Actually, Grant, the former photographer for this paper, was stomping down the street. A backhoe had arrived on the Greenbridge site, and we went to get some pictures.

Only these days pictures means still and moving pictures. As Grant shot with his camera, I shot with one of our videocameras for last week's OrangeChat Webcast. (I've still got the clay on my shoes.)

If you haven't checked out our weekly Webcast at www.chapelhillnews.com, you're missing the most fun we've had in a while. Each week we present headlines and video from some of the stories our bureau has produced for the News & Observer and The Chapel Hill News.

You can watch last week's cast and see some pretty funny stuff staffers Meiling Arounnarath and Leah Friedman gathered at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce bocce tournament. If you click on the link to previous Webcasts, you can see parts of my interview with Mark Malachi, of the Unity Center of Peace Church.

Sure, we're not doing anything that some talented middle school students can't do nowadays. But if we want those middle schoolers to grow up reading newspapers, we have to reach them where they're at. And that's increasingly in front of a computer screen.

Plus, the tools Grant is teaching us as multimedia director for the N&O's community papers are tools we need anyway. Last week we were covering a construction site. Next time it could be a tornado or Halloween on Franklin Street.

Or a leading anti-war activist coming to town. When Cindy Sheehan met Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton for lunch Thursday, staffer Cheryl Johnston Sadgrove met her with a video camera in hand. We edited Cheryl's footage down to a 30-second clip, e-mailed it to Raleigh and soon News & Observer readers could see Sheehan flashing a peace sign at www.newsobserver.com.

Our Webcasts are so new we're learning something every week. If you have suggestions, please let us know. E-mail me and Associate Editor Dave Hart at editor@nando.com