporter who's constantly on the move, on the street, chasing stories at crime scenes and disaster areas.

That's sometimes true.

More often, since my breaking news colleague and I cover eight police department and three fire departments in a county that covers 1,845 square miles, according to the U.S. Census bureau, I spend a lot of the time reporting by phone.

But I have gotten to go some interesting places while on the job.

One of my fun assignments was covering a marijuana eradication effort by the Ventura County Sheriff's Department.

I was reminded of that day recently when one of our photographers forwarded me a couple of photos of myself on the job that day.

Take a look:



This first picture, taken by Star Photographer Rob Varela, shows me outside the Sheriff's department helicopter we took to a spot outside Rose Valley. From the landing zone, we hiked up a stream bed to a an illegal marijuana farm, which authorities proceeded to demolish.

Note my extremely professional uniform: UCLA hat, windbreaker from my high school wrestling team, digital video camera, ridiculous hair ...



In this picture, also by Rob Varela, I'm posing behind a makeshift bed the people guarding the pot farm made out of irrigation line. As you can see, this thing must have taken some serious work.

Here's a link to the video I shot that day:

http://gallery.venturacountystar.com/video.cfm?VideoID=524